WSOP - Day Two

Day two arrives, and I sit at my table opposite Allen Cunningham's mound of chips. Level one was pretty quiet - I dribbled down from 53,000 to 46,000 without really playing a hand. Early on I raised with AK UTG, only to get a re-raiser two to my left who had raised to a third of his 18,000 stack. It was a push or fold decision, and I didn't fancy risking over a third of my chips on a race at best, so I folded.

The table was a lot tougher than day one's - more raising and re-raising, fewer flops seen. I was possibly a bit too timid and should have bullied a bit more, but I wasn't getting any good hands and so had to fold to re-raises.

I found AQ and raised. Allen Cunningham called from the big blind. The flop was JT5. He checked. I should have made a continuation bet but I chickened out, probably because I was up against Allen. The turn was a 9 and Allen bet 3,500 into the pot of 5,000. The nine had given me an up-and-down straight draw. Before I'd realised it (or given it proper thought), I'd semi-bluff re-raised to 12,000. Allen then had a think. A think for what seemed like an eternity and a half, but which Cardplayer said was only two minutes. I was a statue throughout (at least I assumed I was). I've noticed in the past that when people have long thinks at the table, they usually fold at the end of it, so the longer Allen sat there, the more confident I felt. However, after his pondering, Allen went all-in. It would have been idiotic of me to call so I pretended to consider things for a little while before folding.

Did he pick up on something which led him to believe I was bluffing? Did he have a great hand and was trying to lure me in? After analysing the hand afterwards, I think that Allen would have put me on either AK or AQ, with my actual holding the favourite. 14,000 chips down the pan.

More chips went when I raised with 66 and got a caller, we checked the flop, then I represented the Ace on the turn, which he called. The river was a Jack, which I checked, and he checked behind. He only had KJ and had called with a flush draw but hit a winning hand on the end. However, he wasn't to know that and a river bet from me may well have won the hand.

I recovered some lost ground when a shortstack BB re-raised me all-in when I raised with 22 from the button. I knew he was trying to push me off the hand so I called, and my ducks held up against his QJ.

I went into dinner with 32,000 chips. I'd slipped below average and had my chance to double up about 20 minutes into the next level. I raised to 4,000 with 99 and Allen went all-in on the BB with his huge stack. Two things made me sure I had the best hand. Firstly, he'd seen me lay hands down before. Secondly, Allen had the run of the table as he had become the overwhelming big stack after an Aussie had donked off about 70,000 chips to him just before the break. However, the Aussie's seat had just been taken by a guy with a quarter of a million chips and I think Allen wanted to send a message to him.

Given all this, I immediately called and Allen turned over KQ, so I was about a 55% favourite. However, Queens fell on the flop, turn and river to give Allen four of a kind and end my WSOP adventure.

I wasn't too disappointed with things. As I've said before, I'm never too bothered when I go out with the best hand, only with my own mistakes. If I'd won that hand, I'd have had 65,000 and would surely have made the money in the world championship event. Still, it wasn't to be.

Today, I played a couple of very funny sit'n'gos in the Crypto lounge with Cupcake, Yoyo and others. In the first, I just kept hitting straights on the river - I've never known such luck before. In the second, buoyed by my fortune, I'd started played hands without looking at them, which is a lot of fun. And I don't mean just raising pre-flop without looking but limping, betting flops and calling turn raises in the dark. I can see how it drives other players mental.

I then spent a couple of hours in the Voodoo lounge at the top of the Rio with Monkey Matt and BigArno. Yes the view is spectacular but it is just a poncey bar with badly dressed Americans and overly expensive drinks. Plus they don't seem to let you sit down anywhere - all the seats are roped off, verboten unless you've booked them (and this committed to spending lots on drinks). Am I just getting old?