Michael Watson Eliminated in 10th Place ($9,049)

It was a really weird day. I battled on a short stack most of the day, and whenever I got my hands on some chips and it began to look like I might make a comeback I would lose a pot and return to shortstackville. Here are a few hands I can remember:

Hand 1: UTG pots it to 21K with not much behind so I figure he can have like anything, I find A247 double suited or something like that. This was actually around the time I had the most chips I had all day with like 97K or something. I figure I have to at least call and I'm probably pot-committed then anyways so mise well jam and try to get it heads up I guess. The BB ends up tanking and folding AAT9 he said, which is pretty sweet, but I still get scooped by KQTT or some foolish hand like that for 30K.

Hand 2: I have like 83K and pot it in EP to 28K with AKKc6c. The SB who as it turns out is a huge huge clown says "pot, pot, pot from you is it? I have a pretty big hand" before calling, and Chad Brown calls in the BB. The flop comes 789 which is pretty frigging awful. They check to me and with 84K in the pot already I decide to gamble and shove, figuring I can easily have the best high hand and i can blow them off a lot of hands that have way more outs than they realize. Clown reshoves with AT73 (wow, that sure is "a pretty big hand" against an UTG pot raise). I'm obviously in terrible terrible shape here. The turn is a 6 and I'm like drawing dead except the river is a 3 and I get a quarter. I should almost certainly have checked behind the flop but I play bad and stuff and I thought they could easily both have missed that board since you're not supposed to be calling my raise with many middle cards there.

Hand 3:So now I'm pretty screwed but people bust left and right and we collapse to one table of 10 (this doesn't really count as making the final table though). I have 32K and we high-card for button and I'm the BB. Oh crap. I fold my BB to go to 24K then double to 48K on the next hand when it folds to me in the SB and my A479s wins against some high cards. On the next hand the 2nd shortstack pots in EP and I have AsTs2h9d. His pot from EP shows a lot of strength but I'm a monkey and I don't fold A2 with a suited ace when I have 6 bets so I jam. The BB who is the clown from the previous hand then instajams over top of me so we go all-in 3 ways. Then this happens (note clown is obv the one with A3): http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/updates_pn.asp?tourneyID=3469&groupid=309

Such a sick river, 13 cards for 3/4, 4 cards for 1/2, 17 cards I get 1/4, and 2 cards I get nothing.... Sigh. Also, the pocketfives live guys covered the tournament a bit and I introduced myself to them. You can check out the coverage at http://www.pocketfiveslive.com/. There is also a picture they took of me on there in which I look completely retarded. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do tomorrow, probably not much. Thursday is the $5K 6-max NL I've been looking forward to so much, still looking for that first final table.

Mike

You get 4 cards, but you can only use 2

I'm on to Day 2 of the $1500 buy-in PLO8 event. Basically I luckboxed a lot and played fairly well I think to end the day with 27.6K chips. Average is just under 20K so I'm in good shape. 98 players made day 2 and I believe 63 get paid. I'm not a PLO8 expert but here's one hand I found somewhat interesting, though in retrospect after thinking about it more it was an easy decision.

300/600 blinds I have like 20K and limp A237 nut diamonds in EP, one other limper on the button and only the BB comes along in the SB. The flop comes 367 all spades. BB checks, I check, and then the button bets pot. Folds to me and he has a bit over a pot sized raise left in his stack. After some though I realize I have to checkraise the pot since I usually have the best hand with my nut low and 4 outs to a fullhouse, and he's going to have to fold a lot of non-nut flushes to my raise (unless he has a decent low to go with it calling would be terrible, and even if he does call I'm basically freerolling him for the scoop). It's easy to get drawn in by the fact that he almost certainly has a flush and I only have 4 outs to beat him for the high, and thus play the hand passively since my low could get counterfeited or something, when it's clearly a perfect spot to put the pressure back on him with the big bet. If I didn't have some kind of high potential it'd be trickier since I now have to be a lot more concerned about getting quartered/counterfeited, but having 2 pair here makes this really easy. In the actual hand he folded.

Hopefully my luck continues tomorrow I really want a final table!

Mike

Dinner, dice, and donkaments

Alright so after busting the tournament on Friday we met up with Bond and Adam Junglen for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris casino. It was a nice restaurant, we had some wine and I ordered pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, which was obviously delcious because it's meat wrapped in bacon. We then decided we wanted to relax and watch a movie so we headed over to the Palms, but Knocked Up wasn't playing for a couple hours so we decided to rent a movie instead. However we made a detour to the craps table on the way out and Bond taught me how to play . I kind of wanted to learn how to play just because it seems like the most fun/social pit game and the house edge is apparently pretty small if you know what to bet, so it's not the worst way to spend some time with buddies while getting free drinks. Anyways we played until we both got to roll and I was lucky to make $200. I've got this -EV gambling down, if I could just figure out how to win when the odds are in my favour now!

Saturday was another enormous field $1500 NL event. I'm tired of writing long boring tournaments reports, so I'll stick to cliffs notes for this one. I got up to $30K chips at the dinner break (which is average stack when we get in the money) but then lost it all in the 90 minutes before the next break. I played fine though, there were just a lot of hands where I basically had to lose some chips. On my bustout hand I moved in over a late position raise from David "sirio11" Cosssio with 44 since I had the perfect stack size for it but he had KK. Oh well.

Today I played online all day and made a few nice scores. I won yet another Main Event seat in the $650 satellite. This one was highlited by my K7o beating KK all-in preflop. I run so good in that tournament it's incredible. I also finally final tabled a big Sunday tournament, finishing 3rd in the $200 rebuy for just under $21K. I took a few really bad beats on the river at that final table but I was also gettting dealt a ton of good hands and hitting flops so I can't really complain too much about my luck there. Tomorrow I'm going to play the $1500 PLO8 world series event. Not my strongest game for sure, but I think I play reasonably well and most people will probably have even less an idea what they're doing than me since as far as I know this game is basically never spread live, at least not in North America. It should be a fun tournament though and a nice break from holdem. There aren't any NLHE world series events until the $5K 6-max event on Thursday, which is going to be soooooo awesome like every 6-max event but even bigger and awesomer.

Mike

Early bustout again

I'm going to skip right to the end I think.

Hand 1: 2 fish limp at 75/150, I limp the button with J9ss, and the blinds come along. I have like 5500 to start the hand. Flop 995 rainbow, checks to 2nd fish who bets 500, I decide to slowplay for once and call, and first fish calls. Suspicious overcall, but I'm not too worried yet. Turn 6, they check to me and I bet 1200, fish #1 calls (now I'm pretty scared), fish #2 thinks for a bit and folds. River 4, fish leads for 3K of my 3600 chips and I guess he can at least have T9,98, or 97 here enough that I have to call, but he shows the 87o and takes the pot. lol.

Going out for dinner with some friends in a bit which will hopefully lead into drinks and stuff later on. I'm playing the $1500 NL tomorrow, and assuming I don't make day 2 I'll be playing online tournaments Sunday.

Mike

I will not play 500/1000

I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I will not play 500/1000
I like playing 500/1000

Edit for hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1198035
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1198030
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1198038

Mike

$1500 NL Report

I didn't get much going today, I probably played one hand bad and then recovered by winning a flip and then chipped up a bit before losing a flip.

Hand 1: I have like 3500 to start the hand, two dudes limp at 25/50, I make it 250 with ATo in the CO and both limpers call. Flop A63 2 diamonds and first limper bets 300. Live players putting money in the pot scares the hell out of me but I have top pair and stuff so I call. The turn is an offsuit J, he bets 600 with like 800 behind so I just go ahead and put him all-in and lose to AQ. The ol limp/call with AQ, gets me every time. Meh, maybe I should have found a fold cuz live players are so predictable/bad but I dunno, down to 1500ish.

Hand 2: QQ wins vs AKs AIPF at 50/100 back to 2800ish chips.

I make a few nice resteals and the occasional straight steals of the blinds to get to 4500, and then have 4K on my bustout hand:

Hand 3: It folds to the button who open limps at 100/200 a25, I make it 800 with A7o and the limper calls. Maybe I should have raised more to just win it preflop or something but I don't like that because I'd never do it with a real big hand. Flop 932 2 spades, I bet 1200, he instashoves and I think for a bit and decide I have to call off my last 1800 since there's a very good chance he has a flush draw (especially given how fast he moved in, I may suck at picking up tells, but timing tells live are the same as online and I've found them to be fairly reliable online) and I'm getting big pot odds. He turns over 86ss and turns a 6 for the win.

Tomorrow is a $2K pot limit holdem event which shouldn't have such a ridiculously enormous field like the small buy-in no-limit events. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do tonight, probably just relax and go to sleep a bit earlier than I have been, I was tired today.

Mike

Cash game day, food/drink report

I played some live cash games at the Bellagio today. We decided we'd see how many people were playing the $5K tournament there, but unless they got a bigger field than they had been we'd just play cash. The tournament got like 50 players so I ended up playing 10/20 NL. The buy-in is uncapped in these games so I bought in for $5K. I ended up running pretty ok:

Hand 1: I raise to 80 with JTss in EP and get called in 2 spots. Flop is three low spades, I bet 200 and get raised to 480. He has like 4K onthe table too so I decide to just call as I think a reraise blows him off most hands I beat. Turn is an offsuit Q or something. I think I should lead out here but I decide to check planning to checkraise all-in probably. He checks behind though and the river blanks, I bet 1000 and he folds. This is a bit of a weird situation with the money so deep, I think I have to lead the turn but against a lot of solid (nitty) live players I feel like if all the money goes in when we're this deep I'm often getting shown a bigger flush.

Hand 2: UTG raises to 80, I call with KK 2 seats behind him (with effective stacks so deep I think a reraise really turns my hand face up here and puts me in an awful situation postflop when I get called). Folds to the button who pops it 300 more with 1700 behind. UTG folds and I think for a bit and decide to call. I'd usually reraise here, but live players seem to like making huge hero folds of big pairs preflop so I think he'd dump QQ/JJ/ here a lot, whereas if the flop comes low he will likely feel pot committed to his hand once he puts in a big flop bet, though maybe I'm just giving people too much credit. The flop comes KQ8 two hearts, I check, he bets 600, I put him in and his QQ is no good, sick flop.

Hand 3: Guy on my right limps, I make it 100 with KJo in the CO and get called by both blinds and the limper. Flop JJ6 2 clubs. Checks to limper who bets 160, I make it 460 and he calls. Turn Kd, I bet 920 and he calls. River is a low club and he leads for 1600. I put him all-in for $1000 more or so and he calls showing JTo. Wow.... nice river play sir.

I finished up $8700, and we went to the asian place Noodles in Bellagio for a very tasty dinner. I should maybe talk more about places I've eaten. Last night I went for sushi with gobboboy and mlagoo at Hikari steakhouse/sushi bar which is actually fairly close to our condo. It was pretty good, they had some really nice special rolls. I haven't been able to eat at a lot of really nice places since I usually have to eat fairly quickly in the Rio during dinner break from the tournament. The other place I can definitely recommend is the Indian place in the Rio, Gaylord's. I've tried 3 or 4 different dishes there and they were all excellent. In terms of beers I've tried a few I like. I really enjoy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale which I tried last summer.

Another new beer I've tried that I like is the Pyramid Hefe Weizen:

I may be a bit biased on this one because I really enjoy most wheat beers though. That's about all I can think of for now, back to the tournament grind tomorrow with a $1500 NL WSOP event. Oh yeah Aaron chopped the $1K Stars Super Tuesday last night for $40K. Our condo is clearly rigged to own that tournament.

Mike

Short up and down day

I got up as high as 125K or so at one point today but lost a big coinflip for most of my chips and then another hand allin preflop where I was well ahead. I finished 34th for $7500ish.

Hand 1: I raise to 8500 on the button at 1500/3000 a400 with KJo and Joe Tehan defends his BB. Flop ATx, he leads 10K and iwant to shove on him but stack sizes are kind of awkward for it so I decide to just fold.

Hand 2: I raise AA UTG 5-handed and the guy on my left reraises to 20K or sometihng. I move in for 30ish more and he has to call and his A4o is no good. Finally I knew if I just kept playing solid one of these guys would give me chips.

Hand 3: Joe Tehan raises to 7800 or something UTG and Alan Sass (TheUsher) calls on the button. I raise 20K more with AJo from the SB and both fold. This way my high point of 125Kish.

Hand 4: I raise A7o in the CO, the loose aggressive BB calls. Flop K9x 2 clubs he calls my 10K continuation bet. Turn 9 chk/chk, river 9 he bets 14K I make a bad river call. I think the call would normally be fine but he had just been caught floating the flop against Tehan so it was unlikely he was doing it again here. Oops.

Hand 5: Alan raises to 8500 in the CO, I make it 27.5K in the SB with AK, and the BB (A4 guy) thinks for a bit and shoves 60.8K total. I quickly call and lose to TT.

Hand 6: We're at 2k/4k a500 and I have about 36K to start the handin the BB. Folds to the SB who is a seemingly aggressive asian guy who puts me all-in. I think for a bit and figure he probably knows he should be moving in with a huge range there so I call with K9s, and his 64o is good.

On the plus side I busted out early enough to play the Stars $1K Super Tuesday again so I'm going to try to defend my win from last week now. I'm not sure what my next live event will be there's not much good coming up for a few days iirc.

Mike

A long day for a change

Woohoo I made another cash and another day 2. I ran pretty awesome today overall which was nice for a change. Playing 6-handed makes these live tournaments so much more fun than the full 10-handed tournaments which can get pretty boring at times during the long days when you're not picking up any hands. Anyways I was planning not to write a long report but I just started remembering some hands so it might get long.

Hand 1: Alex Brenes limps in the CO at 50/100, I make it 400 in the SB with AQo and like 3100 more behind and he calls. Flop QJ9, I bet 600 he moves in really fast and between the combination of me having bullied him in some previous pot so he wouldn't want to get pushed around anymore and the speed of his move all-in I was pretty sure he had a pair/draw combo hand so I called pretty quickly and faded lots of outs against his QT.

Hand 2: 100/200 I make it 600 on the button with ATo. SB who is a friends of 2+2er aejones and wearing a fairly gay "ship ship mcgipp" shirt calls in the SB with 3500 more or so behind. Flop AQ8 2 hearts, he checks, I bet 800, he checkraises me and I'm pretty sure he reraises almost everything that beats me preflop so he likely has hearts or JT for the double gutter so I put him in and beat his JT.

Hand 3: Guy on my right makes it 550 at 100/200 a25, I call in position with 66 and then high stakes cash player whitelime moves all-in in the SB for 3100 more. Orignial raiser folds and I decide I'm getting too good a price so I call and he happens to have 55 which is pretty sweet.

Hand 4: Johnny Chan is on my left now at a new table and limps UTG at 200/400 a50. He's been limping a lot and he just won a big pot with AJ vs AQ aipf to get like 12K in chips or so. He said he kinda of still doens't want to be there because he's supposed to meet his wife for dinner or something. Another guy limps, the SB completes, and I raise 1600 more with AQo in the BB. Chan calls and we see a flop of A62 two diamonds. I bet 3500, he jams and I call and fade his AJdd to get to 40K and bust a world champion. At this point someone came and asked me about the hand and for a chip count so maybe I get mentioned in online coverage somewhere I dunno.

I can't really remember much else interesting. I got as high as 80K at one point before chipping down to 65K to end the day. There are 42 players left and average stack is like a bit over 100K, but blinds are only going up to 1500/3000 a400 so there's a little play left for a change. The final table of this tournament will be televised on ESPN so here's hoping I keep running good tomorrow and get there.

Mike

Another short day

I busted the $3K NL tournament before the first break. I didn't do a whole lot and was at 5300 when I raised red queens in MP to 300 at 50/100. All 5 players behind me called and the flop came 752 two dimaonds. The blinds checked and I decided to check and probably checkraise all-in unless people started going crazy before it got back to me. If I bet they're prboably going to put me on exactly what I have and on a draw heavy board I would probably have to call a raise all-in. At least this way the 2 bad players on my left get a chance to put money in with a worse hand. Of course it's pretty bad if it happens to check around but it seemed worth the risk to add some deception to my hand. It checked to James Mackey aka mig.com who won the $5K NL event for like $750K or something on the button and he bet 1200. Folds back to me I jam 5K and mig has to call with 96dd and gets there.

I went home and played some of the later online tournaments, and had a 4th in the Absolute Poker $150 tourney for $4800. People on Absolute are so bad at poker it reminds me of the old days on Paradise pre-US ban. Tomorrow is the $2500 NL 6-max event at the Rio and I am pumped for it. Like I said before the last 6-max event this is my favourite format as almost all the cash games I play online are 6-max tables. Hopefully things go well and I make day 2 so I don't have to blow $5K on the heads-up event on Tuesday.

Mike

Short Day

It was a pretty uneventful day, I stole the blinds on the first hand to get to 46K and then went down from there basically. Was down pretty low then pushbotted my way back up to 38K. Then a shortstack pushed in EP for 28.3K total at 1500/3000 a400 and I had 44 in the BB. According to math I'm getting 1.44:1 so I need to win just over 40% of the time for a call to be profitable. Live players usually push too tight here, but this was a youngish guy who I figured at least had some idea to push somewhat light, and against any reasonable range I usually win enough. He had A9o and turned a 9 to cripple me, and I busted within the next orbit. The CO said he folded AQ and even after the guy showed A9 he defended it was the right play.... Anyways some PokerStove numbers, against this tightish range calling is correct:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 42.724% 41.98% 00.74% 121479780 2153418.00 { 4c4d }
Hand 1: 57.276% 56.53% 00.74% 163592760 2153418.00 { 22+, A9s+, KQs, A9o+, KQo }

and he probably pushes a lot more unpaired hands in reality that I'm in good shape against, and at that stage in the tournament I definitely want to take any small edge I can get to get back to a playable stack. Oh well $3K Nl event tomorrow.

Oh yeah I finished 80th for $6100, guess that's kind of important information.

Mike

In the money, on to day 2

I made my 2nd cash of the WSOP today in the $2K NL event. 1600ish runners started the day, and around 140 are left playing tomorrow, 153 cashed. I have 41.1K chips which puts me just slightly below average. The blinds are at 1k/2k a300 so I only have about 20xBB though. Here's some hands I can remember:

Hand 1: I had like 5K after winning a little with a set, a really really bad player thinks about raising then limps with 1200 or so behind, the SB completes, I find ATo in the BB. I figure I probably still have the weak limper beat even though he thought of raising and I'm also really sure he's never folding to a raise, so I just pop it up 500, he shoves I call and lose to 99. Bigger hand than I thought he had but oh well.

Hand 2: I have like 2400 now, a weak player limps in EP, I make it 400 with AQo in MP, and only the limper calls. Flop AJx, he check/calls 500. Turn blank I bet my last 1500 and he thinks for a bit and then calls with KJo. Well played sir, back to 5K.

Hand 3: I can't remember how it happened, I'm pretty sure I won a bunch of standard small to medium sized pots picking up hands or just raising then continuation betting. I got up to like 17K at one point.

Hand 4: The hand before this a new player got moved to the table in the BB. I raised his blind with AQo from the CO and all folded. The next hand I have AQhh in the HJ and raise again to 1200 at 2/4 a50. He makes it 3200 in the SB and he covers my 16K or whatever I had to start the hand. I kind of don't believe him and he looks the kind of guy that doesn't necessarily need a monster to reraise here but I decide that a push is too big a bet given I don't actually know anything about him and decide to call and take a flop in position. The flop comes K42 no hearts and be bets 4500, I fold.

Hand 5: I fold like a million hands in a row then open AA and get it in against KK to double to 19K.

Hand 6: Button raises to 2100 at 3/6 a75, I decide with my image it's a great spot to resteal and shove him in for his 12K stack with QJo. He instacalls with AK and I lose all the chips I just got, back to like 7K.

Hand 7: I get moved tables a few times and shortstack ninja my way up to 20K without ever seeing a flop. One hand of interest is when I jam like 10K UTG+1 with T5o at 800/1600 a200 because I guess I might as well or something and it folds to the BB who tanks and claims to fold 77. LOL. "I only had 2 overs but I wouldn't have minded the gamble, I need a double up". Also I shove like 11K on the button at the same level and the blinds fold. They say come on you've been moving in a lot show us one. I oblige and turn over the As. And then the Ad. Ship table image points.

Hand 8: Now I have 19.5K and a guy from my original table has been moved 2 to my right with a ton of chips. He was very aggressive at the old table and he saw me spew off a lot of chips in the QJo resteal hand, so he knows I can make a few moves. We are like 5 from the money and he opens in the CO to 4500 at 800/1600 a200. I find KK in the SB. I'm not normally one to Hollywood much because I usually think it's pretty transparent, but in this case i laid it on pretty thick. I really wanted him to think I had a marginal hand that I wantd to resteal with but wasn't sure if I should being so close to the money and all. Finally I moved it in and he thought for a bit before calling with Q8s getting just under 2:1. I held and all of a sudden had over 40K

I then raised a couple times on the bubble to get to 50K before blinding down to 41.1k to end the day. Average stack is about 50K so I'm in decent shape.

I also played the $1500 PLO on Thursday. I luckboxed up to like 15K before bricking a 12 outer twice all-in on the flop against 2 pair to drop to 7K, and then my ragged aces lost to 7789 all-in preflop to bust. I was happy with how I played though and didn't really feel at a disadvantage despite not playing a lot of PLO. OK we start up at 3pm PST tomorrow and play down to the final table. With 140 left there's still an awful long way to go though.

Mike

Blargh 5K report

Pretty upset with myself for how I played one hand today, but whatever I'll get over it. There were some intersting hands anyways. My table was semi-tough with a lot of TV pros. Men Nguyen, Harry Demitriou, Eli Elezra, and Chau Giang all there.

Hand 1: I haven't really done anything notable and I've bled off some chips trying to hit flops and stuff. This is a weird hand. Men opens to 325 at 50/100 in MP. He opens a lot of pots though this is the first one in a while. The guy on his left calls who seems fairly weak, and a tightish European guy next to act calls. I'm next on the button and decide this is a perfect spot to squeeze, but the SB was sitting out and I guess the BB folded out of turn because the dealer went to put up a flop. I'm like whoa, whoa I still have a hand here, so they call over the floor who explains the ruling to the dealer (he has to shuffle up the the deck and redeal the flop). I stick with the plan figuring if anything my reraise has to look even stronger now and make it 1500 with J6o. To my surprise Men calls, the next guy folds, and to my even bigger surprise the tight guy calls. Now I'm really not sure what the heck these guys have, especially the tight European who I never thought could have a hand good enough to call there. The flop comes J72 rainbow, they check to me and even though I have top pair I know a bet here would be a complete bluff. Maybe I should have just bet anyways since they'd have to think I have a huge hand, but I decide to check behind and see what happens, maybe get some value from worse hands at some point. Then turn is a Q which is obviously pretty bad, Men thinks for a bit and then checks, and the Euro guy bets 3K. I can't imagine him betting anything I beat now so I fold and Men also folds. We talked about the hand later he asked if I had AK I was like no I hand a weird hand, asked him if he had AQ or something and he said something like that, I had a "big pair". NOt really sure what that means, hard to imagine he had JJ+ there but who knows.

Hand 2: Elezra limps at 100/200 from MP, I make it 800 with A6o in the CO, the BB calls (damn) and Eli obviously calls. The flop comes A43, they check to me and I check behind. Turn 5, the BB bets 1200 and I call. River K, he checks I check behind and beat 56ss.

Hand 3: I have like 12K now and open to 600 in the CO with AA. Chau Giang makes it 2200 on the button. So far he's shown only premium hands but I assume he's a strong enough player to reraise with a wide range here and he probably gets away from even very strong hands here if I reriase so I just call, which is pretty standard against a competent player in this spot. Flop AQx rainbow, I check and he bets 3500. I think for a while because I'm not sure whether to just call or shove it in now (a push would be 6K more) and eventually decide that if he has something he'll get it in basically regardless on the turn or river even though my call looks pretty suspicious and maybe he'll happen to turn some kind of hand or make a bad bluff. The turn is a T and I check, he puts me in and I call, he says "you win I have no pair no draw". Up to 24Kish.

Hand 4: Harry limps UTG, Elezra limps behind in MP, I make 1000 in the CO, the BB thinks for a bit like maybe he'll reraise and then calls, Harry folds, and Elezra shoves 3300 more. I'm pretty sure the BB has a fairly big hand but prboably not AA/KK since he'd have reraised and he likely folds everything else if I push (he has like 15K or something). I have no idea what Eli has but it's hard to given him credit for a big hand here even though he has to know he's always getting called by one of us and we likely have big hands. I go ahead and shove, the BB folds (must have been QQ or JJ), but Eli has AA. Damn. Down to 20K.

Hand5 : Raise KQo in EP to 600 at 100/200 a25 and Demitriou calls in late position. Flop Q9x 2 clubs, Harry has like 8K left. This is a pretty awkward spot as i don't have a club, I decide to check and he bets 1000. I consider calling and leading non-club turns since i don't like calling and checking again as his draws can take a free river. Eventually I decide just to checkraise all-in which is maybe kind of reckless but can't really be that bad and he instacalls with K6cc. wtf is he calling my early raises with.

Hand 6: I'm trying to forget this hand happened. It involves another awful hero call on the river that never really had a chance of being right.

Hand 7: Now to down 2500 there is a raise and call in front and I shove AKdd. Both call, I flop the nut flush and get to 8K.

Hand 8: I now have 5600 or so at 300/600 a75 and shoce T7o in late position. The SB calls, but turns over 44. I still lose though.

Not sure what I'm going to play tomorrow... There is a $5K at Bellagio that might not have a much of a field (Aaron played the $2500 today with only 75 runners) and the WSOP has a $1500 PLO and then $3K Stud Hi/Lo. So I may play the Rio event as I'm obviously a PLO master after my FTOPS 2nd place finish. We'll see I guess.

Mike

VICTORY!!!

I won the $1K Super Tuesday tournament on Stars for $75K! Basically I got all-in dominated a lot and drew out, and then eventually I got my act together and started playing well at the end, and also made some hands to make a huge comeback after I had bluffed off a lot of chips at the beginning of the final table. This is easily my biggest tournament score so far, but with the $5K NL starting tomorrow and other WSOP events I'm hopeful that won't be the case for too long! In other news, I was talking to Ryan Daut at dinner last night and he mentioned taht a friend of his had been ahving a lot of success shortstacking 200/400 PLO on Full Tilt (mostly against Gus Hansen because as Matusow constantly tells the entire tournament room, he is supposedly the worst Omaha player ever). Anyways, being the degenerate high stakes shortstacker that I am I decided to try it out and see what happens. What I learned: Gettting 4-outed on the river for $28K sucks.

OK time to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Mike

Quick $1500 NL Shootout Report

I'm glad I played this thing, most of my table was absolutely terrible. That being said I obviously didn't even make the first break.

Hand 1: 3 limpers at 25/50, I make it 250 with JJ. I wasn't sure whether to go 250 or 300, I guess I should have made it 300 because they all called. Flop KTx checks to me and I check behind. Turn A and I have to release to a bet.

Hand 2: Aggressive guy on my right makes it 225 on the button. I want to reraise with AQo in the SB but his big raise is kind of scary and with 2400 or so in my stack it's super awkward so I just call. BB calls and I ahve to check/fold a K95. The main point of this hand is taht every time I have a playable hand the guy on my right made some enormous raise. In other news the lady two seats to my left who is awful has busted 2 players already, one where she obviously had a flush and somehow an even bigger clown paid her off.

Hand 3: Folds to aggro guy on my right, he makes it 350 at 25/50 still. I have AJo on the button and consider tilt pushing but eventually I just muck and he shows KK. Expert 7xBB raise sir, can't risk getting those cracked.

Hand 4: Now we're down to 7 at 50/100, tightish guy opens in MP to 300, bad aggro guy calls on my right. I had 2350 and KQs on the button and decide that sice I've basically never put a chip in the pot a squeeze should get a lot of respect, and I jam. The awful lady in the BB insta-calls and I figure I'm going home but she says "this is kind of a loose call" and shows JJ. Board comes T98QJ and I spike a nice 2-outer to double to 5K.

Hand 5: I open KK UTG 6-handed to 300 and awful lady calls in position. Flop T9x, I bet 500, she instashoves 2650 more, I instacall, and get rivered by A9.

Hand 6: I chipped up to 1650 and shove AK over tightish guy's EP raise. He calls with KK and IGHN.

Online donkaments this evening including the new Stars $1k, and then $5K NL tomorrow. That'd be a good time to run good.

Mike

No luck today either

I busted the$2500 NL early, and struggled along in the Stud 8 for quite a while but busted before the end of the day :-(. Tomorrow is a $1500 NL Shootout, presumably it will be capped at 1000 players and you'll have to win 3 single tables of 10 players each. I was going to skip this event and play the $2500 Bellagio Cup event, but talking to some people on break today they made some really good points as to why I really should be playing this tournament and it's probably even more +EV than a normal tournament, so if I can get down there early enough and get a seat I will. Otherwise Belalgio Cup I guess. Steve is gone for a few days now also.

Mike

Just another typical Sunday....

OK not exactly, it was actually significantly more heartbreaking than most. I went deep in three majors and got screwed at the end of all of them. First was the Party 300K guaranteed, where I was running insanely good the whole way and had lots of chips. Then with 15 left I had around 550K chips and got all-in pre with AQ vs A9. Flop Q85. I'm winning this tournament for sure. I looked away and made some decsions on my other tables, and when I looked back I had 100K chips as the turn and river came 6,7. Then I robbed some blinds and won AT vs JJ all-in prelfop to get back to 500K, and I was forced to call an all-in with 75 and beat his 44 to get to 600K or so. I got dealt KK with 11 left and raised, then got reraised all-in by AQ. Flop JT8. Oh crap. Turn 2 ok.... River A. hyachachachachach. Then in the Stars 2nd chance with 27 left I had an above average stack and got in preflop with KK again, this time vs AA. Finally, in the 200 rebuy on Stars with 12 left there was a raise UTG (6-handed), I had JJ so I shoved, some clown in the BB called with 99 and the UTG raiser had AA :-(. So those 3 cashes added up to a total of like $5500 (1st paid 60K, 48K, 46K respectively in the three). I also made like 4K in cash games. Oh yeah I obviously won my 6th main event seat in the $650 satellite. So ridiculous. So all-in all it's was still a really good day, but of course Im still somewhat disappointed. Tomorrow is the $2500 NL, and probably the $2K Stud Hi/Lo if I bust out before 5, though with 5K starting chips I don't really expect to be out early.

Mike

lol more poker

I'm too tired to do a long report. Some stuff happened in the $1500, I never really got a lot of chips, and then I busted making a really marginal call that is probably bad because no one ever bluffs ever. Then I went and played the $2500 HORSE and while it was the funnest table ever with Matusow and Elezra and some others again I basically won like 2 pots the whole time and busted before the end of the day. Today/tomorrow will be online tournaments, then $2500 NL on Monday I guess.

Mike

Event 13: $5k PL Holdem

Bah, I played another 12 hours today for nothing. I played with lots of pros and stuff so I guess that's cool or something. Basically I was exceptionally card dead most of the day and then when things finally started to turn around I lost all my chips in 5 minutes. Let me see what I can remember.

Mike Matusow is 3 to my right to start the day. He basically just talks about how he doesn't want to be here because Harrah's is robbing us blind (basically true), and how he's finally winning online lately. He rants about how Gus Hansen is the worst O8 player in the history of the world and he wants to bust out so he can go play against him online and take all his money and stuff. Anyways so Mike obviously doesn't want to be there and it shows in his play and he's gone pretty fast. Funny guy to have at the table though.

Eli Elezra opens for 350 on the button at 50/100 and I call with 77 in my BB. The flop comes Q97 2 hearts and I check. I think I should probably lead here but either way can't be bad. He checks behind. Turn 9 I bet 600 and he calls. River is a low heart and I decide to go for a big sexy river checkraise, but he checks behind. Sigh.

Hand ?. I can't remember what order things happened in but anyways here's some interesting ones. I've basically never played a hand ever because I'm so awfully card dead. Anyways some guy limps, I make it 800 at 100/200 on the button with JJ and 7500 to start the hand and he calls. Flop J8x all clubs and for some reason he checkraises me all-in with 7c7 and loses despite turning a set.

Again I"ve done nothing in forever and chipped down a bit. Joe Tehan limps in EP still at 100/200 and I make it 800 with K2ss. He calls and the flop comes 544 2 spades. He checks and calls my 1400 chip bet. The turn is a 4 ruining my flush draw but it doesn't really matter because he has 77 or 88 here like always so I bet 3000 and he folds.

Again I fold for hours on end, eventually some new fairly aggressive guy makes it 1200 in middle position at 200/400 on my BB and I repop to 3600 forcing him to fold (I had random bad cards). Next hand Joe Tehan raises to 1000 in MP. He's clearly notices that the guy on my left in the BB hasn't put a chip in the pot in like 600 hours and I'm only slightly more involved so I just go ahead and make it 3200 with some bad hand. He calls, the flop comes 992 and he folds to my 4200 bet.

I fold for a while and then youngish aggressive guy open to 2400 from early-middle position at 400/800 on my SB (guy on my left never puts money in pot ever remember). I decide to make it 7000 with the monstrous 73cc, leaving myself 13K behind. Unfortunately he calls and the flop comes AJT. I give up and check, and he checks behind. Turn is the 8c giving a flush draw and a gutter taht might be good. I should prboably jam here and pray he folds but in my mind I was done with the hand and didn't think about things clearly and checked. He now put me all-in and I had to fold.

I now raise KQo and get called by Joe Tehan in the BB. I flop AJT and get him to double me up to 24K with A2s.

Blinds now 600/1200, it folds to Howard Lederer on the button who has been at our table for a few orbits now, and he raises to 3600. I find AA in the BB with 24K and decide to just call. Flop comes AKx which is kind of sucks even though I have a set. I check and he bets 4K. I'm pretty sure he's basically never putting another chip in the pot unless he has the case ace or some other good hand and I'd rather he not turn a gutshot on me or something foolish so I just checkraise to 10K and he folds.

I now get moved to a new table, I hav like 30K in chips. I finally start getting some hands now, I reraise a guy with KK, and then open KK in the cutoff seat to 4500 at 800/1600. The BB calls with like 9000 left or something ridiculous and the flop comes Axx. I check behind and the turn is a Q. We both check again and the river is a J. He min-bets 1600 and I call and beat TT. How he doesn't get all-in preflop baffles me, people are pretty bad at poker.

I win a few more pots and ahve just over 40K when all goes to hell and Kathy Liebert of all frigging people takes all my chips. She opens to 4500 in MP with like 25K total at 800/1600 still. I have TT in the BB and reraise pot, she reraises the rest in and I lose to AA. Sigh. Now I have 14K, it folds to me in the CO and i have Ks8d. Maybe I should fold here since even with 9xBB I don't need to be taht desperate but live players love folding etc so I pot it to 5600. Liebert calls in the BB, the flop comes Qs6s5s and she puts me allin. I call and lose the coinflip to Ac7s. Tomorrow is 1500 NL tournament, hopefully I bust early or get a big stack for once. Oh yeah somehow Steve didn't make the money in this one either busting just after me, he's down to 3 for 4 in cashes now.

Mike

Event 10: $1500 NL 6-max

I had high expectations for this tournament but unfortunately I went out before the dinner break. Let's get right to the hands I guess.

Hands 1-3: Raise QTo, flop QQJ. Bet, get raised and call. Turn check/check. River T I bet fairly big but he folds AJ face up :-(. Raise AA no callers. Call a raise with 99 in my BB. flop 954, chk/chk. turn 9, I bet he folds. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh those were the first 3 hands of the day and I didn't make that much.

Hand 4: I have like 5K now after raising and betting the flop some more. Button limps at 25/50, Ted Forrest calls in the SB, and I check 85s in the BB. Flop K88, Ted checks, I bet 100. Button calls, Forrest maks it 300. I call and button folds. Turn 9, Ted bets 300 and I call. River 9, Ted bets 600 and I quickly call expecting to chop, but lose to 89.

Hand 5: I thinkI've somehow chipped back up to like 5K now. I raise QQ in the hijack to 300 at 50/100. I've been raising a lot and this in particular is the 3rd hand in a row I've raised. The SB calls and the BB who is some guy who will apparently be in the next High Stakes Poker calls. He might be a good cash player or something (maybe), but he clearly sucks at playing on shallow stacks. Flop 532. Check to me, I bet 600, the BB calls. Turn J. I get that sinking feeling that I'm being slowplayed but with 2700 effective behind and 2100 in the pot and my over-aggressive image I think not betting would be awful so I fire 1500, he hollywoods for a bit and says something retarded like "I guess I'm all-in then" and raises his last 1200. I sigh and call then instamuck to his 64s.

Hand 6: I have 1050 now. Clown limps UTG and I make it 400 with AQ. Normally I'd just shove here but clown figured to have crap and I don't mind him calling and trying to outdraw me with his obviously worse hand since I need to get some chips. I'm getting it on the flop no matter what of course. Flop 932 two hearts. He checks, I shove, he instacalls with... 87hh. OK, it wouldn't have made a difference since I would have called anyways, but not pushing into me on the flop with his hand is just awful. I'm obviously shoving regardless when checked to and he never has the best hand, but if he pushes into me he might get me to fold A-hi or K-hi or something incorrectly that has him beat instead of having to coinflip against it. Anyways I hold up to get to like 2200.

Hand 7: Folds to the SB who is an aggressive youngish guy from Toronto. Blinds 100/200 he makes it 600, I jam 2200ish with AKo, and he calls with 44. I turn an A and get back in it.

Hand 8: 100/200 a25. Raise KK on the button. BB calls. Flop Jxx, I get chekraised and put the rest in. He has KJ and I'm up to like 11K.

Hand 9: I think this one is pretty debatable. I now have like 13K somehow. I raise AJcc UTG to 600 at 100/200 a25. Button calls. He's too loose preflop and not really good postflop but not crazy or anything. He can have like any suited ace, small-mid pairs, paint cards, and like AT-AJ, maybe AQ, and probably some suited connectors or something. Flop Ad2c3c. I bet 1200 and he makes it 2500. A push would be for 10K more and I'm pretty sure he never calls with a worse hand, and he basically never folds a better one, maybe AQ sometimes. So I didn't see a lot of value in reraising and decided to just call since his turn action should tell me what's going on and he never has a lot of outs when behind (and if he catches a club that makes him two pair or a straight I may get all his chips). Turn 5h. I check and he jams. I tank. and mutter about how sick this is and how I should have just put him in on the flop then eventually fold. He asks if I want to see, I say yes and he shows A4hh. Sigh, excellent flop raise sir. I posted the hand on 2+2. My initial impression is that a small reraise on the flop may have been the best play since it keeps worse flush draws in and maybe gets called by a worse ace somehow or something. I hadn't considered that.

Hand 10: I'm pretty sure I win a coinflip against a shortstack with AK vs 55 or something to get back to 13K. Aggressive Toronto guy raises to 850 at 150/300 a25 with like 4K behind, I make it 3K in the CO with QTs and he instamucks.

Hand 11: Some time has passed now I haven't done anything big, just playing tight. Same guy makes it 850 on the button, he now has like 10K behind though. I make it 2850 with 95o or something really bad like that and he folds quickly again.

Hand 12: 200/400 a25. I raise to 1200 on the button with AKo, the SB jams like 5K total and 55 is good.

Hand 13: Fold to Toronto guy in the CO who makes it 1150, I shove 8K on the button with A6o and he folds quickly.

Hand 14: Despite what it seems from this report, my table image is actually pretty good. I haven't been overly active and I've only ever shown down huge hands. AK several times, the KK, once I showed a set after checkrasing all-in to repay the guy for showing the A4hh, and the table also knows I folded the AJcc in that hand. So I have a pretty tight image actually. Anyways, guy from the AJcc hand raises to 1700 at 200/400 blinds still in the hijack. His raises are always unnecessarily big like that, and he raises a normal widish range. I haven't reraised him yet preflop and I'm pretty sure a pushfrom me will get a lot of respect, especially since I have like 8300 counting my SB. I find KTs in the SB and jam over his raise. The BB wakes up with QQ to cripple me and I'm out a few hands later. I'm happy with my play here still. The raiser said he had AJhh and his friend at the table said oh yeah but you definitely would have folded that anyways. Just unlucky the BB happened to have a monster.

Tomorrow is the $5K PL Holdem, time to get some sleep. It should be a smaller and tougher field, but I'm confident in how I'm playing.

Mike