My WSOP Main Event Day Two

It was a good start to the day. I came in with 24,475 and early on doubled up: HAND 1:
A player limps for 400 under the gun, everyone else folds and I check my option in the big blind with AQ. The flop comes Q 9 4 rainbow. I checked and my opponent bet like 900. I decided to play it slow feeling like he either had me with a set, AA, or KK, or if I was ahead, he probably didn’t have a lot of outs. I called.
The turn was an Ace putting a backdoor flush draw out there too. I checked, he bet 1300, I made it like 3600, he re-raised to 9600. At this point I can fold, call, or re-raise him all in for another 10,000. I hummed and hawed for a while. I didn’t think this guy was bluffing at all and he could easily have a set here, but I just don’t see how I could get away from it with my stack being so small. I thought it through, and finally moved in. He went into the tank and now I felt great about my hand. In fact, I assumed by the long pause that he was drawing completely dead so I did the best I could to talk him into making the call. I won’t repeat here what I said, but I’m sure you’ll see it on ESPN when the shows air. He finally called and showed AJ. HAND 2:
From there I picked up a little momentum and actually built my stack up to about 80,000. Then a very interesting hand came up. I raised to 1375 (blinds 300-600) with 6d 7d and a tough, young, internet player called me in position. It folded around to the big blind who re-raised to a total of 4600. I counted his stack and it seemed like he was deep enough for me to make the call in position. I called. The internet kid paused for a while and eventually called. I put him on a suited connector type hand or a small pair looking to win a big pot, but I put the big blind on a big pair or AK. I felt really good about where I was at and my read of the situation.
The flop came Ac Qc 2h and the big blind insta checked. When he did, I was convinced he had KK or JJ and that this was a great spot to pick up the pot since I felt like it was very unlikely that the internet kid would hit this flop. I bet 6500 and the internet called. The big blind, frustrated, folded what appeared to be KK.
The turn came the 8s. Now, I have nothing but there is a lot I can represent. I could easily have any of the following hands: AK, AQ, QQ, 22. I felt like my opponents most likely holding was either a flush draw, or possibly a weaker suited ace, maybe even something like A-10 suited. I felt like he may fold an ace to another bet, and he’d call with flush draws. If he calls me on the turn, I need to have enough chips to be able to make a reasonable sized bet on the river without crippling my stack if I was wrong and he was calling me down with an Ace. I elected to bet 13,500. He thought for a while, looked like he may want to raise me and for a second I thought he may have a hand like Jc 10c which would be a big draw. Finally he called. The river came the 3c and at this point I didn’t think I could buy the pot. I mean, I put the guy on the flush draw so I felt like I had to give up and protect my 45,000 stack. I checked, and he moved all in.
So either he was turning his Ace into a bluff, or he actually made the flush. Either way I had 7-high and obviously couldn’t do anything about it anymore. I’m still interested to see what would have happened if the river was NOT a club. I probably would have bet something like 17,500. No need for a much bigger bet since if he missed clubs he’d probably fold and if he has an Ace he’d be almost as likely to call 17,500 as he would 25,500. HAND 3:
After that hand I never was able to get it going and I kept picking up trash hands. Nothing even the wildest of players would consider playing. I eventually picked up a mediocre hand in the big blind and defended. A young internet player raised under the gun, the button called, and I called the 1300 more from the big blind with K-J (blinds 500-1000). The flop came 10-9-7 rainbow and I checked, The raiser bet 3600 and I called. The turn was a 5 and it went check-check. The river came a 4 and I decided that this pot was worth trying to steal. I felt like I could get him to fold Ace high, KQ, KJ, and maybe a few paired hands like 7-8. I bet 6800 and he tanked. He finally called me with 8-9 and that’s how I ended the day under 30,000 I started the day with 24,475 and “chipped up” to 27,900. When day three begins we’ll be playing 500-1000 (100) for another hour before going to 600-1200 (100) which means I’m hardly in desperation mode with 28 big blinds. I’ll need to pick up some hands obviously, but I’m hoping I can maybe chip up to 42k-45k without getting it all in. That depends heavily on table draw, and here is what mine looks like: 1.Patrick Barth 36,600
2. Eric Carr 82,000
3.Michael Adamo 130,000 (I used to play house games with this guy 20 years ago!)
4. Jeremy Jagoda 59,000
5. Hoyt Corkins 122,400
6. Dhurba Mukherjee 70,800
7. Oleksandr Bichurch 51,900
8. Dustin Patterson 54,700
9. Daniel Negreanu 27,900 Despite the fact that I’m not exactly doing great chip wise, I’m extremely proud of myself for doing the best I can dealing with adversity on day two and making it through without giving up. I’d say that when I factor in all of the variables that can affect your WSOP performance, this is the absolute best WSOP I’ve ever had. I don’t know that a lot of people would look at it that way, or that many people could handle my WSOP experience as well, but I am very proud of the discipline I showed throughout when I could have easily made excuses to “quit” and go get drunk or something. I never did that even once.
The mark of a true professional is one that can put aside everything else in their life when they are playing the game and still give it their best effort. For the past six weeks or so, I’m satisfied that I did the very best I could. It was a mental struggle at times, but nothing kept me from dedicating myself fully to playing the game…and it’s not over yet.
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