Log in with your TwoRags.com account. Click here to register. Email: Password: Remember log-in information

Starting Day 2A with 31k at 200/400/50, I was still very deep-stacked and not concerned about being below the average at this early stage of the tournament. My table draw, with hyper-LAG Anthony Lellouche on my direct left meant that I would have to adjust my strategy and only open pots with good to premium hands for the most part.

Within the first orbit, however, I found myself in an interesting spot:

My Stack ~31k, Seat 2 ~34k, Seat 6 ~51k, Blinds 200/400/50, I hold J8s in CO.

Seat 6 opened for 1.1k, I called and Seat 2 in the SB also called:

Pot ~4k
Flop 975r

Seat 2 leads out for 2.5k, Seat 6 folds and I feel that I’m getting the right price for my DGSD:

Pot ~9k
Turn 6o

I hit the low end and call another 5k bet. The river blanks and the SB finally decides to slow-down and check. I feel that my hand is good almost always here and decide to go for value with a 7k bet. He calls and I’m expecting a chop, but he shows TT and I rake in the big pot and I’m up to 47k.

A few hands later, I’m involved again:

My Stack ~47k, Seat 7 ~23k, Blinds 200/400/50, I hold AA UTG+1

I open for 1.1k, there’s a caller in-position and then Seat 7 makes it 5.1k from the SB. I re-raise to 25k, the over-caller folds and Seat 7 makes a quick call with AKs and I hold to move up to over 70k.

During the next couple of orbits Anthony Lellouche plays and wins almost every pot, but I don’t mind because I can see that they’re breaking the tables and I get moved to a new table with a bunch of unknowns. I soon get involved by 3-betting one loose looking guy opening from LP twice in a row, but having the goods both times (AK and AA) and showing. I then lose back what I made playing a couple of speculative hands and chasing a little. I soon get into an interesting spot:

My Stack ~70k (Seat 6), Seat 1 ~50k, Blinds 200/400/50, I hold KQs in BB.

Seat 1 opens the pot from MP, SB calls and I call from Seat 6.

Pot ~4.5k
Flop T97r

Checks to the raiser and he bets a weak looking 2k, SB folds and I consider raising, but decide there’s enough value to call with my GSD + 2 overs. The turn blanks and I think I can take it away from him here so I lead 7k into the 9.5k pot and he reluctantly folds.

My table gets broken again and I’m moved to the Seat 1, Amazon Blue Table 7, where I’ll stay for the rest of the day. There’s not long left until the first break, but I get involved in one interesting spot:

My Stack ~72k, Seat 9 ~80k, Blinds 200/400/50, I hold 77 in BB.

Folds to middle-aged lady’s SB and she completes. I look down at 77 and consider raising, but decide to just call in-position and see what develops:

Pot: 1250
Flop T78hhd

She leads for 1.5k and I again think about raising, but decide that calling is fine:

Pot: 4250
Turn 9d

She checks and I think controlling the pot by checking behind is the best line here. If I bet and she raises, I’m likely folding and might sometimes be folding the best hand:

River 5o

There’s no flush, but it’s a pretty scary board for a set. She bets out 5k and I think about it for a while: what could she lead the flop with that made a straight? If she already had a straight on the flop (J9 and 96) then she would have continued to bet on the turn to protect versus flush draws. If she had a Nine in her hand she might lead the flop, but then made no straight (e.g. 89, 79, T9). I just couldn’t put her on many hands that actually made a straight here, so I decided to call and was good versus 85. That got me to ~80k at the break and I was feeling good at my great start to the day.

Things got even better during Level 6:

My Stack ~80k, Seat 8 ~30k, Blinds 250/500/50, I hold AA OTB.

Seat 8 opens for 1400, I make it 4k and he calls: flop 885. He bets 5k, I move-in, he calls with QQ and I hold to move up to 110k.

My Stack ~110k, Seat 7 ~70k, Blinds 250/500/50, I hold QQ UTG

I open for 1350 and it folds around to Seat 7 in SB who makes it 3.5k. He has been quite active and has a lot of ante chips. I elect to call and play a flop:

Pot ~8k
Flop T88dd

He fires 7k at the pot and I quickly call:

Pot ~22k
Turn 5o

He then fires a big 12k bet at the flop, but despite the strength that he had shown throughout the hand, I still felt that my QQ was good here, so again I quickly called the bet.

Pot ~46k
River Ko

He finally decided to slowdown and check the river. I was quite relieved, decided to check behind, and was good versus a massively over-played 99. I asked him why he didn’t fire again at the river and he said that I’d called so quickly and confidently on the flop and turn that he knew I was strong and that he couldn’t push me out. To be honest, if he fires a big bet at that river, I probably fold, but I was happy to grow my stack to ~137k.

A little while later the lady in Seat 9 lost most of her stack when she couldn’t find a fold with AK vs AA on a K-high rainbow flop:

My Stack ~135k, Seat 9 ~8k, Blinds 250/500/50, I hold 55 UTG.

I generally open raise my pairs, even from EP, but this time I decided to mix it up and limp-in. There were 3 more limpers before it gets to her BB and she makes it 4k with 4k behind. I consider that with the extra money in the pot from the limpers I’ve got good pot odds value with 55 versus her range, especially as she is likely on tilt, so I make it 8k to put her all-in. The limpers all insta-fold and she actually considers folding before finally reluctantly calling with Ah2d. The board flops three diamonds and when the Ad hits the turn, I’m relieved that I’ve got the 5d and win the pot. I have about 144k at the 2nd break.

Things kept moving in the right direction after the break:

My Stack ~145k, Seat 4 ~40k, Blinds 300/600/75, I hold 99 UTG.

I open for 1650 and Seat 4 calls in-position. He has been calling a lot and is a bit of a station. He had a big stack earlier, but lost a lot of chips recently with AQ vs KK on Q-high flop when he really should have found the fold button. I felt that he was chastened from that experience and would more likely fold now for his tournament life. I soon got to test that theory:

Pot ~5k
Flop AJ6hh

I bet 3.5k and he quickly calls. I know he has an Ace to make such a quick call, but that doesn’t worry me because I know he has seen me showdown monsters and I feel I can get him off his hand:

Pot ~12k
Turn blank offsuit

I now bet 6.5k and again he quickly calls.

Pot ~25k
River Kh

He has ~28k left and there’s 25k in the pot. I look at him, ask him for a count, and he looks uneasy. I say I’m all-in and he quickly folds. I ask him if he wants to see my hand and he says that he does, so I show him the bluff. He tells me he folded an Ace and is visibly upset by the bluff. Heavily tilted, he soon loses the rest of his chips, though unfortunately not to me.

I made another nice play with 99 a little later when the new player in Seat 9 raised Seat 8’s limp (Seat 8 had limped a lot and Seat 9 had done this play already) and I smooth-called OTB with 99 and then raised his 3k c-bet to 9k on A86ss flop.

I had become the table captain and was playing lots of pots and generally chipping-up. They all thought I was some kind of LAG maniac. On the last hand before the dinner break:

My Stack ~175k, Seat 2 ~60k, Seat 3 ~17k, Blinds 300/600/75, I hold AKo OTB.

Seat 8 limps-in for the umpteenth time and I pop it up to 2.4k like I’ve done 2 or 3 times before. Seat 2 is a smart player and has seen me make a few moves and decides to smooth-call, but what he hasn’t seen because he was looking at me, was that Seat 3 was already acting like he was going to make a move at the pot. Although it still took him ~1 minute after Seat 2 called my raise, I knew the all-in shove was coming and I was ready for it. Basically I decide that I would insta-call the shove and if Seat 2 really had a monster here then he would over-shove and I might be able to find a fold versus his stack. Fortunately, Seat 2 insta-folded and my AK held versus AJ.

At the dinner break I had a massive 196k stack, which put me amongst the tournament chip leaders (and interestingly was higher than anyone covered by P5sLive, who are not covering me this year because I prefer to keep a lower profile and deliberately did not register with their coverage team).

I had a nice dinner with my friend Jonathan and his mates from the Ladbrokes Poker Team and got back ready to keep moving onwards and upwards towards Day 3. Unfortunately things started to go pear-shaped as soon as I saw the looming presence of Sorel “Imperium” Mizzi coming to replace the guy I’d just busted from Seat 3. With a skilled LAG player like Sorel on my left I would have to be much more selective about my opening hand ranges and be careful not to get sucked into big pots versus him.

Things got even worse when one of the other tourney chip leaders, Brandon Demes, got moved into Seat 9. He also plays a very creative LAG style where he builds so many massive pots that getting involved without premium hands is extremely dangerous. Brandon and Sorel took over most of the action at the table and I was left to try to pick my spots carefully. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too successful:

My Stack ~195k, Seat 8 ~100k, Blinds 400/800/100, I hold AKo in SB.

Seat 8 has limped a lot from these kinds of positions, but recently started to open-raise more often. He makes it 2.4k, I 3-bet to 6.5k and he quickly calls:

Pot ~15k
Flop JTTdd

I think that is a hit or miss flop for his hand, so I continue to represent strength by leading out for 11k. He quickly pops it up to 22k. I can’t really see how I can continue here versus his stack so I fold and he shows me the bluff with 67hh. Sick!

My worst hand of the day (as far as chip loss goes), comes a little later in the level:

My Stack ~173k, Seat 7 ~33k, Blinds 400/800/100, I hold QThh in CO.

Seat 7 has been replaced from the earlier guy and is now occupied by a guy in a “chip me up” shirt (this means he is playing by virtue of online staking from that website). He has played pretty well to date, but has been caught bluffing when making very sizeable bets into scary boards. He opens for 2.2k and I call in-position hoping to catch a juicy flop:

Pot 6.5k
Flop Q45h

He leads for only 3.2k into this pot, which I feel is either weak or suspicious, but I’m not sure which, so I decide to just call and re-evaluate on the turn:

Pot ~13k
Turn 2h, giving me the flush draw

He now quickly bets a massive 15k of his remaining 28k stack at the 13k pot. I find this bet to be quite confusing. Can he really have AA/KK/AQ/KQ and make this bet? I guess he can, but I also feel he can be making a strong, apparently pot-committing bet like that with AK or even some more speculative hands that I’m ahead of. Overall, I feel that with 13k already in the pot and 28k more that I can win, I’m looking to gamble 28k to win 41k, so I only need 40% equity. Obviously I cannot calculate it all accurately at the table, but with 12 outs to my flush or two-pair, plus the chance that he is bluffing some of the time, I felt that I generally had more than 40% equity here, so I moved-in, he quickly called with AQ (no hearts) and I blanked the river to move down to 140k at the break.

Running the possible hands through Pokerstove, I find that I only need to put him on a worse semi-bluffing type hand 20% of the time to make my play correct, but I’m still thinking whether I needed to risk a 28k loss on such a marginal play.

After that, and with Sorel and Brandon increasingly taking over the table, I pretty much just clammed-up for the last level of the day. I was also feeling pretty tired and didn’t want to make any mistakes, so I bled off a little more in the last couple of hours to leave myself with 129.5k at the end of the day and looking forward to a new table draw on Day 3 where hopefully I can find some opponents that I can exploit as we play towards the money bubble that might be reached late in Day 3 or perhaps not even until early in Day 4.

Overall I’m happy with how the day went and I’d have taken 130k if offered it at the start of the day, but after flying so high until the dinner break, the last two levels did take the shine off the day a little and I do somewhat regret the marginal 28k gamble that I took with the QThh because having ~160k would make me feel a lot better. Still, I have over 100BBs going into Day 3 and no reason not to feel confident about being able to play well and accumulate more chips.