WSOP Day 18 - Jon Kalmar

WSOP Day 18 - Jon Kalmar

Today is a $1500 NL at the Rio. After a short break I am ready to go and I feel enthusiastic. However, despite scraping though to level 5 I still never got going. With just 4500 chips you really need to pick something up and most of the betting is done pre-flop.

The $10k Pot limit Hold’em is on Tuesday and I really want to play this event. $10k though is a lot to find and unless I can get a cash under my belt by then, it doesn’t look like I am going to be playing it.

I opt for a SNG satellite hoping to win my buy in. Unfortunately the only one available was a $525. If I win it won’t give me enough to play but it would be a big chunk of it. Unlike the £1030 SNG you get 2000 chips and not 5000 meaning you need to gamble. I pushed early with a flush draw and of course missed. Sigh.

I decide to play some cash. If I had a good session I may put the winnings towards the $10k. There was quite a wait for the 5/10 so sat down at the 10/25 NL game. I started with $5000 (a small stack compared to most of the table) and things were looking good and I finally flopped a set on the very first hand when I was dealt pocket kings. Unfortunately I only won a $300 pot but it felt like I had buried the ghost. I was still unable to get a run together. The few hands I picked up were not paid off and after losing a pretty big pot to a gut shot I decided to call it a night $1500 down. Considering the size of the game and the way I was running this was no disaster.

The guy making the gutshot was quite an arrogant bloke to say the least. He sat in with around $25k and was quite vocal and active. He sucked out with the gutshot trying to make a move against me. I had him on a draw when he raised my bet on the Ah 3h Ks board. When 5h came completing the flush draw it wasn’t the hardest of folds. He flipped over his 2 of 4 off suit in the hope of tilting me. His arrogance got the better of him and he left the table over $20k down not 1 hour later. Sweet! (unfortunately I got none of it)

With not many small buy in events left (at least not appetising ones) I am going to play the $5k NL shootout today. It’s a bit steeper than I wanted to pay but I think it is my best chance of a bracelet. If I can just win my table I will almost certainly be playing the $10k PL holdem on Tuesday. (Unless I make the final, a disappointing as that would be, I think I could cope!)