November Round Up

It's been another good period for me over the last few weeks. I have been off work for a month in between two different jobs on full pay, so I was able to get lots of poker in.

I didn't intend for it to be an experiment in how much I could make or if I could make a living playing poker, but it certainly gave me a good indication. Cash ring is definitely the bread an butter of the online pro. You can just get so much more done. I did a couple of days of 8+ tabling for long periods and got a serious number of hands in. I'm pleased to say I could almost certainly make a half decent living multi tabling 6 max if I ever needed to, but I doubt I would ever do it by choice.

I think there are so may more rewarding things you could do with your time than spend all day grinding cash games. This might be different at higher stakes, but playing at lower limits gives you the opportunity to get huge volume in and really even out you variance. I didn't even run that well over the month, but still banked an earn rate and overall profit that I am very happy with.

I think if I was going to play full time I would almost definitely have to engage myself in another hobby. I think I would do another degree or get a crappy part time job, otherwise I think I would miss some of the social interaction you can only really get at work.

I had a few decent tournie cashes in November, but of course rather than going really deep in anything when I have the whole of the next day off, I did it last night when I had to be up at 7am for work. I chopped up the $25k on Stars after a 9+ hour marathon. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest field I have made my way though, with over 2600 runners. I was really happy with my play and felt like I made some really good plays late on that paid off. We had been 3 handed for a while with roughly even stacks when one guy got someone else to offer a chop (he was chat banned!). It was worth a fair bit more than 2nd place money based on my chips and I was tired, so I think it was a good decision to chop.

I started a new job on Monday so I probably won't be playing as much over the next few weeks until I get settled in. I think I used up my luckbox for a while anyway.

Jinx

Obviously after my last post I run really bad.

I dropped 8 buy-ins at $200 NL 6 max in one day over 6k hands. It was just one of those days where every time I flopped a set someone flopped a bigger one, or I'd get my money in with the best of it only to get runner runnered and lose the pot. It's one of my swingiest graphs for a long time, I actually started the sesson up 3 buy-ins, took a break then dropped 4 or 5 straight, then made a few back before dropping right back down.

It's taken the rest of the month to undo that session, but I finally broke through the zero barrier a couple of days ago. It certainly made me think a little more about swings and bankroll requirements. In a way I'm lucky I play at a level where the money doesn't effect me, I'm not sure how I would have felt if that was $1k NL or something. That session only really stood out for me because I rarely play that many hands in one go. I'm sure there have been other similar stretches, but they just occoured over a week or more so I didn't notice them as much.

As far as tournies go it's been mixed news. I have bubbled 3 final tables in the last week, which is really frustrating. Unfortunately the downside of playing aggressively when you get down to 5/6 handed before the final table is that you occasionally run into big hands. I did manage to take down a small live tournie for $1k though, which saw one of the craziest HU sessions I have ever played in.

We went from 9 to 5 reeeaallly slowly and then the blinds caught up with us and the last 3 dropped quickly. I got HU with aguy I know quite well, and we both decided that there wasn't enough money on the table and we should just play it out. Every time one of us got short an pushed we doubled, this went on for about 30 hands or so, which takes ages live, until I finally held and won with JT vrs AK.

So I guess I have had some luck.

Running Good

I hate to jinx these things, but I have been on an insane heater recently.

I have made 4 final tables in the last week, all in fields of 100+. That's a crazy number considering I haven't been playing in any real volume. Three of the FT's were online, but the most fun was on Thursday night when I took down a tournament at my local casino.

I went from 8/9 when we sat down to chip leader HU. I actually got a little unlucky on the FT bubble when I was being really aggro and ran into KK. Other than that everything went perfectly. People were folding to my 3 bets like it was their job, and I took down a couple of decent multi way pots early on to give me some room when we got down to 4.

I made it HU with a monster chip lead after busting the guys in 3rd and 4th and we were done in 2 hands. At my first table I was in a bit of a gambling mood and made a few last longer bets. It was so sweet to have one of them come over every now and again to give me money until I busted the last one on the FT.

If only I could always run this good.

FT's, APAT and Harbour Lights

I have played some decent poker in the last few days which started with a FT and 5th place in the 45k at Stars on Friday night for $2.7k. I went into the FT 2nd in chips, but just couldn't seem to get it going. I went out in a flip that would have seen me 2nd in chips again with 4 left. With around 25 left I took a really nasty AA
I played the APAT regional event on Saturday. Slightly tired from the night before, but I still had a good time. I had over 10% of the chips in play with 23 left and busted in 20th. I was running over my table until a couple of big hands crippled me. After that I was sent to the rail after I got my money in with 55 vrs AJ and the flop came J high.

Monday night I played Event 1 of the Harbour Lights festial. It was a much bigger field than I expected for the first event, 120+ turned up to generate a nice prizepool. I floated around my 4k starting stack for the first 3 levels until I doubled up with AA vrs a busted straight draw right after I moved tables. I won another big pot with QJs and then the standard AQ < AT hand against a shortie got me short myself.

I managed to survive a couple of steals until I shoved A6s and got called by KK. An A on the flop gave me false hope, but the K turn sent me packing.

I'm really enjoying my poker at the moment and trying to play live as much as I can, which I enjoy a lot more. I feel like I'm playing well and understanding the game and other players more than ever. A couple of months ago I was feeling a little bored with poker in general, but after taking a step back for a bit my enthusiasm is renewed. I even caught myself reading through some of the hands in HOH3 the other night, which I haven't done for a long time.

Also...

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

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

Registration code: 9797657

Busyness and the WSOPE

I have been pretty busy over the last week or so and have made exactly zero WCOOP events so far. I decided to put my W$ to good use though and stake some busto +EV players. It’s going well so far with 1 decent cash and a small profit overall. The percentage of the action I have in the remaining events is a little smaller due to the higher buy-ins, but I’m happy with my player selection and hopefully it pays off.

Since I haven’t had much time when I have been online I have mainly been playing smaller tournies and lots of cash games. I’m still killing $200 NL 6 max but I have no real desire to move up. I feel like I have a real edge at this level now but I don’t have the time to study and take my game further at the moment, which I would probably want to do if I was going to make the switch. Table selection would also be a lot more important at the sites I play if I was to move up, and I’m quite lazy/impatient in that respect.

I made the final 3 tables of the Stars $25k gtd $109 last night, but I was pretty short towards the end after a couple of nasty hands. I managed to double after shoving on the flop in a multi way pot, then the level after ITM I lost a flip with 66 vs AK.




On a less personal note I was really impressed that Annette Obrestad won the WSOPE Main Event. That was a really tough field she beat and I think it’s quite an achievement for anyone to win that tournament, let alone an 18 year old girl. I hate to say it, but I think we might be witnessing a legend in the making. If she keeps playing the way she does think how much she could achieve by the time she’s 40.

Party Cash and WCOOP

I haven’t been playing as much poker as I would like recently. I’m finding it increasingly hard to find time to play tournies, especially those with bigger fields. Instead I have been putting a little more focus in on cash games, which are going well.

I have been playing $200 NL at Party after a few recommendations, and I would definitely suggest anyone playing at places like Stars and FTP give it a go. The games are usually quite good at the times I play (around 3pm ET onwards) and I find that table selection, on the whole, is much easier.

I’m looking for something to get me back into the MTT mood, and I’m hoping that with the WCOOP coming soon at Stars I’ll be able to get myself going with a few of the bigger satellites. I plan to buy in direct to some of the events and sat in to a few others, depending on how much free time I have.

I might also look into some sort of staking project for people who are interested in playing in the WCOOP but aren’t properly rolled. I know of a few players who would definitely be +EV against the sorts of fields we should experience during the series, so I might see if I can get a few people interested in playing some of the smaller events if I stake them.

Late WSOP Update

So the WSOP has come and gone. I’m gutted I didn’t cash but it’s only one tournament, right?

I have discussed pretty much all of the interesting hands and overall I’m happy with how I played. I’m confident I was +EV against that field, at least from what I saw and heard about from others.

I was chipping up loads early on and had a decent stack after the first two hours. One of the things I was somewhat concerned about before playing is that I wouldn’t be able to play the way I like to play, due to the WSOP being, well, the WSOP!

I’m happy to report that I played almost exactly how I wanted to, both early on, and later when I got short. I got my money in ahead making an aggressive move into a pot that would have probably seen me through to day two (there was only one level left for the day). I don’t think I could have done more than that given the circumstances.

I haven’t played much this week but I’m slowly getting back into it. I’m thinking about trying to qualify for the PCA if I can get the time off work. I still have plenty of W$ left over, but we have the WCOOP yet to come, so I guess I’ll see how that goes first.

Vegas Prep

I fly out to Vegas on Sunday and have been preparing by playing LOADS of online donkaments and playing live as much as I can.

I have put in a couple of decent live runs with a 3rd and a 4th in the last two weeks. It's been a pain to find tournies locally with semi-deep structures, as most casinos and card rooms in my area favour low buy-in rebuys with really bad blind structures and/or level times.

I feel great about my game as the WSOP approaches and I'm really looking forward to it now. I'll be playing in some different events since I changed my travel dates, so I'll keep those updated here.

Dublin Trip Report

I arrived at the airport on Saturday morning around two hours early for my flight. Normally this should have been plenty of time to check in, get through security and get myself something to eat before boarding the plane. Given that it's only an hour long flight from London, I hate the fact that the whole process typically takes over 4 hours.

The queue for security is absolutely huge. I join the end of the line and I estimate that there were probably around 2,000 people in front of me. The worst thing was that it wasn't even moving. After about an hour and a half I have moved all of 100 metres. At this point I know there is no way I'm going to make my flight. Lots of people around me are in a similar situation. I get talking to a couple in front of me who are off on a honeymoon to Barbados. 'Great start to our marriage' the guy told me in a downbeat tone. 'We only booked the Saturday morning flight so we could spend an extra two days out there' their flight leaves about 10 minutes before mine.

I'm starting to feel really bad for this couple, as a friend of mine sees me as he's walking past. 'Hello mate, how are you?' I let him know I'm a little bored of waiting in line and ask if it's always like this at the weekend. 'We have extra security down on the runways today, so we have much less staff working in normal security, the queue from here is about 2 hours, when is your flight?' 10 minutes later I'm upstairs at a different (and almost empty) security gate where I'm whisked through quickly and find myself airside. 'I definitely owe you a beer' I tell my friend. He tells me it's not big deal and I quickly let him know about the couple standing in line in front of me. I still have no idea if they made it.

I make my flight with little time to spare and board the plane to find I'm the last person on. I have no idea how all those people made it on time. I fail to believe that they all turned up 4 hours early to make the flight. I arrive at Dublin airport and meet Matt (Suited Jock) who I'll be sharing a room with. He's been waiting at the airport for a few hours now so I apologise as my flight was a little late meaning he had to wait even longer. He flashes me a genuine smile 'No worries'.

We jump in a cab to our hotel and I think about cracking a joke about his sexuality being in question at ITH and our sleeping arrangements that night. Given that this is only the second time we have met, I decide to pass. We arrive at the hotel which is surprisingly nice for what we paid. We can't check in yet so we drop off our bags and head out to the card club where the event is being played.

Before long I'm sitting at my table and the first hand is being dealt. I planned to play reasonably loose and aggressive early on and take it from there. I make a strong start and work my way up to 13,000 from a 10k starting stack. Some of the players on my table are really bad. We have two super nit types who don't seem to want to play at all, a couple of guys who call like every two hands and maybe 1 or 2 okayish players who seem aggressive and semi-decent post flop.

I really enjoy making moves in live tournaments that you would never make online. It folds to me in the CO and I raise to 3x with 56s. It folds to the BB who had played maybe one hand in the first 4-5 orbits who makes the call. The flop comes A49 rainbow and the BB checks. I bet out and he thinks a while before calling. There is something about the way he acted in addition to his image that made me make the following play on the turn. The dealer flips an irrelevant 2 and the BB bets out for 1/2 of the pot, looking agonised as he does so. I think for a while and put in a substantial re-raise and he auto folds, flashing an Ace. I can see a couple of the other players on the table making a mental note of the hand and I throw my cards into the muck.

Next orbit I make a mistake by getting a bit deep into a hand during a blind battle and end up having to show 78 on an ATK95 board. My next two raises first in are met by heavy re-raises and I'm forced to tighten up a bit for a few orbits.

In the last level before the break I feel like I have a great table. We still have a couple of really, really tight players who have played maybe 2-3 hands in the first 3 levels, one of which is the BB from the hand above. I lose half my stack when I flop top two pair from the BB in an unraised pot versus a flopped set and make the first break with 5k in chips. I manage to find Matt who also has just over 5k in chips at the break. Neither of us have seen any hands and as play resumes 10 minutes later I hope at least one of us can double up soon.

I have an M of 10 so I'm not desperate but I want to start making a move while I still have chips. First hand back after the break it folds to me in LP and I automatically make a standard raise into the tight blinds on my left. I'm absolutely furious with myself as soon as I realise I haven't looked at my cards. Both cards are still quite obviously in their dealt position and the BB thinks for a while trying an amateur stare down in the process. He eventually folds and I don't look at my cards.

At this point I decide to really take advantage of my table still being quite tight. There are two players who have been very active at the table, and between the three of us we take most of the blinds during the first level. I also place a few re-raises against the other two, one of which I have to fold when villain comes over the top when I'm holding JTs.

I'm back up to about 12k when one of the tight players flat calls in MP. I raise in LP with AsQd and Mr Nit calls. The flop comes A56 and he checks. I bet out and he pushes for about 9k. I think for a while about making the call. I really don't want to go broke with top pair against someone I know has such a small range for this type of move. He's played very few hands, and the hands he has played he's never shown any aggression like this, let alone a check/push. It's possible he's starting to think he has to make a move, but I can't give that idea enough credit to call. If I fold I still have enough chips for a little play. I fold and push my cards over by mistake, I think MP thought I showed my hand intentionally because he looked up and flipped AKs.

I slowly build my stack back up and take a 3 way pot with 99 on a low board. One hand where there were like 3-4 limpers I make a big raise with 89s on the button and it folds round. I see very few hands but manage to steal once or twice an orbit and make the break with 19k, a little above average.

I find Matt and we decide to skip the buffet, which already has a long queue, and look for somewhere else to eat. We are both determined not to eat another Burger King since we ate there at lunch, but after a short walk and no restaurants it's our only real option. We both decide to mix it up and have chicken instead of beef. Crazy stuff.

Matt is up to 23k and we talk about the next stage of the tournie. We are both in good shape now, after being short at the last break. I make it back to my table just in time for the first hand and sit down to commence battle. The next two levels are pretty easy for me, I bust Nit #1 when he pushes his short stack into my 99 with A7 and bust Nit #2 when he limps A9 in LP and calls my push with TT. Both hands hold and I keep afloat for a while picking my spots at a much more aggressive table. Matthew comes and sits behind me, He's busted after taking a coinflip.

The blinds start to get high a couple of levels after the dinner break and I'm starting to get short after backing down to a couple of re-raises. I hold AK on the button and it folds to the CO who thinks for agggesss and finally makes a raise of 6x the BB or something similarly large. I shove for the rest of my stack, the blinds fold and he calls with JJ. No help on the board and I lose my first and only race of the tournament.

We go back to the hotel, get changed and head out into Dublin. Temple Bar is absolutely heaving for the bank holiday weekend. If you ever find yourself in Dublin you absolutely have to visit this area in the evening, you won't regret it. After a long hunt for an ATM we finally make it into a bar and Matt has what he confesses to be only his second ever pint of Guinness.

After a while we head back to the card club. They stopped play at 1:30 am and we arrived just after to find the cash games in full swing. We had heard from the night before that the cash games were pretty lively, so we both sit down at a pot limit game (quite common in the UK) about 3 hands in I have AA in LP with a few limpers. I bet the pot and get two calls. The flop comes 379 and Matt bets out, the player to my right folds and I bet the pot again. I think it took us a few shouts of 'pot' to get our money it but when we do Matt looks up to me and says 'Set'.

No help on the turn or river and I need to get some more chips to sit back in.

I'm not really a massive fan of live cash games, but this one was very soft and Matt was taking full advantage. I made the money back from my earlier stackage and we call it a night. Matt is up a little over two buy-ins from a pretty short cash session.

We come back the next day with the intention of playing some more cash games but there are none. The final two tables of the event have been set up and all eyes are on the action. After a while someone sets up a SNG and we go upstairs to play where we can still hear the commentary from the main tournie.

It's a very social game and since one of the players is dealing we play 11 handed. Most of the players seem to know each other but I don't reconise anyone other than Matt and one of the nits I busted from tournie. He played much, much looser and much better than the day before. He would have gotten much further if he played this way all the time. I win a few decent pots and get HU as a 2:1 chip dog. I'm normally pretty bad HU but my opponent was worse. He hardly ever raised from the button and almost never called a raise after limping. We get it all in on a QTT board when I have Q9, he flips 55 and I hold to take it down.

The timing was perfect for me as I had to leave for the airport about 10 mins later. I go upstairs to wish Matt well in the freezeout he's waiting for and he wishes me good luck in Vegas. It's been a nice warm up but I didn't really see too much action. I had no really interesting hands and nothing that really made me think too much. I didn't see AA-JJ the whole tournie, made a few standard calls/pushes but nothing really stood out. I'm happy with how I played and feel pretty confident now in the run up to Vegas.

If I had won that flip I would have been in good shape with about 40 players left and a real shot at going deep. I can't ask for much more than that really. Lets hope I saved all my luck for the WSOP

Since this is pretty long the following is for the tl;dr crowd:
- Airports are fun.
- I meet SJ and don't make jokes about him being gay
- My table is full of bad players
- They take lots of my chips
- I get revenge by busting them
- AK < JJ
- Temple Bar is awesome
- Matt cracks my AA in a PL cash game with 77
- I win the worlds first 11 person SNG

WSOP Main Event Seat #2

Last weekend I won my second WSOP Main Event seat of the year as the ITH peoples champion. I was down to 500 chips at one point early on, but managed to get a little lucky and battled my way back to win the seat.

This means I can now use the remaining cash from my first seat (which Stars has given me already) to play in some preliminary events. I’m also still able to wear Stars gear so I get to pick up my $1k sponsorship money when I arrive in Vegas. Looking at the events available while I’m out there the following events are the ones I intend to play:

Event #47 - 06/29/07 - $2000 - No-Limit Hold’em

Event #49 - 06/30/07 - $1500 - No-Limit Hold’em

Event #53 - 07/03/07 - $1500 - Limit Hold’em Shootout

Event #55 - 07/06/07 - $10,000 - World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em

Clearly if I’m still in on day two of event 47 I won’t be playing event 49. I might also play the $1k SHOE event if I manage to win a sat. I have been playing quite a few mixed games recently and feel that once you take Razz out of the equation I have a decent shot.

I have just got back from Dublin where I played the Irish APAT event. I went out a couple of levels after the dinner break after the CO pushed JJ and I called on the button with AKs with no help from the board. I’ll probably write up a trip report today or tomorrow so I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.

Sunday Blues

I’m starting to build up the same love/hate relationship with the Sunday tournies that many other tournament players share. The first tournie I busted in last night was the Stars Million. It’s almost standard for me to bubble this tournie, and last night didn’t disappoint. Nearly 6k runners, 810 places pay and I end up busting in 816th.

I also played in FTOPS event #3 at Full Tilt. The $322 buy-in event drew nearly 3,000 entries and generated a prizepool close to that of the old Sunday Millions. I got pretty close to the money in this too, finishing just inside the top 500 when 410 paid. The structure at FT is great though, enabling me to take a couple of nasty beats (JJ < TT and AK < AJ) early on and still build a decent stack with relatively low blinds after the second break.

In slightly more positive news I have now finalised my plans for Vegas this year. I’m flying out from London on the 26th June, which should allow me to take in a couple of preliminary events and spend a bit more time playing in other tournaments and even attend a 4th July BBQ!

I still have a return flight booked for the 12th July, but I may change that now depending on whether or not I play the ME. Stars has now deposited the $10k ME buy-in to all qualifiers accounts, which means we can potentially decide to keep the money. It’s a tough decision to make, and I was much happier when I didn’t have a choice to make. I was really looking forward to playing but I’ll just have to see how I feel when I’m in Vegas.

Golf anyone?

It seems I’m getting increasingly interested in the world of professional poker players these days. I think it’s mainly because I spend so much time in poker forums and talking to other players and I pick up most of the gossip that’s going round in those circles.

My latest obsession was been the interesting ‘Golf Hustle’ story involving Ram Vaswani and Phil Ivey, two very respected pros. Lots of other players have been drafted into the debate including Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein.

The debate centers around a series of games of golf in which Ivey, Ram and a few others played for money. The other games seem to be irrelevant but the issue rests on the last game they played, one in which it was said Ivey didn’t give enough information about the improvement in the standard of his play.

These are lots of different accounts of what happened, the most recent of which is Ram’s, which has been posted on the Hendon Mob website. It’s a shame that it seems to have blown up in the way that it has, and it might stop Ivey getting a game in the future!

As for my own poker it’s been a great run since my last post. I have been grinding out a solid earn rate at 5/10 FL and even felt comfortable enough to jump into a few 6-max games. This level seems much more beatable the more I play it. It appears the jump from 3/6 wasn’t as big as I had initially expected, the style of play is much different in some respects, but I haven’t found it too hard to adjust to.

I have also had some decent tournie success, taking 2nd place in the $35k on Stars on Monday night for over $5k, and making the final two tables in the $25k, only to go out on a 60/40. The $35k FT went so fast, the player I got heads up with had busted the players in 3rd and 4th place, giving him a 6:1 chip lead. There was still a little room to play but unfortunately I ended up busting with 66 vs T9.

I feel like my short handed and bubble play in tournies is really getting there now. I do seem to bust on the bubble a lot more often, but when I don’t I have usually amassed a decent stack and look in good shape to go deep. I’m also really enjoying the new 3k starting stacks in the guaranteed tournies on Stars. I just feel like it gives you a little more room to play early on, and makes a big difference in the middle part of the tournie as stacks are much deeper, enabling you to make more plays post flop, and giving you more options where stealing/re-stealing is concerned.

Nice Weather > Poker

Things have been a bit slow on the poker front for me lately, largely due to the awesome weather we are experiencing here in the UK at the moment. On Friday I managed to make the FT of a small $10 tournament at Stars with nearly 700 runners, I ended up losing a flip heads up for over 70% of the chips in play and took 2nd place for around $1k.

I also had a great run during the week making the FT of a live $200 Freezeout. When we were down to six players the chip leader had around half the chips in play and was doing a good job of playing the big stack. I was raising every hand he wasn’t involved in, and ended in my pushing 4 hands in a row with 5 left before being called when I had AA.

A dream situation saw me up against AK, villain promptly rivered a straight to cripple me and I busted a few hands later for just over $2200.

I have also read recently about the WSOP Main Event structure change. It seems they have taken a note out of Pokerstars book and doubled the starting chip stacks to 20,000, but doubling the blinds at the same time, meaning the changes will make absolutely no difference. It looks like they have decided to double the starting stacks in the rest of the events without changing the blinds, which will probably make the prelim events a little better, giving people more room to play early on. I guess they wanted to make this a blanket change for the whole series, but didn’t want a 45 day Main event. It should make for an impressive looking FT chip count though!

5th Place

Two final tables in two days, one live and one online, and I finished 5th in both. I think it has to be possibly the most frustrating place to finish. Wednesday night I played in a local rebuy with just over 100 runners. I was sitting at a little under average after the 1st break when everyone tightened up and went into freezeout mode.

I managed to take advantage of quite a passive table and picked up a few pots early on that allowed me to take a nasty KK vs QQ beat and come through with something resembling a stack. I got back to about average after winning a flip with 4 tables left and pretty much maintained my stack until the final two tables. When we got down to 5 handed on both tables I was 8/10 and maybe had a couple of orbits to double if I was going to stay in contention. At this point someone proposed an utterly ridiculous 10 way chop and although most people didn’t go for it, 3 of the 5 players on my table agreed.

Needless to say I went hyper-aggro and eventually ended up busting the guy in 10th to make it in the money and to the final table sitting 2nd in chips. Due to the nature of the blind structure and the number of chips in play the final table went pretty quick. I was chip leader for all of a few hands, and I think the 4 players who went out before me did so within the first 15 hands of the final table starting.

Five handed I had to back down in a few pots and eventually ended up pushing AK from the SB and getting called by AQ. Flop brings a Q and I’m already half way to the cashier.

Not an amazing performance but it was nice to get 7 or so hours of live tournament poker in. The luckbox who knocked me out went on to win the tournie and didn’t even tip the waitress who had been working on her own and serving him all night.

My other final table came in the Stars $15k last night. I was so tired from the night before that I was convinced I must have made at least some mistakes late on. In reading the HH today I can’t see anything too bad, but I have definitely seen a couple of spots where I probably didn’t extract as many chips from my opponents as I could have which is something I really need to work on. Overall I was happy with my play and it’s a great feeling to make the FT of a tournie with over 2,000 runners and turn a 1.5k stating stack into nearly a million chips.

Nothing else to report except that I have already made tentative plans for Vegas. At the moment I plan to be there from the 5th July (the WSOP ME starts on the 6th) until the 12th, unless of course I manage to go on a sick run and make day 5, at which point I’ll be extending my stay!

NO TEN! NO TEN!

I won a WSOP Main Event seat on Pokerstars on Tuesday night. I qualified through a $160 Double Shootout satellite which paid just one $12,000 package.

Prior to playing the DS qualifier I had been having a rough time in the smaller satellites trying to build up my W$ bankroll. Playing the $16 DS’s to the $650 satellite I had made 4 final tables and finished 4th in one that offered 2 seats (when 3rd and 4th paid out just $72) and finished 2nd in two others when just one seat was offered, picking up the $72 both times.

The breakthrough finally came when I won two tournies to the $650 in two days. One was through a $24 6-max Double Shootout, and the other from a $27 rebuy. I unregistered I planned to play a couple of the $160’s with the W$ and play the smaller sats again when my W$ roll got low. The tournie I won the seat in was my first shot!

I felt comfortable at both of my tables, and didn’t have to wait too long after winning my first one for the final table to start. I picked up a few nice pots when we were 6 or 7 handed, and just went from there. Heads up was a little nerve racking, $12,000 for first place and just $160 (buy-in back) for second.

It was all over in a few hands. I had a 2k chip lead and found myself facing a standard raise with AKo, I re-raised, My opponent pushed and I called. He flipped TT and a K came on the flop, I got all excited and started shouting ‘NO TEN, NO TEN’ Needless to say it didn’t come!

The chat box in the tournie window went crazy and all my IM/IRC windows lit up. It felt a little unreal for a few seconds, but in sunk in pretty fast, I was off to Vegas to play in the biggest poker tournament in the world.

I expect I’ll be posting my thoughts about the WSOP and the Main Event here over the next couple of months, and I still have to figure out what I’m going to do with my left over W$. It’s possible I might play some more satellites and try to build up enough to play some prelim events. If I’m going to make the 10 hour trip to Vegas, I may as well make the most of it!

Update Time

January and February are busy months for me so I have neglected the blog a little, but things are calming down now so I should be able to post more often. 2007 has been good to me so far, bringing 3 live final tables, finishing 2nd twice and 9th on the third occasion. I was happy with my play in all three tournies and feel really good about my live game at the moment. It still has so much room for improvement, but at least I’m moving in the right direction.

I also made the final 2 tables of a festival event with a much higher buy-in than I would normally play. I still felt like I had an edge on all the tables I played on and busted in 12th after loosing my only coinflip of the tournament.

Online poker has been good to me too, making 2 final tables at Full Tilt in the $3k guaranteed (2/380) and the $9k guaranteed (3/680) and my forays into $100 NL 6-max have been going well, starting to see more typical BB/100 rates with something that’s starting to resemble a decent sample size.

Hopefully I’ll now have more time to play and I’ll be back here making random observations about all things poker related.