On to Day Three....

Well...here we go. This is not uncharted territory. Day Three has always been my Waterloo...having reached this point in the Main Event every time I've played it. And getting bounced each time...always close to the money. 3 of the 4 times I've played in the Main Event...I was eliminated with QQ. All I did last night was pray NOT to see QQ. I will do the same today.

After going back from the dinner break...I sat through four hours of  torture...and when the dust cleared, and I bagged up 101k in chips, I felt like I had dodged a major bullet. I sat down for Level 9 and looked at total garbage for 45 minutes. K3 and 29 were the more popular hands.  Meanwhile, the shortstacks were getting eliminated and being replaced by big stacks...big stacks whose owners were super aggressive.

My table really started resembling last year's table at the end of Day 2...when I got moved to a table that had the most chips I'd ever seen on it...and about 6 Euros who seemed not to be interested in the $8.5m we were playing for, but in who could outdo the other guys at the table. I'd never seen so much damn 3 and 4-betting in my life. Well, that was the last 4 hours last night. The OMRG at our table suddenly turned into a maniac. It was like he took some kind of fucked up Geritol on dinner break and just went berserk. 

On one hand, I raised at cutoff to 3k (500/1000)...had the short little Frenchman (Napoleon reincarnate) smooth call my raise on the button...then old man run good (OMRG) spaz raises to 12k! Jeezuz...whatever. I fold. Not Napoleon...he calls! What hand do you have there to be calling the original raise from the button...then flatting a 12k re-raise? This guy was a fucking trip. So the flop comes J-3-5...no doubt giving me what would have been the best hand probably. OMRG bets out 18k. Leaving 42k behind. That's when 'little man' ships all in. 

Now...there was a history at our table. Shorty had already drained about 30 minutes of game play with 4 separate tank sessions that had frustrated the whole table...one of them involving OMRG. Once that hand ended, the Old Coot asks if  "there is some kind of rule about how long a player can wait before making a decision?"  He was serious. Yeah...we told him...after three minutes you can call clock on the guy.

So now HE was the one tanking...and of all people, the 'Squirt from Paris' starts threatening clock on the guy. We all started laughing at him. OMRG folded, leaving himself short.

While this was going on, I was calling raises...hitting part of it, or thinking I was good...calling the flop bets to get a feel for the guys' next action...and then usually folding when their bet on the turn backed me into a corner where I either had to pull the trigger and jam...and hope they didn't 'insta-call' turning over the winner, and sending me to my room to blow my brains out.

I would double up two short stacks...one were the guy had shoved all in about 8 times. It was his 'special play' to scare off the raisers. So when I raised UTG with AQc...for 3k...and he again shoved...this time 23k...and I had 124k in my stack, I decided to take a stand against the pesky shove tard. He had KK. Shitballs. I didn't hit an ace. Punch in face #1. Punch in face #2 came a short time later....as I raised UTG again...with AK...only to be called by OMRG, and the french guy (who turned out to be a really cool dude, and a good player) on the button. Who happened to have freaking deuces.  The flop came K-Q-2..and I don't think I have to tell you how THAT one turned out. But it knocked me down to 77k. And caused me to take a few deep breaths, regroup...and adjust my mental thinking. I won a pot before break to get to 80k going into the last level of the night.

The last level started off like shit...calling raises, and missing. Or raising...getting called, and catching the worst flop ever with the guy betting into me. We all know that drill, and how irritating/frustrating it is...all while watching your once mighty stack start to dwindle. I was now down to around 46k...and panic was living on the back porch, trying to bust its way in through the door. I kept twisting deadbolts...trying to keep it out.

My first real moment of truth came when this player in middle position, who liked to open a lot of pots, did so again, and I called from the SB with Ac10s. The flop came all spades...with an ace. Here we go. I check. He bets out 3500. I raise him to 10k. He thinks. Then calls. WTF? Is this it? Is this the guy who is going to end my series? Does he have AQ with the queen of spades? The turn brought a 4 of hearts. I couldn't risk checking...and letting him force me to make a decision...so I led for 17k. He tanked for about 5 minutes...then folded. WHEW!!! Boy how I needed THAT POT...to get me off of life support!

The last big pot of the night basically resurrected my hopes and dreams. The french psycho raised UTG...and when it folded around to me in the BB I looked at AKh. Nice. But there is no way in hell I was re-raising this clown. First of all...if he did fold, I would get nothing to help me in Day Three. Secondly...if he moved all in on me, I would have a major decision that I wasn't prepared to make. So I just called. And catch the perfect flop. K-3-4...with a heart. (backup) I check. He checks. Damn. The turn is a ten. Now he bets. 8700. I go to re-raise him to 20k...but instead of grabbing 4 orange chips worth 5k each...one extra chip sticks to the bottom one...resulting in 5 going out there for a 25k raise. Shit. I even try to pull one back. Well, he CALLS! Whoa. Holy shit. I leave myself with 38k behind. The river is a 10. Making a board of 3-4-K-10-10. Hmmm. If this guy has A10...I'm going to shit my pants.

I don't think he has a ten though. And I make what, in my mind is a value bet...putting 17k on the river. That's when he goes into his whole routine...getting up from the table...pacing around, staring me down...coming over to my seat...and eyeballing me and my chips. By this time I was just finding him amusing. The rest of the table was laughing at me as I was cutting up about him and his ritual. He would grab his chips like he was about to call...and as I went to turn over my hand...quickly pulled them back. What the....come on dude. Jeezuz. I mean...the 17k bet was like a mere fraction of the pool...and he had a lot of chips. Finally someone called clock on him. He milked the full minute...then finally folds. Damn. Regardless...it was the pot I needed to feel good about myself going into Day 3...and not sleep in panic mode all night.

So this is it...it's now 11:30...half an hour away from 'go time' and ready to go after the money. Who knows when that happens? I think there are so many players coming back that we might not even make the money today. I also have a pretty gnarly table draw...but am at a table that should break early...so its going to just be a mysterious day for the most part. 

Alright...I'm out of here! May luck and good cards follow me all day!

MONKEY

PS: The OMRG was eliminated when he got into a hand with 10-10...called the original raiser's bet on a 5-5-J flop...then pushed all in when a jack hit the turn. The other player had, ahem...jacks. Just quads. It was refreshing to see an OMRG turn into an OMRB.