The Big Dance - Round 8

We start round 8 with 206,800 in chips playing 400 800 with 100 antes. That means 2100 in the pot before cards are dealt. Donkey going in!

In S3 we raise to 2100 with 22 and get called by S8. Flop comes TJK and we bet 2200. He calls. Turn comes 8h. We check and he bets 4000. That's a weak bet into an 11,000 pot. We raise to 14,000 hoping he'll fold. He doesn't. River comes 9h putting a four card straight and 3 hearts on the board. Our 22 is not good. We ask how many chips he has. He says 22,000 and we push a stack of orange 5000 chips into the pot. He goes into the tank and then asks if we'll show if he folds. We say we'll tell him what we have when he leaves the room. He responds that that might be right now. Ultimately he folds and we tell him we'll disclose our cards at the end of the night. Big bluff, big win. He just doesn't want to go home right now.

Next hand S3 raises to 2000 and we're on the Button with red AA. Giddey-up. We raise to 5500 and he calls. Flop comes 28T (or 24T, I can't recall) with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 6500. He thinks for a minute and then pushes all in for about 25000. Unless he has TT, we should be good. His pre-flop action doesn't yield small pairs or 2 pair on this board. We call. He shows JJ and our AA holds up to take him out.

I don't follow poker, but that was Allen Cunningham, who evidently everyone else knew and was watching. Lots of on line magazines subsequently came by to ask my name.

I don't recall the early part of this next hand, but I believe we raised pre-flop and got called by the BB (the guy we massively bluffed with 22). We have KQ and flop comes AK3, all hearts. We have the Qh. We bet 2000 and he calls. Turn comes As and we bet 2000. He pushes all in for about 10,000 and we call. He shows A8. We have 8 outs that are hearts that don't give him a full house. That makes us a 19% dog going into the river. Th falls giving us a flush and he goes home, but not before we tell him we had 22 when he folded last time. He appreciates the honesty - very nice guy with great composure in light of the fact that I just bad beat him and then disclosed bluffing him out of a pot.

New player with about 140,000 in chips sits in the BB and we raise to 2200 from S4 with AK. BB raises to 5600 and we flat call. We could raise, but we're in position and if he made a big re-raise we might never see the flop. Flop comes 233 with 2 spades and he bets 5500. He shouldn't have a 2 or a 3, but he may have something like JJ or 2 spades. We call. Turn comes Ts. He checks and we look at our cards. We know we don't have a spade, but we want to draw the possibility more to his mind. We check and the river comes 9s - 4 spades on the board. He checks - he clearly doesn't have a spade he's proud of. We bet 12,500 and he folds.

About 5 hands later New Guy raises to 1800 from S5 and we call from S7 with 79h. Flop comes 233 with one heart, which I comment is almost identical to our last flop. He bets 2300 and we call. Turn comes 6h giving us a heart draw. He checks and we check. River comes Tc. He bets 3500. Kind of a weak bet as the pot has 10,000. We raise to 12,500 and he goes into the tank. He likely has something like KQ. He folds. We probably are done bluffing into him for a while.

From S3 we raise to 2200, again with AK. S5 calls and we see the flop 8JQ. Not good. We check, he checks and the turn comes 6. We bet 2500. He folds.

In the midst of all this there were a few hands I've lost track of. I know I folded 2 hands after calling pre-flop action and seeing the flop. None of the missing hands are huge though. I'm in a very fortunate place where I have enough chips to "play poker". I can steal blinds, bluff and see flops without hurting my stack, and I doubt I've been victim to much bluffing.

From S6 we raise to 2200 with JQ and S7 re-raises to 5200. We call and the flop comes A8rag with two diamonds. Hoping the A scared him, we bet 3500. He calls. Turn comes rag diamond. I'm a little traumatized by this hand so I apologize that I don't recall more. We bet 9500, which is about 40% of his stack, an amount that is supposed to push people psychologically to push or fold. I don't recall where I read that and of course don't know how well supported the research was, but, that's what we're using for our education. He goes into the tank for a while, perhaps acting, and then pushes. We fold. Ouch! That was 15000 in chips!

We still have over 300,000 in chips, so no Donkey tears. Play tight! Head in the game.

On the button we raise to 2200 with A3 and both blinds call. Flop comes 59T and they check to us. We check and the turn comes Q. That's a good scare card. They check and we bet 3200. They fold. Good result.

In S4 we raise to 2200 with Q9d and get called by S5, the guy who punched us for 15,000 and is now betting what used to be our chips against us. Flop comes 47Q with one diamond and we bet 3600. He folds. Good result.

Same guy opens for 1800 in S3 and we call from the BB with TT. Flop comes 79K and we prod with a 2000 bet. He raises to 5500 and we fold.

S6 raises to 1800 and we call with TJh on the Button. The SB calls. Flop comes 5JQ. SB checks and S6 bets 3100. We call just to do that "floating" thing. SB calls and turn comes 7, putting 2 clubs on the board. S6 bets 11,000. That's a huge bet and doesn't make much sense, but we have the SB behind us and we're playing conservatively so we fold. SB folds too.

We took a couple punches, but we also sent a couple guys home this round. We close Round 8, 60% through Day 2, with 306,200 chips. The internal goal for the day was 270,000, so things are looking great as we head to dinner, cool the jets, and try to focus on nice, tight play in terms of loss minimization.

Hopefully the next update is 3.5 hours away.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman

Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
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