Online Poker Strategy Articles
Aaron Bartley
This is an edited and slightly-abridged version of Aaron's blog he posted on while in Atlantic City for the World Series Of Poker Circuit $10,000 event he placed 5th in last month. You can read the full-version at http://gambleabinac.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005
Well, for some reason the gods decided to bless me today and I managed to get to Harrah's in one piece. Also, I found that I can use the Internet service on the TV (which is how I'm typing this) to get to my blog, so it looks like regular updates are going to become a reality (for the low low price of an arm and a leg).
Sunday, January 16th, 2005 - WSOP Day One - Second Break
At the end of level four now. After two, I was down to 7,250 in chips, the only noteable hands coming when I called a bluff from Danny Negreanu (two to my left, Doyle was three to my left) for a couple thousand, and then got pushed out of some pots by an older Asian gentleman directly to my left. Third level, I slowplayed a flopped two pairs and got paid off by two guys on the river-now I had a few more chips to make some moves with. In the fourth level, I limped in after a limper with KJ, and got one other limper on the button (don't remember his name now, but a big asian pro, not Men). Flop came down AQ3, check-check-check. Turn came T, giving me the nut straight and putting 2 spades on the board (I didn't have a spade). I checked, button bet 2000 from his stack of 5000-6000, fold-fold, I pushed all-in, and he called right away, figuring me for spades which is what I wass hoping to come across as. He turned over Q9, for middle pair, and was drawing dead on the river. At the dinner break, I'm sitting with just over 26,500 chips and am probably the chip leader at the table. Three more levels tonight. We only got 249 people entered, so they are only going to pay out the top 18 (250+ would have paid out 27). Eighteenth pays around $23,000, if I recall correctly, and first is around $700,000 I believe.
Sunday, January 16th, 2005 - WSOP Day One - Dinner Break
Break after level six. One more level to go tonight. I'm up to 37,000 after level six. I flopped two sets in level five (one was with presto (pocket 5's)) and got no real action. Level six was quiet, excpt for one hand were TJ Cloutier raised under-the-gun, folded around to me in mid postion with AKs, and I reraised him. After shuffling his chips for a little while, he folded. He later told someone he had AQ. So far my table is TJ and John Juanda, but the chip leader is sitting directly to my left. He is respecting my raises, so everything is good so far. We're down to about 100 people, so that should tell you how bad the structure is. More later...
Monday, January 17th, 2005 - End Of Day One
Level seven I went card dead, so at the end of day, I'm have 34,00 chips. 86 people left, so I still have a slightly above average stack. We're drawing for new tables today, so hopefully I'll get off the table with TJ on my right and the chip leader of the table on my left. We're playing down to nine today, so hopefully this will be another long day for me. We'll see what happens'
Monday, January 17th, 2005 - WSOP Day Two - Dinner Break
Well, today has been exciting to say the least. First level back, the only big hands were when I flopped two pairs and got paid off, and when I rereraised TJ all-in and made him lay down the best hand.
And then levels nine and ten started. Blinds are pretty big and I go on a rush of cards. AA, KK twice, AK twice, and QQ. I only manage to pick up the blinds + antes on most of the hands (on a couple I picked up a raise preflop also), but the QQ was what hurt me. I raise, a Sweedish guy came over the top of me, but he was on a pretty short stack (blinds were 1,000/2,000, I raised to 6,000, he reraised about 9,000 more). I called right away with QQ, and he turned over A9o. The flop came with a Q, so I prematurely slapped my hands in joy-then the turn and river brought him runner-runner straight. The break came shortly thereafter, and I was down to about 22,000 with around 34 players still left. I went upstairs to my room for a second, put on some Pantera, and decided that it was time I either made my move or be blinded out close to the money. After break, I pushed all-in two of my first ten hands, getting folds both times. A few hands later, the Sweedish guy pushed all-in for around 20,000-25,000 and I called him with ATs. He turned over A9o again, and I was up to around 50,000. After a little while, we are down to 27 players so they redraw for seats. As soon as I move to my new table, I pick up AKs on the button. A raise UTG to 10,000 (blinds are at 1,500-3,000 now) gets everyone to fold to me, and I reraise for 25,000 and he just calls. I accomplished what I wnted to preflop by making the SB fold his TT. Flop came 662, and the UTG bet 30,000. I figured that he would only make that move with a big ace, so I raised all-in (only about 4,000-5,000 more), which he had to call. I was basically right, as he turned over KQ, and no Q came, so I doubled up to over 100,000. I was able to steal a few blinds, and beat the same guy out of a pot for 15,000 more in another hand, so I now sit at the dinner break at around 150,000 with 23 players left. I'm in prime position, as the big stack at the table (Erick Lindgren) is directly on my right. We play down to nine tonight, so hopefully it'll be a late night for me. I'll post later on tonight.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2005 - End of Day Two
In case anyone hasn't heard by now, I made the final table. I've got 171,000 in chips and am around sixth or seventh going into the final day. There are around five or six "name" players at the table, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only true unknown, which has been working to my advantage so far. I'm hoping that it pays off for me today also. As far as hands go for last night, I didn't really have very many, although I made a great read when we were still at three tables, calling with AK when I put a guy on AQ.
Tuesday, January 18th, 2005 - WSOP Final Table - Exit
Sorry this post is a little tardy, but I wanted to spend some time with my folks who flew up to watch me play. I'll spare any hand details, exept for my thoughts on the last hand: it was a blind vs. blind battle with Nghi Tran. The previous hand, he had raised me out of a pot when I tried to buy the pot, so I knew that he thought he could bully me around (he held over a million in chips, with only 2,490,000 chips in play). All folded to me in the SB with A5o. I make the standard raise to 50,000 (blinds 8k/16k with 2k antes), he comes over the top of me for 120,000 total. I think, and figure him for a resteal, as he was pushing me around last hand. I pushed all-in for around 200k more, figureing that he would fold any decent ace, and any smaller pair, and if he did call, he was very likely to hold KJ or an average pair, so EV wise, I figured it was a good move on my part (he held AQo, and no help came). Let it be known that during the entire day, I had shown down maybe 2 hands, so I was figuring that he should give me credit for a bigger hand. Unfortunatly, he held AQ, and it was a situation of me making the right move at the wrong time. I still feel that it was the right move, but unfortunaly that move carries the risk of putting you on the rail a portion of the time, and that coin turned up tails this time. I can honestly say that I played my A-game the entire tournament-especially at the final table-and truely played to win. Some of the biggest compliments came from stuff I overheard some of the pros say about how they respected my game, felt I played very solidly, and about how I had control of the table for around an hour or two today.