|
|
|
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
1st blog of the new year…. Unfortunately I have nothing good to report. I wrapped up 2011 with a blog that featured my highlights from the year and my passion for the game. I talked about the things I wanted to accomplish this year, listed specific goals, and even made promises to work hard and win. Fueled with optimism, I was eager to get back to the table and start the year right. I was ready to play a tourney everyday and crush it just like I did in 2011. I knew I was gonna get off to a fast start.
(Clears Throat)
Not so much. I went to LA and played the WSOPC at the Bike. I think I played 11 events; I came within 10 places of the money 6 of those times and did not cash once. I got 20th place in the $1080 event that paid 18, after losing AK to A8 on what was basically the stone bubble, and having the guy fist pump in my face after binking a lucky 8. I also bricked the Main Event twice. It was really hard to deal with bc I knew I was playing well and doing everything in my power (which isn’t much in poker in the short term) to win. I put myself in a position to go deep several times but the deck never cooperated with me. It was arguably the worst I have ever run in a 2 week span. Me and my friend Eli rented a car (Mustang convertible- Omar if you are reading this…) and stayed at White Brian’s condo in Venice Beach for a few days. Then we flew to Atlantic City for the Borgota Winter Open, so I could get back to winning. I knew my days of running bad were over.
Not so much. Another 11 tournaments, another 5 finishes within 10 places of the money, which included a stone bubble in the $1090 event (sound familiar?). I went out in 28th place when my KK lost to AA on the bubble while play was hand for hand, in a hand that took 7 minutes bc the third guy in the hand eventually folded QQ, with the entire tournament surrounding our table to see if they will make the money or not, add another 30-40 spectators and the fact we all had stacks, it equals one of the most tilting bustouts I have ever gone thru. I shook his hand and said good game then walked away to let the other 27 players enjoy their money in peace. The one positive thing was that none of the players celebrated when I busted and none of the spectators on the rail made any noise either, out of respect for me as a player. Usually all these mops cheer, hoot and holler when the money bubble bursts. Not this time though, so I appreciated that, but it still really stung. I kept fighting and playing well the subsequent days but was rudely met by a couple of 3 outers, a rivered straight, and half a dozen lost coin flips in a row. Oh wait, I did miss a nut flush draw in the 2k bounty tourney so that one is on me. I played day 1A of the Main Event today. A $3500 which is over 4x my average buyin, I really needed to do well…but, I got it in KK vs AA, 15 minutes into the tournament to bust. I have been beating myself up all day bc I know I should have folded. I am really hard on myself though, it is kings to aces after all so whatever. Still, it’s just demoralizing.
Massey: 2011 - The Year of My Life
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
This is Aaron @nevermissmassey Massey's last blog post of 2011. Thank you, Aaron, for sharing your journey with us this year. - editorWow…. What a wild ride that was.
I’m sitting here, looking back on the last 12 months and I’ve got to tell you, I’ve come a long way. This time last year I spent every single day sitting in my apartment, at my desk, with my computer and my 2 monitors, playing 10 tables at once for 12 hours a day. I would wake up around noon and go to the gym, get home at 2:30pm, order food for the entire day, and play online until like 3am. I was working my ass off when online was around and was 100% dedicated to learning, winning and working as hard as possible. I watched players who I knew were better than me and it motivated me to catch up to them. It was during this period that I took my game to the next level. I played so many hands and discussed poker relentlessly. I also had the privilege of having an unbelievable mentor.
During the period where I played online every day, I was able to watch, play and discuss poker with Kevin “Bel0wab0ve” Saul for hundreds of hours. He is among the greatest online poker players of all time and he took me under his wing. I have always been a live player, I’ve been playing in casinos since I was 19. I would drive to Indiana twice a day with Ralph’s ID to go play. However, it was the online fundamentals that brought my game to where it is today. To be honest, I wish I had started playing online 5 years ago. If I had, who knows where I would be right now.
Anyways, something pretty crazy happened… Online poker in the US got all screwed up. And guess what? It was time to play live again. This ended up being great for me because it forced everyone to have to play me in my arena, where I thrive. Live poker is what I was meant to do; I honestly know and believe that it is my calling in life. It’s kind of exhausting to explain but if you know me or have seen me play, then you know what I mean.
With live poker comes a lot of travel, and I have been to quite a few places this year. It started with Tunica, St. Louis, and New Orleans. I took a train cross country with my close friends to Vegas for the World Series. We stopped at a few places along the way including the Grand Canyon. We hiked all the way to the bottom of the Canyon, slept there overnight, and climbed out. When we got to Vegas we stayed at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street in old Vegas for a week. Then I moved over and stayed at the Gold Coast, next to the Rio where the World Series is held. I lived there for over 6 weeks. During that summer a lot of crazy shit happened and I had a lot of experiences. I took part in some of the best partying I’ve ever been around in my life. Cabanas, clubs, bottles and bullshit... All of it. I never really spent money at any of them either.
|
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
I'm laying on my couch after a long weekend, and this place is a mess. Ralph is passed out on the other side of the couch with his mouth open and his right hand down his pants (standard). I swear he plays with it in his sleep. The last 3 days/nights have been a blur. Everyone came home for Thanksgiving and all my friends were able to reunite this weekend. In typical fashion, and without divulging too much, it was a shit show. When u put all of us animals together, AND we all haven’t seen each other in a long time, it makes for some laughable nights and some big boy stories. Anyways, it was short lived. I was in Atlantic City for a few weeks and am now heading back to AC tomorrow for more poker tournaments. My last trip there was a good one.
I had taken a full 2 weeks off from poker when I rolled into AC on Nov. 8th. I was fresh and was ready to play. The 1st event was a $450 reentry tourney where u can rebuy as many times as u want during the earlier stages if you bust out. This makes for a huge prizepool bc many players are in for more than 1 buyin. There were around 1000 players in this tourney and I was making a deep run. At one point during this tournament I pulled off the most ridiculous bluff for most of my chips, with 4 of my friends standing behind me AND having seen my cards. Throughout the hand I was telling my opponent that I was bluffing him, that I was only playing this hand bc my friends were watching, and that I am going to try and impress them by bluffing him in this hand. I was also acting a fool, use every false tell I had in my arsenal to throw this guy off and make him fold. Long story very short, I get this guy to fold the 2nd nuts FACE UP while saying, if your acting like you are bluffing that much u must have it, you’ve got to have it… here I fold, throwing away a King High Club Flush. My friends erupt and beg me to show….. so I turn over something like 35 offsuit, stare at this man who just made the worse fold ever, and laugh at him in the most annoying way ever… yep yep yep yep yep yep! He turns bright red and looks like his head was going to explode. I mean, how does this guy not call me… ME. I never have it. Idiot. Oh well, I end up cashing the tourney and getting something like 55th place for roughly 3x my buyin.
Massey's Back
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
Aaaaaand Im back. This is my first blog since leaving Las Vegas and World Series of Poker back in July. During the summer I shared my Vegas experience with you and was very pleased to hear that people actually enjoyed reading about it. When I left I figured I'd stop blogging cuz nobody wants to really hear about my everyday life in Chicago. I mean, that would bore the reader and I could have ended up possibly losing the following that I had built up back in summer. I promised that I would blog from time to time as I travel and play but Ive been slackin hard. I haven’t been blogging for a number of reasons, 1) Im lazy 2) I never bring my laptop with me anywhere and I have been traveling a lot 3) Lazy as hell 4) My computer is a piece of shit from 2007 5) Im the slowest typer, it takes me 2 hrs to write 1 page… u get it. Anyways, a lot happened between now and then.
I got home from Vegas in mid July. Fresh off my first WSOP final table I felt great, coming home with my head held high. Over the next 3 weeks I played cash games and went out a lot. I won 6 out of 7 sessions for around $7000 over this span. The next move was Lawrenceburg, IN and the Indiana State Poker Championships.
I took a greyhound down there and got picked up by my friend Kurt. We were staying at his brother’s house near Cincinnati so I didn’t have to spend loot on hotel. The first tournament was a big one. There were almost 1700 entrants into Event #1 and I won the tournament. My first ever 1st place and it felt so great. It was especially sweet considering I took the worst beat of my life 1 month earlier when I got knocked out in 8th place at the WSOP, ending my shot at half a million dollars. The tourney ended after 3am on day 2. It was 6am after taking the picture, getting paid out and filling out all the forms and stuff. They comped me a room for the night so that it would be convenient for me to play the tournament the following day at noon. I didn’t sleep while in the room. After deep tournament runs like that it is hard to turn your mind off. You have been making so many difficult and complex decisions that your brain is in constant evaluation of every important hand. In addition I was getting a lot of texts and tweets that morning so I didn’t sleep at all. I played the tourney at noon. At 2am we were down to around 50 players and done for the day. I beasted thru the day on no sleep. The next we resume and I end up getting 5thplace. The next 2 tourneys I played I cashed in getting 21st and 14th. I busted the main event and it was time to get out of there. I cashed in 4 straight and won the big one. Basically I made Lawrenceburg my… well u know.
WSOP 2011 - The End of The Beginning
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
Publisher's Note:What a treat to have Massey sharing his WSOP experience with us here at the Chicago Poker Club. Aaron is back to the grind in Chicago, and getting ready to hit the poker circuit around the country. We expect to hear from him as he hits the road, with new posts, and most definitely featured tweets on our home page. Aaron had a successful summer as a professional, but his talent, perseverance, and focus continue to hint at big things to come in his future. That is why this post, his last of WSOP 2011 is merely the End of the Beginning... [Jason]
So I didn’t get it done in the Main Event… and I am beyond disappointed in myself. It’s funny, if I had busted out on day 1 I wouldn’t have felt this way.
I began the Main Event on day 1b and did not get off to that fast of a start. Halfway thru I began to gain traction and got my chipstack moving in the right direction. By the end of day 1 I had amassed 50k in chips from a 30k start. I was feeling great and was very confident and pleased with my play.
My day 2 was a complete grind. I never got much momentum and was completely card dead the whole day. Only once in the entire day did I have a stack over the 50k I began the day with. I was playing extremely well but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I did make 1 incorrect decision on this day, calling a player’s 24k all in with 99. In this hand I had opened for a standard raise under the gun, only to have it fold all the way to the big blind. He didn’t waste much time before moving all in, and after 2 minutes of deliberation I made the call. He had JJ and held up. I was down but not out. I played great no showdown poker and got my stack back up to around 50k just in time for the last hand of the night. In this hand, I opened from the cutoff w 88, only to have John Racener (Runner Up in last Year’s Main Event) re-raise me from the small blind. I thought about it and made an over bet of 40k, which was 80% of my stack, effectively moving me all in. He jammed and I called. I thought I was in huge trouble but he flipped over the 55. I was surprised that such a good player would make such a bad play but I wasn’t complaining. I held up and ended the day with 105k.
On day 3 I got off to a fast start. I had gotten up to 147k only having to showdown 1 hand. I was extremely aggressive and feeling great… then the wheels came off. With the blinds at 8-1600 the player under the gun limped in as did a player in middle position. I had 45 of hearts on the button, and after some consideration of putting in a raise I decided to call. The big blind checked and we had 4 players off to the flop of Q98 which was checked around. Another 9 came on the turn and it checked around to me. I bet 5k into roughly a 9k pot which was snap called by the player who limped under the gun. The river was a J making the board Q899J. My opponent very quickly bet out 17.5K into a 19k pot. I interpreted this as a value bet and knew he was strong, however, I knew he didn’t have a full house. I had put him on a hand like QJ that he is trying to get value out of. So what do I do? I raise it to 50k with 5 hi, representing a full house and trying to push him off what I know is a very strong hand. He thinks for awhile and correctly makes the call with pocket 10s for a rivered straight. I was down to around 80k but I was still in good shape. Unfortunately I decided to go off again 10 minutes later. I made a standard raise w A4 from the cutoff. The button then raised me to 11.5k with roughly 55k behind. I jam all in and he calls with AK. He has me crushed and he holds up like he is supposed to, leaving me 9 big blinds. I jam my last 7 bbs in w A9 only to be called by the AJ. Just like that it was over.
Massey #8 - The Road to Perdition or Paradise?
| Featured Contributors - Aaron Massey |
This will be my last blog before my last blog. This one is going to be like the forgotten and overlooked middle child. An uneventful story that is sandwiched in between my last tale, where I final tabled the WSOP 1K, and my next tale where I final table the WSOP Main Event (I Hope..) I have played a few tourneys since my 8th place finish last week. 4 tourneys to be exact, and I haven’t gotten much going in any of them:
Venetian 560
I skipped the Venetian 1600 the day before because I needed a day off after my deep run, so I ended up playing this instead. And guess what guys??? I got Kings cracked of course. I had successfully made two squeeze plays within the first 2 levels. I did it a third time and one of my opponents was fed up. He went all in, but I finally had a hand, the KK! I had it setup perfectly. I call and he flips over AQ. He flops an Ace and eliminates your boy from the tourney. Meh.
WSOP 1K
I come in trying to defend my final table finish in the previous 1K event. I play terrible and semi-bluff my entire stack off in 2 hands. This tournament was simply a waste of $1000 in my opinion.
