Happy New Year!

It all started with an awesome ringing in of the new year with some good friends of mine whom I had not seen in quite some time at a concert near Times Square. I had to leave the concert at 3:30am to go to the subway, get my luggage from my sister’s apartment in the West Village, then take a cab at 4:30 to catch my flight at 6:40, direct to Salt Lake City for a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician refresher course. While I’m waiting in the subway station, I listened to a voicemail I had received from an 800 number. I learned my flight had been cancelled, and I had been rebooked on a 4:45pm flight to SLC with a layover in Atlanta. I headed back to catch the end of the show and wish some final farewells to my friends. I then headed back to my sister’s place and crashed until 2pm, then got all set to take a cab at 3.
Well, here’s where I dropped the ball, I suppose: being so used to flying in and out of Reno, an airport that’s never had a line longer than 3 people, I didn’t account for traffic, that it’s JFK int’l, and one of the busiest travel days of the year. So I arrived at the airport a few minutes after 4, and had no shot at making my flight, despite a very helpful Delta agent’s assistance. So then I was standing in the ticketing line to get rebooked, and there was one window open and a line about 50 people long. I decided to call in and change the flight, which I did successfully, and was booked on a 6:49pm flight to SLC via Minneapolis. I went in to print my boarding pass at the self service kiosk, which found my reservation, but then informed me I must speak with an agent to proceed and print the boarding passes. Well there were 200 people in line to drop bags and speak to agents, but thanks to my resourcefulness and ability to think outside the box, I went to check in curbside, where the line was 5 people long. Success! I checked my bags (somehow for free--I can catch at least one break, right?), headed to security and found my way to the gate. After some slight delays, I boarded the plane, then proceeded to taxi for about an hour before taking off.
I landed in Minneapolis at about 9:40, and we were at the gate 10 mins. later. In my past experiences, flight attendants have been pretty good about letting those who are catching connecting flights deplane first, but for whatever reason, that wasn’t the case tonight. So I’m caught behind this fairly heavyset fellow trying to pass him on either side going up the ramp, and I finally squeeze by. I ask the woman at the gate for directions to gate G9, she tells me, and I bolt. Racing down the moving walkway, I even yelled to one person as I approached, “Pick a side!” Thankfully, she obliged, and I sprinted on. Up the escalator and about 4 moving walkways later, what I was certain was just a mirage appeared: an airport attendant driving a golf cart. I yelled out, “Salt Lake City flight from gate G9 left yet?!” He replied,
“I’m not sure…” At this point I had pretty much already gotten on the cart and he said,
“Where’re you going?”
“Salt Lake City.”
“I don’t know which gate that is.”
“I do, G9, step on it!”
This saved me about another ¾ mile sprint, and I was so relieved to see the plane still there at the gate. I had already checked and knew it was the last flight to SLC for the evening, and I was concerned that if I missed even a little bit of this course, I may not be eligible to complete it--potentially costing me all my tuition and travel expenses. I’m not home free yet, the door to the ramp was closed and there was no one at the desk. I begin waving frantically in the window and pressing my ticket up next to it, hoping the pilots will see me and notify someone on board to come get me. How do you signal “PLEASE!”? I guess because I was waving so frantically, they knew I wasn’t just bidding them adieu, and sure enough, a pilot picked up the phone, a flight attendant walked into the cockpit, crouched down to see me, and a moment later was up the ramp checking me in.

PHEW!

Smooth sailing until I land in SLC, where, obviously, my bags do not arrive. Mind you, the forecast here over the next 10 days is about 32 degrees, and all my winter gear is in my two checked bags. So I have the clothes on my back: a long-sleeved thermal, jeans, and sneakers. Here, I dropped the ball again, I got on my computer as I waited for my shuttle, instead of filing a delayed baggage claim. I only realized this at the moment the shuttle arrived, and I was reassured by the shuttle agent that I’d simply be able to claim them over the phone. I got in the shuttle with another couple who was getting dropped off nearby, and I pitched to the driver that I’d like to stop at anywhere that might be open so I could at least get a hat and jacket. I tried half a dozen places and had no luck. He dropped off the other couple, and the driver got tired to waiting at a red light after a few cycles, so he decided to just go for it. Instantly, he got pulled over. Luckily for him, he got off with a warning, and luckily for me, the driver thought to try a truck stop en route to the University Guest House where I’m staying. I picked up a jacket, hat, and gloves, all for $50! I arrived at the hotel, checked in, and am now ready to catch about 4 hours of sleep before I have to wake up at the crack of dawn and get into diligent student mode. I tried claiming my bags over the phone, but I was informed doing so will be impossible, and I must file the claim at the airport. So tomorrow I will have to hitch a ride, hopefully from a classmate in whatever miniscule amount of spare time we both have, to and from the airport.
The best part is that, despite all the hassles and unfortunate circumstances I experienced today, I’m still maintaining a positive attitude. I cannot be stopped! This is going to be a great course and a great beginning to something that I’m certain I will find truly rewarding. I must attribute most of this energy to a wonderful visit with all of my beloved family and friends. Thank you to all of you who are a part of my life, you mean so much to me!

The Longest Day

So I left my house in Tahoe at 2 AM and got a ride to SF airport for my 7:40 flight. arrived to JFK at a little before 5 PM, then flew to Dublin, then to Barcelona, and everything went to plan. That is, until my bag didn't arrive in Barcelona! Having had my luggage not arrive before, I knew to just stay calm, carry on, and they'd deliver it to me. The problem was that I didn't have the address or phone number of my Hostel (stups). So I'm exhausted, but determined to play the first event of this European Poker Tour series, so I make my way to the casino, where the first thing they tell me is, "You need to wear pants and shoes to follow the dress code." She points me towards a mall and I go purchase both since I don't have my luggage. I get back and they say, "Tomorrow, please bring a different pair of pants."
I have really been modifying my game a ton, so I was excited to practice some new strategies in the live arena, especially after such a mortifying WSOP. So I was excited, but really regretted playing about an hour into the tournament, I was just so exhausted. I stuck it out anyway and ended up taking 9th out of 160. I made an embarrassingly bad fold on the money bubble: Dag Mikkelson opened cutoff to like ~20K at 1500/3k because BTN had 37k, I had 48k, and BB had 30k. I look down at ATs and obv fistpump...fold!? ZOMG WTF!?$%^&* Not really sure what happened, but I think it had something to do with being exhausted, having played all day and not wanting to have nothing to show for it, but regardless, this was the pussiest and maybe worst fold of my entire career. Ironically, the bubble boy called Dag's BTN shove from SB with ATo and lost to Dag's KTs LOL! Guess it was a good fold afterall!
I played event 1 of the WCOOP tonight and lost in level 3 after losing with AK to TT on AAT board and then to Q7 with QQ on a T36 board--he had a flush draw. I'm trying to accumulate chips as we speak in the Full Tilt $150, so maybe I can make something out of that.
Tomorrow I'm excited to actually partake in some of the more experiential portion of the trip. My plan is to go to the beach, maybe grab some tapas, and if I can manage, get on a bicycle for either a guided or self guided tour.

Can't sleep, so I guess I'll blog...

Today was an awesome day, I took down the $100 1R1A turbo tournament on PokerStars for ~$25K, and best of all was I beat JohnnyBax heads up for the win! I have been on a bit of a tear lately, done some different things to revamp my game a bit, and, I didn't realize this at first, but I took away so much from hanging around the poker players I stayed with in Las Vegas. Picking up little pieces of each player's style and game and using that to tweak my own--and to punish them when they're at my table ;)--has made a tremendous impact on my recent success.

I went to visit my sister in San Francisco after she recently returned from Thailand! She was still pretty jetlagged, so the first night I was there I went to play poker at Lucky Chances cardroom. There was a long list for the $5/$10 and there was a super soft looking $20/$40 NL game, so I decided to take a shot. I played very straightforward most of the night, but I manipulated my image well and got some clutch folds. I made one questionable call where there were two flush draws on board, and I suspected the player who bet the river had the flush draw that missed, not the one that got there, and I was wrong. I don't mind the way I reasoned through the hand, but what I should have done--and what I did on a later hand--was talked to him to see if he'd give me any information. One thing that I have always struggled with in live poker is coming from an online background where I don't take much time at all to make my decisions, and not taking advantage of all the extra opportunity and information up for grabs.

I have planned a trip to Europe to play some big buyin MTTs in Barcelona, London, Paris, and Amsterdam, all across the span of 2-3 months. I'm getting really excited, and I have a lot to do to prepare before the trip. This is similar to my year last year where I busted my ass to prepare for some international travel, and I think having that on the horizon not only gives me a lot to look forward to, but it also forces me to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.

Last big thing on my plate at the moment is a really exciting job opportunity as a poker coach with a new training site that will unveil in September. I'm so flattered to be offered this job because, afterall, the way I got good at online poker was watching a training video, and here I am getting ready to produce my own videos!. I'm just generally excited to get my name out there in a legitimate way. I'll also have the opportunity to do some private coaching, which is great because I have always loved teaching/coaching and it has not been a part of my life as of late.

Can't keep quiet

I took third in the Sierra Poker Classic ME, and I'm pretty happy with how I played with the exception of this hand: with still 9 left, shortly after resuming, I had about 80k in chips and was sitting two to the left of a solid $5/$10 player named Eric from Sacramento, who had the chiplead, but wasn't tremendously far out in front of me. The day prior, I had 3bet him once when he raised in LP and I was OTB, and that pot I took down without seeing a flop. Now, I looked down at 99 OTB and Eric raised from HJ to about 2.5x. I 2.5x'd his raise and he flatted. The flop came 662 with two clubs, he checked, I bet a little over half pot and he 2.5x'd that bet. It was a pretty clear shove or fold spot, which I hated because I was pretty certain that if I pushed he folded all worse hands and called with all better, but if I just called, I give him a chance to catch up and didn't feel like I had such a lock hand that I could risk another card rolling off. I decided that with the slow structure and relatively deep stacks that I could find better spots to pick up small pots and run over my opponents, rather than risk it all in this obviously marginal spot. I mucked and of course Eric turned over the QThh. What I really hate about this hand is that I always mock live players for not having a plan or ever expecting the obvious and knowing how to react, and I simply didn't have a plan once I bet. Anyways, I hung around for a while, we got down to 3 handed and I got all in with AK vs. A9 and lost when a 9 came on the turn. Still a nice showing for only my 2nd big buyin tourney.

I'm in Vegas now. Yesterday I played a $1060 at Caesars WSOP-C and did well until I lost with 99 to A6o AIPF. I had some good hands, one where I got all in with a Q hi flush draw and was elated to see my opponent turn over a 9 hi flush draw, another where I defended my blind with Q8hh vs. an UTG raise, something I wouldn't normally do, but my opponent seemed especially weak and I thought would pay me off with a lot of weaker hands. I flopped a flush and got 2 good streets of value from him before I got a little greedy on the river, thinking he was calling anything and betting a little too much.

Today I went to Venetian to play a $500 DS event, which I didn't realize was a 2 day event and I had never been so happy to get coolered with 30bbs at 8/1600 with QQ vs. KK because A) had I gone deep I would have been forced to miss my friend's graudation party in LA, and B) because I had decided to buy into a Nevada SPCA charity event hosted by Jen Harman. I was multitabling for a little which was incredibly distracting and stupid and something I need to not do anymore, but finally I busted the DS event and could focus on the Charity tourney, and wouldn't you know it I settled for nothing less than 1st place! I obviously ran super hot, but I don't think I made a single mistake when we got down to it. I had the pleasure of playing with Negranu and Jeff Madsen among others, and not only did I win a seat to the WSOP ME, I got a really nice Curtis & Co. watch, an astonishing trophy and some other really neat prizes.

Tomorrow I'm off to LA, but I'll be back for more come Monday.

First live win!

Well it's been a while since I've posted and what better time than after booking my first live win!? During the Sierra Poker Classic here in Tahoe, I trumped a massive field of 35 players with a $340 buyin to take down 1st place and $4500. I really turned up the volume on the aggression factor, open shoving at least 50 times at the final table because people were so concerned about cashing that they would just fold what was clearly the best hand because they didn't want to gamble. HU was more of a battle than I would have liked, I started with nearly a 5:1 chiplead, and at one point, Phi (pronounced fee) Tran reclaimed the chiplead until this hand: Phi limps OTB with 70k chips, blinds 12/2400/300, I look down at American Airlines and decide to raise of course, so I bumped it up, 6k on top, he calls, which was surprising because in the past he had been mostly folding when he limped and I raised. I guess since he had some chips now he decided he was ready to gamble. Dealing at this point was Kevin Ferguson, who interestingly enough, dealt both Jamie Gold and Joe Hachem's final hands for their respective WSOP Main Event victories. Kevin dealt a Q34 flop with two clubs, I led out for 9k, Phi called. Turn was an offsuit 2, making me a little worrysome about 56, but not so much that I'm not still going broke, my read was that he had a Q, and not a Q with any of the possible 2 pair combos on board, maybe Q8-QJ, he wasn't raising with hands like these on the button. I lead out for 21k and Phi shoves relatively quickly, but I called even quicker. He turned over the Q7s and the river came Kd to just about seal it up for me. Tom Sexton, Mike Sexton's brother, was there as tournament director and was announcing the action via microphone to the massive 3 person audience.

I played 5 events in San Diego, made 2 cashes, one of which was a final table, and in that $500 buyin, I got 7th for about $3900. Without a doubt I'm building my confidence in my live play and really starting to get pumped and prepared for the WSOP this year.

Awful Hero Call

It's not easy being back in the poker world. I had a couple good sessions last week and forgot it was actually possible to lose. I have been playing well for the most part, with the exception of my attempt at being a hero just about 45 minutes ago. I went to Harvey's with Wes and he got sucked out on with (I assume) the nut straight vs. two pair that filled up on the turn. I stuck around and we got down to 3 handed with a regular player and a visitor from SF. I had played with the regular last weekend and definitely got the best of him, I even picked up a pretty crucial tell. Tonight went his way though, as the first hand 3 handed, he straddled UTG/BTN and I picked up KTo in sb, and decided to make it $30. Both players called and the flop came K84 with two diamonds. For some reason, I checked, the BB bet out $50, BTN made it $120, and I decided to just flat. I was pretty sure I had the best hand, but I didn't want to cold 4bet and get shoved on, or get flatted and be OOP, and I thought this would appear as a huge hand and maybe get me to showdown. The turn came 6d completing the flush. I checked and he bet $225. I called relatively quickly, thinking now he definitely can't bluff the river because he's gotta be concerned that I have a flush! The river came Qs, I checked and he bet all in. At this point, I acknowledged the read or "tell" I had on the guy, but after about 5 minutes, decided I wanted to be a hero and called off the last $900 or so in my stack. He turned over A7dd for the nut flush! I am so frustrated with myself, I just needed to have a little faith in my read and dump the hand on the turn as played.

Anyways...Wes and I grinded together in the newly set up poker office for the first time today and I think it's gonna be a tremendously beneficial set up for the development of both of our games. I have two 24" monitors on the way from the Full Tilt store, I can't wait to have those set up, I have a good feeling it'll increase my winrate and just my general comfort level while playing.

I got a good settlement for my totaled Jeep; I'm glad to finally have that off my plate and start car shopping again. Unfortunately, when my things arrived here in the trailer, SO much of my stuff was damaged! I was really disappointed and it seems like there's very little I will be able to do about it. Just one thing after another!

My classes are coming along fine, but I have yet to go skiing a single day, which was a huge factor in me deciding to move here. From what I've heard the conditions haven't been great, they haven't had any snow since Christmas, but regardless, still somewhat pathetic that I haven't been to even check it out yet.

Sigh...hopefully I can get my act together and start putting up some good results soon, I'll grind tournaments all day Sunday so that might be a good place to start!

Well, I finally have a chance to post some pictures of my car. She's a beauty, ain't she?

What a way to end my sabbatical...crashing the car I just bought no more than a month ago.