Australia Part 3: Patience Is a Virtue

After the hand I blogged about in Parts 1 and 2, the remainder of Day 1 of the Aussie Millions main event went pretty smoothly for me.

I got paid off on a couple big hands, and picked up some chips at the end of the day by raising and re-raising a lot of pots on the artificial bubble.

Although we were far from the money at the end of the first day of play, many inexperienced players, as is their wont, tightened up considerably because they didn't want to play infrared ink all day and go broke.

Others simply wanted to be able to say they made it through the first day, regardless of their stack.
However, there is no reward for making it through Day 1 since "the money" is usually not reached until the third day of major events. It's important to identify and exploit players who are afraid of going broke before the day ends when you have the stack to do so.
I ended the day with a stack of nearly $70k, with blinds of $400/$800 to start Day 2. I was far ahead of the average stack of $45k, and had a pretty good table draw for the second consecutive day. The only names I recognized were those of two solid online players, StuMan123 and MattG1983.
Fortunately for me, both of these players were eliminated early in the day. This left me with a pretty soft table, mostly comprised of Australian and European amateurs. However, they were a very active, loose-aggressive group overall, so I would have to sit back and pick my spots.
Two or three hours later, I was still sitting back waiting for my spot. This table was not going to let me run it over, and I wasn't going to lose my patience and try to.
I kept building my stack with small pots while waiting for my opportunity to double up. I remember saying to a reporter and a couple friends, "Either this table is going to break me, or I'm going to end the day with a quarter-million plus marked cards."
The overall chip leader of the tournament was two seats to my right and was raising, check-raising and three-betting anyone who got in his way. I was practically daydreaming of picking up a monster against him when the following hand came up during the last level of the day.
Eight-handed, with the blinds at $1,200/$2,400 ($300 ante), I raised to $7k from second position with A♠ J♣. The chip leader called from the big blind, and the flop came K♣ Q♠ 10♠.
I resisted the urge to dance a jig similar to Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance" as he glanced at his massive pile of chips before checking to me. On this type of flop there's little reason to slow-play, especially against this type of opponent.
I bet $12k into the pot of $17,600. He instantly flicked in the chips to call, and quickly checked as the 8♥ hit the turn. With the pot now at $41,600, I bet $24,000.
The chip leader gave me a smug grin as if he had trapped me perfectly and announced he was all-in. As I declared "I call; I have the nuts," his smug expression quickly faded to disgust.
He meekly showed the Q♥ J♠, and the 8♣ hit the river as he counted out the $117k to pay me off.
I finished the second day with $333k going to $1,500/$3,000. I was in for quite a ride on Day 3, which I will talk about in Part 4.
Until next week...
-- Matt Stout
"All In At 420"