My Poker Journal

June 2005

June 28
Back from Vegas. Read my report on the $2500 No Limit Holdem and $1000 Ladies WSOP events.

June 23
I'm back from Las Vegas just long enough to write my trip report for the $2500 Omaha HiLo event. I'm leaving today for the $2500 No Limit Holdem and $1000 Ladies events this week.

June 19
I'm back from Las Vegas, but will be returning again tomorrow for the $2500 Omaha HiLo event. Here is my trip report for the $5000 No Limit Holdem and $1500 No Limit Shootout events.

June 13
I played in the PokerStars Omaha tournament last night and only made it through about half the field. A showing in an Omaha event is overdue and I hope it comes when I am playing at the World Series of Poker.

I am heading off to Vegas today to play in two events. If I make a final table, I will make sure it goes up on my journal before I get home. Mike Paulle from PokerPages usually keeps track of my progress in his blog, so if you can't wait, you might be able to see how I am doing while the tournament is going on. I am coming home on Saturday and will give a full trip report then.

June 11
I played in the Full Tilt Poker Pieces of the Pro tournament today and barely finished in the money. Today's pro was Layne Flack. I would have loved to have a percentage of him in the main event this year. I was happy to learn that one of my poker buddies did manage to get sixth. Congrats Seth.

I also learned today that JohnnyBax (a well known internet player) won the Seven Card Stud event at the World Series of Poker. I didn't know he played the game. I always see him in No Limit events and he usually does well. I know he won his seat to the main so maybe he is just getting started.

June 9
I was not scheduled to work in the commentator booth for Live at the Bike, so I signed up for the scheduled game. The game was a $500+25 No Limit Holdem Shootout.

I arrived at the table and was surprised that each seat had $525 in real chips. I have only played in one other tournament where we used real chips instead of tournament chips (with no cash value) and I thought it affected my game a little last time. The $25 entry fee was added to our stack because the casino was going to take a regular drop and we were going to tip the dealer as usual. When the tournament was over, they expected that we would have close to the $4500 prize pool left.

The tournament started out slowly for me. I love playing in one table satellites and know that even if I dwindle my chips down, I can usually make my stack work for me later on. That is exactly what happened. When I got short chipped, I moved all-in over the top of a raiser with pocket sevens. I did it another time with AJ. I didn't pick up any huge pots, but I managed to keep my stack about even ($500).

When we got down to three players, I picked up a big pot. The button folded, the small blind doubled the bet and I called with JT. The flop was 98x. The small blind moved in and I thought about it for a long time. I asked him if he had a pair and his answer was, "I have a pair of glasses" (he was wearing them). I thought about it some more and figured if I hit my jack or ten, I would have the best hand. That gave me 14 outs which meant I would have been a slight favorite if I was correct on my read. I finally called and my opponent showed pocket aces. The turn was a blank, but the river was a queen and I doubled up.

We played a couple more hands and then took a short break. The three of us went outside and we talked about what we would do when one of us got knocked out. We were told at the beginning of the tournament that there would be no deals allowed until we got down to heads up play. The other chip leader asked me if I wanted to make a deal if the short-stacked player was knocked out. I told him I would make a deal if we got to keep the chips we had in front of us. I didn't want to give up any money and I wasn't going to ask for any more money. I thought it would be most fair if we just took our chips and walked. He agreed. The other player was also going to make a deal if he got heads up, but he didn't have many chips left and it looked like he was going to be the next person eliminated.

We walked back to the table and we were told that they wanted us to play the tournament out for the camera. Two hands later, the short-stacked player was eliminated. My opponent and I got up from the table and talked about a deal. We agreed that we would take what was in front of us (I had $2100 and he had the rest). We were asked to say "Let's play it out" when we got back to the table. We got back to the table and I said, "Let's play it out." Our heads up play didn't last long because I couldn't catch a hand or a flop and I was knocked out.

I was summoned into the commentator booth and was told that the Live at the Bike audience was already aware we made a deal, so I was happy about that. I put the headset on and talked about a couple hands then left the booth because I had some other work to do before heading home.

I finished my shift and was waiting for my cousin to pick me up. Bart (another commentator) talked to me about a few of the hands and then told me I made a mistake on one of them. He said I folded a hand on a showdown when I had the best hand. My opponent showed his hand and I supposedly mucked a straight. I am not surprised by this because seeing straights are my biggest weakness in poker, but I looked for a straight before I mucked my hand. In the future, if there is a straight possible I need to just turn my hand face up and let the dealer read it. I guess in the end, everything ended up working out.

I won't be going to work for the next few weeks because of the World Series of Poker. I take my next trip on Monday to play in the $5000 No Limit Holdem event and the $1500 No Limit Holdem shootout event. Then I will come home for a day or two and back to Vegas again. I am taking a total of six trips to Vegas (I already took one) and I plan on writing a trip report for each visit.

June 8
I played my first WSOP event on Monday and I got close to the money. I was pretty happy with the way I played, but I was also disappointed. I gave myself eight shots at winning a bracelet this year and one is gone. Check out my WSOP Omaha High Low $1500 trip report.

June 5
I am heading for Vegas today. This trip is the shortest of all the ones I have planned. I am only playing the Omaha event and then coming home for a week, then it is back to Vegas. I am excited about going and am ready to play my best game.

It sounds like Vegas is chaotic. The first event had more people than expected (they actually turned people away). If you add up those players plus the spectators, it has been a mad house. I don't think the Omaha event will be as bad. I am guessing about 550 players. I will let you know how it went when I come back.

June 2
Tonight on Live at the Bike the poker will be a $100 shootout tournament with one of the players being sexy Trishelle Cannatella, from Real World Las Vegas.

June 1
The time I took away from poker is still paying off. I had one of my best days at work yesterday. I didn't start the day off on a winning note, but I didn't give up and it paid off.

The first game I sat in was a $100 No Limit game and I lost my first buy-in quickly. I played 65 of clubs and hit a monster drawing flop. I flopped a pair of fives, a gutshot straight draw and a flush draw. I got all of my chips in when I check raised my opponent on the flop and I never improved my hand. I left the game shortly after that hand. The thought of having a losing day crossed my mine. I haven't had one since I took my vacation, but it only took me 30 seconds to realize that it was okay. If I lost, I lost. I got my chips into the pot exactly like I wanted. I didn't make a bad decision. I was still playing my hands to the best of my ability, so if I lost then so be it.

A short time later, I started a $200 No Limit game. I doubled up quickly then the following hand took place. I was on the small blind with pocket kings. Two players limped, the cutoff made it $15 and I raised to $40. I was surprised when I got four callers. The flop was jack high. Two players checked, the next player bet $50, the cutoff moved all-in to $80. I figured I still had the best hand and I needed to make some money in a side pot if I could. I raised to $220. The blind called all-in for about $65, the next player folded and the original bettor called my huge raise. I moved the rest of my chips into the pot on the turn and I won a huge side pot with my pair of kings. The two players in the side pot had KJ (pair of jacks, king kicker) and the player that was involved in the main pot made a straight with AQ (the board was JT98). I had a lot of chips in front of me and I continued winning a lot of pots. I won one hand with pocket deuces when I called a player down knowing I had the best hand. I picked up another pot on a pure bluff. I left work happy with the choices I made and was glad that I didn't let myself fall into a trap of trying to win "money back".

The first event I am playing at the WSOP is the $1500 Omaha High/Low event. I am so excited about the World Series this year and I am going to do everything in my power to play the best game I know how to play. If I focus, I should be okay.