So since my WSOP Academy experience I haven't played that much poker - but what I have played has been MOST enjoyable.
I recently chopped evenly three ways for all the money in one of my home game Sit-N-Go's, and then a week later I finished 6th out of 80 runners at Hollywood Park for $475 after buying in for $80. But it was last Saturday night, at my home game monthly tournament that the Beast inside of me really let loose.
Let me explain; since my intense two days of training, there has been a percolation of poker knowledge in my brain, just simmering below the surface. Last Saturday night, it all came together. You know that scene in the Matrix when Neo finally sees the matrix itself? Towards the end of the movie when he looks at the enemy agents and sees line after line of green code. The walls, the ground, all in code as well. That's how it was in this tournament.
It wasn't as if I was raising every pot and running over the tables - no, there was a lot of folding involved, especially in the first half of the tournament. But every decision seemed easy, and when it was time to crank up the aggression, to bet big for value or to bluff entirely, I knew just when and how to do it.
Most satisfying of all, I ended up heads up with a very worthy opponent, who has had tremendous results in my game in the past (with three tournament wins in 2013), and I played absolutely perfect poker against her. Now, let me say of her play - it is a bit unorthodox, but I have a lot of respect for her game because of her results.
But this time, I was able to use all of my knowledge to pick her apart piece by piece. I know she has some gargantuan leaks, mainly defending light out of position (both her blinds and when she chooses to play a trap hand in early or mid position) - and I was able to use this leak to effortlessly steal chips from her over and over again.
At first glance, she appears to be sticky and tricky, but really, if she entirely whiffs the flop, she will give it up a good deal of the time, especially against an opponent who will keep firing. She is an emotional player, and if one is attuned to her ebb and flow as I was, it can be used against her. I knew when she was drawing, both from verbal and physical tells, and I knew when she had a made hand - again, simply by paying attention to her demeanor. As a result I was maximizing wins from her and minimizing losses - from the moment we sat down at the same table to the end when we battled heads up for the tournament.
A critical hand in this battle - I raised from the button with a red Ax, she defended (which she does heads up probably 90% of the time, as she probably should against an aggressive player like me) and we took a flop which was all black and low cards. I c-bet 1/2 pot, she defended. The board then paired - I fired again but big, 3/4 pottish, she hemmed and hawed and even complained that the music that was playing ("Eye of the Tiger") made her want to call. Wow, really? She eventually called, clearly agitated and basically telling me she was drawing to a flush or a gutshot but probably both. Now she had sunk a ton of her chips into the pot, probably a third of her stack. The river was a glorious red queen. She checked and I happily shoved, she turbo mucked. Big ass pot that I won with Ace high that was almost certainly the best hand.
From that moment on the wind was out of her sails and I started raising mercilessly and there was nothing she could do but fold. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have a large amount of respect and even some fear for her game, but last Saturday night as her chips dwindled and mine grew the fear was gone entirely. It was very satisfying.
Finally she rightly shoved with QJ pre-flop and I made the easy call off with KJ. My mind flashed to a tournament earlier this year in Vegas, a Bally's 1K guarantee where I was heads up at the end and had KJ and the other player had QJ. A queen hit the river, giving my opponent across from me new life and we ended up chopping. I wanted desperately to fade those three outs this time, and thank the poker Gods I did!
Best of all, by binking this tournament, I've won a seat in the $1000 guarantee free roll that I'm putting on next January. There is a lot of cheddar for the winner - and I feel fantastic about my chances!
EDIT: Update; shortly after typing this out, I took down the single table Sit-N-Go in my garage last Friday night! The Beast knows no bounds! Again, it was a satisfying heads-up battle against another worthy opponent, Sven, whom I've talked about on this blog many times before. He and I are poker-buds, that is we do talk about strategy a lot, so it was very satisfying to not only have a commanding chip lead when our battle began, but to retain it and to close out the game with authority for the win.
