So, for the combined sake of catharsis and completeness, here's my day 3. Start with a brutal table and play 3 hands badly, grinding my 225k stack to 165k. The second table was an absolute dream. I wasn't sure what I'd done to get a super soft table with position on 3 seemingly fishy players but here I was, ready to get barbecued by them.
Seat one, old fish, seat two, Spanish fish, seat three, tight predictable younger European kid (yes, I know, highly rare fish). Anyways, I get back up to 200k without really seeing a turn then the wheels fall off. The euro kid obviously came from a sit'n'go background. He kept all-in shoving over opens, open shoving the small blind with a 20bb stack, etc. So this really aggressive french player opens in early position (he's got 50% of all hands here), the kid shoves 40k on the button (playing like 800-1600)I have AKdd in the small blind. If by calling I fold out the french guy I create a 16k overlay in the pot and I'm flipping or crushing this kid's hand. He never balances his range by doing this with AA and KK. So I call because I think it looks stronger than over shoving 200k in the middle. So french guy puts on an act, folds, I flip vs. 99 and lose the 100k pot. So I'm down to 150k or so. The fishes start limping and playing a lot of hands so I start the isolation fest vs them and they just kept hitting!. They limp, I raise, they call any amount, I bet the flop, they call, the best bluff cards come on the turn, I bet, they call, river changes the board none and they donk, it was just silly, like torture watching these three.
The next big hit came a while later, I was getting smacked in these pots by the Spanish fish then he makes quad jacks on my full house. That's frustrating, lose 35k on that hand (he should have busted me the way the hand played out). So I'm back to like just over 100k at this point. Really sick run on this soft table. I've been super aggressive on this table which was different than the first two tables but i think it was right vs these guys, i really think it was optimal vs. these opponents and I think that more times than not, I end the day with 400k on that table.
Anyways. a few more silly things. After dinner I get back and have 150k b/c I bluffed the last hand before dinner all in with Ace high and won a big pot. So with 150k playing 1500-3000, I open AA, get 3bet by a 60k stack, I shove, he folds. What are these guys 3betting over 20% of their stack with and folding vs. the most aggressive person on the table. Bananananananas. (done for effect and lack of spelling).
So I open AQ next hand UTG, old fish flats K9off on the button, BB calls. QJT rainbow flop. I bet 17k into 49k. Fish goes all in for 65k total. The numbers may be off slightly but I took enough time with it. I figure that he's got a number of hands here after watching his play. The explanation is long and boring but I thought that I probably had about 33% vs. his range here and I was laid the right price at the time and I called, I couldn't snag one of the last K's. I lose another monster pot in a semi-cooler cause he can have the deck here. Vs. the range I estimated now, I have 52% equity but I doubt he plays the whole range the same way so. So I have 80k. I open AJss in the cutoff, I get called by this kid who's a superstar in his world of poker. Didn't speak all day but acted a bit like an ass at times. Anyways flop is T64 with two hearts. He checks, I check because I can't stand a check-raise here. Turn is a K and he leads. I don't think he has a king at all, either way I can pull him off a lot of kings on the river. I call with ace high planning to shove all rivers. Jack on the river. Shit, plan has to change, he checks, I check with value now. He shows AQ for the nut straight and I muck. He loses that pot 100% of the time if the river is any other card. I get value out of a river Q and he bet/folds to my allin shove if a blank falls. Here's a hugely unlucky river, he's got 3 outs for this pot and he's bet/folding almost always on the end vs. my stack size.
So, I have 74k or so with the blinds coming around, I find JJ utg and open, get three bet by the same kid, I shove, he calls with QQ and I'm out. Being so aggressive and active, I can't fold here and still have a shot at a deep run. Just sucks he's got QQ and not the TT/AQ/AK that he'd do the same with. I go out near the 880 spot, 640 get paid.
Bad world series, I haven't done the entire accounting of it but it won't be pretty for sure. I wish I played my own money in craps last night, lol... we stomped out the Wynn Encore's craps table for 4 hours!
If this entry seems scatter-brained it probably is, I'm playing a few PLO games on stars so I apologize.
Hope everyone's well. Leaving in the next few days I imagine.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
World Series Of Poker = Busto
From 225k to busto on today's final level of play. I think there were roughly 915 left when I busted after 28 hours of main event play. No money, no luck, no cards, no good today. :)
I'll leave the stories for later but today is the most frustrating day of my poker years. I almost got a penalty once, lost a 200k flip, Made one terrible terrible play, had a great table. RRRRRRRrrr, so many fish. The biggest fish from Spain I've ever seen was on my table and I couldn't do anything about it. He just kept flopping sets.
Anyways, I think I'm going to stay for a few days, finish up here, wire what's left of the $ home and lick my wounds back in Canada.
I'll leave the stories for later but today is the most frustrating day of my poker years. I almost got a penalty once, lost a 200k flip, Made one terrible terrible play, had a great table. RRRRRRRrrr, so many fish. The biggest fish from Spain I've ever seen was on my table and I couldn't do anything about it. He just kept flopping sets.
Anyways, I think I'm going to stay for a few days, finish up here, wire what's left of the $ home and lick my wounds back in Canada.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Main Event Day 2B
So I had a strange day 2. I showed up and say Thom Wetherman, a great guy and one time bracelet winner (Pot Limit Hold'em), and also the 5th place finisher on the final table I made last year. So I know Thom and his game pretty well. Also, beside me was Sean Buchannan, 'Buck21/Buck99' from online and a good friend of the Vancouver guys we've befriended since being here. So two guys who I feel play really well. I think to start the day I was the chip leader of the table with $120k and I ended the day second in chips for that table with $225k (Thom ended with 241k). The only three left from the start of the day on that table were Sean, Thom and I.
I played pretty standard. ABC123, jackson 5 for the 8 hours. I tried to play a wide range when it was folded to me but I really knitted it up if the pot was opened ahead of me. Applied the cash game move of 3betting the total nuts and absolute air, 57,25,K4. I had no big hands but KK and it was folded around. Three big hands won my chips for the entire day.
Hand 1: Buck21 opens utg+2, I flat 88 next to act, the BB defends. Flop is AQ2, checked around. Turn 8. BB leads, sean folds, I call. River Q, BB bets, I shove, he calls with 222QQ. I turned a higher set and coolered him off (I'm up to 155k).
Hand 2: I open JTo in the cutoff. Tight new old guy calls in small blind, BB calls (young asian pokerstars kid). Flop is J89. SB leads for 3k into 5k, BB calls, I make it 12k (mistake by me). SB calls, BB calls (read: woops). Pot is now somehow 40k. Turn is a J. They check to me. Now, i think the SB hand is a bigger J alot of the time, maybe he has 9T,8T,JT or a full house now but I think he shovels his stack in on the flop. The BB definitely has a draw still. Now, I can check the turn because really, the only bad card for me is a chop if I'm still ahead with three jacks. I'm never drawing dead but I can't foresee me getting called by worse. Either way we now have a 40k pot which is huge for this time of the day and it's checked to me. I decide I'm ahead enough given the turn action, I bet 20k, the small blind thinks for a while and shoves, the BB folds. I don't like it and feel like I have the worst hand but call the extra 15k and he says, 'Do you have a Jack?'. I laughed and said oh, why yes, he shows me AA !!!!!. Wowzers. I win, up to 200k or so.
Hand 3: Tightish old guy with wife on rail right behind him, opens in early to mid position. I call with AJof spades in the small blind. Flop is AT5 rainbow with one spade. I check/call his 1/2 pot bet, not knowing if I'm ahead or behind. Turn is a 9spades. I check and he bets 7500 into 12k. I know think that I'm behind here a lot but he's got 40k or so behind and if I can get 20k or so on the river if I hit a J or a spade I don't mind it. I'm ahead a non-zero % of the time, with 12 wins (28% to win) vs. AK or AT than it's not horrible. If he has a set he's paying a river spade for sure. So I call. Pot is 27k. Bink on the end, 2s. I bet 20k, he calls. Wierd thing is he rapped the table when I flopped my Ace so I dunno, I might have been good, I don't know how good/bad he plays, he was a bit unpredictable with values the whole day. Running great obviously, getting paid for sure. So those 3 big hands I end the day well above the 80k or so average with 225k.
There were only a few spots I got active with air. 3-4 3bets with nothing. I 3bet buck and got shoved on, had to fold QQ because we're so deep. I lost chips on two weird hands on day 2. Here they are.
Hand 1: I open 56hh in early position and the small blind calls. Flop is 5d 7s 8s. He checks and I check. Turn is a 9s and he bets 4400 into 4000. I call with my straight. River is an Ah. He now bets 19k into 13k. I think for a few minutes and fold. I don't know if I folded the winner but I feel like I may have given his actions the rest of the day. I do have the worst straight and no flush but this overbet is strange by a seemingly weak player... he might be on level one thinking, he raised, checked the flop, flop is low, he has missed, I bet bet and win. I don't know.
Hand 2: 4 way pot, I call in BB with QTdd. Flop is J96, flop gets checked. Turn is a 7, I lead, Thom calls, everyone folds. River is a 7, I bet 9400 into 14000, he calls with 8T for a turned straight. He played the hand great by flatting the turn and allowing me to bluff the river. Great play vs. me. I lose 15k on that hand.
All in all, so much more to go. I think there's a little under 2000 remaining from 6500 or so. Money starts at 680 but we're not here for a min-cash. I'm planning on playing solid, I think that it takes very specific situations where cash-game aggression is optimal vs. weaker players and so far I see so many value mistakes that opening light and keeping pots small has worked very well. We'll see though, ready to change it all up if need be. My table tomorrow is not good. Three guys with over 800k in tournament winnings including Alexander Kostritsyn who I played the plo with and have become fast acquaintances with. He's on my right though thankfully. He plays fast and we have both over 200k. Hopefully Day 3 goes smooth like 1+2.
I played pretty standard. ABC123, jackson 5 for the 8 hours. I tried to play a wide range when it was folded to me but I really knitted it up if the pot was opened ahead of me. Applied the cash game move of 3betting the total nuts and absolute air, 57,25,K4. I had no big hands but KK and it was folded around. Three big hands won my chips for the entire day.
Hand 1: Buck21 opens utg+2, I flat 88 next to act, the BB defends. Flop is AQ2, checked around. Turn 8. BB leads, sean folds, I call. River Q, BB bets, I shove, he calls with 222QQ. I turned a higher set and coolered him off (I'm up to 155k).
Hand 2: I open JTo in the cutoff. Tight new old guy calls in small blind, BB calls (young asian pokerstars kid). Flop is J89. SB leads for 3k into 5k, BB calls, I make it 12k (mistake by me). SB calls, BB calls (read: woops). Pot is now somehow 40k. Turn is a J. They check to me. Now, i think the SB hand is a bigger J alot of the time, maybe he has 9T,8T,JT or a full house now but I think he shovels his stack in on the flop. The BB definitely has a draw still. Now, I can check the turn because really, the only bad card for me is a chop if I'm still ahead with three jacks. I'm never drawing dead but I can't foresee me getting called by worse. Either way we now have a 40k pot which is huge for this time of the day and it's checked to me. I decide I'm ahead enough given the turn action, I bet 20k, the small blind thinks for a while and shoves, the BB folds. I don't like it and feel like I have the worst hand but call the extra 15k and he says, 'Do you have a Jack?'. I laughed and said oh, why yes, he shows me AA !!!!!. Wowzers. I win, up to 200k or so.
Hand 3: Tightish old guy with wife on rail right behind him, opens in early to mid position. I call with AJof spades in the small blind. Flop is AT5 rainbow with one spade. I check/call his 1/2 pot bet, not knowing if I'm ahead or behind. Turn is a 9spades. I check and he bets 7500 into 12k. I know think that I'm behind here a lot but he's got 40k or so behind and if I can get 20k or so on the river if I hit a J or a spade I don't mind it. I'm ahead a non-zero % of the time, with 12 wins (28% to win) vs. AK or AT than it's not horrible. If he has a set he's paying a river spade for sure. So I call. Pot is 27k. Bink on the end, 2s. I bet 20k, he calls. Wierd thing is he rapped the table when I flopped my Ace so I dunno, I might have been good, I don't know how good/bad he plays, he was a bit unpredictable with values the whole day. Running great obviously, getting paid for sure. So those 3 big hands I end the day well above the 80k or so average with 225k.
There were only a few spots I got active with air. 3-4 3bets with nothing. I 3bet buck and got shoved on, had to fold QQ because we're so deep. I lost chips on two weird hands on day 2. Here they are.
Hand 1: I open 56hh in early position and the small blind calls. Flop is 5d 7s 8s. He checks and I check. Turn is a 9s and he bets 4400 into 4000. I call with my straight. River is an Ah. He now bets 19k into 13k. I think for a few minutes and fold. I don't know if I folded the winner but I feel like I may have given his actions the rest of the day. I do have the worst straight and no flush but this overbet is strange by a seemingly weak player... he might be on level one thinking, he raised, checked the flop, flop is low, he has missed, I bet bet and win. I don't know.
Hand 2: 4 way pot, I call in BB with QTdd. Flop is J96, flop gets checked. Turn is a 7, I lead, Thom calls, everyone folds. River is a 7, I bet 9400 into 14000, he calls with 8T for a turned straight. He played the hand great by flatting the turn and allowing me to bluff the river. Great play vs. me. I lose 15k on that hand.
All in all, so much more to go. I think there's a little under 2000 remaining from 6500 or so. Money starts at 680 but we're not here for a min-cash. I'm planning on playing solid, I think that it takes very specific situations where cash-game aggression is optimal vs. weaker players and so far I see so many value mistakes that opening light and keeping pots small has worked very well. We'll see though, ready to change it all up if need be. My table tomorrow is not good. Three guys with over 800k in tournament winnings including Alexander Kostritsyn who I played the plo with and have become fast acquaintances with. He's on my right though thankfully. He plays fast and we have both over 200k. Hopefully Day 3 goes smooth like 1+2.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Main Event Day 1D (yesterday)
Main Event turned players away yesterday. An estimated 600 willing participants got turned away as Day 1D reached capacity. Unbelievable that people , 600 people, waited to register on the last day. Many big names got denied I imagine, not that that means anything more than the average tourist getting turned away, but for grinders to miss this event is mind-boggling. Anyways, the structure for this event is unbelievably slow. 2 hour levels, start at 50-100 and $30k in chips, 300 big blinds deep. My table was a nice mix of fish and over aggressive younger players. I messed up a lot at the beginning, trying to be aggressive. I dropped in the first two hours from 30k to around 21k. Then on the break I switched it up a bit, decided I was going to play a lot more abc, a lot more passively post flop and allow the fish and aggressive players to take the lead. Anyways, I don't know if this was completely optimal or if I just ran super hot (which I really did, I held a lot of hands and hit hard) but I ended day 1 with 120,000 which is well above average, maybe a top 50 stack, maybe top 25 in the whole field.
Don't get me wrong, ABC and standard but I hit and the table played poorly vs. me.
Here are a few true stories :).
I have 21k, I open JJ from the cutoff and this aggressive good Brazilian kid that played 25-50 nlhe cash with Andrew in europe 3bets me from the SB. Folding is worse than calling, 4betting is worse than both. I call. Flop is QcJs4c. He check, I bet 1/2 pot, he calls. Now my range here is all broadway, QQ,JJ,TT,99,88, I guess all pairs to 22 and the odd AK. The range is so wide because I'm in position and we're deep and he knows I know that he's 3betting wide. Anyways, he check calls. He's most likely hands are AQs/o, AK, AA,KK,QQ,TT flush draws with suited connectors although I think he takes the lead with those and his air balls so I sort of disclude the air. Turn is a Q (I know, I hit hard today). He checks, I bet 1/2 to 3/4 pot and he calls. Now I think he has squarely TT,KK,AA or AQ. No other hands to be honest in my opinion. So anyways, river misses the clubs and he checks. The pot is somewhere in the area of 10-12k. I bet 10k after a long deliberation. He calls pretty quick and shows a Q. Yes, huge cooler for him. He's going to lose a lot on this hand no matter what. That's how I got to around 35k. I chip up to around 45k without a whole lot of messing around. The vs. the same kid I tricked him into giving me 2 huge streets of value with my AJ on a 24JKA board. He had JT. So up to 55k.
Now the donkey gifts. I open AK utg, get called by both the fish at the table. Flop is K44 two diamonds. BB checks, I check, fish checks. I decide that I fold too much out here and I'm really not worries about any cards. Turn is J of diamonds. BB bets, I call, fish folds. River is a K. BB bets, I raise to 5400, he calls with AJ!. I guess I can be bluffing here but the river's the worst bluff card in the world. Anyways. up to 65k or so.
Next gift. I open AK utg+2. The fish calls and one of the aggressive kids calls on the button. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I checked, fish checks, button bets. I call, fish calls. Now here's a wierd spot. I have the best hand. The button could have a huge draw and he can have a good hand and he can have total air. Either way, I'm out of position and he's over aggressive and I fold too much out if I take the lead. Turn is a 6c. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot again. We both call. River is a 2h. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot (pot's like 12-15k now). I call, fish folds. Button shows 7high. Cool. Terrible bet sizes, terrible stabs. Whatever, GIFTS! :). Thank you cardrunners.
So I have 77k by dinner, well above average, table chip leader. Now there was one really strong player in my opinion at the table. We totally stayed out of each other's way. I think I played 2 hands with him in 8 hours. He picked on the over aggressive kids, I picked on the fish. Life is good. First two hours after dinner I grind up to 82k then I get lucky. I open QQ utg, get flatted by a new kid who's medium stacked but knows what the flip is going on. He has 77-JJ here almost always, maybe AQ. Then the Brazilian kid who has 18k to start the hand 3bets me to 4k. I think for a while and decide that I've got 4bet here, he's got a lot of hands here in my opinion. I make it 10k, kid folds, he shoves. I suck. He's got AA,KK and AK here. Maybe the other two QQ. Anyways, I call it off he shows AA, I flop quads and win. I don't think it's too bad because of my stack size at the time but it's marginal vs. his 5betting range. Anyways, up to 100k. I scoop a few more pots but miss some value on a few more big hands during my deck hitting run. I end the day with 120k, should have gotten up to 132k I figure if I bet-size a bit better. We played 5x2hour levels. We play 4 more tomorrow on the combined day 2. I figure the money bubble will break sometime late on day 3 if we all get there.
Andrew played amazing, ended the day with 45k on a super tough table. He avoided getting broke with a set vs. a flush and KK vs. AA. Simply amazing poker. Wes is up to 82k, Derek has 26k. All my pieces are alive. I have 3% of wes, 2% of Gibb and 5% of Andrew. Both Wes and I have 45% of ourselves.
Anyways, hope the hot run continues, long way to go yet. Glad the beat down elevator let up for a day.
:)
Don't get me wrong, ABC and standard but I hit and the table played poorly vs. me.
Here are a few true stories :).
I have 21k, I open JJ from the cutoff and this aggressive good Brazilian kid that played 25-50 nlhe cash with Andrew in europe 3bets me from the SB. Folding is worse than calling, 4betting is worse than both. I call. Flop is QcJs4c. He check, I bet 1/2 pot, he calls. Now my range here is all broadway, QQ,JJ,TT,99,88, I guess all pairs to 22 and the odd AK. The range is so wide because I'm in position and we're deep and he knows I know that he's 3betting wide. Anyways, he check calls. He's most likely hands are AQs/o, AK, AA,KK,QQ,TT flush draws with suited connectors although I think he takes the lead with those and his air balls so I sort of disclude the air. Turn is a Q (I know, I hit hard today). He checks, I bet 1/2 to 3/4 pot and he calls. Now I think he has squarely TT,KK,AA or AQ. No other hands to be honest in my opinion. So anyways, river misses the clubs and he checks. The pot is somewhere in the area of 10-12k. I bet 10k after a long deliberation. He calls pretty quick and shows a Q. Yes, huge cooler for him. He's going to lose a lot on this hand no matter what. That's how I got to around 35k. I chip up to around 45k without a whole lot of messing around. The vs. the same kid I tricked him into giving me 2 huge streets of value with my AJ on a 24JKA board. He had JT. So up to 55k.
Now the donkey gifts. I open AK utg, get called by both the fish at the table. Flop is K44 two diamonds. BB checks, I check, fish checks. I decide that I fold too much out here and I'm really not worries about any cards. Turn is J of diamonds. BB bets, I call, fish folds. River is a K. BB bets, I raise to 5400, he calls with AJ!. I guess I can be bluffing here but the river's the worst bluff card in the world. Anyways. up to 65k or so.
Next gift. I open AK utg+2. The fish calls and one of the aggressive kids calls on the button. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I checked, fish checks, button bets. I call, fish calls. Now here's a wierd spot. I have the best hand. The button could have a huge draw and he can have a good hand and he can have total air. Either way, I'm out of position and he's over aggressive and I fold too much out if I take the lead. Turn is a 6c. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot again. We both call. River is a 2h. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot (pot's like 12-15k now). I call, fish folds. Button shows 7high. Cool. Terrible bet sizes, terrible stabs. Whatever, GIFTS! :). Thank you cardrunners.
So I have 77k by dinner, well above average, table chip leader. Now there was one really strong player in my opinion at the table. We totally stayed out of each other's way. I think I played 2 hands with him in 8 hours. He picked on the over aggressive kids, I picked on the fish. Life is good. First two hours after dinner I grind up to 82k then I get lucky. I open QQ utg, get flatted by a new kid who's medium stacked but knows what the flip is going on. He has 77-JJ here almost always, maybe AQ. Then the Brazilian kid who has 18k to start the hand 3bets me to 4k. I think for a while and decide that I've got 4bet here, he's got a lot of hands here in my opinion. I make it 10k, kid folds, he shoves. I suck. He's got AA,KK and AK here. Maybe the other two QQ. Anyways, I call it off he shows AA, I flop quads and win. I don't think it's too bad because of my stack size at the time but it's marginal vs. his 5betting range. Anyways, up to 100k. I scoop a few more pots but miss some value on a few more big hands during my deck hitting run. I end the day with 120k, should have gotten up to 132k I figure if I bet-size a bit better. We played 5x2hour levels. We play 4 more tomorrow on the combined day 2. I figure the money bubble will break sometime late on day 3 if we all get there.
Andrew played amazing, ended the day with 45k on a super tough table. He avoided getting broke with a set vs. a flush and KK vs. AA. Simply amazing poker. Wes is up to 82k, Derek has 26k. All my pieces are alive. I have 3% of wes, 2% of Gibb and 5% of Andrew. Both Wes and I have 45% of ourselves.
Anyways, hope the hot run continues, long way to go yet. Glad the beat down elevator let up for a day.
:)
Sunday, July 5, 2009
the last few days, shot taking and name dropping...
So tomorrow I play Day 1D of this year's main event. Andrew, Wes, Ian, Pat Pezzin, Anh Van Nguyen, you name it, all of the people I know and speak to down here regularly are blasting tomorrow so it's a big day for the Canadian contingent. The last few days we've all just been playing a combination of live and online cash games. Andrew and I took another shot at the two fish that have been playing large limit mixed games online at the $500-1000 games. First session went great, won just under $30k, second went poorly, netting us loser roughly $25k. Then I got banged up in my normal online games and some 30-60 Omaha8'better short handed.
Yesterday we all went to the Bellagio to play, I was all set for some $10-20 no limit hold'em, stress free game. Then Bobby Belande wanted to start a mixed game, 300-600 Omaha8/better, Stud 8/better and Triple Draw. Before I could get up from the table (where Andrew and I were eating), he throws $20k in flags down and I play for 8 hours. The game started really good, Belande's a spot in any game, Toto Leonidas who's A game I imagine is great, he was playing his C in the beginning, and newly-crowned bracelet winner and Rio-barred Thaang Luu who was really live that day, Mike Mizrachi and Chad Brown. Like I said, in the beginning a great lineup. I was up for most of the day, 2-5k and then I lost a 12k pot to Thaang Luu who promptly quit the game (I have A499ds in a 6 way O8 pot, flop was 69Q, 6, 7, Thaang had QQxx) and then I lost back to back Triple Draw hands vs. him, getting him happy/unstuck/and out of our game. The game broke shortly after he left. I lost $12.5k. Went for dinner and got 6k back after in the $10-20 no limit hold'em game. This game's tough, there is a lot of variance in triple draw and in these live games, not that many hands per hour get played so the lineup has to be good for it to be a worthwhile shot. This table was great, the games set-up well for me. Just another bad day.
Pretty rough summer when you look at the shot taking stuff. I mean $300-600 up to $500-1000 have all gone terribly, losing almost every session. After thinking, reviewing and focusing on our opponents, there's no way we're (Andrew and I) underdogs to them, being critical, say we're break even with them, how bad do you have to run to lose 4/5 or 5/6 sessions in a break even or +ev spot. Anyways...main event's here and we'll see how we all do in that. I've been told that the live no limit games aren't always this good so I should soak them in while they're here. Perhaps next wsop a better idea would be to just straight play cash games and stay away from all but the main event. Hard, really hard to have a bad summer in these games. Wes, who has ATTACKED the 10-20 games, is up big and thinks +$2k-4k per day is not out of the question. I really believe that you'd need to play just as long online to make as much and it might not be possible to play that volume online (12+ hours a day at 10-20 nlhe vs. very good players). Keep in mind that's almost 4x as many hands. The play in these games is roughly comparable to $1-2 online I'd say. Anyways, I'm thrilled Wes is winning, someone in this house has too :)
Yesterday we all went to the Bellagio to play, I was all set for some $10-20 no limit hold'em, stress free game. Then Bobby Belande wanted to start a mixed game, 300-600 Omaha8/better, Stud 8/better and Triple Draw. Before I could get up from the table (where Andrew and I were eating), he throws $20k in flags down and I play for 8 hours. The game started really good, Belande's a spot in any game, Toto Leonidas who's A game I imagine is great, he was playing his C in the beginning, and newly-crowned bracelet winner and Rio-barred Thaang Luu who was really live that day, Mike Mizrachi and Chad Brown. Like I said, in the beginning a great lineup. I was up for most of the day, 2-5k and then I lost a 12k pot to Thaang Luu who promptly quit the game (I have A499ds in a 6 way O8 pot, flop was 69Q, 6, 7, Thaang had QQxx) and then I lost back to back Triple Draw hands vs. him, getting him happy/unstuck/and out of our game. The game broke shortly after he left. I lost $12.5k. Went for dinner and got 6k back after in the $10-20 no limit hold'em game. This game's tough, there is a lot of variance in triple draw and in these live games, not that many hands per hour get played so the lineup has to be good for it to be a worthwhile shot. This table was great, the games set-up well for me. Just another bad day.
Pretty rough summer when you look at the shot taking stuff. I mean $300-600 up to $500-1000 have all gone terribly, losing almost every session. After thinking, reviewing and focusing on our opponents, there's no way we're (Andrew and I) underdogs to them, being critical, say we're break even with them, how bad do you have to run to lose 4/5 or 5/6 sessions in a break even or +ev spot. Anyways...main event's here and we'll see how we all do in that. I've been told that the live no limit games aren't always this good so I should soak them in while they're here. Perhaps next wsop a better idea would be to just straight play cash games and stay away from all but the main event. Hard, really hard to have a bad summer in these games. Wes, who has ATTACKED the 10-20 games, is up big and thinks +$2k-4k per day is not out of the question. I really believe that you'd need to play just as long online to make as much and it might not be possible to play that volume online (12+ hours a day at 10-20 nlhe vs. very good players). Keep in mind that's almost 4x as many hands. The play in these games is roughly comparable to $1-2 online I'd say. Anyways, I'm thrilled Wes is winning, someone in this house has too :)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
turbo updates
Since the last update a few interesting things have happened. First, congratulations to a friend of mine from the Waterloo area, Sean Furfaro for making the money in his first wsop tournament, it looks like he may repeat that in his second today (both large field no limit hold'em tournaments). Secondly, Andrew ended up finishing 44/2800 in that tournament the other day. He was slightly disappointed in the spot he got it in with but he dodged a massive bullet earlier with AK vs TT and QQ which he would have lost so he was on a freeroll of sorts after that. Congratulations Andrew on the first cash of many, I still feel like there's a massively deep run in him this trip (since the main event's the only thing left for us, I'm excited).
I played the $1500 Stud 8/better and I was rolling the first few hours. I got up to $14,500 from $4500 even with running a AKJT7 flush into a royal flush when two guys made lows (meaning that we needed to punish the lows so I lost the absolute max to his royal flush). Then the great table I was on broke and I got moved to Barry Greenstein's immediate right. I've never had the opportunity to play with Barry but I had met him last year through Pat Pezzin really briefly. We ended up taking a bunch because he was on that final table with our buddy from Vancouver in which he won so conversation jumped off from there. That didn't dissuade him from scooping me in 3 pots and crippling me back to starting stack to end the day. In stud 8 I feel the game has some interesting nuances and I do feel it's one of my better games. The hands I ran into Barry's were, I open (3Q)Q in the steal spot and he 3bets with (xx)J. I ended up folding to what was his buried KK on 5th street, saving some important bets. Then I defended vs. his (xx)7 open with (5d6d)2s. I peel off the Jd Qd 8c so I have a 4flush and a 4 to a bad low vs Barry's board of xx769A. Since I have to really live diamond draw to beat his possible Ace's up and if he's just got a low I may have a live 8,5,6 for high if I can pair up and perhaps he's got another big pair in the hole in which any baby diamond might scoop. Anyways, I pair the 6 on the end and essentially crap out the hand and he bets in the dark on the river. Now interesting thing is it's hard for him to dark bet any high hand unless he's got a full house or flush (both highly unlikely on his board) so usually this is indicative of a low, so I call with the 66 hoping for half and sure enough barry shows me his made 7 low (started 24 buried for a 2476A) but on the end he paired his 6 of course so his Ace kicker plays and I get scooped. Beautiful and perfectly understandable for me to lose this hand to close the day out. Again, though I had cased the hand well enough but can't win a crucial pot in this event. I end up coming back for day two with a really short stack and I can't win my all in with 688 vs 7KK which is a 44% dog in a Heads UP showdown. Anyways, go out in 100 or so which isn't close to the money. Just can't get it going right now. Barry (who's book I've read a few times and who I think pretty highly of as far as a person and poker personality) was really nice and engaging and more than happy to shoot the poop for 2 hours pretty much non-stop. I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with him and bump heads, the scoop will be on the other foot next time.
So I am done with the preliminary events of this world series until the main event. For an overall accounting of it, excluding the main event that I've registered to play day 4A on Monday, I've played 15 events this year costing $32,500. I've cashed for a bit over $15,000. ($42,500 with main). If I had puckered on past the bubbles on those 3/4 that I was 20 or so out of the money it might have been like 22,500$ in cashes. If you take into account expenses and then online winnings and live cash winnings since I've been here, I think I'm no more than $5k winner since this all began. I've been winning on full tilt and the freeroll in the main event leaves $12k in equity still out there. Hopefully I can at least cash in that and have a small winning wsop.
For the first time this whole trip I can convinced to play a life cash games session last night. Andrew was all amped to play 100-200 at the Wynn last night so the three of us (+ Wes) went over there around 8pm. Andrew and his buddy Steve (Zugwat on stars and ftp, total nosebleed HU no limit specialist) were on the list for the big game. In wait we decide to start our own game. So Andrew, Zugwat and I started a mix game of 2-7 No Limit Lowball ($25-50), 2-7 Triple Draw (100-200), PLO ($25-25) and No Limit Hold'em ($25-50). We played for 4 hours or so, Andrew won big, I lost $300. I tried a reckless bluff in Triple Draw as a result of being card dead and somewhat frustrated, ended up getting snapped off :). Anyways, Around 1am I joined Wes at 10-20 no limit holdem in which we decided to swap 25% before we left the place last night. Long story short, I won $3800, Wes won over $13k. Andrew jumped in the $25-50 5k capped PLO with Steve Yea, Elky, John Duthie and a few others. He won that session too. Good night for the team, nice to stop the beat-down elevator for a bit.
I think some more live cash will be the plan this week before closing this thing out with the main event. Jay-Z's coming to the Palms on the 2nd as well, pretty sure we've got tickets locked up for that as well. Time to have some fun before this trip's over. Hope everyone's well.
I played the $1500 Stud 8/better and I was rolling the first few hours. I got up to $14,500 from $4500 even with running a AKJT7 flush into a royal flush when two guys made lows (meaning that we needed to punish the lows so I lost the absolute max to his royal flush). Then the great table I was on broke and I got moved to Barry Greenstein's immediate right. I've never had the opportunity to play with Barry but I had met him last year through Pat Pezzin really briefly. We ended up taking a bunch because he was on that final table with our buddy from Vancouver in which he won so conversation jumped off from there. That didn't dissuade him from scooping me in 3 pots and crippling me back to starting stack to end the day. In stud 8 I feel the game has some interesting nuances and I do feel it's one of my better games. The hands I ran into Barry's were, I open (3Q)Q in the steal spot and he 3bets with (xx)J. I ended up folding to what was his buried KK on 5th street, saving some important bets. Then I defended vs. his (xx)7 open with (5d6d)2s. I peel off the Jd Qd 8c so I have a 4flush and a 4 to a bad low vs Barry's board of xx769A. Since I have to really live diamond draw to beat his possible Ace's up and if he's just got a low I may have a live 8,5,6 for high if I can pair up and perhaps he's got another big pair in the hole in which any baby diamond might scoop. Anyways, I pair the 6 on the end and essentially crap out the hand and he bets in the dark on the river. Now interesting thing is it's hard for him to dark bet any high hand unless he's got a full house or flush (both highly unlikely on his board) so usually this is indicative of a low, so I call with the 66 hoping for half and sure enough barry shows me his made 7 low (started 24 buried for a 2476A) but on the end he paired his 6 of course so his Ace kicker plays and I get scooped. Beautiful and perfectly understandable for me to lose this hand to close the day out. Again, though I had cased the hand well enough but can't win a crucial pot in this event. I end up coming back for day two with a really short stack and I can't win my all in with 688 vs 7KK which is a 44% dog in a Heads UP showdown. Anyways, go out in 100 or so which isn't close to the money. Just can't get it going right now. Barry (who's book I've read a few times and who I think pretty highly of as far as a person and poker personality) was really nice and engaging and more than happy to shoot the poop for 2 hours pretty much non-stop. I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with him and bump heads, the scoop will be on the other foot next time.
So I am done with the preliminary events of this world series until the main event. For an overall accounting of it, excluding the main event that I've registered to play day 4A on Monday, I've played 15 events this year costing $32,500. I've cashed for a bit over $15,000. ($42,500 with main). If I had puckered on past the bubbles on those 3/4 that I was 20 or so out of the money it might have been like 22,500$ in cashes. If you take into account expenses and then online winnings and live cash winnings since I've been here, I think I'm no more than $5k winner since this all began. I've been winning on full tilt and the freeroll in the main event leaves $12k in equity still out there. Hopefully I can at least cash in that and have a small winning wsop.
For the first time this whole trip I can convinced to play a life cash games session last night. Andrew was all amped to play 100-200 at the Wynn last night so the three of us (+ Wes) went over there around 8pm. Andrew and his buddy Steve (Zugwat on stars and ftp, total nosebleed HU no limit specialist) were on the list for the big game. In wait we decide to start our own game. So Andrew, Zugwat and I started a mix game of 2-7 No Limit Lowball ($25-50), 2-7 Triple Draw (100-200), PLO ($25-25) and No Limit Hold'em ($25-50). We played for 4 hours or so, Andrew won big, I lost $300. I tried a reckless bluff in Triple Draw as a result of being card dead and somewhat frustrated, ended up getting snapped off :). Anyways, Around 1am I joined Wes at 10-20 no limit holdem in which we decided to swap 25% before we left the place last night. Long story short, I won $3800, Wes won over $13k. Andrew jumped in the $25-50 5k capped PLO with Steve Yea, Elky, John Duthie and a few others. He won that session too. Good night for the team, nice to stop the beat-down elevator for a bit.
I think some more live cash will be the plan this week before closing this thing out with the main event. Jay-Z's coming to the Palms on the 2nd as well, pretty sure we've got tickets locked up for that as well. Time to have some fun before this trip's over. Hope everyone's well.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
$1500 No Limit Hold'em (event 53 or so)
First, i'm out in level 4. Second, Wes is still alive and Andrew's got over 50k as of dinner so there is hope for us yet.
That being said I worked the starting stack of $4500 to just under $28,000k ! in 4 hours only to take a string of ridiculousness that knocked me out before dinner.
Again, without sounding redundant, the strength of these fields is embarassingly low and although I welcome it, I curse it when it cuts me up like it did today.
It's also worth pointing out that though 'blogging' about poker is in a why, cathartic, it's also frustrating in that I don't go in depth enough for poker minds and I go too in depth for the friends and family who don't play. So for the later category, I ran bad and I'm out. I played just fine I felt, maybe thought too deeply about hands again but whatever, on the rail, cheering like hell for Andrew and Wes now. Our friend Bahador Ahmed (jeff/baha if you know him by nickname), steam-rolled a final table to win a bracelet yesterday, congratulations to him, couldn't have happened to a better guy.
So today, I steal and aggress without showing a hand down in the first level up to around 12k. Then, this old wierd-playing dude limps utg, this crazy aggressive kid that i've been trying to pound on all day limps behind, another limper, I have the 57 here. Usually this is a raise to 1000 and play a pot in position but two of the three limping stacks were really deep with me (read GOOD ! here) but the last was short and I thought that that combined with running into a hand from another short stack behind said call>fold>isolation in this spot. Pot 1200, flop 752. So with top two I raised this aggressive kid's 500 lead. He thinks for a minute then shoves 3k, i call he has T7, he spikes a T on the turn (12% to lose that hand). So back to like 7500, i get back to around 13k, then play another pot vs. this kid (i three bet him preflop and folded my airball to his flop check/raise bluff). Then, in my big blind, he isolates the old guy who has limped the cut off, I min-3bet him with JJ and he sends 12k more on me with A4dd, i hold, up to 25k. I win another pot and all of a sudden I have 28k playing 150-300 in the 4th level. Then the wheels FLY off. I flat an old tight guy's open middle-late position with KK, the BB calls as well, pot is 3250. Flop is Kd 9d 6d. Now first of all, I fold out everything but JJ,QQ,KK,AA,AK if I 3bet this old tight guy before the flop. By flatting I've disguised my hand and also allowed other monkeys to jam all in behind if they feel we're weak. Anyways, bb checks, original raiser checks, I fire 2000 into 2500, BB check raises to 3200 total, I call, he has Ad Jh, he monkey's off a diamond on the turn and I can't fill up, down to 22k. Then two hands later I open to 750 with KK (I picked up a lot of hands today but lost almost all of them, won all the chips with weird hands in weird spots). The table folds, this fishy kid defends his bb, he has 14k'ish. 6c 6h 4c. He checks, I bet 1250 into like 2000, he calls. I think he's got a lot of pairs in his hand here, 22-88, flush draws, ace high's he's going to turn into bluffs and whatever, two bare overs? (He's been erratic today, limping a lot, bluffing a big, just weird, never actually played with someone with his mix of strange plays). Turn is a Qd. I rap pat behind. I'm doing this for a few reasons, pot control, intending to call almost all river cards (8c is particularly bad thought) and I hope he's going to turn a missed draw/airball into a bluff that would have otherwise c/folded the turn. River is an offsuit 4 (466Q4). He bets 3750 into 4800, i call he shows me 67offsuit. Defending big blinds with any two cards is a tough way to win in this game. Good for him, I'm down to 18k. The second next hand I have 99 utg+1, I open to 750, this kid who's been at the table for 3 laps 3bets me to 2000 with 12k total stack. Everyone else folds. A few hands before I opened the button on his BB, he 3bet, I shoved 33 on him and he folded. I noticed he's weak when he acts fast so I picked up that pot with 33 pretty easy, pretty risk free. Now I've lost two tough hands in a row, it looks like I'm steaming, he's 3bet and utg raiser and done so quickly. I don't think he's got enough here to call me, plus 99 is the bottom of my range but I expect to fold out AQ/maybe TT, smaller pairs, airballs. Anyways, I send my stack in and he snap calls with AQoffsuit and wins the 24k flip. I'm crippled to 3k and get it in before the blinds him me, A7 vs. 77 and I'm out.
First off, 3bet/calling it off with AQ in this spot is damn near brain damaged, his hand plays HORRIBLY vs. my 4bet/shoving range utg (88+AK), he's got 32% equity here and of course he dinks it.
Yeah, I lose flips, yeah I run bad, and yes, he can have TT/JJ/QQ here and I'm the one that has 18% but I really felt, given the dynamic and how fast he acted and his whole demeanor, that 99 played well against him in this spot and I'm very unlucky to have had these 3 big hands all cut down in less than one orbit. I'll try to run a bit hotter in stud8 tomorrow.
That being said I worked the starting stack of $4500 to just under $28,000k ! in 4 hours only to take a string of ridiculousness that knocked me out before dinner.
Again, without sounding redundant, the strength of these fields is embarassingly low and although I welcome it, I curse it when it cuts me up like it did today.
It's also worth pointing out that though 'blogging' about poker is in a why, cathartic, it's also frustrating in that I don't go in depth enough for poker minds and I go too in depth for the friends and family who don't play. So for the later category, I ran bad and I'm out. I played just fine I felt, maybe thought too deeply about hands again but whatever, on the rail, cheering like hell for Andrew and Wes now. Our friend Bahador Ahmed (jeff/baha if you know him by nickname), steam-rolled a final table to win a bracelet yesterday, congratulations to him, couldn't have happened to a better guy.
So today, I steal and aggress without showing a hand down in the first level up to around 12k. Then, this old wierd-playing dude limps utg, this crazy aggressive kid that i've been trying to pound on all day limps behind, another limper, I have the 57 here. Usually this is a raise to 1000 and play a pot in position but two of the three limping stacks were really deep with me (read GOOD ! here) but the last was short and I thought that that combined with running into a hand from another short stack behind said call>fold>isolation in this spot. Pot 1200, flop 752. So with top two I raised this aggressive kid's 500 lead. He thinks for a minute then shoves 3k, i call he has T7, he spikes a T on the turn (12% to lose that hand). So back to like 7500, i get back to around 13k, then play another pot vs. this kid (i three bet him preflop and folded my airball to his flop check/raise bluff). Then, in my big blind, he isolates the old guy who has limped the cut off, I min-3bet him with JJ and he sends 12k more on me with A4dd, i hold, up to 25k. I win another pot and all of a sudden I have 28k playing 150-300 in the 4th level. Then the wheels FLY off. I flat an old tight guy's open middle-late position with KK, the BB calls as well, pot is 3250. Flop is Kd 9d 6d. Now first of all, I fold out everything but JJ,QQ,KK,AA,AK if I 3bet this old tight guy before the flop. By flatting I've disguised my hand and also allowed other monkeys to jam all in behind if they feel we're weak. Anyways, bb checks, original raiser checks, I fire 2000 into 2500, BB check raises to 3200 total, I call, he has Ad Jh, he monkey's off a diamond on the turn and I can't fill up, down to 22k. Then two hands later I open to 750 with KK (I picked up a lot of hands today but lost almost all of them, won all the chips with weird hands in weird spots). The table folds, this fishy kid defends his bb, he has 14k'ish. 6c 6h 4c. He checks, I bet 1250 into like 2000, he calls. I think he's got a lot of pairs in his hand here, 22-88, flush draws, ace high's he's going to turn into bluffs and whatever, two bare overs? (He's been erratic today, limping a lot, bluffing a big, just weird, never actually played with someone with his mix of strange plays). Turn is a Qd. I rap pat behind. I'm doing this for a few reasons, pot control, intending to call almost all river cards (8c is particularly bad thought) and I hope he's going to turn a missed draw/airball into a bluff that would have otherwise c/folded the turn. River is an offsuit 4 (466Q4). He bets 3750 into 4800, i call he shows me 67offsuit. Defending big blinds with any two cards is a tough way to win in this game. Good for him, I'm down to 18k. The second next hand I have 99 utg+1, I open to 750, this kid who's been at the table for 3 laps 3bets me to 2000 with 12k total stack. Everyone else folds. A few hands before I opened the button on his BB, he 3bet, I shoved 33 on him and he folded. I noticed he's weak when he acts fast so I picked up that pot with 33 pretty easy, pretty risk free. Now I've lost two tough hands in a row, it looks like I'm steaming, he's 3bet and utg raiser and done so quickly. I don't think he's got enough here to call me, plus 99 is the bottom of my range but I expect to fold out AQ/maybe TT, smaller pairs, airballs. Anyways, I send my stack in and he snap calls with AQoffsuit and wins the 24k flip. I'm crippled to 3k and get it in before the blinds him me, A7 vs. 77 and I'm out.
First off, 3bet/calling it off with AQ in this spot is damn near brain damaged, his hand plays HORRIBLY vs. my 4bet/shoving range utg (88+AK), he's got 32% equity here and of course he dinks it.
Yeah, I lose flips, yeah I run bad, and yes, he can have TT/JJ/QQ here and I'm the one that has 18% but I really felt, given the dynamic and how fast he acted and his whole demeanor, that 99 played well against him in this spot and I'm very unlucky to have had these 3 big hands all cut down in less than one orbit. I'll try to run a bit hotter in stud8 tomorrow.
Friday, June 26, 2009
really quick is right....
So I just barely cash today in 66th spot. I'm extremely frustrated with today's outcome so if I come across a little harsh, it's because I'm feeling extremely harsh. I get up to about 65k before the bubble starts. On the STONE bubble I lose an 85k pot. I open KK25 double suited because the table is super tight and the BB is just holding on for a min cash. I get flatted in the middle of the table by a weak player (shown some nonsense already), he has 45k or so. 14k in the pot. Jd 9d 6h flops. I only have KK here but look at the situation. He can't have AA, he most likely can't have the other case KK here, QQ is a really tough call. Can't have JJ/99 because the only combinations playable should be in the muck in this spot but whatever, he flopped a set than I lose. He can have diamond draws, if he does, I'm flipping with him unless he's got a combination wrap. Anyways, I decide if I check, I'm check/folding, if I bet small, i'm bet/folding, if I lead for pot, I'm obviously bet calling it off. What does my hand look like here if I lead for pot. I'm never full potting/folding so it's never a bluff. My hand looks like AAxx here and with his hand (we eventually see this noble prize winner has AQT4 no diamonds) he's a small dog BUT if i have any combination of diamond draw he's worse than 40% here. Say I had KK w diamonds, he's got close to 35%. Anyways, I full pot, he ships, I call, he binks an 8 right away and I can't counterfeit with a backdoor low on the river. His play is terrible here for a multitude of reasons. He should know I'm committed to showdown, in that case if he's up vs. diamonds, he's getting in bad, if he's up against a dominated draw like QKTA or something like that, he's a huge dog, blah blah blah, calling off your tournament here with no flush draw is terrible. I don't want to give you the I run bad speech, just have to stop losing the most critical pots of the tournament vs. non-thinking players. This is just the way tournament poker has gone for me this summer, loose the key pots at the worst times. I min-cashed then got the last 10bb in bad vs. the same player, my 40% didn't pull through. I guess mine's worse, I knew I was putting in the last of my small stack with the 40%'er and vs. me for the big pot he was damn lucky to have 44%, he's getting it in sometimes with like 20% there vs. the hands I'll lead/call off.
Extreme frustration will continue in tomorrow's $1500 event 51. Three min cashes, three pseudo day 2 bubbles, 2 slight illness's and 1 really stuck house. World Series of Poker, priceless.
Extreme frustration will continue in tomorrow's $1500 event 51. Three min cashes, three pseudo day 2 bubbles, 2 slight illness's and 1 really stuck house. World Series of Poker, priceless.
real quick...
Event #42: Pot-Limit Omaha 8/Better High Low Split.
761 players, 87 left. 72 Money. I have an above average stack of $48,800 to end day one (start with 4500). I think the blinds start back at 800-1600 (open full pot is 5200). Bottom line, good day, played well, avoided two spots where I could have conceivably slept well at night if I busted although I was making good decisions and avoided eliminations both times. I really like this event and feel like there is a TON of value in that the play has been so weak thus far. By and large, the field is riddled with players that come from a limit background and just don't adapt to running hands all in preflop and in big bet situations. The equity disparities of some of these hand ranges have made for some really bad play but like any other tournament, you just need to HOLD ON ! when you're all in. Anyways, I'm feeling good, I'm excited, hopefully a deep run materializes tomorrow.
761 players, 87 left. 72 Money. I have an above average stack of $48,800 to end day one (start with 4500). I think the blinds start back at 800-1600 (open full pot is 5200). Bottom line, good day, played well, avoided two spots where I could have conceivably slept well at night if I busted although I was making good decisions and avoided eliminations both times. I really like this event and feel like there is a TON of value in that the play has been so weak thus far. By and large, the field is riddled with players that come from a limit background and just don't adapt to running hands all in preflop and in big bet situations. The equity disparities of some of these hand ranges have made for some really bad play but like any other tournament, you just need to HOLD ON ! when you're all in. Anyways, I'm feeling good, I'm excited, hopefully a deep run materializes tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
not really a bubble.
The mixed event got off to a good start yesterday. I had a very espn'y table. Robert Williamson, Layne Flack, Justin Bonomo, Tuan Le, Jeffrey Lisandro, Esther Rossi, some Euro Kid. Table was very serious, as these 'professional' tables usually are. They left it up to Robert Williamson and I to try to have a good time (seems to be a very nice guy). Anyways, I pucker the few bets I have left and take some shots in Razz, lose, get 1/2 stacked, win a stud pot, double up in No Limit Hold'em, then Lisandro opens the puck in PLO and re-pot out of the big blind with Ah6hKcTc, he gets in with me with something in the order of AKQ4 no suits. I win with a flush, up to 18k, then eliminate bonomo with JT78 vs. AQQ5, all of a sudden, up to 25k in the first two levels. Predictabley, run bad in triple draw when my 2 shots at a 2345x go down in flames (1500-3000 betting limits). I open and then give up in a few omaha 8 hands, get real short again through the anting off stud rounds (card dead on a table that plays pretty well is not a good winning formula) then put in the last few bets around 18 off the money in limit holdem. Busto around 4 hours in.
I really don't know if more could be done in any spots that day. I felt I was pretty patient and didn't steam off unnecessarily in spots that you just can't win pots, doubled up fortunately in some of the big bet games, drew generally poorly in triple draw and went card dead in stud. All in all, another non-cash/non-deep run. As far as other good news, there isn't all that much, I took a small piece of a 200-400 heads-up horse session last night where we got banged up for 35k. The player we had was very poor and it's very frustrating to come out on the losing end of it. Examples of his play include, 4bet capping preflop in O8 with 79TQ double suited vs. AA24, have 6T vs. our A6 in limit hold'em on a A6T flop, Kturn, Qriver... sort of thing, capping flop and turn.. Just a very poor run over the last few weeks. Anyways, no use focusing on that. Andrew's got the 10k Pot-Limit Hold'em today, cross your fingers for the kid, in two days I'm going to be writing, it's about damn time :)
I really don't know if more could be done in any spots that day. I felt I was pretty patient and didn't steam off unnecessarily in spots that you just can't win pots, doubled up fortunately in some of the big bet games, drew generally poorly in triple draw and went card dead in stud. All in all, another non-cash/non-deep run. As far as other good news, there isn't all that much, I took a small piece of a 200-400 heads-up horse session last night where we got banged up for 35k. The player we had was very poor and it's very frustrating to come out on the losing end of it. Examples of his play include, 4bet capping preflop in O8 with 79TQ double suited vs. AA24, have 6T vs. our A6 in limit hold'em on a A6T flop, Kturn, Qriver... sort of thing, capping flop and turn.. Just a very poor run over the last few weeks. Anyways, no use focusing on that. Andrew's got the 10k Pot-Limit Hold'em today, cross your fingers for the kid, in two days I'm going to be writing, it's about damn time :)
Monday, June 22, 2009
Event 42: $2500 8-Game Mixed Event.
On to day two with an incredibly short stack ($7300 or so, started the day with $7500). I lose almost every hand I played in all the games except for a huge quadruple-up in Omaha 8 (Ah2hQcJc on a 4h5hQs Js Jd board). Then a few all-in no limit hands. I had a shot to be up to $15k but my AQo couldn't live against Andy Bloch's QTss. For the record I'm 0-3 vs. Andy Bloch in lifetime wsop hands (and yes I'm keeping track). The table was fun for the most part, a few fish, a few big poker stars like Brian 'the icon' Micon, JC Tran and Andy Bloch. I thought I played ok today, made a few mistakes in 2-7 triple draw when I think some blind aggression could've won a few hands instead of playing/drawing for value...stud games went well the I seemed to pull very poorly in Razz. NLHE and PLO both were fine but I lose $3k in a plo bluff spot that I think should have worked enough for the play to have been right. Anyways, time to run hot on day two. I believe we start at 2pm with Triple Draw, playing 800-1600 so I have a few bets left. Whatever, couldn't do anything differently today really, I'm happy I didn't give up when I was short, now I hope the life I left myself can make some moves.
On a good note, before the event started I was playing a main event satellite online with my roomate Wes, which we won, so I'm free-rolling the main. It solves that problem, the living problems (they put us up at the palms) and yeah, nice to not have to pay $10k usd. Maybe things are starting to turn for us??? :) Andrew's back tomorrow, watch for the Clockwyze attack in the 10k PLH.
On a good note, before the event started I was playing a main event satellite online with my roomate Wes, which we won, so I'm free-rolling the main. It solves that problem, the living problems (they put us up at the palms) and yeah, nice to not have to pay $10k usd. Maybe things are starting to turn for us??? :) Andrew's back tomorrow, watch for the Clockwyze attack in the 10k PLH.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
$1500 (event 39) No Limit Hold'em
Well, no good today. I played 7 hours of this hold'em event, grinded $4500 into around $17,000 at it's high point, then, with an extremely aggressive table image (surrounded by older nits who didn't really like the cut of my jibb) ran QQ into KK and effectively busted. I was loaded with cards today, felt I made the most out of the situations I put myself in but had to release a whole lot of hands because of so many 3bets. It's an increasingly frequent occurrence in these events, 3betting my light opens. Right when I tell myself, okay, this time I'm 4betting my AQ or 77 or whatever marginal hand I've found at the time, they'll show me AK or JJ or something and it'll re-assure the image they've convinced me of. Anyways. I don't think there is too many interesting things to talk about, the bust out hand is pretty standard. Older semi-tightish opens to 2.5x utg+1, the button who's a weird old semi-spewer 3bets the button fast (weak), I cold 4bet QQ from sb, the original raiser shoves just over my open, button turbo folds.....I can't find a Queen. I don't think there are too many other ways to play the hand. I hate flatting there because I'm out of position and I lose all value from AK(s) that would lose a flip vs. me or the JJ that may decide my image warrants a look-up. I don't know, if the standard range of calling off for a stack vs. a cold 4bet by these players is their top 3% (AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AKo/s) than QQ does a little worse that 48% equity in a vacuum. If you expand their calling range to 88+ and the AQs than the QQ's do little better than 60% equity in a vacuum. Bottom line is !!! to get deep/win these huge field tournaments, you can't have the coolers go against you, you need the flips to hold and the coolers go your way. So not today sadly enough. The grind continues tomorrow with the $2500 8-game mixed event (one I'm somehow very amped for).
I've had a somewhat relaxed week. My mom was in town with her husband, celebrating a birthday so I spent a ton of time with them. She had never met my poker crew, Andrew, Wes and Gibb so it was nice to get everyone together. My roommate from home's up too so I guess it's turned into a bit of a hiatus of the wsop but the push is on now until the end. More soon ! off to the 8-game.
I've had a somewhat relaxed week. My mom was in town with her husband, celebrating a birthday so I spent a ton of time with them. She had never met my poker crew, Andrew, Wes and Gibb so it was nice to get everyone together. My roommate from home's up too so I guess it's turned into a bit of a hiatus of the wsop but the push is on now until the end. More soon ! off to the 8-game.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
hmmm, maybe i spoke too soon
Well, start the day at average chips and 57 out from money and I miss the cash :)
Great table as always in this event, steal two rounds of blinds early, flat an utg+2 open with KQss, Kh7c2c flop, he bets ultra fast for full pot, I call the 5k, turn Js he instantly fires 20k into 15k. I think for like maybe 1.5 minutes and then he calls a clock. 1. clocks in 2min+, here, slightly uncalled for, especially given the pending bubble, 2. two insta bets, the second being way over pot, 3. the way he acted, hard to describe but it just cried weakness. Anyways, the floor is counting down, 3-2-1, I called all in, he shows AK.
Blah blah, nice hand, come on 3 outter, miss.
Sort of a cooler, can argue to fold preflop in these conditions, I think it's too tight though. The post-flop action makes this hand somewhat of a cooler I think. You don't have to play this flop, and I was prepared to fold to a second barrel but the action just swung me to showdown. Being over 300 from any serious money means I guess I shouldn't worry too much, just sucks to bubble in a spot where I didn't have to.
Horse $1500 starts in two hours. Can't bust in one hand, guess that's a positive!
Great table as always in this event, steal two rounds of blinds early, flat an utg+2 open with KQss, Kh7c2c flop, he bets ultra fast for full pot, I call the 5k, turn Js he instantly fires 20k into 15k. I think for like maybe 1.5 minutes and then he calls a clock. 1. clocks in 2min+, here, slightly uncalled for, especially given the pending bubble, 2. two insta bets, the second being way over pot, 3. the way he acted, hard to describe but it just cried weakness. Anyways, the floor is counting down, 3-2-1, I called all in, he shows AK.
Blah blah, nice hand, come on 3 outter, miss.
Sort of a cooler, can argue to fold preflop in these conditions, I think it's too tight though. The post-flop action makes this hand somewhat of a cooler I think. You don't have to play this flop, and I was prepared to fold to a second barrel but the action just swung me to showdown. Being over 300 from any serious money means I guess I shouldn't worry too much, just sucks to bubble in a spot where I didn't have to.
Horse $1500 starts in two hours. Can't bust in one hand, guess that's a positive!
how creepy is phil ivey
The title says enough. 2nd bracelet this year in the $2500 half Omaha 8/better, half Stud 8/better. I wonder how much money was won in the side this time? It's a hell of a run this monster's on.
I'll keep my exploits short and sweet. I was up 6 skins on Andrew at the par 3 golf course when my double bogey on 9 for a huge press (double or nothing essentially) evened out the match. Really upsetting.
Looks like I'm going to cash in the $1500 massive no limit hold'em field I played today. I think we're 65 or so from the money (starts at 270, we have 2800 people in this one). I have average chips at around 34k (I think that's around average?). I lost some big pots that would have had me around 50k to end the day but no problem, super weak field making tons of mistakes, all my tables were more or less great, held some hands, ran some bluffs, we'll see how tomorrow goes. Would be nice to finally get a stack and make an effort in one of these things but if min-cashing is all I have to complain about, I'll need a more sympathetic audience.
My boys are running terrible here. Andrew lost his heads-up match in round one today through a sick beat, bottom two got all-in counterfeited and Wes busted from today's crap shoot. These two are long overdue for some outrageous good fortune.
I'll keep my exploits short and sweet. I was up 6 skins on Andrew at the par 3 golf course when my double bogey on 9 for a huge press (double or nothing essentially) evened out the match. Really upsetting.
Looks like I'm going to cash in the $1500 massive no limit hold'em field I played today. I think we're 65 or so from the money (starts at 270, we have 2800 people in this one). I have average chips at around 34k (I think that's around average?). I lost some big pots that would have had me around 50k to end the day but no problem, super weak field making tons of mistakes, all my tables were more or less great, held some hands, ran some bluffs, we'll see how tomorrow goes. Would be nice to finally get a stack and make an effort in one of these things but if min-cashing is all I have to complain about, I'll need a more sympathetic audience.
My boys are running terrible here. Andrew lost his heads-up match in round one today through a sick beat, bottom two got all-in counterfeited and Wes busted from today's crap shoot. These two are long overdue for some outrageous good fortune.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Shootout Day 2
I'm not entirely sure, I believe I busted in 4th at my table. What a day. First, at the table of 10 there was 1 bracelet and over 5 million in life time tournament winnings. Joe Beevers, Alan Smurfit accounting for the majority of it, Anh Van Nguyen, a friend of mine, myself and two others guys making up the small remainder. The only guy who had exactly $0 in tournament winnings will play the villain for the rest of my stories. First off, French french, not Canadian French, wearing sunglasses and a leather coat, not thin leather, like right off the cow's back. Anyways. We started a little less than 100 bb's deep with 45k starting stacks. Again, have to win it outright to get to the final table. So, the first few laps I played nearly every other hand. I won a big pot vs. the only real fish at the table when I floated a big squeeze he put on before the flop, he gave up afterwards though so I was up to like 57k. Anyways, third or so lap, I open QQ in the cutoff, the french villain, or the Neo, as I'm going to call him, 3bets the big blind. I decide to keep in as wide a range of hands as possible and flat his three bet in position. 832rainbow flop. He bets, I call. Turn 4d bring back door diamonds. He checks. I decided to bet the turn because if he had turned 99-JJ into a bluff and three bet with them, he's going to call now and check the river. If he has AK i don't like give 10 outs here, if he has AA or KK I don't think a marginal player check/shoves the turn with them because he's still behind any flopped set and AA, which I would have played all the same way.
Anyways, he of course check/ships the turn, I call off (I'm never bet/folding the turn). He shows KK, i lose a huge pot in level one, back to like 9k. Anyways, if the structure was different I would have never bet/called off the turn, I would have checked behind but since it was winner take all, and I thought I still have the best hand here a lot of the time, I bet/called it off. So, anyways, I double up with TT vs A2 in the blinds vs. the fish, I claw and bite and steal back to like 30k. Then vs. my friend I pick up AA vs. his utg+2 open and all of a sudden, 4 hours in I'm back to 50k. Phew.
So the blinds start to kick up, I've been playing very aggressively, but I've only three bet total garbage (94o, 23ss) or QQ+. Polarizing my range vs. good regular opponents is exploitable but it's optimal in tournaments and against non-regular opponents. Anyways, this really tight kid opens utg, I 3bet AA mid table, he flats, Good flop, he checks, I bet small, he ships KK, I hold, I'm up to almost 100k and the table chip leader. Great, cooler in my favour, I'll take the luck.
So the table is now 7 handed or so. The french NEO has opened up a little bit but has played rather poorly, bluffing in bad spots, c-betting out of position on boards that are likely to hit his opponent's flatting ranges, etc. I also noticed he three bets a lot with a wide balanced range. This, I think is exploitable. If I know someone is 3-betting wide, and we're deep (both 82k effective playing 400-800), I'm going to have an opportunity to POUND him. And here it comes.
I open 67ss in the cutoff on NEO's big blind. He decided to 3bet to 6400. I 4-bet him to 18400. He calls. First off, what does he need to have in this spot to flat a 4-bet out of position (oop). AA is unlikely because he's a fish and they 5bet. KK is the same hand and would play the same. Maybe QQ but usually it's going in as well, JJ and TT might flat but I'm not sure how much of a fish he is.
So anyways, QT4 flop. He checks, I bet 25k into like 40k. He thinks forever, 2 minutes and calls. Now, at this point I thought okay top of his range here is AQ/JJ, he could have as little as a pocket pair under the tens here that he's just hanging on to, I don't know.... I thought he was a better/tighter player at the time than what I know now. Turn is a Q. Bad card but good for me to improve my hand appearance. He checks. If I have a bluff I'd likely jam the turn because I want him to fold. AQ here is the only hand (and TT i guess) that he's snap calling off here with, anything else he has to think. BUT, if I had KK or AA or quad QQQQ or TT's full or JJ, i'd definitely check this turn back because my hand has value (I'd likely check the flop with JJ though). Anyways, I check back the turn like I'd do with the top of my range, planning on folding if he bets big on the river, ship over a small blocking bet on the river and ship if he checks. He checks, I ship the blank river, he goes in the tank forever. 4 minutes or more. Then as his hand as been picked up and put back down about 4 times he says "well, I guess you have to win this table, i call". He shows me JT for middle pair on the flop.
Here I am thinking I'm trying to take this guy off a top 5 hand like JJ or 99, here he called a 4-bet for 20% of his stack preflop out of position with JT. I rarely go off and tell a man he's a fish at the table but I was verbal with the guy and shocked at his play. Where do they find guys like this nowadays? Just so you know how bad a call this is, especially vs. the only guy who has you covered in this winner take all mtt and out of position, if I have AA-KK-QQ-JJ-AK or AKss, he's equity versus that range is exactly 25%. Just happens that I bluff off almost 80k vs. the biggest dribbler in the room.
I have enough left to steal and fight for the next two levels but I eventually put the squeeze on in a limped 12k pot preflop for my last 30 with 22 and get called by 66 and I'm out.
So cash number two, a silly small amount, and in a very frustrating manner. I'm not sure how much I love or hate this play. Being results oriented, I may have given away a final table shot but I really liked my decision throughout this hand. Checking the turn is an advanced play and would have worked better than jamming the turn vs. a deep thinking player. The only thought looking back is vs. a fish, jam the turn may have been best. Opportunity lost, experience gained perhaps. Didn't really need to fire so much with so many chips on a great table that was going to give it up eventually, just felt (and still feel) that this 4bet in this dynamic, he's folding all but the top 3% of hands (AK,AA,KK,QQ) almost always, unless of course, it's the french NEO.
Day off tomorrow to lick my wounds. Min-cash monster I am.
Poker is the ultimate game of pain. You are either giving it or getting it, and sometimes it is only 30 seconds between the two of them (David Grey).
Anyways, he of course check/ships the turn, I call off (I'm never bet/folding the turn). He shows KK, i lose a huge pot in level one, back to like 9k. Anyways, if the structure was different I would have never bet/called off the turn, I would have checked behind but since it was winner take all, and I thought I still have the best hand here a lot of the time, I bet/called it off. So, anyways, I double up with TT vs A2 in the blinds vs. the fish, I claw and bite and steal back to like 30k. Then vs. my friend I pick up AA vs. his utg+2 open and all of a sudden, 4 hours in I'm back to 50k. Phew.
So the blinds start to kick up, I've been playing very aggressively, but I've only three bet total garbage (94o, 23ss) or QQ+. Polarizing my range vs. good regular opponents is exploitable but it's optimal in tournaments and against non-regular opponents. Anyways, this really tight kid opens utg, I 3bet AA mid table, he flats, Good flop, he checks, I bet small, he ships KK, I hold, I'm up to almost 100k and the table chip leader. Great, cooler in my favour, I'll take the luck.
So the table is now 7 handed or so. The french NEO has opened up a little bit but has played rather poorly, bluffing in bad spots, c-betting out of position on boards that are likely to hit his opponent's flatting ranges, etc. I also noticed he three bets a lot with a wide balanced range. This, I think is exploitable. If I know someone is 3-betting wide, and we're deep (both 82k effective playing 400-800), I'm going to have an opportunity to POUND him. And here it comes.
I open 67ss in the cutoff on NEO's big blind. He decided to 3bet to 6400. I 4-bet him to 18400. He calls. First off, what does he need to have in this spot to flat a 4-bet out of position (oop). AA is unlikely because he's a fish and they 5bet. KK is the same hand and would play the same. Maybe QQ but usually it's going in as well, JJ and TT might flat but I'm not sure how much of a fish he is.
So anyways, QT4 flop. He checks, I bet 25k into like 40k. He thinks forever, 2 minutes and calls. Now, at this point I thought okay top of his range here is AQ/JJ, he could have as little as a pocket pair under the tens here that he's just hanging on to, I don't know.... I thought he was a better/tighter player at the time than what I know now. Turn is a Q. Bad card but good for me to improve my hand appearance. He checks. If I have a bluff I'd likely jam the turn because I want him to fold. AQ here is the only hand (and TT i guess) that he's snap calling off here with, anything else he has to think. BUT, if I had KK or AA or quad QQQQ or TT's full or JJ, i'd definitely check this turn back because my hand has value (I'd likely check the flop with JJ though). Anyways, I check back the turn like I'd do with the top of my range, planning on folding if he bets big on the river, ship over a small blocking bet on the river and ship if he checks. He checks, I ship the blank river, he goes in the tank forever. 4 minutes or more. Then as his hand as been picked up and put back down about 4 times he says "well, I guess you have to win this table, i call". He shows me JT for middle pair on the flop.
Here I am thinking I'm trying to take this guy off a top 5 hand like JJ or 99, here he called a 4-bet for 20% of his stack preflop out of position with JT. I rarely go off and tell a man he's a fish at the table but I was verbal with the guy and shocked at his play. Where do they find guys like this nowadays? Just so you know how bad a call this is, especially vs. the only guy who has you covered in this winner take all mtt and out of position, if I have AA-KK-QQ-JJ-AK or AKss, he's equity versus that range is exactly 25%. Just happens that I bluff off almost 80k vs. the biggest dribbler in the room.
I have enough left to steal and fight for the next two levels but I eventually put the squeeze on in a limped 12k pot preflop for my last 30 with 22 and get called by 66 and I'm out.
So cash number two, a silly small amount, and in a very frustrating manner. I'm not sure how much I love or hate this play. Being results oriented, I may have given away a final table shot but I really liked my decision throughout this hand. Checking the turn is an advanced play and would have worked better than jamming the turn vs. a deep thinking player. The only thought looking back is vs. a fish, jam the turn may have been best. Opportunity lost, experience gained perhaps. Didn't really need to fire so much with so many chips on a great table that was going to give it up eventually, just felt (and still feel) that this 4bet in this dynamic, he's folding all but the top 3% of hands (AK,AA,KK,QQ) almost always, unless of course, it's the french NEO.
Day off tomorrow to lick my wounds. Min-cash monster I am.
Poker is the ultimate game of pain. You are either giving it or getting it, and sometimes it is only 30 seconds between the two of them (David Grey).
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Event 22: $1500 No Limit Hold'em Shootout
So, today's event was a shootout. 1000 players played in tables of ten, you need to win your table outright to advance and to make any dough. I had a lovely table draw today, knew no one. Pam Brunson (Doyle's daughter who has recently taken up poker) was the only person I recognized. There were 3 kids who played particularly well, obvious sng players from the net. Thankfully the fish took care of them and I got to 4 handed with Pam, the largest fish on the table and the second largest fish on the table. I caught a few cards, enough to win pots with three bets and isolation plays preflop. I really had great boards to continue with cbets when in the lead preflop so play seemed sort of easy today. Pam knocked out fish number 2, then I won a flip vs. Pam and knocked her out (my 66 vs. her AK). So I got to heads up with the big fish, my 35k or so to his 10k?, something in that range. Anyways, I min-raised every button and eventually overaggressed, shoving 75o into his KQ, i lost, doubled him up. Anyways, I kept chipping him down, back to around the 35k-10k range, then got it in bad, A5dd vs. AKo. I ran out two pair and won my first table. Getting it in bad in heads up play is somewhat standard (although not advisable), more important to have the lead to be able to get past being an underdog. Anyways, made the min-cash so far, $5400 or so. I need to win my day 2 table to get to the final table and up the pay scale. Doesn't matter whether I finish 10th or 2nd on this table tomorrow, need to win it. My boy Theo made day two as well. Best of luck to him.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Event? $2500 NLHE 6max
I finished up late tonight at 44/1068. Really frustrating day of poker and not much satisfaction in an $8500 cash when the top spot paid half a million. I already registered for the $1500 nlhe shootout tomorrow at noon and I'm really needing to get a workout in so I'll keep it short.
Started with $33k today and 28 or so from the money. I opened AJo utg, got flatted by a lag big tournament winner from japan. Jc Tc 7h, I checked, he bet 6600, I shipped 25k more, he called with A4cc, I won the 70-30 shot. I'm up to 66k or so. Stealing early, playing way tighter than a cash game 6max table so I can get some folds near the bubble. Bubble burts, I flat 77 in bb vs co open. Ac Qc 7h, flop goes c/c. 4h on the turn, I lead 7200 into 12200, he raises me to 23000, I decide although his hand doesn't look like much, he thinks I'm loose, I can't find a line to take to disguise my hand, I min-reraise him, he ships, I call. He has A4o, I dodge the A, get up to 130k. I steal and 3bet my way to 160k, then lose an 80k flip with 55 vs J9o (Internet kids these days :) ). I open the button to 6500, he ships 30k in small blind, I call with 55 and lose. Back to 100. I grind down for a bit, get moved to a table with 3 guys all over 150k (I have 118 at this point). There is 75 people left.
I played really tight on this table for a while. I felt that vs. this loose aggressive table, I really wanted to avoid the high variance spots, wanting to be able to 3bet lightly and win some pots without showdown. Oh and it didn't help that every open I made got three bet to shit. Oh, and by the way, AJo and 99 where the best hands I saw all day. So, I lose the tournament essentially on what I view as a semi standard hand. Folded to sb who raises 3x (4handed at this point), I defend bb with J9ss. K97 rainbow. Bet, i call. Turn is a 6, bet i call. River is a Q, he checks , i check. He shows K8, i lose 50k on that hand. A lot of players play the hand differently and lose less or win the pot preflop. I think J9ss 4 handed in position is 1. too good to fold, 2. i can win without hitting, 3. we're relatively deep that we can play more than one street 4. he knows nothing about me and vice versa ( you can argue that's a reason to fold) 5. blind battles people spew through over aggression. I don't feel he folds after the flop to any line, I think I have value on all streets so no reason to play the hand differently, I felt the Q may have rivered me though. Irregardless, I got down to 68k on that hand and never looked back on my way to busto, eventually running 99 into the bb's JJ.
Poopy day of tournaments, no hands on aggressive tables, did what I could with little cards...blah blah, tournaments, blah. Hopefully I can win the sng tomorrow in the shootout.
On a side not. Bill Edler and Howard Lederer are great dudes. Class acts in poker. Tournament poker is a lot tougher now, especially in no limit hold em. So many tough young players. Name pros, either online or live, are often worse than the unknown players. Point in case, online phenom 'shaundeeb' is on my last table today. Played 2 hands incredibly 'questionmarky' and then his buddy loses a 400k pot at the 1500-300 blind level, all in preflop with AQo. My mind really hurt when the dust cleared....so many suspect pots I paid witness to today.
Anyways. better luck next time, I guess I got the min-cash monkey off my back in 09'. Time for Andrew and Wes.
Started with $33k today and 28 or so from the money. I opened AJo utg, got flatted by a lag big tournament winner from japan. Jc Tc 7h, I checked, he bet 6600, I shipped 25k more, he called with A4cc, I won the 70-30 shot. I'm up to 66k or so. Stealing early, playing way tighter than a cash game 6max table so I can get some folds near the bubble. Bubble burts, I flat 77 in bb vs co open. Ac Qc 7h, flop goes c/c. 4h on the turn, I lead 7200 into 12200, he raises me to 23000, I decide although his hand doesn't look like much, he thinks I'm loose, I can't find a line to take to disguise my hand, I min-reraise him, he ships, I call. He has A4o, I dodge the A, get up to 130k. I steal and 3bet my way to 160k, then lose an 80k flip with 55 vs J9o (Internet kids these days :) ). I open the button to 6500, he ships 30k in small blind, I call with 55 and lose. Back to 100. I grind down for a bit, get moved to a table with 3 guys all over 150k (I have 118 at this point). There is 75 people left.
I played really tight on this table for a while. I felt that vs. this loose aggressive table, I really wanted to avoid the high variance spots, wanting to be able to 3bet lightly and win some pots without showdown. Oh and it didn't help that every open I made got three bet to shit. Oh, and by the way, AJo and 99 where the best hands I saw all day. So, I lose the tournament essentially on what I view as a semi standard hand. Folded to sb who raises 3x (4handed at this point), I defend bb with J9ss. K97 rainbow. Bet, i call. Turn is a 6, bet i call. River is a Q, he checks , i check. He shows K8, i lose 50k on that hand. A lot of players play the hand differently and lose less or win the pot preflop. I think J9ss 4 handed in position is 1. too good to fold, 2. i can win without hitting, 3. we're relatively deep that we can play more than one street 4. he knows nothing about me and vice versa ( you can argue that's a reason to fold) 5. blind battles people spew through over aggression. I don't feel he folds after the flop to any line, I think I have value on all streets so no reason to play the hand differently, I felt the Q may have rivered me though. Irregardless, I got down to 68k on that hand and never looked back on my way to busto, eventually running 99 into the bb's JJ.
Poopy day of tournaments, no hands on aggressive tables, did what I could with little cards...blah blah, tournaments, blah. Hopefully I can win the sng tomorrow in the shootout.
On a side not. Bill Edler and Howard Lederer are great dudes. Class acts in poker. Tournament poker is a lot tougher now, especially in no limit hold em. So many tough young players. Name pros, either online or live, are often worse than the unknown players. Point in case, online phenom 'shaundeeb' is on my last table today. Played 2 hands incredibly 'questionmarky' and then his buddy loses a 400k pot at the 1500-300 blind level, all in preflop with AQo. My mind really hurt when the dust cleared....so many suspect pots I paid witness to today.
Anyways. better luck next time, I guess I got the min-cash monkey off my back in 09'. Time for Andrew and Wes.
$1500 stud + $2500 6max nlhe.....
So, I played the $1500 stud event a day or two ago. It starts really shallow and my table was bad in that there were two really good stud players ('bumper' and sam grizzle), former stud bracelet winner chris reslock, ftp pro perry friedman and then a few randoms. I decided going into it, I was going to play faster than usual and try and play a ton of more hands than I usually would in a limit tournament. Obvious result, busto city in like the 4th level. I did lose AAA on 3 vs. 55Q in my huge 4 way all in pot playing 200-400 but i lost a lot in HU smaller pots in the levels before. I don't really think that blasting early is optimal or not optimal, it's more a function on the play at your table, and against good stud players I thought they'd be less apt to gamble, didn't matter, they held hands and got to showdown. Not really reflective on this one, stud's not my best game but I probably faired worse than I should have in this event.
Yesterday we took off. Andrew, Christina and I bummed around, got some stuff for the condo, watched the Orlando/LA game with my sister, ran hot in craps (golden arm is back) etc,. Today Wes, Andrew and I played the $2500 6max event. The field got 1050 players since it was the only event of the day. Andrew and Wes didn't fair well in the early levels, I ended day one with $33,300 in chips, under the $55k average or so. We are 37 from the money I believe but we're playing 600-1200 w a 200 ante I believe so I'm not really short but I can't open liberally obviously. So there were a lot of interesting pots. Two hands that really crippled me that I decided to fold on the river. I'm not a fan of hero laydowns but I don't think that I could call off in either spot profitably. I won't subject you to the hand histories but of the three tables I played, I had 1 good table and 2 terrible ones. Anyways, fingers crossed I can run a bit hot tomorrow. I'm not going to worry about getting in the money, I'd rather try to find a good spot and run up some chips. The money starts at like $4800, the $500k+ for first would quench the thirst a little better. ttys.
Yesterday we took off. Andrew, Christina and I bummed around, got some stuff for the condo, watched the Orlando/LA game with my sister, ran hot in craps (golden arm is back) etc,. Today Wes, Andrew and I played the $2500 6max event. The field got 1050 players since it was the only event of the day. Andrew and Wes didn't fair well in the early levels, I ended day one with $33,300 in chips, under the $55k average or so. We are 37 from the money I believe but we're playing 600-1200 w a 200 ante I believe so I'm not really short but I can't open liberally obviously. So there were a lot of interesting pots. Two hands that really crippled me that I decided to fold on the river. I'm not a fan of hero laydowns but I don't think that I could call off in either spot profitably. I won't subject you to the hand histories but of the three tables I played, I had 1 good table and 2 terrible ones. Anyways, fingers crossed I can run a bit hot tomorrow. I'm not going to worry about getting in the money, I'd rather try to find a good spot and run up some chips. The money starts at like $4800, the $500k+ for first would quench the thirst a little better. ttys.
Friday, June 5, 2009
$10,000 8-Game Mixed Event.
So, in my opinion, $10,000 is a lot of money. I'm not sure if there will ever be a point in my life where it becomes a trivial some. In the poker community, $10k is a roughly small sum. Today's event attracted 194 players. 194 people felt comfortable playing Holdem, Omaha 8/b, Razz, Stud, Stud8/b, Decue to 7 triple draw, NLHE and PLO. My feeling on this event is that though I may not be world class in any one game, I feel I play them all well enough that having no one game I feel very uncomfortable with, makes me a favourite over those who play HORSE for example, at a world class level, but struggle with the big bet games (nlhe and plo). The tables played 8 handed. I had starting in the 1 hole, Jimmy Fricke, myself, some monster amateur from mexico city, ted forrest, john 'pearljammer' turner, sebastian ruthenburg, some very tough live 30 something, howard lederer. I'd say all in all, a really bad table draw. Fricke and the 30 something play all games well. Ruthenberg players nlhe and plo well, manages with the others and is a very comfortable tournament player. Howard is very strong in the horse+deuce games, tight in the others. Ted is really tough in stud, plays a lot of hands in the others but plays very well. I would say omaha was the most exploitable game all in all.
Anyways, right away I lose the first hand in Deuce. I crap out on a 8432 draw. I lose the second hand 234xx aired 1st and 2nd draw and I folded my 3card hand with the last draw remaining. Lose a pot in holdem, win one in o8, down like 3k from 30k starting. Stud Hi, fold fold fold, jimmy opens with xx7, i RR with xxA. he calls. I have 22A, pretty standard/aggressive play here but I think he takes 4th of light and folds if unimproved on 5th. I peel a K he peels a 3, he check calls. 5th street we both catch the case deuces. He leads, I raise, he calls. 6th he pairs his door card, I pull a 3 he check raises. I bet this street because I feel he often has 2pair. His raise says, matt I have 777, but keep in mind my board is xxAK23, it doesn't take a really top hand to raise this board (a point I left out was that he had the 7h on the door, the 2h was 5th for him, I put him on either a buried pair of a FD, hard for him to get to 5th with 77). Anyways, river comes and pairs my K so I have 222KK, he leads, I raise, he 3bets, STOP. River 3betting in level 2 of this tournament is not for bluffing. My nut low tight is a bluff catcher in this spot. With 4900 bets in the pot I have to call, he may have wigged out with hearts or he may just have trips. He shows AA777. He told me he started with AA down and rivered the 7. Either way, massive pot for this level, I'm down to like 22k. I then putter around stud8,nlhe and then plo this hand happens.
Limp by ted forrest, limp by other, I have 78JK in my BB. Flop is 37J rainbow. I lead into both limpers. Ted calls me quick, other folds. Ah on the turn. Ted's flop call meant to me two things. He didn't have a set(I think he raises here on this board, evaluates if I 3bet the flop), I put his call somewhere in the neighborhood of the 4567, 89TJ sort of 3card gut shots with a pair. I bet near full pot into him on the turn, planning on folding if I got raised. He flats. River is a 2h bring back door hearts on board. The pot is 9.8k or something at that point. I check really fast. I want ted to fire his missed draws or turn some made hand into a bluff here. I don't really think Ted's played a ton of PLO so i'm not sure how thin he'd value bet which hurts my ability to figure his holding out. Anyways, he bets 6.5k, and I called. Ted showed me a Q433 with hearts. This is the one hand in the 8 hours of play today that I really wanted back. I didn't put 33 in his holds at all. He limped utg and doesn't raise that flop when I lead. Okay, he induced a worse hand to take the lead and got two streets of value out of his set. The bet on the river I have only two choices I think, check fold or check raise all in. The latter is hyper aggressive without the key card but at that stage of the tournament, he needs squarely the nuts to call me. As played, I like the lead twice if I plan to fold to a turn raise, the river is poorly played. Anyways, down to like 14k in two hours. Not a good start.
Break time, refresh, win a few pots in the other games, nothing too sick happens, lost every razz pot I played all day, crapped out or paired my babies nearly every hand. Then nlhe comes back around. The structure called for antes, and high antes in proportion. Everyone folded to the button who opened to 900 at the 100-200 level. With everyone anteing 75 I defended my BB with JT. Flop: 9TQ. I checked, he bet pot, I called. Turn was a 2, I checked, he bet 4k, I tanked for a minute, felt I had the best hand, thought he was trying to push one through and that he was a strong enough player that he'd check a better ten back for pot control and value. River was a 3 and he put me all in. I called pretty quickly and got back to near 30k. A few pots later I went to dinner with 34k.
After the break, I lost a deuce pot in which I was a card ahead each street, then Howard two-outted me in Limit Hold'em, my 66 vs. his 33 on a 7QQ board, turn 3. I called him down. Fricke smashed me up in a Razz pot, I put a big squeeze bluff on in No Limit to get back the chips I lost in that pot but after that it was a beat-down elevator where every hand just seemed to get run-down or went unimproved to showdown. Finally, I was ground down to around 14k in chips with 30 minutes left in the last level of the day. Stud hand vs. the mexico city fish. Everyone folds, I have 5sKs8s to start with no spades, kings or eights out. I open, he flats xx2h. The bring in folds. I peel a J, he peels a J, i bet, he calls. 5th is a 5h for me a 7 for him. I bet, he calls. 6th street is an Ace for me, a 3 for him, I bet, he calls. Now look at his board, 2J73, no suites. I thought, he started with a pair in the hole, like 552 or 882, more likey a 3flush that hit a pair along the way but the Jh was killed in someones door. Anyways, I air out 7th and bet, he calls with 2277xxx. He called me on 3rd with 272. He two pair on 5th. Now, what hand can I open and bet 4th with that his 22 is even in contention. I was really really speechless to see this hand play out like this. How many times have you heard don't bluff the fish, well no stud player in the world plays 22 like this if at all. He makes no attempt to win the pot, just content to try and table 22 but hits two pair along the way. I'm down to 2500 and get it all in with a 3flush and two babies in Stud 8 or better in the last hand of the day and crap out.
Pretty frustrating day of poker. I was really looking forward to this event and with the exception of the plo hand vs. ted, I felt I played fine giving the situations I was presented with. A lot of the skill to this mixed events in my opinion is playing pots with weaker players if you can, doing what you can to win the hands you're in (which I felt I tried to do all day) and then ultimately when the limits get high you have to run well. A lot of things have to happen for me to lose that stud pot. Anyways, the series goes on, no money for looking back in anger.
On a side note, 10k tournaments don't lend themselves to a chatter-filled table environment. Right off the bat I wanted to start talking to mine. I wanted to loosen then up and see if the would get a little more involved in conversation and a little less in never making a mistake. Ted, Howard and Jimmy were eventually very friendly and talkative. Every topic you can imagine got stirred around in those 8 hours, all about FullTiltPoker, all about what it would cost for Howard to do x (deal at the wsop instead of playing for example), Ted wanting to set a line for everything, Ted talking about what sport Lebron could dominate if given x years, UFC, poker celebrities, cheating, sports betting, the economy, etc. Good fun, terrible run, moving on.
Anyways, right away I lose the first hand in Deuce. I crap out on a 8432 draw. I lose the second hand 234xx aired 1st and 2nd draw and I folded my 3card hand with the last draw remaining. Lose a pot in holdem, win one in o8, down like 3k from 30k starting. Stud Hi, fold fold fold, jimmy opens with xx7, i RR with xxA. he calls. I have 22A, pretty standard/aggressive play here but I think he takes 4th of light and folds if unimproved on 5th. I peel a K he peels a 3, he check calls. 5th street we both catch the case deuces. He leads, I raise, he calls. 6th he pairs his door card, I pull a 3 he check raises. I bet this street because I feel he often has 2pair. His raise says, matt I have 777, but keep in mind my board is xxAK23, it doesn't take a really top hand to raise this board (a point I left out was that he had the 7h on the door, the 2h was 5th for him, I put him on either a buried pair of a FD, hard for him to get to 5th with 77). Anyways, river comes and pairs my K so I have 222KK, he leads, I raise, he 3bets, STOP. River 3betting in level 2 of this tournament is not for bluffing. My nut low tight is a bluff catcher in this spot. With 4900 bets in the pot I have to call, he may have wigged out with hearts or he may just have trips. He shows AA777. He told me he started with AA down and rivered the 7. Either way, massive pot for this level, I'm down to like 22k. I then putter around stud8,nlhe and then plo this hand happens.
Limp by ted forrest, limp by other, I have 78JK in my BB. Flop is 37J rainbow. I lead into both limpers. Ted calls me quick, other folds. Ah on the turn. Ted's flop call meant to me two things. He didn't have a set(I think he raises here on this board, evaluates if I 3bet the flop), I put his call somewhere in the neighborhood of the 4567, 89TJ sort of 3card gut shots with a pair. I bet near full pot into him on the turn, planning on folding if I got raised. He flats. River is a 2h bring back door hearts on board. The pot is 9.8k or something at that point. I check really fast. I want ted to fire his missed draws or turn some made hand into a bluff here. I don't really think Ted's played a ton of PLO so i'm not sure how thin he'd value bet which hurts my ability to figure his holding out. Anyways, he bets 6.5k, and I called. Ted showed me a Q433 with hearts. This is the one hand in the 8 hours of play today that I really wanted back. I didn't put 33 in his holds at all. He limped utg and doesn't raise that flop when I lead. Okay, he induced a worse hand to take the lead and got two streets of value out of his set. The bet on the river I have only two choices I think, check fold or check raise all in. The latter is hyper aggressive without the key card but at that stage of the tournament, he needs squarely the nuts to call me. As played, I like the lead twice if I plan to fold to a turn raise, the river is poorly played. Anyways, down to like 14k in two hours. Not a good start.
Break time, refresh, win a few pots in the other games, nothing too sick happens, lost every razz pot I played all day, crapped out or paired my babies nearly every hand. Then nlhe comes back around. The structure called for antes, and high antes in proportion. Everyone folded to the button who opened to 900 at the 100-200 level. With everyone anteing 75 I defended my BB with JT. Flop: 9TQ. I checked, he bet pot, I called. Turn was a 2, I checked, he bet 4k, I tanked for a minute, felt I had the best hand, thought he was trying to push one through and that he was a strong enough player that he'd check a better ten back for pot control and value. River was a 3 and he put me all in. I called pretty quickly and got back to near 30k. A few pots later I went to dinner with 34k.
After the break, I lost a deuce pot in which I was a card ahead each street, then Howard two-outted me in Limit Hold'em, my 66 vs. his 33 on a 7QQ board, turn 3. I called him down. Fricke smashed me up in a Razz pot, I put a big squeeze bluff on in No Limit to get back the chips I lost in that pot but after that it was a beat-down elevator where every hand just seemed to get run-down or went unimproved to showdown. Finally, I was ground down to around 14k in chips with 30 minutes left in the last level of the day. Stud hand vs. the mexico city fish. Everyone folds, I have 5sKs8s to start with no spades, kings or eights out. I open, he flats xx2h. The bring in folds. I peel a J, he peels a J, i bet, he calls. 5th is a 5h for me a 7 for him. I bet, he calls. 6th street is an Ace for me, a 3 for him, I bet, he calls. Now look at his board, 2J73, no suites. I thought, he started with a pair in the hole, like 552 or 882, more likey a 3flush that hit a pair along the way but the Jh was killed in someones door. Anyways, I air out 7th and bet, he calls with 2277xxx. He called me on 3rd with 272. He two pair on 5th. Now, what hand can I open and bet 4th with that his 22 is even in contention. I was really really speechless to see this hand play out like this. How many times have you heard don't bluff the fish, well no stud player in the world plays 22 like this if at all. He makes no attempt to win the pot, just content to try and table 22 but hits two pair along the way. I'm down to 2500 and get it all in with a 3flush and two babies in Stud 8 or better in the last hand of the day and crap out.
Pretty frustrating day of poker. I was really looking forward to this event and with the exception of the plo hand vs. ted, I felt I played fine giving the situations I was presented with. A lot of the skill to this mixed events in my opinion is playing pots with weaker players if you can, doing what you can to win the hands you're in (which I felt I tried to do all day) and then ultimately when the limits get high you have to run well. A lot of things have to happen for me to lose that stud pot. Anyways, the series goes on, no money for looking back in anger.
On a side note, 10k tournaments don't lend themselves to a chatter-filled table environment. Right off the bat I wanted to start talking to mine. I wanted to loosen then up and see if the would get a little more involved in conversation and a little less in never making a mistake. Ted, Howard and Jimmy were eventually very friendly and talkative. Every topic you can imagine got stirred around in those 8 hours, all about FullTiltPoker, all about what it would cost for Howard to do x (deal at the wsop instead of playing for example), Ted wanting to set a line for everything, Ted talking about what sport Lebron could dominate if given x years, UFC, poker celebrities, cheating, sports betting, the economy, etc. Good fun, terrible run, moving on.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
6max and shot taking..
So, yesterday was an off day from wsop tournaments but Andrew and I took some shots online. We've sort of crafted out a cash game plan of attack for the next month or two in an attempt to stomp out a big win. BUT, so far nothing but destructo all across the board. We had a nice afternoon at 25-50, nlhe+plo, book a big win then get crucified in 100-200 plo after dinner.
Today we all (wes,andrew and I) played the $1500 6max event. We were all out in under 4 hours. No one really got their hands on a stack. I felt I played ok, made a really mediocre call with AK high on a TTT82 board, had to bet fold 33 on a 255 board, etc. Some silly spots then lost a flip with QT vs. 66. The next thing on the docket is the $10k 8game mixed event tomorrow at 5pm. No whining about running bad but it's time to heat up. I'm sure the field will be tough but hopefully I get a decent table draw and stay out of marginal spots.
Cross your fingers and toes. ;)
Today we all (wes,andrew and I) played the $1500 6max event. We were all out in under 4 hours. No one really got their hands on a stack. I felt I played ok, made a really mediocre call with AK high on a TTT82 board, had to bet fold 33 on a 255 board, etc. Some silly spots then lost a flip with QT vs. 66. The next thing on the docket is the $10k 8game mixed event tomorrow at 5pm. No whining about running bad but it's time to heat up. I'm sure the field will be tough but hopefully I get a decent table draw and stay out of marginal spots.
Cross your fingers and toes. ;)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Event 5: $1500 PLO
The condo snafu is somewhat rectified, Wes and I got our place across the lot but it'll probably be another few days before we know if we're staying for the duration here. Still on a few hours of sleep a night because everyone's up early and on slightly different schedules but Liam and Ryan are flying home tomorrow and we're all taking the day off so maybe we'll heal up. Today was pot-limit omaha. I don't think this poker variant lends itself well to tournament play and last year I really mangled this event but I went in with a strategy that worked really well so long as I had a semi-deep stack. I limped everything, from all positions, regardless of previous action. If I couldn't get all in on a flop than I would never open pot or re-pot preflop. I wanted to keep pots small on the flop, esp. when I was out of position. This, combined with a very soft first table, let me build a huge stack in the first level from 1500 chips to 9000. I then flipped it off with a guy and lost the 18k pot. We had 'addon' chips (3) and I used them instead of getting all 4500 up front, as like cap-game buyin's so in case I flipped it off, I could reload to flip again :). Anyways, I had QT98, he had QT68 (with diamonds) on a QT7(two diamonds board). So we both flopped top two, i flopped a 6-out straight draw, he flopped a 9 out flush draw. Anyways, you know the end of this story, his freeroll came and mind missed.... big pot, stumble backwards, whatever. I rebuilt and our table broke after I busted absolute poker pro, mark sief. My new table sat me right in front (out of position against) a true poker cash monster, alexander kostritsyn (postflopaction on ftp). He's a really nice guy, struggles with English but we had a great time, joked around a fair bit, played lots of pots together. This second table was tough and I took a few beats but ended with 12k there when that table broke. My last table of the day came after dinner. Action table with a lot of young, seemingly in-experienced players who appeared to come from a no limit hold'em background. They had lost of chips and were spewing them wildly. I ended up doubling up through one of them with bad aces, then the very next hand I got busted. Blinds 300-600, I start with 12k roughly. Under the gun makes it full-pot open to 2100, my buster calls the 2100, i call 2100 and reraise it 6800 more leaving me 3000~ behind. Original raiser folds, the last guy tanks and sets me in. Now, my hand, AcTcAh7d is a favourite over almost any hand in a vacuum. What you don't want to try and play against my hand is one with an ace in it because you have roughly 33% against it hot/cold. Of course he tables the Ad3d5h8h.... total dribbler poker and instead of stomping his spew he knocked me out around 80 from the money. I tried to stay away from high variance spots in this tournament and really just play in position and stab a lot... but this spot preflop in plo is about as good as it gets. This was just a very sick way to get knocked out of a plo tournament and speaks to the inexperience of the field. Good for the value, bad for the outcome. Should have been up to 27k and fighting for some dough.
Anyways, rant over, next tournament looks like it'll be on Wednesday at 12noon. $1500 no limit holdem 6max. It's probably 76,523 people's bread and butter game but I can't wait. It's going to be a bloody one but it'll be enjoyable. Thursday is the big one for me. the $10,000 8-game mixed event.
Not too much else going on, saw Jamie Gold playing 5-10 no limit hold'em at the rio. Sort of depressing but then again, maybe not.
Anyways, rant over, next tournament looks like it'll be on Wednesday at 12noon. $1500 no limit holdem 6max. It's probably 76,523 people's bread and butter game but I can't wait. It's going to be a bloody one but it'll be enjoyable. Thursday is the big one for me. the $10,000 8-game mixed event.
Not too much else going on, saw Jamie Gold playing 5-10 no limit hold'em at the rio. Sort of depressing but then again, maybe not.
Monday, June 1, 2009
event 4: nlhe
Good effort, fun tables, mediocre play, lost a flip. Pretty much sums it doesn't it? Today's $1000 event saw 6008 players over two day 1's. I had, as you would expect, a very soft table, except of course for 'mastrblastr' (scott sievers) who was directly to my left. Not only is he an online monster in some of the biggest cash games on full tilt but he's also a damn good tournament player who won his first event last year. He was a lot of fun to play with and we were the only ones playing pots (him always flatting my opens). He really leveled me in one spot. I won a few small ones, then finally doubled up through him and then busted him with TT vs. A7o. He was almost trying to get busted as he had 25% of 'luvthewnba'(isaac haxton) who was on the final table of the 40k nlhe event...so he was in the preparation phase of maybe winning 400k without even being there. Anyways, I ran a big stack up early, then I got AKdd in vs. AA (my BB vs. the Button open from this pucker kid, there was a flat in on the button in between). Pretty standard hand except of course I showdown for almost all my chips with less than 10%. Anyways, I rebounded and built the stack back up, got through until level 9 (9hrs into day 1), then finally lost another flip vs. that same kid, AK vs. his TT. This young man, in these 9 hours, showed AA roughly 4 times, KK once, a full house, a royal flush, and most of these hands were for stacks. Anyways, I think I played good enough to give myself a chance to win today, things just fell on the wrong side of the fence. One interesting point was that a man named Mickey Appleton came to the table. He's a 4 time bracelet winner from the old guard and a professional sports bettor. He's been successfully handicapping sports at the highest level for over 25 years. Very interesting dude who had a monster stack when I flipped off mine. Anyways, not too sure if I feel like playing the $1500 PLO tomorrow. Wes and I get our separate condo and I'm looking forward to getting some space to spread out and play a little online. Anyways, the 8game $10,000 mixed event is coming up on the 4th, I may sit out a little until then, we'll see. Vegas got the best of the rest of the guys in one of the wildest nights in our wsop histories. Safe to say, being in game shape today was out of the question for the team. Very entertaining so far.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
sigh* :)
Sour day today. Busted shortly into the second hour today in O8. So missed cashing by 50 or so (~145/909). Then watched my beloved Cavs get trounced out of the playoffs. Oh, lost $2k in a 10-20 nlhe game due to a suck-in bluff turned wrong when i caught enough of a piece to lock in on the turn. Anyways, I'm playing the $1k massive field tournament tomorrow at noon. There is over 6000 players apparently playing in this event, might be as much as 1million for first. Should be a really fun crap shoot that we're all going to play. There are a lot of side bets cooked up for tomorrow, over/under on how many of us get to day two. Who ends day 1 with the most chips, last longer bets, etc. Hope some better news soon.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
event 3: omaha 8/better
So, tumultuous first few days here. quick recap, the extended stay we rented is in turmoil and we may get evicted through no fault of our own. In the meantime, no keys for all of us, and the ones we have don't work to get through the second gate, the air conditioning's broken (we gave up and stayed at the Rio last night because it was too hot to sleep) and we don't have the second apartment for Wes and I yet and there are 5 of us packed in Andrew's (we're supposed to get it tomorrow though). One the bright side Andrew, Wes and our friend Liam all scooped massively the first night of cash games we were here. Andrew and Wes in 10-25 nlhe, Liam at 2-5 nlhe. I think Wes booked a huge 9k~ win. That night I bounced around, I had to work on getting the wire approved and moved to the floor, then getting a lock box. I finally played a little 50-100 horse with a really tight table (including jens voortman and men the master), game stunk so I moved to 5-10 nlhe, played a hand bad and then got called for the 25-25-50 plo game. Massive game, playing huge with the 3blinds, there was ~65k on the table. I sat pretty short ~50 bb, limp/wrapped a hand with AAJQds. Won a few non-shown down hands, won a bit and then called it a night just when a bunch of spots sat in the game with really deep stacks.
So the omaha event. First 6 hours was a grind. No action but a fishy table. I started with 4500, worked up to about 9100 by the dinner but since no one had busted on our table there was no chips to be had. Finally after dinner, people started falling from this very boring quiet table and we got some equally un-giving opponents yet way more interesting. Jay Hemowitz (sp?) from the old mayfair club in new york, mark gregorich (omaha writer and specialist in this discipline) and one of the most entertaining men in poker, eli elezera, oh and annie duke. Anyways, table played tough, eli played almost every hand and worked up a huge stack. I lost a very big pot with A256 on a 349 board w a nut-flush draw. I think we 5bet capped the flop and got 3 more in on the turn, I aired out though and lost that pot. Shortstacking begins. That table got broke and I ended the day with Chad Brown, Layne Flack and a host of fish. The table was great but we only played 2 rounds or so until the day's end of level 10. I'm extremely short going into day two. I have only 4800 playing 1000-2000? i can't really remember what level we come back at. I'm sure the average stack has only 20k but whatever. I wasn't looking to give up and really couldn't find a spot to blast in before the end of the day. Who knows, heater may be on it's way tomorrow.
Not much else going on. I'm registered for the massive 1k buyin nlhe tournament on sunday. Should get so many that 1million may be first place for that. Think about that ROI if you can run hot. Andrew, Liam, Ryan, Wes and I played golf at a local par 3 9 hole course by the airport. Andrew wanted to bet, gave me a shot a hole for the first 3, then 1/2 for the middle 3, then straight up on the last 3. I lucked my way into a scoop. So all in all, I'm up more in golf this trip than anything else :). That is not a good sign if you've seen this stroke.
So the omaha event. First 6 hours was a grind. No action but a fishy table. I started with 4500, worked up to about 9100 by the dinner but since no one had busted on our table there was no chips to be had. Finally after dinner, people started falling from this very boring quiet table and we got some equally un-giving opponents yet way more interesting. Jay Hemowitz (sp?) from the old mayfair club in new york, mark gregorich (omaha writer and specialist in this discipline) and one of the most entertaining men in poker, eli elezera, oh and annie duke. Anyways, table played tough, eli played almost every hand and worked up a huge stack. I lost a very big pot with A256 on a 349 board w a nut-flush draw. I think we 5bet capped the flop and got 3 more in on the turn, I aired out though and lost that pot. Shortstacking begins. That table got broke and I ended the day with Chad Brown, Layne Flack and a host of fish. The table was great but we only played 2 rounds or so until the day's end of level 10. I'm extremely short going into day two. I have only 4800 playing 1000-2000? i can't really remember what level we come back at. I'm sure the average stack has only 20k but whatever. I wasn't looking to give up and really couldn't find a spot to blast in before the end of the day. Who knows, heater may be on it's way tomorrow.
Not much else going on. I'm registered for the massive 1k buyin nlhe tournament on sunday. Should get so many that 1million may be first place for that. Think about that ROI if you can run hot. Andrew, Liam, Ryan, Wes and I played golf at a local par 3 9 hole course by the airport. Andrew wanted to bet, gave me a shot a hole for the first 3, then 1/2 for the middle 3, then straight up on the last 3. I lucked my way into a scoop. So all in all, I'm up more in golf this trip than anything else :). That is not a good sign if you've seen this stroke.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday flight out, return flight in ?
Looks like the boys are ready and team 'clockwyze', for lack of a better handle, will be reuniting for the $1000 no limit holdem event number 4, this saturday. By team clockwyze, i mean my good friends Andrew and Wes whom I get to spend all world series' with. Not only good friends but also the only people I feel comfortable asking for advice in all poker related topics and sharing action. It takes a lot of trust and confidence in people to mix poker and friendship. I feel very lucky to have maintained a great relationship with them. Andrew's truly the sickest of the sick on the poker world, and more importantly, become a very good friend. Look for him to have a massive world series. One of the biggest winners of all time online and a very good tournament player, he's way overdue for a big run in these events.
I think the first event for me will be event 3, omaha hi low on friday... it's a limit event and will restart at 2pm on saturday so if i make day 2 i'll skip the 1k (event 4). Looking forward to getting this thing underway.
Couple of side bets between the group of us for the extent of the series.
1. workout prop bet. Between Wes, Andrew, Christina and myself, we must workout a minimum of 30 minutes a day, if exception is to be made, it's 100usd in the pot for the person who skips the fewest days by the end. Not drinking should make me a favourite but buffets swing me to a massive underdog. The mirage is somewhat of a huge enemy of mine for that reason.
2. wsop fantasy pool, we're going to pick 10 or so players each and see who comes out ahead when all the nonsense is over. Perhaps better to be organized on cashsportspools.com but we'll make it work. Not sure on the amount of this one.
I'm also really excited for all the visits planned for this summer. Apparently my sister's heading out, my mom at some point, a bunch of the whitby guys, gunter for a bit.... should be a lot of fun. I guess here's where I make a quip at not repeating a second place finish but I'll save complaining for if i go 0-for. Second place once a year, fine by me.
I think the first event for me will be event 3, omaha hi low on friday... it's a limit event and will restart at 2pm on saturday so if i make day 2 i'll skip the 1k (event 4). Looking forward to getting this thing underway.
Couple of side bets between the group of us for the extent of the series.
1. workout prop bet. Between Wes, Andrew, Christina and myself, we must workout a minimum of 30 minutes a day, if exception is to be made, it's 100usd in the pot for the person who skips the fewest days by the end. Not drinking should make me a favourite but buffets swing me to a massive underdog. The mirage is somewhat of a huge enemy of mine for that reason.
2. wsop fantasy pool, we're going to pick 10 or so players each and see who comes out ahead when all the nonsense is over. Perhaps better to be organized on cashsportspools.com but we'll make it work. Not sure on the amount of this one.
I'm also really excited for all the visits planned for this summer. Apparently my sister's heading out, my mom at some point, a bunch of the whitby guys, gunter for a bit.... should be a lot of fun. I guess here's where I make a quip at not repeating a second place finish but I'll save complaining for if i go 0-for. Second place once a year, fine by me.
Friday, May 1, 2009
catching up from where we left off.....
If you look really really closely, you can just see it over the horizon. World Series 09' is coming up in less than a month and I am amped. I think it's human nature to look at the past more fondly in remembrance than your actually feelings in the moment. Nothing is more true than that statement and poker. I can remember how totally decimating poker was at the end of last year's wsop, and how much I was looking forward to cash games and now it can't come quick enough.
April saw the most volume I've ever played online 150,000 hands of nlhe and plo on partypoker exclusively. Party is a graveyard nowadays and the majority of those hands were me vs. regulars, day in and day out. I really feel like some of the toughest games online can be found there. I read over some of my older posts that explained my desire to beat the levels in order before moving up and this year I've been fortunate enough to do so. I sort of skipped the $3-6 level and play most of my time at 5-10 now. It's not a bankroll thing, it's more a function of my desire to be accomplished and not expose myself to undue variance that may result in poor play when moving up.
To give you an idea, I play way too many tables at once, sometimes 15/16 at a time and it does result in robotic play and does decrease my win rate. I do think that I multi table well though and I am a favourite to beat the games I'm playing. At the end of may this will be the end of it though, I decided that I will play higher and fewer tables at once from now on. I can play less hopefully and improve my play. Anyways, as far as keeping score goes, since last wsop ended I surpassed my expectations as far as my online earn goes and considering the lineup I sometimes forced myself to play in, I am happy with the result. Hungry to do better though.
Absolute expectation has been much lower than my results. At the time of this post, since April first alone, I am running a little better than -$30,000 over those 150k hands. I've been told the long run kicks in around the 100-200k hand mark so I'm looking for that heater to begin but so far, it's only a theory :)
Solace can be taken in the fact that over that same stretch I am break even without showdown and roughly $25,000 winner... thoughts inevitably turn to what would running hot over the same period look like? Anyways, I plan on writing about the world series experience again this summer and thought it appropriate to pop in before it all starts. Talk to you soon,
April saw the most volume I've ever played online 150,000 hands of nlhe and plo on partypoker exclusively. Party is a graveyard nowadays and the majority of those hands were me vs. regulars, day in and day out. I really feel like some of the toughest games online can be found there. I read over some of my older posts that explained my desire to beat the levels in order before moving up and this year I've been fortunate enough to do so. I sort of skipped the $3-6 level and play most of my time at 5-10 now. It's not a bankroll thing, it's more a function of my desire to be accomplished and not expose myself to undue variance that may result in poor play when moving up.
To give you an idea, I play way too many tables at once, sometimes 15/16 at a time and it does result in robotic play and does decrease my win rate. I do think that I multi table well though and I am a favourite to beat the games I'm playing. At the end of may this will be the end of it though, I decided that I will play higher and fewer tables at once from now on. I can play less hopefully and improve my play. Anyways, as far as keeping score goes, since last wsop ended I surpassed my expectations as far as my online earn goes and considering the lineup I sometimes forced myself to play in, I am happy with the result. Hungry to do better though.
Absolute expectation has been much lower than my results. At the time of this post, since April first alone, I am running a little better than -$30,000 over those 150k hands. I've been told the long run kicks in around the 100-200k hand mark so I'm looking for that heater to begin but so far, it's only a theory :)
Solace can be taken in the fact that over that same stretch I am break even without showdown and roughly $25,000 winner... thoughts inevitably turn to what would running hot over the same period look like? Anyways, I plan on writing about the world series experience again this summer and thought it appropriate to pop in before it all starts. Talk to you soon,
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