Final table time, I was 9 people away from winning my seat.  I had a 1 in 9 chance, and I felt confident.  1st place wins the 10k seat plus another 1k, and 2nd thru 8th gets there $160 back, while 9th place gets only $30.  First hand, I get dealt QQ from the big blind.  This is a monster hand, but I don’t want to bust out with it on the first and only win $30 bucks so I decide that I’ll play it safe since I will be out of position in this hand if people call me.  The player under the gun raises and 3 or 4 people call.  I decide to just call and see a flop.  The flop comes Jack high and I check, the initial raiser bets small and gets 1 caller, so I call.  The turn comes a blank and I check again.  The raiser bets a small bet again and 1 player calls and I call.  I didn’t mind playing a small pot, especially on the first hand.  The river brought another low card, so I was looking at top pair.  I checked and the other players check behind me and I won a decent sized pot to take the early chip lead at over 2000.  I was getting very good cards and playing pretty well and had built my stack to over 2800 when the following hand came up. 

It was still really early, but I was the chip leader with over 2800, 1 player had busted out so all of us were at least guaranteed to get our money back.  I picked up KK in the big blind.  The player under the gun raised 3 x’s the big blind, and 2 people called behind him.  A late position player reraised, and everyone folded to me.  I decided that if he had AA he had AA, but I didn’t want to be up against more than 3 players for sure.  So I raised all in, basically putting anyone who called all in.  Everyone folded to the player who reraised, and he went into the tank thinking.  I knew then that he didn’t have AA and I wanted him to call.  He did and he flipped over QQ.  Alright I was a 4-1 favorite.  The flop came out K-9-Q, making me an even bigger favorite as I had a higher set.  I would only lose if the 1 Queen in the deck came up.  The turn brought a 10, hmmmm…ok now we could split the pot if a Jack hit to make a straight on the board.  The river came….and of course…it was a Jack!  SIGH…what can I do, I had him on the rail and he got lucky to split the pot.  So instead of me being at over 4500, I was now only at 2900.  But I was still the chip leader and felt ok. 

Later I picked up AK and raised from middle position.  The small blind who was 2nd in chips called my raise.  The flop came out A-10-2 with 2 spades.  I bet out after my opponent checked, he quickly called.  The turn brought another 10, potentially a scary card.  He checked and I checked behind him.  The river brough a spade to make a flush possible.  He bets out 600, and I got to the tank.  I should have folded knowing that I can’t beat a 10 or a flush.  But I called hoping he had AQ or AJ, I was wrong and he flipped over KJ of spades.  So now I was down to about 1700.  I felt myself tilting, but tried to stay calm. 

A few hands later I picked up AdQd suited from the small blind.  The player who I should’ve busted out earlier raised from middle position.  Here is where I made a mistake, I should’ve reraised him, but I decided to just call.  The big blind also called and the flop came out K-10-9 with 2 diamonds, giving me a gut shot straight draw and the nut flush draw.  I bet out and the big blind called, the raiser then reraised all in.  Well I figured I was drawing to the nuts and I was getting 2-1 on my chips, so I called and the big blind folded.  He flips over KJ and was ahead.  I needed and Ace, a diamond or a Jack.  The turn came a blank and the river came a blank and now I was on the rail with only 400 left.  Looking back, I was a slight favorite to win the hand after the flop so it wasn’t a horrible call by me.  I ended up picking up 66 and of course my nemesis who should’ve been out picked up 1010 and I was gone when no 6 came to help me.  I was mad, but oh well, it wasn’t meant to be at that time.  I got my money in multiple times with the best hand or a very good chance to win and luck just wasn’t on my side.  But I won’t get discouraged, I will try again and I will get my seat….sometime!

Until next time…flop a monster.

Yesterday I played in the $160 WSOP double shootout satellite.  I hadn’t played in this tournament since the last time I got heads up on the first table and blew it.  So I was determined to play better this time.  As soon as the registering began, I saw some very well known internet players signing up and I knew if I was at some of their tables, it was going to be tough.  When the tournament was about to start and we got our seats, low and behold I was at the one particular well known internet player’s table.  The player’s screen name is ElkY.  I haven’t watched him play much, but I know he is very well known and a very good player. 

I got my seat and I was 2 behind ElkY, and the player in front of me I also recognized as being a very good player.  I looked both of them up on www.thepokerdb.com, and both of them had made well over $100,000 in tournament play this year!  Wow, I went on to look up every player on our table and 7 players consistently play in tournaments well over a $100 buy in.  At least half of the players had made over $75k in tournament play this year, and I was 8th out of 9 in money made this year in tournament play with just over $3k.  I knew it was going to be the toughest table I ever played at, but I went in telling myself I wasn’t going to play scared, I was just going to play my game.  I wanted these players to think they are better than me and that is why they could beat me, while I would go in thinking, I’m going to win because I am going to play better than these guys. 

I owe this mantra to my professional poker buddy, who gave me this tip.  “You go into a game with 1 of 2 mindsets.  1 is that you go in thinking you’re going to win because you are better than everyone else.  2 is that you go in thinking you’re going to win because you are going to play better than everyone else.  If you go into the game with the first mindset, you will lose.  But if you go in with the 2nd mindset, you’ll win.”  This is really good advice and I have been using this before going into every game I play.  And this was the exact mindset I went into this first very tough table.

I played very tight at the beginning, as the cards dictated my play.  Immediately, the player to my right busted someone and was a huge chip leader.  I knew it would be tough as he started to get aggressive with the chip lead.  I stayed patient and finally picked up 3 good hands in a row and played them very strong.  I won 2 out of those 3 pots, raising all of them preflop.  I watched as a couple of players busted out, and I stayed patient.  I let the cards dictate my play.  I picked up QQ from early position and raised and got called by 3 players all behind me.  The flop came K high with a flush draw, so I decided to play it safe and check.  Everyone checked around and the turn brought the flush card.  I decided to bet out, which may have been a mistake, but oh well.  I got raised by one of the players and I folded.  I was now the lowstack, but still had a good amount of chips. 

ElkY was playing pretty tight, I was ahead of him by about 60 chips when the following hand came up.  ElkY was in the small blind and the chip leader was the Big Blind.  I limped in with KhJh.  Everyone folded and ElkY called from the small blind.  The flop came a beautiful AhQh4h.  I flopped the nut flush, now I was just thinking how do I get the most out of this pot from these guys?  Both players checked to me, and I decided to check also.  The turn brought a 10.  ElkY bets out 100, it seemed to me that this was a bet where he really believed he was ahead and had a decent hand, so I min raised to 200 after the chip leader folded.  The river now brought a K of diamonds.  Again, ElkY bet out 100.  Now I really believed he had a good hand, maybe at worst 2 pair.  But if he had 2 pair would he call an all in thinking I was on a flush draw?  Since there was also a straight possibility out there, I decided to not raise all in, because if he did only have 2 pair then he probably wouldn’t call me.  So I raised to 450, he called immediately and I won with the nuts.  He ended up having AJ, making his straight on the end, and I was mad I didn’t bust him because that was a really good opportunity to do it.  But I did cripple him as he was now down to his last 695 or so.  I was now at over 2300 in chips and in 2nd place. 

To make things worse, ElkY would double up a few hands later when he rivered a Q for his QJ to beat 88.  A few hands later a player tried to steal ElkY’s big blind, when ElkY called with JJ, he doubled thru 56 suited and he was now up to 2600.  Unbelievable.  I stayed strong as we got down to about 5 players.  ElkY just lost a huge pot when his 77 ran into AA and he was the low stack with about 1300.  I was at about 1500 when I picked up 77.  The chip leader in front of me raised from 100 to 300.  My gut told me I was way ahead and that I should raise all in.  The only problem is that he was playing so wreckless and had called an all in with rags a couple of hands before.  But I decided this was the best play.  So I raised all in.  Just as I suspected he called with rags, 86 suited in diamonds.  When the board came AAJK7, I had doubled through to about 3000. 

ElkY was the low stack and ended up pushing all in for his last 1200 or so.  I picked up AJ offsuit and had a feeling that I was in the lead.  I decided to reraise all in to isolate the two of us.  Everyone folded and he flipped over A5 offsuit.  Yes!  I had a huge lead.  The flop came 9J2, and I was even further ahead.  He was going to need to catch running 5’s to win.  The turn brought a 5!  Oh geez….but the river came another 9, and I had just busted the one player that I was really worried about at the table.  But I knew I still had work to do as the other players left were really tough. 

We were now down to 4, and I was the chip leader.  The player in front of me who was the chip leader was now the low stack with about 1400 chips or so.  I was under the gun and raised to 450 with KcJc.  Everyone folded and he called.  The flop came out K94, and he checked.  I bet 450 and he raised all in for about 800 total.  I called and he flipped KK, ouch!  I just lost my biggest pot and was now down to about 3000.  And I let him back in the game.  The very next hand I picked up AA in the big blind.  The new chip leader limped in and the player in front of me called from the small blind.  I raised here to 450 and the chip leader called.  The board came rags, 954 and I bet half the pot.  He reraised me all in and I called instantly, he flipped over K9 and when the turn and river brought blanks, I was now a huge chip leader with over 6k and all three players were around 2k. 

The blinds were now 100-200 and I picked up 66 under the gun.  I raised to 600, the small blind reraises all in for about 1800 more and the big blind goes all in for 1200 more….oh geez.  I only have to call 1800 to try and bust 2 players.  I decided not to risk my chips and let these 2 battle it out.  The bigger stack flipped over A10 suited and the low stack flipped over 1010.  So I did make the right decision, I thought.  Then the flop came out A-6-4.  Sigh….one player was eliminated another big player who was the early chip leader.  So we were down to 3!

A few hands later I picked up QQ and raised preflop.  The low stack ended up reraising me all in and I called immediately.  He flipped over AJ and I was a big favorite.  When the board didn’t help my opponent, I was now heads up with a 2-1 chip lead!  I was feeling good, but I knew from my last time that it didn’t mean anything, as heads up can go either way.  We jousted for a few hands, and I maintained my chip lead when the following hand came up.  I had 97 from the big blind, and my opponent calls from the button.  The flop came out A-8-6, giving me an open ended straight draw.  I bet 300 into a 400 pot and my opponent called quickly, I put him on a pair here.  The turn brought a 5 to give me a straight!  For some reason here, I knew exactly what I was going to do to try and get all of his chips.  I checked, and he quickly checked behind me.  Now I knew he either had a pair of 8’s or a pair of 6’s and he was going to put me on a bluff if I bet the river.  The river came another 5 for a board of A-8-6-5-5.  The pot had 1000 chips in it.  I was first to act and I bet all in very quickly.  I really had a strong feeling he would call me with a mediocre hand here, it was very unusual for me to make this type of bet because I never think there is any positive equity in the play, but for some reason, I made it.  He thought for a little bit and then called with K6 off suit!  YES!  I killed him with the nut straight and I had won my table.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my poker days!  I will write tomorrow about the final table where I played to win my seat at the WSOP!

Until then…flop a monster.

You probably read my title and wonder “how can anyone be happy to finish in 663rd place in a poker tournament?”.  Well that’s me today!  I once again played in the Sunday $215 tournament yesterday and for the first time I actually played well and got a handful of hands to play! 

I had won my buy in 2 weeks ago by winning an $11 double shootout.  I couldn’t play last weekend, so I decided to play this week.  In my first 3 attempts I hadn’t had any cards to play and I didn’t play that great, but still beat out half the field of 5000 to finish in the 2000’s range.  But no where close to the money, and what was more disconcerting is that in each of those first 3 tries, I never got over the starting chip count of 2500!  That’s just weird. 

Anyway, I registered for the tournament and immediately went downstairs to watch some TV before it started, I figured let’s not think about it too much and just play.  I was in the middle of a show, actually the US National Heads up championship that I Tivo’d.  It was 1:30 and my wife asked me, “are you going up to play?”  I said, “I want to finish the first, it’s ok, I don’t want to be anxious.”  So by the time the show was over it was about 1:35 or so, and I made my way upstairs to my computer.  The tournament had a total of 5108 players, and when I sat in and had missed 10 hands, but I didn’t have any good ones anyway, so it was fine.  On the 2nd hand I played I won a small pot but I was at 2590 so already one goal was accomplished, get over the 2500 starting chip count!

I ended up busting my first player a little bit later and was up to 4700 in chips and was looking good.  The cards then went cold and by the first break at the first hour I was down to about 3100 in chips.  At this point there were about 3000 players left, and only 750 would make the money.  I didn’t get any cards for the next 30 mins and I was blinded down to about 2400.  I finally started picking up some hands to play and won a few pots.  I made it through the 2nd hour to the next break but I was low stacked at about 2100 chips with about 1500 players left. 

I figured within the next hour, we would make the money, and I also figured I would need to at least double up once maybe twice to make the money.  With the blinds at 200-400 I was in big trouble.  I stayed patient but after the blinds went by once I was down to about 1300.  Finally, under the gun, I picked up AA and raised all in.  I figured I would get called by at least the blinds who had huge stacks so I wasn’t going to slow play to induce action.  Indeed, I did get called by both the small blind and the big blind, and when my AA held up I had tripled up to about 3900.  Whew!  I finally started picking up some hands and got my stack to about 6000, but the blinds would just eat me up just as quickly.  Players were dropping like flies as we got down to the top 1000.  I was getting blinded and started slowing down at this point.  I was at about 4000 and the cards went dead and I was trying to hang on to make the money. 

Slowly but surely people were dropping, down to 900, then 800….oooh only 50 more.  I really thought that play would slow down and the number of people dropping would go slower also, I was wrong.  With so many tables left, people were getting eliminated at a staggering pace.  I was down to 3000 with the blinds at 500-1000 when we were down to about 760…then 759…finally down to 751 and we were in hand for hand play.  I knew I was going to make it even though I was in the big blind when hand for hand went into play.  I folded to a raise, but by the time the hand was over, 4 players had busted out and I made the money!  Wooo…now if I could only double or triple up and have a chance to play more.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as by the time the big blind got around to me again, I was all in for my last 1100.  I was raised by 1010 and I had J3 offsuit.  I didn’t catch a Jack and my day was done.  I know now that I can play well in this tourney, finally.  But next time I won’t be playing just to get in the money, I will be playing to win and go deep into the tournament.  Anyway, I turned my $11 buyin from the double shootout into $306.  Not too bad, I’ll take it. 

Until next time…flop a monster.

Well Sunday wasn’t my best poker day as I played in the Sunday $215 tourney and I also won my buy in to a $160 WSOP double shootout.  In both games I didn’t hold any cards, but I still tried to play my best.  In the Sunday tourney I finished about 2300th out of 5188 players…but it was so frustrating.  The very first hand I held 1010 and flopped a set.  I decided to play a small pot on the first hand since there was also a flush draw out there.  The turn and river brought 2 clubs for 4 clubs on board.  I ended up losing to a guy who had a gut shot straight draw and caught the flush on the river.  I didn’t lose that much, but it was a sign of things to come. 

I also played in a $5 rebuy tourney where for every $160 in the pot, that many players would make the WSOP qualifier.  After spending $30 in rebuys, I made it to the top 100 and only 47 would win their seat.  It was a grind and it was brutal, but I made it.  But it wasn’t meant to be in the double shootout.  I played my best and came back from a huge chip deficit to come back.  But with 5 players left, I made a move when I had an open ended straight draw.  The player called me and after I missed on the turn and the river, I was done.  A frustrating day to say the least.

But my wife played in a play money game online also, and I have to write about a hand that she was in.  She was playing in a limit holdem sit n go.  She was the chip leader when this hand came up.  She called a raise with A2 of clubs.  Well the flop came out with 2 clubs and everyone came out betting raising.  They ended up raising the maximum for limit and the turn came out.  They were 6 handed in this pot, and the turn came a club give her the nut flush.  Everyone again was betting and raising the max and 3 players went all in.  The river was insignificant, but again all players with chips left were betting and raising and reraising.  All in all, my wife busted out 5 people on the same hand!  Won a monster pot of over 8000 and got in the money on the same hand.  She ended up winning the sit n go for her 2nd win!  Good job baby!

Until next time….flop a monster.

My brother left a comment on my last post talking about me helping him when he got heads up in a sit n go the other night.  Now I don’t profess to be great at poker or anything, but I continue to try and learn as much as possible and always improve.  I study plays, I study people, and I just plain like to consume myself with anything poker related.  So when I feel like I’ve learned something that has made me better, I try to share that with others.  In particular my brother, cause I know he has a good game. 

Well he was playing heads up and I was watching from my laptop.  He was playing good patient and solid poker.  When he got heads up he had a huge chip lead.  Slowly, his opponent was chipping away at his lead.  I noticed my brother wasn’t mixing it up, he would always raise when he wanted to play from the SB and his opponent would just fold.  But his opponent was winning a lot of the other small pots when they saw a flop.  I could tell my brother was getting frustrated and it didn’t help that our wireless connection was crapping out too.  So finally he was super frustrated and from the BB he picked up KQ suited.  His opponent min raised from the button.  My brother wanted to go all in as his frustration with the connection was getting to him, and he wanted to protect his hand.  I said “if you raise you are giving away too much information about the strength of your hand.  He may not call all in anyway, let’s get all his chips.  Just call and build a pot.”  I understand that it is a gamble, but he wasn’t mixing up his game at all, and therefore he wasn’t winning any big pots either.  So he was getting nickle and dimed to death.  Time to gamble, most likely with the best hand and win this thing.  So he just calls with his KQ of hearts.  The flop comes out with 2 hearts.  “Check!  If he bets raise him in, even if you’re behind you still might be the favorite as the flop only came 10 high, a flush draw with 2 overs is actually a favorite even if he had a pair.”  He checks and his opponent bet half his stack.  My brother reraises all in and his opponent goes into the tank.  Wow, I’m thinking, my brother might already be ahead here and probably has the best draw.  I hope he calls.  He was pretty pot committed at this point, but I still think he could have folded, but he called his last 2000 or so and flipped over K9, for no pair and no draw!!  Awesome situation!  Promptly, the connection stalls again, and we have no clue if my brother won or not, but finally when the connection came back we saw that my bro made the flush on the turn giving him the game!

Congrats bro, that was awesome!  I think it’s fair to say that if he had reraised all in, that there was probably a fair chance that his opponent may have called with K9 suited, but he may have folded and who knows what would have happened from there.  But by calling and willing to play after the flop ended up allowing my brother to maximize his profit as his opponent dug his own grave by betting so much of his stack with his aggressive play. 

Anyway, remember not to let external forces frustrate you (bad connection), in your poker play…frustration is one of the few things you can totally control when playing poker, so try to stay even all the time.  Also, don’t be afraid to take chances and always think about ways to maximize your profit in any 1 hand.  It will pay off in the long run! 

Until next time…..flop a monster. 

My brother has been going through a really cold spell in his poker game.  But I’m happy to say he had a good day for the first time in while yesterday, making the money in multiple sit n go’s.  Good job bro…keep up the good play.  For me, things got a little better yesterday.  I actually tried an experiment when I got home.  I played a sit n go….BLIND!  Well mostly blind…let me explain.

I wanted to get better at playing the players and not the cards.  The funny thing was I kept getting called, but I always had a hand, even though I didn’t know my hole cards.  I was doing pretty good, and was in 3rd place of 5 people left when I raised (blind) and got called.  The flop came with an ace and the guy bet out.  I had no clue what I had, so I had to peek as we were close to the money, I ended up having AK!  haha!  Well I ended up doubling up against a bigger stack.  I ended up playing the rest of the game not blind because I wanted to try and make the money.  But I ended up losing anyway, oh well…it was a really interesting experience. 

I finished off my day playing a Pot Limit Omaha H/L game and a double shootout satellite to the Sunday $215 tournament.  In the Omaha sit n go, I took 2nd even though I was low stack with gigantic blinds.  I have learned that in this game, you need to be super patient, especially when you get low stacked, because as long as you go heads up, it’s pretty hard to go bust because you always have a chance to at least take half the pot.  I was sitting in 6th place at about 600 with the blinds at 200-400 when I started getting cards and “Scooping” multiple pots.  My patience and a little of luck got me to 2nd place.  I was happy. 

In my double shootout, I noticed a familiar name on my first table.  Well, I looked him up on www.thepokerdb.com and it turns out he won the $215 tournament a couple of weeks ago and took home 150k!  I couldn’t believe he was sitting at an $11 satellilte to the Sunday tourney, but it didn’t matter, it was time to play poker.  I played a really good first table and after not getting any bad beats and getting my share of lucky hits, I won the table when my A10 flopped 2 pair against my opponent who called my all in preflop bet with Q8. 

I was in the 2nd table and I knew how this worked as I had won this before.  The top 2 would win their seat and the others were guaranteed $35.  I started off hot, getting some big hands, but didn’t really get paid off on any of them.  I had a feeling I was going to go card dead, and that I did.  I stayed very patient and watched as other players busted out, but 3 players doubled their starting chips.  We got down to 4 people and I was severely short stacked at about 1100 while the other three had over 3000 each.  I would steal the blinds with standard raises (I never had to gamble my chips all in!) and ended up doubling up when the chip leader called my all in.  My AK held up against his 10-8 suited in diamonds and I was back in the game.  The 4th place guy ended up going bust and we down to the money spot.  I was in 3rd place with about 2600 and the other 2 had about 5000 each.  I stayed patient as both players became very aggressive against my blinds, but I didn’t call or raise with garbage, I was content with waiting for a better spot to put my money in, even though the blinds were at 200-400 and raising fast.  Finally I started getting some hands, I doubled up with KK and then I picked up A6 suited in diamonds from the button.  The blinds were now at 300-600 so stealing the blinds was very profitable.  I decided to move all in and hope to take it down.  Unfortunately, the chip leader called and flipped 88.  The flop came 10-J-K giving me a gut shot straight draw, but still far behind.  The turn came a 3 and I was dead to a Q or an Ace, I had 7 outs.  The river came an ACE!  Boom, I was now the chip leader, unbelievable river.  Next hand the now low stack moved all in from the button.  I was the big blind and decided to call getting about 2.5 to 1 odds on my money.  I had 94 offsuit against my opponent’s AJ.  The flop came 4-7-7.  I outflopped him, now could I hold on?  The turn brought a 9 improving my hand, but I still had to dodge an Ace or a Jack, the river came a blank and I did it!  Hopefully I’ll have a better showing on Sunday and I’ll have something exciting to write about on Monday morning.

Until next time…Flop a monster.

The game we love to hate, Poker!  It hates me lately.  After having 2 awesome days a few weeks ago, poker has turned on me.  I know all I can control is the decisions I make, but when I go in with the best hand 9 out of 10 times and lose 7 of those times after getting a bad beat…it gets just a little frustrating.  I’ve been playing alright, but it hasn’t helped me win.  i find myself battling bad beats and having to play unbelievable poker just to make the money much less win…oh well.  I’ll keep going and hope the cards start to love me again!

Word of the day: SCOOPING! 

I’ve started playing Pot Limit Omaha H/L, and “Scooping” has become my favorite word.  In Omaha H/L, “Scooping” is the term used when your hand wins both the High pot and the Low pot.  I won my first Omaha H/L sit n go last night and I “scooped” a lot of pots.  Heads up I “scooped” a huge pot to ensure my victory.  I was down about 8000 to 7000.  I had 10-9-A-2 and called the big blind.  The flop promptly came out J-8-3.  This gave me the nut straight draw and the nut low hand draw.  My opponent bet and I called.  The turn brought a Queen, give me the straight, so I currently had the nut straight.  My opponent bet again and I called quickly, knowing that if a 7, 6, 5 or 4 came off, I would have the nut low hand also and would “Scoop” the pot!  Alas, the river brought the 5 for a board of J-8-3-Q-5.  I had the nut straight with 8-9-10-J-Q and the nut low of 8-5-3-2-1.  My opponent bet out and I raised all in for about 4000 more…he called quickly and showed nothing…and I ended up “Scooping” the pot!  If you play Omaha H/L, good luck scooping!

Until next time…Flop a monster!

I haven’t played much in the last few days, and I didn’t play at all last night as I was out celebrating the return home of one of my good buddies.  But I still wanted to write about something.  So I decided to post about bad beats.  Everyone has a bad beat story, so here is where you can let it out and share it on my blog. 

You can’t avoid bad beats, it’s part of poker, especially if you are constantly going in with the best hand, it’s bound to happen to you.  What is a bad beat?  A bad beat is when a player catches a card that the odds were so far against catching, and beats you.  Here are my two worst beats that I can remember…..

In my 2005 WSOP qualifier I was heads up playing for my seat in the 2005 WSOP Main Event.  I had the chip lead and had my opponent all in.  I had A9 and he had 10-8 of clubs.  The board showed A-5-7 with 2 clubs.  I caught a 3rd Ace on the turn, but he still had a flush draw.  He ended up catching the flush on the river to take the hand.  Now this wasn’t THAT bad of a beat as he still had a 16% chance of catching a club.  But the fact that it cost me my $10,000 seat in the WSOP, it was definitely my worst beat.

This story is a real bad beat.  I was at a final table in a $3 tournament.  The tournament started with over 1700 players, so that was a feat in itself.  I was low stacked with 8 players remaining.  I had been playing for like 6 hours, when this hand comes up.  I picked up AJ of spades in late position.  I move all in against an early position raiser and get called.  He flips over 3h3d.  A race, not that bad of a situation.  Things get better when the flop comes out J-5-7 with 1 spade.  The turn makes it even better when the 10 of spades comes out.  So if you can see, I have top pair and a flush draw.  He can only catch a 3 to beat me, AND it can’t be the 3 of spades.  He has exactly 1 card in the deck that can beat me, that’s a 2.27% chance to get his card.  The river of course brings the 3 of CLUBS!  The one card that could beat me fell, so after over 6 hours of play, I lost to the bad beat of bad beats, a 1 OUTER!  Brutal! 

If you would like to share your bad beat stories, feel free.  And until next time…flop a monster.

So if you read my previous post, I wrote about a situation I was in yesterday in a $10 tournament I played in.  I will now tell you what I did in this particular hand.  If you haven’t read the previous post, skip this part and come back after you read it if you want to play along. 

Here was the hand once again:  I started the hand with over 3600 in chips.  My opponent had over 8000 in chips.  The blinds were at 75-150, and there were about 300 players left and the top 162 made it in the money.  I raised to 450 from the button with A10 offsuit and got called from the small blind.

A10 vs ??, flop comes out A-8-3, he checks, I bet 300 into a pot with 1050 in it.  He raises to 900, I call.  The turn comes a K, and he bets out 750.  At this point I had about 2300 in chips.  What would you do?

Here’s what I did:

I folded.  First of all I wasn’t happy to be called by a big stack.  I hadn’t been at the table a very long time so I didn’t know his betting patterns or the types of hands he was playing, so I had to put him on a wider range of hands.  I don’t mind my raise from the button with A10, but once I get called, I could be up against hands as good as AK, AQ or AJ, but I could also be up against A-rag.  Since I was up against the big stack, I could have decided to play a small pot and checked the flop, but instead I decided to bet and try to get a read on where I stood at that point.  I feel like I made a mistake by just calling his raise.  My choices at that point should have been to fold or raise.  By calling, I was putting more money in the pot, but also not gaining anymore information about my opponents hand while giving away a lot of information about my hand. 

When he bet the turn, I was either going to fold or play the hand out for the rest of my chips.  I didn’t feel comfortable playing the rest of the hand for all my chips with top pair and a medium kicker.  Thus, I folded.  I wasn’t too upset with my fold here, but after watching him play and studying him more, I wasn’t sure I made the right play.  But in the end I did get the best of him.  He had bluffed all his chips away and the next hand I raised with A10 again, he went over the top of me and went all in.  At this point I had a great read on him and knew he was on tilt and would try this play.  I called and had him covered in chips.  He flipped over 10-4 suited!  I busted him and ended up getting in the money.  So it all worked in the end. 

Until next time…flop a monster.

I played in a $10 tournament last night with over 800 people.  The top 162 players made the money and we were down to about 300 players or so.  I pick up A10 offsuit from the big blind.  I have roughly 3600 in chips.  I raise and get called by a large stack who has over 8000 in chips.  So here is the situation:

A10 vs ??, flop comes out A-8-3.  He checks, I bet 300 into a pot that has over 1000.  He raises to 900, I call with top pair.  Turn comes a King.  He bets 750, I have about 2300 chips left at this point.  What would you do?  Call, raise or fold?  I’ll write later what I did. 

Flop a monster.

Well if any of you read my siblings blogs, which you can find on my links on the right nav, you’ll know that I have a full house.  I figure I’ll still try to play my games, but not as much as I get to spend time with my neice and nephew.  But I did get one game in yesterday….I played a 9 person sit n go and took 1st.  Actually my first “win” in a few days.  Only a 6.50 sit n go…yes I still play the 6.50 game, it’s fun to me.  haha.  I’ll move on to the $16 game soon.

I have to thank a poker player who my buddy Mark introduced me to.  He plays professionally, and I’ve had the pleasure of playing at his place once.  Anyway, I had emailed him the other day with a poker question regarding a hand I had played a few days earlier.  Here was what had happened.  I was deep into a tournament, out of over 1300 we were down to the last 26 players.  I sat in about 8th place with over 80,000 in chips.  A big stack had just gotten moved to my table and had over 118,000.  I was in the big blind with the blinds at 2000-4000.  This big stack raised from early position to 8000, I had QQ.  I ended up reraising all in and unfortunately ran into KK.  Bad timing and or bad play?  I wasn’t sure, so I emailed my poker buddy and asked him if there was any way out of this hand.  Especially when I bust out, I am always critiquing my plays.  Was it right?  Could I have gotten out of the hand?  Could I have gotten more chips?  In this particular hand, I thought I would actually bust out anyway since the flop, turn and river came Jack high.  But I reraised all in with the intent of taking down the pot right there and protecting my QQ.  When I got my reply from Steve, he gave me a different way of looking at it that totally changed my outlook on some things are really improved my game.

So when I reraised all in I was thinking, I don’t want to get bad beat here if he catches a K or an Ace.  The reply that I got focused actually on 2 different points.  First was that in tournament poker you don’t want to get in big pots against larger stacks then you.  Especially deep in a tournament.  This makes sense, but the 2nd point is what really made me think.  He said, “If you’re acting in such a way that it is impossible for your opponent to make a mistake, then it’s probably not the right play.”  I had to read this sentence over and over probably 4 or 5 times.  He then followed that up by saying, “you’re putting in a lot of chips here only to win a little, as you probably won’t get called by hands like A10, AJ, AQ, or a lower pair then QQ.  But you’ll always get called by AA or KK, and maybe sometimes by AK.”  He was pointing out, that the goal is to maximize your profit on the hand.  Moving all in here makes it impossible for hands like 1010 or JJ or even a lower pair to call me.  And if I do get called, I have to get lucky to beat AA or KK, or I have to be lucky enough to win a coin flip against AK.  This little piece of advice along with my good play helped me to go deep in the $30 and $20 tournaments I did well in last week.  Maximizing profit was something I never really thought about, I always was worried about getting bad beat. Also, I never really thought about playing in a way to try and make other players make a mistake.  I thought about both of those and they actually come hand in hand.  When a player makes a mistake, you’ll actually maximize your profit in that hand anyway!  I focused on waiting for others to make mistakes against me, and it really helped my game, especially late in those tournaments. 

More on Steve, he went onto play in the $215 Sunday tournament and finished 2nd out of 4600!  He took home a cool $87K, pretty awesome stuff!  Congrats to him, hopefully someday I’ll be there. 

Until next time…Flop a monster.

My last post I wrote about the ups and downs I had experienced this last week, ending with my biggest payday of $1163 in a $30 tournament that I finished 4th in.  Well I woke up on Friday, still really excited and wanting to carry my momentum over to my poker play that day.  I decided to register for a $20 tournament, by the time the tournament started there were 491 entrants, pretty close to the same as the $30 tournament the day before.  4 hands in, I knew I was already playing at a high level and I could do something special.  So the 4th hand, I pick up AQ from late position.  I raised after 2 players had limped in.  Those 2 players ended up calling me and out came the flop.  Q-J-8 came out and was a very good one for me.  Since I was in late position I would be the last to act.  The first player bet out 60 chips, the 2nd player folded and I decided to raise.  Here I figured I would take the pot down or if I got raised, there was a high chance that I was behind a monster hand.  So I raised it to 200, the initial bettor then thought for a little while.   Finally, he reraised all in!  Ok, now lets see if I can put my money where my mouth is.  So I typed, “well I guess my AQ is no good…if it is, good bluff” and I folded.  This was the first hand I had played in the tournament and I knew that I was most likely behind.  He quickly showed QJ and that just gave me even more confidence!  5 hands later, I picked up QQ against that same player and I ended up doubling up against him when he called with 88.  I didn’t play a significant hand until hand #44 of the tournament.  I had lost a few pots and my chip stack was down to 1255.  The blinds were at 25-50 and I picked up AQ from the button.  I raised 4 times the big blind, and the small blind who had just lost a big pot reraised all in.  He had 1355 total so if I called, I would actually be all in.  I had a feeling that I was ahead and that I had to gamble here.  I called and he flipped over K10.  That wasn’t really the hand that I wanted to see, I much would have rather seen KQ or AJ, but alas, I was ahead.  I moved further ahead when the flop came 8-4-Q, no I just needed to dodge one of the 3 Kings in the deck.  But the turn brought another Queen, giving me the hand!  Lucky too, because the river brought one of the 3 Kings, but my trip Queens beat his pair of Kings.  I was back in the game with over 2500.  I would double my chips by hand #67 when from the small blind I limped in with 63 offsuit.  When the flop brought 6-6-9, I ended up busting a guy who didn’t believe me, but who lost when I had 6 full of 4’s against his 4’s full of 6’s.  I was over 5500 in chips. 

I ended up getting moved to a table that had some big stacks, and some really aggressive players.  The biggest hand for me was about to come up, and it was a play that was designed by previous hands.  Here’s what happened.  I was in the small blind and the big blind was the big stack at our table.  This was hand #126, I had 6000 in chips and the big stack had over 10k.  I picked up AJ of hearts and limped in after everyone folded to our blinds.  The big stack then raised me, and I decided I didn’t want to get involved against a bigger stack with AJ.  So I folded. On hand #143, everyone folded to our blinds once again, I limped in again with Q8 and this time the player raised me again!  This time I had more chips than that player but couldn’t call with Q8, so I decided that I would fold and wait.  But the next time I get a monster hand in the small blind, I would get all of that players chips.  The next hand that we were in the blinds was hand #152, and everyone folded to us again.  I picked up AK and this was the hand I would execute my plan.  I had over 7400 in chips and the big blind had over 5700 in chips.  So I just limp in once again from the small blind, just as I suspected the player raised, but this time they raised all in!  I called so fast, and they flipped over KJ!!  I had them dominated and I knew the chips were mine if I could dodge a Jack.  After the cards all came out I sent this player to the rail as no Jack hit.  I was now sitting at over 13k in chips and was in really good position to make the money. 

Only the top 45 would make the money and I was already in the top 20 in chips.  I ended up making the money and now I had my sites set on making the final table, which would be my 2nd in the last 2 days.  I didn’t play another big pot until hand #193, we were at about the last 27 players at this point.  I picked up QQ from late position, the most aggressive player at our table raised in front of me, so I just called waiting to see a flop.  If all safe cards would come out, I would probably end up going all in anyway.  The flop came out 10-9-2, and he came out betting.  I pretty much had a feeling I was ahead, so I reraised him, he thought for a really long time, which confirmed that I had the lead, now I wanted him to call or move all in.  He ended up reraising me all in and I called quickly, he flipped over 88 and after the turn and river brought blanks, I had doubled up to over 30,000 in chips.  On hand #238 we were down to about 22 players, I picked up AQ of spades and a low stack raised me, I reraised them all in and they called with A10.  After my hand held up I was now up to 47k in chips.  11 hands later I pick up AQ again and a low stack had raised before me, once again I reraise them all in and get called by AJ.  My hand holds up again and I’m up to almost 58k in chips.  We are now down to the top 18, when the cards go cold, but I just stay patient.  I am now down to about 34k in chips, but we are down to the final 10 players, just one more player to go until I make my 2nd successive final table and guarantee myself over $180.  Finally the last player busted out and I made it to the final table!!  I was in the bottom 2 going in, but I was playing well and was happy to make it again.

On the 5th hand of the final table I picked up JJ, a player in front of me raised and I decided to just see a flop so I just called.  Unfortunately, another player called and we would go three way into the flop, when the flop came out 10-7-6, I decided not to take any chances, so I moved all in for my last 22,000 chips.  Everyone folded and I took the pot.  On hand #278 we would lose our first player and we were down to 8.  I was in 7th place with over 43k in chips.  On hand #283, we would lose our 2nd player and we were down to 7!  i was now the low stack.  On the very next hand a player moved all in and got called, when the big stack sucked out a straight on the river, we were down to 6!  I just moved up one money spot.  On hand #291 another mid stack moved all in against a big stack and the big stack held on to win and we were down to 5, I was just being patient watching bigger stacks bust out in front of me while I moved up the money ladder!  I was eyeing the top 3, as I would be guaranteed over $1000 for the 2nd consecutive day.  On the very next hand I moved all in and got called by the chip leader.  When my KJ held up I had doubled up, but I was still the low stack.  On hand #294, a player who had 17,000 more chips than me, moved all in and got called by the chip leader.  When the chip leader flopped a set of 3’s, we were down to 4, and I was at least guaranteed about $688!  I was still the low stack but I watched 5 people bust out in front of me!  2 hands later, the 2nd low stack moved all in from the button and got called by the big blind!  The low stack had AJ vs the big stack’s 44.  The pocket 4’s held up and all of a sudden I made the top 3.  I was severely short stacked, but I was now guaranteed $1031, the 2nd tournament in a row of over a thousand dollars!  I busted out a few hands later when my K6 lost to 10-2, giving me 3rd place.  My winnings brought my bankroll to an all time high of over $4200. 

So most of my posts have been about good poker play and good tournaments on my part.  Today I’m going to write about a bad poker day for me, that went on to get worse, but by the end we’ll come back with another good story. 

The story starts on Tuesday April 11th, I wake up and decided to play in a WSOP qualifier, the $160 double shootout.  I start out playing ok, I have a lot discipline and fold when I am check raised multiple times after the flop.  I get a little frustrated and end up making a horrible play.  I’m middle stacked and come in raising with KQ both spades.  I got one caller from the small blind.  By this point I hadn’t splashed around or anything, so I was hoping to get respect.  Flop came all rags…9s-3-d-2c.  He checked, and I made a small bet, he min raised me, and at this point I was sick of the reraising, that I made a bad read and a bad play and went all in.  He called in an instant and flipped QQ.  OOPS!  That was sick, what did I just do, I’m practically drawing dead!  I needed one of the 3 Kings or runner spades to make a flush.  The turn came the 7 of spades, giving me a chance.  The river then came the 8 of spades!  I sucked out…unbelievable.  I went on to play beautifully for the rest of the game.  Next thing I knew we were down to 3, I was the short stace at about 3000, while the other two had 4000 and 6000.  I finally picked up KK in the big blind.  The small blind was 2nd in chips and was my nemisis at the table.  I had raised earlier in the game with QQ and he called.  That hand, the flop came out Js-10s-2d.  I bet and he called.  The turn came the K of spades, making a possible flush or a pair of Kings which beats me.  I bet out, and he reraised all in.  At that time I had him covered, but not by much.  I ended up folding the QQ there and he was my nemisis from that point on.  But I tried not to purposely get involved with him, it’s important to not let your emotions control your play.  So back to the 3 way, I pick up KK in the big blind.  My nemisis is in the small blind and raises me, I reraise but not all in.  He pushes all in and I call quickly.  He flips over 1010 and I’m a 4-1 favorite.  My hand holds up and I double through and he is left crippled.   A few hands later he gets busted out by the chip leader and I was heads up to make the final table and have a chance at a WSOP seat.  I started out behind about 9000 to 4000 chips.  On the 3rd hand heads up I had K3 off suit and he min raised from the small blind.  I decided to call and see a flop.  The flop came 8-7-3, he bet small and I called.  The turn came a K giving me 2 pair.  He bet I called.  The river came a blank and he bet again, I raised all in and he called quickly….uh oh…he flips over 87!  My two pair trumped his 2 pair and I was now a commanding chip leader!  I was ahead around 9000 to 4000 now when this big hand comes up.  He calls from the small blind and I check with J4.  The flop comes out K-10-J.  I check and he bets, I call figuring my J is good because he had been playing very aggressive post flop.  The turn comes a 4, once again giving me 2 pair.  I check and he bets 300, I raise him to 600 and he thinks, then calls.  The river comes a King, a potential scare card for me, so without thinking I check.  First of all, this is not a good place to check unless I plan on calling a big bet because I’m giving the appearance that I am weak.  He goes and moves all in.  Yikes!  I actually remember exactly what I was thinking at that moment.  I thought, “well I don’t think he has a King, but I think he might have a Jack and any card would outkick me.”  I didn’t think long, and I folded the hand.  He proceeds to show me 32 suited, a huge bluff….I was so pissed that I went on tilt.  I ended up doubling him up when my A10 lost to his KK.  Soon after I lost all my chips and he won the table.  After thinking about it more, I was even more mad at myself then ever.  I didn’t put him on a King which made it even a worse fold for me.  I actually misread the cards, because if you actually look at it, the board shows K-10-J-4-K.  If I thought that he had a J and most kickers would outkick me, I should have thought longer.  I would have come to the conclusion that only AJ or QJ would beat me and anything else would split the pot, except for a K, or 1010 or QQ.  Anyway, the lesson here is take your time and think about every decision you need to make.  I was on tilt, and it would last a while.  But the funny thing is that I still played strong poker for the next few games I would play, I would always get my chips in as a huge favorite but as luck would have it, I would take bad beat after bad beat.  Runner runner flush to beat my set, to beat my straight.  It was brutal and it would go on for the next 2 days.  I saw my bankroll go from over 2500 down to about 2100.  Things were bad, and the bad luck just kept on coming.  When would it turn??

Finally, things would turn.  On Thursday, for some reason I decided to register for a $30 buy in tournament.  I hadn’t ever played in a tournament online for that big of a buy in, but for some reason I wanted to play.  There ended up being 554 players and only the top 54 would make the money.  I started off playing really bad, weak and throwing away my chips.  In the first 10 minutes I had gone from the starting chips of 1500 down to about 700.  I finally got a hand in AQ and made a stand against one of the more aggressive players.  He called with AJ and when my hand held up, I was up to over 1400 again.  I ended up building my stack to over 2500 when I picked up AQ again.  I came in raising and the small blind called.  The flop came out 10-2-7, and he checked.  I bet, hoping to take the pot down right there, but he called quickly.  At this point I figured he had a middle pocket pair.  The turn came a King, and we both checked.  The river came an 8 and he checked again to me.  At this point I had about 1900 and he had just under 900, I knew he had a medium pair and the only question was, can I win here if I bet.  I decided I can’t win if I don’t bet, so I put maximum pressure on him and put him all in.  He obviously had a very good read on me and called quickly and won a sizeable pot.  I was now down to under 1100.  I stayed patient and ended up getting blinded down to 693 in chips with the blinds at 50-100.  In middle position I picked up 33, but didn’t really feel like pushing all in.  So I limped in for 100.  4 or 5 people ended up calling, making a big pot for me if I could win.  The flop came out A-3-4, I came out betting my set for 100, I got called by one player, by the river I was all in and had almost tripled up to about 1700 again.  Game was on. 

By this time we were down to about 300 players and I started setting small goals for myself.  Play my best and make it to the top 200.  I had been at the same table for over an hour when finally I got moved.  I was sitting at around 1876 in chips when I picked up AQ, a small stack moved all in before me, I was in the small blind and moved all in with my AQ, the big blind behind me ended up reraising all in….uh oh!  He flipped over 1010 and the short stack flipped over 44.  The flop brought an Ace and I was way ahead!  By the river, My hand held up against the the 1010, but the short stack rivered a straight to take the main pot.  But I won the side pot and took over 3300 in chips.  I ended up building my chips to over 5000 and the number of players slowly dwindled. 

I made my goal of top 200, and set my sights on making the top 150, I made that fairly easily and now on to the top 100.  I made the top 100 and now I was focusing in on making the money, the top 54.  I was low stack and fighting to not get blinded out.  I felt strong and that I was making really good decisions.  As we got close to the money, my stack was dwindling and I was down to around 3300 in chips with the blinds at 400-800 and a 50 ante.  We were so close to the money with 55 players left.  We were playing hand for hand, meaning each remaining table plays the same number of hands as the other tables.  All tables would wait for all the other tables to finish that hand before dealing the next one.  I was really short stacked, I believe 2nd to last place.  2 hands in a row, someone came out raising and I had A9 and A8 suited.  I folded both of those feeling that they weren’t the best cards available, and I didn’t want to gamble so close to the money.  Finally, I had to make a stand, I picked up AQ and raised all in.  I got called by A8 and my AQ held up and I doubled through to over 7000 in chips.  That pretty much guaranteed me in the money!  Someone finally busted out and I was in the money!  Yes! 

I ended up getting moved to a new table and I had 5550 in chips at this point.  I picked up AK and someone raised all in in front of me, I called it quickly and had his KJ dominated.  My hand held up and I wa now sitting at 11650 chips!  Still only good enough for 4th at my table.  I ended up losing 2000 chips the next hand.  But the very next hand, from the button I had K10 off suit and decided to make a play.  With the blinds at 600-1200 I raised all in for 9125 total.  The small blind thought for a while, he was the chip leader at our table, and he called….uh oh….the big blind then reraised all in also!  I’m dead!!  The flip over AQ and AJ!  I was actually happy here, I had a 35% chance to suck out!  Flop comes out, 9-2-K!!  There are only 2 Aces left!  The turn and river come blanks and all of a sudden I find myself at 27975 in chips!  Unbelievable! 

My goal was now just to make each next money level.  The top 54 through 37 made about $58, while 28-36 would make about $74.  I made that top 36 pretty easily and set my sights on the top 27 which would pay $99.  I stayed solid for the most part and lost a few blinds, but found myself in the top 27!  I was sitting at just under 20,000 in chips when I picked up AA.  I raised and got called and ended up doubling up as my opponent had KK.  Wow!  I was now at about 45k in chips.  3 hands later I pick up 77 in late position.  A very aggressive player raises in front of me and I decide to call and see a flop.  The flop came a beautiful 7-J-J, flopping me a full house.  Okay, how should I play this?  The player bets out, all in!  I call so fast, I almost fall over!  He was bluffing and was drawing dead!  I doubled up again to over 85,000 in chips and I was in 2nd place!  I was in really good position to get into the top 18 which paid $182!  I made it fairly easy into the top 18 and now I was focused on making the final table.  Making the final 9 would guarantee mee a cool $280!  I played tight, but aggressive with the hands I played.  I didn’t play a lot of hands and just stayed patient and solid.  Slowly, people began to bust out and we were down to 11 people.  Only 2 more to the final table.  I had gotten blinded down to about 60k in chips.  I hadn’t played in a hand for a while, but finally picked up JJ in late position.  I was licking my chops, just wanting to play and couldn’t wait to raise.  When boom, the player in front of me who had about 75k in chips raised all in!  WHAT???  Here I was thinking, I may be a huge favorite, but what if I run into AA, KK or QQ?  I don’t really want to have to win a coin flip either if he has AK or AQ.  What the heck??  I decide that I have to fold if I want to make the final table and/or win this.  I can still win if I fold here.  So I fold, and finally 12 hands later, the 10th player busted out and I made the final table!!!! 

I was guaranteed over $280.  Who cares if I was short stacked!  On the 2nd hand of the final table, I pick up JJ again.  I have 45,000 in chips and raise 12,000.  I get called by the small blind and the flop comes 3-A-9.  He checks to me and I bet 16,000 which was half my stack.  He ends up raising me all in, yikes!  Well, I want to win, I don’t want to go out 9th here.  So I decide that I can’t win if I call.  So I fold and leave myself severly short stacked at 17102 chips.  6 hands later, I was down to 10102 in chips with the blinds at 2000-4000 and 200 ante.  I pick up 33 in late position.  Everyone folds to me and I go all in, having to gamble.  I end up getting called by the big blind who flips over J6.  The flop comes 6-3-A, giving me a set!  3’s are good again right?!  But the turn comes a Jack!  Giving him 4 outs….oh boy, not again…..The river alas comes a 2!!  I double up to 23,000, but I’m still low stacked.  I just wanted to stay patient and wait for other people to bust out, as every spot would move up by about $150.  Finally, the other low stack moved all in with J10, but ran into 1010.  The 1010 held up and we were down to 8, and guaranteed about $430!  The next hand I picked up AA, but no one called my raise.  A few hands later, I pick up AQ under the gun.  I moved all in for 33504 and get called by the small blind.  He flips over A9!  I’m a huge favorite, and again my hand holds up and now I’m sitting at over 75k in chips!  I was still low stacked though.  18 hands later, a low stack finally busted out his 77 lost to A10, we were now down to 7 and guaranteed $580!  7 hands later, I pick up 77 in middle position.  I was at 30k in chips and another low stack min raised from 8000 to 16000.  I pushed all in and he called with A9.  Another race!  When the board showed 4-10-8-5-2, I had doubled up again!  The very next hand one of the low stacks moved all in but his A8 ran into AK.  We were now down to 6 players and guaranteed $740!  10 hands later, I was 2nd to last with about 41k.  I picked up AQ from the big blind.  The short stack moved all in for 39k in chips!  I called quickly and he flipped over A9!!  Yes!!  The flop brought a Queen and he was dead, we were down to 5!  and guaranteed over $900!!  3 hands later, the 2nd low stack moved all in with AK and got called by a big stack and his QQ.  The QQ held up and we were down to 4!!!  I was guaranteed $1163!!  But I was super low stacked.  4 hands later, I moved all in with QJ and got called by the small blind and his 10-9.  When the flop came 9-10-10, it was all over for me, who cares that the King hit on the turn to make me a straight!!  I wasn’t sad though, I made it to 4th and took home $1163!  My biggest payday yet!  The luck finally turned around, and turned around in a big way.  Bankroll, back up to over $3200!  YA!

Well the last couple of days have definitely been full of poker ups and downs for me.  Let’s start with 2 days ago, Tuesday, April 4th.  I woke and decided that I might play in the $160 double shootout since I had won my buy in the week before.  I logged on and low and behold, they were registering for a double shootout that was starting in like 10 mins.  So I signed up.  I was playing pretty solid on the first table.  Didn’t make any big mistakes, or any bad decisions.  We finally got down to 3 players, and I was in 3rd chip position, and for some reason, I started playing really bad.  I ended up getting blinded and outplayed, and got busted out when my K9 lost to A8.  Oh well, all in all I really just lost $25 since that was my buy in to the satellite that got me into this tournament.  I went on to play multiple sit n go’s that day, most 6.50 turbo ones, and didn’t make the money in any of them!  To top it off, I lost my last one when I hit my set of 8’s on the flop, played it beautifully and got all my money in against a player who hit top pair.  I ended up getting a full house on the turn, but that also gave my opponent 2 outs, which of course he hit.  I was out, and just knew it wasn’t my day.  I closed out of pokerstars for the night not wanting to lose anymore, because I was tilting and playing really bad at that point.

Next day Wednesday, April 5th, I figured “it’s a new day, luck will be back on my side and I’ll play better.”  So I signed up for a sit n go, and went on to play terrible!  I lost a lot of my chips with mediocre hands and then took a bad beat to get busted out 8th…it takes a lot for me to go out 8th…but I did.  Maybe things weren’t different today.  I decided to wait to play another game, I just wasn’t having fun.  Finally I decided to play in the afternoon.  I bought into 2 games, 1 was an $11 double shootout into the Sunday $215 tournament, and the other was a $3 tournament that had over 1700 players.  I was mostly concentrating on my double shootout and playing really tight on the $3 tourney.  I’ll talk about my double shootout first.

On the first hand I picked up 22, and called a raise from the button.  There was three of us in the pot when the flop came 4-Q-2.  Bingo, that’s what i wanted, someone bets and I just call, and so does the 3rd guy.  Turn comes 8, and the aggressor bets again, he gets called and I decide to min raise this time.  Both players call.  River brings a J and both players check to me.  I decide to move all in hoping someone hit and figures I may be stealing.  One player calls, and I bust him, I can’t even remember what he had, maybe KQ.  That hand propelled me to the lead and eventually after playing some good poker, I won that first table.  I was guaranteed $35, but the top 2 at the final table would win a seat to the $215 Sunday tourney.  I played really well, but eventually got shortstacked as we got down to 3 players.  I was really low at about 1200 with the blinds at 300-600 and a 50 ante.  I ended up doubling up to about 2400 and picked up K10suited from the button.  I moved all in hoping to steal the blinds, but ended up getting called by QQ.  Alas, no K came and I was out 3rd.  1 off from getting my seat.  But I was happy because finally I played well and won!!  Now on to my $3 tourney. 

By the end of my double shootout I was still in the $3 tourney and getting close to the money.  The top 297 got paid and we were down to about 480 or so.  I was at 1700 with the blinds at 100-200 and 25 ante when I decided to play to win, not just to get in the money.  I got really aggressive with drawing hands before the flop and after.  I ended up building my stack to 2500 or so, we were getting to about 380 players left when I picked up 78 from the big blind.  The flop came 6-9-K, giving me and open ended straight draw.  I ended up check raising the button all in, he thought for a long time before finally calling with A6!  He called bottom pair, I actually was in decent shape with 2 overs and the straight draw.  I was 50-50 to win.  The turn brought an 8!  and the river was a blank, giving me the pot and doubling me up to about 6000.  I won a couple pots and finally we got 1 person from making the money, we were hand for hand and I’m in the big blind and I pick up AcJc.  The blinds are at 300-600 and I have about 7800 at this point.  Someone raises from early position to 1800, I decide to just call.  The flop comes 3c-Kc-3d.  I check and he bets 1200, I raise him all in again with my nut flush draw hoping he doesn’t have KK.  He goes into the tank, thinks forever, time eventually runs out on him and mucks his hand, I show my hand and he goes ballistic saying he called and f’ing pokerstars.  Anyway, I took the big pot and was sitting pretty over 10k.  My goal was now to make the final table, which would be my 2nd in a big tournament like this.  I played beautiful poker and ended up taking the chip lead at 1 point with over 90K.  I would stay in the top 10 until there was less than 27 players.  I wouldn’t fall under 100k for a while.  I was at about 118k, in maybe 5th place when I picked up AJ from the small blind.  Blinds were so huge by this point, maybe 4000-8000 and some ante.  A player in middle position raised min to 16000 and the button called, usually I would reraise here but decided to play it safe out of position, so I just called, when the big blind goes all in for about 40K.  Everyone folded to me and I went into the tank, I had a feeling he was trying to steal, and made a tough call.  He flips over A6!  Great call!  The flop came 5-7-10, then the turn brouht an 8, oh boy…now he has a straight draw.  The river brought a 4 to give him a straight!  Oh man, I was now down to about 88,000 but still in 6th place.  A few hands later, I picked up QQ and someone in front of me raised, I reraised all in and I had the guy covered.  He ended up calling with KJ offsuit!  After the flop, turn and river brought all blanks, I busted him and jumped right back up to over 140k.  The cards ended up going dead for a while and I was at 120k with 14 people left.  I pick up 1010 from early position, the player under the gun min raises in front of me, and I move all in.  He calls quickly with AK suited.  But alas, the flop, turn and river are all blanks and I double up and jump into 2nd place with only 4 more to go to make the final table.  After just playing solid finally those 4 players bust out and I make the final table!  I’m only guaranteed $67 at this point, but first pays about $955.  3 people bust out and we are down to six, I haven’t seen much, my best hand was KK, and no one called my raise.  I was getting blinded out and was down to about 50k with the blinds at 15k-30k.  I raised all in with A6 from early position and the big blind called with K8.  The board was good to me as it brought 5c-6c-Jc, the turn brought a 2c and I was looking good to double up as neither of us had a club.  But the river brought a Q of clubs for a flush on the board…split pot.  Next hand I’m in the big blind with and someone raises, I pick up 22 and have to call my last 27k.  He flips over AQ…I have the lead at least.  The flop brings all blanks and the turn brings a King, I can double up if I dodge an Ace or a Queen, the river brings the Queen of clubs, for the 2nd hand in a row, the Queen of clubs came to kill me.  I was out, but finished 6th and took home $174.  Not bad.  I was done for the night and had a good day. 

Today, Thursday April 6th, I wanted to carry the momentum of my good play and good luck into my poker play.  I played a few sit n gos and made the money.  Finally I decided to play in another $11 double shootout to try and win my seat into the $215 Sunday tournament.  On my first table, I wasn’t getting much early, but I stayed patient.  I finally started playing and getting hands, I started to dominate the table as people would move in against me at the wrong times.  I ended up getting heads up and had a huge 2-1 chip lead.  At 1 point I got the guy down 5-1 in chips.  I had him all in A6 against his K3 and he rivered a 3 to double up!  I was really playing well heads up though and was controlling the play, but the cards weren’t coming and I ended up behind 2-1 in chips.  He had me dominated with the blinds 400-800 and he was at 10,300 and I have 1700 I raised all in with K8 and got called by 85.  I doubled up when nothing hit.  The blinds then jumped to 600-1200 and I decided to get aggressive.  I raised all in everytime I was in the small blind.  This strategy ended up geting me the chip lead again.  Finally I picked up 1010 and he raised all in and I called quickly.  He flipped A3 and when no aces came I had won the first table on the double shootout for the 2nd time in a row, and 5th time overall!  I was determined to get in the top 2.  I was playing awesome poker, mixing it up and getting good cards.  We ended up getting down to 3 way and we were all close with about 3500 each.  I stayed strong and aggressive and ended up getting up to 5500 and another player also got to 5500 leaving the 3rd player at 1000.  He ended up going all in and was called by the other player.  When the cards were all blanks for the low stack, I finally had won my seat!! Yes!  I was set and I’m in the Sunday tourney, that has a guaranteed 1 million in the prize pool.  Come back next monday for my update on this Sunday tourney. 

In my very first post on my blog, I gave my poker background and began to tell the story of my $160 double shootout tournament where 1st place won a seat into the 2005 WSOP.  I told the first part of the story where I won the first table of 9 after playing some crazy poker and laying down pocket Aces twice!  Well I never told the 2nd part, which was the final table.  Maybe I never wrote the post because sub-consciously I didn’t want to talk about it or relive it.  But I will now…here is the story of the final table.

When I think of the first table I had to win to make the final table, I always think about how my decision making was at its pinnacle.  I have never played at that high a level before and made such tough decisions as I made.  To be honest I’ll never know if I folded the best hand when I folded the pocket Aces, but in the end, as I won that first table, they were the right decisions in the long run.  So on we move to the final table.  Obviously, my goal was to win and to play my best, but I also wanted to guarantee that I won my money back, which meant that I had to outlast just 1 person.  On the very first hand, I limped in with Ac6c, and got to see the flop for cheap as no one raised.  The flop comes out 3d-9c-5c, giving me a flush draw.  Someone bets out 40 and 3 of us call.  The turn brings the Qd, so I miss my flush, someone bets out 40 again.  At this point, it is so cheap and if I hit my card maybe a lower flush will give me a lot of their chips.  Instead, the river brings the Ace of diamonds.  Everyone checks to me, I think about betting but I’m scared someone may have hit the diamond flush on the river, so I decide to just check.  I end up winning the pot with a pair of aces and take the early chip lead!  Over the next 20 mins, I go on to play some pretty bad poker, and move from chip leader to 9th place after playing way too many hands.  I decide it is time to slow down as I still want to at least get 8th and get my money back, 9th place only paid $30.  Finally, I pick up KK with the blinds at 25-50 and a player in front of me raises to 150.  I smooth call, playing a little safe in case an Ace hits.  The raiser only has 1120 in chips while I’m in last with 1060, so this pot probably could determine who finishes last.  The flop comes a beatiful 2-3-5 rainbow, the raiser moves all in, I don’t hesitate to call.  If he has Aces, he has Aces, what can you do?  He flips over 1010!  I have a chance, he’s drawing dead to 1 of the 2 remaining 10’s.  The turn is a J!  Whew!  That was close, and the river brings an 8!  YES!  He is crippled and I double up and take the chip lead again at 2195!  3 hands later, the player I beat busts out and everyone left has at least made their money back!  Now I can play without worrying about finishing 9th.  GAME ON!  I didn’t really play any significant hands for a while, but in the meantime 3 more people had busted out.  I was sitting at about 2000 with the blinds at 75-150, I ended up raising on the button with A-7 offsuit hoping to steal the blinds.  The big blind was low stacked and had about 1100, he reraises all in.  I can’t remember all of the details, but I believe he had be raising all in a lot, I probably should have folded, but I called and he had AK.  I ended up losing the hand and dropping to about 900…ouch!  I stay tight, waiting for a good hand to move all in with, after getting blinded a little bit, I finally get an Ace again on the button, I go all in with my last 685 and get called by the same player as before, he flips over K10 offsuit.  Ok, I’m never really confident with these types of hands, but at least I put my money in with the lead.  The flop brings 8-6-Q, I just need to avoid the K or 10!  The turn comes 7 and the river brings a 3!  Whew, I’m still in it, still short stacked but at least I’m alive.  3 hands later, I’m in the big blind and pick up Ad-9d.  Everyone folds to the blinds, the small blind calls 75 more and I decide to try and steal, I reraise all in for 1445 total.  He immediately calls….”uh oh” I thought.  He flips over 44!  Ok, not bad, a race, I’ll take that right now.  The flop comes J-2-9!  Yes I’m in the lead!!!  Turn 10 and river A, giving me Aces up and doubling me up again!  All of a sudden I’m in 2nd place again!  After a long while of no cards, we are finally down to 4 people but I am low stacked again at a little over 1400 chips.  I pick up JJ and move all in, I get called by the big blind and he flips over A7.  The flop brings all blanks and the turn and river do as well and I have doubled up again to over 2900, I also crippled the other player.  The next hand he is all in and loses and we are down to 3!!  I have a 1 in 3 chance of winning my seat!  I am low stacked as we begin 3 way action, I have 3080, 2nd place guy has 3432 and the chip leader is at 6988.  I don’t play any significant hands until I pick up AA, I raise on the button and the chip leader calls.  The flop brings 9-6-8, and I move all in for 1800 more.  He calls quickly and flips over A7 for an open-ended straight draw!  Oh just one time let me win!  The turn brings a 7!  Yes!  Now that kills his straight and he is dead to 1 of the two 7’s.  The river brings a 3 and double up!  I’m now the chip leader at 5000, but we are all close.  We end up playing some good poker for a while 3 way, I end up getting pretty low stacked under 2000, I stay patient as the cards aren’t coming and the big stacks start bullying.  I end up getting blinded down to 750, I steal the blinds here and there and build back up to 1700, when I pick up A10 in the small blind.  This is hand 69 of 3 way action, the button raises to 1200 and I reraise all in for 1700.  He calls with J7 offsuit.  The flop brings, 2-8-2 and the turn is an Ace!  He’s drawing dead and once again I double up!  On hand 74, I’m sitting in 2nd slightly ahead of the low stack by less than 200 chips.  I am in the big blind and I pick up 99.  The low stack on the button moves all in!  I think for a second and say “I can’t fold this here”  I call, he flips over AK!  I have a chance to be heads up if I can win a race!!  The flop comes Q-5-2!  The turn brings a 3!  And the river brings a Q!!  He’s gone!  I’m heads up and I have the chip lead!!!  I have a slight chip lead of 7700 to 5500.  Immediately, my opponent asks me if I want to make a deal, he offers me 5,000 to let him win.  Sigh, I am stuck, I want to win, that’s what I’ve been shooting for, but 5000 bucks.  I decide, this time, I can’t make the deal, it would kill me to wonder if I could have gotten my seat.  I tell him, how about the loser gets 1000, so that 2nd at least wins something as I really would like to win the seat.  He agrees and we go on to play.  We jostle back and forth for a while, and he takes a few pots from me and I find myself down 9000 to 4500.  I pick up AcQc and raise to 1200, he reraises all in and I call instantly.  He flips over KK, oh boy.  The flop comes 5c-8c-5d, I have a chance, I just picked up 8 outs!  The turn comes the Ace of diamonds!!!  Wow!!  The river brings a 10 and I have just doubled up huge to take a big lead!  The next hand he moves all in and I could feel he was on tilt.  2 hands later is the hand that I still dream about.  I pick up A9 and raise to 1200, he calls.  The flop comes 7s-5c-Ac.  He is first to act and goes all in!  I have no choice but to call, he flips over 10-8 of clubs for a flush draw!!  I have the lead and am 2 cards away from my seat at the WSOP!  The turn brings the Ace of diamonds!  I have trips!!  The river brings…..the 3 of clubs and he makes his flush…….oh man…I can’t believe it.  I was 1 card away.  Brutal!  I end up fighting off a couple of all ins, but finally I end up losing when I made a move with K2 suited and ran into KQ.  I lost, but I won 1000 in doing so.  I will keep fighting and I will get my seat.  Stay Tuned!

I know it’s been a while since my last post, but I’ll try and do a better job, especially since the WSOP Satellites have begun.  I have played in a few satellites to get into qualifier tournaments, but not a whole lot so far, and no double shootouts yet.  The first tournament I played in was a $2 rebuy tournament where 1 person for every $33 in the pot won a buy in to the $33 + rebuys qualifier to the WSOP Main event.  The blinds go up every 5 mins in this tourney so it is important to get hands and get lucky early.  I was lucky enough to triple up really early.  I called a raise with 89 suited and the flop came 6h-7h-8.  The initial raiser bet out, and 1 player called.  I decided to move in with top pair and a draw, but I expected to be behind.  Both Players called and as I expected I was behind, the initial raiser had JJ and the 2nd player had Ah5c.  Turn came a blank and the river brought a 10!  Bingo!  I had tripled up early, I won a few more pots by the end of the rebuy period and I added on another 1500.  So my total investment ended up being $4.  By this time the number of entrants that would win their buy in was 105 out of about 450 left.  I was at the average chip count.  I ended up winning some big pots late and hanging on and eventually won my seat into the $33 qualifier tournament.  I didn’t get any cards in the $33 tournament which was disappointing, but oh well.  I got my feet wet.

My next tournament was a $5.50 rebuy tournament where 1 person for every $160 would win their buy in to a $160 double shootout.  Before it started I decided that I would only spend at max $16.  That means, 1 rebuy and 1 add in.  The tournament has 5 min blind levels, same set up as the $2 one I wrote about above.  I decide that I’m just going to play tight since I only start with 1000 chips.  I don’t get a whole lot of hands early, and I end up losing an all in with AQ.  I rebuy, and get another 1000 chips.  I stay tight and end up going all in with AQ again with about 10 mins left before the rebuy period ends.  I end up losing again, and decide that if I’m going to win a seat, I need to rebuy and play to win.  So I rebuy two times to get my chips to 2000.  In a couple of minutes, the rebuy period is over and I end up adding 1500 more chips for another $5.  If you’re adding along, that’s 4 rebuys and 1 add on.  Uh…ya, that’s 25.50, I ended up rebuying 2 more than I was suppose to…oh well, my frustrations had got to me…what can you do?  I start the next level of 100-200 blinds and 25 ante with about 3500, lower than the 4800 avg chips.  With about 450 people left, only 54 people will win seats into the $160 tourney, so I have work to do, especially since the the blinds go up every 5 minutes.  I double up pretty early with AK against KQ to get to around 7000+ chips.  I win a few pots and hang around for a long time.  Eventually we are down to about 100 people left and I have around 4900 chips.  The blinds are at 600-1200 with a 100 ante maybe.  The player in front of me moves all in for over 14K.  I am next to act and I have AQ again!  Sigh, I’ve lost twice with AQ, but can I fold it here when I’ll be in the blinds in 3 hands?  I’m forced to call as the blinds are dictating my play.  He ends up flipping 44!  My favorite hand, so I’m a slight underdog.  Flop comes A-5-Q!  Boom!  Turn and River bring blanks and I’m back in the game with over 14K in chips!  Next hand, the blinds were now up to 1000-2000 100 ante.  The player in front of me who I just beat is under the gun and he moves all in again.  I have AK suited and immediately reraise all in.  Everyone folds and he flips over A8 offsuit.  Yes!  I end up holding on and busting him while moving to over 32k in chips!  I go from 4900 to 32000 in 2 hands!  At this point we are down to 84 people, only 30 more to win and I am now in 24th place.  With the blinds so high, I decide that I’m not going to play anymore hands as I should make it in the money.  Funny thing is that things move to a crawl and no one seems to be busting out.  I few hands later with the blinds at 2000-4000, I pick up A10 suited from early position, but I decide to fold not wanting to run into a huge hand.  For the next 15 minutes, I fold A10 3 times and the blinds just keep getting bigger and bigger.  Finally we are down to about 60 people, and I have 22000 with the blinds at 6000-12000, I am in the big blind, which means I will lose 18000 in the next 2 hands!  A low stack moves all in for about 4000, and everyone folds to me!  Yes!  Not only do I only have to invest 4000 but I win a side pot!  I end up having about 21000 after the hand.  I lose 6000 more on the next hand, so I am now at 15000.  The blinds go up to 10000-20000 and 1000 ante.  OMG, I just need to hold on.  Almost every hand, someone is all in now, and we finally get to hand for hand play.  We play the 2nd hand and finally enough people bust out and woooohooooo, I have won my seat into the $160 double shootout!  I have yet to decide when I will play, but I will definitely update the blog once I do play, in the hopes that I will be writing about how I won my seat into the WSOP Main Event!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but to my defense I’ve been quite busy.  Mostly because my beloved Seahawks have finally made a Super Bowl!  Thanks to the Seahawks for bringing the excitement to the Northwest.  Ok, since my last post I was on the border of getting my bankroll over the $3000 mark.  I finally broke that barrier a few days ago, it was mostly a combination of playing both cash games and sit n go’s.  I also accomplished another goal, I reached silverStar status on Pokerstars.  Pretty awesome, but the bankroll is the most important thing, so let’s get to a little poker. 

On January 23rd, I didn’t have a great day but my bankroll was at $3050.  I pretty much was up and down in my sit n go’s, so I decided to play a cash game.  I was doing alright for a little while, but then everything went south, I don’t know if I got lazy or impatient, but I ended up going broke for that session, and I was down to exactly $3000.  I decided to go back to the sit n go’s.  The 45 person sit n go’s have been the most frustrating sit n go’s for me.  But I decided to play in it.  I played solid for the first half of the tourney, I usually do, but making that final table has never been easy for me, and today wasn’t any different.  Down to the final 2 tables, I was ok sitting at around 2100 chips, with the blinds at 200-400 and a 25 ante.  2 hands in a row, I pick up big hands and go all in preflop and win the blinds and antes to get me up to about 3600.  After folding from the big blind i’m now down to under 3000 and in the small blind and holding As2s.  The low stack at the table moves all in for 800 total, I’m in for 300 already and decide to call 500 more.  I end up losing to the low stack who was holding QJ, and now I’m in big trouble with only 2100 with the blinds at 300-600.  The next hand I’m the button and decide I need to try and steal the blinds before I get blinded out.  I pick up 9h5h and everyone folds to me, I don’t usually gamble this much but I didn’t want to get blinded.  So I move all in, the Small blind folds, but the Big blind calls…uh oh!  He shows, A6 offsuit, ok not that bad of shape, I have two live cards.  The flop brings all blanks, luckily for both of us, so I still had a chance, the turn brings a 9!  Yes!  I need to just avoid an Ace to double up, and the river brought a 7.  I was alive again.  Next hand, we were at the final table!  First hand I pick up AsJs, after a player raised the minimum, I decided to make a stand, I moved all in for about 3400 more, everyone folded and I took down a huge pot without having to see a flop.  After 2 rounds of no cards, I pick up KK from the small blind.  I was now the low stack, with only 4100, the button raised all in and I called instantly, he flipped over 77 and I was a big favorite.  My hand held up and I had doubled up again to over 9200.  2 hands later, I pick up KK again, I was in 4th place out of 5 and the blinds were up to 600-1200, so I decided to just move all in for 9100, everyone folded and I took down over 3300 chips.  2 hands later, I pick up AsQs, the same guy who raised on the first hand of the final table raised minimum again, and I reraised all in, he folded and I took down a 5000 chip pot.  I was now in 2nd place with almost 14000 chips.  After going through the blinds twice and getting no cards, I was again down to 7000 chips, I pick up AcKc from the button and move all in after a min raise in front of me, I get called and he flips over Qc10c.  I flop an Ace and it’s all over, I double up to over 17000, I’m again in 2nd place.  Next hand I pick up AQ offsuit, I raise the blinds which had gone up to 1000-2000 and everyone folds, I win 5500.  Now I just wait for a few guys to bust out, 2 go and we’re down to three.  I start to pick up big hands, and bust out the 4th place guy with 66.  Down to 3 way, I pick up KK, and the low stack moves all in, I call and he flips over 4h7h.  Gameover, we go heads up.  Heads up didn’t go so well and I ended up getting 2nd again.  Oh well someday I’ll win this thing outright.  But I’ll take it, it brought me back to even for the day!

On January 24th, I’m looking to move forward with my bankroll.  I start the day at $3060.  My first sit n go was a 9 person turbo for 6.50.  I ended up having a very good game and won it, and I was up right away!  I then decided to go to a cash game, and buy in for $50.  After 30 good minutes of play, I was up to $101 and decided it was time to stop.  I was up $50 more and my bankroll was up to around 3130!  Awesome!  I decided one more tournament would be good, so I decided to play the 45 person tourney once again.  I was playing probably the best I had played in any of these 45 person tourneys, down to about 20 people I was in 2nd place just rolling along, and they I blow up and lose half my chips with 55.  Oh well, I can never make it easy.  Luckily I fought and made it to the final table, but I was severly low stacked, I had 1500 but 2 other low stacks were going to hit the blinds before me, so I had a chance to make the money.  Unfortunately for me, one of the low stacks doubled up and now I knew I would need to get lucky.  I pick up A9 offsuit in late position and decide it’s time to go, I move all in for 605 with the blinds at 600-1200.  The guy behind me raises, and the big blind reraises all in…uh oh…not good, he gets called and the cards are flipped.  One has 10c7c and the other has 66.  The flop comes 8d-Jc-5c…sigh, I missed and now this guy has a flush draw.  The turn, A of spades!  Oh I have a chance, bring it red and no 6!  The river comes 10 of hearts!  Not only did I win over 3000 but 1 guy busted out!.  A few hands later the low stack busts out and we’re in the money, I’m still low stacked but here comes my crazy run.  I have 2800 left and I’m in the big blind with the blinds at 1000-2000.  Someone raises all in from early position and everyone folds to me and I have only about 700 left, so I call with 7c6c.  He flips over K3 offsuit!  I spike a 6 on the flop and finish it off by getting another 6 on the turn!  Double up time!  Next hand I pick up Ah3h from the small blind, everyone folds to us and I just call.  Flop brings a flush draw for me, I bet 2000 and get called, turn brings me a flush and I check to him, he bets 4000 enough to put me all in and I call and double up again!  I am now sitting at over 14000.  Next hand I pick up KK, the small stack moves all in, the next small stack reraises all in and I’m on the button.  I call and end up busting 2 people.  After some good poker I ended up getting heads up again, for the 2nd night in a row, but I end up losing heads up and getting 2nd again.  I finish the day at $3184!  I call it a day.

Well I’ve been hovering at around $2800 the last few days, I’ve played alright but not great.  My brother on the other hand has been on fire and I have been content watching him kick butt.  Anyway, yesterday I decided to play in 2 sng’s at a time.  I promptly went on to lose right away, both really fast.  It was pretty pathetic actually, after losing those 2 I started 2 more and decided to try and play better.  I didn’t, and i went on to get another 9th place and a 7th place.  Now this is really odd for me, i usually don’t finish 9th, especially in 2 out of 4 tournaments.  But i did, and it sucked.  After losing $26 on those 4 tourney’s, I decided that maybe a cash game would have better luck for me.  I went to the limit $1/$2 game and bought in for $50.  I played alright for a while, but after a few bad beats, i was down and had to rebuy $25 more.  I started to tilt a little and also bought into a No Limit cash game with $20 more.  I went on to lose all of that and all of my buy in in the limit game.  I was now down about $125 for the day and not feeling good about it at all.  I decided to buy in $50 more into a limit cash game and that would be it.  I sat into what I thought was a $1/$2 limit game.  I pressed the auto post blinds and before I knew it, i was dealt cards.  It was then that I realized I was in a $2/$4 limit game.  Uh oh!  What did I do??  I was dealt J-2 and everyone checked.  The flop promply came J-2-10, turn J, river J!  I got quads on the first hand!  After winning a hefty pot, I decided “hey I can play this game, i’ll just stay.”  By the time I left, I had won a lot of big pots.  I was up to $181 and I decided that I should stop since I had won all the money I had lost plus a little more.  What a day, the swings are unbelievable, but I survived. 

Today, January 12th, I started the day buying in to a $6.50 45 person sit n go.  I played ok for most of the tourney, but then the cards went dead, I ended up busting out 14th, 7 out of the money.  I was tired and didn’t feel good so I ended up taking a nap.  After I woke up, I decided to buy into a 9 person $6.50 sit n go and a $5.50 multi table tournament.  After playing bad and losing both of those tournaments, I was down again under $2800 about $2783 to be exact.  I decided I needed to start playing well again, so I decided to buy in to a $16 9 person sit n go and an 18 person $6.50 sit n go.  I played mostly tight in both for the beginning, but in the $16 tourney I lost half my stack on a hand where the guy made a flush on the river.  I waited and waited and finally got hands.  I picked up two black Aces 2 hands in a row!  Won only the blinds on the first one, but busted a guy on the 2nd one.  Next thing I knew I was the chip leader.  Meanwhile, in the 18 person tourney I was hovering, but was low stacked as the blinds were getting high.  In the 9 person tourney, I picked up AK and raised from early position, the big blind called, he was also the big stack.  The flop came rags, 6-8-4, he went all in and I called instantly, he flipped over J-5.  Turn and the river came blanks for him and I doubled up to the chip lead.  I went on to bust a couple more people out and had a huge chip lead when we were down to 4.  I started to bully the middle stacks as the low stack was about to be blinded and I knew they didn’t want to bust out 4th.  Once the low stack busted out, I started picking up big hands and bet them very aggressively.  In a matter of about 8-10 hands I had busted out both players and won the 9 person tourney and winning $67.50.  I was still in the 18 person tournament and was navigating the small stack beautifully.  When we were down to 7 people, I picked up my favorite hand pocket 4’s in the big blind, I was in last place and the 2nd low stack moved all in, I called all in and he flipped AK.  Board came blanks and I doubled up, but not that much.  The blinds were 300-600 when I was in the small blind, I had 625 total left.  The button raised and I called my last 325 with K5 suited.  The big blind also called all in as he was low stacked also.  The button flipped over 88, and the big blind flipped over 98 offsuit.  The flop came Q-J-5, turn came a J, I had exactly 8 outs to win the main pot, 1 of the 3 Queens would give me two pair and the high kicker, 1 of the 2 fives would give me 5’s full, and 1 of the 3 Kings would give me a higher two pair.  The river came, Q!  I won the main pot and was still alive.  The blinds were huge and coming around fast when we were down to 5 people.  The top 4 made the money and 2 of us were extremely low stacked.  I was down to my last 1300 with the blinds at 400-800 and one stack had about 1500 left.  I was the Big blind and knew I would be all in as the guy in front of me was betting me in everytime from the small blind.  I put me all in again and my A9 held up against his J3, I doubled up and was almost assured 4th place.  A few hands later I busted out the small stack.  I was in the money but still pretty short stacked.  I stayed patient and the other short stack busted out 4th and I was now guaranteed at least $21 plus change.  The next hand I was the big blind I was all in for my last 1255 with the blinds 600-1200 antes 75.  I picked up QJ but the small blind had 77, the flop brought me a Q and I had outflopped him again.  A few hands later, he and the other big stack got in a huge hand and the guy in front of me lost almost all of his chips, down to his last 75.  He is all in next hand and I am in the Big blind 1200 of my 2300 is in and the chip leader raises me all in, I decide to call with A3 suited in diamonds.  The small stack flipped over Q5 suited in diamonds and the chip leader flipped over AA.  The flop brought 2 diamonds and the turn made me the nut flush and I had just given myself a chance to win it all.  I fought for a few hands, but got busted out in 2nd.  I was happy though, I won $32 and change, getting me and my bankroll to $2861.  Getting closer!

Well the new year is now 10 days old.  I started my year with a bankroll of $2285 in my pokerstars account, not bad after starting with $20, and the building continues.  For the first couple of years, I mainly played only sit n go’s and cheap one’s at that.  $5.50 buy in, until the $6.50 turbo ones started.  I did pretty well to build my bankroll playing in those, and would dabble in cash games here and there, but the bad beats cost too much for me, so i decided to grind out the sit n go’s.  Late in 2005 my bankroll was at around 900 when I decided to play in a $20 sit n go with 180 people.  I played 3 beautiful hours of poker and and ended up getting 2nd and taking home 850 bucks!  Almost doubling my bankroll.  About a month ago, I decided to take a chance at playing a limit cash game, $1/$2 stakes.  My bankroll had hovered around 1700 for weeks and I needed a change.  To my surprise I actually won at limit.  After a few weeks, I was up to over $2500, but 1 bad night dropped me to $2200 which is about where I stood to start off the new year. 
After that brutal night I decided to slow down with the cash games and go back to my first love, the sit n go’s.  But I would still play in the cash games here and there.  I won at both and steadily won each day of the new year.  Winning about $50 a day playing both cash games and sit n go’s.  By January 8th I had gotten up to about $2600 when I decided to play in the $20 sit n go with 180 people.  I hadn’t played in this tournament since I got 2nd a couple of months before.  Right off the bat I was hot and caught a rush of cards.  I was busting people left and right and 30 mins in I was chip leader with over 7000 in chips and 2nd was around 4000.  The cards went dead for a while but i remained in the top 5 for a majority of the tournament.  Now only the top 18 get in the money, so i was focusing first and foremost on making the money.  With about 60 people left the chip leader moved to my table.  Right away he started bullying the table.  I didn’t really want to tangle with him, but I knew sooner or later I would have to.  I was still in the top 10, when I picked up JJ from one off the button, but the chip leader was the big blind.  I raised the standard and of course he called.  The flop came 7c-6c-3d, he checks to me and I bet out 800, he raises me 800 more and I decide it’s time to make a stand.  I move all in for over 8000, he thinks a while then folds.  I will not be bullied.  Next hand that same chip leader takes a huge beat when his QQ is beat by a low stack with AK.  He is crippled and goes on tilt, he ends up losing all his chips and about 6 hands later busts out of the tournament for good.  By the time we got down to about 20 people, the tournament slowed down big time.  When we finally got hand for hand with 19 players left, it was really slow.  Low stacks doubled up and it became a grind.  I went from 8th to 13th as the blinds were eating me up and no cards were coming.  Finally, I pick up AQ from the Big Blind and one of the small stacks raises from early position.  I decide to push all in hoping to take the pot down right there, but he calls instantly and flips AK.  Ouch!  I lose a huge pot and now I am one of the low stacks.  The blinds are now 400-800 with a 75 ante.  I have 1700 left and am in 19th place 2 away from the blinds.  When on another table a middle stack raises all in and gets called by the big blind who held AA.  Rockets hold up and I’m in the money!  Granted I probably will only make it a few more hands.  A few hands later I pick up A8suited in spades and get 2 callers.  The flop comes out 2s-3d-4s!  I have a good chance to triple up!  The 2 players remaining bet out against each other and end up going all in.  One has the K high flush draw and the other has the nut straight.  The turn comes a 5c, a blank for me and for the other guy all in.  The river comes a magical 5 of spades!  I had just won a monster pot and was back in it!  Next thing I know we are at the final table and I had made $50.  A few other people bust out and we are now down to the final 6.  I was down to the rail when i finally pick up KK and after the chip leader raised i went all in for my last 10k.  He called the extra 1k and flips over 55.  Great spot, but the flop spikes a 5 and my days are numbered, the turn and rivers bring blanks, but I was happy to get 6th and take home $180.  I had an alright day today and now my bankroll stands at $2757, so I’m up over 500 for the year so far.  Hope to keep building up as the satellites lurk closer. 

“The Road to the WSOP Main Event 2006”
I wanted to start this blog as a way to track my progress as a poker player, albeit, an amateur one, and also to track my progress in my quest to win my seat in the 2006 WSOP Main Event! 

My Poker Background:  My poker infatuation (infatuation sounds better than addiction!), started like many others in 2003, after watching on ESPN Chris Moneymaker pull of the improbable.  It wasn’t really by choice that it started, I mean, ESPN is my favorite channel anyway, and you couldn’t help but watch it when it’s on 24×7.  Anyway, as it goes I was hooked.  I went to my first poker night in 2003 with some work friends, and the gambler that I am, I knew I’d love it.  We played a ton of games, stud, baseball, holdem…you name it we played it, and it was fun, but I lost of course. 

Late in 2003, a few work buddies started playing online on Pokerstars and said I should come play in the $1, $2 or $3 tournaments, they’re fun and cheap and if you get lucky enough, you can win a lot.  That started my craze.  I opened my account and my friends transferred 20 bucks over to play in the small buy in tournaments.  They were fun, but I didn’t know what I was doing really, I was a poker novice and knew it…I was Dead Money.  I blew through that first 20 pretty quickly and decided I wanted to get better, so I bought a bunch of books.  Got a friend to transfer me 20 more bucks and started playing the sit n go’s, did well for a while, but then went broke again.  During Christmas of 2003 I decided to have one more go at it.  One more 20 and this time I didn’t want to go broke!  I read Phil Hellmuth’s “Play Poker like the Pros” and I instantly became a better player.  I studied a lot, my game, other people’s games, I wanted to be better.  After reading this book, I decided to try out some strategies Phil talked about.  I went on to win my next 3 sit n go tournaments.  I was on fire, and I was up to about 75 bucks!  I was ecstatic and I wanted more!  I continued to play low limit sit n go’s, mostly $5.50 buy in ones and did pretty well.  After a few months I was up to about $160 in my small bankroll.  Not bad, considering I was playing for small stakes and was content building slowly.  But then March came around and the satellite tournaments started for the WSOP 2004!  I wanted in…I wanted in bad!  It had now become a dream of mine to play in the Main Event at the WSOP.  I decided to join a $40 rebuy tournament that awarded multiple seats.  I decided that I would not rebuy as it would take too much out of my bankroll and I didn’t want to go broke again.  About 439 people were in the tournament, I don’t remember much of it, but I got to the first and last add on break with a decent amount of chips.  I decided, “I have to add on if I want to have a chance…”.  So I added on as did many others, and the next round began.  I ended up finishing 39th, not too bad, but about 37 people short of my goal.  Now my bankroll was $80 lighter too!  I ended up playing in a $3 super satellite to qualify for the $40 rebuy again and made it, but that tournament ended very quickly for me.  My dreams of playing in the 2004 WSOP were shot, unless I put up 10k on my own….not happening!  The following weeks, I started to run bad and I was down to my last $22.  That’s 4 sit n go’s at $5.50 a piece.  I didn’t want to go broke again!  Slowly but surely I built that last $22 back up again.  The 2004 WSOP passed and Greg Raymer was the next Pokerstars qualifier to win the World Championship.  I continued to play my low limit sit n go’s, mostly because I liked the action and it was cheap and I was winning.  My goal was to build a sufficient bankroll to play in the satellites for