The 2006 WSOP

It looks like everything is falling together just right for the World Series this year. Shannon and I talked for a while yesterday and set up the entire list of everyone who is coming to stay at the house with us. Shannon decided on one of the houses, but couldn't get a hold of the owner, so he tried another and said the guy sound "excited about the idea". They are both really awesome houses, 4 bedroom, 2 bath, pool, sauna, weightroom, pool table, really nice. I am really excited about getting to be around so many really good players for six weeks and learning different things from all of them. No matter how it ends up, the whole experience will be great and we will have a lot of fun.

I played some 15/30 and 50/100 yesterday, did terrible at 15/30 because I was running just awful, and played pretty well at 50/100 but only ended up about $500 after 3 hours because of some really rough beats. The really notable one was against the most aggressive and probably most profitable player at the table. This guy will regually 3 bet or cap out of position and play the hand in 5th gear the whole way. He won a lot of pots uncontested so it became really hard to put him on a hand. On this particular hand I had A5 suited on the button. I raise Hyper Agressive Guy (HAG) on his BB to isolate him, the SB folds and he 3 bets. I don't see much strategic value in capping against him so I decide to just call and play after the flop. The flop comes 234 rainbow *DOOOOHHH*, HAG leads out, I raise, he 3 bets, I cap. Pot is $725 at this point. Turn comes a 9 of diamonds making a flush draw, HAG leads again, I raise, he 3 bets, I cap. Pot is now $1,525 and I'm winning it. River comes 4 of diamonds to pair the board and complete the flush. HAG leads, I raise, he 3 bets, and I just call feeling kind of sick about raising with the 2nd best hand on the river. He flips over 99, for 9's full on a runner runner and takes down the $2,125 pot.... Ouch, that stung a bit. I ended up the day down about $800, which really wasn't that bad because I played a session earlier in the day as well and ran really, really bad there too. It's part of the game though and I'm happy that I'm getting better at distinguishing between when I am playing bad or just running bad.

I multi-tabled some 5/10 and 10/20 today on Full Tilt, ran poorly at first, then started to make some hands later. I did have a stretch of about 30 hands where I got AK SEVEN TIMES! That's usually awesome, except I did not flop a A or K on any of the seven... gross. I still played well against really weak competition and was able to show about a $450 profit for two hours of play.

It's late, I'm going to bed

The Majors

Alright, so today didn't go very well. It started off poorly and got worse. I played alright, maybe too many hands in the early stages of some of the tourneys, but that is okay as long as you make a couple big hands.... I didn't. I ended up swapping 20% of myself on Pacific and Party with Mats, and 10% of myself on Party and Full Tilt with Shannon. Here's the summaries

Bodog 100k, $109 buy-in: Started off well, gained a few chips, then lost a decent pot with AQ when I made a continuation bet and got re-raised on the flop I missed. A little later with 2k in chips made a raise 3x UTG with AJ, got called in 2 places. flop 234 rainbow, I bet out 1/2 pot, get raised like 1.5x, wich screams medium pair to me. I think if I push he is like 80% gonna fold and even if he calls I have 6 outs twice. I push he calls with 56 for the NUTS and me drawing dead. Out after 90 minutes.

Pacific 50k, $65 buy in: Can't accumulate at all at first, get down to like 1,000 chips (start with 2k) then I start to steal some pots get back up to 1,800. I raise with blinds 75/150 with KK, get called, flop comes Ace high, he checks I bet, he raises all-in. I fold, I get knocked out a while later with KQ vs. AJ. lasted like 90 minutes again.

Paradise 150k, $215 buy-in: I honestly don't remember alot about this tourney except the hand I got knocked out on. The blinds were 50/100, I had about 2,100 chips in the BB with 10's. 4 limpers so I decided to raise to 600, I should have probably just taken a flop in retrospect, and I get one caller. Flop comes Q 8 3 two clubs, I bet like 800, commiting myself esentially. He comes over the top, I call, he shows 88, game over.

"Bluff Poker Tour" Sun Poker $10 buy-in: I'm only posting this because of the extreemly weird plays. 1/2 hour into it I get 77, limp with 4 others, and the BB checks. There's like 320 chips in the pot. The flop comes 347 rainbow... BEAUTIFUL. The BB straight pushes for 2,800 chips, I love this because I have the 2nd nuts and NO ONE would play 56 like this right? Wrong, I call he flips 56 over and I spike a 4 on the river to fill up and send him home.... Donkey. I get kocked out later when I have 88 on a board of Q448 wit three clubs. On the turn I make a value bet of like 400 into a 1,600 chips pot because I don't think he will call otherwise. He calls, river is the 10 of clubs, BEAUTIFUL card right? He check raises me all in and I call so fast his head starts spinning, till he flips over 10 10 and bounces me from the tourney.

Party Poker 750k $374 buy -in: I gain a few chips right off the bat with QQ and am up to $6,000 (start with 5k). Then I flat call a raise to 200 (Blinds 30/60) with QQ again and the flop comes 10 9 4 rainbow. He checks I bet 250, he raises to 750, I make it 2,200, he pushes all in and I fold. So I am down to like 3,400 chips. I hung around for a while then was in the BB, it folded to the SB who raised 3x to 600, I push for 3,200 with K 10, he probably pulls a muscle as he calls so fast with AK, I'm out.

Full Tilt 200k $210 buy-in: I probably would not have played this tourney if I hadn't already registered, I was in a terrible mood and thought I couldn't get a break. I played though and was pretty level for the first hour or so. Then I started finding great spots to pick up chips, re-stealing, taking blinds, generally bullying my table and working my stack up to about 8k in chips by hour 2, I was finally feeling good about my play. I was playing tight aggressive and showing my good cards when I would steal so I would get some respect, and it worked! So I make one HUGE call with A8 after I raise and a guy pushes. If I call and win I have 24k, if I call and lose I have 10k If I fold I have 13.5k. The guy flips over 55 and I hit an Ace on the flop. I started moving chips around and got down to like 150 people with a very comfotable stack of 24k. Then Andy Bloch got moved to my table. For those of you who do not know who Andy Bloch is I'll explain it for you. He's a professional player who is sponsored by Full Tilt, and he's also an MIT grad who uses game theory as a large part of his game. He's a numbers guy, not terribly creative, the kind of guy I feel like I can exploit. He starts stealing alot and is getting respect from these on-line players because they think if Andy Bloch is raising he must have it, so he's able to build his stack pretty easily. I am doing well too and stealing my way up to around 48k, when I make a questionable play. I raise UTG to 12k with A 10 sooooted because I know it will look strong to the big stacks and I can call a shorter stacks push with A 10 no worries. Then a Medium stack of 30k pushes all in in late psoition. If I fold I have 36k, call and win I have over 84k, call and lose I have about 18k. So I call and he flips over KK, I flop a flush draw, but don't get there and I am crippled. I get through the blinds with like 11k left after the antes and blinds, and I steal twice before the blinds get around to me, so I have around 22k. Then I push UTG with K8 and get called by a small stack (10k) who has AJ, I flop and 8 and win the pot because as Phil Helmuth would say "I can dodge bullets BABY!" and my stack is up to an average 38k. I steal another pot then comes a good hand. I have 87 soooted in the SB and Andy Bloch is in the cut-off, it folds to him and he raises. He raises alot and I have been folding to most all of his raises so I decide this is a good spot to make a move. He raised to 14k, I raise him 10k more from the SB. The raise leaves me with only 14k in chips so it looks like I want action, I would have had to call an all-in, but don't because he folds and I show the 87. I'm back up to 55k WOOO WOOO, 45 people left, first is $45,000 and I'm winning it. About 6 or 7 more rotations go around and my stack is around 48k from stealing and catching no cards when I get another chance to re-steal from Andy Bloch. Same situation as before I'm in the SB and he makes in 18k to go from the cut-off. I have QJ sooooted and I think that I can take this pot right now. I showed him my bluff earlier so as a pro he will probably think "hey, he showed that bluff to set me up for a big hand later". I push for like almost 30k more. It will leave him with 18k if he loses. He thinks and thinks and thinks, and finally calls with A7 off!!!! I had Andy Bloch call me for basically his tourney with A7 off! I flop a Q and start yelling for NO ACE, NO ACE, turn comes a 6, harmless, he has 3 outs, RIVER........ Ace of Diamonds.... SO RIGGED! just kidding, I know it's not :) But it was a tough beat to swallow. I got bumped in 37th place and made a whole $597.00, not what I wanted when I am salaviating over the 45k for first. Oh well those are the breaks. I gotta go because my girlfriend is getting mad at me for typing so long when I'm supposed to be hanging out with her. Later all

Finance, and the Sunday Majors

I spent nearly six hours yesterday working on my Finance homework assignment for my on-line class, and I didn't even finish it. This class is from UC Berkley and I guess I didn't realize exactly how much tougher a school like that is than Concordia. I am supposed to meet one of my friends to work on it some more in about an hour. I really don't want to because I want to catch the 100k guaranteed on Bodog at 1:00. I guess I will have to miss that today. I'm planiing on getting back here by 2:00 for the 50k on Pac, then also playing the 150k on Paradise, the 200k on Full Tilt, and the 750k on Party. Mats just IM'd me about a $1,000 buy-in 1M guaranteed on Stars today, but I don't think I'll play in it. That's a big buy-in for me in an on-line tourney. It's funny how I don't think twice about a $200 or $350 buy-in, but when someone says 1k I start to twitch. Wish me luck, I'll post results tonight after the tourneys get over.

My motivation

For the first time in a while I am really motivated to play poker. I got an e-mail from Shannon yesterday and he said that he was looking into finding a house to rent in Vegas for July so a bunch of young players like us could have a place to stay during the WSOP. We had talked about this before and it had seemed like a great idea, but after I got his e-mail I really started to think about how awesome it would be. I think I'd like to play about 11 events before the Main Event this year and maybe play some of the extra events if I get busted.

I have decided that I want to earn the entry fees in cash games on-line instead of taking a large chunk of my bank-roll and risking it in a single month. So I set up a list of goals in order to earn around 30k before the WSOP starts and not have to use any of my bank-roll. I think that this will allow me to play a lot better knowing that I am basically on a free roll and even if I don't cash at all I will be all the better from the experience gained. I do need to find a way to win my seat into the Main Event on-line, but that really shouldn't be very difficult considering how many seats are being given away on various sites.

I am really getting excited, it's a lot more fun when you are working towards a goal.

WSOP 2006

WSOP GOALS 2006

EVENTS
June 27th NL 1.5k
June 28th PL 1.5k
July 1st NL 2k
July 6th Limit 1.5k
July 7th NL 2.5k
July 10th NL 1k
July14th NL 2k
July 16th NL SO 2k
July 18th NL 1.5k
July 24th Limit SO 1.5k
July 25th NL 1.5k
TOTAL COST 18.5k

July 28th NL ME 10k

Additional events
Aug 3rd NL 1k
Aug 5th NL 1.5k
Aug 6th NL 1.5k
Aug 7th NL 1.5k
Aug 8th NL 1.5k
Aug 9th NL 1.5k
TOTAL COST 8.5k


Play 11 events before the Main Event. Qualify for the Main Event online. Earn 20k playing cash games before June 25th. Earn additional 10k for side games Bank Roll.

NEED to earn 30k by June 25th

GOALS
1. Qualify for the Main Event online
2. Make 30k playing cash games by June 25th
3. Improve tourney game so you can play well at the WSOP
4. WIN A WSOP BRACELET

A little poker

The weather in Nebraska is as unpredictable as ever. Last week the temperature got up into the lower 60's and it looked like spring was just around the corner. Today, there is over 2 feet of snow on the ground and we had classes canceled earlier this week. Bizarre? Maybe.... Annoying? Extremely.

I finally made time this weekend to play the big tourneys on Stars and Party even though I was also having my fantasy baseball draft at the same time. A group of my college friends and I have been playing Fantasy Baseball and Football together for the last 3-4 years and finally this year decided to start a keeper league for fantasy baseball. For those of you who don't know, a keeper league is different in the fact that you will get to retain 6 of your players from this year and have them on your team next year. This is a great idea for us because most of the guys in the league have already graduate and are spread out all over the country. These leagues give us the chance to stay in touch on almost a day to day basis and keep us from drifting apart. I figured that doing the draft and playing a couple tourneys would be no big deal since I can usually play 4 tables, check my e-mail and IM several friends at the same time with no sweat. Unfortunately this just wasn't the case. Doing a fantasy draft is a very time consuming and intense process and it became harder than I was ready for as I was playing the two biggest tourneys of the week, so halfway through the draft I dropped out and let my friend Alex pretty much tell me who I needed to pick with every spot left.

The tournaments went surprisingly well. I haven't had a lot of luck in these large field big buy-in tourneys on-line lately, but I felt like things went a little better this week. I was playing in both of the tournaments with my friend Mats and about two hours into the tourneys we agreed to swap 20% of each others action in both of them. It was actually a fairly good deal for both of us because I had a fairly good sized stack (18k) on the Party tournament, and he had a good stack on the Stars tourney. It turns out that in the next hour after the deal I run my stack up to almost 50k on Party and am sitting in very good position to make a run when we hit the money. I get broke on Stars but don't worry about it too much because I took a pretty rough beat that crippled me. Mats hangs around for a while on Stars as well but eventually has his AQ run into AK and gets bumped. Not long after he gets his money in on party in a good spot but doesn't hit his two overs and is bounced from that one too. So it's just me in the Party tourney and by the time we hit the bubble I am at 42k. Mats stays up to watch me even though it's like 3:00 a.m. at the time in Sweden and he gives me his insight on some of the hands I play. Things really didn't go that great in the next couple hours. I get AK once in the BB and re-raise the guy who opened front he cut-off, but didn't get any action. I also had AA once and got no action. I play several key small pots in race situations against short stacks and lose three and win two. With these kind of results it is hard to accumulate many chips and I slowly hung around 30k - 40k until we got around 180 people left and I was 1/2 the size of the average stack. It just so happens that I have about 28k left and get K9 off on the button when it folds around to me. The blinds are 2k -4k with about 1k in antes in the pot so if I push and they fold, I have around 35k, it's a pretty obvious play in a steal position. So I push and the BB with has around 16K calls with A 10. He hits and Ace and I am down to about 12k and in emergency mode. I fold several hands and then get dealt K7 suited in 3rd position and am about ready to click the "all-in" button when the guy in 2nd position raises. This play takes away all of my fold equity and I am forced to lay the hand down. Unbelievably the flop comes 776 and I would have flopped trips. Well, that makes me plenty mad and even though I made the right move, things like that have a way of making you second guess yourself. I fold the next hand and then push all in UTG with Q9 offsuit. The BB calls with 33 and it holds up for him and I get busted in like 160th place. Not terribly close to the final table, but if a couple hands go my way..... Anyways I get paid like $300 and some odd dollars for the showing and transfer $67 to Mats which leaves me with about a $50 profit from the 5 hours of playing. Not the results you hope for but the only places that really matter and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Alright. This may be my longest blog yet so I had better wrap it up, you'll hear more from me soon.

St. Patrick's Day

Well, I haven't posted anything in a few days so I decided I probably should. The last thing I like to do on St. Patty's Day is wake up early and study for a test, but that is exactly what I had to do this morning since I stayed up till midnight watching March Madness. This is definitely my favorite day of the year, St. Patricks Day AND the 2nd day of the first round of March Madness! I really don't think life gets much better than this. If there is ever a time to put poker on the back-burner it's in March. I watched almost all of the games yesterday and plan on doing the same today, as long as I am not in class. My bracket is looking pretty good as I picked 13 out of the 16 games right yesterday. Gonzaga sure gave me a scare though, I have "America's team" going to the Final Four and to see them down 7 with 4:00 left was a little intense. Let's hope for big wins today from So. Illinois, N. Iowa, Bucknell, and UAB to give me a solid opening round. Alright, my test is in 30 minutes so I had better keep studying.

I'm a liar

About 15 minutes after writing that I wasn't going to play any poker all week.... I hopped onto Pacific Poker and played some 15/30 while I surfed the web. Played well and ran well, won one fun pot where I check-raised the river with Q high, got 3 bet and called his 10 high down to win the pot. Ended up making about $600 in 2 hours, nothing spectacular but it is always nice to have a good short session before homework :)

Back in the states

I eventually made it back to the U.S. with the exception of only one missed flight. My flight from London Heathrow to Chicago was about 30 minutes late due to a strong headwind and after we arrived at O'Hare we had to wait in an hour-long U.S. customs line. So, I missed my connecting flight to Omaha and had to wait 3 hours before my re-booked flight took off. It could have been worse so I wasn't really that upset. I eventually made it back to Seward and was pretty happy to be home after traveling for almost 24 straight hours. It was good to see my roommates after a few weeks and even though I had to wait until Sunday afternoon to see my girlfriend, it was the best part about being home.

The trip overall was a great experience and I'm glad that I got to spend some time with my Mom. Since I left for college I really only have gotten to see her 3-4 times a year, so getting to spend a whole week traveling with her was something that I really enjoyed.

I haven't played an poker since I got back, I've been pretty busy with spending time with friends and catching up with my school work. I began to have second thoughts about ever again missing a whole week of class as I was sitting in my Stats class this morning. It felt like my prof was speaking in Japanese and I just struggled to try and piece together some coherent notes. I'll probably get back into the poker swing in a few days but I may not end up playing any till this weekend. I have a lot of catching up to do.

oh yea, I'll throw up some pics from the trip when I get time in the next couple days.

Dublin

I'm about to head to the train station to catch a train to Dusseldorf, from there I will catch a flight to Dublin and stay over night. I am really kind of excited that I will get to see some of Ireland. I am definatly going to walk around the city this afternoon and try to see as much as possible. I'll probably stop by a pub and order a tall Guiness also. When in Rome....

Cooler

I played several smaller multis yesterday and a few more today. I'm kind of getting back into the swing of things and bubbled in a few of the ones I was playing. My style usually allows me to make a good run at winning the tournament or else I get broke, so I don't put a lot of stock in makeing a lot of cashes. I still need to work on my muti-table game, but right now some things are starting to make more sense.

I leave Germany tomorrow and spend a night in Dublin before flying home on saturday. cheers

Germany

I arrived in Germany early this morning and caught a cab to Stark's apartment. Jake and him have been moved since the last time I visited, but their place is still pretty nice. While they had to go to basketball practice this afternoon I started hitting up the small buy in multi tables on Party. I couldn't seem to get anything going for a long time and I kept busting out of them in the first two hours. I seemed to keep getting my money in with the best hand and kept getting cracked every time. I didn't mind much though because I was mainly playing for practice and losing a few hundred dollars really isn't going to be a huge deal to me. The last tourney I entered was a $50 multi and had like 250 people in it. I played really well and caught a BIG break when I flopped top two pair with AJ on a board of AJ4 (all clubs) versus AK (K of clubs) and Q9 of clubs. We all got all-in on the flop, and I luckily hit a Jack on the river to fill my full house and win the pot. That hand made me a commanding chip leader with 50 players left, I eventually rode that wave all the way to a 50/50 chop when we got heads up, even though I fought through some REALLY bad beats. I ended up cashing $2,400 for my efforts and was pretty happy with that result. Other than that Germany is pretty wild, we went out to a night club tonight and had a really good time. I'll probably play some more multi's tomorrow and will let you know how I did later. Cheers

Sunday Majors

After I got busted out of the $1,000 tourney last night I decided to come back to my hotel room and play in the big Sunday tourneys on PartyPoker and PokerStars. I lost a big pot pretty early on Stars in a coin-flip situation, but I liked my play. It didn't take long until I found myself all-in with AQ vs. AA.... Again. That seems to be my trend lately. So I got knocked out of that tourney is like 4,700th place, good showing. I played very well I thought in the Party tournament but I just couldn't win any races. I lost a race and two 40/60 situations against small stack all ins during the 2nd hour of play. I kept playing well and taking down a lot of pots until about halfway through the 3rd hour when an interesting hand came up.

The blinds were 400/800 and I was on a smallish stack of 11,000 chips. I was in the SB with AQ suited and a short stack in middle position pushes all in for around 5,000 chips. A pretty large stack (around 26,000) calls the all in right behind him. It folds to me and I have a good situation here. It is fairly likely that the short stack is on a medium strength hand, A9 - AQ, or JJ or lower. He also could have AK or QQ, but it is unlikely AA or KK because he would most likely just raise to like 2,000 if he held a huge pair. It is also fairly likely that the big stack holds a medium strength hand as well, something like AQ - A 10 or JJ or lower. If he held AK or QQ he would likely re-raise so he would be able to isolate the small stack. It is possible that he could smooth call with AA or KK and if that is the case then I am in real trouble. If it so happens that the short stack has AK or QQ or better then I can still remain about the same in chips as long as I beat the big stack because the side pot will be about 10,000 in chips. I weight my options and decide that it is way to good of a situation to let go of, so I push all in. If I win the main pot I will have around 28,000 in chips, if I just win the side pot I will still have around 10,000 in chips. The big stack doesn't think long before calling the 6,000 more chips and he flips over AJ off suit. The short stack flips over 55 and it turns out that I made the right move. If I can hit an Ace or Queen and avoid a Jack and 5 then I will be sitting very well. And as long as I avoid a Jack altogether then I will still have the same chip stack as when the hand started. The flop comes 7 9 10 rainbow, then turn comes 8 and the big stack makes his Jack high straight. The river blanks and I am out of the tournament in like 600th place. I thought this hand was very interesting to analyze and I defiantly made the correct play.

I don't think I'll be playing much in the next week or so. I am visiting a friend in Germany till Saturday and then flying home to the states so I can get back to all that homework I missed.

Terrible

That describes how I just played in the $1,000 tourney tonight. I am very disappointed in myself and really need to focus on working on my game. I won the first hand of the tourney, with Kings against Shannon who was unfortunately at my table. After that I lost a big pot on a questionable play by me, I had far to much confidence in my read and it cost me a lot of chips. He's the hand:

I raise from middle position with AJ off suit to 125, blinds are 25/25, and get one caller in late position and the button comes along as well. The flop comes AK9 with two diamonds and I bet out 225, they both call. Now I am really not sure where I stand with my hand and think I am up against another Ace, possibly AQ or A9, but just as likely AJ or A 10. The turn brings another 9 and I see an opportunity here. I fire out 575 trying to take the pot down by maybe making another Ace fold their hand, the guy in late position calls but the way he calls makes me think he doesn't want to and solidifies my strength in my read. The BB folds and now I am sure that I can take this pot by pushing the guy off his hand. The river comes a Q which really a bad card unless he has AQ and now is taking the pot from me. I fire out $1,200 chips and he instantly pushes in his stack of 17,000. Now I only have to call 500 more chips but looking back on it there really is only maybe a 5% chance or less that he would do this with a missed flush or with just an Ace. I should have laid the hand down but I decide to call because of the size of the pot and he flips over K9 offsuit for 9's full of Kings. Looking back on the hand it is really hard to put him on such a terrible starting hand but I feel like I still could have played it better.

After that hand was over I just slowly gave away chips with bad cards. I kept calling small raises with drawing hands like mid-suited connectors and medium pairs. I couldn't connect on any flop and eventually just blinded my way down. I am beginning to think that this style early in a tournament isn't as profitable as I once thought. I used to love to see a lot of flops early and try to make big hands, bust people, and build a back stack early. When you are running cold it doesn't work very well and you rarely advance very far in the tournament. I think I need to spend some time re-reading a few books on tournament theory and make some adjustments to my game. There is always something you can improve on....

Results

So it's like 5:00 a.m. here and I just caught a cab back to our hotel with Mats Iremark after the final table got over. Cody ended up playing great short-stack poker but couldn't get the cards to carry him to the final table and he busted out in 11th place. Shannon ended up cruising to the final table even though he called off more chips than the rest of us thought was necessary. I guess when you final table three times in four attempts you probably know a little more than the railbirds. He ended up chopping the final payout 6 ways based on chip counts. He was the 2nd short stack but still took home about $8,600; not a bad payday.

Mats and I ended up just watching the action for about 6 hours and making prop bets on the tournament. He layed me $110 to $100 on who would last longer, his fellow Swedish countryman named John or Shannon. They both ended up being a part of the chop so I kind of robbed a "no decision" out of the bet and didn't lose any money even though John was 2nd in chips. I think he can afford it though since he just won the EPT event in Deauville for almost $500,000. He is a heck of a player and a really nice guy.

Alright, that's enough for 5:00 a.m., I need some sleep.

Playing Well

I just got busted from the $500 rebuy tourney in 44th place, out of the money. I feel really good about how I played even though I didn't cash. I played tight aggressive and made the style work for me. We started with 3,000 chips and most people rebought for another $500 and got the extra 3,000 chips. I really never saw any premium hands, pocket 10's was by far the best. But I played very selectively aggressive and took down alot of pots without the best hand. Eventually I had my initial stack of 6,000 up to around 25,000 and felt really good. Then I lost a big pot with A8 vs. K 10 all in pre-flop, a hand which I felt was a monster call by me from the BB. It was folded to him in the SB and he pushed for for about 3,400 (there was 1,400 in the pot) and I called. The door card was an ace and I was pumped, then the other two flop cards were QJ and he had flopped broadway. I lost another hand KQ vs. KJ pretty much all-in pre flop against another shorter stack and all of the sudden found myself being rather short. I got my money all-in with the nut straight but my opponent filled up on the river and I was out of the tournament. No worries though, it's all about making the right plays and that is what I did tonight. Tomorrow is a $1,000 buy in tourney that i think I may play in.

Shannon and another friend I've met here named Cody are still in the tournament. Shannon has around $60,000 in chips and is leading the tournament, the kid is just sick good. I'll update on how they end up later. First place is around $40,000 which would be a good payday.

Schönbrunner Palace

This morning I went to the Schönbrunner Palace with Mom. I visited it when I was here a few months ago and I really wanted her to get to see it. It's kind of like Austria's own Versailles, a huge estate with an immaculate residence. It wasn't nearly as pretty in the winter as it was when I was here in late summer, but it was still really interesting and definately worth the visit. I think we are going to go see some churches tomorrow morning.

Right now I am about to head to the card club and meet up with Shannon and Jon to play in the $500 rebuy tourney that they are having tonight. I don't want to be late so I should probably take off. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back tonight, or tomorrow if it goes late. Wish me luck

Feeling less depressed

So when I got back to the room last night I was feeling pretty down on myself and was in a pretty bad mood overall. Then I hopped online and saw that I had an e-mail from my girlfriend who was also on-line and I got to chat with her for a while. This brightened my night and helped me to put things in perspective. There are a lot of things more important in my life than poker is, it helps to get reminded of that sometimes.

I also have to keep in mind that I invested $1,350 in playing satellites for this event and ended up winning two of them. Therefore I received the $5,000 package plus an additional $5,000 cash. That means that even though I busted out on the first day I am still up $3,650 for the tournament. Remembering that helps take away some of the bad taste in my mouth.

Alright, I am feeling better now and am ready to run through some of the key hands that I played. The tournament was structured so that we played 90 minute rounds and started with 10,000 chips. On the THIRD hand of the tournament with the blinds at 25/50 two people limped into the pot and I look down at 67 off-suit on the button and decide to limp as well. I know 67 off suit is a trash hand but I like to play a lot of pots early on in the tournament and try to make a few big hands. The SB folds and the BB checks, so we see a flop with 4 people and 225 chips in the pot. The flop comes 673 rainbow and the BB, who is a older woman, fires out 600 chips. As a general rule women players tend to be much tighter than men and bluff much less often. The guy who is next to act thinks that she only bet 200 chips (since she threw out a 500 and a 100) and he throws out 200 chips. The dealer informs him that the bet is 600 and he tries to take his 200 back. However, in tournaments the rule is that if he puts his 200 in the pot then it has to stay there, so instead of giving up his 200 chips he decides to call as well. This may not sound like a big deal but it actually makes it impossible for me to just call now. So, I announce that I am raising the pot and throw in 1,600 chips. The older women looks down immediately at her chips and says re-raise and raises me the minimum, 1,000 more. The other guy obviously folds and I reluctantly fold my hand as well, face up. I was 90% sure that she had 45 for the nut straight and if she didn't she had either 33, 66, or 77. Anyway it would have come out she was way ahead of me and I feel like I actually lost A LOT fewer chips on the hand than most people would of. My friend Jon later said he didn't think he would have laid it down but I really think it was a pretty easy lay down.

Well that knocked me down to a little under 8,500 chips and I hovered around that mark for the first hour or so. I didn't get any good hands so I really didn't play many pots. During level two I started to drop. I started getting strong hands in some steal positions or in the blinds but could never connect on a flop and almost always had the pot taken from me. I was especially getting into it with a very wild Austrian guy who was immediately to my right. Every time I was in the BB it seemed like it would fold to us and he would raise out of the SB. I love players who do this and I kept getting huge drawing hands like J 10 suited or 79 suited and love to take a flop with these hands and try to get paid off big. Unfortunately I never could flop ANYTHING against him and kept having to give him the pot. The only hand I won against him the entire night was during one of these SB vs. BB situations. I was down to about 5,000 chips and he raised from the SB while I look down at 78 clubs. He raises my 150 BB to 475 and I smooth call like always :) The flop comes AK9 with two clubs. He checks to me and I decide to check as well. Normally I like to bet here and take down the pot but I KNOW that this guy would not fold no matter what I bet, trust me. So with no fold equity I decide to take a free card and try to hit my flush knowing that if I do I will get PAID. The turn comes a off suit 4 and I am not happy about it. He fires out 550 chips and I really don't think he's got much of anything. I decide to just call instead of raising because I really don't want to commit myself to a draw on the turn when I know that I will get paid anyways if I hit. The river comes the 8 of hearts and I miss my flush. He fires out 900 chips and I think about it for a minute. I look at him and he smiles at me, it seems like a very ungenuine smile, which usually means weakness. Unfortunately even if he is weak he may have me beat, I only have 4th pair. Eventually I decide to call based mostly on my read of him and he flips over J 10 for Jack high and I take the pot down. After that moral victory I slowly drop in chips and go to the dinner break with 5,500 and not feeling good about it. Immediately after the dinner break Jon gets all in on a flop of Q97 two spades with Q9. The guy who calls him shows A9 of spades for 2nd pair and a flush draw, a total donkey move on his part. But the 4 of spades on the river crippled Jon, he took it like a champ though. The VERY NEXT HAND I look down at AA for the first time and standard raise 3x the BB to 450. It folds around to the Donkey in the BB and he decides to call me. The flop comes 457 with two diamonds and he leads out with 500. I am loving it because I know he is on a draw, this guy is a bag of tells, so I shoot it up to 2500. He instantly calls and I am screaming "NO DIAMOND" in my head. The board pairs 5's on the turn and he leads out 2,000. I only have 2,400 left and almost pull a muscle sending it into the pot so fast. He gives a look like "well, damn, I got caught", and calls the 400 more. I expect him to flip over a couple diamonds but instead he flips over A6 for a open ended straight draw and the river blanks. For the first time in the tournament I am OVER $10,000 in chips! Well it doesn't last long when I try to re-re-steal from the button with 89 suited, unfortunately the SB had a monster and I lose 4,000 chips without even seeing a flop. About an hour later I raise to 500 UTG with AK off and Donkey re-raises to 2,000. He's the only guy that I actually think could do this with a hand like AQ or AJ so I tell myself that I can't really fold and I send my stack of 5,400 into the pot. He looks pissed again and calls me with 10's. Unfortunately the board is all low and I am out of the tournament without ever really getting anything going. I didn't feel like I played poorly, I felt that I build a fantastic table image and I just couldn't make my cards work. It's gonna happen I guess. Well I am tired of writing and you are probably tired of reading. I think there are a few 500 euro buy in tourneys this week that I will play in. I made about $800 playing 15/30 on-line this morning so maybe I can salvage out the trip.

Running cold

Bad news, I didn't survive the first day. Yea, it's the first live tournament I've ever had where I busted out on the first day and it sucks just as much as I thought it would. I'm not in much of a mood to recap many hands but I will tell you about the big ones later. I never could get my chip stack over $11,000 and I think I literally got re-raised on over 50% of my raises. I couldn't connect on almost all of the hands I played, when I actually had a real hand I never got played back at. Overall it was just a bad situation and was strikingly similar to the CPC in the Bahamas. I played my image up perfectly today and I think everyone at my table would say that I was incrediably wild and loose. That's the exact image I want because it will allow me to accumulate a ton of chips early in a tournament, however when you don't make any hands this style will backfire on you and cause you to bust out early. It's part of the game and I have to realize it.

Shannon was killing his table when I left, the kid is insane, and Jon was fighting back after a rough beat that almost knocked him out. If Jon can get some chips he will be tough. There's a lot more to tell you about the experience but I just don't feel like writing much more right now....

Austrian Poker Championships

The "Austrian Poker Championships" is the official name of the tournament. I found that out yesterday when I went to the casino to play in the $100 (I will use the $ instead of EURO to make things easier, but keep in mind that everything over here is in euros) re-buy super satellite to the main event. I won't tell you about the satellite except for the fact that I got into it for $500 after three rebuys and an add-on and then DONKED out hardcore on a move that I can barely believe I even made. So, I started the live poker on this trip unfavorably. However, it worked out because after busting out around 8:00 I still had time to go to the Kaiko Club and meet up with Shannon and Jon for the PartyPoker welcome reception. Let me just say this, PartyPoker really out did themselves this time. This reception was one of the nicest things I have ever been to. PartyPoker rented out the whole VIP section of this really awesome club and each booth had 4-5 bottles of various liquors and about 10 different mixers. If you didn't want mixed drinks you could walk over towards the bar and grab a bottle of champagne or, of course, a German 'bier'. The whole atmosphere was amazing as everyone was there having a great time and enjoying the excellent hospitality. I swear there was probably two waiters for every person in the VIP section just waiting for you to ask for something. Eventually we wandered down to the main dance floor and mingled with the locals while listening to some euro-remix of "my humps" over and over again. All in all I give PartyPoker two thumbs way up on the welcome reception, which almost makes up for the terrible job they did on booking our hotel. We are literally 45 minutes and three different forms of public transportation away from the casino. It feels like we have to leave Vienna and loop around Bratislavia before finally getting there. Enough ranting though, you are probably all tired of reading already.

Today is day 1 and the field is looking like it will probably only be around 300 people, give or take a few. I'm really ready to get started, I still have this weird feeling of confidence and just really believe that I am going to do very well. I will update again after the tournament gets done for the night, probably around 5:00 p.m. central time in the U.S., and let you know my chip count or how I busted out. Let's hope it's not the latter...

Almost poker time

Well, after surviving a three hour train ride and getting ripped off by our cabbie, we finally have made it to our hotel back in Vienna. Salzburg overall was really awesome and I would recomend it to anyone traveling western Europe.

There is an opening night cocktail party for all the party poker qualifiers tonight at the "Buddah Lounge" with an open bar, which could lead to trouble. I'm meeting Shannon and his friend there and after that we may either go play some side action at the casino or crash for the night and prepare for the first day of the tournament tomorrow.

I am feeling strangely confident about this tournament, I read "Zen and the Art of Poker" twice on the train ride down here and I am feeling good about my state of mind. The book actually made me remember that as long as I make the right plays I can't worry about the outcome. As strange as it sounds I am actually looking forward to taking a bad beat and not allowing my emotions to get involved. I'm going to try to totally detach myself from the outcome so that no matter how the cards fall it will not change my reaction. Well enough about that, he's a couple pics of salzburg: