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Festa al Lago Running Diary
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Winning the Legends of Poker event gave Joe Pelton the confidence to make yet another final table at the Festa al Lago, but it may have been that same confidence that kept him from another WPT title. As the Festa al Lago aired this week, Joe kept a running diary of the action to give you an insight to what he was thinking every step of the way.
9:02 – Coming into this final table as the massive chipleader and having won at my last final table, my confidence was extremely high....probably too high. Confidence is one of the keys to good poker play but overconfidence can lead to some of the things we're going to see out of me later on in the episode.
9:03 – The first hand was pretty simple at the time but watching on TV I'm surprised that Andreas folded 33 on the button and I'm a little surprised Steve wouldn't re-raise with AQ to avoid playing it out of position.
9:04 – It's cool that they noted how I won the first hand at both final tables, both with flop bets after bad flops. For anyone wondering they really were the first hands at each table. At the time I'd developed a bit of a superstition about playing the first hand every day.
9:05 – These next two hands have haunted me ever since they happened. First, Steve raises to 6x the big blind. You can see my eyebrows go up in surprise; I looked at my cards planning to fold but the first thing I saw was an ace and then I had to think about it. I was completely confused as to why Steve would raise so much. He hadn't done anything like that in previous days play. Ace nine is a pretty good hand blind vs. blind, but I can't just call the 100k and I can't make a smaller raise since I would be pot committed. I should have folded because the risk (820k) to reward (150k) didn't justify moving all-in. This is where the overconfidence hurt because I felt invincible and that I could make anyone fold anytime I wanted which was clearly not the case, especially when they had AK.
9:08 – This hand went bad because I misread Andreas as liking the flop. In retrospect it seems obvious that I should have check raised the flop and then folded if Andreas moved in. I bet the turn because I thought that I could represent the flush and maybe get him to fold a medium ace. As Mike said, the river was a bad card because now I'm tied with most of the aces I was losing to previously.
9:10 – I bet 350k and I was quite surprised when Andreas moved in. He couldn't do so with AK or even AQ due to the board pairing and the flush. I felt he would have raised the turn with say AA or QQ but since he didn't with 66 that was probably a bad read. The hands I "put him on" that I could beat was Kings with the king of diamonds or say KdQx where he has a big pair and the nut flush draw on the turn, misses and tries to steal the pot on the end. I think he did a good job of looking nervous during the count and deliberation. About the only thing I knew of Andreas at the time was he is from Norway and Scandinavians are well known for wild bluffs, so that also factored into my logic a bit.
9:11 - I normally try make a point to not show any emotion at the table but at this point in time I was so disgusted that I didn't care what it would look like. I was picturing myself looking just like James Van Alstyne from the Season IV Championship.
9:19 - This hand looks bad but it's pretty standard, I take a shot on the flop miss, he checks on the turn so I think he doesn't have much. I take a shot on the end hoping he might fold Kx or Qx he makes a pretty easy call with Ace high. The problem of course is my bet is pretty transparent and I'm clearly steaming from before, so I'm not likely to get him to fold anything.
9:25 - Opening with 85 suited in a 6 handed game is not that unusual. I'm not sure why Mike and Vince thought it was so egregious. I don't mind at all getting 3 callers when I open with that hand....but then Steve raises which is not good. His raise was too small based on the pot (as you can see since David called with 44) but it would have been about 33% of my chips so I clearly couldn't call. Oddly I would have out flopped them all.
9:32 - Moving in with 33 is debatable but with the chip stacks the way they were I don't need to be on tilt to make that play.
9:34 - This hand with David and Andreas was really interesting to watch and Andreas' good play in it was a key to his winning the tournament.
9:42 - Steve's comment after my min bet on the TT2 flop set off major alarm bells to me, but I still called on the river however I think Steve would bluff a busted flush draw in that spot as well.
My comment "That's what I thought you had" was clear, but then I say "well if I really thought that I wouldn't have called" which doesn't come out clearly but is more accurate.
9:44 - I'm surprised that Mike and Vince were surprised by my betting here. I wasn't getting away with anything so I didn't want to bet the flop after missing. When Steve checks again on the Queen turn it's easier to represent that I have a queen than a 7, 6, or 2. If Steve raises it's an easy fold, if he calls I'll know (er…think) I'm beat and most likely just check behind on the river.
Steve's bet on the river was really, really brilliant I was convinced that the 2 hit him at the time and wouldn't have called either way but his bet accomplished just what he wanted it to as Mike explains he made a bet that looked like he wanted a call.
From my notes at the time:
I was down to about 300k here and just ready to die… I could hear the show in my head talking about the biggest blow up in WPT history.
9:46 - I definitely do not feel as Mike says that I should have moved all in on the flop. Steve probably would have called and I would have won but that doesn't make it the right play.
9:49 – On the hand where David has AA vs. AK from CK I folded T9 and the flop comes T99. If only CK had flat called with AK.
From my notes at the time:
After CK and David got it all in AKs vs. AA, I went over to my girlfriend and happily said "I'm gonna get 5th!"
9:58 - I'm stunned....STUNNED that Steve would fold 99 there....I feel like I owe Steve $167k since I should have busted right here in 5th place.
My notes say:
I stop and go'd Steve's button raise with Qh7h on an ATT flop….a pretty transparent play but thankfully he didn't have enough to call with.
10:05 - Again I'm quite surprised Steve would fold TT in that spot and again he would have busted me. This time with a bad beat as he would've cracked my Aces.
10:07 - Funny that Mike thinks I have my footing back because I managed to win a pot with AA.
10:08 - I like the scoreboard graphic they keep using to show my rollercoaster day.
10:17 - Steve's play with K5 is marginal but based on my play that day it's hard to argue with his raise. I can't even begin to explain how great it felt to get back nearly all the chips I'd lost. Confidence was high once again.
10:25 - Andreas was starting to raise a lot so I had decided I was going to re-raise this hand no matter what my cards were. Q4 isn't a terrible hand to try this with because it's easy to fold if anyone re-raises me.
10:26 - Nice of Vince to point out my tells a couple times during the show.
10:27 - Vince, I had no tell on Andreas, just the above logic.
10:27 - And again as soon as I get overconfident I bluff off half my chips. Nice of Mike to mention that it's not necessarily as crazy as it looks. When the deuce of clubs hit I thought it was just destiny for me to win this pot and win the tournament but then reality came on the river.
10:34 - I know I'm going to take a lot of heat for this call but there are several points to make that went into the decision that aren't shown on TV:
1) This was the first hand back from a break where David had a long time to think about his short stack.
2) My view of David was not tight or solid. He had made many aggressive plays throughout the tournament. If CK or Chris would have moved all-in I would've fold KQ for that price no question.
3) David is obviously NOT as tight/solid as Mike and Vince imply if he's moving in with A5 offsuit under the gun for 14 big blinds.
4) I am 100% sure that David would not move all in with AA or KK.
5) David had said the day before about a different player "I could see him pushing with any two face cards."
6) The call was half of my chips and I'd still have 14 big blinds left if I lost.
If we set David's range as any ace, any 2 paint and any pair QQ-22 I have 47% equity and I'm getting 1.17 to call. That's slightly +EV chip wise, it may not be +EV factoring in the prize pool, but I was only playing to win that day (at the Legends of Poker I would have not made a call like this 5 handed).
10:37 - Sort of similar situation here with Chris, I know I'm behind but I'm getting the right price.
Steve's funny comment is hard to hear "That's the nuts in baccarat."
10:43 - I ran into quite a number of big hands at this table, I agree with Mike that Steve really shouldn't raise me there after flopping the nut straight.
10:44 - Steve opens on the button with KT and then checks behind when he misses the flop. My read on him was dead wrong all day as I put him on a jack at that point. When I hit top pair on the turn I moved in quickly trying too look like a bluff (quickly as if I'd have moved in regardless). Now that I see he had an open ended straight draw it's really interesting. If I had bet 300k or so he probably would've moved all-in, I would've called and been a favorite to double up. Where is the wonder cam when you need it?????
10:47 - Once Chris busted I was happy to have locked up 292k considering I should have been eliminated several times already.
10:48 - This last hand looks insane but we've seen Andreas will continuation bet with anything and the odds of him having a King are pretty small. I'm upset I didn't get my money in better, but now having seen that Andreas really did bluff at many points I'm not as self critical as I was at the time.
10:50 - I feel dumb about my interview because I misremembered that Andreas raised from the big blind and not from the button in the last hand.
All in all the day for me was just mixed in every way. I got lucky some and I got unlucky some. I made good plays and I made bad plays. If I had played perfectly I feel like I would have won considering the hands I was dealt (AA vs. 99, QQ vs. K5 on 652 flop). But I was also extremely lucky to get 3rd when I was likely to get 6th and even more likely to get 5th at multiple points.
*The Festa al Lago re-airs Saturday at 12am ET time, print out Joe's running diary and follow along as the action unfolds.
