[Target] 2009 Report + QB in the WSOP
Ken Kubey
kubey at sgi.com
Wed Jun 17 20:42:23 EDT 2009
Hi all,
Here it is. The official 2009 Report.
The 15th TARGET event was held at the Mirage.
I check in Thursday with the poker staff. I'm assured
the comps will be ready. Cool.
Friday, 9:45 a.m. Get Mirage Buffet folks to hold tables for us.
No problem. Cool.
Friday, 10:00 a.m. Why am I going to the poker room so
damn early? Check with Kathleen Paculan about the comps.
Couple phone calls. No comps. Ai-ya!
Long story short, Kathleen pulled us out of the fire.
I made a snap judgement to pull $5 out of the TARGET
toke pool and gave it to her.
About 20 of us meet for brunch.
We are able to get several tables in the same area.
Ernest Webber was the Tournament Director (TD) this year.
Sadly, Donna Harris is no longer with the Mirage.
Again we used Patrick Milligan Tournament Timer.
Patti once again supplied the laptop.
Just 24 players this year. 25 buy-ins in the pool.
More on that later.
The tables:
Ming Lee - oh, sorry. Late scratch. He was busy making a
run in a WSOP event nearly beating some guy named Phil Ivey.
Len Marciano John Lloyd Dave Tahajian
Bill Turner Rod Chavez Kevin Garrett
Barbara Garrett Mark Trombley Dan Sammartino
Rich Strauss Peter Secor Jeff Deitch
Mike Chow Ken Kubey Russ Fox
Bob Jones Steve Nissman Mark Rafn
Patti Beadles Jim Anderson Steve Watanabe
Aaron Lion Marc Ferguson Wendy Rafn
Good to have Bill Turner back. One of the original TARGET
players from 1994. Also back... two-time defending champ,
Marc Ferguson.
A $200 buy-in got each of us 2000 in tournament chips.
Cards were in the air very close to 12:30.
Kevan Garrett managed to bust on the first hand with
AK vs. AQ on a A-Q-X flop.
Kevan received a Beanie Baby fish, a $10 slot certificate and a roll
of Lifesavers. The fish found its way into some interesting places.
Later heard that Kevan won a tournament elsewhere for $4000. WTG!
Key early hand. Hope I have this right.
Rod Chavez calls for 100. Mark Trombley calls.
I look down at JJ. I'm planning to raise it to about 500 or so.
But Peter Secor raises to 650 ahead of me.
I have Peter on a very strong hand. QQ, KK, AA or AK.
I change my plan and fold my jacks.
Back around to Rod who pushes all-in. Mark thinks for a bit
and folds a pretty strong hand either AQs or AKs.
Peter calls right away. Rod has TT (pair of 10's).
Peter has AA (a pair of aces.)
Rod flops a 10 to take most of Peter's chips.
The key point is that Peter's raise certainly saved me from
losing a lot of chips. If Peter doesn't raise and if I don't fold,
I'm in bad shape.
I get run over by the deck. I showed a lot of the hands.
I had KK 3 times. QQ twice. AK 6 times. AQ a couple of times.
And was hitting the flop too. AK? Flop the K. AQ? Flop the ace.
---
Really interesting hand. Someone gets all-in. I thought it was
Bob, but he says no. Patti can't remember either.
Patti has a big stack and calls.
Other guy has AA. Patti has 77.
The flop comes down Q-Q-7. Giving Patti a full house!
The turn is a 10.
The river is a Q. Patti's 7's full of Q's is now Q's full of 7's.
The AA makes his hand Q's full of A's and he wins the hand.
---
Jim went out in 11th and we are down to the final table:
Mark Trombley 2800
Aaron Lion 5400
Bob Jones 9500
Patti Beadles 2800
Steve Nissman 1000
Russ Fox 5400
Ken Kubey 5400
Steve Watanabe 4800
Jeff Deitch 4300
Len Marciano 6700
Russ was at the final table for the 3rd year in a row.
Len and Patti were back for the 2nd year in a row.
1st and 2nd get $1500 entries in the WSOP.
3th gets $500. 4th gets $355. 5th gets $225. 6th gets $60.
7th gets a handshake.
The tournament will end when we are down to two players.
Final table notes...
---
QB's QQ holds up to knock out Steve in 10th.
---
Len makes a big-stack call against two short stacks.
Mark is in the lead with A7. Jeff has T9. Len has T6.
The huge dog becomes the top dog as the board comes
out with a 2-3-4-5 to make Len a straight and send
Mark and Jeff to the rail in 9th and 8th.
---
Aaron goes all-in. Patti calls.
Arron has 44. Patti has AK.
A 4 on the flop keeps the Lion in the hunt and
plasters Patti's chip stack.
---
Len knocks Patti out with his A2 holding up over her J9.
---
Russ is to my right and is folding horrible hand after
horrible hand. He tells me some of them. T4, 64, 43, 42.
It's kind of funny as they keep getting worse!
---
My BB (big blind)
The table folds around to Russ in the SB (small blind.)
I expect Russ to pick up another garbage hand and fold.
Not this time Russ pushes all-in for about 2500. I have
about 6000, so this will really hurt if I lose.
Russ is a tight player, so I don't think he is going with pure junk.
I look down at ATo. An automatic call. Any expert would tell you that.
But I give it a little thought. I decide that Russ could easily
have a junk ace hand. A7, A2, etc. or KQ or KJ. I'm well ahead
of his range of hands, so I make the call.
Russ flips up TT (a pair of 10's). I can pretty much only win
by hitting an ace. Russ is sure I will win. And he is right.
Here comes the flop... A-9-6. Blanks on the turn and river send
Russ is out in 6th. We had several $10 late fees allowing us
to give the bubble spot a consolation prize of $60.
---
Bob Jones pushes all-in with 66. Len Marciano calls with AK.
The 6's hold up making Bob the chip leader and sending
Marciano against the ropes. It will be tough to keep up
with the Joneses now.
---
Aaron pushes with KQ. Bob calls with A6.
At the turn, the board is X-X-T-J. Aaron needs an ace,
king, queen or 9 to win. A useless 7 falls on the river.
Aaron is gone in 5th. A nice $225 win and good showing by a
rookie TARGET player.
---
Steve Nissman never had a decent stack at the final table.
He is forced to call all-in with 63 in his BB. Bob has A2.
The flop is A-5-2. Niss misses the 4. And finishes 4th.
A well earned $350 as he just never had chips to work with.
---
At this point, Bob and I have the big stacks. Len needs a double
up to get back into the fight. Len pushes with QT. Bob calls
from the BB with J4.
The flop is 4-X-9 putting Bob in the lead.
The turn is a K. Giving Len a little more hope as a J, Q or T
will get him back in the race.
A river 9 KO's Marciano. 3rd place and $500.
---
Congratulations to Bob Jones and Ken Kubey. "Mr. Jones and me."
Ken wins TARGET for the 2nd time in three years.
Man, how bad must this field suck?
I was drinking 7&7's the whole time. I think I had 5 in 4 hours.
Ernest did a good job as the TD. He even announce several hands
over the Mirage Poker Room speaker system. Pretty cool.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craps run.
I checked the Mirage poker room. Only saw John Lloyd playing NL.
Headed over to the Gold Coast. Nobody?
Steve Nissman shows up. We atart playing. Barbara and Kevan Garrett
show up a few minutes later. Patti made a quick cameo.
No real wild action. We made some hard 10's (55).
I think Barbara hit the 12 once or twice.
Steve would be on the verge of making a killing, but then the
dumb 7 would come and spoil the party.
I believe the final totals were:
Barbara +$35
Kubey +$6
Kevan +$2
Steve -$7
Kinda a sedate craps run, but we had fun.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to everyone who played in TARGET and a big Thanks to all of the
folks that sent checks in early. That really helps me a lot.
I'll be sending out a survey soon.
I hope everyone had a good time during the TARGET weekend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On to the WSOP...
12 noon Saturday. Away we go. $1500 buy-in gets you 4500 in chips.
My first table was pretty tough. No one was getting a walk ever.
I had some great cards in the first two hours. AA, AA, KK and QQ.
Actually got to bet the river with the KK and got called and won!
Oh, I was in seat #1, left of the dealer. I hate seat 1.
I limped along with some medium pairs in late position
hoping to flop a set. 66 thru TT. No sets. Did pick up one pot.
I'm drinking 7&7's. I want to pace myself. Keep the little buzz,
but not get drunk. I was shooting for one drink every 90 minutes.
I had to explain what a 7&7 was to some young guys at one table.
Anyway... make it to the break after 2 hours with 5900.
Probably a little above average. I'm feeling good.
I get moved to a new table, seat 5. Guys here are laughing and
having a good time. The guy I replaced got disqualified
on purpose. Apparently he had a ton a of money on some
sporting event and wanted out.
One poor guy at this table called an all-in with AK.
Other guy had A7 and hit the 7. AK guy goes all-in with JJ.
Loses to 99. Oof.
No big hands here. I stole the blinds enough to keep even.
The 2nd break comes after 4 hours of play. Still at 5900.
Moved to another table. Seat 1 again? Tight players in 3-4-5.
Good player in 6. Big Guy in 7. Solid Kid in seat 10.
Seat 2 is wat too tight. Played maybe one out of 35 hands.
I stole his blind the one time I had the chance.
When he did raise, everyone folded very quickly.
I keep stealing from 3-4-5. Seat 4 notices. On the next steal,
I show him AQ after they all fold. He nods his head in approval.
Seat 6 puts in a raise. Big guy calls.
Flop Q-8-4. Seat 6 bets near the pot. Big guy calls.
Turn T. Jam it up. Seat 6 has KK. Big guy has QTs.
I'm praying for a K, 8, or 4 to make the Big guy lose. Nope.
Later Big guy loses a pot calling with A9o. He's not a total fish,
but he seems to play more hands than most.
Dinner break after 6 hours of play. I have 5150.
I'm below average, but the blinds aren't killing me yet.
Sandi used my $10 WSOP comp to get a really good burger.
She is perched on the platform watching Ming Lee vs. Phil Ivey.
along with another 40 or 50 fans.
Back to the table at 7:40 p.m. or so.
I'm doing okay. Build up over 7000, maybe 8000.
Two new players in seats 2 and 3. Both from the same country, I think.
Seat 3 has a huge number of chips.
Seat 2 is limping along and calling too much.
Blinds are 200-400. Folded to me two off the button.
I raise with A9o to 1200. Seat 2 and 3 both call.
Flop comes J-5-3. I don't think I can bluff here, so I pretend
to think and then check. Check, check.
Turn is another J (Jd). Okay, obviously these guys don't have
a jack. I'm going to bet representing 99 or a slowplay AJ.
I bet 2000. Seat 2 calls. @#$%@$#%$#. I hate calling stations.
River is a small diamond making a flush possible.
I check praying that seat 2 has nothing and will check.
Nope. He fires 3000. I think he has 33, 55 or a flush.
What ever he had, I couldn't call. This is the only time
all weekend where I got at all mad at a player.
I kept it to myself. I later made friends with the guy.
Kid in seat 10 raises. Moron to my left calls.
Flop Q-4-3. Moron checks, Kid bets near the pot, Moron calls.
Turn A. Moron checks, Kid bets near the pot, Moron calls.
River X. Moron checks, Kid bets near the pot, Moron calls.
Before Kid can show, Moron rolls over AJ. Kid mucks.
How in the world do you call with AJ on a Q-4-3 flop? Sheesh.
With this idiot on my left, I have no choice now,
but to jam with any hand I want to play.
Here come the real hands...
99. No doubt. I push all-in. Good old Moron in seat 2 is sitting
there thinking. Out of nowhere, seat 3 pushes all-in while
seat 2 still has cards. I think 3 was trying to save 2 from
wasting chips. Really a pretty horrible thing to do.
The others all fold. I figure seat 3 has at least QQ.
Yep. He has AA. I have the red 9's. We table our cards.
Here comes the flop... "I'm thinking to myself nine, nine, five."
Why "five"? The poker Gods are hard of hearing. Sometimes they
hear 5 as 9 or 9 as 5. Gotta cover your bases.
Flop 4-9c-3. Oh the beautiful 9 of clubs.
I'm doing cartwheels inside. Outside I don't move a muscle.
Still have to dodge two cards. Turn blank. River 3.
I kinda wonder if seat 2 would have called. I could have
really gotten back into the running. Seat 3 busted out later.
We get to the next break. 8 hours in. I have 3500.
Blinds will be going up to 400-800 with a 100 ante.
Average stack is around 13000. I'm in bad, bad shape.
I go report to Sandi that it looks bleak, but i'll give
it everything I've got. Also see Patti, JP and Sabyl.
Sabyl reminds me that my only play now is to push all-in.
I've played at least 1000 1-table SNG tournaments in the last
two years, so I know that, but it didn't hurt to be reminded.
I sit down a couple of minutes before play resumes. I see
Patti walking down the spectator aisle. She smiles and
gets a spot at the rail to watch.
Luckily, it is my button so I only have to ante/lose 100 per deal
waiting for a hand.
Seat 8 is a weak player. Suited crap and connectors.
4th hand after the break. I have 3100.
Seat 8 raises to 3200. I know he has KJo. Don't know exactly
how I know, but I know he has KJo. I look at my cards.
KhQh. I've got him. I call all-in. Rest fold.
He turns up his hand. KJo. Best big-money tournament read of my life.
Now maybe I call here anyway hoping he has AJ or AT or JJ ot 99,
but it was just freakin' awesome to see those cards.
Flop X-Y-Z all small. "Small and red." I think to myself.
Turn small heart. I pick up a flush draw. "Small and red."
River Q. Okay. KQ good. I do a little fist pump under the table.
I have a few chips to work with now.
Guy raises my BB. Folded to me. AsKs! What a sweet looking hand.
I call all-in. Raiser has KJo. Nothing bad happens. I win.
That guy busts later. Teach you to try and steal my blind!
I have a few chips now. Maybe 10,000.
99 and raise to 2000. Moron calls. Oh, here we go again.
Flop is K-J-J. I put up the white flag. I'm checking and folding.
I check, he checks.
Turn X. I check, he checks.
River Y. I check, he checks. I think my 99 must be a winner.
I show it. He shows QQ!!
BB again. The Big Guy raises from the button.
I'd seen this guy nearly have a stroke folding A9o, so
I think he could be raising with any ace or stuff like KQ, KT, etc.
Let's see what I have... AsJs. Maybe I can blow him out
of the pot right here. I jam. He snap-calls with KK.
Arrgghhh. Well, I just hit a two-outter a while ago.
Hitting one of the three aces should be a piece of cake.
Flop x-A-x. I'm thrilled, but still brace for anything.
The turn and river are blanks and now I really have some chips.
Maybe 20,000.
QJ in the SB. Idiot that I am, I actually raise thinking
the Moron will fold for once in his life. He calls. Ugghh.
Flop A-9-X. I check, he checks.
Turn T. Good card. I have tons of outs now. K or 8 for the nuts.
I check, he checks.
River J. I hit a pair. This idiot could easily have me beat
with KQ, Q8, 87, and who knows what else. I check, he checks.
I show, I win! Up close to 30,000 now.
The blinds and antes take me down to 25,700 as we finish Day 1.
1:30 a.m. I bag up my chips. Fill out a form, and leave everything there.
Thanks goodness I will have a new table for Day 2.
================================================================
I get to the tournament area 15 minutes early.
I'll be at table 79. We start at 2:00 p.m.
I see tables 77, 78, 80 and 81. Can't find 79!!
I see Rich Strauss over by the rail. We talk for a couple
of minutes. I ask him if he knows where table 79 is.
He points up at the sign right above me. "ORANGE 79" Okay.
Steve Nissman and Mark Trombley also come by to root me on.
Here is my starting table:
seat name hometown chips comments
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Slim Mameche Duinet, France 41,300 Solid player, friendly
2 Andy Achillea London, UK 2,300 Waited 12 hours to bust in 2 hands
3 Joshua Bylund Muskegon, MI 37,300 Solid
4 Jonas Klausen Odense, Denmark 40,900 Solid
5 Bill Carey Clearwater, FL 22,800 Too tight
6 Salim Zakhem Houston, TX 58,900 Action player
7 M Mehdi Alaei Los Angeles, CA 39,700 Danny Alaei's dad, Solid, nice guy
8 Ken Kubey Sunnyvale, CA 25,700 Tight
9 Jeff Reiter Le Claire, IA 19,700 Tight, nervous
Andy is killed off in two hands and is replaced by Steve form S.D.
Some highlight hands that don't involve me:
Steve jams for 15 BB's with A2. Joshua calls with AQ. 2 flops.
Someone gets all-in with AK vs. Salim's KJ. Flop J-J-X. Gross!!!!!!
Salim gets calls an all-in on a J-X-X flop with KJ. Loses to AJ.
All spade flop. Salim checks and calls Mehdi's bet.
Turn 4th spade. Salim checks and calls.
River X. Salim checks and calls 10,000.
Mehdi flopped the nut flush. Salim turned a straight!!!! LOL.
Turns out there were only 327 left going into Sunday.
I was in the top 200 chip-wise.
I try a steal raise from the button. Jeff re-raises me. Yipes.
I know this guy has a real hand. I fold. He shows me KK.
Nice hand sir.
It is obvious Bill is folding everything trying to make the money.
I decide I'm going to raise his BB with almost anything.
I look at an ace. I raise 3x the BB. ATo. Everyone folds to Bill.
He says "Can you beat 7-high?" I say "Twice." I show the ace.
I try a blind steal from the button again. BB calls.
Flop is K-X-Y. I have nothing. Slim bets it. I fold.
He shows (what else?) KJ.
I'm watching the player count like a hawk (it is displayed on TV's
all around the room.) 315, 302, 297, 285. So close now.
My chips are dwindling. Average is 44,000. I have 10,000.
Remember chips are 3x real value. $1500 got us 4500 in chips.
282, 281, 280, 279.
I get pocket jacks (JJ) and raise from under-the-gun. 3000.
It goes around the table.. Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold.
Last guy with cards is the great player on my right. Mehdi Alaei.
I'm about to say to him "If you fold, I'll show." Before I can
say "If" he raises all-in. Oh my God!
If I call and lose this hand, I'll be out with $0.
Is he just trying to push me around? Does he really have
better than JJ?
I know in about 5 seconds that I am going to fold, but I sit there
for a good minute pretending to really think about it. A minute
is FOREVER at a poker table. I fold. He tells me he had KINGS!
I absolutely believe him. He was in the final 27.
Even if he was lying to me, I had to fold the hand.
I could not risk going broke so close to 270th place.
I'm really worried now. It is going to be very close for me
to hold on for the money. I have to hope that several others
will go broke before I am forced to put my last chips in
in the blinds.
The last spot out of the money is called "the bubble."
271st place in this case. I can't stand the idea of going
out now so close to the bubble. It is a really scary thought.
It has taken me 15 years to get this far. Will I be here again?
Now they hold up play. Turns out the count was behind.
We are at 271 players. I'm down to 7500. I have one of the shortest
stacks left in the room, but there are several others in worse shape.
Between hands, I walk over to my friends at the rail and tell them
"My range is zero."
That means I am folding EVERY hand now. Even pocket aces.
I cannot go broke. I'm folding EVERY hand.
We play hand-for-hand now meaning that all 31 tables start the hand
at the same time. Then we must wait for all 31 tables to finish
that hand before we go to the next one.
The hand at our table might take 40 seconds. But then we have to
wait for 5 or 6 minutes for all 31 tables to finish just one hand.
No one busts out. On we go.
Medhi raises. I look at my cards. TT.
Man, I'd love to play, but I can't. I fold.
Jeff is also hoping for his first WSOP cash.
He has 20,000 in chips. He looks very nervous.
Mathematically, it was almost certain that I will make the money,
but having watched many sporting upsets, I take nothing for granted.
I'm waiting for the room to erupt.
Another hand. A couple of guys go all-in, but survive.
You hear one person clap or shout.
I'm dying to hear a whole table start clapping.
Another hand. Nope.
Now a floorman walks by and says we are at 270. But it is still quiet.
Still no wild cheering. 3 or 4 minutes pass.
Now they halt the clock. We are in the money!
Turns out they had to wait to see if a 2nd player went bust
on the same hand in which case #271 and #270 would split
the prize for 270th place.
Lot's of cheering. I stood up and clapped my hands over my head.
What a thrill. I was so relieved. $2808 at least.
Shook hands with my friends, gave Sandi a kiss.
Shook hands with Jeff, Mehdi and Salim. Thumbs up to Bill
Slim and Steve and the other guys at the table.
Now I can play poker again.
Sabyl joined Sandi on the rail.
Ac8c. I push all-in. All fold. I show the ace.
Dang, back to 14,000 just like that.
My BB. Action folds around to Medhi. He folds giving me the pot uncontested.
This is called a walk. We are about 15 hours into the tournament.
This is the only walk I got.
Too tight Bill busts out and is replaced by this Asian kid.
Asian kid gets AA, AK and AK in about 10 hands and busts 3 players
including Salim. I believe this was Jeff Chang who finished
in 2nd place for $392,000!
Blinds are now 1000-2000. I'm down to 5700. If I fold through
the blinds, I'll be down to 1800. I'll be anted all-in a few
hands after that!
Total desperation mode now. Any ace, any pair, and two face cards.
A2o. Looks like gold. I raise all-in. Slim thinks for a few seconds
and calls. Folds around to the BB who folds. The pot has over 15,000
in it. I hope slip has KQ or something. Nope. AT.
I need a deuce or I'm done.
Flop nothing.
Turn nothing.
River nothing. AT good. I'm out.
I outlasted another 86 players and finished in 184th place out of 2641
for $2988.
I usually feel bad when I bust out of a tournament. Not this time.
Making the money was Job #1. I accomplished that. Good feeling.
Thanks for all the e-mails and support. Big thanks to my sweaters:
Patti, Fich, Rich, Steve N., Mark T. and Sabyl.
P.S. Two of the worst plays I ever made at TARGET and BARGE were
both folding JJ. Sweet justice to fold JJ twice correctly.
Ken Kubey kubey at sgi.com (408) 524-6939
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