Well I’m out of the WSOPE main event. Annette Obrestad was on her way to accumulating a huge chip stack and shortly before the dinner break, she knocked me out.

 

A week ago, I eliminated her from the EPT Barcelona and while I don’t think I could have gotten away from the hand, I did put a bad beat on her. Perhaps this was her revenge.

 

I entered the day with $14,800. Most of my table-mates had about the same amount of chips and there was plenty of play left level-wise. Annie Duke, my previous night’s dinner companion, sat immediately to my right. As soon as she sat down, she announced loudly that tomorrow was her birthday and she wanted to go out to dinner. She invited Phil Hellmuth and Chris Ferguson but I must have chewed with my mouth open or something cause the offer didn’t extend to me. :) Other than Annie, I didn’t recognize too many other people at the table.

 

One guy I’m pretty sure everyone recognized was Phil Hellmuth, at the table next to mine. The Poker Brat was in fine form and I had the pleasure of sitting well within earshot. He spent much of the day berating his entire table, and then telling my table how pathetic his table was, which provided a constant source of amusement for yours truly. At one point he yelled over to Annie and said, “I’m running over this table, Annie.” “They can’t stop me.” Then back to his table, “Why doesn’t someone act like a man?!!” Hilarious.

 

Phil’s table demeanor is about as opposite from mine as possible but players like Jamie and Phil really use table talk to their advantage. While Phil’s antics won’t affect a professional, they’ll probably scare the crap out of an inexperienced player. Poker is a mental game and if someone is vulnerable to getting rattled, it doesn’t bother me if other people want to exploit it.

 

Although I never really got anything going today, I think I played one of the best days of poker of my career. I started at $18,400, short but not desperate. I made one raise/continuation bet that didn’t work because my opponent flopped a monster. I was card dead for the better part of the day but maintained patience. I didn’t pick up a hand and got blinded down to $3,500. Then I battled back to $22,000 by doubling up with K, 10 vs. 5, 3 and again with A, J suited against 5, 5. Even though on paper it never looked like a good day, I’m positive that I made several crucial folds and I’m proud of how I played.

 

On the exit hand, Annette raised in middle position and I reraised with J,J, pot committing myself. She shoved and since 70% of my chips were in the middle, I made an easy call. She showed A, K and won the race when an A came on the turn. That was that.