WPT Championship Day 3 - If You Start Me Up I'll Never Stop!

The giant '81 hit by the Rolling Stones is a very good metaphor for my Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Championship. I was meticulously grinding all day and then picked up serious momentum at the end. Once I got started, I didn't stop! Here is the brief rundown of my chip development on Tuesday:
264K-315K-225K-270K-350K-450K-750K-650K-720K-1 million-1.1 million-2.24 million.

I played a lot of interesting hands and was really pleased with the way I was mixing up my game. I would fire left and right with monsters, fire three bullets with bottom pair, check-raise with air-balls and over bet with marginal as well as super-duper holdings. Catch me at the right spot if you can!

All through the first level I was re-raising preflop several times and quickly took my stack from 264K to 315K. Then I took a 90K blow when I lost the following confrontation to one of the short-stacks:
vs.

The board came four hearts. He has 1.07% chance of scooping me with that hand - ouch!

I quickly rebuilt my stack through a series of aggressive moves mostly holding a little bit, close to nothing or absolutely nothing. I managed to get all the way up to around 500K when this hand occurred:

A tight player opens in first position for 21K, Mickey Appelman, another "rock" at the table, calls and so does a third guy calls in middle position - they all have about 100K. Pretty strange action. I am in the BB and look at one of my cards:


Hmmm ... Believe me, I would fold AQ in a jiffy in this spot, maybe even AK. The other card, however, turns out to be yet another ace. It's a pretty bad ideal to let the best hand in Hold'em go J.

I put the three players all-in. After contemplating a bit, the initial raiser calls. Mickey Appelman doesn't like his hand anymore and folds after some consideration, but the middle guy quickly calls.

Drum roll please ...

First guy:


(That is what you call a: "I-simply-couldn't-take-it-anymore-call")

Middle guy:


Gus Hansen:


By the way, Mickey Appelman made an incredible fold considering the pot odds holding:


I have 92% in a three-way pot and with an ace on the flop it is all over.

I later lose with 88 vs. AJ and 88 vs. KK. But then we hit the final level of the day. At this point, I am cruising around top 5 of the field. Now for the biggest cooler of the day. Fortunately, I am at the warm end of things:

I open for 35K in middle position with


Some guy calls in the BB. He has been playing fairly straight-forward, so I am pretty sure he has some kind of hand.

The flop comes


He checks and it is up to me. There is about 80K in the pot and he has 240K left. I have 650K in my stack. It looks like I have the best hand and in case he has two fives or AQ I really want him to get the impression that I'm trying to steal the pot. Also, this was the kind of flop I was hoping for. I am only afraid of 77, 88 and possibly 99. I don't see myself folding if I bet 60K and he moves all-in. After sliding 240K in the middle, my opponent smiles and says: "Are you allowed to do that? I think I gotta call this!" UPS!

He calls and turns over


I am in a world of pain. The agony ends instantly when the turn card brings the most beautiful


No miracle for him on the river. Maybe a little too frisky, but as long as I also make this move with monster holdings, I am pretty sure it is a profitable play. I cross the million mark!

The final hand of the day is a classic. I was getting ready to gear down and go home to my bed when, in the big blind, I pick up


Tim Phan (a good buddy of mine) opens in first position for 32K, another player calls in middle position and I re-pop it to 152,000 with the intention of taking it down here and now. Surprisingly, Tim decides to call, where as the other player gets out of the way. There is already more than 350K in the pot.

The flop comes


Good flop! Tim checks and I bet 202K once again with the intention of ending it on the spot. Tim, on the hand, disagrees and instantly moves his stack to the middle, and he has me covered. WOW!

What could he have? A4, A3 never. Bottom sets are just not likely either. I put him on AK, in which case we are looking to chop the pot. Calling is inevitable.

He flips over


Suddenly I'm a monster favorite, with exactly an 86.5% chance of winning. And you better believe it - it holds up. You start me up, you start me up I'll never stop!

Obviously I am extremely excited about being the chipleader, but 2.24 million is not gonna cut it with almost 28 million chips in play. I just have to keep going and keep running hot. The Rolling Stones are surely going to be in my iPod Wednesday!

Gus

Gus plays online exclusively at FullTiltPoker.com. Be a part of Gus Hansen's poker community at www.theplayr.com, where among other cool stuff you can check out Gus' blogs, analysis, poker articles, Gus TV, Tips'n'Tricks, "Ask Gus" and even play against Gus in exclusive online and live tournaments.