Leader Board ... Borgata Trip Report

Hey guys ... so we had a fairly significant database problem. It has been solved we believe and now we're rebuilding and adding in the missed tournament. The leader board should be back up to date next week. Thanks for your patience.

Here is a trip report from the Borgata Open. I went down on Tuesday and played in the Event #1 (NL $500), which had a field of 1033. The play wasn't in the new poker room but large hall upstairs, which offered very good playing conditions. I didn't quite get to the dinner break in the tournament.

It's all a blur right now but I do recall losing 1000 of my 4000 chips on the first hand. NICE. I had AJ in the SB and the hand went something like this: The button raises the 50 blind to 125 and I flat call as does the BB. Flop J 7 2 rainbow. Buttom bets minimum of 50, I raise to 150, BB calls, button calls. Hmmmm. Turn is 10. I bet 225. BB calls and button folds. River is a 9. I bet 250. I really can only put the BB on KJ but J 10 is also a real possible hand considering how much people love it. But you would sort of expect him to reraise with two pair. Well he minimum raises me to 500 and I feel forced to call and he turns over J 8 for the straight. Nice start. I'm wondering if I just didn't bet enough to move this guy off top pair and as I consider this, I watch him play 5 of the next 6 hands. In the first 30 minutes he caught trips on the river twice (calling bets with a pocket pair with overs on hand hand) and another straight with J 8! I decide that I probably didn't bet enough but that it was clear I wasn't going to move him off that hand no matter what.

He's our chip leader at the table until Wendell Barnes is moved to the 10th seat. Wendell got a little bit of fame for making a final table in a January WPT event that Daniel Negreanu won. In a key hand they played together, Wendell put in some fake teeth. Negreanu crushed the final table to go onto win. But you can see from Wendell's steady results that he is a real player:

http://www.pokerpages.com/players/profiles/61121/wendell-barnes.htm

He had a big stack and played it well. He took a bunch of players out on the table by winning a few coin flips and simply not folding top pair when players tried to push him out of a pot. They never had anything. I'm not sure what about him made them do that, but it happened over and over. He finished 24th.

For the rest of the tournament, nothing much stands out. I built back up but lost a JJ vs AQ race and lost with AK vs A7 two pair to go down to a short stack. I made one very tough laydown of AK suited when I still had chips when I put the guy on Kings or Aces and he showed Kings.

That night I played in one $100 SNG and donked on the bubble (top two paid) and called it a night.

I did rail PSP1, a PXF Subscriber, in the 2nd chance tournament that night. He crushed early but eventually was in fearless short stack ninja mode. He was literally the low man in the tournament for two hours and continue to be so ... but he just moved up the pay scale but taking just enough blinds. Eventually they got down to five and cut a deal where PSP guaranteed himself third place money ... plus their was more cash to play for. He went out 4th in a very well played game.

One funny moment: with two tables to go there was a huge, enormous chip leader (who was playing extremely well -- he made a great transition from wild, loose player to fairly tight player who just stole enough to maintain ... he did it immediately when he sensed a momentum change). The big stack had literally taken 7 people out in the last 30 minutes and when PSP sits down, he is playing up his loud, loose image and grandly states that he can tell PSP is a nice guy and he will not pick on him.

Now, PSP is a nice, very funny guy (and will often have that image on a table) but he stares the big stack down and in the absolute straightest, deadliest look says: "I'm not a nice guy." He didn't give a hint of a joke. I'm cracking up but they proceed to fold to every small stack all-in he played and he marched to the final table. Hey, maybe he was just lucky but he clearly made a decision to pick that image at a new table and I'm sure it helped him get thru one or two steals.

The next day I play in Event 2 (NL $750). This time I only lose $900 on my FIRST HAND (10 10 no good on a 9 8 4 board). Hey, that's progress, right? Things didn't go well and I'm out after a few hours. I remember thinking I had a PUFF of 5 but really the key was getting no action when I did have a hand.

I was wondering if it was going to be one of those runs we all hate in poker, but I then played a $250 SNG and chopped that (including a last longer) and felt good going into the evening 2nd chance tournament. I felt I played my best in this event, eventually finishing 22nd out of 240 or so for a small cash. It was a disappointing ending when my JJ couldn't beat QJ all in preflop in a hand that would have almost tripled me up.

The next day I chopped a $100 SNG and a last longer bet with PXF subscriber Maggie. It was an interesting SNG with 3 bad players and 7 pretty good ones. Maggie was tough sitting on my left and out played me in this hand pretty early: I had A 4 spades in position and called Maggie's early raise, as did several players. The flop came Ac and two spades and Maggie bet out. I put Maggie on a good ace and finally decided not to repop all-in. I just decided that she would call and there was no reason to race this early. The turn was a blank and she bet out big and I folded. Later I asked her what she had and she said: "You don't want to know." KQ! She said she knew I had her on a good ace and knew I was on the flush draw and knew it was too early for me to race ... so she made the play.

I briefly considered banning her from PXF for life but then realized she was a real good representitive for the site! Good luck in your next event at the Borgata Maggie!

One final note, PSP also did very well in Event 2, eventually making the final table and finishing 9th. Great job PSP! Just wear your PXF hat more often!

mindwise