A Rocky Start. A Good Ending.

Yesterday didn't start well, but it ended fine. Here's the wam-bam recap. Excuse any typos; I'm kind of fried...

Had the credit card company call as I was leaving for airport in morning. Short story was a stolen card number and a lot of fraud charges . Visa was great, however, and we went through all the fraudulent charges and got it cleared up, card canceled, new card in the mail, etc. Unfortunately I was therefore late leaving for airport, then had all kinds of parking issues when I got there. Good/bad news however is the flight was delayed, so I at least made it to Vegas mostly on time. Then it was a zoo of long lines and waiting to get registered for $1K event, get total reward cards (required for entry), check-in for hotel, and then get registered for a deep stack afternoon event that I wanted to play as a warm-up to big $1K event...

Here's the interesting hands from the deep-stack, which went from 3pm to 11pm for me:

• 1134 starting players. T15K in starting chips per player, with starting blinds at T50/T25, so we were very deep. Levels were each 30 minutes long, so there was some but not a lot of time to manuever, too.
• Third hand of night. AJo in SB. Limped around to me 5 way. It's way early so I just complete. Board was J-high rainbow rags. I check-called for pot control. Turn checked around. I fired small on blank river and took it down. A little weak, but my early level strategy wasn't to accumulate chips; it was to survive and observe.
• 99 on the button. UTG limp-opened, but his body language looked funny, kind of nervous. Three other upstream limpers. I just called. SB folded, but BB min-raised, which then allowed UTG to limp-reraise big. I insta-folded when it got to me. UTG showed KK. Very obvious big hand.
• Open raised AQo in MP then folded to a big 3bet from the buttton, who hadn't played a hand in three laps of the table. My AQ felt like too much of a trap hand in that situation. Prob woulda called with something like JTs or 75s as we were very deep, but AQ scares the hell out of me, especially OOP.
• BB posted all-in (after taking a bad cooler the previous hand). Folded to me on button with A5o. I iso raised and SB folded. Villain turned over 75o, spiked his seven and doubled up. Meh.
• For next two blind levels I go totally card dead and table aggression upstream starts ramping up, with lots of bets and raises. Ergo, I fold, fold, and fold.
• Blinds are now 300/150 with 25 ante. Time to kick it into gear. Lots of dead money in the pot preflop.
• AQo UTG+1. I open raise to 900 and it folds around.
• Red eights in BB. I see free flop multiway (shoulda squeezed, probably, but I wimped out). Board was KQJ black two-tone. I check. Raise and RR from two of the villains. I insta-fold.
• A9cc on button. I open raise to 1K. SB folds, but BB tanks and then re-shoves her short stack of 8K. I kick myself for not paying attention to stack sizes better. Have to fold. Grrr.
• QQ UTG+1. I open to 1K. Folds around. Kick myself for opening too big. Meh.
• Blinds are now 600/300/75. 88 on the button. Action folds to the weak-tight player on my right who open raises to 3x a moderately short stack. I've got a 20x stack, so I re-pop him all-in, figuring I have a lot of equity and there's enough dead money to make this plus EV. Blinds fold and villain goes into the tank. Finally calls with AK (!). My eights hold and suddenly I have a competitive stack again.
• Very next hand I pick up KK. 2.5x open raise, but no takers. Meh. Blinds and antes aren't insignificant, so this is OK. But still.... meh.
• Blinds now 800/400/100. I fold 99 to an UTG open raise and a shorty re-ship in MP. they turn over QQ vs. 44, and the fours hit their set.
• I open raise KJdd from the hijack. Get two callers. Two diamonds on the flop and I have one overcard. I semi-bluff my draw and get one caller. Turn is a beautiful third diamond. I slump my shoulders and check, imagining war and sick puppies and any other sad thing miserable thing I can conjure up. Villain stares me down and then obliges and bets pot. I check-raise all-in, but alas he folds. Still a nice addition to stack. Maybe should have just called and then led the river?
• Blinds now 1200/600/200. Things are getting nutty as we approach the bubble. Aggression everywhere.
• I pick up AA UTG and min raise. Medium stack two to my left tanks forever, asks for a count, tanks some more. I've pulled my hat down low and try to imagine that I have 22, a sick puppy, no money in the bank, and have a bad illness. Villain finally 3bets all-in. Wheeee! No more takers, however, so we're heads up. She flips up KQs (!) and two of her suits come on flop. Not Wheeeee!  My rockets hold however thru turn and river, and I chip up nicely again. Have about 40 bigs, which is very playable...
• ...but then I go seriously card dead again as the blinds escalate and we start getting down to the actual bubble. Lots of aggro "abuse the bubble" action from two big stack upstream of me at the table, so I'm ham-strung, waiting for actual cards.
• Pick up 44 on button. Same limp-RR'r from before open limps in EP. My antenna goes up. Folds to me and I knuckle check. Three to the flop. Board is wet and coordinated. Check check check. Turn gets even scarier. Check. River completes the horror and UTG guy finally leads out. I insta-fold. He flips up KK for a full house and complains no one gives him action. No shit, buddy.
• Blinds up again. I'm down to about 20 bigs. Pick up 77 in LP and make it 3x to go, assuming I'll fold to a reship. Blinds both call. Board is super dry T-3-3 rainbow. Checks to me and I cbet purely based on board texture and take it down.
• Pick up J5s on button, which is normally a standard fold to upstream action, but UTG min-raises and everyone calls. I'm priced in and have enough chips to call. Blinds complete and we have our first family pot. Board is the wrong color for my suit and there's a bet, raise, and reraise in front of me. Buh-bye.
• Our table is never broken all night long, but instead it serves as a new home for players from other breaking tables in the tourney. We get a continuous influx of new players all night. This is mostly fine until Paul Bunyon is moved to the seat on my left. Guy is about 6'7" and 300 pounds and dressed in lumberjack clothes that he must have worn directly from work. Terrible BO. Terrible breath. Terrible teeth. He also spills over into my space with giant arms and legs. OMG this is horrible. Thank the heavens he busts out four hands later and a skinny little guy who understands personal hygiene is moved to that seat. Whew.
• AQs on the button. Cold called a weak-tight player UTG who 3x'd it. Still wondering if I should have 3bet pre, but I wimp. Doesn't matter, tho, as she checks on a dry board. I figure she's playing fit/fold so I c-bet with air. She quickly folds.
• We're now in the money, but I'm back to card dead and the popcorn is popping, with tons of action upstream. I'm quickly blinded to 12 bigs and make a stand on the button with ATs against a LP loose passive player's limp-open. I shove. Big blind calls and the opener also calls. Big blind turns over KK and limper turns over A3o. I'm drawing to one of two remaining aces, which spikes on flop! My elation is short-lived however when a trey hits the river, giving the worst hand the win. And just like that I'm out on the rail. Sigh.

A min cash is more than fine of course, but there are a few things I wished I done differently. Mainly I have to get busier when my stack starts dropping in the low twenties or so. I nursed a short stack through the bubble because I didn't do this, and therefore played survival when I should have been attacking

Also, didn't sleep real well, so I"m concerned I"m not very rested for the $1K that kicks off in a few hours. Otherwise, this deepstack cash was the perfect warm-up for today's bracelet event. Wish me skill.

On to the next installment in this WSOP journey...

All-in (from Vegas, baby) for now...
-Bug