Discomonkey's Main Event (Part 1)

Well things started badly on Day 1D, with a potentially catastrophic hand. (Starting stack - 30K) With pocket 2's I called a 3-bet pre-flop and the flop came Q 6 2 rainbow. You'd think that was pretty perfect, so I check in order to check-raise, and the 3-bettor checks behind...odd. I would have thought for sure he would lead out there with almost any two cards he 3-bet with pre-flop. The turn is a four, so I bet out. He raises me pretty quickly, so I flat call and the river is a six. I make what I thought was a bad lead out here, as I dont want to face a raise. He does raise and I call. He flips over QQ. /sigh

I don't like my lead out on the river here, as the way he's played the hand implies serious strength and I should just check-call the river. Down to 21K.

Within about two rounds I pick up QQ UTG, and raise it up. I get a call from the button and the flop comes K Q 7 - very, very nice!. I check, he leads out swiftly and Im raise it up. He quickly calls, and I immediatley put him on KX, most likely AK, and the turn is a blank four. I bet about 2K and he snap calls. Now I'm convinced he has AK, and I think he'll call a large river bet, so I bet 7K after the three hits the river. He sighs tanks and folds AK face up. Godammit...my overbet on the end cost me 4K value, as he would definitely have called a 3-4K bet.

So far, two big hands - two mistakes - albeit relatively minor errors, but they all add up to a smaller chip stack than i should have had. Pretty much until the first break I was grinding, some 3-bet steals and just accumulating chips back from my early loss, and I headed for break at 28K. Not bad, but could and should be better.

God is a monkey?

Onto the second level, and I went into god-mode - no other word for it. I wasn't necesssarily playing bad and getting lucky, just simply running good in great spots. For example, in one of the early moments, I had T9s on the big blind, and the button limps (wp sir obv), the small blind makes it and I raise it up. The button calls, the small blind folds, and the flop  brings 7 7 2 (two hearts). I c-bet and the button calls. I think "Hmmm, flush draw or seven, this guy would deffo raise anything else" so when the turn comes an offsuit nine, it's almost a bad card for me as it can get me more involved.

I decide to lead and fold if I'm raised, or re-assess on the river if smooth-called. The player slams his chip down to call, as he had in previous hands before showing down strong holdings, so I now had him on the seven for certain. River is a nine, BOSH, send it! Now, given I was fairly sure he had the sevenb and he could never put me on the nine, I had to bet huge. If he has the flush draw he folds any bet. If he has the seven, he calls any bet, so I bet nearly pot and he says "If you have the nine, it's just sick - I call", and I flip over my hand.

Literally four hands later, it's folded to me on the button and I open 2.5x and the small blind, who had been a persistent re-raiser of mine, did so again. I decided to take a stand. Not the smartest play with T5o but meh, I'm taking a stand! So I 4-bet his ass, he flats and the flop comes ten-high. He check-calls me on the flop and I figured him for a strong hand and was going to give up. He checks to me on the turn (two) so I obviously take my free card...bosh! Five on the river and ty please. If he has the overpair, as I suspected, then he will pay through the nose. He checks a third time so I bet one chip of each colour (6,625) and he called. He didn't appear too pleased about my holding...

Running good

A few hands later I was dealt AK, raise it up and get one caller. The flop was K K 7. I check-call the flop and lead the turn. He apparently had air, because he was a complete fish who would call any pair there, which is why i check-called the flop, to get value out of his non-paired hands.

Then I got AA and one caller. The flop was J 9 X with two hearts. He raised my c-bet on the flop (same fish) and given his stack size, it wasn't a great deal more (around 15K total, and he raised 3K). I figured him for a jack which should call a shove. I shoved and he folded a jack face up...ermmm? I thought my over-involvement would suggest that I'm at it, but OK. Still content with the smallish pot, still building my stack which was up to 60K by this point.

Discomonkey's Main Event blog continues tomorrow...