Sunday Blues

In the Sunday majors (all $200+ buyin tournies plus some FTOPS and SCOOPs) this year:

3/62 (all 3 cashes in the Sunday Warmup on Pokerstars)
-$15,323

Yes I am 0 for the Stars Sunday Million, the FT Sunday Brawl, the FT 750k, and the UB 200K plus some HORSE, Razz and FTOPS/SCOOPs.

That's the bad news.

The good news: my big score of the year was in a $55 NLH on Stars back in January (which happened to be on a Sunday). As a result, my overall net on Sundays is actually positive. It just doesn't feel like it.

Someone's 30!

377th

Out early today. I played only two hands. My bustout occurred with JJ vs AK aipf. Amazingly, it was only my 3rd allin pot of the whole tourney, and my first with me at risk. Not so amazingly, I lost the flip. The only day I wish I could play over again was day 4. I messed up two or three hands that day that put me behind the 8 ball coming into today.

To say this series was a disappointment would be a large understatement. I felt I played very well for the most part (although I did botch some hands as would be expected with the amount of poker I played). However, the allins just hammered me. I ran so far below expectation that it was hard to ever get a stack unless my timing on bluffs was phenomenal. This is basically how I went so far in the Main Event - a couple big hands, and tons of small to medium pots taken down with cbets and creative bluffs.

I basically broke even on the trip in poker including online action. Considering I was down almost 30k at one point, that could be considered a small victory. I fly home tomorrow, and I can't wait to see my family. Also, a good shave might do me wonders (the facial hair is out of control).

Good Luck to Mr. Joel Patchell! He is currently sporting a large stack, and I would love to see him make some major waves in this tourney.

Day 4

I played fairly well in this shortened version of a day. I did botch one hand but got lucky, and I made a big, but incorrect fold on another hand when I went with my read. The latter hand, in particular, was extremely strange and sickening. By tomorrow, it won't matter though. I have 201k with the average somewhere in the mid 400s I think. 407 players remain, so I will see what I can do tomorrow with my 25 big blind stack. I have plenty of time (and patience), and hopefully I can catch a few breaks and get a hold of some chips.

On a side note I played at my 1st feature table (it was the secondary feature table). I was seated with Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Surindar Sunar, and Burt Boutin. So look for me when they do Day 4 coverage on ESPN. However, I fear the only hand they may show of me is the one I incorrectly folded :( So if that happens I won't look too good (weeeeeeee!).

WSOP Contest

Doyle - Phil Ivey, Dan Harrington
Nick/Matt - Chris Viox, Joe Sebok
Joel - Phil Hellmuth (3 pts), Chris Ferguson (2 pts - somehow missed him previously) Elky
Tom - JC Tran
Chris - Joe Hachem

Joe - Justin Bonomo (3pts)

Matt S - none
Jason - none

Day 4 Anyone?

I am on to day 4 of the WSOP Main Event (somehow). All day it was like pulling teeth until finally with 30 minutes left in the day I finally won a big hand with AA vs QQ. It was easily my toughest day yet, despite the fact the table wasn't all that difficult. I wasn't getting any hands to speak of, and these guys were not the easiest to win a pot off of without actually having something.

Nonetheless, I move on with 233,500. Average is slightly above this. Also Paul (293k) and Joel (313K) are still kicking. We should hit the money sometime early in the day (maybe 3 hrs in or so).

Doyle - Phil Ivey 371k Dan Harrington 181k
Jason - Isaac Baron 208k
Nick/Matt - Chris Viox 234k, Joe Sebok 298k
Joe - Justin Bonomo 518k
Joel - Phil Hellmuth 485k, Elky 1.4mil
Tom - JC Tran 119k
Chris - Joe Hachem 240k
Matt S - done

WSOP Contest Update

Players Remaining w/ chip counts

Edited

Doyle: Phil Ivey 346k, Harrington 181k
Jason: Isaac Baron 82k, Jason Somerville 290k
Nick/Matt: Chris Viox 114k, Joe Sebok 123k
Joe: Greg Raymer 96k, John Juanda 39k, Justin Bonomo 223k
Joel: Phil Hellmuth 143k, Elky 208k
Tom: JC Tran 285k, Nam Le 38k, Erik Seidel 56k, Carlos Mortensen 58k
Chris: Joe Hachem 139k
Matt S: 0 0k, nobody 0k zilch 0k

Ideal Day

I am on to Day 3 of the Main Event with a slightly above average chip stack of 114K. Given the fact I was working on 3 to 4 hours sleep, I am very pleased with how the day went climbing from 43K to where I ended. I had a very tough table draw, and to increase my stack by more than 2.5x is more than I hoped for.

I now play Friday when all the remaining players are finally combined for the first time.

Good Luck on Wednesday for the following: Tom Fuller, Matt Viox, Matt Doyle, Seth Fischer, Paul Wasicka, Joel Patchell, and Matt Smith. Hopefully most of these guys can make it through to Friday also.

On to Day 2

I will be playing on day 2 of the Main Event with a starting stack of 43550. This should be just about average. I had what I would call a very "professional" day. I was pretty much flop dead all day, except for a few hands. I made the most out of what I got, and picked my spots well at a bad table. The guy on my left was super laggy, but ran about as bad as I've seen. When he got knocked out a big stack sat down. He was very good, and wasn't afraid to make big bluffs. Then the guy 3 to my left was the biggest floater ever. He hated to fold post and made some insane call downs. I never hit anything of note against him to take him to value town. Then the guy 3 to my right was apparently Gbmantis (an extremely good online player). He came to the table in level 2 with 60k already.

So a laggy bludgeoner to my right, a lag then huge bluffer to my left, and a super call station to my left made for many difficult spots. I will therefore take my stack with a smile and hope for a better draw for day 2. Good luck to virtually all my friends tomorrow. Almost everyone I know is playing except for a couple playing on Monday.

Main Event Contest

At dinner tonight, 8 of us decided to have a small ($20) contest for the main event of the WSOP.

The Rules:

1) 6 man teams
2) Points are earned as follows: Every pay jump a player of yours moves up you earn 1 pt (ie a minimum cash is worth 1 pt, the next pay jump up is worth 2 pts, etc)
3) Most pts wins - winner take all

Teams:

Doyle- Phil Ivey, Chino Rheem, Dan Harrington, Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen, Alex Kamberis
Jason- Gus Hansen, Isaac Baron, Mike Sowers, Vitaly Lundkin, Eric Baldwin, Jason Somerville
Nick/Matt V- Allen Cunningham, Chris Viox, Maria Ho, Toph Moore, Joe Sebok, Mike Binger
Joe- Phil Galfond, Greg Raymer, Dario Mineiri, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Justin Smith
Joel- Phil Hellmuth, Elky, John Little, Chris Ferguson, Tom Dwan, Gavin Smith
Matt S- Mike Matusow, David Pham, Antonio Esfandari, Brandon Cantu, Barry Greenstein, Michael Banducci
Tom- JC Tran, Nam Le, Erik Seidel, Carlos Mortensen, Mike Mizrachi, Steve Sung
Chris- Jason Dewitt, Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton, Joe Hachem, Danny Wong, Adam Freidman

I Can Shave

This is for those of you who know what that means :)