WORLD SERIES OF POKER
The Andy Bloch Project
by Tom Sims
INTRODUCTION

Jim Albrecht, the WSOP Tournament Director, approved my plan to sweat and record for posterity all of the hole cards and play of a "To Be Found" entrant in the 1997 WSOP $10,000 Final Event.

During the early days of the WSOP, I asked several entrants to be my "Volunteer" but was unable to find an acceptor until about 30 minutes before Day 1's play began.

I ran into my good friend and fellow rec.gambler, Andy Bloch, and we ate an early lunch together at the Buffet. Andy needed to get back to Boston to study for some exams at Harvard Law School, and he had a plane reservation for that evening. However, he was still on the fence about staying and playing the WSOP final event. He said that he would be my "Volunteer" if he decided to stay and play. He did and he was.

Thanks, Andy.

ANDY BLOCH BIO

Bloch grew up in Orange, CT, a small suburb of New Haven. He got a Bachelor's and Master's degree in electrical engineering in June 1992 and immediately entered the engineering profession. He is currently in between his first and second years at Harvard Law School, spending the summer working for a technology law firm in California's Silicon Valley area. This background, although perhaps impressive, is often overshadowed by his intervening and unconventional career as a professional gambler.

The first time Bloch ever heard about poker tournaments, he wanted to win one. In December 1992, just about a month after first playing casino poker on a business trip to Las Vegas, he had seen the winners list of the World Poker Finals. A few months later, he learned about the World Series of Poker, and it became his dream to win that, too. At the next World Poker Finals a year later, having played in only one other poker tournament costing more than $35 to enter, Bloch entered the $110 No-limit Texas Hold'em tournament. His first time playing no-limit Hold'em, Bloch won the tournament and $4840.

A year and a half later, Bloch, a 1992 graduate of MIT, left his electrical engineering job to spend a year as a professional gambler. Bloch's first visit to Binion's Horseshoe Casino was during the World Series of Poker in 1995. He entered one World Series tournament, the $1500 7-card stud 8-or-better event, but could not stay for the Championship event. He saw 13-card Chinese Poker being played for the first time, and, at Binion's Hall of Fame Poker Classic tournament about seven months later, he claimed $29,700 for first place in the $1500 event, his first Chinese Poker tournament, and $14,500 for fourth place in the $5,000 event.

Looking for a further challenge, Bloch applied to law school a month later in January, 1996. While waiting to find out if he would be accepted, he followed the poker tournament trail. He won $17880 for first place in the $300 seven-card stud tournament at Foxwoods' New England poker tournament, and placed well in several other tournaments. He played several World Series events, but only managed $5558 for a gut-wrenching ninth place in the $1500 seven-card stud tournament, one player shy of the final table. When Bloch entered Harvard Law School in the fall of 1996, his main regret was not having entered the $10,000 championship event. Thus, after winning a non-transferable, non-refundable trip to the World Series this year, Bloch decided to enter the $10,000 event for the first time, even though it coincided with the last week of classes. After his experience at this year's tournament, Bloch no longer just dreams of winning the World Series: "Winning the World Series is now one of my goals."

Bloch credits his poker success to studying articles and books by premier poker scholars such as Mike Caro and David Sklansky, reading the Internet newsgroup rec.gambling early on in his poker development, learning by watching and playing against some of the best poker players in the world, the intellectual ability to quickly and accurately analyze situations as they arise, and exploring poker problems independently and with others, especially fellow rec.gambling readers Paul Pudaite, Chris Ferguson, Steve Brecher, Bill Turner, and, of course, Tom Sims. Once Bloch learns to fold K-9 in the World Series, he might actually have a chance to win.

NOTES

First action reported in a betting round, normally means the first player that put money into the pot in that betting round. A check is usually not reported as the first action in a betting round.

Folds are not always reported. If there are four players at the beginning of a betting round, and it's reported that one player bets and is called by one other player, then the remaining two players folded.

ANDY BLOCH COMMENTS

Andy's comments are preceded by ">" and were reconstructed by him about two weeks after the WSOP was over.

PLAY-BY-PLAY

WSOP $10,000 No Limit Holdem
Day 1 - Table #35

SeatPlayer
1[BF] Bill Fain
2[AJ] Athena Jordan
3[JB] Jim Brown
3a[CD] Cal Dykes
4[AB] Andy Bloch
5[JW] Joseph Winston
6[JP] Jun Parado
6a[KT] Keith Taylor
7[SP] Steve Pestal
7a[MR] Mathias Rohnacher
8[MM] Monsour Matloubi
9[JJ] Jeppe Juhl

**** Cards are in the air at 1:13 PM, blinds are $25 and $50.

  1. [8h 3h] - sb JJ - JJ raises 100 and is called by BF. Both check the 8c 5c 3c flop. JJ bets 300 and BF folds after the 9d turn card.
  2. [9h 7d] - sb BF - SP raises 200 and all fold.
  3. [2d Tc] - sb AJ - AJ and JB limp. JB bets 100 and AJ folds after the Kh 9d 2h flop.
  4. [3d 5c] - sb JB - AJ and AB limp. AJ bets 100 and AB folds after the Kd Jc 8s flop.
  5. [Kc Th] - sb AB - AB raises 100 and JW folds.

    >First winning hand. This helped relieve a little nervous tension.
    >I've already done much better than I did last year at BARGE.

  6. [Ks 4d] - sb JW - AJ and JP limp and check the 4c Kd Ts flop. AJ bets 200 and JP folds after the Ad turn card.
  7. [Jh 8h] - sb JP - After MM limps, JB raises 300 and all fold.
  8. [Kc Th] - sb SP - AJ and the blinds limp and all check the As 6h 2s flop. MM bets 150 after the 3h on the turn and all fold.
  9. [Js 3s] - sb MM - BF, JW, JP and JJ limp and see the 7d 3c Kh flop. JP bets 250 and all fold.
  10. [Kh 4h] - sb JJ - JW and BF limp and check the 8d 7c 5c flop and the 6s turn. After the river 5s, JW bets 100 and BF folds.
  11. [3s 7c] - sb BF - JJ raises 100 and BF raises 200 more, which JJ calls. Both check the As Jh 4d flop. JJ bets 500 and BF folds after the Js turn card.
  12. [As Ac] - sb AJ - All fold after AB raises 75. AB shows As Ac.

    >The first hand of BARGE last year, I was under-the-gun with AA. I
    >raised, got re-raised (I think it was accidental), then
    >re-re-raised. Flop was 567, two spades. I bet all-in, was called
    >by AsQs, and lost to the flush on the river.

    >I was much happier today just winning the blinds. I showed the hand
    >for advertising.

  13. [Qh Td] - sb JB - AJ limps, JB raises 100 and is called by AB and AJ. After the Th 8h Tc flop, JB bets 100, AB raises 500 and is called by JB. JB bets 700 and is called by AB after the 5h on the turn. Both check the 6h river card. JB shows Ks Ts and AB wins with Qh Td which made a flush.

    >Got pretty lucky here. JB was on the small blind, but AJ's call
    >before \hand means I should give his raise some respect. Perhaps I
    >was too anxious to test the waters. Because of his small bet on the
    >flop (100 into 350 pot), his cold-call of my raise, and his
    >medium-small bet on the turn (700 into 1350 pot) left me a little
    >unsure whether he might have been playing a flush draw, or if he had
    >trips, or if he had AhAx or KhKx. I didn't think it was too likely
    >that he would have raised pre-flop with AT or KT, after AJ called.
    >If he did, it probably was suited, thus my Qh would be good if a
    >heart came. I'd also win with a Queen, and split with another 8 or
    >5. 12 ways to win, 6 ways to split -- if I was behind. My odds
    >were roughly 2:1, and the pot was offering me almost 3:1 -- a clear
    >call. (I didn't think something like 88 was too likely, but it did
    >occur to me.) I checked the river when the heart came, in case he
    >had the Ah or Kh, or he was full.

    >Table leader! I can't go broke in one hand now.

  14. [9c 2s] - sb AB - MM raises 150 and all fold.
  15. [7h 8h] - sb JW - JJ raises 150 and all fold.
  16. [8c 6d] - sb JP - BF raises 150 and all fold.
  17. [Ac 2d] - sb SP - JW raises 150 and all fold.
  18. [5s Ts] - sb MM - MM limps and then folds after JJ raises 150.
  19. [6s 2h] - sb JJ - SP raises 150 and all fold.
  20. [2d 3s] - sb BF - SP, MM, BF and AJ limp and see the 4c 8c 6d flop. SP bets 200 and is called by MM. Both check the 8d turn. SP bets 400 and MM folds after the Kc on the river.
  21. [4s Ah] - sb AJ - JW limps, JP raises 275 and is called by JJ and JW. All check the Ks 3s 5h flop. After the 3d turn card, JP bets 600, JJ folds and JP also folds after being raised 1000 by JW.
  22. [4d Qs] - sb JB - BF, JB and AB limp and after the As 5c 6d flop, BF bets 300 and all fold.
  23. [5h 6d] - sb AB - AB and JW limp. After the 2s Ks 7c flop, JW bets 50 and AB folds.
  24. [Ad 8d] - sb JW - After MM and JJ limp, BF raises 300 and all fold.
  25. [5s 9d] - sb JP - JJ and SP limp. JJ bets 125 and SP calls after the 4d 2s Js flop. Both check the 7s turn card. SP bets 400 and JJ folds after the Td on the river.
  26. [5h Kd] - sb SP - SP and MM limp. SP bets 200 and MM folds after the 2c Jd 9h flop.
  27. [Jc Ts] - sb MM - AB raises 75 and is called by JW and JP. JP bets 300 and is called by AB after the Js 4c Jh flop. Both check the 4d turn. AB bets 1000 and JP folds after the Kh on the river.

    >Big stack, testing the waters. Got a lucky flop.

  28. [Kh Ad] - sb JJ - AB raises 75 and shows Kh Ad after all fold.

    >Just a little more advertising. Having Tom record my hands gave me
    >even more of a tight image.

  29. [9d 7c] - sb BF - JW, BF and AJ limp. JW bets 75 and all fold after the 9s 5c Jc flop.
  30. [3s 5h] - sb AJ - After SP limps, AJ raises 100 and is called by JB and SP. All check the 6h Td 8d flop. After the Qc turn card, JB bets 250 and all fold.
  31. [9h 3h] - sb JB - JJ and AB limp. JJ bets 125 and AB folds after the Kh 7c 7s flop.
  32. [7s 5d] - sb AB - AJ raises 50 and all fold after JB raises 250 more.
  33. [Kc Jd] - sb JW - AB raises 125 and is called by JW. JW bets 300 after the Kh 2h 8d flop and AB calls. Both check after the Th turn and 3d river cards. JW mucks after AB shows Kc Jd.

    >Button raise. I beat up on JW all day. He'd win from everyone else
    >and lose consistently to me.

  34. [Kc 9d] - sb JP - MM, JW, JP and SP limp to see the Ad Jd 5h flop. JW bets 150 and all fold.
  35. [8d 3c] - sb SP - JW, JP, SP and MM limp and check the 3s Jd 6s flop. JW bets 150 and is called by JP after the 6c turn card. Both check the As on the river and JP's 9c 9h beats JW's 4s 4h.
  36. [Th 7s] - sb MM - BF raises 75 and all fold.
  37. [4s 7s] - sb JJ - AJ, SP and BF limp and check the 2s Tc 3c flop. After the Qd turn card, BF bets 100, AJ folds, SP raises 300 more and BF folds.
  38. [Jh 6d] - sb BF - JB raises 250 and shows KS KC after all fold.
  39. [Kc 9d] - sb AJ - SP, JJ, BF and JB limp. JJ bets 300 and all fold after the 3h Td Th flop.
  40. [Jd 7d] - sb JB - JJ, JB and AB limp. AB bets 200 and all fold after the 7h Js Kd flop.

    >Maybe I should have slowplayed this rainbow flop, but I was hoping
    >someone would have a king.

  41. [Qs 5h] - sb AB - JB raises 175 and is called by JW - After the Js Qd Ac flop, JB bets 300 and JW folds.
  42. [Th 5d] - sb JW - all fold to JP in the bb.
  43. [Jh 9c] - sb JP - JB raises 125 and is called by JP. JB bets 200 and JP folds after the 8c 6s 5s flop.
  44. [Ah 2h] - sb SP - AB raises 75 and is called by MM. After the 8d 3c 5s flop, AB bets 250 and is raised 500 by MM. AB calls and both check the 5h turn card. MM bets 1200 after the 8s on the river and AB folds after a length cogitation. MM shows Js Th. AB says he was sure MM was bluffing and that he should have called.

    >Big mistake. I'm a little suspicious of MM's raise on the flop.
    >Plus, if I get the 4, and he has a real hand, I'll get paid off
    >handsomely. I don't think my play was wrong up to the river, when I
    >should have called. I have to learn to trust my instincts more. MM
    >was foolish for showing his bluff, IMHO.

  45. [Ts 5c] - sb MM - SP and JJ limp to see the 4c 5h Ac flop. SP bets 200 and JJ folds.
  46. [As Qc] - sb JJ - AB raises 100 and calls after BF raises 300. After the 6s 5d 3d flop, BF bets 150 and then folds after AB raises 500.

    >BF just seemed weak. I probably had the best hand.

  47. [9h 8c] - sb BF - SP raises 200 and all fold.
  48. [Ac 5c] - sb AJ - AB raises 75 and after BF raises 375, all fold.

    >Maybe a little too agressive, but, last time I raised 75
    >under-the-gun, there were some comments like "Must be Aces." I
    >wanted to mix things up a little. I had originally intended to play
    >very conservatively the first 1.5-3.5 hours, but my chip lead and
    >the passive play of the table made me change my mind.

  49. [4h 6s] - sb JB - BF and AB limp to see the Qc 7c Ks flop. AB folds after BF bets 150.
  50. [5h 3d] - sb AB - JJ and AB limp and then call JW's 50 raise. JW bets 250 after the Js 4c 8s flop and all fold.
  51. [Ks 2s] - sb JW - All fold after AB raises 125.
  52. [Tc TH] - sb JP - JJ limps and all fold after AB raises 300.
  53. [Jd 6c] - sb SP - BF raises 75 and is called by JW. After the 2d 4d Td flop, BF bets 200 and JW folds.
  54. [Kc Kh] - sb MM - AB raises 125 and is called by JW and JJ. After the Ks 4c Td flop, JW bets 400, JJ folds and then JW folds after AB raises 1000. AB shows Kc Kh.

    >Definitely should have slow-played here, but betting out monsters
    >like these, and showing them, was good advertising that pad off
    >later.

  55. [2h 7s] - sb JJ - MM and BF limp and after the 4c 5s As flop, BF bets 200 and MM folds.
  56. [9d 4s] - sb BF - JJ raises 150 and all fold.

    **** Andy's chip count: 13,525

  57. [3h 7s] - sb AJ - BF raises 100 and all fold. JB shows 4d Tc.
  58. [Ad 2c] - sb JB - MM and AB limp. MM bets 100 and AB folds after the 8d Qs Ks flop.
  59. [5s 2h] - sb AB - SP limps and then calls after BF raises 175. BF bets 300 after the 8c Kh Qh flop and SP folds.
  60. [3h 7h] - sb JW - MM limps, BF raises 225 and JW calls. After the 6s Jc 3c flop, JW bets 600 and BF folds.
  61. [Kd Qh] - sb JP - AB raises 125 and all fold.

    >One off the button.

  62. [8h 5s] - sb SP - JJ limps, BF raises 175, MM calls, JJ raises 1300 and all fold.
  63. [9s 4s] - sb MM - JW raises 125 and all fold.
  64. [Kd 3d] - sb JJ - SP raises 100 and all fold.
  65. [As 7c] - sb BF - JW raises 100 and all fold.
  66. [2s 2c] - sb AJ - JW and AB call after AB raises 75. JB bets 200 and JW calls after the 9d Ts Js flop. Both check the 4s turn. After the 5s river card, JW bets 700 and JB calls. JW's As Th flush beats JB's Qs Kh flush.

    >I don't like limping, unless there's another limper in front of me.
    >I like playing small pairs if I can get in cheap pre-flop, because
    >of the reward of flopping a set. So, I made my usual raise of $75
    >under-the-gun. After showing those Aces back in hand 12, I know
    >that people are going to think twice before re-raising. I'd love to
    >play 22 for $75 all day.

  67. [5h 7h] - sb JB - SP limps, JJ raises 200, AB calls (hoping for 3 players) and SP folds. After the Qs 3c 9s flop, JJ bets 600 and AB folds.

    >It was my big blind, and I thought we'd be 3 handed.

  68. [Ac 2s] - sb AB - MM, AB and JW limp. All ck the Qc 2c 2d flop. AB bets 200 and all fold after the Kd turn card.

    >I probably should have slow-played again.

  69. [Qh 5s] - sb JW - JB raises 100, JW raises 300 and all fold.
  70. [5d 5s] - sb JP - AB raises 125 and all fold.

    >Presto goot!

  71. [Kc Jd] - sb SP - AB raises 125 and all fold.

    >Might as well keep stealing the blinds.

  72. [7h Tc] - sb MM - AJ, JP, MM and JJ all limp and check the Jc 2c Qd flop. All also check the 6c turn and the 4c river cards. MM shows 9d 9h, AJ shows Ad Js and wins the hand as the others muck.
  73. [3c 4c] - sb JJ - SP raises 100, JJ raises 400 and all fold.
  74. [3s 3c] - sb BF - JB, AB, JW, MM and AJ limp. After the Qd 9s 3d flop, JB bets 175, AB raises 600 and JB calls. AB bets 1500 after the 8c turn card and JB folds. AB shows 3s 3c and JB shows Ad 2d.

    >JB limped to my right under-the-gun, otherwise I might have made a
    >$75 raise. The flop couldn't be much better, except for the
    >straight and flush draws. The turn card was a little scary, JB
    >might have had JT, but I didn't want to give a flush draw (more
    >likely) a free card. JB thought for a while and even contemplated
    >check-raising. I would have had a difficult call, but having 3-4k
    >more, I probably would have risked it.

    >I can't seem to lose!

  75. [Js 2h] - sb AJ - JJ, AJ and JB limp and see the 7d Kc 8c flop. JJ bets 150, AJ folds, JB raises 500 and JJ folds.
  76. [Th 2d] - sb JB - JW, AJ, JB and AB limp and see the 6c 7s Ac flop. AJ bets 200 and all fold.
  77. [9h 2c] - sb AB - JJ raises 125 and is called by JW. JJ bets 500 after the 9c Th Kc flop and JW calls. JJ bets 2,000 after the Ts turn card and JW folds.
  78. [Jd 8c] - sb JW - all fold to JP in bb. JP shows T T.
  79. [8c 2s] - sb JP - JJ, JP and SP limp. After the 3d As Jh flop, JP bets 300 and all fold.
  80. [Th Jc] - sb SP - JB, AB, SP and MM limp and see the 6d 6h 3d flop. All check. All also check the 7h turn card. After the 7d river card, SP bets 200 and all fold.
  81. [Ah Kc] - sb MM - AB raises 125 and all fold. Andy orders water and grapefruit juice from cocktail waitress. The first of many such orders.

    >Two hours between breaks is tough, but, in past tournaments, I have
    >gotten sore throats by not drinking enough. I'd prefer it if the
    >breaks were every 1:30 or 1:45.

  82. [7d 3s] - sb JJ - JB raises 100 and all fold.
  83. [Qs Ks] - sb BF - AB and AJ limp and see the Kh 7h 7d flop. AB bets 100 and AJ folds. AJ shows Qd 2s.
  84. [6d 3h] - sb AJ - MM, JJ and JB limp. After the 3s 8d 8h flop, JJ bets 200, JB folds, MM raises 1,000, JJ raises 1,500 and MM calls. Both check the Jh turn card. After the Kh on the river, MM bets 1500 and JJ calls. MM shows 4c 8c and JJ mucks.
  85. [Ks Qd] - sb JB - JW, JJ, JB and AB limp. After the Th Kd 2h flop, JW bets 100 and all fold except AB who raises 300. JW calls. Both check the 7h turn card. After the Ad on the river, JW bets 300 and AB calls. AB shows the Ks QD and Jw mucks.

    >Another time I beat on JW. The 7h scared me -- I was just hoping to
    >induce a bluff from then on.

  86. [Kd 9h] - sb AB - JB raises 100 and JW calls. JB bets 225 after the 4c 2s Qh flop and JW folds.
  87. [Kh 7d] - sb JW - SP, AJ, JB, JW and JP limp and see the 8c Ks 6s flop. SP bets 200 and is called by JB and JW. JW bets 750 after the 2h turn card and all fold.
  88. [Kh 6h] - sb JP - JW raises 50 and all fold - JW shows Ah Ac

    >I'm amazed that I didn't attempt a steal on the button. I must've
    >sensed pocket Aces.

  89. [6c 3s] - sb SP - All fold to MM in the bb.
  90. [As 2d] - sb MM - BF, JW, SP, MM and JJ limp to see the 8s 7s 3s flop. All check. After the 6s turn card, BF bets 300 and all fold.
  91. [8d 5d] - sb JJ - MM and BF limp. MM bets 50 after the 4d 2h Kh flop and BF folds.
  92. [4c 5c] - sb BF - AB, MM, BF and AJ limp to see the 6d 5h 2c flop. AB bets 200 and all fold.

    >Limping for $50. It's amazing how much they respect my bets. Do I
    >have a tell?

  93. [8s 3d] - sb AJ - JP raises 125 and all fold.

    **** Andy's chip count: 15,500

  94. [6s Kh] - sb JB - JJ raises 50 and all fold.
  95. [Ad 7s] - sb AB - JB raises 175 and JW calls. JB bets 300 and JW calls after the 7h 4c 8d flop. Both check the 6c turn card. JW bets 1,000 and JB folds after the 7h on the river.

    >Very big raise!

    **** Break from 3:12 PM to 3:30 PM.

    **** New blinds are $50 and $100

  96. [Jh Td] - sb JW - BF raises 200 and all fold.
  97. [Ad 3h] - sb JP - all fold to SP in bb.
  98. [4s 8s] - sb SP - all fold to MM in bb.
  99. [Ad Jh] - sb MM - AB raises 175 and JW calls. Both check the 4d Th Ac flop. AB bets 500 and JW folds after the 3s turn card.

    >I think I've seen some world champions check a pair of Aces on the
    >flop :). Still beating up on JW, who seemed surprised that I'd check
    >the pair of Aces on the flop.

  100. [9h 3s] - sb JJ - JW raises 200 and is called by MM and BF. All check the 8c Ts Td flop. JW bets 400 and is called by MM after the Jc turn card. Both check after the 8h on the river. JW shows Qc 9c and MM mucks.
  101. [Kd Td] - sb BF - AB, MM, JJ and BF limp, AJ raises 300 and MM is the only caller. MM bets 500 and AJ calls after the 9h 6s 3d flop. Both check the Ks on the turn and the 9c on the river. AJ shows Tc Th and MM mucks.
  102. [Ac 9c] - sb AJ - AB limps and then calls AJ's 300 raise. AB bets 500 and AJ folds after the 8h Jc 8d flop.

    >Time to use my tight image to my advantage.

  103. [9d 2s] - sb JB - JJ raises 300 and all fold.
  104. [2d 5h] - sb AB - JP raises 300 and all fold.

    **** Andy's chip count: 16,200

  105. [3h 6h] - sb JW - All fold to JP in bb.
  106. [9s 5d] - sb JP - JJ limps, JB raises 175 and all fold.
  107. [4h Jc] - sb SP - JB, JW, SP and MM limp and check the 4d Kc 7s flop. JB bets 300 and all fold after the Tc turn card.
  108. [Jc 9d] - sb MM - JW raises 100 and all fold after JP raises 700.
  109. [5s 7c] - sb JJ - AJ and JP limp. All fold after MM raises 500.
  110. [7d 9c] - sb BF - All fold to AJ in bb.
  111. [Jd 8s] - sb AJ - AJ and JB limp and check the As 7h 8d flop. Both check the Ts turn. AJ bets 500 and JB folds after the Jh river card.
  112. [5s 7h] - sb JB - JW, JB and AB limp. AB bets 300 and all fold after the 5d 8c 7c flop.
  113. [Td 9s] - sb AB - JP, MM, BF, AJ, AB and JW all limp and check the 7d 7s 5d flop. JP bets 400 and all fold after the 3s turn card.
  114. [3h 8c] - sb JW - BF raises 175 and all fold.
  115. [Ks 5c] - sb JP - JP limps and then folds after SP raises 200.
  116. [4s Tc] - sb SP - JW, SP and MM limp. JW bets 200 on the 8c Ah Jd flop and is called by SP. JW bets 500 and is called by SP after the 5s turn card and JW bets 900 and SP folds after the Qc on the river.
  117. [As 9d] - sb MM - BF, SP and JJ limp. BF bets 250 and all fold after the 3d 8d 5d flop.
  118. [As 8d] - sb JJ - SP and BF limp and check the 6d 4d 9d flop. SP bets 200 and BF folds after the 3c on the turn.
  119. [5s 9c] - sb BF - JW raises 300 and all fold.
  120. [3d 3c] - sb AJ - AB, JW, JP, JJ and JB limp. AB bets 500 and is called by JW after the 7s 3h Tc flop. AB bets 1,000 and JW calls after the 6d on the turn. AB bets 2,000 and JW calls after the 2s on the river. AB shows 3d 3c and JW mucks.

    >Another set of 3's, with 4 other players! This time, no flush draw,
    >and a lower straight draw. Once again, JW is my victim, calling me
    >to the river. Perhaps he overheard Tom record my hands on the few
    >hands I was bluffing, or perhaps he had something like AT.

  121. [4d 4s] - sb JB - JW, JB and AB limp and check the 7s 7d 7h flop. AB bets 300 and all call after the 3c turn card. JB bets 600 and all call after the Jh on the river. JB shows 7c Tc, AB shows 4d 4s and JW shows Jc JD.

    >I made a bad call on the river. I can't be ahead of both. I was a
    >little surprised that JW didn't raise JJ pre-flop.

  122. [9h 7d] - sb AB - JB, AB and JW limp. AB bets 300, JW folds, JB raises 700 and AB calls after the 6h 3s 8d flop. Both check the Kc turn card. AB bets 1,500 and JB folds after the 4s river card.

    >Straight draw failed, but bluff on the river worked. Tight image is
    >really paying off. Either that, or JB is just playing weak-tight at
    >this point.

    **** Andy's chip count: 20,300.

    >Doubled up!

  123. [Jh 3c] - sb JW - MM, JW and JP limp and see the Js 9h Kd flop. MM bets 200 and all fold.
  124. [Jc 9c] - sb JP - JJ, AB and SP limp. JJ bets 300 and all fold after the 9h 2c Td flop.

    >I thought about calling here, but I didn't feel good about it.

  125. [Kh 2s] - sb SP - AJ, JW, JP and MM limp and check the Kc 8c 3c flop. AJ bets 1,000 and all fold after the KD on the turn.
  126. [Ah Jh] - sb MM - BF and AB limp and then both call JW's 300 raise. JW bets 800 and AB calls after the 8s As Kc flop. Both check the 6c turn card. JW bets 1,500 and AB calls after the 4c on the river. Split pot after JW shows Ac Js and AB shows Ah Jh.

    >I felt that JW had only a good but not a great hand, something
    >didn't make me afraid of his pre-flop raise. With a flop of AK8, I
    >was going to let him hang himself if he was playing something worse
    >than AJ.

  127. [Tc 2h] - sb JJ - JB raises 200 and is called by BF. BF bets 600 after the Jd 9h 6c flop and then folds to JB's 1,000 raise.
  128. [Kd 2c] - sb BF - JJ raises 200 and all fold.
  129. [Qd 6d] - sb AJ - SP raises 200 and is called by JJ and JB. JJ bets 700 and all fold after the 6h 6s Td flop.
  130. [Kh Js] - sb JB - BF raises 200 and AB calls. BF bets 300 after the 7s 7h 2s flop and then folds after AB raises 500.

    >Aggression at the first sign of weakness has paid of well for me so
    >far.

  131. [Ad Tc] - sb AB - AB raises 200 and JW folds. AB shows Ad TC.

    >My small blind. I showed the hand because I don't want a player
    >sitting directly to my left thinking I play lose. I don't want him
    >to start re-raising me with marginal hands.

  132. [Ac 2s] - sb JW - AB raises 175 and all fold.

    >Steal on the button.

  133. [As Qh] - sb JP - AJ limps, AB raises 400 and all fold. AB shows As Qh

    >I probably showed the hand. After stealing three hands in a row, I
    >don't want people to think I'm playing loose. I decide not to raise
    >except with quality hands for a little while.

  134. [8h 9c] - sb SP - JW raises 200, SP raises 1,000 and all fold. JW shows Ad.
  135. [Ah 8h] - sb MM - AB, JW, SP, MM and JJ limp. JW bets 300 and is called by SP and MM after the 5c Ks 4s flop. JW bets 1,200 and all fold after the Js on the turn.

    >This might be the first time I've limped as the first one in all
    >tournament. Very rare. I only limped because I felt I had raised
    >and won too many hands recently, but this was a hand I wanted to
    >play.

  136. [Qh 3c] - sb JJ - SP, JJ and BF limp and see the 2s 4d 7h flop. SP bets 300 and all fold.
  137. [Ts 8c] - sb BF - SP, BF and AJ limp and see the 5s Qc 9d flop. SP bets 300 and all fold. AJ shows Ah 8h.

    **** Andy's chip count: 22,175 at 4:30 PM.

  138. [5s 6c] - sb AJ - JW limps, JJ raises 300 and JW calls. JJ bets 600 and JW folds after the Kh 4d 9d flop.
  139. [6s Jh] - sb JB - JJ raises 200 and all fold.
  140. [Td 4c] - sb AB - SP limps, JJ raises 400 and SP calls. After the Qc Qh Ad flop, JJ bets 600 and then folds after SP raises 1,000.
  141. [6h 3s] - sb JW - BF, JW and JP limp and see the 8d Th Ts flop. JW bets 100 and all fold.
  142. [5h Qh] - sb JP - JW raises 200 and all fold.
  143. [Kd Kc] - sb SP - AB raises 175 and all fold.

    >So far, 2/2 with KK, 1/1 with AA, and 1/1 with 55, but all small
    >pots.

  144. [Jd 3c] - sb MM - JW limps, JP raises 300 and JW calls to see the Th 4s 2c flop. JP bets 700 and JW calls. Both check the 6s turn card. JW bets 400 and JP calls after the 7h on the river. JW shows Ad 2d and JP mucks.
  145. [Th 6s] - sb JJ - JJ raises 300 and BF folds.
  146. [9c 3s] - sb BF - JB, JP and AJ limp and see the 2h 6d Qc flop. JB bets 200 and AJ calls. Both check the Js turn card and the As on the river. AJ shows Qd 8d and JB mucks.
  147. [7c 5d] - sb AJ - SP raises 200, JJ raises 500, SP calls and they both check the Qd 4s 3h flop. SP bets 700 and JJ calls after the Js turn card. JJ bets 2,100 and SP folds after the Th on the river.
  148. [Ts Qh] - sb JB - SP, JB and AB limp and check the 9d 8s 9h flop. SP bets 300 and all fold after the 9s on the turn.
  149. [6h 4c] - sb AB - JJ, AB and JW limp and check the Th 9d Qh flop. JW bets 200 and all fold after the 4h turn card.
  150. [Ad 2d] - sb JW - SP, MM, AB, JW and JP limp and check the Qs 2c 9s flop. All check the 3c on the turn. MM bets 500 and all fold after the Td river card.
  151. [Tc Jh] - sb JP - JJ, AB, and JP limp, SP raises 400 and JJ calls. JJ bets 500 and SP folds after the 2h Ad 7s flop.
  152. [7d 3c] - sb SP - JP raises 200 and all fold.
  153. [Qh 8c] - sb MM - JW raises 200 and all fold.
  154. [Qc 9s] - sb JJ - JW raises 200 and BF calls. Flop is 2c 6d 2h, JW bets 500 and BF calls. Both check the Jd turn card. BF bets 400 and JW calls after the 2s on the river. BF shows 5c 5h and JW wins with 9d 9c.
  155. [7h 3h] - sb BF - JJ, BF and AJ limp and see the Td 7d Js flop. JJ bets 500 and all fold.
  156. [2h 3c] - sb AJ - JJ, AJ and JB limp and check the 2d 3s 6d flop. JJ bets 400 and all fold after the 8c turn card.
  157. [Kh 5s] - sb JB - MM, JB and AB limp and check the 9d As Ah flop. All check the Tc turn card. JB bets 200 and all fold after the Jc on the river.
  158. [Jd 5c] - sb AB - JJ raises 200 and JW calls. Both check the Kd 2c 5h flop and the 2d turn card. JW bets 200 and JJ calls after the 5s on the river. JW shows 3c 4d and JJ wins with Ac Qs.
  159. [7c 5h] - sb JW - All fold to JP in bb.
  160. [6s 3c] - sb JP - JJ, JW, JP and SP limp and check the Kc 4s 2c flop. SP bets 300 and JW calls after the 5h turn card. Both check after the Js on the river. JW shows 6 7 and SP wins with 8d 8h.
  161. [Ks 4c] - sb SP - JB raises 200 and all fold.
  162. [7h 5c] - sb MM - All fold to JJ in bb.
  163. [Qs 8d] - sb JJ - JW raises 200 and SP calls. JW bets 600 and SP calls after the 4h 5d 7s flop. SP bets 1,000 and JW folds after the 7d on the turn.
  164. [Tc 5c] - sb BF - SP raises 200 and all fold.
  165. [Kd 8s] - sb AJ - JJ raises 200 and all fold.
  166. [Kd 5s] - sb JB - AJ, JB and AB limp and see the Ac 8s 7c flop. AJ bets 1,100 and all fold.
  167. [9d 3c] - sb AB - SP limps, BF raises 200, JW and SP call. BF bets 500 and JW calls after the Qs 4d 9s flop. JW bets 500 and BF folds after the 7s turn card.
  168. [6s 3c] - sb JW - BF raises 400 and all fold.
  169. [9d 6s] - sb JP - JB raises 175 and all fold.
  170. [5c 3h] - sb SP - JP raises 250 and all fold.
  171. [Jc 4c] - sb MM - BF, JW, MM and JJ limp and check the 5c Jd 9h flop. All check the 3s on the turn. JW bets 275 after the Qs turn card and all fold.
  172. [Ts 4h] - sb JJ - JB, MM, JJ and BF limp and see the 4h Tc 7c flop. JB bets 250 and MM calls. After the Ah turn card JB bets 350 and MM folds.
  173. [Ah 6s] - sb BF - SP raises 200 and all fold.
  174. [Kd 5s] - sb AJ - AJ and JB limp and check the Ah 7s 8h flop. JB bets 150 and AJ folds after the Js on the turn.
  175. [As 6s] - sb JB - BF, JB and AB limp and check the 9h Js Ah flop. All check the 2h turn card. Ab bets 200 and all fold after the Kc on the river. JB shows Qc 9c.

    >I haven't played a hand except for my blinds in 3 rounds. Notice
    >that JB's playing perfectly tight.

  176. [Ac 6h] - sb AB - SP, AB and JW limp and check the 5s Qs Qc flop. SP bets 300 and all fold after the Ts turn card.
  177. [5d 9s] - sb JW - SP and JP limp and see the 7s Th 4h flop. SP bets 300 and JP folds.
  178. [Kc 2d] - sb JP - JW raises 300 and all fold.
  179. [2s 6d] - sb SP - BF, SP and MM limp and check the As 6s Kd flop. BF bets 300 and all fold after the Jc turn card.
  180. [Tc 8s] - sb MM - JW, MM and JJ limp and see the 6c 9s 2d flop. JW bets 100 and MM calls. JW bets 200 and MM folds after the Qc turn card.
  181. [Ks 4c] - sb JJ - JJ raises 200 and BF folds.
  182. [9d 3h] - sb BF - BF limps and then folds after AJ raises 250.
  183. [4s Kc] - sb AJ - MM, JB and JB limp and see the 5s 7d Jc flop. MM bets 200 and JB calls. MM bets 500 and JB folds after the Tc turn card.

    **** Break from 5:30 PM until 5:45 PM. Blinds increase to $100 and $200.

    **** Andy's chip count: 21,075.

  184. [Ah 4s] - sb JB - BF raises 300 and AB calls. AB bets 500 after the Kh 6d 2h flop and folds after BF raises 1,000.

    >Stupidly defending my blind.

  185. [Jh 6d] - sb AB - SP, AJ, JB and AB limp and check the 2c 5h As flop. SP bets 500 and AJ calls after the Kd turn card. AJ bets 2,000 and SP folds after the 2s on the river.
  186. [6s 5d] - sb JW - JJ raises 400 and all fold.
  187. [8h Td] - sb JP - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >Limits recently have gone up, and I haven't played much in the last
    >4 rounds, so my tight image should be secure. Time to start
    >stealing again.

  188. [8d Js] - sb SP - JW raise 400, MM calls and they ckeck the Qs 8h 2s flop. They also check the 9c turn and the 7c river cards. MM shows Ac 8c and JW mucks.
  189. [Ad Td] - sb MM - AB raises 375 and is called by JW and JJ. AB bets 1,500 and JW calls after the 3c Ts 5s flop. AB bets 3,000 and JW folds after the 4d turn card.

    >Beating up on JW some more.

  190. [6h 6s] - sb JJ - AB and JW limp, MM raises 1,000 and all fold.

    >Another rare limp. I probably just didn't feel like raising right
    >after another raise. I probably save myself some money.

  191. [Ad 6s] - sb BF - All fold to AJ in bb.
  192. [Kc Js] - sb AJ - JW and JB limp and check the 8d 9h Ts flop and the Jd turn card. JW bets 500 and JB folds after the 6s on the river.
  193. [6h 2s] - sb JB - JP raises 500 and calls after JB raises 900. JB bets 3,000 and JP folds after the Qh 5c 5d flop.
  194. [Ad 6s] - sb AB - AB raises 300 and JW folds. AB shows Ad.

    >Battle of the blinds.

  195. [3d 5c] - sb JW - SP, BF, AJ, JW and JP limp and see the Kh 8d Js flop. SP bets 600 and all fold.
  196. [Js Jc] - sb JP - BF limps, AB raises 700 and all fold.
  197. [Qs 7s] - sb SP - All fold to MM in bb.
  198. [As 9s] - sb MM - BF raises 300 and all fold.
  199. [Qc Jh] - sb JJ - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >Just your typical steal. JJ and MM haven't been playing much.

  200. [Js 7s] - sb BF - All fold to AJ in bb.
  201. [7s 2c] - sb AJ - BF raises 400 and all fold.
  202. [2s Jc] - sb JB - JW and AB limp and see the 3d Js 3c flop. JW bets 200 and folds after AB raises 200.

    >Still beating JW.

  203. [Ac 3d] - sb AB - JB raises 450 and all fold.
  204. [Jh 5c] - sb JW - SP, JB, JW and JP limp and check the Qs 6h Qc flop. JW bets 500 and all fold after the 2h turn card.
  205. [Ah 5c] - sb JP - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >On the button.

    **** Andy's chip count: 24,225 at 6:13 PM.

  206. [Jh 4c] - sb SP - JP raises 500 and all fold.
  207. [Js 3h] - sb MM - JP raises 500, is called by JJ and they check the 7d 2s 8s flop. JJ bets 900 and JP folds after the Jh turn card.
  208. [9c 3h] - sb JJ - JB raises 400 and MM calls. JB bets 1,200, MM raises 4,000 and JB folds after the 6s 2s Kc flop.
  209. [5c 7h] - sb BF - BF and AJ limp and check the 9h Tc 4h flop, the 3h turn card and the As river card. AJ shows 5s 9c and BF mucks.

    **** 264 players remaining in Event #21.

  210. [3s 8h] - sb AJ - AJ and JB limp and check the 2d 9d 5c flop and the 3s turn card. AJ bets 400 and JB folds after the Tc river card.
  211. [Ah 4h] - sb JB - JB limps and calls AB's 400 raise. JB bets 800 and AB calls after the Th 3c 7h flop. JB bets 1,300 and AB calls after the Kd turn card. AB bets 2,000 and JB folds after the 5s on the river.

    >JB had been playing very weak-tight, I decided to just try and win
    >the pot before the flop. My bet on the end might have been a
    >mistake -- JB claimed to have had a straight-flush draw after the
    >flop.

  212. [7h 3s] - sb AB - BF raises 300 and JW calls. BF bets 600 and JW calls after the Jd Ac Ad flop. JW bets 600 and BF folds after the 9s on the turn. JW shows Kd 5d.
  213. [Td 5d] - sb JW - JW and JP limp and see the Ts Qd 5s flop. JP bets 400 and JW calls. Both check after the Th turn card. JP bets 1,000 and JW folds after the Tc on the river. JW shows Kc Jc.
  214. [6d Th] - sb JP - all fold to SP in bb.
  215. [5c 3h] - sb SP - JB and JP limp, SP raises 400 and JB calls. Both check the Qc 6h 6d flop and the 8h turn. SP bets 600 and JB folds after the Kd on the river.
  216. [Kd Js] - sb MM - SP, MM and JJ limp and check the Ts 8d 3d flop and the Td turn and the 2c river card. JJ shows 2s 3h and all muck.
  217. [Kc 2s] - sb JJ - JW raises 300 and all fold.
  218. [4h 3h] - sb BF - AB and SP limp, MM raises 1,000 and all fold.
  219. [Qd Jd] - sb AJ - AB, JW, SP, AJ and JB limp and see the Ah 8c Kh flop. JB bets 1,200 and all fold.

    >Another rare pre-flop limp.

    **** Andy's chip count: 26,400 at 6:33 PM.

  220. [Th 8s] - sb JB - MM and AB limp and check all the way to the river. Board is Kc 5s 7s 4d 8d. AB shows Th 8s and MM mucks.
  221. [2c 4d] - sb AB - JJ, AB and JW limp and see the 2s 5c Td flop. JJ bets 600 and AB calls. JJ bets 1,800 and AB folds after the 3h turn card.

    >I was hoping for a free card if I didn't get a 2 or 4. I didn't
    >want to call $1800, but I perhaps I should have with the open-ender
    >and the pair. JJ had not played too many hands, so I gave him a
    >little respect.

  222. [Qh 3h ] - sb JW - JJ, JW and JP limp and see the 2d Kh Kd flop. JJ bets 400 and JW calls. Both check after the 9d turn card and after the 4d river card. JW shows 2h and JJ wins with the 3d 3h.
  223. [8d 3h] - sb JP - BF raises 400 and JW calls. Both check the 7c Tc Kh flop. BF bets 1,000, JW raises 1,500 and BF calls 1,475 all-in after the 8s turn card. 2s on the river. BF wins with As Ah. JW shows Kc Jh.
  224. [7c 2h] - sb SP - BF and MM limp and check the 7h 9d 3c flop and the Qh turn card. MM bets 400 and BF folds after the 3d on the river.
  225. [9c 5h] - sb MM - SP, MM and JJ limp and see the Tc 2c 3h flop. JJ bets 400 and SP calls. After the 6h turn card, JJ bets 1,500, SP raises 3,500, JJ raises 6,200 and SP calls 2,800 all-in. The river card is the Js. JJ shows 4c 5d and SP mucks.

    **** Steve Pestal is eliminated at 6:44 PM.

  226. [8d 6h] - sb JJ - JB, JW, JP, JJ and BF limp and see the Tc 6s 4d flop. JW bets 400 and all fold.
  227. [Kd Qs] - sb BF - AB raises 400 and JW calls. Both check the 9d Js Tc flop. AB bets 1,500 and JW folds after the Ts on the turn.

    >Another dream flop, but, alas, I couldn't trap JW this time.

  228. [5d 7s] - sb AJ - JW, AJ and JB all limp and check the 4c Tc Ah flop. JW bets 500 and all fold after the 5s turn card.
  229. [Jh 4c] - sb JB - AJ, JB and AB limp and see the Js 9s Ah flop. AJ bets 500 and AB calls. AJ bets 1,000 and AB calls after the 9c turn card. Both check after the 7s on the river. AJ shows Ad Jc and AB mucks.

    >This was a donation to AJ. This was a horrendous play on my part,
    >probably my worst play so far all day, except perhaps folding to MM.
    >AJ has been playing too tight to be making a move here.

  230. [Ts 8c] - sb AB - AB raises 400 and JW folds.

    >Time to get some of my chips back.

  231. [Kc Js] - sb JW - JB raises 400 and all fold.
  232. [9d 2h] - sb JP - All fold to MM in bb.
  233. [Ks 8s] - sb MM - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >One of my favorite positions to steal from on this table.

  234. [Ad 9d] - sb JJ - AB, JW and BF limp and see the 2h 5s 6s flop. JW bets 400 and all fold.

    >Limped because I raised previous hand.

  235. [2h 3c] - sb BF - MM raises 400, AJ calls and both check all the way to the river. Board is 4c 5s 6h 6s 3c. AJ shows As 9s and MM wins with Ad Ks.
  236. [Qd 7s] - sb AJ - AJ limps, JB raises 400 and AJ folds.
  237. [Ts 8s] - sb JB - JP raises 400 and is called by BF and AB. JP bets 1,000, BF raises 1,500 and all fold after the Kh 5h 3h flop.
  238. [Ks 6h] - sb AB - JB, AB and JW limp and check the 9h Td 8s flop. AB bets 600 and JB calls after the 3s turn card. AB bets 1,000 and JB folds after the Qs on the river.

    >Just picking on the short stacks.

  239. [6s 8d] - sb JW - BF, JW and JP limp and check the 2c Td 2s flop and the Qs turn card. JW bets 200 and all fold after the Jc river card.
  240. [6h 4h] - sb JP - JW raises 400 and all fold.
  241. [Qs 3d] - sb MM - All fold to JJ in bb.
  242. [Js 6c] - sb JJ - JB limps and then calls JW's 800 raise. JW bets 1,400 , JB raises 925 all-in and JW calls after the 4c Kh 7h flop. Qc on the turn and Jh on the river. JB shows A A and JW wins with Qd Ks.

    **** Jim Brown is eliminated at 7:06 PM.

  243. [Ts 7h] - sb BF - JW raises 400 and all fold.

    **** [MR] Mathias Rohnacher takes Seat 7 at 7:07 PM.

  244. [8c 9c] - sb AJ - JJ raises 400 and AB is only caller. JJ bets 800 and AB folds after the Td Qs Ac flop.

    >Defending my big blind against a possible button steal.

  245. [6s 8s] - sb AB - AB and JW limp and check the 4s Qc 2c flop. AB bets 500 and JW folds after the 8h turn.

    >Beating up on JW as usual.

  246. [7h 4d] - sb JW - MR raises 500 and all fold.
  247. [Qs 4s] - sb JP - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >Late position. Let's test MR (just sat down).

  248. [Jh 5h] - sb MR - MR raises 500 and MM folds.
  249. [4h 5h] - sb MM - AB, JW, MR, MM and JJ limp and check all the way to the river. Board is Qs Jh 7s 3h As. JW with 7c 6c and MM with 7d 4d split the pot after the rest muck.

    >Didn't feel like attempting another steal.

  250. [2c 2h] - sb JJ - AB and BF limp and see the 9d 7s 7h flop. AB bets 325 and BF folds.

    >I'll just take the pot here.

  251. [Js 6c] - sb BF - JJ raises 400 and all fold.
  252. [Th 3d] - sb AJ - JP raises 1,075 all-in and all fold.
  253. [4h 4d] - sb AB - AJ raises 300, AB raises 1,500 and all fold.

    >Defending against a suspected button play. I probably had the best
    >hand, and expected to take the pot right away. AJ is playing tight
    >enough that she may even fold a better hand.

  254. [Jh 6s] - sb JW - MR, JW and JP limp and check the Kh 7d As flop. MR bets 1,000 and all fold after the 9c turn card.
  255. [2h 3c] - sb JP - JW raises 500 and all fold.
  256. [8d 5h] - sb MR - JW raises 400 and all fold. JW shows As Ks.
  257. [3d 9h] - sb MM - JP raises 1100 all-in and JJ calls. Board is Jh 7s Td Qh Th - JP shows Ac Jd and JJ wins with Kh Kd.

    **** Jun Parado is eliminated at 7:23 PM.

  258. [Ts 2d] - sb JJ - JW, JJ and BF limp and check the Kh Ad 2c flop. JJ bets 500, BF raises 1,000 and all fold after the 7d on the turn.
  259. [7s 8s] - sb BF - AB, BF and AJ limp and see the 5h 8d Qs flop. BF bets 600 and AB is only caller. AB bets 1,000 and BF folds after the 2s on the turn.

    >My BS detector must have went off when BF bet. I decided to bet out
    >on when I picked up the flush draw on the turn.

  260. [Qc Jd] - sb AJ - BF raises 400 and AB calls. BF bets 1,000 and AB calls after the Kd 4h Js flop. BF bets 1,000 and AB calls after the 8d turn card. Both check after the Td on the river and BF shows As Ks. AB mucks.

    >Whoops, lose money defending my blind again.

  261. [Qc 6c] - sb AB - AB raises 300, JW calls and both check the Jh 8s Ts flop. AB bets 500 and JW folds after the Kc turn card.

    >Semi-bluff my straight draw.

  262. [Qc Jd] - sb JW - MR limps, AB raises 400 and JW is the only caller. Both check the 3d 2d 6c flop. JW bets 500 and AB folds after the Kh turn card. JW shows Js Jh.

    >JW tries unsuccesfully to trap me.

  263. [5d 7c] - sb MR - JW raises 500 and all fold.
  264. [3d 2c] - sb MM - JW raises 300 and all fold.
  265. [4c 9h] - sb JJ - JW, JJ and BF limp and check the 2s 8d 5c flop. JW bets 400 and all fold after the Jd turn card.
  266. [Qs 9d] - sb BF - all fold to AJ in bb.

    **** [CD] Cal Dykes takes Seat 3.

    **** [KT] Keith Taylor takes Seat 6.

  267. [5d 8c] - sb AJ - AJ and CD limp and see the Td Tc Kd flop. AJ bets 400 and CD folds.
  268. [7h 3c] - sb CD - KT and AB limp and see the 9c Tc 3s flop. AB bets 500 and KT calls. AB bets 1,000 and KT folds after the 9h turn card.

    >I just sensed weakness.

  269. [Kd 2d] - sb AB - AB raises 200 and JW calls. AB bets 600 and JW folds after the Ah Ts 8d flop.

    >Ditto.

  270. [Ks 5s] - sb JW - AB raises 500 and KT calls. KT bets 400 and AB folds after the Jh 3s 7h flop.

    >Maybe raises have been getting out of hand?

  271. [Kh 5d] - sb KT - KT limps and then folds after MR raises 600.
  272. [Ah 8h] - sb MR - AB raises 400 and KT calls. AB bets 1,000 and KT folds after the 6d Qs 3c flop.

    >I decided not to slow down, because our table's going to be breaking
    >soon.

  273. [9h 9c] - sb MM - AJ limps, AB raises 600 and AJ calls. AB bets 1,000 and AJ folds after the Kc 8d 2s flop.

    >Last hand before the break. I really needed a break, I was hoping
    >AJ would just fold.

    **** Break from 7:45 PM until 8:00 PM.

    **** Limits increase to $100 and $200 blinds with a $25 ante.

    **** Andy's chip count: 27,325. BF 9,500 AJ 9,500 CD 9,300 JW 10,000 MR 10,000 MM 14,000 JJ 20,600

  274. [Th 6s] - sb JJ - KT and BF limp and see the Kh Ah 5c flop. KT bets 400 and BF folds.
  275. [Kc 7h] - sb BF - All fold to AJ in bb.
  276. [As 5s] - sb AJ - AB raises 400 and is called by JW and MR. AB bets 1,000 after the 2s Qd 2c flop and all fold.

    >Limits have just gone up and we're about to break. It's no time to
    >worry about a tight image.

  277. [8s Js] - sb CD - JJ raises 500 and all fold.
  278. [2d 3s] - sb AB - KT limps and is the only caller after MM raises 600. MM bets 1,200 and KT folds after the 7c Kh 2h flop.

    **** Table #35 breaks at 8:07 PM and Andy Bloch is moved to Seat 6 at Table #50

    WSOP $10,000 No Limit Holdem
    Day 1 - Table #50
    SeatPlayer
    1[BR] Blair Rodman
    2[ML] Matt Lefkowitz
    3[LS] Luis Santoni
    3a[LM] Len Miller
    4[NF] Noli Francisco
    5[HL] Howard Lederer
    6[AB] Andy Bloch
    7[RH] Randy Holland
    8[JE] John Esposito
    9[HT] Harry Thomas
  279. [Qs 2s] - sb HT - AB raises 600 and BR calls. BR bets 1,200 and folds when AB raises 2,000 after the Th 3c Qh flop.

    >First hand at a new table. Let's start testing my new opponents.
    >In late position, I decided to attempt a steal with average cards.
    >I suspect BR has a flush draw, or perhaps he'll fold top-pair
    >bad-kicker (but better than a 2).

  280. [Kh 7h] - sb BR - LS, NF, BR and ML limp and see the 5d Jd Ad flop. NF bets 600 and LS calls. Both check after the 2h turn card. LS bets 1,000 and then calls NF's 1,500 raise after the Ah on the river. LS shows Ac Kc and NF mucks.
  281. [3d 9s] - sb ML - NF limps, HT raises 575 all-in and ML and NF call. Both check the Kd 3s 6c flop. NF bets 1,000 and ML folds after the 9d turn card. After the 6d on the river, NF shows Kh 7h and HT wins with Ac Kc.
  282. [5h Th] - sb LS - JE, LS and NF limp and check the 7d 7s 3c flop. JE bets 500 and all fold after the Ac on the turn.
  283. [6s 2h] - sb NF - RH, JE, NF and HL limp and check the Ah 8d 5h flop and the 4c turn. NF bets 800 and RH calls after the 9h river card. NF shows Jh 8h and RH mucks.
  284. [Ad Ts] - sb HL - HL limps and then folds after AB raises 500.
  285. [Kd Tc] - sb AB - LS raises 500 and all fold.
  286. [Td 5s] - sb RH - BR raises 600 and is called by JE. BR bets 1,500 and JE calls after the Js 2c Qh flop. Both check the 9d turn card. BR bets 2,000 and JE folds after the Jd on the river.
  287. [2h 6d] - sb JE - BR, RH, JE and HT limp and see the 4c Jd 5h flop. JE bets 1,000 and BR calls. JE bets 2,000 and BR folds after the 2s turn card.
  288. [Kc Jh] - sb HT - HL raises 400 and all fold.
  289. [Js 7c] - sb BR - NF, JE, BR and ML limp and check all the way to the river. Board is Qd 3h Tc 4c 6h. ML shows 4d 9d and all muck.
  290. [9d 2h] - sb ML - NF, RH, HT, BR and LS limp and see the 8h Kd 4c flop. BR bets 1,000 and is called by RH. RH bets 1,600 and BR calls after the Td turn card. Both check after the 8d on the river. RH shows Jd Js and BR wins with Ks 2s.

    **** RH and HT are the two shortest stacks at Table #50 with about 6,000 each. The other players have at least 10,000.

  291. [Kd Kh] - sb LS - AB raises 400, LS raises 2,500. AB raises 7,000, LS raises 14,275 all-in and AB calls. Board is 9c Th 2c 2h 2d. LS shows Qd Qh and AB wins with Kd Kh.

    **** Luis Santoni is eliminated at 8:36 PM.

  292. [5h 9d] - sb NF - BR raises 400 and then folds after ML raises 2,000.

    **** Jack McClelland announces that Andrew Bloch is the Tournament chip leader with around 60,000. This was the first chip leader announcement of the Tournament. Andy actually had closer to 55,000.

  293. [Ks 2s] - sb HL - JE raises 600 and all fold.
  294. [Qd 9s] - sb AB - HL raises 400 and all fold.
  295. [3s 5s] - sb RH - HL raises 400, JE calls and both check the 4d 4c 8h flop. JE bets 1,200 and HL folds after the 3c on the turn.
  296. [Jh 3d] - sb JE - ML raises 500 and JE calls. ML bets 600 and JE calls after the 5d 8c 2s flop. Both check the 9c turn card. JE bets 3,000 and ML folds after the 6d on the river

    **** [LM] Len Miller, with about 5,000 in chips, takes Seat 3.

  297. [Js 3d] - sb HT - HT raises all in and BR folds.
  298. [4h 4d] - sb BR - AB raises 400, RH raises 4,200 all in and all fold.

    >I've played with RH at many tournaments. He's a very solid player
    >and a nice guy.

  299. [7d 4h] - sb ML - HL raises 600, JE calls and both check the 9d 7c Ad flop. JE bets 1,500, HL raises 4,000 and JE folds after the Jc turn card.
  300. [Jd 3c] - sb LM - BR raises 600 and all fold.
  301. [Kh Jc] - sb NF - AB raises 500 and HL calls. AB bets 1,400 after the 7d Qh Ac flop and HL folds.

    >I'm a little surprised that I played KJ under the gun. I guess I
    >decided that these guys would give me respect, having just seen me
    >get all-in with KK pre-flop.

  302. [Ad Qc] - sb HL - BR, ML and NF limp, AB raises 1,000 and all fold.
  303. [Ks 4c] - sb AB - NF limps, HL raises 800, RH raises 4,500 all-in and all fold.
  304. [Jh 8d] - sb RH - LM raises 1,000 and all fold.
  305. [6d 2d] - sb JE - ML, JE and HT limp and see the Js 6c Qd flop. JE bets 300 and ML calls. Both check the 7h turn card and the Qs on the river. JE shows Kc Th and ML wins with 9h 9d.

    **** Andy's chip count: 56,000 at 9:00 PM.

  306. [Qd 4s] - sb HT - AB raises 400 and BR calls. AB bets 1,000 and BR calls after the 3h Th 7h flop. AB bets 2,000 and BR folds after the Ad on the turn.

    >Turning on the steam.

  307. [Qh 4h] - sb BR - BR and ML limp and check the Kh 7h 3s flop. BR bets 500 and ML folds after the Js turn card.
  308. [Kh 3s] - sb ML - BR raises 400 and all fold.
  309. [Ts 4c] - sb LM - LM raises 1,000 and NF folds.

    **** Table #50 breaks at 9:05 PM and Andy Bloch is moved to Seat 1 at Table #53. Phyllis Meyers is the only short stack with around 2,000.

    WSOP $10,000 No Limit Holdem
    Day 1 - Table #53
    SeatPlayer
    1[AB] Andy Bloch
    2[CT] Chuck Thompson
    3[JP] Jas Perdesi
    4[JG] John Galbraith
    5[ML] Minh Ly
    6[PM] Phyllis Meyers
    7[TJ] T. J. Cloutier
    8[NF] Noli Francisco
    9[DC] Dave Crunkleton
    9a[WW] William Woodson
  310. [As 4s] - sb JG - DC raises 400 and all fold.
  311. [Ts 5c] - sb PM - CT raises 600 and all fold.
  312. [Kh Qh] - sb TJ - AB raises 400 and NF calls. AB bets 1,000 and NF folds after the 3c 3s 6c flop.

    >Noli could have had anything.

  313. [9c 5c] - sb NF - JP raises 800, TJ raises 2,500, JP raises 15,000 all-in and TJ folds. JP shows Kd Kh.
  314. [8h 9h] - sb DC - CT raises 600, TJ and AB call, and all check the 5d Ks 4h flop. CT bets 1,200 and all fold after the 4d turn card.
  315. [Tc 7d] - sb AB - NF raises 500 and all fold.
  316. [3h 4h] - sb CT - TJ raises 600 and all fold. TJ shows Jc Jh.
  317. [Ac Th] - sb JP - PM raises 1,725 all-in, NF raises 2,000 and all fold. PM shows Kd Kc. Board is 4s 9c 5d 8s 7d - NF mucks.

    **** About 180 players remaining in Event #21.

  318. [Jd Tc] - sb JG - DC raises 400, ML calls and both check the 5s 5h 2s flop and the 3h on the turn. ML bets 1,200 and DC calls after the 7d on the river. ML mucks and DC wins without showing hand.
  319. [7h 6d] - sb ML - NF raises 500 and all fold.
  320. [As Jc] - sb PM - AB raises 500, JG raises 2,000 and all fold. JG shows Kc KS.
  321. [Th 6d] - sb TJ - ML raises 500 and NF calls. ML bets 850 and NF calls after the Tc 3d Ad flop. Both check the 7c turn card. NF bets 800 and ML folds after the Jh on the river. NF shows his 4d 2s bluff.
  322. [7s 5d] - sb NF - TJ raises 400, DC raises 1,400, TJ raises 6,000, DC raises 5,775 all-in, and TJ calls 5,575 all-in. TJ shows Kd Kh. Board is 5h 4s 4d 6s Ks. DC says he has A A and mucks.
  323. [Kh Ks] - sb DC - JP raises 800, NF calls, AB raises 5,000 and all fold. JP shows Jd Jh and AB shows Kh Ks.

    >My re-raise was too big. I think JP remembered this hand the next
    >day.

  324. [Td 6h] - sb AB - TJ raises 800 and all fold. TJ shows Qs Qc.
  325. [Tc 2c] - sb CT - NF raises 500 and all fold except DC who calls 100 all-in. Board is 5s 5c 8h 6c 6h. NF shows Jh Jc and DC mucks.

    **** Dave Crunkleton is eliminated at 9:32 PM.

  326. [Kh 6s] - sb JP - AB raises 400 and all fold.
  327. [Qs 9d] - sb JG - PM raises 500 and all fold.
  328. [3s 3c] - sb ML - AB raises 600 and ML calls. ML bets 600, AB raises 2,000 and ML calls after the Th Jh 6s flop. AB bets 3,000 and ML folds after the Qh on the river.

    >Steamrolling.

  329. [6s 2c] - sb PM - ML raises 500 and PM calls. ML bets 1,000 and PM folds after the 7h 3c Jc flop.
  330. [Qh 6h] - sb TJ - CT raises 600, ML raises 2,000 and all fold.

    **** [WW] William Woodson, with about 15,000 in chips, takes Seat 9.

  331. [7d 4h] - sb NF - JP raises 600 and TJ calls. JP bets 1,000 and TJ calls after the 9d 8d Qc flop. Both check the 9c on the turn and the Kc on the river. TJ shows Td Th and JP wins with Qd Tc.
  332. [Tc Th] - sb WW - CT raises 400 and is called by ML, NF and AB. CT bets 2,500 and all fold after the Ac Kh 6h flop.

    >Not a good flop for TT

  333. [Tc 5s] - sb AB - TJ raises 400 and all fold.
  334. [Ah Ts] - sb CT - NF raises 500 and AB calls. NF bets 1,000, AB raises 2,000 and NF calls after the 5h Ks 6c flop. NF bets 6,000 and AB folds after the Jc on the turn. NF shows his 7s 8h straight draw.

    >I didn't think Noli had anything on the flop, and I was right. I'm
    >kind of amazed that Noli kept betting. If I had anything, I would
    >have called him down. Maybe Noli thought that I raised with nothing
    >because I thought that he had nothing.

  335. [Tc 2h] - sb JP - ML raises 400 and all fold.
  336. [Js 5h] - sb JG - JG and ML limp and see the 5d Kd 7h flop. JG bets 400, ML raises 1,500, JG raises about 18,000 all-in and ML calls. The turn is the Qs and the 4c is the river card. JG has A A and ML wins with Kc 5s.

    **** John Galbraith is eliminated at 9:52 PM.

  337. [5h 7h] - sb ML - TJ raises 600 and all fold.
  338. [Jc 8h] - sb PM - NF raises 200 and is called by ML and TJ. NF bets 200, ML raises 700 is called by TJ and NF after the Qd Tc 6d flop. All check the 5c turn card. NF bets 1,600 and is called by ML after the 3s on the river. NF shows Tc 7c and ML wins with Ts 9s. TJ shows 7d 8d.
  339. [Qh 7d] - sb TJ - ML raises 500, NF calls and both check all the way through the river. Board is Ad 8h Qd 8d Js. ML shows Qc 9h and NF mucks.
  340. [Jc Th] - sb NF - AB raises 400 and ML calls. AB bets 1,000 and ML folds after the Ac 5h 8h flop.

    >Winning the last hand of the day.

    **** Day 1 play ends at 10:00 PM.

    **** Andy's chip count is 58,950. Andy stands fourth among the 167 survivors of the first days play. The chip leader is Peter Bao with 64,975.

    **** Players are reassigned seats for Day 2's play and Andy draws seat 1 at Table #54.

    WSOP $10,000 No Limit Holdem
    Day 2 - Table #54
    SeatPlayer
    1[AB] Andy Bloch
    2[RP] Rod Peate
    3[JP] Jas Perdesi
    3a[JH] Jay Heimowitz
    4[RL] Ralph Levine
    4a[LS] Larry Sigety
    4b[ML] Matt Lefkowitz
    5[AP] Andy Pantuso
    5a[DO] Donn O'Dea
    6[DA] Dave Allen
    6a[SM] Steve Melton
    6b[MJ] Mel Judah
    7[GM] George McKeever
    8[OL] O'Neil Longson
    9[CK] Clarence Kimbrough
    9a[JE] John Esposito
    9b[PR] Paevis Roudi
    **** Chip count: AB 58,950 RP 18,425 JP 26,025 RL 27,425 AP 46,600 DA 4,125 GM 14,275 OL 43,025 CK 12,975

    **** Blinds are $200 and $400 with a $50 ante.

    **** Cards are in the air at 12:03 PM.

  341. [Ac 3d] - sb RP - AP raises 400, JP calls and they check the Ah Ts 2d flop. AP bets 1,200 and JP folds after the Qd on the turn.
  342. [As Th] - sb JP - OL raises 800, AB raises 1,800 and OL calls. AB bets 5,000 and OL folds after the 4c 3h 5s flop.

    >I knew that OL would be raising many hands before the flop. I
    >wanted to take control of him early, thus the agressive play.

  343. [Jd 3s] - sb RL - AB raises 800 and AP calls. AB bets 3,000 and AP folds after the 2c Ts 3c flop.

    >Testing the table.

  344. [8c 3c] - sb AP - JP raises 800 and all fold.
  345. [Ad 7c] - sb DA - AB raises 800, RP calls, GM raises 5,000 and all fold.

    >Maybe I'm raising too many hands.

  346. [5d 8s] - sb GM - CK and OL limp. OL bets 1,200, CK raises 2,300 and OL folds after the 6s 2s 5s flop.
  347. [8d 2d] - sb OL - GM raises 900 and all fold.
  348. [Qd 7s] - sb CK - RL and AB limp and see the 7c 5d Tc flop. AB bets 1,000 and RL folds.

    >Big blind hand.

  349. [Ts Th] - sb AB - AP raises 400, OL raises 2,100 and all fold.

    >I might have had the best hand here, but I decided to give OL a
    >little bit of respect.

  350. [8c 5c] - sb RP - AB raises 800, JP raises 1,000 and AB folds.

    >Whoops. I've got to do something about JP to my left.

  351. [Ts 2h] - sb JP - OL raises 400 and all fold.
  352. [5d 4s] - sb RL - CK and AP limp and see the 7d 3d Js flop. CK bets 1,000 and AP folds.

    **** Andy's chip count: 62,750 at 12:23 PM.

  353. [Ah 7d] - sb AP - AB raises 800 and AP calls. AB bets 3,000, AP raises 3,000 and AB folds after the 4h Kh Jc flop.

    >Maybe I should stay away from AP.

  354. [Kc Th] - sb DA - AB raises 800, JP raises 2,800, AB raises 5,000 and JP folds.

    >JP seemed real afraid. I decided to push him off his hand. I
    >didn't want want people to get into the habit of re-stealing,
    >otherwise I'd have to slow down.

  355. [Js 2c] - sb GM - DA raises 1,775 all-in and all fold.
  356. [Jh 5c] - JP raises 1,100 and all fold.
  357. [Ah 2c] - sb CK - DA raises 600, OL raises 1,000 and all fold.
  358. [8s 7h] - sb AB - GM raises 2,000 and all fold.
  359. [Ac Qd] - sb RP - CK limps, AB raises 1,600 and all fold.

    >Standard play.

  360. [5s 7s] - sb JP - DA raises 1,575 all-in and is called by RL. Board: Ah 2s 8d 7d 3h. RL shows Ac Kd and DA wins with 7h 7c.
  361. [4h 9s] - sb RL - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  362. [Ad 5d] - sb AP - AB raises 800, JP raises 3,800 and all fold.

    >A5 suited is one of my favorite steal hands. JP doesn't seem to
    >have been scared off.

  363. [Th 4d] - sb DA - JP raises 1,100, AP calls, GM raises 5,000 and AP is the only caller. GM bets 11,425 all-in and AP folds after the 6c Qc 8c flop.
  364. [7c 8c] - sb GM - AB raises 800 and all fold.

    >Steal. OL's big blind.

  365. [5d 5h] - sb OL - AB raises 400 and all fold.

    >Presto g00t!

  366. [Jc 4s] - sb CK - CK limps, AB raises 1,000 and CK calls. AB bets 2,000 and CK folds after the 7d Qc Js flop.

    >Small blind vd. big blind.

  367. [Qh 5h] - sb AB - OL, AB and RP limp and see the 7c 4h 8d flop. OL bets 1,500 and all fold.
  368. [Jh 2d] - sb RP - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  369. [Ah Qs] - sb JP - CK limps, AB raises 2,000, CK raises 3,000 and AB calls. CK bets 6,000 and AB raises 25 to put CK all-in after the 7s Th Qh flop. CK called. The turn is the Js and the Ad is the river card. CK shows As 9h and AB wins with Ah Qs.

    >CK hadn't been playing too many hands. Paul Pudaite and/or Steve
    >Brecher have talked about players reaching a point where they break
    >themselves -- they start out playing a tight game, then at some
    >point, they crack and start playing badly and blow away all their
    >chips. They go on WSoP tilt. It can be very profitable to watch out
    >for this phenomenon and try to take advantage of it. In this
    >situation, I was a little wary of CK's call-re-raise. But, he
    >didn't have enough chips to make me worry too much. Even after the
    >flop I wasn't sure that I had the lead. After the turn and the
    >river, I was ready to toss my hand. I couldn't think of a hand he
    >might have that I could beat. TT,JJ,QQ,KK,AA,AK all beat me.

    >When he showed the As 9h it was a surprise. A prime example of WSoP tilt.

    **** Clarence Kimbrough is eliminated at 12:53 PM.

  370. [Js Tc] - sb RL - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  371. [Kd Th] - sb AP - AB raises 1,200, JP raises 3,400 and all fold.

    >JP is really annoying me.

    **** A hand was dealt and then retrieved after AP was the sb on two consecutive hands.

    **** [JE] John Esposito takes seat 9.

    Before John Esposito sat down, he announced to the table, and to the world in general, that he objected to my presence at the table. He stated his belief, that my recording of Andy's hole cards and play for posterity would tend to make Andy more selective in the hands that he played and the way that he played them, than if I were not recording them. He further stated that this gave Andy an unfair advantage, and that it penalized him (John Esposito) since John Esposito would not be as likely to benefit from poor play and card selection on Andy's part.

    He also stated, more or less as an afterthought, that my presence was also a distraction. Rod Peate, who was sitting next to Andy, agreed that my presence was a distraction, as did a couple of other players.

    Steve Morrow, the senior Binion's representative who was on the floor, advised John Esposito that the "Andy Bloch Project" had been approved by Jim Albrecht, and that his protest would be relayed to higher authorities for consideration.

    As soon as John Esposito stated his objections, I advised him that my sweating role had been approved by the Tournament Director. Of course, John Esposito already knew this, because I had told him while we were at Table #50 during Day 1's play. John Esposito had not expressed any objections at that time. Neither Andy nor I said anything else during this controversy.

  372. [6d 7c] - sb DA - JP raises 800 and all fold.
  373. [7h 5d] - sb GM - JE raises 1,200, GM raises 6,000 and all fold.
  374. [Ah Tc] - sb OL - AB raises 600 and all fold.

    >Take that, Esposito!

  375. [Ks 5h] - sb JE - GM raises 1,100 and is called by OL and JE. GM bets 10,000 and all fold after the Jc 6d Js flop.
  376. [Kc 8h] - sb AB - AP raises 500, JE raises 2,100, AP raises 7,000 and JE folds.

    **** Andy's chip count: 75,000 at 1:07 PM.

  377. [Qh 2s] - sb RP - OL raises 800, JP raises 3,800 and OL folds.
  378. [9c 4c] - sb JP - DA raises 2,100 all in and all fold.
  379. [5h Jh] - sb RL - RL raises 800 and AP folds.
  380. [Ah 4h] - sb AP - JE, AB, AP and DA limp and see the Kc 6s 6d flop. DA bets 2,500 all-in and all fold.
  381. [Ad 8c] - sb DA - All fold to GM in bb.
  382. [As Qd] - sb GM - AB raises 800 and all fold.
  383. [3s 4c] - sb OL - RL, OL and JE limp and see the 5h 9h 3c flop. OL bets 1,000, JE folds, RL raises 1,500 and OL folds.
  384. [4d Js] - sb JE - RP, JE and AB limp and see the Jd 7c 5h flop. AB bets 1,000 and JE calls. Both check the 8c turn card. AB bets 2,000 and JE folds after the 7d on the river.

    >Probably a silly river bet. Nice to beat up on JE.

  385. [Ad 4c] - sb AB - GM bets 1,100 and all fold.
  386. [2s 5d] - sb RP - JE raises 800 and all fold.
  387. [Jd 9d] - sb JP - GM raises 1,100 and all fold.
  388. [5h 6d] - sb RL - JP raises 1,100 and all fold.
  389. [Qd Jd] - sb AP - OL and AB limp, JP raises 1,600 and all fold.
  390. [7s Td] - sb DA - JP raises 1,100, RL raises 2,500 and all fold.
  391. [Jh Qc] - sb GM - AB raises 800 and AP calls. AB bets 3,000 and AP calls after the 8c 6d Js flop. AB bets 5,000 and AP calls after the 4h on the turn. AP bets 15,000 and AB calls after the 7h on the river. AP shows Jd Jc and AB mucks.

    >This was a huge mistake. I ought to re-read Mike Caro's Book of
    >Tells. I should have saved 20k. I'm going to have to work hard to
    >get this back.

  392. [3c 5d] - sb OL - JP raises 1,000 and all fold.
  393. [Ks 7s] - sb JE - All fold to AB in bb.

    >A rare walk!

  394. [Ts 2h] - sb AB - JE raises 1,100 and all fold.
  395. [As 8h] - sb RP - DA raises 1,100 and all fold.
  396. [Ks 8h] - sb JP - OL raises 800 and all fold.
  397. [3c Js] - sb RL - DA, RL and AP limp and see the 8d Qd 9h flop. DA bets 2,500 and all fold.
  398. [7h 4s] - sb AP - JE raises 1,200, RL raises 3,000 and all fold.

    **** At 1:37 PM, Jack McClelland called me aside and informed me that my Andy Bloch sweating privileges were cancelled.

    Jack was very apologetic, and told me that it isn't any fault of mine or Andy's, but that Jim Albrecht did not want to be subject to any criticism from any players or from his superiors. Jack McClelland assured me that I could continue recording the play at Andy's table, but that I would have to stand a few feet away from the table, and could not be privy to Andy's hole cards.

    I was very disappointed by Binion's decision, but accepted it calmly. I advised Andy of Binion's deciasion, moved to the side of the table away from Andy, and continued to record all visible cards and bets at Andy's table.

    I believe that John Espsito's primary objection, as he stated it, is laughable, and I believe that he was the creator of the main distraction at the table. Andy's imagined motivations for card selection and play are irrelevent. Not that it matters, but examination of Andy's card selection and play up until this point certainly doesn't support John Esposito's conservative player theory.

    I did not bother anyone and was very unobtrusive in the performance of my sweating task. Since Table #50 was on the rail, near a lot of noisy spectators, in a noisy room, it's quite a stretch to call my sweating presence a distraction. If my presence was a distraction to anyone, Andy is likely to have been the most distracted one.

    However, I don't blame John Esposito or Rod Peate for their part in ending the "Andy Bloch Project". Although I believe they were primarily trying to gain an edge by rattling Andy a little, they were within their rights in stating there objections. It was very disappointing to me, and to Andy, that Binion's had not anticipated such a situation before approving our project, and that they saw fit to give in so easily when the situation arose.

  399. sb DA - AB raises 800 and all fold.

    >I wish I remembered what I had here. I certainly did not change my
    >style much.

  400. sb GM - All fold to OL in bb.
  401. sb OL - AB raises 800 and all fold. OL was not aware of AB's raise and attempted to limp by putting 200 into the pot. OL folded and forfeited the extra 200 when apprised that the pot had been raised.

    >This hand needs more explaining. There's still some talk about Tom
    >losing his sweating privileges, mostly at the end of the table. I
    >don't remember what I had here, but it certainly wasn't a great
    >hand. I was under the gun and made a small raise. My chips went
    >slightly past the dealer, clearly visible from the other end of the
    >table, if they were paying attention. I didn't announce the raise,
    >but the dealer definitely did. Everyone folded around to OL, who
    >tried to just call the big blind. He didn't realize that I had
    >raised. The tournament rule is that he can't take back those chips.
    >He was unhappy (but OL usually seems a little unhappy) and asked for
    >a ruling. I knew he knew what the ruling would be -- the chips must
    >stay, and he has the option to complete the call or fold (he can't
    >raise). I know O'Neil is going to fold, but he takes his time,
    >trying to see what my reaction is to the ruling. I know that this
    >is a prime situation for picking up a tell. If I seem to want the
    >chips in the pot, that probably means I have a strong hand, and want
    >him to be more inclined to call. On the other hand, if I seem to be
    >willing to let him fold and get his chips back, that means I have a
    >weak hand. I witnessed a similar situation in a low-stakes
    >single-table satellite at Foxwoods. I think I was watching Randy
    >Hudson and/or Scott Byron. Whoever the player was that had raised
    >didn't put up a fight, and I was pretty sure that he had a weak hand
    >and didn't want a caller. Anyway, I stayed relatively quiet but did
    >say once or twice what the rule was. OL eventually folded and so
    >did JE. A little bit more revenge for being such a jerk.

  402. sb JE - OL raises 800 and is called by JE and AB. AB bets 3,000 after the Qd 3c Qc flop and all fold.
  403. sb AB - AB raises 1,000 and RP folds.

    >Three hands in a row. This was the start of several small blind-big
    >blind or button-small blind battles between me and RP.

  404. sb RP - OL raises 400, JE calls, JP calls and all check the As 6c 5s flop and 3h turn card. JP bets and OL calls after the Kh on the river. OL shows Ah 2d and JP mucks.
  405. sb JP - AB raises 1,000 and all fold.

    >4 out of 5 hands

  406. sb RL - OL raises 800 and is called by RL and AP. RL bets 2,500 and OL calls after the 4d Kd 5h flop. RL bets 3,500 and OL calls after the 3c turn card. Both check after the Tc on the river. RL shows Kh Jd and OL wins with Ks Qd.
  407. sb AP - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  408. sb DA - DA raises 700 and folds after GM raises 4,000.
  409. sb GM - JP raises 800 and all fold.
  410. sb OL - RP raises 2,600 and all fold.
  411. sb JE - OL raises 1,100 and AB calls. AB bets 1,500 and OL folds after the Th 9s Qd flop.

    >I probably had garbage. I was not going to let OL take free shots
    >at my big blind.

  412. sb AB - OL raises 800 and all fold.
  413. sb RP - AB raises 800 and all fold.
  414. sb JP - JE raises 1,200, JP raises 3,400 and all fold. JP shows K K.
  415. sb RL - AB raises 800 and all fold.

    >Every other hand!

    **** Break from 2:03 PM until 2:21 PM

    **** Andy's chip count: 59,625. 112 players remaining.

    **** Blinds are $300 and $600 with a $75 ante.

  416. sb AP - GM raises 1,400, DA raises 675 all in and GM calls. Board: 4d 8d Ks Js 3s. GM shows Ad Td and DA wins with Kh Jh.
  417. sb DA - RL raises 2,400 and all fold.
  418. sb GM - AB raises 1,000, RP raises about 9,000 all-in and all fold.

    >I'm getting sick of RP.

  419. sb OL - AB raises 600 and is called by DA and JE to see the 4h Qc 7c flop. AB bets 3,000, DA raises 1,375 all in and AB calls. DA shows Kh Kd and after the 9c on the turn and the 3s on the river, AB mucks.

    **** As Andy was mucking his hand, John Esposito said "turn 'em up". Andy mucked his hand and John Esposito then reached into the muck and turned up the 2c 2d which Andy had mucked. The dealer reprimanded Esposito for touching the muck.

    >I should have known that DA was slow-playing something. JE will pay
    >for his misdeeds.

  420. sb JE - OL raises 900, JE raises about 10,000 all-in and OL calls. The board is Ks 9s 8s 9d 6d. OL shows 9c 9h for Quad 9's and JE mucks.

    **** John Esposito is eliminated at 2:29 PM.

    >That didn't take long. I only regret that I didn't get to do it
    >myself. OL probably had the best hand.

  421. sb AB - JP raises 2,400, GM raises 4,000 and all fold.

    **** [PR] Paevis Roudi, with about 15,000 in chips, takes seat #9.

  422. sb RP - GM raises 900, OL raises 3,000 and all fold.
  423. sb JP - AB raises 1,400 and JP calls. JP bets 2,000 and folds to AB's 4,000 raise after the 6s 4s Ah flop.

    >I think I had an ace. After this hand, JP went on WSoP tilt.

  424. sb RL - JP raises about 10,000 all-in and all fold.

    >As JP makes the raise, he announces to the table that he's sick of
    >getting pushed around -- from now on he's just going to raise all-in
    >or fold. "I just hope I don't run into aces."

  425. sb AP - OL and DA limp and see the Qd Qc 8h flop. OL bets 1,500 and DA folds.
  426. sb DA - OL limps, AB raises 1,400 and all fold.

    >I probably had something decent here. OL will occasionally limp
    >with a big hand (KK or AA) but most of the time, a raise will win
    >the pot.

  427. sb GM - DA raises 1,000 and all fold.
  428. sb OL - JP raises about 13,000 all-in and all fold. JP shows Ad, and says he mever looks at the second card if the first card is a good one.

    >Second time all-in.

  429. sb PR - AP raises 1,400 and all fold.
  430. sb AB - JP raises about 4,000, GM raises 15,000 and JP calls about 11,000 all-in. GM shows As Ac. The Board is 6s 7h 5d 8h 8d. JP shows Kh Jh, and GM wins the hand.

    >JP didn't follow his own strategy! He made a big raise, but not
    >all-in. He gave himself a chance to get out, but failed to take
    >advantage. It didn't take him too long to run into aces.

    **** Jas Perdesi is eliminated at 2:45 PM.

  431. sb RP - GM raises 900 and OL calls . OL bets 2,500 and GM folds after the 8c 6d 5c flop.
  432. sb RL - DA, OL, RL and AP limp and see the Ks 9c 6h flop. OL bets 3,000 and all fold.
  433. sb AP - AP and DA limp and see the 3d 9d 3s flop. AP bets 5,000 and DA folds.
  434. sb DA - PR raises 1,300 and AB calls. AB bets 5,000 and PR folds after the Jh 9h 3h flop.
  435. sb GM - AP raises 600 and OL calls. Both check the 8d 7h Qc flop and the Qh turn card. OL bets 2,500 and AP folds after the Ad river card.

    **** [JH] Jay Heimowitz, with about 30,000 in chips, takes seat 3 at 2:57 PM.

  436. sb OL - JH raises 1,500, GM raises 10,000 and all fold.
  437. sb PR - AP limps, AB raises 2,000 and folds when AP raises 5,000.

    >AP was acting. He pretended like he was mixing up his chips --
    >$1000 and $100 chips. I decided to test him. See if he was playing
    >a monster, or if he had garbage. When he re-raised, I knew where I
    >was and folded.

  438. sb AB - GM raises 1,000 and all fold.
  439. sb RP - OL raises 1,100 is called by JH and both check the Qs 8s Td flop. JH bets 4,000 and OL folds after the 2s turn card.
  440. sb JH - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  441. sb RL - PR raises 1,800 and all fold.
  442. sb AP - RL raises 800 and all fold.
  443. sb DA - All fold to GM in bb.
  444. sb GM - PR raise 1,200, AB calls and they check through the river. Board is Qh Qs Qc 4h 7d. PR shows As Jh and AB wins with As Kc.

    >I heard a little muttering from the other end of the table, about
    >how I misplayed the hand and should have re-raised. A relatively
    >unknown player raises in early position -- I think calling and
    >seeing the flop is the better play.

  445. sb OL - AB raises 1,100 and PR calls. AB bets 2,000 and PR folds after the Kd Jc 3s flop.

    >Two in a row.

  446. sb PR - RP raises 700 and is called by JH and AB. RP bets 5,975 all-in and JH calls after the 5s Ts 8c flop. RP shows Ks Kc. The turn is the 4h and the river is the Ad. JH mucks.

    >RP survives.

  447. sb AB - JH, AP, OL, AB and RP limp and see the 5h 6s Kh flop. JH bets 3,000 and all fold.
  448. sb RP - AP raises 1,400 and all fold.
  449. sb JH - OL raises 1,300 and all fold.
  450. sb RL - AB raises 1,400 and is called by JH and AP. AB bets 5,000 and all fold after the 6c 2h 8d flop.

    >I don't remember.

  451. sb AP - PR raises 1,800 and all fold.

    **** Andy's chip count: 64,700 at 3:21 PM.

    >Small profit for the day.

  452. sb DA - OL raises 1,100 and all fold.
  453. sb GM - AB raises 1,400 and all fold.

    **** I told Andy that he doesn't have a whole lot of hair on the top of his head.

    >Thanks, Tom. Whenever I bent my head down, Tom had a great view of
    >my balding head. Now I was conscious about it, and everytime there
    >was a photographer, I'd pick my head up.

  454. sb OL - JH raises 1,200 and all fold.
  455. sb PR - GM raises 1,900 and all fold.
  456. sb AB - AP raises 1,400, OL raises 5,000 and AP calls. OL bets 10,000 and AP folds after the Ad 7d 5d flop.
  457. sb RP - All fold to JH in bb.
  458. sb JH - DA raises 1,400. PR raises about 8,000 all-in and all fold.
  459. sb RL - OL raises 1,000 and AP calls. Both check the Kh 4d Jc flop. AP bets 10,000 and OL folds after the Ah turn card.
  460. sb AP - OL raises 1,000 and all fold.
  461. sb DA - OL raises 1,400 and all fold after AP raises 4,500.
  462. sb GM - All fold to OL in bb.
  463. sb OL - RP raises 1,100 and all fold.
  464. sb PR - PR and AB limp and see the 9c 7c Ks flop. AB bets 1,000 and PR folds.

    >Who knows?

  465. sb AB - JH raises 1,200 and all fold.
  466. sb RP - DA raises 1,400, AB raises 2,700. DA raises 225 all-in and AB calls. Board is 3d 8c 4s 6s Ks. AB shows Jd Jh and DA mucks.

    >No-brainer. I meant to raise just enough to put him all-in. I
    >miscalculated. Actually, it's probably not bad idea to raise just a
    >little bit less, since the chips will go in anyway, and if there's a
    >lot of action after my raise, I can fold the hand and save the
    >chips.

    **** Dave Allen is eliminated at 3:47 PM.

  467. sb JH - OL raises 1,300 and all fold after JH raises 4,200.
  468. sb RL - OL raises 1,300 and AP calls. Both check the 4d Ks 2h flop and the Kh turn. AP bets 10,000 and OL folds after the 3s river card.
  469. sb AP - AB raises 1,400 and AP calls. Both check the Ah 7d 5d flop. AP bets 2,000 and AB calls after the Kh on the turn. Both check after the 7h turn card and AP shows Ad Qs. AB mucks.

    >I think I had Kx here.

  470. sb GM - JH raises 1,400 and all fold after GM raises 10,000.
  471. sb OL - RL raises 1,400 and all fold.
  472. sb PR - OL raises 700 and all fold after PR raises about 6,500 all-in.
  473. sb AB - GM raises 1,900 and all fold.
  474. sb RP - RL raises 900, AP calls and they see the 7s 3c Qh flop. RL bets 10,000, AP raises 10,000 and RL calls 3,900 all-in. 9c on the turn and 7c on the river. AP shows Qs Kd and RL wins with Ah Qc.
  475. sb JH - OL raises 1,300 and all fold.
  476. sb RL - AB raises 1,200 and all fold.
  477. sb AP - AB raises 1,200 and all fold.

    >Two in a row.

  478. sb GM - PR raises 2,000 and all fold.
  479. sb OL - GM raises 1.900 and all fold.
  480. sb PR - OL raises 1,400 and folds after AB raises 4,000.

    >Defending my big blind. I could have had anything here.

    **** 82 players remaining in Event #21.

  481. sb AB - RL, AB and RP limp and see the Kd 4c 2d flop. AB bets 3,000 and RL calls. AB bets 5,000 after the 5h turn card and RL folds.

    >I have no idea what I had.

  482. sb RP - PR raises 2,000 and all fold.
  483. sb JH - AB raises 1,400 and RL calls. AB bets 3,000 and RL calls after the 6s 9d 3h flop. Both check the 7d on the turn and the 4s on the river. AB shows Ah 3s and RL mucks.

    >I always seem to win the last hand before the break.

    **** Break at 4:21 PM. Cards back in the air at 4:38 PM.

    **** Andy's chip count: 80,100.

    >All right! Now we're getting somewhere! If I hadn't made the
    >mistake against AP, I'd have over 100k.

    **** Blinds are now $500 and $1,000 with a $100 ante.

  484. sb RL - JH raises 2,500 and all fold.
  485. sb AP - OL, AP and GM limp and see the 3h Ac 6d flop. GM bets 5,000 and all fold.
  486. sb GM - PR raises 4,000 and is called by AP. PR bets about 7,000 all-in after the Kh Ah 8c flop and AP folds. PR shows Ac 9c.
  487. sb OL - JH raises 2,500 and all fold.
  488. sb PR - OL raises 1,000 and all fold.
  489. sb AB - AB raises 2,000 and calls after RP raises about 7,500 all-in. Board is 3d 3h 9h Qd 8s. AB shows Ah 8h and RP wins with Jc Tc for a runner, runner straight.

    >Small blind against big blind. Perhaps I should have pushed all-in
    >initially -- I wasn't keeping tabs on RP's exact stack size. I
    >thought for a little bit before calling, but the pot was giving me
    >enough odds that I had to call.

    **** Failing to eliminate Rod Peate on this hand proves to be very costly to Andy later in Day 2.

  490. sb RP - OL raises 1,800 and all fold.
  491. sb JH - GM raises 3,000 and RL calls. Both check the 2s 4h 9d flop. GM bets 10,000 and RL folds after the 5h turn card.

    **** [SM] Steve Melton takes seat 6.

  492. sb RL - SM raises 2,000 and all fold after OL raises 10,000.
  493. sb AP - OL raises 1,800 and all fold after PR raises about 15,000 all-in.
  494. sb SM - OL raises 1,500 and all fold after RP raises about 16,000 all-in.
  495. sb GM - AB raises 2,000 and all fold.
  496. sb OL - JH, OL and PR limp and see the Qh Ah Ac flop. JH bets 2,500 and all fold after PR raises 10,000.
  497. sb PR - GM raises 3,000 and all fold.
  498. sb AB - GM raises 1,000 and all fold after OL raises 5,000.
  499. sb RP - OL limps and all fold after AB raises 4,000.

    >Yet another time OL limps and folds to a raise.

  500. sb JH - JH raises 2,000 and folds after RL raises about 12,000 all-in.
  501. sb RL - JH raises 2,500 and all fold.
  502. sb AP - OL raises 1,600 and calls after SM raises 5,800 all-in. Board is Ts 2d 3c 9s 6h. OL shows As Qs and SM wins with 6s Kh.
  503. sb SM - RP raises 2,000 and AP calls. AP bets 4,000 and RP folds after the Ks 9c 4s flop.
  504. sb GM - AB raises 2,000 and all fold after RP raises about 16,000 all-in.

    >RP is killing me.

  505. sb OL - JH raises 2,000 and then calls 14,900 all-in of RL's 16,000 all-in raise. Board is Qd 9s 9d 3c 3s. RL shows Ac Qc and JH wins with Ks Kc.
  506. sb PR - OL raises 1,600 and all fold after AB raises 5,000.

    >I don't like OL stealing my blinds. I had pretty good results
    >playing back at O'Neil.

  507. sb AB - OL raises 1,500 and all fold.
  508. sb RP - OL raises 1,500 and JH calls. OL bets 2,500 and JH folds after the 3c Kh 4d flop.

    >OL just keeps raising.

  509. sb JH - bb puts RL all-in. AB and JH limp. AB bets 3,000 and then folds when JH raises 5,000 after the Th 4c 5d flop. The Qd is the turn card and the 8d is the river card. RL shows As Kh and JH wins with 9h 9d.

    >I had a T. I was incensed when I saw JH's hand. Perhaps I should
    >have just checked.

    **** Ralph Levine is eliminated at 5:20 PM.

  510. No sb - AB raises 2,000 and AP calls. Both check the 8s 5s Ad flop. AP bets 5,000 and calls AB's 10,000 raise after the 2d turn card. AP bets 20,000 and AB folds after the 8d on the river.

    >I should have learned to stay away from AP a long time ago!

  511. sb AP - AB raises 2,000 and all fold.

    >Doesn't stop me from raising -- I've got to get back the chips I
    >just lost.

  512. sb SM - AP raises 2,000 and all fold.
  513. sb GM - JH raises 2,000 and all fold.
  514. sb OL - SM raises 3,000 and all fold after OL raises 12,000.
  515. sb PR - SM raises about 11,000 all-in and all fold.

    **** [LS] Larry Sigety takes seat #4.

    **** 70 players remaining in Event #21.

  516. sb AB - OL raises 1,500 and all fold.
  517. sb RP - AB raises 2,000 and all fold after RP raises about 18,000 all-in.

    >I'm really sick of RP. Will someone hurry up and knock him out?

  518. sb JH - JH raises 2,000 and LS folds.
  519. sb LS - PR raises 3,500 and all fold. PR shows Js Jc.
  520. sb AP - OL and SM limp and see the 9s Qs 9d flop. OL bets 1,000 and then folds after SM raises 4,000.
  521. sb SM - JH raises 2,000 and all fold.
  522. sb GM - GM raises 2,500 and OL folds.
  523. sb OL - JH raises 2,000 and all fold.
  524. sb PR - OL raises 1,500 and AB calls. AB bets 5,000 and then calls OL's 10,000 raise after the 7s Jh 2h flop. Both check after the 5c turn card and the 9h on the river. AB shows 7h Tc and OL mucks.

    >Defending my big blind against OL. Only against O'Neil would I have
    >played the hand this way.

  525. sb AB - GM raises 5,000 and all fold.
  526. sb RP - All fold to JH in bb.
  527. sb JH - OL raises 1,500 and all fold.
  528. sb LS - GM raises 3,000, OL raises 10,000, GM raises 17,000 and OL folds.
  529. sb AP - PR raises 4,000 and all fold.
  530. sb SM - LS raises 2,000 and all fold.

    **** Andy's chip count: 64,000.

    >Still a small profit for the day. Time perhaps to slow down a bit.

  531. sb GM - SM raises 2,000 and all fold.
  532. sb OL - LS raises 2,000 and all fold.
  533. sb PR - GM raises 3,000 and all fold.
  534. sb AB - SM raises 3,000 and all fold.
  535. sb RP - AB raises 2,000 and all fold.

    >Button steal.

  536. sb JH - PR raises 3,600 and all fold.
  537. sb LS - LS raises 2,000 and AP folds.
  538. sb AP - AB raises 2,000 and all fold.

    >So much for slowing down.

  539. sb SM - SM raises 3,000 and GM folds.
  540. sb GM - SM raises 1,000 and all fold.
  541. sb OL - AB raises 1,500, AP raises 1,500, GM raises 8,000, AB folds and AP calls. GM bets 20,000 and AP calls after the Jh Td Ad flop. GM bets about 35,000 all-in and AP calls after the 4s on the turn. The river card is the 6d. GM shows Ac 4h and AP mucks.

    >This hand was a shocker. I was stealing. GM's re-raise was
    >completely out of line. GM's bet on the flop was also out of line.
    >He can't possibly be ahead, except against KK and QQ, and he may be
    >drawing nearly dead. GM hadn't been playing much. I think this was
    >a prime example of WSoP tilt, but with a twist. The turn card was a
    >miracle. AP agonized over his call. He counted down his chips and
    >found that he'd have about 4k left and called. I was shocked that
    >GM had A4 off.

  542. sb PR - GM raises 3,000 and all fold.
  543. sb AB - PR raises 3,500 and all fold.
  544. sb RP - AP raises about 3,500 all-in and all fold.
  545. sb JH - SM raises 3,000 and all fold.
  546. sb LS - PR raises 3,000 and all fold.
  547. sb AP - AP raises about 2,000 all-in and SM folds.
  548. sb SM - OL raises 1,500 and JH calls. Both check through the river. Board is Td 9h Jd 3h 2d. JH shows Ac Qs and OL wins with Ad Ks.

    **** 61 players remaining in Event #21.

  549. sb GM - AB raises 2,000 and OL calls. Both sheck through the river. Board is Kd 8s 2h Th Ts. OL shows 5d 5h and AB wins with 7h 7d.

    >Once again, I beat OL head-to-head.

  550. sb OL - GM raises 2,000 and then folds after PR raises 15,000.
  551. sb PR - GM raises 3,000 and all fold.

    >I'm getting annoyed at GM's new-found agressiveness.

  552. sb AB - OL raises 1,500 and all fold.
  553. sb RP - AP raises about 3,000 all-in and all fold.
  554. sb JH - OL raises 2,000 and all fold after RP raises about 13,500 all-in.
  555. sb LS - GM raises 4,000 and then calls after OL raises 21,800 all-in. Board is Jh Ah 7s 7c Tc. GM shows Ad Ks and OL wins with Ts Th.
  556. sb AP - AB raises 2,000 and all fold after JH raises 6,000.
  557. sb SM - JH raises 2,000, LS raises 5,000, JH raises about 25,000 all-in and LS calls about 20,000 all-in. Board is 3d 7h Qc Tc Ad. JH shows As Kc and LS shows Ah Ks. Split pot.
  558. sb GM - AB raises 2,000 and OL calls. AB bets 3,000 and OL folds after the 3s Jh 5h flop.

    >Another victory at OL's expense.

  559. sb OL - OL raises 2,500 and PR folds.
  560. sb PR - AP raises 3,000 and all fold.
  561. sb AB - JH raises 2,000 and all fold.

    **** Dinner break at 6:38 PM.

    >Starving!

    **** Andy's chip count: 62,800.

    >Still a small profit for the day.

    Andy and I ate dinner in Binion's Gee Joon Chinese restaurant with Chris and Mark Ferguson, Cathy Burns, Steve Brecher and Mike Sexton. Andy wasn't too pleased with his Day 2 play, and thought he had played very poorly during several costly confrontations with Andy Pantuso.

    Chris Ferguson had started Day 2 with less than 14,975 in chips and was now near the chip lead with around 105,000 at the Dinner break. Steve Brecher had started Day 2 with 29,125 in chips, but had been eliminated early and had joined the rec.gambling.poker rooting section.

    **** Blinds increase to $800 and $1,600 with a $200 ante.

    **** Cards are back in the air at 8:01 PM.

  562. sb RP - PR raises 4,500 and all fold.
  563. sb JH - AB raises 3,000 and LS calls. LS bets 5,000 and AB folds after the Kd Ah 8h flop.
  564. sb LS - GM raises 3,400 and AP calls. AP bets about 2,000 all-in and GM calls after the 2h Jd 9h flop. GM shows Kd Ks after the 5s turn card and the 3c on the river. AP mucks.

    **** Andy Pantuso is eliminated at 8:06 PM.

  565. no sb - All fold to SM in bb.
  566. sb SM - AB raises 3,400 and all fold.

    >I decided to play a little more catiously.

  567. sb GM - PR raises 4,400 and all fold.
  568. sb OL - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  569. sb PR - GM raises 3,400 and all fold.
  570. sb AB - SM raises about 18,000 all-in and all fold.
  571. sb RP - PR raises 4,000 and then calls after RP raises about 17,000 all-in. RP shows Ad 9d and PR shows 6d 6h. Board: Ts Th Kd As Qs. RP wins the hand.
  572. sb JH - JH raises 3,000 and LS calls. Both check the Jh 4s 7s flop. JH bets 6,000 and LS folds after the Jc on the turn.
  573. sb LS - AB raises 3,400 and all fold.

    >Only stealing about once a round!

  574. sb SM - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  575. sb GM - GM raises 4,200 and OL folds.
  576. sb OL - All fold to PR in bb.
  577. sb PR - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  578. sb AB - SM raises 3,400 and all fold.
  579. sb RP - AB raises 3,400 and all fold.
  580. sb JH - OL raises 2,900 and RP calls. OL bets 10,000 and then folds when RP raises 20,100 all-in after the 9c 2c 4d flop.
  581. sb LS - PR raises 6,400 and all fold.
  582. sb SM - AB raises 3,500 and all fold.

    >Well, maybe not.

    **** 54 players remaining in Event #21.

  583. sb GM - SM raises about 14,000 all-in and all fold.

    **** [DO] Donn O'Dea takes seat #5 at 8:33 PM.

  584. sb OL - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  585. sb PR - JH and AB limp to see the 8c 9s Ah flop. JH bets 4,000 and AB folds,
  586. sb AB - DO raises 3,400 and all fold after AB raises 10,000.

    >Playing agressively has seemed to work so well.

  587. sb RP - GM raises 3,400 and RP calls. GM bets 15,000 and RP folds after the As 8c Jd flop.
  588. sb JH - OL raises 2,600 and all fold after RP raises about 26,000 all-in.
  589. sb LS - AB raises 3,500 and all fold. AB shows an A.

    >Might as well keep raising.

  590. sb DO - RP raises 4,000 and SM calls to see the 8c 9s Jd flop. SM bets about 9,000 all-in and RP calls. After the Ad on the turn and the 3d on the river, RP shows Jh Jc and SM mucks.

    **** Steve Melton is eliminated at 8:47 PM.

  591. no sb - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  592. sb GM - AB raises 3,500 and all fold.

    >Might as well keep on raising.

  593. sb OL - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  594. sb PR - DO raises 3,400 and all fold.
  595. sb AB - All fold to RP in bb.
  596. sb RP - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  597. sb JH - PR raises 3,900 and all fold.
  598. sb LS - OL raises 2,900 and all fold after JH raises 9,000.
  599. sb DO - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  600. sb GM - AB raises 3,400 and then calls LS's 2,300 all-in raise. Board: 9c Ah Qd 4s Kd. LS shows As Td and AB wins with Kc Qh.

    >Got caught stealing, but got lucky. Sorry Larry.
    >I guess it really is time I tightened up.

    **** Larry Sigety is eliminated at 9:03 PM.

  601. sb OL - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  602. sb PR - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.

    **** [ML] Matt Lefkowitz takes seat #4 at 9:06 PM.

  603. sb AB - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  604. sb RP - DO raises 3,400 and all fold.
  605. sb JH - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  606. sb ML - ML raises 2,300 and is called by DO and they both check the 7h Ah 7d flop. ML bets 7,000 and DO calls after the Ac turn card. DO bets 6,000 and then calls ML's 6,000 raise after the 4s on the river. DO shows 7s Th and ML wins with Ad Tc.

  607. sb DO - OL raises 2,900 and all fold.
  608. sb GM - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  609. sb OL - GM raises 2,400 and all fold.

    **** [MJ] Mel Judah takes seat #6 at 9:29 PM.

  610. sb PR - ML raises 2,900 and all fold.
  611. sb AB - OL raises 2,900 and then folds after RP raises about 30,000. RP shows Q Q.
  612. sb RP - MJ raises 3,400 and JH calls and sees the 2s As Ad flop. MJ bets 3,000 and JH folds.
  613. sb JH - JH raises 3,400 and ML folds.
  614. sb ML - OL raises 2,900 and DO calls and both check the 2h 8d 4s flop. DO bets 6,000 and OL calls after the 8c turn card. DO bets 11,000 and OL folds after the 5s on the river.
  615. sb DO - ML limps and all fold after DO raises 6,000.
  616. sb MJ - OL raises 3,400 and all fold.
  617. sb GM - RP raises 4,400 and all fold.
  618. sb OL - RP limps and then calls after PR raises 10,000. Both check the Tc 7c Ad flop and the 6s turn card. PR bets about 13,500 all-in and is called by RP after the 9d on the river. PR shows Ts Td and RP mucks.
  619. sb PR - MJ raises 2,900 and all fold.
  620. sb AB - OL raises 3,400 and all fold.
  621. sb RP - AB raises 3,400 and all fold.

    >It's been a long time since I played a hand.

  622. sb JH - OL raises 2,900, RP raises 11,000, OL raises about 15,000 all-in and RP calls. Board: 6h 3c 2d 8d Kc. OL shows Js Jh and RP wins with As Kd.

    **** O'Neil Longson is eliminated at 9:49 PM.

    >I won't have to worry about him trying to steal my blinds anymore.

  623. sb ML - MJ raises 3,400 and all fold.
  624. sb DO - JH raises 3,400 and all fold.
  625. sb MJ - AB raises 3,400 and all fold.
  626. sb GM - JH raises 3,400 and MJ calls to see the 8s 8d 4c flop. MJ bets 6,000, JH raises 15,000 and then folds after MJ raises 25,000.
  627. sb PR - PR raises 6,200 and AB folds.

    **** ANDY's FINAL HAND ****

  628. sb AB - Andy Bloch raises 3,400 and Rod Peate calls.

    >At this point, judging by the way he called and his past play, I put
    >Rod on something like Ax, where x is 6-9.

    Andy Bloch bets 10,000 and Rod Peate calls after the 3h 2s 3s flop.

    >This was a mistake. Based on my assesment of his hand, I should
    >have pushed in.

    Andy Bloch bets 20,000 after the 9d on the turn

    >I thought I liked the 9. Now, I was hoping RP had AT or A8 and
    >thought I was bluffing.

    and Rod Peate raises enough to put Andy all-in.

    >Whoops.

    >Now I have a tough call. There was already over 100k in the pot.
    >I'm getting better than 3:1 odds. If I still put him on A9, then I
    >have 3 outs to win, and three outs to tie. I don't have enough odds
    >to call. I didn't put him on a pocket pair or a 3, although they
    >are slight possibilities. Could I be effective with only 30k?
    >Probably -- the table was so tight, I should have no problem
    >stealing a couple of pots a round. What was the chance that RP was
    >bluffing? I need him to bluff about 15% of the time, or more if it
    >is a semi-bluff to make my call correct. After playing this hand
    >over and over hundreds of times, I think folding was the right play
    >here.

    Andy calls about 30,000 all-in. After the Th on the river Andy shows Kc 9s and Rod Peate wins the hand with As 9d.

    >After the river card, Rod refused to show his hand first, giving me
    >hope. I don't like suspense much, so I flashed him my 9. Only then
    >did he show his A9.

    **** Andy Bloch is eliminated from Event #21 at 9:55 PM.

    No official records were kept, but my unofficial count had Andy finishing in 44th place.

    Andy and I were very disappointed with the way things turned out, but we didn't have any time to do an immediate post-mortem. Rec.gambler Greg Wohletz rushed Andy to the airport in an attempt to catch a 10:15 PM plane for Boston and a chance to study some for forthcoming Law School exams at Harvard. Andy missed that plane, but caught another a few hours later.

    Andy now feels that he should have moved all-in after the flop on his final hand of the tournament, and having not done so, should not have called Rod Peate's final bet.

    Tom Sims

Page last modified: 8-16-97