OK finally back to the room. As TP already mentioned, I was around 7kish (it might have been more like 8k but I don't really remember) at one point with the blinds/ante at 100/200/25.
The first table and really the table where I spent most of my time wasn't really anthing spectacular. There was some no name pro that used to be sponsored by Interpoker who was at the table for the majority of the time (fat guy, kind of weird from New York), and some Internet donkmaster (I presume) who was being asked by some pocketfives.com guy how he was doing. There were two soft spots in the game for the majority of the time, but unfortunately I never got the opportunity to feature a premiere hand against those retards, well all except one hand that I butchered. I should have definately practiced up on these tournies because I SO rusty in just general easy spots that you encounter. OK for the hand.
Blinds are at 100/200. I raise with black QQ UTG+1 to 800. Old donk calls me, and al fold to California donk who reraises to 1800. Effective stacks for about everyone is about 15k. That fucking stupid ass small raise threw me off. It creates such awkwards stacks if I try to 4bet, and shoving seems like overkill (plus it was the first time saw Calidonk 3bet in about 2.5 hours). So, I cal like the imbeciles that is in me. Old donktard calls too.
Flop comes 652 with two spades. Cali donk checks (aka "DURR I have lots of money to waste."), I bet 2,500, old donk calls, and so does cali donk (must have been on the bottom pair draw). Turn comes a J of spades. Cali donk checks, I check, old donk bets 5k, cali donk folds, I call. I seriously thought about jamming the rest of the 8k behind, but thought better of it. River is an ace (non-spade). I check, old donk who can't read a hand with shit checks behind with 666. I have no idea how he thought I ever have a flush with the way I played it, but thanks for saving me some excruciating fold anyway donktard.
That was the low point. Then, the tables started to change with fewer and fewer people willing to see flops. I have no real explanation for this, but I took note and started to steal blinds much more frequently than before. I got back to about 18k in no time by either just taking the blinds down, or just cbetting 1/2 the pot and watching them all squirm/fold as they don't know how to battle a lag.
Some other hands from that table. I 3bet that fat Interpoker guy a lot (mostly with the goods, but he didn't know that), when he opens once again to 1200 at 200/400/50. I 3bet to 3500 with AA on the cutoff. He's the only caller and he has 15k behind. I cover. Flop comes Q42 rainbow, and he donk bets half his stack into me. I thought, "You are a pro? That has to be the dumbest fucking move all day." I thought about calling down since he usually has jack shit 99% of the time here (because anyone with half a brain would check/raise here with these stacks if they had something), but pushed anway. He thought and pondered (aka lets waste the Internet kid's time trying to act like I don't have shit) and finaly folded.
300/600/75, all fold to me in the cutoff, I raise to 1800 with A
Q
.. European laggy twenty year old in the BB calls me. Flop comes A
K
Q
. I bet 3k. European guy calls. Turn is a J
. I check (probably could have bet but didn't), he checks behind. River is K
. I check, european guy bets 6k. I ponder what he could have, then remember this is a stupid donkament and call. I flip over AQ, he instamucks. He had to have hearts there.
Alright, lets enough recap on that table.
The next table was certainly more entertaining, but I only was there for the last 45 minutes of the day. This table featured Aeq's favorite female poker player, Vanessa Rousso. To my astonishment, when I got there with my 50kish stack, she was the chip leader at the table with about 130k. There were also two other women at the table too, one direclty to my left, and one directly to my left. The one to my left was probably prettier than Vanessa, but Vanessa isn't that ugly.
At this table, the atmosphere seemed more friendly than the other one, but I'm not there to make friends. Mst of these other people probably want to make it out of day one if at all possible, so if one of the medium stacks at the 300/600/50 levels opens, I'll have a wider 3betting range since they will probably fear not having the opportunity of advancing another day Even if that is not the most logical thing, people will undoubtedly fall for it. I did do this once, and it worked out sucessfully.
Two other hands, against none other than Vanessa Rousso and both times with QQ (yeah, ok I got hit in the face with the deck today). First time,second hand at the table, I open to 2700 and Vanessa calls on the button. Flop is T87. I bet 3.5k. She calls. Turn is a nice other Q. I fire again for 10k, she asks for a chip count of me. She folds after asking me for how much I had left at the time.
2nd hand. QQ again. I open UTG+1. to 2500 Vanessa is only caller in position. Flop is TT4 rainbow. I bet 3.5k. She reraises to 8k. By far her most likely holdings here are either a pocket pair that I beat or complete air. I didn't really want to felt this hand though with about 50k behind, so I tried to control the pot and make it easier to induce a bluff on the river, or make a small value bet on the river if turn goes check/check. I didn't exactly know what to do if she bet the turn (this is still my thinking before the turn even came) once I checked to her. Anway, the turn goes check/check so I don't really have much to worry about. On the river, I bet like 1/5 of the pot with the intention of calling any raise since it looks so much like a blocker bet and she'd probably have to realize by now that her pocket pair isn't good and she has to bluffat it. Perhaps Vanessa isn't good enough to realize this (or just the cycle of tournament pros that are out there are not good enough to realize this only because touraments are inhabited by the worst players in all of poker), but I think it is a better play than checking to her since her value betting a small pocket pair would be very low there. Anyway, concluding the longest paragraph in the history of poker literature, she thought for a few minutes before finally folding.
All-in-all otherwise known as TL;DR crowd
I ended the day with 81,600 chips.
Hopefully that makes sense as I didn't profreed any of it.
Also, thanks for the sweatshirt TP.