Henry Casino News Blog

Well, I finished 49th out of 169 (!) in the bracelet race on Full Tilt tonight. As this was my first ever razz multi-table tournament, I didn’t expect to win, but I was hoping to do a little better. Still, after just this one tournament, I can now fully appreciate the pained expressions on all of the players’ faces at last year’s WSOP event. This game is just brutal.

I really wish I could write up the roller coaster ride that was my tournament, but as we all know, Full Tilt does not provide hand histories. HDouble assures me that they’re coming… some day. I do know this: I was down to the felt at least four times, winning three of them (the third on a total suckout). I got chopped off at the river, in pretty large pots, five times in 1h45m. That is, each time I was ahead going into the river, and I even improved on one or two of them, but five times my opponent improved to a better hand. Obviously, these weren’t strong hands on sixth street — made 8s and 9s, one 7-6-5, things like that — and some of my opponents were drawing pretty live against me. If I could have won just one or two of them, though… (and I assure you, I did not catch up at the river five times.)

I can think of two hands that ultimately sunk me. One in roughly Level 8, where my 6-5 went down to a 6-4 (for about 60% of my stack) and the other just before I busted, where I started with a three-card six, played fourth street perfectly in a three-handed pot to make it two bets to the high card (queen), yet couldn’t shake him. He ultimately caught up to me on the river. I did make a few river mistakes — betting into people who I knew were drawing at hands that could beat me (and they did) — and I called on sixth street one time drawing dead. Clearly, there’s lots of room for improvement.

I saw some staggeringly bad play, but there was more good play than I expected. Nerd was right – these fields are not easy. He and I were at the same table for the last few levels of each of our tournaments; he went out right after me, in 45th place.

I’m disappointed, but I don’t think I can complain. It was my first razz tourney, after all, and at the least, I outlasted three of the four “pros” in the tournament (Perry Friedman, Phil Gordon, and Layne Flack). Doesn’t mean anything, really, but I’ll take some small solace where I can find it.

Attempt No. 2: Sunday’s WPBT satellite.

I’m Out!

Attempt No. 2 to get into the WSOP ended in 61st place out of 78. I don’t really regret my play in this one. I was at a very, very tight table and was stealing liberally, but still couldn’t get any action for my big hands. On the final hand, badblood raised my big blind from 50 to 200 in the CO. I had a strong suspicion he was stealing, since he had raised from the CO just about every time, so I reraised him to 600 (starting stacks about 3400 for him, 2100 for me). He called, so I was thinking maybe I had to give him credit for a medium pair or a big ace. When I flopped top pair with a pair of tens, I pushed. Unfortunately, he hit the same pair of tens with a bigger kicker (a jack) and a flush draw. IGHN.

For what it’s worth, my kicker was a 2. Yep, I popped him back with T2s and then pushed with it. I don’t really regret my play here at all. Was it uber-aggressive? Hell yes. But in an 80-person tourney where only two spots get paid, if you’re not uber-aggressive, you better pray that the deck hits you over the head. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time.

Not only that, but at a really tight table like the one I was at, a big stack could do some serious damage. So, no regrets. I took a gamble and got caught. It happens.