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.

WEMT Course, Caro's Game, ASOP

This course is super intense, classes are 8-5 M-F, and an additional 6-9 on T & Th. This final week is full of testing after one day of touring local EMSs. I'm excited to be getting 9 college credits for it, assuming I pass, all crammed into one month. I'm also excited to have been exposed to this field and have the opportunity to be an EMT or Ski Patrol, and to just generally feel confident in outdoors situations guiding or whatnot.

I'm also getting really excited to move to Tahoe and finally be settled, it's been a long 3 months "on the road." I'm looking forward to starting school back up, grinding out a couple classes, a ton of poker, and fitting in some skiing when I can.

So this course has been limiting my poker play quite a bit. I have played maybe 3 hours online in the non-existent free time I have, just a little $1/$2, and have won a few buyins. I also was informed about a game taking place at a bar in the town of Jackson Hole, and I decided to check it out. It was also $1/$2, and I swear the players there were the same ones whose pictures were taken for Caro's famous Book of Tells. It was pretty fun, I sat down with $300 and walked away with $656 after 2.5 hours of play. There was one woman in the game who was playing every hand. She first outflopped my QQ with KQ, then my KK with an A hi flop and she shoved the turn, another A. I didn't see her hand but I'm pretty confident it was the correct fold.

Finally, she limped UTG, a nervous player in MP made it $10 to go, I called OTB with ATo, and the woman UTG obviously called as well. Flop came T33 with two clubs. She leads out $15, the PFR flats, and I decide she's got a weaker ten, and he's got AK or a pair lower than tens, because I don't give a player credit in this kind of game for flatting with an overpair on that kind of board, so I bumped it up to $60. She instacalls, and the PFR's chest starts pounding. I'm thinking, "Okay, I guess if he doesn't fold he's got the overpair or TT, I give him enough credit for an easy fold of the AK." He ends up folding as he exclaims, "God Damnit!" Turn comes Jh, she checks, I shove, she deliberates and calls. The river comes another A, she turns over T9 and I scoop the pot with aces up. The PFR showed his KK after the hand, no comment.

The only other notable hand was when there were scattered limpers and I rapped the table in BB with A7h. The flop came AT6 with two spades, and I checked. A LP limper led out $5, the button flatted, I decided I definitely had the best hand and raised to $25. The first bettor folded, and the button instaflatted, so I put him on a draw. The turn was a 3d, so I led for another $40 (I wish I had led for more but I overthought things a little in the moment and wanted to try to keep the pot reasonable) and he instacalled again. The river brought the innocuous 5c so I of course checked to induce a bet, and he obliged with a $50 bullet that I proudly snapped off without a second thought.

I just now set the date for the annual Alexandria Series of Poker. It's always fun to get together with old friends at holiday times and rejoice as I strike them. :) This year is a little different because I'm going to match the prize pool and donate that amount to a charity of the winner's choice. I've been wanting to give back from poker for a long time and I've slacked on taking action.

Road Trip!

Mad and I spent last night in Las Vegas. We stayed at Palace Station, a little ways off the strip, but just about the best hotel you could ever get for $45. Plus, who cares about being off the strip when you have a brand new car to take you to the strip!? Anyways, we went first to Mandalay Bay where we dined at House of Blues, then I dabbled in craps as Mad looked on. I was up and down and up and down until finally an obnoxious guy came over and bet on the darkside, and then it was all down, $210.

We drove down the block to the New York New York and rode the roller coaster, which was a blast. Afterwards, we proceeded to the Venetian where I played $1/$2 for about an hour, lost $128, biggest pot I lost was with KQo in sb. A player in EMP, with whom I'd already had one confrontation of which I was the victor, raised to $10, two players called including the button, I called, and the four of us saw the flop: K64 rainbow. I went into check/call mode, $20 on the flop, $30 on the turn (7s adding the flush draw) and $50 on the river (offsuit J), the other two players quit after PFR's first bet. I did feel that I was likely beat as I can't beat much other than a bluff, especially since if he did have KJ he was now ahead. However, considering we had one confrontation already and I figured him to be an aggressive player, I thought I was strong enough to look him up. My biggest mistake in the hand was probably the preflop call, but I think my subsequent play was fine/standard. He turned over two Aces and dragged the pot.

I followed those two stellar performances up with a speedy exit in the 12:30am nightly $150 tourney at Harrah's, right nextdoor. I was literally plugging my ears to block out the middle aged drunk hicks at my table, only reminding me why online poker>live poker. I suppose I got a litte impatient, but again I was confident about my edge on my opponents, so after playing it tight for a while, I got a little frisky with my QhJs in MP, limping in after two others. The button limped and we saw the flop: J84 all hearts! When four players checked to me, I fired out 300, the button flatted, the first limper flatted, and we saw the turn, which I was planning on checking almost regardless of what it was. Unfortunately, it was the Qc, giving me now two pair and a decent heart draw. The button had been solid, but for whatever reason I couldn't give him credit for having slowplayed. I fired out 1000 and he raised all in for 1400 more. I never plan on making a Hellmuth-esque fold in this spot, but I wonder how loose his range really is here? It obviously didn't feel good, and it felt a lot worse when he turned over KThh, leaving me 4 outs, none of which decided to make an appearance on the river. I hung around as a shortstack until finally my A4 fell to 33.

Not a very lucky night in Vegas, but I had fun!

In the morning, we got on the road and made it to Salt Lake City around 8:30, where Mad had contacted a co-worker from ARCC who had been generous enough to offer us a place to stay. We got to see a fair bit of the city, got a bite to eat, and now are resting up before finishing up the drive tomorrow.