The Bat Cave

15k starting stacks, 30 minute levels, blinds at 50/100 now. Board says 196 players have entered already.

Megaphone is at my table but I don’t recognize anyone else. Superficial read: it looks pretty good.

Leggo.

10:59 AM: Well, I’ve been active.

Cutoff opens to 300 and I call small blind with KJo and the big blind MIA.

Flop is T93 with two diamonds and a heart. I have the Kd in my hand. I check it over to him and he bets 400. I think check-raising as a bluff is better than check-calling or folding here, so I make it 1150 and… he calls.

I’m not committed to this story, but when the turn pairs the ten, I feel like I have to bet that card and make it 1800. He calls again.

Well, now I’m done with it unless I make a straight.

The river is a king. Hmm… or that. I think a lot of people would check here and hope to win a showdown, but his hand seems like an overpair and there are more combos of QQ and JJ than AA and KK, so… I think I have to go for value here. I have a pretty easy fold if he decides to raise and he will just call if he has AA here, so I bet 2500 and he calls and my hand is good.

That’s pretty cool, but it does make this very next hand more difficult to play.

Someone opens to 400, there’s a call, and I make 1500 with AK on the button. The small blind takes that large raise to the face and now the original opener makes it 7600!

The original caller folds and now I’m sitting there wondering if this might be happening because I showed (what started as) a bluff the previous hand. It’s a serious consideration, but I can’t call here, so I’m either shoving 175bb or folding here and the former option seems pretty gross, plus the dude doesn’t seem nervous at all, so… I fold?

The small blind then goes into a super tank and eventually folds QQ face up!

Our friend doesn’t show his hand.

I open KK for 400 under the gun and three players call me in position.

I hate it already.

Flop is T82 with two hearts. I have the king of hearts and decide to send it around to see what happens. There’s a bet of 800 (into 1600+) and a call. I call also and three of ya proceed to the turn.

It’s the queen of hearts and this time it checks to the button and he bets 1500 (into 4000+). With the king of hearts in my hand here, I make the call. The other player also calls.

The river pairs the deuce, I check and now the flop bettor donks out with a nearly pot-sized bet. That seems strange since he’s repping QQ, TT, or 88 and most players are 3-betting with two of those holdings before the flop. I’m not really sure what I would do if the other player folds, but he jams giving me an easy exit and the other guys snap calls. The button shows quad deuces and the other guy had the nut flush.

Goodness.

I’m not done yet!

I open AA to 400 under the gun and get three callers again, with two of them having position on me.

The flop is 953 rainbow and this is a board I’m happy to c-bet 600 and a tight, straight-forward player is my only caller. She was at my table yesterday and I feel like if I get raised by her on the turn, AA is probably in bad shape.

But… the turn is an ace and I don’t have to worry about that. Now I’m hoping she flopped big. I bet 1200 and she makes it 3400. Yum yum!

We are still pretty deep and I don’t want to give her any reason to consider folding and she is 100% betting the river, so I just call.

River pairs the 3, giving me a boat and I check it over to her. She jams, I snap, and I’m pretty shocked to see that she had AK.

Sitting on 31k now.

12:30 PM: 27.4k coming back to 100/200 and 200 big blind ante.

Notables I’ve seen in the field: Solomon Grundy, Tormund, Cobra, Chief Wiggum, Minh Cash, Megaphone

2:30 PM: That was a pretty brutal four levels. I went the first hour and 45 minutes completely card dead. I 3-bet a hijack open from the cutoff with A8dd and got it through and that’s the only pot I can remember playing.

Then, with about 15 minutes to go in level 8, I had a three-hand stretch where I had KK, 99, and AA back-to-back-to-back.

I ended with less chips than I started with.

I 3-bet the KK after an open and call in front of me and they both folded. I sized up a bit because the weakest, stickiest player at the table was the opener and he shook off the hook.

With the 99, the hijack opened and I 3-bet his 1500 to 4000. The flop was Q54 with two hearts. He check-called 5000 pretty quickly.

The turn was a medium heart. I think I should just be done here. I check back.

River puts a four card straight on board and he leads 5000.

My mind was going pretty blank when I was facing this bet. I could think of plenty of hands I couldn’t beat and I couldn’t come up with too many I could beat, so obviously… I called.

What.

He turns over KQo.

I mean… I played that hand like shit. Nothing else to say about it.

Then I get AA at the perfect time – when it looks like I might be steaming – but all I get is a big blind defender that check-folds the flop.

13.3k coming back to 400/800 blinds giving me a 16bb stack.

3:17 PM: Open 2.3x with AJ of spades and get a big blind defender.

Flop is J87 two hearts and a club. I bet 3500 and I’m never folding with my stack size. He just calls though.

Turn pairs my jack and puts a second club on board. He puts me all in, I snap, he shows 86 of clubs and bricks off and I get a double up.

3:49 PM: Back to 16bb again. We are down to 90 players now with 40 of us cashing.

I still see Tormund, Classy Chris (fka FanBoy), Chief Wiggum, Minh Cash, and Cobra.

4:43 PM: I’m sitting on around 16bb and have AQhh under the gun. Don’t really love shoving this chips here but I’m never folding and things could get awkward if I have to take a flop. I stuff and get called by JJ.

Whiff flop, turn a flush draw, brick the river.

GG.

Back to back days busting 30 minutes before dinner.

👍🏻

I’m beat. Not even going to try to play a session tonight. Also probably not playing the $200 event tomorrow since there is no longer a Player of the Series bonus.