WSOP

Yes, I know. It seems like half of my bog entries start with some sort of apology for not blogging very much.

Poker has gone pretty poorly so far and I haven't had much to write home about. I've entered 7 tournaments and have cashed zero times. I've made exactly one dinner break and failed to ever get above my starting stack in a whopping five out of seven tourneys. It's been pretty gross. I think I'm playing well and I'm getting better every day so I'm not panicking yet. The weird thing about tournaments is that I can go deep in just 1 of 25 and still make a lot of money. Anyway, I took the weekend off and came in to today planning on playing really good and breaking the slump. It wasn't to be but I'm planning on typing up reports of my tourneys from now on to make sure that I'm not leaking too badly. Here's my write-up for today:

First hand of the tournament. MP limps, I limp on the button with J9o, SB completes and BB checks. Flop is KQT with 2 spades, MP bets 100, I raise to 350 and he calls pretty quickly. Turn is an offsuit 6 and he check-calls a 775 bet into the 900 chip pot. The river is the 2s and he leads for 1000. I call pretty fast, deciding that I'm never ever finding a fold and he obviously has A2ss for the nuts. One hand and I'm down to 2825 chips.

I splash around for a bit and chip back up to almost 5000 chips. Memorable hands include:

I raise QJs to 150 in EP. Annie Duke calls, as do the button and BB. KJJ flop and I bet 400. Annie calls very quickly and the others fold. The turn is a brick and I bet 1000, leaving myself with about 1600 behind. She thinks for a few seconds then folds. I feel like 800 may have been a better amount but I don't really like checking.

I raise to 150 with 55 in EP and both blinds call. The flop is Q86, I bet 350 and only the BB calls. The turn is a 3, the BB checks and I bet 1000 chips. He asks how much I have left, about 2200, dwells for a bit, then folds.

Blinds up to 50/100. UTG+1 limps, I raise to 400 in MP with AJo, guy directly to my left coldcalls the raise and the SB makes it 1150 total. UTG+1 thinks for a while then calls 1050 more. I fold and the guy behind me calls. Flop KJJ again, SB check-calls 1K from UTG+1, turn goes check-check, then UTG+1 calls a 1K river bet. AA for BB, QQ for UTG+1. Why can't I just play bad here?

Same QQ guy limps, Bushman limps on my right, I raise to 600 with 99, 3500 behind or so. UTG calls immediately and Bushman folds. Flop is 863r, and QQ guy check-folds to my 1100 chip bet. Bush informs me that he folded 88, lol.

Now comes the second big pot of the tourney. I open in MP to 300 with red Queens. Guy to my left calls and the Laggy donk in the BB calls. The flop is JJ7 with 2 hearts, I bet 650 and the BB asks how big the bet is then calls pretty quickly. The turn is an offsuit 9, he checks and I decide to check behind. This guy is cabaple of c/ring with a heart draw or some sort of T9/89 hand and I figure I'll still get money out of his 7s on the river. The river is another J for a final board of JJ79J. He fires 1500 and I think for about 30 seconds whether or not he'd call a shove with a 7. I have 2450 behind. I decide that it's a bad spot since his most likely hands are a Jack or a missed heart draw. I call and he obviously has Jc3c.

The table breaks and I'm moved to a tight table. I fold every hand until the break and I'm down to 2200 chips. First hand back from break, loosish dude limps in MP. This is never any sort of good hand. Jeff Madsen limps on the button and I look down at A9cc in the SB. I think it's a pretty easy shove and I stick in my final 2100. Now the BB tanks for a bit and calls the 2000 more. Limper and Madsen quickly fold and I can't beat AQ. GG.

Despite the poor start, I'm actually really enjoying living in my house and having the opportunity to talk to my roommates about poker. They're all really great players and are excellent at explaining hands. Steve Billirakis won the first event of the WSOP for $538K and became the youngest bracelet winner ever at 21 years and 10 days. That'll definitely be a tough record to beat. Another roommate, Justin Bonomo, finished 4th in one of the tournaments and cashed for over $150K. There are only 4 of us playing at the WSOP so Chris Bush and I definitely hope that our turn for a 6-figure cash is coming up. The sick part about the house is that the two 19 year-olds, Ozzy and Roman, are both amazing players in their own rights and have helped me as much as anyone. I'm so ready to go deep in one of these bad boys.

I tried to figure out a schedule for every day coming up and here's what it looks like:

6/12: Event 21, 1500 NL Shootout
6/13: Event 22, 5000 NL
6/14: Bellagio Cup Event 4, 5000+180 NL
6/15: Event 25, 2000 NL
6/16: Event 27, 1500 NL
6/17: Event 28, 3000 NL
6/18: Event 30, 2500 NL/6-handed
6/19: Bellagio Cup Event 9, 2500+120 NL
6/20: Bellagio Cup Event 10, 5000+180 NL
6/21: Event 35, 1500 NL
6/22: Event 37, 2000 PL
6/23: Event 38, 1500 NL
6/24: Event 40, 1500 Mixed HE
6/25: Bellagio Cup Event 15, 1500+90 NL
6/26: Bellagio Cup Event 16, 2500+120 NL
6/27: Bellagio Cup Event 17, 5000+180 NL
6/28: Event 45, 5000 NL 6-handed
6/29: Event 47, 2000 NL
6/30: Event 49, 1500 NL
7/1: Bellagio Cup Event 21, 2500+120 NL
7/2: Event 52, 1000 NL with rebuys
7/3: Bellagio Cup Event 23, 2500+120 NL
7/4: Bellagio Cup Event 24, 5000+180 NL
7/5: Bellagio Cup Event 25, 5000+180 NL
7/6: Event 55, 10000 NL, MAIN EVENT!!!

I'm already $18K in the red and there are over $70K worth of tournaments left on this schedule. I'll probably(hopefully) make a few Day 2s and will probably(definitely) take a few days off for my sanity. Anyway, I'm going to try to blog daily from now on and I'll even post updates from my cellphone if good things are happening throughout the day. Obviously my next post will really be in a month but I feel like making outrageous promises.

Anyway, if you don't really care about poker, rest assured that I'm doing fine. I love the guys in my house and we're getting along really well. Hiring a cook was one of the best ideas that we've ever had. If you're reading this, please come and visit me soon. I usually only play from noon until 1 or 2 PM and then have the rest of the afternoon off so we'll definitely be able to kick it if you make it down here. Check out Chris' blog if you want proof of the awesomeness of what's going on down here. I was planning on writing more and possibly posting some pictures of my own but it's getting late and I'm tired. Peace.