Day One - Levels Three and Four

Back from the break.  New players to my right and my left: Jenny Marczynski, who has 13 cashes; and Samuel Choae, who has 20 cashes.  Marczynski looks like a PTA mom, and she just felted poor generic Raymond Padgett, who’d gone all in for 3500 with Q10h.  She showed AJh and at the end, she had AAA33 to Padgett’s nothing at all.  Bye Ray.

Choae and her are in a hand now and she’s giving him the Mom Stare before folding.  I’m not sure I could stand up to that kind of scrutiny.

At the break, I ran into my HRM pals Doug and Mark.  Mark has a 90-year-old at his table who apparently has some controversial attitudes about race.  This is one of the baked-in aspects of a tournament that is comprised of old folks: racists and sexists feel like they are in a friendly crowd and well, they express themselves.  The WSOP has a code of conduct and Mark’s tablemate could be sanctioned for being offensive, but I get the impression that no one is going to sanction a 90-year-old for pretty much anything that doesn’t involve him opening up his pants.

Murray is back now, having taken out Goff.  Weird hand: Goff had second pair on the board and called an all-in from Murray who had KK.  This happens in the first few hours of the tournament: the bad players make bad plays and get weeded out.  By Level Five, things become more competitive, but now is the time to get chips from the fish.

And then, on cue, I give away a bunch of chips to Rudijanto, who has a set of nines and just lets me hand chips to him.  I am now at 23,700.  Sigh.

New players: Christopher Ocksrider, one final table, 36 cashes, and one enormous black cowboy hat; and Richard Cuelho, who has no wins.  Ocksrider is very large, and sitting next to Rudijanto, he blots out the sun.

There has been very little banter at this table.  I guess this is okay: we are all working here.  Still, this cuts against part of what makes this fun.  Over the years, I have met some really interesting people from all over the world.  This year, I am watching a lot of people just staring into their phones.  (Of course, I have no room to complain: to the rest of the table, I must be the guy who is doing nothing but tapping on his phone, a real zero.  Little do they know…)

New superstition:  I am not looking at my cards hoping for AA, KK or QQ.  They only come when I’m not expecting anything.  Let’s see what happens!

Berlanger is out, losing all of her chips to Murray.  Her 33 lost to AA, which only got worse for her when he hit an A on the flop.  She left gracelessly, snapping at Murray about slow-playing his hand.  Good riddance.

33 and I limp from the button.  Rudijanto raises to 1200 from the small blind and I decide not to chase.  I was wrong, as usual.  There is a 3 on the flop and then, to kick me in the nads, another 3 on the river.  It would have been such a good hand, totally disguised, and I think I would have gotten paid.  Oh well.

Feeling annoyed, I limp in with 67c on the next hand and am rewarded with a club flush draw.  I call a 1200 bet on the king-high flop, and an A comes, which slows down the aggressor, who checks. I make the flush on the river and bet 3000, which the aggressor calls.  This is not a bluff-friendly table, but it is a pay you off table.  I am adjusting.  31,800.

New player: Aron Barak, who has one cash. He tells us that the tables are breaking fast, and he does not think we will be playing together for much longer.  That would be okay with me.  This table has been pretty boring.

Another pocket pair 22 that I fold to a raiser hits on the turn after a checked flop.  The guys in the hand show AK and AQ, so I probably don’t get paid, but still…

Shortly after that, I get 66 and play it, and don’t hit.  Murray makes it too expensive to chase the set with a 1600 bet.  I’m just out of rhythm.

Hands are coming fast and furious.  I’ve had some fun hands, but can’t keep up.  Hit Broadway on one hand, folded top pair to a probable flush when I got reraised.  After the dust settles, 33,000.

Marcyznski starts talking about when she can have a beer during a tournament.  “I can’t at this level,” she says.  “Usually I can have one just before dinner, and one after dinner, but not at dinner.”  She adds that she plays better with a beer but starts playing exponentially worse as she drinks.  PTA mom who plays poker and drinks beer?  She’s like some kind of AI avatar created for the suburban dads playing this tournament.

1010 and I raise to 1300 from middle position.  Cowboy Hat calls, and then bets 1200 on a KK7 flop.  I call and we then check it down.  He didn’t have a king and I take it down.  CH is unfailingly polite about losing.

New player: Roger Lehman, no cashes, sitting to my right, replacing Choae, who flamed out to the PTA mom.  He’s up about 6000 the best I can tell from his stack. His hair is completely white, which is appropriate for this tournament.  He looks like he has wandered in from a home game in someone’s garage, and probably did.

On our next break: 37,400!