Ray Allen

The NL 5000 6 Max started off great. I built my initial 10,000 chip stack to 40,000 with relative ease and I really was looking like I had a shot at the first prize of 900,000 dollars+. Unfortunately things did not work out how I imagined. A combination of 1 or 2 poorly played hands, a lack of any cards for a couple levels, and a lack of any imagination from me when I was card dead led to my stack moving from 40K to 26K.

I then ended up in a coinflip with KJo vs TT when my resteal of the cut-off was interefered with by the Big Blind. No K or J and instead of having 55K with 110 people left I am off to the rail. I came home and broke my no internet poker rule and ended up booking a small loss after being up 2000.

Add to all this that the Celtics ended up with a 32 year old shooting guard who has been through multiple knee surgies as there draft pick this year and yesterday could have been better.

Today I woke up at 11:15 and hustled over to the rio by noon. This violates the "Jeffery Lisandro Rule" of waking up exactly 90 minutes before a poker tournament, but I needed the extra sleep. I arrived at my table feeling good, and soon had 7500 chips. I felt as tho I was playing slightly too loose before the antes in previous big field events, and my new plan of lock down poker was working like a charm.

I don't feel like going through the details...but I lost all my chips in the next 3 hours. A slowplayed KK hand was the biggest dent. I was and still am pretty dissapointed in my last 2 tournaments. I am playing ok, but I am not giving myself the absolute best chance to win.

I think the biggest thing I need to work on is learning about my opponents more. I find myself paying off too many river bets lately, I need to be more confident in my reads so that I don't err on the side of caution so often and pay these no names off.

Part of the obstacle with this is that with my ADD tendencies I find it hard to pay attention to the hands I am not involved in sometimes. I know many people have this same problem, but when playing live against no names we are giving up too much value by missing hands our opponents play. The best players are paying much better attention than I am. Although the series is almost over, I am going to do my best to learn as much as I can about the players at my tables over the next 2 weeks.

When I got back to Bellagio today I was itching to play a live game. The 10-20 NL games are pretty boring so I was hoping a 25-50 NL was going with a decent line up, or a 200-400 limit. a 25-50 NL was going, but the catch was there was a $25 ante. This makes the game super big.

I decided to jump in, and try to play super expert. I made some hands and at one point was up $9000. Unfortunately I started to slip down to 6000 and then ran a bluff for another 5K that didnt work out. There is obv much more to the story, but in the end I ended up +2700 or so.

I definitely only played my B game at best, but I did think I understood the changes in strategy when playing a game with such a big ante better than most of my opponents and that probably gave me an edge. I really need to improve my overall NL game, especially my river play, it is far from sharp enough.

The downswing in my session lingered with me and now that I already broke the seal of my "no internet poker"rule last night, I decided to try to win a couple thousand back online. I found some good games and booked a decent win, my recent live game upswing has definitely come at a good time.

As for the Celtics, Ray Allen-Paul Pierce-Al Jefferson and 9 scrubs isnt the worst, but they arent going to win a championship either and it seems like Danny Ainge is now just managing the team to try to save his job more than anything else. It's really a mess, and very sad. Who would have thought 15 years ago that the Patriots would be the class of the NFL, everyone would love the Red Sox owners, yet the Celtics were the laughingstock of the NBA.

For you NBA and/or Bill Simmons fans, this column is a must read if u havent got to it yet.

Update

Check out this video on Vinnie Vinh

The short story on Vinh is that David Pham used to back him, but then dropped him when he didnt show up for a Final Table at Commerce earlier this year, after playing all day to get there the day before.

Vinh has sinced found other backers (rumored to be Tommy Vu) and this video does a good job of updating his recent progress.


In other news, I stuck around for a while in the $2000 limit hold em tournament. Finally I was knocked out around 80th place of the 473 players that started when my 99 couldnt outrun ATo.

Getting busted from the event turned in to a probable blessing disguise tho, because when I arrived back at Bellagio I jumped right in to a big limit hold em game and by 5:30 A.M. I booked my largest win in a live game ever. I ran pretty hot and was pleased with my play. Money wise the win doesn't do much more than clean up a few of my recent online blow-up sessions, but its nice to have a very positive result.

I woke up at 4 P.M. today, and will probably head over to the gym pretty soon. Tomorrow is the 5K NL 6-max event. There is a ton of skill in this event, and most of the best players in the world will be playing it. I am looking forward to the challenge.

Our Horse Fantasy pool is working out for me so far. With 16 people left, Matt and Ed are drawing dead with no team members left. Shane has Greg Raymer left, but Raymer is a short stack, while I have medium stack Barry Greenstein and top 5 stack David Singer (my pick at this point to win). Hopefully Fossilman goes busto soon.

In other news a prop bet involving Erick Lindgren is the talk of the poker community on NL 5K 6-max eve. Here is the bet outlined by the fine people at wickedchopspoker.blogs.com.............

We got a call from Gavin Smith last night saying that Erick Lindgren accepted a $100,000 prop bet with the following rules :::

::: He had to play four rounds of golf at Bear's Best in one day.

:: He had to walk all four rounds back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

:: He'd be shooting from the pro tees.

:: He had to shoot under 100 on all rounds.

Within 15 minutes, Phil Ivey added another $200k to the bet, and with a few others jumping in since, the total is now close to $350k.


Reports are he finished 2 rounds and shot a 46 through the front 9 on his 3rd round.

Not Leaving Las Vegas

It has now been 25 days in a row living in Las Vegas, I have been off the strip twice so far. I can't say I am "sick of it" at all really. At this point I feel like I am in some sort of warped reality zone. If there was no end in sight it would be pretty scary, but as it is I am excited for what comes next. Everyday I have woken up out here I have been pumped up for the day that was in front of me. Although the trip has not gone perfect, I think that is enough of an endorsement to label my time out here far from a dissapointment so far.

The latest thing I am energized about is mixed game poker. I went to the Gambler's bookstore out here a few days ago when busting a tournament early. The Gambler's bookstore is the one stop shop for any book u need on gambling. I set out to buy 7 different books for sure, and the store had every title. I am very impressed at the selection these guys continually keep in stock. A Chinese Poker Workbook, Ray Zee's Hi-Lo Split Book and Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas were among my selections. I also bought a few other books with the plan of learning more poker games.

In the Bellagio poker room these days, it seems like the best game in the room most days is the 300-600 "mixed" game. They usually play a mix of Triple Draw, Badugi, Stud 8, Omaha with Razz, Stud and Hold Em making occasional appearances.

As a professional poker player I must learn these games, and I plan to. For a while playing anything but hold em seemed like a waste of time to me, and I think I was right. The games were great and I was still building a bankroll. I am probably a few months to a year behind in making the transition, but I think I have reached the point that I must become a very good mixed game player. I put A LOT of time in to becoming a good hold em player, so the task of learning 4 others games is scary, but hopefully the learning curve will be much faster with my poker experience to date.

Much of this urge to play mixed games for sure comes from the buzz created by the $50,000 HORSE WSOP event that starts today. Somewhere close to 225 runners will try to defeat defending champion Chip Reese and many other of the very very best poker players in the world today. This event has already turned in to a huge poker history making success in its 2nd year, and is highly anticipated by all players out here at the World Series whether they play it or not.

With that in mind, Shane, Matt, Ed and I drafted our "teams" for the HORSE pool. Here is what we came up with, keep in mind that we had no time to prepare for our draft. It was all off the top of our head picking while we ate dinner at Fix. The team that wins the most money in the HORSE event wins. Here are the teams

Shane - Chip Reese, Allen Cunningham, Thomas Wahlroos, Mike Wattel, Greg Raymer, David Oppenheim, Bill Gazes

Matt - Patrick Antonius, David Benyamine, Gus Hansen, Erick Lindgren, John Dagastino, Joe Cassidy, Jeff King

Ed - Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreneau, Greg Mueller, Nick Shulman, Chau Giang, Jen Harman, Kirk Morrison

Jesse - Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, David Singer, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Minh Ly, Howard


I think David Oppenheim was the steal of the draft by Shane in the 6th round. I am a little upset I took Doyle over Allen Cunningham. I think Shane also had the worst pick in the draft with Thomas Wahlroos 9th overall.

Notable omissions include Jeffery Lisandro and Ted Forrest. These guy are easily top 28 players in this field IMO. Also people like Cindy Viollete, David Levi and Allen Kessler have great chances of cashing and probably could have been good late round picks.

The HORSE event will suck up much of the excitement in the room this week, but I still plan on playing a few events. My upcoming schedule will look like this, I am not including Day 2 or 3's of events, which would obviously overide a day 1 I was planning on


Sunday (Today) - 5 PM Mixed Limit and No-Limit hold em $1500 (3 day event)
Monday - Day Off
Tuesday - 12 PM Limit Hold em $2000 (3 day event)
Wednesday - Day Off
Thursday - 12 PM No Limit Hold em 6-Max $5000 (3 day event)
Friday - 12 PM No Limit Hold Em $2000 (3 day event)
Saturday - 12 PM No Limit Hold Em $1500 (3 day event)

Writing out that schedule really reenforces how much oppurtunity their is still left in this WSOP. 5 events in the next week and then 3 or 4 more including the Main Event. I am gonna try to give each one 100 percent focus.

Thats it for now, need to call room service

Blah

In the 3000 limit tournament I thought I played well, but busted at the end of day 1 around 2:30 AM. I promptly went the booth and signed in for the next day's event, the 1500 NL. After my 8 hours of solid sleep I woke up and rushed over the rio in time for the 2500 person tournament.

My first table was ridiculously soft, but I got nothing going. Later I was moved to a tougher table, but managed to build 18,000 chips with some good situations after a few hours. 18,000 was quite a nice stack for that spot in the tournament.

My stack was 3rd biggest at the table when I got involved in a pot with one of the bigger stacks. A tightish player limped UTG, and the big stack limped in late position with 30,000+ chips. It was up to me in the SB and I had AKo. My image was a bit more loose-aggressive than it normally is, and for that reason I briefly considered just completing, but instead chose the pretty standard move of making a pretty big raise.

I made it 3000 total to go. The Big Blind short stack folded, and it was up to the UTG player. He thought for 20 seconds or so and then disgustedly folded his hand. Now, the Big stack player calls the extra 2600 in a shot. My read was he was spite calling this 2600 chips, I put him on a pretty mediocre pre-flop hand, but that could be many hands, including a small pocket pair, suited connectors or random biggish cards.

The flop was T85 rainbow and I bet 4600 in to a 7200 chip pot, leaving me with about 11,000 left. Again my opponent called fast. I really wasnt sure what he had, but I figured that if his hand was super big he might of just raised it there because it looked like I was pretty committed to the pot.

My best guess was he had a hand like 44,66,77 and was calling the flop to slow me down. With this being my best guess, I decided the only logical thing to do is shove any turn card and hope for the best (him folding).

Well, the turn was an 8, making the board T858. I shoved and he called instantly with 86 offsuit.
'
I was more dizzy after this hand then any hand so far this series. I could have done many different things in the hand. First I could have just called pre-flop in the SB, there are many reasons why to do this and why not to do this. I am not going to list all the pro's and con's but for you poker players I assume u already have considered them all.

After the fact I also realized that a flop check, followed by a check-raise or fold if I really hate the spot is possibly expert. It is going to be tough for him to call this power move without a read. Unfortunately I never even considered this move, and im sure thats a leak of mine. We dont get many options in a poker hand, its probably right to explore each one (in this case 2, bet or check) before we make a move.

In the end, my read of the hand was pretty accurate, and if he doesnt spike his 5 outer on the turn, he is going to be in a tough spot faced with basically calling off 18,000 chips with 86o after he flops an 8 vs an opponent showing maximum strength.

In the end im pretty annoyed because I had a nice stack and was in a very good spot in a tournament field that was pretty soft. Our table was also most likely breaking soon, I was just about to ask the tournament directors about that.

Ugh I wish I just completed my small blind one time

Limit 3000

The limit 3000 event starts at 5 P.M., I am excited to play. It should be a small but somewhat tough field.

Last night a bunch of us went out to the Playboy Club at Palms. It was somewhat dead, but I had a lot of fun. Some great pictures were taken, hopefully I can figure out how to get them posted up on here. As the great Jordan Goldberg is famous for saying "Decent blog, need some pics tho".

I forget some details for my WSOP fun facts report, but hopefully I will be able to figure it out at some point and revive that popular feature.

Mid WSOP blues

Well its around the midway point of the World Series Of Poker andI have hit somewhat of a wall. I have had very little success in the events the past week, and my online winstreak has come to an end. I am officially "stuck" for the series again.

I am still up in cash games overall for a decent number, but less than I was 48 hours ago, yet my tournament total is now $-28,000.

I can't think of much else to write. I could dig in to all the reasons why I am not having a super succesful series to date, but in the end it all comes down to the same reasons why I sometimes have these downswings in poker.

All I can do from here on out is try to pick up the pieces and set some goals for the rest of the series. I will hopefully refer back to this list for the rest of the summer. As long as I follow my goals and schedule I won't be too upset with myself at the end if I continue to have a mediocre series. Most of these things were the same goals and ideas I set for myself before the series started, but which I might have lost track of at some point.

Goal #1 - Make the tournaments the focus of my schedule

A lot goes in to playing these tournaments and its possible I havent given them enough respect. The cash games out here are tempting, and if a game is great I guess I can make an exception, but overall I think I have to make a decision every day what I am here for. As of now I am deciding that I am here to play poker tournaments, I have the rest of the year to be a cash game grinder.

Goal #2 - Have Some More Fun

I haven't been drunk since I have been out here, I havent really seen any friends but one or two outside of a poker room. This needs to change a little.

The problem is that I really still enjoy poker, and enjoy the Bellagio Spa. I have been mostly playing poker and going the gym, I can stay pretty happy just doing these things, yet for overall mental health reasons I could use some other activities mixed in.

Goal #3 - No More Online Poker (this is gonna be tough)

When I came out here, I told myself that I wouldnt play any online poker during the trip. This lasted for about 2 days. I started playing one night when I was bored and I started winning right away. I ended up running up a lot, but now I have lost the majority back. I am still up a bit so before I really regret my decision to play out here, I am gonna stop.

I will write more later...

Goal #4 Do some errands.

I need sunglasses, warm-up pants, a hat, a variety of other new clothing and several poker books I have been meaning to buy. I havent done any of these things tho.


Plan out my schedule and stick to it...this will come in my next blog. I will try to map out the rest of my WSOP

Tourneys Bad, Cash Games good

I have hit a bit of a rut in tourneys. In the beginning of the series I was making every dinner break with chips and felt in a groove. I have now busted out of 3 tourneys in a row very early.

I would like to attribute this all to variance. I seem to be running in to great hands when I have very good hands, but I am definitely not playing my very best game. When u don't play your best, you open yourself up to variance much more often.

The good news is that I have been doing well in cash games for the trip, both online and live. I had one very nice win live where I jumped from 10-20 NL, to 25-50 NL, to 200-400 limit back to 10-20 NL etc. I was always jumping into good games and felt on top of everything (and ran pretty well.)

Last night I actually played in a great 400-800 limit hold em game, which is the biggest I have ever played. I ended up losing 1000 dollars but I know I was a nice favorite in the game and was happy to stay afloat when I didnt get a ton of cards. During the game I won a 14,000 dollar pot when my quad Ten's beat my opponents flopped broadway straight. So much for not getting cards I guess.

I am headed to the gym now and will probably play cash games later. Tomorrow is the 3000 NL tourney and I hope to refocus my tournament game and make a little run in that.

Another Day Another Tourney

Out of the limit event, didnt cash. Some good friends did tho.

I am headed over the Rio to play the 1500 shooutout event. I think we only play one table today regardless of how well we do, so that should give me some much needed Pool/Gym/Shopping and possibly massage time later in the day. My record in shootouts has been decent so I expect to play well and have a shot at this one.

Online Video Games

Usually I dont like to post about online poker very much because it isnt really that interesting. Also, now that my parents read this blog I don't want to sound like too much of a degenerate. That being said, I have been updating my poker playing since I have been out here and this snippet is part of the experience of living in a hotel room for a month and playing the WSOP.

I woke up this morning at noon, my tournament wouldnt start until 3. I had the chance to make some phone calls, check my stocks, email etc. After I made all my calls I still had 2 hours before the event started. Since I will be hopefully playing limit hold em all day I decided to "practice" a bit at 100-200 online on PokerStars.

Well, as the story often goes when u start a poker session against world class players when u havent havent had breakfast or changed out of your underwear I was stuck $6000 before I could blink. Before it got worse I decided to make the disciplined decision to quit my games (I was 2 tabling) and get on with the day.

I am up a little bit online for the trip, and I was prepared to take the loss in stride as a professional poker player must do all the time. I went to check my email one more time, and somehow during that time of reading a note from my buddy and looking at some pictures my dad sent me of my grandmother, I started to check the NL games on pokerstars.

I ended up sitting by myself in the 25-50 NL game with $5000. Before I knew it a short stack sat with me. He had 2200 and we played heads up. After about 10 hands, another player sat. I recognized this guy, and he is probably an expert short handed NL player.

Before I had the chance to quit the game, his Big Blind was posted and I was dealt KhKd on the button. Obv, I opened for $150. The small blind short stack folded and the BB made it $600 to go, he started the hand with $5000. I was left with a decision. I could reraise and hoped that he liked his hand enough to get it all-in right here, or I could trap him by just calling the additional $450.

I think I made the correct decision in calling the $450 and hoping to get his whole stack post flop. I am sure when I called the additional $450 he wasnt able to narrow down my range very much at all, especially because we have rarely if ever played together before. This would make it tough on him post flop to figure out where he stands. The flop was a good looking J-7-3 with 2 hearts. My opponent led for $900.

Now I had my 2nd decision point in the hand. I could raise and hoped that he had enough (but not too much) that he would go with his hand now, or I could call, trying to look weak and hope he decides there is a good enough chance that I have a draw, weak pair or am on a float.

I decided to call the $900. Maybe this was the wrong decision, but when the 6 of clubs rolled off on the turn, my opponent committed himself with his AJo, (I had TOP-TOP!) and I scooped a $10,025 pot.

Luckily my opponent didnt reload, and my shortstack opponent quit also so I didnt have to worry about hitting and running.

Now I am officially warmed up. Time to get some food, and wash up before I head to the rio for the event.

Long day at the Rio

I just wrote my longest post but it got erased because I wasnt logged on in my hotel. Kind of brutal.

Here is the short of it. I am out of NL 1500 after running, 35,000 to 80,000 on day 2 before losing a coinflip that woulda put me in GREAT shape. I cashed for $8500

I am now in the Limit Hold Em 5,000 event, day 2. 112 are left of the original 257. I am slightly below average, but at a good table and in good shape.

Jesse Martin WSOP Fun Facts

Tournaments Entered : 9
Dinner Breaks : 7
Double Up Before Bust : 7
Cashes : 2 (One pending)
Bracelets : 0 (One pending)

Also congrats to Allen Cunningham for winning a bracelet and turning my fantasy squad in to an early front runner to win some loot. Allen is a great guy, and he is very possibly the best tournament player in the world.

Go Woodrow

2nd cash

I am on to day 2 in the 1500 NL event that started today at noon. I built my stack up early from 3K to 15K and then went all the way back down to 3K, possibly playing too loose. I was pretty upset because I loved my table and thought I was going to make a run for sure when I had 15. Well...eventually I got back to 15 and then made a quick rush up all the way to 60K before we got in the money.

I paid off a 5K river bet that I probably shouldnt have and then hit a couple more bad spots the rest of the night, yet I still have 35,000 going in to tomorrow. 161 people are left, we are already far in to the money (270 cashed). First place is over 600K. The blinds are big which doesnt give us much play, but this is a spot I am familiar with so if a few things go my way I have a chance.

I am going to miss the 5K Limit Hold Em Championship event tomorrow. Its always a tough field but a very fun event with a lot of play. Good luck to the many limit hold em experts I know, im sure someone I know will definitely make a run, hopefully its someone I have a small piece of!

Im waiting for my Mixed Green Salad and Lobster Quesdilla and then I am going to do my best to sleep for a solid 8 hours.

Also, a few people have asked me the best spot to find live updates on the WSOP during the day. I am pretty sure BluffMagazine is the most up to date on their website.

OK GN

Update

I played the 1500 NL 6 Max and the 5K Pot Limit the past 2 days...the 1500 was an amazing tourney with some pretty awful and scared players. It was a good spot but I ended up busting around 200th out of 1300...I have some stories from that tourney that maybe I will recap when I have more time.

The 5000 Pot Limit was a tough event, I busted after 4 hours despite having 10,000 chips to start. The funny thing is I thought I played as well in that event as any I have played, I made some nice folds, but could never get a good spot to win some chips.

Tonight I played $200-$400 limit hold em. Its a big game, but I felt comfortable and booked a small win after being down for most of the session. I had a great time playing and will most likely play a lot more this trip, the group of people who play are all fun to play with and the action is pretty decent.

Next to us in the big room Brian Townsend (sbrugby, aba etc.) played 1000-2000 PLO/NLH with Johny Chan and David Benyamine. From what I gathered Brian busted them both in one huge PLO pot. Brian supposedly has won 2.5 million in the past 2 days. Check out his blog on CardRunners.com, it will make u super jealous, but its incredible. He is becoming a legend in the poker world in record time, a 26 year old who was playing small stakes sit and go's 20 months ago or so.

1500 NL tomorrow. Need to get some sleep

2000 NL

I am out of the 2000 NL, I never got my stack above 10K but was still around with 230 left of the 1500 person field. The highlight of the day was playing with Brandi Hawbaker and all that comes along with that. Maybe I will write more about it later, but probably not.

Good friends Shane Schelger and Jordan Morgan are both still around in their respective tournaments. Shane will be at the televised ESPN final table tomorrow with 9 left. The story of the broadcast will certainly be the reunion of Michael Gracz and Shane's shared TV final table in the same event in 2005. Amir Vahedi is chip leader....Shaniac ftw

Jordan was top 3 in chips in the Omaha event with about 16 left when I left the Rio at 1 A.M.

All the luck in the world to both tomorrow.

Thats about it...I'm playing the 1500 shorthanded NL tomorrow along with watching my 2 roommates from April win bracelets.

Jesse Martin 2007 WSOP fun facts

Tournaments played : 5
Dinner Breaks : 4
Cashes : 1
Double Up Before Bust : 80 percent

12th

Well I finished 12th for $11,500. I am pretty dissapointed, but I guess it was a good run. I am definitely a better overall poker player today than I was yesterday, so atleast I can take that from it.

First Cash

I made the money in the $1500 Limit Hold Em event. I ended the 14 hour day with 42,000 chips. Average stack is 30,000, and we return with 90 players tomorrow at 2 P.M. Unfortunately now I have to miss the 1000 rebuy NL Hold Em event which begins tomorrow, possibly my favorite event of the whole series, but obviously I am very happy to play a day 2 of a WSOP event. Hopefully I continue to run good tomorrow.

Long Day - Fantasy Poker Pools

Yesterday was a long day, it was a good day too, but in the end went to bed feeling a little empty. Going in to the day a good friend, Greg "FBT" Mueller was 3rd in chips at the final table of the 5K mixed event.

There arent many people in the poker world that I root for harder than Greg. He has consistently been an ally in the poker world since the days of grinding the 20-40 limit hold em at Commerce Casino in Febuary of 2003.

Some people over the years have praised my ability to build a bankroll the proper way, avoid tilt for the most part and consistently grind. Well Greg does all those things also, but better than all but a possible select few in the world. While many of the super stars of the past 5 years moved up to0 quickly, jumped on the tournament trail too fast, or blew themselves in the pit, Greg consistently grinded away. He concentrated on game selection, improving his skill, and always with the big picture in mind. He learned all the games and now has put himself in a spot where he is the superstar, with the means to play pretty much anything he wants.

I played the 1500 PLH event with an eye on Greg's final table leaderboard throughout the day. When I busted around 120th, (75 got paid) I was dissapointed to loose my coinflip to make me healthy again in the event but looking forward to my consolation prize of hopefully sweating FBT in to his first bracelet.

Alas, it wasnt to be. After battling for about 2 hours with Mr. Smokey to a draw, the blinds got to a point where one good run of cards was gonna take it. Unfortunately Greg was on the wrong side of the run and he will have to wait a bit longer for the hardware.

Greg played an expert tournament and cashed for $350,000, the event will air on ESPN July 10th.

Fantasy Poker

At dinner break tonight, 5 of us did a fantasy WSOP draft. We are using 3 categories. "Most Cashes", "Most Bracelets", "Most total money won"..each category is weighted equally with its own prize pool.

Here are the teams, feel free to vote for which u think is best.


Ed Moncada - J.C. Tran, Patrick Antonius, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Kirk Morrison, Joe Tehan, Steve Sung, Joe Cassidy, Danny Wong, Jason Strassa

Jesse Martin - Allen Cunningham, Gavin Smith, Greg Mueller, Nick Shulman, Jeff Madsen, Chad Brown, Scotty Ngyuen, Jordan Morgan, Jarred Hamby, Robert Williamson

David Baker - Eric Lindgren, Johnny Chan, James Van Alstyne, David Singer, Chris Fergueson, Scott Fischman, Jen Harman, David Grey, Paul Wasicka, Lee Markholt

Kyle Wilson - Mike Mizrachi, Nam Le, John Juanda, David Williams, Greg Raymer, Efro, Men The Master, David Pham, Kenna James, Mr Smokey

Greg Mueller - Phill Helmuth, Daniel Negreneau, Roland De Wolfe, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Alex Jacob, David Benyamine

WSOP 07

I need to go back to sleep, but I thought I would post a quick update blog.

I am out in Vegas, staying at Bellagio. The World Series of Poker started yesterday right down the street at Rio, and I plan to play a ton of events before the summer is over.

So far I have played the 5K Mixed Hold Event and the 1500 NL.

The mixed hold em was an AMAZING event, with a perfect structure for me. Unfortunately I couldn't get it going and busted 5 or 6 hours in.

In the 1500 NL I had a little more success building up a stack. At one point I had about 13,000, but I ended up busting at midnight about 60 people before the money.

Today is the 1500 PL event, and I also plan to play a ton of cash games sprinkled in.


BTW for those who arent up to date, I did pretty well in a Bellagio pre-lim event last month...here's the link

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/videos/Jesse_Martin/10765