Back in Madtown

Just got back to Madison after a ridiculously long drive. I left Vegas with Eric and went to LA to catch a Dodgers game and stayed at Commerce Casino for the night. I didn't get a chance to play poker there but they have a huge poker room and from what I've heard it's a great place to play with a lot of really weak players. Don't ever go there to play blackjack though. There is some weird law that doesn't allow them to spread regular blackjack so they have these weird alternative blackjack games, which they charge you $1 per hand to play. I wouldn't recommend going there to play anything but blackjack

After LA we hit up San Diego and I went to check out the beaches with Ian, another poker player from Madison who's living in SD for the summer, while Eric picked up his girlfriend Mary, who flew in to SD to meet up with us. We then hit up a Padres game and after words went out in downtown SD. Petco is a really nice stadium and we had a ton of fun during and after the game. I don't remember what bars we hit up since we just stopped at wherever we could find right after the game.

I took off by myself the next morning and headed back to Madison while Eric and Mary went back to Vegas. I wanted to drive back a different route so I went from SD through Phoenix, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Des Moines, and up to Madison. It was a nice trip and while I had planned to stop somewhere along the way and get a room I never really got too tired so I drove almost straight through. I ended up stopping around 9am (pst) after driving 22 hours for a little 2 hour nap at a rest stop but then finished the drive getting into Madison around 1am (cst), which means the entire trip took exactly 36 hours (I left SD at 11am (pst). It took a bit longer than I expected, partly because of the nap but also because most of the times when I stopped for food I would sit down to eat instead of just getting it to go. I think getting out of the truck a few times on the trip helped me to keep going as it broke it up quite a bit. I also had two books on tape which made the first 2/3s of the trip go by much faster than just listening to music. Overall it was a nice drive and during the daylight hours it was nice to see the different landscapes and cities. I missed most of New Mexico and Texas since I was passing through them at night.

It will be back to the online grind now and I'll try to keep my blog updated at least once a week and hopefully as many as two or three times. I'm sure most people who have kept up with the blog know this is wishful thinking but I will do my best. I have gotten a few comments while playing online from people who have been reading and I appreciate all of the compliments. I haven't seen too many comments here on the blog but please feel free to post any observations, ideas, criticisms, or compliments as it's all welcome and will hopefully help me stay motivated to post more regularly.

Little Dissapointed

Rather disappointed with the ME today. I thought I played pretty well but I couldn't get much going. I seemed to miss everything. When I had big cards the flops came low and when I had lower cards it was an all broadway flop. I'll put up a longer blog tomorrow trying to detail it out some more but I'm tired and need to crash.

Dinner Break

Well the first half of the day hasn't gone as well as I had hoped and I'm down to about 7k. Seems like if I have big cards and raise the flop comes small and if I have a small pair the flop comes all broadway. Average right now is probably a little over 25k so 2 double ups and I'd be right back in it with a good amount of play. Gotta head back to the Rio now and hopefully pick up some hands and get some momentum going.

Change of Plans

I was able to sell off some of my action and also get some more cash here in Vegas so it looks like I'll be playing the main event after all. I have to go sign up but I know they are sold out for Saturday and Sunday already so I will most likely be playing on Monday and then my second day will probably be on Wednesday. I'll put another post up this weekend with some more details about when I will be playing. Nice to get a shot at this event after seeing the players who were signing up yesterday I really felt like I was missing out.

Almost Made It

Well, not really but we started with 5k in chips and 50k would be the average when we hit the seats I figured. I got up to 15k real early in the tourney and then went completely card dead and lost a 40/60 to go out of the tournament. Might go try and play a few satellites the next few days. The main event starts tomorrow but you can register through Sunday since there are going to be four starting days.

Last Shot

Sorry it's been awhile since my last update but not too much exciting has happened in the poker world. No big wins lately and I've just been doing my usual grind.

I'm headed over to the Rio in 15 minutes for a $1k satellite to the main event. This will probably be my last shot to get into the ME. I'm sure they'll run some more sats over the next few days so I might take another shot but I think this will probably be the biggest one today, which means that it's my best chance to get in.

I played a little 2/5 over at the Rio yesterday and was up about $1k over about 6 hours which really helped my decision to play today. Didn't have too many really big hands but got paid off pretty much every time I did. Had one pot over $850 that I 4 bet a guy with flush and a got shot straight draw and got him to fold top pair. We would have been about even money had he called and considering he was getting over 2:1 at a 50/50 shot it was nice to get him to lay it down. His laydown was pretty close to correct though considering I'm only making that move with a set or a type of hand I hand.

Gotta run now but I'll put an update up later as to whether or not I had any success in the satellite today.