Good news is I have more chips than I had in the last update. Bad news is I don’t have that many more chips. I started off and I lost the first 12 hands I played this level, just all small pots, called raises or raised, totally missed the flop and there was significant action to take it down. That took me from 55,000 down to about 38,000.
Then I made a good call. I had 7h6h in the big blind. Tyler Smith was in middle position and he’s been pretty active at the table. I’ve played with him a lot. I was actually at the final table with him at the Beau Rivage in January. He made a small raise and I called from the big blind. There was about 6,000 in the pot and the flop came K 6 3. I checked and he continuation-bet just slightly more than his pre-flop raise. I know that he’s capable of shoving on me there if I raise it and it’s a risky call, but I decided to just call with my pair. I was pretty sure I had the best hand at that point.
The turn paired the board (3) and made a flush possible with three diamonds. Of course I don’t have a diamond in my hand, I have hearts. If my call was right on the flop it was still right on the turn. I checked and he made a half-pot bet. I think and I think and I call. I was a little nervous about a diamond coming on the river, but lucky for me it didn’t. It was a 7, giving me two pair. I decided to check, giving him the opportunity to bluff or minimize damage if he actually had a flush or boat at that point. I checked and he took a stab at it, betting about 8,000. I called, thinking I had the best hand. He had Queen-Ten off (diamond outs on the turn along with a Queen or Ten) and ended up with air. My hand held up and my read was right.
I should have raised earlier on in the hand, in retrospect, but that hand built me up to about 63,000. After going through the blinds a couple of times I’m back down to about 56,000. I’m feeling very comfortable with my table and my image and feeling good. We’re down to 38 players now and I can smell the final table!
V J