Main Event Day 1

Still in after day one with 52,450 chips. I was chipleader at my final table of the day and should go in Day 2 (Starting Tuesday) with twice the average chips. About 800 survived from a Day 1A field of 2300. It was a fun day of WSOP Main Event poker. I played well for the most part and things went my way most of the time. Still a long long way to go obviously, might post more in the next few days.

Main Event Picks

Me, Ed, Matt and JV were sitting around yesterday resting for the main event and playing some online poker. Obv this developed in to a WSOP Main Event fantasy draft.

Ed won the first pick in the draft and we drafted in snake order. Teams will be rated in 2 catergories...(each catergory winner gets paid an undisclosed amount from the others) Most cashes, and Most overall money won. A special bonus catergory is won if u pick the eventual winner.

Here is how the teams shook out. Team members are listed in order they were chosen by the team owner. Also, all of us get ourselves on their team (slight edge goes to me of course on that rule)

Ed - Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Patrick Antonius, Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, JC Tran, Scotty Ngyuen, Victor Ramdin, Chau Giang, Lee Watkinson, Devilfish, Jen Harman, Roland De Wolfe, TJ Cloutier, Hassan Habib, Bengt Sonnert, Tony G, Ed "Ebo" Moncada

Matt - Phil Hellmuth, Erik Lindgren, Jeff Madsen(!), Nam Le, David Singer, Cliff Josephy AKA Johnny Bax, David Plastik, Marcel Luske, Kirill Girismov, Joe Cassidy, David Wells (the game theory expert not the left-handed over the hill Starting Pitcher), Rob Mizrachi, David Baker, Dustin Woolf AKA Neverwin, Michael Woo, Max Prescatori, Julian Gardner, Joe Hachem, Matt "Bubble Boy" Szymaszek

JV - Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreneau, Carlos Mortensen, Mike Matasow, Johny Chan, Mark Seif, Ram Vaswani, "Evil" Freddy Deeb, Ted Forrest, Josh Arieh, Nick Schulman, Men the Master, Llayne Flack, Bill Gazes, Humberto Brenes, Antonio Esfandari, John Gale, Alex Jacob, Darrel "Gigabet" Dicken, Justin Sadauskas

Jesse - Alan Goehring, Allen Cunningham, Chris Ferguson, Greg Raymer, Minh Ly, David Pham, Dan Harrington, Gavin Smith, Howard Lederer, Daniel Alei, David Williams, Gus Hansen, Mike Gracz, JDags, Juha Helppi, Phil Laak, Jason Strassa, Joe Bartholdi, Erik Lynch AKA Rizen, Jesse Martin

Blogs

Sorry guys I kind of stopped writing in this blog for a while. I have realized that a day to day poker blog is not something I want to keep up with, but hopefully this will develop in to something worthwhile once I get home.

The last few weeks have been a lot of fun. Run hot in cash games for the most part, but havent made much headway in the tournaemtns. Day 2 of the 1000 rebuy went alright for a while, doubled up quickly but then never got anything else going and ended up busting with 88 vs TT with about 40 left.

I went kind of deep in the Pot Limit 2000 and got real unlcucky near the money, also had a shot in the 2nd 1000 rebuy but lost a big coinflip vs Greg Raymer somewhat close to the money.

Random Tidbits :

- Both of Chip Reese's interview on "The Circuit", are very worthwhile to listen to. Some of the things he said have led me to not writing in this blog very often. (http://cardplayer.com/thecircuit/

- I am leading JV and Steve G overall in ping pong but there have been some big battles and nothing is determined by way of house champion yet, but I have a small lead down the stretch.

- My fantasy baseball pitching staff is in shambles. If anyone has some sleeper starters down the strecth please tell me.

- New York is a pretty amazing city

Still In 1000 Rebuy...Made the Money

This is gonna be short cause I need to get to sleep. I am still in the 1000 rebuy WSOP event. The money was 72 people and I think there are about 68 left now. My stack is 29,800 and if my math is right that should be slightly slightly above average. The lowest money spot is $4800. Big day tomorrow, starts at 2 PT, hopefully I will play well.

From the archives...I wrote this up but never posted it...

Another TJ story. (The quotes are not exact, but they are pretty damn close.)

While sitting next to Tom McEvoy, another semi-highprofile old-timer, a TJ Cloutier borrowing melee again occured. This time it was TJ in the flesh approaching McEvoy. These posts are not meant to slander or insult anyone, they are purely for entertainment and to bring those of u not in Vegas inside the world of degeneracy that we/I sometimes get used to. T.J politely waits for Tom to finish a hand and then asks...

T.J. : What is our number at now?
Tom : Around 2700, actually I think its 2745.
T.J. : Ok, well lets make it 500 more.
Tom : (hesitates and checks his hole cards) OK, one sec...(it seems like Tom feels he got off cheap and is gonna give TJ the 500) He reaches for the 500 and begins to hand it to TJ.
T.J. : Lets just make it an even number actually to make it easier, give me 800.
Tom : Well I have the number at home, not even sure its 27, I'll give u 5 now and we can get to an even number soon.
T.J : (In the voice of a 13-year old begging for a new Nintendo game, no joke) Come on Tom give me 800.

Tom eventually gives in, and gets back to waiting for premium hands. Tom later tells us he is the only one in the casino with an "out" against T.J. cause he apparently gets the royalty checks that TJ and Tom continue to get from the sale of there jointly authored books they have produced. He also tells us that the 800 he gave TJ probably wont last him till dinner.

On a related note, when Tom McCevoy got to the table to start the day he was eating a salad and talking to a friend...meanwhile he flings his seating card to the dealer. The dealer looks at it, glances at the name and asks for Tom's ID. Tom, freezes in mid conversation and says,

"wait, u dont know who I am do u?", the dealers doesnt have much of a reaction to this. "U have no clue who I am huh? Wow, amazing...u have no clue who I am seriously? wow...ok hold on."

Tom reaches for his wallet and opens it up exposing his ID through the laminated holder, just close enough so the dealer can possibly squint and make out a few of the letters but no closer. The dealer accepts this and Tom goes back to his asian chicken salad, while expressing his amazement at what just transpired.

OK I am pretty pissed off

OK this blog is probably gonna be pretty damn short, maybe I will have more to say later...right now I am pretty dissapointed cause this was my best chance at a great finish so far. I started the 2500 NL today slowly but during round 3 I won a big 3 way pot with JJ vs AJ and A8 and then was off to the races.

By dinner break I had 18K with 300 left and the average stack was around 10 maybe less. I was very excited to get back after dinner break because I was prepared to really take advantage of the tight nature of my table. Well, I got back and lost AQ to 66 for 4K chips and then another 2K vs some guy I hate (more on him later).

So now I have 12K and the guy I hate makes it 1200, gets a cold call from a 7.5K stack and I call with 55. Flop T75 with 1 diamond. Guy I hate bets 2000, next guy makes it 6300 All-In and I hollywood for a bit to make sure that the other guy comes with AA-QQ, well he does. He moves in. I am up against AA and ATs. The pot is over 30,000 and the chip average is around 11,000.

Turn MOTHER F#$&#@&* ACE. ONE OUT and I am DONE

So instead of having about 32K and being at a ridiculously easy table with everyone covered by a ton I am out of the dumb tournament. Its pretty unreal. I would have been a huge favorite to go deep in this thing. My table was really unbelievably good and wasnt breaking anytime soon. I am so sure I could have gotten away with raising half of my hands and I was already prepared to do so. UGH, this is a tough one to take. One ace in the deck and it spikes right off.

Also I am pretty sure I have a cavity. If my life wasnt so good in general I would be pretty damn unhappy right now. Hopefully I can bounce back from this but u dont get this type of oppurtunity every tournament. Its a tough one to take.

I will include a lighter blog later. Gonna go throw some things for now.

Omissions

Forgot to add 2 things to my last blog. First a story...

Sitting at Billy Baxter's table, Shawn "Sheiky" Sheikan walks up and gives Baxter 7500 dollars in casino chips. Baxter asks, "where is the other 25 ($2500)."
Sheiky says, "remember u told me to give the other 2500 to TJ. "
Baxter : "Hmmm u sure, I dont remember that. What did TJ give me that I owed him 2500?"
Sheiky : "I'm sure TJ gave u nothing but he needed 2500 and u told me to give it to him. I'm sure he owes u a lot more than that."
Baxter : "Thats the truth. U got that part right."
Sheiky : "Me and u we are even though, take it up with TJ"

Ping-Pong

We got a ping pong table, special props to Bubble Boy Syzmaszek for putting most of it together. I will be periodically posting my overall ping pong record vs different opponents this summer. So far I have only played Steve, we are really really even so it should be a battle all summer.
JV shows up today after going back to Chi-town for a bit, he claims to be expert so I am a little nervous.


So Far

vs Steve I am 6-4
vs JV 0-0

Catch-Up Blog

Sorry to my many loyal fans but I have suffered my first blog lag. Haven't got around to writing in the past few days but I am ready to pump a few more out coming soon.

I have played 2 events since I last posted. The NL 2000 event and the NL 5000 event.

NL 2000

In the NL 2000 event my original table draw was a tough one. I had former World Series of Poker Main Event champions Greg Raymer and Tom McEvoy at my table. Also John Juanda was directly to my left. Not really the draw u hope for with a field of 2000 random donkeys.

Regardless, I brought my original stack of 2000 to 2750 before our table was broken. I played 2 hands vs Raymer, for all u Fossilman fans here was the action.

Hand #1

Blinds 25/25 I opened in MP with red AA for 100. The button calls and Raymer calls in the SB. The flop comes 752 with 2 diamonds, checked to me and I bet 200, button folds and Raymer reaches for 200 chips behind his trademark goofy glasses and slings em in. Headed to the turn with the former patent attorney turned world champ we see the 9 of diamonds, giving me the nut diamond draw with my aces. Raymer checks and I decide to practice some pot control and check behind. (for u guys who know me but are still learning about poker, definitely feel free to call/IM/EMail etc. about some of these plays and I will try to explain my thinking.)

So the river comes a 4th diamond giving me the nuts. Raymer checks, the pot is 725 and I bet 450. In retrospect 600 or 150 would have both been better, but im pretty sure no matter what he was gonna look into my soul and fold. Greg folded, claiming not to have a Diamond (I think he had black 66 or 88.)

The second hand was much quieter. I raise in MP to 75 with AcJc, its Raymers button and he calls (obv) and we take the flop heads up. Flop AK4 and we both check, turn 4 and we both check, River 6 and I throw out a 100 dollar chip and say 50, he thinks and calls. I win 2 for 2 vs Raymer.

I got moved to a new table. The most notable player was Billy Baxter supposedly an expert Sports Bettor who also is a very solid tournament poker player. I dont seem to recall much about that table except that I built my chips all the way up to 6000 but then paid some blinds had some unsuccesful steals and then lost a 8000 chip pot with KK vs AQ to bust with 450 people left. Win that pot and I am in great shape at a decent table, but unfortunately the A door card did me in.

NL 5000

This tournament seemed doomed from the start and I am not gonna report much. I didnt get a great nights sleep and also was a little bummed I was gonna miss yet another World Cup match (Italy vs Germany was on at the same time as the tourney) Also I woke up with a tooth ache. Combine that with a bunch of missed draws and flops in the early going and then losing a big blind vs blind all in with A6 vs A7 and that was all she wrote for one of the tougher WSOP events out there.

I dont think I really made any big mistakes in this tournament, just really didnt find much to play and also didnt find spots to make things happen. I ended up going home and grinding out a decent wage online for a few hours and then meeting up with some old poker friends and one of my best friends in the world Eric.

Eric is definitely one of the coolest people I know and he was on his A game this night. Everything that came out of his mouth was hilarious and the people I was hanging out with absolutely fell in love with him as people often do. The girls in our group seriously couldnt get enough of him. Eric is here for a few more days with his parents so I expect to take it easy and try to hang with with them a few more times.

BTW Eric and his dad Harry played the 225 second chance NL tourney at the Rio. Here are there bust hands as reported by them.

Eric is on the button with 800 chips and A9s, blinds 50-100. Folded to him and he makes it 250 with A9s (I would have pushed personally). The BB calls and they get the money in on an AT8 flop. The BB ends up having AT and gg Eric, not much he could do there.

Harry's bust hand is a little more interesting. I could have some of the details wrong and Harry might have had some wrong too, but here it goes. Blinds 100-200, Harry raises UTG with ATs to 400 total (I think that was too small) one of the blinds calls and the flop is T43 rainbow and the blind makes a small lead at the flop. Harry decides to shove it in for about 6500 total. In a vacuum I dont love the play, but Harry was at the table so its hard to debate it. I would opt for a much smaller raise, possibly folding to a push or even better a flop call in an attempt to control the pot size and not fold out a better hand. Well all this analysis seems silly because apparently his opponent called him with K4 and hit one of his 5 outs twice and that was it for Harry.

So the last few days poker wise havent been great, our house still hasnt got much going at all but I am still in a great mindset and am ready to play these upcoming events. Regardless of poker though I am having a great time out here. Our house is really fun, we have a ping pong table/pool table/maid service/pool etc, and I really like the people I have met through poker so its good to spend some time with everyone.

Then again, I better win one of these fucking events soon

Day 2 Limit Hold Em Event #4

Not much to report. Arrived to the table very confident with average in chips and 69 people left but it clearly was not meant to be. I lost my first 2 hands and that was basically all she wrote. I think I played both hands fine, just bad spots. So I cashed for $3700 and finished in 56th place. Nothing special but atleast I have my first cash and a little more confidence under my belt.