25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300
200-400
250-500
300-600 etc.
He started out with a bit of a lead as he caught me trying to bluff about four hands in a row. That ended up being a really good thing for me in the long run, though, as the bluffs were cheap and it allowed me to switch to a very simple strategy of value betting with the best of it since he essentially turned into a calling station, despite the fact that I completely abandoned bluffing.
The final hand was a doozey, and it could have gone either way: Blinds were 100-200 and I made it 500 on the button with 7s 4s. He called in the BB with 2d 6d. The flop came 10h 4d 3d. Zvi checked, and I bet 800.
Zvi check raised me to 2000 and I called the bet. The turn was the Jh and Zvi bet out 2500. Based on the way he’d play hands up until this point, when he bet that Jack on the turn I felt strongly that he was on a draw. He had close to 3000 left after betting the turn, so the dilemma was whether or not I should just call to see if the draw hits first, or to raise him now before he gets there.
It was close to 5:00am by that point, which made me lean towards moving all in. I did, and he called obviously. The river blanked, and I escaped a rather significant beating of close to $100,000. Phew!
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My sleep schedule is back on being a bit of a mess, especially considering that I’ve been waking up when my wife is off to bed! 5:30am this morning I woke up, and have been doing hockey research for a couple hours. Soon after this blog I’m going to try and write about 3000 more words for my book. If you want to read an unedited excerpt from the upcoming book, you can find it in the Poker Books section of the FCP forum.
Tonight, I’ll be taking my family to a show, La Femme at MGM. Before then, I have an important meeting this afternoon which I’m looking forward to.
Tomorrow at noon I have a lunch meeting about another project that I’m excited about (no, I can’t tell you what it is!), and aside from that, I’ll just be sweating the hockey games, and the Raptors games too. The Raptors, at just 23-23 are leading their division! Man, are those two conferences lopsided or what?
If you are interested in Fantasy Hockey at all, my team, the Cheap Thieves are looking really solid right now in every aspect]]>
I just finished watching an episode of HBO Real Sports and it made me a little sick to my stomach, so I thought I
I’m home now, just chillin’, watching lots of television and being pretty unproductive overall. I’m totally fine with that, considering the January road trip that saw me go from the Bahamas to Australia, home for a day, then Mississippi, Atlantic City, and finally back home to Vegas. With two cashes adding up to just a little over half a million, I’d say that the trip was well worth it.
So since I’ve had a little more free time I’ve been looking through some e-mails, forum posts, etc. and found a thread mentioning me and the Opie and Anthony radio show.
To get you all caught up, I was asked to go on this show while at the WPT Celebrity event at the Commerce casino two years ago and had no idea what the show was about. I’d never heard of any of them.
I sat down with them and then recognized one face, Jim Norton, who I’d previously seen on a show called Last Comic Standing. My wife and I thought he was one of the best comedians on that show, but he got kicked off because he was already a professional, or something to that effect.
The others I’d never heard of, but Joe Rogan, was the host of a show that I’d heard of called Fear Factor. Anyway, so I’m pulled in to be on the show and it just comes off like a completely disorganized mess. It just seemed like utter chaos with no coordination whatsoever. I’d done several radio shows before and had never quite seen anything like this set up.
They weren’t prepared at all, didn’t know who they were speaking to, knew nothing at all about poker, and had no idea what to ask me. I tried my best to make the best of on awkward situation. The one guy who actually knew something about poker was busy playing in the tournament.
So then this Joe Rogan guy starts going a little batty. Not funny in the least, and I honestly believe I can be objective here because I don’t mind poking fun at myself at all. He basically just repeatedly cursed and acted like a juvenile. His material was weak and he masked that by just cursing more. I watch a lot of stand up and you can tell when a guy has no material when he overuses fart jokes and thinks that if he just curses louder and louder that it’s somehow funny and that no one will notice that he doesn’t actually have any jokes.
Anyway, fast forwarding a bit, he was saying nasty things about what became my wife, etc. The guy didn’t know me at all, we weren’t friends, so it was all just crossing a line. You just don’t meet someone for the first time, invite them to your show, and then say the things he said.
I didn’t have a real problem with anyone else on the show. Jim Norton and I hardly spoke except for one joke he was trying to tell that I caught on to quickly. He was basically speaking gibberish with a straight face and was expecting me to try and answer it intelligently. Of course, his question made no sense so I was like, “What are you babbling about?” He acknowledged that he was trying to “get me” but it didn’t work out.
When I did the show I was a little shocked at what was coming out of Joe Rogan’s mouth. He blabbed away like Matusow and overshadowed Norton and the others with nonsense.
So I later wrote in my forum that the show felt like a low rent version of Howard Stern. Oh man, did that set them off! That caused some fireworks on the forums as some loyal fans of their show starting posting on the FCP forums for a while.
It all died down and went away until a recent broadcast where they were talking about poker and my name came up. I was then surprised to hear Jim Norton go off on me. I actually wasn’t really offended, although several members of the forum seemed bothered by it. The dude is a comedian and his job is to try and be funny. In fact, if he truly believed the things he was saying I’d be surprised.
For example, he actually was crackin’ on my hairdo which I found pretty ironic, since it currently looks EXACTLY like his! It’s just a little strange. I was actually a fan of his work prior to him chewing me out, so should the fact that he was cracking on me change that? No, I don’t think so, unless it became hateful I have no problem with being made the butt of a joke.
Anyway, I have no beef with the show. It doesn’t seem like my kind of humor at all, but to each his own. Having said that, I think this Joe Rogan guy has zero comedic talent whatsoever. If he can make it in showbiz, that is undeniable proof that ANYBODY has a chance.
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As for this week, I’m looking forward to doing a lot of nothing. My mother is out here with my brother, my wife is here too, so I’ll likely spend some time hanging out with them.
Aside from that, I’ll be watching some hockey, getting caught up on the writing, and then gearing up for the WPT event at the Commerce in late February. That tournament is going to be huge.
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I fought hard, fought as hard as I could, but I just couldn’t get it going today. We didn’t arrive in Atlantic City until about 5:00am. We checked in, bought in, and then tried to get some sleep before the day’s play at 11:00am. I had already decided to sleep as long as needed and then I’d show up when I was fresh and ready. With 30,000 in chips, and 25-50 blinds to start, it seemed like the best way for me to do well in the tournament. Obviously this isn’t optimal, but I didn’t have much choice since the WPT didn’t leave much time in between events to be fully prepared. When I got to my table, I was surprised, no shocked, to see Kido Phan AGAIN at my table, along with Nam Le. There were almost 600 players in this tournament, yest they must have done a very poor job of randomizing the later tables. We all bought in at the same time, but that should not mean we end up at the same table. There was another gentleman at our table that also bought in at the same time we did. Kido looked beat down- he didn’t sleep. Nam was tired, JC was also tired as he was at the table next to ours. Nam slept through level 3, JC slept through the first two levels as did I. When I got there, Kido was down to about 7,000. Nam made it 350 to go from under the gun and I called with QQ in the next seat. Another player called, and Kido made it 3500 to go. Nam folded, so I decided to play the hand against Kido and put him all in. He had AK, and I won that race, busting Kido. After that, I was playing my standard game, although I didn’t have a lot of energy to get a solid read on my opponents which may have cost me. I laid down AA on a board of 3-4c-5c-4s-2c in spot where I could have been bluffed. I also lost a sizeable pot with JJ versus KK in a spot where I could only be in bad shape if my opponent had an over pair AND one of them was also a diamond. He did. Down to about 12,000, I doubled up with Jh 10h on a flop of K-Q-9 against 99. After that, I played my typical cautious game, but wasn’t connecting with flops and my opponents were hitting big time. I was back down to 10,000 with blinds at 250-500 and a 50 ante, but I still felt comfortable. I wasn’t able to pick up anything and whittled down to about 4,000 before making my move. The first move came in the big blind. All folded to the small blind who limped in for 500. I had Q-7 and went all in- he folded Kh 10h! The very next hand, the SAME guy limped on the button. I made it 2500 with AK and he went all in with A-2. I won that pot and was back in action. Then the final hand of the night: Guy, a player from Vegas, limped for 500, I limped behind him with Ac Qc, and the player next to me made it 2600. Guy and I both called. The flop wasd 9c 3c 2s. Checked to the raiser who bet 6000. Guy called, and I decided to play my hand now since I couldn’t fold on the turn. Also, I was hoping to either get three way action, OR, get Guy to fold a hand that may take away some of my outs. Both called my 6150 all in raise. One with 10-10, the other A-9. Turn and river blanked. Had I won that pot I’d be at 45,000. I was really hoping to hit this hand as 45,000 would feel like a bazillion going into day two. Nothing I could have really done differently here, so that’s that, the streak is dead. I got a good night’s sleep last night and am looking forward to getting home. As it appears now, I think the next event I’ll be playing won’t be until the Commerce in late February. A nice break in between which will help me get caught up on some work that I’ve been neglecting while I’ve been busy working at the tables. I may not play any poker at all till the Commerce, we’ll just have to see. I may decide to play at Bellagio a little bit, but more than likely I’ll just be vegging out, watching hockey, finishing my book, etc. Originally I had planned to play in the Poker After Dark show on Feb 1-3, but that has been postponed. Also, I haven’t heard any news lately on the upcoming Poker Superstars show. As for bloggin’, I’ll probably go back to updates about 3 times a week now that there will be little poker played. I should be fresh and ready to take over the #1 spot in the Card Player of the Year award down the stretch. The WSOP is a huge factor in that race, so I’m looking forward to that, although, I much prefer playing the WPT. Crapshoot tournaments aren’t my strength, and while the WPT is a crapshoot at it’s best, the WSOP preliminary events are all short stack events, aside from the 50,000 HORSE. I’ll be forced to make significant adjustments to my pre-flop strategy that cuts into my edge, but I know what I’m doing so I’ll be ready…]]>
I’m very pleased with my finish in Tunica. At one point in the tournament it looked like anyone could finish first or sixth. It was a very strange final table. In fact, we broke a record for the longest final table without losing even one player.
While that’s an interesting fact, when that happens, it absolutely destroys the tournament and makes it really, really, boring. With average stacks being about a million, and six players close to a million with blinds at 40,000-80,000 and a 10,000 ante, there is no room at all for great play as most of the plays are fairly automatic.
After the first limit we just didn’t see any flops at all and there was no “poker” left due to the rapidly rising blind increases. I took my first shot when I was down to 735,000 in chips. On the button, with 25,000-50,000 blinds and a 5000 ante I raised from the button to 120,000. The small blind re-raised me to 350,000 and I didn’t think about it for even a second before moving all in for another 385,000 with AQ. In the same situation, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
In fact, after putting in 120,000 with my raise I was already committed to the pot since only AA, KK, QQ, or AK would have me in bad shape. If he had any other hand it would be a horrendously bad lay down with all that money out there. Well, he had AK and I sucked out, flopping the Queen.
Even after winning that pot, though, I never felt safe at all. I remember looking around the table thinking that anyone could finish anywhere from first to sixth. Skill certainly wouldn’t determine that, so I never really got emotionally involved in this final table. It was like, “Whatever,” for most of the way. In fact, finishing anywhere in the top three spots would have been a score, at least that’s the way I looked at it.
I’m not complaining about the structure. The way I see it, the skill in these WPT events is in getting to that final table. As a good player, I’ll get more opportunities to role the dice than other players, and I’m ok with the fact that it becomes a total all in fest at the final table. It’s silly poker, sure, but it is what it is.
I was lucky to get heads up with a chance to win it all. I didn’t have a lot of time or chips to maneuver with, however, so I knew that I’d need to double up in a hurry. The heads up match lasted for maybe four hands. Actually, here they were:
Hand #1: He limps on button, I check with 10-7. I thought about going all in since I felt he was weak, but checked instead, hoping to play as many flops as possible. Flop 8-6-6. I checked, he bet 200,000 and I called. Turn 6, I bet out 200,000 figuring that if he didn’t have an 8 I’d pick it up. He called. River 9, giving me a straight. I checked, and he checked behind me with Q-8. That was pretty unlucky I felt, since I’d win that pot a high percentage of the time when he doesn’t have an 8.
Hand #2: He makes it 300,000 on the button, I go all in with Ah 9h. He folded. Pretty standard there.
Hand #3: I limped on the button with Ac-10d hoping he’d fire it all at me and I’d call him. He checked. Flop Qc 8s 2c. Check, check. Turn 6, check, check. River 8, check, check. I figured I had the best hand there and did when he turned over J-4.
Hand #4. I was on the button with A-3 and moved all in. He called from the BB with 88. Flop 8-4-5…. 3… Q. That was that, lol. There was so little play by that point that I was left with no choice but to put my gambling shoes.
It was a shame the way the final table turned out as it had the potential to make for great television with players like Kido and JC at the table. It turned to be a real bore, though, and will make for some pretty weak television in my opinion.
Strangely, the blinds being so high actually makes it LESS likely that players will go broke quickly. With high blinds like these, the only time a pot is going to be played is when two players are dealt good hands and it’s all in pre-flop. With smaller blinds, more flops are seen, more bets are make, which in turn makes it more likely that people will go broke. I can’t even think of an interesting hand from that final table to share with you. I was bored out of my mind throughout most of it. I seriously think that nothing would have changed had I had my wife show up to play for me while I’m on the phone with here from AC telling her what plays to make. I’m not kidding either.
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Speaking of Atlantic City, I have never been this excited to arrive here in my whole life! Kido, JC, Nam Le, and I each split the cost to charter a plane to AC so that we could make the 11:00am start time form the next WPT stop. We got to the hotel at about 5:00am. I checked into my room quickly and then headed down to the poker room to buy in for the tournament.
With an 11:00am start time, and 25-50 blinds with 30,000 in starting chips, it’s a safe bet that I won’t be arriving on time, instead looking to get some much needed rest. It won’t cost me many chips at all and if I’m going to make another run at it, I’ll need to get some rest.
I headed over to the new poker room and… oh…my… word! It is the single most beautiful poker room I have ever seen in my life. A sea of tables, but they are all so far apart. Super high ceilings, a great color scheme, and just wowie, wowie. I’m in total shock.
After buying in, I headed to my room to unpack. I put away all my stuff as I plan on being here for several days. Then, I called room service…. ooh baby! I just finished chowing down on a Portobello and roasted pepper vegetarian burger with a baked potato. It… tastes… awesome! I am, so, so, happy right now I’m giddy!
Anyway, it’s 6:30am here now and I’ll need to get some sleep if I’m going to continue the streak. I broke some records with this finish, but there are more records to be broken! Off the top of my head, here are the WPT records I currently hold:
All-Time Money Winner
Most Cashes 14 (tied with Juanda)
Most Final Tables 7
Most top 3 finishes 7
Most WPT Player Points
Most consecutive cashes (4 and counting)
Season 5 WPT POY points 1300 (second place right now)
Biggest Chip Lead in an open WPT tournament coming into the final table (Bellagio 2004)
With the Borgata tournament, I’ll be looking to break the tie with Juanda, extend the consecutive cash streak, and also look to catch Jamie Gold as the all-time money winner in tournament poker. Fun, fun, fun!
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The clock in my room was wrong, so while I woke up “on time” I showed up 30 minutes late. On the second hand dealt, I lost more than half my chips:
Nick Schulman made it 300, another player called, both from late position, and I called from the sb with Ah 10h. The flop came 10s 6h 5c. I checked, Nick bet 800, and this player I’d never seen before made it 3000- I called.
The turn was the Jh giving me the nut flush draw. I check called 3000. The river was a blank, I checked, and this time my opponent bet 6000. I had zero information on this player. I was getting a decent price on the call, 6000 to win 19,800. I called, and my opponent turned over JJ.
Funny thing is that if I would have had this hand come up three levels later, I would have just mucked my hand pre-flop! This guy ended up being the rock of Gibraltar, but based on his appearance I never would have guessed that.
My table pretty much sucked to start off. Phil Ivey two to my left, Alan Kessler, Rob Mizrachi, and Nick Schulman.
Ivy apparently arrived that morning and he didn’t look like the Phil Ivey of norm. He was playing a little sloppy early on and was down in chips. We tangled a few times:
A player raised to 1000 from UTG and I called on the button with 8s 9s. Ivey also called from the BB. Flop 6d 7h 8h. Ivey bet out 2000, and the raiser folded. Noticing that Ivey only had about 10,000 left, I moved all in. He called with the Jh 4h. Turn J…river 4.
Later, it was my turn to double through Phil. A weakish player limped for 300, I limped behind him for 300, and Phil raised it to 2000 from the small blind. The limper folded, and I called with Qd 10d. The flop came Kc 10h 8h. Ivey bet out 3000, and I honestly felt like pre-flop he had air and was just going to bet any flop. I moved all in for 10,000 more.
Ivey thought about it for a while, and finally called me with A-J. 8 on the turn… 4 on the river.
A couple good stories from play today: Nick told me that he called for a wake up call for the tournament. At about 10:30am a security guard knocks on his door and yells, “Wake up!” LOL, that is too funny!
Rob hears this story and tells a doozey of his own: He was at the Borgata in his room at the Borgata with his girlfriend. Service knocks on the door and asks if they want the room cleaned. Rob yells out, “No service.” The guy asks again and Rob yells, “No service today. No service.”
All of a sudden the door opens up and the guy walks in. Rob is like, “What are you doing here?” He and his girlfriend were both in bed, and the guy replies, “I need to use your phone to call down and let them know you don’t want service.” Apparently it was that guy’s first week, and after that, it may have been his last!
Most of the day everyone, including me was focusing on the football. I made a little bet myself with Mizrachi. The line was up to 4 points but I convinced Rob to let me bet Indy and I’d lay -1.25. He agreed and laid $4000 to win $5000. Man, what an exciting finish to that game! Good thing I didn’t lay the 4, woohoo!
Now, I’m in the poison court. They call it the food court here but I just don’t think that’s an appropriate title. This is not food, it’s absolutely disgustingly unhealthy. I am freakin’ starving, but I’m not about to eat any of this stuff. I brought a little food with me, but it’s not going to be enough. I am going to go on a food hunt after I finish this blog. It is so difficult to find anything edible here- it should be illegal to serve this kind of food! Yuk!
I’ve been coming to Tunica for years and don’t think I’ve ever come here and NOT complained about the food situation. Sadly, nothing is ever done to offer healthy choices here during the tournament. It’s really painful and makes me a little angry to be totally honest.
How did I play today? Hmm… sometimes EXCELLENT and other times “just ok.” I made three intricate bluffs early on and they worked exceptionally well. One of them will be written about in an upcoming Card Player column.
Ouch, that was my stomach grumbling… I need to go on a food hunt.
(btw, I ended day one with 42,925.)
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Wow, I am officially tivo’ed out! On the plane ride home I watched 14 episodes of 24 on my laptop. When I got home I basically slept the day away with my little buddy Mushu and woke up at around 9:00pm. That’s when the TV watching marathon continued:
1) I finished watching the last two episodes of 24, season 5. It was an awesome season and I’m looking forward to this season.
2) Rob and Amber: Against All Odds. Yet another reality show, only with a twist… I’m in this one! I watched the first two episodes and I think the show is pretty good. It turned out even better than I expected. Unless you get Fox Reality the network, you can’t watch it. If you do get that channel, I think you’ll get a kick out of the show.
3) Real World: Denver. A couple of crazy episodes with a new “crazy” in the house. She is irrational and just a little bizarre. You’d have to see it to know what I’m talking about.
4) Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Man did I HATE how that ended. The one guy I was rooting against from the beginning ends up winning the whole thing. That totally ruined an otherwise excellent season.
5) Surreal Life Fame Game: This is a new one and I’m not sold either way on this one. I was expecting to absolutely LOVE this show, but it fell a little short in the first couple episodes. It’s a cross between Survivor, Real World, only with desperate celebs hanging on to their fame in very embarrasing ways.
For example, in the first episode, the 10 celebs go to downtown Vegas where a crowd awaits. 30 people are randomly chosen, and they decide on one person to take a picture with. The person with the most pictures takes the prize, while the bottom three become bottom feeders. It was so pathetic and sad to watch the “bottom feeders” cry that no one wanted a picture with them.
6) American Idol: I haven’t been a regular watcher of this show but decided to start watching this season. I’m slightly embarrased to admit that the misfits segments are hilarious. They are funny, but at the same time so absolutely cruel. I mean just flat out mean and distasteful. Simon telling that young kid that he looks like a monkey. Mock his singing fine, but that’s just uncalled for.
7) 60 Minutes: I watched the George W. Bush segment and I wasn’t too impressed with the president. He scares me. His approach to things, his stubborness, and his poor problem solving skills. What scares me the most about him are his facial expressions. He speaks with his face and he isn’t saying nice things.
8) High Stakes Poker: Watched the first episode of season three. For those that don’t know, in the second episode Gabe will be jumping into my seat and I’ll be jumping in the booth to do the commentary while he is in there.
9) Apprentice LA: Donald Trump isn’t a nice person in my opinion. Forget about the whole Rosie thing, he comes off as very arrogant, vain, and rude. I find it hilarious how he yells during the set up pieces. The guy on Saturday Night Live does a spot on spoof of Mr.Comb Over.
As for the show, I am really starting to like this show and it’s concept. I wish I would have started watching it from the first season. I found the first guy that didn’t get fired, Frank, to be extremely rude in the boardroom. He never shut up and cut everybody off EVERY time.
10) Poker After Dark: I started watching the week that I won mine. I thought I came into that event with an excellent strategy, using my opponents view of my game against them. I bet at more flops than I ever do and it worked perfectly. I don’t think anyone on the show realized just how much of the show was going to be aired. It was basically the entire thing!
So that was my time at home. Not exactly productive, but man it felt great to just chill.
I’m waiting for a plane now with Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, and the entire Card Player crew… gotta run, boarding now! ]]>