Another try at WSOP with a $2000 NLHE event. My opening table was actually pretty tough with mostly competent players. Notables:

Seat 1: Paul Darden
Seat 2: me
Seat 3: Aggressive Aussie friend of Bond18
Seat 7: Not 100% sure, but looked a lot like Mark Seif
Seat 9: Another bloody BlackBeltPoker guy (these English guys are under Neil Channing's new staking/sponsorship venture and all play like him and generally pwn my soul and/or get lucky versus me)

I soon got into action:

My Stack ~6k, Seat 7 ~6k, Blinds 25/50, I hold Td8d OTB.

Seat 7 opens for 150 from UTG+1, I call and we're heads-up to the flop.

Pot 375
Flop QT8 rainbow

I think Seat 7 is Mark Seif. He looks weak and checks the flop. I figure I have to go for value here and bet 325. He quickly calls.

Pot 1025
Turn K

Very quick check and I'm not thrilled either by the card or the quick check. It feels like a lot of hands just got there, so I check behind for pot control. River blanks and Seif quickly fires 1k into the pot. I make a crying call and he shows me AJ.

Soon after I'm involved again:

My Stack ~4500, Seat 4 ~5k, Blinds 25/50, I hold KQo in HJ

Seif opens the pot for 150, one call and I think for a while and decide to call. I actually thought about folding because KQo can get you into a lot of trouble in multi-way pots due to high reverse implied odds. OTB and BB call and 5 players see the flop.

Pot 775
Flop KJJ rainbow

Checks to me. I can take a stab at this here some of the time, but 5-ways I figure there's a good chance someone has checked a Jack and I want better than my hand to risk too much so I just check to see if OTB will try to take it down and/or re-evaluate the turn. He fires 300 into the pot - quite an underbet. Folds back to me and again I can sometimes just fold here because there's nothing but trouble ahead in this hand. The following play (by me) is bad. I know it is bad and I regret it, but I guess I wasn't on my A-game at this time. I make a "let's see where I'm at" min-raise. I never do this online. I guess in my mind I was thinking I might pick up a live tell from making such a play and the truth is that I did, but I didn't react to it in the right way. He quickly called and I just knew he had to have a Jack at that point. Turn 6s putting two spades out there and we both checked. River offsuit Ten and I check again. I might sometimes make a blocking bet here of 500 or so, but as I said I wasn't thinking so well in this hand at the time. He confidently bet 1000 and I immediately said "I know you've got a Jack". And the truth is that I did know that, but for some strange reason an alien being took hold of my hand and picked up a 1k chip and called. He showed me J9.

I was so angry at myself for calling there. I knew he had it. He always has it. I can save 1000 and leave myself with 4k instead of being down to 3k, Damn! I took a few deep breaths and mentally told myself off and to start playing better. I'm not sure whether it worked:

My Stack ~3k, Seat 9 ~4k, Blinds 50/100, I hold AKo UTG.

I open for 275 and it folds to Seat 9 who defends his BB. Flop JT7cc. He checks, I bet 575 and he quickly calls. Again I feel like I've misplayed the hand. Medium cards like Jacks and Tens are right in the wheelhouse of callers and I generally don't c-bet flops with this texture, but it's almost like I did this automatically here. Turn blanks and we both check. River blanks. No draws got there on either turn or river. He fires 1150 into the pot. I could make a hero call versus a missed draw here sometimes, but not with my stack and what it would cost me to lose those chips. In any case he can easily have some random small-medium pair or have paired any of the five low-medium strength board cards. I reluctantly fold and feel that I wasted another 575 chips.

Now down to ~2k, I manage to reshove a couple of times and get up to 2800, but then lose a little and find myself down at 2200 as we approach the first break. I pick up A9dd UTG and figure wirh my stack I have to play it. I make it 275. Seat 9 once again defends his blind and this time I decide that I'm shipping pretty much any flop. Flop is K45 rainbow, he checks and I ship it in. He tanks forever as the clocks counts down just a few minutes to the break. I feel that he is thinking of calling with a medium pair and I'll at least have a shot of 6 outs if he calls to get back to reasonable stack for the break. He finally calls and I'm gobsmacked to see him show me 67o. Fucking Neil Channing spewtards defend their BB versus shortstacks with shit like that. I know that's how Channing plays and it probably works for him in deepstacked cash games and I guess he has taught his disciples to play hands like these, but here it is just retarded. Moreover this call is beyond retarded given the pot odds.

I say "C'mon dealer give me a break!" as he peels off the 8 on the turn. One break coming up, but not the one that I wanted, as I managed to bustout before even making the first break.

Played some breakeven 2-5 cash for a few hours and railed my friend Hugh in the Caesar's Megastack for a while (he's made Day 2 on his first day out here, mbn).

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