Irish Open Main Event Day 2 - Chip Burning

Day 2 of the Main Event was a total disaster. Truth be told, I was pretty exhausted after my marathon session on Day1b and was pretty fatigued going into Day 2. I started with 60k in chips and my table looked good for me - John Kabajj sat on 35k, one other guy played 30k and the rest were short stacks fighting for their lives with 10k-16k. That said, one of the short stacks was the dangerous Graeme Newman (Grazza to Betfair users), a friend of mine, and winner of the online version of the Ladbrokes poker million event a couple of years back.

So all I had to do was stay away from Kabajj and pick off the short stacks…well that was the plan. I have played the hand below over in my head a hundred times, and have come to the conclusion it’s pretty hard to get away from given the action.

About third hand of the day (blinds 300-600 with a running 50 ante):

Kabajj raises in early posiiton to 1800. I re-raise to 6k with QQ.

Folds to Kabajj who calls.

Flop 2d, 6d, 10s

Checked to me, I bet 12k. Kabajj pushes for 29k total. Wow. Decision time.

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have an overpair to my QQ, as he would have re-raised me - the 6k would have been a welcome addition to his stack at this stage of the tournament (bear in mind, I would be the one stack he would have wanted to avoid when he sat down).

I doubted he would have called my re-raise with pocket 2s or pocket 6s, as the call was for 20% of his stack and he’s going to miss the flop over 80% of the time and have to pass when I bet. I think there is a pretty strong chance he has a set of tens here, as that would all make sense, but the problem is that him holding a pair of Jacks also makes sense. The other alternatives is that he is being aggressive with A♦K♦, or perhaps puts me on AK myself and has decided to make a stand with pocket 9s. I don’t think he has A10 in this spot, and certainly not 2 pair.

It’s another 17k to me into a pot that stands at 74k in total if I call. My final thoughts were:

Pocket 10s (50% chance)
Pocket 6s or 2s (15% chance)
Jacks (20% chance)
AK diamonds (10% chance)

Pocket 9s or 8s (5% chance)

Even though I think I am probably behind to a set of 10s, there are enough hands he might have that I beat and it’s 17k into a massive pot.

I call and he has a set of 6s. The turn brings a diamond to scare the daylights out of him, but the set holds and I am down to about 25k.

I have to say I’m surprised he called the re-raise with 6s, given that is was 20% of his stack to call and he still had a good stack size relative to the table if he passed, but I guess the reason you play the baby pairs is exactly for the scenario above.

Things are compounded a few hands later on my big blind.

3 limpers and I have 66 in the big blind. I decide to check, as I’m still a bit sick after the last hand and don’t want another tough decision immediately.

Flop 2, 3, 5 rainbow.

I fire 3k at it, a pot sized bet to bring it down and restore morale. However, familiar looking irish guy shoves on me for 7k more. For heavens sake, this is going badly.

I’m not really sure what I am beating here to be honest, but I make a tilt call with the straight draw to back me up, but he has pocket aces which hold. Down to 16k and I flee for a cigarette to prevent complete implosion. I am absolutely reeling.

I compose myself and grind it out for another 2 hours of play, including one double up with JJ, when I make it look like a steal by pushing from the SB against Grazza in the BB, who calls with K10.

However, Jacks aside I am totally card dead - and I don’t have the chips to make speculative calls for 25% of my stack. I am down to 13k when this happens:

Blinds are 600-1200 with a running antes of 100. There is 2800 in the pot before any cards are dealt.

First hand after the break

Folded to me on the button and I push with Q2 offsuit. I am instacalled by the BB who has pocket tens. I lose the pot and gather my things to leave. However, the tournament director runs over waving his hands.

“THIS HAND IS DEAD! THIS HAND IS DEAD!”

The tournament clock hasn’t started yet and our dealer wasn’t supposed to deal. There is a bit of a furore but, eventually, I become presumably the first player in history to be re-instated to a main event after losing all his chips. This would be better than the chip and a chair legend ;)

Unfortunately it is not to be, as I see no cards for 2 more orbits and am down to 9k. This is Defcon 1 for me, and I am ready to push if it folds to me from mid to late position. I eventually push with the monster that is 8♣2♣. I get called in two spots and it’s actually not a bad situation for me.

Grazza has A10, BB has AQ to I have 2 cards to hit to take it down, and neither of them have clubs either. Unfortunately it is not to be, and I am busted in 140th place, a bitter disappointment after being so well placed coming into Day2.

Clearly the Kabajj hand killed me, both from a chip point of view and more importantly emotionally and my play deteriorated from then on. Still, a big improvement on last year, which bodes well for the tournaments coming up over the next few months.