no good at Borgata main event

Borgata's main event went pretty poorly for me. The day started off well, with me getting my stack from 30,000 to 33,000 with no showdowns at 25/50. About an hour into the day though, we took a limped pot where I had 88 in the small blind, 5 ways.

It came 854. I checked, most likely going for a check raise. The button made a decent sized bet and I figured he would fire the turn again, so I just called. MAybe he bet 225 or something into the 250 pot. The turn was a K. I checked, he bet around 800 and I made it 2200. He thought for a while and made it 5200.

At this point, alarm bells are going off in my head. This guy didnt look at all like the type of guy that would try to outplay me. The only problem was I was worried that he had a lower set and thought it was the nuts. I called and the river was a blank. I checked and he bet 8000 pretty quickly. He looked really calm. Again, the problem was that I thought he might think a lower set was the nuts.

I really really wanted to fold though. I then remembered I had the 2nd nuts and was in Borgata, so I called and lost to the flopped straight. A little while later, this little italian (most likely) guy raised to 325 at 50/100. I made it 1200 on the button with AA, assuming he would call with any 2. He did and it came 7s5s5c. He checked and I bet 2000 or so. He thought for a while and called.

The turn was an 8h. He checked and I bet 6000. He thought again and called. The river was the 9s. Yuck!! He instachecked and I check lost to KJss, putting me down to around 8000 chips. Toward the end of that level, I raised to 300 with 88 from middle position, 2 people called and Cornel Cimpan made it 2000 from the big blind. He had been super lagging it up and we had played a few small pots together so far.

I decided to just push cause he seemed like he was trying to outplay everyone. He thought for a while before calling with AQ. It came Axxxx with 4 spades. Luckily I had a spade and was back to 20,000. I won a few more pots at 75/150 to get up to around 25,000, which was almost back to my starting stack after a horrorific start. Cornel raised from middle position and I decided to just call with AQs in the small blind.

I would normally reraise here against standardish players but my poker strategy against someone that constantly tries to play back, I think it is better to play it slow so they dont rereraise you. Also, I try to play small pots out of position. Anyways, it came Qh5h5d. I checked and he bet maybe 800 into the 1000 pot. I decided he thought I would be likely to try to outplay him here so I made it 2500.

He tanked for a while then made it 7500. I was pretty sure he didnt have much so I shipped it all in for another 15000 or so. He snap called with A6hh. The turn was a 4h and I didnt hit on the river. That was it for me. I have been learning a lot about myself when it comes to winning and losing lately. I honestly dont mind losing at all when I get it in good over and over. When I win and get it in bad though, I am usually not too happy with myself. I think it is important to not be result oriented.

Obviously me getting it in good or bad has a lot of variance involved as well. I just try to play my best and am usually happy with the result, win or lose. I am going back to NYC for a few days then heading to Vegas for a week before going to LA for the LAPC. I may or may not go home before going to San Jose then Indiana for their new WPT event. Life has been busy but fun lately. Hopefully it keeps up.