Aruba Part II

Now that we had some fun I was very anxious to get to the main event. As I got to my table I only recognized one player. He was solid with the capability to get creative on one street. But after looking over the table I was sure he wouldn't play that many pots with me. On day one I had a few note worthy hands. The first two were against a woman whom I had thought was decent, but as the day went on she proved to be just very unorthodox. She would limp and call raises out of postion and then lead the flop half the time. I raised here BB with K10o and both blinds called. The flop was K106 rainbow. They checked to me and I bet half pot and she called. The turn was a 2 (completing the rainbow). She checked and I bet half pot again (about 3200). She c'raised to 8K. I had about 20k behind, but I did not like a shove just in case she was bluffing or if she had KQ or even AA. There was a strong chance she had 66 as well so I elected to just call and see how strong she looked on the river. The river was another 6 and she quickly checked. At this point 66 was not possible so her range was AA, KQ, KJ, K10, or QJ. I pushed all in thinking I might get action from AA or KQ and might get K10 to fold. After 10 seconds she mucked K10 face up. On hand two against her, she limped UTG and I found KsKc on the button. I made it 825 (blinds 100/200 ante 25). She of course called. The flop was Ah9s7s. She lead 1K and instead of assuming she had it I decided to raise to 2750. She called fairly quickly. The turn was the 7h and she checked. I bet 3800 thinking she would have to fold an ace worse than AJ. She debated for a while and called. The river was the As double pairing the board and making a flush. She reached for chips quickly and tossed in 6k. I had 21K in front of me, for what should have been an easy fold, but for some reason I didnt think she had an ace. Though she was bad she would have raised with AK, AQ, and maybe AJ from early. The way the action went I felt like she had to fold A10 or worse. So it was AJ or a flush to which she did not notice or care about the double paired board, but since I couldnt beat either I decided to push all in. She quickly picked up her cards and mucked the 10 hi flush. Even though I was right, I dont like my play. My table was too easy to make such risky moves. After I of course showed my bluff I made another lo risk bluff and showed rags again. 2 hands later I picked up AA. I of course raised and the flop came Q52 with two clubs. I bet and the button called. Turn was a 9d, and again I bet and he called. The river was a Jh and with about 8K in the pot I pushed him all in for his last 15K. He beat me in the pot and showed KQ proudly. Even though showing bluffs is sometimes frowned on, it got me paid of here for a nice pot. I ended the day with about 62K good for a top ten stack going into day 2.
The first twenty minutes of day 2 is what you dream about. The deck hit me very hard and I busted 4 short stacks while only doubling up one. I had 95K and was looking to run over the table. But my bluffing got me in trouble and then I lost a massive cooler with KQ vs 109 on a KQJ board against an aggressive player. My stack was down to 32ish when the following happened. I raised to 2K (blinds 400/800) with 97hh. The button called and so did the BB. The flop was 7s5h2s, I bet 4K and the button called and the BB folded. The turn was the Jc. With 14K in the pot and 26K in my stack I decided to go for a check raise. He bet 11K and I was taken back. I was hoping he would bet 8K giving me plenty of fold equity. Though I hate my line I decided to call and check call any river that was not a spade. The river was 8s and I check folded. He showed the AQo for ace hi and a nice float on the flop. This is one of the hands where I should have taken another 20 seconds before I checked the turn so I could have a plan for what happened. I always tell people in order to play at a high level you need to plan out the different scenarios in order to be prepared. I did not and was burned by it. I ended up getting it in pre with AKhh vs 66 for 40BB and lost.
Part III coming tommorrow with the rest of the trip.

Justin "robert07" Young