“They say what goes up must come down, but I aint reach my cruisin’ altitude. Take a look at what I did, but can you imagine what I’m about to do?” Ludacris – On Top of the World.

I made it to day 2 of the Borgata 3k Main Event. It wasn’t pretty. We started with 50k in chips and 75 minute levels. The blinds started at 25/50 and slowly progressed from there. I ended the day with 20.4k. The blinds will be going to 500/1k 100a when we resume on Tuesday. Let me tell you how my day went today…

When I got to the table I recognized one Internet kid I know in the 10 seat who plays good. Aside from that I didn’t know anyone else. The first interesting pot I get into was at 50/100 when I raised 74dd in early position and got 4 callers. The flop came 762r and I bet 800. Two call. The turn is 5 we all check and the river is 4 we check to the last guy who bets 3k. I tanked for a minute and didn’t think he was bluffing and my 2 pair were no good. I folded and the other guy looked him up with 45ss. The other guy had AK.

Next hand I raise with 84hh and the sb calls. The flop comes J23hh and he checks to me. I bet 425 he calls. The turn is the Jh and he checks to me again. I’m praying he has QJ or something at this point and decide to bet 700. He raises me to 1500. I just call and the river comes the 8s. This is a good card for me if he does have a jack its less likely that the 8 fills him up since I have one in my hand. He fired 5k on the river. I tanked it for a while deciding if I should call. He could easily have 22 or 33 or a higher flush but I looked him up and he mucked. I was up to 57k after the first 2 levels of play.

The table is pretty crazy. One guy limps for 100, one guy raises to 350, I reraise cutoff with A5hh to 1250, and the small blind reraises me with J5o to 4600 and shows it. This was the first three bet I did which happened to be two hours into the tournament. I made an effort to not three bet light early but I guess people still feel the need to squeeze J5o against me lol. Nobody at the table has folded to a 3 bet either. There is probably a 95% flop rate. It’s just crazy.

There are two guys at the table who are playing every hand. The first one limps UTG and another middle position player limps. I have QQ on the cutoff and make it 750 at 75/150. The big blind just calls (the guy who had AK and called my flop bet on the 762 rainbow hand) and UTG calls (the other guy who is in every pot.) The flop comes AQ7dd GIN!!!! It checks to me and I bet 1650. The big blind makes it 4650 total. He has two 10k pink chips behind him along with four green chips totaling 20.1k (green chips are 25.) I can tell he loves his hand on this flop and I thought he had 77 or AQ/A7 for sure. Maybe even KJdd. Sometimes I just call his reraise on the flop here but I could tell he wanted to get his chips in the pot. I didn’t want a bad turn to peel for me or him and scare him away so I decided to make it 13k (10k more than his raise.) He went all in and I snap called. He threw down AA on the table and I bricked the one outer. I really couldn’t believe this guy who was playing every hand ended up having AA here and just called preflop and hit the perfect flop. Oh well. I went down to about 31k after that pot. He had 26k or so to start that hand before I doubled him.

Another aggressive player was 3 betting a lot at the table. One guy made it 400 preflop, he made it 900 and I made it 2650 out of the small blind with 89ss. He called and the fop came QT3cc. We both checked. The turn came 9c and I decided to bluff here and bet 3800. He made it 10k and I folded. This was probably a really bad 4 bet but I hadn’t been crazy preflop and this was before I realized that nobody at the table was going to fold to a 3bet. Also I was out of position and wasn’t deep enough to make this play. This was horrible by me.

A couple hands later the same aggressive guy makes it 400 preflop and gets 3 callers. I call with 89o on the cutoff. The flop comes Q92r and he bets 1125. I call, the others fold. The turn comes Q we both check. River comes J and he bets 2800. I thought this hand out for a while because the Jack hits everything and I really don’t beat anything on the river. This guy had been betting every flop and really just trying to bully people which made me ultimately call him. He mucked his hand and I was back up to 28k. I got a couple really good reads off him and hopefully I play with him more in the future of this tournament and can use them to my advantage.

This next hand is pretty ridiculously sick. Oh let me also add that I was straddling or blind raising under the gun every time for the early levels. This generated some crazy action and I’m sure people thought I was a nut. I learned this from Stu lol. Anyways, really the only showdown I’ve been in that was a big pot was the QQ vs AA pot. So I raise 63dd on the hijack and the button, who is an active player, calls. I know hes flatting here with a million hands. The flop comes KQ6 one diamond. I Bet 750 on the flop and he floats me on the button. The turn comes A and I bet 2200. He calls again. At this point I really think hes just floating me to outplay me again on the river. I probably should of changed my line in this hand on the turn or river but I thought my line screamed JT or AJ. The river comes T making it KQ6AT and I fire 3850. He snap calls and I say “Jeez what do you have AQ?” I tell him I have a 6 and he flips over Q4dd. He called me with a pair of queens on the river. Pretty crazy. I would imagine hes good there probably 5% of the time by just calling. I could be bluffing with a K, A, etc. -shrug- I’m not sure his thought process on the hand but that was the first pot I really fired into so I was shocked to see him call there. Good call though I guess he had a read on me or something. I am now down to 21k.

At this point I realize if people are calling me with Q4 on a board of KQ6AT then I am doing something wrong and I need to tighten up lol. The level goes up to 150/300 and 200/400 and I play exactly 3 hands during these levels in these 3 hours. I have never been so card dead/played so tight in my life. I open one pot with AK and the bb defends and it comes J45hh and I fire and he raises me and I have to muck. Since I had built a tight image (in the mind of some players) I pulled off this squeeze. The Internet kid I talked about earlier who plays good made it 1100 on the hijack and the cutoff called. The cutoff was a new player to the table who seemed tight. I had 74o on the button and make it 3900 with 10k behind. I know the Internet kid knows that I have tightened up a lot and will respect it unless he has a big hand. Also I don’t think the other caller will go crazy when I only have 10k behind. They both muck and I go up to 17k.

My third hand I play during this level is when I have 16k in chips and make it 1100 preflop with AhKc on the hijack. The cutoff calls and the small blind reraises to 6k total. I move all in for 10.1k more and he calls with K7hh. Wow. The flop comes 93hh45 HE HAS SO MANY OUTS!!… and the river is the Js and I double up to 34k!

The blinds are now up to 300/60 and I raise a limper with AJhh. He calls and the flop comes T83h and he checks and I take down the pot with a continuation bet. I also opened 64ss and got 3bet. Thanks for the reminder that I have to stay tight and wait for a hand at this table guy. I finally get a decent hand with TT on the cutoff and the big blind calls my 1550 raise. The flop comes A66 and we both check. The turn is a K and we both check. River comes 5 and he bets 1500 and I call and he mucks. 35k.

I have now blinded down to 27k. I don’t think I’ve really played any pots. I am really card dead. I have never been so card dead ever in my life. There is a limper for 600 and the guy to my right on the cutoff makes it 1600. A small 1k raise. At first I thought this shouted strength. I looked down at AJo on the button and decided to stab at the money in the pot already and made it 4600. It got back to the initial raiser and he put me all in. He had KK and I mucked. I wish I would of just called here but obviously I was just trying to pick up the dead money out there. Normally I just call in position I don’t know why I didn’t do that in this pot.

And from there on out I just blind down until the end of the night and end with 20.4k going into day 2 on Tuesday. I didn’t get AA or KK all day once again. I got AK twice, QQ once, TT once, AJ twice. Those were my best hands. I looked at K3 and Q2 all day it was really bad. I need to get back to online play where I can play 20 tournaments in a day and see some hands! Just kidding =). I know the deck has to smack me in the face soon! Hopefully Tuesday I can run my 20k up to 300k in the first couple levels lol.

That’s about all I have to say. Today didn’t really go so well but I’m still alive and still have a shot. The blinds will go up to 500/1k 100a and hopefully I get hot. I have been pretty card dead my last couple of live tournaments so maybe things will change come Tuesday. I am proud that I switched gears and didn’t panic and just dealt with what was presented to me. I didn’t get out of line and try to force the play. Thanks for reading. Goodnight.