Hey guys... man, I'm not even sure where to start. What a day.
Quick summary for the "tl;dr" crowd:
I played at SIX different tables today, was card dead for most of it, played ok but not spectacular, had to dodge a number of bullets, got
very lucky exactly once when needed it most, and somehow survived through the day. I'll start Day 2 with 14,400 chips. I'll be short stacked, but by now, I'm freaking used to it.
Now for more details...
Things started off well and I got up to a whopping 23k chips early (woohoo - go me!). For pretty much the rest of the day, all I wanted my original 20k starting chips back. About 30 minutes into play, I call a raise in the BB with 87s. This was a multiway (5?) pot. The flop comes 874 with two clubs, and I am 00% sure I'm ahead. I lead at the pot and everyone folds but the most aggressive player at the table who raises me. Now, I'm sure I'm ahead here, but for whatever reason, I put him on a medium over pair. I thought he though I had a flush draw. I don't like playing for huge pots in tourneys, especially early on when the stacks are so deep, so I decided to just call and keep the pot under control. The turn was a J, and I check/called his bet of 3200ish - we've got ourselves a nice pot now. The river was a Q, completing the stupid flush, and I check/called another 5600 from him. He turned over AcKc for the nuts. Ugh. I don't know... in hindsight, I definitely could have played it a lot more aggressively and probably taken it down (but you never know). Boobie says I should have check raised (probably all in) on the turn, and I think he's right. Anyway, this cost me about half my stack. I then bounced around the 12-13-11-14-12k neighborhood forever. It was ridiculous, but I stayed patient. At one point, I was moved from one table to another and then to another - having played a total of ONE hand on those two tables in between! Yeah, 9T on the button. A monster. This should give you an idea of how annoying it was getting. I saw more suited connectors and less pocket pairs today than I think I ever have in a tourney before. And the suited connectors didn't work out so great for the most part.
At my 4th table (and moving a lot is annoying, since you have to get reads on everyone all over again), I had a terrible seat. The chipleader or someone right up there was 2 seats to my left, and almost every time I opened, he repopped me and I'd have to fold. TWICE, he smooth called me and someone else (Andrew from CardRunners, actually) came over the top and I had to fold. It was driving me nuts. I got al he way down to 4k, and pushed in twice with 7 high (it is SO important to time these plays right, but if someone wakes up with a hand, there is nothing you can do), picking up the blinds and antes both times. Back down to 5-6k or so even, I pushed in UTG with 98s (blinds were 300/600/75 at this point, btw). Here's an example of what I was just getting at - the big stack guy smooth calls me and Andrew goes into the tank. He finally folds and then some other dude pushes in. I chuckle knowing that I'm dead. The big stack calls and shows KK and the other dude had AK - no clubs though, I don't think. As son as I saw these hands, I said "Oh - I'm a huge favorite here!" The flop comes 933 which may look good at a glance, but it's not at all what I was hoping for (straight or flush). Drawing to 2 outs, I hit a 9 on the turn and faded the river for a nice triple up and then some. I stole the BB from the SB two hands later and was in the 23k neighborhood.... finally!
Then it went downhill all over again, with me not winning a pot for like an hour and a half. For most of it, there was nothing I could do, but here's the one hand that I hated: With a limp in front of me, I decided to limp also with KJs (and you know how much I hate playing junk like this). Two more calls and then the blinds after me. The flop comes down J9x with no flush draw, and it checks to me. I bet at it, and everyone folds except for he button who raises. He's short, so his range could be pretty wide here. His raise was in the 3500 range and he had about 5k more behind. I deliberate, and I'm really only afraid one ONE hand (AJ).... there are so many other hands I'm ahead of, and I'm getting nice pot odds to go all the way and I've been so frustrated all day etc etc etc, so I finally decided to go with it and push. He calls and shows AJ, which of course holds up. to give you an idea of how close of a decision this was for me, I would have folded QJ here.
Anyway, back to the short stack for me. I doubled up again after pushing with A3 from the SB and getting called by KQ in the BB. He turned a King but I rivered an Ace!
I ended up moving to two MORE tables (it was pretty ridiculous). With less than 10 minutes to play and me under 10k, I got it all in the middle three times, trying to get some damn chips or go home and not have to come back tomorrow. The first time, I picked up the blinds and antes. The second time, my AT all in reraise from the button was called by the original raiser's A8. We chopped, of course. Finally, my AQ all in reraise was not called and I finished the day with 14,400. Certainly not much, but hey - I'm still in it, and I know from experience that all it takes is one or two big hands and anyone can get deep.
Other random notes:
I had AA, KK, and QQ a total of 0 times today. I had JJ once and outplayed QQ with on after a King high flop (I knew he had QQ and played it perfectly, IMO). I had AK twice and AQ once. ALL DAY. Trust me, that's not many premium hands for so many hous of play.
I played at two different tables with Mark Seif, Andrew from CardRunners (muddywater) and two other dudes. Seif gave me the old limp/reraise all in at one point when I popped him from the BB with AJs. I pitched it, of course. He had AA. Andrew is a nice guy and a solid player. He had some TOUGH breaks (mostly against the chip magnet/card rack guy who was sitting between us). He got thorugh the day, but he lost most of the chips he had earlier. I think he's in the low 20s.
When I was on my 3rd table, I noticed that Andrew and Taylor (both from CardRunners) were at the same table.... with JohnnyBax... and Joe Hachem! Damn - that's some draw right there.
At one point, I was seated next to Fabrice Soulier for the third time in a major tourney (Aruba, WSOP, and today), but this was he first time I had position on him. He's a nice guy and we chatted a bit. He told me more about that movie - it sounds like it will be pretty cool, and he said I'll be happy with how I'm portrayed. I guess it follows him, Isabelle, Hachem, and a couple of other players - I forget who right now... sounds cool though.
I kept bumping into Brad from the Poker Stars blog. He'd always laugh because I was at a different table and then he'd check on my usually patheic stack. That was cool of him to write what he did in the blog. Glad to see you guys have been going to read the blog from here enough for him to notice us as a referral.
I also met Cashman Brian today. Look for some integrated W$ buying and selling in TP.com soon.
Man, I don't even know what else... my head is spinning. I'm sure I'm leaving a lot out, and I know this is all over the place, but hey, it's an update.
Hopefully tomorrow will start off well for me. If it does, I'm going deep. But there's also a really good chance I'll be out in the first 15 minutes.
Lastly, major bummer that Kurn busted 10th, but still a big congrats. They had their own private room and were doing lots of filming, so hopefully we'll get a chance to see that sometime. Congrats Kurn!