Getting Worse

I didn't think I could run much worse than the past few days but apparently I can. I played quite a few tourneys again today and didn't get a cash in a regular tourney. Also, Twisted had a few more decent scores and has moved within 300 points of me on the month.

I played two $33 rebuy tournaments today where the winner of the tournament gets a $12k package to the main event of the WSOP this summer. They usually get around 170 people and the play is pretty bad. The only downside to them is that you have to win the tournament and even with bad play that is still pretty difficult. Well I made the final table in both of the ones I played today, which is a pretty tough thing to do in itself. I ended up finished 4th in both of them which actually paid out $650 but that doesn't really feel that good when first is $12k.

In the first one I had 12 outs with my flush draw and an overcard to the other players pair but missed and then ran KK into AA. In the second one I raised JJ on the button and got called by both blinds. The flop came KJ2 and they both checked to me and I bet about half the pot. The small blind folded and the big blind shoved and I figured he probably had a king or a diamond draw since there were two diamonds on the board. Well I was really excited when he flipped over Q8 for a complete bluff with no pair and no draw... well almost no draw. The turn was an ace and the river was a ten giving him running cards for a straight. The pot would have tied me for the chip lead three handed against two other players I felt I was a huge favorite against. When the money went in I was a 97% favorite to win. The only way to be a bigger favorite is to have the other person drawing dead.

I also lost a pot for a huge stack in my $22 rebuy when the other guy had 12 outs and hit. I would have had a top 3 stack on the money bubble which means I could really bully the other players and build my stack for a final table run. This happened at almost the same time as I missed my 12 outer at my first WSOP satellite final table. Always nice to lose with 12 outs at the same time you lose to 12 outs.

I'm going to try to push through this bad streak for the rest of the month but I'm really tired of tournaments right now and am going be very happy to get back to cash games in April.

Ugly Two Days

Well Sunday definitely couldn't have gone any worse. I didn't cash in even one of the tournaments I played... and I played a lot of tournaments. I lost most coin flips, ran into a bunch of coolers, and took more than my fair share of bad beats. Mikey, one of the guys I'll be staying with this summer, did finish 4th in the Sunday Million Tourney and scored over $100k. He was well over due for a big score so congrats to Mikey.

Today didn't get going much better than Sunday for me. I didn't play as much but I still got in quite a few tournaments and only cashed in one and it was a really small cash. To add on to that TwistedEcho made two final tables today but luckily for me he went out early in each of them. He's now only about 500 points behind me (he was about 1200 before Sunday) and one good score would bump him over me.

I've been starting to play some pot-limit omaha (PLO) since it's probably the most popular game after no-limit hold em. It's been going pretty well so far and I really enjoy playing the game. I think learning to read people's hands in PLO will really help with my hold em game also.

This is gonna be a short blog today since I don't have any good news and I'm really tired since I went to bed really late on Sunday night (Monday morning) and got a call from my buddy Colin to go golfing this morning leaving me with very little sleep. Had a great time golfing though as the weather hit 82 today making for great golfing conditions. I shot a 48/42 (front/back) and for the first time out this year and was pretty happy with the score and how I played.

Hopefully the final few days this month I can run well again. I'll be glad to get back to mainly cash games after this month as tourneys can very frustrating as you can do great one day and then run horrible for long stretches.

Vegas - Summer 2007

I was tired yesterday so I didn't play much. Three small tournaments with no cashes. I tend to get a little lazy after a big score like on Tuesday. Not necessarily a bad thing tough. It's good to take some time and enjoy the big wins since they can be far and few between sometimes. I'm not sure how much I'll be playing the next few days but I'll definitely be putting at least a few sessions in. If TwistedEcho hits a big score in the next few days and pulls close to me again in our challenge I'll definitely be grinding the tourneys hardcore again but right now I don't feel much pressure as I have a comfortable lead.

Since I have nothing else to write about I'll share some exciting news for this summer. I've made plans with four other guys to rent a house for the WSOP this summer in Vegas! I met two of them, Justin and Mikey, when I was in the Bahamas for the WPT PCA event in January and the other two are good friends of Mikey. We have the house from June 5th - July 18th so a good month and a half. The Series starts June 1st and the final table of the main event is July 17th so we will be there for the whole thing.

I'm not sure if I will be flying or driving out there but right now I'm really leaning toward driving as I will have a lot of stuff to take out since I'll be there for so long and it would be a pain to take it all on a plane, especially a lot of the electronics.

I'm really excited for it though as it should be a an awesome time and great experience. It will be nice to live with other guys who play poker full time and hopefully all of our games improve from the opportunity to discuss hands and strategy every day. Having our own house and knowing Mikey and Justin well enough I'm expecting to have some really good times partying and all that other fun stuff... especially since we'll be in VEGAS BABY!!!

Here's a link to the house, Vegas House, it looks pretty sweet and I'm psyched to have such a nice place out there (good thing we got on it early... yes I, the procrastinator, planned ahead!).

3 Final Tables and 1 Win

Wow, apparently if you ask for it in your blog it will happen. I made 3 final tables today, two in $109 tournaments where I took 3rd and 4th and the final table of a $11 rebuy where I won. The 3rd place finish was worth $3.2k, the 4th was $2.4k, and I got exactly $14k for the rebuy tournament.

I had a chance to do a lot better in the first $109 but I lost AJ < KQ which would of put us heads up with about even stacks. I did get very lucky a few times in the $11 rebuy though so I'm definitely not going to complain. I've made the final table of that rebuy tournament 3 times and finished in 3rd both other times so it was nice to finally win. The 3 handed and heads up battles took forever as it was probably close to 3 hours from the time we got 3 handed until it finished.

We actually cut a deal in the rebuy when it was 3 handed. I had about 7.5m in chips and the other two had about 1.5m. I got $14k and they each got about $6.2k where the actual payouts were $14,255, $7,255, and about $5000. I was very happy to get the deal as it's nice to be guaranteed the $14k and giving up $255 for that was no big deal. I ended up winning first anyways when we played it out.

This should give me a big lead in my bet with TwistedEcho and could possibly seal the deal. Nice to finally run well after the debacle yesterday.

The screen shot is of the tournament lobby after my win.

Upswinging Again

I'm back up to $5k from cash games on the month after a nice session last night. I played 400nl, 600nl, and 1000nl. I ran really hot in 400nl and 600nl but was down some at 1000nl. Their seems to be a definite jump in talent at the 1000nl level and I've been running bad (getting unlucky) a lot at that level it seems.

Tournaments last night where a complete joke though. I got a huge stack early in the $55, 1 rebuy, 1 addon tournament but took a sick beat where I got it all in on a 974 flop with KK against an opponents Q7. He was just horrible but he spiked a Q on the river for a pot that would have given me the chip lead in the tournament. At almost the same time as that beat I got my aces cracked in the $109. I raised preflop from early position and got cold called by the small blind. The flop came jack high with two other rag cards with one of them being a diamond. The big blind checked and I bet about 3/4s the pot and he called. The turn brought another small diamond and he checked again and this time I bet a little over half the pot which was also just under half of his remaining chips. He then instantly check raised all in and while I was worried he might have a set I figured there was a really good chances my aces were still way ahead so I called pretty quickly. He flipped up AQ suited in diamonds and obviously the river was a third diamond giving him his backdoor flush. I found it rather funny that he called out of position on the flop with no pair and no draw, about the worst play in poker.

I'm hoping my luck in tournaments turns around as I'm going to need a few good finishes to win my bet with John (TwistedEcho) in March.

Back to Blogging!

Well, I think this is attempt 3 at getting the blog going again and hopefully I can keep it up this time. Not sure why I feel like starting it again but I do... so I am.

This month has been a little bit of a roller coaster so far. I started out really bad in cash games and was down about $4.5k to start the month. Lately I've been playing a mix of $400nl up to $1000nl depending on which games I think are the best. After my quick downswing to start the month I went on a nice run and was up about $6k. I've had another little downswing though in the past two days again and am currently only up about $2k in cash games on the month.

I did win a $109 tournament on Poker Stars to start the month which was for a little over $7k so I am up about $5k from tournaments this month. It was nice to get a win early in the month since I have a bet with another tournament player for $2k to see who can do better on Stars during March. Currently I'm leading but he's not far behind and one good score by him could easily move him in front of me.

I also hit another Royal Flush yesterday in a cash game and got paid off pretty good. He raised preflop and 3bet him with AQs and he called. I flopped the Royal and checked to him and he just shoved all-in which rather shocked me. I of course called him instantly and won a nice $1.7k pot. The screen shot of it is up above.