Prelims, In-Laws, and WPT Championship

I woke up last Monday feeling very refreshed and ready to play, so I decided to play the 5K at Bellagio. Despite a very hard table that included Deeb and Sorel I was able to chip up to 46K from the 20K starting stack. Then at 200/400 I look down at two red aces. I go to make it 1050, but misclicked to 2050. I immediately cringed and did not expect any action. Jason Lester repoped it from the SB, which created an easy ship knowing he could not fold getting 2.4 to 1. He turned over AKdd leaving me a big favorite to win the 50K pot. But the board ran out K54K2. The beat left me with 22K. I played super nitty to ge to the final 3 tables, but eventually had to ship with AJo, Dorin found AK and sent me packing.
I played 1 mega to get into the main event, but the A game was not there. I busted in level 3 and was ready for a break from poker. Luckily my in-laws were coming into town to visit and look at the new house. We decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon, which I had never been. He had an absolute blast. No picture does the Grand Canyon justice. It was an incredible experience. We hiked down and around the canyon for 2 days soaking up the views. The mini vacation convinced me to try and play the 25K WPT Main Event. I send a text to all my friends I thought would take a piece of me. To my suprise they all responded, and I ended up selling much more of myself than I intended. I was very flattered that they would buy a piece of me so I did not turn anyone down.
Day 1 had me seated with Evan McNiff, Brian Rast, 3 very solid players and 3 huge fish. Considering the field I was very pleased. I chiped up very slowly just taking smallish pots from the weaker players till the end of the night when Bill Edler sat down 2 to my left. UTG (a very good player) raised to 1700 and 300/600. I looked at 5s4s in middle position and called. Edler reraised to 5100 from the button, and after UTG called my call was pretty standard. Flop was Jc7h3h. I was ready to check fold, but Edler checked behind us. The turn was a 5d giving me a pair and a gutter. UTG checked and I bet 9200. Edler quickly raised to 24200 and UTG folded. Thinking it was near impossible for him to have a set in that spot I called. The river was a 7s, and I checked without any real plan on what I was going to do if he bet. Edler tanked for all of 5 seconds and stuck it all in for about 55K. If I called and lost I would be down to 70K, which was still over 100 BB at the time. So I went with my gut and called with 3rd pair. He mucked his hand, shook my hand, and began to walk away. I tabled my cards and Bill peeked back to see what I had. He came back to the table to shake my hand again for the nice call, a true class act. I ended the day with 231K, putting me in the top 10 in chips. Also while I we were waiting to bag up for the night we ran 2 blind PLO hands for $500 a person. I scooped both deals and walked away another 3k richer.
Day 2 had me at a table with Gavin Smith, Amnon, PearlJammer, Bobby Suer, and David Grey. Tougher than the day before, but given the stack sizes a very good draw for me. After winning a handful of small pots I got up to 300K. Then David raised UTG and everyone called except for Gavin. I was calling with any 2 in the BB and I looked down at 87o. The flop was K54 rainbow. UTG+1 bet 5400 into a 18K pot. Amnon called behind and I had a decision to make. I felt UTG was very strong I thought I could bust him for about 150K if I hit my magic card, so I called as well. The turn was gin and the 6s fell. I checked, and UTG+1 bet 11500. Amnon quickly raised to 35K giving me a dream scenerio. I elected to go ahead and raise trying to get the money in before a scare card could hit. I made it 85K, UTG+1 mucked and Amnon announced all in. I called and he had 23 for the bottom end straight. I was very active after that causing me to get paid off by Gavin Smith and Bobby Suer when I flopped 3 of a kind in each hand. The 2 knockouts lifted my stack to 600K with 2 levels to go. In level 9 I looked down at 22 UTG and raised to 4200 (at 800/1600). Middle position had about 200k total and raised to 11200. Deciding to set mine I call the 7K. Flop was 6s5s3d. I checked and he tanked and checked behind. The turn was a 4d giving me a straight. I lead 16k and he quickly announced raise to 45K. I felt there was a small chance he had 77, but AKdd seemed most likely, so I called. River was a 3c pairing the board. I checked planning to call any bet. He fired 50K, I called, he showed AA. A very very wierd line to take with the hand, but the pot put me over 725K. In the last level I made a couple iffy bluffs including a cold 4 bet with seven hi. Needless to say it did not work out and I finished the day at 621K. Good for top 5 in chips. Day 3 updates will be coming tonite/tom morning.

Justin "robert07" Young