We are playing Day 1 today, but we are in the 4th Day 1 (group D). Survivors of Day 1 from group D will play again Monday in Day 2 against the survivors of Day 1 who played yesterday in group C. Those who survive Day 2, for all groups, ABCD, will finally fit under one roof for Day 3 a few days later.
We start playing 50 100 with 30,000 chips; each Round lasts 2 hours. We're sitting in Seat 1 on Table Orange 316. Over 2000 players are in today's Day 1. Big turn out. We begin in the SB, which is fine. We start with Billy Joel "Pressure" on the iPod, and away we go!
As a quick aside, I will be focusing on the play of my opponents even after I fold, so I will not be able to give a play by play in general. Speaking of my opponents, I'm happy to report that I don't recognize any of them.
First hand everyone folds to seat 8 who bets 225 (no one sitting in seat 9 at the moment). Looks like a steal, but we'll let our 50 SB go, along with our Q5s. The BB calls and flop comes 4TK rainbow. BB bets 200 and Seat 8 raises to 525. BB folds. They could have had anything. Their play, however, was what you would expect from good players; no donkeys next to us.
Everyone folds to us in seat 5 with JQ and we raise to 275. The blinds call and the flop comes 88K. They check and we bet 425. They fold. Excellent!
Side note. Something here I've never seen. There's a man wearing 2 pair of glasses. He has the poker mirror glasses pushed tightly against his face, which I always think are funny because I have to believe there are times people can see his cards in them. But then he has reading glasses hanging at the tip of his nose.
We see a couple of flops and then discard our hands, and we're back to our starting chips. Okay.
We play our first questionable hand from the button. With 4 players ahead of us in for 400 and the blinds behind us, we call 400 with J5h. We probably should have discarded, but the table is seeing action and with a 2000 plus pot to start, if we hit, we'll get paid well. Unfortunately, we got a second chance to discard after the 239 rainbow flop, and we did.
There's a guy at our table who has won big pot after big pot by hitting great cards. He also seems to be a donkey. He has bet 3 times out of order from the button, mistakenly thinking he's in the SB. One time he even took the SB's chips as change when he called a pre-flop bet. Now it's our turn against him. We'll call him PP (for the Pink Panther bc we can't spell the french guy's name).
PP raises to 375 from seat 7 and we raise to 975 from the SB with our first premium hand, AQc. He calls. Flop comes 4QA with 2 hearts. Excellent. We bet 1000 and he calls. Turn comes 6h. Terrible. There's a heart flush on the board. Unlikely he has it, but . . . We bet 1500 and he calls. River comes 2d rag. We check and he bets 3500. Unless he has 2 hearts or a set, or a 35, we'll win. We call and he turns over A5h. PP strikes again. Ouch!
Seat 3 raises to 200 and seats 56 and 7 call. We call from seat 8 with 57s. Seat 9 calls. It's a family pot, but the SB raises to 1150 and everyone folds to us. It's a long shot, but huge payout if we hit. We call, and we're happy to see seat 9 call flop comes 68A giving us an open ended straight draw. SB bets 2050. We could raise, even though we're behind, and hope he folds? But we have to hope seat 9 folds too. We call and seat 9 folds. Turn comes 7 giving us a pair. Not what we were looking for, but some value. He checks. Should we bet and hope he folds? Maybe, but what if he raises and then we lose that bet and have to fold without seeing the river? We check. Turn comes J, no help. He checks. We bet 2750 hoping he has something like 99 or TT and will fold. It's a small bet relative to the pot, but sometimes those are the scariest. He folds. Yay! We're almost back to even!
Everyone folds to us and we raise to 350 from the button with AT. BB calls and flop comes 48Q. BB checks and after a moment of thought we check. Turn comes 6. BB bets 525 and after a moment of thought we raise to 1400. We're representing that we have a Q and if he doesn't he should fold. Apparently he didn't. He folds and we're one step closer to even.
Seat 5 raises to 350 and gets calls from seat 7 and 8. We're in the BB with our first pocket pair, KK. Giddey-up Cowboys! We raise to 1350 and here's where it gets odd. Seat 5 raises the 3950 and everyone else folds. Does he have AA? Do we want to get crushed in round 1 that way? No, but can we live with ourselves if we fold so irrationally, no. So, call or raise? We're out of position so we'd like to raise, but we'd also like to make sure the flop doesn't have an A before committing all our chips. Then again, he only has another 11,000 in chips. If we call, the pot will be over 8000. Why take the chance he gets to see that A? Even if he doesn't have one, there's a good chance he pushes post flop regardless. It will never be easier to make the call than now (unless a K flops). Also, if we push, we risk another 11000, but maybe he folds and we get his 4000 without ever seeing the flop. We push. He thinks for a minute, which is all we really wanted. That means he doesn't have AA. He thinks for another minute and discards. Yay! We're back over where we started!
Seat 7 raises to 300 and we call from seat 8 with JJ. No one else calls and the flop comes TJK with 2 clubs love the flopped J, but what a scary board. Flushes and straight and lions and tigers. He bets 400. We have too much fear to slow play and raise to 1200. He folds. That's fine. That was too harsh of a board for us. Any club, Q, K, A, or 9 would have put us in an awkward spot.
We finish Round 1 after getting punched by PP with 33,525 in chips. Happy result.
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
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