WPT bellagio

(my blog is now oscillating between the past and the
(i was going to say present, but unless i write that
"im writing in my blog" then really, its the past or
ill call it, the not so past)

July 2007, So im eating at noodles at the bellagio
for perhaps the 25th time. And i get joined by
an english poker player, and some of his friends.
I find out that the WPT bellagio actually has a day
1c, meaning i can still enter this event ! I manage
to get 10k in cash, and i buy in . I wasnt happy
with how i ended the WSOP, moderately annoyed i didnt
push all in on the last hand, and like leaving a
bitter taste in a mouth i thought a final table
here would definately make this a good vegas trip.

Day 1c, walking across to the bellagio, i discover
i dont have any cufflinks for my shirt, which is no
big deal, but i figure i can get some on the way in.
Hermes has reasonably priced cufflinks for $400
pause not , i mean ..... .... .... NOT. So i find
some for a $100 which still seems ridiculous, but
5 weeks into vegas , represents the only shopping
other than some books.

Being moderately retarded i spend the first 45mins
of the 90min level, trying to get the cufflinks onto
my shirt. However the rest of the day goes pretty good,
building up to 40k , before i have aces into 2 pair,
but at least keep the pot small , but hit a full house
near the end of the day, to finnish with 38k. Ralph perry
says i played well afterwards, which is kind of good
to have someone tell u that after. He was in the infamous
tony g send off. See the video RPerry v TonyG

Head to buffet, but due to the WPT having sensible playing hours
the day finnishes a lot earlier than normal, and i have time to
go out, but figure ill take it easy as ive got day 2 tomorrow.

Day 2 starts off meandering along, i have a few hands that seem
to connect with the flops without getting paid off. And my stack
just floats along. I then have i think k-4 suited on the button,
and someone limps in early pos, i call and the blinds come in.
The flop comes 10-4-2h, limper bets, i call and blinds fold.
Then the turn comes another 4, he bets a lot of chips, i raise,
and he goes all in. He shows 5-5 ?? I win a nice pot and im up to
about 80k. Mike mattusow is on my table, and tells me how he has
only received "charity" twice before. Mike mattusow tho is playing
great, in fact i dont think ive really seen anyone play that good.
You play with a lot of name players, and most of them arent ever
on their game or just not that good. But today, as he explains that
he played really bad in the WSOP is determined to play good in this
tournament. I re-raise him with AA, and he mucks AK very quickly.
His re-raises etc are all timed perfectly and im very impressed.
Generally ive stayed out of his way, but at least beaten him
in the few pots against him. Then i have a hand where i re-raise
with AA again, against someone else. I check it to the river before
better, on a k-10 suited board which is risky but what the hell.
Then i bet and on the river and the other guy folds QQ. Mattusow
tells him he made a bad fold, I said later i had Aces, and he
said hed bet me a $1000 i didnt have AA. Shame there are no
hole card cams, and he offers for me to do a lie detector test.

Dinner break comes up, and i end up eating with mattusow and
a couple of other guys. He talks about how poker players talk
a lot and dont band together to do anything about Harrahs, which
are basically like the evil corporation , much like the empire
in star wars. Its very true, but the players are generally
getting shafted.

After dinner, not much goes right, and i seem to be going
backwards fast. The bubble has burst which is actually a 100ppl
in a 560 player event. Thats the WPT weird payout system, but
at least im getting my money back, which is not the goal.
I am trying to play, but get short stacked , push all in a few times,
then get called with JJ agaisnt AK, hold up, then 2 hands later
AQ vs KK (button v bb), guy who has re-raised me a few times
before, does it again , i make the call. Spike an ace on the
river ! Up to 160 and comfortable. That was actually the 2nd
race of 5 that i won, but luckily i won the ones when my tournament
was on the line. Very next hand i have QQ and run into short stack
AA :( Down to 100ish, and finish the day on 95. Which is not great.

Enter day 3. There are about 60 players left. I am at about 100k,
when i raise with KQ. Flop comes Q-8-2 rainbow. David Benyamine has
called from the bb, he checks i check. Turn comes a Q. I bet
he puts me all in, i call pretty quickly, he has q-10, i double up
to over 200. Check on the flop paid off. I hover around 200, not
getting much, when i pick up KK. Thinking i need to try something
here especially with aggressive ppl on my left who might re-raise,
i flat call the raise, but no one else re-pops and its me and
some other guy. Flop come A-7-7. Dang ! He checks, hmmm, i check.
Turn comes a 9, he bets 25k the same size as the raise preflop,
so i just call, reasonably confident, he will check the river
unless he has a good ace. The river comes a Q. He bets again, ifold.
He shows AQ, i lost the minimum i guess, but my plan to double
thru backfired. The table gets broken with some 30+ ppl left. I
have AK, i reraise all in, the guy i had dinner with the previous
night calls with a9. Flop comes a 9, and thats it. No WPT final
table :(

Disapointing but i thought i played pretty good for most of it.
Mattusow ended up finnishing 2nd, here were the results


Reviewing my progress in 10k events so far.
2 aussie millioms - 0 cashes
2 wpt - 2 cashes
1 ept - 1 cash
London Party Poker - 1 cash
2 wsop - 1 cash

5 cashes / 8 events, but no final tables, yet ... London
party poker and now this wpt being my best chances.