My second event for the series was my favorite type of preliminary event at the WSOP, NL Hold'em with rebuys.

I have always loved rebuy tournaments, and they are also where I have made the most money online. Naturally, I always go into these tournaments with high hopes.

I had a lineup of familiar faces at the table, including Brad Berman, Chris McCormick and Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer.

However, squaring off against such opponents can be a good thing in rebuy tournaments because it means that they are ready and willing to fire away to accumulate chips during the rebuy period.

For example, there are only two days a year I want to see Daniel Negreanu at my starting table in a tournament, and it is for the two $1,000 w/rebuy WSOP events. He is famous for moving in blind every hand during the rebuy period, and has been in for more than $25k on multiple occasions.

As expected, my table was gambling. I rebought right away, which brought me to $4k. I doubled through Chris McCormick with 10♦ 10♠ versus his 7♦ 9♦ after I flopped top set and he turned two pair ... not a bad spot to be in.

Only two days a year you want to see PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu at your table - the two $1,000 w/rebuy WSOP events.

Then I decided to gamble for a $15k pot with the Russian who was calling all-ins with hands like K♣ 4♣. I had A♠ 8♣, and to my astonishment somehow he had 10♥ 10♦. I failed to get there and was forced to double-rebuy.

Fortunately, the Russian did not care that he had chipped up, and continued to get it in with nearly any two cards. I limp-reraised him from UTG with A♣ K♦ for $4k with the blinds at $50/$100; he called with 5♥ 8♦. I told him that I appreciated the business, win or lose. Fortunately, I made aces-full and got a few of my chips back.

I ended up being in for $6,000 after the double add-on and had about $13k chips going to $100/$200 ... not bad but not great. After the rebuy period, the table calmed down and I went card-dead. I was down to just under $8k when the following hand came up.

Nine-handed, with the blinds at $200/$400 with a $50 ante, WPT Champion and newcomer to the table Shawn "buck21/buck99" Buchanan opened for $1,050 from the cut-off. I woke up with A♣ A♠ in the small blind. Now the question ... trap, or three-bet?

I haven't played very much with Shawn, but from what I know of him, he likes to open a lot of pots and plays a pretty loose-aggressive game overall.

Since he was opening in this spot with a wide range of hands and wouldn't be getting a good price if I moved in, I decided to smooth-call. Brad Berman called from the big blind, and we took the K♣ Q♠ T♦ flop three ways.

This was a pretty sick flop for aces ... but with almost $4k in the middle and just under $7k left in my stack, I had no intention of folding. I checked, and unfortunately they both checked behind me.

The 7♠ rolled off on the turn. I checked again, still hoping to get at least one more bet out of an inferior hand and still ready to go broke to a better one. Brad Berman bet $2,800, and Shawn folded.

I moved in for $6,750 total, and Brad tanked for almost a minute while trying to talk himself out of calling $3,950 more with such great pot odds. He was unable to do so, and called with Q♥ 8♥.

The 8♣ fell on the river ... and really screwed up my opportunity to make this blog any longer!

--Matt Stout

"All In At 420"

More Blogs from Matt Stout:

• WSOP Event 2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
• Monte Carlo Part 2: How to Play AA?
• Monte Carlo Part 1: Extracting Value
• Tournament Tipping: Don't Stiff Your Dealers