I am out of the 2009 $10k Buyin World Series Of Poker Main Event. It sucks. I actually caught the first plane back with my buddies Steve and Adam and am writing this blog from Florida. Whenever I lose the Main Event I feel like there’s no point for me to be out there anymore. It’s the last hoo-rah of the WSOP and it’s a horrible feeling losing. Hopefully one year I won’t have to feel the pain of losing and can make a deep run in that monster of a tournament.

My Day 2 starting table was pretty good. I thought it would be tougher after looking up some of the players at the table but it wasn’t that bad. I played one really sick hand which I am so disturbed about I will talk about in a little bit.

I went into day 2 with 32k in chips. I had two big stacks to my right and a big stack to my left. Some of the people at the table had information about them available on the Internet so I googled all their names and tried to know a little bit about my opponents before I played. The guy to my left was dressed in Full Tilt gear and seemed like an Internet player.

The first hand I played was actually five hands into the tournament. It folded to me on the button and I looked down at A9o. The blinds were 250/500/50a and I made it 1300 on the button. The small blind Internet kid made it 3400. I expected something like this to happen to me given stack sizes and I reraised to 7800 and he mucked. I think I might of had to call a shove if he ended up shoving. It would of been a pretty sick shove I don’t think a lot of people are capable of shoving too light in that scenario. I showed him my hand and told him I wasn’t in the mood to mess around and get bullied. He didn’t three bet me too much more throughout the day, which worked out for me.

The second hand I played I raised to 1300 on the hijack with A3ss and the small blind called. The flop came 789s and we both checked. The turn was the 7s and he bet 1300. I called. The river came the Ts making a one card straight. He checked to me, I fired 3600 and he called. He mucked when he saw my flush and I was up to a nice start to 42k.

Middle position player makes it 1400 and I call in the small blind with 22. The flop comes A34r and I lead into the raiser for 1800. He calls and the turn is the 5s. Putting two spades up. I probably should have checked here but given our stack sizes I thought the turn was a great card for him to try to bluff me off if I bet it. I bet 4650 and he mucked. I just thought too deep on the turn here and it’s most likely an easy check raise. Up to 45k.

Here’s the sickest hand of the tournament I played yesterday and after rethinking this hand I am VERY VERY VERY upset with not going through with my read for various reasons. The guy two to my right raised to 1650 (He had been active and was from Daytona Beach with a Kennel Club shirt on and some other logos from Florida related businesses. He was in lots of pots and if I had more information that I later gathered about him this hand would of been a lot easier.) I am down to about 39k and he makes it 1650 on the hijack. I have AQo on the button and decide to just call. My hand has a ton of value and this guy most likely mucks to a 3bet. I’d rather try to chip up in this spot and play a pot vs. this guy in position. The flop comes 662r. He bets 2600. I made it 4500 more, to 7100. He thinks for about 20-30 seconds and makes it 11k more. I have 29k behind, meaning I can reshove for 18k on top of his 11k. I literally thought about this hand for 2-3 minutes. This bet is either a 6 or nothing. Let me explain why I think this. I don’t think this certain player is on the level to induce a shove with a hand like JJ-AA or even 99 etc. He is definitely never trying to induce a shove with apparently no fold equity. He is basically just repping a 6. I also don’t feel that he would play a 6 like this. He’s leaving himself an out in case I actually have a hand where he can fold if I do happen to move all in. I knew this at the time, thought forever, and went against my instincts and mucked. Before I mucked I asked him if he had anything, because I was about 95% sure he didn’t, and then I mucked. He turned over T7hh and took the pot. Some of the guys were asking if I had JJ or QQ since I thought so long but I think my hand is irrelevant there for the most part. AQ is just the same as JJ and QQ there and I’m really kicking myself for not taking my play to the next level on that particular hand.

I raised with J9ss the small blind called. Flop came T97s and I bet 1825 and sb calls. Turn is 5d we check check, river is Ac he checks to me. This guy was really tight and I didn’t think I had good showdown value here so I decided to bluff the river and bet 4100. He instantly shoved, ouch, and I mucked. He showed AA and I was now down to 21k on the short stack again.

I blinded down to 14k and the last hand before dinner break I woke up with AKdd in 3rd position. I made it 1400 and the Internet kid made it 3900. I shoved and he called with QQ. Board runs out T94d5d … Kc on the river and I double up to about 30k before going into 400/800/100a.

I try to play a couple pots and get blinded down to 24k. UTG makes it 2800 (big raise for second time in a row UTG) and the small blind reraised to 14k. I peeled AKo in the big blind and thought for a little bit and decided to muck. I think it’s a pretty easy muck. The small blind only had 11k behind and both ranges are super strong here. I am only chopping with the small blind’s range here and QQ is probably in there like 10% too. So at best I’m really up against AK for the most part. UTG decided to gamble and puts him all in with 99. The small blind had AK and 99 holds.

The guy who ended up busting me 4bet button shoved AJo against a small blind raise who had QQ and spiked an ace on the river. He played pretty solid and good all day but he seemed to get a little more aggressive when the guy to his left who was 3betting him got eliminated. It folded to him on the cutoff, he made it 2200 and I shoved in 15k more in the sb with AJo. He insta mucked and I was back up to 21k. He has now raised the last like 2/4 3/4 pots and he raises UTG to 2200. It folds to me in middle position and I look down at AQhh. I have about 19k total. I hate shoving AQ into UTG raises. I just hate it. This guy played pretty good for the most part and I thought about just calling. Folding might be the best play here but I went against what I normally do and I decided to jam. I don’t know if I jammed because I was frustrated being card dead, or because the blinds were going to 500/1k/100a in 10 minutes or what. But I shoved, he called with QQ and I lost. I don’t completely hate my play but it’s tough. Oh well.

After I busted the Main I got on the first flight out of Vegas which left at 11:30pm (I busted around 8pm) and I made it to Florida at 7:30am. I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for me next. Probably back to online poker and some poker around Florida. I probably about broke even for the trip to Vegas which isn’t bad. Breaking even during the WSOP is always a good thing and I can’t complain. I feel like I’m really playing good poker but I still have a lot to learn and adapt to. Hopefully I can continue working on my game and I know good things are to come in the future.

Good luck to all my friends still out in Vegas and in the Main Event.