Blog
25 May 2011
Joe's Blog
One hand that comes to mind from the main event: we were probably arounf the 150/300 with 25 ante level and I had 50k in chips in the bb with KQ off. Button raises to $750, sb folds. He is an aggressive young Englishman. I re raise to something like $2050, he calls. His calling range is so wide here that I am c-betting almost every flop. Flop comes K1010, not bad for my hand. I decide to bet about half pot, which is plenty to get information and enough to extract value. He calls but looks uncomfortable. I’m barrelling almost any turn. Turn is 9. I now bet 3600 which is like a bit more than a third of the pot. He now quickly calls. At this point I narrowed his range a bit, most likely Kx or a small pp. To be honest for some reason I felt he had KJ. Anyways the river brings another9. K101099 board now. I considered my options for a moment then decided to value bet $5200, he insta called and showed me 97 off, What??????????? Oh well didn’t seem to recover after that.
So we stopped into Singapore for a night on the way home and found it to be an exceptionally clean and modern city. We stayed at the new casino and hotel, the food was great but Jesus talk about pricey. Scotch $30, diet coke $9……need I say any more? The food and service were really good though and I have been assured that its not as pricey everywhere.
Arrived back in Melbourne on Monday morning to that bitter sweet crispness in the air that only Melbourne has, “oh home how sweet you are”. Attended a dinner celebrating successful Australians of Lebanese heritage at Momo at the Hyat. Amazing evening and was quite proud just quietly.
Scoop championships on Pokerstars have proven to be very popular and this season showed little sign of slowing down even after the Black Friday events. Unfortunately for me they were starting at 1am and as I was passing out at 10pm due to jet lag it made it almost impossible for me. However I did a couple of events, the main event 10k buy being the one of interest.
Fortunately it started at 4am and had a 3hr late reg possible so that worked out well for me. we got 380 players to put up 10k and first prize of 735k, now that’s worth getting out of bed for. I really haven’t had much success in main events online over the years but 2011 was going to be different. After 12hrs of play we stopped and had 22 players remaining with me being one of the shorter stacks, We were already in the money which was good. Nothing special really happened except that I played really patiently and used my position, table image and bet sizing to pull off some nice plays but nothing really brilliant to brag about.
I awake the next morning at 330am: coffee, pre game routine, fire up stars and off we go. It’s become almost automatic for me these days to do a pre game routine thanks to the help of Jamie Glazier from www.dare2dream.com.au . I start the day with 20 bb, which isn’t great but with 30 min levels and great structure it’s easy to play. I decide to play really nitty for a little to see how others are going to play, and sure enough a few players came out of the gates like greyhounds chasing a fake rabbit. Within minutes we were down to 18. Then I pick up JJ and 3bet shove and get called by 1010, ding nice double up. I am now at average or a little above and have some breathing space. With 12 to left I have 180 with blinds at 3/6k, I could taste the final table, my juices were boiling over I live for this stuff. I got 3bet a few times over the next level and had to fold and when we got to 4/8k I had about 160k. at this stage you need to pick up hands or the big stacks keep bullying which they rightfully did, and for all you intermediates and beginners out there a min raise is all that you have to risk to pick up the blinds and antes at this stage of the tournament. If you 3 bet u lose the minimum, but you must do this with your big hands and you weak openings.
Anyway getting back to my plight to be the first wsop main event winner and scoop main event winner: My biggest strength this tournament had been my patience and discipline, nothing genius to note. So this is why I’m so pissed off with myself atm. With 11 left I have 16k0k and its folded to me on the button (20friggin bb)and I decide to insta shove, there is absolutely no need, a min raise fold is the best and only play here no doubt, but I lost concentration for a split second. Big blind wakes up with AK and “on ya bike I’m done” I did flop a straight draw and turned a flush draw as well, 15outs in total, bleh. I hate losing and I hate it more when I play bad and lose. Al in all it was a great tournament and I AM pleased to have made another deep run, esp in an onlione event.
I’m now prepping for wsop, will hit the ground running on June14th> you will be able to follow me on twitter during all the events @JosephHachem.
Pass the Sugar!
JH
Joseph Hachem
