I bubbled the $1500 NLH event the night after I lost Heads up to advance to the “final table” of the $1500 shootout. I actually lost on the last hand of the night. Let me explain how that tournament went.

I had a tough starting table with BelowAbove and SloppyKlod. I chipped up early and got moved to a different table which was full of amateur players. I stayed at this table for a couple hours and increased my stack to about 40k. I was one of the big stacks in the tournament. That table then broke and I was moved to the table I would finish Day 1 on. It was a tougher table, but still I could manage. I chipped up to about 50k at 400/800/100a. We only had to finish this level and the 500/1k/100a level and the night would be over. I opened to 2100 on the button with QTo. The small blind defended. He had been playing pretty solid but was a little loose preflop. The flop came JT6 rainbow. He led for 2700, I raised to 6900, and he moved all in for 24.2k more. I went into the tank. Some people say you should always have a plan for a hand, and I do a lot of times, but just because you have a plan doesn’t mean it always works out. In this hand I raised the flop for multiple reasons and he still moved all in. I took a couple minutes to think through his range and then I told him “What else can you have here besides 89 or KQ?” It was still a big decision. 24k was a lot of chips at this stage and would hurt my stack. My instincts were screaming at me to call and I eventually made the call. He said “Good call…” and turned over 89o. I proudly turned over my QTo (also knew my Q was blockers vs 89 and QK) and now had to sweat 7 outs on the turn and river for a 70k pot. The turn was the 7h and I was now drawing dead. He won the pot and I was down to about 20k now.

I won a couple small pots and chipped back up to 35k. At about 32k Brenard Lee shoved the button for 11k and I called with KJo in the big blind. I’m not sure about my call here. We were about 15 minutes away from ending the night, I thought he would shove lighter, which is probably not the case. Anyways, I ran into the top of his range which was AA lol… I lost that pot. They announced 4 hands left in the night. The remaining entrants read 297 with 270 getting paid. On the last hand of the night I was dealt 99 with 5 people left to act behind me. I brain-farted and decided jamming my 20bb stack was a good idea. It is probably a profitable shove, but it is not the right play in this case. One guy reshoved behind me with QQ, JJ folded, and AA snap called in the small blind. I lost this hand as well and really regretted how I played it. It was awful. I then found out the next day that there were 277 remaining players going into day 2. If I knew I was 7 out of the money I would have never shoved either because I think that changes the dynamics for the table/tournament. Oh well.

After those two rough back to back nights I decided to take the next two days off. I wish I didn’t take off any days. I should be a well oiled machine. I shouldn’t let the results effect me. With that said, I still need to live a balanced lifestyle. Hopefully the days off will help me out for the last stretch of the WSOP. I’ve had a good series so far. I’ve had 3 cashes with a final table bubble. I’ve also had like 2-3 other tournament bubbles, which I’m not proud of. I’m getting to the end or putting myself in a situation to have a chance. If I can continue to do this I will eventually be in a position to win a tournament. Tomorrow is a new day with the $1k WSOP NLH event.

Also one last thing, for anyone who is going to be in Vegas July 2nd-4th Deepstacks is having a whole VIP experience/poker coaching session at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Check that out here.. if you have any questions e-mail Buff (link at bottom) Goodnight.