I don’t play much cash games but when I do it’s because I have other priorities later in the day so I don’t have time to play long tournaments.  It’s the quickest way to earn points to uphold my Ironman status.  I am rolled to play $10/$20 No Limit cash games but I feel like my skill level is still at $2/$4 or lower limits.  I’ve only been playing $2/$4 for a couple weeks now and have to say I’m doing quite well for a small sample size.  My approach is semi-loose and very very aggressive, my PT stats probably don’t reflect that style but when I’m playing I feel like I’m playing more loose and aggressive than I did in lower limits.  I play anywhere from 6-8 tables at a time and feel that I’m very comfortable with it so I don’t bother to move up or down and my sessions last no longer than two hours.  Playing $2/$4 is a whole different ballpark from the other limits I’ve played, the swings are so massive, you can tell in the graph posted below how quickly things can change around.  I’m sure it’ll get crazier and crazier the higher limits I move up, for now I’ll stick to $2/$4 until I’m confident I’m a consistent winner at these limits.  Here is a graph of my session today and my PT stats overall in $2/$4:

ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
70379036	Dec 04 20:31ET	$22,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$30.00 + $3	262	100	–	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $60.00 .
70376066	Dec 04 20:01ET	$32,000 Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	1530	1,213	–
69420359	Dec 04 20:01ET	$65,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	485	79	–
70373062	Dec 04 19:31ET	$33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a)		$100.00 + $9	158	8	$1,026.60	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $200.00 .
71131264	Dec 04 19:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	660	148	–
70364060	Dec 04 18:01ET	Turbo $40K Guarantee		$200.00 + $16	236	53	–
70357922	Dec 04 17:01ET	$30,000 KO Guarantee		$120.00 + $9	343	307	–	You collected $20.00 for 1 Knockout.
69416050	Dec 04 16:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$100.00 + $9	142	50	–	You made 5 rebuys/add-ons for $500.00 .
71109729	Dec 04 16:01ET	$22,500 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	333	227	–
71103180	Dec 04 15:01ET	$13,500 KO Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	927	502	–
69411911	Dec 04 15:01ET	$50,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	364	262	–

Total spent on buy-ins (incl. rebuys)  = $1884

Today’s winnings/losses = +$1046.60

Today’s net profit/loss = -$837.40

              You know that salty taste you get in your mouth right before you’re gonna throw-up?  I had that taste in my mouth as I was getting runner runnered and losing all my coin-flips!  It was utterly disgusting how bad I ran today, to the point when I would get all my chips in preflop in 80/20 situations and I would call out exactly what cards would fall on 4th and 5th street that would beat me, and I was dead accurate!  I’m not going to bore you guys anymore with bad beat hands, I think you guys get the point, but if you really want to see the hands just post a comment and I’ll post them.  I pray this is the end of a bad streak and come Sunday, next working week, I’ll run blazing hot.  Total I am stuck $3360.68 this week and only had one winning day which was a peanut.  Good riddance!

ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
69421219	Dec 03 21:31ET	The Fifty-Fifty		$50.00 + $5		483	–
69307385	Dec 03 21:01ET	$100,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$100.00 + $9		63	–	You made 4 rebuys/add-ons for $400.00 .
70253666	Dec 03 20:31ET	$22,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$30.00 + $3		37	–	You made 3 rebuys/add-ons for $90.00 .
70250095	Dec 03 20:01ET	$32,000 Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	1,606	796	–
69420249	Dec 03 20:01ET	$65,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13		101	–
70246598	Dec 03 19:31ET	$33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a)		$100.00 + $9	217	26	$343.80	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $200.00 .
71004664	Dec 03 19:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	751	612	–

Total spent on buy-ins (incl. rebuys)  = $1260

Today’s winnings/losses = +$443.80 (+$100 for Matt Vengrin KO)

Today’s net profit/loss = -$816.20

         My whole sleeping schedule is a little out of whack and have missed the early big buy-in tournaments this week.  I just need to wake up at Noon just once to get it back on track, so I’ll try to do that tomorrow.  I did knock out a pro today named Matt Vengrin, not too familiar with who he is but read his profile and seems like he’s had some major success, the hand will be posted below.  This week, I’ve been running pretty bad and am stuck around $2500 so far.  I’ve cashed in a few tournaments but nothing too big to cover all my buy-ins and gain profits.  Good thing I am spending a lot less these days since there are no FTOPS satellites for me to play but all these small losses are adding up to be a good sum of money.

         I wouldn’t mind if I got coolered early on in tournaments but the past two days it seems like the poker gods wait for me to steadily build a nice stack for the middle-late stages and then decide to give me a bad beat when the time is most critical.  Almost as if they don’t want me to make a final table.  Higher pair vs. lower pair all-in preflop and lower pair flops a set happens quite often in poker, on average, I will experience this type of bad beat once or twice a day at most.  Lately, it’s been happening to me at least 2-3 times a day this week, which I don’t think is very common.  Another occurance I noticed that was happening to me was that in the middle-late stages of my tournaments I would get stuck in situations where it’s definately +EV for me to push with my premium hands preflop but end up running into one of the few hands that have me dominated, ie. KK vs AA or AK vs AA.  I still consider these types of situations bad beats, not because I was outdrawn but because of the sheer timing of when these situations arise, had they come early on in the tournament then it’s no sweat off my back, just brush it off and join the next tournament.  Usually when I run this bad, I like to think that the poker gods have something magnificent in store for me in the near future, hopefully a first place win in the $750k Guarantee this Sunday   For now, I’ll leave you with some hands of how I’ve been running this week:

———————-
Matt Vengrin KO
———————-

Full Tilt, 200/400 blinds, 50 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 6 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BTN: 18,978 (47.4 bb)
SB: 33,863 (84.7 bb)
4XTRADER (BB): 14,358 (35.9 bb)
UTG: 12,460 (31.2 bb)
MP: 53,225 (133.1 bb)
Matt Vengrin: 2,059 (5.1 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BB with
UTG folds, MP folds, Matt Vengrin raises to 2,009 and is all-in, BTN folds, SB folds, 4XTRADER calls 1,609

Flop: (4,518) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (4,518) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (4,518) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 4,518 pot
Matt Vengrin showed (high card Ace) and lost (-2,059 net)
4XTRADER showed (high card Ace) and won 4,518 (2,459 net)

——————–
HAND #1
——————–

Full Tilt, 800/1,600 blinds, 200 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

UTG+1: 35,265 (22 bb)
UTG+2: 27,364 (17.1 bb)
BTN: 11,260 (7 bb)
SB: 53,120 (33.2 bb)
BB: 31,313 (19.6 bb)
4XTRADER (MP1): 54,588 (34.1 bb)
MP2: 77,050 (48.2 bb)
MP3: 102,748 (64.2 bb)
CO: 27,447 (17.2 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is MP1 with
4XTRADER raises to 4,000, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to 27,164 and is all-in, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, 4XTRADER calls 23,164

Flop: (58,528) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (58,528) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (58,528) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 58,528 pot
UTG+2 showed (two pairs, Aces and Tens) and won 58,528 (31,164 net)
4XTRADER showed (two pairs, Kings and Tens) and lost (-27,364 net)

——————–
HAND #2
——————–

Full Tilt, 500/1,000 blinds, 125 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 6 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BTN: 8,689 (8.7 bb)
SB: 38,656 (38.7 bb)
4XTRADER (BB): 26,046 (26 bb)
UTG: 46,751 (46.8 bb)
MP: 9,173 (9.2 bb)
CO: 67,409 (67.4 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BB with
UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN raises to 8,564 and is all-in, SB calls 8,064, 4XTRADER raises to 25,921 and is all-in, SB calls 17,357

Flop: (61,156) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (61,156) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (61,156) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
Results: 61,156 pot
4XTRADER showed (high card Ace) and lost (-26,046 net)
BTN showed (a pair of Eights) and lost (-8,689 net)
SB showed (a pair of Aces) and won 61,156 (35,110 net)

——————–
HAND #3
——————–

Full Tilt, 800/1,600 blinds, 200 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 8 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

UTG+2: 21,592 (13.5 bb)
MP1: 45,616 (28.5 bb)
BTN: 36,642 (22.9 bb)
SB: 19,033 (11.9 bb)
BB: 33,619 (21 bb)
MP2: 13,286 (8.3 bb)
MP3: 11,152 (7 bb)
4XTRADER (CO): 53,581 (33.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is CO with
MP2 folds, MP3 folds, 4XTRADER raises to 4,800, UTG+2 raises to 21,392 and is all-in, MP1 folds, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, 4XTRADER calls 16,592

Flop: (46,784) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (46,784) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (46,784) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Results: 46,784 pot
UTG+2 showed (three of a kind, Eights) and won 46,784 (25,192 net)
4XTRADER showed (a pair of Tens) and lost (-21,592 net)

——————–
HAND #4
——————–

Full Tilt, 500/1,000 blinds, 125 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 8 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

SB: 8,210 (8.2 bb)
4XTRADER (BB): 59,027 (59 bb)
UTG+2: 6,500 (6.5 bb)
MP1: 8,446 (8.4 bb)
MP2: 41,400 (41.4 bb)
MP3: 24,027 (24 bb)
CO: 15,346 (15.3 bb)
BTN: 23,684 (23.7 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BB with
UTG+2 raises to 6,375 and is all-in, MP1 raises to 8,321 and is all-in, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, SB folds, 4XTRADER calls 7,321

Flop: (24,517) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (24,517) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (24,517) (3 players, 2 are all-in)
Results: 24,517 pot
MP1 showed (two pairs, Queens and Jacks) and won 24,517 (16,071 net)
4XTRADER showed (a pair of Aces) and lost (-8,446 net)
UTG+2 showed (high card Ace) and lost (-6,500 net)

——————–
HAND #5
——————–

Full Tilt, 60/120 blinds NL Hold’em Tourney, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

UTG+1: 7,090 (59.1 bb)
UTG+2: 910 (7.6 bb)
MP1: 2,250 (18.8 bb)
4XTRADER (MP2): 2,350 (19.6 bb)
MP3: 6,945 (57.9 bb)
CO: 4,480 (37.3 bb)
BTN: 2,860 (23.8 bb)
SB: 2,180 (18.2 bb)
BB: 1,955 (16.3 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is MP2 with
UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, 4XTRADER raises to 300, MP3 folds, CO raises to 1,080, BTN folds, SB folds, BB folds, 4XTRADER raises to 2,350 and is all-in, CO calls 1,270

Flop: (4,880) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: (4,880) (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (4,880) (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: 4,880 pot
4XTRADER showed (two pairs, Kings and Threes) and lost (-2,350 net)
CO showed (a full house, Queens full of Threes) and won 4,880 (2,530 net)

ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
70908475	Dec 02 23:01ET	$11,500 KO Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	730	17	$106.58	You collected $24.00 for 6 Knockouts.
69422234	Dec 02 23:01ET	$30,000 Guarantee		$100.00 + $9		108	–
70900876	Dec 02 22:01ET	$28,000 Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	1,263	896	–
69421062	Dec 02 21:31ET	The Fifty-Fifty		$50.00 + $5	1,084	659	–
70128468	Dec 02 20:31ET	$22,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$30.00 + $3	299	38	–	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $60.00 .
70124700	Dec 02 20:01ET	$32,000 Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	1,654	659	–
69420135	Dec 02 20:01ET	$65,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	635	512	–
70121034	Dec 02 19:31ET	$33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a)		$100.00 + $9	185	102	–	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $200.00 .
70121032	Dec 02 19:31ET	$10,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$20.00 + $2	275	26	$119.84	You made 6 rebuys/add-ons for $120.00 .
70877597	Dec 02 19:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	722	663	–

Total spent on buy-ins (incl. rebuys)  = $1024

Today’s winnings/losses = +$250.42

Today’s net profit/loss = -$773.58

            Woke up later than usual because I set my alarm clock to the wrong time which made me miss a few of the bigger buy-in tournaments.  I made it up by playing some different tournaments I usually wouldn’t play.  Nothing much to say about my results today, I could’ve got a lot deeper in a lot of my tournaments but kept getting coolered into my higher pair vs. opponents lower pair all-in preflop and they spike their set to win.  The worst part about these specific situations was they were at such a key moment of the tournament and were to put me at least in the top 10 chips in the middle-late stages of the tournaments.  Especially, the KK vs 55 hand, had I not been coolered in this hand I would’ve been an overwhelming chip leader and probably would’ve made the final table.  Just one of those days, I guess.  Here is what I was experiencing all day, I’ll also leave the last hand up for discussion, good fold or bad fold?

——————–
HAND #1
——————–

Full Tilt, 300/600 blinds, 75 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

UTG+1: 29,409 (49 bb)
BTN: 13,881 (23.1 bb)
4XTRADER (SB): 28,051 (46.8 bb)
BB: 8,670 (14.5 bb)
UTG+2: 6,040 (10.1 bb)
MP1: 27,785 (46.3 bb)
MP2: 27,133 (45.2 bb)
MP3: 9,250 (15.4 bb)
CO: 14,103 (23.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is SB with
UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 raises to 1,600, MP3 folds, CO raises to 14,028 and is all-in, UTG+1 folds, BTN folds, 4XTRADER raises to 27,976 and is all-in, BB folds, MP2 folds

Flop: (30,931) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (30,931) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (30,931) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Results: 30,931 pot
4XTRADER showed (a pair of Tens) and lost (-14,103 net)
CO showed (three of a kind, Nines) and won 30,931 (16,828 net)

——————–
HAND #2
——————–

Full Tilt, 600/1,200 blinds, 150 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 5 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BB: 16,826 (14 bb)
MP: 21,434 (17.9 bb)
CO: 49,374 (41.1 bb)
4XTRADER (BTN): 74,350 (62 bb)
SB: 22,702 (18.9 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BTN with
MP raises to 4,800, CO folds, 4XTRADER raises to 74,200 and is all-in, SB folds, BB folds, MP calls 16,484 and is all-in

Flop: (45,118) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (45,118) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (45,118) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Results: 45,118 pot
4XTRADER showed (a pair of Queens) and lost (-21,434 net)
MP showed (three of a kind, Threes) and won 45,118 (23,684 net)

——————–
HAND #3
——————–

Full Tilt, 800/1,600 blinds, 200 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 7 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BTN: 44,639 (27.9 bb)
4XTRADER (BB): 66,998 (41.9 bb)
UTG+2: 17,747 (11.1 bb)
MP1: 24,655 (15.4 bb)
MP2: 106,900 (66.8 bb)
MP3: 81,114 (50.7 bb)
CO: 60,414 (37.8 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BB with
UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 raises to 3,900, MP3 folds, CO folds, BTN folds, 4XTRADER raises to 12,600, MP2 raises to 106,700 and is all-in, 4XTRADER calls 54,198 and is all-in

Flop: (134,996) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: (134,996) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: (134,996) (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Results: 134,996 pot
MP2 showed (three of a kind, Fives) and won 134,996 (67,998 net)
4XTRADER showed (a pair of Kings) and lost (-66,998 net)

———————-
Discussion Hand
———————-

Full Tilt, 300/600 blinds, 75 ante NL Hold’em Tourney, 5 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

MP: 33,032 (55.1 bb)
4XTRADER (BTN): 46,326 (77.2 bb)
SB: 11,555 (19.3 bb)
BB: 16,528 (27.5 bb)
CO: 31,882 (53.1 bb)

Pre-Flop: 4XTRADER is BTN with
CO raises to 1,444, MP folds, 4XTRADER calls 1,444, SB folds, BB folds

Flop: (4,163) (2 players)
CO bets 1,800, 4XTRADER raises to 5,400, CO raises to 30,363 and is all-in, 4XTRADER folds

Results: 14,963 pot
CO mucked and won 14,963 (8,044 net)

ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
68663781	Dec 01 21:01ET	$1K Monday		$1,000.00 + $60	369	22	$2,029.50
69420057	Dec 01 20:01ET	$65,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	553	527	–
69996040	Dec 01 19:31ET	$33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a)		$100.00 + $9	180	158	–	You made 1 rebuy/add-on for $100.00 .
70754004	Dec 01 19:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	699	328	–
69984773	Dec 01 18:01ET	Turbo $40K Guarantee		$200.00 + $16	211	141	–
69977482	Dec 01 17:01ET	$30,000 KO Guarantee		$120.00 + $9	341	226	–	You collected $20.00 for 1 Knockout.
69415559	Dec 01 16:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$100.00 + $9	145	11	$765	You made 4 rebuys/add-ons for $400.00 .
69411491	Dec 01 15:01ET	$50,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	388	257	–
70724188	Dec 01 15:01ET	$13,500 KO Guarantee		$24.00 + $2	956	622	–

Total spent on buy-ins (incl. rebuys)  = $2550

Today’s winnings/losses = +$2814.50

Today’s net profit/loss = +$254.50

             Today, I got back into my groove and made some decent cashes.  Even though I only won a peanut it did boost some moral and gets me pumped to make a final table tomorrow.  I contemplated long and hard about buying into the $1k Monday.  Good thing I did buy-in last minute because I did end up running pretty deep.  This is probably going to sound very unprofessional but there just might be method to the madness, when I played the $1k Monday I played on auto-pilot the whole way through as I was playing video games while playing the tournament.  Ironically, I still made it through the tough field and cashed in the money but didn’t make a final table appearance for the big money.  Sometimes it seems like I do better when I don’t concentrate on reads and just play on auto-pilot, there’s been numerous tournaments where I’ve made it really deep while occupying my attention on something else.  Maybe when I do try to concentrate and focus I over-analyze certain situations which makes me overplay my hands.  I’m not saying I do this all the time but when I do it seems like my results are just as good or sometimes better.  Reflecting back, I always ask myself:  Would I have made it that deep had I concentrated and focused only on the tournament?  Would I have made it deeper than I did? or would I of got knocked out earlier if I focused?  It’s very hard to say because the results vary between the two on different days.  Regardless, I believe this is a bad habit and I should try focusing throughout most, if not all, of the tournament.  So tomorrow I’ll try and divert all my attention just on poker and maybe I’ll win a good amount of money.

ID	Start Time	Name		Buy-in	Entrants	Position	Won	Notes
69884197	Nov 30 21:01ET	$35,000 Guarantee (Rebuy)		$100.00 + $9	322	119	–	You made 2 rebuys/add-ons for $200.00 .
69034654	Nov 30 20:01ET	$65,000 Guarantee		$150.00 + $13	740	88	–
69872947	Nov 30 19:31ET	$33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a)		$100.00 + $9	286	257	–	You made 1 rebuys/add-ons for $100.00.
68662972	Nov 30 19:06ET	The Sunday Mulligan		$200.00 + $16	1,141	1,037	–
70621701	Nov 30 19:01ET	$40,000 Guarantee		$69.00 + $6	992	336	–
68654819	Nov 30 18:02ET	$750,000 Guarantee		$200.00 + $16	3,668	3,423	–

Total spent on buy-ins (incl. rebuys)  = $1188

Today’s winnings/losses = -$1188

Today’s net profit/loss = -$1188

          I know I said I was going to get back into the online tournament circuit starting Dec. 1st but felt like the Sunday tournaments weren’t worth passing up.  I also got most of my important errands done which gave me some extra time to start playing today.  Unfortuantely, there was some un-welcoming variance that kicked in right away my first day back.  I could blame it on being a little rusty since I haven’t played an online tournament for about a week and a half but I feel like I just got the short-end of the stick when it came to luck today.  It’s very unusual for me to get eliminated before the first break of a tournament because in all reality I shouldn’t commit all or most of my chips that early on but today I had big hands that I just couldn’t fold against unknown opponents.  This resulted in getting knocked out very early in the $750k gaurt’d and Sunday Mulligan.  I ran deep in the $65k but knocked out about 16 places from the money when I lost a race with my QQ vs AK. 

        The competition never sleeps, dropping two spots from 16th place to 18th on OPR and going from 36th to 184th on the FullTilt November TLB, proves this statement.  I took a week and a half off the online tournament circuit to play some live tournaments in Vegas and it feels like I’ve been gone for a whole year.  Ironically, this month broke the record as the most profitable month making about $54k profit thanks to my 3rd place finish in FTOPS #7.  My second biggest month is $41k in September.  It’ll be tough but let’s hope I end this year with a bang and break the record once more, I’ll need it since expensive Christmas presents and a trip to Lake Tahoe and the Bahamas are all coming up!

       Sorry for not updating my blog for the past couple days, been pretty busy the last few days in Vegas and coming back home.  It’s probably evident that the Main Event didn’t work out too well for me.  I built my stack up almost flawlessly from the starting stack of 20k in chips and peaked at 44k in chips approaching the dinner break.  About the second level of the tournament a professional poker player that goes by the name Michael Binger sat exactly on my right.  If you don’t know who he is, he took 3rd place in the Main Event 2006, the year Jamie Gold won it, he took home an amazing $4M (yes, that’s million).  I didn’t get into any real key hands with him because he was a pretty tight nit player and plus our table was later broken.  I also saw JJ Lou playing in another table and heard that Todd Brunson was also in the field.  The structure for this tournament was awesome, 90 minute levels!  One of the best structured tournaments I’ve played in non-WSOP.  I came back from the dinner break and that’s where things started to go really sour.  Got into some key pots with some of my good draws and ended up blanking off in a lot of them which dwindled my stack down to about 18k in chips.  After a raise in middle position and two callers, I put a pretty fatty squeeze play committing half my stack.  The original raiser folded but one of the two callers, who has been the table bully ever since he got moved to my table, figured me on a squeeze and decided to put me all-in since he had me way covered.    I wasn’t too happy about the all-in and took me a while to decide if I wanted to put my $2500 buy-in tournament at stake.  I factored in that it was the last level before Day 1 ended and told myself that I rather double up and have a decent stack going into Day 2 or get busted with my semi-shortstack and not even bother coming back for Day 2.  So I ended up making the call and was happy to see that I was a slight favorite when he flipped over KQo vs. my AJs.  He ended up flopping and king and rivering another one for trips and that was the end of my tournament.  I wasn’t too bothered about getting knocked out in this situation because 1) I still got my chips in while I was ahead, 2)  I was free-rollin since I made the final table in the $540 tournament, and 3) I really believe this was a good spot to either double up or not even bother coming back for Day 2.

       The last two days was comrpised of me playing long sessions of $2-$5 cash game and spending some last minute time with my good friends out there in Vegas.  I flew back home Tuesday night and have been busy catching up on some errands ever since.  I don’t plan on jumping right back into online tournament play because of some other priorities I need to take care of, so I will be back in full effect starting Dec. 1st.  For now I’ve been multi-tabling $2-$4 ring games online to keep up with my points for Ironman status.  I have a small sample size in $2-$4 but am doing quite well I would say.  Unfortunately, my time off tournament play has dropped my ranking on OPR (official poker rankings) and in the TLB (Tournament Leader Board) but I can sacrifice a few spots for Nov.  and prepare to tear it up in Dec..  Happy Thanksgiving all!

Day 5 – Friday, November 21, 2008

       Played my first $540 buy-in event here this series.  This tournament started at noon and had about 300-400 players that entered.  I made some pretty bad plays and call downs early on in the tournament, but towards the early-middle stages I shaped up and got into my groove.  Started to play well and accumalate some chips to survive, but then I hit a cold deck which caused me to pick spots to put my chips in as the blinds were getting pretty high relative to my stack size.  I made it through the dinner break which was at around 6:30PM, came back and played another hour before getting knocked out.  After that I played a few satellites to win my buy-in for tomorrow’s $540 buy-in event, but that didn’t go too well either.  I needed a break from poker so my Vegas buddies and I went out to the new ultra lounge called “Lavo” at the Palazzo.  Nice place but small and drinks are really expensive.  Always good to have a break from poker once in a while but tomorrow is going to be another full day of poker.

Day 6 – Saturday, November 22, 2008

       I got a good five or six hours of sleep the night before and went downstairs at exactly 11:45AM to go sign up for the second $540 buy-in tournament this week.  I’m going to go over today very briefly because it’s about 5AM right now and I need to go to sleep to play the biggest and last tournament in the Deepstack Series, so I got to get at least a few good hours of sleep in.  The reason why I am up this late is cause I accomplished my main goal of coming out here which was to make at least one final table out of the 6 tournaments I planned on playing.  There’s a lot of crazy hands and stories to tell about this tournament as it was one of the craziest and fun tournament I have ever played, with the exception of the WSOP $1500 buy-in event I cashed in this summer.  In a nutshell, it started with around 300 players for $540 buy-in a person, total prize pool was approximately $150k, first place was taking home $50k, and I played for 15 hrs straight and made the final table.  There was some complications with the final 9 players including myself and their itinerary for Sunday.  We had two options: (1)  Stop playing for the day and come back Sunday 4PM to conclude the final table, which some of us weren’t agreeing with because we wanted to play the $2500 buy-in event on Sunday noon, or (2)  Chop the total prize pool nine ways according to what our chip count was and in order to do this it had to be unanimous vote.  We ended up all agreeing we wanted to chop it nine ways so that some of us could play the big tournament tomorrow and some players even had a flight to catch.  I was about 5th or 6th in chips and cashed out $11k, which isn’t bad for what I bought in for and I could still consider a good days work for 14hrs of play.  Ultimately, I feel very proud of myself for cashing once getting 15th place in the $340 buy-in event and also making the final table in this $540 buy-in event and taking home $11k is nice as well.  I can officially say that I can hold my own in live tournaments, probably still have some leaks that I can work on but my results prove I’m skillful not only in online tournaments but live as well.

       Originally, I wasn’t planning to play the Venetian Deepstack $2500 buy-in Main Event unless I was to win a satellite for my buy-in or if I made some good money in any other tournament.  Now that I did make some extra cash from my final table and am up overall on my whole trip I will end up playing in the Main Event tomorrow.  This is a 3-day event if you make it to the final table so hopefully I’ll be here till Tuesday, which means I’m rich already!  The structure is just like the WSOP $1500 buy-in events, 90 minute levels with 20k in starting chips, just an awesome structure!  Like I said earlier, I will go into further detail on the crazy stories of the tournament I played in today but I must get some rest so that I’m in tip top shape for the Main Event.  I’ll keep everyone updated as best I can.  Good night or morning, which ever one it is.  Wish me luck!

Oh yeah did I mention first place for the Main Event is going to be $150k+!!!  It has my name on it!

Day 3 – Wednesday, November 19, 2008

       I took the day off poker to hang out with some old time Vegas buddies.  Plus, I really didn’t feel like playing poker that day, which is very unusual and rare.

Day 4 – Thursday, November 20, 2008

       The night before I went to bed extra early so that I could get some good rest and play a whole day of poker without having a hint of fatigue.  Oh and what a day of poker it was, results-wise not so good, but as far as my commitment and treating poker like a true grinder I think I far exceeded expectation.  Here is a day in the life of a Rounder:

10AM – 12PM:  Woke up and put on my usual poker attire that consists of a hat, hoodie sweater, and jeans.  Went downstairs to the food court and had a nice hearty breakfast.  Registered for another $340 buy-in Deepstack touranment.

12PM – 4PM:  Played quite well in the Deepstack tournament.  I really never made a mistake and always had my chips go in good but the cards just weren’t agreeing.  Just one of those days where the focus and skills are up to par but the poker gods just don’t give no love.  My final hand was my KK vs AJo all-in preflop, flop – 7, 8, 10, turn – 9.  I lost to a 4 card straight and that was the end of it.  I wasn’t too bothered about getting knocked out cause I knew there was nothing else I could’ve done and felt that I played my A-game. 

4PM – 6:30PM:  Checked into my room at the Venetian and setup shop, ie- my laptop.  Put in some work online 4 tabling $2-$4 cash games.  I really don’t play cash much these days online but I just play it to earn 200 FullTilt points a day to keep my Ironman status. I’ve been keeping up and have been Ironman status for over a year now, which considers me a valued player and comes with a lot of bonuses and perks.

6:30PM – 8PM:  Went back downstairs to eat dinner at the food court.  I went to go register for the nightly $225 buy-in 7PM tournament but found out they weren’t having it tonight and instead a Las Vegas radio station was hosting $100 buy-in tournament at 8PM.  So now, I had an extra hour to kill and tried to figure out what I wanted to do.  I was just pacing around the poker room and ran into the “Prince of Poker” Scotty Nguyen, he was just hanging out and later got interviewed by the radio station.  Everyone was asking him for autographs and pictures but I just went up to him to congratulate him on his HORSE win at the WSOP this year, even though he did act like a drunk imbecile.  I ended up just sitting down at an open $1-$2 cash game and playing for an hour.

8PM – 9PM:  Played in the special promotional tournament but got busted out early trying to double my chips early due to the crappy structure (20 min levels, $5k in chips).

9PM – 11:30PM:  Shortly after getting knocked out of the 8PM tourney, I went to sit at a $2-$5 cash game.  Made a quick couple hundred bucks and decided to cash out and play satellites for tomorrow’s $540 Deepstack event.

11:30PM – 1AM:  Played two single table satellites but unfortunately didn’t win a seat in any of them.

1AM – 3AM:  Went straight back to the $2-$5 cash game and won another couple hundred bucks.

3AM – Now:  Writing in this blog and about to go to get some rest to wake up at 10AM to do this all over again!

     I think today I pretty much broke even in expenses for tournaments by making my buy-ins back in the $2-$5 game.  So from 10AM in the morning till 3AM at night I pretty much played all kinds of poker and didn’t make anything, not typically what I call a good day’s work but good for my experience.  Breaking it down, I played:

• 4 hrs in the Deepstack tournament
• 1 hr of online poker cash game
• 1 hr of $1/$2 live cash game
• 1 hr of $100 buy-in tournament
• 2 1/2 hrs of $2-5 live cash game
• 1 1/2 hrs playing two single table satellites
• 2 hrs of another $2-$5 live cash game session
• 1 hr writing in my poker blog

Total hours dedicated to poker today = 13 hours!!!

      I played another $340 buy-in Deepstack tournament at the Venetian.  Today I did far far better than the first tourney I played.  Yesterday, I got knocked out in the first hour and a half.  Today, I went really deep and got to the final two tables and ended up getting KO’ed in 15th place out of approximately 300+ players.  My gameplay for this tournament was probably one of my best performances I have ever played.  I surprised myself how well I played and have no regrets on any of my plays, even towards the end when I got knocked out, I wouldn’t of played the hands any differently.  I was pretty much chipleader throughout the whole duration of the tournament until the final 3 tables, that is when I caught a slight cold deck and as the levels got higher my stack stayed the same and other player’s stacks caught up.  The only problem is that these tournaments are more top-heavy than online tournaments, which is already top-heavy as is, so I ended up cashing for $790 making only $450 profit. while 1st place takes home $24k.  The worst part is, I played for about 12 hrs!!!  This is one of the main reasons I’m more of an online pro than a live pro, I make thousands of dollars more in almost half the time!  The only reason why I do play live is cause I like the experience and practice so that when the big live tournaments, like the WSOP, come around I am experienced enough to hold my own.  In my opinion, there’s not much difference in tournament play between live and online as far as gameplay and strategies go.  Live takes more patience since you’re not seeing as many hands an hour as online and you are only playing one table at a time.  Physical tells from opponents and you become a factor in decisions.  Keeping track of pot sizes and stack sizes takes more concentration since you have to calculate and gauge them yourself because they aren’t automatically calculated and displayed on your table.  Other than that, my betting patterns, starting hand requirements, and tactical strategies are all the same.  There were plenty of key hands in the tournament that attributed to me being chipleader but there is mainly one hand I was very proud of how I played it and according to the other players at my table, was a “world-class professional call down”:

Blinds 800/1600 with 200 ante

Opponent was a decent player but has been maybe too overly loose preflop, opening the pot with a very wide range of hands and relentlessly aggressive postflop in position.  He has built his stack to around 45k in chips which was second in chips at my table and first in chips being my stack with about 55k.  So we had most of the chips at our table and were close to even in chips.  When you go through the motions of playing this hand in your head keep in mind that my opponent has enough chips to leave me cripped and could have just about any combination of low cards that could connect with the board.

Preflop:

Opponent raises from early position to 4200, which he has been doing quite a lot.

I call on the button with 76.

Everyone else folds.

Flop (pot = 12,600):   7 2 3

Opponent bets 5k

I call flopping top-pair with a crappy kicker

Turn (pot = 22,600):  7 2 3 [ T]

Opponent bets 12k.

I call.

River (pot = 26,600):  7 2 3 T [ J]

Opponent stalls and cuts out some chips from his stack.  With a very confident voice announces “18 thousand”.

I take some time and reassess the texture of the board relative to what he can be holding in his hand.  After a few minutes of thought, I shake my head and mutter “Nope, you don’t have it.  I call.”

I announce “I have a pair of 7′s” as I flip my hand over.  Opponent stands up and looks across the table at my hand, puts on a disgusted face, shakes his head and mucks.

Comments:  I played my suited connectors in position for two reasons (1) we have the deepest stacks at our table, and for as aggressive as he is postflop, my implied odds are infinite, (2) I had position on a loose/aggressive player.  To decent players this is a standard play.  I was pretty confident throughout the flop and turn I had the best hand but for pot control didn’t want raise risking building a big pot I didn’t want to play in.  By the river, his hesitation worried me a little and so does the Jack that fell off.  His river bet was definately small relative to the pot size and definately gives me the right pot odds to call but, it was small enough that it could’ve passed for a value bet with AJ or AT as well.  By the river, I had him on a range composed of: 55, 44, AK, AQ, AJ, AT,  and Ax suited.  Since he was a decent player I just couldn’t imagine him betting a good portion of his stack on the river as a v-bet with any one pair type hand despite him being really aggressive.  I would expect him to give up on most of his bluffs and check the river w/ a one pair type hand.  There was no way he had anything better than one pair, the only real concern is if his leading bets on the flop and turn backed him into a pair of 10′s or J’s.  I finally decided that even with a pair of 10′s or J’s he would check the river and the only reason why he would bet was to 3-barrel bluff being his only way for him to win the pot.  I could’ve asked to see his hand since it was me who called his last bet, but I was pretty confident it was either AK, AQ, or Ax suited.  After winning this pot, he was very rattled and confused on how I could make that call and gave me more respect in later hands.  This hand looks like it’s really easy to make the river call since his bet was so small compared to the pot and I did have top pair on the flop but when it’s the only player at the table that could take most of your hard-earned chips at stake, it’s a lot harder when you’re actually going through the motions.

I’ll be playing the same buy-in tournament tomorrow, so we’ll see if I can make the final table this time.  I’ll keep everyone posted.