Mini-Vegas Tourney Trip

 I wasn't even sure if I was going to have time to play cards when I hopped on a plane last Friday night to catch up with my wife and daughter in Vegas and visit with the in-laws.   But the family only had minimal plans, most of which involved swimming in the pool at the house and eating - so I was easily able to grab an afternoon for teh pokerz.

I'd had my eye on the Orleans Summer Series for a couple of months - and it turned out I would be able to play in one of the events after all.   An 11am $300 entry with a 50K guarantee.  It turns out they would be able to double that guarantee on the day I played.  Noice!

If you're a regular reader of this blog you know that I've hardly ever cashed at the Orleans.  In fact, I think there's a good chance that I've NEVER made the money here.

This time around I'd hoped it would be different.

I sat down at one of the outer tables that wrapped around the bar area outside the actual poker room itself.  Looks like there would be plenty of runners.  455 entries, it turned out.  A big field and a long way to go.

I relaxed a bit - there was no reason to stress.  This was a big tournament with a ton of people who play poker all the time.  No pressure!  Besides, I was just too gosh darn happy to be playing live poker in a casino for the first time in well over a year.   

Yes, I had a big grin on my face for the first hour of play or so.

90 minutes went by with little to report - then this hand unfolded...

I opened in middle position with A10 soooted.  The button, a regular from my moose lodge in Burbank I think (but wasn't 100% sure with his mask and shades on) flat called.  He had been calling on almost every pot I opened, so I wasn't surprised or that concerned.   The big blind also called.

Flop was 754 with two clubs.  Yes, I had the A10 of clubs.   I c-bet, down-bet, small and the button clicked it back.  The big blind shoved his whole stack, I had him covered with about twice as many chips as he had.

I thought for a moment, I knew my moose lodge buddy was likely on a draw or had possibly flopped a wonky pair.  His calling range at the lodge and in this tournament no doubt was VERY wide.

I ripped my entire stack to get him to go away - I barely had him covered - he beat me into the pot.  (Gulp!)  He showed 67 off suit, no flush draw.  So I was right, wonky pair, open ended.   The big blind turned over AJ off suit, just overs.

So my aces were gone.   The turn was a 10 and I was in the lead.  The river was a queen of CLUBS.

Ship it!!!

Felt great to have more breathing room and, if I'm being honest, it felt great to bust my Moose friend.  If he was who I think he was, he plays entirely by his emotions and tries to make things personal at the poker table.  Frequently going out of his way to get into pots with me.  Glad to see he got bit playing with trash.  Sorry, not sorry.

Time went by and before I knew it we were at the first break.  I had chipped up a bit more here and there with small ball and aggression.  No premiums in sight.

Back from a quick bite, this legend sat down across the table from me.

You may or not remember him - "Miami" John Cernuto is

an old school tournament grinder who has been around forever and he was prominently featured in various old ESPN WSOP shows. He has 5 million in tournament earnings and 3 bracelets I believe.

I was excited to see him, and he was friendly and affable as he confidently splashed around and accumulated.

I mentioned that he was at my table later when I was at a different table - and the dealer there rolled her eyes and said something to the effect of.  "Yeah, John's ok.  He can be pretty rude if he's losing though..."

Well, for his time with me (2 hours or so) he was a perfect gentleman and pillaged his neighbors stacks with a smile.  Thankfully I didn't get involved with him in a hand.

The second break came and went, and shortly thereafter our table broke and I was put in the poker room proper - at the very last table that was to break if the floor plan was to be followed.   I knew I was likely at this table for the remainder of the tournament.

Just before my first table had broke, I got it in three ways - all in pre-flop.  I had AK.  A short stack had KK and another player who had me covered had KQ and attempted to get rid of me with a shove, but of course I wasn't going anywhere.  An ace spiked on the flop and we held - a lovely almost triple up!

Clearly cleaned for Covid lol

Oh and I almost forgot - I busted another player right before the table break with quads!  I didn't get to see his hand because he flung his cards deep into he muck with disgust before walking off.  Always nice to get paid with 4 of a kind ha ha.

And then at my new table - I continued to chip up nicely, even though one of the opponents on my left was a very capable poker player, my old friend Carlos from my home game!   #SmallWorld and so on...

I was way above chip average for several more hours.  During that time I did get tangled up with Carlos in one interesting hand.

I had been playing fairly aggressively and opening a lot - so I know Carlos and others at the table were getting pretty fed up.   I 3-bet a MP opener from the HJ with AhQh, Carlos defended his button and the opener on my right also defended.

Flop was 1054 with 2 hearts.  A great flop to c-bet which I did.  I sized up a bit bigger than half pot, which is what I do on wet boards, and Carlos and the 3-better carved out chips to call.

The pot was now pretty bloated and I had just a bit more than a pot-sized bet behind.  The flop peeled off a beautiful queen and I jammed.  Carlos looked disgusted and tanked and folded, the player on my right folded as well.  Later I told Carlos what I had.  He said he'd had 77.

Up until my arrival at the second table I had been tweeting quite a bit - but the second table was in a dead zone so I pretty much stopped recording hands.  However I do remember a couple, as they were critical.

After the 45 minute dinner break (at 630 or 7 I think) I came back to a slightly above average stack.  The table had gotten tougher as weaker players had busted and stronger ones replaced them.

One particularly tough player on my immediate left had effectively shut me down as he was big on the 3 betting and also being sticky to my opens and c-bets.

I had tried to open from the SB and steal from him a couple of times with no success.  

Then shortly after he lost  a big pot and had about a third of my stack behind, I limped in the SB with 7c2c.  He checked.

Flop was 647 with two clubs.  Bingo bango bongo.  I checked, he bet small, I jammed.  He grimaced but still called quickly.  He had 68, no flush draw.

Naturally he DRILLED the turn with a red 5.  The river was a brick.  It was a fairly big chunk of my chips and I was certainly tilted.  

"Well I guess that's how it's done.  Just drill your gunshot and profit..."   I couldn't help myself.

He said something nice back but I didn't care.  This game can still be infuriating ha ha!

I managed to bite my tongue for the rest of the night over this hand, though I did commiserate a little bit with Carlos on the next break, expressing my frustration.    It's not that my opponent was bad - it was just a lousy call for his tournament life.  Oh well.

As the money approached, my stack was now just below average.  I rocked the short stack fairly well, picking great spots to 3 bet jam which thankfully all got through, many times with lighter holdings.

Then finally after an active player in MP opened I was on the button and looked down at AQ.  A real hand for once - I shipped it!   The opener snapped with AK.

I had him covered, but not by a lot.  I was crippled.

And of course the money was tantalizingly close.   

Visions of bubbling at the Orleans, missing the money AGAIN, couldn't help but occupy my brain.

The money wasn't close enough that I could just fold forever, but I did let the blinds pass through me more than once as I was whittled down to less than 4 big blinds.

It was not looking good for our hero.  I jammed at one point in MP with 109 sooted, and somehow it got through with no one looking me up.  The big stack on the big blind across the table said she was likely going to call with any two, but then folded 82 off face up.

And then, we went hand for hand, for one hand - and then the bubble burst!

I managed to double up after that with a jam of JJ that held against AK.

Then I had to jam again awhile later (after making a pay jump) - with Kd2d on the button.  My old sticky Mr. Gut-Shot snapped with 77.  I flopped all the outs, a gut-shot and a flush draw, but still lost.   

GG Orleans!  I was sad of course not to go deeper, but I was ELATED to have cashed at the Orleans, FINALLY!!!    

I finished 55 out of 450 for $549.  It was 9 hours of grueling tournament poker, but I was pretty darn happy.  Especially satisfying to let the in-laws know that yes, I made some money.  (They are always astounded when I don't cash - they figure if you don't cash in a tournament you must not know what you're doing lol)

********

So I figured that was all for poker on 4th of July weekend.  We had a lovely 4th by the pool and enjoyed fireworks shot off by neighbors in every direction.  They don't do the safe and sane thing in Vegas.  These were major rockets in the suburbs!

Then it was Monday and there wasn't a lot going on.  So I figured why not head on down to the loverly South-Point casino?   

They had several dailies every day - the one I had my eye on worked out for the timing and also the price point.  A $60 with unlimited re-entries and a $2000 guaranteed prize pool.   Sweeeeet.

Before ponying up and sitting down, I took time to grab some selfies with Benny Binion.

Not sure why there was a statue of the old gangster (yes, he killed people) here miles away from the actual Binion's casino (which by the way has CLOSED it's poker room) but there it was.

They also had a hot dog cart with delicious dogs for only $1.25!  Score!  I grabbed one and scarfed it down before sitting down to gamble it up.

I was definitely digging the non-traditional colors.  We only started with 10K in chips, but I was fine with that.  It looked like we were going to get at least 80 runners.  I didn't want to do the 9 hour thing again at all.

Turns out there would be 115 entries total.  I myself almost had to re-enter because I punted away half my chips in the first half hour with this astoundingly stupid hand.

The nicest man in the world was sitting directly to my left.  He was from Chicago and he was just lovely.

He opened under the gun and it folded to me on the big blind with AQ.  Normally this is an immediate 3-bet, but I knew my fine friend was opening with a SUPER TIGHT range.  I very likely was well behind.

Flop was all low cards rainbow.  I pondered check-raising if he c-bet, but he didn't!  Check check.

Turn was a 10 bringing a second heart.  Check check.

River was another low card, but a third heart.   Somewhere in the dark recesses of my lizard brain I thought that AQ might be good, and also that if he finally bet maybe I could use the river as a scare card and turn my hand into a bluff.

Bad idea.   Makes very little sense.  The hot dog must've scrambled my neurons.

I checked, he finally bet a small amount.  I check-raised a stupidly large amount (nearly half of my chips).

He groaned and moaned about letting me get there, and for a moment there was a glimmer of hope.

"Oh well I can always re-enter" he said before splashing in his chips.  I fast rolled him and he looked ready to muck, before he realized that his pocket queens were WAY GOOD.

My bluff made very little sense, but he did indeed actually think about mucking ha ha.

So I had half my chips, but still had 15 or so big blinds.  And the good news was, I didn't let it get me down.  I eagerly looked for spots to get my chips in, where I was likely to be ahead - and I did good.  I 3-bet jammed a few times expertly, including one time where I let it rip after 5 limpers.  I had a garbage hand, but it didn't matter - the table was SOFT and I had enough chips still to do some damage.

Coming back after the break, I was at about 25 big blinds, and one of the few semi-professionals in the entire room sat down on my immediate left.  Boo.

This tournament no doubt was heavily raked - I wouldn't be shocked if the house was taking over 30%, but there were still a few pros who no doubt accurately saw the super soft field as enough of a positive factor to partake.  This dude on my left was one of them.

He put the kibosh on my blatant thievery for awhile, but I still hung in there and chipped up slowly with a tighter opening range and good post flop aggression.

Then our table broke.  After the 2nd break (breaks every hour and 20 minutes I think) I ran into this hand against the semi-pro who had come over with me and now sat 2 seats to my left.

Opened 2.5x from the CO with 99.  Semi-Pro defended his small blind.  I was just hoping for a low flop, but was delighted to see 962 rainbow.

I knew he would be aggressive and sticky, so I happily c-bet (1/3 pot).  He check-raised all in!  An absurd overbet that made very little sense.   I have to chalk it up to him classifying me as an aggressive liar or something.  The shove felt very emotional and personal.  I of course snapped him off and he was fairly aggrieved.  He'd had J9, and flopped top pair.  Don't have any clue why he would dump all of his chips in against someone who's only calling with a hand that beats him and folding everything else.

I had him barely covered, so it was a great and true double up.

Now I was in fantastic shape, with nary a strong opponent in sight.  I immediately cranked up the aggression and steadily accumulated chips for the next hour and a half.

Before I knew it, the bubble approached...

We re-drew for the final two tables, there was 18 of us and only 15 were getting paid.

After a player dropped a motion was made to pay the bubble and I politely smiled and said "absolutely not."

My table mates were a bit aghast,  and disgruntled, but they didn't press it.  I wasn't going to give up the chance to pillage with impunity.   The one remaining "pro" in the entire tournament couldn't help but smile slightly after I had told the TD that the answer was no.  He was a shorter stack, but he understood.

Anyways, my 'shocking' denial didn't matter much for long because two players busted out almost immediately afterwards in a double knock-out. at the other table  I briefly got moved to fill in the seat at that table.

We played maybe one orbit before we had to redraw for the final table.  Once the money bubble burst it became a chaotic shove-fest, that I pretty much stayed out of.

Once we were at the final table I was actually 3rd in chips with just under 200K, but I felt great as I knew deep down that the best player left was none other than yours truly.  It's a strange feeling to have - both satisfying and yet humbling.  I knew if I didn't finish top 3 it was going to be either bad luck or a brain aneurysm on my part.

I tangled a few times with the one big stack at the table who seemed rather fearless and eager to mix it up with other big stacks.  

The first time she opened from the CO and I 3-bet her rather large from the SB with KsJs, she looked rather shocked when I raised her.  She tanked for a good 30 seconds (I could tell it was a bit of the ol' Hollywood) before folding.

I hadn't played with her hardly at all in the tournament, so she didn't know what to expect from me.  But I had a good idea after watching her for an orbit or two what to expect from her.

She was opening WAY too often, considering she had two other big stacks on her immediate left. She was also c-betting boards with a sizing that was WAY too large, even on boards that didn't hit her range.

So I was ready to tangle.  After my shocking 3-bet, it was an orbit later that I 3 bet again from the button after she opened.  I had JJ.   This time she defended.    Flop was Q83 rainbow.  

She led out half pot.  I flat called.

She checked the Q turn.  Feeling a lot better, I checked back.

The river was a 6.  She led out small.   I pondered what to do.   I knew she hated to fold, and I knew she could very likely pay me with Ace high (not to mention 10s, 9s, 7s, etc)

I cut out 3x her lead and pushed it forward.  She tanked for a bit, then called.

I fast rolled the jacks, she shook her head and showed AK before mucking.  Good times.

In the meantime through all of this, we had 4 short stacks go out fast, and then there was five of us left.  Including a lovely older woman who didn't speak a word of english.

I finally busted her after she called off my river jam with AJ and no pair.  I had trip 8s after a very nice turn.

With only four of us left, the two gentleman at the table had been pushing since we sat down for a chop.  The woman was indifferent.  I had run the numbers in my head and was fairly confident, being the chip leader, that I would get at least 1K if we ran the numbers.

I agreed and asked the TD if he could do an ICM calculation, he was very agreeable to this.

The older of the two gentleman said something like "It's 800-something apiece"  I smiled and said, "Well I would love to see an ICM calculation"  He didn't know what that was and I explained it to him.  ICM stands for Independent Chip Model, and it's a formula that tournament directors run to mathematically determine what the value of the chips are in cash.  He understood and shrugged his shoulders ok.

This had been a dream table in a lot of ways, and my opponents lack of experience as well as their lovely personalities were a big part of that dream.

They ran the numbers and came back - I would indeed be getting $1000, $1072 to be exact - with the others getting roughly $860, $780 and $740 each.  Sold!

Normally these days I am typically opposed to almost all chops - but here with the blinds on the rise and my sizable chip lead being only 35 blinds, as well as my earlier stated desire to NOT do the 9 hour thing, I was happy to take the deal, and thankfully so were my fellow poker players.

Before they brought out the cash (in casino chips of course) they handed me this lovely card protector / spinner.  Wow!  It's metal, it's spinny, it's dope!  I was just as happy to receive this as I was the cash!

The second largest stack was a bit sad that he had missed out on this - "Hey, I didn't know we were playing for that!"

I smiled and told him truthfully "If I had known this was a prize I would've said something."

But the ship had sailed, we were awarded the monies.  I toked a green chip and took the rest to the cage!

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to be the wrecking ball in this tournament!  It was truly a great time!

I played very well, using selective aggression and looking for the right moments to accumulate.

I didn't have very many premiums - no Aces, Kings or Queens that I can recall.  Flopping a set  of 9s against a tough opponent who spazzed out and over bet the pot was for sure the crucial hand.  It gave me all the energy and momentum to lay waste to the field on my way to the final chip lead.  

As an added bonus - this tournament also went to the Hendon Mob website, so I got some GPI points and also added my very first official first place result to the data base!  (I've taken down more than a handful of casino tournaments over the years, but most don't end up on the Hendon Mob.) This makes me very happy, probably more happy than I should be but oh well!

I am SUPER excited about my upcoming trips to Reno in a month and to the WSOP in the fall.  Cannot WAIT to play more live casino poker and flex my tournament skillz.  Hopefully I will also play and run good in cash.

Until then, thanks for reading if you made it this far!  I look forward to writing up those trips as well - hopefully the results are as good!

The BEST laid plans...

 2021 is turning out to be a Cracker Jack year, especially compared to that piece of flaming garbage 2020, when it comes to the poker!

I've already played in my garage four times, click here to read reports on our get togethers, and I'm eagerly looking forward to my return to the actual felt in a casino - hopefully sooner rather than later!

Thank the Poker gods, the plexiglass finally came down in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago and masks are no longer required.  Of course it had been down for almost a month in Vegas, with nary a mask in sight as well.

I haven't been to any SoCal card rooms yet, but hopefully I can squeeze in a weekend tournament soon. My itch to play cash is tempered by the ridiculous rake in Los Angeles, so I'll probably hold off on that.

Also, I final tabled the second of two Moose tournaments I've been to in the last few weeks.  I cashed in sixth for a couple hundred bucks, which was disappointing, but it was still fantastic to be back and splashing around with these delightful folks.

My exit was a bit of a punt, with a 22 big blind stack in the small blind I jammed with A10 after the button opened 2.5x after a middle position player had limped in.  The limper folded, the button snapped with JJ and that was that.  Against an active player I have no problem with my line here - but against a guy who hadn't played a hand since the final table started 45 minutes prior, this was a call, followed likely by a check/fold on the flop unless I smashed 2 pair or better.

You'll notice the masks - we wore them until we got down to 3 tables (LA County said at the time masks were still required for groups of 25 or more).  We also posed for our final table pic with them, but thankfully for 3 table play down to my exit we didn't have to wear them.

It wasn't that big a deal, a bigger deal to me was the tables didn't have felt, for sanitary reasons I guess, but it made picking up cards tough!  Hopefully they will get rid of this feature soon.  Guys, even the CDC has said, Covid through surface contact isn't a thing!

And so two big poker trips loom -

The first will be at the end of July, I'm headed to the Peppermill in Reno for a couple of days.  The focus will be on cash, probably 1/3 but perhaps 2/5.  I don't doubt I will play their noon tournaments, but I'm not counting on those to pay for the trip.  I would love it if I could swing it via' the live games.

I'm also bringing along a small chip set to play with friends from grade school in a cabin in Lake Tahoe that weekend.  Looking forward to some truly social poker with them.

Coming back from Reno/Tahoe, I see the next few months as a build up to the World Series of Poker, which is coming back gang-busters at the Rio, starting at the end of September and going through November.

I have already booked my flight and my room for the last week of October.

My plan is to play the 1K Seniors bracelet event - this is the first year I'm eligible, so I'm pretty pumped to play in a big field where I won't be in the lower half of skill-sets.  I don't expect the field to be terribly soft (as it would've been if I'd turned 50 a decade ago) but I'm also not expecting too many tables of doom out there.

I will indeed bring two bullets, as there are two starting days - but my plan is to judge carefully and cautiously on the first day just how soft my table and the rest of the room is.  If it's glaringly obvious to me that the players all around are weak, then I will have the second 1K in the chamber and ready to go for day 2 if I bust.

So that's the BIG tournament I plan to play - but there's a few others that I'm excited to try.

On the day I arrive I plan to late register for event #50 which is a $600 mixed event of NLH and PLO.   I imagine I will be dead money, but it should be a lot of fun.

Next day, Wednesday, is the big one - 1K Seniors - planning to do an evening Deep Stack if I bust.

If I make it to day 2 I will have Thursday off. There likely won't be an afternoon Deep Stack as the Pavilion likely will be overflowing.  I will have to look elsewhere for poker - the Orleans is likely to be the best choice with lower buy-ins and different options.  Of course if I bust on Wednesday AND if I judge the field to be soft enough, I will fire bullet number 2.   

On paper the Seniors event is 5 days - I won't be shocked if it goes to 6.  Thankfully I plan to be in Vegas all of those days, so hopefully I'll run deep!

Alternate plans if I bust the event are to play in the Colossus, which also has two starting days of Friday and Saturday.  If I bust those I likely will be tired and done with tournament poker and likely head back early if I can.

UNLESS - I can manage to wrangle a friend or two to join me for the Sunday 1K Tag-Team Event!  This is one that I've longed to play for years, and I have a good feeling in 2021 that there will be more than one of my poker compatriots along for the ride this time around.  Hopefully they will join up with me so we can make a deep run in this amaze-balls event!

I have to say, win or lose, run deep or bust early - I'm SUPER excited for the WSOP and can't wait for October!

In the meantime leading up to the big week I'm going to try to be a good boy and do equal amounts of work playing (in my garage and 45 minutes south in the LA card rooms) and studying.   I really want to be in a good place when I'm forking over a good chunk of my bankroll for a shot at a deep run and serious cash - and I think I will be.    

If there's one thing I've learned about this game, playing poker is NOT like riding a bicycle - at all.  It's a game that is forever changing and evolving and if you haven't been working on your game, you stand to be left behind when you show up at a tournament with real players.

WSOP is COMING!!  CAN'T WAIT!!!

Holy crap what happened?

 I never got around to reporting on my WPT Experience at Rolling Thunder, a 5K Main Event where my entry was paid thanks to the satellite I won playing at LearnWPT (see previous post).

It was overall another amazing experience, this time around I made it to day 2 and though I didn't cash, I thought I made a pretty good showing and was excited about the prospect of more live poker in 2020 and the WSOP.  You can read a bite sized account here on my twitter feed.  That is the link to my page, here is the link to the first tweet.

And then this wacky pandemic thing hit and I haven't played live literally since the WPT Event!  Wow, holy crap!

Boo!

Man do I miss live poker!   So instead of playing in my garage, in California card rooms and the Rio in the summer - I've played exclusively online since my trip to Sacramento.   Thankfully, it's been 100% for real money and 100% with my friends - from SoCal, NoCal and the Moose Lodge.

The good news, I've played on average 3 or 4 tournaments every week and I am up over $5000 in profit.  Considering I play almost exclusively $10 and $20 tournaments, that's fairly impressive to me!

So yes I feel good about that.  But the bad news is, online poker to me isn't nearly half the fun of live pokers.  I miss it terribly!

One thing that softens the crummy-ness of online play a bit is that two of the three leagues I play in (SoCal and NorCal) both have zoom meetings when we play.  So I get to see my friends and interact somewhat.  Honestly, if it wasn't for zoom I wouldn't play even a fraction of the amount that I do.  Playing with people I like is my favorite thing about the game - I can't imagine just clicking buttons and numbers without the human interaction to go with it.

So after bad news and good news - the latest news is GREAT news and that is thanks to modern medicine and the miracle vaccine I will be returning to live poker VERY soon.

First - in my home game.  I'll be asking that everyone who comes be vaccinated like me.  It will be the honor system, and I know it will be fine.

I've scheduled the official soft reopening of my home game for May 22nd with a multi-table tournament - and I'll likely even be able to squeeze in a single table tournament and maybe a cash game before that date as well!   So that is something I'm looking forward to IMMENSELY!

I plan to host as much as I can until my group is "caught up" - meaning our points system (to choose Player of the Year) for 2020 is correct and up to date and we have a Tournament of Champions as well.  This means probably at least 2 tournaments a month, hopefully the wife will be ok with it!

Second - I've got my eyeball on Vegas and other places to get my card-room fix as well.

Of course there's the WSOP, which will be held in the fall (Oct-Nov) but there's also just the city of Vegas itself which I know I'll be getting to probably in the summer in the first week of July to visit the in-laws with the wife and kiddo.  Hopefully I can slip away and play some tournament poker on that trip, I would love to do a tourney in the Venetian now that the giant piece of crap owner is dead, I won't feel too guilty about spending my money there.

I'm also looking long and hard at the Peppermill Casino in Reno, which has a great poker room I'm told.  I'm scheduled to visit friends at Tahoe in the last weekend of July, I would love to play a day or two of cash or maybe tourney at the Peppermill leading up to that visit.

And of course, there are the local rooms with their absurd cash game rake and preposterous tournament vig. I won't be doing any of them until they are indoors and get rid of the plexiglass.  I realize this might take awhile, but I really don't want to play in a glass box.

Stupid.

Of course I will make an exception if there's still plexiglass in Vegas when I go in July, and at the Peppermill later that same month.  But I will not be heading to the WSOP if somehow they still have plexiglass up in the Pavillion/Brasillia/Amazon rooms.  That's just stupid beyond belief if they do that. 3000 people passing each other chips and cards, most of them hopefully vaccinated - yeah, let's put up a stupid wall of plastic that likely doesn't do shit.

But I am hopeful, that the plexi-boxes will be all gone by the time fall rolls around.  I am also, probably naively, praying that the dreaded masks will also be a thing of the past.   There is ZERO reason to wear them if one is vaccinated, other than preventing yourself from still spreading Covid. But the point is, once everyone has a chance to get jabbed, the onus should be on those who refuse the needle to protect themselves, not on the rest of us who are immune. Hopefully the deaths per capital will be so low by October that we can finally be free of the suffocating wet napkin thing on our faces.   I have no problems with masks before we've reached herd immunity, but I will not be happy or going to the WSOP if they are insisting on them with a low deaths per capita number in our country.

So there it is.   FUCK OFF pandemic!  It's time for live poker!!!!  LET'S FUCKING GO!!!!

Ahem.  Yes.  So also, hopefully all three groups that I play with online will still continue - I've enjoyed it very much, despite my griping here.  I would hate for my online fun to disappear altogether.

What the whaaaat?

Crazy but this just happened...

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

Yes, it was the LearnWPT workshop that I mentioned was coming up in my last post - held at the Commerce Casino in the beautiful city of Commerce in Los Angeles - I spent almost two full days once again immersed in the knowledge tornado wrought by Nick Binger and Lucky Chewy - and it was great, it was awesome, I learned a lot and the class gets better every time.

This was my third seminar of this kind in four years, and the gang at LearnWPT has really refined the advanced curriculum. I felt this time through, even more than the last time in the Mastery class, that all the pieces fell in place and that my game will be stronger than ever before going forward.

That said, I had no illusions about taking down the class ending satellite again.  I had done it in 2017 in Atlantic City - I realized then that the odds were long and I would have to get very lucky.  This time, facing off against three tables of fellow students, I figured it was someone else's turn and I wouldn't have any pressure on myself to "take it down".   This was just poker for fun - if I ran good I figured I might have a chance at the final table or even the second and third place prizes.

Oh yeah, and those prizes were no joke.   A full WPT Workshop for 2nd ($2,000 value) and for 3rd place a full years subscription to their platinum online GTO Solver ($1,000 value and well worth it).

So I would be super happy if I went deep, final table would be great, a lesser prize would be amazing - I never even considered that I could take the top prize AGAIN.

As a reader of this blog I know you are very aware that I have worked super hard on my game - and that even with all the work it still takes a good amount of luck in any given tournament to make a deep run.

Starting Stack - Plus Groovy SWAG Card Protector

Well I confess, I had plenty of run good this time around.

I doubled up very early on - in the second level I believe.  Directly to my left was this nice soft spoken guy that I couldn't help notice had been the subject of two days of interview and b-roll being shot by a LearnWPT camera crew.  He was decked out in Zynga poker SWAG so my guess was that he was a Zynga poker winner of a LearnWPT workshop package.

Anyways, he was a bit intimidating with his sunglasses and headphones, but he also seemed pretty friendly when we weren't in hands together.

I was a little surprised to see him limp under the gun, as prior to this he had been raising aggressively both pre and post-flop.  I was on the big blind and checked my option, with one or two other limpers in between as we saw a flop of 10x4.  I had 104 in the hole (as Sven calls it, the "Good Buddy" hand, 10-4 Good Buddy!  Get it?) and had flopped two pair.  I checked and Zynga guy led out for half pot, it folded to me and I check raised his bet 3x.  He thought for a beat and then shoved the remaining 6K or so of his stack into the middle.  I snapped.

My 10-4 held and I chipped up quite a bit and Mr. Zynga was out.  He got a very nice exit interview that I overheard from my seat.  I was sad to see him go as a nice guy, but as a player I was just as happy to see him exit, as having someone who was aggressive on my direct left (albeit trying to get tricky with KK) is not something I enjoy.

And so the run good continued.  In the course of the tournament I had at least three massive all-ins where my hand held up, including a giant three way collision at the final table where my AK beat QQ and AJ.

Another three way all in saw a standard open from a big stack under the gun, and a shove from a short stack in the cutoff.  I was on the button with AA and so I just called, hoping to induce the UTG to ship it for protection.  Yes, I know - now I'm getting tricky with a premium - but I'm doing it from the button and given the UTG players aggression and poker smarts, I was rather shocked that he then just called my flat.

So we were off to a flop of Jack high rainbow.  With the short stack all in, the UTG big stack checked do me and I bet about half pot, 8K into 15K, the big stack insta-shoved.  I snapped fearing only a set of Jacks, he had pocket Kings which mercifully didn't hit the turn or river.

Chipping up about mid-tournament.

Without that streak of luck I wouldn't have been able to end up on top, that's for sure.  But I also had to get to work as the "bubble" approached.  I really had to apply the pressure, and I'm glad to say I did - even when I didn't have the cards, which was often.

I was very fortunate that a couple of the more aggressive students busted out with coolers and collisions at the final table, and when we were four handed and then after the bubble as well, it was me vs. some students who were quite a bit tighter.

At one point four handed and then again three handed, I didn't pay too much attention to my own hole cards - I just hit the gas and applied pressure as much as I could.

Then one gentleman two seats to my left had had enough and began open shoving with maybe 20 bigs behind, every time I opened on his big blind. I simply waited for a better than average hand and then eventually called with KQ.  I lost to his A7, but by then I had so many chips I was still ok.

After we were "in the money" my two remaining opponents, both really nice guys who were as excited as I was, both had even stacks and I had about double what each of them had, that is, I had about 35 big blinds, still enough to open and maneuver a little bit.

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

The fellow to my right still found a way to open 4x which was pretty ambitious.

The gentleman on my left, who previously had been the one 3-bet shoving, was opening a more standard 2.5x, I was able to tussle with him a few times.  This is the one hand I remember well.

I opened 2x on the button and he defended from the SB, the big blind also came along.

I had J3o, flop was 210Q rainbow.  My opponent in the SB led out into me a tiny bet - about 1/4 pot.  The Big Blind folded.  I knew this lead meant the SB likely wasn't very strong.  The problem was that there was not enough chips left behind for him if I just called and tried to take it away later, if he bet again on the turn he would be committed - the time to act was now.  I held my breath and shoved all in.

He tanked a bit and then eventually folded a 10 face up.  Whew!  I didn't think he was that strong, but I was relieved that my aggression had worked.

I knew at that moment that there was a good chance I could win this thing, barring any catastrophic bad luck.

The man on my right soon busted when he got tangled up with the other fellow - I was super excited, even though my remaining opponent now had doubled up and had almost as many chips as I had.

We were were now heads up.  Gary was his name, and he had shown himself to be a tough opponent, especially when he used his whole stack to counter my aggression.

I was therefore a bit surprised when he suddenly tightened up considerably in heads-up play.

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

After I had opened 2.5x three times in a row and he had folded every time, and after he had limped his button every time as well - I started to really pour on the aggression. He had tightened up a lot as compared to three way play - in almost no time at all he had about 20K compared to my 120K.

Now it was the waiting game - I wasn't just going to hand over my chips, I had to have a decent hand.

I found it in short order with the Hollywood Park Nuts.   Side note: I had been telling my fellow players more than once at the final table, after finding out that none of them were from Los Angeles (pretty crazy) that I had opened several times with "the Hollywood Park Nuts". They were bemused and bewildered, having no idea what hand I was talking about.

If you play poker in SoCal you of course know what the HP Nuts are - Jack King Off.  Suit.

I opened, my opponent shoved with Q10 and I snapped.

A bunch of broadway cards came out on the flop, along with a nine, but somehow I managed to flop top pair and hold - game over!

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

I was fairly flabbergasted - and truthfully, even now almost 24 hours later, I still am!   How did this happen?

It is really crazy, because though I have certainly worked on my game - I haven't dedicated myself fully, the way I would if this were my profession or my livelihood.  I study twice a week, and I play online when I can.  Then of course on the weekends I will play once or maybe twice if my schedule allows.

My mind boggles when I think how good I've gotten with merely a part time application of myself to studying the game.

I know a TON of my good results are because of LearnWPT.

Private poker coaches, even the lesser known ones, typically are $200 an hour or more.   LearnWPT gives two FULL days of immersive instruction and comprehensive and coherent strategy for a fraction of that price, and it's instructors are well known pros with proven results.  Even top of the line coaches often will simply talk in stream of consciousness or simply review hands - LearnWPT has an entire strategic system that is mathematically driven and carefully crafted and forged from over a decade of formal instruction.

Why a bunch of my fellow amateur poker players haven't jumped on board the LearnWPT train, I honestly don't know.  I'm sure they flinch at the 'cost' - but really, with $7000 of satellite winnings now under my belt after me not paying even half of that for the seminars, the instruction has MORE than paid for itself.   And let's not forget my other results since taking my first workshop in 2017.

Half a dozen $2000+ scores at SoCal casinos.   Five Moose Lodge tournament wins, including the Multi-League Overlay Championship and SLR Tournament of Champions - both for over $1000.
The World Series of Poker 2018 Main Event - I entered for a $1225 satellite and cashed for $15000.  The World Series of Poker 2019 Colossus - 313th out of 13,000+ for almost $2000.

These results to me are pretty astounding, considering how infrequently I play card room tournaments and for that matter only play at the Moose Lodge maybe twice a month at the most.

I am super super happy with where my game is at - and I'm beyond excited at the prospect of another shot at a WPT Main Event.

Not sure where I'm going to play - right now I've got my eyeball on the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa this May 1st, but we will see.  It will likely cost upwards of $1500 in travel and lodging, which isn't the biggest deal, but I would really like to figure out if there's a more economical option on the table.  If not - I'm still taking my shot!

If I do go to Tampa in May, it means rededicating myself to studying and playing as much as I can between now and then.

The WPT GTO solver has been great these past two weeks - I've gotten up to over 500 hands with just an hour or so of time a couple nights a week.  I will keep on with that - and I also need to really start writing down hands when I get back on the felt.

Speaking of being back on the felt, I think that's going to happen this Thursday night at the Moose - I'll also be playing this weekend in Phoenix after watching baseball in the day with my family.  I've got my eye on a tournament on Saturday night, and some cash game play for Sunday night.  Hope I continue to run and play good!

Moose Takedown and a bit O' Planning

So how did the Tournament of Champions at the Moose work out?   Boom baby!

Turns out I'm a pretty good player at this point - and it was nice to book such a nice win, $1100, last November.

Since then, almost 3 months later, I've played in 15 tournaments and cashed twice.  Thankfully, they've all been small events - but it is frustrating looking at all that red on my poker results app.

But I have to remember, it's all part of tournament poker, it's really quite normal.

I still feel good at the table - in any given event I do truly feel like the best player in the room or at least near the top.  I would love to keep on keeping on and take down a few more tournaments here in the upcoming months.

I also have been pining to start playing in meaningful cash games - this is largely because I've fallen in love with watching poker vlogs on YouTube.  Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme have great channels with lots of hand breakdowns - and then there's a bunch of newer guys who are just as interesting.

My current favorite is this guy Wes Cutshall - he's a hilarious dude who lives in Texas and vlogs about, get this, 5/5 cash games where the buy-in is uncapped and typically is around $5000!  Also you can straddle from any position with ANY AMOUNT.  Yes, you can stick 5K in the middle pre-flop (pre cards being dealt) from UTG if you want.  It's crazy, and crazy fun to watch.

So my plan in 2020 has kind of morphed here - I really want to play more cash.  I am planning a trip to Phoenix at the end of February for baseball spring training, and for the two nights I have there I plan to go play 1/3 or 2/5 cash at Talking Stick.  I hope it goes well - I plan to bring two buy ins and play until I bust or am up a lot!  We shall see, but that likely will set the tenor for the rest of the year as far as me playing cash goes.

I don't mean if I go bust I'm not going to keep playing cash - I'm really actually not too concerned with results. - more rather I want to see how it feels playing deep in a cash game and how well I play, as opposed to results after the money goes in which I can't control.

I have had a great time, and good results, playing in my micro stakes home cash game; and I want to keep hosting those games - but it's hard to tell if I'm playing well or not when the stakes are so low and people are so eager to call with money that is basically meaningless.   We shall see how the big leagues go soon enough.

And as for tournaments - I'm really looking forward to playing plenty of them as well.  I know I will never give them up, they're just too much fun, even though they often are painful.  It always stings to bust, no matter the stakes or circumstances.  Just the nature of the beast really.

I haven't played in my regular league at the Moose yet (I had to miss the January event for work) but I did play in a different league at the same Moose lodge and final tabled and cashed for 3x my buy in.  That was a good feeling, and I would love to keep playing in the league as I feel comfortable there and not outmatched at all.  The league has overall better players than my Saturday league, but still, I think I have a decent edge over most of the field.

And then there's the World Series.  I'm glad it looks like I have 3 guys from my home game who will be coming along this time, hopefully there will be more and hopefully we will all be getting together several times before we go to have discussions and maybe some hand labs or small tournaments.

I'm looking at the same week I went last year - the week of the Colossus and Crazy 8s.  This year the Crazy 8s is a single re-entry, last year it was unlimited.  That's a HUGE difference and a much bigger incentive to play.  I plan to bring two bullets for each event.   If I do happen to cash, I will plunk down $1500 that Sunday for the AMAZING tournament / lotto ticket called the Mystery Bounty event.   It is incredible - really!  Click here to check it out.

I love the idea behind this event so much!  Actually, so much that I plan to host my own version of this format later this year.  Stay tuned on my home poker game page for that.

I'm pumped about going back to the Rio - I just finished watching a series of vlogs by this guy, Ryan Depaulo, who cashed in the same Colossus event I did last year - only he final tabled and binked 200K+ in third place!  Very inspiring, a semi-pro player, degenerate gambler who does study his game (despite his wacky image in the vlogs) and has had a deep, deep run in the WSOP and understands and appreciates the significance and the rarity.  I highly recommend starting with this video and watching all 3 episodes that show his entire Colossus run.   Yeah, he's a bit obnoxious, but I really like that he's not a robot when he plays.   My goal in playing tournaments going forward is to be rather gregarious, but always kind and hopefully stay on the other side of the obnoxious line.

And speaking of inspiring, then there's this fellow, Bryant Morrison - a fellow student from the last LearnWPT workshop and hand-lab that I attended.  I think that's him across from Chewy in the pic.  The guy in the 10 seat also looks familiar.  Turns out, Bryant only plays a handful of tournaments a year, including the WSOP, but studies his ass off.  And holy shit he binked a big ass Circuit event.  He's clearly in his 70's, and yet with GTO solver software and a bit of elbow grease, he was able to take his game to a stratospheric level.  I wanna do that!  And I think I can, though it will take doing the work.

My plan is to take another, my third, WPT workshop in a couple of weeks.  Between now and then I will be hitting the software solver and also going over my last workshop notebook.  I paid good money for all of that information, and I want to actually put in study time.  I confess I haven't done my due diligence since the workshop - but going forward I will.  Then the workshop itself will help reinforce all of the work that I plan to do and also put me in the right frame of mind to keep doing it.  If Mr. Bryant can do it, I KNOW 1000% I can!

So the plan is - from here on out, Tuesdays and Thursdays after work and after dinner, is study time.  Watch a full WPT video (15 minutes or so) an hour on the GTO solver and a half hour of review and maybe one more video.   Easy enough right?

Anyways, this is fairly rambling - but it's where my mind is at re; poker.  January was very hectic for work, and now briefly we are slowing down.  I want to make sure that I take advantage of this lull  and hit the books and felt hard so I can reap the rewards this summer.

So excited for poker this year!  Stay tuned for more updates!

WSOP 2019 and Looking Forward to 2020

This is long overdue I know - but I didn't do a written report this year, instead I tried my hand at a poker Vlog.   If you haven't seen it yet, here it is for the record.  Enjoy!




Overall, with a month and a half still left in the year, I've had a great poker experience in 2019.   My results show me up over $2000 in profit for 2019 so far - pretty great considering I play once every other week or so in $40-$100 tournaments and then also indulged in a week of  multiple WSOP tournaments at $800 and $600 a pop.

On the horizon right now is my Moose Tournament of Champions for the Silverlake Rounders group - I'm hoping I run better than I have been running at the Moose of late.  Yes, the players have adjusted to me at this point and they understand I get out of line a good amount (way more than is the average there) but I've also been nailed by just running into bigger hands.

Case in point, at a recent final table just 3 from the money, I 3-bet stuck my 20 big blind stack in with AJ soooted and my opponent (who had me covered by a bit) went into the tank, asked for a count and then somehow found a call with Pocket KINGS.  LOL, ok.    Lost my cool a little bit at that one.  I've been playing for almost 15 years at this point and have never run into a tank call against KK.

The very next day at the Moose I got all my chips in against a rock who was "on to me" with two pair vs his one pair - runner runner flush for him.  Yay.

So it's been like that.  Plus like I say, they're on to me a bit when it comes to my shenanigans, which overall is a good thing, it means I get folks to stack off with top pair marginal kicker (just have to avoid the runner runner flush thing.)

Then there's the last couple of tournaments left in my home game - HORSE in 2 weeks and one more NLHE event in December, then a big break until the TOC in January.

The home game has been great - though I haven't won a tournament - it's just been such a good time and my results are not indicative of the fun I've had with such a great bunch.  Though the results have been decent.  My results for my garage are up over $1000 in profit.  Not too shabby for not taking a tournament down, though there are still two tournaments left!

And so I look forward to another great year playing the game I love - I am seriously eyeballing yet another WPT Workshop (for the record it would be my third) but it's an Advanced Course and it's at Commerce in February.  We shall see how the schedule shakes out.

I think I forgot to mention the second course I took, it was just this last year at the Bellagio and it was the LearnWPT Tournament Mastery Course, run by the master Nick Binger and co-hosted by Eric Lynch and Lucky Chewy.  It was a great three days, including an immersive hand lab that had all sorts of great info to chew on with Chewy.  Super nice guy by the way - super chill and every bit the zen master that we've seen on tv.

Chewy giving me advice to chew on.  Get it?

I will say, that a lot of the course was focused on GTO (Game Theory Optimal) play, and while I think it's important to grasp the concepts and also practice at applying them (that's what Learn WPTs fantastic GTO training software is for) - it is a much less interesting aspect of the game for me and it also doesn't factor in so much when playing ultra-low buy in tournaments with recreational opponents.

Still, I do study and I do practice - so the next time I'm at a table with stone cold killers, like I was on day 3 of the Main in 2018, I think I will have better than a fighting chance.  In the meantime, against players who are highly exploitable, I still plan to exploit them as much as I can.

So that's that for now - looking forward to finishing up the year strong, and carrying on in 2020!

Preparing for the Plunge

It's that time of year again, WSOP time!  The series so far this year, viewed from the comfortable surroundings of Burbank California, has been pretty freaking fantastic.

I know I am fairly well known as a guy who doesn't care for deep structures when the player pool is tough - but it's hard to come out against this years events; because apparently even the 'low' buy-in events are now offering exponentially more chips and deeper structures.

The WSOP has definitely established itself this year as being THE player-friendliest event in town, by a lot.   Before we've had the Venetian Deep Stacks, the Planet Hollywood Phamous and the Wynn Classic who could all arguably say they offered a better value.  For the first time though, it's the WSOP that can for sure say they come out ahead - deeper structures all around AND a bracelet?  Sorry, it's not even close.

So it is with great excitement, and I confess a little trepidation, that I plan my annual WSOP adventure.   This year the fam has nothing planned for summer time, we're saving up for a bigger international trip next summer, so I've taken it upon myself (for the second year in a row now) to take off a full week from work so I can take advantage of the poker goodness.

While last year it was all about the almighty MAIN, this year I'm taking a shot at multiple bracelet events for the very first time.

I fly out of Burbank on a Sunday morning, June 23rd and I will arrive in plenty of time to register (even if I late reg a bit) for event #53, the $800 Eight Handed NL Deep Stack.  I will only have one bullet for this single re-entry event.

Then my plan on Monday (assuming I'm busted out of 53) was to do the Tag-Team!  Event #57 promises to be amazing - you can play with all your buddies!  Unfortunately my one poker compatriot had to bail, so I will be missing out this year.  (Unless of course, someone here reading gets inspired and wants to join forces and take down the bracelet!)

There is a $1500 Super Turbo Bounty in the morning, but I'm not really rolled for such a cavalier shot.

So Monday may be a bit of a wash on the schedule - which is fine.  There will likely be plenty of Daily Deep Stacks that I can get into trouble with.

Tuesday has an amazing looking 3 day event, 11am Event #59 the NLHE Deepstack Championship.  I will be playing this for sure, and bringing two bullets to the game.  This is a single re-entry which is nice because it means I will be on equal footing with everyone else in terms of reloading.

If I bust out of this, then Wednesday I will be throwing down bullet number one for Event #61, The Colossus. I'm especially excited for this one as the structure is supposed to be a vast improvement, though as you know, I don't mind a good turbo, gotta get lucky against the stone cold killers!

If I don't cash in either Wednesday or Thursday's flight, and haven't cashed all week - the plan is to head home, tail between my legs.

Actually, it won't be the end of the world - tournaments are a very tough nut to crack consistently, so as long as I bring my A-Game and am focused, I'm not going to let results bring me down too much.  Poker is poker and tournament poker can be especially brutal when it comes to results.

If the stars and planets align and I find myself with some good fortune, i.e. money, I will likely stick around for the weekend and throw down in Event #64 - Crazy 888s likely for one bullet only (but if I've cashed medium to high four figures then I will likely bring two bullets).

And when/if I bust from that one I will be truly done.   If my results approach 10K then I will for sure pony up for a mega-satty for the MAIN which is the following week.  Work expects me back the Friday after July the 4th - so I do have room to make it happen, if the poker gods smile.

We shall see!

Regardless of what happens, I am super excited and pumped to be grinding for a week of teh pokerz at the greatest place on the planet for it.

It's worth mentioning that up until this last Sunday, I have been on a down swing in my tournament results.  My old record for consecutive non-cashes was 11 in a row.

On May 11th I took down first place in my monthly Moose Lodge event for $800.  After that I averaged playing once or twice a week per usual, almost all tournaments, and didn't cash for 10 tournaments in a row.

This last Sunday would've been my 11th non-cash, except I cashed.  Dragged my lazy butt down to the Commerce for their turbo-ish $65 1pm with $50 add-on.

October 10th 2018 was the last time I was in a California card room - so I was mentally prepared to be rusty against a bunch of grinders who play every day.

As it turned out, sure there were likely a handful of fellows here and there who were better than me on any given day, but most were not.  Most were lousy.  And even the better ones weren't that great.

I was at table 6 of 10 and got off to a rather slow start,  dragging my first pot after almost a full hour of play.  I was rather card dead and the table was certainly more aggressive than the average Moose table, and even looser as well which is saying something.

There was a young woman down at one end who was catching cards like crazy, and she was aggressive and getting paid.  I pegged her initially as someone who knew what she was doing, but later came to realize, she was just hitting a lot and actually not getting too out of line.   Early on she was a calling station for seeing flops.  Later in the day at the final table (spoiler alert) she played much tighter as the pay jumps commenced.

Didn't flop any sets that I can remember (if I did I didn't get action) - premiums were rare.  No AA, had QQ a few times.  Overall ran pretty average or a bit below for long stretches.  Yet somehow our table broke and I was ok with chips, then chipped up a bit at the next table - then our table broke again and I was at table 1 which I knew eventually would be the final table so my neighbors were going to stay for awhile.

Early on at that table (with 4 tables remaining and 12 getting paid) I got tangled up with a player to my right who was young and very fluid with his chips and mannerisms.  His body language and demeanor screamed "good player" so I had been avoiding him, but when he opened on my big blind I defended with a sooted 108.   Flop was 10xx and I check called the flop, turn and river.  He had aces and I paid him off on that final bet and I shouldn't have - at least one of the next cards was an over card.  I should've released on the turn or at the very least the river.

So that was the biggest mistake I can recall, and it knocked me down to about 11 big blinds.  I busted out the snap-shove (in my head) and put it to good use and chipped up a bit until this hand.

A woman earlier sat down with a big ass stack.  She opened a pot and got into it a bit with another dude to my left - at showdown she showed AK for top two pair and dragged the chips.

Awhile later she opened on my big blind and I had, of all things, AQ.   She had opened maybe 3 hands in 90 minutes.  Her range was narrow and uncapped.  I flat called.

The flop was all low cards, I check called her C-bet.   The turn was a blank, check check.  A 10 rolled off on the river, I led out for a third of the pot and she instal-folded.  No doubt with AK.

It was a nice boost, both for the stack and for the ego - I had completely outplayed her from out of position with a hand that was very likely dominated.  I realized that there was no skill-edge at this table, at least the kind of edge that I worried about - the edge was the other way, with just about everyone.

I began to open and c-bet here and there.  My stack climbed and for the most part, it worked beautifully.  No one had seen me getting out of line as none of my hands went to showdown.  I especially picked on the woman's big stack, she was folding way too often out of her big blind.

I also targeted the players to her right and left.  They had medium/small stacks that were ripe for picking on and I was able to do so on a fairly regular basis.  I avoided tangling with my aces nemesis for the most part.

I did get into a hand with him before the break.  Once again I was on the big blind and he opened from the cutoff.  I defended with Jc8c.  Flop was 753 rainbow, much better for my range than his and he released quickly when I check raised him 3.5x.

That was one of two pretty bad ass 'moves' that I managed to pull.

The other one was after we had redrawn for the final table and the money bubble had already burst.  I was hunkering down in the small blind with about 22 bigs or so - a tall and silent type with the Dr. Dre headphones opened and I looked down at JcKc, a great spot for me to three bet regardless of my holdings, I knew he was itching to accumulate - the problem was, none of us except for the 3 & 4 seats (I was on the 10) were deep.

Still, I carved out about a third of my chips and slid them out, 4x ing his open.  The plan was to bet fold here, and to shove any flop that I hit, otherwise check fold.  Fortunately I didn't have to go to the flop, he tanked for a solid minute and then folded.  It was a big addition to my stack, including the one limper earlier as well as the big blind ante and villain's initial raise.

I remember being 8 handed for a long time, and I managed to tread water pretty effectively as other smaller stacks diminished.  No giant hands leap out at me from my memory, but I do remember a massive 3 way hand double knock out that I wasn't in - that brought us to four handed and I was second in chips.

Commerce recently upgraded their higher denom chips - gorgeous!

The chip leader had maybe a 2 to 1 advantage over me and substantially more against the others.  One of those others proposed looking at the numbers, I soothed the concerned chip leader telling him "absolutely no pressure on you, if you're not happy we keep playing, no big deal".  He nodded with a slight smile.

The numbers came in just a tad below what he mentioned he wanted.  I happily threw him a hundred and he agreed - I would end up getting 1875, he came in at 2500 and the others had quite a bit less.

Yay.

Too bad I blew it all on Black-Jack.

So mission accomplished - not only did I avoid breaking my non-cash streak, I also dodged a min-cash and scooped up a nice score.  Not to shabby for $105 entry!

So now with monies in hand, I'm planning to attack the WSOP.  I plan to study a bit this week, relax, play a small tournament in my garage on Friday night just for social fun (and not worry if I bust) - then head on out to the mother EFFING WtotheStotheOtotheP.  Boyeee!!


Stay tuned for the report!