I played the $5,000 buy-in World Series Circuit Event yesterday in southern Indiana. In short, I was rarely over the starting $10k stack. I only played a few hands of note :
A tightish player opened for 175 at the 25/50 level and I defended my BB with J8o. The flop was QT9 two spades and I check raised his 400 continuation bet to 1100. He quickly called. The turn was a terrible J and it went check/check. The river was a small spade and I made a smallish bet and he folded. I really thought that if the turn blanks here I win a really big pot.
A while later, I have around 7200 chips - an early position player makes it 300 at the 50/100 level. I call with red fives and the button and blinds call. The flop is 863 two spades and its checked to me. With only one other person yet to act, and the preflop raiser showing weakness I decided to bet 1100. The button looked like he thought about raising but just called. I was pretty much done with the hand when the 2s came on the turn, but it went check/check. The river was another spade and I decided to bluff 1800 at the pot. I could easily have bet the flop with two big spades and checked the turn to slow play it - and I would bet about half pot if I wanted to get a call from a smaller flush on the river. My opponent thought for a bit and finally called with 54 with the 4 of spades. I was a little surprised he looked me up in this spot - in truth I wasn't sure if I had the 5s - it would have been funny if I bet with the 5s there and got called by a worse hand. I have slight regrets about betting this flop as I probably don't win the pot here often enough... but when you have 1500 in the pot and its checked to you its tough not to pull the trigger.
Now I was down to 4400 - I had 4475 at the beginning of the 100/200/25 level. It was really brutal after that, I folded every hand until I was down to 2450. Scott Fischman opened for 600 and I pushed in behind him with AKo. Finding AKo in that spot felt like the stone cold nuts and I was happy the pot was opened before me. But when Scott insta-calls and shows AA I'm sent to the rail. So frustrating to stay so patient, wait for a big hand, then get totally coolered anyway.
I'll be off to the Bellagio last next week or early the following week for some prelim events before the $25,000 buy in World Poker Tour Championship (that I'll be playing for the first time).
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Blog Is Back
So I've decided to write on my blog again. I guess I got bored with it for awhile there but a lot has happened so I thought I would recap the last few months.
After Australia it was off to Borgata, where I planned to play the 5k and 10k events. I played the 5k event, went broke pretty early - the big hand I played was against Kathy Liebert where I had KQ vs her TT on a KQT flop. After that I ended up getting sick so I skipped the 10k and went home to rest.
Not long after was the 5k WSOP Circuit Event in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was another really early bustout, in the first level in fact. I ended up getting semi-coolered on the 772 board with 76 against 22, we got it all in on the turn and I missed my 7 outs on the river. This was really a lowpoint, it had been a very long time since a meaninful cash, (nothing over $16k since New Orleans - May '06) and nothing seemed to be going right.
A week or two later I headed to San Diego for the World Series Circuit Event there. I ended up winning the event for $280,000 - my second World Series Circuit title (and my 2nd championship ring). I was the chip leader at the end of the first day and I don't think I relinquished the lead for more than a little bit the rest of the way. The key pot to my tournament came at the 400/800 level. I went to open for my usual 2400 raise but grabbed the wrong color chip and made it 4400. It was pretty obvious to the others at the table that I made this mistake. It folded to a guy a couple to my left who was new to the table who made it 13000 to go. I had QQ and approximately 40k chips to start the hand. After some thought I moved it in, my opponent called, and I flopped quads and beat his AK. From there the last level was crazy, I won a couple of huge pots in weird spots and got coolered in one with KK vs AA, and then sloppily lost a few others. But, as I said, I had 130k chips after the first day and lead the tournament.
Day 2 was about the most fun I've ever had playing poker (well, until Day 3 I guess). I had a huge stack and didn't lose a significant pot all day. I bullied my table mercilously at the bubble, accumulating probably 120,000 chips over the one and a half levels that was the bubble. When we got into the money at 18 players I lost a few small pots but ended up coolering someone with AA vs AQ to get up over 400k in chips. When we got down to 9 players I was still the chip leader with 444k. The final table had many good players, David Matthew, Gavin Smith and Shane Schleger came in as short to middle sized stacks and Gavin Griffin (just today the EPT champion), Eric Cajelais and Danny Wong came in with big stacks.
Day 3 was just an incredible day of poker. I held many huge hands - I eliminated Gavin Smith with 77 vs his AQ, won a few big pots off of David and Gavin Griffin with sets - and never really lost a big pot. I made a big move against Danny Wong with 66 on a 432 flop that could have been trouble had I lost - but he folded to my all in raise on the flop. Eventually, David and I got heads up, me with a small advantage in chips.
David is an interesting guy and sort of a tough guy to figure out sometimes. He is capable of making some great plays but I think also capable of making large mistakes. I had to change my game to play against him - normally I am an aggressive player who will take advantage of spots where I can bluff and semi-bluff, especially heads up. With David, I had to wait him out because he likes to make big calls and isn't easily bluffed. Eventually, I flopped a huge hand vs him when the board came down AKT two spades and I had AK. I bet the flop, he min raised, I three bet, and he moved in and I eventually called. He had A4 and when a blank came on the turn he was drawing dead and I won the tournament.
The feeling of winning another tournament was pretty amazing. I hadn't had a big finish in a long time and doubts of my ability and/or the validity of my first win began to creep in. I played well, ran really well, it just all came together for me again and I feel very fortunate that it id.
Next up was the LAPC WPT event. I have never felt comfortable playing at Commerce for some reason - and this year I signed up fairly late and drew an outside table. I guess I have no real complaints about the atmosphere in the outside tents - but the day just did not go well for me. I had Daniel Alaei two to my left and Jordan Morgan across the table and lost about 7k of my 20k stack in the first level and a half never playing a big pot. On my bustout hand I re-raised Jordan with QQ and him and another guy called. I bet the jack high two diamond flop and got check raised all in by the second caller - I eventually called and lost to KQ of diamonds when the flush came on the river.
A week or two later I was back out in Vegas for the Wynn $10k. This tournament also did not go well, I was down to about 11k of the starting 20k stack when I got it in with 555 vs TTT on a KT5 flop vs Sam Grizzle. I missed my one outer and was sent packing. A few days later I went to San Jose for the Bay 101 WPT. I had an amazing first day, getting my 20k stack up to about 155k by the end of the day. A couple of key pots :
A bad player open limps on the button, I complete SB with QhTh, Kent Washington then raises from the BB, both of us call. Flop is J high all hearts checks around. Turn is a blank, I bet, Kent raises, button folds, I jam, Kent insta calls with black aces drawing dead. I then double up someone with AA when he flops a set against me. Then I smooth call an EP raise with QQ, the flop comes Q high and I all but double against an overpair. At dinner, I have about 75k when this hand comes up... I open with 96o on the button, Clonie Gowan defends the SB, the BB also calls. The flop is K78 two hearts and Clonie bets out 3500, I make it 10k because we are deep (build pot) and I would like a free card on the turn if I miss. The offsuit T rolls off on the turn giving me the second nuts and Clonie bets 15k. I move in and she finally calls with KQ, drawing dead, and I win a monster pot to take the clear chip lead at 145k.
Later on I lose a huge pot to David Williams with J9o vs KJo on a QTxxx board, with David somehow calling a 20k river bet. I began to semi-tilt off a bunch of chips when I got pretty fortunate in a hand vs Shane Schleger to bust him - and finished the day at 150k as I mentioned before.
The second day was a pretty miserable day of poker for me. I got it up to 180k at one point but lost a big pot to Erik Seidel, then got caught on a re-steal vs an unbluffable player to get down to about 70k. I then doubled up Lee Markholdt on a J high flop with J8 vs AJ. I was quickly down to 17k with the blinds at 1k-2k. I buckled down and eventually finished in the money cashing for $15,000, winning three times with the hand before busting out with KJ vs AJ.
After Bay 101 it was on to Foxwoods where I played the 2k, 3k, 5k and 10k tournaments. It was a miserable time at Foxwoods also - I never made the fourth level in any of the tournaments. In the main event I went broke in a marginal spot with KQ vs 55 on a KQ5 board - where I probably should've gotten away from it.
Tomorrow I'm off for the Indiana Circuit Event - my first try and getting my third championship ring. Wish me luck.
After Australia it was off to Borgata, where I planned to play the 5k and 10k events. I played the 5k event, went broke pretty early - the big hand I played was against Kathy Liebert where I had KQ vs her TT on a KQT flop. After that I ended up getting sick so I skipped the 10k and went home to rest.
Not long after was the 5k WSOP Circuit Event in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was another really early bustout, in the first level in fact. I ended up getting semi-coolered on the 772 board with 76 against 22, we got it all in on the turn and I missed my 7 outs on the river. This was really a lowpoint, it had been a very long time since a meaninful cash, (nothing over $16k since New Orleans - May '06) and nothing seemed to be going right.
A week or two later I headed to San Diego for the World Series Circuit Event there. I ended up winning the event for $280,000 - my second World Series Circuit title (and my 2nd championship ring). I was the chip leader at the end of the first day and I don't think I relinquished the lead for more than a little bit the rest of the way. The key pot to my tournament came at the 400/800 level. I went to open for my usual 2400 raise but grabbed the wrong color chip and made it 4400. It was pretty obvious to the others at the table that I made this mistake. It folded to a guy a couple to my left who was new to the table who made it 13000 to go. I had QQ and approximately 40k chips to start the hand. After some thought I moved it in, my opponent called, and I flopped quads and beat his AK. From there the last level was crazy, I won a couple of huge pots in weird spots and got coolered in one with KK vs AA, and then sloppily lost a few others. But, as I said, I had 130k chips after the first day and lead the tournament.
Day 2 was about the most fun I've ever had playing poker (well, until Day 3 I guess). I had a huge stack and didn't lose a significant pot all day. I bullied my table mercilously at the bubble, accumulating probably 120,000 chips over the one and a half levels that was the bubble. When we got into the money at 18 players I lost a few small pots but ended up coolering someone with AA vs AQ to get up over 400k in chips. When we got down to 9 players I was still the chip leader with 444k. The final table had many good players, David Matthew, Gavin Smith and Shane Schleger came in as short to middle sized stacks and Gavin Griffin (just today the EPT champion), Eric Cajelais and Danny Wong came in with big stacks.
Day 3 was just an incredible day of poker. I held many huge hands - I eliminated Gavin Smith with 77 vs his AQ, won a few big pots off of David and Gavin Griffin with sets - and never really lost a big pot. I made a big move against Danny Wong with 66 on a 432 flop that could have been trouble had I lost - but he folded to my all in raise on the flop. Eventually, David and I got heads up, me with a small advantage in chips.
David is an interesting guy and sort of a tough guy to figure out sometimes. He is capable of making some great plays but I think also capable of making large mistakes. I had to change my game to play against him - normally I am an aggressive player who will take advantage of spots where I can bluff and semi-bluff, especially heads up. With David, I had to wait him out because he likes to make big calls and isn't easily bluffed. Eventually, I flopped a huge hand vs him when the board came down AKT two spades and I had AK. I bet the flop, he min raised, I three bet, and he moved in and I eventually called. He had A4 and when a blank came on the turn he was drawing dead and I won the tournament.
The feeling of winning another tournament was pretty amazing. I hadn't had a big finish in a long time and doubts of my ability and/or the validity of my first win began to creep in. I played well, ran really well, it just all came together for me again and I feel very fortunate that it id.
Next up was the LAPC WPT event. I have never felt comfortable playing at Commerce for some reason - and this year I signed up fairly late and drew an outside table. I guess I have no real complaints about the atmosphere in the outside tents - but the day just did not go well for me. I had Daniel Alaei two to my left and Jordan Morgan across the table and lost about 7k of my 20k stack in the first level and a half never playing a big pot. On my bustout hand I re-raised Jordan with QQ and him and another guy called. I bet the jack high two diamond flop and got check raised all in by the second caller - I eventually called and lost to KQ of diamonds when the flush came on the river.
A week or two later I was back out in Vegas for the Wynn $10k. This tournament also did not go well, I was down to about 11k of the starting 20k stack when I got it in with 555 vs TTT on a KT5 flop vs Sam Grizzle. I missed my one outer and was sent packing. A few days later I went to San Jose for the Bay 101 WPT. I had an amazing first day, getting my 20k stack up to about 155k by the end of the day. A couple of key pots :
A bad player open limps on the button, I complete SB with QhTh, Kent Washington then raises from the BB, both of us call. Flop is J high all hearts checks around. Turn is a blank, I bet, Kent raises, button folds, I jam, Kent insta calls with black aces drawing dead. I then double up someone with AA when he flops a set against me. Then I smooth call an EP raise with QQ, the flop comes Q high and I all but double against an overpair. At dinner, I have about 75k when this hand comes up... I open with 96o on the button, Clonie Gowan defends the SB, the BB also calls. The flop is K78 two hearts and Clonie bets out 3500, I make it 10k because we are deep (build pot) and I would like a free card on the turn if I miss. The offsuit T rolls off on the turn giving me the second nuts and Clonie bets 15k. I move in and she finally calls with KQ, drawing dead, and I win a monster pot to take the clear chip lead at 145k.
Later on I lose a huge pot to David Williams with J9o vs KJo on a QTxxx board, with David somehow calling a 20k river bet. I began to semi-tilt off a bunch of chips when I got pretty fortunate in a hand vs Shane Schleger to bust him - and finished the day at 150k as I mentioned before.
The second day was a pretty miserable day of poker for me. I got it up to 180k at one point but lost a big pot to Erik Seidel, then got caught on a re-steal vs an unbluffable player to get down to about 70k. I then doubled up Lee Markholdt on a J high flop with J8 vs AJ. I was quickly down to 17k with the blinds at 1k-2k. I buckled down and eventually finished in the money cashing for $15,000, winning three times with the hand before busting out with KJ vs AJ.
After Bay 101 it was on to Foxwoods where I played the 2k, 3k, 5k and 10k tournaments. It was a miserable time at Foxwoods also - I never made the fourth level in any of the tournaments. In the main event I went broke in a marginal spot with KQ vs 55 on a KQ5 board - where I probably should've gotten away from it.
Tomorrow I'm off for the Indiana Circuit Event - my first try and getting my third championship ring. Wish me luck.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Australia
I'm back from the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia. I got down there last Saturday not sure if I was playing on Sunday or Monday in the $10k(Australian) which is about $8300 USD. Thankfully, I drew the Monday starting day so I had Sunday to adjust to the time change and relax. In the afternoon Sunday I was playing some turbo SNG's and happened to chat with online tournament master Tmay420 and asked him what table he was at the following day in Australia. As luck would have it, he was at my starting table, along with another player in the same SNG, Jeff Madsen (who was seated to my direct left). Online player Ocrowe was also at the table. The rest of the players were pretty straightforward and tight.
The second hand of the tournament, I opened to 300 with AsKs (we started with 20,000 in chips) and was re-raised by a local to 900. I called, and the flop came down AK8. I checked, the local bet 2,000 and I called. The turn was a ten and I checked again and the player bet 5,000 and I called. Only two hands into the tournament its so hard to get a read here. I have a very strong hand, and I have no idea how this guy plays. I still think he could easily have the same hand as me here or even AQ. The river was a jack, and now just a queen made a straight. I checked, the player bet all in, and I folded. He later said that he had a set of aces, but he never showed. So after two hands I'm down to 12,000 but it didn't really bother me, with 90 minute levels, I felt like I had a great chance to come back.
I began to play a lot of hands because most of our table was quite tight. Madsen liked to call me and had position but I held my own against him. One big hand we played was when I raised with 99 and the flop came T87. I bet the flop and Madsen called after a little bit of thought. The turn was another 8 and I thought this was a pretty good card to bet since it would put a lot of pressure on him if he had a ten or a draw. He quickly called, and his call lead me to believe that he had a hand like tens full. When the 6 rolled off on the river, and I had roughly the size of the pot left in my stack, I really had no idea what I should do. I felt like I still might be beat so I ended up checking, which ended up being a huge mistake. Jeff checked behind with QQ and I missed the opportunity to bet about 4 or 5k there on the end and have him look me up. Our table broke and I had about my starting stack.
At my new table I recognized no one, and that was just fine with me. We were still at the 100/2o0/25 level and I opened a lot of pots at my new table with not much resistance. On one hand, the SB limped, and I made it 700 in the BB with JTo. He quickly called, and the flop was J63 two hearts. He bet out 2000 (?) into the pot and I decided to call. The turn was another heart and he bet out 3000 and I decided to call. The river was a 7 and he checked, and he showed 79 and my hand was good. That got me to about 28k -
During the next level an active cutoff made it 900 and the SB and I both called (I had Tc7c). The flop was all clubs and everyone checked. The turn was a blank and the SB bet 500, I made it 3000, the cutoff folded, and the SB made it 10300 total with about 9500 behind. I thought for a bit before moving him in for the rest of his stack, he shrugged and called with 8c9c (drawing dead) and suddenly I had 50k. The player that replaced him was an interesting story. He had quite a few chips, but wasn't playing many pots at all and he seemed pretty inexperienced. Finally, he opened for 1500 at the 200/400/50 level and I called utg+1 with 88. The flop was a wonderful K83 rainbow and he bet out 3000. I decided that there was no way this guy was going to fold KQ or better so I raised to 8000. He thought a while and folded.
He then went on one of the biggest rushes I have ever seen. I'm going to try and remember and describe the hands because they are hilarious. Really tight passive SB open limps for 600. Maniac makes it 5500 in the BB, SB then goes all in for 18k with AQ. BB calls with 87 and wins. Tight player opens for 2000 in the cutoff, maniac makes it 8700 total, CO jams, mainac calls. JhTx for maniac TT for CO, flop is all hearts but maniac somehow misses. Active player opens for 1600 at 300/600, maniac makes it 3200, BB jams for 180000 total, maniac calls with KJs and beats AK. Maniac open limps, I limp behind, SB folds, BB checks. Flop is 543, BB bets out (BB is same guy that had the tens last hand), maniac instantly raises, I fold, BB goes all in for some huge amount, maniac insta calls with AA and beats the BB's 65o. Last level of the day 400/800. Maniac opens for 5800 UTG, new player cold calls with about 50k behind. Flop is ten high, maniac instantly goes all in, cold caller folds, maniac shows a set of tens (and wonders aloud whether he could have 'milked' him for more money). Player opens for 2500, new tight player makes it 10000 leaving himself 10000 or so, maniac is in the BB and declares all in. First player folds, tight player has AA, I folded T5, maniac has TT and wins vs AA. Maniac open limps on the button, I complete in the SB, BB makes it 5000 more, maniac instantly goes all in, both fold, maniac shows AA. Somehow the maniac gets it in with 66 vs KK, and after the 589 flop, we know its all over, maniac gets there on the river. At one point, he opened for 3800 UTG and I had KK UTG+1, I decided to go all in because he had never folded to a re-raise... so it was like 42,000 to him and he thought forever before folding QJs... man, what a bad beat that fold was for me. So then Gus Hansen comes to the table, whom I've never played with. But I know he likes to gamble, and has an award winning head. He played a fairly hilarious ten minute hand with the maniac, where Gus opened for 2200, got cold called, then the maniac made it 5300, Gus thought forever before making it 10k more, then the maniac thought forever before making it 20k more. Gus then thought forever X 2 before folding.
So I finished day 1 with 50k and awoke to find the ugly table draw that had Patrick Antonius (who's name in Finnish means I'm Better Than You at Everything) who only had 315k after day 1. I solicited some advice from some of my poker pro friends, one of which said don't play pots with him. So when he opened under the gun and got cold called in one spot obviously I had to call with KTs on the button. The flop came KT5 two hearts and it was checked to me and I bet 7k. Then, Patrick makes it 23k. The other guy folds so obviously I go all in and Patrick calls with Ah5h. Normally, I would feel good about my chances here, but as my buddy Carl looks on and starts laughing at the inevitable bad beat that is about to occur, the 6h rolls off on the river and I'm out. I felt a lot better though, after viewing this video where Patrick bemoans his bad luck from the day before. We all feel really sorry for you losing all those pots with the best hand, Patrick.
So after I busted out, Carl and I started having a few beers, then Brandon busted out to some asshat. So the three of us met up with some Australian dude from Newcastle that is a member of 2+2. We went out to some place called St. Kilda, which in Australian means "Beach of the flies".
A couple of days later, Carl, Brandon and I headed to the Australian Open tennis matches, where I won a $400 AUS betting on this guy to win a 5th set against the dimmunitive Belgian-who-we-thought-was-German-at-the-time. It was very exciting and I won. Obviously, I felt sorry so when we headed over to the next match I began accepting bets from Carl and Brandon over the Haas vs Serbian-Bum-Who-I-Thought-Was-Good. We had a lot of action on this match, and on the first point of the match the Serb went to return a Haas' serve and let go of his racquet. Normally, I would say this isn't a good sign, but I stuck with my horse. Little did I know this guy was the Phil Hellmuth of tennis, he tilted like some guy who took 10 consecutive 2 outers on the river and folded like a cheap suit.
After that is a bit of a blur, we went back to the hotel, had a bunch of cocktails and Carl and I tried to convince Gavin and Jeff to play 2/3 NL with us. They declined, citing the excuse that they were too cool for us. Carl quickly began to stretch the rules of the Crown Casino. During one of his usual episodes where the dealer dealt him out three times an orbit, he didn't think that being cutoff really meant that he couldn't drink anymore, so when he tried to get someone else to give him a drink, 6 big guys in dark suits escorted him out of the casino. All in all, I was happy to have the pest on my left out of the poker game, but my flight was taking off in a few hours so I had to get some rest.
Next up, Borgata in Atlantic City for the 5k and 10k buy-ins.
The second hand of the tournament, I opened to 300 with AsKs (we started with 20,000 in chips) and was re-raised by a local to 900. I called, and the flop came down AK8. I checked, the local bet 2,000 and I called. The turn was a ten and I checked again and the player bet 5,000 and I called. Only two hands into the tournament its so hard to get a read here. I have a very strong hand, and I have no idea how this guy plays. I still think he could easily have the same hand as me here or even AQ. The river was a jack, and now just a queen made a straight. I checked, the player bet all in, and I folded. He later said that he had a set of aces, but he never showed. So after two hands I'm down to 12,000 but it didn't really bother me, with 90 minute levels, I felt like I had a great chance to come back.
I began to play a lot of hands because most of our table was quite tight. Madsen liked to call me and had position but I held my own against him. One big hand we played was when I raised with 99 and the flop came T87. I bet the flop and Madsen called after a little bit of thought. The turn was another 8 and I thought this was a pretty good card to bet since it would put a lot of pressure on him if he had a ten or a draw. He quickly called, and his call lead me to believe that he had a hand like tens full. When the 6 rolled off on the river, and I had roughly the size of the pot left in my stack, I really had no idea what I should do. I felt like I still might be beat so I ended up checking, which ended up being a huge mistake. Jeff checked behind with QQ and I missed the opportunity to bet about 4 or 5k there on the end and have him look me up. Our table broke and I had about my starting stack.
At my new table I recognized no one, and that was just fine with me. We were still at the 100/2o0/25 level and I opened a lot of pots at my new table with not much resistance. On one hand, the SB limped, and I made it 700 in the BB with JTo. He quickly called, and the flop was J63 two hearts. He bet out 2000 (?) into the pot and I decided to call. The turn was another heart and he bet out 3000 and I decided to call. The river was a 7 and he checked, and he showed 79 and my hand was good. That got me to about 28k -
During the next level an active cutoff made it 900 and the SB and I both called (I had Tc7c). The flop was all clubs and everyone checked. The turn was a blank and the SB bet 500, I made it 3000, the cutoff folded, and the SB made it 10300 total with about 9500 behind. I thought for a bit before moving him in for the rest of his stack, he shrugged and called with 8c9c (drawing dead) and suddenly I had 50k. The player that replaced him was an interesting story. He had quite a few chips, but wasn't playing many pots at all and he seemed pretty inexperienced. Finally, he opened for 1500 at the 200/400/50 level and I called utg+1 with 88. The flop was a wonderful K83 rainbow and he bet out 3000. I decided that there was no way this guy was going to fold KQ or better so I raised to 8000. He thought a while and folded.
He then went on one of the biggest rushes I have ever seen. I'm going to try and remember and describe the hands because they are hilarious. Really tight passive SB open limps for 600. Maniac makes it 5500 in the BB, SB then goes all in for 18k with AQ. BB calls with 87 and wins. Tight player opens for 2000 in the cutoff, maniac makes it 8700 total, CO jams, mainac calls. JhTx for maniac TT for CO, flop is all hearts but maniac somehow misses. Active player opens for 1600 at 300/600, maniac makes it 3200, BB jams for 180000 total, maniac calls with KJs and beats AK. Maniac open limps, I limp behind, SB folds, BB checks. Flop is 543, BB bets out (BB is same guy that had the tens last hand), maniac instantly raises, I fold, BB goes all in for some huge amount, maniac insta calls with AA and beats the BB's 65o. Last level of the day 400/800. Maniac opens for 5800 UTG, new player cold calls with about 50k behind. Flop is ten high, maniac instantly goes all in, cold caller folds, maniac shows a set of tens (and wonders aloud whether he could have 'milked' him for more money). Player opens for 2500, new tight player makes it 10000 leaving himself 10000 or so, maniac is in the BB and declares all in. First player folds, tight player has AA, I folded T5, maniac has TT and wins vs AA. Maniac open limps on the button, I complete in the SB, BB makes it 5000 more, maniac instantly goes all in, both fold, maniac shows AA. Somehow the maniac gets it in with 66 vs KK, and after the 589 flop, we know its all over, maniac gets there on the river. At one point, he opened for 3800 UTG and I had KK UTG+1, I decided to go all in because he had never folded to a re-raise... so it was like 42,000 to him and he thought forever before folding QJs... man, what a bad beat that fold was for me. So then Gus Hansen comes to the table, whom I've never played with. But I know he likes to gamble, and has an award winning head. He played a fairly hilarious ten minute hand with the maniac, where Gus opened for 2200, got cold called, then the maniac made it 5300, Gus thought forever before making it 10k more, then the maniac thought forever before making it 20k more. Gus then thought forever X 2 before folding.
So I finished day 1 with 50k and awoke to find the ugly table draw that had Patrick Antonius (who's name in Finnish means I'm Better Than You at Everything) who only had 315k after day 1. I solicited some advice from some of my poker pro friends, one of which said don't play pots with him. So when he opened under the gun and got cold called in one spot obviously I had to call with KTs on the button. The flop came KT5 two hearts and it was checked to me and I bet 7k. Then, Patrick makes it 23k. The other guy folds so obviously I go all in and Patrick calls with Ah5h. Normally, I would feel good about my chances here, but as my buddy Carl looks on and starts laughing at the inevitable bad beat that is about to occur, the 6h rolls off on the river and I'm out. I felt a lot better though, after viewing this video where Patrick bemoans his bad luck from the day before. We all feel really sorry for you losing all those pots with the best hand, Patrick.
So after I busted out, Carl and I started having a few beers, then Brandon busted out to some asshat. So the three of us met up with some Australian dude from Newcastle that is a member of 2+2. We went out to some place called St. Kilda, which in Australian means "Beach of the flies".
A couple of days later, Carl, Brandon and I headed to the Australian Open tennis matches, where I won a $400 AUS betting on this guy to win a 5th set against the dimmunitive Belgian-who-we-thought-was-German-at-the-time. It was very exciting and I won. Obviously, I felt sorry so when we headed over to the next match I began accepting bets from Carl and Brandon over the Haas vs Serbian-Bum-Who-I-Thought-Was-Good. We had a lot of action on this match, and on the first point of the match the Serb went to return a Haas' serve and let go of his racquet. Normally, I would say this isn't a good sign, but I stuck with my horse. Little did I know this guy was the Phil Hellmuth of tennis, he tilted like some guy who took 10 consecutive 2 outers on the river and folded like a cheap suit.
After that is a bit of a blur, we went back to the hotel, had a bunch of cocktails and Carl and I tried to convince Gavin and Jeff to play 2/3 NL with us. They declined, citing the excuse that they were too cool for us. Carl quickly began to stretch the rules of the Crown Casino. During one of his usual episodes where the dealer dealt him out three times an orbit, he didn't think that being cutoff really meant that he couldn't drink anymore, so when he tried to get someone else to give him a drink, 6 big guys in dark suits escorted him out of the casino. All in all, I was happy to have the pest on my left out of the poker game, but my flight was taking off in a few hours so I had to get some rest.
Next up, Borgata in Atlantic City for the 5k and 10k buy-ins.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Bellagio & Stars $150
I didn't make it out of Day 1 of the Bellagio $15k. I drew a difficult starting table, sandwiched between KramerTM and ImSoLucky0 (Jordan Morgan) both of whom I know from playing on the internet. Also at the table were internet player Roothlus and pros Ray Faltinsky and John Duthie. We started with 30k in chips - I was down to about 25k when this hand came up: Jordan raised UTG to 300 and I just called with KK in the BB. The flop came 9 high and I checked, he bet 500, I made it 1500 and he quickly called. The turn was a blank and I bet 2000 and he called. The river was another low card, and I really felt like he had JJ or QQ and I bet 5000 and he thought for a minute and called, saying he had QQ.
In level 2, I remember a weird hand against John Duthie. He limped UTG which he did a lot, and I had been playing pretty tight so I made it 900 with 98o in MP. Duthie made it 1500 more and I decided to call. The flop came T92, and he quickly checked and I checked behind. The turn was a 7 and he bet 1600 and I called. The river was a blank and it went check check and I won vs his AKs. I was up to about 40k at this point but that would be the most chips I'd have.
One bizarre hand that I recall was when I limped behind a couple of limpers with JsTs. The flop was J45 one spade and one of the limpers bet into the field and I called. The turn was the As and he quickly checked and I decided to check behind. The river was a 4 and he bet out almost the size of the pot for 5k. I really didn't know what to make of this bet, it felt like he was betting a ten and we were chopping with the board paired and the ace on board. I decided to call and he had 2s3s for the turned wheel. Its interesting if another spade would come on the river... because if he bet out on the spade, I wouldn't have the nuts, but in reality what spade draw could he have? Would he really bet into the whole field of limpers with KsQs on that flop? I don't think so, no one would even make that play as a bluff. My point is, I might have just called if the spade hit on the river, but I would definitely want to raise there because there is no bigger spade draw he could logically have...
I just burned through my stack in the last few levels of the day. I'd raise preflop and get re-raised and fold, or I'd get called and played back at on the flop. And I wasn't picking up any big hands preflop. Finally, a fairly bad player opened for 3000 in the last level of the day (300/600 blinds) from middle position. I had AQo in the BB with about 13000 chips. This player hadn't opened a ton of pots, but I think the fairly large raise here meant a good but not premium hand, like 99 or TT. I decided to stick my chips in there and he called fairly quickly with AdJd and he hit a flush on the turn to eliminate me from the tournament.
I got home on Sunday morning after 2.5 weeks in Vegas. On Monday night, I fired up some tournaments online. When the night was over I took down the $150+12 tournament on Stars for almost $33,000. I (finally) ran really well at the final table, coming back from the shortest stack with 5 or 6 left to be a big chip leader when it got heads up. My opponent played pretty well heads up and we went back and forth quite a few times. I got lucky a few times and eventually took it down. So satisfying to have a big win on Stars, I have run so bad on that site for so long, it finally seems to be evening out.
In level 2, I remember a weird hand against John Duthie. He limped UTG which he did a lot, and I had been playing pretty tight so I made it 900 with 98o in MP. Duthie made it 1500 more and I decided to call. The flop came T92, and he quickly checked and I checked behind. The turn was a 7 and he bet 1600 and I called. The river was a blank and it went check check and I won vs his AKs. I was up to about 40k at this point but that would be the most chips I'd have.
One bizarre hand that I recall was when I limped behind a couple of limpers with JsTs. The flop was J45 one spade and one of the limpers bet into the field and I called. The turn was the As and he quickly checked and I decided to check behind. The river was a 4 and he bet out almost the size of the pot for 5k. I really didn't know what to make of this bet, it felt like he was betting a ten and we were chopping with the board paired and the ace on board. I decided to call and he had 2s3s for the turned wheel. Its interesting if another spade would come on the river... because if he bet out on the spade, I wouldn't have the nuts, but in reality what spade draw could he have? Would he really bet into the whole field of limpers with KsQs on that flop? I don't think so, no one would even make that play as a bluff. My point is, I might have just called if the spade hit on the river, but I would definitely want to raise there because there is no bigger spade draw he could logically have...
I just burned through my stack in the last few levels of the day. I'd raise preflop and get re-raised and fold, or I'd get called and played back at on the flop. And I wasn't picking up any big hands preflop. Finally, a fairly bad player opened for 3000 in the last level of the day (300/600 blinds) from middle position. I had AQo in the BB with about 13000 chips. This player hadn't opened a ton of pots, but I think the fairly large raise here meant a good but not premium hand, like 99 or TT. I decided to stick my chips in there and he called fairly quickly with AdJd and he hit a flush on the turn to eliminate me from the tournament.
I got home on Sunday morning after 2.5 weeks in Vegas. On Monday night, I fired up some tournaments online. When the night was over I took down the $150+12 tournament on Stars for almost $33,000. I (finally) ran really well at the final table, coming back from the shortest stack with 5 or 6 left to be a big chip leader when it got heads up. My opponent played pretty well heads up and we went back and forth quite a few times. I got lucky a few times and eventually took it down. So satisfying to have a big win on Stars, I have run so bad on that site for so long, it finally seems to be evening out.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Stars Sunday Tourney
Well I finally put together a decent run in a Sunday tournament. I got 7th in the Stars $200+15 tournament out of 6680 people for $22,710. The big hand was the 15million chip pot I played at the final table with AK all in preflop vs AQ against the eventual winner. I lost the hand and went out the very next hand.
You have to run really good to make it that far, so I won't even start to complain about my luck. I'm at a high point for the year as far as earnings go, and that is always nice. Hopefully this gives me some momentum heading into Thursday's $15,000 buy in at the Bellagio.
You have to run really good to make it that far, so I won't even start to complain about my luck. I'm at a high point for the year as far as earnings go, and that is always nice. Hopefully this gives me some momentum heading into Thursday's $15,000 buy in at the Bellagio.
Monday, December 4, 2006
More of the Same
I skipped yesterday's $2500NL at the Bellagio to play the Sunday tournaments and sweat fantasy football and the BCS. Of course, the BCS wasn't a great sweat as Florida got the nod to play OSU in the national championship game over Michigan. I have mixed feelings on this, I really wanted Michigan to get another shot, and I don't really understand how Florida moved up so much with a win over Arkansas. If Florida's schedule was so much tougher before they played Arkansas why weren't they ahead of Michigan already? Urban Meyer really started jockying for the Gators to be #2, and Lloyd Carr said pretty much nothing... and I think the national media fell in love with the Gators partly because of that and it all snowballed. Now Michigan is stuck playing USC, a very talented and probably motivated team, practically playing on their home turf. It might be Carr's most difficult coaching job ever to motivate Michigan to win the Rose Bowl.
As for the Sunday tournaments, I had some chips on Stars, ended up blinding off and finishing inside of 300th or so for $1200. I also cashed on Full Tilt, but got 306th out of 306 paid spots after I got crippled with KK vs AJ right near the money.
Today was the $3000NL at the Bellagio. My starting table had Shannon Shorr to my right, Cliff Joesphy, Jimmy Tran, John Phan to my left. Not what I would call a great starting table. I saw the funniest, worst laydown ever in the first orbit. The two seat is a player I've played against a bunch of times but don't know his name, he's really aggressive... and had been bullied a bit early, I know him to be a bit of a steamer. So its a limped pot, and he bets the KQ8 two club flop and the button raises to 800, and seat 2 quickly calls. The turn is a queen, seat 2 check raises all in, and the button, getting like 2.5:1 folds 88 faceup...Seat 2 shows K5, lol. So, I don't get dealt anything early, as usual... blind off... open a pot to 150 with A7, get re-raised, call, check fold. Shannon opens for 300, I call with Ah6h, flop is K32 one heart, chk/chk. The turn is the 4h, he checks, I bet 300, he makes it 700, I call, I miss the river (surprising), he bets I fold. I open for 300 in MP with KJ, the SB goes all in for 700 total, he has TT, I lose the coinflip obviously. I open for 300 in LP with AK, SB makes it 600, I get a bad feeling that he is huge. He is giving off all of the signals, and he is a beginner type player. I decide to just call instead of jamming my last 3300 in the pot, flop comes T87, he bets, I fold.
I finally catch a break when I limp in a multiway pot with QT, John Phan leads from the SB on the T43 two club flop , I raise to 1000, he jams and says "you got me". Now I'm totally confident that he has the best hand, but I just dont have a fold in me, I call, and he has T9 and I double up to 6000. When we came back for level 3, I was really confident that I would get something going, but it didn't happen. I opened for 600 with AQ and got re-raised. Again, I thought the guy had a huge hand, and he re-raised small, so I called, missed the flop, and folded to his bet. I open for JT one off the button, the Sb makes it 2100, leaving himself about 2000, I have to fold. I open for 88 UTG, the SB asks how many chips I have, and decides to just call. The flop is J45, he checks, I bet 900, he makes it 1900, I think for a minute or two and fold. I really am not sure about this spot, I think he can have 66 or 77 here, or even something like A5. He had been pretty active... but I don't have enough chips to get him to lay down a better hand, and am dead if I'm called. Really a tough spot with what looks like a great flop for my hand. From there I blind off, with no good spots to put in my chips. I'm down to about 1700 when in the SB, I find A4 after a button raise by Roland DeWolfe. This isn't a great spot, but I jam, he has 67, and I lose.
So I decided to play some online tournaments and those have gone just the same. I'm not sure I've ever run this bad for so long playing tournaments. Its getting really hard to stay positive - and I hope I catch a break or two sometime soon.
As for the Sunday tournaments, I had some chips on Stars, ended up blinding off and finishing inside of 300th or so for $1200. I also cashed on Full Tilt, but got 306th out of 306 paid spots after I got crippled with KK vs AJ right near the money.
Today was the $3000NL at the Bellagio. My starting table had Shannon Shorr to my right, Cliff Joesphy, Jimmy Tran, John Phan to my left. Not what I would call a great starting table. I saw the funniest, worst laydown ever in the first orbit. The two seat is a player I've played against a bunch of times but don't know his name, he's really aggressive... and had been bullied a bit early, I know him to be a bit of a steamer. So its a limped pot, and he bets the KQ8 two club flop and the button raises to 800, and seat 2 quickly calls. The turn is a queen, seat 2 check raises all in, and the button, getting like 2.5:1 folds 88 faceup...Seat 2 shows K5, lol. So, I don't get dealt anything early, as usual... blind off... open a pot to 150 with A7, get re-raised, call, check fold. Shannon opens for 300, I call with Ah6h, flop is K32 one heart, chk/chk. The turn is the 4h, he checks, I bet 300, he makes it 700, I call, I miss the river (surprising), he bets I fold. I open for 300 in MP with KJ, the SB goes all in for 700 total, he has TT, I lose the coinflip obviously. I open for 300 in LP with AK, SB makes it 600, I get a bad feeling that he is huge. He is giving off all of the signals, and he is a beginner type player. I decide to just call instead of jamming my last 3300 in the pot, flop comes T87, he bets, I fold.
I finally catch a break when I limp in a multiway pot with QT, John Phan leads from the SB on the T43 two club flop , I raise to 1000, he jams and says "you got me". Now I'm totally confident that he has the best hand, but I just dont have a fold in me, I call, and he has T9 and I double up to 6000. When we came back for level 3, I was really confident that I would get something going, but it didn't happen. I opened for 600 with AQ and got re-raised. Again, I thought the guy had a huge hand, and he re-raised small, so I called, missed the flop, and folded to his bet. I open for JT one off the button, the Sb makes it 2100, leaving himself about 2000, I have to fold. I open for 88 UTG, the SB asks how many chips I have, and decides to just call. The flop is J45, he checks, I bet 900, he makes it 1900, I think for a minute or two and fold. I really am not sure about this spot, I think he can have 66 or 77 here, or even something like A5. He had been pretty active... but I don't have enough chips to get him to lay down a better hand, and am dead if I'm called. Really a tough spot with what looks like a great flop for my hand. From there I blind off, with no good spots to put in my chips. I'm down to about 1700 when in the SB, I find A4 after a button raise by Roland DeWolfe. This isn't a great spot, but I jam, he has 67, and I lose.
So I decided to play some online tournaments and those have gone just the same. I'm not sure I've ever run this bad for so long playing tournaments. Its getting really hard to stay positive - and I hope I catch a break or two sometime soon.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Not a good start
Friday was the $1500 NL at the Bellagio. I arrived around 11:55, having never had a problem registering at a Bellagio tournament before. Of course I had never played a $1500, so it was very busy and I ended up 38th alternate. I wasn't seated until 9:00 left in the first level. The first pot I played was when a LP player open limped, the button made it 150, and I defended the BB with T9. The limper called and the flop was T94, it was checked around. The turn was a 7, I lead for 325, both players fold.
A few hands later I am on the button with 54 and limp behind a bunch of limpers. The flop is KQ7 rainbow and its checked around. The turn was a 6, and the BB lead out, one other player called, and I called. The turn was an 8 it was checked to me, I bet and they both folded. So I was up to almost 3700 or so at that point from my 3000 starting stack.
During level 2 (50-100 blinds), David Matthews open limped UTG. The player to my right also limped, I made it 550 with AsKs, folds to Matthews who jams for 1050 total. The other limper folds and I of course call and he has AhQx. The flop is all hearts with a queen, and obviously I lose the hand. I've played with Matthews twice and I have yet to be impressed with how he has played one single pot. You know, its only 1050 chips, but instead of 4700 I have 2700, and I spend the rest of the 50/100 level just blinding away, until I have 2025 going into the 100/200 level. Now I'm in push or fold mode, but when you are at exactly 10 big blinds with no antes, its very hard to justify being real push happy. Ideally you'd like to push in overtop of a raise with a monster hand and be isolated against one player that might have a pretty big range of hands. So I basically folded a lot of hands, down to about 1600 or so, I did open jam with QJ and won the blinds... Then I blinded down a bit more, again to 1600. A player limped under the gun for 200 and I had K9 and decided to go with it. He figures to have a lot of small pairs here as well as JT/QJ type hands, and I think he might fold a lot of the time. Of course, he insta calls with KQ and IGHN.
Today's $2000NL was even worse. I never found a rhythym at all. We were playing 5 handed at first, and the 5 seat opens for 250 and I fold QTs behind. Later, on the button, he opens for 325, and I fold A8s in the BB. I'm not sure about this. It seems obvious that these could be dominated hands , and not worth putting like 8% of my stack in preflop with. But when things are going bad maybe I have to re-evaluate ??? So, finally it folds to me and I have KQ and open for 150, and the BB makes it 550 and I fold. The next hand, I get AQ and make it 150, an Asian player behind makes it 775 and I fold. Am I running into aces every hand or playing way too tight? So maybe 5 hands later, the very active 5 seat makes it 225 after a limper. In the SB, I make it 725 with AK. He thinks for a bit and makes it 1500 more. I think the previous hands of folding to the re-raises and how active this player was already really factored in, I ended up jamming which is probably a marginal play, and of course he has two aces and I bust.
I'm really struggling in these preliminary events. I have never cashed in one, and I just feel lost. When the structures are bad (Bellagio smaller events and the World Series events), it feels like I am playing too tight, but whenever I loosen up I get punished. Maybe its just running bad, but I'm sure my play can improve also. Anyway, tomorrow is $2500NL hopefully that goes better.
A few hands later I am on the button with 54 and limp behind a bunch of limpers. The flop is KQ7 rainbow and its checked around. The turn was a 6, and the BB lead out, one other player called, and I called. The turn was an 8 it was checked to me, I bet and they both folded. So I was up to almost 3700 or so at that point from my 3000 starting stack.
During level 2 (50-100 blinds), David Matthews open limped UTG. The player to my right also limped, I made it 550 with AsKs, folds to Matthews who jams for 1050 total. The other limper folds and I of course call and he has AhQx. The flop is all hearts with a queen, and obviously I lose the hand. I've played with Matthews twice and I have yet to be impressed with how he has played one single pot. You know, its only 1050 chips, but instead of 4700 I have 2700, and I spend the rest of the 50/100 level just blinding away, until I have 2025 going into the 100/200 level. Now I'm in push or fold mode, but when you are at exactly 10 big blinds with no antes, its very hard to justify being real push happy. Ideally you'd like to push in overtop of a raise with a monster hand and be isolated against one player that might have a pretty big range of hands. So I basically folded a lot of hands, down to about 1600 or so, I did open jam with QJ and won the blinds... Then I blinded down a bit more, again to 1600. A player limped under the gun for 200 and I had K9 and decided to go with it. He figures to have a lot of small pairs here as well as JT/QJ type hands, and I think he might fold a lot of the time. Of course, he insta calls with KQ and IGHN.
Today's $2000NL was even worse. I never found a rhythym at all. We were playing 5 handed at first, and the 5 seat opens for 250 and I fold QTs behind. Later, on the button, he opens for 325, and I fold A8s in the BB. I'm not sure about this. It seems obvious that these could be dominated hands , and not worth putting like 8% of my stack in preflop with. But when things are going bad maybe I have to re-evaluate ??? So, finally it folds to me and I have KQ and open for 150, and the BB makes it 550 and I fold. The next hand, I get AQ and make it 150, an Asian player behind makes it 775 and I fold. Am I running into aces every hand or playing way too tight? So maybe 5 hands later, the very active 5 seat makes it 225 after a limper. In the SB, I make it 725 with AK. He thinks for a bit and makes it 1500 more. I think the previous hands of folding to the re-raises and how active this player was already really factored in, I ended up jamming which is probably a marginal play, and of course he has two aces and I bust.
I'm really struggling in these preliminary events. I have never cashed in one, and I just feel lost. When the structures are bad (Bellagio smaller events and the World Series events), it feels like I am playing too tight, but whenever I loosen up I get punished. Maybe its just running bad, but I'm sure my play can improve also. Anyway, tomorrow is $2500NL hopefully that goes better.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Vegas
I'm off to Vegas tomorrow to play in a bunch of Bellagio tournaments. They start Friday with a $1500 buy in, and the prelims continue through December 10th... and then the $15k buy in starts on the 14th. I'm feeling good about my chances to make a final table at the Bellagio - I'm looking forward to it.
Things have been going a little better but nothing spectacular. I took quite a few days off last week but on Sunday, Monday and tonight I played in a bunch of tournaments. I've had a few close calls, getting deep in a few tournaments but I just can't seem to break through. On Monday I finished 5th in the Stars $150, which with the reorganization of the poker sites has become a huge tournament. I made $7600 for that score, but I really ran poorly at the final table. One of the first hands in I had AK vs AJ and lost, if I had won I would have 600k to second place's 300k with 8 players left. Then a super aggressive small blind moved in on me for about 8.5 big blinds, and I had A2 and I thought for sure I had the best hand, despite hating calling off a bunch of chips in that spot. The SB flipped up the huge T4 suited and of course hit a ten on the river. I was down below 100k after that but two people busted in the next few hands so I got to move up before I busted.
I have also been playing a few satellites for the Stars Bahamas trip in early January. This is a fun goal for me to have, I will probably go on the trip anyway but I sure would like to win a seat. Its a tight schedule but the day after the Bahamas trip I will be off to Australia for the tournament down there. As soon as I return from that the tournament circuit is pretty busy in the states - I'm looking forward to it.
Take care readers. I'll try to put some tournament reports together from the Bellagio.
Things have been going a little better but nothing spectacular. I took quite a few days off last week but on Sunday, Monday and tonight I played in a bunch of tournaments. I've had a few close calls, getting deep in a few tournaments but I just can't seem to break through. On Monday I finished 5th in the Stars $150, which with the reorganization of the poker sites has become a huge tournament. I made $7600 for that score, but I really ran poorly at the final table. One of the first hands in I had AK vs AJ and lost, if I had won I would have 600k to second place's 300k with 8 players left. Then a super aggressive small blind moved in on me for about 8.5 big blinds, and I had A2 and I thought for sure I had the best hand, despite hating calling off a bunch of chips in that spot. The SB flipped up the huge T4 suited and of course hit a ten on the river. I was down below 100k after that but two people busted in the next few hands so I got to move up before I busted.
I have also been playing a few satellites for the Stars Bahamas trip in early January. This is a fun goal for me to have, I will probably go on the trip anyway but I sure would like to win a seat. Its a tight schedule but the day after the Bahamas trip I will be off to Australia for the tournament down there. As soon as I return from that the tournament circuit is pretty busy in the states - I'm looking forward to it.
Take care readers. I'll try to put some tournament reports together from the Bellagio.
Saturday, October 7, 2006
USPC Final Table
(No, I didn't make the final table) but two of my poker friends made it. Shane Schleger and Jordan Morgan both made the final table of the $10k buy in at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Jordan comes in as the chip leader (where he's been for most of the tournament) and Shane definitely has enough chips to do some serious damage.
It will be quite a day sweating Michigan/Mich St football, the Tigers and the final table in Atlantic City. Good luck to both of you and I can't wait to see it on ESPN.
It will be quite a day sweating Michigan/Mich St football, the Tigers and the final table in Atlantic City. Good luck to both of you and I can't wait to see it on ESPN.
Monday, October 2, 2006
US Govt
On Friday, Congress passed the Port Security Act, a rider on that piece of legislation was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Bill. Basically, the bill is designed to stop all Internet gambling by Americans that isn't a lottery, horce racing or fantasy sports. It does so by making it illegal for banks, credit card companies and online payment processing places to do any business with online gambling sites. As bad as this sounds, I didn't believe it was time to panic. Written into the law is a 270 day period in which the regulations will be set forth for the banks and credit card companies to abide by.
The text of the law is here (with the text of the law starting on page 213).
Unfortunately, last night, it was rumored the parent company of Pacific Poker was going to announce that they were pulling out of the US market immediately. The parent company of Pacific Poker is a publicly traded company in London, as is Party Gaming which controls (I believe) the world's largest cardroom (Party Poker). Now we've found out that Party Poker is pulling out of the US as soon as the law is signed by the President (which will be sometime this week most likely). Pokerstars, another huge online site, is rumored to be doing the same, but no formal announcement has been made.
I'm amazed at how quickly this is all happening. It could very well be that by the end of the week US players will not be allowed to play poker on the two biggest online sites. I'm not worried about being able to withdraw my money from these sites, although probably the initial rush will cause things to be very slow - And I have personally been trying to keep my balances on the online sites small.
At this point we still have to wait and see what happens. Maybe some of the large sites will stay open to US customers like Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, Bodog, etc. And maybe there will be some legal workaround to the funding problem on the sites. Also, the legality of the legislation could be challenged...
I'm on my way to Atlantic City today (Monday) for the US Poker Champs which start at the Taj Mahal on Tuesday. Boy would it be nice to put a large check in the bank with all this happening...we'll see!
The text of the law is here (with the text of the law starting on page 213).
Unfortunately, last night, it was rumored the parent company of Pacific Poker was going to announce that they were pulling out of the US market immediately. The parent company of Pacific Poker is a publicly traded company in London, as is Party Gaming which controls (I believe) the world's largest cardroom (Party Poker). Now we've found out that Party Poker is pulling out of the US as soon as the law is signed by the President (which will be sometime this week most likely). Pokerstars, another huge online site, is rumored to be doing the same, but no formal announcement has been made.
I'm amazed at how quickly this is all happening. It could very well be that by the end of the week US players will not be allowed to play poker on the two biggest online sites. I'm not worried about being able to withdraw my money from these sites, although probably the initial rush will cause things to be very slow - And I have personally been trying to keep my balances on the online sites small.
At this point we still have to wait and see what happens. Maybe some of the large sites will stay open to US customers like Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, Bodog, etc. And maybe there will be some legal workaround to the funding problem on the sites. Also, the legality of the legislation could be challenged...
I'm on my way to Atlantic City today (Monday) for the US Poker Champs which start at the Taj Mahal on Tuesday. Boy would it be nice to put a large check in the bank with all this happening...we'll see!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Borgata $10k & Annoying Bubble
I was out just after the dinner break at the Borgata main event. I drew another tough table with John Phan and Barry Greenstein to my left, and many other good players at the table. I was pretty much card dead, getting up to 28k or so from the 25k starting stack just a couple of times. I lost a big pot to John Phan before dinner bluffing the flop and firing another barrel on the turn which he called - after dinner we were playing 300/600/75 and I had under 10k and got it all in preflop against John with AdKd vs As9s and lost.
I played the usual array of Sunday tournaments and cashed in only one (the UB $200 for $500). Its been pretty ugly for me this year on Sunday, whereas last year I had a couple of big wins.
Tonight I played in the WCOOP event #3 which was Pot Limit Omaha $300+20 with rebuys. I spent $920 and cashed for over $1600. Just cashing for me was pretty amazing as I never play PLO (I may have played one or two PLO tourneys before). I also played a $1,000 super satellite for the Aussie Millions on Full Tilt. Yes, I already have my seat but I can play further satellites for cash ($18,000 to be exact). Tonight they were giving away two $18k seats and $2,000 cash for third place. When we were down to 4, I was the shortest stack but caught a break when 3rd place busted in a tough hand against one of the bigger stacks. When we began three handed here were the stack sizes :
Seat 4: EdStar (43,248)
Seat 7: Bukowski (61,637)
Seat 9: Nordberg (9,115)
Obviously, I was in trouble - but EdStar didn't seem to figure out that he shouldn't play against the big stack at all and at one point we became tied at 20k for 2nd. Then I got short, then doubled through the big stack to take a little bit of a lead on 3rd. Then this hand came up :
Seat 4: EdStar (14,410)
Seat 7: Bukowski (76,859)
Seat 9: Nordberg (22,731)
EdStar antes 125
Bukowski antes 125
Nordberg antes 125
Nordberg posts the small blind of 500
EdStar posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ad Jc]
Persy (Observer): you've got it nord
Bukowski folds
Nordberg raises to 22,606, and is all in
EdStar calls 13,285, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ad Jc]
EdStar shows [Kc Tc]
Uncalled bet of 8,321 returned to Nordberg
*** FLOP *** [2c 6c Qc]
*** TURN *** [2c 6c Qc] [Td]
Poopy Pants (Observer): wow
*** RIVER *** [2c 6c Qc Td] [2d]
I think this was a marginal call by the big blind - but that's the way it goes. I ended up third a few hands later for $2,000. I won't complain too much because I already won a seat and I got really lucky to do so - but man, it still stings getting that close and losing.
I'm home for a couple of weeks before heading back to Atlantic City for the US Poker Champs $10k, then its off to Vegas and back home for a day or two before heading to Niagara.
I played the usual array of Sunday tournaments and cashed in only one (the UB $200 for $500). Its been pretty ugly for me this year on Sunday, whereas last year I had a couple of big wins.
Tonight I played in the WCOOP event #3 which was Pot Limit Omaha $300+20 with rebuys. I spent $920 and cashed for over $1600. Just cashing for me was pretty amazing as I never play PLO (I may have played one or two PLO tourneys before). I also played a $1,000 super satellite for the Aussie Millions on Full Tilt. Yes, I already have my seat but I can play further satellites for cash ($18,000 to be exact). Tonight they were giving away two $18k seats and $2,000 cash for third place. When we were down to 4, I was the shortest stack but caught a break when 3rd place busted in a tough hand against one of the bigger stacks. When we began three handed here were the stack sizes :
Seat 4: EdStar (43,248)
Seat 7: Bukowski (61,637)
Seat 9: Nordberg (9,115)
Obviously, I was in trouble - but EdStar didn't seem to figure out that he shouldn't play against the big stack at all and at one point we became tied at 20k for 2nd. Then I got short, then doubled through the big stack to take a little bit of a lead on 3rd. Then this hand came up :
Seat 4: EdStar (14,410)
Seat 7: Bukowski (76,859)
Seat 9: Nordberg (22,731)
EdStar antes 125
Bukowski antes 125
Nordberg antes 125
Nordberg posts the small blind of 500
EdStar posts the big blind of 1,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ad Jc]
Persy (Observer): you've got it nord
Bukowski folds
Nordberg raises to 22,606, and is all in
EdStar calls 13,285, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ad Jc]
EdStar shows [Kc Tc]
Uncalled bet of 8,321 returned to Nordberg
*** FLOP *** [2c 6c Qc]
*** TURN *** [2c 6c Qc] [Td]
Poopy Pants (Observer): wow
*** RIVER *** [2c 6c Qc Td] [2d]
I think this was a marginal call by the big blind - but that's the way it goes. I ended up third a few hands later for $2,000. I won't complain too much because I already won a seat and I got really lucky to do so - but man, it still stings getting that close and losing.
I'm home for a couple of weeks before heading back to Atlantic City for the US Poker Champs $10k, then its off to Vegas and back home for a day or two before heading to Niagara.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Borgata
I apologize for the lack of updates...
On Monday I made the trip out to the Borgata in Atlantic City for the last two of the preliminary events as well as the $10,000 WPT event that starts on Friday.
Tuesday was the $2500NL and I drew a starting table that included Scott Fischman. I had a tough hand early when I got a free look in the big blind with A3o and the flop came A43. I bet out into the field of preflop limpers, the UTG player called and then the SB basically min raised me. I was really stuck in a weird spot here, because generally I think three betting the flop will only get rid of hands I crush, but I think folding is a bit weak. Anyway, when I just called and the 4 came off on the turn it made my decision easier.
I had about 8500 (we started with 10k) when my final hand came up. At the 50-100 level, two players limped to me and i limped behind with 8h9h, there was another limper and then the button made a somewhat strange raise to only 400 - everyone called. There was no 2000 in the pot and the flop came down K94 two hearts and it was checked to the preflop raiser on the button. He bet 1600, the under the gun limper called, and I decided that even if the under the gun player had bigger hearts I thought this was a good spot to semi-bluff all in. I really put the button on AK or AA and I thought they would both fold and I would pick up a nice pot. The button ended up calling with a set of 9's and the under the gun player indeed fold a bigger heart draw and I missed my flush draw and that was it.
Note : Congrats to Joey Brooks (JOEYTHEB online) for winning the $2500nl and besting a very tough field.
On Wednesday I played the $5,000 buy-in. At my table were familiar faces JohnnyBax, Gavin Smith and Nick Schulman. I finally got to witness Gavin's game from the first level of a tournament and let me tell you its impressive. He accumulated a huge stack in the first four levels and really only got his money in bad once when he outdrew and busted Nick. Meanwhile, I took a lot of flops and never really got anywhere. I lost a small pot to Bax with KT vs AT on a T9223 board - at the first break I think I had $13k (we started with $15k) and when I got back things didn't get any better. In the third and fourth levels I played (and lost) 3 key hands. In a limped pot, I flop bottom two pair with 56 on a 567 board, I bet the pot and get one caller. The turn is a 7 and he leads into me and I fold. I flop a flush with 7s6s on a Ts9s2s board, I bet into a huge field and get one caller who is loose/bad. The turn is the Tc and I bet again and he calls. The river is the As and I check and he jams for my last 7500, I eventually fold. A fairly tight player opens for 450, I make it 1300 with QQ, leaving myself 3500 or so, he calls fairly quickly preflop and when the flop comes AT8 he bets into me and I fold. I hate giving up so easily here but I really have no chips to blow him off the best hand, calling him down will cost me my whole stack, and I really thought this guy would simply bet out with the ace.
Finally I doubled up when I pushed overtop of a bunch of limpers with AJs and got called by KJ. Then in the fifth level (200/400/50) I received no hands and blinded off from 6000 to 4700 when I again pushed over a bunch of limpers with ATs and got looked up by Gavin's KQ- the board came KJxxK and IGHN. (Can't I ever win a meaningful 60/40 vs Gavin? Oh wait...)
As much as I'm looking forward to the $10k buy in on Friday - I sure hope I play better and run better. It seems that I haven't even had a chance in these first two tourneys, I've been below starting chips almost immediately.
I did have an amazing day online after busting from the $2500NL, winning about $15,000 in the 10/20nl game. I gave a little of that back last night but still, its been a winning month overall which feels good.
On Monday I made the trip out to the Borgata in Atlantic City for the last two of the preliminary events as well as the $10,000 WPT event that starts on Friday.
Tuesday was the $2500NL and I drew a starting table that included Scott Fischman. I had a tough hand early when I got a free look in the big blind with A3o and the flop came A43. I bet out into the field of preflop limpers, the UTG player called and then the SB basically min raised me. I was really stuck in a weird spot here, because generally I think three betting the flop will only get rid of hands I crush, but I think folding is a bit weak. Anyway, when I just called and the 4 came off on the turn it made my decision easier.
I had about 8500 (we started with 10k) when my final hand came up. At the 50-100 level, two players limped to me and i limped behind with 8h9h, there was another limper and then the button made a somewhat strange raise to only 400 - everyone called. There was no 2000 in the pot and the flop came down K94 two hearts and it was checked to the preflop raiser on the button. He bet 1600, the under the gun limper called, and I decided that even if the under the gun player had bigger hearts I thought this was a good spot to semi-bluff all in. I really put the button on AK or AA and I thought they would both fold and I would pick up a nice pot. The button ended up calling with a set of 9's and the under the gun player indeed fold a bigger heart draw and I missed my flush draw and that was it.
Note : Congrats to Joey Brooks (JOEYTHEB online) for winning the $2500nl and besting a very tough field.
On Wednesday I played the $5,000 buy-in. At my table were familiar faces JohnnyBax, Gavin Smith and Nick Schulman. I finally got to witness Gavin's game from the first level of a tournament and let me tell you its impressive. He accumulated a huge stack in the first four levels and really only got his money in bad once when he outdrew and busted Nick. Meanwhile, I took a lot of flops and never really got anywhere. I lost a small pot to Bax with KT vs AT on a T9223 board - at the first break I think I had $13k (we started with $15k) and when I got back things didn't get any better. In the third and fourth levels I played (and lost) 3 key hands. In a limped pot, I flop bottom two pair with 56 on a 567 board, I bet the pot and get one caller. The turn is a 7 and he leads into me and I fold. I flop a flush with 7s6s on a Ts9s2s board, I bet into a huge field and get one caller who is loose/bad. The turn is the Tc and I bet again and he calls. The river is the As and I check and he jams for my last 7500, I eventually fold. A fairly tight player opens for 450, I make it 1300 with QQ, leaving myself 3500 or so, he calls fairly quickly preflop and when the flop comes AT8 he bets into me and I fold. I hate giving up so easily here but I really have no chips to blow him off the best hand, calling him down will cost me my whole stack, and I really thought this guy would simply bet out with the ace.
Finally I doubled up when I pushed overtop of a bunch of limpers with AJs and got called by KJ. Then in the fifth level (200/400/50) I received no hands and blinded off from 6000 to 4700 when I again pushed over a bunch of limpers with ATs and got looked up by Gavin's KQ- the board came KJxxK and IGHN. (Can't I ever win a meaningful 60/40 vs Gavin? Oh wait...)
As much as I'm looking forward to the $10k buy in on Friday - I sure hope I play better and run better. It seems that I haven't even had a chance in these first two tourneys, I've been below starting chips almost immediately.
I did have an amazing day online after busting from the $2500NL, winning about $15,000 in the 10/20nl game. I gave a little of that back last night but still, its been a winning month overall which feels good.
Saturday, September 2, 2006
LA & Cash Games
The $10,000 buy in at the Bike did not go well for me. I busted late in the first day with TT vs JJ on a 9875 board.
The last few days I've been playing a lot of cash games, mostly 10/20 NL on Full Tilt. I think I am playing quite well for the most part but I don't seem to be running well at all. I have attached some of the brutal hands (all of these are from today).
FullTiltPoker Game #960533269: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:42:03 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($5,803.50)
Seat 2: Glen Eichenlaub ($2,115.50)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
Glen Eichenlaub posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ts Th]
Nordberg raises to $60
Glen Eichenlaub raises to $380
Nordberg raises to $5,803.50, and is all in
Glen Eichenlaub calls $1,735.50, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ts Th]
Glen Eichenlaub shows [3d 3h]
Uncalled bet of $3,688 returned to Nordberg
*** FLOP *** [4h Qs Jd]
Nordberg: lol
*** TURN *** [4h Qs Jd] [3s]
Nordberg: gl
*** RIVER *** [4h Qs Jd 3s] [7c]
Nordberg shows a pair of Tens
Glen Eichenlaub shows three of a kind, Threes
Glen Eichenlaub wins the pot ($4,230.50) with three of a kind, Threes
FullTiltPoker Game #960438775: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:05:17 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($2,212)
Seat 2: PimpOwnage ($2,108)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
PimpOwnage posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [8c Ac]
Nordberg raises to $60
PimpOwnage calls $40
*** FLOP *** [2h 8h As]
PimpOwnage checks
Nordberg bets $120
PimpOwnage raises to $480
Nordberg raises to $2,152, and is all in
PimpOwnage calls $1,568, and is all in
Nordberg shows [8c Ac]
PimpOwnage shows [6h 9h]
Uncalled bet of $104 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [2h 8h As] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [2h 8h As 3h] [6s]
Nordberg shows two pair, Aces and Eights
PimpOwnage shows a flush, Nine high
PimpOwnage wins the pot ($4,215.50) with a flush, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4,216 | Rake $0.50
Board: [2h 8h As 3h 6s]
Seat 1: Nordberg (small blind) showed [8c Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Eights
Seat 2: PimpOwnage (big blind) showed [6h 9h] and won ($4,215.50) with a flush, Nine high
FullTiltPoker Game #960611645: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:10:48 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($1,956)
Seat 2: studd7card ($2,751.50)
studd7card posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [5h 3h]
studd7card raises to $40
Nordberg raises to $150
studd7card calls $110
*** FLOP *** [6h 2h Ad]
Nordberg bets $300
studd7card raises to $600
Nordberg raises to $1,806, and is all in
studd7card calls $1,206
Nordberg shows [5h 3h]
studd7card shows [Tc As]
*** TURN *** [6h 2h Ad] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6h 2h Ad Js] [6d]
Nordberg shows a pair of Sixes
studd7card shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
studd7card wins the pot ($3,911.50) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Nordberg is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,912 | Rake $0.50
Board: [6h 2h Ad Js 6d]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [5h 3h] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 2: studd7card (small blind) showed [Tc As] and won ($3,911.50) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
FullTiltPoker Game #960382628: Table Flame (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:42:05 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: PimpOwnage ($1,949)
Seat 2: Nordberg ($2,049.50)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
PimpOwnage posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [As 5s]
Nordberg raises to $60
PimpOwnage calls $40
*** FLOP *** [Ah 3c 4h]
PimpOwnage checks
Nordberg bets $120
PimpOwnage raises to $350
Nordberg raises to $1,989.50, and is all in
PimpOwnage has 15 seconds left to act
PimpOwnage calls $1,539, and is all in
Nordberg shows [As 5s]
PimpOwnage shows [2h 9h]
Uncalled bet of $100.50 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [Ah 3c 4h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 3c 4h Ks] [3h]
Nordberg shows two pair, Aces and Threes
PimpOwnage shows a flush, Ace high
PimpOwnage wins the pot ($3,897.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,898 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Ah 3c 4h Ks 3h]
Seat 1: PimpOwnage (big blind) showed [2h 9h] and won ($3,897.50) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: Nordberg (small blind) showed [As 5s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
FullTiltPoker Game #960559347: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:51:38 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($3,747.50)
Seat 2: studd7card ($976)
studd7card posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Tc Th]
studd7card calls $10
Nordberg raises to $80
studd7card raises to $140
Nordberg calls $60
*** FLOP *** [5d Qc Qd]
Nordberg checks
studd7card bets $200
Nordberg raises to $3,607.50, and is all in
studd7card calls $636, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Tc Th]
studd7card shows [4d Td]
Uncalled bet of $2,771.50 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [5d Qc Qd] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [5d Qc Qd Kd] [6c]
Nordberg shows two pair, Queens and Tens
studd7card shows a flush, King high
studd7card wins the pot ($1,951.50) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,952 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5d Qc Qd Kd 6c]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [Tc Th] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 2: studd7card (small blind) showed [4d Td] and won ($1,951.50) with a flush, King high
FullTiltPoker Game #960745139: Table Effort (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:58:19 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($2,622.50)
Seat 2: ellwood2 ($780)
ellwood2 posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ad Kd]
ellwood2 calls $10
Nordberg raises to $80
ellwood2 calls $60
*** FLOP *** [5h 6c Ah]
Nordberg bets $160
ellwood2 calls $160
*** TURN *** [5h 6c Ah] [8s]
Nordberg bets $2,382.50, and is all in
ellwood2 calls $540, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ad Kd]
ellwood2 shows [3h Qh]
Uncalled bet of $1,842.50 returned to Nordberg
*** RIVER *** [5h 6c Ah 8s] [4h]
Nordberg shows a pair of Aces
ellwood2 shows a flush, Ace high
ellwood2 wins the pot ($1,559.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,560 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5h 6c Ah 8s 4h]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [Ad Kd] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: ellwood2 (small blind) showed [3h Qh] and won ($1,559.50) with a flush, Ace high
The last few days I've been playing a lot of cash games, mostly 10/20 NL on Full Tilt. I think I am playing quite well for the most part but I don't seem to be running well at all. I have attached some of the brutal hands (all of these are from today).
FullTiltPoker Game #960533269: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:42:03 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($5,803.50)
Seat 2: Glen Eichenlaub ($2,115.50)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
Glen Eichenlaub posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ts Th]
Nordberg raises to $60
Glen Eichenlaub raises to $380
Nordberg raises to $5,803.50, and is all in
Glen Eichenlaub calls $1,735.50, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ts Th]
Glen Eichenlaub shows [3d 3h]
Uncalled bet of $3,688 returned to Nordberg
*** FLOP *** [4h Qs Jd]
Nordberg: lol
*** TURN *** [4h Qs Jd] [3s]
Nordberg: gl
*** RIVER *** [4h Qs Jd 3s] [7c]
Nordberg shows a pair of Tens
Glen Eichenlaub shows three of a kind, Threes
Glen Eichenlaub wins the pot ($4,230.50) with three of a kind, Threes
FullTiltPoker Game #960438775: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:05:17 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($2,212)
Seat 2: PimpOwnage ($2,108)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
PimpOwnage posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [8c Ac]
Nordberg raises to $60
PimpOwnage calls $40
*** FLOP *** [2h 8h As]
PimpOwnage checks
Nordberg bets $120
PimpOwnage raises to $480
Nordberg raises to $2,152, and is all in
PimpOwnage calls $1,568, and is all in
Nordberg shows [8c Ac]
PimpOwnage shows [6h 9h]
Uncalled bet of $104 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [2h 8h As] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [2h 8h As 3h] [6s]
Nordberg shows two pair, Aces and Eights
PimpOwnage shows a flush, Nine high
PimpOwnage wins the pot ($4,215.50) with a flush, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $4,216 | Rake $0.50
Board: [2h 8h As 3h 6s]
Seat 1: Nordberg (small blind) showed [8c Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Eights
Seat 2: PimpOwnage (big blind) showed [6h 9h] and won ($4,215.50) with a flush, Nine high
FullTiltPoker Game #960611645: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:10:48 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($1,956)
Seat 2: studd7card ($2,751.50)
studd7card posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [5h 3h]
studd7card raises to $40
Nordberg raises to $150
studd7card calls $110
*** FLOP *** [6h 2h Ad]
Nordberg bets $300
studd7card raises to $600
Nordberg raises to $1,806, and is all in
studd7card calls $1,206
Nordberg shows [5h 3h]
studd7card shows [Tc As]
*** TURN *** [6h 2h Ad] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [6h 2h Ad Js] [6d]
Nordberg shows a pair of Sixes
studd7card shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
studd7card wins the pot ($3,911.50) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Nordberg is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,912 | Rake $0.50
Board: [6h 2h Ad Js 6d]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [5h 3h] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 2: studd7card (small blind) showed [Tc As] and won ($3,911.50) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
FullTiltPoker Game #960382628: Table Flame (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:42:05 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: PimpOwnage ($1,949)
Seat 2: Nordberg ($2,049.50)
Nordberg posts the small blind of $10
PimpOwnage posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [As 5s]
Nordberg raises to $60
PimpOwnage calls $40
*** FLOP *** [Ah 3c 4h]
PimpOwnage checks
Nordberg bets $120
PimpOwnage raises to $350
Nordberg raises to $1,989.50, and is all in
PimpOwnage has 15 seconds left to act
PimpOwnage calls $1,539, and is all in
Nordberg shows [As 5s]
PimpOwnage shows [2h 9h]
Uncalled bet of $100.50 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [Ah 3c 4h] [Ks]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 3c 4h Ks] [3h]
Nordberg shows two pair, Aces and Threes
PimpOwnage shows a flush, Ace high
PimpOwnage wins the pot ($3,897.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,898 | Rake $0.50
Board: [Ah 3c 4h Ks 3h]
Seat 1: PimpOwnage (big blind) showed [2h 9h] and won ($3,897.50) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: Nordberg (small blind) showed [As 5s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
FullTiltPoker Game #960559347: Table Tartan (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:51:38 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($3,747.50)
Seat 2: studd7card ($976)
studd7card posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Tc Th]
studd7card calls $10
Nordberg raises to $80
studd7card raises to $140
Nordberg calls $60
*** FLOP *** [5d Qc Qd]
Nordberg checks
studd7card bets $200
Nordberg raises to $3,607.50, and is all in
studd7card calls $636, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Tc Th]
studd7card shows [4d Td]
Uncalled bet of $2,771.50 returned to Nordberg
*** TURN *** [5d Qc Qd] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [5d Qc Qd Kd] [6c]
Nordberg shows two pair, Queens and Tens
studd7card shows a flush, King high
studd7card wins the pot ($1,951.50) with a flush, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,952 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5d Qc Qd Kd 6c]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [Tc Th] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 2: studd7card (small blind) showed [4d Td] and won ($1,951.50) with a flush, King high
FullTiltPoker Game #960745139: Table Effort (heads up) - $10/$20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:58:19 ET - 2006/09/02
Seat 1: Nordberg ($2,622.50)
Seat 2: ellwood2 ($780)
ellwood2 posts the small blind of $10
Nordberg posts the big blind of $20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Ad Kd]
ellwood2 calls $10
Nordberg raises to $80
ellwood2 calls $60
*** FLOP *** [5h 6c Ah]
Nordberg bets $160
ellwood2 calls $160
*** TURN *** [5h 6c Ah] [8s]
Nordberg bets $2,382.50, and is all in
ellwood2 calls $540, and is all in
Nordberg shows [Ad Kd]
ellwood2 shows [3h Qh]
Uncalled bet of $1,842.50 returned to Nordberg
*** RIVER *** [5h 6c Ah 8s] [4h]
Nordberg shows a pair of Aces
ellwood2 shows a flush, Ace high
ellwood2 wins the pot ($1,559.50) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1,560 | Rake $0.50
Board: [5h 6c Ah 8s 4h]
Seat 1: Nordberg (big blind) showed [Ad Kd] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: ellwood2 (small blind) showed [3h Qh] and won ($1,559.50) with a flush, Ace high
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Aussie Millions
Tonight I won a seat to the Aussie Millions tournament in Melbourne (worth $18,000) in January 2007. It was a $1,060 satellite on Full Tilt and I took it down along with Shaniac (they gave away two seats). I ran pretty ridiculous at the final table, running AJ through JJ, AT through AK and 89 through AT on the last hand where the board came ATx99 to eliminate third place.
I also played in a $500 satellite for the Legends WPT on Paradise Poker. I ended up getting 4th for $1500 when they gave away 2 $12,000 seats and then cash to the next three spots. I was a bit unfortunate to go out with AK vs Q5 in a big pot all in preflop that would have given me a very good chance for the seat.
I couldn't quite pull off the double, but I was pretty lucky to win one of them. I also had a very good day in the cash games winning almost $11k so this week is off to a great start.
I also played in a $500 satellite for the Legends WPT on Paradise Poker. I ended up getting 4th for $1500 when they gave away 2 $12,000 seats and then cash to the next three spots. I was a bit unfortunate to go out with AK vs Q5 in a big pot all in preflop that would have given me a very good chance for the seat.
I couldn't quite pull off the double, but I was pretty lucky to win one of them. I also had a very good day in the cash games winning almost $11k so this week is off to a great start.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Home Again
I got back from Vegas a little over a week ago. I guess I never even updated about the $10,000 buy in at the Bellagio. Here is what I remember...
I had a really tough starting table with Carlos Mortensen, Mark Gregorich, Don Mullis and Ali Eslami. Fortunately, they were all to my right but Carlos makes life difficult wherever you are on the table. After Mark Gregorich busted the Grinder sat down - but that was only a little before our table broke.
Some hands...
Carlos opens and I call with the 5s6s, the flop comes 78Q one spade, he check calls. The turn is Qs, he check folds to my bet. I limp behind Don Mullis with the KT no diamonds. Bad player to my left calls on the button, flop comes KQ9 all diamonds, checked around. Turn is a blank, Mullis bets, I call, button calls. River is a blank, Mullis checks, I check, now the button bets? Mullis insta-calls and I tank. I'm fairly confident the button has nothing and that Mullis is calling with a little less something than I have so I call and my hand is good. (That was a big pot at the time). I open in the cutoff with 95o last hand before a break, only the bad SB calls. Flop is 623, he check calls. The turn is a 4, he check calls again. The river is a 5 and he best like 1/3 of the pot. I call, he has KJo. This one I can't figure out. And it appeared on the river that he thought it was a valiant call on my part. Ali opens, I call with 7c4c, Asian player whom I've seen before but I don't know his name calls from the blinds. The flop is 253 one club. This is a bit of a weird one, this is a really good flop for my hand but its checked to me. I was concerned at the time about getting blown off my hand, but in retrospect I should have bet and three bet all in if raised. Anyway, I checked behind and the turn was the Jc. The blind bet out, Ali called, and I just called with my zillion outs. The 6c came on the river and they both check folded.
In the last level of the day (300/600/75) our table broke and I had about 28k up from the starting 20k stack. My first hand at the table I re-raised someone with AKs and he folded. The next hand I opened with A8 and won a small pot. Two hands later I pick up AK again and raise and have to give it up unimproved on the flop. Toward the end of the level, I'm up to about 31k when Men the master open limps in late position. The SB completes and I check with 55. The flop is K43 and its checked to Men and he bets 2k and I call, pretty confident that I have the best hand. The turn is a 5 and I check to Men again and he bets 3k. I make it 10k, and then Men makes it 10k more. I strongly suspect I'm beat but Men could also play 44 or 33 this way, so I decided to stick the rest of my stack in there. As soon as my chips were in the middle I said "at least he hasn't called yet", which means it was a bit of a slowroll when he (finally) flipped up the 76 and I went home after I missed my full house on the river.
After I got home I started playing a lot of NL cash games. Mostly 10/20 but some other games mixed in as well. Through the first 25,000 hands everything was going really well. I fired up some tournaments this past Monday and was really frustrated in them, playing for what felt like smaller stakes and being frustrated with the lack of cards and pace of play. I began to wonder if I would ever get back into tournaments...On Tuesday night, I again entered the normal 9pm tournaments but this time got in a groove in the $150+12 on Party and by 5am won it for $35,000. I was really proud of the way I played at the final table, I only made maybe one mistake and that hand was a bit of a cooler. I think it was my second biggest score online and it was definitely my best weeknight results-wise in my poker career.
On Wednesday I again crushed the cash games, to the tune of almost $15k. One of my best days ever. It feels so simple when you're running good like that, hitting hands and getting paid off. Of course, the next two days were then horrible, losing almost $22k. Obviously, this is a totally different feeling, like how the hell can I ever win at poker again? I got beat up on the 10/20 tables on Stars and decided to only play lower stakes there until I get better or used to it, or run better, or whatever the problem is.
Today I played in most of the major Sunday tournaments. I didn't fare well in the early ones but in the $200+15 second chance tournament on Stars I finished third for almost $17,000. I made a blunder at the end and one with a few tables left but otherwise played very well (and ran really really well). At one point right after the bubble burst I had 135k and second place had 70k... that is a pretty rare situation with 120 players left.
I also played in a 4,000 FPP Satellite to the EPT London tournament. I bring this up because I bubbled in a pretty unique fashion. The chip leader had 110k, I had 57k, the other two players had about 45k. Two players get the seats worth $8,500 and the other two get nothing. I was in the SB with Ks8s and the other two players folded. I completed, the BB min raised (which was not uncommon for him) and I called. The flop came down JsTh9s. I was double gutted with a flush draw, a pretty big hand in this spot. I checked and the BB bet around the pot, 6k. I thought this was a perfect time for a semi-bluff all in, because he is virtually guaranteed a seat without playing any major pots so he can only call with very few hands. So I raised all in and he called almost instantly with QJ. Personally, I think this is a very bad play on his part because he is risking losing his comfortable stack, and I could very well have him beat. Anyway, his hand held up, unfortunately for me and I was out in fourth and he was the huge chip leader. Any thoughts on this hand? My read on him was that he was a tight player, too, it was pretty surprising.
That's about it for now. I'll try to update more regularly. This weekend I'm off to LA to play in the $10k buy in WPT tourney at the Bike.
I had a really tough starting table with Carlos Mortensen, Mark Gregorich, Don Mullis and Ali Eslami. Fortunately, they were all to my right but Carlos makes life difficult wherever you are on the table. After Mark Gregorich busted the Grinder sat down - but that was only a little before our table broke.
Some hands...
Carlos opens and I call with the 5s6s, the flop comes 78Q one spade, he check calls. The turn is Qs, he check folds to my bet. I limp behind Don Mullis with the KT no diamonds. Bad player to my left calls on the button, flop comes KQ9 all diamonds, checked around. Turn is a blank, Mullis bets, I call, button calls. River is a blank, Mullis checks, I check, now the button bets? Mullis insta-calls and I tank. I'm fairly confident the button has nothing and that Mullis is calling with a little less something than I have so I call and my hand is good. (That was a big pot at the time). I open in the cutoff with 95o last hand before a break, only the bad SB calls. Flop is 623, he check calls. The turn is a 4, he check calls again. The river is a 5 and he best like 1/3 of the pot. I call, he has KJo. This one I can't figure out. And it appeared on the river that he thought it was a valiant call on my part. Ali opens, I call with 7c4c, Asian player whom I've seen before but I don't know his name calls from the blinds. The flop is 253 one club. This is a bit of a weird one, this is a really good flop for my hand but its checked to me. I was concerned at the time about getting blown off my hand, but in retrospect I should have bet and three bet all in if raised. Anyway, I checked behind and the turn was the Jc. The blind bet out, Ali called, and I just called with my zillion outs. The 6c came on the river and they both check folded.
In the last level of the day (300/600/75) our table broke and I had about 28k up from the starting 20k stack. My first hand at the table I re-raised someone with AKs and he folded. The next hand I opened with A8 and won a small pot. Two hands later I pick up AK again and raise and have to give it up unimproved on the flop. Toward the end of the level, I'm up to about 31k when Men the master open limps in late position. The SB completes and I check with 55. The flop is K43 and its checked to Men and he bets 2k and I call, pretty confident that I have the best hand. The turn is a 5 and I check to Men again and he bets 3k. I make it 10k, and then Men makes it 10k more. I strongly suspect I'm beat but Men could also play 44 or 33 this way, so I decided to stick the rest of my stack in there. As soon as my chips were in the middle I said "at least he hasn't called yet", which means it was a bit of a slowroll when he (finally) flipped up the 76 and I went home after I missed my full house on the river.
After I got home I started playing a lot of NL cash games. Mostly 10/20 but some other games mixed in as well. Through the first 25,000 hands everything was going really well. I fired up some tournaments this past Monday and was really frustrated in them, playing for what felt like smaller stakes and being frustrated with the lack of cards and pace of play. I began to wonder if I would ever get back into tournaments...On Tuesday night, I again entered the normal 9pm tournaments but this time got in a groove in the $150+12 on Party and by 5am won it for $35,000. I was really proud of the way I played at the final table, I only made maybe one mistake and that hand was a bit of a cooler. I think it was my second biggest score online and it was definitely my best weeknight results-wise in my poker career.
On Wednesday I again crushed the cash games, to the tune of almost $15k. One of my best days ever. It feels so simple when you're running good like that, hitting hands and getting paid off. Of course, the next two days were then horrible, losing almost $22k. Obviously, this is a totally different feeling, like how the hell can I ever win at poker again? I got beat up on the 10/20 tables on Stars and decided to only play lower stakes there until I get better or used to it, or run better, or whatever the problem is.
Today I played in most of the major Sunday tournaments. I didn't fare well in the early ones but in the $200+15 second chance tournament on Stars I finished third for almost $17,000. I made a blunder at the end and one with a few tables left but otherwise played very well (and ran really really well). At one point right after the bubble burst I had 135k and second place had 70k... that is a pretty rare situation with 120 players left.
I also played in a 4,000 FPP Satellite to the EPT London tournament. I bring this up because I bubbled in a pretty unique fashion. The chip leader had 110k, I had 57k, the other two players had about 45k. Two players get the seats worth $8,500 and the other two get nothing. I was in the SB with Ks8s and the other two players folded. I completed, the BB min raised (which was not uncommon for him) and I called. The flop came down JsTh9s. I was double gutted with a flush draw, a pretty big hand in this spot. I checked and the BB bet around the pot, 6k. I thought this was a perfect time for a semi-bluff all in, because he is virtually guaranteed a seat without playing any major pots so he can only call with very few hands. So I raised all in and he called almost instantly with QJ. Personally, I think this is a very bad play on his part because he is risking losing his comfortable stack, and I could very well have him beat. Anyway, his hand held up, unfortunately for me and I was out in fourth and he was the huge chip leader. Any thoughts on this hand? My read on him was that he was a tight player, too, it was pretty surprising.
That's about it for now. I'll try to update more regularly. This weekend I'm off to LA to play in the $10k buy in WPT tourney at the Bike.
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Adios WSOP
I busted in the main event yesterday a hand before the dinner break. A new player to our table had opened the first two pots since he sat down and I made it 17.5k with KK on the second pot. He thought for a bit and moved me in for about 75k more, I called, he had AK and the A hit the river. I'm obviously ok with how I busted but I think I played a little sloppily during the day. I was at 93.2k at the beginning of the day and slipped down to 22k before building back up to over 100k when we got into the money.
All in all it was a very poor WSOP results-wise for me with only one cash but as it turns out I did very well online during that time so it all worked out pretty well. I'm still undecided on the Bellagio $10k which starts Monday. I made just head home tomorrow to Detroit.
All in all it was a very poor WSOP results-wise for me with only one cash but as it turns out I did very well online during that time so it all worked out pretty well. I'm still undecided on the Bellagio $10k which starts Monday. I made just head home tomorrow to Detroit.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
WSOP
I made it to day 3, along with about 1150 of the 8700+ starters. I have around an average stack wtih 93,200. I had it up to 115k at the first break and had a great table before it broke and i ended up at the TV table with Negreanu. He played well and made it very difficult to get chips uncontested (actually he made it impossible). I slipped to 53k at dinner after some poor play but had a nice last level and a half to finish the night on a good note. I am off of Negreanu's table for Friday and think I will have a better time of it. We'll see. About 300 players more until we make the money...
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Day 1 Hands
My first Day 1 table was table 18. The only player I knew was Matt Russell from my final table in New Orleans...pretty ironic since we played together all four days in New Orleans and now were at the same table again.
Early on I lost with a jack high flush to an ace high flush and was down to about 8400. I later called a raise from Matt with KQ, flopped a K, called his flop and turn bets and then rivered a queen. I should've raised but the board was a bit scary so I just called and he had AK. I played the hand poorly and got lucky. The very next hand Matt limped in and I made it 225 to go with JJ and only Matt called. The flop came Axx and he check called, the turn went check/check and he bet small on the river and I called and he had A5o. A few hands later I limped with QsJs and someone behind me raised and I called. The flop came QJ4 and I checked, he bet 375, I made it 1275, and he thought a bit and called. The turn was a T and I bet 2000 and he called. I was pretty sure he had KK at this point and I planned to bet the river if it wasn't an A, K, 9, T or 4. The river was an awful T and I checked, he jammed for my last 5k and I folded. A few minutes later he told me he had me beat the whole time, flopping a set. So pretty lucky river as it turned out, if he's telling the truth.
Soon I was down to 3900 and pretty frustrated. I had played pretty poorly up to that point... I was then in the BB with AcQc and someone opened from MP for 200 and I called. The flop came 985 two clubs and it went check/check. The turn was Tc and i bet, got raised, and figured I should just jam. Its hard to put the guy on a hand at that point, I figured he slowplayed a set and wouldn't fold or just had nothing. I probably misplayed the hand here as well as he thought for a bit and folded. A few hands later a player opened and I called in position with 93o. I thought this player had a tight range and would overplay his hand if I hit. The flop came 876 and he bet and I raised and he called. The turn was an A and it went check/check. The river was a 5 and he checked, I bet 1000 and he called. I chipped up to 7700 at the first break.
After the first break things went bad again - our table broke to make way for a table of alternates... I took about 6k to my new table. A few hands in, i had about 5500 and the cutoff opened for 300. I made it 1000 from the SB with ATo and he went all in - I was getting about 2:1 to call so I called and he had AA and I lost. I was now down to about 2700. I opened with KK, got three callers, the ace flopped and I check folded. I opened with JJ and got two callers and won a decent pot. At the end of level 2 I had about 5400.
I got up to about 6500 when I raised two limpers to 1100 with AdQd and the 8 seat cold called and the limpers folded. The flop came JT9 and I bet about 2500 leaving myself 2975. He thought for a bit and called. The turn was a K giving me the nuts and I checked, he jammed with 88 and I doubled up. I finally had about 13500 and was feeling good. The rest of the level went really poorly though. I lost a bunch of small pots and made some marginal decisions and ended up at 8500 or so at the dinner break. I was pretty frustrated with my play up till that point but was determined to come back from dinner and play better.
A few hands into level 4, the SB raised my BB to 700 and I woke up with AA. I decided to just call and the flop came AQx. The SB bet 1000 and I called. The turn was a J and he went all in and had me covered! I made the easy call and he had KQ and I dodged the T on the river. This time I had about 15000. I chipped up really well for a little while, up to about 22000 when I hit another snag. A tight player opened for 700 and the player that I doubled before with AT vs AA cold called. I had JJ and made it 3000. Everyone folded except Mr Aces who went all in after cold calling, I had to call as I was getting a huge price but he had AA again and I lost. I finished the level with 15000, and again I felt frustrated -
The next level got off to a great start when I limped behind some limpers with 54o and the flop came A23 and I got it all in vs a short stack who had 33. His hand did not improve and I busted him, getting up to about 23k. I won a few pots including this one to get to about 32k. I opened for 900 with 66 and the 8 seat made it 3000. He was pretty deep and I thought I would get paid off if I hit my set so I called. The flop was A43 and it went check/check. The turn was an 8 and I really thought he had TT or JJ so I bet 4500 planning to fire again on the river and he folded. I ended level 5 with about 34k.
I chipped up early in level 6, winning a few small pots, then opening to 1100 with AK. The button called and the 8 seat re-raised to 3400. I had played with this guy long enough to know that he probably didn't want a call, and really wanted to make it to day 2 and AK was a huge hand in that spot as I had been raising a lot so I re-raised again almost putting him in. The button quickly mucked and the SB thought for awhile before folding 99 face up. A few hands later I opened with T9o, the woman to my left jammed and I lost to her 77. Shortly there-after a short stack raised a limper, I re-raised with 88 and he went all in with AK and I won. Then I opened on the button with Q9o and defended when the BB re-raised. The flop came T9x and he bet 3500 and I called. The turn was a T and he check folded. The very next hand a new player opened to 1500 and I re-raised with TT. My table image wasn't great but I figured he would fold a lot of hands as we were closing in on the end of day 1. He eventually went all in and I beat his AQ. I now had about 61k and chipped up to 69650 by being aggressive (and the tight players to my right gave me a walk a couple of times).
Day 2 for me is Wednesday and I think I am the biggest stack at the table by quite a bit...
Early on I lost with a jack high flush to an ace high flush and was down to about 8400. I later called a raise from Matt with KQ, flopped a K, called his flop and turn bets and then rivered a queen. I should've raised but the board was a bit scary so I just called and he had AK. I played the hand poorly and got lucky. The very next hand Matt limped in and I made it 225 to go with JJ and only Matt called. The flop came Axx and he check called, the turn went check/check and he bet small on the river and I called and he had A5o. A few hands later I limped with QsJs and someone behind me raised and I called. The flop came QJ4 and I checked, he bet 375, I made it 1275, and he thought a bit and called. The turn was a T and I bet 2000 and he called. I was pretty sure he had KK at this point and I planned to bet the river if it wasn't an A, K, 9, T or 4. The river was an awful T and I checked, he jammed for my last 5k and I folded. A few minutes later he told me he had me beat the whole time, flopping a set. So pretty lucky river as it turned out, if he's telling the truth.
Soon I was down to 3900 and pretty frustrated. I had played pretty poorly up to that point... I was then in the BB with AcQc and someone opened from MP for 200 and I called. The flop came 985 two clubs and it went check/check. The turn was Tc and i bet, got raised, and figured I should just jam. Its hard to put the guy on a hand at that point, I figured he slowplayed a set and wouldn't fold or just had nothing. I probably misplayed the hand here as well as he thought for a bit and folded. A few hands later a player opened and I called in position with 93o. I thought this player had a tight range and would overplay his hand if I hit. The flop came 876 and he bet and I raised and he called. The turn was an A and it went check/check. The river was a 5 and he checked, I bet 1000 and he called. I chipped up to 7700 at the first break.
After the first break things went bad again - our table broke to make way for a table of alternates... I took about 6k to my new table. A few hands in, i had about 5500 and the cutoff opened for 300. I made it 1000 from the SB with ATo and he went all in - I was getting about 2:1 to call so I called and he had AA and I lost. I was now down to about 2700. I opened with KK, got three callers, the ace flopped and I check folded. I opened with JJ and got two callers and won a decent pot. At the end of level 2 I had about 5400.
I got up to about 6500 when I raised two limpers to 1100 with AdQd and the 8 seat cold called and the limpers folded. The flop came JT9 and I bet about 2500 leaving myself 2975. He thought for a bit and called. The turn was a K giving me the nuts and I checked, he jammed with 88 and I doubled up. I finally had about 13500 and was feeling good. The rest of the level went really poorly though. I lost a bunch of small pots and made some marginal decisions and ended up at 8500 or so at the dinner break. I was pretty frustrated with my play up till that point but was determined to come back from dinner and play better.
A few hands into level 4, the SB raised my BB to 700 and I woke up with AA. I decided to just call and the flop came AQx. The SB bet 1000 and I called. The turn was a J and he went all in and had me covered! I made the easy call and he had KQ and I dodged the T on the river. This time I had about 15000. I chipped up really well for a little while, up to about 22000 when I hit another snag. A tight player opened for 700 and the player that I doubled before with AT vs AA cold called. I had JJ and made it 3000. Everyone folded except Mr Aces who went all in after cold calling, I had to call as I was getting a huge price but he had AA again and I lost. I finished the level with 15000, and again I felt frustrated -
The next level got off to a great start when I limped behind some limpers with 54o and the flop came A23 and I got it all in vs a short stack who had 33. His hand did not improve and I busted him, getting up to about 23k. I won a few pots including this one to get to about 32k. I opened for 900 with 66 and the 8 seat made it 3000. He was pretty deep and I thought I would get paid off if I hit my set so I called. The flop was A43 and it went check/check. The turn was an 8 and I really thought he had TT or JJ so I bet 4500 planning to fire again on the river and he folded. I ended level 5 with about 34k.
I chipped up early in level 6, winning a few small pots, then opening to 1100 with AK. The button called and the 8 seat re-raised to 3400. I had played with this guy long enough to know that he probably didn't want a call, and really wanted to make it to day 2 and AK was a huge hand in that spot as I had been raising a lot so I re-raised again almost putting him in. The button quickly mucked and the SB thought for awhile before folding 99 face up. A few hands later I opened with T9o, the woman to my left jammed and I lost to her 77. Shortly there-after a short stack raised a limper, I re-raised with 88 and he went all in with AK and I won. Then I opened on the button with Q9o and defended when the BB re-raised. The flop came T9x and he bet 3500 and I called. The turn was a T and he check folded. The very next hand a new player opened to 1500 and I re-raised with TT. My table image wasn't great but I figured he would fold a lot of hands as we were closing in on the end of day 1. He eventually went all in and I beat his AQ. I now had about 61k and chipped up to 69650 by being aggressive (and the tight players to my right gave me a walk a couple of times).
Day 2 for me is Wednesday and I think I am the biggest stack at the table by quite a bit...
Main Event Day 1
I ended the day with 69650 chips which is in great shape. What a contrast to last year when I finished with 12k after being above 20k most of the day. Today, I was down to 3900 in the first level, 2700 in the second level and in the last two levels I went from 15k to 70k without getting my chips all in.
I was actually only all in twice during the day, once with my opponent drawing completely dead and the other time he had 4 outs with one card to come. When you are short stacked that's pretty amazing. I'll write more tomorrow if/when I get time. I don't play again until Wednesday.
I was actually only all in twice during the day, once with my opponent drawing completely dead and the other time he had 4 outs with one card to come. When you are short stacked that's pretty amazing. I'll write more tomorrow if/when I get time. I don't play again until Wednesday.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Day 1D and the TV Show
Well, Day 1D of the World Series starts tomorrow - its pretty bizarre starting a tournament after about half the people playing have busted. I'm excited, but on the other hand I don't really know what to expect. There are so many inexperienced players that I think its really hard to know where some people are. Don't get me wrong, its also an excellent opportunity to get a bunch of chips early without making a really strong hand... but there's also the good chance that I make a totally bad decision. We'll see.
As far as the ESPN airing of the New Orleans Event I am pretty happy overall with the way it turned out. I knew they would show the 43o hand, and I knew I wouldn't like it. It was a pretty bad line to take, and I figured I had a good chance of getting looked up, but I decided to try it anyway. I think it was good in terms of putting myself through a big bluff in that situation - despite not being successful. I think the whole problem with the hand was just never value betting a hand like that - (which by the way, would work really well against Gavin). Overall, its pretty funny they labelled me as Mr. Conservative, when in reality, I definitely played more aggressive when I knew I could. With Gavin's big chiplead there was no way I could play aggressive anyway...
Other than that, I have been playing a lot of no limit ring games on Full Tilt lately and it has been going really well overall, especially in the 10/20 game. One other really neat thing is I believe I am close to getting a backer. I think this will be a great opportunity to play the schedule that I'd like to play this fall but not have to buy in to all of the tournaments myself. Nothing is final yet, but I think it will happen. After the main event, I think I will play in the Bellagio Cup $10k, the Legends $10k in late August, and then hopefully the Borgata and EPT London in September.
Good luck to everyone still in the Main Event or those that haven't played yet!
As far as the ESPN airing of the New Orleans Event I am pretty happy overall with the way it turned out. I knew they would show the 43o hand, and I knew I wouldn't like it. It was a pretty bad line to take, and I figured I had a good chance of getting looked up, but I decided to try it anyway. I think it was good in terms of putting myself through a big bluff in that situation - despite not being successful. I think the whole problem with the hand was just never value betting a hand like that - (which by the way, would work really well against Gavin). Overall, its pretty funny they labelled me as Mr. Conservative, when in reality, I definitely played more aggressive when I knew I could. With Gavin's big chiplead there was no way I could play aggressive anyway...
Other than that, I have been playing a lot of no limit ring games on Full Tilt lately and it has been going really well overall, especially in the 10/20 game. One other really neat thing is I believe I am close to getting a backer. I think this will be a great opportunity to play the schedule that I'd like to play this fall but not have to buy in to all of the tournaments myself. Nothing is final yet, but I think it will happen. After the main event, I think I will play in the Bellagio Cup $10k, the Legends $10k in late August, and then hopefully the Borgata and EPT London in September.
Good luck to everyone still in the Main Event or those that haven't played yet!
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