Event 46, $5k shorthanded

I expected the field in the $5k shorthanded tourney to be somewhat strong and in fact it was probably the toughest table I've ever played at at the WSOP. To my immediate right was ThAY3R, to my immediate left was Shane "Shaniac" Schleger and to his left was Lou Esposito. Luckily Shane was eliminated in level 3, only to be replaced by Ryan Daut.

I built my stack up to 20k or so without many showdowns and then ran a terrible blind-on-blind bluff against Ryan Daut. Had I known it was him, I never would have tried the bluff, but I thought it was some random guy who couldn't stand 3 barrels of heat on a 3s6sJhTcKs board. He snapped me with J8o and I was down to 10k.

I then got lucky for the first (but not last) time against Lou Esposito. He raised and I jammed from the BB with Ad7d. He called with AQo and I flopped a flush draw and turned the flush. He wasn't thrilled to say the least.

After chipping down again I squeezed KQo all-in after a button raise and an SB flatcall. The button folded and the SB unfortunately made the call with AJo. Blank blank blank blank King to the rescue!!!

On the final hand before the break I had around 16k and once again got it in bad, which was kind of the running theme of the day. On a flop of AdJs6s I had Ks7s for the nut flush draw and was checkraised by my friend Lou Esposito. I jam on him and he instacalls with AJ. Well, I guess I'll just have to hit a spade then, which is precisely what I did on the turn. 32k stack now.

I then doubled someone up when my TT could not hold against his A5o, but I certainly was not going to start complaining. After losing a few more pots I was once again down to around 12k when the following freaky hand came up:

I shove 12.6k UTG+1 with 99 at blinds 400/800/100. It's folded around to Lou in the SB, who says loud and proud: "CALL." He then throws 400 in the middle, thinking he was just calling the BB. He then looks over at my 12.6k stacks of greatness I have in front of me and realizes he just got himself in a sticky situation. The floor is called over, Lou is extremely heated and the floor forces him to call the complete 12.6k. The BB folds and it's my 99 vs Lou's 64s for my tourney life. He flops a gutshot but fails to improve, doubling me up and reenforcing his eternal hate for me.

After a few preflop 3bets I was now up to over 50k entering the final level of the day with around 100 players left, 78 getting paid. I was moved to a new table towards the end and with 3 minutes left on the tourney clock I was dealt AKo in the CO. I raised to 3200 with blinds 600/1200, the button called and the SB makes it 13000. It kind of sucks because I have absolutely no reads, but he does have me slightly covered. Still, he has no reads on me either so I elect to shiperoo with my 45k stack. He tanks and eventually makes the call with QQ. Blank blank blank blank blank busto.

It sucks to play so long for nothing, but that's poker. The Main Event will most likely be my next tourney, Day 1B ftw.

On a side note, congratulations to Martin Kläser for winning a bracelet in Event 43! Ship it!