[Fish On]

World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1

Well we made it through! Day 2 is next on Tuesday!

Day 1 started with 1287 players. They've added an extra day 1 and a 2nd day 2. Estimates right now are that they'll be somewhere between 6 and 8 thousand entrants in the main event this year between the 4 starting day 1's. I believe they already have 2000 players registered for day 1B and day 1C. Of the 1287 players in Day 1 A, 450 players made it to Day 2. Players started with $20,000 in chips and the average chip count for Day 1A players that still remain is $57,200. My chip count is $93,800!

The day started at noon and we played 6 two hour levels, starting at $50/$100 blinds and ending at $400/$800 with a $100 ante. Including breaks, dinner, and the bagging of chips at the end of the night I did not leave the Rio until after 4 AM! This is the reason for the late update.

Interesting hands/tid bits.

Ray Romano is playing 2 tables directly in front of me and Brad Garret is playing 2 tables to my left. These are the Everybody Loves Raymond stars. The ESPN cameras are constantly at their tables and they are cracking jokes left and right. Brad Garret wins an "all-in" pot and starts kissing his very lovely dealer. Our table then notices that there are 10 massage girls surrounding his table. He bought his entire table a massage after winning the hand!

Early Hand: I open raised from middle position with 77. The player 2 to my left calls and it folds around. The flop has two kings and a 3 and we both check. The turn is another king giving me a full house and I bet and he calls. The river is a jack and I check and he turns over 99. Boo! I lost $2100 in this hand and now I'm in the red.

The guy on my right is a maniac! He is playing very loose and somewhat aggressive and bluffing a lot. I study this guys play and get an early read that when he bets the river somewhat small he is bluffing but when he bets big he has the goods. His whole strategy is to make the table think he is a donkey and then get paid off on big bets. This actually starts to work when the guy that had the 99 open raises and another player calls and the maniac go all in for about $11K. The original raiser goes into the tank and eventually he calls with JJ. Well the maniac turns over AA and doubles up!

Key Early hand: Two players limp and I also limp in with A spades, 9 clubs. The flop is 3 spades and it checks around. The turn is a club and the maniac to my right bets $400. I have the nut flush draw and there is another player in the pot so I call and so does the other player. The river is the 2 of spades. I now have the best hand possible and cannot lose. It checks to me and I bet $700, the next player calls (later we found out she had the K of spades) and the maniac tries to make a move. He raises to $2700 thinking that if I don't have the ace then I will fold and so will the other player because he figures since she didn't raise that she does not have the ace. Pretty logical play actually. Anyway, I raise to $6000 and both players fold. I considered just calling the bet to see if I could get the woman to call too, but I raised it and that was it. Nice pot and I'm back in the black!

2:15 PM first break and I have $25,100.

Hand: I get into a hand with the maniac and I have pocket 55. We both check the turn and when it gets to the river he bets about $600. Going with my earlier read I call and he mucks his hand. I didn't even have to show my 55 to win the pot!

2nd break and I have $28,000.

Key Hand: A "Rock" ( a player that typically plays only very good cards and doesn't make many moves/bluffs) raises from early position, the maniac calls and I look down at AA! I raise big. The original raiser then pushes his entire stack into the pot with very little hesitation and the maniac immediately folds. I immediately call his all in. I have him covered by a few thousand chips and the pot is about $50,000! I have A hearts, A spades and he has K hearts, K spades. The maniac then announces that he had an ace and so does another player, another player says he had a king. So there is one king left in the deck and his other possibility would be to make a straight. I have both his flushes covered with higher cards of the same suit. The board does nothing for him and he is out and I am in great shape!

The dinner break is at 7:15 PM and I have $50,600.

The very first hand after the dinner break I made a mistake. It folds around to me and I open raise from the cutoff (seat before the dealer button) with A9 suited, a good hand for this position. Two players fold and the big blind raises to $4000. He had played a few hands earlier and I thought he might be making a reraise steal which is a common move here when players raise from a steal position like the cutoff. I call the $4000 and the flop is 9 high. I have top pair and top kicker. The BB bets out $7000 which is almost the size of the pot and about two thirds of his stack. This is a very strong sign of strength but I didn't believe him and thought I could get him to lay it down by going all in. I go all in and he instantly calls. Oops! He shows KK. The turn card is the 10 of clubs which give me 14 outs for the river, 9 clubs, 2 nines, and 3 aces. Well the ace of spades falls on the river and I suck out with 2 pair. He is out and we shake hands. I am now up to $77,300.

Next break I am at $68,850.

Freakish hand:

It is exactly midnight and I am dealt 77. the maniac opens for $2000 and I call. A new player to the table that had not played a hand raises to $10,000 which is about half his stack. The maniac calls and there is no way I can call $8,000 more here when I am obviously behind so I fold. The flop is Q,8,7 and I would have had set of sevens. The maniac goes all in and the other player immediately calls. The maniac has 5, 6 of hearts for an open ended straight draw and the other player has AA. The turn is a 4 and the maniac hits his straight. The river is another Queen which would have given me a full house, cracked the maniac's straight and probably would have given me a coronary so it's probably a good thing I was not in the hand. This would have been a VERY interesting hand had I actually played it. If I had doubled through the maniac which would have been very likely I would have had over $160K and probably been the chip leader at the time. Oh well, if ifs and butts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merrier Xmas. The irony of this hand is that I was dealt 777 exactly at midnight on 7/7/07. Had I realized the symbolism of this hand I might have called the $8,000.

Our table finally breaks and I am moved into a table of smaller stacks and I am the chip boss at the table.

Hand: I have JJ from early position and I raise to $2000. It folds around and the Big blind calls. The flop is 3 very low cards and the BB bets out $3500. He is betting that I have 2 unpaired high cards and cannot call his bet. Too bad for him I have JJ and I raise to $9500. He thinks about it and decides it wasn't a good idea and he folds.

Key hand: A player from middle late position opens for $2,000. The button calls. I have AQ in the small blind which means I will be out of position of each betting round so I smooth call the $2,000 and do not raise. The flop is ace high and the original raise bets $7,000. the button folds and I ask the player how much money he has left. He has about $18,000 left and I go all in. He instantly calls so I'm thinking he probably has AK. I show AQ and he says "good hand". He has AJ and now only has 3 outs. The turn pairs the board which gives him 6 outs for a split pot. Nothing significant comes on the river and he is out and I am up to over $104,000.

2nd to last hand of the evening. I guy who was playing weird opens for double the big blind from early position. This is called a "min raise". I look down at AK and after deciding that I don't want to play a huge pot so late and that this guy might have a monster I just call the $1600. The player to my left also calls as does one other and the flop is ace high. The original raiser checks and I bet $4,500 with top pair top kicker. The player to my left smooth calls and everyone else folds. The turn is the K of hearts giving me 2 pair but putting 3 hearts on the board. Scared of a flush draw I check and the player to my left bets $9,000! Now he could be stealing or he could actually have the flush or he could be protecting 3 of a kind from a fourth heart. After thinking about it I call the $9,000. The river is a Queen (would have been awesome if it was an ace or a king) and I check. This guy now bets $20,000 and I go into the tank). I think about this for more than 8 minutes and NOONE CALLS A CLOCK. Everyone wants the night to be over including me and they are all letting me take as much time as I want. I finally decide that this guy hit his flush on the turn and I fold my hand face up. Two guys comment that it was a very good fold and that he definitely had the flush. We'll never know for sure because the guy wouldn't show and wouldn't say a word. I'm pretty sure he had it and didn't want to give me the satisfaction of telling me I made a good fold.

Well I lost about $15,000 in that last hand and finished the night at $93,800. Not a bad first day.

There are 3 more day ones and I don't play again now until Tuesday. There are no chip counts posted on worldseriesofpoker.com just yet but they should be up soon. They may not put all players counts up so don't be concerned if you don't see me. They have only been putting up the recognizable names and the really, really big stacks in the other tournaments. This is the main event though so they may put up all the counts.

Some notable players that busted out on Day 1A: Marco Traniello, Eli Elezra, Josh Arieh, Dewey Tomko, John D'Agostino, Marcel Luske, Amarillo Slim, Mel Judah, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan.

Bye for now!

Keith