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...

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.

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!

WSOP

I flew back to Vegas on Wednesday evening... excited to get back to the WSOP and the $5k shorthanded NLHE event.

I flopped a set against Jason Strasser in the second level and ended up busting him when I filled up on the river and he called my all in. I was off to a great start at greater than 9k. From there everything went wrong and I was quickly down to 2k. I doubled up with AK vs J2 and I chipped up nicely to 9k again when my table finally broke. My new table was much tougher with Howard Lederer two to my left and Blair Rodman two to my right.

Lederer was very aggressive in re-raising me, and I never defended and I never had the goods. I think I played quite poorly in retrospect. A while later ridiculously good online player H@llingol took Rodman's seat. I was short stacked and pushing and re-pushing often. Finally, my bustout hand came when I started the hand with about 4800, posted the 300 BB, had KhTh and got it all in against H@llingol on a KJ4 two heart board against QJ and the J on the river sent me packing. I had no regrets how I played the last hand, just got unlucky. It would have been a huge pot for me putting me at 13k.

Next up was the 2k NLHE. I got up to 3300 early when I won a nice pot with AK vs QQ on an AAxxK board and QQ called the river bet and showed after not re-raising preflop. That was quite an interesting line. Of course I missed everything after that and got down to 2k or so. I blew 1k of it with 77 vs both blinds when I fired a continuation bet and had to fold to a push. I doubled with KK vs TT back to 2k, then lost 1k of it wtih 44 vs QQ, got all the way down to 450 at the 50/100 level and then chipped up to about 1500 again. Gavin Smith came to my table (first time I had really talked to him since New Orleans) and he ended up doubling me and then busting. I ran low of chips though and ended up pushing with JT and ran into AQ.

The next day was the $1500 Razz tournament. I had never played a 7 card stud game live so it was a bit of an adjustment, but I think I played pretty well overall. I ran pretty well and had my chips up to 4k by the second break then about 4400 by the dinner break. After that I went on a rush to 7500 or so... and then I really kind of ran out of steam. I ended up misplaying one hand against JohnnyBax when I defended my bring in when he was in the last position. I ended up making a T on the river and paying off his 9 - then eventually he busted me, about 15 spots from the money at 3:30am. Really, another frustrating finish. My friend Chris (blog to the right) ended up 11th and JohnnyBax got 4th, congrats to them, they've both never played Razz before.

Right as I busted from the Razz tourney my friend Carl Olson was making the final table of the $2k NLHE tournament. That gave me something to do yesterday (and a good reason to skip the $1k rebuy and Sunday tourneys). The final table was filmed for TV and Carl did very well, finishing in 6th place for over $130k. I know he wanted to do better, but he is one of the best players out there and just didn't get the cards he needed.

I only have one event left before the main event, and that is the $1500NL tomorrow. The main event starts on Friday but I don't play until Monday. Going to be playing a lot online (which has been very good) and I also might play a Bellagio $1k here or there.

Back Home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update

Yeah, I've slipped in updating, I know.

Its depressing to talk about bustouts day after day, but here are the reports.

The $2k NL was over really fast for me. I don't think I made the first break. I got down to 1200 on this hand... I am in the BB with A8o and there are about 4 players to the flop. The flop comes 853 and the SB bets out 50, I make it 200 and the first limper cold calls and the SB folds. The turn is a 3 and I check and the limper checks. The river is a 9, and I made a bad play and bet out 300 and he raised and I had to fold... I think he either had 67 or a full house, becuase the way it was played I don't know what other hand he could have.

So I blinded down a bit, and then re-raised all in preflop with QQ and my opp folded. I finally got all my chips in with Ks4s vs KQ on a Kxx two spade flop and lost.

The 3k Limit was next and I really played poorly. Even after I got some chips I felt like I was playing too loose and then got frustrated and had no cards and forced the issue a bit too much.

The 5k NL was today... really looked forward to this one. I don't think I've ever seen such a tough field. At my table at the beginning were Dewey Tomko, Men the Master and Steve Danneman. Eventually Greg Raymer, Matt Hilger and Ben Roberts filled in when people busted (Men was the only big name to bust). I played a really uneventful couple of levels. The only big hand I won was with JJ when Danneman raised up front and myself and another guy called and I won the pot with a turn bet.

When I returned from break I had about 5000 and this hand came up... A guy who has been raising alot makes it 600 from MP. I call from the BB with 77. The flop comes 622 and I check, and he pushes all in for 3550. Normally this kind of overbet screams "I don't want a call" but I had played with this guy in the 2500nl and thought like 88 or TT were possibilities also. Plus it was almost all of my chips. I eventually called and he showed 55 but rivered a 5. That was horribly frustrating...but nothing I can do about it. So I was down to 775 with 100-200 blinds.

Raymer doubled me up when I jammed with A3h and he called with 22. Later I doubled with AA vs 77 to get to 3000. I got down to 2300 when Matt Hilger open limped, Dewey limped behind, I jammed iwth ATo and the BB woke up with JJ and busted me. My next tourney is the 2500nl on Friday.

Event #5 $2500 NL 6 Handed

I got off to a great start in this event... despite drawing Jennifer Harman and Ralph Perry at my starting table. I won a few pots early and had it up to about 3300 when this hand came up in level 2... UTG makes it 150, Ralph calls on the button, I call from the BB with Kd3d. Its a loose call preflop - but when the flop comes 339 you look pretty smart. Anyway, I had played pretty aggressively