Here’s a key hand in the WSOP main event on day 2b that had earned me my first double up.
I started day 2b with $28k in chips & was looking to open my game a little bit. Day 1 was about playing a little snug, small ball poker & having pot control. On Day 2 my strategy is to play small ball poker but I plan on getting more involved in pots & advertise some hands here & there so that if I pick up a big hand I want to get paid off. My day 2 table draw was not what I hoped for, I got the tightest table in the room.
Day 2 started off of a little rough for me, couldn’t get anything going and with such a tight table my strategy was thrown off. Right before the 2nd break of the day my table broke and we got reassigned to new tables. I make my way across the Pavilion room to the back corner and sit down at my new table. I have about 15 minutes before break so I sit there & observe my new opponents. After watching for about 10 minutes I like what I see. There are some big stacks, big pots & a lot of action. Five more minutes go by & we go on break. While on break I call my friend & discuss how I feel I should play at my new table. I tell him I am going to open up my game because I need to capitalize on my table & build my stack for day 3.
When we return from break I sit & wait to pick my spot to start making some moves. The blinds are now $300-$600 $75 ante, I have around $34k in chips, I am UTG+1 & look down at 
. I open for $1,600 & get called from the button & the BB, I don’t really like my spot but I am not going to worry about it. The flop comes out 
, at this point I feel safe. The BB checks I bet $3,400 the button folds, the BB flat calls. Now I feel it’s fairly obvious my hand is good. The turn card 
falls, BB checks & I check. The river card 
falls, The BB cuts out some chips & throws $7,200 on the felt. I tank for a minute, I had him on diamonds on the flop so I feel he missed his diamonds & the only way he wins is by betting. After a minute I say “I call” & he says “you’re good I missed”, I was relieved to see him holding 
for a busted draw. Now this hand was key for me because the table was talking. I hear them say “damn he called with 3rd pair” & “wow he raised early position with 97″, so mission accomplished I did some good advertising & now it’s time to lie & wait for my opportunity.
20 minutes pass & I am UTG+1 again, I look at 
so I open again for $1,600. This is my third time getting aces in the main event & I had no action the first two times so I am hoping it was going to change this time. After I raise everybody folds to the BB, I am thinking “damn it, not again, no action”. I am looking down, a little disappointed, expecting a fold or at best a flat call. Then I see the BB put $12k in the middle. Wow! what a raise, so perfect, if he is putting in such a huge over raise I’ve got to be able to get him all in. So I move all in & he snap calls, I table my aces & he tables 
. He was so upset saying “damn it, I see you raise with 97 UTG & now you wake up aces, such bs”. the board runs out with out a sweat & I get my first double up of the main event, damn it felt good.
Opening up my game in the right spot paid off. There was some other hands that I tried to use to my advantage but the 97 UTG+1 was the key hand for me. The player that doubled me up was so off his game against me, the rest of the day I owned him. I finished day 2b with $72,500. I was hoping to finish stronger but I got a player all in with 
vs & he hit a 7 on the river to double threw me. Tough to avoid those situations in tournaments, he didn’t break me so no worries, I still finished the day around chip average.
Time to get ready for day 3. I hope to finish strong going into day 4.
