Excited for 2008 Player of the Year Race!!!

Want to start off by saying happy holidays to all who read my blog... I finished the year with 6 final tables during the last tournament. It was a smaller tournament but allowed me to play a lot of tourneys and get my game back up to the level it needs to be to start the new year.

I am really hopeful and confident in the upcoming year and will be starting the year off in Tunica, Mississippi where there are both WPT and WSOP events going on at two separate Casinos 2 minutes apart from each other. It allows a great opportunity to determine which event will have the best value (highest prize pool and turn out) each day between the 2 tourneys. There are so many events, such large prize pools, and a great way to start off the New Year for the player of the year points. The Card Player player of the year opens many doors for sponsorship, Invitational tournaments, and other opportunities to help with the poker career.

This is one of the largest achievements for a poker player so I want to make sure that I start 2008 off with the bang. I have had success at this tournament in the past (played in 2 tourneys) and took 2nd place for just under 40k in a $500 event. I will be in Tunica from January 3rd or so through the 23rd.

I then will be heading back to Vegas for the Venetian Double Stack tournament. They added this event because of the great success during June in their first double stack tourney. It will be competing with the LA Poker Classic but based on past participation this should be a great event. These events have such large starting chip counts that it allows the best players to be given time to outplay the bad players and not have to make moves early given great tournament structure.

I look forward to many future final tables and great news provided in my blog.

Here is to 2008 and a run at Millions and the player of the year race.

Until the NEW YEAR!!!!!

Reno Tourney complete....6 Final Tables

Sunday wrapped up the last tournament for the Fall Pot of Gold Tourney in Reno, NV. The turn out was definitely not as good as projected based on their Spring event. But my results were good and I feel as though I am playing excellent poker; 6 final tables was the best in the tournament. The next runner up was 3. It would have been great if they would have had a best all-around as I would have taken that down.

The recap was:
1 first place finish
1 fifth place finish
1 sixth place finish
1 ninth place finishe
2 tenth place finishes

I was also on the bubble from making the money in 6 out of the other 10 events within 1-5 places. The fifth and sixth place finishes I took horrible beats getting in with the best hand with one guy hitting a 4% card and the other hitting a 14% card. Otherwise I would have at least 1 more first place finish and possibly 2.

For of the those of you that have not heard, another Portland poker player friend of mine Jordan Rich was playing in Las Vegas at the Bellagio in the 15K event and today is at the final table of 6 players if he goes out 6th he wins 180K but if he wins it he will take down the 2.5 Million dollar first prize. It would be great to see if he did. I believe both of us will be playing out in Tunica, Mississippi in January to start the new year.

Card Player Magazine player of the year starts out in Mississippi for the 2008 season and we want to get off to a good start there to be top of the leader board. The recognition and sponsor opportunities if you get out to an early start are great. And with my play being so good right now I feel we have a great shot to be up there early and carry it out through the year.

For those of you who are part of the Professional poker LLC I will be sending out the year end results from July - December in the next few days.

Until January...

Another final table

Tomorrow is the main event here. Since these are all small buy-in tournaments the main event tomorrow is only $500 but should have a first prize of over 20k and then tomorrow night is the $5000 free-roll tournament for just bringing a toy for toys-for-tots.

Yesterday we had about 118 players and I made it to the final table. They paid 10 spots and when were down to 9 I had lost a hand with AK vs KQ and the other player hit the Queen for me to get very short stacked and then we went to dinner break. A very weird thing happened during dinner break. I left for break with 6500 in chips and when I got back after the hour break only had 3500. I asked the tournament director what happened and they said there was nothing they could do. Tell you one thing from now on; since this has never happened before I will get a piece of paper and write it down with a count out to the dealer before leaving. Anyway 2 hands into the next level I was under the gun with KQ suited and very few chips and moved all in I was called by 2 players the flop came 10, J, 6 with 2 spades and I had the KQ of spades. one player bet and the other folded. The player turned over pocket 10s. He had 3 of a kind but I had 3 Aces, 9 spades and 3 9s so 15 outs which actually makes me a favorite on the flop 60/40 even though at the time he had the best hand. A 7 of clubs hit the turn so now I only had 14 outs since the 7 of spades would give him a full house or a 29% chance still. Two of hearts came on the river and I was sent on my way.

5 Final Tables so far but only 3 cashes, as 2 of them were 10ths and did not pay.

but doing well...

I will update again tomorrow or late late tonight... Next stop is Tunica Mississippi on January 3rd and then February is Venetian in Vegas (best value of the year)

another tourney tonight

I am playing in the 7pm tourney tonight. I will blog when it is complete hopefully will again have over 100 players. and I can make another final table with another win.

3rd final table at this tourney

It was bitter sweet though.... The nightly tournament started with 123 players and I made it the final table of 10 players. Problem is I went out 10th and they paid the top 9. I had an ok stack about the average but had a pot where I made a raise and was called. I had pocket 99 and raised it 4300 with the blinds 800/1600 with a 300 ante. The flop came 10,7,8 so I had a pair with an open ended straight draw. After the flop there was over 10k in the pot so I looked at the guy that called me and he only had 3000 left and he checked to me so I moved all in and he called with KJ and hit the King on the turn and doubled up.

4 hands later I had AJ on the button and moved in for my remaining 4600 and was called by the big blind who had K10. the flop came down KK10 and I was done. out in 10th. so going to bed to be ready to make my 4th final table tomorrow.

Jason

I had a feeling... or should I say he had a feeling

So I was on day 3 of the events and was playing in the tourney with hopes of having 3 final tables in 3 days and it was looking very good. We started the tourney with 97 players and had been playing for about 7 hours and down to 2 tables. We played for a while and were down to 15 players. I had a good stack and had a lot of play left in me.

The blinds were at 600/1200 with a 200 ante.

A guy that I actually played with the night before and was a decent player but was willing to raise with any Ace to take down pots if not challenged. In a hand he did raise to 3200 and it folded around to me in the small blind; I looked down at my hand and was pleased to find the 3rd best hand in poker QQ. I thought about the different ways to play this hand. I could raise, call, or move in. Folding really isn't an option here. I thought through the options this way if I re-raise he could move all-in and then I would have to make a decision for all my chips and could be in a race against AK but didn't think I would be behind as he usually would limp in with AA or KK. So I did not want to be in a race for all my chips this close to the money if I didn't need to. If I just call I could then see if an Ace or a King came on the flop and then if not play the hand very aggressive and pick up a 10k pot with no challenge to it.

So I just called the 3100 so with the blinds, antes, raise an my call there was 10500 in the pot. The flop came down J23 with 2 hearts. I wanted to not give any draws and was pretty sure I had the best hand so I moved all-in for 28,000. The man who originally raised started to count out the chips; since he didn't instantly call I new he didn't have AA, KK or JJ. Now he might have AJ or AK of hearts as though are really the only hands that he might call with. Since I knew he had played pretty solid earlier I was expecting him to fold as the only hand he really could beat would be a bluff, or KQ. I had a great image at the table so I knew he couldn't think I was bluffing. He picked up his cards and I expected him to fold as it would be almost all his chips to call and he was only in the pot for his ante and 3100 from the original bet.

To my surprise he counted out the chips and after some time called. I was then positive I had the best hand and he must have either 10 10 or AJ. I tabled my QQ and he tabled A4 with the 4 of hearts and Ace of diamonds. I was in shock as was the rest of the table as he was dominated and had only 7 outs or a 28% chance to hit his hand in the next 2 cards. I was actually very happy to be a 4 to 1 favorite in this hand and if I win this pot would be the chip leader and breeze into my 3rd final table in as many days. The turn card brought the 4 of clubs so no back door flush draw, but now he had another 2 outs as he could win with a 5 (4 outs) an Ace (3 outs) or another 4(2 outs) for a total of 9 outs or a 18% chance to win on the last card. Well sometimes the odds don't work out as a 5 came on the river to give him a straight and eliminate me from making my 3rd final table in a row. FRUSTRATING but I am playing well and have more tourneys through this week to win some more.

Side note... later that night a friend of mine went up to the player to ask him about the hand and what would make him call me there with such a bad hand... expecting him to say he thought I was bluffing and trying to steal the pot and he thought his Ace was good but nooooooo..... He said," I thought he must have a big pair but I had a feeling I was going to hit my hand."

WOW made a call on a feeling that the card was going to come.

Well I hope that I get him at my table again and he has some more feelings as I will make a killing off this guy in the long run.

Next tournament tomorrow at 11am.

GOOD NIGHT......

2 Final tables in 2 days with one Victory

So it is 3:20am and I am going to write a small blog as I have to play tomorrow at 11am. So I will be brief. Last night when I got in I went to the poker room to see if I could register for todays 11am event; but registration is only the day of the tourney. So I started walking back to my room when I heard all tournament players you have 1 minute to get to your seats as the cards will be in the air. I walked over to ask what tournament they were having and they said it was there $55.00 daily tournament. I asked if I could get in and was allowed. To make a long story short after 3 hours I was sitting at the final table and 45 minutes later was taking home first place. Since it was only a $50 buy in the win was only $450 but a good start to the week as that covers the buy-in and the 10 days I am here in Reno for the room.

Day 2 This morning I played in the $300 buy-in with around 80 players the paid the top 9 and I went out 22nd so no money. But after that I went back to the room for a 1 hour nap, grabbed dinner and then headed to play in the $200 7pm; the turn out was good and should be getting bigger through the weekend. They had over 90 in this event and again since I have to go to sleep I ended up taking 5th place for $1222.00. So even though these haven't been huge it is more then paying for the trip. First prize in this event was just over 6k. The hand I went out on was pretty brutal though; a guy that was the chip leader and raising a ton of pots again raised to 10k with the blinds at 1500/3000 with a 500 ante... I looked down at pocket QQ and moved all in for an additional 28k. After not much thought he ended up calling me and turning over A7, and hit an ace so I was eliminated in 5th. I will update the blog again after tomorrows tourneys.

Sorry for the grammar and spelling but it is 3:30 in the morning and I have been playing since 11am.

Until tomorrow wish me good cards.

Books to read on poker

While I had a little over a week off, I thought it would be good to review some of the great poker books I have read in the past. I have been making it very deep into a ton of tournaments to be just short of the money or cashing but not getting into the top 3, where the real money is. In the past year I have been very successful and was wondering if there was a leak in my game that has been holding me from making it really deep in the tourneys.

The best few books out there are:
1. Doyle Brunson’s Super System 1 and Super System 2 - These are considered to be the bibles of poker.
2. Barry Greenstein's "Ace on the River" - This is a great book with a ton of insight.
3. David Skylanski's "Book on tells"

These are the books I went back through and looked at my notes, highlights and reviewed the sections on tournament poker. After looking through these I realized there are some minimal changes I can make to my game. But overall my game is solid and I should stick with my type of play that has been very adaptable to certain situations and that I have always got my money in the pot with the best hand and in order to lose the other person had to be very fortunate as 9 out or 10 times they were a large underdog.

This renewed look and reevaluation of my game is something that I needed to do to reaffirm my play and know that our time will come for a big cash in the near future. I head off to Reno in a week for the fall pot of gold and will be there from Dec. 6 until the 17th. I know that the big tourney is at the Bellagio right now but we need to hit some tourneys first before we go back to the big buy-in tournaments. Wish luck to my friend and mentor Johan Storakers as he will be playing at the Bellagio Main event in the middle of December; the buy-in is 15k and first prize should be just over 3 million.

I will update soon if any more news comes out soon otherwise I will be reporting from Reno. I will be putting out a new schedule for January and February soon. January is Tunica Mississippi, and January is back to Vegas for my favorite Venetian Deep Stack tourney. If any of you want to see the best-structured tournament. This is the one.

Until next time....

Best Starting Hands Ever

Yesterday was incredible, in the first 3 rounds I had the most amazing starting hands ever in my life. It is what ever poker player hopes for in any tournament. I had Pocket AA twice, AK more then a dozen times, and flopped top set (3 of a kind) three times. I had some of the best starting hands I have ever seen. The problem is we started with 5k in chips and after the 4th round I had 1600 in chips. It was insane, I had the best starting hands and could not win one!!! If I had AA and raised ever one folded. If I had AK I would hit top 2 pair and lose to a flush. If I had top set there would be 3 of the same suit out there and someone would move all in and I could not call. It was the best run of cards and the worst results ever.

Next stop reno. It is the Fall Pot of Gold. And I plan on making a big pot for all of us!!!!

Cashed today

So today was the $500 buy-in event and started with 370 players. We started the day with 3000 in chips and at the first break (we break every 3 levels) I was at 2600, not getting any good hands and just trying to pick up some chips when the opportunity presented itself. The good thing about this is that when you don't get any cards, your image at the table is that you only play premium hands. So when we got back from break I had already spent almost 2 hours with the same players so I knew in the next couple rounds I could start stealing pots with rasises as the only time I would get called is if someone had a monster hand. This became very obvious when I would raise and guys would show me pocket 10's or AQ and fold it to me thinking they were beat.

WIth this strategy I picked up some chips and by the second break I had around 7000 with the average chip stack at around 5700. I continued playing solid poker and by the dinner break I had around 14000 and we were down to 81 players. They were dropping quick... A really crazy hand happened before dinner that doubled me up to that amount.

I was in the big blind with the the blinds at 400/800 with a 125 ante. So before any betting there was 1250 in the pot. At this time I had 7000 in chips; it folded all the way around to the small blind who had about 15k. He raised to 3400 which is a very large raise so I thought he probably had a weak ace or a small pair. I look down at AJ suited and think about it for a little while.

If I just call, and he pushes in on the flop and I don't hit it I have to fold and will only have around 3500 left in chips. I could fold and give up my 800 or I can move all-in. Since I had him on only a few hands I thought I should be ahead here, so I decided to move all-in for my remaining 7300. He started thinking about it and now since that was the case I knew I had him beat but did not want a call in case he hit a lucky card. To my surprise he called, the suprise though wasn't that he called but that he turned over 89 offsuit. I was like oh my gosh jackpot.

The flop came with the door card (the first card you can see) an 8 and I was like great but the card right behind was an Ace. So I ended up winning the pot right before dinner break.

After dinner we played for about 2 hours and then were down to 40 players and I made the best decision of the tournament for me. If I would have played it the way 99% of all people would, I would have been busted in 40th place, and once again on the bubble.

Here is the action: I am again in the big blind and it folds around to Bonnie ( I can not remember her last name) but she is one of the pros at the tourney. She is on the button with the blinds 1200/2400 and a 300 ante and raised to 5000. Now a standard raise is usually 3 to 4 times the big blind and she only raised it a little over 2. So this in itself to me was a little odd. The small blind folds and I look down at AK suited. this is the 4th best starting hand in poker. But you still have to hit it to win. But anyone I know would either reraise or push all-in in this situation. I set my cards down and put a chip on them to think about how to extract the most chips from her. As I was contemplating this I looked at her to see what I thought I could do; she looked really confident and was super relaxed. RED FLAG.... So I then decided to stack my chips as though I was going to move all-in and see how she reacted. When I did this she instantly sat forward in her chair and looked at my chips. I could see her already counting them in her head and again RED FLAG!!!! So I looked at her and said," I think you have a monster" and layed the AK face up on the table and announce I fold... The rest of the table looked at me in disbelief and someone even said," give me those cards so I can move in". At that time she looked at me and said, oh my god how do you get away from that hand and tables AA. My best laydown of the tournament, and allowed me to make it to the money.

The top prize for this event was $44k and 27TH-36TH was $600. big difference and why we need a top 3 finish.

Tomorrow is the $1,000 event and should have a top prize of over $100,000.

Until tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the 1st of two main events at the Roundup

Tomorrow is the $500 Event and then Saturday is the $1000 event. The Prize Pool for the next 2 events should be 250k and 500k respectively. The first event is a 1 day event ending tomorrow night and the main event is a 2 day event (Sat & Sun) I will make sure that I update the blog tomorrow night with the results. I will be getting to the Casino at around 8am to play in some satellites prior to the event to try to get a discount on the buy-in.

Until Tomorrow....

Also, the next tournament on the schedule is Fall Pot of Gold in Reno, NV instead of Bellagio in Las Vegas. The buy-ins are smaller so we can build the bankroll again before playing in the major buy-in tournament events.

So if anyone wants to come down to Reno for the Event. If you are down there all 10 days you get the whole room package to around 325 before tax. If you do want to come down the tournament information is at:

http://www.grandsierraresort.com/images/casino/table_games/poker/Winter_POG_flyer2007.pdf

This is the flyer for the event.

57 out of 267

Played well today and was knocked out by professional Chip Jett. I raised preflop with AA and he called the flop came Q46. I bet out 600 and he raised to 1200 and I moved all-in. He called and flipped over Q8 and the turn brouight a 7 and a river brought a 8 for his two pair and I was out in 57th place. They paid the top 27 so I missed the money. Tomorrow is a NLH Shootout.

This event is 10 to a table and you have to win your table to move on, then they take all the winners and you start with them and try to win your next table. I will blog tomorrow. The buy-in on these are all between 110-310 which is great because you definately get your money worth. The fields have been large and I look to unbelievable sizes in the final two events.

Day off tomorrow

It is pouring rain with 35 mile an hour winds. Tomorrow is the one day off before 5 straight days of tourneys. Well not a full day off, there is a super satellite tomorrow night to get in the main event. It is a $110 buy-in for the $1,010 main event for every 10 entrants they give away one seat. So hopefully it will be a good day and then it begins a marathon week of tourneys. Wish me luck and the tumble weeds here are as big as huge boulders it is insane. I guess a semi-truck wrecked today on the freeway here because he wasnt paying much attention and a tumble weed blew in the road in front of him and he thought it was a car and rolled it over.

Late and Early Exits

So yesterday was the $310 Buy-in at Pendleton with almost 700 players I went out around 75th. So it was very deep and very frustrating. Got all the chips in with the blinds very high 1000/2000 with a 200 ante. I had only about 7000 left and moved all in from the button with AK and was called by the chip leader in the big blind with A4 the Flop came A46 with 2 hearts so even though he was ahead with 2 pair I still had a flush draw then a 3 came on the turn; no help and a Queen on the river so I was out again just short of the money.

Today was a smaller buy-in but still had over 650 players. I went out in the 5th round with 3 way action. I am going to play in a satellite now so I will give the details late tonight.

busy next 10 days

If you havent looked at any of the websites or my previous blogs, it would be new information that I will be playing from yesterday until the 18th. I will be playing everyday except next Tuesday that is my only day off. I will be updating this as regular as I can and hope to be doing it every night. Hope everyone has a good weekend, and when you all check your email on Monday I will have a few big cashes under my belt.

I didn't bubble...

Today was the first event of the 2 week tournament here in Pendleton. Well it was a quick day for me; about the 7th hand of the tournament I am on the button with a raise and a call in front of me. I have pocket KK and decide instead of reraising, I want to see a flop to make sure that an Ace doesn't hit the board and I do not pot commit myself and then have to lay my big pair down, so I just call. The flop comes down 963 rainbow (all different suites) Bonnie (last name I am not sure of) but she is one of the big pros here fires out 300 into a pot of 575 so there is already 875 in the pot and we only have 2000 in starting chips so now I want to take it down now and put all the pressure on her. So I move all-in, she instantly calls me now I am like oh damn she must have pocket AA. But to my surprise and pleasure she turns over 9/10 offsuit so she only has a pair of 9s; the happiness was short lived as she hit the 5 outer on the turn with another 9. so I had to hit one of the remaining 2 Kings in the deck. It sucks going from a 80% favorite on the flop to a 4% chance of winning after 4th street.

So this was a quick event for me today and I will be playing again tomorrow at noon and will update with results tomorrow night.

A good thing is they had over 500 players today so they are having a great turn out for the middle of the week. This weekend should be huge fields.

Until tomorrow...

Event #1 tomorrow

Tomorrow is Event #1 for the Pendleton Wildhorse Fall Round-up. The expect large fields of 500-1000 players. I will update the blog tomorrow night with results when I get back to the hotel. I do not know if the event is going to be covered by magazines or online sites at all. But when I find out tomorrow I will also update the blog.

Until tomorrow...

Tourney starts tomorrow

I will be driving over to Pendleton tomorrow and will be playing in a satellite to the main event. The first event begins Wednesday and I will be updating the blog daily. I will update with tournament information and if there is any sites covering this site I will make sure to update the blog with the Link.

Wish me luck.... or actually just a run of good cards.

Best all-around

I will be heading to Pendleton for the Wildhorse Fall Round-up. They have a best all-around player which is for the player who gathers the most points over all the tournament events. This will be a great tourney. I will keep constant updates for this tourney so please keep checking the blog.

Jason

Fall Poker Roundup

The next tournament is one of my favorites. They have small buy-ins but the fields are huge so great payouts. They also have an all-around player point system for prizes for the player that consistently does the best in all the tournaments being hosted.

I have listed the website for the location that is holding the tournament: http://www.wildhorseresort.com/PDF_Files/poker_WebsiteScheduleHORSE.pdf

It is in Pendleton, Oregon. The next stop is either Reno or Las Vegas in December after this.

Jason

4 cashes this trip (3 Final Tables)

This trip was a good one but still not the huge cash that we have wanted. But playing well and made 3 final tables. I placed 8th twice, 4th and won a single table satellite. I played in 16 tournaments and 4 Single table satellites. I was still very disappointed as in about 9 of the tourneys I bubbled just missing the money by 1-5 spots. God, I hate that, playing for 8-10 hours and then just come up short from making the money. Only one tournament did I go out really early; and it was really early.

I played with this player 2 nights before and he was playing ultra aggressive, bluffing a ton and getting a big stack and then just running over the table. So I knew I wanted to trap him early so that he would be either out or crippled with his chips so I could run the table instead of him. I thought it would take about an hour or so for that to occur; well that is what I thought but it happened in the 4th hand of the event. This guy was in middle position and it folded around to him and he raised. There was one caller and then I was on the button and looked down at AA and just called. The flop came 652 rainbow (all different suits) he fired out a big bet and the other person in the pot folded and I just called. I knew he couldn’t have hit that and was hoping for any face card so that hopefully he would hit his hand. The turn came Jack and again he bet out. I thought I couldn’t let him get another card so I moved all-in. He thought about it and eventually called with 10J. A perfect hand, as he only had 2 Jacks and 3 10s with only one card to come. Or a 10% chance to win the pot. But the river came another Jack and I was out.

That is the only tourney that I actually went out of the tournament early. The rest of the tourneys I went very deep into all of them. We played in smaller tournaments this time and the tournaments at Caesars were not run very well, so spent a lot of time over at the Venetian.

This was just the start to some big cashes. I received a lot of compliments on my play this trip and people asked me a lot of questions on hands and the way to play certain hands. It was a great!!!

Until next time....

Sorry there has been no coverage

I don’t know why there has not been any coverage on the events. Tomorrow I will be playing in the Venetian event as there is an Omaha Tournament at Caesars and the No-Limit Event at the Venetian is a great event as it is a $150 buy in and you start with 7500 in chips, which is great value. I am sorry to report that I played in the event today at Binions and with 109 players I went out 22nd. They paid the top 10 and no I didn’t take a bad beat. I actually think I played the hand bad. Here is what happened.

The blinds were very high at 800/1600 with a 200 ante. I was sitting with 17K in chips. It folded all around to the Button and he raised to 4200, I thought he could be trying to steal the blinds as he had been in the past. I looked at my hand and had AJ of hearts, and I moved all-in for my remaining chips. He instantly called me and turned over AK of diamonds.

The flop came down Q106 with 2 hearts so it actually was a great flop for me. As now his King was no good as it would give me a straight and any heart would give me the flush. Well the turn brought an 8 and river 6 to not improve my hand; and I was sent to the rail.

The question is now looking at the hand how should I have played it. I talked to some other players about the hand and 4 out of 4 said they would have done the same thing. But I think I played it bad. If I could play it over again here is what I would have done. If I would have just smooth called his raise and the flop came down as it did, I could just move in on the flop and there is no way he could have called as he only would have Ace high and that is a hard call for an additional 13k. Or if the flop came with anything but an Ace or Jack. I could just fold and look at a better place to move all-in. So even though the other players I talked to would have done what I did, I learned something from this hand.

I will update tomorrow night after the event.

Until next time.

Very strange hand and Great Bluff

Just wanted to talk through one of the weirdest hand I have ever seen; I won it but should have knocked a player out.

So I will try to explain it so you can follow along.

Preflop the guy under the gun (first guy after the blinds) limps in (means just calls the big blind. Then a guy in middle position also calls, everyone else folds to me. I am in the big blind and look down (I will tell you what I had after the hand. But I will tell you that the guy UTG had 77. I raise preflop with the blinds at 50/100 to 350. The UTG calls the raise, as does the player in middle position.

The flop comes: 636 with 2 clubs. I bet out 650 and the UTG player calls and the other player folds.

The turn brings: King of hearts. . I check and so does the other player.

Now the river: brings the 7 of clubs. So now there is a flush possibility, a straight possibility, so he should make a good bet as he has a full house 7's full of 6's. Now I will tell you I have KK. So I have K's full of 6's. So the only hand that beats me is quad 6’s, which is very unlikely. So I am hoping he hit his straight or flush or maybe has pocket 3's. So I check. Now remember he called the preflop raise, the bet on the flop and also checked the turn. Now he has hit is 4% card that is a jackpot card for him. AND HE CHECKS. He called everything and then hits his miracle card and doesn’t bet. Everyone at the table was dumbfounded, as I should have doubled up.

I ask him did he not realize he hit his full house or was he afraid I had pocket 6's and he responds I don’t speak good English with a Russian accent. It was honestly the weirdest play I have seen in a long time.

Story number 2:

The best move I have probably ever made on someone. I was playing in an event yesterday and felt like I had a great read on most the players at my table; one guy in particular. He was from Ireland with a strong accent and a good player but very aggressive. Based on his betting patterns, I could usually tell when he was strong or weak. Here is how the hand played out.

Preflop: I look down at A10 suited in late position and raise to 650 with the blinds at 100/200 with a 25 ante. The button calls and everyone else folds.

The flop comes down J96. I check and he bets 1500 (he seems weak) so I call
The turn brings a 10. Now I have hit my hand but I could still be behind so I check he again bets 1500. Now this is a small bet and I think since I think he is weak if I just call this bet and any scare card comes on the river I can bet him off his hand.

The river brings an 8. So the board shows J 9 6 10 8. So if he has AJ and I have a 7 or Queen in my hand his hand is no good. I check and he bets 2500, I say to him well if you have a Queen I guess I am going to pay you off and move all-in over the top of him. He looks at me and says damn I thought you were on the straight draw and folds his hand. I turn over A10 and he almost loses his mind as he did have AJ.

3 hands later I knocked him out with AK against AQ.

Sorry for the confusion on events

I sent out the schedule for the events I planned on playing in and then when I got here I have found that there is some better value in some of the other tourneys that are going on here. I will try and update daily so everyone knows what I am playing in each day. For some reason there is no coverage on any of the events here until the main event at the Caesars.

So I will try to send out updates daily.

Jason

Late night final table

Well Guys,

Tonight I played in the $200 buy-in at Caesars we had just under a 100 players and they were going to pay the top 9. To make a long story short we got down to 10 players and it took about 3 hours for the last person before the money to go out (on the bubble) and I ended up making to 4th place. I played so well today and was very happy with the result it would have been better to win it but this is the start to a run of some tourneys I can feel it. It is now 3am and I need to get to sleep. I plan on playing in the 2pm tourney at Binions tomorrow and will update again after I cash again. The hand I went out on was a tough one but not a bad play on either part. It was folded around to me and I had KQ of hearts and moved all-in, the small blind folded and the big blind called with A10 off suit. Nothing came on the board and his Ace high held up and I was eliminated. We have a cash and hope to hit another one tomorrow.

Caesar's Tournament

Tomorrow I leave for Las Vegas for the Caesars Tournament and will be trying to find the websites that will be covering the events. I will be updating the blog with all the information.

Until Friday...

Prop Bets

So in the Poker World there are some weird antics that go on. I thought that I would write about a few that I have become aware of since sitting at the tables in Aruba. The first two are very similar and the 3rd is down right Crazy.

Late at night (Friday, September 28, 2007), Matt Giannetti agreed to a $15,000 prop bet to spend 12 straight hours (starting at midnight, ending at noon) in the pool at Club Med in the Turks & Caicos. There was far more than that at stake in the side action.

Giannetti won the bet, climbing out of the pool to applause shortly after 12:00 noon on the 29th.

Now there is an even bigger prop bet in the works between Mark Seif and Sean McCabe. For $100,000, McCabe (who is a certified rescue diver) will stand shoulder-deep in the ocean for 24 straight hours, with nothing but cold water to sustain him (no food).

Last we heard, the bet would start during the WPT Final Table being taped at Turks & Caicos. Coverage at WorldPokerTour.com if he attempts this endurance challenge. In fact, Mark Seif will be following his progress.

Both of these bets I heard second hand and did not get to actually see the challenge occur. But that is nothing to the one that I heard at my table during day 1 of the main event. We had a very talkative table and many stories were told and the bets above were brought up and then a young 24 year old player, who I really took a liking to; he was charismatic and a good player and I did enjoy playing with him. He was of very small stature and must not of weighed more then a 145. As we discussed these bets, he brought up a bet that he would be willing to take; He stated that he would be willing to spend 10 years in a maximum security federal penitentiary for 2 Million a year. Actually give up 10 years of his life and maybe his entire life as it would be in jeopardy by spending 10 years in prison. MY GOD WHAT HAVE WE COME TO FOR MONEY!!!

As I hear interesting stories I will update the blog.

Very late night Day 2

Today was such a long day we started at 12pm and it is now 1:15am and I just went out on the bubble in the tournament. The money was at 54 and I went out 57th I had a flush in the last hand and lost on the river when the board paired and he hit a full house. There were just under 570 players so again played great but just short of the money.

I will see you all at the investor meeting on the 9th.

Jason

The Roller Coaster Day

So today was the first day of the main event and I will tell you abou the beginning and then get to the end. So 4th hand of the tourney, we started with 10k in chips. I raise preflop and get one caller. I have QQ the flop comes 10, 4, 7 and the first player bets and I call. the turn comes a Q so now I have 3 Queens and the best possible hand. He checks and I bet out 1500 and he instantly moves all in. I call of course, he shows pocket 44 and I have QQ the river brings and ace and just like that I have 20k in chips.
I end the first level at 22K which the avg. at that time was about 11K so I am doing very well. Through the next couple levels I win some and lose some and then this hand comes up which, I don't really know how else I play it. There are folds all the way around to me on the button and I look down at 10J and I just call. the small blind folds, and the big blind checks. the flop comes 10,J,6. He checks and I bet 600 and he then raises to 1500. He has been raising a ton of pots so I dont think that much of it as he might had K10, KJ but if he hit 3 of a kind he would of just called me. So I call. the turn brings a 2 so that couldnt have helped him, he checks and I bet 4500 and he thinks and then calls. The river brings an ace. now this is a tricky card because if he called with A,10 or AJ or KQ I am dead. but why wouldnt he have reraised me with AJ and how can he call the turn with KQ. and then to my surprise he bets out 2500 into this pot of over 15K it is such a small bet I am perplexed on what he has and since there is so much and really only 3 hands that can beat me and I have eliminated 2, I call and I cant believe it when he turns over AJ. Ughhh I lose so many chips in this pot. so now I am back down to 14000 at dinner break.
I come back and we only have 2 more levels to play in Day 1.

There was another hand that I lost another 9000 that I dont know how I could have played any different. Preflop I raise to 1100 with the blinds at 150/300 and the button just calls. The flop comes 10,6,8 and I am holding pocket KK. so this is such a wonderful flop for me especially since I wasnt reraised. yeah he could have had a pocket pair of 66, or 88 but so unlikely. He bets a big bet of 4000 and I then move all-in form my remaining 17000 to take it down right then and he instantly calls and flips over AA. So horrible, but I have him covered so I lose 9k and am left with 8k in chips.

Throughout the night I went up to 22k down to 6k in over 11 hours. But the chip average when we finished day 1 is about 18k and I have just over 15K and when we start day 2 we are at 200/400 blinds and I am in good shape. we had over 500 players and have already gone through half of the field. Tomorrow is a rest day so we get to relax and back at it Thursday.

On a side note into round 5 Phil Helmuth was brought to our table and was busted within 7 hands. I had a tough, tough table and was not a good draw. The good thing we have a redraw for day 2 so hopefully I will get a better table. Johan is at 17K for those who are keeping track.

Until Thursday... oh and tomorrow I will type about these two prop bets that I heard about.. my oh my....

Good Warm-up

So today I played in the $1060 Preliminary event that had a 119 entrants with 1st prize paying a little over 38k. This was a event to warm up for tomorrows main event. They paid the top 12 places in this event and I keep getting close, ugh but I know that we will hit one soon and I feel that I am playing great poker. I took 14th place which is 2 out of the money but still was in the top 11% of the field. I felt great playing and was making great reads on the players. I wont go into detail on all the hands but lost a couple where I was a huge favorite which you need to win to take down a tourney. It is 1am here now and I play in the Main Event tomorrow starting at noon EST. so I am heading to bed to get a good night sleep. Tomorrow is the event we want to win anyway as first prize should be over 1 million. I am playing great and am ready for tomorrows event.

Until next time... or until tomorrow night ( I will update tomorrow when we are done for the day.

Got seat assignment for Aruba

OK, Today I got assigned my seat and I will be playing on Day 1a for the main event. Tomorrow is the 1k event that will be starting at 3PM EST. the main event starts on Tuesday at 1PM EST. I will be updating the site as the tourneys go.

IT IS HOT AND HUMID HERE!!

Will update soon.

Jason

Heading to UB Tourney

I will be leaving on Wednesday to Aruba for the Ulitmatebet.com tournament. This has been one of my best tournaments over the past 2 years. In 2005 I played in 3 events and took a 1st and 2nd place. Last year I made the final table in the $5000 main event and placed 6th. So I am excited for the event again this year. It is a long flight 14 hours to get there so I leave Wednesday night and will land in Aruba on Thursday around 3pm. Will take a nap and go and try to win a seat in the main event through a satellite. There will be a ton of the top pros there again this year, and should be a very large field with huge payouts.

I will be updating the blog every couple of days but you can always follow the results on:

cardplayer.com
pokerpages.com
pokernews.com
hendonmob.com
bluffmagazine.com

or I guess any of the poker sites.

Also I think there will be live updates on arubaclassic.com or Ultimatebet.com should have a link.

Getting Married this Weekend

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am heading to Vegas this weekend to get married on the 22nd. I will be there through the weeekend and then heading to Aruba to play in the Ultimatebet.com tournament. This is my bread and butter tourney over the past 2 years so hoping for a repeat to the final table in the main event.

Jason

Just busted out on Day 2... ugh!!

Well went into today short stacked and was on a roller coaster ride down to 4k up to 12k, down to 6k up to 13k then during the 2nd round was down to 6k and moved in with no callers and went up to 8k. Then came the hand I went out on. I hadn't really been catching cards and then I looked down at KK and moved all in since I only had 7900 and there was already 2100 in the pot with blinds and antes; the betting went around to Lee Watkinson and he thought about it for a while and then called. This made me a little nervous as thinking like that it seemed like he was trying to bait other players into the pot. And I was right as I turned over my KK he turned over AA, and I was sent to the rail.

Sometimes you dont get the run of cards you need to win the tourneys but I know we will hit one soon.

I am getting married in 2 weeks so will not be playing until right after the wedding.

Day 1 in the books; Day 2 starts tomorrow at noon

We just ended day 1 in the Championship event. We start day 2 tomorrow at 12am Central time. We started the day with 256 players and big names and players have already busted out. we are under 135 left going into day 2 so we have lost almost half the field. I was up and down all day but had one hand come up in the second round and I should be already on my way home but made the laydown of a lifetime.

The hand went like this. I was on the button and everyone folded around to the cutoff (the player before the dealer button) and he raised it to $675 with the blinds at $100/$200 with a $25, I looked down at pocket 99 so just called to see what the flop would bring and the big blind called the additional $475 also. Just so you know what I was thinking and why I just called is the guy in the cutoff if he has AK, or anything between JJ-AA he might reriase and I wont even get to see a flop and just donate 675 to him so that is why I just called. The flop came out 6,9,10 with all different suites. So I am thinking Yahtzee. The big blind checks the flop and the raiser bets out $2000 now I need to find out where I am at and there is enough in the pot to take it down right there. So I raise to $7000; I have about 17000 left after my raise, and to my surprise the big blind moves all in for 30K. The original raiser now folds his hand and it is up to me to make a decision. So now I have to think through the hand as it played out to determine if I have the best hand and what can I beat. He just smooth called the pre-flop raise as I did which could put him on a variety of hands. He wouldnt move in with AA, KK, QQ or JJ as I have been playing really tight and raised the flop. So now I think he has only 1 of 2 hands. either 10,10 for 3 10s or 78 for the straight. I really sit there for a long time trying to get a read on him. I ask him some questions trying to get him to talk to me. He seems really relaxed in his answers, a little too relaxed so now I know he has to have 78 and I fold my trip 9's face up to show that I was laying down a monster hand. And he actually flipped over his cards (78) for the nut straight. My read was dead on. All the people at the table started commenting on how it was a great read and a great play to ger away from the hand. On the other hand if I would have called I still had a 28% chance I pair the board for the full house but not a great chance. So I made a great laydown and am playing tomorrow.

I dont have a ton of chips but am about 15 times the big blind so have plenty of time tomorrow to build my stack.

I will write more tomorrow when I get done for the day. cardplayer.com and pokerpages.com are following the tourney.

I have put some images from pokerpages.com that were taken from today's tourney. Chris Moneymaker, Mike "the Mouth" Mattesow, Kenna James, and myself. I am wearing the hat because the poker room we were in was freezing.

until next time.

Holy Sh*t scary flight

So last night I flew from Portland to Biloxi Mississippi for the Beau Rivage WPT event. I flew from Portland with a lay-over in Dallas. As we left Dallas we were in a tiny jet that had 2 seats on the right side of the plane and only 1 seat on the left, and I had to duck to walk down the walkway to my seat. Talk about tiny. I sit down and we take off. So far not so bad except that it is so small you can feel every bump we hit. Then we get about 30 minutes out of Dallas and the turbulence starts we are up and down, dropping and swaying, I am like ok 1 more hour and I can put my feet on the ground. Yeah that was just the beginning as I see the plane light flashing really bright outside in the darkeness; except it is brighter then expected so I look outside to see lightning all around the sky. and the clouds are now visible because of the bright flashes.

Ok, now this gets my attention, and it is not like it is far away it is all around us and we are bumping all over the place and I feel my hair standing on end, well not really because I am bald, but if I had hair it would of been. It is one of those things that is really pretty to look at from a distance but when it is going sideways across the sky and very close it is a little unnerving. Then the rain started coming down and the clouds got darker and darker. So I just sat in my seat with my belt cinched down ready to get hit by a bolt. It seemed like a long time and finally the pilot comes on and says," Hi folks this is your captain we are 15 minutes from the airport and we have word that the weather is bad and we might encounter some turbulence, so please stay seated for the remainder of the flight. OK... what have we been encountering, is it normal in the south to have drops and sways in the flight that make your stomach do somesaults like going over a hill when you were with your parents as a kid. Oh he was right, about 2 minutes later I thought I was at an amusement park up and down, side to side all with the special effects of lightning. Then all of a sudden the engines begin to whine and we are in a nose dive; felt like straight down throught the bolts and rain to a not very well lit runway.... It turned into one of those rides where you start to laugh because you know you are just going to die. Well as you can see I made it to Biloxi as I am writing this blog. But I will tell you what don't want to do that again.

Thursday is the main event and I am going to play in a Satellite tomorrow to try and get into it cheap for 1k vs. 10k. I will update the blog tomorrow with the results.

Update from Poker pages

http://news.pokerpages.com/index.php?option=com_simpleblog&task=view&id=2519

Here is the link from one of the sites covering the WPT main event.

Today seemed like a great day until about 1 hour left in day one. It was a grind all day. I knocked out the 1st 3 players at our table and had my stack up to 40k by the 3rd round. I had not played very many hands slowly building my stack from the original 20K that we started the day with.

I could tell you how crazy our table was. Almost every pot was raised with 2 or 3 callers so it was not the small ball I like to play but is ok for my style of play for the day as I was playing really tight waiting for big hands so I could pick up and trap players for good wins. The problem is with so many people in the pots it was very difficult. So I was only playing about 3-4 hands an hour. But still with 40k at the 3rd break was great with the average stack only around 23k. Then some crazy hands came up. I will go into the details of them but if you dont want to read about it the short story is I am out of the tournament and wanted to puke.

First hand that came up was this and I am glad I didnt go bust, in fact they discuss the hand on the link above because 90% of players probably would have lost all their chips. The blinds were 200/400 with a 50 ante so before any action there is 1050 in the pot. there is one limper in middle position and I look down at pocket KK. I raise to 1600 and the big blind calls and the guy in middle position folds. The flop comes 10,8,2. Now there is 4650 in the pot the big blind checks and I bet out 5500 and he thinks and then calls. The turn comes a harmless 4 and he checks again, I know now I am in the lead I bet out 7500 and he again calls. The river brings an Ace and he moves all in. Now he might have A10 so I dont want to risk the rest of my chips as he has me covered and I fold. And I could not even believe it when he turns over A4. I am still beat but no one at the table can believe he calls everyone of my bets and gets lucky hitting an ace on the river. Absolutely gross. so out of my 40k I am now down to 26k. I grind my way up and down for the next 5 hours.

I have AK 3 times and never hit a flop and get bet out of a pot by 3 players with pocket 10s and this hand comes up with only an hour left in the last round. I am in the big blind with the blinds 400/800 with 100 ante. everyone folds around to the small blind and he just puts in the additional 400. I look down and have 6,10 both hearts so just check as this is not a good hand well that is until the flop. The flop comes 789 with 2 hearts so I flop the nuts (straight) with a straight flush draw. now there is 2500 in the pot. The other player checks and I fire out 2500 and I know I have the best hand and he reraises me to 6500 and I moves all in for my remaining 15000. He really didnt even take any time and immediately calls and he turns over KQ of hearts. Now that is good and bad. Good because he has to hit a heart and I have 2 of them so he only has 7 possible cards if no one else had a heart which with 14 of them gone the chances are not that good. So the turn card brings a 4 of clubs great card and boom 2 of hears on the river and I am looking forward to the next tourney in Biloxi Mississippi.

This is first time I have been busted out of a tourney and actually felt sick to my stomach.

Sorry guys that I didnt cash in this one.

Until the next tourney....

Legends Main Event on Saturday

I just wanted to give a quick update. There are 2 day one for the event 1a is tomorrow and that is the day I have been assigned to play. Day 1b is on Sunday and Day 2 will be combined from the two days on Monday. This is a 5 day event with the final WPT filming final table day on Thursday. We start with 20,000 in chips for the $10,000 buy-in and rounds are 1:30 minutes each. I am not sure how many rounds they will be playing tomorrow but will be updating the blog tomorrow night when play has ended for the day.

Wish me luck...

Jason

Well there is still the main event!!

To make a long story short. I am out of the 5k event. I did not play many hands and took advantage of the ones I did. I lost a big pot with flopping top set to a river flush which took a big percentage of my starting stack. The last hand and the one that I went out on was as follows. The players folded all the way around to mean in the cut-off position; I raised to 700 with A5 of spades, the button and small blind both folded. and the big blind called. The flop came 56K the player checked and I bet out 1700 into a 1400 pot and he called. The turn came a 3 which if he had 47 would have a straight but pretty horrible call preflop and flop if he did. He checked and I checked, now the river came an Ace and that is where it got interesting. He bet out 4000 which was enough to put me all in. Now I have two pair and I called. well he turned over 33 for three 3s and I was sent to the rail. Such a weird hand for him to call both preflop and flop as he had only 2 outs on the flop... CRAZY!

Well we have the main event still which should have a first prize of over 1 million dollars.

Until next event..

2nd largest event of Legends today

Yesterday I played in the 1k event with 206 players and took 29th just 2 spots from the money but had to make a move or would have been so short stacked in the money that we would have been in a very bad position to move up anyway. The hand I went out was like this. first 3 players folded to a woman who had not played a lot of hands and she raised to 1200 in middle position and it folded to me on the button I had 3100 in chips left and looked down at Pocket QQ. I could just call, but if I did that and an Ace or a King came on the flop she would bet and I would be left with 1800. I had not played a lot of hands so if I re-raised all in then she probably would only call with AA AK or KK. I thought she was a good player and could lay down any hand besides those. So I moved all in. She called and turned over, to my surprise A6 offsuit. An Ace came on the flop so i went out 28/206.

Today is a big event a 5k entry so should have a very large prize pool. I will do my best to write again tonight if it isnt to late. This is a 3 day event so you can follow it on pokerpages.com

J

12th out of a field of 175

We were in day 2 of the $1500 No-limit tourney at the Legends Tournament. We were down to 18 players and I was 15th in chips. The first few players went out in the first 15 minutes and then things slowed down. When we down to 13 players I only had 6k in chips left out of my original 14,800 due to the high blinds 800/1600 with a 200 ante. I moved all in with my Jack Ten suited and flopped a straight so doubled up. Watched a few more hands and then I was back to 10200 and this hand came up.
As the hand unfolded I heard an all-in and call from the other table and Nam Le was all in for his tournament life and saw him get up and was out in 13th. So now I knew I just moved up one more spot in the money.

I was in the big blind of 1600 and everyone folded around to the small blind who was the chip leader and willing to push the action with any two cards and with my tight play he would know that I would only call with a Ace high and push with any Ace facecard or pair. I look down at KQ of hearts. Now I know the only hands I am not a favorite to are AA KK QQ AK AQ; everything else would be coin flip. So I move all in and he thinks for a while and says, "ok I will gamble" and calls me with 44. Well nothing came on the board and I was out in 12th, winning 3500 after tipping the dealers and staff.

Heading back to the casino now to play in the $1000 No-Limit tourney today. If we make the money today then I will not play in the 5k event tomorrow as it starts at 3:15 and the final table for this will be 7:15.

Wish me luck.
Until next time....

Down to 18 in the $1500 event

Hello all, today was the $1500 No-Limit event and we started with 175 players. There are so many big name pros here the fields have been very tough. I have had at one time the top 4 CardPlayer point leaders at my table but have been holding my own.

We played down to 18 players tonight and start back up tomorrow at 7:15pm. I am right at the chip average and there are some big stacks but I have time tomorrow to build my stack back up. 1st prize in this event is almost a 100k and a seat into the 10k main event.

So I am going to bed now and will have a relaxing day tomorrow before we start back up. Wish me luck and hopefully we will win this one.

Oh I should tell you about how I grinded my way back. At one time when we were down to 30 players I was down to 2k in chips and a round (1 hour later) I was sitting on top of a 27k stack.

One hand that brought me down to the 2k was this...
I was in the cut off position and a guy in middle position raised, one caller, then came to me and I looked down at KK and had about 7k left so I moved all in; the small blind folded and the big blind called instantly, the other 2 players folded.

I flipped over my pocket KK and he turned over AK; one of the other players said he folded A9 so there was only 2 Aces left in the deck and Murphys law tells us yep an ace on the flop, the lucky thing is he only had 5k in chips so I had 2k left. and the build up from there was slow but I did it.

So we are in the money and the next step up is at 15 so after 3 players get knocked out. Hope to be writing a great blog late tomorrow night.

You can follow the action at pokerpages.com

Until next time...

Tomorrow is a big event

Just wanted to give an update to everyone. Tomorrow is a $1500 buy-in and should have close to 250 people playing. That means that there should be over a 100K first place plus a seat into the main event (10k). I did not play today as the event was a seven card stud event.

Yesterday was tough as there were close to 300 players in the $1000 event and I place 42nd and only the top 27 were paid. So really looking forward to tomorrow to see if we can hit a big cash. The only exciting thing yesterday was I had James Woods (the actor) sitting directly across from me so when I wasnt involved in a hand I got to listen to tons of stories about the movie business.

He was actually a very good poker player. My table ended up being a very tough one. At one time I had 4 World Series of Poker bracelet winners sitting at my table. It was one of those days were I was just running card dead. Never had a pocket pair over 10s, had AK only once and had no action; and everyone was raising every pot, so I had to do everything I could to just grind out the chips but in the end could not get the cards necessary to stay alive. Here is how the final hand played out. I got a lot of complements on my play based on always being short stacked in this tournament.

We started with only 3000 in chips and I held my own and bested 260 players with my stack only going over 3000 in chips in the last round I played. With AJ I limped in and the flop came AJ5 and I moved all-in and was called by AQ so doubled up there.

OK here is the final hand. I was in the big blind and there were folds all around to the dealer button; he had been raising a lot of pots and raised again. I believe he was probably making a position raise as everyone folded and he could take the blinds and antes down right there with K rag or a weak Ace. So since I was already in the pot for 300 as the blinds were 150/300 with a 50 ante. so the pot was already sitting with 950 in it and his raise was 900 I only had to call 600 in this pot of 1850 so getting more then 3 to 1 on the call. So I did. the flop came 457 with 2 clubs and I am sitting with A6 of clubs so I have 9 clubs and an open ended straight draw and if he does not have an Ace another 3 outs. which gives me on the flop 18 outs which actually puts me at a 72% chance to win the hand so I move all-in. He thinks about it for a while and asks me, "why wouldnt you move in preflop if you had a pair" I just stared at the pot and waited for him to make a decision. Now with that Question I know he has an Ace and probably some sort of face card so now I only have 15 outs and maybe 14 if he has a club. which moves me to a 60%/56% respectively. So now I dont want a call even if I am a favorite I do not want to be in a coin flip for my remaining chips. After a while he finally decides to call and turns over AK. with no club... so I am a 60/40 favorite even though he has better cards due to my flush and straight draw. and if we pair the board twice only the ace will play so we have a couple ways to tie also.

Well as you probably guessed it a 9 of hearts came on the turn and a 4 of hearts showed up on the river to not improve my hand and I was sent to the rail just short of the money.

Tomorrow is another tourney and will update for that tomorrow.

Until next time....

3 Amigos as they call it

If you look at the blog posted: http://news.pokerpages.com/index.php?option=com_simpleblog&task=view&id=2489

They called Joe Sebok, Men "the Master" Nguyen, and myself the 3 amigos. I have been lucky as I am finally getting some press. Brian who works for Pokerpages.com and is responsible for all the reporting on the Legends poker Classic. He not only covers the tournaments but plays in them also. He is a great guy and does a great job of covering the events. if you go to the website listed above you can follow the action instead of waiting for me to blog at night.

Today was a big event, compared to the others here and was good and bad. Good that I took 28th out of 136 bad that they only paid the top 18. So on the trip we are 1 for 3 but have many more to go. I do not play tomorrow as it is Limit holdem but will play in a satellite to try to get in the main event cheap.

Until next time...

No money today but played well

Today was a $550 event and started so well; after the first break I was at $5175 and we started at $2000. So in two rounds had more then doubled up. By the end of the 3rd round I was hovering just over $7000 so I felt very good about my game I had only played 7 hands in the first 3 rounds and won 6 out of 7. Always getting in with the best of it and then this hand came up.

I was on the button and a guy who was playing about 80% of the hands was very reckless and was not raising with good hands so when he bet $700 in middle position I was pretty happy to everyone to fold around to me; I looked down at Pockets JJ. So I called his bet and with the blinds at 100/200 the big blind called the additional 500.

The flop came down 267 with three different suites so a beautiful flop for me. The big blind checked and so did the crazy player. So I fired out $2100 into a $2200 pot; leaving me with about 4000 left in my stack. The big blind instantly folded and then the crazy guy thought for a while and then moved all in.

Now here is where I go into the tank (which means to think about your hand and what to do) I tried to replay the hand in my head. This guy was in middle position and raised so the hands based on his previous plays should be either a middle pair 88,99,1010 or something like AK, AQ, AJ, KQ; or even suited connectors so he could have 89, for a straight draw. With a big pair he usually limped in and if he had three of kind he probably would have bet out first to make sure he didnt give me a free card. So I had to think my hand was good, so based on all these hands I would be a favorite to any of them. and now there is 8700 in the pot and I am getting 2 to one on my money and I think I am a favorite. as if he had any of these hands at worst I would be a 3/2 favorite so I call.

I flip over my JJ and ask him if he has 2 overcards and he says yes so I am like great I made a good read on him as he flipped over AA. oops. BAD READ!!! I still had a chance after the 4th card as a 8 came on the turn so with one card to come I had a 12% chance of winning. Sometimes you go on your feeling, sometimes you go on the odds. and sometimes you go back to your hotel and get a good night sleep to win the next day.

I am in the latter.

Until tomorrow...

Next two days of No-Limit Holdem

Just wanted to give you all a heads up I will be playing in the 550 tourney tomorrow and then the 2600 the day after that. So if you are religous say a prayer that we win them both. I feel as though I am playing some of the best poker and want to make sure that I get any help I can get to win the races.

Until my next cash...

First day of Legends Poker Tournament

Today I got up at 4am to get ready to catch an early flight to LA so I could check into my hotel and head to the Bicycle Casino for my first Event in the Legends poker classic. The event was the 2nd event of about 30 and was a 345 buy-in no-limit event. After registration closed there was a total of 333 entrants. As the month goes the amount of players will increase and will double on weekends. So with that it put the prize pool just over 160k. They put the payouts on the board at the first break and you had to make it in the top 27 to make the money. I really dont have any crazy hands to talk about as it was a pretty uneventful day. To make a long story short I took 13th which paid $1,615. The hand I went out on was one person limped in middle position and I looked down on the dealer button with 88 so I moved all in and was called by the limper who held AQ he hit a Queen on the flop so I needed one of the remaining two eights in the deck and didnt get either one. So for the company we have played in 3 tournaments and have cashed in 2, and are 1 for 1 for the Legends tourney so far. I will try to write in the blog every night I play.

It looks like pokerpages.com will be the online site to have coverage of the events but I will confirm that tomorrow.

Until our next cash....

Legends of poker schedule

Wanted to put up the schedule for the 2007 Legends of Poker
Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles
2 - 31 August 2007

Fri 3 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 No Limit Hold'em

Sat 4 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 291 + 35 No Limit Hold'em

Sun 5 Aug at 8.15 pm
$ 1,000 + 30 Mega Super Satellite Award 1 seat for every 10 players

Mon 6 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 Omaha Hi/Lo

Tue 7 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 No Limit Hold'em

Wed 8 - Thu 9 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 2,425 + 95 No Limit Hold'em

Thu 9 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 Limit Hold'em

Fri 10 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 No Limit Hold'em

Sat 11 - Sun 12 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 970 + 70 No Limit Hold'em

Sun 12 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo

Mon 13 - Tue 14 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 1,455 + 85 No Limit Hold'em

Tue 14 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 970 + 70 Omaha Hi/Lo

Wed 15 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 970 + 70 No Limit Hold'em

Thu 16 Aug at 12.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 Ace to Five Draw Lowball - Championship Event
Thu 16 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 No Limit Hold'em

Fri 17 - Sun 19 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 4,850 + 150 No Limit Hold'em


Sun 19 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 No Limit Hold'em Rebuys available

Mon 20 - Tue 21 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 1,940 + 90 No Limit Hold'em

Tue 21 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 485 + 45 Stud Hi/Lo & Omaha Hi/Lo Championship Event
Wed 22 - Thu 23 Aug at 3.15 pm
$ 970 + 70 Limit Hold'em

Thu 23 Aug at 12.15 pm
$ 1,000 + 30 Mega Super Satellite Award 1 seat for every 10 players

Thu 23 Aug at 12.15 pm
No Limit Hold'em - Media Event

Thu 23 Aug at 7.15 pm
$ 970 + 70 No Limit Hold'em

Fri 24 Aug at 12.15 pm
$ 1,000 + 30 Mega Super Satellite Award 1 seat for every 10 players

Sat 25 - Thu 30 Aug at 2.00 pm
$ 9,500 + 200 No Limit Hold'em - Championship Event

Tournament Schedule Changes

Just wanted to inform everyone of some of the changes that will be occuring over the next couple months. Due to the WSOP adding some European events, the Lake Tahoe event was cancelled and because of the work on the Bellagio Poker Room to upgrade for the December 5 diamonds; the Festa Al Lago was also cancelled. So we have changed the two tourneys that we will be entering in those tournament places. The good thing is all the players that would have been playing in those will also make the same adjustments so the prize pools should be the same.

In September instead of going to Lake Tahoe I will be heading to Biloxi Mississippi to play in the WPT event at the Beau Rivage. and Instead of playing in the Festa Al Lago in October we will be playing in the Caesars inagural event. If you have any questions or comments please comment.

Jason

Until next time...

Update on the Bellagio Cup

All,

I just realized that I did not put the final update of the Bellagio cup main event. I know that I sent out text pages as we started day 3. We came into the day with 55 players and a guaranteed 15k. The next level break for 20k was at 50 players. after about 1 hour of play we were down to 45 players. The next level with a prize increase is at 40 players. I started the day with 108,000 with the average around 180k so I needed to build my stack if we had any chance to win the 1.35 million first prize. The first hand was a tough one as I was on the button and had not played a hand yet and the action was folded around to me. I looked down and realized that I had pocket 4s. With the blinds and antes so high just by taking down the pot you win 24k with no callers. With the action around to me and the the pot so big and only 2 hands left to beat with the small a tight player and the big blind with only 40k in chips I pushed the action and moved all in. As I thought the small blind folded and with my image being such a solid player, only paying premium hands, he could fold a big hand as we were only a few spots from the next increase in pay. To my surprise he called, but after he turned over his hand I could see why. He woke up with JJ. so I needed to catch a 4 to win the pot. I didnt catch it so played continued. after that hand we did a table redraw and to my downfall I was put into the big blind at my new table. I only had about 23k left so with the blinds and antes it didnt really matter what I had I needed to move all in.
The guy in first position just called and it went around to Marcel Luske and he called also. I looked down and had A10, a great hand to have when 2 players just called. I pushed the action to try and just play against one player. I moved all in, the first player then moved all in also, and Marcel folded. I turned over my hand and the first player turned over the only hand I didnt want to see AA. I had the pleasure of Jeff Erwin be on hand to watch the 3rd day with his son. It is always nice to have one of the professional poker club members to be on hand. Well the flop came 10,4,3 so now I had a fighting chance if one of the 2 remaining 10s came out I would more then triple up. To my demise a 10 did not come on the turn or the river and I went out in 42nd place with paid over $20,000 so for the club we have 2 tournaments under out belt and 1 cash for a 50% cashing percentage.
I felt very good in my play and was happy to see the articles written about this event. Many of the sites were saying it was the most difficult field of players. I outlasted so many of the major pros and the best players in the world. Our next tournament is the Legends of poker in LA and will be there almost the entire month of August. The Lake Tahoe event was postponed due to the WSOP events in Europe so we may substitute the Beau Rivage event in its place.

Until next cash....

Next tourney travel arrangements made

All,

The WSOP was a very long 7 weeks and I have 2 weeks off prior to going to the next tournament. I will be heading to Bell Gardens, California to the Bicycle Casino for the Legends of poker tournament. There are many events leading up to the main event and there is a best all around player reward that offers a 10,000 free roll into the WPT event in Mississippi. The best all around player is for that player that cashes the most frequently in all the events including the main event.

I will be flying out on August 3rd and will be there until August 31st; playing in multiple events. I was planning on playing in the Tahoe tournament after that but the dates were moved so we will be playing in a different tourney in place of it and will post that soon. The link to the tournament events for the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bike: http://www.thebike.com/tournaments/schedule/index.php?tournament_id=77

until next time...

End of Day 2

All,

It is 2:29am and I am writing a quick blog before I head to be after a 14 hour day of poker. we started the day today at noon and I was in around 171st place out of 240 with the money starting at 100th place. I grinded my way all day making sure to take advantage when I had large hands. I built my stack up to around 70k by the 2nd break and was cruising along when I went completely card dead.

For rounds 3 and 4 of the day (each round is 90 minutes) I did not play one hand. I think the best 2 cards I saw was K9 offsuit. Everyone at my table was raising and re-raising. I looked for opportunities to steal pots but with all the raising there wasnt really any opportunity. So I just slowly lost my stack at about 40k we were only 4 from the money as we sat at 104 players for about an hour and I slowly went down to a little over 17k. Then we lost 3 and were only 1 away from the money. and then this hand came up.

I am the first person to act and I look down at QQ as you know this was not good in the WSOP so I thought maybe it would be better here. But I had a decision do I take the chance to double up and put myself in good shape. would everyone at the table think that the only hand I would move in with such a short stack and one from the money would be AA. So I pushed all in. and everyone instantly folded, so I picked up an additional 8100 in the blinds and antes which made it easy to cruise into the money. But it didnt stop there as the very next hand after we were in the money and at 99 players. I am now in the big blind. 3 people fold and a guy in middle position raises to 5k and everyone folds around to the button who declares all-in for 17k. I look down at AK of spades and need to make a move so I go all in for the 25K I have and the first raiser calls. 1st player has JJ second player has QQ and as I said I had AK. the flop comes A57 Turn 2 and river Ace. so I knock out one player and triple up. so now I am sitting at 75K; the very next hand I get pocket Aces in the small blind but everyone folds but the button who calls and I rasie and everyone folds.

I ended the day with 108K and there are 57 players left. we start at noon tomorrow and play down until there are only 6 players left.

Wish me luck and until next time...

End of Day 1 and in fine shape

As you all know today I played in Day 1C of the Bellagio Cup III. The tournament started with over 580 players and after today we ended with around 240 players. The tournament pays the top 100 players with 100th place paying over 15K and first place paying over 1.3 Million. We start Day 2 at noon tomorrow and play 5 rounds so we will be done tomorrow at 8pm. I am currently sitting with 27,025 which is a little under the average but when we return to action the blinds are only 400/800 with a 100 ante. so I have over 30 times the big blind which gives me a lot of time to build up my stack.

if you look at Cardplayer.com you can see a lot of the play by play action. A lot of big pros are already out but there are some big names left and 2 of them were at my table. Johnny "World" Hennigan and Erik Seidel. I will give more updates tomorrow.


Payout structure for top 5:

PLACE/PRIZE

1/$1,342,320

2/$671,320

3/$361,480

4/$232,490

5/$154,920

Wish me luck and until next time...

Day with Kenna before Day 1C at the Bellagio Cup

Yesterday I was invited to Kenna James and Marsha Waggoner's house here in Las Vegas for a group BBQ. There were about 15 of us in total including Kenna's 2 boys. His house is great; nice hot tub and Pool with a waterfall running into it. The house is beautiful with movie room, library, entertainment area, weightroom, and could not be without a poker room. Marsha and Kenna made a created a great spread that everyone got to eat beyone their stomach capacity.

Card Player Magazine was there to do a report on Kenna and his living style in Las Vegas. It was a blast a great day of relaxation before Thursday's Tournament.

I am just writing a quick update to tell everyone they added a Day 1C at the Bellagio Cup that I will be playing in today starting at noon. It is anticipated to have over 500 players so first place prize should be over 1 million. They play 5 rounds each day 1 and then they bring all 3 days together to play tomorrow. I will update the blog tonight after Day 1 is finished. Wish me luck in our 2nd tourney.

Until next time...

GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS

The good news is I outlasted, Jamie Gold, Phil Helmuth and many of the other best players in the World. The bad news is I was just knocked out after 11 1/2 hours of play. Grrrrrr.... The Day was not too eventful for me as I seemed to be card dead the whole tournament (that means not getting any hands at all) and when I did the turn out wasnt so great. Example late in round 4 I raise under the gun for 1300 with the blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. 2 players later reraises to 4k and everyone folds around to me; I move all in for my remaining 8K with pocket AA. He immediately calls and has AA also. my luck on this day. the odds of getting pocket AA is 280 to 1 and when I get them so does another player. it is something like 78,000 to 1 for two players to have pocket aces; and to make things worse 2 spades came on the flop and he had the Ace of Spades and then 4th street brought another spade so now he has 8 cards in the deck to beat me (any spade) and all the others are for a tie. a club came on the river so we split the pot.
That is just one example. it was a frustrating day as I could not get anything going with the cards I had. now to tell you what happend on the final hand and how I was knocked out of the main event of the World Series:
I was in the big blind with the structure 300/600 with 75 ante. so before there is any action at all there is 1750 in the pot. one guy calls the 600 and then a reckless player raises to 2000 I have only 8000 left so I need to take down a pot soon. I look down and have A8 of spades. Not a great hand to reraise as if he has a pair or a big Ace he will call my all in preflop so I just calle the additiona 1400 so that I can move in on the flop and then he has to make a decision. Well the flop comes out perfect. J82 with two spades. So I have middle pair with the nut flush Draw (nut means the best) So I move all in, even if he does have a Jack or an over pair I am still a 44% chance of winning the hand if he doesnt and has AK or AQ then I am a huge favorite he would only have a12% chance to win. He immediately calls me and tables AJ so now I am a little behind but any 8 or spade and I win. The problem is no 8 or spade came and I was sent to the rail.
So this year we didnt get into the money in the main event. but we have a ton of poker left to play this year and chances to win a ton of money.

Until the next tourney...

PS... This thing doesnt have spell check so sorry if the grammer and spelling is off.

WSOP DAY 1D

Today is my day one for the WSOP main event. We start at noon and you can follow the event at pokernews.com. Based on the other 3 day 1's if we just double up to 40K in chips we will be at the average in chips for day 2. They are combining Day 1a and 1b for tomorrows Day 2; Day 1c and 1d will play on Wednesday for their Day 2 and then all the remaining players after the Day 2's will be combined for Day 3 on Thursday. The prize pools and amount of entrants have not been displayed yet as players are allowed to register all the way up to noon today, but I will update that information tonight when I get back to the room. It will be very late as all the day 1's go until 4am as they play for 14 hours + breaks.

until next time....

Until the next event

Sorry I have not had updates lately. I have not played the last couple days due to trying to get the PPC complete so we can play in more WSOP events. I will have updates after the next tournament I play.

Going old school

I will update this more later as it is 4:29 am and I just placed 5th in a $150 Razz tournament at Binions Horshoe. 5th place was $1175. So not a bad showing. There were 204 entrants and the final table of 8 lasted a good 3 hours before the first person was out. After sleeping I will give more details but another cash for the club.

Until next time.... after I get some rest.

5 for 5 at Harrahs

About once out of every 3 days I stop at my hotel poker room at harrahs and play in there 7:30pm nightly poker tournament. The crazy thing is they range in players anywhere between 45-80 players so the payout can be anywhere between 4-9 places. I have played in 5 events there and made 5 final tables. They are small buy-ins only $100 but I have won a total of $2095 and the total cost for all 5 events was only $500 so over 400% return on the money. I feel that I am playing such great poker and have been fortunate in the Harrah's tournaments; we just need that to carry over to a large tournament so that we have a huge payout soon.

Until next time...

Excellent Play at STS (Single Table Satellites)

Today was a great day for the poker club. I played in two single table satellites and won both of them. The single table satellites were at the Venetian; it is a $130 buy-in with first and second place getting a free seat into the $540 tournament with the opportunity to play for a first prize of over $80,000. That is prize they have been averaging for the last few days. So the next two tournaments I have won entries from the satellite play.

I played very well and got off a few good hands by making great reads on other players; one time I had KK and raised a guy called, and then another player moved in. I thought about it for a while and new this was a tight (doesn’t play a lot of hands) player so I decided to fold as I had a pretty good chip stack and didn’t need to risk it at this time; the first player called and the raiser had Pocket AA so that was one good read.

The second was when I was in the big blind with AQ and a guy in middle position raised to $300 from middle position and I smooth called. The flop came 788 and I checked, and he bet out $350 I put him on either AJ or KQ based on his past betting patterns, and decided he was trying to buy the pot. On the turn came a 4 and he checked and so did I. The river brought a 7 so there was two pair on the board. He moved all in immediately.

I took a few minutes to think about his betting and why did he not bet the turn and give me a free card but then bet the river and so much; if he wanted me to call he would have bet a small value bet that I would call so I the thought more that he had to have either an ace also or maybe a King so I called and showed my Ace high with two pair on the board; he mucked his hand and got up from the table busted… as he walked away under his breath he says, “dammit I shouldn’t have tried to steal from that guy, he is too good.” So that helped the ego as I cruised on to my second win.

That is the best way to win entries as we get a $1000 worth of events for only a quarter of the price. I will be playing in tomorrow’s Venetian event and will update the blog tomorrow night.

Until next time…

Completing tournament schedule

Sorry that there has been no updates lately. I am awaiting the tournament schedule to be complete and approved before playing in any major events. Hope to be done this week.

2 days off

I did not play in a tournament today and Julie flew in Yesterday for the WSOP ladies event that begins tomorrow at noon. So I will be on the sidelines rooting her on as she competes against over a thousand other women for a first prize of over 250K and a unique WSOP bracelet just for this event.

Until next time...

Event #10 at the WSOP

Today was Event #10 No-Limit Holdem.

I sat down at my table to get the lay of the land and to my surprise there were no major pros at my table, which can be a good and a bad thing. The good is that you can take advantage of weak players. The bad, I sat down to a table of all unknown players that I had never played with before.
I told myself I am going to play very conservative and watch the players to pick up tells and the type of players I am playing against. It was very easy to do as in the first 2 hours I only saw one pair (7s) and only 3 hands with an Ace. So I was dumping almost every hand I saw. I don’t think there was one pot that wasn’t raised pre-flop.
After the end of the second round I was sitting at $4400 in chips and we started with 4000.
This is still fine as when we got back from break the blinds are 50/100 so I am still sitting at 44 times the big blind. I am going to skip forward about 4 hours. After we got back from break our table was broke and I moved from table 164 with no big players to table 5 with Harry Demetriou on my right and Erik Seidel on my left. For those who don’t know Erik has 7 WSOP bracelets. And Harry is one of the top European Players. I sit down and the cold deck continues for about 15 hands and the blinds go up to 100/200 with a 25 ante so pre-flop there is already 550 in the pot. I picked up a couple chips in the next hand I was in middle position and 2 folds to Harry; he raised to 600 and I called and so did one other player in the big blind. The Flop came 679 and both the big blind and Harry checked so I bet 2500 a pot size bet and both players fold, and I increase my stack to over 10,000 with the average being just under that. I picked up a few pots and then this crazy hand happened.

With the blinds now at 200/400 with a 50 ante, a guy in middle position raises to 1500 and then a re-raise from another player to 6000 and then the big blind says I am all in. The first raiser folds and then it is around to the player that raised to 6000 just mucks his hand to the dealer. Everyone at the table just stares in awe as the man says you have me. Not realizing the guy moved all in for only 400 more chips. It was the worst but not just because the guy didn’t call but the guy turned over a pair of 77 and the guy that mucked said he had A10 so he only had to throw in an additional 600 to win 14200 so now the guy that might be out had a fair amount of chips.
The reason this is so bad is about 6 hands later 3 callers and it comes around to me. I look down and have JJ and raise to 1500 I get 2 callers. The flop comes JJQ what a great flop. I have the nuts “4 of a kind” and even better the first guy bets out 3000 and then next guy raises to 7000 so I call because I don’t want to lose the first guy. The Turn comes a K and this time the first guy checks and second guy bets 5000, and now I want to just take it down now and not deal with any other cards just in case someone gets lucky… So I announce all in, and 2 my surprise and pleasure both players call. So now this is going to be a huge pot and will make me the chip leader. I turn over my JJ for quads and the first person turns over A10 for the straight so he is drawing dead as no card can help him but the second player turns over QQ for a full house. And then the river comes and my heart stops. I have never had such a BAD BEAT as this. It is the 2%, 1 remaining Queen in the deck for my 4 jacks have just been beat by 4 Queens. Every one just stared at me and said that it was the most brutal hand they have ever seen and I am putting my stuff in my backpack and heading out the door.
I just said nice hand and walked away from the table shaking my head that this just happened. But the reason I brought up the hand before this one is the guy that won the pot was the guy that should have been out on the crazy hand.

stats: 1500+ started
payed 140 players
first prize over 500k

until next time....

Curse of the Queens

As in my last entry, Queens were not a very good hand for me, well today they were not very good to go up against. I was playing in the Venetian noon tournament and I was so lucky to get the table draw I had. As we played through the first round I realized I had all amateurs at my table and were not very good players. I picked my spots and with a starting stack of 10,000 after one hour of play I was up over 15,000 with the average chip stack only at 10,400. There was approximately 310 players in this event so a good field as it was the largest no-limit holdem (NLH) event going on today as the WSOP has a Pot-limit event today. So back to the event,

Everything was smooth sailing until this hand came up. I was on the button and there was one caller around to me. I looked down and had KK, the 2nd best starting hand in NLH. The blinds were at 50/100 and I raised to 600 so someone with Ace rag (low card) would not see the flop cheap. The small blind called (a crazy players, played lots of hands) the flop came 25Q, what a wonderful flop for me. He bet out 600 and I raised to 2600, here is where it got interesting. He pondered the play for a while and then announced he was all in for an additional 3300. Now this is only 1/3 my stack and I am sure I have the best hand but I wanted to replay it in my head.

I raise pre-flop and he just calls, with AK or AQ he would probably re-raise or with a high pair like AA,KK,QQ. So now I had to determine the hands he would just smooth call my pre-flop raise out of position. Usually that would be any middle pair 66,77,88,99 or a hand like J10 suited or KQ. So I went into the tank (thinking) and finally decided he either has the middle pair or a hand like KQ. But that is risking all his chips on a semi- bluff. So I call. And he turns over KQ so I am a huge favorite to his hand. He only has 2 outs, the 2 Queens left in the deck. Any other card and I win so on the turn he has less then a 8% chance to win. But due to the curse of the Queens, the turn card comes a Q and now I only have a 4% chance to win with the remaining 2 Kings. BAD BEAT.

That was a crazy hand, but part of poker and why you cannot cash in every tournament. About 30 minutes later the queen sealed my fate. I again raised in position with Pocket 7s and had 2 callers. The flop was perfect 237 with no flush draw. The guy first to act bets out 1000 into a 1900 pot, and the second player calls, I move all in for my remaining 4700 in chips to take the large pot down right there and allow me to get close to the starting amount in chips, the original better folds and the second player calls immediately and turns over pocket QQ again I am a huge favorite he has to hit one of the two remaining Queens in the deck, or so I thought, the first guy that folds declares he had KQ so there is one remaining Queen in the deck and again on the turn hits the remaining Queen to knock me out of the tournament.

For the trip we are 2 for 4 and a lot more tournaments to go we should hit a big one soon.

Until next time.

Chaos turns to Mayhem

Today was Event #3 for the WSOP $1500 No-Limit Holdem. I got up pretty early and went down to the gym to get a work out before I got ready for the day. After a 40-minute ride on the bike I got ready and headed over to the Rio to have breakfast prior to the event starting. After a big bowl of oatmeal and coffee I headed down to the tournament area. It was insane; wall to wall players, spectators, dealers and event staff. Thousands and thousands of people, and I headed to find out where my table was located.

I come to find out that there was an additional 50 tables above and beyond the 250 that are in the main area in big outdoor tents behind the conference center. When I went in I didn’t think it looked that bad, and only the second time I was looking at my cards with natural sunlight, the other was the final table last year in Aruba. As I sat down ready to play with a noon start I looked around the table and realized that I only recognized one player. And that is due to the tournament size; this year they are setting records. As we were getting ready to get the cards in the air the tournament director got on the microphone and stated that we would be starting an hour late due to the large line of people still trying to register for the days event.

The tournament was sold out with over 3000 players and 1500 alternates, these players are not seated until someone is knocked out and they take that players seat. We did finally get started around 1:00 and played for about 2 hours and they still had about 500 alternates that needed to be seated. I had not played a lot of hands in the first 2 rounds as most every pot was being raised pre-flop and I just wasn’t catching any cards. And every time I did someone would have something better. Just to explain this accurately, in the first 4 rounds of play I had pocked Queens 6 times and lost 5 of them. I just was getting very unlucky. But the good thing is most players would have been busted out of the tournament by the second time but I lost the minimum I could on each pot.

Due to the lack of quality hands I had to make a few moves just so I could survive through round 5. When this crazy hand came up. The blinds were 150/300 with antes of 50 and I was in the big blind, it was folded around to the cut off position and he bet just 600. This was kind of a small bet so I thought he may be limping in with AQ or AK as he would have made a bigger raise with a small pair or he could have a hand like QJ suited. The small blind called and as I was in the big blind I looked down and had 67 of diamonds, and since I was already committed to my blind of 300 I called the additional 300. The pot was laying almost 6 to 1 so it was a easy call and this is the type of hand if I hit could take down a large pot.
The flop came 258 with 2 diamonds and the small blind checked, now I have a open ended straight draw, flush draw and I have put the raiser on two high cards I have to be a favorite so I bet 900 which is a pretty small bet into that big of a pot hoping I just get a call but even better if he pushes all in. he goes into the tank for about 2 minutes and then moves all in, the small blind folds and I have only 2100 left so I call. He turns over to my surprise K2 with no diamonds so I have 19 outs, which is a 72%, favorite even though he has 1 pair. Well the 9 comes on the turn and I hit the straight and more then double up.
I am now sitting with 7800 and feeling pretty good, but 2 hands later this comes up and I lose a big amount of my stack. I am one behind the button and with one raise before me up to 900 I call with AK of clubs. There is only 2 of us in the hand and the flop comes KJ4 he bets out 2100 and I raise to 5500 to put him all in. He thinks for a long time and then calls and turns over A4 I am a huge favorite as he only had 2 outs (only 2 cards that can beat me) The turn comes an Ace which is a great card as he has less than a 5% chance to win the hand but hits the 4 on the river and I lose 6400 out of my 7800 chips. What a bad beat, so I am now down to 1400 in chips. The hand I was knocked out was anything that crazy but I had JJ and moved all in and was called by a person with AQ and he caught a Q and I was out of the tournament 20 minutes before the dinner break.
It was frustrating to lose that key hand as if I would have won that hand I would have had over 15000 in chips and near the chip leader at that time and in great position to make a run. But it wasn’t meant to be this time. That is why there are 55 events; we have many more to take down, just for you that care first prize in this small event would have been over 780K.

All is not lost though after I busted out I went and had dinner and headed back to my hotel. They were having a small tournament in the card room at Harrah’s and I played in it. There were only around 40 players but I took 4th and it was a 300% return on our investment so that works as a good practice even though it was only a $100 buy-in and last night played in the same tourney and took 3rd but was only a profit of 270%. But good practice for short-handed play.

Will be playing in the Venetian Double stack tournament tomorrow, great value. It is $1090.00 buy-in and you get 10,000 in chips so hope to win us some money tomorrow.

Until next time.