Out of Event #43 in 25th Place

I came into the day and just kind of nitted it up early. I was at what I guess would be considered a tough PLO8 table with Erik Seidel to my direct right, Sigi Stockinger two to my left, and this young German Martin Klaser who apparently is a FTP pro after winning some freeroll along with Berry Johnston there too. There was one interesting pot in the second level of the day that came up against Erik. I had all intentions of completely avoiding Erik when the day started.

I limped AhThTd3d UTG for 2000, and it was folded all the way to Erik in the BB. He checked, and we saw a monster flop for me, Tc5d4d. Erik checked, I bet 3000 and he called. Turn awful As. He checked and I checked. The river was the Ac. He checked and I bet 9000 with tens full. Erik said, "Wow, I have a fullhouse and a low...I don't think I can fold." I wanted to puke because I thought I just valuetowned myself into his Aces full and he was going to get the whole pot. He showed me 8755 though for fives full and the emergency 8-7 low for a chop.

I took 91000 to the first break with 40 players left and an average of 80000. When I got back I won a decent sized pot off of Erik. He raised the CO to 8000, I called with AsKsQxTx. Sigi called 5000 more in the BB. Flop T54 rainbow with one spades. They checked to me and I bet 18000 hoping to win the pot right there. Sigi folded and Erik quickly called. The turn was a 5. Check-Check. I maybe should full pot all-in here instead. River another 5, which is an interesting card because now there is obv no low and my high hand is 555AK. Erik checked fairly quickly, and I had a decision to make. The fact that Erik checked quickly led me to believe he was happy to get to showdown, so I needed to decide if I wanted to, really, bluff all-in. I decided to just check and hope Erik showed me like A32x, A2xx, or 32xx. I checked and said, "Ace-King high." I was delighted when he said, "You got it."

Erik told me while we were playing that he's read my blog a few times and that he liked it and it seemed very "real". This meant the world to me coming from a guy like him.

A few minutes later I gave some chips back in a hand against Klaser. I raised As6s4x2x from MP to 8000. Klaser and his monster stack called as well as the kid in the BB. Flop 962 rainbow. They checked to me and I decided to check bottom two and the second nut low draw. Maybe I should blast it, but Klaser was playing really wild and I thought he might repot me and I didn't want to play for all the chips right there. Turn 5c for two clubs now, making me second nut low to go along with my two pair. Klaser led out 15000, kid in BB folded and I called. River Qc. Klaser led out 30000. This was a really, really tough spot. Klaser seemed competent enough to really test me with just A3 but if he has A43x then I get scooped, and he can also show me A3cc. In retrospect, I think I should probably lay the hand down because I'm like 99% only getting half if I'm right. I'm essentially risking 30000 to win 27000 back. I called and he showed me AxTc3c5x for the scoopaloop.

We redrew at 3 tables and this time I found the toughest of the 3 tables with Seidel, Klaser, Larry Wright, and this kid Tom "LearnedFromTV" Chambers.

My penultimate hand came when I doubled up Chambers he raised the button to 12000 at 2/4000 and I found AhAsKh7c in the BB. I reraised to 37000. He had 87000 (I had 95000) to start the hand and deliberated for a bit before calling. The flop was Qh5c4d. I had a trivial shove for his last 50000, and he had a quick, easy call with Ad8d5s3h.

I guess I am a slight favorite as he can only win the full pot at this point with the case two fives, the case three eights and any of the four deuces. The turn was a very nice 9h, blocking some of his outs, but the river was the crushing 2c to cripple me to 8000 chips. I knew a coinflip hand like this was going to come up sooner or later and I just hoped to be on the right end of it. I obviously cannot complain though as I ran very hot yesterday with a couple of suckouts.

On the very next hand it was folded to me in the SB and I had an any two shove. I happened to find AKJ3, lol. Wright had an any-two call and had like 8654. The board decided to humiliate me when it ran out K93A2 giving Wright the wheel.

My dad is in town for a couple of days. After the bustout we joined all the roomies at Buffalo Wild Wings for some beers and food. We then came back home and everyone slept. Back in action tomorrow in the 5000 dollar 6 handed event. I'm really looking forward to this one.

SS