Spencer Lawrence

88.5k, chip leaders Ivey and Lederer on my immediate right.

Only time to report one hand from yesterday but I remember a few more I’ll type up later if I have time.

Raise (A9)K stud, Howard defends a 3.  I catch an 7 and Howard an 8.  I bet he calls.  I catch an 8 Howard a Q.  I check he bets 6k.  I checkraise to 12k with another 12 behind and take him off his hand.

Lost a huge Razz pot to yuvee when he convinced me he’d paired his Ace on 5th and I  was dead by 6th.  I got it all back in a Stud8 scoop the same round tho.

Had a nice hand vs Juanda earlier in day.  He raises an Ace (stud) I defend (33)2.  John 4, me 6.  he bets I call.  On 5th i get a King and John a 5.  On 6th I pair the 2 and he pairs the 5.  I bet out of turn and he folds.  “two pair good yeah john?” as I flash my babies and drink in the most pissed off expression I’ve ever seen him wear.

The bust hand I had 99k to start at 1200/2400 300. HJ opens to 6600, I see AKo in SB and raise to 24k planning to go-go if he calls snap if he pushes and take it down uncontested most of time. He calls. Flop is a really bad 873, but I think I have to push anyway. He calls with JJ. I brick out and he had me covered by about 2k. Weeeeee. 100 players or so short of money.

It;s taken a while to post the update as I crashed pretty badly after the ME and needed zero poker relaxaments to recover. I even missed the $1600 wsope live sat. Julia remarked midway thru series that I was holding up to the long intense hours much better than we expected. Initially I had reservations about even attending the series because I’m so far out of shape, but she talked me into coming out.

I’ll post more hands from day 2 and 3 if I get around to it, but the event is fading from my mind now so it may not happen.

110k at last break of the night. Spence said he lost 15k on the last two hands of the level. Next level is 600/1200 – 200 ante.  As ever, fireworks expected and anticipated.

Whatever the outcome of the day, Spence will probably be writing the next update.

Just got back from dinner and Spence has 91k going into the next two hours. Blind levels are 500/1000 with 100 ante.

Spence has 102k at second break. More storms predicted in the next two hours!

This is a massive day 2. There are more than double the players from day 2a so lots of tables probably started ten-handed.

At first break, Spence has 45k. He said to expect fireworks in the next two hours.

Sigh.

Had $76k with 45 minutes to go.   2 hands that hurt me at end.  I can’t do much about the 1st.  KhQx in BB, utg limps, mp limps, i check.  Flop K9h8h .  Check around.  Turn 6h.  I bet 800, utg folds, mp makes it 3k. He checked behind A hi flop and then raised blank turn on me a few hands earlier.  I call.  River offsuit Q.  I check-call 6k and he flips T7 for the straight.  Free looks from the BB can be annoying but I probably lost the minimum possible at $9k.  “Free” looks from the BB often turn out pretty expensive.

The hand I fucked up.  swedish guy raises in emp to 1100 (blinds 200/400 ante 50), Irish calls (he’sjust doubled to about 30k),  I make it 4100 with AsQx, original raiser folds and Irish calls.  Almost all of his range here is pairs with an emphasis on medium pairs.  Flop 7s6s4.  We both check.  There seems little point in my c-betting. If i was sure he’d check call the flop I’d be tempted to 3-barrel it, but that’s probably bad in a soft-field tournament anyway.  He’s probably going to check-raise his overpair/set here tho.  Turn 5.

ahhhhh. That’s gonna get me into trouble.  He checks.   I tank.  I should probably just check it down, try to catch and be done with the hand.   Failing that I should bet $7k ish and shove the river.  Instead I bet $5025.  He calls after a little thought.   River 4.  Fuck fuckity fuck.  Not a great bluff card.  At this point i talk myself into betting 15125.  He thinks about folding but makes the call.  Shoving > 15k im sure even tho its an overbet.  Making my turn bet a little bigger to let me put him in on turn isn’t hard and would normally be automatic.  Tiredness is to blame and for the next 10 minutes I struggle to control the tilty rage that sometimes comes when I’m tired and have just fucked up/taken a beat.

So on the plus side I do that successfully, moving my remaining 35k back up to $40k. $40k is still twice the starting stack and looking at it as turning $10k into $20k equity doesn’t look so bad (especially because those are only nominal figures and the skill adjusted figures are closer to $35k and $62k). 80 big blinds at the next level of 250/500 50 is plenty to work with. And I get a new table that I can abuse all over again for a couple of hours until tey get sick of me.  Also the $20k mistake isn’t *that* bad and I did play a lot of hands well throughout the day.

So I’ll probably feel a little better about things tomorrow and by wednesday when I play again on Day 2b, I’ll be refocused.  For the moment tho none of the last paragraph outweighs the fact that $40k isn’t $75k and that errors are unacceptable.

Two more cheeful hands.  I raise JTo from hijack to 225 in 1st level  (I’ve been raising a lot of hands to 225).  Lady in SB reraises to 650.  I call (we’re over 200 bb deep).  Flop 8s7s6.  I have no spades.  she bets 1100.  I insta-float.

Turn Qd.  She checks, I bet 2500.  River Qs.  She checks.  I bet 8k. She tanks and folds. I show the bluff as I’m not planning on making any more big river bluffs in a while, but want to make sure I get paid on my value bets.

Later at the 100/200 25 level.   Utg (belgium – young – really woke up since the antes kicked in) limps, I make it 925 from mp with AKo. Flop K72 rainbow.  We both check.  We’re too deep for me to stack off to a set here (effectives are around 300bb), so the check is partly for pot controland partly to induce action as from previous hands we’ve played I expect him to bet his entire range on the turn.

Turn 3.  He bets $1k, I call planning to put in a small value raise on any river.

River J.  He bets $2k.  I make it $5k he makes it $17k.  Sigh.  I fold face up saying nice hand.  He makes a face and shows me JJ.

Bleh, may post some hands at a later time, but there wasn’t much of interest rather than 3 betting AK twice on completely whiffed flops and taking it down on the turn each time. Barring 1-2 weaker players it was a tough final table as usually happens in shootouts. I was lucky in having danny wong on my right rather than my left but after bursting up to 390k with the two AKs, I took two beats for half my stack and never regained any traction. It was looking like I was going out 8th or 7th for $9500 or $13k respectively until prock took a beat with his equally short stack and someone else decided to donate me $7k by busting their medium stack.

Another FT is good, but its also another missed shot at a bracelet.

37k at last break. According to the update Spence sent, he was on 48k but had to bet-fold his top-pair-top-kicker on the river. Means two things: he’s on top of his game, and the game is a bit of a rollercoaster right now.

Two hours of play left for the day.

26k at dinner break. 20k starting chips. Antes kick in next level so should be some action going on.