Bellagio Cup Day #1

I finally had a good first day in a tournament. Today was day 1c at the Bellagio Cup, we played 5 ninety minute levels, to finish with about 310 players, having started with 446. Starting chips were 45,000 and with the slow structure there was a lot of play. The first 3 levels were slow for me, didn't get any hands and none of my moves worked. My table was reasonably tough with Bill Edler, Tim Phan, to name a few. I dropped to about 24k in chips and then started to make a little headway. After UTG+1 raised and Bill Edler called I looked down at J 10 suited on the button and re-raised. Only Bill called and I flopped gin, 9 Q K rainbow. He paid me off and I got back to 50k in chips. It was quite for me again until the last level when I picked up AA and almost doubled up again. Then I pick up 88 in early position and raise 3 big blinds, and get smooth called by the button. He looked like he wanted to raise and when the flop came Q 8 4 with two clubs I decided to bet 1/3 of the pot to appear weak, and he moved in. I had him covered by a little and insta-called him, he tabled AA and my set held up.

I finished the day with 144k in chips and for the first time in a long time felt like I ran well. I can't wait for tomorrow I am looking forward to day 2.

For more information on Roy Winston, you can visit his website: www.oraclepoker.net or send him an email: [email protected]