I entered Day 3 of the $15k Bellagio Five Diamond WPT event with over 300k at 1200/2400 - good enough to put me in about 12th place out of the remaining 131 players.
I had a pretty wild start to the day, in both good and bad ways.
First, I ran the nut flush into flopped quads on the second hand of play. Fortunately though, I managed to lose the minimum because the kid spent the whole hand trapping me.
Just a couple of hands later I got it all back and then some when I three-bet-called Ralph Perry's all in four-bet from the cutoff with T♣ T♠ for around 120k total. He had A♦ Q♥, and there was pretty much no sweat to it after the 3♦ T♥ 3♥ flop.
I also busted another player for another ~250k pot just an orbit later. I had A♥ T♦ against his 8♣ 9♣, and we got it in on a T♥ 9♥ 7♦ flop.
Normally I'd be a bit hesitant to stack off such a large pot in this type of event where people have a much tighter range to get it all in than they would online or a smaller tournament, but here's where doing your research comes into play: I knew he was French!
Not that I want to say anything bad about France, but they have a reputation for producing some pretty wild and reckless poker players to say the least.
Knowing his country of origin actually helped me decide that raise-calling after he donked the flop was probably the optimal line, taking a close decision and making it pretty clear.
Unfortunately they decided that my party at that table had to come to an end, and I got moved to the following table:
Then I had the pleasure of folding two Queens before the flop (please shoot me). David Pham (hijack, ~100k) opened to 6k @ 1200/2400, Cornell Cimpan (cutoff, ~100k) three bet to 18k, I (button, ~490k) cold four bet Q♠ Q♣ to 54,200 on the button just hoping to get it in against one of the two players involoved.
Unfortunately, Toto Leonidas took this opportunity to Hollywood a bit before moving in for about 300k total!
I tanked for a while but ultimately knew that AA-QQ were the only hands I could definitely put into his range for cold five betting all in for over 120 big blinds, especially when he doesn't know me well and presumably has no read on me from lack of experience with me.
I think he could get it in with A-K here, and there's an outside chance he'd do it with J-J but I'm pretty sure he'd just fold that in this spot as well.
I felt like I was going to puke a little in my mouth, but eventually folded and got over it. I had A♠ A♦ cracked by #QcQ#s later on by Matt Waxman in a three bet pot.
However I managed to lose the absolute minimum and was really happy about that and actually felt pretty good after the hand despite losing a nice chunk of change.
Just before the end of the day I got moved to a new table. I managed to bust a shortstacked Danny Wong for a ~250k pot with A♦ Q♥ against his J♣ J♠ when I flopped a queen and made a running full house.
That and a few smaller pots helped me end day 3 with just over 700k going to 5/10k.
There are 36 of the original 329 players remaining, the average count is ~548k, and I'm sitting 9th in chips...even though I'll be 6/9 in chips at my first table tomorrow! 27 places pay, and I think tomorrow might be a pretty decent time for me to run good. Here's my table draw:
I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention some great work David Peat has done. He and his girlfriend (and possibly Tom Dwan?) participate in a Salvation Army program called Adopt-A-Family.
It gives people the opportunity to adopt a local family who is struggling to makes ends meet and gives them a holiday shopping list for the family. After purchasing the items, you bring them to the Salvation Army and they deliver them to the families.
David showed us pictures of them buying $25,000 worth of toys for families in need around Las Vegas, and told us that his girlfriend was driving around town dropping them off.
It seems like such a great program that I've decided to participate once I'm finished with the tournament, and I encourage you to participate as well.
Click through here to get involved.
If you want to help but don't have the time for this program, your local food banks can always use the support. Many have been hit particularly hard by the recent economy and can use your donations to help feed the needy this holiday season.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Matt Stout
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