Well at the beginning of the day I was wavering on whether to play. I wanted to play the mixed the next day, and was invited to a meet and greet with Mario Batali at the Venetian at 6pm. I was going to take Jerrod or Matt but they both decided to play. The fact that the mixed was the 5pm tourney the next day decided the issue. I made it to the second day with 68700 and we’re in the money down to the last 108 so I am glad I played.

So in the first round, we started with 25-50 and 4500 in chips. Hand #3, I open for 125 in Seat 3, Seat 6 raises in the BB to 625, and I fold. Two more orbits, I open with JJ for 125, BB in seat 6 calls. Flop is T96, two spades. I bet 200, he check raises to 650. I call. He bets 1200 on the turn of a 4, I call. River is another 6, I check, he bets all-in and I call. He throws his cards into the muck and walks away from the table without showing them. Anyway, I did feel he was more likely to be bluffing or semibluffing, perhaps given the dangerous board it’s right to just jam on the turn.

Lots of small pots, ended with 11K after the second round. In round 3, I defend the BB with AQs, flop is QTx, two diamonds, I check raise to 1500, and he moves in, at this point I have 13K, and I decide to call. He has A9d and i sweat the draw and double up. At this point the table seems desirable in that they have been just calling my raises in the field and checking to me. I guess maybe it feels better than my actual equity, but it does seem I can take several free cards. One big hand when I had around 35K, player opens for 600 (in the 100-200 round), player in the field calls, I have KK in the small blind, so I make it 2100. The initial raiser folds and the field player calls. Flop QT7, i bet 3K, field player raises all in for 10K more. I do call, and he has 77 and I lose, I mean I don’t think I can do anything else.

So I am moved to Jerrod’s table with about 30K. A lot of small pots are played and I build my stack to 45K at the dinner break. One hand there was a raise 3-off, call, button raises to 2500, I make it 7000 with QQ, everyone folds he shoves for 20K more. I decided to fold. He later told me he had AK. Certainly I am at the bottom of my range,,,

One hand I got in with 97 on a flop of 9d7d2c against Td8d, and an 8 comes off on the turn, winning somehow. One hand I think I missed a bet against Jerrod. He raises 2-off, I defend the BB with 77. We both hava a lot of chips. Flop is Q82, I check, he checks. Turn pairs the 8, now I checked intending to call but against Jerrod the right play may be to bet. My distribution is unlimited at this point, and I rate to have the best hand. Many players will just take a shot at the pot there so the best exploitive strategy may be to check against most players. Anyway I get a lot of chips after dinner calling an all-in with 77 on a KQ-high board after my opponent bets the flop and checks the turn. I think my play was actually close in practice even if he didn’t give an indication he was bluffing. Then I end up taking AA vs QQ and build up to 70K, basically play a few small pots, and I have 68K at the end of the day.