Saturday June 21 - Caesar's Mega Stack $340
I love the structure of Caesar's event. You start off with 12,500in chips, 50 min rounds, and its a really flat structure. You definitely have to accumulate chips in the later levels but you get a lot of play in the early going, a lot more so than the WSOP event I played in. Breaks are after 2 levels so I break it down that way.
Level 1/2 - Not much going on here. This is the level where you want to see cheap flops and see if you can't flop a monster and get someone to pay you off. You don't want to overplay hands here and just kind of let things come. The only of importance is this one but its more kind of funny: I'm in the small blind and call an unraised pot with
. Flop: 
. Checked to the button who bets and I'm the only caller. Turn 
. I check, he bets again and I call. Just trying to keep the pot small here and see if I can't make something happen. No need to get frisky and check raise or anything. If I don't get there, I'm done with the hand. River 
. Of course I check, missing everything but the button mucks his cards.....Wierd. So I win the pot uncontested but whatever. I go to the first break at 13K so nothing big happened.
Level 3/4 - Things started to pick for me a little more during these levels. Since I had been so quiet in the first levels, my raises and such were gaining a lot more respect. I began to use that to my advantage and raise with weaker/mediocre hands and people were letting me get away with it. Karma was also cooperating with me as I would raise with junk on a steal and manage to flop two pair and people leading into me. Finally, something going my way. I raise, continuation bet the flop, and take it down. The one time it went to showdown: I had a hand. Raise in MP with
. BB goes AI and tables 
and I of course instacall for both our tournament life. Flop: DOOR CARD 
. SO SICK! Cowboys have been the death of me this trip. But guess whats sicker!? Turn and River 
. SIIIICCCCKKK! Finally, things go right for me. I went into the 2nd break with around 18K in chips and playing well.
Level 5/6 - Things finally started to pick up for me in this round. KEY HAND (400/800): I open raise in EP with
. Folds to seat 7 who makes it 13,200. Uh oh. At this point, this guy is chip leader and he just RR me. This would be roughly the 3rd or 4th time he's done that today and every single time, I laid it down so I know he thinks he can make a move on me. I've been fairly quiet and he knows that I'm representing a big hand here. He assumes the only hands I can come back over the top with would be AA/KK and lay down most other PP, especially for my tourney life. But at the same time, he makes me for some sort of amateur. For my tournament life, I had to go with my read that it was a move and he really didn't know my reraising range. I move ALL IN for 25K total. He shakes his head. PERFECT! At this point, he had to call with basically anything given the pot size. He did and tabled 
! Table is just stunned at the cards turned over! We run it out, my hand holds, and now I'm chip leader on the table going into the 3rd break at around 55K.
Level 7/8 - Honestly, I've never been the table leader this late in a big tourney before. The next closest person had aroud 20K at most. I used this tactic and would overbet everything, making others had to make a big call or put their tourney life on the line if they want to play mediocre hands. New younger guy comes to the table and sits 3 to my left. Talkative, loud, etc. I limp UTG with
, he 5x my bet and its folded back to me. I move AI for 70K. LOL. He has 20K behind. He wanted to call so bad because he thought I was making a move. He wanted to control the table and I knew it. I can see it on his face, so frustrated. "I know you're making a move, but I can't call". Which means YOU were making a move too! LOL. I was well on my way to 100K. But its not that easy. UTG raises, I RR with 
(2nd time in this level), guy behind me goes AI (15K total), UTG folds, and guy behind me tables 
. Ya, he flops trips and turns a boat. Awesome but really no damage to the stack. Then right before dinner break, I got stuck in "Jamie Gold" mode. (600/1200) SB limps in (fairly new guy, no read, my first mistake). I have 
in the BB. I raise 6K more and he calls (red flag). Flop all clubs all over cards, he checks, I bet 12K and he calls (red flag). Turn pairs the board, he checks I bet 16K and he moves AI for 21K. Uhhh...Nice play TK. I have a monsterous draw of 4 outs and call, LOL. Of course he flopped the nut flush and I don't get extremely lucky so I double him up. In hindsight it was a terrible move. It was even worse because as I sat with this guy for the next 3 hrs, he was SUPER TIGHT and never played a hand, never made a move. He wouldn't try to steal blinds or anything. Good thing my reading skills are good.....I go to the dinner break with 40K in chips.
Level 9/10 - This is where things went to hell. (1000/2000) I raise UTG+1 with to 8500. Folds to BB (typical old dude). QUOTE "Well, I'm looking to go home so I'm all in...." 18K total. SOB. I hate that freaking line. Either he has AA or he is really looking to go home. I call because I think he REALLY IS looking to go home and I'd have to call with any 2 cards in that spot. He tables 
and flops the nut straight. OMG! So now, I'm i'm shortstack/shove mode because a dude looking to go home doubles up through me. Mind you, I don't do THAT bad in shove mode because ante and blinds are so big that if you take pots down uncontested, you still accumulate alot of chips. The end: (1500/3000) MP limper, guy to immediate right limps (dude from the nut flush) and I have on the button. I can see the blinds are uninterested in the hand and I know the limpers are dead money since they haven't limped in with big hands in 4 hrs. I go AI for 18,900. Folds to the guy on my right and he's thinking. Uh oh. I'm really not looking for a caller here and this will put a dent in this stack if he calls. QUOTE "I know I'm behind, arggghh, I call". I turn my cards over and he goes "Ya, I was right, I'm behind and taps the table" and shows . Uh, so nice call!?!? I mean freaking lie to me or something. Say I know you're making a move and I'm going to call and THINK your K high is good. Don't tell me I"m behind and then risk 60% of your chips. If he raises preflop, I don't even make that move. Seriously. Of course the K flopped and I'm sent packing. 600+ players, top 60ish paid, and I'm out in the 80 - 90 range. I suck at poker. I was SOOOOO dissappointed on the way I went out. I only made one TRUE mistake and that was with the pocket 3s but that didn't cost me the tournament. I just had to work harder. I basically get sent packing by a guy really "looking to go home" and a guy that "knows hes behind". WTF. Let me run good ONE TIME!
See you at the felt!
TK
Level 1/2 - Not much going on here. This is the level where you want to see cheap flops and see if you can't flop a monster and get someone to pay you off. You don't want to overplay hands here and just kind of let things come. The only of importance is this one but its more kind of funny: I'm in the small blind and call an unraised pot with
. Flop: . Checked to the button who bets and I'm the only caller. Turn . I check, he bets again and I call. Just trying to keep the pot small here and see if I can't make something happen. No need to get frisky and check raise or anything. If I don't get there, I'm done with the hand. River . Of course I check, missing everything but the button mucks his cards.....Wierd. So I win the pot uncontested but whatever. I go to the first break at 13K so nothing big happened. Level 3/4 - Things started to pick for me a little more during these levels. Since I had been so quiet in the first levels, my raises and such were gaining a lot more respect. I began to use that to my advantage and raise with weaker/mediocre hands and people were letting me get away with it. Karma was also cooperating with me as I would raise with junk on a steal and manage to flop two pair and people leading into me. Finally, something going my way. I raise, continuation bet the flop, and take it down. The one time it went to showdown: I had a hand. Raise in MP with
. BB goes AI and tables and I of course instacall for both our tournament life. Flop: DOOR CARD . SO SICK! Cowboys have been the death of me this trip. But guess whats sicker!? Turn and River . SIIIICCCCKKK! Finally, things go right for me. I went into the 2nd break with around 18K in chips and playing well.Level 5/6 - Things finally started to pick up for me in this round. KEY HAND (400/800): I open raise in EP with
. Folds to seat 7 who makes it 13,200. Uh oh. At this point, this guy is chip leader and he just RR me. This would be roughly the 3rd or 4th time he's done that today and every single time, I laid it down so I know he thinks he can make a move on me. I've been fairly quiet and he knows that I'm representing a big hand here. He assumes the only hands I can come back over the top with would be AA/KK and lay down most other PP, especially for my tourney life. But at the same time, he makes me for some sort of amateur. For my tournament life, I had to go with my read that it was a move and he really didn't know my reraising range. I move ALL IN for 25K total. He shakes his head. PERFECT! At this point, he had to call with basically anything given the pot size. He did and tabled ! Table is just stunned at the cards turned over! We run it out, my hand holds, and now I'm chip leader on the table going into the 3rd break at around 55K.Level 7/8 - Honestly, I've never been the table leader this late in a big tourney before. The next closest person had aroud 20K at most. I used this tactic and would overbet everything, making others had to make a big call or put their tourney life on the line if they want to play mediocre hands. New younger guy comes to the table and sits 3 to my left. Talkative, loud, etc. I limp UTG with
, he 5x my bet and its folded back to me. I move AI for 70K. LOL. He has 20K behind. He wanted to call so bad because he thought I was making a move. He wanted to control the table and I knew it. I can see it on his face, so frustrated. "I know you're making a move, but I can't call". Which means YOU were making a move too! LOL. I was well on my way to 100K. But its not that easy. UTG raises, I RR with (2nd time in this level), guy behind me goes AI (15K total), UTG folds, and guy behind me tables . Ya, he flops trips and turns a boat. Awesome but really no damage to the stack. Then right before dinner break, I got stuck in "Jamie Gold" mode. (600/1200) SB limps in (fairly new guy, no read, my first mistake). I have in the BB. I raise 6K more and he calls (red flag). Flop all clubs all over cards, he checks, I bet 12K and he calls (red flag). Turn pairs the board, he checks I bet 16K and he moves AI for 21K. Uhhh...Nice play TK. I have a monsterous draw of 4 outs and call, LOL. Of course he flopped the nut flush and I don't get extremely lucky so I double him up. In hindsight it was a terrible move. It was even worse because as I sat with this guy for the next 3 hrs, he was SUPER TIGHT and never played a hand, never made a move. He wouldn't try to steal blinds or anything. Good thing my reading skills are good.....I go to the dinner break with 40K in chips. Level 9/10 - This is where things went to hell. (1000/2000) I raise UTG+1 with
to 8500. Folds to BB (typical old dude). QUOTE "Well, I'm looking to go home so I'm all in...." 18K total. SOB. I hate that freaking line. Either he has AA or he is really looking to go home. I call because I think he REALLY IS looking to go home and I'd have to call with any 2 cards in that spot. He tables and flops the nut straight. OMG! So now, I'm i'm shortstack/shove mode because a dude looking to go home doubles up through me. Mind you, I don't do THAT bad in shove mode because ante and blinds are so big that if you take pots down uncontested, you still accumulate alot of chips. The end: (1500/3000) MP limper, guy to immediate right limps (dude from the nut flush) and I have on the button. I can see the blinds are uninterested in the hand and I know the limpers are dead money since they haven't limped in with big hands in 4 hrs. I go AI for 18,900. Folds to the guy on my right and he's thinking. Uh oh. I'm really not looking for a caller here and this will put a dent in this stack if he calls. QUOTE "I know I'm behind, arggghh, I call". I turn my cards over and he goes "Ya, I was right, I'm behind and taps the table" and shows . Uh, so nice call!?!? I mean freaking lie to me or something. Say I know you're making a move and I'm going to call and THINK your K high is good. Don't tell me I"m behind and then risk 60% of your chips. If he raises preflop, I don't even make that move. Seriously. Of course the K flopped and I'm sent packing. 600+ players, top 60ish paid, and I'm out in the 80 - 90 range. I suck at poker. I was SOOOOO dissappointed on the way I went out. I only made one TRUE mistake and that was with the pocket 3s but that didn't cost me the tournament. I just had to work harder. I basically get sent packing by a guy really "looking to go home" and a guy that "knows hes behind". WTF. Let me run good ONE TIME!See you at the felt!
TK
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