CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

Andrew

July 10, 2007

Busto

I made it 13 1/2 hours on day 1, but that wasn't enough to get through the day. Honestly, I'm not happy at all with my play. There were times where I had serious trouble focusing. I wasn't in the mood to play poker that day, I was tired, and they just make you play for so long. I typically don't play for more than a few hours when I play online. Normally, I can get by live, but for whatever reason, I just wasn't there on that day. I wish I was, because there were a few hands I definitely could have played better.

The first major mistake I made was when I cold called KK preflop and then got it all in on a J10x two diamond flop for a 50k pot w/ 200/400 blinds. The pot was against mindwise who wasn't getting out of line at all. In hindsight, I really can't see him getting it in there with any hand that KK beats. I kind of knew that at the time, but I just wasn't focusing and decided to go with the hand. Of course, he had JJ. I spiked a K on the turn and mindwise was out. I felt bad about it, because he is a nice guy and it was a sick beat to take (the guy next to me told me he folded KQ).

After dinner I seemed to refocus and was feeling better. I was pounding redbulls and that was definitely helping me focus and stay awake. I built my stack up and going into the final level (400/800 100 ante) I had 75k in chips. Any time I can have 100bbs in a tourny, I'm feeling good. I won the first two pots of the level and had about 80k. I wouldn't win another pot for the rest of my tournament. I kept getting marginal hands in position that I had to play (ie Q10 in the cutoff). The problem was that Danny Alaei was playing almost every pot and had a big stack. He was also two to my left. That means when I missed the flops, which I did every time I raised from that point on, he would stick around and try to take the pot from me. I was hoping to find a good spot and win a decent pot from him but it never happened. I bled down to about 50k in chips. I was still feeling ok, but I was starting to get a bit frustrated. Then two hands happened in a row that really got me steaming. I raised 99 in early position and a guy with about 20k in chips came over the top of me. I opted to lay down the hand but wasn't happy. The very next hand was the hand that really crippled me. I raised AKo utg. Everyone folded to the blind who just called. The flop came A82 with a flush draw. He checked and I bet about 2/3 of the pot. He called. The turn was then an 8. This is where I really messed up the hand. I should have checked behind. My thinking was that I wanted to keep betting so that I could stack him if his hand was AJ or something of that nature. I bet out about 5k and he moved in for 20k. After betting, I don't think there was anyway I could get away from the hand. I called and he showed me 78. Ugh. After losing that pot I was down to about 27k. I was still in okay shape. I got ground down by the blinds until I was at about 21k. Danny raised in early position and I was in the blinds. Danny was raising a ton of hands from every position. I looked down at my hand and had AK. I was finally happy. Then I looked up and saw the dealer was trying to talk to me. I took off my headphones and he asked me if I had the Kd. I said no I don't. He then said, well do you have a face card, because it was exposed. I had the Ks and had to give it back to the dealer. I wasn't happy. Unfortunately, the next card he gave me was a Queen. I say unfortunately, because had it been a small card, I wouldn't have busted here. Anyway, I now have AQo w/ Danny raising and it folding to me. I decided to just push and try to pick up the pot there. He instacalled and showed me AA. The flop came Axxx but there were 3 clubs going into the river and I had the Qc. The river came Qd and I was out. Lovely how I get two pair there and lose to trips.

I think next year I need to adjust my trip so that the main event isn't the very last thing I do in vegas. I had been in vegas for 40 days and I was just burned out on everything. I just wasn't in the right place to play a 14 hour day of poker. It's too bad, because I feel like I'm really playing great in general. I just didn't have it in my to do it that day. I also feel bad because I traded some %s. I know that the guys I traded with were playing better than me, so in a way I let them down.

I'm back in Chicago now and feel really good about being home. It was raining when I landed which was an interesting sight for someone that hasn't seen it rain in 40 days. Also, it was probably only about 80 degrees due to the weather. It's been so hot in vegas that it was nice to have some cooler weather.

I'm going to start moving into my apartment in Chicago tomorrow, which is another thing I'm really pumped about. I'm also going to start regularly going to the Cardrunners office to get Cardrunners work done. I've been looking forward to that for a long time. I've always felt that I wasn't giving enough time to Cardrunners and now I know that I will be able to. We are going to get a lot done in the 2nd half of the year. I'm really excited for everything thats going to be going on with Cardrunners in the near future.

Vegas was amazing. I couldn't have imagined a better time. I know in a few weeks I'll be missing it and itching to make my next trip out there. I just need to come home a bit sooner next year.

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