When I left off with the ongoing (for almost a month now...damn I'm lazy sometimes) saga of Foxwoods, I had ~465k @ 2/4k with the average stack around 290k.
There were 46 players remaining entering day four, 36 of whom would make the money. First place was $910k.
Day four basically went EXACTLY how I wanted it to go. It was just one of those incredible days where you pick up or make a ton of hands, and your opponent has exactly what you want them to have. I don't think I could have scripted the day any better!
There were 46 players remaining entering day four, 36 of whom would make the money. First place was $910k.;
Day four basically went EXACTLY how I wanted it to go. It was just one of those incredible days where you pick up or make a ton of hands, and your opponent has exactly what you want them to have. I don't think I could have scripted the day any better!
I won two pretty big pots from a long time sicko who I have a lot of respect for, Mike Mizrachi.
The first came when I turned Broadway against him and the second came when I four bet jammed on him for about 500k effective (I had him covered by 200k) at 5/10k when I felt like he was three betting my middle position raise light from the big blind.
It was the first time in the tournament that I'd attempted to hit the spew button pretty hard, but he folded after doing some mumbling. ::sigh of relief::
Those hands brought me past the million chip mark at 6/12k, putting me third in chips with 20 players remaining. Then I got into a huge confrontation with a very nice guy and Foxwoods local named Aaron Simon. Although Lee Markholt called him tight in talking about the hand later, Simon had been playing pretty aggressively once he got
However, Simon is probably on the tighter side of the Bell Curve.
We'd already made the money and it seemed like he was ready to pick spots to gamble and try to accumulate a stack. I'd also been three betting a decent amount, including a couple of pots that he was in. He had folded previously but I felt that he was getting a little sick of me and was ready to play back.
That's why when Aaron (~500k) raised to 42k at 6/12k on the button after it folded to him and I found 9♠ 9♦ in the big blind I decided to re-raise to 122k and go with it if he shoved.
He moved in pretty quickly, and I beat him to the pot. Everyone seemed to expect me to turn over A-A or K-K with how the action went and how quickly I called apparently, and were shocked to see my measly nines.
They were, however, about fourteen times as surprised when Aaron turned over 6♦ 6♠!!!
I'm sure there are a lot of online players looking at this going "yea....standard snapcall," but that's against the spazztastic four bet ranges of players online.
When there's not nearly as much three and four betting going on and ranges for doing so are much tighter, this becomes a much tougher call.
That being said, my decision was made before I re-raised as to what I was going to do if he shoved. If I weren't ready to go with it for all the money I would have just called the 42k and played a flop.
Like Denzel Washington told us, "This shit is chess, it ain't checkers!!!" (If you haven't seen Training Day please do so immediately)
Anyway, my hand held for a >1 million chip pot, giving me the chip lead with 1.5 million of the 10.6 million in play at 8/16k.
We re-drew tables with 18 players left shortly after, and my new table draw included Lee Markholt (AGAIN AND AGAIN!), Mike Mizrachi, Soheil Shamseddin, Todd Terry, Steve Brecher, Christian "charder30" Harder, and Kenna James.
The last key pot I played before we reached the final table of 10 came against Kenna James. I picked up Q♣ Q♠ against his T♦ T♣. He managed to get away from it, but not before putting about a third of his stack in the pot
I ended day four with 2.1 million @ 10/20k and the chip lead with 10 players remaining, which was good enough to get me the Blue Diamond Almond Bold Player of the Day Award from Amanda Leatherman! This award is clearly a crowning achievement in my poker career.
I was pretty excited for the first time in the tournament, but knew I had to stay focused and not let the ridiculous and potentially life-changing amount of money we were playing for really sink in to the point that it changed my play.
This was a no-limit tournament just like all the others I've played, and I was going to do everything I could to win it, just like all the others ...
Matt Stout
Visit www.pokerlistings.com