Tuesday, June 12, 2007

WSOP Update

My last post was about winning the Mirage 10k seat, and I haven't felt like writing since. I'm sure most of you that read the blog know what happened there, and quite honestly I don't feel like recapping. I'll just say I was pretty upset for a while.

Here is what has happened so far at the WSOP:

$1500 PLHE: 200/400 I have about 11k total. I raise JhJc utg to 1200, Bobby Bellande with a massive stack flat calls and Jimmy Tran flat calls from the button. Flop comes Jx 4s 6s. I bet 2500, Bellande calls, Jimmy Tran folds. Turn comes 9s. I check, Bellande thinks for a few seconds and sticks in a huge stack of 500 chips that puts me in. Eventually I call, Bellande shows the 10s10x. River obv 2s.

$1500 O8: I make day 2 with a well above avg stack. Day 2 was a nightmare. At 1k/2k limits it was folded to me in the sb with 19k in my stack. I raise Ac3cKx6x, bb loose bad player calls. Flop Kc4c2x. Monster flop. Obv get scooped.

Then I raise A234 double suited and get 3 bet, flop comes k99 none of my suits I check fold. Then I have 3 bets left and get the rest in during a limped pot when I flop top set and it comes runner runner low for someone to make a straight and scoop me. I end up busting about 20 spots shy of the $.

$1500 6 max: Lose half my stack early with AA on an uncoordinated board to someones set, then lose the rest with AK to 88 aipf.

$2500 nlhe: Lose half my stack early due to an idiotic bluff. Then I win a race against my roommate Tmay with AK to his QQ, and double again with AKcc to A10ss aipf. At 200/400/50 I raise black Queens UTG to 1200 (10k to start) and a huge stack calls from the co and PearlJammer calls from the button. Flop comes 8d9d3c. I bet 3000, co folds, PearlJammer almost instantly puts a big stack in the middle to set me in.

I thought forever, but there were too many factors that forced me to call here. I called and he showed Jd10d giving him 14 outs twice. The turn paired the 3 to kill one of his outs, but the river was the 7 of diamonds to give him the straight flush.



So far that makes me 0/4, but I'm happy with how I've been playing. I've played a few sessions of cash (10/25nl at Rio and 10/20nl at Bellagio) with mixed results. Rachel is coming into town this weekend, so I won't be playing another WSOP event until Monday at the earliest.

Gl to anyone else playing the WSOP.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Mirage 10k Satellite Win

I scooped up a Mirage Poker Showdown 10k seat last night in the final 1k mega-satellite. 40 people entered, 4 seats were given away and I was lucky enough to take one down. I don't consider myself an expert satellite player, but I was very happy with how I played except for one mistake I made on the bubble. The satellite lasted until 2:30 a.m. and the tournament begins today at noon, so I don't have a lot of time to write.

Rumor is that there are only going to be approximately 350 players registered, so the field should be both manageable and challenging at the same time. This will be the third "major" (WSOP ME, PCA) I've played, and I'm looking forward to playing my best game.

I'm sure I won't be covered by any poker news site, but I'll try to get some updates on FCP.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

In Vegas

Arrived in Vegas this afternoon. Its hot as hell...was 97 when I landed at 5.

I'm staying at Bally's tonight and then moving over to the Mirage for a week or so. The rooms here are surprisingly nice. I wasn't expecting much and booked the room for the cheap rate and close proximity to the Mirage, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Mandalay Bay's rooms look like Motel 6 in comparison.

I checked in real fast and headed over to the Mirage. Lindgren and Frolick(sp) were playing their round of 16 HU match in the 5k; not sure who ended up winning. Anyway, I registered for tomorrows $1580 super satellite to the main event, which starts at noon. Hopefully I scoop up a seat as this will probably be the only satellite I play for the Mirage Poker Showdown.

I'll let you guys know how it went tomorrow.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Blog is Back

I've decided to bring my blog back for the summer of '07! I'm going to be in Vegas from May 16-Late July playing the WSOP/WPT/cash games. Hopefully I can give almost-daily updates on my progress, along with some good stories of gambling degeneracy.

I stopped posting in my old blog a few months ago, and eventually just deleted it because I felt like it was getting redundant and there wasn't much fresh information anymore. The main reason for the resurrection is pretty selfish to be honest with you. I've always felt that during a long tourney series such as the WSOP, recapping the day through writing really helps me find closure and get over any bad beat/bad play I might have made. The WSOP lasts 6 weeks, and it is very important to keep a clear head and focus on each individual tournament. Hopefully this blog will help me a little with that.

So what have I been up to since my last blog? Well, I'm still playing professionally, mostly online. I would say my play online now consists of 90% cash games, 10% tournaments. Generally during the week I grind cash games of a fairly wide variety: 3/6nl - 10/20nl; 3/6PLO - 10/20 PLO; with some occassional O8 and LHE sprinkled in. I do play higher than 10/20nl if the games are good, but those are my main limits. I save most of my tourney play for Sunday tournaments, which always have the biggest prize pools.

This summer I am renting out a house in Summerlin with 5 other top online/live poker pros, and it should be a great time. Everyone in the house has had poker success of some sort, and I think we will all learn a great deal and put up some big results at the WSOP. Heres a link to our place:

http://www.lasvegasretreats.com/component/option,com_hotproperty/task,view/id,49/Itemid,/

My individual gameplan for the WSOP is still up in the air, but I plan on playing a nice mix of cash games and tournaments this summer. I'm going to try to split up my poker time 60/40 between tournaments and cash games. Heres a rough list of events I will probably play:

3 Saturday, June 2, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em $1,500
9 Tuesday, June 5, 2007 5 PM Omaha Hi-Low/8 $1,500
10 Wednesday, June 6, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em $2,000
12 Thursday, June 7, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em (6-handed) $1,500
16 Saturday, June 9, 2007 5 PM H.O.R.S.E. $2,500
19 Monday, June 11, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em $2,500
30 Monday, June 18, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em (6-handed) $2,500
31 Tuesday, June 19, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em Championship (Heads-Up) $5,000
33 Wednesday, June 20, 2007 12 Noon Pot-Limit Omaha w/ rebuys $1,500
40 Sunday, June 24, 2007 5 PM Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) $1,500
42 Monday, June 25, 2007 5 PM Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low/8 $1,500
44 Wednesday, June 27, 2007 12 Noon Omaha Hi-Low $2,000
47 Friday, June 29, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em $2,000

55 Friday, July 6, 2007 12 Noon No-Limit Hold'em World Championship Day 1A $10,000


I leave for Vegas this Wednesday and I'm going to try and satellite into the WPT Mirage and/or WPT Mandalay. I still don't have a ton of live poker experience, so hopefully this 2 week lead in will help my game out before the WSOP grind begins.

Thats it for now, if readers want to leave any comments/suggestions/questions, feel free.