Satellite Man '12

I arrived at Rio at 2pm on Tuesday 6/12. The plan was to grind single table satellites, as I will be playing in the $1500 HORSE event on the following day.

Last Longer are very common at the Rio. Players voluntary put up $20, $40, $100, or more, and do sort of a side tournament. This is to add some money to the prizepool, but doesn't add any juice to the WSOP to take. Sometimes, the Last Longers are between two players, or they could be for the all ten players. I was a little leery of handing someone else a $100 bill. But this is such a common practice at the WSOP, I would be stunned if someone ran off with the money.

#1 $125 - 1k chips. 15 min levels starting at 25/25. A couple of the players were buddies, and they were rather social. It was a fun table. However, the cards were quiet for me. In the 50/100 level, I raised UTG to 225 with AA, and all folded. Towards end of level, I raised from Mid with JTo. Button called, and BB shoved for 500. I reluctantly called, leaving 450 behind. Button called, and Flop was 8-high. I checked,  and Button shipped. I folded, and he showed A3c, no pair. BB had AJ. Boards ran out Q 9, which would have given me the Straight. Naturally, the Blinds went up to 100/200 right after this hand. I folded my BB to a raise, and shoved my SB for 250 with A7. The BB had 74c, and I doubled up.

Towards end of level, I shipped from Mid with K9s. Cutoff shoved for much more with QQ. I miss, and finish in 6th place.

#2 $175 - 1k chips with 15 min levels starting at 25/25. Four of us do a $100 Last Longer. Only played a few hands, but they went well. I had 2300 chip by the start of the 100/200 level.

That level is when the shortstacks started shoving. However, they always won. It didn't matter if they were ahead or behind, they just kept doubling up. We went through the 150/300, and into the 200/400 level, and still had five players left. Nobody had a dominate chip lead, and I was  under 2000. From the BB, I doubled up another shortstack for not much, but I don't remember details. Shortly after that, I shoved for 900 with 55. The BB called the extra 500 with 85o, and riveted a Straight. I finished in fourth. Good news was I chopped the Last Longer with the other survivor, so this one only cost me $75

#3 $215 HORSE - 1k chips with 15 min levels starting at 25/50. Play 4 hands of each game. Karina was at this table. She finished in 8th place in last night's tourney.

As it turned out, this was one of the worst structures ever created, and I would have never played it if I knew that. I didn't win a hand, and I played almost no hands, other than the occasional bring-in and maybe a call.

It's the 100/200 level, and it's the final Stud-8 hand, I'm the bring-in (25) with (6c 4s) 2c. The next player completed (100) with a T showing. Another player went All-In for 150 with a 3 showing. An 8 and a 6 also called.

I only have 400 left. We are starting Hold'em next hand, and I will be the Big Blind. This seems like my spot to gamble, so I raised to 250. The other three players called. I got my last chips in on 4th Street, and my Board ran out (64)2 T K J (6), and I was out in 6th, right behind the other shortstack who busted in this hand.

Dinner Break - I took a little break by walking out to my car, and grab a sandwich from my cooler. I ate it while making the rather long journey back to the tourney area. I walked through the halls, and checked out the other tourney rooms. Brasilia had the $1500 Limit Shootout running. Most of the tables were either two or three handed. The Amazon room had the $5k O8, along with the Final Table for the $1k with Eric Baldwin and four others. There was also a $3k 6-Max, that was on Day 2. On the way out of the room, I noticed a Table Of Death in the 6-Max, with (in order) Freddie Deeb, Eugene Katchalov, Will Failla, and Elky. Ouch!

#4 $175 - $40 Last Longer with six players. One of the Reno Kids that I know is at this table. He just busted out of the $215 Daily Deepstack, and is a little tilty. Fortunately, I have position on him.

I ran rather good in this one, but not as good as the player next to me. HE's a different Kid who was quite the card rack, and was torching the table. Thanks to position, I was able to stay out of his way, and even win a few pots against him. For a while, we were the bigger stacks at the table.

In the 100/200 level, we were down to 4 handed. The Kid raised again to 425. I folded, and an old guy shoved for around 1200 with AQh. The Kid snap-called with A4o, and hit a 4-Card Flush to knock out the Old guy. A few hands later, the Kid raised to 425 on the Button. I had AJo in the SB, and shipped All-In for about 2300. The Kid insta-called with AKo. Gotta luv that 3-handed. I airballed, and was out in third.

At least, I made money in the Last Longer. Me and the other remaining player made a deal for the $240 pool. I suggested we each take $100, and let the $40 ride. He agreed, and naturally, he finished second behind the Kid.

#5 $325 - 1500 chips with 20 min levels starting at 25/25. This will be my last one of the night. Since I'm 0/4 so far, I might as well gamble on a bigger satellite. There was $100 Last Longer for eight of the ten players. There were also some side bets between various players.

I was extremely card dead for this one. Fortunately, the 20 min levels helped. I was able to raise and take the blinds, or do the occasional 3-Bet that never got called. Eventually in the 100/200 level, I raised to 450 with AK, and then called an All-In from an older gentleman with 99. He won the race, and had me cover. I finished in 6th place.

I had brought $2000, so I would have enough to buy into the $1500 HORSE if I wasn't able to profit from the satellites. I certainly didn't expect to go 0/5 today. So I had to make the "Walk Of Shame" back to my car, drive back to my hotel, grab some more money, and go back to the Rio to buy into the tourney.

- $1015 Satellite buy-ins
+ $60 Last Longers
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= Bad Day