Out of 1500, Huge Day at Bellagio, Jon in the final 4

I busted in the fifth level of the 1500 at Mirage today around 70th place of the 180 entrants. I really played great, I think. A few minutes into level 5 I was slightly above average with a 13000 stack and 11000 the average. An odd, talkative kid open-limped in the hijack, the cutoff limped, and the button limped. I completed 200 more with Ts7h and the BB checked. The flop was a monster 9h 8h 6h. I flopped the nut straight with an open ended straight flush draw. We checked to the kid and he bet 1500. The guy right behind him peaked back at his cards and then raised to 4500. The button folded, and I didn't take long before jamming for the CO's 11600 total. It's very unlikely I would've folded even if the guy didn't peak back at his cards (this is a major tell in live poker where players check to see if they have a card of the suit when it flops all the same suit). The BB and kid folded, and then the CO proceeded to slowroll-call me after a minute of thought with KJhh :( Such a sick cooler. I was still drawing live to two outs, but the turn came the Ah and the river the Qh to leave me with just 1200 chips. On the very next hand a guy limped UTG for 400 and then a clown raised to 1100 from EP. I moved AI with KQo on the button for 100 more. The UTG player somehow folded, and the EP player somehow showed up with QTcc. The board came A x x J K and that was all.

It was only 5 pm, so I decided to finally go over to Bellagio and put some live cash game hours in. I got a seat at 10/20 NL after waiting just about 5 minutes. I bought in for 10000, because I like to be able to comfortably maneuver and have all the guys covered. I honestly don't know if I've ever run hotter over 4 hour session. I murdered the game for 13200 dollars. These are obviously extremely unsustainable results in a 10/20 NLHE game, but I can't help but be very excited to actually make something happen. Hopefully this will be the start of big things. I really, really needed it. I'll list some interesting hands. The first game against Louis Pagnotti. Louis is a kid that I really like. Long-time readers may remember that he was at the final table of the 10000 dollar Bellagio cup with me. Louis open-raised to 100 bucks in EP, and I called in MP with 6h6c. The flop came Q42 with 2 hearts. He led out 200, and I decided to just call. The turn was the magic 6d. He bet out 500, and I quickly moved him in for his 1600 total. He called quickly. I showed the set and he looked very unhappy. He picked up his cards and showed the others around him. The river was an Ace though and he still mucked, so I guess he had AQ or KQ. Next, I stacked Dan Alspach. Dan is quite the gentleman but is very talkative which can be annoying at times. I enjoy playing with him though because his loose-passive style is very ideal for taking his chips, especially in cash games. Dan opened for 100 in the cutoff and I pumped it up to 360 with KK right behind him on the button. He called. The window card was an Ace, then the board rolled off another Ace, and then the K for an AAK flop. Dan checked, and I bet 500 with the third nuts. Dan called. The turn was a 6. Dan checked, and I checked. The river was an 8. Dan bet 600, and I moved him in for 1600. He instantly called, but then mucked AJ after I showed the boat. A few minutes later I limped behind a limped in EP with 33. a MP player limped and the cutoff raised to 140. I called and the MP player called. The flop was T32 rainbow. We checked to the cutoff and he bet 380. I decided to just call in hopes of drawing the other guy in. He folded. The turn was a T, and I decided the best way to get more money in was to get cute. I bet out 120 bucks into the pot of 1200. He quickly raised to 600. I felt like he actually had a big hand, so I went ahead and moved him in for his 2200 total. He ponder folded. Minutes later I flopped yet another set in 3-way raised pot with 66. The flop came TT6. We checked to the player in position and he bet 120. The original raiser raised to 320, and I just called. The player in position folded. The turn was a 2 and the OR check-folded to my 600 bet. The final big hand of the night came against this old guy called "O'neal" or something. It's unusual to see a player in his sixties as aggressive as this guy. He raised, literally, 90% of the time that people limped, and he very, very often reraised PF after a raise and a call. That being said, I had little respect for his raises. I found QQ UTG and raised to 80. 4 players called and then O'neal raised to 400. I didn't like the idea of just calling and letting others in. I decided to take a stand right there. I repopped it to 1500. It was folded back to O'Neal and he moved in for like 3500 total. I called. We kept our cards facedown, and the board came T7745. I quickly turned over my QQ, knowing it was best. He looked at the board and looked back at his hand. I'm thinking to myself, "Please no slowroll." He eventually mucked. He was really steaming after losing a lot of pots, and I doubt he even had AK. Maybe JJ, Maybe even AQ or 99. I played about 10 more minutes then decided to head out. I'm happy. In some great news, Jon is in the final 4 of the 5000 dollar heads up event at Mirage. He plays David Pham in the semis tomorrow and then hopefully he will play in the finals against the winner of Aaron Been and Eric Froehlich. Jon is guaranteed 18000 and if he wins he gets like 160000. This amounts to Jon's 5th final table (final 9) of the year after finishing 8th in an event earlier this week. It would be a stretch to say he's not playing tournament poker as well as anyone in the world in 2007. Tomorrow is a 1500 dollar supersatellite to the main event. I will play that, and if I bust I'll probably go back over to Bellagio and play at some point. SS