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.