Day 3 WPT Championship

My table draw certainly wasnt the worst in the room, but if was rough going with players like Jen Harman, Johnny Chan, Blake Cahill, Alex Keating, and Mike DeMichelle at my table. A failed attempt at a float and a 3 barrel into top set put me down to 440K fairly quickly. Then at 1.5k/3k Johnny Chan raised to 7k, I looked down at two black kings and elected to just call. Jen and Mimi Tran both called as well in the blinds. Flop was Jc3h2c. It checked to Chan and he bet only 14k. I again played it slow to see how the blinds would react and just called. Jen called and Mimi folded. The turn was a good card for me, the 2d. Jen checked and Chan bet 45k. I did not see much value in raising here either and just called. Jen got out of the way and the river was a 7h. Chan quickly bet 55k into a pot of 175k. A smallish raise probably should have been the play, but I elected to call. Chan showed AJ and I was up to 600k. I slowly built my stack to around 700k when Mimi opened from middle position and 2k/4k. Cahill called as well as Mike D. I looked down at 1010 in the BB. Mimi was playing pretty nitty and a 3 bet would pot commit me to her push, so I just called the raise. The flop was A33 rainbow and I was ready to check fold. But it checked around and a 6c hit the board. It checked around to Cahill and he fired just under half pot. Mike D. called as well and a bluff seemed like a good play. I put them both on medium aces and figured I could represent a 3 or even 66 with a check raise. I put an additional 60k on top and waited for the chips to be pushed my way, but Cahill called after a 2 minute tank. Mike D. folded and the river was a Kd. The king didnt change anything, and I figured one more shell would do it. I fired 150k in the middle and Cahill snap calls me with AQo. It was a very nice call of my well thought out bluff attempt. Then a fun hand went down in the 3k/6k level. Mimi opened in middle to 16k, Mike D called as did a wild frenchmen. I looked down at AJcc in the SB and hesitantly called. The flop came down Jh8c6s. It checked to Mike D and he bet a tiny 25k. The frenchmen called as did I, not knowing where I was. The turn was a 2h, and myself and Mike D checked. The frenchmen fired 80K leaving himself exactly 150k behind. Thought about raising, folding and just calling, but elected to passive approach and just called. Mike D. sprung from his chair and counted us both down. He stacked out chips for a raise then acted like he was going to fold. And then he just called. The river was a 3d and I decided to try and control the pot and put Mike D in a tough spot. I bet exactly half of the frenchmens stack in order to have the appearance of wanting the betting reopened to me if the frenchmen pushes. Mike D quickly called and the frenchmen insta mucked. I announce AJ???, having little idea if it was good. Mike D again leaped from his seat and mucked his cards. The pot put me around 800k. I ended the night with 732k good for 15th in chips and 73bb. Another update will be coming on Thursday.

Justin "robert07" Young