And we’re off

I got to the Horseshoe 20 minutes early. They have not opened the room where Gold 675 is, so I backtracked to the WSOP Cafe overflow room, which is cool and quiet.

In my old age, cool and quiet is what you want. I’d passed the time this morning watching the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest and wishing I’d put some money on Joey Chestnut to repeat.

Fifteen minutes to go before we start.

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I’m now in the room where it happens. Gold 475 will become its own ecosystem, an island of stability amidst the chaos of the tournament. I may become friendly with my competitors - it’s hard not to be when you spend ten hours with the same people.

Seat 6 is a good place to be, I suppose, as long as I’m not to the right of a difficult player. Last year, one of our team  started his day to the immediate right of a guy named Stephen Chidwick, who is one of the top ten players in the world. This, to say the least, prevented my buddy from doing anything creative - guys like Chidwick know what you’re going to do before you do. You may as well be playing with your cards face up.

I don’t want that this afternoon. I also don’t want a poker neophyte to my left - too unpredictable. Instead, I want a solid traditional entirely predictable player to my left. If he reraises me, I know to fold.

Let’s see what we get.

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Here’s the table:

I am playing next to a guy with a large gray rubber duckie on the rail.

The announcer does some business and then says, “Shuffle up and deal!”

My first hand is A3o (a non-matching ace and three). I fold. The next hand is J10o. I fold again, then regret it when the flop goes Q96. But then I’m happy when Seats 1 and 3 get into it for thousands. Seat 1 takes it down on the turn. My straight draw would have cost ten percent of my stack. Glad I didn’t play it.

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25 minutes into the tournament, and I haven’t played a hand yet. I’ve been raised out of my big blinds, and I’ve folded my small blind once.

But now, KJh! Seat 1 raises to 600. I think I need to establish that I should not be taken lightly. Seat 1 and Seat  8 are attacking the blinds regularly. So I smooth call. The big blind comes along too.

The flop is 776 rainbow. First to act, I check. BB and Seat 1 do too. The turn is a 7. Time to represent the pair - I bet 1200 into the 1800 pot. Instant folds and I’ve won my first pot of the tournament.

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AKo under the gun. Wanting to isolate, and remembering Anar’s suggestion of using unusual amounts to make calculating pot odds more difficult, I raise to 700. Everyone folds but the BB. Nothing comes on the flop, so I continuation bet 1200.  BB folds.

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Two hands later, I get AKo on the button. Under the gun raises to 600, aggressive Seat 3 reraises to 1700. With good position, I call the 1700, expecting the first raiser to fold. Instead, he re-re-raises to 10,700. Seat 3 folds. I suspect this guy has a high pair (QQ or higher), and I know he will continuation bet on the flop. Even if I catch an ace on the flop, I’m not sure I can win.

So I fold. Lots of poker left to play. 59,300, with two minutes left in the first hour.

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K10 on the button.  Everyone folds to two behind the button who calls the blind - first time I’ve seen that today. Sensing weakness, I raise to 700.  SB and BB fold, but the limper calls.  Board misses both of us, so I continuation bet 1200.  He folds.

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1010 in middle position.  Limper limps again, guy to my right raises to 600, I call. One other caller.  I have position.  Flop is JJ8. Everyone checks to me, I bet 1200. Everyone folds except for the guy to my right.  Turn and river are blanks so we check it down. He shows KK.  I got out cheap with the bet on the flop by making the guy worry about the set of jacks. 57,500.

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Minor disaster - AhJc UTG. I limp. Seat 1 raises to 1000. I call.  Flop is two hearts and inside straight draw for me. I check. Seat 1 bets 1000. I call. Another heart hits in a coordinated straight board. Seat 1 bets 3300. I raise to 12,000, representing the flush. Unfortunately, I find out later that he has already made a straight and is not believing my story. He calls. I don’t catch the nut flush card I need, and we check it down. I’m now at 42,000.  Sigh.