Day 4: Tourney
I decided to play the $550 at the Venetian on Wednesday and I was playing/running pretty well. The very first hand of the tournament I raise AcQc UTG, 15,000 chips deep at blinds of 50/100:
Hero (UTG) raises to t300, 6 folds, Button Calls, SB Folds, BB Calls.
Flop: Jc 7c 3c (Pot t950)
Hero Cbets 700, Button Folds, BB Calls
Turn 8s (Pot t2350)
Hero Bets 2100, BB Raises to 5700, Hero Shoves to 14,000, BB Tanks and Folds
Hero Nets 6700 Chips.
He folded after hemming and hawing, he said the worst I could have there would be a badly played AcAx or something and I figured him for a set. I was debating whether to call the turn or wait to get it in on the river but given the way it is played I’m still up in the air. His c/r range on the turn is only lower flushes and sets and he should probably be folding 100% of his range in this spot; basically I gave him a way to play his hand correctly. The main reason why I didn’t wait until the river was there were a shit ton of cards that were scary or I would lose value from. Any board pair I would have to call because he’s still representing a flush/boat and any club I would lose all value from sets and lower flushes alike. So basically I’m looking at 8 clubs and 10 cards to pair the board out of the remaining 46.
So 8/46 I net 0 chips, 10/46 I lose -(3600+8300), and 28/46 I win 8300. So that’s -2825 + 5052 = Net 2227 Chips, or rather 22 big blinds. That’s actually a rather large EV and if its a cash game its the best way to play it. The biggest difference in this spot though is that if we lose we are out of the tournament and fore go a ton of $ev by busting so early. Either way I ended the hand with close to 22,000 chips and I am feeling good.
The next hand came blinds of 75/150 and I raise up 88 from MP. A semi-station calls from the SB; he’s the type of player who ‘defends’ his blinds a lot and calls down too much so I don’t mind it when he plays. Here’s the hand:
Hero raises 8h8d in MP to t450, SB calls, BB Folds.
Flop Th 5h 2h (Pot 1050)
SB Checks, Hero bets 600, SB calls
Turn 2s (Pot 2250)
SB Checks, Hero Checks
River 4s (Pot 2250)
SB Bets 1300, Hero Calls
SB Shows 9d9s, Hero Mucks
I actually thought I was ahead here almost always and I was surprised to see he value bet 2nd pair there. I feel like my play was fairly standard it’s just annoying I dropped like 10% of my stack on this hand.
The next hand was my final hand, I wake up with AA in the SB vs an Aggressive opponent in the big blind. I had t16,000 and blinds of 100/200/25 and he had me covered. This guy was a pretty solid opponent, and willing to make big bluffs. Already I have seen him make a good bet/3bet bluff with Ace high on the flop vs someone who likes to turn a made hand into a bluff. I’ve also expected some of his other hands to be bluffy as he’s very aggressive and has shown at least one other bluff. He’s also Australian if that matters 
Hero raises to 600 with AA in SB, BB calls
Flop Kd Jc 8d (Pot 1200)
Hero bets 800, BB thinks and calls
Turn 9c (Pot 2800)
Hero Bets 2200, BB raises to 5000, Hero Shoves 15,000ish, BB Calls
Hero Shows AA
BB Shows K9
River 2h, BB wins with two pair Kings and Nines
Hero Mucks and Gets up.
I mean obviously we have Aces with less than 100 bb, blind vs blind against an aggressive opponent on a drawy board. Any other opponent and I would try and 2nd guess myself and maybe play it a little slower on the turn; to be honest I didn’t even think I was behind here either and there are a ton of scare cards on the river, including any card 8-K as well as either of the flushes. So I stuck it in there and lost, but if I lose every tournament on KK or AA I should be good to get a couple day 2s.
I get up, head to the Rio to register for the 1500 the next day and go back to the room for partying that night.
