The Full Details of Matt's WSOP main event

I know many of you followed the exploits of my good friend Matt Lessinger at this years WSOP main event. For those of you who are interested here is a very long, very detailed recap of how it all went down straight from the horse's mouth.

2008 WSOP Main Event Recap
By Matt Lessinger

This is compiled from the notes that I took during my five days in the Main Event. My thoughts will be in italics, some from the time of the tournament, some from after the fact. Suits will be denoted in lowercase; for example, Js is the Jacks of spades, 9h is the nine of hearts. 2x means a two, where the suit was irrelevant. After each hand will come my approximate chip count at the time. We started with 20,000.

Some of the notations:

SB – small blind
BB – big blind
UTG – under-the-gun, i.e. the player immediately after the blinds
VNH – very next hand, i.e. I was involved in two hands consecutively.

Day One, Level One: 50-100 blinds

-I’m in Seat One, which is good with all other things being equal. I can get a good look at the opponents to my left, whereas the ones to my right can’t see me too well.

-There are no name players at my table. In fact, it doesn’t seem as if there are any players at all. The whole table seems pretty soft.

-I win my first confrontation. One limper, I call on button w/Ks-Js, blinds call. Flop As-Jx-3s. Checked to limper, who bets 125. I make it 525, he calls. Turn 10x. I bet 800, he mucks. Up to 20,800.

-Brute aggression is clearly the way to go against this group, not finesse.

-I steal some pots here and there. Then 1.5 hours in, I pick up my first A-A. I make it 300, one caller. Flop K-4-3. I bet 600, he mucks. Up to 23K.

-A raise to 325, I call in BB w/2-2. Flop Qc-9c-2s. He bets 300, I check-raise to 900, he calls. Turn 5d. I bet 1,500, he makes it 3,000, I call. River 2x! I bet 2,000, he quickly calls (i.e. I clearly did not need the 4th deuce). Up to 29K. I never saw his hand, but it was clearly either A-A or K-K, with a slight chance of A-Q. On the turn I thought there was a decent chance I was up against a higher set, but I also thought if that was the case, he would let me off cheap because he wanted to ensure getting paid off. I did not want to reraise and risk going broke, especially when I considered it relatively easy to amass chips at this table, even if I lost a few thousand with a set. On the river, I thought the 2K bet was just right. If he had a set and filled up, I was going to get his stack anyway. And if he had only an overpair (as was the case) then the bet was small enough to get paid off. Perhaps I could have bet a little more and still gotten called.

-End of Level One: 28,925

Level Two: 100-200 blinds

-Button raises to 600, I call in BB w/J-10. Flop 10-8-7 rainbow. I bet 1,200, he calls. Turn 2. I bet 1,600, he calls. River 4, I check. Bad check here. I should have bet about 2,000. He checks and shows 9-9. Up to 32,600.

-Winning a bunch of small pots. I’m up over 35K without any hands of note.

-I encounter my first setback. Given that this was three hours into the tournament, I had no complaints. Two limpers, I make it 900 from SB w/As-6s. This was pushing it a little, but I wanted to see how much I could get away with. BB calls and limpers call, which is obviously not what I was hoping for. Flop 9d-9s-6d. I bet 2,200. BB folds, first limper makes it 5,200 to go. No one has raised on a draw yet, and I didn’t think he was doing it now. I fold, down to 31,800.

-SB limps. I make it 600 from BB w/Qd-Qh, he calls. He is by far the tightest player at the table. One of the reasons I accumulated chips so easily is that when everyone folded to him in the SB, I almost always won uncontested, either before or after the flop. This is the first time he’s called one of my pre-flop BB raises. Flop Jd-9d-4x. I bet 800, he calls. Turn Kd, we both check. River Ad! I bet 1,600 with the nut flush but he mucks. Up to 34,600.

-VNH UTG limps, next player raises to 850, I make it 2,500 from SB w/A-K. UTG folds A-K and raiser folds Ah-Qh. Cool. Up to 36,100.

-End of Level Two: 36,325

Level Three: 150-300 blinds

-UTG limps. I call in SB with Q-10. Flop Q-J-9. I bet 800, he calls. Turn an 8. I bet 1,600, he makes it 6,100. I call. River a 5. I check, he says, “I was just tryin to make a play at you, I’m sorry,” and shows A-J. I said, “You don’t have to apologize, I’ll take it!” as I show my straight. Up to 43,100. In reality, he wasn’t purposely making a move on me. What happened was that he thought he was calling my 1,600, but instead of a 500 chip he grabbed a 5,000 one, thus the 4,500 raise. In the back of my mind I thought he might be making an elaborate move on me, plus there was really nothing to be gained by re-raising, because he presumably couldn’t call without a straight, thus I chose to just call him down. I would have been happy with half the pot, since I was definitely afraid of K-10, but of course it was a bonus to find out I won the whole pot.

-Made standard raises with 7-7 and 9-9 but got reraised both times and was forced to muck. Down to 40,600. They probably had me beat, but this was also the first two times I got played back at preflop, and it took five hours for that to happen. I now had to worry that my image, (which was fantastic after the quad deuces hand), was now getting a little worse, since they were now seeing me lay down to preflop reraises.

-A-A for 2nd time, but everyone folded to me in SB. I make it 700 but BB mucks. Grr.

-I go 900 with A-K. One caller, then a reraise to 4K. I muck and they go all-in, Q-Q vs. 10-10. At that moment I was not happy I folded, but the final board came jack-high so I saved a good chunk of money. Still, down to 40,100.

-I go 900 in cutoff with 6d-5d, BB calls. Flop 5-4-2. I bet 1,200, he check-raises to 3,200, I call. Turn Q. He bets 4,500, I muck. Down to 34,800.

-I go 900 w/9h-9d, 2 callers. Flop As-Jx-8s. We all check. Turn Js. I bet 1,600, one caller. River Ks. We check, he shows Qc-Jc to win. Down to 32,700. Bad play on my part. I knew he either had a spade draw or a jack, and I should have bet to find out. If I bet the river he probably can’t call. Of course, he could have just as easily had K-J, which was part of what made me lean towards checking.

-End of Level Three: 32,475

Level Four: 150-300 blinds, 25 ante

I limp with 10-10 UTG, we get seven-way action! Flop A-A-4, we all check. Turn 7. SB bets 800, I call, everyone else mucks. River K. He bets 1,100, I call, he shows J-7. Up to 36,100. This was the beginning of the end for the SB in seat Eight. Four of the next five hands I will describe were against him.

-A-A for 3rd time. This is much better than 2006, when I went 14 hours without A-A or K-K! Cutoff in Seat Eight makes it 1K. I make it 3K from the SB, he calls. Flop 2-3-4, I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 40,500.

-VNH he limps, and I limp from the button with A-Q. I had a strange feeling that if I raised him again, he would get frustrated and push all-in, and I didn’t want to be faced with that decision. Flop A-10-2. He bets 1K, I call, blinds muck. Turn J. He bets 1,500, I call. River 4. He bets 2,200. I groan and call. He shows A-9. I announce to the table that I played the hand like a giant pussy (and I throw in the hand signal for good measure) while I rake in the pot. Up to 46,800.

-Next round I go 900 on button with A-7, BB calls. Flop A-K-8. He bets 1,600, I make it 4,600, he mucks. Up to 50,400.

-I make it 900 UTG with Q-Q. One caller, then the SB (Seat Eight) makes it 3,000 to go. I make it 9K, which is enough to put him all-in. The player between us mucks, he calls and shows A-K, but the flop comes queen high. Booyah! He goes from 20,000 to zero in four hands against me, and I am up to 59,200.

-I make it 900 with 8-8, the button calls. Flop A-Q-6. I bet 2K, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 3,500, he calls. River Q. I put him all-in for a little more than 8K. He deliberates for about three minutes, then finally calls and shows A-K. Down to 45,600. At a table of tight players he was one of the tightest, and given his reluctance to raise on the flop or turn, I didn’t think he would have enough confidence to call all-in on the river. I actually thought he had A-J, in which case he would have had to consider the possibility that I had A-K. If I knew he had A-K I would have never done it, but even then it still almost worked, as he kept getting distracted by the river queen. “A-Q?” he asked. “K-Q? That would be sick…” Once he said that I knew he had A-K, but at that point it was too late. Thankfully I had built my stack up enough that this bad bluff only cost me 1/4th of my chips.

-Almost immediately after that hand our table broke. Double fuck! Not only will I miss getting to continue playing against this group, but if the table had broken a couple of hands earlier, I could be going to a new table with 60K instead of 45K.

-End of Level Four: 45,600

Level Five: 200-400 blinds, 50 ante

-There is much more action at my new table. In the very first hand one player got KOed and another got crippled.

-I picked up absolutely nothing for the first hour and a half. Blinded down to 42K.

-After 1:45 I stole only one set of blinds with 9-9. Then with ten minutes to go, UTG makes it 1,200, there is one caller, then I make it 5K on button with 10-10. Raiser folds, caller deliberates for like 3 minutes before turning up 6-6 and folding. Up to 45,900. He took so long that I really thought he had me beat. When he finally turned up 6-6 I had to laugh out loud. Apparently I was giving him too much credit.

-End of Level Five, End of Day One: 44,775

Day Two, Level Six: 250-500 blinds, 50 ante

-Again I start the day in Seat One, a nice advantage. It also seems like another good table draw. There are a few short stacks, and the table chip leader has only 66K.

-40 minutes in, I make it 1,600 w/Ah-Qh. Button calls, BB calls. Flop 8h-7x-5h. I bet 4K, they muck. Up to 46,800.

-UTG calls, another calls, I check in BB w/Kh-3d. Flop Ah-Jh-10h. UTG bets 2K out of turn. I call. Turn 2x. Again he bets out of turn, this time 4K. I muck, down to 43,800. He was a very inexperienced player, and I knew that he wasn’t making a move on me. I also figured that there was little or no chance of semibluffing him, therefore it didn’t seem like the right time to try anything tricky.

-I make it 1,600 w/As-Qs, one caller. Flop A-2-4 all diamonds. I bet 2,500, he calls. Turn 5s. I check. I probably should have made a small bet instead. He bets 10K, I fold. Down to 38,600.

-A-A for 4th time in tournament. I make it 1,600, button calls. Flop K-J-8 rainbow. I bet 2K, he makes it 6K, I reraise to 16K, he mucks. Up to 47K.

-I make it 1,600 UTG w/A-K. One caller. Flop A-9-3 rainbow. I check, he bets 1,700. I check-raise to 3,500, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 5K, he goes 15K, I go all-in, he mucks. Up to 66K. This was the same opponent who bet me off of As-Qs on an Ad-2d-4d-5s board. He had been fairly aggressive, and I thought I would use that against him. The check-raise on the flop was textbook. On the turn he put me to a decision, but in the end I decided that if he had me beat so be it. He had played enough hands and been aggressive enough that I could not lay down top pair/top kicker to him after having put over 10K into the pot. He claimed he laid down A-K. I give that about a 25% chance of being truthful.

-A raise to 1,200, I call w/Ah-10h. Flop 9x-8h-7h. He bets 3K, I make it 8K, he goes all-in for 11K total, I call. He shows 6-5 offsuit. Ridiculous hand, but I still have a ton of outs. Unfortunately the turn is the 4s and the river the 5c. Down to 54K. This elicited a very loud, “What the fuck??” from me, but it was highly justified. This player had played about 2 hands over the course of 2 hours, and I almost laid down my hand preflop, in light of how tight he had been playing. What made me decide to play was that I figured I could pounce on him postflop if he showed weakness. I couldn’t believe that he had folded so many hands and then decided to take a stand short-stacked with 6-5 offsuit. I guess I could be thankful that he was short-stacked, because I was going to be all-in on that flop no matter how deep he was.

-End of Level Six: 52,425

Level Seven: 300-600 blinds, 75 ante

-UTG raises to 1,600. I call with 7-7. Another caller, then the button makes it 3K to go. It was a very strange sequence. Anyway, I call, but muck after a flop of Q-J-3. Down to 49K.

-That’s the only hand I played for the entire first hour. Not even a blind steal. Down to 44,500.

-Button makes it 1,600, SB calls, I make it 6K from BB with 8-7 offsuit. Button folds immediately. SB deliberates a bit, but eventually mucks. Up to 47K. The probability that the button was stealing, combined with the fact that I hadn’t played a hand for an hour, made it necessary for me to make a play like this.

-A raise to 1,600, I make it 4,100 with J-J, he mucks. Up to 48K.

-End of Level Seven: 47,600

Level Eight: 400-800 blinds, 100 ante

-I make it 2,400 with 9-9, one caller. I bet 4K at K-6-5 flop and he mucks. VNH I pick up my 5th A-A but no action. Up to 52K.

-A raise to 2,300. I make it 6,300 from SB with Ad-Qd, he mucks. Up to 55K.

-Same guy raises to 2,300. I flat call with A-K offsuit, blinds also call. Flop 10c-9x-8c, and I muck to a 5K bet. Turns out he had 9-9. Good play, bad flop. Down to 52K.

-I make it 2,400 with Ac-Js, one caller. Flop Qx-8x-8c, we check. Turn 4c. I bet 3,500, he calls. River 6c. I bet 8K, he calls and shows 10c-9c for a flush. Down to 38K. Bad read on my part. I figured him for a pocket pair, not a club draw, especially given that I had the Ac. Given that read, I thought I could push him off of whatever he had, but obviously he was calling.

-A raise to 2,200, one caller, I call in BB with Qd-Jd, and fold to a bet after the flop comes 10-6-3. Down to 36K

-A totally dismal final hour and a half. No hands whatsoever, Didn’t play a single one.

-End of Level Eight: 29,900

Level Nine: 500-1,000 blinds, 100 ante

-Five minutes in I get moved to a new table. I am easily the shortest stack here.

-I make it 3,200 with 10-10. Three callers! Flop 9-8-3, I bet 10K, and thankfully they muck. Up to 40K.

-I make it 3,200 with 2-2, one caller. Flop K-8-6. I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 42K.

-UTG makes it 3K, one caller, I call in BB with 7d-6d, but flop of A-Q-2 is no help. Down to 40K.

-I’ve been at this table for an hour, and I’m realizing that this table is the strongest group I’ve ever played against. I know it doesn’t seem that way from the hands I’ve played, but hardly any pot goes uncontested. People are betting correctly, folding correctly, and bluffing frequently. There are two non-players. The other six are all business. At this point in time, my thinking is that I want to break even for the rest of the day, and try my luck in Day Three at a new table, because it’s got to be easier than this one.

-Pocket aces for 6th time. Someone raises to 2,800, I choose to flat-call, hoping that the table’s aggressiveness will work in my favor. We get one other caller. Flop comes Kc-10c-6c. Raiser checks to me, I bet 8K, they both muck. I look back and see that I had the Ac. Perhaps I should have bet less. Up to 45K.

-Two limpers, I call in SB with Js-6s. Flop As-9x-2s. Button bets 2,500, I call, rest muck. Turn 4x, we check. River 5x, we check. He has 10h-6h! Up to 50K. This was a sick win. He inexplicably gave up on this hand, even though it seemed pretty likely that I could be on a draw. Again, I know it seems strange for me to say how tough this table was, when I was allowed to win a hand like this one, but I consider it dumb luck more than anything else.

-End of Level Nine: 49,800.

Level Ten: 600-1,200 blinds, 200 ante

-I make it 3,800 with 7-7, BB calls. Flop K-6-5, I bet 7K, he mucks. Up to 54K.

-VNH there is a raise to 3K. I make it 9K with 9-9. He thinks for at least a minute, then makes it 25K. I muck, and am back down to 45K.

-BOOM. A-A for 7th time in tournament. Black ones. There is a raise to 3,200. I make it 8,000, he calls. Flop K-Q-3 all diamonds. He checks. I bet 12K. I am not happy about the all-diamond flop, but I am committing myself to this hand, and I am betting an amount that shows I am committed. I refuse to be bet or raised off my aces by a hand containing the Ad, for example. He thinks for almost two minutes. He looks frustrated, and I’m nearly certain it is not an act. Finally he says, “OK, I’m all-in.” I shrug and call. The hand I am expecting to see is A-K with the ace of diamonds, but right before he turns his hand up, I think to myself that he would not have looked so frustrated with a hand that good. He turns up A-K with the ace of hearts. I have him drawing dead to two kings. The turn pairs the three, and the river is the five of diamonds, (i.e. if he had held any diamonds, I would have been eliminated). Instead I’m up to 89K. For what it’s worth, he was not one of the strong players. He had come to our table about a half hour earlier, and was chatting nonstop. It made me believe that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been, and that came out in this pivotal hand. After a flop like that, if I’m not bluffing, then there’s nothing he can beat. He has no business calling, let alone going all-in. I just got lucky to get so much action.

-Went the final 45 minutes without playing a hand, so…

-End of Level Ten, End of Day Two: 82,000

Day Three, Level Eleven: 800-1,600 blinds, 200 ante

-Seems like a decent table draw. I’m in Seat Two, which is favorable. The only name player is Alex Kravchenko (4th place finisher from last year) and he is in Seat Nine, so I’ve got position on him. Plus there are at least three short stacks.

-After a few minutes I realize there are only three guys who are real players, and they are all to my right, so I have no complaints or excuses.

-BOOYAH. A-A for 8th time. A player makes it 4K, I make it 11K from SB, he calls. Flop 8-7-5. I bet 16K, he makes it 40K. I take a few seconds to make sure I’m going with this hand, and of course I know that I am. So I stand up Kravchenko style, put my palms behind my chips, and push them all forward. I expect him to call, since he’s only got another 25K or so left, but he mucks. I’m up to 132K. I look at Kravchenko and say, “I saw that work for you all of last year. I guess that’s what I need to do.” He didn’t seem amused. J

-I make it 4,800 with 6-6. A tight player calls from the button, and I decide to check-fold once the flop comes A-10-8. Down to 127K.

-I pick up numerous small pots over the next hour, keeping me moving steadily forward. I’m feeling very comfortable at this table. I’m getting undue respect, plus I am close to being the table chip leader, even though my stack is only slightly above average.

-There is a raise to 4,600. One player calls, and I call from the BB with J-J. Flop comes Q-10-9. I check. Raiser bets 9K Caller folds. I make it 25K. He thinks for a long time, and it is not an act, (i.e. it became clear to me that I was beat at that point), but finally he lays it down. Up to 156K. I’m pretty sure he had A-Q, with an outside chance of A-A. That might seem like a huge laydown, but if my raise is legitimate on a flop like that, there’s not many hands he can beat. Plus, he knows I’ll probably put him all-in on the turn if he calls the flop, so he has to decide if he’s willing to risk his tournament life with one pair. Clearly he wasn’t.

-After that hand, the kid to my right says, “How do you do it? How do you win all those chips without showing a single hand? You are ballin’, man!” That last line cracked me up, although he had a point. I had gone from 82K to 156K, and never had to show a single hand.

-End of Level Eleven: 156,900

Level Twelve: 1K-2K blinds, 300 ante

-SICK hand. One player limps, then another makes it 7K to go. I have Ac-Qc in the BB. I make it 18K to go. He pushes all-in for 36K total, I call, he has A-A. But flop comes K-J-10! Turn 3, river the case ace. SICK. Up to 192K. I was genuinely torn about what to do preflop. My first instinct was to fold, and I truly have no idea why I ignored that instinct. I thought his raise to 7K, after a player had limped for 2K, was inviting action. But then I decided that I had been getting way too much respect, so I should try to use that. But I don’t know what I was thinking. I put him on a big hand, and if that was the case, then all the respect in the world wouldn’t make him fold. If I had flat-called, then the hand would have worked out the same way, but calling was honestly not on my mind. I was prepared to fold, and then I was like, “Fuck that. No one has called my raises yet, so I’m raising.” This was obviously my luckiest hand of the tournament. It would not have broken me to lose it, but I would have been down below 120K, instead of up to 192K.

-There is a raise to 6K I call with 7-7. Flop A-3-5. He checks, I bet 12K, he mucks. Up to 206K.

-Folded to SB, he limps. I raise 5K from BB with 9-2, he calls. Flop J-J-7. He checks, I bet 8K, he makes it 21K, I muck. Turns out he was slowplaying K-K. Whoops. Down to 189K. This was a very unnecessary play, but given my table image of aggressive and lucky, I saw no reason to leave any pot uncontested. Once he called, my initial thought was, “OK, I’m done.” Then of course the flop came and I told myself I had to take one shot at it, and of course that was a waste of 8K. I knew it even as I was making the bet. J Sometimes you just have that feeling.

-One limper, SB limps, I check 9h-8h in BB. Flop 9-4-3. Checked to limper, he bets 6K, I call. Queen on turn, we check. Ten on river, we check again, he has A-9. Down to 178K.

-I go an hour without playing a hand, and just as the level is almost over I get moved to a new table. New and much shittier. Instead of being one of the two chip leaders, I am now one of the three shortest stacks. I am hardly a short stack, but everyone has at least 120K in chips, with several players over 300K. I am in Seat Two, and I have Brandon Cantu to deal with in Seat Eight. Without question, this table change sucked.

-End of Level Twelve: 171,400

Level Thirteen: 1,200-2,400 blinds, 300 ante

-I make it 7,500 with J-J. I get re-raised to 23K and I let it go. Down to 157K.

-I make it 7K with 7-7, SB calls. Flop 10-5-2. He leads out for 12K and I muck. Down to 145K. Last two hands are examples of how the money pressure might have been getting to me a little. We were getting close to being in the money, and I was not in the mood to take chances. Normally I would raise the flop 3 out of 4 times in this situation. But here, I really didn’t want to take unnecessary chances.

-They just moved Hassan Habib to Seat Four with about 250K, as if this table wasn’t hard enough.

-Those were literally the only two hands I played. I could not even steal the blinds.

-End of Level Thirteen: 126,000

Level Fourteen: 1,500-3,000 blinds, 400 ante

-At the start of this level, my mindset was that we would probably be in the money by the end of the level, so I could just pay my blinds and make the money, but I would also be leaving myself too short stacked to do much more than that. So far my image at this table was tight but weak, so that was not in my favor. Plus Brandon was literally playing over 50% of his hands, so there was no room to breathe. I pretty much decided that I would be at the mercy of my cards for the next two hours. If I picked up a premium hand, (A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-K) I would take my chances with it to some extent. Anything less and I was probably folding, other than possibly taking one shot at the blinds.

-WOW. A-A for 9th time. One player limps. Brandon makes it 13K. I make it 60K. The limper goes all-in! Brandon mucks, I call, he has K-K, and the aces hold. Up to 256K. This demonstrates, of course, the total luck factor of a tournament like this. If we reverse the hands and give me the K-K, I’m the one that’s out just short of the money. Instead I end up lasting another day and a half, and the player with K-K ends up getting eliminated a few hands later, about 20 spots short of $21,000 in real money. I like his limp preflop. He was counting on Brandon to raise on his left, and that was a pretty safe bet. I just happened to wake up with the nuts.

-I make it 9K with K-J. The BB calls and then leads out for 12K on an 8-5-2 flop. I muck. Down to 248K.

-Soon afterwards we are playing hand for hand, which goes on for about an hour. Brandon raises literally every pot during that time. I do the opposite and fold every hand like a wuss. Still, we made the money by the end of the level, so we were able to get back to normal.

-End of Level Fourteen: 234,500

Level Fifteen: 2K-4K blinds, 500 ante

-I make it 12K on button with 2-2. SB goes all-in for 36K. I’m going to call, except Habib comes over the top from the BB, and I muck. Habib has Q-Q, SB has A-5 but flops an ace to survive. Turns out I saved money, but still down to 212K.

-I pick up A-A for the 10th time, but no action this time. I can’t complain.

-I make it 12K with A-Q, get reraised to 36K and muck. Down to 202K.

-Cantu makes it 13K in Seat Eight. Seat Nine calls, then Seat One goes all-in for 125K. I’m in Seat Two, in the SB with A-K offsuit. I decide to muck. Cantu calls with 4-4. The all-in player has A-10, and the flop comes with a king. Instead of being up to over 350K, I’m holding steady at around 180K. I don’t regret this laydown. I mean, I obviously regret it from the way it played out, but I was really surprised that Seat One had only A-10. He had been playing pretty tight, and I understood that people were going to play looser once we made the money, but that was looser than I expected. If I had called, Cantu just might have been wacky enough to overcall with his pocket fours (he certainly had the chips to overcall) in which case I would have been a slight dog, but would have flopped a king to end up with almost 500K. Still, I feel like that is playing results. I could just as easily have been up against K-K or A-A, or even a smaller pair, but with one or more of my cards being dead.

-I make it 14K UTG with Q-Q. I get called by a tightish player in middle position, and Cantu on the button. The flop comes K-8-3. I check. Middle position player bets 30K. Cantu folds. I check-raise all-in. He looks shocked. He then starts saying, “I think we have the same hand … I think we have the same hand.” Now I know he has A-K, and I’m basically ready to leave. But remarkably, he shows his hand and lays it down, saying I must have A-A. I could not believe it. Up to 235K. This was easily my worst play of the entire tournament. On the flop, my plan was to check-raise Cantu, because I was sure he would have reraised preflop with A-K and probably even K-Q, and I was equally sure he would bet the flop if we checked to him, regardless of his hand. I was not ready for the other player to come out betting. As I said, he was relatively tight, so for him to call preflop, and for him to bet such a non-drawing-hand flop, he absolutely had to have at least a big king, possibly even a set. All I can say is that I was fed up with having laid down A-K the previous round, and for laying down hands at this table for the past six hours. I had created the tightest image possible, and with only twenty minutes before the night ended and our table broke, I was desperate for an opportunity to take advantage of the tight image I had created by folding 95% of my hands. As soon as I made the all-in raise I regretted it, but I desperately tried to keep a confident face, and somehow my opponent laid down a hand he shouldn’t have laid down in a million years. His laydown eventually equated to an extra $20,000 in prize money for me.

-Last hand of the night, there is a raise to 17K, I call in SB with 10-10 and the BB calls. Flop A-8-5, we all check. Turn a five. I bet 25K. BB folds, raiser shows 9-9 and folds. Up to 268K.

-End of Level Fifteen, End of Day Three: 268,000

Day Four, Level Sixteen: 2,500-5,000 blinds, 500 ante

-Only name player at my table is Shawn Sheikhan in Seat Eight with over 700K. Chris Bjorin is in Seat Two, but with less than 40K. I’m in Seat Four, which is fine. It’s a nice mix of players, definitely not one of the tougher tables remaining.

-Sheiky make it 16K, another player makes it 50K, and I muck A-K in the BB. Sheiky mucked as well, so we’ll never know. I wasn’t going to take unnecessary chances until I knew my opponents a little better.

-VNH the reraiser from the previous hand makes it 16K. I make it 51K from the SB with A-K, he calls. Flop 10-5-3, I move all-in and he mucks. Up to 330K. So much for not taking chances. Basically, I wasn’t going to give him credit for two big hands in a row. This was a case of Peter Costa in my head, asking, “Do you need the chips?” And I simply needed the chips, thus the all-in. This hand added over 20% to my stack.

-SB limps, I check 10-2 in BB. Flop K-10-10. He calls 6K on flop and 12K on turn but folds to 30K bet on river Up to 340K. In retrospect he was the weakest player at the table. I have no idea what he had, but it could have been as weak as a gutshot straight draw.

-There is a raise to 16K. I make it 51K with Ah-Kh. He reraises another 100K. I consider for a while, but muck. Down to 280K. Maybe I should have taken a stand with one of these A-K hands, but I felt I had enough chips that I didn’t need to risk my tournament life on A-K. Plus, this player’s raise really reeked of strength, much more so than the first A-K I laid down.

-VNH I make it 15K with Kc-Qc, BB calls. Flop Ax-9c-6c. I bet 18K, he folds. Up to 310K.

-Pocket aces for 11th time. Someone raises to 20K, I make it 50K and he mucks. Up to 330K.

-I make it 16K with 9-9, both blinds call. Flop As-6s-5x, we all check. Qx on turn. Shieky bets 40K, I call, other player mucks. River 4s. We check, and he has A-K. Down to 260K. I thought there was enough of a chance that he was trying to buy the pot, hence my call on the turn. On the other hand, I knew that a big ace was a definite possibility as well.

-2 limpers, I limp in SB with K-9. Flop 8s-7s-5h, we all check. Turn 7h. I bet 22K, one caller. River Kh. We both check, and I’m pretty sure I rivered him, but then he shows A-7! Whoops. Down to 220K. This was the French player in Seat Two that was clearly the tightest player at the table. He plays a pivotal role in a later hand.

-There is a raise to 16K, I call on button with A-Q. Flop A-K-Q with two clubs. He checks, I bet 25K, he calls. Turn 8x, we both check. River 9x. He bets 40K, I call, and he mucks instantly. Nice. Up to 315K. He later said he had a club draw, but I’m not sure he even had that much.

-I make it 15K on button with Ad-10d, SB calls. Flop 2-3-6. I bet 22K, he folds. Up to 340K.

-End of Level Sixteen: 326,000

Level Seventeen: 3K-6K blinds, 1K ante

-UTG raises to 16K, I call on button with Jc-10c, BB calls. Flop Q-8-6 all hearts. We all check. Turn 7h. They check to me, I bet 25K, they both call. Whoops. River a blank, and we check around. UTG had As-Kh, but SB had 10h-9h for a straight flush! Big whoops. Down to 290K. He played his hand so slow he was almost moving backwards.

-There is a raise to 20K and two callers. I call in BB with 4-4, but the flop comes 9-8-8 and I fold to a 40K bet. Down to 250K.

-I make it 18K from cutoff with J-4, BB calls. Flop J-8-8, we both check. Turn a queen. He bets 27K, I call. River a jack! He checks, I bet 60K, and he folds. Up to 305K. As soon as I bet, I realized I had bet too much. If he had anything with which to call, it was either a weak queen or ace high or something like that. I should have sucked him in with something smaller, possibly even induced a check-raise bluff.

-I make it 18K with A-7, one caller. Flop A-J-8. I check-call 35K. We check 10 on turn and 9 on river, and my straight is good. I highly doubt that I needed it. Up to 400K.

-There is a raise to 25K. I call in BB with Ac-Qc. Flop comes A-A-10. I lead out for 20K. He thinks, says, “Excellent bet,” and folds. Damn, if he folded I guess it wasn’t so excellent. Anyway, up to 425K.

-Pocket aces for 12th(!) time. There is a raise to 25K, I make it 60K and he mucks. Up to 460K.

-I steal the blinds with A-K. Then VNH, I make it 21K with 9-9. There’s a raise to 61K and a reraise to 261K. Obviously I muck, and re-raiser shows A-A. Still at 460K.

-End of Level Seventeen: 468,000

As it turns out, this was my high mark for the tournament. At the time, we were down to about 350 players, and I was a good 100K-150K above average. I really felt good, and thought that if I stayed at the same table for the rest of the day, one million in chips would be an achievable goal. Of course, it didn’t take long to bring me back down to earth.

-Level Eighteen: 4K-8K blinds, 1K ante

-UTG limps and I limp with 10-10, then there is a raise to 42K. I call, but then the flop comes K-Q-8 and I muck to a 65K bet. Down to 370K.

-Sheiky makes it 22K, I call from BB with J-J. Flop comes A-Q-2. I lead out for 20K and he mucks. Up to 405K.

-The sick hand of the tournament. UTG raises to 20K. Three players call. I make it 140K from the SB with Q-Q. Blinds fold, then the UTG player almost immediately goes all-in. The next two players fold. Frenchman in Seat Two reluctantly calls with a relatively short stack. I just can’t imagine my hand being any good. As soon as I muck, UTG says to Frenchman, “I think you have me beat,” and produces K-Q. Frenchman has A-K, and the final board comes nine-high. Frenchman doubles up, and I’m down to 240K. This hand was totally fucked, but at least it was fucked enough for me to produce a Card Player article out of it. J My raise was an attempt to signify that I was pot-committed, but deep down I knew that I could get away from the hand if I had to. 240K was still enough to work with. I was really convinced the UTG player had aces, but still, he had to figure that there was a decent chance I would call, just because so many of my chips were already in the pot. Although I shouldn’t do it, what bothers me the most is when I play the “what if?” game. If he had folded like he was supposed to, I’m going to get the A-K player all-in, and when the board comes nine-high, I’m going to be up over 750K. That would have been HUGE. Instead, I had to nurse a below-average stack for the remainder of my time in the tournament.

-There is a raise to 25K. I go all-in with A-Q and he mucks. Up to 280K. At this point I can’t fuck around anymore.

-I make it 24K with A-Q, BB calls. Flop K-10-3. He checks, I bet 35K and he mucks. Up to 290K.

-VNH SB makes it 22K, I call in BB with Qc-10c. Flop K-9-3, we check. Turn a five. He checks, I bet 30K and he mucks. Up to 320K.

-VNH UTG makes it 20K, I call in SB with 9-9. Flop K-7-6. I bet out 20K, he makes it 60K and I muck. Back down to 280K. That 20K lead bet had been causing opponents to fold, or at least hesitate, so I figured I’d keep doing it until someone took a stand. Here was that stand.

-End of Level Eighteen: 268,000

Level Nineteen: 5K-10K blinds, 1K ante

-I make it 32K with A-K. Sheiky calls, then someone reraises to 110K. I go all-in, Sheiky folds A-K, other guy calls with A-K! We split. Up to 280K.

-There is a raise to 35K. SB calls, and I call in BB with 4-4. Flop J-4-3 all hearts. I bet 100K, they fold. Up to 330K.

-We are ending Day Four at 11 PM, with 189 players remaining and 40 minutes left in Level Nineteen. I have 308K.

Start of Day Five

-I’m at a new table. There’s not a single name player, but everyone except for one player has more chips than me. Que lastima.

-I didn’t play a single hand for the remainder of the level, so…

-End of Level Nineteen: 263,000

Level Twenty: 6K-12K blinds, 2K ante

-Nothing even close to a playable hand for the first hour. Blinded down to 190K.

-After an hour and a half, the cutoff makes it 35K, and I go all-in from the button with 3-3. He folds A-8. “Up” to 190K.

-I make it 38K with J-10. I get reraised all-in, and I muck. Down to 140K.

-I go all-in on button with A-5. BB calls with A-Q, but flop comes 6-5-4. Nice! Turn and river blanks. Up to 260K. Obviously I got lucky this hand, but I was also unlucky to have gone almost three hours without anything remotely playable. There’s never a good time to go card dead at the WSOP, and Day Five is definitely no exception.

-End of Level Twenty: 260,000

Level Twenty-One: 8K-16K blinds, 2K ante

-Only got to play one hand. The button raises to 35K. I go all-in from BB with 10-10. He thinks for a long while, then calls with K-J. Flop comes A-J-9. Turn is a queen, giving me some faint hope, but the river is a four. I’m eliminated in 144th place. Losing to this player was really painful. In an earlier hand, he put in a fourth raise preflop with J-J against a player who clearly had him beat. The other guy beat him into the pot with A-A, then the guy flops quad jacks. In this hand, he should have had an easy laydown with his K-J, When he thought as long as he did, I really hoped I had him dominated. I thought he might have a smaller pocket pair, or a hand like A-9. When he called, I was sure I was happy with the call, but I really thought I’d be happier. Instead it was a coin flip and I lost. Oh well.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And if you had a piece of my action, you’re welcome. J