Merry Christmas

I hope all of you have a safe and good holiday. Enjoy your friends and family, and try to take a little time to reflect on how we as humans can try to make this world a little better. I enjoyed spending time with everyone who reads this post this past year, and look forward to seeing you guys in the upcoming year. Merry Christmas!

Another Day for our Government

I woke up this morning, and one of the first websites I visited had the headline, "US Settles WTO Online Gambling Claims with the European Union". I began to read it, and it got me more and more infuriating. Our government has basically decided that paying some foreign countries billions of dollars is better than legalizing and regulating online poker in our country. Nevermind that the vast majority of our country thinks the law is against our rights as Americans as set forth by the Bill of Rights. Of course, legalizing it would bring billions of dollars of revenue for our government, a government that is perpetually short on money and long on fruitless expenses such as the one I am talking about. This is what pisses me off the most. In a time when our economy is suffering, our government is willing to flush billions down the drain (no one has commented how much, but the EU was asking $100 billion with ongoing payments annually of $3.44 billion). Here's the link to the article - http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/12/us-settles-online-gaming-claims.htm

Of course, this event likely won't even be a blip on and in the news because the government will try to keep it on the down low. However, you will continue to hear President Bush and many other politicians bitch and moan how we still need to find funds to support this and that program. You'll hear some say we need to raise taxes. What could $20 billion do, let alone potentially $100 billion?

The scary thing is, you know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our government throws around money like it grows on trees. Every politician does it. A lobbyist gave me money, here's a $20 million program to help you out; here's a tax loophole for your industry that will save you $50 million/year. All I have to do is attach it to this bill we got going. Then these same politicians will have the audacity to say the budget is out of control.

These are the thoughts that went through my head as I read the article. I could write about this topic for hours. It is one of the reasons our country could be in deep s&*t in the years ahead. Hopefully, sometime soon there will be a major overhaul in how our country is run. I wish I were optimistic this will happen, but I'm not.

Robin Williams - Drunk Scotsman Invents

This is probably my favorite Robin Williams skit. Hope you enjoy even if you've seen it before!

Chip Reese

As everyone in the poker community probably knows by now, Chip Reese died unexpectedly last night. He may be one of the most unknown great players of all-time. Ask any casual fan who he is, and they may or may not know him. Yet if you asked any world class player to name the top all-around player, Chip's would likely get mentioned. He was the epitome of the professional poker player. In a day and age where the "top" players often can only play NLH effectively, he could play any game at a world class level, and he rarely if ever lost his cool. He likely could have been one of the best tournament players also, but he chose to stick with the bread and butter of any good poker player, cash games. This also kept him close to his family. However, his proudest moment may have been winning the inagural 50K HORSE Championship in 2006 at the WSOP. This was because his family, and in particular his sons, were able to watch it first hand. The money was nice, but who are we kidding, he made and lost that amount many days each year.

I have never heard one bad word mentioned about Chip. This speaks volumes in the self-centered cut-throat world we compete in. The poker world is mourning today because of Chip's death. R.I.P.

New England

I haven't talked with my friend Tom about last night's football game between the Ravens and the Patriots. However, I do know that he hates New England. With that in mind, I can't imagine how he feels about them now after grasping victory from the jaws of defeat. New England not only deserved to lose, they should have lost. Baltimore played unbelievable until the last few minutes of the game. It all started with Boller's pointless interception, after he had played one of his best (if not the best) game of his NFL career. The next key play was the 4th and 1 time out by the defensive coordinator just a split second before New England snapped the ball. No one heard the whistle, and so the play was completed with Brady getting stuffed. This would have basically ended the game. After the timeout, New England had a false start on another play that Baltimore crammed down their throat. On the third try, now at 4th and 6, Brady was able to scramble for the first. Later on in the drive, on another 4th down, Baltimore was called for illegal contact to continue the drive (granted this was an obvious call). Finally Brady completed the touchdown pass for the go ahead TD as Baltimore began to implode. In a symbolic moment for both teams, New England kicked off from the Baltimore 35 after two personal fouls and an offsides were called against Baltimore. However, Baltimore still had a glimmer of hope, but it was crushed as their "Hail Mary" was completed, but snuffed at New England's 2 yard line as time ran out.

This fantastic game ended with the expected result...another New England victory. The 1972 Miami Dolphins must be wondering if this is finally the year a team goes undefeated to tie their historic feat. New England has Pittsburgh, Miami, and both New York teams left. Two of these games against the Jets and Dolphins should be gimmies, but the other two against the Steelers and Giants could be pretty tough. For what it's worth, I am not a New England fan (if fact I usually hate them also), and yet I found myself rooting for the Patriots last night.

My Commitment to Improvement (With Your Help)

I have a bad habit associated with poker, and it gets worse as my level of desire to succeed increases - I tend to bitch/whine when things don't go my way. All my poker friends already know this, and I have no good reason for doing it considering my overall results for over three years are well more than adequate. I don't do it often, but during big series (whether online or live) or if I have set specific short-term goals for myself, it tends to come out. When I want something badly and I don't get it, I get pretty pissed due to my competitiveness. Some people need to scream, some want to hit something, others get depressed and quiet. I bitch. I usually only do it for about 10 to 20 minutes and then I feel better, but I still do it, and there is no reason I shouldn't try to get better about it. With that in mind, if I am bitching to you about my bad luck or whatever, just tell me "Life is Good." That phrase can be your way of shutting me up without having to feel that you are being an ass about it. It is an easy way for me to realize where I'm at in poker and in life, and that I just need to get over this small set back.

Dick Wilson will squeeze no more.......

Mr. Whipple has died :(

(Pathetic) FTOPS Update

Nothing has changed from last time. No one has earned anymore points meaning unless Mandy cashes in the bounty tournament tomorrow I will win with a measely point total.

The Final Countdown

The last two hands from Indiana's Main Event not only illustrate the lack of skill, but also the complete cluelessness of guys that finished 1st, 3rd and 19th in a 5K main event. These two hands summarize the main event perfectly and hilariously.

In at #2) This occurred at my third table on day 1. The level was 300/600 75 ante I believe. A guy in middle position opened for a standard 3x (incidentally he was wearing a Party Poker hat if that adds anything to the story for you ex-Party players). He had around 14K. It folds around to the big blind who shoves for about 12K. This guy is a good online player who had played the short stack patiently and well. The "Party" guy starts thinking for a little bit before asking for a chip count. Once he sees he has the guy covered by a little bit, he seems to semi-reluctantly call as he flips over AA!!!!! The big blind flips over AJ and is obviously furious at the slow roll. Nothing comes on the board and the AJ got eliminated. I wish this were the end of the story because that in itself is pretty bad. However, our whole table is kind of in an uproar over this hand. A red-headed guy in seat 9 then starts to say how bad of etiquette that was to the guy. Then the guy says "I've already lost 2 times with AA today, and if he had me covered I was going to fold." The sad thing is, I honestly believe he would have. In a fitting turnabout he was the bubble boy in the hand I described in #6 on the countdown.

Drumroll please.....................................................................

In at #1) With only the final three players left, this hand occurred. It may have been the funniest hand I have ever seen (even the ever respectful Tom Fuller lost it right near the table when this happened). My brother had just arrived after speeding for 4 hours trying to get to the event before I was eliminated. He had heard how bad the play was, and when he saw this everything we had been saying made sense. It occured at the 3K/6K 1K ante level. Carlos had a fairly big chip lead at this point with around 850K of the 1.45 million in play. Vito was the short stack with about 90-100K. Carlos completed from the small blind and Vito shoved in. It was a 15 to 16x shove, so this was fairly big. Carlos started saying, "I have nothing, I have nothing. Man Vito I have nothing." This went on for about 30 seconds before he finally added, "but I call." Carlos flips over 54 offsuit to Vito's JT off. The 54 call was bad enough, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Carlos begins screaming, "Here comes the low cards! I'm going to flop a straight!" The flop comes K84 and Carlos takes the lead. He then keeps saying, "Keep it low!!" The turn is a K to pair the board. The river is an 8 putting two pair on the board to counterfeit Carlos's pair. However, Carlos begins celebrating with his friend there, and Vito just sits there seeming a little disappointed. About 5 seconds later when the announcer said "and Vito wins the pot with two pair and a Jack kicker," all of a sudden Carlos stops abruptly as he does a double take at the board. Instantaneously, Vito yells "ALRIGHT!!! Our group just lost it! These guys placed 1st and 3rd in a major event and still couldn't read a borad well. There you have the Indiana WSOP Circuit Main Event in a nutshell.

FTOPS Update and Indiana Final Table

The FTOPS has been close but no cigars for our group in recent days. Tom placed 27thof 616 in the PLO 6-handed and 10th of 1600 in the NLH w/ RBs. I finshed 49th of 806 in the Stud H/L, and Seth had a strong finish in yesterdays NLH with a 28th place out of 4475. Mandy also cashed in this event, but just barely.

Ironically, neither of Moon's cashes counted toward the bet because he didn't chose those events. We only can count seven towards the bet. So the standings are as follows:

Chris: 27.48 pts via the $109 Stud H/L (have used 4 of 7 events)
Mandy: 27.16 pts from the $322 NLH (used 4 of 7)
Tom: 0 pts (used 3 of 7)
Jason: 0 pts (used 4 of 7)

Here is the recap of the final table at the Indiana Circuit Event:

Seat 1: Nut job 330K
Seat 2: Carlos Uz 320K
Seat 3: only unknown for me at the final table 70K
Seat 4: Tom Schneider 35K
Seat 5: Me 67K
Seat 6: Vito 130K
Seat 7: old tight guy (or so I thought) 45K
Seat 8: Toph 290K
Seat 9: standard no frills decent player 110K

Blinds start at 2K/4K 500 ante

On the first hand, seat 7 gets busted as described in my previous post. It was countdown hand #5.

I fold the first 9 hands

8 handed
1) Hand #10 BB Q6 - nut job limps (always weak), seat 3 limps on a 70K stack, Tom completes w/ just 26K more. I really thought he was going to jam any two here. When he didn't, I was going to. I jam for 52K more (to pick up 20K). They all fold. When Tom folds he shows 92 and says "I knew you were going to do that. I should have saved my 2,ooo." I imagine so, you had 92 and only 28K! (72K)
2) Hand #14 HJ K9s - I open for 10.5K. BB calls (nut job)
A(AJd) - check I bet 10K, he folds (85K)
7 handed
3) Hand #24 UTG KK - I open for 10.5K, nut job calls again
J84 - check check - I have to give this guy just a little rope
7 - I bet 18K, he raises to 40K, I insta shove 20K more before he can even get his chips out there because it is not much more and if he folds it is fine by me, he tanks and finally calls with AT. I dodge the seven outs and double to 153K.
4) Hand #28 - CO A6d, I open for 10.5K, seat 9 call in the BB
KJ7 - check I bet 12K, he calls
9 (2nd heart) - check check
4h - 12K, I fold (126K)
5) Hand #30 - 2nd A9 - I open for 10.5K, Toph RR to 37K, I consider shoving because I know Toph's range is big. I fold. This is the one hand at the final table I regret. I think he folds in the 66% range (2 out of 3). My EV is big by shoving. (114K)

3K/6K 1K ante

6 handed
6) Hand #34 - But QT, Carlos limps, I limp, Toph checks
KQ3 - checks @
3 - checks @
5 - check, check 10K, all fold (toph said he considered calling with just a J. This is why I checked behind twice. I wasn't really scared of free cards, I thought I definitely had the best hand, and I might get a real loose call on the river b/c of it. (120K)
7) Hand #35 - CO KT, Carlos limps as do I, Toph completes.
JT5 - check, BB (nut job) bets 16K, all fold (semi tight fold - but tough situation against somewhat unpredictable player)
8) Hand #37 - UTG AK, I open for 15K, both blinds call (seats 1 2)
(84d)2 - SB leads for 23K, Carlos calls, I fold. The action continued as such.
5 - SB bets 45K Carlos is calling before he even knows the bet amount, and just asks the dealer how much he has to put out
3 - check check, the SB turns over K8, Carlos turns over 33. Pretty sick and funny. I would have hit the runner runner straight. I was considering a move until Carlos insta called the flop bet. I am not sure if I would have done it or not. (92K)
9) Hand #38 - BB J7, nut job limps But, Carlos completes
AKQ - check, I bet 10K, But raises to 23K, all fold (75K)
10) Hand #39 - SB Q3s, seat 1 limps, Carlos limps, I jam for @70K more, Carlos asks for a count when it folds back to him. I am pretty sure he is calling at this point based on previous hands. I almost say "Your A9 is no good this time," but I opt not too. He calls a bit later and tables A9. I brick out, but I wonder if he folds had I said that. Who knows? In retrospect, I don't dislike my shove because there was 27K in the pot already, and had I folded I would have only had about 70K left. At the same time, Carlos felt like he was floating on air at this point in the tourney, so a loose call by him was very likely. It makes my play pretty neutral in my mind. I definitely could have found a better spot I think, but I was trying to get a stack I could challenge with at this stage of the game. I was easily the shortest stack at the table.

Unfortunately Toph got knocked out a little later in 5th place. He could never get things going. he was missing every flop, and guys weren't folding to pressure. The call stations bled him to his ultimate death.

On to the countdown:

In at #4) This is where the hands start to get really good (bad?). This hand happened with just three players left in the event. The blinds were still at 3K/6K with a 1K ante. Carlos had about 720K, the 2nd place guy (started in the 10 seat) had about 500K, and Vito had about 220K. Vito had the button and open shoved for all 220K (just under 37 BBs). This in itself is bad in so many ways, I can't even begin to start. However, he has done this twice in the past 15 minutes or so for at least 200K each time. Both hands he proudly flipped over TT and QQ. So precedent would indicate he does this with just big hands. In fact anyone who played with him throughout the tourney would know he tends to open huge with big hands and small or limp with weak ones. Yet when he does this the SB tanks. After a minute or two he finally calls as Carlos folds. We all assumed he had JJ or TT or AK, but he flips over A8! Vito turns over 99 predictably. The board comes QTT 8........Q. The A8's horrendous call gets paid off (not that Vito deserved much for his play). This got the tourney down to the final two.

In at #3) This hand also involves one of the worst if not the worst call I have ever seen in a tourney. It took place on my third table on day 1 at the 400/800 100 ante level. The eventual 4th place finisher (who I have repeatedly referred to as nut job mainly because of this hand) opened UTG for 2600. He had 12K left behind. The BB calls leaving himself 10K. The BB had been playing a very good patient short stack. The flop came three low rainbow cards (something like 842 for example). The BB shoves for all 10K (just under 2x the pot and 80% of nut job's remaining stack). The nut job calls ater getting a count. When he called the BB says something like "damn" thinking he is beat and turns over TT. The nutty flips over KQ and the BB is mystified/sick to his stomach. Of course nutty rivers a Q to bust the poor guy. At this point, I say "I thought for sure he (the BB) was bluffing because of his comment." The nut job then says "I thought he was full of it too." Of course my reference was to the BB's post call reaction not anything prior to it. Nutty parlayed this suckout to a very nice payday.

Day 2 Indiana Main Event

600/1200 ante 200 56,700

Seat 1 an unknown coming in 87K
Seat 2 old guy moon said took a lot of risky chances and weird plays 27K (then super tight guy)
Seat 3 Me 57K
Seat 4 Terry - on my left entire day one on 3rd table, fairly straight forward rarely RR pre 85K
Seat 5 standard tight old guy who could snap if kept getting picked on 68K
Seat 6 Toph - easily most dangerous guy to me if gets a hold of chips 38K
Seat 7 Hammer - have described in previous posts often (basic bludgeoner) 71K
Seat 8 Stammdogg of online fame - expect him to be fairly willing to move his short stack 26K
Seat 9 fairly standard unimaginative tight player 21K

Things start off with a bang with toph eliminating seat 2 on the first hand when the guy CRs toph w/ an open ender on an A high flop. Toph's AK holds up

1) SB AK (3rd hand of the day), folds to me I raise to 4K, BB goes allin fairly quickly having me covered. I played with him a lot on day 1 and he had RR once the entire time I could remember with JJ to my UTG raise and he raised it big. I think most guys call here fairly quickly, but I folded after a minute or two tank. I folded for a couple reasons: 1 - after playing with him I felt his range was any pair as low as 66 or 77 maybe and AK maybe AQ. This was my actual range for him here. I put 99 TT JJ and AK as the most likely hands. If I put a 10% chance of some other hands, I still think my overall equity isn't much better than 51-54%. This leads to my second reason: 2 - In this field I was not willing to flip for such a large amount at this point only getting 1.2 to 1. The field was so bad I felt I could easily find much better opportunities. It was pointed out that if I doubled I could really use the chips to my advantage. I considered that in my thoughts, but I had to weigh the risk vs reward. I felt it just wasn't worth it. If the guy was telling the truth, he had A9. I obviously estimated his range too conservatively, but based on the info I had of him, i thought it was a fair guess and the right play for me given the guess. (52K)
2) UTG AT, I raise to 3200 (basically a steal of the two tightest blinds), Toph RRs to 11K. all folds. This hand was so wrong. I gave Toph the scouting report of the two guys so he knew how tight they were and that I would likely raise lighter here. Toph had 87. Well played Toph see if I help you again : ) 47K

800/1600 200 ante

1) CO KTd, I raise to 4K (Tophs BB) all fold
2) 2nd 88, I raise to 4K all fold
3) SB 77, CO limps (seat 1), I complete
KK9, check @
8, I bet 2500 all fold 49K
Toph doubles up to 160K on monster pot with KK vs 55 on a 7664 board. I fold for more than a round.
4) CO 42, I raise to 4200 (Tophs BB) all fold
5) 2nd J3, I raise to 4K (hammer and stammdogg blinds) I hadn't raised either of their blinds in over a level because I thought they would be very difficult. However stamm had been surprisingly patient and I thought this was a good time for it on the last hand of the level. All fold.

I end the level with 48K in chips after starting it with 47K. I had no hands, but won all 5 I played. It is very close to the bubble now.

1K/2K 300 ante

I fold the first 3 hands and hand for hand begins with me at 44K.

1) (1st H4H) BUT 75s, I raise to 5200 (tough to steal blinds but I had given them walks twice already) they fold (49K)
2) (next hand) CO 88, I raise to 5200 all fold (54K)

Hand for hand done after 2 hands. We redraw:

Seat 1: Vito, plays bigger hands hard, plays weak hands weak - big stack
Seat 2: Terry - avg stack
Seat 3: Toph - very big stack
Seat 4: Nut job from day 1 3rd table seat 2, I am looking to win a big one off him but he is short
Seat 5: Asian who had chip lead for part of day 1 before losing a bunch of questionable hands
Seat 6: old unknown guy, later find out he wont fold to a raise often pre if he has entered - avg
Seat 7: me
Seat 8: fairly tight raiser but semi loose caller pre - avg stack
Seat 9: Matt Sterling - very good player I have played with a ton live - big stack

3) BUT 99, CO raises to 5K (I see one of his cards and it appears to be a 7 or 8), I RR to 15K he calls, we both have similar stacks (33K me vs 35K him left)
T32, he leads for 6K, given that he presumably has a 7 or 8 this is an easy push for 33K, he asks for a count at which point he calls pretty quickly. I am actually scared he had T8s or T7s. I asked i f he had a T. He said no, so I obviously assumed 77 or 88, but no he turns over A7d. This would would be high on my countdown list, but the countdown list only has hands I am not involved in. The board comes 7 9 and I double. He is crippled with only 2K and is knocked out the next hand. (102K)
4) UTG JTs, I raise to 5200 all fold
5) SB JTs, in 2nd Terry raises to 6900, I make a semi loose call but we are both deep
Q85, check check
3, I bet 9K, he raises to 20K, I fold and he shows TT (I almost made a min RR because I thought he was weak, but I pussed out) (83K)
6) BB AQ, UTG Matt raises to 5100, Terry calls, I just call - debated a decent RR
(53c)2, check Matt bets 9K, Terry goes allin for @50K, I was considering making a move before Terry shoved and I actually thought I was beating Terry here, but there was nothing I could do now, I fold Matt tanks but finally call with 99, Terry shows AT and gets knocked out
7) (next hand) SB T8, UTG Vito limps, nut limps, I complete
(K8s)2, check check Vito bets 4K I call
5 check check
8 I bet 15K (almost pot) knowing Vito wont fold a K and maybe something less putting me on a missed flush, he called saying "I think you have me." I did. (108K)
We are 6 or 7 handed now
8) 2nd 94, I raise to 5200, Matt and Nut call
(T9h)7, checks @
T checks @ (I thought about a bet here feeling very comfortable about my hand, but thought either might make a move which isn't awful for me I guess. However I thought Matt could have a QT or something that he may have peeled one off on the flop.)
6h checks @, I win but have to show my 94 (120K)
9) (next hand) UTG KK, I raise to 5200, Toph calls, nut raises to 15K, I think for a while before shoving allin. I am fairly sure nut will make some weak calls here because of the previous hand and his history of doing so. I have been waiting for this opportunity, and I just hope he hasn't woken up with AA. In fact, I really didn't want to even see an A. Toph folded, and the nut called allin pretty quickly for his last 55K. He shows AJh. The board runs out AQJ57 and he wins the 150K pot leaving me at 49500 going into the next level.

1500/3000 400 ante (6 handed)

1) 1st hand BB 3(3h) - in 2nd Vito min raises to 6K, I call
(T64h), check check (I think he semibluffs a heart here)
9h check check
Kh I bet 10K, he folds saying it looks like a bet for value (57K)
2) UTG QJ, I raise to 8K, the (Asain) BB shoves in for 24K, I call and he flips over 55. I win this important small flip when the board comes J8262 (84K)
3) 2nd A5 - may be my worst hand of tourney, nut limps, I limp, Matt limps, and both blinds
J53 - Vito bets out the min 3K, only I call
3 - Vito bets 6K, I call weakly not knowing where I am but not thinking he is capable of triple barreling
4 - Vito bets 15K I fold (nice siphon)
4) UTG J9d - I raise to 8K, nut calls in BB
J94, check a bet 10K, he instafolds (damn) (78K)
5) CO A7, Toph UTG raises to 8K, I RR to 24K (I don't think he will shove light b/c I look pot commited, he folds after a short tank (89K)
6) UTG QJ, I raise to 8K all fold (96K)
7) SB A8, I shove the tight BB allin for 35K
8) BB 76s, Matt UTG raises to 7500, Toph SB and me call.
(95h)3, check to Toph on button, he makes it 20K, even though I have the sneaky double gutty, the price isn't good given that Toph could be betting a flush draw here and it would be an even thinner draw. A raise is no better b/c I dont have a ton of fold equity. I fold Matt calls. (the turn was an offsuit 8, toph took it down but he did have AJh) (87K)
9) BUT A9d - I raise to 8K, tighty calls in SB
KT8 he shoves for 31K, I fold and he shows KJ - well played
10) 2nd A2, I raise to 8K and all fold

I end the level at 69000, with 11 people left. We have 5 at our table and 6 at the other.

2000/4000 500 ante

UTG A9, I raise to 10.5K, Toph RR to 35K, I begin the longest tank of my life. What happens during my tank: 1) we lose 11th place guy 2) we lose 10th place guy 3) mandys flight takes off and lands 4) Bush's approval rating drops 3 more points 5) the satellite lady at indiana says "who's interested in a $100 satelitte....." 100 times. I really do tank for about 10 minutes or more. During that time Toph and I talk back in forth alot. I finally decide he isn't too proud of his hand, and it seems like he has an A. I wont go into the exact conversation that gets me to this point, but he knows I am holding a "decent" ace. I put his most likely hands in the A7 - A9 range. I accidently just call, but we get it in dark preflop anyways. We both have A9, but I flop a backdoor flush draw to no avail. With the two eliminations at the other table, we are down to the final table and done for the day. I have 67,500, and sit in 7th place. I was very happy with my play during the day. I could easily have been over 200K with the KK hand, but it wasn't meant to be.

On with the countdown:

In at #6) This hand occurred with 19 left (right on the bubble). It wasn't at my table, but I caught some of the action - the vital part. Essentially on a 865 flop, a guy had shoved allin for at least 60K into a 12K - 15K pot with A6 only to be called by a big stack who had 98. The A6 got no help and bubbled after starting the hand just under average. The classic high risk, low reward play seen from bad players nonstop in Indiana

In at #5) First hand at the final table - Vito min raised to 8K, 2nd pos shoves for 35K I think, Carlos Uz calls and Vito calls citing pot odds. T63 flop, check check. A turn, check Carlos bets Vito out of the pot and turns over AK. Vito folded KTc after screwing up slightly by not betting the flop. The shover had 98 getting barely any fold equity to a UTG raise. He didn't get bailed out with the gutter ball and was gone in 9th.

Rest of Day 1 & FTOPS Update

I finished 112th with the top 80 getting paid last night in the $300 Razz. I had things going for a while, but then won only 1 hand out of 52. This got me real short, and I could never get back over the hump. Nick aka BlueFlare of crazy aggressive no limit holdem fame tried his luck at Razz and gave a pretty good showing. He finished 68th(??) for around $700, but it could have been so much better if not for one of the worst beats/played hands. At the 1500/3000 limits he completed the bet on 3rd to 1500 with (A5)4. The bring in called showing a J (it turned out he had A5 or 6 down). On 4th Nick hit 7 and the guy hit a 3. Nick bet guy called. On 5th Nick hit a 3 for a made 7, the guy hit an 8. Nick once again bet and the guy called. At this point the guy needs to hit a 642 and then hit it again to win assuming Nick bricks out (Nick was a 97% favorite). This of course happened, and Nick lost a 40K pot to put him over 50K when the average was less than 30K. In any case, Mr. BlueFlare had a nice run.

Back to Indiana:

I left off just getting moved to my 3rd table of the day. The play here was decent but hardly great.

Seat 1: solid young guy on a short stack (later replaced by Carlos Uz)
Seat 2: very good internet pro playing very tight on short stack (later replaced by complete nut)
Seat 3: very weak short stack (later 3rd place finisher Vito sits down on a monster stack)
Seat 4: fairly normal passive pre flop guy, but easy to bluff post (he always feared the worst)
Seat 5: me
Seat 6: older guy decent stack, pre bets indicated hand strength (big = marginal, small = bigger)
Seat 7: old guy in Party Poker hat nothing special
Seat 8: Hammer - loves the big allin, was playing somewhat tight but still uber agg
Seat 9: fairly active young guy on a short stack (moved allin a fair amount for 10-20 BBs)
Seat 10: very tight kid who snapped after he doubled up to lose all his chips in 2 hands (Denny Crum later sat down with a big stack - yet he was a complete NIT)

300/600 75 ante 22,700 in chips

I fold the first 20 hands or so
1) CO 98, I raise to 1600, hammer shoves for 23K (I think he remembers me from watching Mandy's table - seems like the type who might hold a grudge and try to send home a point)
2) MP KQd, raise to 1600, BUT calls (seat 10),
J84, I bet 2100 he folds (22,500)
3) 2nd QQ, I raise to 1600, Hammer raises to 4K (this raise made me cringe, as it did to Tom when I first told him the action - Hammer had never done this in 2 days of watching him. It was always huge RRs which I would have snap called) in any case, I hesitantly call
A82, check check (another weird play - he almost always continuation bet hard)
5, check, he bets 4K, i think for a while and call (I had no idea if he was milking me or not. I didn't want to raise b/c I only had another 14K or so behind. My only raise option would have been the min raise. I also could have led out, but against hammer that might have been like throwing a fastball right down the middle)
7, check check he shows TT and I take down a decent pot (I honestly have no idea how I should have played this because of how confused I was with his "odd" play, but I was elated to have won it)
4) Next hand UTG QJh, raise to 1600, CO and BB call (seat 1 and 4)
Q(T6d), check, I bet 2800, both fold
5) Next Hand BB A9, folds to SB he completes, I raise to 2600, he folds

The level ends a few hands later with me on 35,100 in chips. I only played five hands this whole level, but I won four of them and increased my stack 60%. This was my biggest stack all tournament long relative to the avg (which was around 28,000 or so). I never had a huge stack obviously.

400/800 100 ante

1) BB A5, BUT raise to 1800, SB call I call (getting 5 to 1)
(86h)4 check @
J, SB bets 3K, all fold
2) UTG KQ, I raise to 2100, 2nd raises to 10K, all fold he shows JJ (this was his only pre RR the entire day that I could remember. It setup a hand that occurred later on in day 2)
3) BB A9, as before it folds to SB who completes, I raise to 3300, he folds
4) MP 99, seat 3 raises to 3K (with only 11600 total left), I RR to 9K, folds @ to him, allin call
he shows KQc and the board runs out T8422 (44K)
5) SB KQ, BUT raises to 2800 (he has 18K behind), I make a loose call (some of the guys thought I should have raised big here because the guy was tight and would fold most hands, it is a valid point.) However the flop comes...............
AJT, I opt to CR allin when he bets 3800 (I didn't think he could fold a decent A, and if he didn't have an A I probably get no more action anyways. There was debate as to how to play this - lead out, check call, check raise allin, check raise small) He folds telling me he folded AQ.
I believe him b/c we had been talking a lot at the table and it seemed sincere. (50K)
6) MP 88, UTG (new seat 2 - complete nut job I will stack if I hit) raises to 2300, I call
(T6c)6, bets 3K, I call
3c, he shoves for 27000, I fold (44K)
7) HJ 75s, one limper, I limp, BB hammer raises 5k more and all fold (42K)
8) Next hand MP A7, I raise to 2100 into the two tightest blinds, all fold (44K)
9) UTG KK, I raise to 2100, 2nd pos and both blinds call,
J84 (2 spades), check check, Ibet 6K all fold (50K)
10) SB A6h, three limpers, I complete
732, check check, bet 6K I fold

I end this level at 49,300. There are only 32 or 33 left and we are playing down to 27.

600/1200 200 ante

1) 1st hand back CO KK, Crum UTG raises to 2800 (and he is TIGHT), I raise to 8K, he calls
(Q52d) I have no diamond (this flop sucks) check check (I check to see his turn action, I know he is the type to auto check to me any flop b/c of my RR pre)
Jd yuck, he checks I fire a measly 7K he folds (60K)
2) HJ J4, I raise to 3100 in an any two spot, all fold

I fold for the next round as an allin fest ensues. Then the day ends with me at 56,700. This is right at the average and puts me in 11th place out of the 27 left. I was very happy with the day given the start. I took advantage of many situations that were given to me, and I made few mistakes. I didn't play perfect but I played my style of pot control and minimizing risk. It is a deep stack style I try to use whenever the fields are soft like this. Certain good players can take advantage of this if I don't adjust. We will see how it serves me the rest of the way.

On to the countdown:

At #8) I think this hand happened at the 200/400 50 ante level at my 2nd table. The 10 seat limped in (he was the very loose younger guy). The button raised it to 1500 or so (he was a very weak limper, but you had to give his raises some credit). The small blind called (fairly tight bad player). All three had decent to big stacks. I will give you their hands ahead of time because I think it is necessary. SB - A3s, Limper - K5s, Button TT. The flop came (T4s)3c. It checks to the button who makes it 3K. They both call. Turn is the 5c. At this point the small blind decides to bet out 2500. Both guys call. River is an offsuit Q, and it checks around?!?! The button fails to raise on the turn and to bet on the river when he is last to act and has a set of tens. I'm not sure what he was looking for, but apparently he didn't find it.

At #7) Another Carlos Uz hand (surprise). This occurred at the final table with seven players left and Carlos starting to think he is invincible. It was the 2000/4000 500 ante. Vito limps UTG, and Carlos limps from the button. The small blind then shoves for about 70 to 80K. He hadn't been very active on his short stack. It folds back to Carlos with only 4K invested and about 400K in his stack. He calls with A9(?). The shortie shows AK (big surprise!). Of course a nine flops and Carlos is flying high as the board bricks out.

FTOPS Prop Bet

With the FTOPS starting up yesterday, Mandy, Tom, Jason and I made a little bet for the series. All of us get to name 7 events we want to count towards the bet. The person with the most Pocket 5 points in their 7 events wins 10% of everyone else's main event plus free entry into the main paid for by the losers. Everyone but me chose last night's 6-handed event to count. None of them cashed so they all blanked out on any points. I suppose that puts me in the early lead. I am counting tonight's Razz. We will see how it goes.

I will continue the Indiana summary tomorrow.

More Day 1

100/200 25 ante 4550 in chips

I began this level trying to be somewhat tight, but no where near as tight as in the 100/200 no ante level. I was still eyeing the next level as my huge gear change. However, I did want to get up to bare minimum 7K on this level so I would have a little wiggle room for the 200/400 level.

1) HJ 99, I raise to 500, seat 10 in the BB calls
T84, check I bet 700 he calls
A, check I bet 1200 he calls, this was the perfect card to fire again because he may fold a better hand than mine now. Once he called I was not "bluffing" again
8, check check (what an awful river card), however he refuses to turn over his cards and says "any pair is good," I was very relieved to take this one down. Had I lost I would have been down to just over 2K, but with the win I jumped up to 7200

I fold the next 20 hands
2) CO 55, Edler UTG limp, I limp as do both blinds
Q44, checks to me, I bet 500 and all fold
3) next hand HJ JJ, Carlos and seat 3 both limp (chronic limpers), I raise to 900 all fold (7900)
4) BUT A7d, raise to 500 blinds fold
5) CO T6d, 1 limper, I limp (loosely), SB (very tight) raises to 1100 and all fold

I ended this level at 7500 and I only played 5 hands the entire level winning 4 of them, I established a nice tight image, and despite my chip count, I was looking very forward to the next level. Bill Edler got eliminated on the last hand of the level which also paved the way for me. I planned on coming in to the 200/400 level in gear 4 or 5. It was my do or die time.

200/400 50 ante 7500 in chips

1) UTG KJd, I raise to 1100, seat 10 calls from the HJ
(AJ5h) check check, I shutdown on this flop unless something changes drastically because seat 10 wasn't going anywhere w/ alot of hands
Kh, check check
x, check check, he wins with 9(9h), I may have been able to take this one down at some point, but against this guy it was not a guarantee by any means.
2) next hand BB J7, Carlos limps in HJ, SB completes, I check
AJ6, check I bet 700 all fold
3) next hand SB 43d, Carlos limps, seat 3 limps, I raise to 2K, only Carlos calls (he had done this some already and folded the flop if didn't hit anything) he has about same as me left (4500)
(93s)2d, I shove he gives a disgusted look and folds. This hand was classic Carlos, limp call (or fold) almost a third of his stack and fold on the flop. It was a risky but calculated play that shot me up to over 10K. I wasn't going to shove any flop against him. Some I would check because I know he isn't betting with air behind me. If he then checked behind, i would probably shove most turns at that point.
4) MP A9, raise to 1100, very loose 10 seat in SB calls
632, check, I bet 1200, he folds - 12,300
5) UTG KK, I raise to 1100, tight BB calls,
(AJh)x, check, I bet 1200 and he folds - 13,700

Chad 'LilHoldem' Batista sits down in seat 9 with @ 30K in chips for the recently eliminated Bill Edler. I was not happy to see this because I felt it would completely change the dynamics of the table and my ability to control it.

6) SB AA (2nd hand after Chad sits down), UTG, 2nd, and Chad in 3rd all limp, I raise to 2800 to try to look like a squeeze in the hopes Chad might try to make a move if the UTG or 2nd have nothing. However, everyone folded - 16,000

Chad loses a 35K pot and is now down to 8K (sweet!!!)

7) MP AQs, Carlos limps UTG, I raise to 1500, he just calls leaving himself 1800
852, he checks, I decide to shove him in because I actually have a decent amt of fold equity against him here as strange as that may sound. He definitely doesn't know what a stop 'n' go is.
However, he calls with a very upset look on his face with......................AKd?!?!?! He takes down the pot after completely "outplaying" me by getting me to shove with the inferior hand :) - 12K
8)SB 54, UTG and Carlos limp, I complete, and BB checks
K(QJd) checks around
7d I bet 1200 only UTG calls (he was fairly tight), I bet because I thought I could easily take it down. When the UTG called I was definitely double barreling it as long as no diamond came on the river
4 I bet 3000 he insta folds
9) BUT QT (next hand), I raise to 1100, BB calls (same guy from last hand)
Q54, check check
9d, 2nd diamond, he leads for 1400, I call
2d, check check, he shows JT and I take it down - 17,500 I maybe should have bet the river, but I felt there wasn't alot of value and if he had two pair he wasn't folding
10) HJ 66, Carlos limps, I limp (Chad in BB), BUT raises to 2K and all fold
11) UTG KJc, I raise to 1100, Chad pushes for 4850, it folds back to me. I am pretty sure I am calling but I ask for a count. I know Chad usually isn't very light in this situation, but he has been tilting big time so I open his range up a tad. I have to call 3750 and the pot is 3300. I make the semi reluctant must call. He has AQ and the board runs out AK6TQ. My rivered straight takes it down - 22,700

Unfortunately our table now breaks. I made the most out of it though and got myself back into the tourney.

12) SB 33, 2 limpers, I complete
986, checks to button, he bets and all fold
13) MP AK, I raise to 1100 and all fold on the last hand of the level

I will give you the seating arrangement in the next post. I end this level at 22,500. I won 9 of the 13 hands I played, and tripled up during the level. I couldn't have hoped for much more.

On to the countdown of the Indiana Main Event "Best" Hands. Here comes the wildly anticipated top 10:

In at #10: This occurred on Day 2 with about 14-16 or so players remaining. We were playing the 1000/2000 300 ante level. The CO raised to 6K. I had played with this guy from late on day 1 all the way through to this point. On day 1 he did little if any reraising, and seemed to not make many big plays. It folds to the BB. This guy was bad. He will be in some of my other top hands, and was a guy I was trying to trap as much as possible for a big pot. However, up to this point he didn't bludgeon much preflop; it was all post. He shoves for around 40K. Before the chips even get pushed in, the CO has snap called about 40% of his chips off. The BB flips over 98h and must have been thinking he needed to hit something decent, but the cutoff proudly flips over 22!!!!! What a "brilliant" "tough" call he made. Unfortnately for him, he is actually a slight dog. Once the 8 hit on the flop it was all but over. He lost the rest off his chips a couple hands later on a semi decent move that didn't work out. All in all, he went from his avg chip stack of 100k to out in a matter of half a round.

In at #9: Like one of yesterday's hands, this one involves both players making poor plays. The surprising thing here - one of the players is Bill Edler. On the last hand of the 100/200 25 ante level, it folds to Bill in the CO and he shoves for 5K. That's right, he shoved for 25 BB's. The BB was sitting on around 35K and instacalled. The hands: Bill KJ, BB 33. Bill lost the race and probably immediately left town for his next tourney.

Day 1 Cont.

100/200 6050 in chips

Fold the first 18 hands after break. With a semi short stack, antes not kicking in, and at a fairly strong table that is about to be broken, I find no reason to look to play.
1) BB QT, UTG (Schneider) min raises to 400, I call
982, check fold to 700 bet
Table Change (I wrote thank God....I hope)

I do not recognize anyone at my new table except for Bill Edler in seat 9. I am in seat 5. I soon have this impression of the players - awful!

Seat 1 eventual champion Carlos Uz - he is siphoning big time with his limp folding/calling of raises pre. post he only bets if he hits hard, only raises pre (wait never raises pre except AA)
Seat 2 a tighter slightly more agg version of carlos (gets 9th in the event), later gets moved and eventual 2nd place finisher sits down with huge stack but plays it very conservatively/weakly
Seat 3 a slightly more tight aggressive version of carlos
Seat 4 a local that is below avg at best, mainly just siphon via bad calls and bets
Seat 5 me
Seat 6 a short stack that is playing very tight
Seat 7 a very big stack playing tight solid poker (we rarely play any hands together)
Seat 8 a LAGish 20 something who just isn't quite good enough to pull off the LAG style
Seat 9 Bill Edler (not in top form), Chad Batista sat down after Edler's elimination
Seat 10 an extremely loose player, loves to limp call raises, but will also raise pre very light sometimes when tilting, post wont fold any hits even thin draws

2) BB 95, SB raises to 600 I fold (1st hand at table)
3) SB T4, 4 limpers and I just fold
4) CO 88, 2 limpers, I limp, blinds come in
K(43d) check check, seat 2 raises to 525 all fold
5) HJ KJh, I raise to 600, all fold
6) MP 88, seat 2 raises UTG to 600, I just fold, this is the right play with my stack in MP but the board came JT8J and one of the callers took it down (who knows maybe I would have been beat)
7) 3rd 66, I limp (marginal at best - but the table has been vey passive) HJ, CO, BUT and both blinds come in,
A95, checks @ to button (seat 10) who bets 875 and all fold
8) BB K9, three limpers and SB, I check
(75d)5, checks @ to last guy who bets 400 and all fold

I end the level at 4550. I voluntarily put money in on only 4 hands (and two of those were marginal) and raised only once. I only took down one pot for 300. However, I am starting to set up my image for the important 200/400 50 ante level (if I can make it there). My goal is to switch gears into 4 or 5 when that level hits. This table won't be able to handle me if I can get a hold of any chips.

On with the countdown:

In at #12) This hand occurred at my 3rd table on day 1 very late in the day. It was during the 600/1200 200 ante level. It started with the HJ (Vito) raising to 5000. Vito ended up getting 3rd in the tourney. He had a monster stack of around 110,000 (good for around 2nd or 3rd at the time with around 30 players left). At the time he was playing pretty tight. When he came in it was usually for a big raise and presumably only with big hands. The BB raised to 15K. He was also fairly tight, but was not very good post flop (this cost him numerous times during the tourney and led to him being the bubble boy). Vito called after saying "I think I have you crushed, but I'll just called." Even though I hadn't played with him much up to this point I actually believed him and thought KK or QQ was very likely.

The flop came A94 with 2 clubs. They both checked. A low club hit the turn - check check. Then a club came on the river. BB led out for 15K, and was instantly raised allin by Vito. BB begins tanking. It was so obvious to me and everyone else Vito had the K of clubs (and more than likely started with KK). I thought the SB had QQ with the Q of clubs. After about 2 or 3 minutes he finally folds showing JJ with the J of clubs, and sure enough Vito shows his KK with the K of clubs. The BB botched this hand so badly. Firstly, against this guy the JJ RR pre is iffy but not totally unjustified. However, I think a continuation bet on the flop is a must because it is the only way to move him off a better hand which is surely what Vito had given that flop and the preflop action and Vito's style. Once he checked the flop, the check on the turn is fine. However, the river bet is so bad because it is virtually valueless. Vito's not calling with a worse hand, but he is calling with the Q getting over 3 to 1, and he is obviously raising with the nuts. Once he did raise, how do you tank for 3 minutes with the J. The Q is an obvious fold, but the Jack? The BB lost 30K with JJ when he should have lost 5K (if he just called pre) or even won the hand on the flop given the preflop line he took.

Hand #11) This hand is unique because it featured minor to major errors by all three players involved. It was on the 200/400 50 ante level at my second table. The cutoff in seat 8 raised to 1200. He had about 20K in chips at this point. He was the guy I described as "a LAGish 20 something who just isn't quite good enough to pull off the LAG style." Chad Batista called on the button with about 11K in chips left. The SB (seat 10) then called, and our favorite Carlos Uz just called in the big blind leaving himself about 5700. The flop came AAx, and it checked around. Turn was a K (putting 2 spades out there). Checked to the pre flop raiser who made it 2K, Chad raised to 4300, the SB folded. Carlos immediately went allin for 1400 more. (It was so obvious he had at minimum trip A's but more than likely a boat.) The pre raiser tanked for a while, but eventually called with what was more than likely a big A. Chad called. River was the T of spades. Chad insta folds before anyone can even act, so they just showdown the two remaining hands. Carlos shows KK!?!?! to win, while the pre raiser mucks an A9 faceup. Mistake one: Carlos - how does he just call pre with KK against 3 others as the last to act with over 4K in the pot and just under 7K to start the hand. However, his turn check was perfect. Mistake 2: Pre raiser - his call after all the turn action was fairly weak given it was for about a quarter of his stack, and he was likely drawing to at most 3 or 4 outs. His check on the flop fine, but from the turn action it was pretty apparent where he was to any reasonable player. Mistake 3: Chad - his raise was dangerous on the turn, but I will give him credit for having it well thought out. It was for 40% of his stack though on a (semi?)bluff that is unlikely to work. However, I can not figure out what he had that he instamucked when the flush draw got there on the river. If he had an A, he is not instamucking. A flush he isn't either. So what did he stick in another 1400 of his 7000 stack on. It had to be a smallish pair. Did he really draw to 2 outs when they may be dead anyways for 20% of his stack. The pot was big but not that big. He was tilting prior to this hand and afterwards as well. I think that had more to do with it than anything. Nonetheless this is the hand that propelled Carlos on to bigger and better things (so he must have done something right....right?)

More of Day 1

refer to previous post for seating chart (I am in seat 5)

50/100 9250 in chips

1) BB KQ seat 4 SB completes I raise to 350 he folds
2) HJ 98s seat 2 limps, I limp, and both blinds in
A(QJs) checks around
4s checks to me, I bet 200 and all fold
3) MP A6d I raise to 250, seat 8 (button) calls
A84 check check
6 I bet 400 he calls
K I bet 1200 and he folds (I bet alot here thinking he was calling with any A, but not calling with anything else, and I thought he would check behind with most marginal hands anyways)

Joel Casper sits down in the 10 seat
4) 3rd 54c I raise to 250, CO (9) calls
AT5, I bet 350 and he folds 10.3K in chips
5) SB 22 seat 1 raises to 300, me and Tom call
984, I lead for 500 and seat 1 calls (I thought this had a good chance of success if seat one didn't have an overpair - Tom is squeezed because of a tight preflop raiser behind him)
J (2nd diamond) check check, 5d check he bets 1500 and I fold (I didnt want to keep firing based on the hand where Jason won with an obvious set and the guy couldn't fold an overpair)
6) HJ K9s I raise to 250 and all fold
7) 2nd 66, I limp BUT and blinds in
KQ4 check around to BUT, he bets 400 Jason CR allin to win (had a feeling that was coming)
8) MP 65c, I raise to 250, Tom and Casper call
(A82s) checks around
K check, I bet 550, Tom calls
2 check check, I opted to forego a second bullet because I had feeling Tom thought I was full of it, he wins with K(Qs), I do have to show my 65 though
9) Next Hand AK, I raise to 250 and all fold (8600 chips)
10) (Next hand) 2nd AJh, I limp, HJ raises to 400 I call (I probably should have just folded this pre because of the previous two hands. I didn't want to raise because I thought it would be ripe for a RR. The limp was kind of a cop out)
442 check, he bets 700 and I fold (8200 chips)
11) BB A6d, Casper limps, SB and I come in
T93, check check 200 from Casper, all fold
****12) SB JT, seat 9 limps, BUT limps, I complete
KQ3 check check, 9 bets 300 and I call
At this point I am going to try to describe seat 9 in further detail. He has been playing many pots usually coming in for a limp as he did here. Post flop he has bet when in position most times it was checked to him on the flop and turn. He has checkraised from out of position a few times also (he showed big draws at the showdown). He was on fire throughout this level hitting numerous flushes. He seemed like he was ripe to trap.
9 check, he bets 600, I just call
I called because I almost certain he is going to bet the river if a blank comes off, and if I checkraise I think the hand could easily be over. Some of the guys preferred the CR, but I thought I would make the minimum doing that. It may have been the better line in many cases, but I'm not sure.
Q I lead for 1000 because I thought this card was a card he may easily check behind on, and I didnt think he could bluff raise me when I lead out. However, when I made my bet, he made a "you shitting me" kind of grunt and body movements. It seemed very similar to the disappointed exhale some guys do right before they bet/raise when they have a monster. Sure enough he raises to 3000 about 10-15 seconds after I bet. My initial instinct was that he had a boat, but I definitely had to think it through. It was the last hand of the level, so I had plenty of time. With him any two suited cards were possible as were KQ, Q9, 99, 33. I thought there was a very small chance he may even limp KK or QQ in early position. The hands I could beat were AQ, maybe he would raise a weaker Q, and of course a flat out bluff. I was getting 3 to 1 odds to call, and I was sitting on just over 6000. Against a good player this is a much easier call because I would have felt he would have been much more capable of a move. I started talking to the guy by telling him "I can beat trip Q's" he asked me "What?" and I said it again. At this point he said "then you have to call." I tanked a while longer before folding faceup. I only showed because I thought it was the best way to get him to show and everyone knew about where I was anyways. He turns over 77 and explains his raise by saying "I thought your grey chip (5K) was purple (500) and that you only had 1600 left." Now the greys and the purples did look alot alike so that was entirely possible, but his explanation seemed to mean to me that he bluffed thinking it would be really hard for me to call given it was for my tourney life. In reality, it would have been much easier because I would have been crippled if I folded. The main factor in my fold was his "tell" and the fact I underestimated his ability to make a move there. I went with a read and I was wrong. I can live with that I have found out. I talked with MasterJ, Brady and Casper about the hand. Casper and J would have called, but Brady said he would have probably folded. I think my mistake on the hand was leading out on the river. In retrospect that is my only regret on the hand. I would have snap called any reasonable bet on the river if I had checked.

This hand was significant for many reasons: it was the first time I had ever talked with a player during a hand to try to get a read; it was the longest I had ever tanked (so far...) - about 5 minutes; it was probably my biggest fold ever (even though wrong). I actually wasn't upset after the hand, just surprised. I still had 6050 in chips and we were only starting the 100/200 level.

At the end of each of these blogs I am going to do one or two Indiana Main Event Hands of the Day to show the "high" (as in what are you smoking) quality of play. None of the hands I was involved in will be in this list since I will be describing them during the course of my summary, although many could easily make this list. I will do it countdown style. I am sure I have forgotten some of them, but I do have 14.

In at #14: This hand actually wasn't necessarily poorly played just very strangely played. I believe it occurred at the 100/200 25 ante level. A very tight pre raiser opened from UTG to 800. I folded A4d in MP. This fairly aggressive siphoner called in the CO and Bill Edler called from the button. The flop came (53c)2. UTG checks and the CO bets 1200. Bill Edler calls and UTG folds. Turn 9. CO bets 2000 leaving himself 3600. Edler thinks for a while on his 9k stack. I thought he was considering raising, but he finally just calls. River 9. The CO thinks for awhile before betting 1600 of his 3600. Edler looks completely baffled, but finally calls leaving himself about 5.5K. The CO had 98. This was the hand that led to Edler's demise as he seemed to be tilting the rest of the level until he got eliminated in a hand that will make the countdown later.

In at #13: From the eventual winner of the event Carlos Uz (that pained me to write) and a guy Tom and I nicknamed Hammer for his similar style to the player from the E pah T Baden event. For background, Carlos and I had played at my second table on day 1 for about 4 hours and then he got moved to my 3rd table late on day 1. He will be involved in 5 of the 14 hands in my countdown. This guy is the chronic loose weak passive player who just spews chips without putting any pressure on anyone (that is until he started winning every hand at the final table). He actually just called with KK out of the BB on one hand with 3 other people already in the hand for a raise. He would limp AKs UTG on a fairly short stack and then just call raises - folding post if he missed. Hammer loved the allin. He got second to Mandy in the 1K event, and at that final table he probably said allin more than the rest of the table combined and often for huge amounts. In any case, on the 600/1200 200 ante level, Hammer opens for 3750 UTG. Carlos reraises to 7500 (RED ALERT!!!!!!). Once I instafold without even looking at my cards (ok I did look but only to see if I could chop with him), I turn to the guy on my right and say "this guy has a monster either AA or KK, and probably 80-90% he has AA." The guy thought I was exaggerating; I thought I may have been underestimating the percentage. Everybody folds rather quickly. Then the funny thing happens. Carlos turns over his cards emphatically and says "I just want everyone to know I wasn't making a move." Enough said!

Worst Final Table Ever?

In what may have been the worst overall quality of play at any major main event in the history of poker, the worst player may have won it (and I use win very loosely because the end was as embarrassing as most of the rest of the tourney). Furthermore, the final three have to be the worst final three at any major tournament ever. I ended up in sixth place for 34K while Toph got 5th for 41K. Over the next few days I will go into (the inexplicable) details of the whole tournament. I could probably blog on just this touorney for a month. I honestly think poker regressed before my eyes. Whether it was 35x preflop shoves, allin calls with nothing, or celebrating a hand you thought you won that you actually lost while the winner is upset because he thinks he lost; this tournament had more unfathomable moments than any I have ever been part of. I don't know if anything in poker will ever surprise me again.

I have some time tonight, so I will start the summary with my hand summary from day 1:

Level 1: 25/50 10,000 in chips

Despite the low level of play in this tourney my starting table was actually very difficult.
Seat 1: Old guy who tended to siphon at every opportunity
Seat 2: Tight old guy
Seat 3: MasterJ
Seat 4: Another old guy who siphoned, loved to bet when anyone showed weakness
Seat 5: Me
Seat 6: Tom Schneider - plays very lag
Seat 7: Matt Brady - very solid tricky pro w/ pretty good results, very hard to put on a hand, we played all day 3 of the WSOP Main Event together
Seat 8: One of the better regulars at Indiana tourneys although still only average
Seat 9: very lag hick looking guy, surprised me as you will later see, usually bet at weakness
Seat 10: empty until the first table broke, but then Joel Casper sat down - hes a very good player but came to the table very short

1) 4th hand of touney - BB AA Brady raises in 2nd pos to 125. I RR to 500 and he folds. Tom and J think I just should have called here and I agree. My hand was very defined with my raise given the stage of the tourney.
2) CO K8c seat 4 and I limp w/ both blinds coming in:
K22 all check,
T - BB bets 125, call call SB folds.
A - ch, seat 4 bets 350 instantly and I fold. BB calls and seat 4 shows AT to win
3) MP JJ raise to 125, all fold
4) BB 85 get a walk
5) SB Q8, four limpers I complete. the board runs out T95K4 with it checked down the whole way (pair of 5s win)
6) CO 99 seat 1 opens for 300 (a big open but this guy is fit to be pwned) J calls, 4 calls as do I
JT2 flop, 1 and J check while 4 bets 300 and I get out of the way.
J wins a big pot with a set of 10s when seat 1 can't get away from the obvious overpair.
7) HJ 87, 1 limps I limp as does Schneider and Brady and the blinds
T85, checks to me and I bet 150, both Schneider and Brady call
J (2nd club), I ch fold to Schneiders 600 bet as Brady calls (Brady wins with J high straight)
8) BB 53c, Brady raises to 125, I call
K(K8c), check check, T check check, Q check check (he wins with JTs) I felt no need to stab at this even with the flush draw. Matt seemed to want to play very conservative with me. Therefore his check behinds didn't mean "it's yours". Furthermore, I was fine with the free look for my flush if he was willing to give it.
9) SB 98d, folds around to me and I complete w/ Schneider checking
JT9, check, he bets 50, I call
7, check check
J, check check I win with straight, I thought the only way I was getting anymore from Tom was by letting him bet it. He had nothing it turned out. Nothing gained nor lost
10) BUT 33, folds around, I just limp (on this level I just wanted to see a flop, stealing the blinds didnt interest me even as the first in from the button)
A98, Tom leads for 100 and we both fold
11) MP KQ, I raise to 125, Tom RR to 350, I fold

I end the uneventful level at 9250. I planned on playing this table very conservatively because our table was going to be the 2nd to break (when 14 players were eliminated), and I was fairly sure the next table wouldn't be nearly this tough given the lack of star power in this field.

I will do more later....

Scratching and Clawing

I found a way to get to the final table today despite being somewhat short stacked the entire day and losing a 150K pot allin pre with KK vs AJ. I made some tough moves/folds and my timing on certain hands was mostly spot on. I only have 67500 with the average at 160K. With a little luck though I can get right back in it. Toph dominated today after receiving a huge gift on a monster pot, and he goes into the final table in 3rd place with 293K just off the leaders.

Onto Day 2

I finished Day 1 of the 5K main event in Indiana at 56,700 which is about average with 27 left. Top 18 get in the money. Toph Moore is also still alive with 38K. The rest of the crew is gone with some gross beats. We play down to 9 tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

How Do You Play This Hand?

Let me set the situation: It's fairly late in a supersatellite for a $5,000 seat into the main event. 17 players remain with 7 getting seats. You are seated at the nine handed table. You are sitting on a slightly below average stack of 25,000. The blinds are at 600/1200 with a 200 ante. You pick up AK0 under the gun and decide to make it 4500 (a little too much, but you really are wanting to just pick up the blinds at this point). A player in the hijack (sitting on 35,000) makes it 14,000 to go. He has been at your table for about 45 minutes and has played one hand where he raised pre and took down the pot on the flop with a continuation bet. Oh yeah, and he is wearing this goofy Pi hat. Anyways, it folds back to you. Do you:

A) Fold?
B) Shove?
C) Call intending to stop and go your last 11K no matter what comes?
D) Call and see what comes and then decide?

Think about your answer...........................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................


If you chose D, here is the flop J84 rainbow. Do you now:

A) Shove?
B) Check fold?
C) Check Call?

What happened in a later post.......

Breakthrough for Ms. Mandy B

Amanda "Mandy B" Baker won the 1K NLH here in Indiana yesterday by besting 290 of the finest players the Ohio Valley has to offer. It was her biggest score ever, her first live tourney win ever, and she did it after entering the final table only 1,000 in chips out of last place. However, she made some big calls, some small bluffs, very few mistakes, and won the key allin pots. Congrats!

Watch Out Hoosiers

Tom, Joel, Jason, and I arrived midafternoon yesterday to the hotbed of US poker - New Albany, IN for the WSOP Circuit Event at Caesars Indiana. The first event was the $550 1/2 PLO 1/2 NLH. While Jason, Tom, and I were knocked out beofre the money, Mr gamblegambel final tabled the event before finishing 9th. If it weren't for a monster pot he lost with 11 players left, he may have won the whole thing. At the very least, he would have entered the final table as the chip leader.

We will be here for the next 12 days or so. Expect a few more final tables before we are through, and with a little luck, one of us will bring home a win.

Win is Voided!

Investigation on PokerStars WCOOP Winner Comes to Conclusion

Author: Chris Vaughn chris@bluffmedia.com

After weeks of ongoing investigation and countless rumors about the ordeal, PokerStars has released its official statement regarding the issue of the WCOOP Main Event winner 'TheV0id' using multiple account in the tournament which he won nearly $1.4 million.The final decistion from Poker Stars read as follows follows:The investigation into the WCOOP Main Event has now been concluded.We have determined, based on the totality of evidence, that the tournament winner “TheV0id” was in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service.In the interests of Game Integrity, “TheV0id” has been disqualified from first place.All other WCOOP Main Event prizewinners in addition to the player who originally bubbled in 415th place will therefore advance one place in the prize pool. The necessary financial adjustments to reflect the revised tournament places will be made within the next 24 hours.Please note that we are unable to release further details of this investigation, for reasons of confidentiality and privacy.Stephen W.Manager, PokerStars Game Security----------This makes another chapter in the book of cheating and breaking rules in online poker. Conversation on online forums now rotates around the topic of prevention and if online poker sites will come up with ways to stop people from multi-accounting before they even have a chance to enter online tournaments

I guess I am happy about this, because another cheater has been caught and the punishment (in this case) is massive. However, it is also a black eye on the game of poker and the online industry. I hope this message gets out loud and clear that this kind of cheating is unacceptable.

How Hot is Hot?

While I am no baseball historian, I do know my fair share about the game, and what the Colorado Rockies are doing right now may be the hottest streak to ever finish a season.

After winning 13 of 14 games just to get into a one game playoff (in which they pounded one of the top three NL pitchers - Jake Peavy), they have won seven more in a row so far (the 1-game playoff, 3 in the NL Divisional Series against the Phillies, and the first 3 in the NL Championship Series vs the Diamondbacks). In total that is 20 of 21 games. This is the Colorado Rockies of major league baseball!! It's not the UCLA Bruins' basketball team in their heyday; it's not Roger Federer at Wimbledon; hell it's not even the Notre Dame football team (wait strike that last one, when were they last a championship contender).

This type of streak doesn't happen in baseball very often, and doing it under the pressure of late/post season makes it even more impressive. Furthermore of the 21 games, how many were against clubs with losing records? ONE!!! It was the first game of the streak against the Florida Marlins. The rest have been against LA, ARZ, SD, and PHI.

So how did they do it? Well obviously it has been with their big name pitchers. Here are their post-season starters: the ace of the staff Jeff Francis (4.22 ERA and 47-34 career record), Ubaldo Jimenez (4.28 ERA and 16 career regualr season starts with 4 wins), Josh Fogg (4.94 ERA and 60-60 career record), and tonight's starter Franklin Morales (3.43 ERA in 8 career regular season starts with 3 wins). How's that for a murderers row? Just sends chills up your spine.

Colorado does have a very potent offense despite the fact the average fan wouldn't recognize half the lineup. Here is their usual order: Willy Taveras, Kaz Matsui, Matt Holiday, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, and Yorvit Torrealba. The team average was .280 during the season. In addition, these boys can handle the leather. They only had 68 errors during the regular season. This was easily the best in the majors, and their fielding percentage was (if I remember right) 1st or 2nd in major league history.

As for myself, I've been rooting for them since the playoffs started for a few reasons: they aren't the Yankees (aka the team salary isn't in the strathosphere, and their fans don't believe that it is their God-given right to win the championship each and every year), they aren't the Red Sox (aka the team salary isn't in the mezosphere), they aren't the Phillies (Philadelphia fans are among the most obnoxious and fickle in pro sports, if you don't know why you haven't followed sports in the past couple decades), they aren't the Cubs (next year will be 100 years since their last World Series, and while I feel for Cubs fans, a full century without a title is so funny/futile I can't root for them yet), and they aren't the other 3 teams who made the playoffs Arizona, Cleveland, and Anahiem (these teams don't spark one ounce of interest for me).

They do things the right way. They aren't flashy or loud. They play team ball. Oh yeah, and they are pretty confident right now. I hope they win it all, and I hope they do it without a loss in the playoffs. This would make a remarkable story for sports. With a 3-0 lead in the NL Series, a World Series appearance is likely, and while I like their chances against either the Sox or the Indians, a sweep would be extremely unlikely. But then again, the Colorado Rockies are only 1 game away from their first World Series appearance!! How likely was that a month ago?

Bread and Butter

I played some cash games for the first time this month (and actually for the first time since August). It was a mixture of Stud H/L and NLH 6 and 9-handed.

Did I mention I love the UB short handed NLH tables?

First hand at the table I get QQ in the BB. Some short stacker in the SB with just under $500 raises it to $75 (10/25 table), I decide to push instead of a "normal" raise to around $225. He thinks and finally calls. Unfortunately, an A and K came, and he showed (you guessed it) K8. Wait that hand didn't come to mind when he called a little over $400 more. However, that was about the only real moronic play that beat me over the course of 2 1/2 hours. I stacked 3 or 4 guys and netted almost 7K at the table (and about 5600 on the day).

After a month long ride on the tourney train, it was nice to play some deep stack cash game poker. It was even nicer to win some.

Enjoy Your Filet!

The picture to the right shows a rare Tom Fuller smile at the poker tables. However, with today's 4th place finish for 160,000 Euros (@$225K) maybe we will be seeing alot more of them. This big result is well deserved and long overdue. After many bitter disappointments, he finally broke through.

Furthermore, he finally gets to try filet mignon. He had made a promise to himself a while ago that he would never eat filet until he gets his first six-figure score in poker. Enjoy it Tom; it may be the best filet you ever eat.

Take 'er Down Tom!

Mr. Thomas Fuller has final tabled the EPT Baden Event. Watch it live starting at 9 AM EST on the EPT website Wednesday. Keep up the great play!

Down Time

I haven't touched any online poker since the end of the month. It has been a nice and much needed break. I may play tomorrow; I may not. What I will be doing is going to the Circuit Event at Caesars Indiana on the 20th. Tom is riding there with me, and we will be meeting Joel, Jason, Dan, and maybe Mandy and Nick there. Anyone else interested is welcome. Just let me know.

On a side note, good luck to Mr Thomas Fuller tomorrow. He is in the final 40 at the EPT Main Event at Baden. He currently sits in 4th place. The top 24 cash and first is a measley 900K and change. (Yes that is a Cuban.)

Blogging for Money

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3196576

A Month End Review and Thoughts

Here are the numbers:

175 tournaments (target was at least 200)
28 cashes (16% cash rate - target was my historical rate of 20%)
$54,195 in entry fees/rake
$55,794.67 in cashes/swaps
$1,599.67 profit (a paltry 2.95% return)
327.17 buyins won
1.86 avg buyin won (essentially this shows I bombed out in the bigger buyin events)
1429.83 countable monthly pocket five pts - top 20 scores (1618.69pts in total)
ranked in the 70s for the month (peaked around 20th or so)

Interestingly, my overall rank for the site jumped from around 600th to around 250th during the month. I would like to get into the top 200 because you can then be ranked in the players poll (voted on by the top 200).

Noteworthy split stats (post my Turbo win on Sep 12th):

77 Tourneys
15 Cashes (19.5% cash rate)
$32,396 in entry fees/rake
$15,681.74 in cashes/swaps (-51.6% ROI) higher cashing rate but no cash over $1800
40.01 buyins won
0.46 avg buyin won

The irony is I thought my tourney game was better at the end of the month than at the beginning. I bluffed much more effectively, and was making some tough calls. At the end of the month, I could consistently build up my stack w/ or w/o cards. I plan on doing a synopsis of the WCOOP Main Event in the next couple days that illustrates this.

Various thoughts:

1) This was a very difficult month for me and my family (especially my wife). She put up with a lot (what is new for a poker player's wife right?). As such, I can't imagine doing an endeavor of this magnitude again for a long time.
2) How do some of these guys do this 24/7? Talk about having no life. I didn't even play nearly as much as many of the big name players. I estimate they play at a minimum 10 tourneys a day, and some are probably in the 25 neighborhood. I averaged less than 6.
3) Only a handful of the "top" online names are actually that good. Most are name players only through the sheer magnitude of tourneys they play (thus resulting in "good numbers" that are really average at best). Some of these players just gamble it up and occasionally catch fire, but I would venture to say many have slightly above average results at best. To illustrate this, I finished in the top 100 for the month and barely made any money. I think I ran pretty poorly too, and I played far fewer tournament than most of the guys that are known. I believe it would be entirely plausible to be a top 50 ranked player on pocket fives with an ROI under 5%. My ROI on the year is 42.15%, and unless you are over (bare minimum) 20% historically, I do not believe you can even be considered a good player. Adequate yes, but not good, and definitely not great.
4) In all probability, the unprobable is going to happen way more than you think.
5) I love where my tourney game is right now.
6) I love the fact I can play almost any game of tourney poker and have an edge.
7) Most players have no clue how to play any form of Stud. These tourneys are so soft its funny. I just wish more of these tournaments were played at major tourneys.
8) Post flop play is so weak among tourney players. This is due to most online events becoming shovefests by the mid way point.
9) Pre flop play is fairly strong (although this is my weakest area)
10) Online tourney structures continue to improve especially for big events. Unfortunately, live tournaments are getting worse especially for big events. Live events seem only to care about profits, while live sites truly seem to want to cater to their customers. Even the rake seems to get worse every year. Ultimately, this could kill the game. This may not change unless poker players finally get a strong tour/association together. The WSOP needs to be the leader here, but that is unlikely under current ownership (considering it is getting worse instead of better).

I am done with poker for some amount of time (to be determined). It won't be a ridiculous amount of time. I am glad it's October though.

A Fitting End

PokerStars Game #12369299196: Tournament #70000023, $2500+$100 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIII (1250/2500) - 2007/09/30 - 23:55:09 (ET)
Table '70000023 108' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: timber (140223 in chips)
Seat 2: 4thgenlude (129229 in chips)
Seat 3: StudlyJud (38928 in chips)
Seat 4: Imustcall (207116 in chips)
Seat 5: ktrieu (87344 in chips)
Seat 6: PiMaster (39217 in chips)
Seat 7: Dogger9 (137785 in chips)
Seat 8: Shakey71 (48683 in chips)
Seat 9: takechip (213406 in chips)
timber: posts the ante 250
4thgenlude: posts the ante 250
StudlyJud: posts the ante 250
Imustcall: posts the ante 250
ktrieu: posts the ante 250
PiMaster: posts the ante 250
Dogger9: posts the ante 250
Shakey71: posts the ante 250
takechip: posts the ante 250
Dogger9: posts small blind 1250
Shakey71: posts big blind 2500
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PiMaster [Ts As]
takechip: folds
timber: folds
4thgenlude: folds
StudlyJud: folds
Imustcall: folds
ktrieu: folds
PiMaster: raises 4500 to 7000
Dogger9: raises 33000 to 40000
Shakey71: folds
PiMaster: calls 31967 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [4d Qd Th]
*** TURN *** [4d Qd Th] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [4d Qd Th Qh] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Dogger9: shows [Jd Kh] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
PiMaster: shows [Ts As] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
Dogger9 collected 82684 from pot

A bit of satisfaction

Last night, I cashed in the Stud 8 WCOOP event. This was somewhat significant for a couple reasons:

1) It was my fifth cash in the WCOOP (this was my goal for the series). However, with no final tables, I am actually down a little on the series if you don't count my 5% of MasterJ's 2nd place cash.

2) With the cash, I have now cashed in the following games during the last two WCOOP's and FTOPS: No Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem 6-Handed, Pot Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Omaha 6-Handed, Omaha 8, Stud 8, Stud, and 2 to 7 Triple Draw. I am fairly proud of these finishes because it shows I am a complete poker player.

A lot of modern players are one trick ponies (and occasionally 2). No Limit Holdem is all many players know. It is all they care to know. I think you are missing out on opportunities by not being able to play multiple games. The +EV in these tourneys, if you are good, is ridiculous. So many players give it a shot without any knowledge of the proper way to play (for perspective think back to the beginning of the NLH explosion online and how juicy the games were). Furthermore, the same game day after day can get very dull. As a result, your game can start to suffer. Playing new games adds variety. I wish there were more big tourneys during the year with the variety the WCOOP, FTOPS, and WSOP has. Usually it is NLH all day every day with an occasional token non NLH event thrown in.

Something Daniel Negreanu proposed ealier this year would interest me a ton if done online. He wanted a tourney decathalon of some sort where players would play 10 different forms of poker. Each game would be a tournament in unto itself with payouts. A portion of each players entry fee into each event would go to an overall prize pool for the series. You would earn points based on your finish in each event. I think he had the top 25% or so earning points.

My list of events would probably be these:

1) NLH
2) LH
3) PLO
4) Omaha 8
5) Stud
6) Stud 8
7) Razz
8) 2 to 7 Triple Draw
9) PLH
10) either PLO8 or NLH 6-Handed

I think it would stir up a ton of interest and would be a blast. If it was done on a yearly basis, it could crown a World Online Poker Champion.

Swimming with the Penguins

I may be enduring the coldest stretch of tournament poker in my life. There have been a ton of coolers. My 80/20s seem like 2 to 1 favorites. When I have a guy dominated, they seem like coin flips, and when I have a coin flip, it feels like I am dominated. When I am behind - fahgedaboudit. I only have one or two suckouts when allin in the past few days. I feel like I am playing extremely well however. I keep building up large stacks without risking large portions of my stack. My bluffs are rarely getting called even the dangerous ones, and my value bets are getting paid off. The big pre allins mid-to-late in tourneys are just killing me. Unfortunately they are unavoidable as tourneys get deeper and stacks get shorter. Don't get me wrong, I have definitely made some errors. Yet, I have only regretted a few of my decisions in the last 10 days.

It's a weird feeling when you are extremely confident in your game, and nothing is going your way. I don't think this stretch has affected my decision making. My brother has watched a few of my tourneys, and he thinks I am playing well. In his words, he "would have thrown his computer through a wall" seeing the beats I have been repeatedly taking.

Despite this I cannot help but think a big score is just around the corner. In the immortal words of David Farragut: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

A week and a half of tourneys in a nutshell

This happens in two out of three hands in the WCOOP PLO8 tourney today to knock me out after I had a very large stack:

Seat 1: Peakster (7312 in chips)
Seat 2: Speedbump77 (3111 in chips)
Seat 4: augustw (14551 in chips)
Seat 5: BBB-111 (18993 in chips)
Seat 6: PiMaster (7898 in chips)
Seat 7: emptyseat88 (4546 in chips)
Seat 8: chhova1 (22590 in chips)
Seat 9: belar74 (7697 in chips)
chhova1: posts small blind 200
belar74: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PiMaster [9s 2h As Kd]
Peakster: folds
Speedbump77: calls 400
augustw: folds
BBB-111: folds
PiMaster: raises 1200 to 1600
emptyseat88: folds
chhova1: folds
belar74: folds
Speedbump77: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [5s Jh 8h]
Speedbump77: bets 1511 and is all-in
PiMaster: calls 1511
*** TURN *** [5s Jh 8h] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5s Jh 8h 9d] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Speedbump77: shows [Ah 3h 4h 7s] (HI: a flush, Ace high)
PiMaster: shows [9s 2h As Kd] (HI: two pair, Kings and Nines)
Speedbump77 collected 6822 from pot
No low hand qualified

He basically needed a high heart for it all.

Seat 1: Peakster (6912 in chips)
Seat 2: Speedbump77 (6822 in chips)
Seat 4: augustw (14551 in chips)
Seat 5: BBB-111 (18993 in chips)
Seat 6: PiMaster (4787 in chips)
Seat 7: emptyseat88 (4546 in chips)
Seat 8: chhova1 (15093 in chips)
Seat 9: belar74 (14994 in chips)
Peakster: posts small blind 200
Speedbump77: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PiMaster [2h Ac Ad Qh]
augustw: folds
BBB-111: calls 400
PiMaster: raises 1200 to 1600
emptyseat88: folds
chhova1: folds
belar74: folds
Peakster: folds
Speedbump77: folds
BBB-111: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [4s 4d Kh]
Jayrule is connected
BBB-111: checks
PiMaster: bets 3187 and is all-in
BBB-111: calls 3187
*** TURN *** [4s 4d Kh] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [4s 4d Kh 7s] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BBB-111: shows [7d As Kd Ks] (HI: a full house, Kings full of Fours)
PiMaster: shows [2h Ac Ad Qh] (HI: two pair, Aces and Fours)
BBB-111 collected 10174 from pot
No low hand qualified

The Stretch Run

I am taking most of today off after some brutal tourneys early this afternoon. I plan on putting my best effort forward over the next six days. I'm not going to lie; with a family and other responsibilities, the last week or so has been difficult. The WCOOP runs at a very bad time for me (through dinner and bedtime for the kids).

I haven't had a significant cash over the past 10 days, despite being 4 for 15 in the WCOOP. As a result, I have dropped into the mid 40's on the pocket five rankings for the month. That's not bad for the amount of tourneys I have played compared to most of the guys up there, but it is still well short of my target.

This Saturday is the huge 5K Horse event in the WCOOP. I was hoping to put up about half of that myself unless I have a huge score before then. If anyone wants to buy a piece of my action (you'd have 100% of the amount you buy of me), just let me know.

Catch 22

I probably picked a bad month to try for the top ten of Pocket Fives for this sole reason: the WCOOP. I actually thought coming in that the WCOOP would be a good thing for the goal. It is my favorite series of the year online by far, and as a result, my focus is almost solely on it. The events all start at 2 or 3:30 my time. This is the dead time of the day for the other tournaments I was using to try to accumulate points. The peak time begins at 6 and ends at about 10. However, when it gets to that time of day, I am either fairly deep in a WCOOP event (in which case I do not want other tourneys to distract me), or I have been knocked out of the event (in which case I am not in the mood to really play something else). This has meant I have played far fewer events than needed for the past week to have a chance of achieving my goal. I am not upset by this. I would rather do well in the tourneys I do play. However, my goal seems very much of a long shot at this point. Before the WCOOP started, I had risen to around 22nd in the standings, but I have dropped down a lot since then. On a good note, I have cashed in 3 of the 11 WCOOPs so far. My goal was at least 5 for the series (out of a planned 20 or so events).

So that's where I stand. Maybe something will change in the upcoming week, but it won't be my focus on the WCOOP, and that's fine by me.

Congrats MasterJ!

Yesterday MasterJ took down 2nd Place in the WCOOP #7 $215 Limit Holdem. He played fabulous throughout. If it weren't for the big heater in the final 15 minutes by his opponent, I think he would have won.

I have taken it very easy the last couple days (only 4 tourneys). None went my way, but I feel refreshed after a long weekend. The WCOOP O8 is today.

God Is Right - Sunday Should Be A Day Of Rest

Another Sunday, another bum day. 0 for 6. I didn't play great, I didn't play horribly. I'm glad it's over. The week as a whole was up somewhat, so I am fairly pleased.

Today is the ridiculously structured $300 PLO w/ RBs WCOOP. By my guess, the average stack after the RB period will be between 15K and 20K. The blinds to start the 2nd hour...25/50, and with 30 minute levels, this will be unbelievably good.

Updated stats:

110 tourneys
18 cashes (16.4% almost back to the norm)
$26,935 in entry fees
$43,719.53 in cashes (plus $36 on swaps) 62.3% ROI
1271.46 Pocket 5 Pts

Pocket Fives is still missing the data from my Turbo win, so they have me at 1066.92 pts in 38th place. My total would put me in 20th, but I am sure some others may move up also once the stats are corrected.

9/2 Stars $33 NLH w/ RBs - 11/263 $652.05 40.38 pts
9/2 AB $163 NLH - 22/487 $450 42.86 pts
9/2 FT $216 HORSE - 2/121 $4840 102.63 pts
9/4 Stars $11 NLH w/ RBs - 12/1767 $379.56 57.60 pts
9/5 Stars $22 NLH w/ RBs - 9/433 $708.22 54.62 pts
9/6 FT $163 NLH - 1/376 $14,100 237.49 pts
9/8 FT $109 NLH w/ RBs - 13/165 $732.50 51.95 pts
9/8 FT $109 NLH - 2/601 $9165.25 161.74 pts
9/9 FT $216 NLH - 443/3499 $300 22.37 pts
9/11 UB $129 NLH Bounty - 15/241 $260 31.14 pts
9/11 Stars $162 NLH - 72/1000 $330 29.76 pts
9/12 FT $216 NLH Turbo - 1/148 $7992 172.05 pts
9/12 Stars $55 NLH - 30/1162 $203.35 31.32 pts
9/14 FT $216 NLH Turbo - 18/169 $338 32.46 pts
9/15 Stars $109 NLH - 61/424 $127.20 17.48 pts
9/15 Stars WCOOP #3 $215 PLO 6-Handed - 22/1818 $1818 94.38 pts
9/15 Stars WCOOP #4 $215 2 to 7 - 25/649 $649 52.22 pts
9/15 Stars $215 PLO 6-Handed - 17/228 $638.4 39.01 pts