Table 544 - Levels 9 and 10

I am back from dinner.  A very nice meal at the Paris Hotel’s French bistro - a salmon salad with blueberries and nuts, and a Diet Pepsi - with the Houston contingent.  So far, April, Samm, Larry, Mark and I are still alive in varying degrees of success.

My 109,000 is almost twice the average stack of the 1428 players left.  There were 4211 entrants today, and I am in 163rd place.  I am told there were about 900 players that ended up surviving the first flight, so assuming that we end up close to the same in the second flight, we’d have 1800 players trying to make the bubble of 1200th place. 

I just need not to do anything stupid.  This is harder than it seems for a good player like me.  For some reason, probably fatigue, I have made some real boneheaded plays late in the day at the WSOP.  They usually come from reraises where I think I can convince the other player that I am stronger.  It NEVER works.

That is why experience matters.  I will not go down that road tonight.  My dinner was light and healthy, I am feeling strong, and I know to let things go.

We will see if that holds up.
________________________________

An uneventful ninth hour.  I am playing so tight, I really don’t have anything to report.  

This is what drives my friend Manni nuts, but it is tournament poker.  You can’t play every hand, you really can’t play any hands if you want to preserve a dominant chip stack.

Of course, more aggressive players would disagree.  They would say I have the advantage and leverage over the other players, but that’s precisely why I bomb out late in the day.  I’d rather coast to bagging my chips and be aggressive tomorrow, after I have cashed.

My friend April just exited the tournament, her set of eights losing to a straight.  She is such a tough good player, she deserved better.
________________________

Well, the disaster hand just happened.  I was in the big blind, unraised, with Q5.  Flop was Q75.  A smallish stack (28,000) goes all in, and I call with the two pair, queens and fives.  She has queens and sevens, and they hold up.

Down to 70,900, almost exactly the average stack.  Sigh.
_________________________

They just briefly flashed the payout, then it disappeared.  First place pays $653,000.  That would be nice.
_________________________

Ups and downs.  Set of queens, and I got a nice pot, then Q 10 in the big blind with a 10 high flop, but one of the players called my 6000 bet and then filled in her inside straight, so I had to get away.

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Last two hands before the break, I get QQ and KK.  I make some money back.  89,000!


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