Main Event WSOP 2008 $10,000

Main Event
$10,000 buy in

So over the last few weeks poker and Las Vegas has not treated me so favourable. I started well and then hit rock bottom.
I managed to find some people who were happy to stake me for shares in this tournament so firstly I want to thank these people and tell you all as I told them you will be with me in November at the Final.

I have waited 2 years for this as last year I was unable to come to Vegas due to work commitments but now I am here I have to put the past behind me and move forward in a positive light.
As you can tell I am very into my spiritual side and the secret/cosmic ordering.
I know I need to forget about how I feel and concentrate on what I deserve.

I visualize my win and feel it like it has happened.
I know I can do it and know I will do it and as long as I stay focused and concentrated I know it.
Day 1B
Orange section in the main room table 36 seat 2.
As I sat down I noticed the table was full of unknowns. Not 1 pro insight but there was still an empty seat.
We started playing and I knew I was in for the long haul. This was a serious marathon and not a sprint.
Many players manage to donk of their chips in day 1 or get unlucky but many just give them away forgetting that it is a survival game to start with.
I built my stack up slowly flopping the nuts against fish that pay me of on all 3 streets with either top pair of a bad 2 pair!

Andy Black turned up at out table with the cameras following. He sat down and got into as many pot as he could early on.
This is a strategy of a lot of pros but I don’t understand it. If you are playing fish who just want to have fun know they have no chance but want to take a story home with them so beating a top well known pro in a hand with whatever cards is all they want and can have to take back with them so why give them this chance and not just sit and wait and take their chips at the same time as giving them a story that at least they lost to a good pro player.
He raised a pot pre flop and got called form a woman in seat 1 who was playing solid. The raise pre flop was from 50 100 to 500. The flop was 884 and Andy bet out 600. She called and the turn was a 9. He now bet 600 and she thought for a second before flat calling.
So as I do I know try to read my opponents so I can get a good feel for them later when I am in a hand with them. What does Andy have? Well he could have anything but I have to guess if he raised pre flop bet out and continued he must have an over pair. He bet the flop to see where he was and continues for information.
OK so now what can she have. She has called a raise 5 x BB pre flop in position, called his bet of 600 on the flop and flat called is bet on the turn? I say to myself here she must have 88 or 99 as there is no other possible answer to the way the pot has been played.
The river now comes a 9 and I watch were a closely as I can as reading women is a lot harder than reading men. She gives nothing away to start with as she has her neck hidden in a top and a hat and sunglasses to protect her face.
Here comes the strange part. Andy now bets 300 into this pot??????
The pot is now 3550 what is 300 bet supposed to mean especially for a pro. It looks really bad and I Am still confused!
She thinks for a minute and re-raises 3000 more. OK so now “the pro” can use all the information given to him and make a decision raise, call or pass. He has put 2000 into this pot already 10% of his starting chip stack and now needs to call 3000 more which is a further 15% so a total of 25% of his chips. He thinks for a while and calls.
As he does this I look at the woman and say you have quads don’t you but I don’t know if you hit the flop or Turn! She turns over 99 and Andy for some reason turns over his TT and mucks in disgust.
Well what did he expect? You think she would raise you with an A or counterfeited under pair? I don’t.
Well he managed to do the rest of his chips in the next hour and 1 seat was open leaving the table for me to eat alive.
Yum yum yum….
There is now a new nutter at the table but a lovely guy. He was a South African named Oliver Berman (seat 5). He was betting and raising and re-raising then showing his bluffs. I knew it would be a matter of time before I could get into a pot with him. I did also tell him that he would not be able to get away with that with me knowing I was getting him ready to try it.
Finally we got into a pot and he raised pre flop so I re-raised him. He called and said do you need an Ace. I said well AA7 would be a good flop for me as I had 77.
The flop came down 279. LOL he now bet out so I flat called. The turn was an 8 and he said you missed again but checked. I checked behind him knowing he would now have to bet the river. He did after a 6 hit the deck but it was a small to medium bet. He told me that he just got lucky and I decided to call to get some cheap information. He turned over KT to make a straight LOL.
We laughed about it for a while and he avoided me like the plague.
We broke for dinner and I had good chips. I knew that our table was going to break soon and with a tight image I knew I needed to make the most of it for the remaining time I had left at that table.
There was 1 player I had 3 bet 3 times and shown the nuts when I got into a pot with him with a flush draw. He bet the flop I called he bet the turn but so cheap I had to call the river bought the back door flush and now he checked I made a sizable bet and he thought for ages. He decided to fold so I could not resist but to say you must have known I was on clubs and showed him my Ten high bluff to get him on tilt.
He managed to donk his chips of within 30 minutes and now we were ready to break.
Level 5 blinds 150 – 300 25 ante. I called from the button and was re-raised from the small blind to 1250 who was a young solid player who knew I was there to sit it through and thought I was tighter that he was. I called him with Q5 to see if I could out play him on the flop.
The flop was3 4 7he bet out 1500 so I called with my gut shot and back door flush. The turn was a King. He now checks so I try to represent a hand and hoped he would pass to a bet here. I bet 3500he called me which I was not happy about. The river cam the A hearts which was not great for me but could be the greatest card for me to win the pot with. He thought for a minute and checked. I thought for a while as to what he could have and decided if I bet the correct amount here he could not call unless he had a massive hand. I bet 6K thinking this was the perfect bet. To much to call with a medium hand and not to big to look like a bluff.
He now goes into the tank and the floor person is giving everyone chip racks to move table. I do not want to lose this pot and leave low stacked and I know he does not want to call and lose a big pot as we are moving table so my timing was perfect. After studying me and thinking for I would say a good 4 minutes he decided to fold and I said good pass. No need to lose a load of chips before we break. I decided not to show this hand in case we play again and he was a good kid and I thought it unkind to send him in tilt also.
I moved table where my Table image was crazy. I was being dealt good cards and playing well. I sat down at the table with good chips and there were a few short stacks and medium stacks with only 1 big stack.
I watched the players for a while then played a big pot with a nice friendly guy in seat 5 called Danny.
I raised to 800 pre flop and he re-raised me to 2100. I decided to see a flop as I knew he was a solid player and I could win a big pot. The flop came down 8 9 Q perfect and I bet out to hide my hand 3500. He decided to re- raise me right here 7000 more so I had to stop to think for a minute.
If I flat call here I am first to act after the flop what would I do. I have to put him now on either AA,KK or QQ if he has QQ I know all the money can get into the middle now. AA probably too and KK if he is not such a good player. The pot now was about 20K which was a good size pot to win right now. If I checked the turn and he checked I would give him 2 free cards so I decided to see if I could get him to commit right there. I re-raised 12,000 more as we were both sitting with about 30K each more after the 7K. He thought now for a while and I tried to look as nervous as possible but he passed to my disappointment. The only good thing was I could have lost the pot and gone out calling a re-raise with TJ pre flop.
I said phew…. So glad you didn’t have a set to which he threw his hands in the air and said I think I made a bad lay down. He asked me what I had and I said I can not tell you but it is in the book so you can read about it on my site. He was on serious tilt for a short while and when he said I think you had TT or JJ I laughed to look like I did.
I now know as he told me if I called and checked the turn he would have put me all in but hey that’s poker and I was on over 40K and happy to be there in such good shape with a good aggressive image at the table.
I told him at the end of the night and we shock hands.
I finished the day well making some great lay downs like AK to a flop of AQQ which was checked after my re-raise pre flop.
99 v QQ on an 8 high flop where I called his hand.
Many players took my card and shook my hand to congratulate me as they first thought I was a crazy internet player and soon realised the hard way that I was a very skilled poker player who they all now respected.
I had a great day and ended with 58,200 in chips.
I know have 3 days off before day 2 in which time I have been invited to play in a Baccaratt free roll for $300,000 and where I will focus on visualising my final table.