Interesting Facts from the Win

I was curious to see how I ran during my win last night. The only way I thought to look it up was to look at any allins I was involved in. I know this is a very simplified way to look at it. In any case, I definitely ran well but not extraordinarily well. In fact, I never sucked out once, but more importantly, I was never sucked out on either.

In coin flips, I went 2-2.
As a 2 to 1 dog I was 0-3.
As a 2 to 1 fav I was 8-0.
As a 4 to fav I was 3-0.
As a huge dog I was 0-1.
As a huge fav I was 2-0.
I had one lock for 1-0.

Overall, I went 16-6. I doubled up 3 times and had one triple up. I cannot ever remember hearing about a tourney where all hands did "as expected." Like Hellmuth said, "I guess if there were no luck, I'd win everyone of these!"

The Master

Congrats to MasterJ (Jason Dewitt) on his 2nd place finish in the Heartland Poker Tour's Event in Gary, IN. His take was for just over 100k and easily set his career best cash. He has been so overdue for a big live score, it isn't even funny. Hopefully, this is the start of a big hot streak for him.

(and a little addendum, I just won the 50/50 on Full Tilt - $50, 50k guarantee - for just over 10K. This is my biggest online score in a while, so while it's not 100k, it is nice)

Why PLO Tourneys Continue to be Great Value

Full Tilt Poker Game #7365751978: $50 + $5 Tournament (55897183), Table 1 - 120/240 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 2:43:28 ET - 2008/07/25
Seat 1: DaBroWitDaFro (19,711)
Seat 3: mlbwanderer (7,046)
Seat 4: DylanMichael (13,173), is sitting out
Seat 7: Bailey22 (14,120)
Seat 8: PiMaster (9,584)
Seat 9: johnsonck69 (29,366)
DylanMichael posts the small blind of 120
Bailey22 posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PiMaster [3d 9c 8d 7c]
DylanMichael has returned
PiMaster calls 240
johnsonck69 folds
DaBroWitDaFro folds
mlbwanderer calls 240
DylanMichael has 15 seconds left to act
DylanMichael folds
Bailey22 raises to 1,080 (AA monkey getting in 7% of his stack pre, easy double thru if I hit)
PiMaster calls 840
mlbwanderer folds
*** FLOP *** [9s 4h 3c]
Bailey22 bets 2,520
PiMaster raises to 8,504, and is all in
Bailey22 calls 5,984
PiMaster shows [3d 9c 8d 7c]
Bailey22 shows [Th Ad As Ac] (rofl - not just AA but AAA and bare)
*** TURN *** [9s 4h 3c] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [9s 4h 3c 5h] [Tc]
PiMaster shows two pair, Nines and Threes
Bailey22 shows a pair of Aces
PiMaster wins the pot (19,528) with two pair, Nines and Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 19,528 Rake 0
Board: [9s 4h 3c 5h Tc]
Seat 1: DaBroWitDaFro didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: mlbwanderer (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DylanMichael (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Bailey22 (big blind) showed [Th Ad As Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 8: PiMaster showed [3d 9c 8d 7c] and won (19,528) with two pair, Nines and Threes
Seat 9: johnsonck69 didn't bet (folded)


Bailey22: nh too call a raise
PiMaster: nh to call an allin
Bailey22: morons with 50 bucks
Bailey22: tired of gettin cracked down
PiMaster: y u were a huge fav
PiMaster: real impressive ur "monster" was in fact a dog (I was in fact a 53/47 fav pre)
Bailey22: dont care it the thought of call a raise 9378
PiMaster: im almost puking thinking of the raise from the BB w/ AAAx

A beacon of light in a hurricane....

In what was a brutal day, I did win this humorous and profitable hand.


PokerStars Game #18907552366: Omaha Hi/Lo Limit ($75/$150) - 2008/07/18 - 08:08:55 (ET)
Table 'Orthosie III' 10-max Seat #10 is the button
Seat 1: BluffMeNot ($3413 in chips)
Seat 2: Rinehart ($2820.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Batera ($4225 in chips)
Seat 4: fishrus ($3975.50 in chips)
Seat 5: dagunman ($5823 in chips)
Seat 6: CRossiter ($6236.50 in chips)
Seat 7: 13Ghosts ($2438.50 in chips)
Seat 8: kcodya ($632.50 in chips)
Seat 9: badabang ($812 in chips)
Seat 10: PiMaster ($1767.50 in chips)
BluffMeNot: posts small blind $50
Rinehart: posts big blind $75
badabang: posts big blind $75
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PiMaster [Ad 3d 2d 4d]
Batera: calls $75
fishrus: folds
dagunman: folds
CRossiter: folds
13Ghosts: calls $75
kcodya: calls $75
badabang: checks
PiMaster: raises $75 to $150
BluffMeNot: folds
Rinehart: calls $75
Batera: raises $75 to $225
13Ghosts: calls $150
kcodya: calls $150
badabang: calls $150
PiMaster: raises $75 to $300
Betting is capped
Rinehart: calls $150
Batera: calls $75
13Ghosts: calls $75
kcodya: calls $75
badabang: calls $75
*** FLOP *** [8s 8c 4s]
Rinehart: checks
Batera: bets $75
13Ghosts: calls $75
kcodya: raises $75 to $150
badabang: folds
PiMaster: calls $150
Rinehart: folds
Batera: calls $75
13Ghosts: calls $75
*** TURN *** [8s 8c 4s] [Tc]
Batera: checks
13Ghosts: checks
kcodya: bets $150
PiMaster: calls $150
Batera: calls $150
13Ghosts: calls $150
*** RIVER *** [8s 8c 4s Tc] [Kh]
Batera: checks
13Ghosts: checks
kcodya: bets $32.50 and is all-in
PiMaster: calls $32.50 (100 to 1 odds why not?!?!)
Batera: folds
13Ghosts: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kcodya: shows [As 5s Qh 6s] (HI: a pair of Eights)
PiMaster: shows [Ad 3d 2d 4d] (HI: two pair, Eights and Fours)
PiMaster collected $3112 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3115 Rake $3
Board [8s 8c 4s Tc Kh]
Seat 1: BluffMeNot (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Rinehart (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Batera folded on the River
Seat 4: fishrus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: dagunman folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: CRossiter folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: 13Ghosts folded on the River
Seat 8: kcodya showed [As 5s Qh 6s] and lost with HI: a pair of Eights
Seat 9: badabang folded on the Flop
Seat 10: PiMaster (button) showed [Ad 3d 2d 4d] and won ($3112) with HI: two pair, Eights and Fours

Keep in mind this was 6 way action pre and had 21 big bets in the pot, and my little pair of fours scooped!!!!! Don't ask how much I lost on the day though :)

Back Home - Thankfully Safe and Sound

The long trip out to Vegas and back that began back in late May had one more big surprise about an hour and a half from home. Driving back on I-70 going about 75 mph a car we were passing decided he was going to switch lanes without a signal and without checking to see if anyone was there. Considering Julie and I were about even with the middle of his car, this became a big issue. She immediately slammed on the brakes, honked but also had to swerve towards the median. The car just kept switching lanes completely oblivious to the circumstances. Once our front right tire went off the shoulder and caught the slight slope, there wasn't much Julie could do. We caught the slope and it took us into what is essentially a metal fence which protects you from crossing into oncoming traffic. After running through/over 2 or 3 of the posts we came to a rest against one. No one was hurt in the least bit, and surprisingly, we only suffered a flat front tire and some decent damage to the front right portion of the car (including the front bumber basically falling off).

However, the thing that pissed me off the most was that noone stopped to help us except for one guy on the other side of the highway. The guy that ran us off...gone; about ten to twenty other cars that had to have seen it...on their merry way. A couple of them did call 911 and verify that we did crash and that a red ford escort had caused it, but did they chek to make sure we weren't injured...nah! I have witnessed one crash in my life, and I screeched to a halt and ran to the car to help the people out. I would have liked to have thought any reasonable person would.

Fortunately, Julie and I are safe and sound, and I got to kiss my wife and kids goodnight. So all in all I can't complain too much.

Get 'er Done Jeremiah

Despite the lack of results in the Main Event by the poorly named "Castle of Pain," there is a "friend of the Castle" doing very well in the Main, Jeremiah Smith. At the time of this blog he was in fact the overall chip leader in the event at bubble time. As you can see, he is a red name in our house already, and may get signed to a long-term deal with a big finish here. With any luck, you will be getting a "Tips from the Pros" email from him very soon about how to pwn people in the main event with a big stack.

In all seriousness, we are all rooting for you Jeremiah!

Heartbreak

I am having a hard time actually writing this. Essentially I lost a 74K pot with 98h vs KK on a 982 flop. A king hit the turn. Average stack at the time was about 30K and I would have been sitting on 82K. A short time later I got busted with 99 vs A6 on a 766 board. That beat hit me about as hard as any I have ever taken. Not only was it the Main Event, but I was on a table I was owning with little risk. I could have coasted into day 2 with a very large stack. It wasn't meant to be, and now I am walking around in a daze trying to get my bearings.

I hope some of the other guys can make a deep run because my 2008 WSOP is over.....

WSOP Prelim Wrap-up

This is what I wrote at the beginning of the series about my goals/expectations.

"The following is a list of minimum goals for my series:
Events: 18
Cashes: 4 for at least 60K (to cover my trip expenses and have a little profit)
Final Tables: 1

Furthermore, I want to stay focused and have fun. Last year, I went 0 for the series until the Main Event. I was very down and not enthused about much. I don't see that happening this year for a couple reasons: 1) I learned from last year. I am not taking the WSOP for granted. Last year I don't think I got pumped up enough. 2) Staying in this house with a bunch of pros should keep the time here very fun and entertaining.

I fully expect at least 20 cashes and 3 final tables from our house. While the odds of a bracelet IMO are about 1 in 4, I still think one or two people will have a great shot. Two years ago, when we had the first "House of Pain", Jason had a 6th place, I had a 3rd place and Paul had the memorable 2nd place Main Event finish. This year's house is far more experienced."

So what has happened? On my personal goals, I have played 16 events with the Main being my 17th. This was one below my target, although I passed up on about 2 or 3 due to just not being in the mood. I have had 3 cashes for 71K which is strong given only 16 events. If I get a cash in the Main then I will be right on the goal for number of cashes. I have already exceeded my most important goal of 60k in cashes (although I won't squabble if I get more). Furthermore, I did reach one final table, and while I was disappointed with the outcome, I am still pumped about it. My emotional goals were exceeded. I feel I have brought my focus and drive to every tourney I entered. Even at the start when I bricked out my first ten tourneys here, I felt I never gave up and was just running horribly.

On the house expectations, we are a little below what I thought would happen. However, I think this is mainly due to many of the guys playing far less tourneys than I thought they would. seven of the regulars have played less than 5 WSOP events. Some of them have played many of the Venetian's Deep Stacks instead. Overall, we have (by my count) 14 cashes and two final tables. In both final tables, we had excellent chances for a bracelet only to fall short with a 2nd and a 3rd. To reach my targets of 20 cashes and 3 final tables, it would take I sick run for the 11 of us playing, but who knows.