Indiana WSOP Circuit Report...

Here is my Indiana report.

Got down to Caesar's late Friday night and checked in. My plan was to play the $1000+60 mega satellite (to the $10k main event) at 1pm on Saturday and then a one table satellite later if I didn't get in.

The mega satellite started out really well. We got 3,000 in chips and the blinds were 25/25 and only went up every fourty minutes... a nice structure for sure. The first big pot I played was when I had JJ and raise a few limpers out of the SB, only the button called. The flop was 963 and I bet and he called. I really thought at this point 78 was a likely hand, well a 7 came on the turn and I pushed and he called, and I busted him when he missed on the river. That gave me some momentum... I was quickly up to around 12,500 after a few levels. My rush subsided a bit and I misplayed a few hands and was quickly down to only about 2400 with the blinds 200/400. From there I doubled up once, and then again in the blinds with KK vs AQ, and got it back up to 12,000+ a little while later when my AK beat QQ.

We were down to 3 tables now with 14 spots paying seats and I quickly went card dead. Eventually I stuck it in with QT against AK and lost. I finished 24th, only ten spots away. The bad part was it lasted 7 hours or so and I was exhausted. I vegged out in the room for awhile, debating whether I should commit another $1,000 to a one table satellite... I finally decided to. Turned out to be a good decision.

On the very first hand of the one table, I flopped top set and got it all in with a guy who had top pair/flush draw on the turn and I doubled up. (I had 8,000 and the blinds were only 25/50). It was clear there were about 7 donkeys and myself and the young guy to my right. I started adding up what I had heard from him so far, lives in Oklahoma, he was hanging out with Gavin Griffin, I put 2 and 2 together and figured he was ImSoLucky0 from online play and introduced myself. A nice guy and we had a fun time playing the satellite. He got me good when he raised to 300 utg and I made it 900 with KK. He called, and doubled through me when he flopped a set of queens. Things were looking really desperate as I was down to 2400 with the blinds 200/400, there were maybe 4 or 5 players left. Then I caught a rush. I doubled up with 8T when I flopped the nut straight out of the blinds, then later saw a flop with J9 and got it all in with KT on a 89T flop and spiked a J on the river. I finally had some ammo four handed when this hand came up. Imsolucky (Jordan) limped UTG, I limped on the button with AhTh and the blinds came. The flop was AK5 and it was checked to me, I bet 1500 (pot was probably 2400 at this point), Jordan check raised me to 4500. I thought for awhile and got the feeling he wasn't happy with his hand so I jammed, having him covered by a bit. He said "I guess I call" and showed A6 and I busted him to move into second place with three remaining. Third place was extremely short.

I busted third place and we started heads up - me with a small lead of maybe 24000 to 16000. My opponent was extremely passive, once checking his option in the BB with JJ and once with 99. Most hands went like this, I would raise from the button and he would call. He or I would bet into the flop and take the pot down. He was never going to bluff me for sure. On the final hand, I limped with T7 and he checked the BB. The flop was K72 and he check called. I was ready to shutdown but a 7 came on the turn and he check called again, and check called all in on the river with 99 and I had the seat! After picking up my voucher and a few hundred dollars cash, and then being badgered to tip (I hate that), I went back to the room... as it was 2am and I had to play again in 10 hours.

I get to my starting table expecting to see no one I knew, and I was a bit wrong. There were 128 players and probably 12 well known players and I had four of them at my table. Kathy Liebert in seat 2, Scott Fischman in the 5, Erik Seidel in the 6, me in the 8 and Liz Lieu in the 9. We started with 10,000 and the blinds were 25/50.

In level 1, I won a nice pot from the old crazy guy in seat 3. I opened for 150 in EP with T9o, he re-raised to 450 from the button and i called. The flop was J82 two hearts and I check called 500. On the turn, an A came and it went check/check. The 7h came on the river and I bet 1500 and he called and MHIG. One pot I played with Liz. I open from the button for 200 with J9. I meant it to be 150 but the dealer didn't hear me call it out so it stayed 200. Liz called from the SB and the flop came K78. It went check/check and the beautiful T came on the turn. She checked, I bet 300, she made it 1000, I made it 2800 and she folded. I wish i would have just smooth called here but I remember there being a flush draw out there.

In level 2, I played a huge pot with Scott. He had limped a lot in level 1 and played postflop well. He opened for 300 UTG and had me covered by 500 (I had 13k) and I decided to take a flop in position with Ah5h. Everyone else folded and the flop came Ac5c4s. Scott bet 500, and I made it 1500. He thought a sec and made it 4000. I took a lot of time at this point. I wanted to sell AQ, AJ as much as possible but also protect against the club draw and try to figure out if he plays AA this fast. I decided re-raising here would get him to fold, so I just called. The turn was a 6c, not a great card because it completes the flush. But I can't imagine him re-raising the flop with just a club draw. He instantly pushes. I didn't tank too long before calling and he had AK no club. He's got 6 outs on the river and misses and I am up to 26000 and he has 500. Meanwhile, the Seat 1 busts old crazy guy in seat 3 in this bizarro hand. Limped pot, the flop comes 589 all spades. There is maybe 450 in the pot and old guy bets 1200. Seat 1 min raises to 2400. Old guy in seat 3 calls. The turn is an 8 and they eventually get it all in, seat 1 with 89 and seat 3 with 55. I can't imagine a worse play then min raising an overbet on the flop with top two on a one suit board. Seat 1 is a donk, but a donk with chips.

Seat 3 gets replaced by a loose player who is clearly there to just enjoy himself. On one of the first hands, Scott pushes for 500 utg, Liz pushes for maybe 2300 (blinds 50/100 mind you) and seat 3 insta calls with 88. He wins the pot against air from Scott and 66 from Liz and knocks both of them out.

Hands that I recall from levels 3 and 4 : I open in EP with JJ and seat 4 calls out of the BB. Flop is 862 and he leads for pot size and I call. Turn is a 6 and he bets 1500 and I call. River is a blank, check/check, he shows 55, MHIG. Seat 4 raises one limper to 600, seat 5 cold calls, I make it 2400 with KK, seat 4 instantly pushes for 8k total with 55 and MHIG. I get a cheap look in a 5 way pot with 55 in the SB. Flop is AK4 two diamonds, checked around. Turn is an offsuit 5, I lead for 800, BB folds, limper folds, seat 4 makes it 3000 leaving himself 5000 more, I jam on him, he calls with A9 no diamond. He's drawing dead and I have 45k at the dinner break. (Meanwhile Chris Ferguson takes his seat).

Chris has 12k, Kathy about 7k and Erik about 8k when we come back from the dinner break. Erik opens for 850 (blinds 150/300) and I smooth call with KK, and Kathy calls from the BB. The flop is K76 and Erik bets 1600, I call, and Kathy mucks. The turn is a 5 and Erik checks and I jam. He thinks forever before calling with AA. What a nice read it was by him to not put his chips in there quickly. I said that as he got up and Ferguson agreed his chips would have been in there instantly. A few hands later I raise with AK and Kathy jams and I call, she has 99, spikes the 9d on the river (after I had flopped an ace), she says "YESSSSS", but I show her the nut flush and she walks away pretty dejected. I am up to 63k at this point. Erik is replaced by Adam Friedman, the red headed kid that was shown crying on ESPN last week. He thinks he is the nuts, and he isn't, and that annoys me at the poker table. People who constantly complain about what other cards are played by the other people at the table and how they play them are so annoying. Anyway, he bluffs Seat 1 on the night's final hand and does a lap around the table telling everyone how great he is, nh sir. I end day 1 with 56625, good for fourth out of 53 remaining.

I drew Vinnie Vinh with his 66k three seats to my right. The day didn't go well for me. I picked up AA against a guy that was eager to put his chips in preflop but he mucked JJ. Later, he pushed for about 20 big blinds from EP and I called with 88. It was a marginal call, except he had pushed UTG with 10 bb's with TJ. I was very annoyed when he flipped over KK and I shipped 11k his way. I got it back up to 37k when I won a showdown with AQ vs KQ and we were down to 27 and that was the end of day 2.

Day 3 I drew Vinnie again and took a nice little pot off of him early with TT. The blinds were 500/1000/100 now... my stack fluctuated down to 30, up to 40, but I never picked up a hand at the right time. The whole day I pretty much either won preflop or got called and then lost postflop. It was a bit brutal. Finally the blinds were 800/1600 and I had only about 19000. I open pushed with 22, re-raised Vinnie with 33 and suddenly was back up to 29k. Still, I'm the short stack, they only pay 9 spots and we were down to 13. I pick up KK only a hand or two later and open for 5k. MP, who had played tight began to reach for chips and I knew he was raising. I also knew any raise would commit both of us. I was so excited I almost leapt out of my chair. He made it 24k and I pushed in for 4 or 5k more, he looked disgusted and flipped up 33. I was now looking at 80% equity and a pot of 60k to get back into the thick of things. The flop was 754 which gave him 6 outs. They delayed the cards as they were announcing the hand to the crowd and the 3c came on the turn to put me in horrible shape. The 2 came on the river and I was gone. All in once in level 2 against Fischman and now again with 13 people left, both with huge equity.

Looking forward to the $15k bellagio tourney in december for sure.

My turn to run bad...

I knew it was coming... I have been running bad in the past week or two... I did get third in the Stars $50 on Friday night for $2400 but that win was quickly erased on Saturday and Sunday.

I came close in the $650 super on Stars on Saturday, finishing 22nd when they gave away 13 Atlantis seats. Amazingly, I only doubled up once the whole tournament...I guess I won a lot of small pots.

I've also been losing in 20/40... I feared the games were getting tougher but from what I saw last night the games are still really good. I'm just running on the bad side I guess.

Headed to Indiana this weekend for the WSOP Circuit event. Plan is to play satellites for the $10k Main Event that starts on Sunday. Hopefully I get in and then give it a good run...

Been awhile...

Sorry its been so long since an update. Not too much exciting has happened.

I went to Turning Stone last Friday and played the Saturday $500+50. Ironically, I was seated to the right of a player that I donked off more than half of my stack to late in Day 1 of the World Series. Anyway, I felt really comfortable and built my starting stack from 2000 to over 4000 in the first two levels. Unfortunately, I threw most of it away on a big hand I played with another big stack when I only had the second nuts to his stone cold nuts. The tournament structure SUCKED. I remember playing there getting more like T3,000 with blinds starting 25/25 but the first level in this tourney was 25/50. Getting 40 big blinds sucks. After I lost the big hand I had T700 with blinds 50/100 and lost quickly when I pushed from the button with Q7 and ran into KJ.

I had planned to stick around for the $1,000 on Sunday but when I returned to the hotel to play the Atlantis Super the internet connection was down. I also couldn't watch or listen to the Michigan football game so I got in the car and drove the 400 miles back home... On Sunday I played all of the big Sunday tourneys and crashed and burned in all of them. I frankly don't remember anything interesting from any of them, it was a frustrating day.

On Monday I played a few tournaments including a double shootout for Atlantis. I made the final table for the second time in 9 tries and unfortunately for the second straight time nothing went well at the final table. I guess I'll get there eventually but seeing a bunch of my friends make it already its frustrating!

On Tuesday I went for a change-up. I played 2/4 NL on Full Tilt and playing two tables for about 2.5 hours I made $1700. What a nice feeling... I also played some $100 SNG's which was fun. I'm looking for new ways to make money - to help fight off tournament variance. I also made a nice run in the Party $100 that starts at 7pm. I love this tournament because its at a perfect time for me but this is the first time in awhile I've run well. Key hand that got me going : Limp behind a limper with AcTc, blinds also come. Flop is 789 two clubs. Checked to me and I bet 55, BB (short stack around 600) min raises and the player to my right calls and I call. The turn is a club, BB jams, player to my right calls, I jam, player to my right calls. JT for the BB and A9 for the other player and I'm up nicely to 2500. I made it to the final 30 when I lost with KK vs AK and went out a few hands later. I thought for sure I was going to make the final table!!

Last night I played some 2/4 NL and then took a look at 20/40 again. It did not go well, I thought I played reasonably well - I just ran bad. I think the game has gotten worse since Party changed but I'm not sure. I might step back to 15/30 for awhile...

Guess that is all. Hope you are all making money out there.

Monday

Last night I ended up final tabling a double shootout for Atlantis. I had ZeeJustin to my right and Michael123 to my left so I played pretty tight at the final table... anwyay things did not go my way. I worked it up to 1850 or so at one point and then went completely cardead. The blinds got to 50/100 and I opened for 300 with AK and got it all in with 99 and lost. Would have had 2500 if I win the pot and at least a chance to get after it a bit...

Other than that I whiffed in a few other tourneys. Got close to the money on Party in the $150, ending up about 106th with 100 spots playing. Frustrating only because I caught a few lucky breaks but couldn't capitalize and really played poorly the last hour or so. I also played the Paradise $150 with a nice overlay... but finished nowhere close to the money. I told Matt about the tournament and he finished 5th and I'm still waiting for my cut.

Somehow in-between I booked a nice enough win in 20/40 to cover all of my other tournaments for the night. I didn't even play really well I just caught a few lucky pots. One big pot I recall :
Playing shorthanded I raise on button+1 with 76o, button three bets, BB cold calls, I call. The flop is Q64, BB checks, I bet, button raises, BB cold calls, I call. Turn is 5 putting two diamonds on board, BB checks, I check, button bets, BB raises, I cold call for $80, button calls. The river is a 6 and the BB checks and I decide the button will bet and go for the check raise, button bets, BB calls, I raise, they both call and I take it against KK and AdQd.

Weekend Tourneys

The $650 went poorly for me on Saturday. I never really got above 2500 and went down in flames when I limp re-raised with AQ and ran into AQ and AK.

For the Sunday tourneys I will review the ones with interesting hands.

The $300+20 on Pokerroom. I doubled up in the first hour with a set of kings against a flush draw all in on the flop. From there I chipped up to about 7500, blinds 200/400. I open for 1100 with JJ utg and the button makes it 2300. I have him barely covered. I hate getting mini re-raised but feel like folding is too weak with JJ here and that jamming is too reckless so I call. The flop comes AA4. I decide to bet small into him to see what he does... so I bet very small and he thinks a bit and calls. The turn is a blank and it goes check/check. Now I'm pretty sure he either has quads or KK-QQ. I contemplate my options on the river. Its really hard to sell an ace in this spot but I tried to anyway by moving in (this is I'm quite sure far more reckless than jamming preflop, but oh well). Not really that surprising my opp called instantly, but he called with two tens. Lol. Nothing like bluffing with the best hand and getting called. That gave me a bunch of chips and I won an important showdown with JJ vs A8... I had pretty good chips going to the final two tables. With about 13 people left (obviously only good money is at the FT) a player min raise in LP into my BB. Blinds were 1500/3000. I had about 35000 if I recall correctly. It felt like the right time to re-steal so I pushed with 76. He wasn't getting a good price but finally called with KQ and won. Of course you feel like a moron at the time but I guess that kind of play has made me successful lately. So I was out with about a $500 profit which was not what I was looking for.

Party - this one was fun, not. First hand that I recall is a LP limper is raised by the button and I have AA in the blinds. I make it 220 after the raiser made it 60. Only the late position player called. The flop was unique, JJJ. I felt like the best play on the flop was to bet about half the pot , so I did and my opp called without too much thought. The turn was a J. Now I decided to check. I'm either chopping with another ace or I have to get paid off somehow by K or Q high... my opp checked behind. The river was a K and I bet out, my opp raised and we got it all in and I chopped with AK. Bleh. So having chopped that pot I was at about 1350. Blinds 15/30 a late position player min raises to 60. He has about 500 behind. I am in the BB with AQ and jam and he insta calls with A8 and wins. Down to about 750 I jam quite a few times and eventually get it in with 77 vs KJ, flop a set and lose to a runner runner straight. Ah, good times.

Stars - The whole tournament came down to one hand. I open limp with AA utg planning to re-raise. Blinds are 25/50 and I have about 2300. The button makes my day by making it 200. I re-raise to 600 and he calls. The flop comes down KQJ. Can anyone think of a worse flop for a limp re-raise when you have AA and get called? Does anyone have a plan for proceeding with this hand? I ended up betting 900 , the button jammed and I put him pretty confidently on a set but thought perhaps AK was still in that range (and maybe even KQ). He flipped up QQ and I got no 6 out love.

Full Tilt - This was a unique one. I won some small pots early, and built my stack up to about 7500 without ever getting all-in. I never had any premium pairs or sets though. I was playing small ball! The first key hand was when I opened on the button with K9 and the SB pushed. I was getting over 2:1, I think 2.2:1 and decided to call even though if I lost I would be far less than 10 bb's. I rivered the 9 and scooped a nice pot that put me in the hunt. With two tables left I was in a decent spot but I finally picked up AK and raised it up to 4600 (blinds 800/1600), Shaniac came over the top to make it about 12000 and I instantly jammed overtop. He had to be getting over 3:1 to call but tanked... that was a nice feeling! He finally called with KJ and I won the hand. I was now in third with about 15 players left. On the final hand one of those really annoying things happened. I picked up JJ on the button (the biggest pair I had seen all tourney) and made it 6000 leaving myself 40000. One of the two players that had me covered re-raised to 17000 and I had a decision. Against good players in this spot, a big stack pressuring another big (but smaller) stack, this could very well be a re-steal. He could have total air down to something like A9 or a middle pair. Knowing this, I decided my best course of action was to jam. And jam I did, right into AA, and that was the end of me. Played really well and made $100. Just-barely-in-the-money sucks.

Dise - Ah, Paradise, where I seem to always bust without even seeing the first break. With about 1500 (blinds 50/100) it goes limp, CKruel raises to 400 and I have 77. I think I am pretty well off against his range so I jam. The SB instantly re-jams and CK folds and I am up against kings and get no suckout love.

I played some other tourneys, including a nice one on Interpoker where I lost concentration at the wrong time and fell for the limp re-raise when I had AQ. I should have folded for sure.

I then won the $25 rebuy on Stars for a $650 seat, broke even in 20/40 and lost a bunch in 30/60 on Full Tilt. Oh, and on Friday I won $1700 in the Stars $50 when I got fourth... Not too bad all things considered.

Atlantis

Well, Atlantis sats have started! How exciting. I have qualified for the WPT event on Stars the last two years and I plan to do it a third time. Wish me luck in the $650 super tomorrow... I think I'm due. In the meantime all of the blogs have pointed me in the direction of the blogger tournament on Stars. So I registered.

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 3842880

Goin' Pro

Just thought I'd drop a note and tell everyone that I'm goin' pro. I will be a professional poker player sometime next Spring. Right now it looks like I will be quitting my job on April 1 to play full time. I'm looking forward to it!

My plans for the next few months are this... I am headed to Turning Stone in two weeks to play the $500 and the $1000 tournaments they have there. Two weeks later I'm headed to Caesar's in Indiana to try to qualify for the circuit event. That'll be it until December when I go to the Bellagio for the $15k (I won my seat already on Pokerroom). Hopefully I will also win a seat to the Stars WPT Event in January.

Good luck to everyone in the Sunday tourneys.