There are three full days between Day 1A and Day 2A of the Main Event. While it is important to get some rest, that’s just too long to go without playing poker. Last year I played a Venetian Deepstack $1k event in between and managed to bink a 3-way chop for $48k. This year I noticed that the Golden Nugget’s Grand Series $1k Championship Event was scheduled over the holiday weekend, so I decided to give it a try.
Despite the seedy reputation of its downtown location, the Golden Nugget has been recently refurbished and can now be classed as a reasonably nice quality establishment. It also has a great pool scene plus shark tank easily visible from the lobby area as you walk-in. It’s also the home to High Stakes Poker.
The Grand Series was held in a ballroom rather than the poker room and they had perhaps 30 tables set-up in there, but attendance was low and they only managed to get 108 runners for the Championship Event. That still created over $100k prize-pool with $36.6k for first. It was also very deep-stacked with 25,000 chips, one hour levels, blinds starting at 50/100 and rising very gradually.
Surveying the starting field, it looked like a pretty tough bunch, with several skilled online pros (including the Gray twins). My opening table wasn’t too bad, but once again I managed to run bad at the start:
My Stack (Seat 5) ~25k, Seat 1 ~22k, Blinds 50/100, I hold KK UTG+1
UTG opens for 150 and I pop it up to 525, Seat 1 calls OTB and UTG calls: flop QJXr. Seat 1 has played a lot of pots and called down pretty light. As such I’m not too worried by his laconic looking call. I bet 750, OTB calls and UTG folds: turn J. Obviously I don’t like that card, so I check to gauge Seat 1’s reaction, but he quickly checks behind. River blanks and I check again, intending to call any bet from Seat 1. He checks again and shows me AA. Wow, I ran KK into AA and only lost 5% of my stack. Phew!
My Stack ~24k, Seat 7 ~30k, Seat 9 ~20k, Blinds 50/100, I hold AJo in MP
I open for 250, Seat 7 makes it 1350 and Seat 9 quickly calls. I think about my situation for a moment: Seat 7 seems like a typical loose aggressive Scandi whereas Seat 9 also seems kinda spewy. I am out of position with a hand that generally flops badly, but it is only 1100 to call, less than 5% of my stack, and the thought enters my head that if I can flop two-pair or better here I will win a big pot from one of these guys. So I decide to take a somewhat speculative punt on calling:
Pot 4.2k
Flop AJJ
Nice flop! I pause and look at it for a moment, feigning indecision, then check for deception. Seat 7 checks, but Seat 9 bets 2k. I pause again, call the 2k and Seat 7 also calls. The turn blanks and both Seat 7 and myself check again. Seat 9 now makes it 4k and I call again. Seat 7 folds. With 18k now in the pot, the river blanks. He has ~14k left and in these situations, I generally try to bet an amount that will leave my opponent with some hope of a tourny life if they call and lose, rather than go for the home run of his whole stack. So I make it 8k, he pauses for a while, but pays me off with KJ. Perhaps I get his whole stack by taking a stronger line in this hand, but I’m happy to chip-up to ~43k at this early stage.
I then get moved to a much tougher new table to balance up the tables. It’s worth describing some of these guys as we spend the rest of the day here:
Seat 1: Young aggressive guy who likes to make big bluffs (eventually busts late in the day bluffing with complete air versus a pot opened and c-bet by Seat 5 in a 5-way pot versus a flopped set)
Seat 2: Me
Seat 3: Very good tight aggressive Asian-American guy who accumulates a big stack through the day with some highly impressive and huge river calls versus big bluffs
Seat 4: Bad, spewy English guy who thinks he knows more about the game than he does (I know some of my haters might think this description also applies to me, LOL)
Seat 5: Foreign-speaking guy who is by far the luckiest player at the table and accumulates through being a station and hitting flushes, sets and straights for fun
Seat 6: Chubby 50ish sports-betting, gambling-addicted guy who likes to give as he good as he gets versus other arrogant East Coast guys: later in the day he got into a massive pot with the younger arrogant pro in Seat 8, where he put him all-in on the turn, younger guy folded and then they started arguing and he challenged the young guy to Heads-Up for $25k. Finally busted bluffing all-in on a 3-flush, 3-straight, Q-high board with 8s8x versus Seat 3 who made a massive call for a 100k pot with just AQ. After he busted replaced by typical redneck looking, sloppily dressed guy who seemed to play quite bad, calling station type loose passive, but got lucky and built a stack.
Seat 7: Young German guy plays quite bad loose aggressive. Busted later and replaced by chubby Asian-American guy, who came with a massive stack, but lost a lot of it to the redneck in Seat 6 when they built a massive pot on a T4TQ board: river Q, redneck moves-in for his last 20k and poor guy blows his top and tilt slam-folds 44 face-up on the table. Redneck shows AQ.
Seat 8: Unimpressive tight young player for most of the day, but who then spewed-off 20BBs by jamming A5o over tight old guy UTG limp in Seat 10 with AK. Replaced by skilled, young arrogant East coast guy who I’ve played with before and is very good.
Seat 9: Very loud, talkative, typically-arrogant East Coast guy, who nevertheless managed to inject enough humour into his chat that it wasn’t really offensive and often quite funny. For some reason that happened prior to my arrival at the table, he had been arguing with Seat 3 (who generally seemed like a nice guy). After he lost a pot to a big bluff by Seat 1 and Seat 3 tapped the table in appreciation, he called him a Toolbox. Seat 3 called the floor and asked for him to be given a warning, but he majestically turned the situation around, much to everyone’s laughter, when he said “I only called him a Toolbox, that’s a good thing, it’s full of useful things to get you through life like a hammer and a wrench, so I’m only calling him a useful things to get you through life box”. The floor laughed and we moved on. He was also a highly-skilled competent player and, although short-stacked at one point, got through the day with a healthy stack.
Seat 10: Had a few occupants, the last one being a tight older guy; although I did win a sizeable pot from its previous incumbent, a middle-aged conservative looking American guy.
I played pretty tight-aggressive for the most part, but did manage to steal my fair share of the blinds, pull a 3-bet resteal over Seat 10 (when it was occupied by the middle-aged guy) and try to occasional post-flop bluff. Here are a few key hands that I remember:
My Stack ~40k, Seat 9 ~60k, Blinds 100/200, I hold A9s UTG+1
I had been playing fairly tight since coming to the table and had been trying build a profile of each of the players. I already knew Seat 8 was playing a lot of hands trying to hit big flops where he could catch people over-valuing top-pair or an overpair and he’d been paid off in one hand like that already playing 45o. Due to my tight image, I decided that an EP open with a suited Ace was fine, but attracted calls from OTB in Seat 7 and Seat 9 in the SB (Seat 8 was empty at the time).
Pot 1800
Flop 945r
Checks to me and I bet 1200, OTB folds and Seat 8 quickly makes it 2600 more. I said to him “I knew you were going to make a move on me sooner or later” and decided to fold. It may seem pretty weak to just fold to a C/R here, but I don’t have what I like to call a “big pot hand” and if I call here, I know he’s going to keep on firing. So I fold without showing and he shows me J8s for the bluff. It’s fine and I’m cool with that because he can just as easily have two pair or a set in that spot and it’s part of the discipline of deep-stacked poker not to over-value hands like mine.
Unfortunately I go very card dead before picking-up AA in a spot where Seat 9 opened, Seat 1 called and I 3-bet from the CO. If I had been more active then perhaps I get some action, but they both fold.
I then get into an interesting spot:
My Stack ~40k, Seat 1 ~50k, Blinds 150/300/25, I hold AKo in the CO
Seat 10 limps from MP and Seat 1 makes it 1000 straight. I’ve seen him make some moves and he didn’t seem very strong here, but I don’t want to build too big a pot just yet so I call in position, blinds fold and Seat 10 calls.
Pot ~3.5k
Flop 753r
Seat 10 checks, looking uninterested and Seat 1 slides 2.5k into the pot. I really don’t think he has much here and I call intending to take it off him later. Seat 10 folds. Turn 2. I had planned to take it from him on the turn, but when I added a gutshot to my two overcards and he bet 4k, I felt like I had good value in calling. In hindsight that was a mistake as I should have stuck with my plan and gone for the raise on the turn. I really felt like he still had next to nothing and was just making a move. River was a Queen and he slid out a bet of 7k. I didn’t like the river card and I regretted not making my move on the turn. I still felt like a raise would get him off his hand, but with ~24k now in the pot, I would need to put most of my stack in jeopardy to make my move. I definitely had fold equity and I knew in my gut it was the right move, but I got this nagging feeling that I’d be such a donkey if he showed-up with a big hand here. My heart gave-in and I asked him to show me if I folded. He agreed and turned over 44. Arghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew it! I fucking well knew it! Once again I’ve correctly read a situation only for my heart to let me down. I’ve got to stop worrying about looking like a donkey and play to my instincts. Damnit!
I can’t remember which level my next big hand happened or the pot size, but I hold J9dd in the CO. Seat 10 opens the pot and I call in-position: Flop T8X. He bets around ¾ pot and I call: Turn blanks. Check-check and the river is the beautiful Queen. He bets out around ½ pot and I raise him quite a bit more. He pays me off.
I then spend quite a while not picking-up any big pots, bleeding off chips, when I try something out with pretty bad results:
My Stack ~24k, Seat 5 ~50k, Blinds 300/600/75, I hold 23o in HJ
I open for 1600 just to use my tight image to steal the blinds, but Seat 5 decides to defend his SB. He has defended a lot and is such a station about chasing draws, but I figure I’ve got to c-bet any decent looking flop:
Pot 4k
Flop Q96ss
I bet 2.5k, he ponders for a long time then calls. I believe he is on a draw.
Pot 9k
Turn 7o
He checks again and I figure that card didn’t make his draw, so I want to make a big bet to show him I’m pot-committed and get him off it. So I throw 9k into the pot (leaving me with only ~11k behind). After a lot of pause, he decides to put me all-in. Fuck me! Obviously he either hit the flop very hard or just made a double gutshot draw with T8. I suspect the latter, the fucking lucksack! I angrily fold, telling him he’s the luckiest player at the table and he gives me a smile. Yes, sir, I know you got there on the turn, sigh!
I hang-on with my short-stack until the dinner break. After dinner I get a little lucky:
My Stack ~11.5k, Seat 10 ~35k, Blinds 400/800/100, I hold 22 in BB.
Seat 3 opens for 2200 UTG, Seat 10 calls and I consider my situation. There is 6.4k already in the pot and it is 1.4k for me to call with 9.5k behind. So if I hit my set I can win 16k for a bet of 1.4k. Given my stack size and the fact that these are two of the tightest players on the table likely holding premium hands, I figure I get paid in full pretty much every-time I hit my set. The only danger, therefore, is hitting my set but still losing, which might happen 20-30% of the time versus two opponents. As such, I decide it’s worth the gamble and make the call:
Pot 7.8k
Flop A23dd
Bingo! I check, Seat 3 checks and Seat 10 makes it 5k. I move-in, Seat 3 folds, Seat 10 calls and I’m hoping he has exactly what he shows, AK, and I more than double-up to a healthy 27k.
I soon pick-up more steam:
My Stack ~27k, Seat 8 ~60k, Seat 1 ~50k, Blinds 500/1000/100, I hold AA OTB.
Seat 8 opens for 2.7k, Seat 10 calls and it’s almost the same as the situation earlier where I held AA. I again make a healthly raise to 9k, selecting an amount that looks like it’s a little on the large size (making it look like a squeeze). Seat 8 tanks and looks like he’s considering moving-in, but folds. Seat 10 does exactly the same, but decides to call the 9k.
Pot ~24k
He checks the raggedy flop with 2 diamonds to me and I indicate all-in. He folds AQo and I pick-up a nice pot to boost me up to over 40k again. I then get in perhaps my most interesting spot of the day:
My Stack ~43k, Seat 3 ~150k, Seat 9 ~50k, Blinds 500/1000/100, I hold 88 OTB.
Seat 9 opens the pot for 2.7k, Seat 1 calls, I call and then Seat 3 pops it up to 8k from the SB. He has played very tight and I do not put him on a move here, but only a premium pair like QQ+. Seat 9 then calls the raise, Seat 1 folds and I consider my situation. There is 23.4k in the pot, it is 5.3k for me to call and I will then have 35k behind. So if I hit my set I can win 64k for a bet of 5.3k if I get one of the two players to pay me off after the flop. I am getting implied odds of 12-1. Obviously we know that we hit a set with odds of ~7.5-1, but versus one opponent we will still lose the hand ~20% of the time when we hit and versus two opponents that rises to around 30%. So we have to have significantly better than 7.5-1 to justify to call: at least 10-1. Then there is the factor that even if we hit our set we might not get paid off in full. In this spot, it is likely that I get paid off by Seat 3, because I know he has a premium pair, but if he holds KK and the flop is AQ8, I might not get paid my full-stack. There are lots of other flops that he might not like that contain an 8, so let’s say he pays us an average of two-thirds of our remaining stack. That reduces the implied odds to ~9.5-1. As such, I felt it was a marginally –EV spot to pay 5.3k in the hope of hitting a set, especially as I still had a nice workable 40BB stack at this point and didn’t have to gamble it up for a while. So I folded knowing that I’d see the flop. I cringed as the dealer showed me J86hh, Seat 3 bet 20k and Seat 9 folded. After that bet, I’m sure to win his whole stack provided I can fade his 2 outs with the AA that he showed. I believe it was a correct decision, but it still haunted me a little, sigh.
Unfortunately I then bleed off some chips in a couple of awkward spots where I’m put to difficult decisions. Here was the toughest one:
My Stack ~35k, Seat 6 ~25k, Blinds 600/1200/100, I hold KQo in SB.
Seat 4 (now occupied by LAG young American) opens for 3200, 3 calls before it reaches my SB and I wonder whether I have enough value to call KQo OOP versus so many opponents. I think there’s value if I can make two-pair or a straight, so I make the call.
Pot ~18k
Flop AJ5cc
I check and everyone checks around looking uninterested. Based on these actions, I’m pretty sure nobody has anything better than a Jack or a draw at this point.
Turn Qh
I feel like that gives me the best hand here a lot of the time, but I don’t want to bet out and rather see how everyone reacts. The guy who opened and Seat 5 look totally uninterested, but Seat 6, now occupied by the redneck, takes a stab at it for 10k with only around 12k behind. It folds to my SB and I think about what he could have. I really can only put him on twos hands that beat me: KT/QJ. Otherwise I’m pretty sure he has no Ace and he can also have QT, KJ, JT, flush draw, or even some other random Qx type hands. As such, I figure I’m beating at least half of his range and even have outs versus the two hands that are beating me (albeit only 3 outs to a chop for KT and 7 outs to a win versus QJ). Getting almost 3-1, I decide to make the call.
River 8c
Obviously that makes some of his flush draws, so I check and feel I’ll be in a tough position if he moves-in for his last 12k, but amazingly he checks behind with KT and at least saves me some anxiety.
That knocked me down to ~20k and into familiar steal/re-steal territory. I worked a few plays, but the blinds kept coming around and knocking me back down again until we reached the last 800/1600/200 level of the day with ~22k. I manage to maintain, but not grow, that stack for 45 minutes by well-timed shoves.
Finally, with 15 mins left of the day’s play, I moved in from MP with 88 and the Asian guy in Seat 7 re-shoved for ~40k. I’m hoping he shows me AK. He duly does and we’re off to the races…flop 972…still sitting calmly in my chair…turn K…sigh, getting up to leave…river blank.
I wish everyone good luck and tell them it had been a pleasure playing with them all-day. My ability to win key races continues to evade me, but the thought of the one that got away with the earlier 88 sticks with me, even though I’m pretty sure it’s the right decision.