Didn't Play a Tournament Today

My father and I headed to the Rio at 10:30 a.m. this morning because we knew it would be crowded for the $1500 NL event. We got there and found out they were already signing people up as alternates, and we just left because last time we were an alternate it was miserable. We headed over to the Venetian to sign up for their deep stack event, and unbelievable enough, they were already about 130 people deep on an alternate list. I decided to give up and just play online and my dad went to play the 5k event at the Bellagio. I did manage to make a little over a buy in at $1/2 four tabling, so it wasn't all that bad. Tomorrow is the 1k SHOE event and should be very interesting...

New Record for myself

I played the 2k NL crapshoot today and set a new personal record for the WSOP: I busted in the first hour! I only played for 45 minutes so there isn't much to talk about but I will describe my final hand and my reasoning. I picked up AJ in middle position and made a standard raise. The guy on the button, who was probably the only other decent player at the table, 3 bet me for the second time and for the third or fourth time he was on the button. He was aware of some intermediate concepts like raising on the button and using position but he didn't know how to blend his plays to prevent them from becoming too obvious. So back to the hand, I ended up 4 betting him knowing his range was wide on the button and he thought and then called. At this point, I started with 4k and just put 1300 of it into the pot. The flop came J10x and I bet out 1500 and he instantly shoved and I was forced to call. He turned over a set of tens and I was out. Once, this is another play that I think is really bad based on THESE stack sizes. It's the same reasoning as yesterday, in that he should know that when I 4 bet, I am representing a very small range that is way ahead of TT (AKs, AKo, JJ+) and I am basically committing myself with any continuation bet, which I will make about 90% of the time. So assuming he doesn't flop a set, he will be left with two very difficult scenarios: 1)The flop comes all under cards and he has to call off the rest of my chips, most likely as a big dog or 2) An over card flops and he has to fold to my continuation bet. He is only going to flop a set about 12% of the time, so 88% of the time he will face this type of dilemma. Now, once again, if the stacks are deeper, his play is fine as he is getting the right implied odds to try and hit his set and most likely stack me. Tomorrow is another $1500 NL event and I'm going to do by my best to get it in ahead for once...

5k six handed report

This was one of those events where nothing went right, and I really didn't get any cards to work with. My stack swayed between 7500 and 12500 for about the 3.5 hours that I managed to stay alive. My starting table was pretty tough, with Bill Gazes, Sam Grizzle, and the good internet player Ahh_Snap (who is a very nice guy by the way). The table was actually pretty boring and we didn't play a big pot or lose a person the whole time until we broke. I did manage to get Ahh_Snap to lay down an overpair on a 522 board in a 4 way raised pot. I had been playing tight (because my cards were awful) so I figured it was time to make a move and I felt I could represent something like A2 that called in the big blind due to the immense pot odds the other callers gave me. I then got moved to a table with Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken. After about an orbit, he raised UTG and I was only the caller with 77. He checked to me and I bet out on the 6 high flop. He called and I wasn't exactly sure what to put him on. The turn came another low card and I wanted to check to maybe induce a bluff from him on the river and to keep the pot under control. The river came an Ace and he thought for awhile and the bet out about 2/5 pot. At first I thought this was an awful card but after thinking it through I didn't think he was the type of player that floated out of position with a big Ace, so I was now more concerned about a higher pair than mine. Then I realized that a higher pair would never give a free turn or river card, so I felt he had to be bluffing a missed draw or complete air a good portion of the time here. I made the call and he instantly mucked and then scolded himself for not check/folding as he couldn't possibly represent an Ace there. That was a confidence booster and was also the hand the put me at my pinnacle. I lost a couple thousand chips over the next few orbits to squeezes and a big stack who kept floating in on me in position. My final hand came when I had 10k in chips and was in the big blind with Q9. It folded to the button who made it 700 (blinds were 100/200 with 25 ante) and I made it 2300 leaving me about 7.5k behind. He called my raise, which I didn't really like, but then the flop came 789 and I knew there was no getting away from the hand now. I bet out 3600 and he pushed me in and I called. He turned over 10Js for the nuts, leaving me basically dead to runners which didn't come. In my opinion, this an awful play for him to make with these stack sizes. He has to know I just put in 1/4 of my stack and that just about every flop I am going to make a bet that commits myself to the hand. When a player is in this situation, Jack high doesn't play very well because it's essentially like calling an all in with Jack high. Now if I had a deeper stack, the play is perfectly fine because he has position and a hand that can create a lot of opportunities. Oh well, nothing you can do. Next time I will just make sure my opponent doesn't flop the nuts on my speculative steals...

Lauren's Here!!!!

My girlfriend Lauren arrived yesterday and will be staying with me here in the condo until I leave for the World Series. This will be really cool because now I have someone to hang out with on off days and a partner to experience Vegas with. Plus she is a great cook and has pledged to cook for me, so I am living the life. Some of Lauren's friends are actually in Vegas now as well, and we were going to go to Studio 54 here in the MGM, but her one friend's id wasn't good enough to get past security, so we ended just coming back and going to sleep.
This morning, we got up and worked out, which is the first time I have done that this entire trip. So far, she has had a very good influence on me. I still will be playing all the events I planned, as well as online, and now I have someone to eat with at dinner break, instead of winning lots of money of my last hands of three card poker.
As for poker news, not too much has been happening because there was this 4 day stretch of no tournaments for me. I am playing the $5k six handed event on Thursday, which should be a lot of fun but I imagine the field will be insanely tough like the rest of the 5k events. In the online world, I played a session on Saturday where I made +$280 and then had the +$1200 tournament day on Sunday. I came out and played another session on Monday and got absolutely crushed. I played pretty poorly, plus it was just one of those sessions where I kept getting played back at, and I never had any value punish them with. All of my bluffs got called down, I was getting walks in the big blind when I would have KK and QQ, it was very frustrating. I was down around $900 at one point, but I put in two later sessions and got about $700 back. I would've actually been profitable for the day but I got it all in on an under flop with my JJ against a guy's J8 of diamonds flush draw, and he hit it on the river. Even still, it was nice to make that come back. I will be playing again here in a couple of hours. I need to put in a few good sessions because I only have 500 vpp to go til I get Gold Star again and I only have til the 30th to do it. I promise there will be more poker posts coming the next few days...

My Return to Tournament Sunday

I followed my original plan and was up and ready and at the Rio a little after 11 am. I walk up to the registration cage with my 15 crisp $100 bills and asked to buy into the noon mixed tournament. The lady looked at me a little weird and then said "Do you mean the one at 5 p.m.?". I stood there for a few seconds and told her I would have to get back to her, and then cursed myself for not paying attention. So $20 worth of cab rides later, I was back in my condo signing up for some tournaments on Pokerstars. The Stars Sunday Million was $1k this week, and I've never really had great success in the tournament, so I proposed to my dad to put up half the buy-in in exchange for 30% of my action. He agreed and I was signed up.
I played well for basically the whole tournament, constantly staying well above the average and showing down very few hands. I eventually hit a road block and went card dead a little before the money, and I was blinded down considerably. It also didn't that one guy at my table kept shoving for 30-50 bb's about 2 or 3 times an orbit, and I had to lay down a few of my steal attempts. I squeezed into the money but was a short stack. I then doubled with 77 vs KQ and was in reasonable shape. A few hands later I got KK and one big stack called my raise. An Ace naturally flopped and he called my continuation bet and I was forced to shut down and fold. I did get to execute one of my favorite plays while I had some chips though. One guy limped early position and small blind completed and I checked my big blind with T4 off suit. The flop came down something like Q82 with two hearts. It checked to the early position limper who put out a 2/5 pot size bet. The small blind called and it was to me and I raised it just over 3x the original bet. The both mucked quickly and I had a nice steal. This play is very similar to the preflop squeeze that so many people use nowadays, but it is very rarely used on the flop or later streets. You have to have a decent read on the other players in the hand, but when used effectively, it is very powerful. I ended up busting in the third level of money when I ran my QQ into the all-in donkey's KK. Nothing I can do there with my stack size. I ended up cashing for just over $2800, and $1800 profit. I ship my dad's original $500 plus his cut of $600 from my profit to him, thus giving him a nice return of 120%. I kept my $500 and made $1200 on top of that, so not too bad of a day. It would be nice if I would start cashing in more things that I buy into directly so I don't have to keep shelling out my profits, but that's life until my bankroll gets bigger....

My Final Table Air Date

I just looked on ESPN.com and found the broadcast dates of all the events for this WSOP. My final table will air on August 14th at 8 p.m. I'm thinking about having a party or something along those lines to watch it. I'm a little nervous about what Norman Chad is going to say about me, because he always rags on the younger people. Also, I hope I didn't make any glaring mistakes, but other than that it shouldn't be too bad. I know the interview is going to be awful, because they made me smile about a hundred times, and if you know me at all, that's never a good thing.
As for tomorrow, I had decided today that wasn't going to play the $1500 NL/Limit mix event but I am getting the itch again, so I will be up and at the Rio by noon. I just need to make sure I don't stay up too late tonight. They are running an all night marathon of the 2005 WSOP bracelet events and I've watched a few episodes so far. It's just interesting to be able to compare then and now.
I also have a new fear about this broadcast after watching this latest episode. There is always at least one person per episode that they just show leaving and say how much they won. That better not be me. Since I didn't win, I'm hoping I get some decent air time.

Bubbling events sucks

Yesterday I had my first extreme bubble. I came in 59th place in the 2k Pot Limit event and they only paid top 54 spots. This was really disappointing because I around double the average for the whole tournament. I played pretty well but I did make some mistakes like continuation betting a flop I knew I was going to get check raised on. I also overplayed Aces on a suited and connected board that I knew was smack in the middle of my opponent's range, so that was another mistake. All in all though, I adapted very well to each table I was moved to, often switch between loose, aggressive and tight, aggressive.
I had told myself that if I cashed in another event I was going to buy myself a new Tag Huer watch, so that's why this bubble is so disappointing. My final hand was AK vs TT all in preflop and I just haven't won a single race in a late stage of the tournament. I have been playing a style where I don't show down very often and am very rarely all in during the tournament. Unfortunately, this is a lot harder to do at the late stages of a tournament, and to go super deep in these things, you have to win a race or two. I'm still not running very well but I do think I'm playing well, so if I can get the two to align, I could possibly make another final table.
On a side note, I don't think Travis Rice should be allowed to play tournaments. He's just too good at them. He's already made two final tables, has who knows how many cashes, and was probably top ten in chips when I busted last night. He obviously knows something that most people don't.
I am skipping the $1500 NL crapshoot today because yesterday just really fatigued me. Also, every time I play for a long period live, I get a headache the instant I finish. I think it's almost like lifting, where you muscles get sore after working them really hard. I think I'm in such a state of concentration for like 12 hours that as soon as I finish, my brain starts to feel the effects of all that thinking. Anyways, I'm going to do some homework and cash game grinding, as well as just relaxing and maintaining a low stress level...

In and Out today

I went over to the Rio around 11 am this morning to play in the donkfest that is the $1500 NL event. I got there and was surprised to find a line for this event, which is the first line I've had to stand in since Event #1. It moved quickly though and I was registered in about 20 minutes. There were so many people that my table was actually in the poker room, which is like a ten minute walk from the big main room. I estimated that there were close to 3000 people registered for this event, and by the time my table fills up, I have Mark Seif, Chip Jett, and some Asian guy who I know has been on tv and is solid at my table. This is really hard to believe that I got 3 known pros at my table in a 3000 person event, but what can you do. There were still some very obvious soft spots.
On the first hand, I look down a 77 and make a standard raise, and get called by a woman in the small blind who I know thinks she is good. The flop comes JJ5 and she checks to me and I bet 250. She check-raises to 625, and I made the mistake of just calling. It's a bad play to just call here, because you will face a larger turn bet about 95% of the time and my hand will only improve like 5% of the time. I should have either shoved on the flop or folded. I ended folding on the turn and cursing myself. So I'm down to about 2100 after this hand and I float around here for a couple of orbits. I then get Jh9h in the BB, and it folds to the button who makes it 150. I call and the flop comes 8910 rainbow, which is pretty solid for my hand. I check, intending to check raise, but the original raiser checks behind. The turn is another 9, giving me trips. I bet out 250 and he cold calls. Here I put him on a draw or one pair/two high cards. The river brings the Kc, which completes a backdoor flush draw. I bet 500 and he minraises to 1000, thus making me sick. I thought he might of backdoored me, but I call anyways. He ended up flopping the nuts with QJ and then I unfortunately hit that damn 9 on the turn making it too hard for me to fold. So no I'm left with less than 500 chips and blinds just went up to 50/100. I'm in the big blind with 4c5c and 4 people limp and small blind completes. The flop comes Q67 and I shove. The moron to my left thinks for awhile and cold calls with three people behind him still to act. One more guy calls and I have a chance to basically quadruple. The turn was 10, and the donk to my left bets out 1500 and gets the other guy to fold. He flips over 89 for a turned straight and I'm drawing dead. This play is horrible by him, as he most likely only has 6 clean outs in the majority of scenarios and still 3 more people behind him who could push him off the hand.
It's amazing how many people show up for these $1500 events and how awful about 98% of them play. You can literally look at person and tell they are dead money very easily. Oh, well. There are a few more of these type of tournaments, so if I can ever catch some cards and run well to build a stack early, the rest of the tournament should run pretty smoothly.
I did come back and started 4 tabling 2/4 and within two minutes, I stacked off to a guy who limped mid-position with AA and I had KK in the big blind. I will stack off there every time, and I took the immediate hit pretty well. I haven't been tilting really at all in this pretty long cold streak I have hit in the cash games. I just reloaded and played very well for about another hour and ended up +$150. I plan on quitting for the rest of the day because this will be my first positive session in about 7 days. I don't do this because I think the money is alot or anything, but I do think it helps with confidence, which is something I am beginning to realize is very important as a poker player. Hopefully, this will be a turning point and I can start building back up...

$1500 NL crapshoot tomorrow

I decided not to play any tournament poker today because the events didn't suit me very well and I wanted to do some homework. I still haven't done that homework, but I plan to after this blog post. The next three or four days should be action packed and I could be possibly be playing everyday if I don't make any day 2's. To start it off, there is a $1500 NL tournament tomorrow. I have only played one of these so far, and I had a bad experience and was forced to come in two hours late as an alternate. Getting to play those extra two hours should be very beneficial because it is one of the fews times you actually get to play deep stack poker. I still haven't decided on the optimal strategy for these short stack events. The fields are really soft and my edge is pretty large against the majority of the field, which makes me want to play tight and take advantage of the mistakes they are sure to make. On the other hand though, you only start with 3k in chips, and if you take some chances early and gamble a little bit, you can build a big stack, which is essential for a tournament of this structure. I most likely free style it tomorrow and improvise as I go. It would be really nice to go deep in one of these events, just because I can be assured I would have a much softer final table than last time and would have a good shot at winning. So for now, I will keep this post short and update tomorrow (hopefully after 2am)...

Mixed it up

Today I played the 5 pm 2k Seven Card stud tournament, and this was actually the first time I have ever played it live. I knew I couldn't play the game in a sophisticated manner like I do hold em, but I wanted to change it up and get some experience in other games. Plus, I needed a break from the barrage of beats NL has been giving me. I started off hanging around even in the event, but then I bricked out a few big draws and was down to 2k around level 3. From here I rebounded, and I managed to win a few big pots (one full house over full house) and was at 6k going into the dinner break. The average stack was only 4.5k, so I was in good shape. After returning from dinner, I just got pummeled and lost three big hands, which you can't do when the betting limits get higher. My first hit came when I had the exact same two pair as Brad Berman but he had a better kicker. That was frustrating. A few hands later I start off with AKT all clubs and the turn is a Jack. My opponent was showing nothing higher than a 7 and was playing his hand like a small pair (which he had) so I literally had any card ten or higher as outs. I managed to brick out and ended up with a pair of threes, while my opponent made 6's up. My knock hand was pretty sick. The bring in guy was directly to my left, so I had the best position at the table, and it folded to Brad Berman (he was directly to my right) who had the Ace of clubs showing and raised. This is a standard raise spot and I couldn't give him credit for having an Ace. I look down and see I have three clubs so I call his completion. We both pull a club on fourth, and he bets and I raise. He calls and we both again pull clubs on fifth. I now have a Queen high flush on fifth, and he's showing the AKT of clubs. I knew two clubs were already folded earlier, so I felt it was very unlikely he had a flush. Plus I only had like 1k left in chips and there was no way I was folding. He calls my raise and on 6th pulls another damn club! I only have 400 left so I call and he of course has a buried club, and thus a higher flush. That was all she wrote for me. I wanted to play this game to try and end the cycle of running bad, but it seems to be following me wherever I go.

I really have concluded that tournament poker is depressing. Unless you are on of these sickos who manages to cash in like 1/3 of the tournaments they enter, it just really kills you. This is especially true when you play tight, aggressive like I do. The most common scenario is that I manage to get a little above the starting stack, which allows me to play for around 7 hours until the blinds become crucial and I'm forced to gamble and race a little. I haven't been winning the races lately and have just been playing for 6-8 hours then busting, which gets really frustrating. I need to learn how to get one of those monster stacks where I can just play really aggressive and take chances without risking too much. There are a couple of $1500 events in the next few weeks so maybe I will experiment during those...

Ran bad today

I played the $2500 6 handed event today, and all I can say is that I played pretty well and just ran pretty horrific. My first table was full of nobody's and I ran my 5k stack up to 7k in about 20 minutes with some aggressive play. Then, all of a sudden, this german kid who was being very quiet just starting killing me. He was two to my right and so he had position on me every time I was in the blinds. A got in a few confrontations, one of which I repopped him in the big blind with TT and he shoved over my continuation bet on J84 two diamond board. He had right around 7k in chips as well, so this was a huge shove. I knew he was a solid player and I felt he was trying to represent a a draw but really had a big hand like a set. I layed it down but it kind of tilted me, which I haven't really done much while playing live. From here, I spewed more chips to him while trying to get revenge, and before I knew it, I was down to 2800! I managed to battle back to 4500 and then took out a short stack with QQ and was up to 6k at the first break. My table busted and I got moved to a table with Steve Bilraikis and John D'Agostino, but JDags busted pretty quickly and complained about never having cards. I managed to chip up to about 10k by just restealing this guy's button raise for like 4 straight orbits. My table again busted and I got moved to a table with a boat load of chips. As soon as I sat down, all the players told me about how that seat had seen quite a few victims, but I vowed to change that. About 4 hands into the table, a short stack shoves for 5k and I look down at AA and instacall. He flips up A6 and is all but killed. The flop comes 245, which is like top three worst flops for my hand, and turn is obviously the 3 giving him the straight to the six and leaving me with 4 chop outs only. I missed and was cut in half. I managed to shove steal some blinds and got some guy to lay down an Ace with my k5 shove and was back up to around 8.5k. About three hands later, UTG+1 raises to 1200 (blinds 200/400), I call right behind with AJd, and the two players behind me call, making this a huge 4-way pot. Flop comes AJ2 rainbow. It checks to me and I bet 3k of my 7.5k remaining stack and get called by the small blind. Here, I know he either has another Ace or a set of 2's. The turn brings another 2, making a set of two's look slim, and he pushes me in. I call and he flips over A9, which means he has no possible way of winning the hand. He does have two chops outs, which are the tow 2's left in the deck. Sure enough, another #$%$^%# two falls and I'm now only at like 10.5k when I should've been at 22k, but that's poker. We were also only like 90 people from the money, so I would've been in great shape. After a short break, blinds kicked up to 300/600 with 75 ante, meaning it costed 1350 each orbit. My 10k stack quickly dwindled to 8500, where I then shoved 66 and was called by AJ. I almost got up and walked away then because I knew that if I couldn't fade two outers, I had no chance in hell of winning a coin flip. The door card was an A and was followed by a J and I somehow missed my two outer and was busto. I told everybody good luck and then took my bag of pretzels and did the walk of shame. It really sucks to play well and then get unlucky, but there isn't anything you can do. I am playing the 2k Seven card stud event tomorrow and will probably embarrass myself but I really like playing the game so its more for fun and stress relief than anything else. I have never played the game live before, but maybe if I get some luck, I can make the money.

Also, after telling my dad about today's event, he told me to order a good room service meal on him to make me feel better. I place the order for my food and the operator lady then tells me I can only pay in cash for some reason! So that just summed up today and I am now on some major life tilt...

Weekend Review

As I said before, this weekend my girlfriend and my parents were in Vegas. It was nice having people to hang out with and actually experience some of Vegas. I got to eat good food with Lauren for two nights in a row. I had lunch and hung out with my mom on Friday while my dad played the 2k event, and then I went and picked Lauren up from the airport around 6:30. We then came back, settled in, and went to Emeril's Seafood place here in the MGM. It was very good food and I haven't had a southern style meal in awhile, and that was certainly the right place to get it. My dad played another event on Saturday while my mom did her Vegas thing, which consists of walking around and going to the pool and such. Lauren and I bought monorail tickets and just rode it to a couple of the further out Casinos on the strip, and then we casually walked back, making our way through various casinos. We also got crushed in 3 card poker and I was hoping to show her one of my good sessions, but it just wouldn't happen. Lauren and I had an early dinner at Jasmine in the Bellagio before we saw the Cirque De Soleil show "O". It was actually very good and had a lot of cool water tricks and olympic quality diving stunts. I highly recommend seeing it. My mom left Sunday morning and Lauren and I went to dinner with my dad after he busted from the 3k event. It was nice having dinner with my dad on Father's Day and it was great getting to see both my mom and dad. After dinner, I had to drop Lauren off at the airport unfortunately. I really hate being away from her (only two more weeks!). I had breakfast with my dad this morning and then off he went, and here I am now, along again. It shouldn't be a big deal because I have quite a few events planned over the coming weeks, as well as plenty of homework, so I should be busy enough. Now I have to go get ready for the 6 handed $2500 event. I want multiple cashes in the WSOP so I don't feel like a fluke, so let's see if I can make that happen...

My Girlfriend comes today!!!

So like the title says, my girlfriend Lauren is coming in about 7 hours. My parents actually just got here an hour ago so I'm going to have more visitors than I know what to do with. It's a welcome change though, considering I'm usually all alone here. It'll also be nice to have a few days that don't consist of poker and watching movies. I can finally get out and experience some more of Vegas. My dad came here and jumped into the $2k event today. He wanted to come out yesterday to play the Stud 8/B event because he claims he's good at the game and used to play it all the time back in the day. I'm thinking I might start playing some lower stakes draw games on UB to mix it up. I used to play some 7 card stud on there just for fun, but I think I might try seriously now, as well as buy book on it. I want to become good enough to enter one of the smaller buy-in WSOP events and hopefully be able to compete. I also want to learn how to play this game aggressively, which is what the book is for, so I can throw off the all of the old timers who have been playing this since they were 15. Plus it's always fun to hear bitter, old people make comments about younger people in casinos.

By the way, I am going to go on another rant here for a paragraph. So far I am loving the World Series and I love the whole competitive thing about trying to win a bracelet. From being out here, you can really sense that people are after these bracelets and it really isn't just about the money. I came into this World Series not giving a damn about a bracelet, and I even jokingly said I would sell mine on EBAY if I won one. But after seeing all of these respected pros and internet kids entering every event possible in the attempt to win one, it makes me want one so much more. Ok, that was just my introduction to the rant. The essence of the rant is what I have named "bogus bracelets". I know it sounds corny and lame, but I wanted the name to have some consonance without using the vulgar B-word. So, let me explain the bogus bracelets. From reviewing the schedule, I have labeled three events as bogus bracelet events: the Casino employee event, the Ladies event, and the Seniors event. These events make no sense to me. Poker isn't an athletic competition or an activity that favors a certain stature or size. Poker is a mind game and that's what makes it so great. Anybody can play this game and be good at it, no matter what size, gender, or age they are. So why does the WSOP have to have events that limit the entrants to a certain category? I know the argument could be "they are trying attract every type of person to the WSOP" but fact is that they don't need to. Every event I have played in so far has had women and old people in it, so they certainly have plenty of chances to win a bracelet like the rest of us. All these segregated events do is allow people like Jennifer Tilly to walk around and think they are good because they can beat a field of 500 women, in which half of them don't even know all the rules. She has sponsorship deals (mostly due to her looks) with internet sites, and people actually think she is a good player!!! This woman hasn't done anything in three years, and the two events she has won in her life have been ladies events! So this post turned more into a Jennifer Tilly rant than a bogus bracelet rant, but the two are highly correlated.

Getting back on topic, I won't be playing any poker until Sunday's $3k event, which is good because I haven't been able to fade a draw for the past couple of days and it's starting to get me on some major tilt. I'm picking up Lauren around 6:30 at the airport and then we will come back here, get her settled in, and then go out to dinner. I was also planning on taking her to play some 3 card poker, and I'm definitely staking her. Every first timer in this game that I have seen play, always wins big! So far my sample size consists of myself, my dad, and my brother, but Lauren has the lady luck factor and first time factor, so I feel it's a good investment. I plan on maybe ending the night with the Bellagio fountain show, but I might save that for tomorrow since we will be seeing the O show of Cirque De Soleil, which is at the Bellagio anyways. It should be a good couple of days off.

Oh and final note: Before I came out here, my brother Jono wanted some action and gave me $1500 to use toward a $3k event and I told him I would give him 40%. SO if I had to guess, I will finish top 5 again and end up giving another 60-80k away to another family member...

Awful Day of Poker

Today was filled with a bunch of bad beats and coolers, with some bad play by me thrown in there. I played the $5k NL WSOP event today and didn't even make it to the first break. My table was pretty tough with Kathy Liebert, Allan Kessler, Danny Wong, and none other than my nemesis Jason Lester. On the second hand, I get 88 UTG+1 and raise to 150, which is then popped to 350 by Lester, which I obviously called. I defined Jason's range as AK, JJ+ here because he is a pretty tight, solid player and would most likely smooth call with a hand like AQ or AJ. Flop came A107 rainbow. I check and he fires out 400. I check raise to 1400, knowing he will fold with over half of that range. He flat calls and the turn comes the 8d. I of course fire out about a 2/3 pot bet which he again calls. Now, I'm positive he either has AK or a set, with the only likely set being AA or TT if my range was too tight. The river comes a 9, making the board AT789, but I knew a Jack or seven was out of the question for his hand. I check and he thinks for awhile and bets 4500, which would leave both of us with 1700 behind. I say to him "I have this bad feeling you have top set" but I reluctantly call anyways, praying for AK, even though I knew he wouldn't try to value bet an AK in this spot. He sure enough had flopped the nuts and I was down to 1700. I float around 1700 for about an hour when I get AK utg and make a 3x raise and get two callers, one of them being Jason Lester. Flop comes Axx, and I check in an attempt to get a bet out there that would be committed to call my shove. Checks to Jason who bets 600, and I shove for 800 more and he calls. He flips AQ and is dominated by my AK until the Q on the river sends me packing. Until we meet again Lester...

I decided to come home and play some cash games and got drilled for 3 buy ins in about 3 hours. My first one went when I flopped top two and a guy flopped bottom set. The second $400 loss was when my AK lost to another AK all in preflop. I don't usually get all in with that hand preflop in cash games, but the action was limp, raise, cold call, I 3 bet for a squeeze, limper and original raiser fold, and cold caller shoves. I know he has no better than a medium pair or a has a hand like AQ, AK so I call. He of course makes a one card flush with his AK and I rebuy. The last buy-in that I dropped came when I 3 bet an aggressive cut off raiser with 44 and he called. I put his range at 77+, AQ+. Flop comes 4s6h2s. I continuation bet and he smooth calls OOP. Here, I put him on an over pair or a big suited A. Turn is an offsuit T, and he checks to me and I value shove, making it look I missed with AK or I have a flush draw and hoping he calls with his overpair. He calls and has JT of spades and naturally hits his 8 outer on the river and I nearly fall off my chair.

So now I'm slightly depressed and going to eat junk food and watch a movie in bed. I might play at like ten or eleven tonight to try and catch the drunk crowd depending on how I feel. The one good thing of news is that I got my sponsorship money today so that was good for the account. Hopefully we can turn this around...

An update

Today I woke up, after less than adequate sleep, and remembered I had pre-registered about a week ago for the $2500 NL tournament today. I was still really drained and didn't feel like playing, but I'm not one to just throw away money (pre-registration is non-refundable) so I decided to go ahead and play. No miracle story here today. I just played pretty poorly and couldn't hit a flop for the life of me. People kept flopping top pair on these stale boards that were perfect for continuation bets, and would just check raise me or call down and force me to slow up. So I was whittled down to about a half stack after about four hours of play and was in push/fold mode. I got A7 o clubs in the big blind and shoved over a small blind raise and he flipped over 88. I pulled a beautiful flop of 7hJc5c but was unable to spike one of my 14 outs and I was busto. I wasn't depressed as this gave me a chance to go back to the condo and rest some.

I lounged for a little bit and then got the itch to play online some. I am still in the process of feeling out 2/4, so I knew it wasn't going to be a long session. I played for half an hour and and ended up just over +$350. I was never involved in a really big pot and I just slowly built my way up by playing my postion, making some nice, light 3 bets, and executing some great check-call river setups. All in all, I felt I played really solid and am starting to swing back up again, which is always good for the account. I also talked to the guy who set up my Pokerstars representation deal for yesterday's final table and he said Pokerstars will be depositing the money in my account no later than three weeks from now. With this money (not going to specify how much), I will be adequately bankrolled for 3/6, but I still plan on playing 2/4 for at least another month to make sure I can continue to beat these stakes and be properly prepared to make the jump.

On a side note, I had Tony Cousineau at my table again and he was doing some great Borat impressions. It cracked me up so much that I think I am going to watch that movie tonight while I chill out and eat one of my frozen pizzas. Sometimes you just need a night like this to recharge your battery and get ready to perform your best in upcoming events...

No bracelet for me...

Well, as I described in the last post, I managed to final table the $5k Pot limit holdem event and was 2nd in chips to start out. I unfortunately was only able to manage a 5th place finish, but that was good for $99,000! Half of it went to my dad for staking me, so I made a nice $50,000 for three days of work. I am pleased with the way I played, but it was just one of those days where things didn't pan out. Here's a quick tournament summary:

The table started off really tight and it took at least ten minutes before we even saw a flop. Then finally a few people started to bust and the blinds started to get rather large and created a lot more action. The table short stack, Jason Lester, was down to 4 big blinds at one point and he just kept doubling up. He was never better than a coin flip and one time was completely dominated and ended up hitting runner runner straight to stay alive. Humberto was very similar except that every time he was all in he would have his opponent out-kicked when both players would flop top pair. It was very frustrating because my strategy was to try to maintain my starting chip stack by playing small pot poker and stealing blinds and antes while some of the shorter stacks got knocked out. I planned on using my decent sized stack to take more chances and gamble some more if we got 5 handed, but it took so long to get there that I was down to 4th place when there were five people left and the blinds were just getting too detrimental. It also didn't help that I was severely cold decked the entire time, and I at one point got 62 about three out of eight hands! Jason Lester raised pot UTG 5 handed, which was about half of his stack, and I put him all in with my 99. He flipped over AJ of hearts and we were off to the races. Flop was beautiful, coming ten high and not giving him any draws at all, and then the turn was another perfect blank. He was down to 6 outs, or about 11% going to the river, and then it came: the Jack of spades. This basically crippled me, leaving me with 280,000 with 20k/40k blinds, so only a little over 4.5 pot sizes. A couple of hands later I got 77 and potted it. Jeff Alisandro min-raised it to isolate but then Jason Lester tanked for like 3 minutes and then shoved for only like 200k more, and Lisandro called. I knew Jason had a hand like AK or JJ, and I was praying the both had a big Ace. Jason ended up having AK and Lisandro had QQ and the queens held. Jason and I were both knocked out on the hand, but he got 4th because he started the hand with more chips than I did (thanks to me doubling him up).

So that was that, and I was off to the exit interview. I did have a press guy come up to me and tell me that he knew some reporters and journalists in the State College area and wants to try and get me interviewed and article written. I thought that was pretty cool and will maybe put me up there with other more well known PSU poker players like Ryan Daut, Martine23, and Aaron Bartley.

All in all, this was an amazing experience, as well as an enriching one, literally! I accomplished both of my goals for the World Series already: Making a final table and having a profitable WSOP. This was most likely my best shot at a bracelet but I'm playing well so far and running semi-good so who knows what else I'm capable of...

Final Table of $5k Pot Limit Event

I am still in shock as I write this. I actually made a final table of the World Series of Poker and this is a televised event. Not only that, but this was probably the hardest field of any tournament next to the $50k HORSE event. Do you want to hear some even better news??? I am 2nd in chips going into the final 9 players!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, it really feels like I'm going to wake up any second and realize I'm still in New Castle or something. It is all so surreal. I have an interview with ESPN scheduled for 12:30 p.m. tomorrow and the final table starts at 2 p.m. As soon as play finished for the night, I had a guy come up to me asking if I wanted to wear any of the Poker Sites' emblems and that I would be paid a certain amount depending on what place I finish.

PLACE

PLAYER

AMOUNT

TREND

HISTORY

1

Jeffrey Lisandro

982,000

$-18,000

2

Joe Patrick

631,000

$178,000

3

Travis Rice

544,000

$-6,000

4

Gavin Griffin

524,000

$-99,000

5

Allen Cunningham

346,000

$5,000

6

Jason Lester

295,000

$-32,000

7

Alan Jaffray

254,000

$-1,000

8

Humberto Brenes

225,000

$80,000

9

Keith Lehr

182,000

$92,000

Those are the chip counts directly from Cardplayer.com and as you can see it's insane final table. Jeff Lisandro is the Australian guy who has had plenty of WSOP success and he is really aggressive and not afraid to throw chips around. Travis Rice is an internet kid that I've seen hanging around all the other well-known internet kids, so he's obviously good and has probably logged the most hands at the table. Gavin Griffin is probably the hottest player on the circuit right now, fresh off of winning the EPT Championship for over 2 million dollars and he just finished second in a WSOP event like 4 days ago so enough said. Allen Cunningham is Allen Cunningham and is probably in the top 5 best players in the world. Jason lester made the final table of the main event the year Moneymaker won, and believe it or not, he won this exact event last year!! How do these guys do it? Alan Jaffray is some guy wearing a lot of Pokerstars stuff and is friends with Bill Chen, and has been pretty solid from what I've seen so far. Humberto Brenes is well known and gets a lot of media attention with his obnoxious yelling and pther gestures but he is definitely a good player. The guy is ninth is just insane. I am not saying he plays like a maniac or anything, he just literally might have a few screws loose. All he says is tight is right and then he randomly pulls his glass eye out of the socket and places it on his chips when he goes all in! This is the most convincing thing that shows I'm dreaming because people in the real world just don't do that.

PLACE

PRIZE

1

$487,287

2

$294,620

3

$197,348

4

$132,813

5

$99,142

6

$78,565

7

$58,924

8

$43,959

9

$31,800

Those are the payouts so let's see if we can make something fantastic happen. The worst case is I bust early, but still make it on TV and get a decent amount of money. I am a definitely at a high in my poker career right now, just how high will be determined tomorrow...

Finally made a Day 2!!!

Yesterday, I played I entered the $5k Pot Limit Holdem World Championship under the usual stake deal with my dad. You start with 10k in chips and I managed to make it to Day 2 in 26th place out of 51 people remaining. Unfortunately, you dont get into the money until only 36 people are left, so I still have to keep chipping up, as blinds will be getting pretty high.

To summarize, I started off pretty slow and wasn't able to win a pot at my first table. As our table broke, I was moved to a tough table (most of these tables are tough though) with my stack of 7800. I picked up 56 hearts on small blind and completed, as did two other limpers, one of them being Dutch Boyd. The flop came A74 rainbow and Dutch bet from the button. I was the only caller and I led out on the 8 turn to confuse him. I thought there was a good chance he had limped with an Ax hand, so I didn't want to check and then have him check behind to control the pot size, which is what I would've done with that type of hand. He called my turn bet and then my nice sized value bet on the river and mucked. This hand put me up to about 13.5k and from there I just kept winning small and medium sized pots for the rest of the night. I did make some pretty big bluffs, one of which was against Jeff Lisandro who was defending his blind from my button raise. He is an aggressive player and will push the action if he thinks you are weak. I ended up getting my whole stack in the river with complete air and he insta mucked. I don't remember the exact board, but it was a lot of middle connecting cards with only one card needed for a straight, so I felt there was enough out there to scare him off. I then showed him to try and tilt him because I knew he was a bit of hot head, but it didn't seem to affect him and he even joked about it a couple times with me later. I also had TT one hand in EP and got two callers of my raise. The board came AQx and we checked around. The turn was the K and I felt this was a good scare card for me to bluff because I felt I could represent a couple of hands:
1) A missed check-raise with AQ or QQ
2) Pocket Kings that were vulnerable to the Ace but now made trips

So I bet about 3/5 of the pot to look like I wanted a call but still was trying to get some good value from the hand. One guy folded and the other guy tanked for about 3 minutes (which is a really long time sit there staring at the felt trying not to move at all) and then finally mucked. That hand put me to right around 60k with about 20 minutes left in the night and then I just stole blinds to maintain that same level.

So now I have the opportunity to finally cash in my first World Series event, and this one would a great one to do it because first level money is $14k, so 9 grand profit, which is much more then a lot of these events. The good thing about Pot limit is that there are never any antes, so you can be patient and only have to be concerned with the blinds. My goal is to try and stay afloat around the 60k mark by staling blinds and small pots until I am able to pick up some cards and maybe win a larger pot to put me in better shape to go deep in this thing. I will give the full report after today's action. You can also follow along on cardplayer.com, but I'm not sure how often they update. I was pumped for them to finally ask for my name so that the beginning of my ink in that magazine....

Cash Game Update and a New Goal

Before I discuss the cash game stuff, I did play in the $1000 Bellagio tournament today but busted pretty early. There is nothing to really highlight here, but I want to use this blog as a sort of journal for what I'm calling "my summer as a professional poker player", so I want to keep a well documented source of every tournament I play.

Ok, now for the cash game status. After I returned from Europe (around May 27th), I ran up about $1000 in four, short sessions of play at 1/2. Since then though, I have basically given all of that back in two longer than average sessions in which I took some horrific bad beats and had some really bad set ups. But hey, that's poker. So like every good cash game player does when they are on a bit of down streak, I stepped up to 2/4 and flopped top set against a guy's middle set and stacked him for a cool $400. I then ran a nice bluff with absolute air to take down a $200 pot, and I can tell I made the guy lay down top pair with a marginal kicker. So as I reflected on my recent results with the big swings in the 1/2 and on tonight's 2/4 session, I came to realize a few things:

1) My winning sessions are too short and my losing sessions are too long. I still haven't conquered the problem of getting up and then being afraid to lose it all back. On the opposite, once I am down, I feel I can't quit until I get it back or a certain pain threshold is reached, which is why my losing days, while few, were often anywhere between $400-800. I do believe the great results I've had in 1/2 thus far reflect my ability and I feel they would've been even better had I been able to continue playing when I was up and instituted a stop loss for my down days.

2) I have been reading and studying poker a ton these days. I've been really trying to improve on hand reading and have learned some nice bluff techniques and situations, as well as other ways to exploit players. The only problem was that I would sometimes try these things at the 1/2 level and I would get destroyed. These concepts are for thinking players to use on other thinking players, and there are very few thinking players at the 1/2 level. From my short session at 2/4, the play was definitely more solid, which allowed me to bluff a player out of a nice pot.

So after all of this deep thinking, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to start playing 2/4 now (two to three tables until I get comfortable) and try to start climbing up the middle stakes ladder. My original goal was to take my starting $8k Pokerstars bankroll and build it to $12k before moving up. I made it as high as $11.5k and am now at $11k, so it's close enough. My new goal is $20k and then I will move up to 3/6, so here goes another run...

Oh and btw, I am playing the World Championship Pot Limit Holdem $5000 event tomorrow, and once again I am on the staking deal with my dad. I can't afford to play all these 5k events yet, but I think my dad is dying for some action since he can't be out here for another week, so he is putting me up for another one. I also feel it isn't a bad investment for him because I feel I am starting to play pretty well and if I can get some things to go my way, like they did for the Bellagio tournament, I am capable of something pretty big. So if I get anywhere near a decent stack, I'll make sure those bastards from Cardplayer give me some ink, so stay tuned...

Out of $2k event

Semi-bubbled the 2k event today. I am not going to go into very much detail, but I started off rolling and then went card dead for basically the rest of the tournament and had to bluff and steal just to hang around. I played for about 8 hours and never really got off the short stack, with my key hand being my AQc losing to J3s, which crippled me. I missed the money by like 130 people and still have not cashed in a WSOP event. It's very depressing to play for so long in one day and then having to go home empty handed. I know it's coming, I'm just not sure when...

As for tomorrow, I was going to play the six-handed $1500 WSOP event but I think I'm going to play that same Bellagio tournament again because it has a better structure. Hopefully I can match yesterday's performance...

Biggest Cash in my Poker Career!

I just 4-way chopped a $1000 tournament at the Bellagio for $18,395!!!!

I wasn't scheduled to play any WSOP events today so I decided I was going to play one of the $300 buy-in tournaments at the Venetian for their Deep Stack tournament series. When I looked at the schedule and realized it was a HORSE event, I decided to pass and instead play the $1000 tournament at the Bellagio.

The tournament had 102 entrants and a 5k starting stack. Everything went pretty smoothly for me all the way down to the final two tables. I never had to go all in and just built up slowly while constantly staying above the average. When we got to the final two tables, the blinds started getting large and I was beginning to get short. I managed to double up on a nice cooler where I got QQ in the small blind and the big blind had JJ. This allowed me to head into the final table in about seventh place. Here I went card dead for awhile as two guys got knocked out and I was in about 7th or 8th out of 8 remaining. I managed to double with AJ vs. A3, which kept me afloat for a little longer as another player busted. I began to get short again (about 10 big blinds) when I got 7c9c and shoved over a button limper. The big blind, who had about as many chips as me, woke up with AQ and called, but I hit a 9 and crippled him. It felt really good to win one of those for once. This left us with 5 people and I was just barely in second place after winning a couple of smaller pots. The fifth player (an internet guy who said he is sharing a house with lilholdem, gbmantis, and some others that I wasn't able to hear) busted a little later and then we decided to chop. We chopped by percentages because the blinds and antes were getting crazy with the chip leader getting $24k (he had about 50% more chips than I did) and the rest us getting between $17,500 and $21,000.

It feels really good to finally break the $10k+ mark for the first time, especially in a live event. This is also gives me some confidence going into this next stretch of WSOP events, especially some of the bigger buy-in events with deeper stacks. Hopefully I can set another record on this trip and do something truly amazing like win a bracelet or two, but for now I am very happy! I only wish I had some people out here to celebrate with...especially my girlfriend!

Condo Pictures

I finally took some pictures of the place:

Living room (couch pulls out to bed as well)


Kitchen


Bathroom and Shower #1


Bedroom with King size bed


Desk area in bedroom Pop-up tv in desk


Bathroom and shower #2 with Jacuzzi tub


Pool area

We also have another one right next door that is smaller and set up more like a normal hotel room for when my parents/friends visit. The nice thing about this place is that it is part of the MGM so we get full access to everything the MGM offers (like huge pool area with lazy river) and everything that each of these three towers offer like pools, fitness areas, starbucks and other cafe places. Ok, I have reached my limit for number of blog posts in one day. I'm going to play some online cash games now...

Busto in $1500 PL Hold-em event

This event wasn't in my original schedule but I needed something to do, so I decided to play it. I think I might play a few more of these events but I feel people really don't know how to play pot-limit in general. For some reason, they feel they need to bet pot every time they want to bet, and this leads to them getting involved in a big pot every hand they play. If you can get some cards or make a big hand, you can slow play and extract a ton of value from people. As for my tournament, things didn't really go that well. I lost about a third of my 3k starting stack with Q5 on a AQQ23 board to a guy with QJ who never once raised for value, just check-called all the way down. This same guy asked earlier how to make a pot-sized bet. That hand knocked me down to around 2100 and I later managed to get it all in with AK against a guy with 175 chips less than me that had AQ. I'm sure you can guess that he sucked out and hit a queen, thus leaving me with a depressing 175 chips. Somehow I manage to triple the next hand with K2 and then double the hand after that. This put me around 1200 which I ran up to about 2k before our table broke. I got moved to another table with a few good internet players (think I might know who they are based on some overheard conversations but still just a guess) and Tony Cousineau (sp?), who I know I have heard of but wasn't sure what he had done. I managed to double my 2k stack with a set of 8's and got as high as 5500 until I had to fold to a couple of reraises preflop. With about 10 bb's left, I got it in with JJ against QQ and good game me. I feel I can do well in these events but I keep losing a big pot early, which basically handcuffs me from playing pots while the blinds are still low.

I am not playing any more WSOP events til Wednesday, so until then I am going to do some homework, run some errand, and maybe play one of the $300 deep stack events at the Venetian. Oh, I also played online cash games last night for about 1.5 hours (long for me) and ended up +$225. I am going to keep playing the online cash games when I can to help make back some of the money that I've dropped on these WSOP events. I plan on taking some pictures of the condo and posting those, so stay tuned for that...

0/2

Well, busted out of the $1500 event in about three hours. Due to the WSOP's ill-preparedness, I was forced onto the waiting list because they capped the event at three thousand people for some unknown reason. I didn't actually get into the tournament until 2 hours after it started, thus putting me in at the 50/100 level with 3k starting stack. There were already two huge stacks at my table, so it was a really bad position. I did manage to double up semi-early with JJ surviving over AK, but then one of the big stacks (a good, younger player) kept floating in on me in position and I couldn't make anything solid. Thus, I ground down to about 2500 and shoved in the big blind, which was 200 at the time, against three limpers and was called by a guy with K5. A five obviously hit and sent me home in time to catch a good portion of the Cavs game, so not a bad consolation.

I have already pre-registered for the $1500 pot-limit holdem event, but if it plays anything like today's event, I may limit the number of $1500 events I play. Three thousand chips just isn't enough but I really like how bad the players are in these events, so I will need to weigh out the pros and cons...

First WSOP Event

I have to make this a quick post because the next event starts soon. My father staked me for the $5000 mixed No-limit/Limit holdem event. All in all, this tournament was pretty miserable for me. You start with 10k in chips and after about one hour, I lost a big pot with a flopped set of Jacks that got killed by runner runner straight. I misplayed the hand in hindsight and tried to get to tricky but what can you do. That left me with 3k, which was pretty sad. I somehow managed to grind this stack up down between 2k and 6k for the next 9 hours, with my high point being 12k. The tournament switched between no-limit and limit every 30 minutes, and the limit blinds and betting amounts just got so far ahead of the no-limit blinds that it made very tough for me to get chips as a short stack. It also didn't help that I suck at limit and managed to lose another flopped set of Jacks to runner runner straight. So I would never play another event like this, but it was still a good experience. Also, the field was insanely hard with at least two known pros at each table as well as few good internet kids at each as well.

On a side not, the condo is awesome! I'll save more of the details for another post, as well as pictures, but I will say it does have a flat screen tv that rises out of the desk! Ok, time take on a bunch of scrubs in the $1500 NL event...