I got tortured in the Stud/Omaha High Low event, especially in the Stud 8. I had like 5 hands where I started 456 then caught a 2… Q… K….10. It was so sick. The hand I went broke on was against Chris Reslock. I was all in on sixth street with: 3-4-6-7-Ks-Qs and all he ended up with was a lousy pair of deuces. The only way I could be eliminated was to catch a 9, 10, or a J. I squeezed my card and it was a good squeeze: red paint. That means it has to be a J, Q, or a K, and since my K and Q were both spades my chances of doubling up were really good. Of course, it was the J and that was that! Today at noon we have the first ever $5000 buy in no limit hold’em shootout. Without question, one of the most skill based events you’ll find at the WSOP as making the final table requires that you not only excel at ring game play, but also short handed, and heads up. You can’t fold your way to a final table, you have to win your way there. If you are lucky enough to win your first table, you’ll then face off against 9 other guys who all won theirs. Win that one, and now you are guaranteed to be at a tough final table. It’s extremely unlikely that a bad player can fluke his way to a final table, much less win the bracelet. The 5k will have a solid structure too, much better than the $1500 as it should be. It should take about 8 hours to win your table, then you’d be done for the day. Last year I came in 3rd in the $1500 event and feel good about my chances in a slower structured shootout. ***************************************************************** I’m doing daily video blogs now and you can find them at either www.fullcontactpoker.com or at www.rawvegas.tv. ***************************************************************** Power Hold’em, the book I’d been working on for ages is officially available for purchase right now. You can find a link on the FCP homepage or just click here. It’s 10:15am now and I’m going to hit a few putts then hit the showers. Peace. ]]>
I was cruising right along up over 100k in the tournament with little risk. I made one sick call in a hand where I was totally prepared to call a shove on the river: I raised with 77 from early position to 1400 with blinds at 300-600 (75) and the button called (internet player) as did the big blind. The flop came 10-10-8 with two hearts and I fired 2500, the button raised me 4200 more and didn’t buy it- so I called. The turn was a 2 and I check called 8600. Totally had the kid on complete air based on a physical tell I felt strongly about. River was a J, a seemingly bad card but it didn’t scare me all that much. I checked. he had about 22,000 and I’d already decided I was calling it if he bet. He gave it up and tapped the table. Ivey sat at my table, three to my left and doubled up the first hand against that same kid who made a bad play. Kid raised early with AK, I called button with 2s 3s and Ivey called in the BB. Flop was 10-8-6 and it got checked around. Turn was an Ace and Ivey fired out 9000. Key thing to not, is that Ivey only had about 20k. For him to bet 9000 you can take your AK and shove it, no chance it could be good. The kid pushed Ivey in and he called with A8 getting him up in chips and creating a monster that would dominate the rest onf the night. I was a bit handcuffed with Ivey on my left, plus I ceased to flop any pairs for the rest of the evening as my stack dwindled down to 0k or so before me making a comeback to 64k at the end of the day. Ivey was torturing people. I knew what he was up to- we’ve played a lot of poker so I “got it” if you will, but he won all the dead money, got paid on his big hands, and abused people who were trying to steal a pot from him. It was just ugly. It was like robbing people in broad daylight. Today I get a new table and hopefully I can get some work done without having to worry about Ivey on my left, at least till the final table 🙂 I mostly stayed out of his way after his stack grew. He was actually all in with JJ versus 88 on a flop of 8-9-10 but when a Jack hit the river he hit the 100k mark which made him even more of a threat. I was actually a bit tired also, so I decided to take the safe route. I did make two squeeze plays late, as I didn’t get any real hands so I attacked an Ivey limp with 97, then made a squeeze play with Jc 7c from the button. Anyway, I’m going to go putt for a while then head down to the Rio…]]>
So here is the deal: The limit portion ends and this is the FIRST hand of no limit hold’em with 25-50 blinds. This is important to note. A player limps in late position, Bill Edler limps in the cutoff position, and I raise to 275 from the small blind with JJ
The limper calls, and then Edler makes it 1050. I found that to be a really strange play, especially for the very first no limit hand. I didn’t think he would limp strong in late position when he already had a limper in the pot. I thought about actually re-raising pre-flop, but ultimately decided to take the safe route and just call (the other guy mucked).
The flop came Qh 9d 5h and I checked, planning on calling a bet on the flop and seeing what developed. Surprisingly, Edler checked. To me it felt like he was giving up on the pre-flop bluff/steal attempt, or had a small pair type hand. With a coordinated board and two hearts out there, if he had AA or KK I figured he’d bet the flop in the hopes of winning a big pot on the flop.
At that point I was convinced my JJ were good. The Queen on the board was essentially irrelevant as there is no hand with a Queen in it that I could give him. He was either in front before the flop, flopped a set, or I had him beat.
The turn card was a 9 and I decided to protect my hand, plus also hope to gain some information. I bet 1600 and Bill called. At this point I felt like Bill may have 10-10, or 8-8 and was trying to play a small pot with me hoping I was on a draw or a bluff.
The river card paired the 5 for a board of Q-9-5-9-5. I had about 7300 and actually decided to make a defensive/value bet on the river of 3000. With that bet I’m hoping to get called by a worse hand, or possibly save some money if he planned on betting more with a hand like AA KK QQ or even 99.
When Bill raised me I thought to myself, so odd, QQ? It was hard for me to believe he’d limp late with QQ after a limper and then re-raise? I don’t really know much about Bill’s game aside from the fact that he’s extremely creative and capable of making plays in strange spots. He made a play like that against me in Atlantic City a while back. A play where it was raise, raise, raise and he had nada.
He raised me 4100 more all in. A bet that “looks” like it has to be the nuts or close to it. Bill knows I know that, and I was very curious to see this hand. It was played so strangely that I couldn’t figure it out. Did he put me on a hand like JJ and think I was making a defensive bet? Did he think he could rob me if he moved in? I had no idea, so since the pot was laying me a price, I had no real choice but to call. Seems odd to say “no choice” but that’s what it felt like since I had no clue what he had.
He turned over KK and his creative approach to the hand is what won him all my chips. Hats off to him, he clearly outplayed me on that hand. Had I checked the turn again I’d still be in the event, but because I took a more aggressive line it cost me.
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Tomorrow I am playing in the noon tournament. You won’t get updates at www.fullcontactpoker.com until 3:00pm, but I’ll pop into the VIP room at 2:00pm to let you guys know the final tally on rebuys. I would set the over/under at about $13,000. I rebuy right away and do a double add on which comes to $4000, so I think $13,000 is about right considering my volatile approach to rebuy events.
I have a bracelet bet with Ivey and he is playing that event also. His over/under should be at least that high if not higher. I assume he is going to gamble heavy in the hopes of pumping up the table so he can get more chips later on.
Having a madman at your table in a rebuy event is a huge advantage for you, even if you are playing only one bullet. If you can get your AK to hope up against a 9-6 you have a chance to pick up an easy double up.
There are two very different approaches to these events: 1) play fundamentally sound and take advantage of all of the spewing by giving yourself better odds on your money, and 2) gamble recklessly early, cosating yourself a few bucks, lowering your odds on your money, ubt improving your chances of victory.
If you have significant bracelet bets, there is only one way to go: gamble, gamble, gamble! If that’s not a concern to you, you should play carefully early on and just wait for premium hands and hope they hold up.
My goal during the rebuy period is to build up my chips to at LEAST 10,000 before it’s over and then do a double add on to 12,000. A stack of that size will allow me to implement a small ball brand of poker that suits my style perfectly. Until I get to about 8000 in chips, anything below that can be replaced for a $2000 rebuy so I am more than willing to take the worst of it and hope to get lucky. As PokerRoad’s own Scott Huff says, “If you can’t take the best of it, take the worst of it.” Nice!
In the meantime, what often happens when you go on a rebuy rampage is that you send opponents on complete tilt. They too then feel forced to gamble and what you have is a table full of massive stacks. If your table doesn’t break too soon, you’ll then have a shot at a massive stack yourself if you can bust a player or two. Then, when your table breaks, you get there with 60,000 in chips while the average stack at the table is like 9,000! That makes the game easy when it works out that way, but it doesn’t always.
Sometimes 10-3 loses to A-J an inordinate amount of times. That’s really unlucky. Most people (aside from guys like Gus Hansen) don’t really understand that fact. Losing with 10-3 against A-J four times in a row is really unlucky! Yes A-J is a favorite, but not that big a favorite.
I start tomorrow with 4000 in chips. One double gets me to 8000 and then one more gets me to 16,000. I don’t “have” to have the worst hand either, something even maniacs get aces!
When the rebuy period is over I’ll be happy if I’ve spent, say, $8000 and have 20,000 in chips. My absolute worst case scenario after the rebuy period is a stack of 8,000. A double rebuy, and a double add on.
With this approach, there is little chance for an early out, so I’ll likely miss the 5:00pm Omaha 8 event and go deep in the rebuy tourney.
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Before we get to the next event, I figured I’d give you a brief overview of what happened to me in the $1500 no limit event. I wanted to take advantage of my weak table early, but if you can’t hit a draw then it’s going to be an early day. In three key hands I had the following:
9d 10d vs Qd Qh- Board Kd Jd 10h 4s
Ah 9h vs field in four way action pot- Board Qh 3s 5h
Ad 9d vs QQ- 10d 9h 7d… 8h…. 4c….see ya
In two events so far it’s been a similar story with me not connecting on any base hits, never mind home run balls. It’s a long series, though, and I’m ok with my play so far.
After I got knocked out of the tournament I headed to TPC Summerlin to play 27 holes with my buddies. After that, we ate at Kona Grill than played Golden Tee golf and pool at my house. It was a fun night, and I was playing well on the pool table. I’d been off recently, but had my A game that night.
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Sunday was a day off since the $1500 was split into two day ones so I took the opportunity to golf with my buddies over at Spanish Trail. The Canyons nine just opened so we played Canyon Lakes, then Canyon Lakes again for a 36 hole day.
I randomly ran into Dewey Tomko and Doyle Brunson on the course who claimed to be “scouting” my progress. They just so happened to roll up when I hit the best 5 wood I ever hit and landed it 7 feet from the hole. I missed the putt, but then hit a solid drive on the next hole. Doyle then carted off with a, “I’ve seen enough.” Little do they know how bad I really am! I had a good day, though, hitting the ball pretty well for the most part.
At night I had an appearance to make on behalf of Corum, the official timepiece of the WSOP. I did a similar appearance for them last year at Caesars and this year they held a little tourney at the Rio, right in the middle of the action. I floated around the room a bit, giving advice to those who asked, and even some of those who didn’t ask. I actually own four Corum watches and they are the only ones I wear. I had an old Rolex from winning the best all around player award in Foxwoods back in 1997, but I never wear it.
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Tomorrow my tournament doesn’t start until 5:00pm. At about 11:30am I’m going to head to Spanish Trail again to play 18 and then head straight to the tournament from there. And yes, I promise to shower before I leave the course!
The tournament is an intriguing one. Last year there were complaints that the mix was too heavily biased towards the limit portion of the tournament, making the no limit aspect much less important.
This year we went with a much better structure I think, playing 30 minutes of each game, starting with NL (I believe) and then changing to limit. The no blinds will essentially always be about 50% of the limit blinds. That seems to be pretty close in terms of being a fair ratio. For example, a no limit game with $25-$50 blinds will play similarly to a $100-$200 limit game with $50-$100 blinds.
I think this is a fun event, and one that, again, suits me very well. My results in limit hold’em events have been, historically very good. In fact, as a tournament game, I definitely think it’s one of my absolute strongest and my results would show that. The reason I haven’t won any limit hold’em events recently is well, because none of the $10 WPT events or EPT events are limit hold’em, and those are really the only events I play outside of the WSOP.
There are major adjustments that need to be made in these two games. Limit is a game where it’s important to pound hard and get full value for your hands, while NL is a game where caution is extremely important, as is setting traps which is rare in LH.
My sleep schedule seems to be getting better. I’m pushing myself to stay up till closer to 2:00am and waking up about 10:30am. It’s just much more conducive to the WSOP schedule and so I think adapting is crucial. Whether it’s a noon tournament or a 5:00pm tournament, I plan on sticking with a 2:00am bedtime and a 10:30am wake up. The 5:00pm events make that tough, though, as they don’t finish until 3:00pm.
On that note, I’m going to hit the sack.
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The turn was a 7, David checked and I checked behind him. The river was a Queen and David bet 5000. I didn’t think David would check two pair or a set on the turn, so all I could put him on that beat me was a hand like Q-8 or 9-10 looking for the check-raise. I also felt like, since I showed weakness, he may try to bluff the pot with a hand like K-6. I called the 5000 and he showed 9-10.
Then later on his button he made it 1200 to go, and I moved in for like 4400 with Ac 3c from the small blind. David called with K-10 and flopped a King. Next.
After the tournament I headed back to my house and hit some balls. I chipped in my backyard for a bit before heading upstairs to use the simulator. Good way to release tension, that’s for sure.
I turned on the TV and randomly watched the National Spelling Bee. That’s one of the funniest shows on television! I’m hooked.
The plan is to get to bed a bit later tonight, around 1:00am and try to get up closer to 10:00am in preparation for the long WSOP days. If things don’t go well tomorrow I will probably head to Summerlin and maybe play nine holes. Hopefully I won’t have to worry about that.
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WSOP starts tomorrow. Wow, cool! A $10,000 buy in pot limit hold’em event right off the bat. That just seems so perfect for me in a lot of ways:
1) It’s a higher buy in event, I can take it more seriously
2) It’s pot limit hold’em, a game that requires a lot of patience- good way to set the tone for the WSOP.
3) Smaller field, more realistic chance to win
First bracelet I won in 1998 was pot limit hold’em. I played a very different style of poker back then, and frankly, was pretty lucky to have won a WSOP bracelet in my first ever attempt.
Back then I was a bit tighter before the flop, but I also took more risks in bigger pots. I’m ten times the player I was then and have a lot more confidence to go with it.
Pot limit hold’em is a game of pot control and that is something that bodes extremely well for a small ball approach. On the negative side, the lack of antes makes it less profitable to “chop away” at smaller pots before the flop. Pot limit hold’em is all about post flop play. Pots rarely get big before the flop. so all the key decisions come after the flop. Shut out raises pre-flop are more difficult than in no limit since you can’t move in.
Pot limit is really a cross between limit and no limit to some degree. That also plays right into my hands because my bread and butter game for over 10 years was limit hold’em cash games. I’m also comfortable in no limit, so I think this tournament suits me well.
Normally a pot limit hold’em event favors tighter players since it costs less per round to sit and wait. If you are too tight, though, you’ll just never get anywhere chip wise.
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I will be doing video blogs this year. I will also be trying to write blogs this year as well, both prior to an event an after. Prior to the different games, much like I did here with pot limit hold’em, I’ll share a few thoughts about the next tournament game.
On top of that, I’ll be keeping the crew at Full Contact Poker up to date on my progress via text messages (when I’m away from the table of course). You can find those at www.fullcontactpoker.com in the
General Forum. There will be a stickied thread at the top for each event I play.
I plan on playing a lot of events again this year and using my free time to golf, or practice golfing. It’s a great combination, my two favorite past times.
I am so excited about this WSOP and feel very confident about my chances. My only concern is going to be fatigue. For quite a while now I’ve been waking up about 8:30am but that might not work well with the 12pm and 5pm start times. I may have to gradually start getting up closer to 10am so that I’m able to focus and be fresh at 2am and 3am.
On that note, I’m going to relax, kick back and take it easy tonight. I’ll be at the WSOP early tomorrow, 11:15am to do the PokerRoad radio show.
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If you haven’t checked out www.pokervt.com you are seriously missing out. I’ve been so pleased with the reviews we’ve gotten and people seem to absolutely love the site for so many different reasons. You will find content at PokerVT that simply isn’t available anywhere else. If you need more convincing, check out the internet forums at FCP for people’s first hand reviews of the site. It feels so good to produce something that everyone seems to love. Makes you feel all good inside 🙂
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WSOP Structures– the PAC worked very hard on this year’s structures and I give them my seal of approval. The limit events have been sped up a tiny bit early in favor of more play at the later stages.
Buy in Options– whether you are on a big bankroll looking for bigger buy in events, or a low roller looking to grind on the smaller circuit, there are plenty of tournaments to satisfy everyone. New $10,000 buy in championship events could become something really special.
Satellite Room– there is a separate room outside of the Amazon (not in a tent, but in one of the other convention rooms) dedicated to satellites. There is also a dedicated cage for satellite players only inside of that room.
No Tent– there will be no poker played in a tent this year. All tables are indoors.
Aces Club Lounge and Game Room– for $2500 players had the opportunity to receive access to both a lounge as well as a game room equipped with a pool table, golf simulator, etc. so I’m told. I didn’t not actually see the game room. Before people scream “More money for Harrah’s!” they should understand that the money goes toward charity. In fact, last year’s VIP definitely cost Harrah’s money. Unfortunately, I think all of the VIP packages have now been sold out.
Sushi and Noodle Bar– you are not going to believe where they put this! Let’s just say it’s very close to the poker tournament area, is essentially a sit down, first come first serve restaurant that I’m sure is going to be packed.
Food Area-remember the tent? Well, the food area takes over there and is very spacious. Also, it’s not a tent. It’s a much more stable construction with better circulation.
Registration Room-remember the hectic lines leading into the Amazon room? Well, there is now a completely separate room solely dedicated to tournament registration. Probably the greatest change to the set up for this year’s WSOP is the usage of space. Things are well spread out which should help in dealing with congestion issues in years past.
Color Coded Time Clocks-remember last year looking over at a tournament clock and not having a clue what tournament it’s for? Well, this year the clocks will be color coded. So if you are in, say, the $1500 NL your clock may be purple, and if you are in the $2500 Omaha 8 it might be blue. Also, there are plasmas everywhere so you should never be in a spot where you can’t see one. Lastly, the table breaking order will also be posted on these clocks!
Elevated Media Area– There is an elevated area for bloggers and media to cover the tournament. This is going to help make their job easier as they should be able to survey the whole room from where they are. Plus, while they are working they are out of the way.
Dedicated cashier for live games– There is a section for cash games, and those players will have a dedicated cashier cage just for cash games.
Four High Limit Cash Tables– in the interest of privacy for high limit players, there are four tables set up with borders to it so that people can’t look at your cards before you do!
More Food Options in More Spots– I already mentioned the Sushi bar being close by, but there also appear to be more fast food options for those interested. I saw a Pizza Hut stand, a Krispy Creme, and a coffee shop right outside the poker room.
Guys, it’s incredible. Seriously incredible. I’m not one to throw around praise when it’s unwarranted, but in this case, it’s warranted. From what I can tell, all bases appear to be covered. With such a huge task I imagine something may have been left out, but from what I can tell, this year’s WSOP is shaping up to be the best WSOP ever. Wait until you see what I’m talking about. If you don’t think the place looks great and is a huge improvement over last year, and year’s before… I’ll give you $1. Oh, and no lying!
Good luck to everyone at this year’s WSOP, I can’t wait to play!]]>
6:30pm WGN Radio Chicago
Tuesday, May 27
5:10am Fox Sports Radio
5:30am WJFK Washington
6:45am KBME Houston
7:45am ESPN Philadelphia
8:30am KCSP Kansas City
9:00am KHTK Sacramento
10:00am Business Week Magazine
11:30am WAXY Miami
12:00am ESPN Radio
3:00pm KKFN Denver
3:30pm Bernard Lee Boston
4:30pm WDFN Detroit
6:00pm ESPN Interview at Harrah’s with Norman Chad
6:30pm ESPN Interview for WSOP
Wednesday, May 28th
11:15am KFNS St.Louis
12:45pm XL 950 Indianapolis
1:00pm ESPN Baltimore
2:00pm WPNZ Charlotte
2:15pm WFXJ Jacksonville
2:30pm WDAE Tampa Bay
4:00pm KJR Seattle
Thursday, May 29th
11:30am Golf with Sam, Tyson, and Ted the HORSE Idiot
Friday May 30th
12:00pm $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em
I have done lots of radio interviews before, and you can always gauge the hosts poker knowledge based on the questions they ask. When I get a question like, “So what’s your best hand? Did you ever get a Royal Flush?” then I know I’m dealing with some newbies, lol. That’s probably the one question that annoys me most actually.
I’ll obviously be talking about PokerVT, but I’ll also be discussing this year’s WSOP, as well as my affiliation with the worlds biggest online poker room, PokerStars.
I’m probably going to play some online poker today, might shoot a couple videos for PokerVT. I’m thinking about doing some $10-$20 or $25-$50 no limit hold’em 6 max videos. Up until now I’ve shot exclusively $100-$200 cash and heads up sit n’ gos, but I plan on adding all types of videos eventually, including PLO, and HORSE.]]>
As you guys know from reading my blog I’ve been working extremely hard on PokerVT and when you take a look at the site I think you’ll fully understand why it takes so much hard work. From a technology standpoint, there is simply nothing on the market that is comparable. Visually, PokerVT is top notch and navigating the site is extremely easy and efficient. For those of you wondering, what is PokerVT exactly? This blog should help you get a feel for what PokerVT has to offer.
If you go to
The small ball stuff is what you REALLY want to get into your head. That section holds the key to success in the huge, million dollar plus, deep stacked tournaments (a la the WPT). I absolutely promise you that you wil find information in that section that will change the way you view tournament poker. Even if you are a high stakes cash game winner, this section will help you understand why you don’t do better in tournaments.
Live Hand Analysis: This is another feature that is unique to PokerVT. We shot two full days of footage in a live studio for me to analyze and chop up later. We shot a full day of $1-$2 blind no limit hold’em with $1000 starting stacks and a wide range of skill levels. You guys are going to get a real kick out of our beginner Brad, he is a real doozie! Ever see a guy min raise the field with J-2 off? That play, is officially in Brad’s repertoire!
We also have some more accomplished players at the table including Paul Wasicka, Kirk Morrison, myself, and a steady diet of intermediate players as well, including FCP’s own “Al Smooth” and some of my boys Sam, Tyson, and Ted the HORSE idiot.
We also shot a six handed WPT-like format tournament and you’ll hear my analysis on that as well.
The uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Not only am I going to be analyzing the actual play of hands, but I also analyze the thought process of those at the table. This aspect is going to freak you out. A portion of the live footage we shot in the studio was done with every player at the table wearing sound proof headphones. Then, they would verbalize their thought process behind each hand. Often, when Paul and Kirk go at it, for example, it’s really deep stuff, other times, the thought process is so whacky that I stop the show right there and jump in with a … what the????
Online Videos from the PokerVT team: Much like some of the other training sites out there, we also offer online videos in various formats from $5000 heads up sit n’ gos to $0.25-$0.50 no limit hold’em cash games. The roster includes:
Daniel Negreanu (shooting mostly $100-$200 NL, and $5000 Heads Up Sit N’ Go’s)
Annette Obrestad (better known as Annette15, the WSOPE champion)
Paul Wasicka (NBC Heads Up Champion and Runner Up in the WSOP main event)
JC Alvarado (Several major cashes on the WPT as well as online where he plays as PrtyPSux
BooostedJ (Part of a growing crop of excellent young internet players)
Adam Junglen (another brilliant young poker mind who has won the Sunday Million as well as cashed in some live events on the EPT)
I’m very happy with the group of coaches we’ve assembled already and fresh content should be added weekly. Personally, I plan on shooting at least 2-3 videos a week. In addition to that, I’m always on the prowl looking to add new members to the PokerVT team. In order to stay fresh, don’t be surprised to see more coaches added to the roster in the future.
Math with Prof. Charley Swayne: For those interested in understanding why things work the way they do, Charley goes into great detail covering mathematical topics related to poker.
N-SPAT N-SPAT stands for Negreanu-Swayne Poker Aptitude Test and is essentially a poker quiz to test your poker knowledge.
D’s Nuts This is a fun game, mainly for beginners to help them read the board. There will be more games added in the future for more advanced players related to pot odds, hand percentages, etc.
I’m sure there is more that I’m forgetting, but if you take the free tour you can see for yourself. At the moment, the site offers no limit hold’em content exclusively, but PokerVT will always be expanding and that means we’ll eventually have modules for all the games.
So how much? Well, the regular price is $149.00 sign up fee as well as a $29.99 monthly fee. That’s if you don’t take advantage of the limited time offer which will save you $30 off the sign up fee right off the bat. That offer expires on June 20th.
If you have any other questions or would like to see some reviews, you can always check out the PokerVT forum at Full Contact Poker.
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So I played the LAPT but didn’t put in a great performance, making a bit of a sloppy call pre-flop and on the turn. I did make a good fold on the river, but still, I probably shouldn’t have been in the hand at any point:
Guy limps for 100, another player raises to 525 and I call on the button with 6s 8s. That was a mistake. I wasn’t deep enough to make that call and think I made a bit of a boredom call.
The flop comes Q-9-9 rainbow and it’s three of us on the flop. We all check. Turn is a 7 and the pre-flop raiser bets 800. I thought he might have JJ and AK, and decided to call hoping to either hit or “maybe” try to steal it on the river.
The river was a 5, making me my straight and this time the guy bets 1600. I figured he could have AA or KK and would call a raise so I min raise to 3200 leaving myself with just 1600 left.
The guy moves in immediately and then it hits me that he has Queens full, oops. I fold and he shows 99 for quads. I hang on for another hour and a bit before going broke with 66 versus 99… speaking of 66:
This morning I noticed a $200-$400 No Limit hold’em game going on Stars so I sat down with $40k. I was dealt 66 in a multi-way pot and this time it worked out a bit better:
PokerStars Game #17633350691: Hold’em No Limit ($200/$400) – 2008/05/23 – 11:50:12 (ET)
Table ‘Loreley’ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 4: ADZ124 ($88975 in chips)
Seat 5: purplEUROS ($54775 in chips)
Seat 7: KidPoker ($47476 in chips)
Seat 8: knockstiff ($7000 in chips)
Seat 9: alexeimartov ($18896 in chips)
KidPoker: posts small blind $200
knockstiff: posts big blind $400
PREFLOP
alexeimartov: raises $800 to $1200
purplEUROS: calls $1200
KidPoker: calls $1000
FLOP 2d 4h 6d
KidPoker: checks
alexeimartov: bets $2400
purplEUROS: calls $2400
KidPoker: raises $4600 to $7000
alexeimartov: folds
purplEUROS: raises $46575 to $53575 and is all-in
KidPoker: calls $39276 and is all-in
TURN Ac
RIVER 2c
KidPoker collected $98947 from pot
I checked out my opponents hand and saw that he had JJ. I assume he was hoping I had a pair and a draw or some kind of straight draw/flush draw. Personally, I’m not so sure I liked his decision to re-raise there. I think he may have been better off calling the raise and seeing what developed on the turn, but that’s usually my approach to most hands anyway.
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So I’m in Costa Rica right now and having an awesome time. I always enjoy coming to Costa Rica and it’s so nice to be in an actual apartment rather than a hotel which is where I normally stay on road trips.
Thing is, there have been a few obstacles in terms of getting actual sleep! At 7:00am the construction crew is outside just hammering away and they don’t stop. So after night one, I went to the pharmacy and got some ear plugs and they help.
Obstacle two has been the temperature. I’m used to sleeping at 69 degrees with no humidity, but that’s not much of an option in Costa Rica! It’s very humid, and most places don’t do the whole air conditioning thing. For that one, we bought a fan and that helps a bit. The last thing I had to get used to was the light. I have blackout blinds at home which I’m used to, but to counter that I just stick a pillow over my face and make due.
Seriously, I don’t really care all that much about the sleep thing, I’m just glad to be here. I’m recharging the battery and will be getting ready for an absolute monster WSOP. I think I’m going to do extremely well, especially with the limit structures being fixed and the addition of the higher buy in events.
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I’ll be writing a separate blog about PokerVT
PokerVT very soon covering much of what you’ll find there. In the meantime, the site is up and running so you can go ahead and check out the tour as well as some sample videos done by me and the team.
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