This morning I woke up and decided to play the $1100 PLO 6-max tournament at the PCA. I registered and got to my table. I had a pretty good seat. I had position on the better players I believe. I only played one big pot really.

At 25/50 UTG made it 150, the cutoff made it 525 and I flatted in the big blind with T9cc67dd. We started with 10k in chips and 50 minute levels. My hand plays really well post flop so I think it’s an easy call, especially since the UTG raiser will not be 4betting here much. The UTG raiser did actually 4bet to 2125. The cutoff called and I was priced in as well. The flop came QcTd2c and there was about 6400 in the pot. I had around 8k and decided potting it and going with this flop was the best play. It is obvious the UTG raiser has AAxx and I figured he would have to fold dry aces here on this well connected board assuming he didn’t have clubs along with his AA. He ended up tank calling with AcAhQh9d for dry aces. He flopped top pair as well but my hand had 57% equity vs his hand, so I was actually a favorite. The turn and river bricked and I was down to about 1200 in chips.

I doubled up and then 3bet Nam Le’s open with AKQTds. He flat called and I had 700 chips behind. The flop came J82ddd and I didn’t have diamonds. This is one of the only flops I would ever check fold here with my remaining stack of about 700-800. I check folded and eventually got my stack in having to fade 8 outs and he hit. On to the next tournament.

The 5k 8 handed tournament started at 4pm. The PLO started at 2pm. I registered for the 5k after relaxing for about an hour and eating lunch. I got in the 5k at around 5pm and was moved to a tough table. Here was the seating assignment:

Seat 1: Roothlus
Seat 2: Busto_soon
Seat 3: ToeTagU
Seat 4: GotURead
Seat 5: Me (Cre8ive)
Seat 6: Angel Guillen (Stars pro)
Seat 7: BigEgypt
Seat 8: Danny Wong

I will talk about some really interesting hands but I don’t know how much I want to go into detail. The first big pot I got involved in was at 75/150. I raised UTG with A7hh. Angel called in 2nd position and Roothlus called in position. ToeTagU 3bet to 1600 from the small blind. I wanted to put him in a tough spot with Ace blockers and 4bet to 3250. I was about 15k deep and everyone was around the same. I really like my 4bet sizing here. Angel and Rooth folded and ToeTagU called. Uht oh. The flop was A63 rainbow. He checked, I checked. The turn was another 3 and it went check check. The river was a 5 and he bet 4600. I made a really easy call in my mind and he showed me AA. Ouch. I was now down to about 7k in chips.

Since I was at such a tough table I decided to mix my play up and step outside the box a little. I took some different lines and played some different spots than I usually would. I got in one big pot with Roothlus when he raised the hijack to 525 at 100/200 and I defended my big blind with 64cc. The flop came J44ss and he bet 550 after I checked. I check raised to 1450 and he called. The turn was the 2h putting two hearts and two spades and I bet 2450. He called once again. The river came the Jc and I hated the river. I don’t think he has too many jacks in his range, I really thought he had an over pair like AA/KK and I thought this card would kill my action. I bet 5k leaving myself with about 2-3k. He thought for a while and ended up mucking.

Another big pot I got involved in was when GotURead opened the cutoff to 525 and I called with KQo. Angel called in the sb too. The flop came Q74r and both me and Angel called GotURead’s flop bet of 900. The turn brought Qs putting two spades on board and they both checked to me. Normally I bet here but I wanted to get more value and disguise my hand to both opponents and I checked as well. The river wasn’t the best card, it was the Ad. Angel checked, GotU bet 2200 and I raised to 5700. Angel folded and GotU made a great fold showing a Q (Q6 he said) and I won another pot.

I was playing pretty weird but aggressive. I liked how I was mixing it up a lot. I grew my stack up to about 22k and picked up AQo a couple hands into the 150/300/25ante level. I opened to 800 on the hijack and Danny 3bet from the small blind to 2500. He had about 7k behind and I moved all in. He tanked for a long time and really wanted to call but ended up folding what he said was AJ. Oh well. I was very active and was playing a ton of pots. I won a couple nice pots off Danny. Two hands after the AQ I picked up another real hand AKcc. I made it 800 from 2nd position and Danny moved all in for 7k. Roothlus tank folded and then it got to ToeTagU in the big blind. He instantly moved all in for around 30k. I was pretty surprised to see a snap shove by him. I thought he would of tanked for a little bit with QQ/KK/AA so with that thought process coupled with my image, I thought this was an easy call although it was a huge pot. I called all in with my 25k stack. Danny turned over 55 and ToeTagU turned over AKdd. I had AKcc and the board ran out 6d7d3h8dx and ToeTagU hit a flush to win a monster pot. I think it would be hard for ToeTag to just flat there with a lot of his range because I could put him in tough spots by shoving over his call with a wide range. I think it’s an easy call for me.

So today I was pretty unlucky and that’s the theme of the trip. I have been playing really well in the bigger events and I really like where my game is heading. I still have a lot more to learn and practice but I’m getting there. It was nice playing against great players today to test where I’m at. It was a fun challenge. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for the next couple of days. I leave here on the 12th.

That’s it for now. Will update later. Goodnight.