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....