Update 10:15pm (pst) - With 10 minutes to go in the final level of the night, Tim is sitting at $19,000 chips. From all indications, it looks like Tim will make it through to Day 2a and play again on Tuesday at 2pm St. Louis time. More updates to come.
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Update 9:15pm (pst) - We are now in to the final level of the night. Blinds are at 300/150 and antes are at 25. Tim is sitting at $22,400 chips with 80 minutes to go until we wrap for the evening. The average chip stack is 36,351. In a recent Facebook update, Tim said " Surrounded by young, online pros, monster stacks, and bad cards. Just trying to survive this hellish day with my stack of $22k."
On a lighter note, I was just watching the "funny" table with Jason Alexander and Brad Garrett and they were both simultaneously getting "rub-downs" at the table and were quite enjoying them from the look and sound of things. It was somewhat uncomfortable to watch to be honest. Almost immediately afterward, Costanza was involved in a BIG hand in which he hit runner-runner to claim a huge pot. He is now sitting at $84,500 chips. It may be time to call the masseuse over to Tim's table. More updates to come as we wind things down here on Day 1.
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Final break update from Tim 8:30pm (pst) - Right before the break, I have AcQh. One of the online pros raises in the cut-off to $800. I reraise to $2,500. The big blind surprisingly calls as does the initial raiser. The flop comes off 2h7h8h. All hearts. I check. The BB leads out with $5k. Cut-off folds. I fold. I'm not going to risk a quarter of my stack on a) the flush draw and b) the hope that I'd have him beat with my Q of hearts. My guess is he flopped a set...so even if I hit the heart...he'd still have the chance of the board pairing. I'm just not going to go batshit and chase now that I have chipped up to plus $20k. I'm in survival mode. Not getting cards, and even when I do, I'm not hitting (see the AK vs. AQ early in level three in which the BB called and hit his Q on the flop...and then just check called all the way to the river). It isn't happening today, and the best hand I've had all day is KK once and AK once.
The "sickest" hand of the Level 3 came when one of the online pros to my right lost a monster pot. I was in the sb, and I had pocket 9's. There was a raise to $900 and two calls ahead of me, so I just called. The flop came off 773 with two hearts. I checked. The initial raiser made a big bet. I got out of the way. The online pro had called before me. The turn is a blank. Both check. The river is a Jack of hearts, putting a flush out on the board. The initial raiser checks. The online pro bets a big $5,500 bet. The initial raiser check raises him to make it $16k more to go. Wow.
The online pro thinks, and then he calls. He turns over an Ace high flush. The initial raiser hit a full house on the river and took down about a $40k pot.
Time to go piss...and hope to survive. I'd put that at a 66% chance right now. Just not happening today.
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Update 7:40pm - Tim just hit a "sick" hand after a long while of getting nothing to speak of cards wise. After getting 35d his hand, Tim decides to throw out a pre-flop raise. Both the BB and the button call. The flop comes off 3T7 with two diamonds on the board thus giving Tim bottom pair and a flush draw. All of this came while he was sitting around $16,000 in chips. BB leads out with a surprise $1,200 bet and Tim decides to just call. Turn comes off with a 6h giving Tim bottom pair, a flush draw and now a gutshot straight draw as well. BB surprisingly bets again to the tune of $2,500 in which Tim calls. River comes down as a 3 which puts Tim on a set of 3's. BB once again fires and bets $2,000 and Tim calls. BB flips over JJ and realizes Tim has him beat for a big hand and a nice rake which brings him up to 25,000 in chips. On the next hand, Tim raked the blinds and is now sitting at over $26,000 in chips.
In another recent development, former WSOP Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker showed up 10 minutes ago and came by Tim's table to chat for a minute. The ESPN cameras were all over this and had them fully covered for their brief conversation. More updates to come.
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Update 6:40pm (pst) - Tim is now down to $19,025 as his AK ran into AQ. The flop came down Q55 and then an A on the turn. Tim's opponent just kept calling him throughout. On the river, Tim checked and called out his opponents hand and folded. His opponent showed the AQ as Tim mucked. A decent hit to his stack but Tim still has plenty of room to make some noise. In other STL related news, Nelly was just sent packing from the tourney. Looks like his loose-aggressive play comes back to get him again. More updates to come.
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Update 6:15pm (pst) - We are back from dinner break and the cards are once again in the air. Blinds are currently at 300/150 and will remain there for the length of this level which is 2 hours. Tim is surrounded by 3 pros at the moment so he will have to dodge some shots from these guys and hopefully keep building the stack. More updates to come.
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Update 4:30pm (pst) - At dinner break Tim is sitting at $24,225 in chips. In one hand with some action, Tim found himself with AQ offsuit. He raised to $600, the player in the BB reraised to a total of $1800, Tim called. Flop comes QJ4 rainbow. BB leads with $2500, Tim reraised to $6500. The BB eventually lays it down after a whole lot of thought which gave Tim the pot. If he had called, Tim's tournament life would have been on the line. Now at Tim's table to his left is an online pro from Australia and both guys to his right are internet pros who are friends and are using all sorts of table talk and terms. That is where things sit right now as we break for 90 minutes for dinner. More updates to come.
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Update 3:55pm (pst) - Tim is back up to $21,725. The guy who is turning out to be Tim's nemesis (we will call him dickface) moved all in on him. Tim had KQ in his hold while on the button. He raised $600 and found 2 callers. Flop comes QT3. Both guys check back to Tim who bets $750. Dickface to Tim's left reraises to $2,100. Tim put him on a draw with either KJ or or a flush draw as there were two spades on the board. Turn is an 8d, and dickface checks to Tim. Tim comes out with a 5k bet and dickface comes over the top all-in. Tim tanks and puts him on 9J for a straight and lays it down. About five hands later dickface hits quads AGAIN for the second time today and is up to around 40k in chips.
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Update 3:30pm (pst) - Tim's stack is back down around 19k. He got into another battle with the guy who beat him with quads and took another hit. It hurts to lose 1/3 of the stack but with almost 20k remaining, still room to build it back up. More updates to come.
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Update 3:15pm (pst) - Tim is currently sitting back at $31,175 and climbing. He has built his stack back up slowly but surely as we are 50 minutes into the second level. There are quite a few framiliar faces in the field today including some with a St. Louis connection. Check out the pictures:
Jason Alexander ("Seinfeld")
Nelly (St. Louis rapper)
Brad Garrett ("Everybody Loves Raymond")
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First break update from Tim 2:20pm (pst) - Down to $20,100 at the end of Level 1. The hand that killed was JJ vs. 88.
The player to my left had just went all-in preflop and was called by the player in Seat 2. He had AA...and the other guy had KK.
The river gave KK a straight, and the player to my left was clearly on tilt, saying, "That was fucking sick. What did you think I had? AK?"
So, he was obviously pissed.
About three hands later, I was under the gun, and I raised with JJ the 50/100 blinds to 300. I was called by three players.
The flop came off 8s7s8d.
I bet more than half the pot to get an idea of where everyone was, and Uncle Tilty to my left called.
With a straight and flush draw out there...and him on tilt...I didn't put him on 8's.
The next card was the T of diamonds.
I bet out $1,500. He called.
The river was a 3 of diamonds.
I led out with $3,000. He had $8,425 left...and he moved all-in.
I stood up and debated. I talked to him trying to get a read on him. He went out of his way to say, "I will show you."
That sent the message that he had me beat, but the fact that he was on tilt and the fact that his body language SCREAMED he didn't want a call, after a couple of minutes, I called the additional $5,425...and he immediately, happily turned over his pocket 8's...giving him quads.
I said I was going to go with my instincts and not play scared...and it was my belief that I had the best hand and that he missed on a draw...and was on tilt from his aces getting cracked.
Real simple: I was wrong, but I did think I was making the right play. I have $20,100 at the break, and with blinds going up to 100/200 for the next two hours, I can still be plenty patient and build my stack back up.
My table is a tough one to read. I've got Uncle Tilty to my left who likes to call, and then a Euro to his left who loves to raise preflop. Otherwise, it's a pretty tight table with few reraises preflop.
It sucks to lose 1/3 of your stack in the first level, but the way I'm trying to look at it is that I started with $20,000 in chips last year...and this is about where I was last year. Still plenty of time.
Got to heed my own advice and put the quad 8's behind me.
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