WSOP Rincon

Poker has been on my brain non stop since the WSOP arrived in San Diego. With all of the action going on just an hour down the road it's hard not to think about it. 

I started off the series on Thursday with a great cash game session. I sat down at a 2/3 table loaded with big stacks and by the end of the night I was the biggest leaving with almost 6 times my buy in. I ran well, played aggressive, and got paid off. There's not much more you can ask for than that.
A few key hands

1. I ran a semi-bluff on a player with an overcard and a flush draw. I put him on an overpair but believed he was good enough to fold when I shoved on a paired board. He almost did but instead gave me my first double me up when I hit one of my outs.
2. I turned a straight in a multi-way pot. A player bet into the field, several players called, and I reraised the pot. The first player called all in with a weaker straight and I raked in a massive pot.
3. A field of limpers called a straddle and then, to my amazement, also called a short stacks tilted shove. Reading them as weak I reraised with AQ suited to isolate and race for the dead money. I got an all in from a player I put on a hand like jacks and the rest folded. I'm not sure if the queen on the flop was good enough to beat him but the flush on the river sure was.

The next day I played in a $350 buy-in event. I began the tournament well building a big stack early but caught a rough beat. I called a raise in position holding a pocket pair and flopped a set. I was able to get 2 players all in for a massive pot that could have made the tournament for me, but it wasn't meant to be. The turn and river put a 4 card straight on the board leaving the pot to be split between my opponents. I was able to build my stack up after that but didn't hold on to it. I finished the day with a small losing session on the cash tables.

On Monday I came back for another run at a tournament but had similar experience. I chipped up again but didn't hold on to them and was sent to the rail again. I think I actually went out too early making a move with AQ when I didn't need to. I raised and got a chain of callers followed by an all in from one of the blinds. I reraised to isolate only to find a big pair hiding in the pack. I missed my ace and that was it. I decided to hop back on the cash games and see if I couldn't stir up some action like I had the other night.  I didn't quite sextuple up but I was able to make back most of my tournament buy-in.

All of the action has left me twitching at my desk. I'm sure I'll be back in time to play some more before the event is over.

$700 Lessons

That's how much it cost for what I learned the other day.  After dusting off my stack 3 times I had to get up from the table. It's OK to lose money so long as you're playing well. That's part of poker; it happens all the time. But I had made a few serious mistakes that accounted for a lot of what I lost.

The most grave error I made was the most basic possible. I had a hand where I made all the right reads and then turned around and made all the wrong decisions. I hit the board with a pair and a draw against a player I put on an overpair. He shoved on the turn not giving me odds, I knew I was supposed to fold, but I called anyway. There's just no excuse for that. A fold there was almost automatic but I let my emotions make the decision for me. I missed and he won with the hand I knew he had. There is no way I can expect to be a profitable poker player if I keep making calls like that.

But that wasn't the only way I misplayed that hand. I had put myself in that position because I took actions on the flop without having a plan for the later streets. Going back through my hand history I realized it was a mistake I made in several other hands too. I wasn't thinking my lines all the way through.  I made raises building big pots and played right into spots where I made my own decisions difficult. I was handing my opponents the rope with which to hang me.

We're going up to Harrah's Rincon this weekend for the World Series of Poker ciruit events and cash games. I've caught my mistakes, now it's time to prove I've learned from them. Let's see if I can use what I've learned to earn that money back.