Finally, some poker content.
The day was split up into 4 2-hour sessions and that's basically how I remember my day.
Hours 1-2Before even stepping into the poker room I saw that my draw was Table #1. Immediately I thought, "featured table??". Nope. Ah well. But I do think I had some legit pro at my table because tons of photographers kept taking pics of him, I believe his name was Jean Pierre Dea......something, no idea really but I do know he was 2 spots to my right.
My plan for the start of play was basically how I normally play at the beginning of tourneys online, and that's pretty nitty. But as life goes sometimes, things didn't exactly go as planned.
The first 4 hands of the day, the guy directly on my right raised pre with a variety of raises anywhere from 3.5x to a minraise. For some reason I thought I'd be doing battle with this guy eventually and I wasn't wrong. Maybe 30 mins in....
I'm in CO position, this guy open min-raises for maybe the 3rd time, I look down at 5c 6c and call. BB calls.
Flop comes 2c 3d 10c. BB checks, villain bets ~400, I call, BB folds.
Turn is Qd. Villain bets ~750. Time for me to think. The way I saw it this guy had a low-to-mid-pair at best,
maybe a T, and hitting that Q probably wasn't likely considering his body language and betting tactics/pattern. So basically I thought with a respectable raise, and the fact that I hadn't played a hand yet, I could take this pot down. I make it 2225. He tanks for at least 3-4 mins which tells me that, miraculously, my read may be right.
During his tanking session he takes numerous glances at me, and being about 2 inches away from him I return every glance he makes with a smile of my own. This may have been a mistake as he eventually calls. FUCK.
Miracle river time: 4s. Woot.
He checks, I act for a bit and eventually make it 2500 hoping he'd re-raise, but again, he tanks for another few mins and eventually calls. TY. He mucks and now seems very very pissed (for good reason :)).
Poor guy was gone about an hour later and I fully realize it was probably because of my luckboxness.
Not sure what that hand did for my table image but until our first break I don't think any of my pre-flop raises were called, onto the next session.
Hours 2-4There was really only 1 hand where I got legitimately involved in these 2 hours but this hand did wonders for my confidence and essentially let me know that I somewhat belong.
There was a Brazilian kid/dude across the table from me who was really the only guy at the time I was 'friendly' with. He got dealt Aces a couple times early (which he played in really tricky fashions) and I had made a comment about sharing the wealth or something and he found it funny for some odd reason.
He's UTG+1 and makes his standard raise of ~2.5x. I'm in the CO with 5 5 and before calling I look over and ask "Aces again??" hoping he'd give off some information. He replies "something like that" which told me he wasn't as strong as times before. I obviously call. BB calls.
Flop is 2 4 8 rainbow. BB checks, Brazilian guy checks, I think for a second and eventually check (which probably made the hand more difficult for me in the end).
Turn is a T. BB checks, Brazilian dude bets ~1500 and I need to think. In the end I wasn't convinced so I called hoping for a blank river and a check by the Brazilian dude. (BB folds)
River is a 6 with no flush draws. Villain ponders for maybe 20-30 seconds and bets 3500. Damnit, so much for him checking it down. I now tank for several minutes and ultimately tell myself, "it would be absolutely retarded for me to fold right now after convincing myself that I had the best hand after the turn." I wasn't exactly very happy about having to call but as I throw my 3500 into the pot, he points at me and nods his head 'yes'. Boom. I was so excited about the hand that I forgot he had to show his hand first and he mucked before myself and everyone else at the table could gather some more free information. Oops. Nice pot nonetheless.
Hours 5-6Hour 5 was very very good to me like baseball was very very good to Sammy Sosa. Before starting I should say the seat directly to my right is now occupied by the kind of guy(s) that made me come to France. A French aggro/fish that raised every opportunity he had including ~3 times to my BB in his SB. Every time in which he eventually took down the pot.
I'm UTG+1 to start, get dealt QQ the very 1st hand and make it 800 at 150/300. Folded around.
Very next hand (UTG) I'm dealt 99 and make it 800 again. Folded down to the BB (said Frenchy) and he calls.
Flop comes 9 4 2 rainbow. Oh HELLO. He checks. Of course I thought about slow-playing but this guy was so predictable that if he got any part of that flop and/or has a draw of some sort, he'd be calling. I bet 950 and he calls almost immediately.
Turn is a K with maybe 2 diamonds on the board but that seems pretty unimportant at this point. He checks, I bet ~1525, he barely thinks, pushes all-in and my chips are in the pot before his. Before he's finished counting/moving his chips or whatever the fuck he was doing, I gently toss my two 9's in his general direction. He eventually turns over K 2 for two-pair. Somehow the river was not a K and I double up and he's left with ~1800 or so. TY.
By the 6th hour antes were now in play.
At some point during this hour, a gentleman who had just moved to our table minraises in MP (I had already folded) and this same French guy calls in his BB again with his short stack.
Flop is 3 6 T. Frenchy checks, gentleman makes standard raise, Frenchy shoves, gentleman calls. Gentleman = 88. Frenchy = T 4. He doubles up.
Now we're maybe 20 mins til break and play has somewhat settled down.
I'm OTB. And at 150/300 ante 25, a MP player makes it 850, another MP calls, Frenchy guy calls in CO, and I look down at QQ. I had pretty good reads on all the players involved in this hand so I know AA and KK are not in play. I decide to jack it up to 3125.
Original raiser folds, caller folds and this same French guy just calls when he has about 1200 behind. Um okay.
Flop is 4 8 Q (Cue mbn by Loretta). He checks, I bet 1500 and he calls with AK. Having flopped another set on this guy, he starts going off in French and I'm just hoping he doesn't pull out a knife and start stabbing me or something. GG sir.
The last 2 hours I wasn't really looking to get into any big pots and luckily for me I never even really got the cards to have to make a difficult situation. I chipped up when I could but probably ended up losing ~4-5k before Day 1 would end.
Hopefully I'll have some good news to report after play tomorrow. The only thing I can really promise is that I won't get blinded out. GL at the tables.
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