Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote a post. I'll just do a long recap so that I can start with more up-to-date happenings. Here are the highlights or lowlights of my summer in Vegas.
- I finally had a decent cash in a Vegas Tournament($6k) and I'm now listed in the
CardPlayer database. I finished 3rd based on a 4-way chop in the
2009 Binions Poker Classic Event #6. There was a $200 buy-in and 246 entries.
- Next up the WSOP Main Event. I'm not a big cash player so I think the adjustment with playing deep stacked was even more steep than going from online to live. After a while I felt somewhat comfortable.
Day 1: I was definitely not given any breaks with my first table draw. I spent all of Day 1 with Andrew "Muddywaters" Wiggins, Josh Schlein and a handful of solid players. There were only one or two complete donks. Obviously they didnt last long. Not much happened. At the end of the day, I bagged 44275 chips.
Day 2: This day was very different than Day 1 in terms of moving. I was at 4 different tables. I started at a table with a couple of maniacs. Two were pros with some nice scores. One was Nam Le's brother. They looked like twins and he sported the Nam-esque Pittsburgh Pirates hat, so it wasn't hard to make the connection. I managed to get up to 50k but I couldn't move a guy off of AA with my busted straight draw. He tank called me down. I continued to nurse my short stack after getting crippled by a guy that tried to rep a hand vs my top two. I played it kinda bad and he got there. For runner, runner, straight holding J2o. I had to pay him off on the river. I was complete tilted after this hand. I figured that it was just a matter of time, but I'd bust and I proceeded to tweet that I had busted so I wouldn't have to get any more calls. Well, shortly after this hand, I was moved to a table with Tim Phan. I was only there for a couple of hands before being moved again. Next up was a table with Antonio Esfandiari. He had a mountain of chips. At this table I was able to stop the bleeding a little by using my short stack to resteal a few times with big ace type hands. The only other person that I recognized at this table was "dfish" from online poker. He was so annoying. I'm surprised that he could talk with Antonio's nuts in his mouth. I guess that's how early 20-somethings act. After being at this table for about an hour, the highlight of my tourney happened. A tourney director came to break up the table. He said that the person with the green card will be moved to the featured table. That was pretty cool. Dfish also stated that the person would get $10k, which I later found out was false. The $10k was only given if you started at the featured table at the beginning of the day. So, the Director proceeded to deal the cards, but he misdealt. He did it again and yours truly got the green card.
After going to the area, there was some confusion as to me really supposed to be there. After walking back and forth, they finally mic'd me up and I was there in livin color at the table with Phil Hellmuth. That was pretty cool. Me and my $17k stack. 5 chips. 3 orange($5k) and 2 yellow($1k). I didn't expect to be there long at all. It was at this time that I decided to let the cat out of the bag and send a tweet that I was at the featured table. A couple hands in, I finally picked up a big hand. I was dealt AA in EP with only about 20bb. I decided to tank, limp to induce a raise. It worked. I got it in vs AJ. He flopped a gutshot, but I held. My next big hand I had QQ and got it in vs AK. I held. Then from the BB, a shorty shoved into me and I called with KJs. Unfortunately, he had KQo, but I flopped a flush draw and got there on the turn. It was very cool. People in the stands were chanting my name like I was a superstar. I was there about about 3 and a half hours. Here are some clips from the episodes after they were broadcast. Unfortunately, none of my hands were shown because they weren't against Phil. I'm wearing a Michael Jackson t-shirt which I thought for sure would get me on TV, but I guess ESPN doesn't have any MJ fans. At the end of the day, I bagged up 58000 chips.
Day 3: After spending all of days 1 and 2 in the amazon room, I started off this day in the Brazilia room. It's like the red-headed step child when you're in the Main Event. Luckily, these tables broke quickly. I was at the table with Roland De Wolfe, but he was short and didn't last long. When I made it back into the Amazon room, I was moved to a table with a huge stack, the very friendly Kara Scott and a bunch of unknowns. The first big hand I played, I got a guy to call my shove on the flop for most of his chips. He had a pair of 9s. I had AKs which was a flush draw, overs and gutshot. I got there on the turn. Eventually, I was back to the dreaded 20bb stack(blinds 1000/2000) and I pick up 99 from MP. I decide to limp. The loosest guy at the table raised. My plan was to limp and get him to "raise the limper". I expected him to do this with a wide range. He had just shown a few hands where he attacked and folded to a 3bet. Unfortunately for me, after I shoved, he tank called and flips QQ. I didn't hit any kind of draws Good Game me. I lasted about 30 minutes before the dinner break. I peaked at about 78k. I finished like 1100 something out of 6600. As the saying goes, "I'll Be Back".
On another note, I was on tv again while the cameras filmed a big hand between the huge stack and an aggro guy. This happened right at the first break. The guy literally took 10 minutes to make this call. Scroll to around the 5:50 mark. I am shown next to the guy that attempted a big bluff against the big stack at our table.
Overall: It sounds kinda crazy, but for the most part I was card dead for the tourney. I saw AA once, QQ once, TT once, 99 about 3 times, 55-22 a few times and AK like 5 times. Not many good connectors and rarely hit any flops. After about 20+ hours of play, you'd think I see a better selection of hands. I think I did decent for my first big live tourney and don't think I played horribly, but I know I have a lot to learn and will be a better player next year.
- Well, I played some events in the FTOPS, WCOOP and Mini-FTOPS. I managed a few cashes in the mini, but that is all. The doomswitch is still on at Full Tilt. You'd think after 9 months they'd have some compassion, but I guess not. Hopefully, things will turn around on that site. I've been working a lot on my tilt control and I'm trying to stay positive. Before I would type "donks rule" in the chat after a beat, but now, I try to just only type nh and move on.
- To no one's surprise, I have a new coach. Seems like I change coaches like I used to change "girlfriends", every other week. Hopefully, someone will stick or at least turn on the light bulb. If the great Phil Ivey can state on national tv that he still has a lot to learn, there isn't a word or phrase to describe how much I need and want to learn.
Later and Good Luck at the tables.
