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My last two WSOP events were really pretty boring. I'll see if I can recap them although they are not as fresh in my mind as usual.

I got off to a decent start in the $2500 NL. My table was fairly easy except for David Chui to my left and John Phan a few to my right. Early on I limped with Ah5h and David Chui raised behind me and I called and flopped the nut flush. I check raised the flop (he bet 125 I made it 400), he quickly called. The turn was a blank and I bet 600 and he called. The river was another blank and I moved in for 1050 and he folded.

I went card dead for awhile then made a pretty loose call preflop against a guy who raised from early position. I had QJo and the flop cames JT9. He bet 750 into a 600 chip pot which was a bit strange and he only left himself with 1300. My read on the player was that he would not bet here with like AK but in such a short stacked tournament I had no chance to put my chips in. He thought for quite a while before folding which surprised me.

Toward the end of level 2 I goofed up in a pot. I made it 150 from EP with AhJh, I had been rarely opening. I received a bunch of callers and the flop came KK7 two hearts. I checked because there were so many people in the pot - it was checked around and a small card came off on the turn. Again I didn't bet and probably should have and the tight player to my left bet. It really felt like he was protecting a hand like 88 or 99, but before I could really figure the whole story out I figured I was too weak to represent the king so I just called (I was priced in). I missed on the river and it went check/check and he had 99.

At the end of level 2 I had about 3500 (started with 2500). The hand after the break I posted the 100 BB and the button moved in for about 1000. I had AJo and decided to call and dodged his 76s. We broke the table the next hand and I moved over feeling pretty good about my 4600 chips. My new table was pretty tough. I folded most hands for a couple of orbits and then probably got a little impatient. I opened twice and had to give up to re-raises. I then limp/called with 87s and then check / folded the flop. I think I was down to about 3000 when two players open limped and I had AQo. It was the biggest hand I had seen all day and I wanted to make a large raise to take the pot down so I made it 600. Stan then moved in behind me for about 1050 more. The limpers folded and despite the knowledge that STan is a tight player I knew I had to call given the 2.5 to 1 or so odds I was getting. He had AK and I was down to about 1300 or so. The blinds then doubled to 100/200 and I started open pushing a bunch.

I finally got down to about 1200 in the 100/200 level and had to push over a min raiser with 44, he called with AQ and I made running diamonds to win the pot on the river. Again, our table broke and I took my 2800 or so chips to my new table where I found Mike Matusow and a bunch of people I didn't know. I treaded water for a few rounds - and then a couple of close decisions came up.

We were playing 100/200/25 and the cutoff opened for 700 and the button cold called. I looked down at 44 in the BB and had about 3000 chips or so. I ultimately decided to muck. It turned out that the cutoff had KK and the button had AQ and I would have ended up losing for sure.

A few hands later Matusow open limps with a big stack, the player to his left limps, the button makes it 900 and I look down in the SB with 77 and about 2700 chips. Another tough decision I think - I really thought that the button had a big hand, and probably one that was a bigger pair because I figured he would raise larger with AK. I ultimately folded and the BB moved in for 2900. Matusow then cold called, and the then button over pushed for like 8000 more. He had Matusow covered... Matusow took a minute or two and said something like "I've only folded this hand 4 times in my life" which means he has KK - and he actually folded face up after too much thought. The big blind ended up having AJ and the button had only AK! What an interesting situation had I pushed with the 77 and gotten heads up with a big overlay vs AK having KK and AJ out of the hand! The button had AdKd and flopped the nut flush draw and then rivered an ace for good measure so I would've lost anyway. (And Matusow would have busted as well and I believe he ended up making the final table).

I then got nothing. I felt really frustrated at the 100/200/25 level because I had about 12-16 big blinds the whole way which is a really awkward stack size for opening pots. I opened for 600 in the cutoff but the button called and I flopped nothing and gave on the turn - Eventually the blinds went to 150/300/25 and I open pushed with J7o for about 1500 chips and ran into 33 and lost.

The $1k rebuy was the next day. I again drew Greg Raymer (also Kevin Song and Shawn Sheikan) at my table and was happy because I figured he would be a rebuy donkey and I could spend little and build a big stack. It turned out that I was the rebuy donkey and spent all the money I had on me, a total of 7k to end the rebuy period with only 3050 chips. Meanwhile Raymer spent 4k and had about 8k chips. I was actually quite frustrated by the end of the rebuy level because I had run out of money to rebuy with (and only had the 2k chips for the double add-on). I almost gave up and quit because its tough to play the tournament with less than 4k at the break.

Anyway, after the break, I finally got TT on the button and raised....and of course just won the blinds. I blinded off a bit down to about 1700 or 1800 with the blinds 100/200 and jammed from the button with J8s and the BB looked me up with A9. I lost, but had 50 chips left, which I lost the next hand with K7 vs AJ.

I had already planned to come home two days later and I was looking forward to the break. I played 8 events, didn't make a dinner break, didn't cash and spent $25,000. Not a great start.

Throughout my trip out west I had started to play speed sit and goes on Party. I had a great run in the $200 turbos, I played 250 of them and had a 32% ROI (return on investment) which is running phenomenal. I of course wanted to move up to the 500's, so I did that and of course ran way worse (and of course they are tougher). Overall I've played 570 of the $500's and am happy with the results. I think I have run slightly better than normal overall, but if I can keep my ROI in the ballpark I am fairly certain that I have a higher EV in the SNGS than anywhere else. We'll see.

I won't be playing much in the next week - next Tuesday ESPN is airing the New Orleans Circuit Event that I won. Its on from 8pm-10pm, hope you all enjoy it. Wednesday I return to Vegas for the rest of the World Series. Take care everyone.

Edit : Oh! I almost forgot. Here are two entertaining sit and go hands from tonight.

NL Texas Hold'em $530 Buy-in Trny:25944575 Level:3 Blinds(50/100) - Wednesday, July 12, 23:48:36 ET 2006
Table Speed Stiff Ripples (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 8: Nordberg ( $1660 )
Seat 9: herpes4l1fe ( $1575 )
Seat 2: acerattata ( $2925 )
Seat 5: HuseYourDadi ( $1850 )
Seat 3: Donkey ( $2533 )
Seat 4: rozazalm ( $5707 )
Seat 6: robert07 ( $1730 )
Seat 7: Kapiti ( $2020 )
Trny:25944575 Level:3
Blinds(50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Nordberg [ 7d 7c ]
rozazalm folds.
HuseYourDadi folds.
robert07 folds.
Kapiti did not respond in time.
Kapiti folds.
Nordberg raises [300].
herpes4l1fe folds.
acerattata folds.
Donkey calls [200].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5d, Td, 2s ]
Donkey checks.
Nordberg bets [500].
Donkey calls [500].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
Donkey checks.
Nordberg is all-In.
Donkey calls [860].
** Dealing River ** [ 5s ]
Donkey shows [ Jh, 4s ] a pair of fives.
Nordberg shows [ 7d, 7c ] two pairs, sevens and fives.
Nordberg wins 3370 chips from the main pot with two pairs, sevens and fives.

NL Texas Hold'em $530 Buy-in Trny:25944575 Level:4 Blinds(100/200) - Wednesday, July 12, 23:53:36 ET 2006
Table Speed Stiff Ripples (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 7
Seat 8: Nordberg ( $2470 )
Seat 9: herpes4l1fe ( $1275 )
Seat 2: acerattata ( $1202 )
Seat 5: HuseYourDadi ( $1700 )
Seat 3: Donkey ( $2746 )
Seat 4: rozazalm ( $6007 )
Seat 7: Kapiti ( $4600 )
Trny:25944575 Level:4
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Nordberg [ Ah Kh ]
rozazalm folds.
HuseYourDadi folds.
Kapiti raises [555].
Nordberg is all-In.
herpes4l1fe folds.
acerattata folds.
Donkey is all-In.
Kapiti: 10s
Kapiti folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, 8s, Ts ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
Donkey shows [ Qc, 3c ] high card queen.
Nordberg shows [ Ah, Kh ] high card ace.
Donkey wins 276 chips from side pot #1 with high card queen.
Nordberg wins 5595 chips from the main pot with high card ace.