westside8's Poker Blog

2009 in Review - 2010 Goals

2010-01-21T18:25:00.002-05:00

A little bit overdue, but seeing how I have only played maybe 100 hands of poker in 2010, still not too late.

Looking back at 2009.
1. Have my first 5 digit score
2. ~~Final table one of the bigger Sunday tournaments~~
3. ~~Work on my heads up game (cash)~~
4. Put in some serious volumn for MTTs (35~ tournaments weekly)
5. Satellite into the WSOP ME
6. ~~Satellite into one other live tourney (EPT/Aussie Millions preferrably)~~
7. ~~Work on my deepstack cash play~~

*~~strokethrough~~ = failed, bold = accomplished, italics = partial

As you can see here, I pretty much failed on all except for 1, and that was qualifying to the 2009 WSOP Main Event. I guess since the package was worth $13000, and I won it twice, I can technically count my second win as a 5 digit score? Anyways, the amount of time I spent playing poker this year was definitely alot less than what I was hoping for, but that was due to other various life commitments/things that came up which prevented me from putting in the volume I was initially anticipating.

With less time spent playing, that obviously translate into focus onto one particular area (MTT/SnG) and less devotion into other games (HU/deepstack). I have no regrets about not achieving those goals - part of me recognized that the goals were quite ambitious to begin with, and secondly, poker in the end is still a hobby which has provided monetary gains, but still not replaces events from "real life". While I had a legitimate shot at possibly qualifying for the Aussie Millions, the results that I had in 2009 is still an achievement that I'm proud of.

Now, onto 2010. Refer back to a previous post where I mentioned that I am now officially out of university, full-time poker player is definitely out of the question. I am at the point where I envision myself working full-time while playing poker part-time as a hobby which hopefully will be able to provide some extra side income.

Here we go - poker goals for 2010.

1) Qualify once again for a WSOP Main Event
2) Qualify for one other non-US/Canada tour tournament event (ex. EPT, APPT, Aussie Millions, etc)
3) Continue to focus on improving primarily my MTT game
4) Achieve a 5% ROI in my MTT play in 2010
5) Non-result oriented, but continue to enjoy this game as a recreational hobby.

2010-01-07T15:50:00.001-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 858578

What's been happening lately

2009-12-20T21:14:00.002-05:00

I've managed to luckbox a relatively good run on Full Tilt just playing their hyper-turbo single table Sit-and-go. Basically you start with 300 chips, blinds at 15/30 and goes up every 3 minutes. Between those, a few of the 90-man turbo knock-outs and $70 hyper turbo satellite to a $535 buy-in Sunday major (which I obv. unregister and take the T$), I essentially averaged out to about a 3x buyin win per day over a 10 day period. The win-rate is definitely not very high, but given the amount of time I have put into playing, I am not complaining.

On another note, I recently took a stab at playing an Aussie Millions satellite, as well as a PokerStars Caribbean Adventures satellite. On the Aussie Million front, busted in 11/12 out of 51 when I had KK 6 handed (while I was third in chips) and ran it into AA (while someone else had JJ). The player with the AA also happens to be 2nd in chips, so at the conclusion of the JJ < KK < AA hand, player with the AA rocketed to the top with 2.5x the chips of the player in second place.

On to Sunday, where I got into the miniFTOPS main event, ran my stack up to about 3x starting stack (started with 7500), before losing JJ < AA again to drop back down to 10K or so, and finally went out when I shoved Ax OTB with about 10xBB into AQ, flopping a gutshot but not getting there.

Finally, PCA satellite. Doubled up early with my TT cracked JJ, blinded down for awhile, and misplayed KQ on a K73 8 board to a slowplayed AK. That hand dropped me down back down to roughly starting stack (3K) where I grinded my short stack for about an hour and a half. I did get lucky a couple of times while I was short to stay in the tourney (AQ = AK on J J 3 8 3 for example) but eventually busted in 240th place or so (40 gets seat, 750~ entrants) with first my JJ lost to AT all-in preflop. And last hand had me shoving 55 into a limpers 33 and he flops a 3.

I believe this weekend will probably be the last weekend in which I attempt to try to satellite into both PCA and Aussie Millions, meaning a trip to the Bahamas and Australia will have to wait at least another calendar year. For now..Monte Carlo April 2010 is the goal.

A decent come back

2009-11-30T03:04:00.002-05:00

After my rant/tilt post last night, my Sunday started out pretty bad. Had a late start in both the Sunday 1/4 million, and the Turbo Takedown. Nothing interesting to speak of in those tourneys, just busted out by losing a flip surviving for less than an hour in both. So that means I've probably played 5-6 turbo takedowns by now and haven't cashed in a single one. Let see how long I can keep this streak going for.

Next up was the Sunday Million, and I pretty much bubbled every single multi-seat satellite I played in for that, and by the end of it, I probably spent enough on satellites to buy-in directly. As a result of my bad play, I obviously decided not to buy-in directly and play some micro/small MTTs to kill time. Basically I was 0-fer in cashes by the time the PokerStars Dream Job tourney came up.

I lasted about as long as it would take to eat dinner, basically flatting a mid-PP, and reading the EP's raiser c-bet as weak on a low flop (c'mon, he lead out with 2x pot) and I shoved, obv. running into a bigger pair (QQ). So after busting that, I was pretty much set on not playing for the rest of the night.

Lo-and-behold, SirWatts decide to make the final table of the PokerStars $200+15 rebuy tourney. And since we never know how long he'll last, I didn't wanna get caught playing a MTT nor start a cash game and have to leave. Which meant it was an excuse to start dipping into FTP's super turbo SnGs again. Contrary to the last couple of nights, I managed to have a good winning session, and of course laying a few bad beats along the way. So while I grinded to turn a couple of hundred in profits, SirWatts obviously decides to show me up by winning his tourney for $37K - congrats man!

So no, I didn't win the Dream Job promo (that would've been sick) but erasing the losses from the past couple of nights and being able to get back in the black is obviously a good sign.

Actually feeling tilted

2009-11-29T02:29:00.002-05:00

This is the first time in a LOOONG time I've actually felt a little tilted. I guess the last time I remember it happening was while I was in Las Vegas last Nov with a bunch of guys from Canada's Poker Forum and losing a 500x big blind pot to a guy that hit runner runner full house to beat my flopped flush (all-in on the flop when I flopped it, he had overpair without the suit on board).

Back tonight, recently I received a bonus offer from Full Tilt Poker for $500, and obviously poker players can't turn down free money. So I asked Pinhead to ship me some moneys on Full Tilt so I can grind away at this bonus. While I enjoy Full Tilt's cash game, I really like their Super Turbo tourneys where you start with 300 chips, blinds 15/30 and each level is 3 minutes long. I know the structure is a crap-shoot, but after awhile, you are actually able to label some players and exploit their style. This structure also allowed tons of volumn, but obviously has HUGE variance. I've had mixed results but was still turning in a positive ROI in about 200 that I've played up until tonight.

Tonight came around, and I couldn't get anything going. I've always believed that running bad isn't just about losing the consecutive coin-flips, or losing while in a domination situation, but running bad also consists of no one having a hand when you have a big hand, or having a big hand but running into bigger hands, etc etc. And tonight was just one of those nights. Not only was I losing the 70/30, 60/40, 50/50, but I was simply getting slapped around by deck. Having AA in the BB while everyone folds, shoving AJ in the SB and running into AQ on the BB in a BvB battle. It was just frustrating - and by the time I got to type this blog entry, I honestly felt a slight bit of tilt setting in.

I really hate for my blog to become rants about bad beats and running bad - and I honestly thought I have been able to remove any emotional attachment to the results of this game, but I guess I still got some work to do.

On the bright side, Poker Stars is running a Dream Job promotions tomorrow (Sunday) at 7pm that I have been looking forward to for awhile. As of this writing, there is 226 players registered, meaning the overlay is at a whopping $100K right now. Obviously I expect a high number of last minute entrants, but this tourney will still have an overlay and hopefully I have saved my run-good for this tourney as it would be pretty awesome to win it.

Anyways, hopefully the next blog entry wouldn't be as negative as this one and the previous one!

Back at the Grind

2009-11-27T00:37:00.004-05:00

So it seems lately I've found the desire to put some hours in at the virtual felt again. Nothing big, nor massive number of tables, just getting back into a bit of sit-and-go's and a bit of PLO. Ran pretty hot for the first couple of nights and positioned myself nicely in the "Battle of the Planets" in the high orbit section. However tonight just wasn't my night where overpairs were cracked by underpairs, players stacking off in dominated situation on the bubble and winning the 30/70. So now I need to essentially win 10 of my last 12 SnGs to be able to finish in the top 10 for the high orbit.

I went deep in a couple of tourneys (finished 28/1000+) but still short of the huge score. Coming up next is probably back at trying to grind out an Aussie Millions or PCA seat...

Just a few hands to illustrated my night.
QQ < 77 AIPF

Another 2 outer

Another one

Yeah..it's been pretty ugly.

Poker Stars Listed

2009-11-22T00:45:00.002-05:00

Over the last couple of days, I`ve been listed by Poker Stars under their Poker Stars Twitter list on Twitter. I think that means I need to start updating this more often and maybe make this blog look better and more pleasing to the eyes. I`m sure I`m better off finding a webmaster over doing this myself though, as I am definitely not someone who is savvy with programing and web-design.

Bonus Clearing

2009-11-06T00:39:00.000-05:00

Nothing new to report on, but I just realized recently that I have like $800 of bonus to clear on Doyle's Room. I guess I might have to move my business to Doyle's Room from Cake poker in my attempt to satellite into the Aussie Millions.

One tough game

2009-10-17T00:13:00.003-04:00

Just had another tough session...played for about a stretch of 5 hours, and signed up for essentially all of the low-stakes tourney that started within 2.5 hours time span (buy-in from $2-$20 approx), and mixed in a couple of the $12 180-man turbos to fill up after I bust from a tourney.

I was able to accumulate a stack in almost all of the tourneys that I played tonight, but somehow just ended up losing the stack well short of the money. Not all of them were bad beats, but most of them were. Some were just me being overly aggressive and overplayed a few hands, but it's tough when you get players to put 160BB in the pot preflop with AA vs. their AK and they somehow make a flush from it. So other than a couple of min-cashes, there isn't really anything to show for tonight.

First real session in...quite awhile

2009-10-14T04:29:00.002-04:00

It's been a good...3 months + now since I've put in any sort of an online session. Tonight's session wasn't even planned, but it sort of just happened when I ended up being wide awake at 2~ in the morning with nothing better to do.

For the last 2-3 months, I just never felt the motivation to play and put in hours. To me, poker will always be a hobby/game. I don't foresee myself ever taking it and turning it into a full-time gig. Therefore, as much as I have been able to take adv. of the poker boom the past few years (although not as much as others have obviously), I will only find myself playing it when I'm motivated to play, and having fun while doing it. As a result, the only hands I've played up until tonight, were essential micro-stakes games where I would fire up if a friend was playing, or just to see whether I was ready to take the plunge.

Back to tonight, I guess once again motivated by my desire to win a PCA/Aussie Millions package, I decided to load up a few MTTs and just get back into the game again. This is the first time in awhile (basically since I came back from the WSOP) where I played, with no other distractions. No MSN/Google-Talk/TV/Movie/Xbox 360/etc etc. It was simply 6 - 8 tables (which became 4 real fast) on my screen, and me trying to accomplish something.

Getting back into it, I once again received a full kick in a nuts, a reminder truly how cruel this game can be. I'm going to spare the details* (I will post about it...but it will be the last paragraph), but it was a frustrating session to say the least.

However, on the flip side, I found myself slowly being "back in the zone" where I made a couple of thin value-bets, a couple of relatively big river calls, and even a couple of bluffs. CLEARLY the few hands I played tonight is in no way an indication that I'm playing my best, I mean for all I know, all these things I was doing right was merely by luck/chance, but at the end of the day, at the end of the session, I feel the motivation coming back. A motivation to once again put myself in a spot to learn, to challenge myself, and more importantly, enjoy my time while doing it.

What's next for me? In life wise, I'm finally finishing up school, and joining the real-world (aka. starting a career) is on the horizon. Which means, having the opportunity to travel around to different parts of the world might come to end shortly. Which means...over the next little while, I feel as though my goals will be to satellite into various live events all over the world. If at the end of the day, I end up stuck in Canada the entire winter, while I will be disappointed, at least I HOPE I can say I tried my best.

So hopefully, I will be traveling down under for the Aussie Millions come Jan 2010.

*DO NOT read if you do not want the detail of my session. (aka the bad beats and the cold deck)
-out of the 6 MTT that I busted out in, 5 of the bust out (or majorly crippling) hands had most of the money go in the pot when I was at least a 2 to 1 favourte
-the other hand, well, KK > AA all-in preflop

WCOOP - Finally

2009-09-15T21:39:00.002-04:00

So the first 2 weeks or so, I haven't played a single WCOOP tournament as much as I wanted to. Between various things coming up during the day, a cottage trip for the long weekend, and just not being able to satellite into some of the tournaments. With school starting again, that obviously gives me a change to play another tournament or so. So tomorrow, I will be playing the $215 NLHE "big ante" tournament. Looking at the structure, it looks like it will be a fun tournament for someone like me who plays a relatively LAGgy style. After that, probably won't play until the Sunday with the $215 tourney and hopefully the big main event. We'll see how it goes.

A Brief Session

2009-08-28T22:47:00.004-04:00

I was able to put in a session today, basically registered for tournaments between 7-830pm EST or so. I think I played a total of about 8 tournaments, and right now I have 2 left. The $3.30 rebuy, and $27.50 Freeze-out.

I ran pretty deep in the $10 1 rebuy 1 addon tourney, but had essentially 1 bad orbit which caused me to go from top 30 in chips (with about 300 left - 128 paid), to busto.

Hand 1: A bit of background about the table, I have been essentially running over the table. Having taken about 2-3 uncontested pots preflop with a raise. Villain has been at the table for awhile, but I have yet to see any of his showdown hands and I haven't had to showdown too many hands myself. So here we go.

My stack: 60K, Villain's stack: 30K~
With blinds at 500/800 ante 75, villain raises to 2121 from the CO. I re-raise to 7200 from the SB. Villain shoves 50BB and I insta-call.

Board ran out: K 7 6 4 7. KJ > QQ

So instead of having about 90K in chips (would've put me in 5th or so), I get dropped to about average chip stack..and the next hand happens.

Hand 2: A couple of hands later, I'm OTB with 99. I think I might've misplayed this hand based on stack sizes.

MP (stack 17K) raises to 2200, CO (stack 24K) calls, I re-raise all in. MP folds and CO insta-calls and his KK holds.

Given the stack sizes, I think I might've been better off to flat preflop and not create a big pot preflop with just a mid-pair. In a sense I turned my 99 into a bluff in this spot, where as I should've played it with more caution in position. I originally chose to re-raise all-in, due to the fact that any 3-bet would already commit me to a 4-bet shove by either the MP or CO.

Hand 3: Very next hand, open shove with A5 with about 6K, gets called by the button, SB reshove, BB (which is less than SB) calls, button calls. It was A5 vs. A2 vs. 98 vs. 66. 66 rivered a set, 98 turned a pair and I was out.

Still in the $3R with 50BB or so, and the $27.50FO with average stack close to the bubble. Going to try my best to make something out of the last two tournaments.

Edit 1: Almost as soon as I clicked "publish post", AJ > AK on a AJx flop in the $27.50 and I'm down to 7BB

Edit 2: Doubled with AK < QJ to hopefully not bubble. Just folded AQ on a ATT89 board in the $3R

Edit 3: Shoved A3 into TT to bust the $27.50 FO.

Edit 4: What a spectacular way to bust out of $3.30R - KK < 66 < JJ

Quick Update

2009-08-26T19:13:00.002-04:00

Just something quick. Barely played the last 2 weeks...probably squeezed in a couple of short session each lasting approximately 30 minutes. Nothing really to write home about, just 1 hand where I think I could've played it a few ways. Will probably make a post about it later. For now, another couple of weeks of hiatus from poker, and might get back into it when September rolls around.

Last Few Frustrating Days

2009-08-12T21:39:00.003-04:00

The past few days haven't exactly gone well. Mixing in a bit of $0.50/$1, $1/$2 6max PLO, a game which I don't proclaim to be a good player in, but also a game that I know I'm +ev in. Also continued grinding the $12 180 man turbos and that hasn't gone well either. So right now, I'll probably be taking the next week or off more due to other things being busy. Between softball, Rogers Cup Tennis, and other things mixed in there, my next week to 10 days will be pretty packed. I might be able to sneak in a couple of short sessions here or there, but it won't be anything major.

Other than that, if you hate whiners/bad beat stories, you can stop reading. I'm just going to rant a tad in the next couple of paragraphs...(also allows me to actually have my thoughts recorded in case I decide to come back and read this or something in the future)

With PLO, I'm definitely not a great player at that game, but with that said, I believe at the level I play, I'm definitely a favourite at any random 6 handed table. It's been quite frustrated the last few days, as I've had numerous occasions where I've had the opponent move most (if not all) of his chips in drawing thin (a rarity in Omaha) and they somehow outdraws me. A couple of examples would be my top set + nut flush draw vs. his naked OESD + overpair. I got the villain to move his stack in when he was drawing to 5 outs and of course hits his straight on the river. Another one was when I had double suited AA78 against a complete LAGtard on the button, who held KK78 1 suit. I flopped a flush draw and no other draws available, and he hits his 1 K that would make him a set (but not my flush) and takes down a 250BB~ pot.

I've been learning more about PLO in general just by reading forums, and it's pretty frustrated knowing that my game is improving but the results isn't there.

It's been the case with the $12 180 man turbos. I've consistently been able to get to the final 36/27 with an average chip stack (which at this point M is at like 6 for average stack). Those times are essential push/fold situation, and I've had countless times where I lose the crucial 60/40, 50/50, or even 70/30. Of course, I understand the whole variance, but it's just pretty frustrating when it keeps occurring over a span of 8-12 tables.

Here's me hoping to get the "run bad" out of the way before WCOOP rolls around in less than a month.

First "real" Session of the Month

2009-08-07T01:59:00.003-04:00

With exams over, I was finally able to get back to the virtual felt again. I've played a couple of really short sessions earlier this month, each maybe an hour or so in length - enough to bust a few of the $12 180 man turbos.

Back to tonight, I am just wrapping up my session now, which pretty much went as well as it could. Played for approximately 3 hours and between that time, I managed to only register for 4 tournaments, cashing in 2, and making about 3 buy-ins playing $0.50/$1.00 6 max PLO.

With tournaments, I signed up for 3 consecutive $12 180 man turbos, and signed up for the 11:40pm $27.50 turbo tournament as a late-registration. In the $27.50, I've ran pretty well lately, finishing in the top 100 at least 2-3 times in the last 5 that I've played. Unfortunately being the turbo tourney that it is, I simply couldn't win a crucial race at the end and busted out of today's at 38th place or something for essentially a 3x buy-in cash. Still waiting for the elusive big score since the WSOP, hopefully I will be able to put a few more decent sessions in the next little while.

...alright...this just in - what a roller coaster ride this tourney is. I busted out in 2 of the 3 $12 turbos middle of the pack, and had 1 left where I was sitting about 4th in chips when we got in the money. With about 28K in chips, blinds at 1K/2K with 200 ante, pretty much a shove/fold game - and this hand basically involved me open-shoving with 99 in MP, with both the button and SB (I barely covered the SB at this point) waking up with JJ and KK. Now...after a couple of double-ups, I'm essentially back to my original stack before losing the 99 hand. Will post a final update after I win this thing.

Final update: Busted 8th when QJ couldn't beat J10 for most of my stack, and had 70% of my stack in the BB with 83 and couldn't beat 66. Pretty much a nothing session, up a tad but nothing to talk about. It was good to get back to playing a bit again though. Still hoping to get a seat into APPT Macau, but the window of opportunity is getting smaller...

Hand Review Session

2009-07-27T23:45:00.002-04:00

So I ended up playing a bunch of $12 180 man turbos again tonight, while playing those team Canada things on PokerStars...and at the end, when I look back at some of the hands, I have come to a conclusion.

I am officially a spewtard.

Upswing is Over

2009-07-26T14:37:00.003-04:00

Finally hit the inevitable downswing from the high variance $12 180man turbo. It is definitely not unexpected, as I was probably running way above expectation given how high the variance for this tournament is.

Gone about 1/16 or so now with the 1 being a min-cash, and just losing all the hands I was winning during the hot streak. KK < Ax, winning crucial flips, etc. No complaints though as I still feel like I'm playing well and just losing due to cards.

Other than that, nothing is really new...just a quick update for now. Might not get to play much with final exams around the corner with 2 of them coming up in about 10 days. After that, will probably buckle down and grind a few APPT/EPT satellites and see what happens.

Solid Session + APPT

2009-07-23T00:56:00.002-04:00

Since I've been back from the WSOP, first time I've managed to put in a solid session and at the end of the day, I feel like I did pretty well.

Basically grinded through about 12-14 $12 180 man turbos, and managed to min-cash about 3 times, and finished 1st and 5th respectively in 2 others. Also took down a $90 satellite into the $800 APPT Macau satellite, but sadly I have to unregister and keep the W$ for the time being as I am unable to play in the upcoming satellite.

The goal is still to try to win a seat to APPT Macau, and while I'm there visit friends and family in Hong Kong. Although the trip will overlap with CCSA playoffs, I feel the priority is a little bit higher with this. We will see if I end up winning a seat though, as due to my schedule, I might only have one shot at qualifying.

WSOP 2009

2009-07-13T00:42:00.003-04:00

A bit of a recap about my adventures in Las Vegas this year at the World Series of Poker. In short, this year felt very much like last year when I headed down to Las Vegas for the WSOP Main Event. Albeit last year was my first time ever in Vegas, the only other major difference between 2009 and 2008, is that in 2009 I played in the Main Event, while 2008 involved me playing in several other side events.

Back-track a little bit to May of 2009. Obviously as any competent poker player, the World Series of Poker Main Event is probably the one event everyone looks forward to every year. Not only does it have the biggest prize pool compared to every other poker tournament in the world, the fame and prestige that comes with winning the tournament is like no other. Therefore, I decided in May, that I would attempt to either satellite into the Main Event, or sell enough action to be able to pay the rest and enter. I started approaching a few individuals, and was able to sell about 30% of my action between 2 players - but at that time, it was not enough for me to be able to cover the rest in order to buy-in directly. Therefore, it's time to take matters into my own hands.

While I did not have my hopes up in winning a seat to the Main Event via online satellites (I have been 0 for 5 thus far in major live tournament satellites), there was no doubt in my mind that this was the best way for me to get into this tournament. My lucky day came on May 29th when I managed to conquer a field of 223 players, defeating "Timex" Mike McDonald heads up for my first WSOP Main Event seat. With the newly found confidence (and money), I began grinding out more satellites, leading to a second win about 3 weeks later in the PokerStars 200 Seat Guaranteed Tournament.

With 2 seats won, it no longer require me to sell more of my action as I was essentially "free-rolling". Trip was booked, and I was off to Las Vegas.

I departed Toronto on July 2nd, coming with me was a close friend of mine, John, with his flights covered as I promised to do so prior to winning my second seat. Unfortunately another friend was unable to make the trip due to his training schedule. The first 3 days in Las Vegas included attending various parties put on by various poker sites, watching KA, and just wandering around the Las Vegas strip with the John. With John's departure on July 5th, it was time to get down to business, playing on Monday July 6th - Day 1D of the Main Event.

July 6th, 2009.
This day began on a good note, as I woke up at about 9am, feeling rested and refreshed for the series. An in-room breakfast later, I decided to make my way over to the Rio a bit earlier than expected to register, giving me time to relax at one of the poker lounges after registration so get ready for the beginning of the tournament. It turns out arriving to the Rio early was the best decision I made all trip, as after I registered at 1045~, day 1D was full and the Rio was no longer accepting registration after approximately 11am.

Play began shortly after noon, and I find myself at a table with 7 unknowns with 1 empty stack at the beginning of play.

My table consisted of mostly loose-passive players with a couple of loose aggressive player in which I have position on, an excellent table draw for the first day. I find myself involved in quite a number of pots was many of the players were content with limping in preflop, allowing me to play many speculative hands in an attempt to chip-up early. Unfortunately the day simply wasn't my day from the get-go, as I simply had too many 2nd best hands. If it wasn't for the passiveness of some of the players, the deep starting stacks, and slow blind structure, I would've been eliminated alot quicker than the 7~ hours I lasted in the tournament.

The day itself was a frustrating day, too many second best hands, and not being able to make draws are just a couple of reasons that led to my elimination. A couple of hands which can pretty much sum up my day.

Hand 1
Blinds 100/200, My Stack: 24000~, MP's Stack: 35000~
MP raises to 700, a player call, I call on the CO with AQss - 3 players to the flop

Flop A Q 3 rainbow
MP bets 1600, player fold, I call (although raising probably would've been a better play, I think I would've been able to get more value out of Ax hands play smooth-calling this flop)

Turn 8
MP checks, I bet 2700, MP calls

River K
MP checks, I bet 4200, MP calls and shows AK.

Hand 2
A little history before this hand. The table has been generally loose-passive, with 3-4, sometimes more limpers in each hand. Often a preflop raise would also be called in 2 or 3 spots going to the flop.
Blinds 150/300 - 3 limpers in EP and MP limps for 300, and I raises to 1400 on the button with AA, everyone folds.

The one time I have a hand preflop, I get no action. I guess it is better than I didn't go broke with AA against a stupid hand, but this hand is used as an illustration as to how I was getting no action when I have a big hand.

Final hand, was down to 8750, blinds at 150/300 with an ante of 25, and I am in the SB with AK. UTG+1 (or could've been UTG+2) raised to 900, getting 3 callers before it got back around to me in the SB. After looking at my hand, it was a decision on whether to move all-in, or make a raise to 3600~ and moving-in with any flop. I decided to move-in, as with this table, I could get anywhere from 0 callers, to getting all 4 other players to call and see a flop. After moving in, the original raiser took little time in putting in another re-raise over my all-in, meaning I'm going to need some serious help. Limpers fold and my AK is up against KK.

The flop brings K 5 3, turn x (I think a 7 or 8) and this 2009 Main Event is over for me.

Playing in the Main Event was a huge thrill for me, and it was also a great learning experience for me. Hopefully I will be back in 2010, and put in a better performance.

As for now, I am really unsure of the direction I'm going to take with poker and my life. While I definitely hope to continue to play, and achieve my goals of playing in other APPT/EPT events, poker will always remain a hobby, giving priority to other real life decisions. I will probably play for fun from now until the end of August, and plans for the future remains up in the air.

Final WSOP ME Satellite

2009-06-21T22:13:00.002-04:00

Probably played my last WSOP Main Event satellite today. Busted out in epic proportions by losing before registration was closed. Basically lost 1/3 my stack when I 3-bet a LAG (from limited hands) with JJ, flop came Qxx, turn K and had to fold to a shove. The last 1800~ went in when I raised MP with Ad7h and getting 5 callers, flopping 973ddd, and check-raising all-in and ran into a set of 3s. Obviously I blanked my 9 outer (was hoping that I would have 14 when I check-shoved) and was out in 30 minutes.

I'm pretty much done playing between now and my trip. With a couple more assignments and a midterm in the next week, I won't be spending much time play (if any) due to school work. On the other hand, a friend of mine (essentially non-poker playing) will be coming down to Vegas with me from July 2 to 5, so that's going to be alot of fun with the various parties (Bluff, Everest, 2+2) that we'll be heading out to, and definitely checking out a show and of course showing him around. Will try to squeeze a few STT and/or mega-satellites in before I play 1D, so we'll see how that goes. Not going to leave much time to sleep, but who sleeps in Vegas anyways.

That's it for now, hopefully I haven't used up all my run-good yet and still have some left in the tank for the Main Event.

Ship the WSOP ME Seat x2

2009-06-15T01:00:00.001-04:00

Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 - Joe Louis Arena

2009-06-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

The game was a blast - the atmosphere was definitely disappointing considering the game itself is a "one-game-take-all" for the championship. Will post a more detailed blog later about the experience, but here are some pictures.

Outside Joe Louis Arena

Pre-Game Warmup

National Anthem

Opening Face-Off

Post Game Hand-Shake

Poker can be Frustrating

2009-06-11T00:56:00.002-04:00

I think tonight is the first night where I've genuinely been annoyed and peeved in general about poker. I mean bad beats happen, I let them slide pretty easily - don't ever get upset over it, probably don't even show any emotion when a 2 outer come for an underpair or some guys hit his runner runner for a straight against my top set.

Tonight was different, it was just frustrating in a sense that big hands ran into bigger hands, just always having the second best hand in a big pot, or losing the critical flips yet winning the one that has a pot that is really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

This is the first time for a long time where I actually feels a bit tilted, and just have a sense of not caring anymore. I know that feeling definitely crowded my judgment in a couple of the tournaments I played, but part of me just didn't want to continue anymore and don't really care if I busted out. As I write this, I'm still grinding out one last tourney that I started - I'm definitely taking a break for the next couple of days just to get poker out of my head before playing the 200 seat guaranteed on Stars on Sunday.

At the end of the day, I don't think I really have the right to complain after winning a WSOP ME seat just recently, but when I graph my all-in EV and see how I'm running so much lower than expectation, I wonder whether I might've won a second seat by now.

Close by No Cigar

2009-06-09T02:27:00.002-04:00

Had another deep run in the $33R tonight, but it was not meant to be. Went into the final table 2nd in chips, and was able to chip up some more until we were down to 7 players. First I lost a flip with 66 < AK < A3 when A3 moved in UTG as a short stacked, I raised on top with 66 on the button and AK called all in from the SB. Obv. an A had to come on the turn to keep AK around, otherwise I would have had about 1/2 the chips in play with 5 players left. Very next hand, CO raised 3xbb (I cover), I shove and he snap-calls about 25 BB with KJss. Of course he flops KKx and my AQ goes up in flames.

Was down to about 24K~ with blinds at 4k/8k. Managed to double through a couple of times, AQ > 99, Q9 > 10-7 to get back to average stack. Last hand shoved K7 in the SB with about 15bb and ran into BB's A9.

Very disappointed to not have done anymore in this tournament, all of these players were really bad IMO. A couple here way too tight, and a couple calls way too wide. I guess that's how it goes sometimes.

WSOP Check List

2009-06-06T16:29:00.002-04:00

[]Get money
[X]Book flight (1 way flight leaving July 2, will book return flight pending on my performance in the ME)
[X]Book hotel (booked Bellagio from July 2-7, will stay elsewhere if I'm still around after that date)

WSOP Plans

2009-06-04T23:53:00.002-04:00

Still a bit pumped up over winning the WSOP Main Event seat - one of my goals for the year has been accomplished! Also, it allows me to be proactive in trying to % of myself, instead of keep telling people that is interested in buying that I might/might not play.

So the plan is to fly down either on Canada Day, or July 2nd, and register for the Main Event. The chances are that I will probably play Day 1D, as there is quite a few different parties going on around that time. Right now I only have a 1 way flight booked and will probably book my return flight after I see how I do in the Main Event - obviously the plan is to make the final table but obviously only 0.0015%~ of the people started the tournament will make it that far. Depends how I do, I might play a couple of the side events either at Venetian, Caesar's Palace, or a smaller buy-in tournament at the Bellagio. I also plan to stay around and catch UFC100 if I can (obv. if I bust first day I might just fly home instead of hanging around for another week). As you can tell, my plan is still very much in the air, and will likely just take it as I go.

If anyone is interested in buying a % of me in the Main Event, I'm currently selling 1% at $110, or if you buy more than 5% I'll do a even 1% for $100. If interested, please contact me at westside8 [at] gmail [com]

Now that I've won my seat, the next couple of weeks will probably see a decline in my volume. Will still probably play and try to get into a couple of the $650 WSOP Satellite on Stars on Sunday, but other than that I will need to focus on my school work for a bit with mid-terms around the corner.

WSOP ME - Here I come!

2009-05-29T19:29:00.002-04:00

That is all

Well..that was fun

2009-05-20T00:11:00.002-04:00

0-4 in sports betting, with the 3 baseball teams that I took scored a combined 4 runs. Hopefully tomorrow gets better.

Sports Betting - May 19

2009-05-19T12:25:00.002-04:00

Time to really get back into posting these things - took a few bets again today, took all underdogs and I guess we'll see what happens.

Giants +135 over Padres
Blue Jays +130 over Red Sox
Twins +109 over White Sox
Lakers -7.5 +120 over Nuggets

Disclaimer: these picks are for entertainment purposes only. Westside8 is not a registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. Readers are advised that the material contained herein should be used solely for informational purposes. Westside8 does not purport to tell or suggest which games that readers should wager for themselves. True gamblers should always conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decision. Westside8 will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader's reliance on information obtained on this website. Readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions.

A Guide on How to go from Big Stack to Short Stack in 3 hands

2009-05-19T01:44:00.003-04:00

Setting - 45 players left in a Full Tilt 90 player Turbo Knockout.
Average stack 6000, Hero largest stack in the entire tournament with slightly over 15K

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4251878

Getting close to 2 to 1, plus a shot of getting 2 bounties and the call costing 20% of my stack approx. makes this a pretty standard call IMO.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4251887

3 Hands later - another standard spot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4251900

I have some history with this player where I wrote down he has a tendancy to stop and go with a wide range, and also noted down donk bets = weak.

Obv with his hand, he was a fav. against my hand but I THINK it might've been the right play given my history with him - will have to pokerstove my equity in this spot when I get a chance to see what it looks like against his range.

So there you have it, a guide on how to go from big stack to short stack within an orbit.

FTOPS Main Event

2009-05-17T23:20:00.002-04:00

So ended up playing by satelliting in, and also played the miniTOPS Main Event. Getting some chips in both, but didn't cash in either. In the ME, I got to a high of 50K when avg. was only about 20K, and proceeded to drop to 10K within a span of 3 hands. First losing KK to AA, AK to KK, and finally QQ to AJ. Survived a few more orbits and squeezed an aggro player with AQ into his AK. to bust.

Tough few orbits, but that's just the nature of tournament poker.

Vegas Trip Report

2009-05-09T01:37:00.002-04:00

No poker content, so I posted it on my "regular" blog instead. For anyone interested, go over to www.sportswizard.blogspot.com

Just came back from a quick 2 day stop in Chicago where I caught the Canucks/Blackhawks game from rinkside seats. Met up with Terrence Chan, along with his buddy Matt from Chicago, and Andy and Scott from Vancouver. The Canucks were outplayed for the game and the better team won, although I do wish the Canucks would've put in a better effort in the third rather than playing a stupid trap against a fast and skilled team like Chicago.

Now that school is underway again, pretty much going to stick to grinding it out online until the World Series. The goal is still to try to qualify for a seat with either Stars or Full Tilt and play in the Main Event. Pretty sure I'll still end up going down regardless if I qualify, and will try to play if I can enough people to buy pieces of me.

Right now, just going to be playing some FTOPS and mini-TOPS for the next week or so. Hopefully can do something decent this time around.

Off to Vegas

2009-04-25T01:27:00.003-04:00

Flying out in less than 12 hours time. Hopefully catch the final table where Elky, Charder and Shorr is still in. Please do not let Scotty Nguyen do anything but finish 6th!

Other than that, this won't be much of a poker trip, mainly doing the touristy stuff (aka watching some shows, hotel hop, going to grand canyon). Hopefully will get to put a couple of hours in at the tables either late and night or early morning. Other than that...back in 5 days!

Grinding out on Tilt

2009-04-14T00:08:00.003-04:00

This past week has been the most volume I've put in for quite awhile, between playing a couple of SCOOP events, as well as grinding out on Full Tilt. Main reason I dumped money back on FTP was because they offered me a $300 bonus, and as any poker player can tell you, you can't turn down free money.

Been grinding it out on 6max tables, mainly 0.50/1 and 1/2 no limit. I've tried experimenting a few things, including balance my ranges, making certain plays I wouldn't make normally make. It probably helps that I've been on quite a heater since I reloaded, but I feel like I've learned quite a bit about myself and the game grinding out the way I did. Still can't say I'm remotely a good player, but I think I've been able to find and try to plug a couple of leaks that I have when playing moderately deep.

Didn't really experience too bad of a downswing this whole week cash game wise until today, which was inevitable because the style I was playing is a very volatile and high variance style of play. I find that despite my image becomes much of a LAGtard, I find that new players with little/no history against me starts to fold too much, and those with history starts to become station that calls to wide. In any case, will need to get alot more hands in before I can evaluate further, but thus far I'm generally happy with the results.

Other than that, rest of the month will consist of grinding out the iron man on FTP, probably play more on Stars as well and try to hit gold star this month, and then I'll be off to Vegas in a week and a half.

Sick Day

2009-04-12T05:23:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to give Terence "Not Johnny" Chan a quick shoutout, for taking down both the M and H event for SCOOP Event #20. I'm pretty sure this is one of the sicker accomplishments in online poker series history.

SCOOPaloopaloop

2009-04-10T13:58:00.002-04:00

Haven't played too much of it this week, with the exception of the event 8 L on Sunday where I got deep and decided to donk out. Wanted to play the mixed hold'em on Tuesday, but was stuck at work and couldn't make the 2:30pm start time. Hoping to play the $22 1 rebuy/addon tonight, and then the main event on Sunday. Other than that, SCOOP haven't been the kindest to me...other than the relatively deep run in the 2 day $33 hold'em tournament, I pretty much bombed out of every other tournament. At least I'm running good on Full Tilt's cash game.

A short report on event 8, where I finished 500~ out of some 20000~ players. To be completely honest, there wasn't too many interesting spots through the 8ish hours that I played. Had an early double up, and was sitting at 25K (started with 10K) by the first break. Had a few standard hands where I won some races, or people just decided to give me chips.

Really can't think of any hands of interest, even deep in the tournament. Managed to win more races, cooler a few people, and decide to pull a Matusow blowup and shoved into a boat on the river to bust.

I think I got like $170~...decent for 8 hours of play, but obviously I was after the $50K~ first place and was pretty disappointed with my bust out hand.

Anyways, now I'll be turning my focus to trying to win a seat for the WSOP ME.

More SCOOP and Vegas

2009-04-05T15:02:00.003-04:00

Played event 4, and busted the initial buyin and rebuy before the first break. First one busted KK < AA...and second one is simply losing a flip.

Playing in event 7 and 8 today. Playing low for both but might try to satellite into M for event 8.

Going to the Blue Jays home opener tomorrow with a bunch of guys from the poker forum, so that should be lots of fun.

On another note, I'm officially booked for Vegas at the end of April. This is going to be mainly a tourist trip as I'm going with a bunch of my high school/university friends. Hopefully I can squeeze a couple of hours of poker in each night/morning, but its looking like it will my first trip where my expenses isn't paid for.

SCOOP Event #1

2009-04-02T16:06:00.004-04:00

SCOOP started today, and played Event #1 - $5r 6 max NLHE.

Started at a table with 5 players, and 2 of them were sitting out. Immediately took a rebuy and things started to go wrong. Had KK on the button and obviously both blinds were sitting out. Get QQ all-in preflop and was outflipped by KQ. Was moved to a different table at the end of the second level where a player was moving all-in preflop with essentially any two cards. Managed to [strike]chip-up[/strike] have hands hold up and got up to 15K, which means 18.5K at the first break with blinds at 30/60.

A few hands after the first break, decided to bluff at ta bad spot representing a big hand to have the other player wake up with the K high flush. Last hand...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4060044

Off until event 4 tomorrow with the NL 2x chance turbo.

Future Bets

2009-03-27T23:15:00.000-04:00

Took a few more bets with them recently - futures winning Champions League at 9/2, and also Liverpool not winning the EPL at -145.

At the same time, the odds for MLB came out recently, so I also made a few bets just to hopefully have a sweat again this year. It was a close call with the Rays at 200 to 1 last year almost coming through, although there isn't really a team or any odds remotely close to that last year, there were a couple of teams with decent value that I decided to take.

Seattle at 55 to 1
Oakland at 65 to 1

Also took the respective teams to win the AL Pennant at 20 and 25 to 1.

Disclaimer: these picks are for entertainment purposes only. Westside8 is not a registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. Readers are advised that the material contained herein should be used solely for informational purposes. Westside8 does not purport to tell or suggest which games that readers should wager for themselves. True gamblers should always conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decision. Westside8 will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader's reliance on information obtained on this website. Readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions.

*disclaimer credits to Tao of Poker

Vegas in April?

2009-03-13T04:35:00.002-04:00

Was originally planning a trip with non-poker playing friends towards the end of April, but a plan that originally would've worked out well with a cruise in the Caribbeans quickly went down the drain. Started with the person who first threw around the idea of the trip having an unexpected late exam, turning the cruise into a possible trip to Vegas - and now she is most likely going to miss the entire trip altogether.

As with typical group of friends, usually when one person drops out, especially the one who was behind most of the "group gathering", it is very likely that more will drop out. Sitting where we are right now, I'm not even sure what is going to happen.

With that said, I've considered taking this into my own hands by ensuring I get to go somewhere before the start of the next school term in May. After reading through the poker forums, I THINK I'm going to be checking the prices of flights to Vegas from April 12 to April 15. Playing a few tournaments along the way. I mean ideally I would go to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Finale, but I think my focus will be more on trying to get a seat to the ME of the WSOP instead. So with that said, we'll see where it goes - don't intend to pay $370 for a return flight, so if it drops below $300 I think I will definitely make it a go. Here is the tentative schedule for April 12 - 14 if I go.

Sunday April 12 - 4pm $530 HORSE at Venetian
Monday April 13 - 12noon $340 NLHE at Caesar's
Tuesday April 14 - 12noon $550 6max NLHE at Caesar's

Obviously if I make a decent score early in the SCOOP, I'll definitely book this trip, but I guess we'll wait and see whether this happens or not!

Keeps on rolling

2009-03-08T22:08:00.002-04:00

Still running as cold as the Arctic Ocean. Volleyball game + referee-ing was canceled today as someone decided to break the lights, so decided to fire up a few tables of SnGs/satellites to kill the evening. I cashed in exactly 0 tournaments...a few highlights includes

-busting 99 to AKs with the flop of 9 J 3 with 1 spade
-losing TT to AQ on a 10 9 2 flop
-in Stud8, failing to hit anything when the first 4 cards were A234

So down another $150~, bringing me to negative figures since the Stars 25% reload bonus.

Taking tomorrow and Tuesday off with more intramural basketball and volleyball...so I might try to play a few on Wednesday evening I guess. Might have to spend that session reviewing hand histories though, just as a precaution to ensure I'm not making any huge mistakes...

Odds and Ends

2009-03-06T01:12:00.002-05:00

Haven't really played at all this week, even though I've gained a few hours a day due to my screwed up sleeping schedule. I'll probably play a crap load of the SCOOP Events coming up in L and some in M...don't foresee myself buying into too many M directly but will definitely put some hours into some satellites. Things will be really picking up the next 2 weeks, so I'll probably these 2 weeks off and just get back to it when most of the busy things calm down after the 22nd of this month.

In a previous post when I mentioned coaching, I think I'm going to be putting that on hold for now until at least mid to end of April. I'll hopefully get a bunch of hand histories from playing the SCOOP and work off those. After the SCOOP series I'll probably place my focus in trying to win a seat to the WSOP ME in one way or another.

I've watched a few videos off StoxPoker since I recently picked up a membership, and I think I've found a few leaks in my game already that will probably allow me to lower variance and increase my win-rate in those turbo SnGs. Also considering picking up SnG Wizard and run that along with HEM, but I'm not entirely sure if that will be an overkill considering my volume isn't even that high.

Last but not least, but I think I'll be going to Vegas from April 28 to May 2 with some of my non-poker friends. That is still tentative, but I'm definitely going somewhere that one week where it bridges from the winter term to the fall term. My friends are leaning towards Vegas, so I'll probably spend those days doing non-poker related things with them that I haven't had a chance to do myself (Grand Canyon, more shows, etc). If things don't work out with them, I have found some flights back to Hong Kong for $800~, so that is also an option where I'll leave a bit earlier (like April 25 or something) and stay there for 2 weeks. Possibly make a short trip to Thailand or somewhere for a few days in between. After my last trip back to Hong Kong, I think that place is definitely more of a place I will visit for a week or so, but probably not be able to spend an extended period of time in.

Sunday Donkaments

2009-03-02T09:43:00.002-05:00

I ended up playing a bunch of Sunday tournaments yesterday, and obviously being the great player that I am, I only managed to min-cash one of them while bombing out on the other 4 that I played. There weren't really any interesting hands, but it's just nice to get back into the grind - also it was nice to be reminded how soft these tournaments are.

Most of the tournaments just involved me losing small pots after small pots, and occasionally losing a slightly bigger one leading to a dwindling stack. Between hands like flopping top 2 vs. a OESD and him getting there, or just coming out on the wrong end of a flip, it felt like it just wasn't meant to be.

I don't really know when I will get another Sunday where I can put in a semi-full schedule of tournaments in again, with intramural basketball taking up the next 2 Sundays, follow by a grad dinner the Sunday after. It probably won't be until SCOOP comes around before I am able to grind Sundays again.

Stats

2009-02-27T00:09:00.002-05:00

I was bored after ref-ing basketball, so I decided to check out my stats on my most recent down-swing.

Through 60 games, I have...

3 1st place
4 2nd place
2 3rd place

That means...I finish out-of-the-money in the other 51 games.

I'm sitting with an average ROI of -21.25%

This is pretty disgusting.

Going low low low low

2009-02-26T12:08:00.002-05:00

Ended up grinding a few more SnGs last night when the WOW power leveling came to an abrupt end when a few of the players went to raid. Still running bad, and it's just hands like shoving QQ on the HJ with 7xBB (or M of like 3.5) and running into KK behind. Or just losing flips with a short-stack shove and bleeding chips that way.

I'm back to almost even from my most recent reload...which sucks but just needs to ride out the variance.

I'm REALLY not playing tonight with basketball intramural referee assignment, and also a fashion show on Friday night.

Bad Run Continues

2009-02-25T14:33:00.002-05:00

I ended up just playing a couple last night and this morning, and the bad run continues. Hands that I've been regularly winning during the up-side of the variance has completely flipped and I'm losing almost every 50/50, 60/40, 70/30 that comes up. Going to turn down the volume a bit and hopefully ride out this wave, and hoping the up-swing is in the near future.

In the mean time, I'll probably watch some StoxPoker videos and put in a few hours with WOW. I am hoping to go back to a full schedule by Sunday.

Bad Start to the Week

2009-02-23T21:43:00.002-05:00

So I ended up grinding a bit Sunday evening after Volleyball, and everything was all good until today. Ran super hot last week and was up about 25 BIs or so, until today when it all came crashing to a halt.

Can't seem to win flips, losing 60/40, losing to more than my fair share of 3/2 outers, and of course a 1 outer. I ended up down about 10 BIs today, so calling it a night as I have an intramural basketball game in an hour or so.

Not going to play tomorrow as I will be going to the Raptors game (unless the weather decide to suck and snow like nuts) and won't get around to it much on Wednesday due to a couple of meetings. Will try to squeeze a few in, but other than that it will be grinding day again on Thursday.

I recently picked up a StoxPoker membership pretty cheap, so I figured I'll give it a shot and see what it offers for the time being...will post some review when I get my account activated and watch a few videos.

A Mediocre Night

2009-02-21T02:17:00.002-05:00

I ended up putting in about 3 hours of SnGs tonight as a result of my inability to fall asleep despite a long day ahead tomorrow. Didn't want to start up any MTTs in case I ran deep in any of them and I wouldn't want to run on no sleep when I will be playing volleyball from 830am til 10pm approximately (obviously with breaks in between) and also having a multi-sport fantasy draft after.

I'm posting this as I'm finishing up my session with the last few SnGs all getting close to the end stage. While a short session, I did experience some lows followed with a couple of highs. Started the session really bad, lost 5 or 6 flips in a row, and probably lost 3 to 4 60/40 in a row as well (on both sides). Things took a turn for the better when I was able to put together a few ITM finishes along with 2 wins. The last 4 tourneys I have up now is essentially a free-roll for the night as I'm up a couple of buy-ins. It's not much but considering the way it started, I can't complain. (whoops, as I said that I busted AK < A3)

Anyways, definitely nothing for Saturday and Sunday, and will continue my quest to go back on as a Gold Star in PokerStars on Monday.

In other news, I'm terribly excited for the SCOOP Poker Stars has announced recently. This goes to show PokerStars is still the leader when it comes to MTTs (and its not even close), as well as bringing things that users are looking for. I probably won't play too many of the H events (unless I run real well from now until April, along with satelliting in), but I'm definitely looking forward to putting in good volume with L and M events - even hoping to get my first "big score". Going to be tough fitting in some of the 2:30 start times, but I'll definitely try my best to squeeze in as many of them as possible.

Finally, I've been in contact with one of the more successful online (and to a certain degree...live) MTT players about the possibility of coaching. It's been something I've been hoping to do for awhile, so now I'm just trying to work out the finer details. It is more of my own personal scheduling as I do not want to waste mine (and his) valuable time (and for me, money) if I am unable to devote a significant volume in play in learning. (side note, just busted another one AJ < A10 < K10). I definitely hope to be able to put something together soon so I can get this going to improve my play, and devote more time to this game for the rest of '09 and beyond. This opportunity is something I'm really excited about and will post more about it later.

This post has been pretty long, so I'm going to wrap it up now. More to come soon.

Back to the Grind

2009-02-20T01:56:00.002-05:00

Ever since PokerStars had their 25% reload bonus, I maxed out the bonus and finally got some money back on to Stars. Been grinding out some SNGs the last couple of days, occasionally mixing in some MTTs.

Played a $16.50 and $11R at 10 on Stars tonight, and I felt I played well as a whole. Was down to 2.5BB in the $16.50 at one point and managed to come back and made it to the final 18 before busting in a questionable hand.

Same thing with the $11R. Was cruising along with a pretty comfortable stack until I stacked off relatively light. I still find myself making some bone-head moves once in awhile and pulling a "Matusow blow up"...either not clearing thinking a hand through, or simply thinking a play will work when it won't majority of the time.

Although the sample size is really small, I've found myself being able to chip up more often in MTTs than before, so its an area of my game that I feel like I've been improving. Will have to continue to monitor my progress.

SNGs been going well...put in about 50 thus far and I'm up about 15BIs, hopefully sustain it throughout and maybe even try to get in to the Battle of the Planets - its been a long time since I've gotten in (first and only time was the very first week they ran that promo).

Other than that, going to take it easy this weekend with a birthday party tomorrow, volleyball all day Saturday, and more sports on Sunday. Back at the grind on Monday.

Poker Tonight

2009-02-08T00:07:00.003-05:00

So I lied, I ended up loading 4 180 man SnGs tonight as my friends left earlier than expected after snowboarding, and sitting with 1 tourney still alive, it hasn't been going well.

Busted first one early with AK when I got it in on the flop with TPTK against villain's bottom 2.

Second one involved losing a race with 66 vs. AK when I shoved 15BB after 5 limpers and was called by one of the limpers.

Third one was similar to the second one, except I was called by Q4 and I had 99, obv turned a Q.

Will update the fourth one when it happens, but I'm sitting with 2500 with blinds at 75/150.

Edit...blinds 125/250 with an ante with my stack at 3200~. EP raises to 750, I shove with QQ, player in LP calls for less, EP calls.

KK > QQ > JJ

0 for 3.

Another Frustrating Night

2009-02-07T01:46:00.002-05:00

Hung around the school and played some volleyball, which led to a late dinner and missed the batch of low limit MTT that starts around 21:00-22:00. Ended up just playing a few of the 180 players SnG.

Played 5 in total, went to the final 5 table in 4 of the 5 (the other one I busted like 3rd hand with AA < 64o) but managed to only min-cash in one of them. Never really had a stack to work with in any of them and was short-stack ninja-ing through most of the tourney. If a couple of hands went my way towards the latter stages of a couple of them, results might've been different.

Taking the weekend off from poker, will get back at it next week.

Sports Betting...wow, I managed to go 0-3 last night, made one mistake not realizing Rangers were coming off a back-to-back and Lundqvist wasn't going to be in net, was wondering why the line was this good for them.

Going to take the weekend off as well and will be back at it next Monday.

First Grinding Day of 2009

2009-02-06T00:02:00.002-05:00

Finally got back in the swing of things today putting in my first decent session of MTT in. I didn't play too many as I didn't want to have too late of a late, so I just ended up playing 4 MTTs (1 Limit Hold'em and 3 NL HE)and had a few cash games going on at the side. MTT yielded a whopping 0 for 4, with 2 of the 4 busted relatively close to the bubble. It was quite a disappointing night as I had 2x average stack in all 4 tournaments after the first break in the middle stages, yet busting in all of them short of the money.

Obviously was bitten by the variance bug losing a couple of 2 and 3 outers, but I had my fair share as well. Here is one hand that I KNOW right now I played it wrong on the river, other than that I felt I played pretty well but just have nothing to show for it.

Blinds 250/500 a60 Hero 15K~, villain 18K~. Table has been relatively tight with most hands ending preflop with a raise. I just moved table so don't have any history except for the 3 orbits, villain didn't play a hand,
I raised to 1250 in MP with 89o. Villain defends the BB.
Flop Ac 8h 9c
Villain checks, I bet 2250 and villain insta-calls
Turn Ah
Villain insta-checks, I bet 4200, villain insta-calls
River 10x
Villain leads for 3600...I call

(I chose the worse option between raise/call/fold)

I'll probably put in a few hours tomorrow evening and play a few more MTTs, and will be taking both Saturday and Sunday off due to snowboarding on Saturday and varsity hockey as well as intramural games.

As far as sports betting goes...
76ers decides to win by 5 and not 6 to cost me the game, while Edmonton won as I predicted with Anaheim losing to Nashville.

Took a look at the basketball but at first glance nothing really caught my eye, if anything changes I'll post again in the morning. My picks for NHL is below.

Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres o5.5 -120
New Jersey Devils @ Atlanta Thrashers u5.5 -104
New York Rangers +125 @ Dallas Stars

Sports Betting - Feb 5

2009-02-05T10:57:00.004-05:00

Back at this again...

NHL
Anaheim Ducks +120 vs. Nashville Predators L
Edmonto Oilers +120 vs. St. Louis Blues W

NBA:
Indiana Pacers vs. Philadelphia 76ers -5.5 -106 L

Been looking at the MLB Futures that is now up, and Boston to win the World Series at 9 to 1 looks intriguing.

Also seriously looking at taking the Seattle Mariners at 125 to 1 and maybe Oakland Athletics at 55 to 1 (although I think there is more value in the Mariners than the Athletics).

Taking the White Sox at 25 to 1 is also worth a bet IMO.

Jan 2009

2009-01-26T13:09:00.002-05:00

I have played maybe...2 hours of poker so far this month, and they've all been over this past weekend. Has been busy settling in with this "co-op" job, and getting all the intramural leagues running smoothly. The 2 hours I spent playing has involved around the PokerStars double-or-nothing SnGs, and I would say I'm unlucky to not have won more.

I think I went something like 8-4 this weekend, but there were maybe a couple that I bubbled/second-bubbled (7th) where I lost when I was AIPF as a huge favourite - nothing can be done when donkeys make -ev calls...life moves on.

Starting to look into sports betting again in Feb after the Super Bowl and all. Will probably post a bunch of prop bets here that I'm going to make just for fun. I took the Steelers at -6.5 when the line opened and secretly crossing my fingers that it will go to 7.5 so I can take the middle, but I highly doubt that will happen now. Tempted to make a small bet on a Cards outright win too but I think 2 weeks for the Steelers defence to prepare against the Cards is too much...

Other than that, nothing really new this month, will probably start grinding away again when everything finally starts to calm down and I can start putting in some decent hours again...

Sunday Results

2008-12-29T10:37:00.002-05:00

It didn't exactly go well in the main tournaments yesterday, busting each one with the best hand, but had a few decent runs in the satellites so I was able to store up some T$ to be used in the future.

Busted out of the FTP Holiday 100K when we got it all in KK vs. AK and obviously A comes on the flop

Busted out of the Stars Million Dollar Turbo Takedown when A9 couldn't beat Q9 with the board became 4 card straight

Cashed in the Stars Guinness Book of World Record for $30 ($10 goes back towards the last longest bet) when AK is inferior to A9

I did manage to win a few satellites like I mentioned, but I just wasn't "in it" from tiredness in the past few days so I decided not to play any of the bigger tournaments.

As far as the Turbo Takedown, I have not cashed once and I've played it 4 times or so. Heck, I have not even made it to the first break in any of them I've played, and this is a tournament where at least 1/3 is supposed to make the money...I guess I'm just saving it up for a deep run soon.

Not going to be playing again until the New Year, so happy new year to all.

End of the Year Review

2008-12-25T13:46:00.002-05:00

First and foremost - Merry Christmas to the 2 readers that actually follow this blog.

On to the other stuff

Took time off from sports betting/poker/whatever due to exams/holidays and what not...I played a $2 MTT on Stars last night while waiting for my online boxing day sales order to go through, ended up making a deep run but busted with 5 tables left. Made one wrong read and put a guy on overs and shoved into an overpair, which essentially crippled me and a few hands later I busted. Still finding my MTT game to be quite...weak. I discovered that I still need to work on chipping up, as I have found that too often, the only way my chip stack increase during the course of a MTT is through a big hand or two, otherwise I end up getting short real fast.

Looking forward to this weekend, mainly this Sunday with the various MTTs I'll be playing. So far the list consist of:
1. FTP Holiday 100K Freeroll
2. Stars Guinness World Record Attempt - $10+$1 $500K Guarantted
3. Stars Million Dollar Takedown
Going to be trying to satellite into the Sunday Million as well since they're guaranteeing $2.5 million in the prizepool, theres also the $215 HORSE, $215 Mixed Hold'em as well as Sunday 500 on Stars that I'll try to satellite into, so it should be a fun Sunday to end of the year. Not sure how I will be able to put in the hours for these satellites, so I might just end up doing those hyper-turbos before the tournaments on Sunday.

This year has been a mediocre year to be honest. I didn't put in as many hours as I wanted to, and as a result the profits from poker this year definitely didn't reach my goal. With that said, it was still a profitable year, and finally breaking through with a decent cash at a relatively big live tourney (by my standards - $235 - 600+ players at Venetian) as well as taking down a live tournament ($120 - 36 players at Binions). Still many holes in my game that I hope to fill in 2009, and definitely need to get more motivated to put in more hours as well.

I don't really make new years resolution, but I do have a list of goals that I hope to accomplish in 2009 - albeit some is definitely tougher than others.

1. Have my first 5 digit score
2. Final table one of the bigger Sunday tournaments
3. Work on my heads up game (cash)
4. Put in some serious volumn for MTTs (35~ tournaments weekly)
5. Satellite into the WSOP ME
6. Satellite into one other live tourney (EPT/Aussie Millions preferrably)
7. Work on my deepstack cash play

I know this list seems pretty long as well as some of them being relatively hard to quantify and reach, but I figure it needs to be something that will really motivate me to put in the work. With a work term from Jan-Apr, it should allow me to put in a decent amount of volumn on evenings and weekends. Furthermore, my spring term from May-Aug looks like a term where I'll just take the minimum 3 course requirement, so that should allow me to keep putting in solid hours online while hopefully getting away for a week or two at the WSOP.

Other than that, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, may your 2009 be your best year yet.

2008-12-09T23:46:00.001-05:00

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

All bloggers can play in this exclusive online poker tournament.

Registration code: 177177

Sports Betting Dec 2

2008-12-02T01:31:00.004-05:00

So I ended up making a couple of bets on the MNF game, simply because the line of 48 for the game seemed too good to be true, and it was until like 29 points were scored in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter to make me sweat out a 47 total performance for both teams. Not a bad start to December...nothing really caught my eye in NHL for Dec 2, so just taking a couple of picks in basketball for today.

NBA:
Lakers -8.5 vs. Pacers 2u LOSE
Wizards +5 vs. Nets WIN
76ers vs. Bulls u194.5 LOSE

Soccer:
Man Utd. to win the EPL. 2u
Chelsea to not win the EPL. 2u

MTD: 4 - 1 - 0 +3.3u
YTD: 36 - 29 - 1 +9.8u

Sports Betting Dec 1

2008-12-01T01:07:00.003-05:00

So much for taking it easy - but it was a very good day for me going 8 - 4 - 1 to wrap up the month. I am really going to take it easy on the Monday with only a couple of NBA and NHL games going on respectively. Depending on how things work out, I might take a couple of late picks with MNF but thats highly unlikely as I will be at school starting at 5pm for the finals of our intramurals.

NBA:
Magic vs. Celtics -9.5 WIN

NHL:
Leafs ML vs. Kings WIN
Canucks ML vs. Blue Jackets LOSE

NFL:
Titans vs. Jags u48 WIN
Titans vs. Jags u24 1H WIN

MTD: 0 - 0 - 0
YTD: 32 - 28 - 1 +6.5u

Sports Betting Nov 30

2008-11-30T01:47:00.007-05:00

Much better last night in terms of betting...back in the black again which I'm glad. Taking it easy today with a couple of bets, might sneak a couple in for NFL but I highly doubt it. We'll see what happens.

NFL:
Giants -3.5 vs Redskins WIN
Chiefs vs. Raiders -3.5 LOSE
Falcons +4.5 vs. Chargers WIN
49ers +6 vs. Bills WIN
Bears vs. Vikings -3.5 WIN
Steelers vs. Patriots u39 LOSE
Steelers vs. Patriots u20 1H PUSH

EPL:
Manchester United PICK vs. Manchester City [3 units) WIN

NHL:
Blues ML vs. Thrashers WIN
Oilers ML vs. Stars LOSE
Ducks ML vs. Hurricanes WIN

NBA:
Rockets +3.5 vs. Denver LOSE
Nets +8.5 vs. Suns WIN

MTD: 24 - 24 - 0 +0.9u

Sports Betting Nov 29

2008-11-29T19:25:00.003-05:00

It hasn't been going well lately, each day losing a unit or two. With that said, its no way that it is the end of the world. There are times when I feel I should just focus on a few games and go heavy on them, but at this point I think I still favour the diversification technique for the time being and see how it goes.

With that said, today's picks

NHL:
Flyers vs. Leafs ML WIN
Sabres ML vs. Canadiens LOSE
Red Wings ML vs. Bruins LOSE
Devils vs. Penguins -1.5 WIN
Wild ML vs. Predators WIN
Wild vs. Predators o5.5 WIN

NBA:
Hawks PICK vs. Wizards WIN
Nuggets -4.5 vs. T-Wolves WIN
Cavaliers -8 vs. Bucks LOSE
Pacers +7.5 vs. Magic WIN
Spurs +3.5 vs. Rockets LOSE
Heat -2.5 vs. Clippers LOSE

MTD: 17 - 19 - 0 -2.2u
YTD: 17 - 19 - 0 -2.2u

NFL:
Giants -3.5 vs Redskins
Chiefs vs. Raiders -3.5
Falcons +4.5 vs. Chargers
49ers +6 vs. Bills

EPL:
Manchester United PICK vs. Manchester City [3 units)

Sports Betting Nov 28

2008-11-28T02:44:00.003-05:00

Wow...I got absolutely killed in NFL yesterday. I guess hopefully the weekend can reverse that trend. Calgary win over Vancouver, as well as the Hornets win basically salvaged my day into an almost breakeven day

NFL:
Giants -3.5 vs Redskins
Chiefs vs. Raiders -3.5
Falcons +4.5 vs. Chargers
49ers +6 vs. Bills

EPL:
Manchester United PICK vs. Manchester City [3 units)

NBA:
Warriors vs. Cavaliers -12 WIN
Timberwolves -2 vs. Thunder LOSE
Raptors vs. Hawks u100.5 2H WIN
Bucks +8.5 vs. Pistons LOSE

NHL:
Islanders ML vs. Bruins LOSE
Blackhawks ML vs. Ducks LOSE
Penguins vs. Sabres o5.5 WIN
Penguins ML vs. Sabres LOSE
Rangers ML vs. Panthers [2 unit] WIN
Predators ML vs. Thrashers WIN
Sharks vs. Stars u5.5 LOSE

Current Month 12 - 13 - 0 +0.4u
Current Year 12 - 13 - 0 +0.4u

Sports Betting Nov 27

2008-11-27T08:40:00.005-05:00

NHL:
Flames PICK vs. Canucks [2 units] WIN

NBA:
Wizards +3 vs. Magic LOSE
Hornets +1.5 vs. Nuggets WIN

NFL:
Cardinals +3 vs. Eagles LOSE
Seahawks +12.5 vs. Cowboys LOSE
Titans vs. Lions u44.5 LOSE
Titans -11 vs. Lions WIN
Giants -3.5 vs Redskins
Chiefs vs. Raiders -3.5
Falcons +4.5 vs. Chargers
49ers +6 vs. Bills

EPL:
Manchester United PICK vs. Manchester City [3 units)

Current Month 9 - 9 - 0 +1.4u
Current Year 9 - 9 -0 +1.4u

Sports Betting Nov 26

2008-11-26T00:03:00.010-05:00

Night started off really well but has gone downhill drastically. Hopefully the Lakers can salvage the night for me to make it a profitable one (need a pretty big second half for it to happen). In hindsight, I really should've taken the Leafs/Thrashers in the over knowing CuJo was starting in net...I had a bad feeling as soon as I put the bet in. Nothing I could do about the other games though IMO...didn't see the Flames offence going nuts the way they did, and also thought the Suns would've put in a better effort.

On to tomorrow...

NHL:
Flyers PICK vs. Hurricanes WIN
Bruins vs. Sabres o5.5 LOSE
Canadiens PICK vs. Red Wings WIN
Rangers -1.5 vs. Lightning LOSE
Stars PICK vs. Wild WIN
Blackhawks PICK vs. Sharks LOSE

NBA:
Warriors vs. Celtics -11.5 LOSE
Bulls +7.5 vs. Spurs LOSE
Thunder +15.5 vs. Cavaliers LOSE
Magic +1.5 vs. 76ers WIN

NFL:
Cardinals +3 vs. Eagles
Giants -3.5 vs Redskins
Chiefs vs. Raiders -3.5
Falcons +4.5 vs. Chargers
49ers +6 vs. Bills
Seahawks +12.5 vs. Cowboys
Titans vs. Lions u44.5 (carried over)

EPL:
Manchester United PICK vs. Manchester City [3 units)

Current Month 5 - 3 - 0 +2.7u
Current Year 5 - 3 -0 +2.7u

Sports Betting Nov 25

2008-11-25T19:33:00.006-05:00

I'm going to chronicle my sports bets here...I've been betting on games on and off but nothing regular, but I haven't really kept very careful notes of it and what not except I know I've been winning at a rate of around 65% due to hockey/basketball. In any case, I'll post some bets here and see where it goes.

All bets are for 1 unit unless otherwise stated.

NHL
Blues vs. Predators u5.5 WIN
Blues PICK vs. Predators WIN
Thrashers vs. Leafs u6 LOSE
Kings vs. Flames u5.5 LOSE

NBA
Warriors vs. Wizards +2 WIN
Cavaliers -8 vs. Knicks WIN
Suns -10 vs. Thunder LOSE
Lakers -13.5 vs. Nets WIN

NFL
Titans vs. Lions u44.5 PENDING

Vegas Round Up

2008-11-18T06:17:00.002-05:00

Nothing really too interesting to report on, but will probably do a condense version of a trip report later on anyways.

Pretty much a break even trip, up enough to cover hotel/airfare/food expenses but not up a huge amount. Chopped a tournament and I was eventually declared the winner after all the logistics, so nice to say I won a live tournament in Vegas - albeit a $100~ donkament with 36 players.

Had a run where I had AA/KK 5 times within an orbit and managed to lose $300 (150x BB)..must be a record.

Other than that, back to the schooling and not much poker for awhile.

Vegas

2008-10-21T19:12:00.001-04:00

I am officially booked.

Tue Nov 11 2265 Depart BUFFALO NY (BUF) at 7:50 AM
Arrive in LAS VEGAS NV (LAS) at 10:00 AM
Mon Nov 17 3944 Depart LAS VEGAS NV (LAS) at 5:05 PM
Arrive in BUFFALO NY (BUF) at 12:15 AM

Total? $166 USD..SICK!

Poker Sunday

2008-10-20T13:52:00.003-04:00

Played a bunch of poker yesterday this weekend, and I think its safe to say that I ran pretty good. Originally had to referee a few basketball games in the evening, so didn't load up/try to satellite into any of the big Sunday tournaments. It turns out the games were canceled as the motor for the basketball net wasn't working (or something). So instead, I grinded out the double-or-nothing turbo Sit and Gos on Stars, and was up about 15http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif BI by the end of the night. Could've been up a bit more but can't really complain. Other than that, also grinded out a few steps tournaments and I have a few step 3s and 4s tickets in my bank, so hopefully I'll be able to grind out a PCA tournament seat or something soon.

Nothing really new other than that - won't get to play much the next week or two as midterms/papers are really starting to swarm in...and hopefully will confirm and book my flight out to Vegas for a few days in mid-November. Still debating whether or not to head out to BC to play the British Columbia Poker Championship..probably not but we'll see.

Last Friday - went to the Sabres vs. Canucks game in Buffalo with Adam Schwartz (2p2 Pokercast) and Terrence "Not Johnny" Chan. Being with 2 huge Canucks fans, obviously I had to join in - not that I'm not a hater, Canucks is actually one of my favourite-non-favourite teams. Adam had an extra Canucks retro jersey which I proudly worn, although it probably set of the alarms of all the fashion police in the area. Obviously credit card roulette is on the menu when you're out with a bunch of poker players, and with 2 asians and a white dude, the white guy was losing the roulette with 100% certainty. Betting of the game must take place, and obviously being the most non-baller guy on the 3, $300 was placed for the over of 5.5. Adam and Terrence both won a dime from the game while I got chump change of $320~. While the Canucks lost the game 5 - 2 (can't really blame them - they just played Detroit the night before and won in OT..oh..AND Luongo wasn't playing), the 3 of us were probably the happiest Canucks fan in the arena when the 6th goal was scored. A funny note occured when we were crossing the US border - the border guard decided to ask whether the 3 of us were family. Let see, a 40 y/o white dude, a 28 y/o asian dude, and a 21 y/o dude as a family...

Another Frustrating Session

2008-10-15T04:05:00.002-04:00

Just returned from Brantford, and it was basically another frustrating session. So if you are keeping track, this is my second straight losing session at Brantford after going 20+ straight winning sessions over the past 2 years - so I really have no right to complain. Tonight was a different type of frustration compared to last session - tonight was more of the "how hard can you get screwed by the deck except not by bad beats"...illustration:

1. On my BB with A2, we have a blind raiser/straddler UTG. 5 callers including myself, and flops A2x - obviously the blind raiser has AA.

2. I cold-call a raise OTB with 98hh after a EP raiser and 3 callers. Flop A98 - got 2 bets in on the flop, 2 on turn, and 1 on river from 2 other players. Obviously they had A9 and A8

My last name of the night at 10/20 - LAGtard who has probably dropped close to $1K who just won a pot with 92dd on a AdK10d 10 8d board decides to wake up with KK when I have QQ....

And then there are other hands where it was essentially the deck not hitting in my favour.

1. 3 bet a LP raiser with AQ, lead flop, turn, check river and loses to 88.

2. Capped pre-flop with AK, and doesn't win race with QQ

3. Missing OESD/flush draws, OESD straight + flush draws

Just wasn't my night. Here is me hoping that I'm saving my good karma/cards/luck for Vegas - speaking of which I should get around to book my flight.

Next poker games - probably just grinding out FPPs on Stars, and trying to satellite into the PCA. Just got a reload bonus of FTP, so will probably play some PLO there as well.

Probably heading down to Buffalo on Friday with a couple of 2p2 guys for a hockey game, so will probably squeeze in a bit of poker/craps at Fallsview before the game.

BCC Trip

2008-10-04T23:39:00.002-04:00

Was at Brantford Charity Casino last night, and to say it was a blood bath was probably an understatement. [note of brag] I don't proclaim to be a limit expert/shark like Moose, but its probably been two years, about 20 or so straight sessions at BCC where I have left in the black. [/end of brag] So anyways, went to play some 5/10 yesterday, partly due to lack of liquidity, partly due to the fact that I was there with some friends so I wanted to play at the same table and what not...and the whole night I probably won maybe 5 pots max.

[bad beat stories] Normally I hate telling them, and I don't plan to, but this is more of reporting of hands and how badly I ran.

1. 1010 loses to 56 when it was capped preflop, and on the flop of 9 5 4 when 6 comes on the river

2. 2 pair goes down to rivered straight

3. 2 pair goes down to a guy who calls with top pair when board 4 flushed with clubs thinking he only had a pair when he had the 2 of clubs in his hand

4. AA loses to 22 when 22 flops a set

[/bad beat stories]

The table was the juiciest table I've seen, and if I had more money I don't think I would've left, but with that table the variance would've been huge, and unfortunately I was just on the bad side of variance. Things happen and I'll be back...In all honesty though, I definitely didn't play my best poker. There were things Moose pointed out playing on my right that definitely has got me thinking about limit and playing certain players a certain way. Also played some hands just more out of frustration where I could've probably saved a few big bets here and there, lessons learned and hopefully will get back there after the Thanksgiving weekend.

As for now, I SWEAR I'll have the tourney report from the one I cased in up soon...its all typed up on my Blackberry but I just keep forgetting to transfer it on to my PC when I'm in Toronto, and when I'm in Waterloo I don't have the data cable.

I was going to try to grind out some NAPC satellitse this week, but with school and assignments and midterms, I don't think I can really grind those out. MIGHT take one day and just go and see if I can get a couple in, but other than that I'm going to be focusing on grinding out for a seat in the PCA. Going back to Vegas in Nov, just need to book a flight now...should be a blast with Venetian Deepstacks running again.

Long Time No Post

2008-09-03T01:07:00.003-04:00

Yeah..its almost a month since my last post. Honestly, I haven't really played too much since my last update. Pretty much got 2500 FPP within the first week of August multi-tabling 6max 0.50/1 PLO, and the occasional turbo SnG, but other than that I have barely opened my Stars/Tilt/Cake client. Played a couple of APPT steps here and there and made one last push for a Macau seat, which failed miserably as I couldn't advance past step 5. Good thing is I have 2 step 5 tickets sitting around, bad thing is none of the other tournaments really interest me. The Seoul one is around midterms time, Manila is while I'm going to be in Vegas, and Australia is happening right around finals, so the only other one I can try for is New Zealand which is a month away. If only those can be converted to EPT Tickets...

Played me third (or maybe fourth) turbo takedown, and I have yet to last 1 hour in the tournament. This time I busted out in spectacular fashion with JJ vs. KK where I flopped a set and he turned the straight. Not trying to tell a bad beat story, just more reporting a hand. I've found it to be quite hard to report a hand where you got a bad beat, and make it not sound like a bad beat story. In any case, I really haven't played much, but with WCOOP coming around, I'll probably play a few. Already won a seat in the $215 HORSE, and a couple of other satellites so I have some W$ saved up, so will probably end up buying into a couple of the $215. I'm definitely taking a shot here, and I will definitely need to get lucky, but I figured why not =D

I promise I'll get the July 7th day report up..soon. With school coming around next week, it'll likely be done while I'm procrastinating or something. Right now, planning a trip to Vegas again in November with a few guys from the Pokerforum, should be fun and probably will play in a couple of the Venetian Deepstack tournaments again.

PLO

2008-08-04T12:00:00.003-04:00

Jeez I'm behind on writing up my trip report. I still have 1 more full day tournament report to write on July 7th, and a couple of short cash sessions on July 8 and July 9. I can't really make an excuse for my lateness as its been almost a month now, but there are times when I could be writing at home, I just choose to play poker or video games over writing. I'll definitely get the July 7th one up soon as I already have some of the hands typed up.

As far as poker post Vegas goes, I've ventured out into playing mostly PLO cash game with some donkament and HE cash game mixed in there. I thought about starting at PLO full ring, but after observing it for awhile, it seems like 6 max is much more profitable. Not everyone is sitting just waiting for the nuts, and it is much easier to find and exploit the players who over-value hands like TP, bottom 2p, or an overpair. There has been more than one instances where players got their hands in drawing to 2 outs with an overpair and no redraw but getting there, but I'm getting money in good so whatever. I'm still learning to play the game for the most part, especially playing post-flop with pot control and what not. While I'm hardly a good player at hold'em, I figured I would jump on board the PLO ship while the money is there and continue learning hold'em on the side.

FTOPS is coming up soon, I'm not really sure how many events I'll end up playing with a regular 9-5 work schedule, and softball 2-3 nights a week + weekends. Looking ahead to WCOOP and obv going to be trying to satellite into APPT Macau still. After that I'll probably aim for EPT London and probably won't be anything until either Aussie Millions or PCA. Obviously these live tourney will be all talk no result as I am so far 0/4 on these big live tourney satellites.

Vegas Trip - Day 6

2008-07-28T00:58:00.003-04:00

Woke up on Sunday morning and actyper informed me that he already booked a flight flying out that evening as he just didn't feel well, leading to him lacking the concentration required to play decent poker which meant he made the decision to go home early. As my plan was to stay until July 10th, I had to find a few places to crash for a few nights. Considered going back to Watt's place, but decided to quick around for rates before contacting him. Quicked Expedia.ca and found Harrah's for about $50 a night, and actyper mentioned that by staying at a Harrah's property, he has received coupons for free nights once in awhile, so I decided to booked Harrah's for 3 nights as the cab ride to/from Watts' house would be in that price range anyways - except now I'll be dead centre by the strip, and with my plans to play at the Venetian/Caesar's Palace for the last 2 days, both properties were walking distance which allows me to save on cab fare as well.

I spent the late morning/early afternoon wandering around the south end of the strip (Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand and New York New York), and proceeded to take the Monorail for the first time up to the north end of the strip (Stratosphere, Sahara, Circus Circus) just to say I've been there as there is really nothing there. Eventually made my way back to the room at Mandalay Bay to pack up my stuff to check-in at Harrah's.

During my check-in, I plannned to attempt the $20 trick* which failed as the front desk attendent was a new hire as she had a supervisor assisting her through the check-in process. Despite my plan being foiled, I left the $20 as a tip as my request for a complimentary upgrade was granted - despite the fact the upgrade was merely from a standard room with no view to a strip view standard room. I passed out on my bed for a couple of hours and was woken up by my growling stomach as I haven't ate anything all day. I decided to walk over to the Bellagio buffet, but to my dismay, the line was beyond long and I settled with going to the buffet at the Rio's (which was also excellent by the way) to use the $10 coupon actyper left for me. On my way out of the Bellagio, it was quite a scenery with lots of eye candy at the theatre entrance to the Cirque du Soleil show "O" - I will have to watch that show on my return trip in the not-too-distant future.

After filling my stomach at the Rio buffet, I headed over to the Venetian to play some poker - try to satellite into the $330 tournament tomorrow and to play some cash game. Sat down at the first available $80 satellite which pays 2 seats into tomorrow's tournament and played exactly 0 hands until my bust out hand.

Down to 5 players and my stack dwindled down to t1200~ with blinds at 75-150.

Preflop: Villain in the CO raised to 450, and I looked down at AJss. With the blinds about to go up to 100-200, I decided to make a stand right here and moved all in for 1200~. I figured I am at worst racing against this villain (unless I get unlucky and he wakes up with a hand) as he has been pretty active since the table got short-handed. He counts out his chips and commented "You haven't played a hand all tournament, but I'm getting too good of a price to call, I hope I'm at least racing" while throwing his chips into the pot and turns over 99.

Flop comes Ks Qx 8s - pretty good flop for my hand now with 2 overcards + flush draw + straight draw

Turn is a Qx which gives me even more outs if the board double pairs.

River was a 9c which gave villain a bit of a scare, but I lose the race and decided to just go to the cash game as I wasn't planning to stay too much longer and it looked like the next satellite won't fill for another 30-45 minutes.

After my bust-out, I proceeded to buy-in to tomorrow's tournament directly, and put my name down for the 1/2NL max 300 game. My name was called shortly after as they simply put my name down as a phone-in while I played the satellite. The 1-2NL cash game table I proceeded to sit in was the most pain I've had playing poker in my life. It was the slowest, most loose passive game I've ever played in, but the players were so bad that I would've killed myself leaving the game while there were so much money on the table for my taking.

About 2 orbits in I play my first interesting hand and win my first big pot.

Hand 1:
2 limpers, and MP raises to $10, 3 callers and I call OTB with A10ss. Blinds call as well as the limpers.

Flop: 10 8 2

Checks original raiser who checks, and the player next to act (MP+1) bet $30 with about $150 behind. CO calls $30 with about $100 behind, and I raise to $200 and MP+1 thinks for a bit and calls, CO also calls unwillingly.

Turn: 8

River: 3

I turn over my hand and MP+1 shows Q10, and CO shows QJ. My stack skyrockets to $800~

Hand 2:
Some history about UTG - he likes limping, alot, even with big hands. Plays a pretty weak, tight, intimidated style. He limped behind with a hand like JJ in LP, and minraises the flop with an overpair, and checked turn and river with a Q hits the turn. With that in mind, on to the hand.

My stack: $800~ UTG's stack: $250~I am in the SB with A6o.

UTG limps, along with 2 others, I complete and BB checks.

Flop: A K 3

I lead for $10, BB folds, UTG calls, others fold

Turn: 6

I bet $25, UTG min-raises to $50, and I thought about just jamming here. But with his tendencies and playing style, I don't think he's raising here with just TP, and his range is really just AK, KK, 33, 66 IMO. My hand was too good to just fold, so I called the $25 and plan to muck if he makes a big bet on the river.

River: 2

I checked intending to fold to a big bet, but he bets $25. I couldn't fold, and pays off his AK

Nothing really happens for the next 2 hours. Players were really loose with calling down, and I simply didn't get any hands where I can extract any type of value from it. I essentially limped 60% of the pot, raised 20% of the pot (was pretty card dead during that time), and folded once in awhile. Any hand with playable value, connector, one-gapper, two-gapper, three-gapper, etc. The only hands I really folded were like J2, Q5, hands that were simply unplayable, and mostly when I was in EP.

2 players sat down to my right during those 2 hours, and they were probably the worst player I've seen live. Granted, I haven't really spent alot of time at the tables live, but most players at least had a slight clue about what they were doing. These two players on the other hand, had no idea. They must've played close to 100% of the pots (they got away with it as this table was so limp happy). A couple of hands to illustrate the point. 2 to my right was the lady (they were a couple), and she limped preflop with 33, hits a set on the flop, and calls a bet of $10 on the flop, $15 on the turn, and checked behind on the river OTB with a very dry board. The second hand involved the guy to my right. Limped preflop with JJ in the HJ, flopped top set, and called a bet of $15 on the flop. Turn was another J to give him quads, and he started breathing really hard. EP leads out for $25 and he min-raised and was called. River was a blank, and EP checked to the HJ who bets $40, EP check-raises to $80 and HJ CALLS(?!?!) with quads! EP turns over a boat and commented "I saw your heavy breathing, but I couldn't lay this down even if you shoved on me".

Sit around some more, limped more hands, missed more flops, and decided to call it at night at about 4am or so. I was sad to leave the table, but I also had to get some rest so I can wake up to play the tournament tomorrow. I was up 1.5x the max buy-in approx. at the end of the session, but it was probably the first time I sat at the table while playing thinking I just want to kill myself. Players routinely took more time than necessary to make the simpliest decision, and half the time players don't even its their turn to act! I've never felt so painful playing this game, not even when I ran bad earlier this trip in tournaments, or the times where I just could't win a hand online. Took the short walk from the Venetian to Harrah's, and almost fell asleep instantenously.

Vegas Trip Day 5 - July 5th

2008-07-19T00:25:00.002-04:00

Woke up at around 10-11am with actyper mentioning that he isn't feeling that well. We decided to check out the Chinese restaurant inside the Mandalay Bay. Noodle House had authentic Chinese food in Vegas - but it wasn't cheap. We paid about $45 for a meal that would cost $20 in Toronto! We spent the afternoon at the Mandalay Bay Beach/Pool and it was absolutely gorgeous.

The card was scheduled to start at 5:05pm, so went left the pool area and went back upstairs to bum around until time to head down to the event centre. We ended up finding "I Bet You" with Antonio Esfandari and Phil Laak on TV, so watched a couple of episodes before going down for UFC 86.

WATTS!!!

2008-07-18T03:07:00.001-04:00

Before I continue with my trip report...congrats to Mike "SirWatts" Watson for taking down the $15K WPT Bellagio Cup for $1.6 million.

Key Hands

Hand #149 - David Benyamine has the button, he raises to 500,000, Watson raises to 1.5 million, Benyamine moves all in, and Watson immediately calls with AK. Benyamine shows QQ, and it's the classic race, with the tournament or a huge chip lead at stake.

The flop comes 1082, and Benyamine retains the lead with his pocket queens.

The turn card is the 5, and Benyamine retains the lead. Watson's large group of friends starts shouting for an ace, and things like, "One time!"

The river card is -- the A!

Watson doubles up with a pair of aces.

Watson's friends cheer and clap on the rail, but he almost looks sheepish as he walks back to the table. Benyamine goes over to look at his stack to see what kind of damage he's gonna take.

AND the winning hand

Hand #154 - Mike Watson has the button, he moves all in, and Benyamine immediately calls all in for 2,985,000 with K9. Watson shows Q9, and he'll need to improve to win the tournament here.

The flop comes AQ6, and Watson pairs his queen to take the lead.

The turn card is the 9, and Benyamine needs a king on the river to stay alive.

The river card is the 7, and Mike Watson wins the pot -- and the tournament -- with two pair, queens and nines.

David Benyamine finishes as the runner-up in second place, earning $840,295.

Mike Watson wins the WPT Bellagio IV, earning $1,673,770, a WPT bracelet, a Bellagio bracelet, and entry into the Season VII WPT World Championship next April here at Bellagio.

Vegas Trip Day 4 - July 4th

2008-07-15T11:59:00.003-04:00

July 4th, Independence Day - the hotel as well as the strip was packed with people. Woke up and went over to Venetian to try to satellite last minute into the $1K event. Woke up pretty early and had a quick breakfast before going to the Venetian. Got in to the last or second last satellite with a $240 buy-in and pays top 2 with seat + a bit of cash. t2000 to start with 25-50 blinds at 15 minutes blind level.

Folded for the first 30 - 45 minutes, and just started push-botting. I only knocked out 1 player with AK > AQ when we were 5 handed, but the eventual other winner was just getting smacked in the face with the deck, and he was winning races from both side, sucking out with hands like A10 > AJ, and winning 40/60. And then I am in playing the $1000 Venetian event.

Started at table 49 seat 6 (I think its 49 anyways). Not my favourite seat as it is in the middle of the table so I have to turn my head alot to observe the table. t15000 stacks to start at 25-50.

Table started pretty loose passive, and I just limped along, or cold-called a couple of raises in LP with suited connectors/PP and stack a player or two. I simply missed everything and bled down a bit but nothing of note happened until halfway into the second level.

My stack: t13000~, Villain's stack: t18000~. Blinds 50-100 I am in the BB with AKss

Preflop: 4 limpers to villain in the CO whom raises to t800, I re-raise to t2800, all the limpers fold and villain insta-calls.

Flop: K J 10

I bet 4000 with my TPTK, and villain thinks for around 30 seconds and announces all-in. I think this hand over and the only hand in his range that I beat is KQ, everything else that he could've called the reraise preflop with beats my AK. I fold and my stack is down to around t7000~. Villain later tells me had flopped a set with JJ.

After that hand I went card dead until the last orbit before the first break.

Blinds 100-200. My stack: t6500~, Button's stack: t18000~, BB's stack: t15500. Hero is UTG+2 with JJ

Preflop: I raise to 600, and is called by the button and BB.

Flop: 9 6c 3c

I bet 1300, button raises to 3500 almost instantly after my put my bet out, and BB goes in the tank. BB thinks for around a minute and announces all-in. This pretty much means my JJ is beat so I fold. Button snap-calls with 66 and BB turns over 98cc

Turn 7

River K

BB is eliminated and hero is getting short.

The blinds get by and with around 5 minutes level to the first break, I get involved again.

Blinds 100-200. My stack: t3950, BB's stack: t20000+. Hero is on the button with AQo

3 limpers to me and I was debating between shoving or raising to something like t1200 and getting it in on any flop. I decide that shoving and even gaining 1000 in chips isn't bad, better than getting a bad flop and getting the rest of my chips in bad.

So I shove for 3950, and BB calls. 3 limpers fold and I'm racing against 1010.

Flop K 9 4

Turn 3

River J

I wish everyone good luck and decided to head over to Caesar's Palace and have a late lunch.

After the buffet, I was deciding what to do for the evening, with fireworks planned at Mandalay Bay, Caesar's Palace and probably the Rio. Sent a few text messages around and it appears I'll be heading to the Sapphire Pool at Rio in the evening, so it was time to play some cash game to kill the afternoon.

Got on the list for 1-3 NL 500 max at Caesar's, and was about 10 names down the list. They were just opening a new table of 4-8 Limit so I planned to play until my name is called for the 1-3. The 4-8 game started running and it felt like I was back at Brantford again. Guys were calling 3, 4 bets preflop with hands like QJ, and each hand were 6-7 players to the flop. There were a couple of players who were involved in close to 100% of the hands preflop, and would call down if they hit any part even if its just bottom pair. The player in seat 10 ran super hot when he ran a $100 buy-in up to close to $400 within 1 hour...K7 beating KQ with he hits a 7 on the river, hitting his flush/gut shot, etc. He proceeded to lose the $400 in the next 2 hours and was busto before dinner. By some sort of miracle, I managed to get the table to agree to play with a half kill and the table loosened up even more. I was called for the 1-3 NL game but I decided that this game was probably a better game anyways so I stayed on this table. Players were playing ATC just to protect their "leg-up", and pots were easily over $150 by showdown. Unfortunately I just couldn't get any of my big hands to hold up - AA went down in flames to AK with K high flop and he went runner runner flush, set loses to flush draw, stuff like that. I'm not telling them like bad beat stories, just simply reporting the stuff that was happening. Somehow I managed to win a pretty big pot with AA vs. KK on the half kill hand to bring me back to about even for the day - first time I've left the table down playing limit for the past 15 sessions or so of BCC play.

During my table play, BlondeFish came by and told me he had an extra invite to Everest's Exclusive Party at Pure, and thus my changing my original plan from the Sapphire Pool to the party at Pure. I mean - catered-meal, open-bar, July-4th on the Pure Patio, what more can you ask for? Props for Everest for putting on this party as it was a blast. One of the bartenders introduced a drink called "Salute" to me, and it was a great drink. Pineapple juice mixed with some other alcohol - it was a perfect drink for a summer night. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the recipe for the drink yet...and other bartenders at the other night clubs/bars have never even heard of that drink. Anyways, the Everest party was from 7-10, afterward the club was open to us to spend the night. Big thanks to BlondeFish for handing me that invite from Everest, as the line outside Pure that night was crazy.

I went to the Sports Book for a bit in between parties as I wanted to watch the ending of the crazy Colorado Rockies-Florida Marlins game which ended with the final score of 18-17. For those that have never been to Caesar's Palace, Pure nightclub is located between the Sports Book and the Pussycat Dolls lounge, right beside the Poker Room. There is quite a large waiting area that is setup for the evening, and there must've been at least 300-400 patrons waiting in line by 9pm, and the club doesn't even open until 10pm! By the time 1130 came around, the club was full of people with the exception of the VIP areas. Some tables were filled but 2/3 or so were still empty. It wasn't until 1 or so until the party picked up and most/all of the tables were filled. There were many gorgeous ladies at the party, and drinks weren't cheap. Oh wells.

I stumbled back to the hotel at around 2 that night - still early by Vegas standards but I decided to call it a night early as tomorrow is a pretty big day with the UFC Fight.

Day 3 - July 3rd Part 2

2008-07-12T16:23:00.003-04:00

Went back to the room to grab actyper, and met up with another guy from 2+2, and made our way down to the Golden Nugget. Obv it was the first time I was downtown, and by the looks of it I will probably hang around the strip for the rest of my trip. Saw adanthar at the buffet line, and formally put some screennames to faces. The buffet was alright, but nothing to write home about. After the buffet, we proceeded downstairs to "The Grand" where they had private tables setup for us. I ended up at a table with 4_2_it (Joe - aka the guy who set this all up), and a bunch other guys. We played 2/4 drunk limit where between myself and Joe (the LAGtards at the table), for the first hour or so of Omaha8, Double-flop omaha, double flop hold'em, whatever we were playing, it would be 3 bet blind after it gets by us. Bought in for $300 and ended up cashing out for $200. With the amount of booze I drank, it was definitely cheaper than going out to a club/bar and buying alcohol.

Briefly played with David Sklansky, Dan Harrington and Ray Zee at one point or another during the night. Ray Zee called me a nit before even sitting down and Sklansky folded the eventual winning hand in double flop omaha. Montel Williams popped by the Nugget and started a $500 SnG...I would've played but didn't carry too much cash on me so I stuck with donking around the 2/4 table. Decided to leave the Nugget at around midnight, and hooked up with another 2p2er while waiting for a cab. While actyper went home, Greg and I went over to a new strip club that he recommended to check it out. Nothing special really and it was off the strip a bit, very small compared to Sapphire and it seemed pretty empty where it appeared that dancers outnumbered clients...wasn't there for long before heading back to Mandalay Bay for the night

Day 3 - July 3rd Part 1

2008-07-10T14:41:00.004-04:00

One problem with trying to write a trip report a few days after the actual day, is that you will probably forget some things you did if it wasn't poker related. The writing of this blog post probably will span a couple of hours while I attempt to piece together that event of the day.

Actyper woke up pretty early and headed out to play Day 1 of the Main Event. I wished him luck on his way out and quickly fell back to sleep. I was supposed to play in the Caesar's Mega Stack, but I remember waking up late and was too late for late registration by the time I arrived at Caesar's Palace. I wandered around the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace for some time, and had my first of many gelatos of this trip. With my gelato in hand, I wander through the shops, and as actyper predicted, Pete Rose was again signing autographs at the sports memorabilia shop inside.

Once I got bored of wandering (I had no intentions to buy anything big this trip as I have no luggage space), I decided to head to the Rio to check out the festivities that is Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event - and at the same time to see what the Gaming Life Expo (GLE) is all about. The GLE was a disappointment IMO, with the exception of the 2p2 booth which stoodout, and at the same time was very professional without the aid of models in short shorts and tank tops. I strolled through the expo and preceeded into the Amazon room. Barry Greenstein was playing at one of the tables by the rail, and there were about 20 railbirds at various point watching him play. Scotty Nguyen was playing at the ESPN feature table, so I decided to sit in the audience for a bit. A mid-late 20s female railbird joined me in the stands and she was definitely not a physically unattractive individual by any mean either. We talked for awhile and found out she was here with a couple of friends who are playing in the ME but couldn't locate them so she decided to just sit and watch Scotty for awhile. I ended up watching for about half an hour before deciding that watching was too boring so I went back to Mandalay Bay and shot craps for awhile before the evening 2+2 gathering.

More on the 2+2 gathering in the next post.

Update

2008-07-09T01:59:00.002-04:00

I'm done with MTTs in Vegas - went 1/5 (or 6 - something like that), so its good news bad news. Good news is that I had my first ever live MTT cash, bad news was that I missed out on cashing for a big score.

I cashed in the $330 Venetian Deep Stack tournament yesterday (July 7th), but had I won the last pot when I moved in with A6 vs. KQ for about 10BB against an aggressive LP, I would've put myself in good position for possibly the final table (or at least the final 2 tables) but it wasn't meant to be. I'm definitely not complaining about this cash after how bad I ran this week - but still no where close to some guys who are 0 for 20 or so from this year's WSOP.

I'll probably write a detailed report on the flight back or something starting from after day 2.

July 4th, Pure, Fireworks

2008-07-05T02:51:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update. Been partying it up quite a bit lately, going to start playing a couple of tournaments after the fight tomorrow evening. Had a blast at Pure tonight with open bar + July 4th fireworks at the hottest club in Vegas. Sweated Watts for a bit and he's pretty huge so far last I was in touch with him with over 100K. Other than that I will have a more detailed TR for day 3 and 4 when I'm sober.

Vegas Trip - Day 2

2008-07-03T13:26:00.002-04:00

Day 2 – July 2, 2008
Woke up at 9am or so, and got a message from actyper saying he has an extra bed in his room in Mandalay Bay, so I migrated to his room as a bed and some personal space beats crashing on a couch in the living room no matter how nice of a mansion the couch is in.
The Mandalay Bay buffet seems ok at first, but I will definitely have to rethink that at the conclusion of this trip. Headed out to Caesar’s Palace to play in their Mega Stack Series. Bumped into Buddy (BlondeFish) prior to the beginning of the tournament, and the tournament started pretty much on time with t7500 starting chips and 50 minutes level.
The table makeup is pretty weird, for the most part the table is very loose passive preflop, but occasionally a hand would be 3-betted.

First hand of note (hero was not involved) was also seat 8’s first hand, about 15 minutes into the level.
Effective stacks – t7500
Blinds 25/50, and Seat 7 raises to 225, and seat 8 announces raise and tosses in 2 1000 chips and 1 25 chip. Now note that the 1000 chip and the 100 chip looks somewhat similar, with another player at the table making the similar mistake earlier. Carrying on – seat 7 calls after a minute or so of thought.
Flop comes Q 10 2 rainbow
Seat 7 leads for 2000, and Seat 8 announces all-in almost instantly. Seat 7 thinks about 30 seconds, and calls. Here I was thinking there is AQ vs. KK, or AA vs. QQ, or QQ vs. 1010, but it turns out Seat 8 has a set with 1010, but seat 7 had AJ. Turn came as a 2, which filled up the boat for seat 8, and seat 7 is left with 475. Those chips went in the next hand with 93o and the BB called by K7ss, both players missed the board completely and the player is gone.

The table was super quiet, outside of the initial talk with the dealer despite my effort to start up a conversation with the guy to my right or left.

Next hand comes up with 50/100, and hero stack is t6500~ with villain’s stack t9500~
Hero is on the button with QQ. Villain limped in behind 2 other limpers and hero raises to 600 and was called by villain in MP.
Flop comes K 6 2 with 2 spades
Villain checks to hero and hero bets 900. Villain check-raises to 3000. Hero briefly thought about jamming but decided that villain’s body language doesn’t seem right as he looked very comfortable and confident and decided to fold.
Final hand of the tournament comes about a couple of orbits later towards to the end of the 50/100 level.
Hero t5500~, villain t7000~
Hero raises to 300 in MP with 1010, and player on the button calls and blinds fold. Villain in this hand has been pretty tight for the most part and hasn’t been involved much.
Flop comes Q 10 9 – not a dream flop but can’t complain flopping a set. Hero follows with a bet of 475, which villain raises to to 1500. I decided that this board is draw heavy enough and with the villain’s play so far, he is probably calling a shove so I shove for 5500 or so. Villain thinks, and calls with QJ. Turn was a 6 but river brought a K and hero is now 0/1 in tournaments in Vegas.
Barely getting any sleep the night before, I retreated to the hotel room to nap before the Bluff’s Poker Party at Sapphire while intending to go to the Rio to sweat Watts until he texted saying he was busted so I catch my with the blogging.
Stopped by the Card Runners party at the Rio before headed to Sapphire for the Bluff poker party – it was an open bar and all. Just got back from it and met a few friends and put some faces on online handles. Doyle and Todd Brunson, along with other pros whom are affiliated with Doyle’s Room were also in attendance. Hitting the sack now and will either play the Caesar’s tournament tomorrow or just hang out at the Rio until the 2+2 gathering at the Golden Nugget.

Vegas Trip - Day 1

2008-07-03T13:22:00.001-04:00

Day 1 – July 1, 2008

My first trip to Vegas began ironically on Canada Day, and I’ve been anticipating this trip since the plane ticket was booked at the end of May. With all this excitement the last few days leading up to the trip, the first day was big let down. Not that I was expecting to fly first class, picked up by limos and sit beside Maria Sharapova on the flight, but what occurred was a true definition of running bad in life. Things started off when I woke up and left Toronto for Buffalo in the morning, things didn’t get so bad really on the trip across the border, nor did customs take overly long. I was however stuck in a bus with an annoying Chinese woman whom found every single excuse to complain under her breath once we crossed the border to the American side. She got agitated originally due to the apparent “unclear” instructions from the bus driver when someone on the bus did not go through secondary customs with their bag, which resulted in about a 15-minute delay once the mistake was discovered. 15 minutes is really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but she simply ran with the “driver error” for not giving clear instructions despite the fact that they are not allowed to give any instructions and found every chance to complain, mutter, and curse under her breath.

Upon arrival to the Buffalo International Airport, I immediately checked in to drop off one of my luggage, leaving myself with my sling bag and my laptop case. First flight consisted of a loud baby and his non-stop crying, and second flight consisted of an oversized passenger to my right of window seat with no consideration of legroom and elbowroom.

Landed in Vegas at around 10:30pm, and dropped my bags off Watt’s place and headed out immediately to the Rio to check out the action and start losing money. Here is a some poker content.

Rio $175 satellite – 10 handed.

Pretty awful structure with t1000 starting chips and 15 minutes blinds. However, the competition is so soft that it is +ev for most players who may read this who have a small idea of how to play poker and pushing/calling ranges.

First hand of interest in the satellite came at the 25/50 level.

Hero’s Stack 850, MP’s Stack 1500~, SB’s stack 1200~

MP’s been active raising and taking down pots by opening in position, and again raises to t175 and hero looks down at 88 on the button. I was contemplating between calling and shoving when SB announced all-in. Made my fold easier and it turns out SB has 99 and MP has AJ

Next hand involves the player to my immediate right whom have raised on the button/CO regularly and blinds are now 50/100.

Hero’s stack 850, villain 1200~

Villain raises to t300 and hero jams A10ss and villain thinks for a few seconds and says “I can’t fold even if I’m behind” and calls with AJ.

Flopped was A 3 5, and turn was another 5 to give me a few more chop outs. River was a 6 and I’m quickly down on the trip.

Another satellite was about to begin when I busted out so I decided to drop another $275 down on a satellite where starting stack is increased to t1500 and you get 20 minutes blinds.

Nothing really interesting happens, but 7 of the 10 players (including myself) got in a $20 last longest (started with $100, no one was interested except for one guy, dropped to $50, 4 in total and another guy “do $20 and I’m in” and we got 7 into it) but in general the table seemed like they had a bit of an idea of what they were doing, it consisted of a mix of grinders/regulars, and a couple of tourists. Table played pretty tight from the beginning and I chipped up a bit to t3000 or so when this hand came up.

Blinds 50/100, Hero’s stack 2800~, villain 2100~

Villain limps in MP, and hero raises to 400 on the cutoff with JJ, blinds fold and MP calls.

Flop Q 6 4

Hero makes a continuation bet of 600, and villain ask some questions before announcing all-in which forces hero to fold.

Blinds get to 100/200 and hero shoves QJ in the CO with 1400~, SB reshoves with 1010.

Flop was Q J 9, turn brought a 6 and river brought a K and busto again.

Went to watch the heads up match between Marty Smyth and Peter Jetten – “apathy” online. I thought the heads up match lasted like 15 hands or so, but it turns out it lasted 30 hands. Last hand was a cooler even by PLO terms when both guys flopped the nut straight but Marty had a royal flush draw and a full house draw, freerolling Jetten. Club on the river gives the bracelet to Marty.

Also railed the FT of the $1500 HORSE where Hellmuth was going for his 12^th bracelet. The rail was about 3-4 deep with guys cheering for/against Hellmuth. Nothing interesting to note since I only watched a few hands, but as soon as Hellmuth busted out the crowd thinned and there were about 15 railbirds when it got down to heads up.

Sweated Watts until the completion of play in the limit shootout and saw a hand between him and Kenna James with KK vs. AA. He finished the day with 30500. Ended the night back at his place and met the other guys (LearnedFromTV, adanthar, Bond18 etc).

Staking Update

2008-06-28T13:47:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update for my staking situation. I have about 13% sold so far - and 5% swapped so as a whole I'm pretty happy. Thanks for everyone's support - hopefully I'll actually have a few decent showing while I'm there. Been re-doing my playing schedule, and there is a chance by total buy-in will be between $2000-$2500 rather than the earlier estimate of $2500-$3000 (as I will probably try to satellite into the $500/$1000 tournaments at Venetian instead of buying in directly - and if I fail to satellite in I'll just play a smaller buy-in tourney elsewhere like Ceasar's Palace). I just felt I am obligated to update my "investors" and if there is a problem with the new schedule and what not, send me an e-mail and we can sort it out. But if there are still people interested in investing, I'm still going to keep it at $30 per % just to be fair to everyone, and also it will give me a bit of wiggle room if I decide to play an evening tournament if I bust out of the noon tournament early.

3 more sleeps!

4 more sleeps

2008-06-27T01:50:00.002-04:00

4 more sleeps before Vegas - saying I'm pretty excited is probably an understatement. I decided to just take this week off from poker, as I know I will probably be putting 12-16 hours a day at the tables when I get to Vegas, so I just wanted to give myself a bit of break so I don't burn out before my trip is over. I know, who am I to say that I will burn out compare to other guys who grind MTTs/SnGs all day and have been in Vegas since end of May playing donkaments daily when my volume isn't even that high? Well, nothing to say to that really. I just wanted to make sure I go to Vegas fresh and have the desire to play and sit at the table. My live experience is very limited, so almost all of it is from cash games as there are barely any tournaments in Ontario that is within my "bankroll" that is playable. The only real live tournament experience either come from home games in the KW region, or the one $500 and one $1000 tournament I played at Brantford a year or so ago. I think for the most part I just want to go and enjoy the experience - obviously trying to win, but also get some experience under the belt.

As far as other things, I've been looking around, and found some really good deals on a site called US Airways Vacation - they offer flight and hotel for as long as $400~ per person flying out of Pearson (YYZ) to Vegas with 4 nights stay. Considering normal direct flight from YYZ costs $500~, I think I'm already planning my second trip and I haven't even taken my first one yet. I think my second trip might be more of a sight-seeing then a poker trip, as this upcoming one is primarily poker with a few parties here and there. Definitely would like to see the Cirque shows next time I go down, along with the whole Grand Canyon and what not.

My plan is to try to qualify for APPT Macau after this trip - good excuse to visit HK while I'm at it, but EPT in London as well as the WSOP-Europe doesn't sound too bad. High hopes for someone who is currently 0/5 in big live tournaments satellites (0/1 in APPT Seoul, 0/3 in WSOP ME, 0/1 in APPT Macau) but I'm bound to run good sometime right? I still have 1 year left before I finish my undergrad, but I only have a few courses left to do so my schedule for the fall and winter is probably pretty flexible which will allow me to travel - now comes the hard part of actually qualifying.

I think this might be my last update until I leave for Vegas with softball taking up most of this weekend. In reference to my previous entry, I have sold/swapped about 10% of myself for this trip. I am pretty satisfied with that but I would still welcome more "investors" if there are others interested. Please let me know by Monday night (June 30th) at the latest if you are though.

Wes

Selling a few % of myself

2008-06-23T19:42:00.002-04:00

I'll be making a trip down to Las Vegas from July 1 to July 9 - I am currently not planning to play in the WSOP Main Event, but I will should I manage to satellite into the tournament while I'm there. With that said, since I'm not planning to play the Main Event, I will be playing tournaments daily, mainly between the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza and the Caesar's Palace Mega Stack Series. Right now, my schedule is still very much up in the air, since these tournaments end play at night and usually have final table the following day - and I plan to make at least one of these obviously. My plan will have me play about 6-7 tournaments, a daily noon tournament either at the Venetian or Caesar's Palace, and if I somehow lose by 7pm, I'll probably plat the Rio nightly tournament or the Caesar's Palace nightly tournament. With that said, the cost of all my buy-in will probably be around $2500-$3000. I am looking to sell up to 25% of myself for this trip - each % will be $30 either transferred via Poker Stars/Full Tilt Poker, or paid to me in person before I leave next week.

If you have questions about this, feel free to send me an e-mail at westside8@gmail.com

How I started playing online poker - part 1

2008-06-18T10:50:00.001-04:00

I've had a couple (well, just 1) that asked me how I got into playing poker, more along the lines of how I got to where I am today (which isn't very far), so here is a short summary.

I was mainly playing for nickels and dimes until I turned 18 and made my first deposit on PokerStars for $100. I wasn't the brightest back then in terms of bankroll management, table selection, or anything really. I looked at some of the hands I played back then, and they were simply awful. In any case, with $100, I started playing $0.25/$0.50 6max NL. For those bankroll nits, you know that means I only had 2 buyins. I also played some 1/2 Limit 6max - I only had 50BB in this level. Saying that I played above my bankroll was probably an understatement. Somehow I got lucky, went on a heater and quicky ran that $100 up to about $1K within 2 weeks, and I thought I was just THAT good. Being a stupid 18 y/o with no sense of bankroll management, I withdrew $500 of it, and redeposited into Party Poker. Again, with no idea of what bankroll management is, I sat down at a 1/2 NL 6 max table with $500 in my account. I went on another heater, and my PartyPoker account had just over $2K by the end of the week. I felt like I was top of the world - less than a month ago I put $100 into poker, and now I'm sitting with $2500 or so. I withdrew a bunch of money from PartyPoker, and treated myself to a few new things. I continued playing the $1/$2 NL 6max, but reality (aka variance) finally struck. I lost most of what was left on PartyPoker after my withdrawal - and I was looking for answers. I came across Canada's Poker Forum (CPF www.pokerforum.ca), and I became a member. Some of the members on that site were instrumental in the early stages of my development as a poker player - learning how to properly manage my bankroll, and learning the game.

Part 2 coming up soon

Epic Failure x2

2008-06-16T10:16:00.002-04:00

Played both the Poker Stars 200 Main Event Seat Guaranteed satellite as well as the Full Tilt Poker 150 Main Event Seat Guaranteed satellite and donked out of them both. Probably misplayed a hand on Stars when I had AJss and played it super passively on a KsQs6x board, and then just lost a flip with AK > JJ. On Full Tilt, couldn't get anything going as I was just card dead, and anytime I tried raising light, I was forced to fold after continuation betting the flop and getting played back at when I miss, or simply can't make a play at a coordinated flop with several players in. I will probably do a short review of hands again soon as I gear up for Vegas in 2 weeks.

I didn't plan to play yesterday originally (not due to Father's Day as our family tends to celebrate these days a day or two in advance to avoid the crowd), but Sunday freed up last minute due to the weather in Toronto, so I was able to lose a few hundred dollars playing donkaments. I will probably look into playing the satellites on PokerRoom as well not week as per actyper's advice regarding the softness of their satellites. At this rate, I'll go broke trying to satellite into the Main Event before I even get a chance to go to Vegas.

Speaking of actyper - congrats on winning your Main Event package this past weekend.

Nothing Much

2008-06-13T10:55:00.002-04:00

Haven't played too many hands the past few days. With work 9-5, and softball on a couple of evenings as well as being in attendance for the NHL Awards last night, I played enough to keep the Iron Man streak going, and thats pretty much it. Going to put in some hours on Saturday and Sunday, finishing up with the Poker Stars $370 200 WSOP Main Event seat guaranteed satellite on Sunday.

First WSOP Main Event Attempt

2008-06-10T23:29:00.006-04:00

With my trip to Vegas looming, I'm going to be trying to win a Main Event seat via Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker. The past few Sundays have been booked, so I finally had a chance to play the Poker Stars $650 Main Event satellite this past Sunday. This tournament was an epic failure, outside of maybe winning 5 hands, I played tighter than Watts - and thats quite an accomplishment. Here are just a few hands I wanted to highlight for the time being.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740417

This was about 30-40 hands into the tournament. I have been basically folding every hand so far, except for a couple of hands where I limped behind a limper or two in late position with a pocket pair and whiffed the flop.

UTG+1 has been relatively active preflop - calling raises on a regularly basis. Hero here decides to take a flop in position to see if I can flop anything.

Flop is relatively dry, UTG's bet into 2 players is either weak, or super strong. Since I got a piece of it, I did get a piece of it, so I decided to make a raise to see where I am at. If re-raised/called, I'm behind, otherwise I'm hoping to make the players with two overcards fold. On another hand, they both can't have air, so I MOST LIKELY should've folded the flop as I'm probably never ahead. As played, I guess I should've probably made the raise on a flop a bit bigger. In any case, the call by UTG+1 obviously means hero is behind on the flop, but the turn brought a miracle 5 and there is no way UTG+1 sees hero playing a 5 in this spot. The river check might be a bit weak - but posted the hand to get comments on 2p2.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740450

Second hand of interest comes about 20 hands later. This hand's raiser has been raising quite a few hands preflop after losing with QQ, and after showing down 56hh, hero's table image obviously took a different turn. Preflop call a bit on the loose side again, but I figured with the original raiser's tendency, and the fact that I beat him with 56 against his QQ earlier, I will probably get paid off if I make a decent hand.

Not sure what the check on the flop means, but I can't give a free card with this board. Made trips again on the turn, but this completed the flush and villain makes a check-raise. This probably could've been a fold, but I am not good enough yet to make a fold with trips + second best kicker yet. I guess with villain's stack, I could've moved him in as well and if he had a flush, I still had outs. Reviewing my play, calling seemed the worse out of raise/call/fold - with raise/fold being equal and calling being the worse. The river doesn't exactly bring the best card in the deck, as a hand like QJ just got there, but the horrible turn play put me in this situation, and I was glad to see villain turning over 86 and win a decent sized pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740467

About 30 hands later this hand comes up. Table has been pretty limp happy, and I decided to come along in late position with a relatively high implied odds hand. The flop brings hero a pair + flush draw, so a raise behind the bet was in order - his push gave hero 6 to 1 odds, and there was no way I was folding. Ran into a set but turned the flush immediately for another decent size pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740474

Nothing happens for a good 150 hands, and I was just stealing the occasional blinds, and 3-betting once in awhile to an active LP player to stay relatively with the same stack.

UTG has raised 5 of the last 8 times UTG (did not know the exact # until I reviewed the hand histories - but I knew he has been very active UTG while I was "in the moment"). In retrospect, hero should've did a stop-and-go if I was planning to play for his stack with my hand. Nothing more than that to comment on with this hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740485

I push-botted a bit, and then won a race here to get back to a decent stack. I was still 1/2 of average stack at this point though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2740487

Pushed-bot for awhile again, and this happened. GG me.

This weekend Poker Stars is running a $370, 200-seat guaranteed satellite. Hopefully I come away with one this weekend or something...time is running out.

First Post

2008-06-10T22:04:00.001-04:00

Nothing really special here - just decided to start this blog so I can move poker contents away from my regular blog and have it set up here.

Something short as an intro for the time being I guess. I'm a 20 year old poker player from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is entering my final year (as of right now - that might change later on) at University of Waterloo. Been playing poker for the better of the past 5 years, and started really because a couple of friends have been playing and got me into it. The Moneymaker effect in 2004 got me more involved and playing more often - and I got my taste of online poker after turning 18. Don't really have much big poker accomplishment as of yet - have had a couple of 4 figure scores on Poker Stars, but have yet to play in any real big tournaments which will change in July as I will be in Vegas for 10 days and will be playing a few events at the Venetian Deepstack Extravagenza as well as the Caesar's Mega Stack - and the WSOP Main Event if I somehow luckbox into a seat either via Poker Stars/Full Tilt Poker/live-bingoments at the Rio.

I've been a low-limit grinder for the past 2-3 years, playing mainly $0.50/$1.00 NL 6max and $16/$27 turbo Sit-n-Go - making enough to cover my tuition and various toys here and there. I very rarely play live at a B&M casino, but on occasions I do play 2/5NL at Fallsview Casino, and 5-10/10-20 LHE at Brantford Charity Casino. These stakes are obviously slightly above my bankroll, but the games are so juicy that it is very irresistable to sit down and play - and being able to take some variance from time to time doesn't hurt either.

In terms of poker goals - I would like to continue to play poker purely for the enjoyment of it, and hopefully see parts of the world while I'm at it, which obviously mean my main goal is not to be a millionaire from it - but more along the lines of winning seats to EPT/APPT/Aussie Millions etc. and travelling (if the money comes - even better). The extra money on the side is great, but I will stop if it ever stops becoming fun. I enjoy the challenging aspect of the game, as well as the competition that comes along with it. I have also made some great friends playing this game, and thats something that can't be taken away from me.

I guess thats it for now, I will post more later as I have been playing quite a fair bit since school finished in mid-April. Still working a full time, 9-5, M-F job, but still logging in some hours at the virtual felt. Hopefully will get a few hand history in, some strategy posts and what not in the near future.

-wes