Last Meal

This is the part I hate. When I went to bed early this morning it was 24 hours until I would need to leave for my flight. The lads think I'm nuts of course taking a 6am flight but then, they stay here 4 to 6 weeks at a time! They probably think doing one week is crazy.

I never followed up on the third mega stack. It was the smaller buy-in so the structure didn't have as much play but still was deep. I was almost out early in level 4 when I raised with queens and got pushed by AK and called - pretty standard. He flopped and ace and while I was telling everyone good luck and standing up from the table the case queen slid off - the 9 seat had folded KQ.

In level 4 at 200/400 I had around 5500 and had been pretty card dead other than those queens. The one seat who had played a lot of pots both limped and raised limped in and the 2 seat immediately pushed. I didn't think the two seat was strong at all - the way he shoved just wasn't right, no pondering or reflection, just stick it in. I wake up with tens and move AI behind the 2 seat who barely has me covered. The limper then insta-called and I said "uh-oh." He turned over queens. Just to be cruel, the dealer put a ten out on the turn again as I was getting up, but before I could sit back down a queen hit the river. I don't think this hand would have played much differently if the 1 seat had opened vs. limping. If the two seat is the second raiser it's possible I could fold tens there but given the blinds I think a shove is standard. Also, given how many pots the 1 seat opened I'd be more inclined to discount the second raise, especially if he made it in the same manner.

The mistakes I made on this trip mostly revolve around ignoring the "when the big bet comes, watch out" rule. Of course, two nights ago I had the guy push on the river right after I moved over from lowball and called. 120 dollar bet with the winning hand. In that case though I took some time, joked around and got him to laugh under his shades - I had something to go on. When I called in Mega 2 with top and bottom pair on the turn I didn't take two seconds to think about it. Last night I made a snap-call on that stiff 100 dollar river bet. Sometimes I think I just have to sleep at night for the 100 dollars. Had I replayed that hand I think I would have come to the same conclusion just based on the bucket I had this guy in, but at least then I would feel better about it.

I'm waiting now for a big breakfast that'll basically be the last meal. Plan is Tao tonight with the lads and I'm likely to head to the airport after - no use sleeping of course.

Given how furiously my trip started - with a mega stack less than two hours after I landed and the WSOP the next day - I didn't play a ton of poker this week. At least much less than I thought. But, I got to talk poker a lot more than I expected. Vegas trips are like battle plans - once contact is made plans are useless. The week has gone nothing like I planned but for the most part it was change for the better.

I'm back in October.