pstarfish (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pstarfish) wrote,@ 2005-07-14 19:04:00 |
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Back Home!
Finally back to Phoenix after a very long month and a half in Las Vegas. Even though the experience was a great one, it's very hard to be away from family and friends for so long. I've been home for two days, and have been doing absolutely nothing. I guess I was much more worn out than I knew!
The main event was great fun, and it started out as well as I could have hoped. I had only one name player (Al Krux, final table from 2004) at my table, and it wasn't a terribly aggressive table. Two players at the table played very, very well, but I never was in a bad spot at any time during day one. I flopped a couple of sets, won an all in hand with Aces against Krux's Kings, and late in the day had built my stack to 38,000.
I was moved to the TV table with 2 hours left to play. Phil Hellmuth was at the table as well, and I couldn't help myself. I needled him a little after the first hand he played, and he made it clear that I was welcome to keep my mouth closed. To be fair, I started things off on the wrong foot, but he makes himself an easy target.
I raised a hand from middle position with AT, and was called in one spot. I flopped an ace and bet, and the other player called. I bet rather large on the turn, and he called again. The river was a King, and I couldn't pull the trigger on another bet. I checked, and he showed A9 for the losing hand. Phil needled the gentleman about how bad he played the hand. About 4 hands later, Phil raised and was re-raised by the same guy. Phil called, and the flop came A 4 4. Phil checked, and the other man checked. I think a 7 came on the turn, and Phil checked again. This time, the man over bet the pot. Phil thought for some time, and eventually (after a ton of table talk), made a great laydown of AK, face up. The other man says nice laydown, and flips up pocket aces. Well, now Phil is up telling the world how great he is for making the laydown. He goes on for 5 minutes, and finally I tell him how much I wish that the man hadn't shown his hand, so he would still feel like he was playing bad.
Later, a man who is on obvious tilt from a tough beat gets all his chips in the middle pre-flop against Phil. He has KJs, Phil has AK. The river is the Jack, and Phil loses the hand. Now we get to see the bad loser side. He calls the man an idiot, says he doesn't know how to spell Poker, says that amateurs like him shouldn't be allowed in the World Series of Poker. He goes off for 10 minutes, then when he finally comes back to the table, he gets all of his chips into the middle pre-flop with a less than stellar hand and goes home. Yes, I think he can play great. But he has absolutely no ability to suffer a beat gracefully. And he's a steamer, at least on this occasion.
I had a better than average stack going to day 2, but nothing went right. I had no cards, and finished day 2 as one of the smaller stacks in the field. We made the money early in day 3, and I survived until the last level of the night, but eventually 2 days of high blinds with no cards caught up with me. I finished in 253rd place, with a pretty nice paycheck nonetheless.
I'm very much looking forward to getting back to work. I think I'll go in tonight and show off the bracelet!
Finally back to Phoenix after a very long month and a half in Las Vegas. Even though the experience was a great one, it's very hard to be away from family and friends for so long. I've been home for two days, and have been doing absolutely nothing. I guess I was much more worn out than I knew!
The main event was great fun, and it started out as well as I could have hoped. I had only one name player (Al Krux, final table from 2004) at my table, and it wasn't a terribly aggressive table. Two players at the table played very, very well, but I never was in a bad spot at any time during day one. I flopped a couple of sets, won an all in hand with Aces against Krux's Kings, and late in the day had built my stack to 38,000.
I was moved to the TV table with 2 hours left to play. Phil Hellmuth was at the table as well, and I couldn't help myself. I needled him a little after the first hand he played, and he made it clear that I was welcome to keep my mouth closed. To be fair, I started things off on the wrong foot, but he makes himself an easy target.
I raised a hand from middle position with AT, and was called in one spot. I flopped an ace and bet, and the other player called. I bet rather large on the turn, and he called again. The river was a King, and I couldn't pull the trigger on another bet. I checked, and he showed A9 for the losing hand. Phil needled the gentleman about how bad he played the hand. About 4 hands later, Phil raised and was re-raised by the same guy. Phil called, and the flop came A 4 4. Phil checked, and the other man checked. I think a 7 came on the turn, and Phil checked again. This time, the man over bet the pot. Phil thought for some time, and eventually (after a ton of table talk), made a great laydown of AK, face up. The other man says nice laydown, and flips up pocket aces. Well, now Phil is up telling the world how great he is for making the laydown. He goes on for 5 minutes, and finally I tell him how much I wish that the man hadn't shown his hand, so he would still feel like he was playing bad.
Later, a man who is on obvious tilt from a tough beat gets all his chips in the middle pre-flop against Phil. He has KJs, Phil has AK. The river is the Jack, and Phil loses the hand. Now we get to see the bad loser side. He calls the man an idiot, says he doesn't know how to spell Poker, says that amateurs like him shouldn't be allowed in the World Series of Poker. He goes off for 10 minutes, then when he finally comes back to the table, he gets all of his chips into the middle pre-flop with a less than stellar hand and goes home. Yes, I think he can play great. But he has absolutely no ability to suffer a beat gracefully. And he's a steamer, at least on this occasion.
I had a better than average stack going to day 2, but nothing went right. I had no cards, and finished day 2 as one of the smaller stacks in the field. We made the money early in day 3, and I survived until the last level of the night, but eventually 2 days of high blinds with no cards caught up with me. I finished in 253rd place, with a pretty nice paycheck nonetheless.
I'm very much looking forward to getting back to work. I think I'll go in tonight and show off the bracelet!
