Sorry I haven't been updating lately, I'll be heading to Chicago and then Cleveland for the next month. I just got back from San Diego with my family and will be leaving shortly. I had a nice finish in the Full Tilt Nightly before I left for a little over $13k. I lost an all in for the win with AJ vs A8 on the 8 9 9 xx board.
Other than that, Carson Palmer will eat his words.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Out of Main Event
I was reraised non stop, card dead all day, and out of the main event around 950th place. Again, I'm about 300 short of the money and in some pain. I played as well as I can, but just wasn't allowed to win big pots or get chips easily. You have to get lucky to win this tournament. With the great structure, skill can only take you so far. If you miss every single flop, you can't win.
The bust out hand came when I was down to 30k with 15 big blinds. An aggressive player opened two from the button for 5200. I was on the button with A9 of hearts and reshoved. The big blind called 30k of his 70k stack with AQ off. The other guy folded. The board bricked out and I was eliminated. Would have been nice for a little bit of justice from the 2k event with a river 9 or something, but it wasn't meant to be. It is just one tournament and when you have to battle as the short stack for pretty much 18 out of 24 hours, the tourney can get boring. Today, I hung around and tried to find a good spot. I thought my play was completely standard and normal even though I was behind. The guy was opening plenty of pots and I wouldn't play it any other way. For AQ to overcall takes a real strong read. I wasn't given any respect from this player all day though and he will likely muppet off all his chips to the other good players at the table.
Thanks for all the support along the way. Who knows if I'll be back next year. No need to think about poker for a while. I'll probably be updating less in the next month or so as I'm going to be in San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland and playing very little poker. I might make a trip somewhere in there to another casino possibly Atlantic City or something.
The bust out hand came when I was down to 30k with 15 big blinds. An aggressive player opened two from the button for 5200. I was on the button with A9 of hearts and reshoved. The big blind called 30k of his 70k stack with AQ off. The other guy folded. The board bricked out and I was eliminated. Would have been nice for a little bit of justice from the 2k event with a river 9 or something, but it wasn't meant to be. It is just one tournament and when you have to battle as the short stack for pretty much 18 out of 24 hours, the tourney can get boring. Today, I hung around and tried to find a good spot. I thought my play was completely standard and normal even though I was behind. The guy was opening plenty of pots and I wouldn't play it any other way. For AQ to overcall takes a real strong read. I wasn't given any respect from this player all day though and he will likely muppet off all his chips to the other good players at the table.
Thanks for all the support along the way. Who knows if I'll be back next year. No need to think about poker for a while. I'll probably be updating less in the next month or so as I'm going to be in San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland and playing very little poker. I might make a trip somewhere in there to another casino possibly Atlantic City or something.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Through Day 2
I thought I would give a quick update for everyone interested. I ended the day with 61,600 after starting with 37,525. I was quickly down to 22k after losing blinds, antes, and one small pot against an all in player. Then I rallied back to 50k. Then I crumbled down to 16k at one point. There were tons of hands none of which I really want to detail right now. The day was long and I fought hard the whole way. Entering the 500/1000 level with 17000 chips and fighting to eventually win a big pot to double up felt great. The last two hours were also part of the ESPN feature table even though I spent most of the time folding. Maybe I'll get some TV time or something.
One hand before I go to bed. The biggest pot of the tournament for me.
Early position limps for 1000. I complete the bet from the small blind and the big blind checks. I have K9 of diamonds. Flop comes Qh 8d 3s. Everyone checks. The turn is a Jd giving me a flush and gut shot straight draw. I decide to take a stab at it and bet 2500. The BB folds and the original limper raises to 5500. This raise size felt real strong to me, so I called hoping to hit one of my outs and get paid off. The river was a beautiful 2d. At this point, I had 27k left and I had seen this guy make one big call earlier in the day, so I thought that if he really was strong like I suspected when he made the raise that he would pay me off. He did with 9 10 of spades for a turned straight. I was on the lucky draw for a big pot. Nothing exciting happened after that except for a nice round of shots at the ESPN featured table. I doubt there will be much brought in for TV from our 2 hour session there.
One hand before I go to bed. The biggest pot of the tournament for me.
Early position limps for 1000. I complete the bet from the small blind and the big blind checks. I have K9 of diamonds. Flop comes Qh 8d 3s. Everyone checks. The turn is a Jd giving me a flush and gut shot straight draw. I decide to take a stab at it and bet 2500. The BB folds and the original limper raises to 5500. This raise size felt real strong to me, so I called hoping to hit one of my outs and get paid off. The river was a beautiful 2d. At this point, I had 27k left and I had seen this guy make one big call earlier in the day, so I thought that if he really was strong like I suspected when he made the raise that he would pay me off. He did with 9 10 of spades for a turned straight. I was on the lucky draw for a big pot. Nothing exciting happened after that except for a nice round of shots at the ESPN featured table. I doubt there will be much brought in for TV from our 2 hour session there.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Nostradamus no more
I didn't see that there was a dealer's tourney/media day today and every player gets the day off. Day 1A starts Tuesday. Updates will come after tomorrow.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I am Nostradamus, almost...
From an earlier blog
"The WSOP is basically over. One more event remains. Of course, it's the main event, 10,000 buy in NL Texas Hold 'em. My guess for the number of players is 6865."
The total number of players this year is 6844. That's a pretty good guess. Let's hope my playing ability tomorrow is as good as my guessing ability. Day 2A tomorrow. I hope I'm updating the blog at around 2:30am.
"The WSOP is basically over. One more event remains. Of course, it's the main event, 10,000 buy in NL Texas Hold 'em. My guess for the number of players is 6865."
The total number of players this year is 6844. That's a pretty good guess. Let's hope my playing ability tomorrow is as good as my guessing ability. Day 2A tomorrow. I hope I'm updating the blog at around 2:30am.
Friday, July 4, 2008
My great Day 1 fold
I totally forgot to put probably the most crucial hand of the day into my summary.
At the 200/400 level with 50 ante, I had around 46k. I raised under the gun with AK off to 1100. I received 5 calls. With the pot now at around 5600, the flop was Ac 6c 2s. I led out with 3600. I received a call from the player behind me. The next player to act made to 10,500. The other two players folded. At this point, I had a decision. This player had around the same stack as me with about 40k. I figured in my head that the odds he raised with a flush draw here are between 5-1%. He seemed to be one of the more intelligent players at the table. I basically just had to put him on a hand and then make a big decision. Just calling here was not an option because any flush draw can't get a free card here, especially considering the guy behind me was the most likely guy on a flush draw. Furthermore, the guy behind could also be slowplaying a set even though I ruled this out after some thought. Not many players are willing to let 3 players behind them in the pot with a set when an obvious flush draw is on board. I relayed this logic right over to the player who I believed was a good player and thought about how I would play the hand. Would I be raising here with a worse ace? Pretty much never. Would I be raising here with AK, probably not often. Would AK be a possibility for this guy? Judging by the amount of 3 betting he had done, I don't see a flat call with AK as being a big possibility. He has to have a set. He knows I've played pretty good so far. He knows I raised under the gun meaning I have a strong hand. For him to make that raise in this situation, I just have to be beat. I folded my hand. The other player called. The turn was a K of spades. The first player checked, the on the flop raiser moved all in for like 30k. The other guy called. The raiser showed 66 for a set and the other player had K 10 of clubs for the nut flush draw. I got up from the table and pumped my fist as I know that this type of hand could have easily knocked me out of the tournament.
At the 200/400 level with 50 ante, I had around 46k. I raised under the gun with AK off to 1100. I received 5 calls. With the pot now at around 5600, the flop was Ac 6c 2s. I led out with 3600. I received a call from the player behind me. The next player to act made to 10,500. The other two players folded. At this point, I had a decision. This player had around the same stack as me with about 40k. I figured in my head that the odds he raised with a flush draw here are between 5-1%. He seemed to be one of the more intelligent players at the table. I basically just had to put him on a hand and then make a big decision. Just calling here was not an option because any flush draw can't get a free card here, especially considering the guy behind me was the most likely guy on a flush draw. Furthermore, the guy behind could also be slowplaying a set even though I ruled this out after some thought. Not many players are willing to let 3 players behind them in the pot with a set when an obvious flush draw is on board. I relayed this logic right over to the player who I believed was a good player and thought about how I would play the hand. Would I be raising here with a worse ace? Pretty much never. Would I be raising here with AK, probably not often. Would AK be a possibility for this guy? Judging by the amount of 3 betting he had done, I don't see a flat call with AK as being a big possibility. He has to have a set. He knows I've played pretty good so far. He knows I raised under the gun meaning I have a strong hand. For him to make that raise in this situation, I just have to be beat. I folded my hand. The other player called. The turn was a K of spades. The first player checked, the on the flop raiser moved all in for like 30k. The other guy called. The raiser showed 66 for a set and the other player had K 10 of clubs for the nut flush draw. I got up from the table and pumped my fist as I know that this type of hand could have easily knocked me out of the tournament.
Day 1 Complete
I just got back from Day 1 of the WSOP. I'm at 37,725 chips from the starting stack of 20,000. I was as low as 9,700 and as high as about 49,000. It was really a strange day as I felt aggression and pressure against me almost all day. I can't count on two hands even how many times I was three bet preflop. The caliber of play is different to say the least. While I sit with some players that are incredibly tough to play against at times, there are others that shouldn't be in a ten dollar rebuy tournament. All in all, I think I played pretty well today, and I had a strategy going in that I was going to play careful and solid. I doubled up when I was at 17,500 when I called a late position raiser from my UTG limp with 44. Flop came 4 10 K. I checked dark and he bet 2600. I just sensed a lot of strength so I went ahead and raised hoping to get it in. He put me in and showed AK and the turn card 3 sealed the deal. I was up to 35,000. Then, I just played a bunch of small pots until the last level. I raised to 1100 with 200/400 blinds 25 ante with AA in late position to be called by an old man out of the big blind. Flop was a scary Q 9s 10s. He checked and I checked behind. Turn was a 6. He bet 2,000 and I called. River was a 9. He bet 6,000 and I called. He showed A7 and I won. That was the only other real big pot I played in. I had a couple of smaller all ins when I had 20k. One I lost to AQ with 55 and the other I won with AK vs J7. I can't complain though as surviving day 1 is the first step towards winning the tournament. I'm happy with how I played and can't wait to start again on Monday Day 2A.
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