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Movin on UP

2010-08-01T08:13:00.001-07:00

If you're reading this here, I'm not sure how you got here. Click this link http://www.pablosplace.com for the new PablosPlace blog...professional style. This site has been retired.

2010 World Series of Poker Main Event - Reflection part 2

2010-07-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

The last post that I tossed up had a more whinny tone to it than I would have liked. It had a ton of stuff that just really bugged me about the WSOP. But overall, it was an experience that I’m NEVER going to forget.

This was my 2nd time seeing the action at the WSOP, with the first being last year for about an hour. My venture got me on TV briefly in hand where Joe Hachem eliminated Surinder Sunar by hitting a straight with J-9 vs. Sunar’s AQ. I saw Hellmuth get eliminated and Ivey become a tournament chip leader while sitting at the featured table. But I was overwhelmed with “Fan-Da-Monium” and couldn’t believe the sights, the sounds, and the reality. This was the World Series of Poker after all.

After my trip for the $50k players championship, the novelty and newness had really worn off quite a bit. I was now used to running into players that I’d recognize only from TV, and this trip, I was more interested in reuniting with friends that I’d made throughout my last stay and even before that. It was a different experience as people recognized me this time around. I wasn’t the new kid on the block anymore, and I wanted to take in the entire experience.

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker is still a magical affair. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have butterflies when Day 1a started off with Greg Raymer hoisting his arms in the air and saying “this is what we’re all playing for. Lets shuffle up and deal.” Obviously Raymer was alluding to the bracelet he’d won in this event in 2004, but for me, this was unique. I’d seen Jack Effel take the mic now several times before, but I’d never seen the buzz that was the start of the Main Event. It’s hard to describe the butterflies of Day 1a. You have no idea how big the field is going to be, where anyone is sitting, or who really stands a chance at winning the thing. Kind of like opening day for Major League baseball, the score is tied before the first pitch is thrown, and everyone goes into the season thinking “maybe this year, my team will be a world champion.” And truth be told, regardless if you’re there because you’re a former champion (there were a lot), or you’re there because you’re a playboy model or a porn star, or an actor, an NBA superstar, or a pro poker player that no one has ever heard of before, I think that everyone takes a seat with 30,000 chips, and says “I could be that person on the stage next year. I think that I might actually have a shot at this November 9 thing.”

After watching the first 2 days of play at the main event, I really felt like I belonged in the field. I saw so many ridiculous plays, so many ridiculous beats, and I saw the ability of knowing when to fold hands in marginal situations. Greg Raymer himself taught me a $10k lesson when he shipped in Kd-Qd on a Kc-Td-5d board and ran into an amateur holding pocket T’s. Of course he didn’t lay down his middle set, and Raymer would not improve on his top pair with a flush draw. He was crippled after only 30 minute or so, and would be eliminated before the end of the first level getting 8-8 in against A-A, and his World Series was over. The main lesson, there’s not really a need to gamble when you’re that deep. Having a lot of chips is great, but this is a marathon…not a sprint. Day 1 meant almost nothing. In fact, in the 4 levels of play that they did go through, you could have folded EVERY SINGLE HAND, and began day 2 with about 20 Big Blinds. Mixing it up on Day 1a worked well for some, but was a sad story for the likes of Mike Mattusow (who spent his day at the ESPN Featured table, only to see it end before the last break of the night – ESPN didn’t film the rest of the table either which I found quite humorous), Chino Rheem, Jimmy Fricke, and Victor Ramdin. All of them saw the rail on the first day.

I did enjoy watching Ray Romano play as well. The cameras loved him, and he in return played up to them. Wearing his “Men of Certain Age” ball cap, Ray played rather well, mixing it up quite a bit. Eventually, he’d get short and go bust, but “It took a straight flush to eliminate me from the main event this year” he’d say, and he was right. Ray got it in with nothing but a pair and a dream on a flop that produced straight, flush, and straight flush draws for his opponent. And his day was done.

I also enjoyed watching Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho mix it up at various tables. The girls would ask me on a number of occasions how the other one was doing, and I’d oblige by going between the two tables from time to time to provide basic updates on chip counts. Chris Moneymaker ran up a stack as well giving hope to the fact that the man who started the poker boom might actually have a deep run in him. He finished the day with more than 100k in chips, but his Main wasn’t meant to be in the end again either. Miraculously, David Allen-Greer would survive the day, albeit short stacked, and he would succumb on Day 2. But Day 1a was a pretty special event, if for nothing else it was filled with a lot of wonder of what could be. Unlike the other day 1’s, this was simply special.

Day 1b started in much the same way, with much the same field size, but much more action early. I saw a player within about 15 minutes ship in Ah-Qh on a Kh-Td-5h board, and get snap called by KK. The set held, and the guy was eliminated in just 15 minutes of play. He would say “well, at least I have my $10,000 seat cushion.” Referring to the Everest Poker leave behind that was nothing more than a cheap advertising ploy. The cushions were terrible, and Andy Bloch would say a few days later, “I’d be embarrassed to have my logo on these,” eventually getting one of the vacant dealer chairs to sit upon instead. Annette Obrestad would provide some smiles as she took her seat at the ESPN secondary table. She seemingly wanted to play every pot, losing virtually half her stack in the first level. She’d battle back to get to over 20k. I witnessed her ship in 99 on a Ten high board, and a guy would tank-call with JJ. She accused him of slow rolling her, and then the dealer proceeded to place a 9 on the turn to double her. She wasn’t intimidated by her table, but she did seem to play too fast, which really led to her exit late in the day. I would catch up with her later in the series and chat about her WSOP. She was disappointed in her results, but was really focused on the Bellagio WPT event that she’d played earlier in the day. It was all about looking forward. Playfully, she spotted Phil Galfond and asked to sweat a hand of his. Action had been raised and then called at his table when it went to Phil in the Big Blind. Phil opened his hole cards so that Annette could see them, and Annette groaned as it wasn’t a playable hand, and Galfond tossed them into the muck. But day 1b was the most uneventful of the day 1’s. Gavin Smith played at the ESPN Featured table, and that place was locked down for the ESPN cameras. I heard that Jamie Gold played day 1b, but I never found him. After he busted, he’d sweat his mom who was also in action on the day, before she would go broke as well.

Day 1c was probably my favorite of the Day 1’s as it had more friends playing in it, and also some pro’s that I really wanted to watch. Joe Cada did the honors of “Shuffle up and Deal” and began his title defense playing great poker. It was almost like it was “Champions Day” as Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, Huck Seed, and Jerry Yang would join the Main Event champ in action. And later, at the secondary featured table, Phil Hellmuth made one of his “entrances.” I won’t write about it, because it was a joke, only to say that Annie Duke was also in the Amazon Room, and had tweeted that she wouldn’t “have a very good view of Phil coming in.” As it turned out, from where she was sitting there were so many people in the way, she really couldn’t see him that well, to which I said to her “isn’t that a run-good?” Lee Childs played in the Amazon room, right in front of one of the outside featured tables where Carlos Mortensen was creating one of his chip towers. I was able to chat with him throughout his play and his dad Bill, who was registered for day 1d. I also wandered over to the Pavillion Room to watch Alex Outhred go on a huge heater, chipping over 100k really early. And Tom Dwan was also in play, although clearly disinterested as he’d had a prop bet to see if he could play the largest percentage of pots on day 1. It cost him virtually 2/3 of his stack.

Other pro’s to watch on Day 1c included David Williams (who started the day on fire), Patrik Antonius, Daniel Negreanu, and Isabelle Mercier. I made it over to the Pavillion room to watch Huck Seed go broke. He only had about 400 chips when I got there, and he got them in preflop from the Big Blind with 2 callers. A c-bet from the middle position guy chased one player and Huck Tabled A-T, which was painfully behind his opponent’s AJ, and Huck was gone in the first 30 minutes of play.

The end of day 1c was really devastating though. Lee Childs had really grinded all day long, hovering between 10 and 20 Big Blinds. He just couldn’t seem to really get it going, and in the last 10 minutes or so of the day, shoved about 12 big blinds with 5-5, and found two callers with bigger pairs. No 5 meant that Lee would hit the rail at the end of the day. I’d shake hands with him as he’d exit, and then headed over to Tom Dwan’s table. I got there to see him get it all in with top 2 pair, only to watch his opponent river a straight to KO Dwan. Upset at the falling stars, I went next door to the Pavillion and found Alex Outhred’s seat empty. I asked the guy next to him what happened, and he said “I busted him. He shipped top pair and I called with a flop set.” So in 10 minutes, I had 3 people that I was really interested go broke. It was a tough ending.

This has become a really long post, so I’m going to stop for now and break this up into a little bit of a series. I’ll probably blog some more tomorrow on the rest of the stuff, because there are plenty of other fantastic stories from the play.

My first reflection fromt the 2010 WSOP Main Event

2010-07-21T17:54:00.001-07:00

I’m still in Las Vegas as I write this post. On the 8th floor of the Jockey Club, with my family in the living room, and enjoying the tail end of our vacation, I decided to put some notes down about my trip to Vegas. We’re almost through with our hotel stay, and as I sit here in our bedroom, and look out at the Bellagio Water show on my right, I’m still a little bit in awe from what I saw while I was here in Vegas.

I’ve never been so awed, so exhausted, and so enthralled with any trip I’ve ever taken. I’ve never longed for home more, and never wanted to leave where I’m at the same time, quite as much as on this stay. It was long, grueling hours coupled with a lot of work, and a sense of wonderment as day after day, hand after hand was dealt, and bust out after bust out took place. I sweated pro’s like Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Huck Seed, and so many more that it would be impossible to name them all in a single post. There were 7,319 players at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, and I feel like I was able to capture a little something special for them all.

It’s hard to put into words what the experience was like for a fan of the game such as me. I love watching poker, which I think was evidenced by the fact that after the days at the WSOP were done, I had headed over to the Venetian Deepstacks event to rail on Lee Childs, who would end up finishing 3rd in the $1k buy in event. 6 hours of railing Lee was actually relatively few considering the 8+ hours per day that I was spending inside the Amazon and Pavillion Rooms at the Rio Convention Center.

Each day was extremely unique, and perhaps my one lament was not blogging about it during the course of events, but I simply had no more energy to do it. Each day, I completed my day after play had commenced for no fewer than 4 levels of play (a 2 hour levels, with either 20 minute breaks or a 90 minute dinner break in between). They were very long days, spent wandering the entire time from table to table, snapping photographs, counting chip stacks, and sending updates via twitter about the play that I’d seen. I met so many faces that I didn’t realize that I’d known, mostly from Media row. Matt Waldron, AlCantHang, Dan M of Pokerati, Dr. Pauly (Tao of Poker), MerchDawg, BJ Nemeth, WriterJen, Jess Wellman, and on and on and on. I felt like a pseudo celebrity when I came back to Vegas for my 2nd WSOP go around, as I was more of a veteran, welcomed back by those that were sad to see me go from the $50k Players Championship. I received so many positive and uplifting emails, facebook messages, and twitter replies, each happy about the coverage, the updates, and the photo’s and recaps that I was bringing to the people wanting WSOP information.

Let me first start by talking about PokerNews. I liked everyone of the PokerNews guys that I came into contact with. They worked their tails off, and they produced a really decent product at the end. It was CLOSE to up to date, at least, as close as could be reasonably expected given their methods. But I think that there were so many ways to improve upon the things that they did. PokerNews effectively hired a bunch of bloggers to retell the story of the WSOP. The trouble was, they retold hand stories, but often forgot to tell the score of a story. Chip counts are a vital element of the story telling, and they did a pretty poor job of that throughout the course of events. I liked their stories, and I liked their overall coverage, but when it came to their updates, I think that there were plenty of areas for improvement.

Another thing that bothered me was that PokerNews was the exclusive media outlet for hand updates, and other sources were prevented on doing hand-for-hand updates. PokerNews was sponsored by PokerStars, so their coverage for PokerStars pro’s, and PokerStars sponsored players was exceptionally biased. The reality is, the entity that reports on the World Series of Poker should be 100% free of sponsors influence, and the reports should simply be reports of the action taking place. It bothered me a great deal to look at the chip counts that they were releasing throughout the day, and see the “PokerStars Team Pro” etc. etc., and not a team pro of any other outlet. I found that really wrong. I didn’t mind the PokerStars commercial at the beginning of each and every video nearly as much, but in the reporting, it did irk me a great deal.

I think that enough people were fed up with the coverage, or the lack there of, that a lot of people flooded to my twitter feed to see what was going on during play. In fact, during the playdown from 10 players to the November 9, I received no less than 50 new followers during my hand-for-hand updates via twitter. I was shocked that PokerNews wasn’t doing it, and didn’t realize that they weren’t until during one of the breaks I checked their info against mine.

Another lament that I had was the decrease in availability to the players and the tables as the time wore on. When the number of players began to decrease, so did the access that I had to the tables. It began with the bubble play, and the media was restricted from going from table to table so that tournament officials could clearly see the action of play. I didn’t mind that so much. I mean, at the completion of each hand, the 80 or so tables that were left would have their dealer stand up as their hand was complete, so that the tournament directors could accurately see where the bustouts were coming from, so they could figure out who finished in what position. It lasted only 6 hands, which took a little more than an hour to complete. And once it did, the flurry of bustouts was mind numbing. So many people were holding onto chips in the hopes that they’d simply min-cash. Once the bubble burst, all bets were off and it was a frantic race to the payout line. Players had endured 4 days of bad beats, an uncounted number of hands, and they were done with this tournament. And in about the first 15 minutes, we lost almost 50 players. “All in and a call” rang out everywhere throughout the Amazon room, and people left their seats, escorted by a line of dealers that rushed to the table to provide the players with a card that indicated what place they busted in, and what their payout was.

As the next couple of days went one, and the number of tables grew fewer and fewer, access on the floor was limited only to the ESPN cameras, and to PokerNews staff for updates. It was very frustrating to go from having free reign throughout the tournament, to all of the sudden reduced to being a spectator, hoping to catch a glimpse of the board and trying to tell what the players cards were at showdown. It made it virtually impossible to report, and I grew frustrated a great number of times. But in the end, it was still a unique experience that I’m blessed that I had the opportunity to partake in.

Overall, I’m still in a state of awe at the experience that just passed. Having had the opportunity to converse with each member of the November 9, and get to know them a little more personally, as well as witness first hand their path to get to where they are, I feel invested a little bit in each of them. To talk with legends Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, and Chris Moneymaker on a variety of different topics. To have followed the progress and be involved in discussions with Scott Clements, Eric Baldwin, and Michael Mizrachi as they got up from their tables and spoke with players on their rail. Overhearing and sometimes being a part of those discussion made me feel like I was a part of the tournament, an important part, vital to the success of how poker is conveyed, and ultimately to the increase of the popularity of the sport.

I hope that everyone watches the 2010 WSOP as it airs on ESPN. I plan on seeing every episode, multiple times, and watching it as a keepsake of my time spent in Las Vegas. I’ll have more reflections later, when I’m not hanging out with the family…but I definitely needed to get those things down and out. The next couple of updates will focus more on the good things that I saw, and the positive stories that emerged. There were many, and they each deserve a post to be frank.

It's Seven-Deuce Day

2010-07-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

A holy day among poker players....at least....those that frequent the home game at Pablosplace. Team7Deuce is ready to go for the annual tradition of playing on Seven-Deuce Day, otherwise known as July 2nd to the common folk.

Every year, the members of Team7Deuce don their Team-Shirts and play a little poker to commemorate Seven-Deuce Day, and today will mark our 3rd annual event at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens. If you're interested in joining us, here's the tournament info:

Game - No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $30 + $10 = $40 total, No Add-Ons, No Re-Buys.
Start with $4000 tournament chips.
Number of players averages around 150 to 200
Total Prize Pool: Should be in the range of $4,500 to $6,000
Starts - 2010/07/02 - 12:00 PM (PST), but late entry accepted for the first 45 minutes.
Location:
The Bicycle Casino
7301 Eastern Avenue
Bell Gardens, CA 90201

You can follow me on twitter (@coolwhipflea) for all of the updates from the casino as I'll be providing as much as I can while playing. I'm not certain exactly how many of our group is going down this year, but I think that we're in the neighborhood of 10 players today. Wish us all luck, as we take the Bicycle Casino by storm...again! GO TEAM7DEUCE!!!

A missed opportunity

2010-06-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

What can I say. I finished short. I got my money in good. I came out behind. Poker's like that sometimes.

I finished in 7th place in the $2,000 WSOP Package Finale put on by the Twitter Poker Tour. The way it happened was pretty brutal. 2 hands really did it. I'd chipped up to one of the chip leaders, knocking out Lee Childs along the way. Then things unraveled for me when I shipped AJ on a J-T-x board with 2 hearts, and "4get 2 4bet me" called with a straight and flush draw. He held the KQhh, and rivered the Qc. It left me short, with an M of around 4.

Then I shipped KK preflop and found a caller in TT, and the KK lost. A Ten on the flop basically ended my night, though I'd technincally go out on the next hand with AQ < K5. I was definitely hurt. I don't anticipate having another opportunity at the series, unless by some miracle, a backer comes along and takes faith in me. That possibility seems remote at best. I'll just chalk it all up to, it just wasn't in the cards for me to play at the WSOP this year.

I do have to say a bit of congrats to 4get, who used my chips wisely. He crushed everyone else on the table en route to winning the $2k package, and will be playing in a $1k event shortly. I'll meet up with him in Vegas and cover his play, as well as the other events in action at the Rio. I'm looking forward to that, and hopeful that he runs deep in the event...perhaps even ships the bracelet. It'd be a great story, and I'd be tremendously proud.

In the end, I'd have to say that I'm happy with at least having got someone into the series. That alone was a success story. It took 10 weeks of promoting the WSOP Satty's, and at the end, we met our guarantee. I'm happy we did the events, and I'm happy that its over with too.

Tonight, I watched Lee Childs win his way into the main event through Full Tilt, as he shipped a $200+16 Double shootout. I couldn't help by find myself thinking, I could do this. I could be the one. And I think that someday, it will be. I want my chance at a bracelet. And I think that I'll get there one day. I'm still young enough to not have to worry much about the timing. But I intend on grinding online, in hopes of continuing to build my roll to the point of being able to afford to do it on my own. I believe in myself as a player, and I believe that one day, I'll get there.

It was a lot of fun watching Lee play though too. It was awesome as Traci also got into it. The two of us were gathered around my computer screen, with the TV turned down, and watching every all in...high fiving when Lee hit his hand. It was kind of surreal. I wish Lee all the best in his WSOP tourneys as well, and I firmly believe that he's going to win one soon.

That's it for now....just had to get this all out. Kind of a ramble. Sorry for that. More later. Cheers, P

The Twitter Poker Tour - Robbed by PokerStars

2010-06-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, PokerStars.com launched their version of the original, Twitter Poker Tour. They stole the idea, and branded it for PokerStars along with introducing some big guarantees ($25,000 in annual prizes). Their buy in was a measly $1 + .10, and their tourney churned out more than 2,000 participants. Their @pokerstars twitter dude was posting messages with tournament updates throughout their 7 hour event, and fellow tweeps on Twitter were hash-tagging the #tpoker label, creating quite a twitter buzz about the event.

I have mixed feelings about this. #tpoker obviously saw what the Twitter Poker Tour was doing, and thought about doing it themselves. PokerStars obviously copied the TPT as they copied our once a week schedule, our leaderboard concept, and used their own money to fuel their prize packages, and also began the same way that we had with twitter updates throughout the course of the event. While it was successful for PokerStars, I don’t know what this will mean of the TPT.

2 years ago when the TPT began, I found it on PokerStars as that was the only site that I played online poker on back then. At the time, the TPT revolved between Full Tilt and PokerStars, bouncing between the two sites, with 1 week at Stars, and the next week on Tilt. I made my first $50 deposit on an online poker site to Full Tilt for the sole reason of competing in the TPT on a weekly basis with the hopes of winning a leaderboard contest.

About a year ago, we made the decision to switch our games exclusively to 1 site in order to help grow the events and the league. We thought that by focusing on 1 site, and not dividing our games between 2 platforms would help to increase participation. I think it has, as in the good ole days, you’d get 3 tables, and now we have 5 or 6 regularaly. But the increase in participation hasn’t been as large as I thought that it should be.

In an effort to bring something new to the league, we started of the TPT Live show. Originally it was an idea to coincide with the Bad Beat on Cancer Charity tournament that we were running in November. That event drew a record number of participants for us, and was a tremendous success, raising thousands for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and cancer research and prevention. Guest Andrew Feldman, Andy Bloch, Jason Rosenkrantz, and Prevent Cancer’s Jan Maher joined us for the show, and more than a dozen pro’s helped us make it our best event ever.

Because we saw an uptick in numbers with the show, we kept it. But we never came close the 2000+ players that PokerStars hit on Sunday. I think much of the reason goes to the advertising that PokerStars did for their tournament series, and their guarantee that they decided to offer. I expect much of that to be an overlay.

I’m more than a little upset that they stole the concept. But I’m VERY upset that they stole the concept after we’d come to them a year ago with the opportunity and received ZERO response. We gave PokerStars every opportunity to brand the Twitter Poker Tour, advertise it, and include something with a value added, but they apparently saw none.

Carbon Poker expressed some interest as well, but frankly we had too many problems with their user interface, and their cash uploading/deposit system was just simply too complex for our group. So we elected to go with Full Tilt because they came to us with a Sunday Brawl ticket as a prize, whereas PokerStars offered ZIP, ZILCH, ZERO, NADA----ABOSLUTELY NOTHING. They expressed no interest in us or our idea, and they weren’t willing to stand behind the idea. A year later, they’re making it work, and they’re doing it on their own.

This part got me royally pissed off.

I spent 24 hours thinking about it, and decided this robbery could be a good thing for us. I intend to re-approach Full Tilt Poker and let them know about the opportunity to one-up PokerStars and their underhanded league. With the TPT Live show, and a devoted player base to the Twitter Poker Tour, and the involvement of so many of the pro’s that are willing to play with us on a regular basis, I think that Full Tilt should take a serious look at helping us advertise the TPT, and offering a guarantee to help fuel new deposits and new signups on their site. With connections that I’ve made at the WSOP, and through our connections at the TPT, I think that there is merit in our league and in the idea. But more importantly, with Full Tilt’s chief competitor already having their own Twitter Poker League, I think that it will be very important for Full Tilt to develop a similar league to get behind in order to compete.

I don’t intend to play in any PokerStars events…really ever. They’ve really turned me off with this move. With the money that I currently have, I’ll probably transfer it to a friend for a Full Tilt Transfer and be done with their site for good. I’m that angry with it. But for now, I’m hopeful that Full Tilt will begin to take the TPT more seriously, seeing how successful the PokerStars version was. It could be a very profitable and viable means for increasing their revenues if they put some effort into it.

Back from 5 days at the WSOP

2010-06-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wow. Have to sum it up in a word. Wow. Just wow.

I got back this morning from Las Vegas, having driven straight home after Michael Mizrachi took down Event #2, the $50k buy in Players Championship. It was an amazing final table with more emotion than I can put into words. Maybe 300 people were there to witness the eventual win by the Grinder, and probably 290 of them erupted into jubliation with each pot he won, including an unreal double up after he'd dropped to about 4m chips. He shipped Ac-7c and Vladimir Schmelev called with Ad-Jd. The flop came out K high with 2 clubs and the crowd was going nuts, SCREAMING for a club. The turn made a broadway straight for Schmelev, and the river was the 5c. The place went berzerk and Michael ended up tilting Schmelev with that win. Vladimir couldn't do anything after that, and he ended up throwing hand after hand after hand into the much, and just spewing his chips over to Grinder, until he shipped it all in with Q7, and Grinder called with Q5. When the 5 hit the turn, it was sheer pandamonium. I can't even begin to describe the feeling in the room, and the sheer joy that everyone what experiencing. All the pro's like Chino Rheem, JC Tran, Mike Mattusow, and brothers Eric and Robert Mizrachi, that we're there to rail their boy....the just screamed like crazy, and hugged their guy. It was great. The 4 on the river sealed the deal and Grinder won the championship.

There were too many things that struck me during my stay. I don't know that I can write about it all. I was really taken aback at the humility that Mizrachi showed with his win. He was so gracious, and both he and Robert were engaging and humble throughout the course of the event, which was my complete opposite of my expectation going in. I had assumed that these would be real arrogant and gaudy guys. I couldn't have been more wrong. They, along with every player there, stopped to talk to every fan, sign every autograph, take every picture, and chat with the people that were clearly annoying. But it didn't matter. They were engaging, and it was so joyful to watch Barry Greenstein, and Andy Bloch, and Greg Raymer, and Howard Lederer stop and take pictures and sign peoples WSOP Hats with sharpies. Everytime, it made me smile, because I know what it means fot those autograph seekers, and the pictures are priceless for the fans. I was taken aback for certain.

These people are just people. They are great at what they do, and they are little boys having fun playing a game for a living. The prop bets and the banter between the guys was just as enjoyable as standing behind them at the table, and watching them squeeze two hole cards (and seeing what they had) and then watching how they played it. It was a surreal experience.

I was really happy to come home to Traci and the kids, even though when I picked up the kids from school, 3 out of the 4 of them asked me to go on a play date with one of their friends. But hey, they're getting older and they want to be social with their friends, and I can apprecaite that. I also can say no, and take them out to ice cream afterward, and feel like a good dad after being without them for 5 days.

My stay poker-wise wasn't long enough. I was actually yearning to go back to the Rio for today's final tables but I was equally excited to be home with my family, in my own bed, and have a shower that has hot water. I've posted a TON of pics from my trip on my facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pellis) and I have a few more articles of recap on the Twitter Poker Tour site and interviews that I did with some of the players from the final table of the Casino Employees event. I'm proud of those.

June will be a busy month with the kids having a TON of school stuff going on, graduations, and my anniversary on the 20th. So its the main event in July, and I'm thrilled to go back.

I am also thankful for all of the new followers that I received on twitter. I was overwhelmed with people that were thanking me for the updates that I was sending out. And don't fret, my updates will be back for the Main Event, and I'll be there for every day of it. That's it for now. Gonna crash, and I'll reflect later. Cheers, P

Shipping out to the World Series of Poker

2010-05-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm leaving to cover Event #2 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, the $40,000 Buy-In Players Championship. I couldn't be more giddy. I've been beside myself with glee the last week or so about it as it's come close and closer to taking place. I can't wait to shake hands with the players, conduct interviews with them, and meet the other members of the poker media. This event will be a big one too, as it's one of the 3 events to be televised on ESPN. So all of the crews will be there covering the mele that will ensue.

For me, it simply is a place that I feel like I belong to. Last year, when we went to Las Vegas for Robert's bachelor party, we made a stop at the Main Event, which was busting players like crazy right after the money bubble had burst. I can't even begin to describe how awesome of a sensation it really was, walking down the corridor of the hallways leading to the conference center. The walls and ceilings hung banners and signs of the World Series of Poker. The booths of PokerRoad, and PokerNews, and all the other poker outlets were there. And just outside of the Amazon Room, we ran into Men "The Master" Ngyuen, who was chatting it up with someone. It felt like I belonged.

Upon entering the room, Joe Hachem got tangled up in a hand, busting Surrinder Sunar when Joe's J-9 made a straight, and we watched it happen. We watch Joe and Peter Eastgate tangle a few times at the secondary feature table. At the main featured table, we watched Phil Ivey mix it up in a few pots. Then we surveyed the rest of the room, bumping into the likes of Kenny Tran, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mike Sexton, and eventually Phil Hellmuth, whom we watch get busted as he had the third best hand with his Aces.

When we left the event, I knew I'd be back. I have a feeling that there is great purpose for me in Las Vegas this summer, though I haven't really clearly Identified exactly what that is yet. For now, I'll be covering the events as a Media Member, watching the players mixing it up, and conducting player interviews. I hope to socialize, network, work, and learn. I plan on doing a lot of listening, and absorbing as much of it as I can.

I wish that I could attend more of the events. June is going to be a difficult month to make that happen, as the kids bridge in Girl Scouts on June 12th, along with my sister-in-law's graduation from UCSD on the same day. Then my kids graduate from grade school on the 17th, and my wedding anniversary is on the 20th. I'm sure that there will be more things on the home front, but for now, I know that I'll be in Las Vegas for the next 5 days, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I hope that some of my freinds run deep in some events, and win a couple of braceletts. I'll be sure to be there for the final table when that does happen, and it wouldn't shock me as I have some many people that I've befriended since getting plugged into the game. All in all, I'm really looking forward to the entire experience.

I'll be writing a ton of news articles for Poker World Daily this summer, and a ton more for Poker Table Ratings. Maybe, with the extra cash from the events, I'll be able to win a seat, and not have to just cover the events from a media perspective. Fingers crossed.

I AM IRON MAN

2010-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I made it. 63,647 later, I hit Iron Man. Predominantly at the $10 NL Rush tables, and for an average of 2.5 hours per day, I made the mark. My bankroll hates me. My wife misses me. My children have probably found another dude to call dad. But hell, I made Iron Man. Cool status.

Now that I've done it, I'm not sure what the hell I'm going to do with the bonus medals just yet. But one thing is for certain, I'm going to step WAAAAAAAAY back in the volume that I've been playing. Had it not been for winning more than $700 in tournament play, I would have had my bankroll completely squished, as I was down nearly $600 in cash games over the trek. But I'm very pleased with myself for having completed the volume, and accomplished something that I had never done before.

I intend on enjoying the month of June with Iron Man status and having players at the same table as me in my S&G's and tournaments note that little chip next to my Avatar. Goodbye May online poker. Hello World Series of Poker, and hello June. I'm looking forward to increasing my bankroll by a lot now.

The Home Stretch

2010-05-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've got 2 1/2 days to go before I qualify for Iron Man status and I can't wait for this thing to be over. I know for certain that I won't be doing this again.

I've played an insane number of hands (it will be nearly 70,000 hands by the time that I'm done), and I've had a terrible downswing from it all. I really have no desire to try and finish this thing up, but I really want to complete the couple of days for the simple aspect of having completed it, and finishing what I started. But I will be very happy to have all of this behind me.

The biggest problem that I've faced is the sheer volume of hands that I've had to put in. Its too much for me. Roughly 2,500 hands per day on average, and many more losing sessions than winning ones. 2 hours of 4 tabling Rush poker at a time is grueling, and I really now understand the term Grind. I think in many respects, its changed me as a player, and I'm not certain if that's for the better or not.

I do intend to continue playing at a much smaller volume in the coming months, but I want to again focus on multi-table S&G's and MTT's where I find much more fun. Cause really, that's what poker is about. But I am also curious to see what obtaining the Iron Man chip will do for my table image when I start to play tournaments in the month of June. I don't know what kind of impact that it will have, if any at all. But I'll be content for a period of 30 days to see that mark next to my avatar.

I'll provide a graph for the entire session when I'm all through to see the horridness that has been the abyss of my journey through all of these hands. But I'm happy that the end is near, and am excited to take a little breather from playing poker for a while.

Meanwhile, Friday approaches and I'll be heading to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. I'll put up a new blog on that one tomorrow.

A big online win

2010-05-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Last night at the home game, Tim got the best of me heads up to take first place and the money. He began the heads up with the chip lead, which he gathered after just catching fire in 3 handed play. I evened the stacks out, even taking a slight chip lead at one point. But I went completely card dead, and Tim got the best of the match. In the end, I shipped my last 130 w/ A7 and Tim snapped AIPF with 99. No ace on the board gave Tim the win.

I've been running much better of late online, playing a ton of hands. My cash poker game hasn't been fantastic, but I've seen a positive uptick in the bankroll, so I'll take it. I'm just 4 days away from completing Iron Man status on Full Tilt, and I'm excited about that one.

But my biggest news of the poker week was a win in a $5 MTT. Check this one out:

I played really solid, doubling up early and then in level 4 finding another double that gave me the chip lead in the tournament. I maintained the top 5 chip count until about the bubble when I slipped out of the top 10. At the final table, I was 7th of 9 in chips, and I got a big boost when I shipped 88 UTG, and found a caller from MP w/ AQss. I won the race by flopping an 8 and turning another, so quads put me in the top 4 again, and then I played well, eliminating a few players along the way to the chip lead and the eventual win. Very happy about this one.

I also wanted to throw a plug in for the World Team Poker event that I went to last Tuesday. It was a great event in which I attended as a media member, and got to interview the likes of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Jen Harman, Johnny Chan, Jeffrey Lissandro, and Tony G. The last one was cool as I was able to conduct a 1 on 1 asking Tony about the June 1st deadline with the implementation of the UIGEA. It was a cool experience. Later in the evening, I bumped into Joe Beevers and was able to shake hands with him, and thank him for his support of the Bad Beat on Cancer tournaments and playing with us. Also got to shake hands with Maria Ho. But the highlight for me was meeting the Godfather himself. Not much else that you can say about Doyle Brunson other than he's an incredible guy. I feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity, and he was really gracious with his time.

So today, I'm off to Magic Mountain with the family. It's Emma's birthday on Thursday, and for her party we're letting her bring a friend to an amusement park. The other kids brought 1 to Disneyland, where we have season passes. But Emma had to pick a place to go that made it ridiculously expensive for us to go to. Sigh. Thanks to Jack though, who works at the Mountain, and was able to score us 4 free tickets. Otherwise, we'd have definitely needed to do something else.

Finally, on Friday I leave for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Can't wait to get plugged into the events, and I'm really looking forward to event #2, the $40k Players Championship. Should be a blast. I'll write a little bit more on that in a blog by itself later in the week. That's it for now. - P

Home Sweet Home

2010-05-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

I missed the Friday night home game for the first time in as many home games as I can remember, but the game went on anyway. Rumor has it that Andrew took it down. I however was letting loose my inner girl scout (I believe that every dad with 4 daughters has one), and camping with my oldest girl's troop. It was fun (for the kids) and I so glad that I'm now home. I enjoy the comfort of my bed, my couch, and my recliner. It's awesome to sit down, watch ESPN from the comfort of my living room, and play online poker.

I got back on Sunday afternoon, exhausted, and it showed in my play. I dropped 4 buy-ins at $10 NLHE pretty quick, and then proceeded to finish 3rd in the WSOP $40 qualifier, my 6th failed attempt in 6 opportunities to finish 1st and advance to the $200+16 event. Overall, I still think that I've made money on the satellites, thanks in large part to finishing 2nd in this twice. But I really want a win. We're in week 8 of 10, so I've got 3 more shots at getting into this thing. I really want this package, but am having my doubts that I can make it in.

If I don't ship it, I'm hoping that Lee Childs (acumen53), Mike (4get 2 4bet me), Tracy (astro_pup) or Geoff (cprpoker) win it, in that order. I think that these would be the players best suited to represent the TPT for a bracelet. I plan on going out to Vegas to sweat whoever it is that represents the group, and I hope that they make a deep run. I think it'll be great for the group.

I'm also contemplating running a bounty on me on all of the Satellites this week, but I'm not going to be able to participate in Tuesday nights event because I'll be in Vegas. I'm still undecided, and if I don't take it down tonight, I may do it. More on that later.

I leave for Las Vegas tomorrow to cover the media event for World Team Poker. I'm excited to have the oppotunity to interview the likes of Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and Annie Duke, as well as get the opportunity to network with Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow, Erik Siedel, and Allen Cunningham, among all the other top tier pro's that are expected to be there. I'm hopeful that I'll get some decent sound bytes, and that I'll be able to chat about the TPT with the Full Tilt Pro's, possibly talking them into playing with us on a Thursday night, and joining us on the TPT Live. It'd be a really great thing.

Thats it for now. I may post some photos from my trip to Vegas here, but likely will just upload them to the TPT Site.

Does ANYONE want to win $2,000???

2010-05-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

I'm just now starting to feel better after having been slaughtered by the flu bug for the last few days. 48 hours straight of being either between my bed or the toilet hasn't exactly been fun, so needless to say, I'm happy that thats over.

I was intending to write a little about the Friday night game where Jack and Traci ended up heads up again at the home game for the second consecutive week. Last week, it was Traci emerging with the vitory with her flopped two pair bettering Jacks pair of aces. But this week, Jack came in with about a 2.5 to 1 chip advantage that he'd extend quickly, and then ushered the knockout blow for the win. Congrats to Jack on a good win.

I have to rant a little bit about the Twitter Poker Tour's World Series of Poker Satellites, and how they aren't attracting much attention. Frankly, I don't get it. I would've assumed that this would be something that the TPT community would rally around, and play religiously, vyeing for an opportunity to win $2,000. I mean, for someone that regularly frequents the $5 buy in events, you would think that a $2k hit would be a good one.

So we set up these super satellites to the main event in June, and we run them daily with Monday and Thursday a $2+1 Rebuy event, Tuesday and Friday a $5+1 (2R+1A) event, and Wednesday and Saturday a $10+1 Double Stack event. The winner of each event is GUARANTEED (which means that if the event happens, then the TPT will GUARANTEE that we get a prize paid, regardless of how much money is in the pot) a seat to the Sunday $40+4 Double Stack Event Step 2 event. That alone is pretty cool. I finished runner up in 2 of those weeks, and the spill over money for the runner ups ran to $248...not so shabby.

Finally, if you win the $40+4 event, you get entry into a $200+16 event in June where the winner is GUARANTEED $2,000. Yup TWO THOUSAND BIG ONES. Ideally, the winner is going to represent the TPT at the 2010 WSOP at one of the $1,000 buy in events, of which there are 6 of them, and use the other $1k for traveling expenditures and lodging and such. But really, they are free to use it as they choose.

Here's the problem that I have....we're having a difficult time getting people to register for the freaking events. In fact, last Friday, I was the only one registered and the event canceled because you need at least 2 to play. How in the world is there not at least ONE OTHER PLAYER ON THE PLANET that is interested in playing for TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS on a $5 buy in??? I JUST DON'T GET IT.

Regularly we're having to pony up (and by we...I say it loosely as its coming out of Geoff's pocket from the TPT Expenditures, and not mine) money week after week for people not showing up so that we can meet the guarantee. It was expected, and it was budgeted for. But really, I am shocked at the lack of participation from the TPT group as a whole, and frankly UBER disapointed that there aren't more players participating in this event. I don't know what the real reasons are, but I would hope its simply that they don't realize how much money that is really on the line.

I'll play in some of the events to make contributions to the prize pool when I've already won my seat to the next step....just part of my giving back to the group. But I think it's an awesome thing that the TPT is doing for the group, and it makes me REALLY glad that we didn't aim for a $12k package to the Main Event, like Geoff and I had talked about earlier. We would've had to guarantee SO MUCH MORE. I'm glad that we went the route that we did considering the lack of participation.

I guess that I'm really dissapointed and totally surprised at the numbers. I really thought that this would be a way to increase our player base by reaching out to a broader number of people. There's still 3 and a half weeks to go, so there's still time, but really, I don't know how many people have failed to get the message at this point. I hope some more will actually join in and help us play. Who knows, maybe a sudden influx of players will show up randomly over the next couple weeks to help us guarantee 2 seats, and I'll eat some crow. But as for now, I'm kinda pissed about it.

Anyway, I'm currently on day 12 of seeking Iron Man Status, and I'm 12 for 12 on days of 200 Points or more. 13 more days, and I'll meet my goal. I'll be interupted this weekend with a Girl Scout getaway that I'm going on with my daughters. They're heading on a boating excursion to Castaic Lake, and I'm along for the ride for an "Adult Volunteer" so that they have the proper Adult-to-Child ratio in order to go in the first place. It's another weekend of little sleep and putting up with little girls, all so that my kids can have a joyous experience. The things that we do for our kids.

Thats it for now. More later. And if you haven't felt compelled to win $2,000 yet, check it out on the TPT Site already. Jeebus.

Remember Pablosplace?

2010-05-05T14:38:00.001-07:00

When I first started Pablosplace, it was to be a blog recapping the Friday Night games here at my house. The group is my closest friends, regularly convening at my place to throw cards and splash chips, drop "that's what SHE said" as many times as possible, and laugh until our sides hurt. It's a $5 buy in, and a great way to spend the evening.

The site spilled over into a few other areas for me, talking about my online gaming as I began to play more online, and also about the Twitter Poker Tour, and finally about my working with charity events for the Bad Beat on Cancer. Basically, its been my poker life, which now consists of much more than just the Friday night game. But I've just simply neglected to write about my personal stuff over the last 5 months at all. Either I'm writing about poker for the TPT, or for Poker Table Ratings, or a new site that Geoff and I created (Poker World Daily), or I'm not writing at all. It's grown slightly tedious, and I just haven't wanted to do it....till this afternoon.

I realized that a blog is simply an outlet. A way to express my day, and what's going on in life. I don't really need this site to measure up to any one's standards other than my own. If you want to stop by and read, please feel free to do so. But I'm not really of the opinion that this will be the next Pokerati or anything like that. I just want to sit down here from time to time, and post about stuff that I want to chat about. So, ending my 5 month silence, I write a little bit about life.

Health has been a major driving force in my life, along with unemployment. Its been a great time for the last few months, being at home with Traci and being able to take her to the doctors appointments, pick up the kids from school without the need to have someone else help us out. And all the time, Traci's health is steadily improving. I'm thankful for her and my kids daily. They bring great joy to my life. I probably don't tell them that enough, but they really do.

With so much time being spent at home, I play a lot of online poker. This month, I've made it a goal of mine to reach Iron Man Status on Full Tilt Poker. Basically, you need to hit 200 FTP's per day for 25 days in the month of May to get to it, and so far, I'm 5 for 5. I've been 4-tabling the $.05/.10 NLHE Rush tables, and after about 2 hours, I usually have about 2200 hands or so, and thats enough to get me the necessary points to reach my goal. I'll be excited to see what my rakeback checks are going to be for the month of May. Should be fun.

I'm somewhat satisfied, and somewhat irked at where the TPT is at. I would have assumed that the WSOP satellites would help the site grow. I'd like to see more players. Currently, it doesn't make anyone any money. It continues to be a lot of fun putting together the TPT Live show every Thursday Night, and it really gives me something to look forward to. I am thrilled to have had the guests that we've had, especially Lee Childs for the 2 times that he joined us, and Andy Bloch for the 2 times that he joined us. These are guys that I respect a great deal, and I feel privileged for having had the opportunity to chat with them. I'm humbled by the time that they've taken in joining us. I also want to thank Rafe Furst for joining us for the BBoC event this past February. The bracelet winner spent the duration of that show with us en Route to taking first place in the $5 buy in event. But it's also been cool to interview Andrew Feldman of ESPN, Joe Navarro, and Randy Kasper of PPI, and most recently, Alex Outhred. Its kind of weird to think that this is something that has some real value to others, as its something I do simply because I enjoy doing it. I hope that this continues, and that the guests that we get stay consistent.

For me, I'd like to grow the TPT still. Having just 40 people per week is pretty lousy to me, and I'd love to double that number consistently, but more than that, have in excess of 100 players on a regular basis. I don't know why this isn't reasonable, and I'm not really sure how to get that done. But it's definitely a goal of mine.

That's all for now. I'll write a little bit more over then next few days as the mood strikes. Don't be too surprised if the majority of it is talking about how my online days went. It'll probably revolve between that, and my excitement over the upcoming World Series of Poker. I'm really excited about going this year.

The White Elephant Night - The movie

2009-12-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

It really needs no introduction. Watch and enjoy:

The 3rd Annual White Elephant Game

2009-12-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

The White Elephant game is the home game that I really look forward to over the course of the year. Its the annual Christmas Gift exchange between our home game group, and consists of more laughs than any other.

This years game featured 9 of us, and we began with 50 starting chips, with 1/2 blinds, and the buy in was a Wrapped Present, in which you were not allowed to spend more than $5 on the gift. The basic rules were, the first person to bust out opens a wrapped gift. The second person to bust out has the option to either steal an open gift, or open another unwrapped gift. This continues until all of the presents are unwrapped.

A few rules implemented from our home game are, there are no direct steal backs, meaning if I bust and steal your gift, you can't steal it back from me on that turn. However, if another player busts later and steal your gift, then you're free to steal from anyone, even if that person had taken yours before. Just no direct steal-backs.

Also, an item cannot be stolen more than 3 times. After the third steal, it becomes frozen with that person.

Next, if the gift is edible, then it cannot be consumed (even partially) until after the game is complete.

Finally, the individual who wins the night, has the option of opening his/her gift, and then deciding if they want to keep that gift, or trade it with any other gift regardless of the number of previous steals. Basically, the winner has the option of any gift throughout the night.

And so, 9 of us brought our wrapped presents to the game, and the first person to unveil contents was Janeth. She called the rest of her chips after Jordan moved all in showing AKos, and Janeth showed 9s-2s. The board ran clean for the AK, and Janeth came back in with a large box. After unwrapping she pulled out a controller for an X-Box, then a second one, and finally, an X-Box system. It was said that there was no way that she was ending up with that gift, and it was true.

The second player eliminated was Chris, and he came back with a gift bag, that upon opening revealed a classic set of Hotel "Freebies" from Las Vegas. Included was a bucket to place quarters in, A Pad and a Pen, Soap, Hand Lotion, A "Do Not Disturb" door hanger, and a $.10 Ticket Voucher from New York New York Casino. Last but not least, a set of sun glasses with a pink trim. Classic.

Amber would be the next person to go out, and her gift was another gift bag where the tag read "To Snuggle with your honey." She unveiled a Soft blanket, which she wouldn't be able to hang onto for the evening.

Andrew would go out next, opening the other of the Vegas and Swag gifts, which included A Black hat from Stack restaurant and the Commerce Casino, A Bottle of Chocolate Liquor, Tickets to A few Las Vegas shows, and everything was kept in a commemorative Ka Cup.

The next elimination produced the gift of the night, as Robert decided to open the biggest box of the evening. It was easily a 2x2x2 foot box, that wasn't terribly heavy. He set it upon the table and asked for Tim's help with his knife to cut open the tape that kept it shut, and opened the large package. It was full of crumpled newspaper, and he began digging through it. Anticipation grew as it took him quite a while to get to the actual present which lay at the bottom of the large box, and when he finally reached it, we all new exactly what it was without even seeing the gift. Simply by the look of awe from Robert's face, we new that the White Fur Coat of White Elephant games past had made its reappearance. Andrew had contacted Amy (who'd received it last year, but couldn't make it to this year's game) and picked it up from her, and re-gifted it. It was the moment of the evening producing unparalleled laughs, sending most of us into tears from laughing so hard. Truly an epic moment.

After the emotional outburst, the game continued, with Tim busting next, and he promptly stole the X-Box from Janeth. Janeth surveyed the opened gifts, before deciding to open a new one. Her gift was a classic piece of American Literature, so profound, that I didn't catch the title of the book. But she was happy with her new find.

I was the next to go out with KhQh, busted by Jordan's 8-9os when a 9 hit the flop and Jordan called my bets on every street to take the big pot. After busting, I promptly stole the X-Box from Tim, and he went to open a new gift. He unveiled a few items, most notably a Holiday CD that included songs such as "Hanukkah is da Bomb" and the like. It was a good laugh at that one.

Traci would get her money all in against Jordan on the second hand they played, and Jordan ended up winning the pot and the night. Traci decided to steal the blanket from Amber, and Amber opened another gift which ended up being a Sesame Street Oscar the Grouch garbage can, which I think was a piggy bank.

Finally, Jordan opened the final gift which was a large box containing a hammer and some zip ties. He was really pleased with the gift, and elected to hang onto it, and the night was done. We all hugged and said good nights to Robert, Janeth, Amber and Chris, and the 5 remaining players stayed for a quick $5 winner take all game. I ended up on top to finish the evening. It was a truly remarkable night.

Many thanks to everyone who came and participated. It was, as it always is, a night of fantastic laughs, and a wonderfully good time with great friends. Its a great capper to the end of the year.

Catching up

2009-12-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Its been more than two weeks since my last blog entry, largely due to motivation....or my lack there of.

I just haven't really been motivated to do much of anything lately. Perhaps its depression. Perhaps its just being overwhelmed with a large amount of other responsibility. But really, I think it's just that I haven't really had that many opportunities to just sit down and actually write. Which is somewhat unfortunate given that it has proven to be a somewhat successful and profitable venture in the recent past.

But I've played some pretty good online poker lately, placing 12th in the BBoC Tournament, 2nd in a $3 KO MTT for my largest personal score on Full Tilt (just shy of $300), and today I took 2nd in a $3 90 person S&G on Full Tilt again for another $48. My good play has carried over to live play as well where I've taken first place in each of the last two weeks at the home game. Its been a pretty good ride actually.

But for now, I'd like to focus less on playing poker, and more on my writing and the TPT Live show that Geoff and I are running on Thursday nights. I'm really enjoying putting together these shows, and tonight, we're going to be joined by Jay Rosenkrantz of DeucesCracked. He's one of the Two Months-2 Million guys, and a solid poker pro. We may even be joined by Pocket 5's Jennifear, but if not this week, probably next.

But between preparing for Thanksgiving (we hosted), the Post Turkey Day "Bring Your Leftovers" game, and this week with the kids getting early out days all this week and attending their Parent/Teacher conferences, as well as tending to Traci's never ending medical needs, it's just been overwhelming.

In a couple weeks, Traci and I are going to Las Vegas for 2 nights to see some timeshare presentation that we were invited to by a friend. It'll be nice to get away from all the responsibilities here for a little while.

I also want to congratulate my best friend, and Team7Deuce Member Jordan. On Tuesday, we made a last second trip down to the Bike for their Daily Nooner. It's my favorite local live poker tournament. There were 148 entries, and I hit the rail in 40th place. I got short when I 3-bet shoved 15k with pocket 9's, and the open limper called all in for 9k with Pocket Tens. He spiked a Ten on the river, and I was pretty much toast. I moved my last 4k from UTG when blinds had just been bumped up to 500/1000 ante 200, and found 2 callers. The flop came out T-8-8, and I knew I was in trouble when the guy on my left led out for another 3500. The BB folded, and my opponent showed AA, and I was sent to the rail.

But Jordan made a great run, and when I busted, he was still sitting on the same 30k that he was at when we met up after the 2nd break. And when the blinds went to 800/1600, people really began falling out quick. The bubble burst at 19 players, and with Jordan sitting on 28k. He open shoved 2 times in a row with the blinds now at 1500/3000 ante 500, and scooped two decent pots with just the blinds and antes, to give him some cushion. Those two steals really catapulted him to the final table.

There at the final table, he waited patiently until there were 7 players left, and he finally got active. The player UTG +1 and directly to Jordan's right was short and moved all in. Jordan re-shoved on top of him, and then found another Caller in the BB. The original raiser sheepishly showed KQos, and Jordan trumped with with Pocket Q's. But the Big Blind showed "King Kong" with a monster of 2 kings, and Jordan was down to basically 1 out. But lady luck was on his side as the flop came out AQ5, and Jordan's set took the lead. The turn and river bricked out, and Jordan chipped up to around 70k. He was able to shove and pick up the blinds and antes 2 more times, when with 5 players left, he found himself in another showdown. This time, he opened shoved with QTos, and found a caller on the button with AJ. The two blinds got out of the way, and the two players saw a flop of J-8-5. The turn 6c was no help, but a Q on the river gave Jordan a better pair, and eliminated his opponent in 5th place.

With 4 player left, the remaining players agreed to look at a chop. Without the chop, 1st place was guaranteed about $1200, and when they came back with the numbers, Jordan agreed to the proposed $810 that was for his stack, and walked away a big winner. It was a lot of fun, and my hat is off to Jordan, who played very well, and was very deserving (if not very lucky).

But that's about it from the major news. Tomorrow looks good to go for the home game, and we should have the usual crowd. I'll try and get a little more diligent about writing here, and giving some of the updates on what's happening with the home game. For instance, we're aiming for the White Elephant night to be on December 18th, which is one of my favorite nights of the year. I need to find a quality gift this year. But thats it till next time. Cheers, P

Joe Cada Does Letterman

2009-11-19T11:02:00.001-08:00

In case you missed it, World Series of Poker Champion Joe Cada is attempting to make an outreach to the non-poker public as an ambassador of the game. He recently appeared on the David Letterman show and showed off his newly won bracelet. Here's the piece:

I find it funny that it was obvious that Cada was FAR more nervous in this type of venue than he was at the poker table, but when you think about it, he's only 21 years old. This was his first shot on a major television program and he was sitting with a television icon in Letterman.

I hope that Joe continues to do more things like this in an effort to bring more truth and recognition to the game of poker. He really has a shot of being a positive influence for the game.

Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Part 2 - an even Bigger Success

2009-11-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

In August, we threw together the Beat on Cancer Tournament as a way to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It was kind of last minute in some ways, and I'll be honest in that I had no clue what I was really doing. But with the help of too many people to name, we drew 103 people to the event and raised $515 for Bad Beat on Cancer.

The goal this time was to get to 500, and while we didn't reach that number, it was still a tremendous success in several ways. First of all, we had 314 total particpants generating $1,540 for Bad Beat on Cancer. That's a figure to be extremely proud of. Secondly, the Twitter Poker Tour announced a BBoC Registration Challenge, and for exceeding the 300 participant barrier, pledged another $100 to the BBoC. And our eventual Champion pledged 30% of his winnings to the cause, for an additional $100.

I finished the tournament in 12th place, winning $19, and will be making that donation today. So in all, we raised $1,759 for BBoC, basically tripling the total from just 3 months ago. I am thrilled to give this money away to this charity.

On the technical side of things, I think that the Live Stream Broadcast was mostly a success, minus the technical glitches towards the end of the Cast. We were joined at first by Jan Mahrer, the President of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, who shared the background of the Company, its mission, and how BBoC was formed and came to be. We also discussed the Gala Poker Events coming this February in Los Angeles, and the Gala events that took place in Washington DC. It was tremendous to have Jan on the Broadcast, and I look forward to meeting her in person in February.

Then about an hour later, we had back to back interviews with Andrew Feldman and Andy Bloch. During the interview with Andrew Feldman, we covered a wide array of topics from the TPT to the WSOP, and had extensive talks about the latter. Our conversations about Moon and Cada I thought were perhaps the most exceptional of the cast.

When Andy Bloch joined us, we had some connection problems, but we got him back midway through the conversation and completed another fun interview. Andy shared his thoughts on hand analysis of the Darvin Moon laydown against Steve Begleiter, some thoughts on Ivey coming so close to winning it all, and his $2 million save. And we chatted about celebrity apprentice and Joan Rivers. Finally, we closed with the story of Fleapowder, and how Andy basically started the whole thing by crushing my QQ with his KK. It was a really funny moment where I asked Andy, "So, will I ever win a hand with QQ again?" And Andy replied, "No, probably not. You're fated to hit the 'Doom Switch' forever on that hand." It was tons of fun.

We closed out broadcast with Jay Rosenkrantz of DeucesCracked who joined us from his dying cell phone for about 10 minutes to describe DC and the 2 Months-2 Million promotion. It was great time.

Congratulations to all of the winners, including the 9 players who made the Final table and received a copy of Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker, and to the final 2 finishers who got some cool swag from the gang of DeucesCracked. It was a great night indeed.

The TPT Charity Tournament for Bad Beat on Cancer Tomorrow

2009-11-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

Join me tomorrow for the Twitter Poker Tour Charity event to
benefit Bad Beat on Cancer on Full Tilt Poker. We've already succeded
the number of participants that we had last year and are slightly 20%
ahead of our goal. Any help that you can lend in promotion of the
event would be MUCH appreciated.

E-mails, Blogs, Forum posts, and anything else that you can think of
would be ideal. Here is the key information:

Tournament Details
Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

Additionally, there will be a live stream broadcast along with the
event, featuring Jan Mahrer, Andy Bloch, Andrew Feldman, and the Pro's
of DeucesCracked, who will be giving away prizes to everyone who makes
the final table.

The event runs simultaneously with the FTOPS Main Event, so most of
the Pro's will be playing online at that time. I just need help
getting them the message about the event. So if you know ANY Full
Tilt Pro's, please e-mail them and let them know. 11 Red Pro's are
already signed up.

Lets raise some money for BBoC!!!

Youth served at the World Series of Poker

2009-11-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

So another poker World Champion has been crowned, as the 40th World Series of Poker sees its youngest Main Event Champion in the history of the event. Eclipsing Peter Eastgate, who last year became the World Champion, young online phenom Joe Cada, overcame a chip stack at the final table where with 7 players remaining, young Cada held just $2 million chips after firing a bluff at the man who would finish runner up, Darvin Moon.

It took me a few days to reflect on this event before I wanted to write about it. I was taken in by the broadcast by BluffMagazine, and listened anxiously as the events unfolded in real time. One by one the players would get their chips all in the middle, and the stories would produce incredible results. But it was with 7 players left that the real action took place. It was where the best poker was played, and it was the 7th place elimination that really had the poker world take a collective gasp. Short stack James Akenhead had already fallen by the wayside, as had Kevin Schaffel, who got his money in with AA, only to find Eric Buchman call his all in bet with KK, and flop a K, and turn another.

Joe Cada began 7 handed play short on chips. Not the shortest stack mind you, but short. And he made a colossal misstep on a busted flush draw, where Cada fired out a re-raise of 5.5 million on the river holding only 6 high, and Moon called easily holding the best hand. The misstep cost Joe nearly all of his chips, and left him with about 1% of the chips in play.

On the next hand however, in a hand that didn’t make the ESPN 2 ½ hour long final table episode, Cada found a miracle double up with a flat tire. Eric Buchman was on the button and raised to $3 million with 5c-4c and Antoine Saout folded to Cada in the Big Blind. Cada shrugged his shoulders, and called all in, flipping the J-4os. But because of Buchman’s weak bet with a small suited connecter, Cada got new life when his Jack high held, and he doubled to more than $5 million.

He would find another double up moments later through the stack of legendary Phil Ivey. Ivey opened the pot with a standard 2.5x raise, and action folded to Cada who squeezed pocket 4’s and announced all in. Ivey took his time as he contemplated the shove, and made the reluctant call, finding himself in a race with Cada with his A-8. The board offered no improvement to either player, and Cada found himself a lot more breathing room as he was now sitting on more than $12 million chips.

Ivey however was left the short stack, and put his money in good shortly after the dinner break. From under the gun, Ivey announced all in with AKos, and action folded to Darvin Moon who was in the Big Blind. Moon had run ‘White-Hot’ in the days leading to the final table and he wouldn’t cool down here. He called with the inferior hand, and AQos, which was about a 3 to 1 underdog, but it didn’t matter. The flop came out Q-6-6, and Ivey chomped his apple, stoic as he watched the turn and river cards offer no help, and he was eliminated in 7th place.

Moon would continue to run good making a misstep by 3-betting Steve Beglieter’s open raise. Moon shoved with AQ again, and this time found himself just as far behind as Begs tossed over QQ. The flop and the turn came out clean, improving neither hand, but the Ace of diamonds on the river eliminated Begs in 6th place. He had played a magnificent final table after having made some questionable plays leading into the final table, but it was obvious that the time off between July and November offered Begs enough time to really work on his game. It showed, and he was a most unfortunate exit in 6th.

Cada continued his miracle rise to the top of the board when he found another double up with yet another small pair. Jeff Shulman, who had been playing fairly tight the entire final table, and only really opening the pots for 5x, opened this pot as he usually did, and Cada announced all in with his pocket 3’s. Shulman calmly asked for a count of Cada’s remaining chips and made the call tossing over two Jacks. But the flop delivered some more love to Cada as a 3 appeared on the flop, giving Cada a set and a huge advantage. Shulman was left to watch the turn and river draw blanks, and he would become the shortest stack. Cada would then get his money in good when Darvin Moon shoved over the top of Cada with K9 and Cada made the quick call with AA. This put Cada on around $45 million.

Shulman would eventually get his money in with a pair of 7’s and would find a caller in Antoine Saout with A9, and when a 9 struck the flop Saout took the lead, and eventually the pot as Shulman would exit the main event in 5th place.

With 4 players left, it was Antoine Saout that would vault to the top of the leader board, getting involved in a massive pot with Eric Buchman. Eric had moved all in pre-flop with AQ, and Saout calmly deliberated before making the eventual call with AK. This time, the favorite held up, and Saout flopped a K to basically end the hand, and giving the Frenchman a massive chip lead. Buchman was left with under $10 million, but wouldn’t give it up. He doubled once through Darvin Moon, but his second go around wasn’t as fortunate. Shoving all in with a weak Ace, Moon made the call with Kd-Jd and turned a K to eliminate Buchman in 4th.

It took little time for Cada to spring into action as on the very next hand, with 3 players left, Saout opened the pot and Cada 3-bet all in. Saout wasted little time making the call and putting young Cada’s tournament life in peril as the Frenchman showed QQ and the young gun sheepishly tossed over a lowly pair of 2’s. But this was Cada’s night, as the flop produced another 2 out card for Cada, and the Deuce appeared giving Cada another set over a dominating pair.

Still reeling from that loss, Saout would again shove all in with a pocket pair, this time 7’s, and Cada would again find himself in a large pot with the Frenchman. Saout’s hand looked to hold up through the flop and the turn as no help was given to either player. But the river card drew a deafening roar when a K hit the board, eliminating Saout in 3rd place. In my opinion, and I believe the opinion of most poker players that watched this final table, Saout was the player that most deserved to win based on play alone. He navigated his way through this table brilliantly and just got unlucky, and at 6 AM, the Frenchman was the 7th victim of the November 9.

Two days later, the heads up matchup reconvened at the Penn and Teller Theater in the Rio at Las Vegas for the heads up matchup between Cada and Moon. Action got going right away as Moon picked up a giant pot with QQ vs. Cada’s 99. The chip lead would sway back and forth with these two fighting it out much longer than most people predicted. But in the end, it was Cada who got his money in good, and Moon finally ran his tank empty. Cada raised all in with 99 pre-flop and Moon made the call with Qd-Jd. There is much irony in these hands as the 99 is the same hand that Phil Hellmuth Jr. won his main event title with to become the youngest Main Event Champion some years ago. And for Moon, Qd-Jd was the exact hand he held in the monster pot with Billy Kopp just before the Final Table which really vaulted him to such a massive chip lead in this tournament. But history would love the young man from Michigan as the board offered no Q and no J, and Joe Cada became the youngest man to win the gold bracelet from the WSOP Main Event. He’ll see his name on the banner in the Rio this year, and for years to come.

It was an unreal ride from the pits of despair, overcoming improbable odds time and time again, but Joe Cada did end up with all of the chips, and congratulations go out to him. My hope is that Cada will become a true ambassador for the game and help bring more awareness and growth to a sport that so richly deserves it.

Again, congratulations to Joe Cada, 2009 World Champion of Poker.

The Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Tournament

2009-11-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

In August this year, I helped arrange a charity tournament to benefit Bad Beat on Cancer. Poker pro and BBoC Co-Founder Rafe Furst helped me get the tournament underway on Full Tilt Poker. The tournament met my expectations by exceeding my expectations of 100 particpants, when 103 players paid the $10 entry fee, with $5 going to the BBoC Cause. The turnout was easily the largest field that the Twitter Poker Tour has had since its inception.

On November 15th, I'm hoping to dwarf the amount that we raised the first time around. I have lofty goals for the BBoC Event that we're running on November 15th. I really want to have a huge turnout, simply because with every individual that particpates in the event, another $5 is raised to benefit Cancer Research through the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Along with the members of the Twitter Poker Tour, join me online on Full Tilt Poker and help us put a Bad Beat on Cancer. Play in the tournament with the pro's, and help us make a difference.

This is a cause that everyone can easily stand behind. As human beings, we are all touched by cancer, either personally, or by someone that we know and love. It has been such a wide spreading disease that its virtually impossible to go your life without knowing someone who has been affected by it.

The opportunites for this particular tournament are limitless. My only goal, is to raise as much money as possible for this charity. Please help me spread the word to everyone that you can, by whatever media you have accessable to you (twitter, facebook, lynked in, smoke signals, and airplane banners). Whatever you can do to let people know about the tournament, and get people to play in the event. Every little bit helps.

So far, the list of Pro's joining the BBoC Event include: Andy Bloch, Rafe Furst, Lee Childs, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman, Lee Watkinson, Dave Colclough, Richard Ashby, Amanda 'Mandy B' Baker, and author Michael Craig. I also have spoken with at least a dozen other professional players that have made the commitment to play in the event. Thanks in advance for joining us and helping to contribute to this cause.

Tournament Details
Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

The November 9 Approaches

2009-10-31T14:52:00.000-07:00

As the days inch closer to the re-start of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, the Final 9 players remaining in the field prepare for their shot at more than $8 million, and the chance of being called poker’s next world champion.

After play halted in July, and carrying over into August, I profiled each member of the November 9 in a series on Pablosplace. As we now sit about a week away from the poker history, I thought that it would be kinda cool to bring this back to the front, and let my readers catch up again on the men that made the journey through this giant field, and read the pieces on each player to find out more about them. I’ve linked each player below to their respective profiles. I hope you enjoy.

Darvin Moon
Eric Buchman
Steve Begleiter
Jeff Shulman
Joe Cada
Kevin Shaffel
Phil Ivey
Antoine Saout
James Akenhead

Bad Beat on Cancer - And a run good for me.

2009-10-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Some days are just simply better than others. There’s just no two ways about it. Yesterday is a day that I will forever remember. I wrote earlier that a good run was just coming. I could feel it. And yesterday was the day that it really came together.

I was asked by professional poker player, and co-founder of Bad Beat on Cancer Rafe Furst, to be a member of the Bad Beat on Cancer Advisory council. I so graciously said yes. Let me tell you how this all happened.

It began with a special project that I’ve been working on with the Twitter Poker Tour. I haven’t announced this yet on Pablosplace, but I’ve helped put together a second Bad Beat on Cancer Charity Poker tournament on Full Tilt Poker. Here are the tournament details:

Tournament Details
Place: Full Tilt Poker
Date: November 15th, 2009
Time: 6:15PM EST
Cost: $10 ($5 entry plus $5 donation to BBoC)
Tourney ID#: 113220604
Tourney PW: TPTFORBBOC

I’m extremely excited about this tournament as I’ve been able to learn so much from putting together the last one, and I’ve been able to get a ton more people involved, especially, the pro players from Full Tilt Poker. Already joining the tournament and registered for the event are professionals Andy Bloch, Dave Colclough, Joe Beevers, Lee Watkinson, Amanda ‘Mandy B’ Baker, Michael Craig, and Richard Ashby. Given that we had 5 pro’s last time, and already have 7 currently registered, I’m beside myself with joy. In addition, I’ve had a half dozen other pro’s that said that they’d also join, and a couple more that said that if they’re online, that they’d play as well.

My goal is to receive 500 participants and to raise $2,500 for the BBoC. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we exceed that number, and I hope and pray that we do.

In an effort to promote the BBoC event, I had a discussion with @cprpoker from Twitter, who is the President and co-founder of the Twitter Poker Tour. I threw out the idea of having a writing segment on the TPT web site, whereby I could profile the different pro’s that have registered for the event. You can check out ‘Coolwhip Corner’ and the different profiles that I’ve already done. Geoff made it happen and walked me through how to post content on the site, and all this week I’ve been adding new articles.

Its been a good amount of work, but I think that the results are pretty positive in appearance and in content. I haven’t received a ton of feedback on it, but from the people who have seen it and provided some, it’s all been positive, and encouraged me to change absolutely nothing.
Yesterday’s piece was extremely unique, as I had the opportunity to interview with Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon, the creators of Bad Beat on Cancer. It was a surreal moment for me as these are two professional poker players that have had so many successes, and two individuals whom I admire and respect, both for their accomplishments within the game of poker, and for their involvement with the BBoC and other charity’s. I posted the interview on ‘Coolwhip Corner’ yesterday, and the feedback was tremendous.

Just before the start of last night’s Twitter Poker Tour, I received an email from Rafe again, and this time it was an invitation to join the BBoC Advisory Council. The Advisory Council is a group of 30 individuals (now 31 with me), who are entrusted with the duty of acting as Ambassadors of Bad Beat on Cancer to local and national business communities, and to other individuals to assist in advancing the mission of the Foundation through fundraising, public relations, and marketing efforts. It’s a big pledge, and one that I’m elated to have been selected for.

I will be serving on the council for a period of 2 years, and likely attend the annual June meeting of the Prevent Cancer Foundation Board of Directors. Needless to say, I will be working fervently to drive more revenue into the Prevent Cancer Foundation in hopes of making a positive impact on this dreaded disease. For anyone who has read this blog, and knows me and my story, you know how committed I am to this cause.

The fact that I finished in the money in last nights Twitter Poker Tour with a 4th place finish just seems like such small news to me. It really is the icing on the cake, as it was truly a remarkable day. I look forward to whatever might be in store for the days and years to come as I entrench myself firmly into this new endeavor.

A full table again for the Homegame

2009-10-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Last night's home game again produced a full table of 9 players, and this time it would be Andrew would end the night with all of the chips.

It was a great night of poker with some really solid play, and only a few suck outs. For the most part, things really fell as they should. With 4 players remaining, Tim had the most chips, with over 300. Andrew and I had about the same with about 270, and Jordan was shortest with just under 200. So it was pretty even.

That was until things spun out of control for Tim in 3 consecutive hands. The first one, I min 3 bet from the SB after Tim limped 8 from the CO. Tim made the call of 24, and we saw a flop of K-6-4. I led for another 24, and Tim made the call. The turn was a 7, and I checked, with Tim checking behind. The River was an Ace, and I bet 60, with Tim making the call showing KTos. I showed Ad-Kd for the Rivered 2 pair, and scooped a big pot.

On the very next hand, Andrew opened for 32 and Tim made the call, and they both saw a flop of Js-8d-5d. Tim checked and Andrew shoved all in. Tim thought for a few seconds before making the call with Jd-Td for top pair and a flush draw, and drew tossed over Ad-Qd for a bigger flush draw and two overs. The turn came the Ace of hearts, and the river bricked, which Doubled Andrew, and crippled Tim to about 50 left.

The next hand after that, I open min-raised, and Jordan folded, and Tim moved all in from the SB for his last 50. Andrew folded and I snap called with AA, and Tim flipped over KK in disgust. The board didn't help either of us, and the AA held, and Tim was out in 4th place.

Jordan was the next to go after a few rotations. This time, Jordan shoved with AK and Drew snapped off a call with AA. Both and Ace and King hit the board, but the set was better than Jordan's 2 pair, and Jordan was eliminated in 3rd place.

Heads up with Andrew, I was at a slight chip disadvantage, and our play swung massively in my favor after about an hour of going back and forth. In a hand with a big lay down, Andrew was left with only 220 chips. He would get all the way down to 180, and then find his double as we shipped the chips all in pre flop. I showed Ac-3d, and Andrew showed As-2s. But the flop would help Andrew as he flopped a flush draw with 2 spades on the flop, and the turn would double him when a 9s fell.

This about evened the score. And in another hand with heavy bets preflop and post flop, Andrew shoved it all in again with the board reading J-T-8-T. I held A9, and Andrew said that he had 170 behind, but upon recount, it was actually 270. I let go of my draw, and Andrew showed 9-7 for the two pair, which was good enough to give him a slight chip lead.

The final hand came shortly after that when Andrew called my preflop bet of 60, and the board came J-3-2. I bet another 60, and Andrew moved all in. I called and showed 6-6, and Andrew tossed over 3-2os for two pair. I called for a Jack, but the turn fell with another 3. The river gave me my wish a card too late as another Jack fell, and gave Andrew the winning full house and the home game win.

Thanks again to everyone who made it. Next week looks good to go. See you then.

Freeroll Crushes Team7Deuce

2009-10-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

If it is possible, we got really smacked around tonight.

Tim, Jordan, and I all went to the Bicycle Casino as we qualified for their freeroll tournament for Big Poker October. In fact, we all got home so early, that the tournament is running as I write this. It was an interesting structure, as every player who played at least 1 event in any of the 17 Big Poker October events, received entry into this freeroll.

One of the interesting twists was, you began with 3000 starting chips, and for every tournament that you played in, you received a bonus 1000 tournament chips. So if you played in 8 tournaments for example, you got your 3k starting stack, plus 7k additional to start with 10k. I had played in 2 events so I began with 4k, and I was sandwiched in between a guy with 12k on my left, and 15k on my right. Pretty gross.

On level 1, I went bust. This is pretty unusual for me, but I did get my money in good. Three players limped into the pot when I was on the button, and I called for 50 chips with Tc-7c. The SB came along, and the BB checked. The flop came out Ac-Qc-5c, a very good flop for me indeed. I watched as the SB checked, the BB bet 200 into the pot, UTG called, a fold, and then the guy to my right raised to 600. I figured, this is about as good as I could hope for and shipped it all in for 3850. The SB asked for a count, then made the call, and everyone else folded. He showed Ad-Kc, and the turn came 3c to send me to the rail. It was only 6 hands in, so that was disappointing.

Even more dissapointing was that about a minute and a half later, Tim opened raised from middle with AK, and found a caller from the button. The two of them saw an A-2-3 flop, and Tim bet it. His opponend shoved and Tim called with Top pair, top kicker, only to find himself drawing basically dead to his opponents 4-5os, and a made straight. The turn and river were of no help, and we headed to the cafe playing Gin Rummy till Jordan joined us just after the break with his bust out.

So at 9:00, the three of us left the casino, not really having lost anything significant, unless you count our pride. Looks like the big score will have to wait for another time.

Something's Coming

2009-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

The last few days, I've been really feeling a big score coming my way. I don't know if you've ever really felt that way, but I just have this sense that if I continue to play poker the way that I've been, I'm going to hit a big cash VERY soon.

Last night I was disappointed that the home game fell apart. Really, we only had 2 other people (besides Traci and myself) that were able to play, so we scratched the home game. Tim and I came up with the idea of going to the Midnight Madness at the Bicycle Casino, which is a $40+10 buy in NLHE deepstack event. I was gung-ho about it, until Traci stressed her unease. I don't want to lay hate on Traci in anyway, because she was quick to point out what I've spent on poker recently, and she felt really uneasy about me spending another $50. Add to that the feeling that she had of being ditched in order to play the role of babysitter and missing out on the homegame, and I took my mancard out, and flushed it to make her happy.

I stayed home and watched the Angels lose Game 1 on the ALCS to the Yankees, and played in the TPT Late Night event. I finished 2nd of the 13 entries for an $11 cash. I felt that I played pretty well, even though I made a few mistakes to a very good player. I got tangled in more pots than I would have liked to, out of position with a very good player @Widmayer. He's an excellent player, who had shipped the TPT event on Thursday night, and a hyper loose aggressive player. I've seen him turn over completely random cards on me after getting my chips all in many times, and last night I was fortunate to come out on the positive side of more than a few gambles.

But late in the tournament was where it mattered most. I won 2 flips against him, where I doubled up with A5os when we were 3 handed vs. his pocket 4's. And then I KO'd him when my Pocket 4's held against his A5. I went into heads up play with @brooklynbeast in a virtual tie in chips with about 19k each. But 1 hand swung the tournament and 1st to my opponent. I called and all in bet with Ac-Jc and he showed AKos. When the flop produced the K, I was basically eliminated. It was a fun tournament, as the TPT always is. Congratulations again to @brooklynbeast.

Tonight, I'm meeting up with some friends for Wii Nightm and tomorrow I'll be taking advantage of my freeroll entry at the Bicycle Casino, courtesy of the two events that I played in during their Big Poker October. I'll be interested to see the structure and the turnout for their $10k freeroll for sure.

Getting to know what you don't know

2009-10-15T08:09:00.001-07:00

There have been many times in my life as a poker player where I've sat at the table, seen a few rotations, and thought to myself, "Excellent! I'm EASILY the best player here." I can't even begin to count the number of times that this has happened to me. But being the best player doesn't always lead to success. It takes you 1. playing really well, and 2. taking advantage of the other players not playing well, and 3. picking your spots in doing so.

The last month or so has been an interesting poker ride for me. I've had very few good runs in tournaments for the most part, which has led me to doubt myself as player. This lack of confidence obviously showed itself in my game as I haven't really been able to get anything consistent going. It's been frustrating me to say the least, to the point where I've beat myself up over losing, and thinking that I've been playing well. That might be the hardest part, is that I've THOUGHT that I had been playing well. It's hard to fix something when you don't know what's broken.

So in my step away from the game, something that I figured that I needed to figure out was how to assess what is wrong with my game, and have someone else assist me with that.....a coach.

I sent out a tweet and it was responded to with mainly laughter. I don't know if it was because people assumed that poker coaching was just a joke, or that they thought that I was such an elite player already that I was far beyond stooping to having to be coached (I came back 5 minutes after writing this sentence to finish because I was laughing so hard: for the record). But I did get a response from @Imanoth, which gave me a link to a poker coaching website Poker-Coach.com. There, I browsed through the different coaches that they had, and looked for someone that could assist me at the levels that I played at.

At my first thought, I came to the conclusion that it was just too expensive. I was looking at the prices and thinking to myself "why on earth would anyone spend THAT much on a poker coach?" But in my heart of hearts, I knew that what I really needed was to assess a part of my game that had a fatal flaw.....I did not know what I didn't know. And it was the not knowing part that led me to Jennifear.

Jen and I chatted a little bit about my story and whether or not she thought that she could help me, and her assessments immediately perked me up. I thought that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to plug a leak in my game.....just a small tweak here or a little adjustment there, and POOF!!!! Like magic, my game would be fixed.

It doesn't work that way. Poker is not a game that has an easy solution. Its not rocket science by any stretch, but there is a large degree of math that I never even considered until I talked with Jen. In her first assignment, she shot me a basic problem with the question "What hands would it be ok to shove with?" And I was stumped. What I realized at that moment was, there is still a TON to learn about this game, and I have no clue what the correct answer is.

Our session lasted 4 hours in all, and I'm not going to give away the big changes that were made to my game, but I can say this....Jennifear's session was worth a lot more than the amount of money that I paid for it. She was VERY knowledgeable about tournament poker, and changed a great number of the ways that I approach the game. It was a FANTASTIC session with keen insight on my playing style, and I think completely changed the way that I play poker.

I know that this seems bold, and that you may ask yourself, "how does a 4 hour session change everything that you've learned?" Well, the easy answer is, I felt that I was missing something, and something big. I have just begun to apply the skills that she has taught, and there is still a TON of material to fiddle through that I haven't even touched. But the big lesson that I learned is that as a poker player, you must ALWAYS continue to learn to keep your best game your best game.

Let me repeat that for dramatic effect:

YOU must ALWAYS continue to learn to keep your best game your best game.

If you're not learning from the game, then it WILL catch up to you. I still have a ton to learn about this game. After hundreds of thousands of hands, I still have a ton to learn about the game. But I really took a lot of valuable information from the session that payed immediate dividends. Using the styles and applying them, I took first in a 27 person S&G on FTP, and then I ran deep in the Daily Dollar Tournament online, losing a MONSTER pot, calling an all in for about 260k vs. another all in of about 259k, and losing KK to AA. And I felt good about it. Because for several hours, I played mistake free poker. I lost my share of pots, but I didn't get away from the new stuff that I'd learned, and I played REALLY good solid poker.

I'm hoping to keep this up in the weeks to come and continue my bankroll building online. I have a lot of faith that with a renewed sense of identity, that I'm ready to take on all comers, and prove a point, that when I'm the best player at the table, I'm not going to be afraid to get it all in to get your chips.

Thanks again to Jennifear, whom I would recommend to all of my readers for a session or two. Trust me when I say, you're getting your money's worth.

I got Coolered

2009-10-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Last night, I played one of the best poker tournaments of my life, only to end up 10 players short of the money. Tim and I waited till the last minute to commit to going to the Bike to play in their Big Poker October $60 buy in event. It started deep stacked at 7PM, with 6000 tournament chips, and a massive field of 766 players total. It was quite the event.

I opened play at a table that was endlessly frustrating. I had two absolute maniacs at my table that were playing all of their hands either all in or folding. They would show cards like AQ, AK, and one time, 9c-7c. It was pretty disgusting. But I started off so card dead, that I really couldn’t afford to make a move. So I chipped in a downward spiral for the first 90 minutes of play, until I found 7-2os UTG +1. I opened the 100/200 blinds with a bet of 500, and only the BB came along. On the flop of Ac-Kd-8s rainbow, the BB led out with a bet of 500, and I quickly called it. On a turn of the 5d, the BB checked, and I fired a 1200 bet into him. He deliberated a while, and finally made the call. The river came out with the 5h, and the BB again checked. I immediately shoved my whole stack of about 2500 left, and the BB made the laydown, showing the Ace of spades. That was the turning point of the tournament for me, as I began my chip up. I ended the first three levels of play with 5100 chips, and felt good about where I was at on my table.

Tim met me at the break after having hit the rail before the end of level 3. After losing a big pot (AK > KK) he shipped the last of his chips again with Qd-Jd only to again find an AK caller, and he was done early. We shared some stories and some strategies, and I said, I just want to get 1 double before the next break. And I did.

A few hands into level 4, I found myself with Ad-Kd from the SB, and action folded to the cutoff (the same guy that I’d bluffed previously, who was now shorter stacked), who raised the 200-400 blinds to 1000. I shipped it all in at that point, and the BB deliberated before making the call. The original raiser folded, and we turned our cards, with my opponent holding Ah-Qh. The board bricked out for both of us, and my AK held as I chipped over 10k for the first time. When they finally broke my table at around level 5, I was between 8k and 9k.

At my new table, I was taking advantage of my new image of being an aggressive player. I stole a few blinds in route to chipping up to around 15k. I didn’t see a single premium hand, and I didn’t get involved in any real confrontations. I avoided showdowns, and was happy with my profit. That table was broken by the end of level 7, and I was moved to table 3 with about 15k.

Here, I established myself through table banter as a math geek. We started talking about the number of chips in play, and what the average was going to be at the bubble. With 766 players all with 6k chips, they were paying 72 places, which meant that chip average would be about 63k. That was my goal. With blinds at 500-1000, 75 ante, I found KQos in the SB, and had a raise to 4k in front of me from the cutoff. I insta-shoved all in, and when it came back to him, he said “nah, you’re too good at math. I fold.” I knew that I’d have to use that image.

A couple hands later, the same thing happened with the same player going to 4k, and this time, I found AQos. I asked him for a chip count, and including the 4k, he had another 19k behind him for a total of 23k. I shipped my stack all in to try and price him out, and he tanked. He verbally went through the range of hands that I could have, and eventually decided to call, tossing over AQos as well. As expected, we chopped the pot. Then, my table was broken again with me holding about 25k.

At my new table, I immediately liked who I was sitting with. I gave a preflop shove with KQos from the BB to a preflop raise again, and the gentlemen asked for time, counted out his stack, and realized to call that it would only leave him with 5k behind. He made the laydown claiming pocket 6’s. I then scooped a pot showing AA when I pre-flop raised the 1k-2k blinds to 6k, and action folded around. I wanted people to know that I wasn’t raising with crap.

The big swing hand came soon after with me on the button. Action folded to me and I found Ah-Qh, and I raised to 6k. The SB folded, and the BB shoved his stack. I could immediately sense his weakness and snap called, much to his dismay. He turned over Kc-5h, and I had him crushed when the board paired my Ace, and had two hearts to boot. The 7h on the river sealed it, and I was sitting on over 55k. Then action went dead for me for a little bit.

After the third break, there were only about 100 or so players remaining. My goal was not to min cash, but to run deep. I was playing really well at that point without getting any real premium hands to speak of, and I really wanted to establish an image at the new table as the guy that the big pots were going to have to go through. I wanted the people that were interested in just cashing to fold their marginal hands to me, and chip up big. But it just didn’t work out that way.

With blinds at 1500/3000, an early position player raised to 12k, with only 6k behind. I announced all in squeezing pocket 10’s. Action, folded around back to the initial raiser who counted the last of his 6k, and made the call with KK. When the Kc hit the flop, I was basically drawing dead, and I lost some momentum. A few hands later, I min raised to 6k with Ad-Tc, and found 1 caller from the Button. Both blinds folded, and we saw a flop 8d-6c-4d. I checked, and the button moved all in. I asked how much more, not really wanting to call anything, but when he said “it’s not much more” I thought for a minute. The dealer announced 6k more, and I calculated that I was getting 4 to 1 on my money. I said “I think that I’m behind right now,” and he said “I know you are.” I reluctantly made the call saying, “I think that this is a donation” as I put 6k into the pot and he tossed over Kd-Jd for nothing but a flush draw. The turn was the 7d, and the river was the 3c, giving his flush the winning hand.

After the blinds passed me by, I got lucky again from the cutoff, when I woke up with KK. I shipped it all in preflop, and found a caller from the button with AJ. The board flopped a K, and I doubled my stack to a little more than 45k.

Then, the doom switch hit with 82 players remaining. From early position, I 3 bet to 9k, with KQos, and found callers from the Button and the Small Blind. That meant that there was 34,500 in the pot, and it was go time. The flop came out Kc-6s-4s and the SB checked, I shipped it all in for 35k more, and the button made the call. The small blind passed, and the Button showed As-Js for a flush draw. It was not to be my day as the Ad hit the turn, and an 8c hit the river, and I was covered by a mere 9k in chips.

I still question as to whether or not it was a good idea for that guy to flip it for his tournament life right there. I don’t think that I could’ve called off the rest of my chips on a draw like that on the bubble. But he did make the call, and it hit, and I went home at about 1:30 in the morning short of the money. It was truly frustrating.

I’m thinking about giving the bike another go on Wednesday night where the structure is identical. I don’t know that I could’ve played much better than I did, but I have to believe that I would get more hands to play, as I certainly couldn’t fare any worse in that department. Hopefully I can continue my solid play, and make it result in a good cash this time.

3 down and 1 to go

2009-10-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

Its been an awesome weekend, starting with Thursday. I played some really fantastic poker Thursday night in the TPT, culminated with a runner-up finish, that leaves me thinking "What if." With 6 players remaining, I held more than 70k, and my closest opponent held only 11k. But I got unlucky twice, and doubled two different opponents, and I would go into heads up play with a 54k to 45k disadvantage, and then went card dead.

I would eventually stick it all in with A3, and got called by AK, and with the K on the turn, my evening was complete. Still, I was happy with my overall play, and I don't know that I really made any mistakes. The one hand that I could've played differently was calling the all in of the eventual winner with 88. He showed A7 after the pre-flop shove, and flopped his 3 out Ace for the hand, and chipped to almost 30k. But still, I'm very content with 2nd place.

In the home game on Friday, I'm not sure who won, because I got bounced in 8th place. I came into the evening feeling pretty miserable with cold/flu like symptoms, and it got progressively worse as the game rolled along. I made a bad early read with J-T as 6 players limped into my BB, and we saw a flop of J-8-4. I led with 8 (1/2 blinds) and action folded to Jack who raised me to 24. Action then folded back to me, and I went with a read of AK, and stuck it all in. Jack snap called and showed 88 for the flopped set, and I was toast. I would re-buy, and get bounced a second time when Gary made some hero calls, and he was right. And the third time, I'd stick it all in with KTos, and got two callers (Tim and Robert). Robert's post flop re-raise got rid of Tim, and he showed A3 for the win (no ace on the board, but no K or T either).

Then last night, still feeling crumby, I played in the annual Charity event benefiting Devonshire-PALS. It was a very cool venue as it was at Nancy Cartwright's (the voice of Bart Simpson) home. Everything was set up outside, and they had 20 tables which had 9 seats each. They filled everyone of them, and also had a ton of alternates for the tournament.

Something that I wasn't expecting was the lousy structure of the tournament. First, it was a re-buy event, which makes sense given that it was for charity, and they were trying to raise cash. There is a lot less emphasis on which player plays the best to get the prizes. But we began with 2k chips, and 15 minute levels. The tournament was scheduled to begin at 6PM, but cards didn't get in the air until almost 6:45. You could re-buy 2k chips if you were below 2k in your stack for $50, and double re-buy for $100 4k chips if you were down to the felt. I really had to open up my play in order to accumulate chips, and after the rebuy period ended (after level 6), you had an add-on option of 4k for $50, and 8k for $100. Once the rebuy period was over, I was sitting on a stack of 10k with nary a re-buy.

There was one spot at our table that had yet to be filled, as seat one remained empty for the first level. At the end of the level, our table was joined by Pro Poker Player Marsha Waggoner. Marsha was terrific, and complimented me several times on some moves that I made. She doubled early with a Ah-Jh when she flopped top pair, and two other players shoved, she called and hit the flush on the turn to scoop the pot. Later, it was Ac-Jc and she'd double again, flopping a flush.

Things flew by very fast at the end of the rebuy/add-on period because they needed to speed things up. I overheard the staff talking about how last year, the tourney ran beyond the city ordinance of 11PM, and that this year, they weren't going to let that happen. So they skipped the 400-800 level 7 and the 500-1000 level 8, and jumped all the way to level 9 of 1000-2000, 100 ante. It was a giant leap, as everyone in the tourney practically became short stacked. 15 minutes later, I was sitting with a stack of 9500, and blinds had crept to 2000-4000. Kirstie Alley took a seat next to me as they were breaking down tables at a rapid rate. Very cool. Then, doom struck as In the small blind, I squeezed A6os, and went with it. A player had limped from UTG for the 4k, and I stuck my 9500 in from the SB. Alley folded her BB, and the UTG player announced a call with AQ. I didn't get any help from the board, and was eliminated with about 8 tables left.

Because I was still under the weather, I made an early exit at around 9:45 or so to go home and crash. It was an incredible experience though, and was a lot of fun. I got to take pics with the likes of Alex Outhred, Jose Canseco, and Main Event Champion - Jamie Gold. Jamie had pointed to the Twitter Poker Tour T-shirt and found that awesome enough that he asked about the TPT. I gave him the details, and he said that he'd check us out. He asked me to email him, and I got his addy. Hopefully, he'll be playing with us on Full Tilt.

It was an awesome event, and it did raise an incredible amount of money for a VERY worthwhile charity. 5 players ended the evening with WSOP Main Event Satellite tickets at the Rio Hotel, valued at $1k each. Additionally, a number of raffle prizes, silent auction items, and other festivities (live band with a dance floor, Catered food from Outback, and a whole host of celebrities that I didn't get a chance to say hello to) happened throughout the evening to make the event a true success story for Devonshire PALS. It was a great evening.

For tonight, I am on the fence as to whether I'm heading to the Bike to play in the $60 NLHE event. I'm still not 100%, but the tourney doesn't get started till 7PM, so we'll see what kind of shape I'm in later in the day. A full night's sleep definitely helped, and I'm feeling slightly better. I'll give you the full rundown on that event either tomorrow or Tuesday. Until then, cheers! P

A Weekend Packed FULL of Activites

2009-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

I've got 4 straight days of poker events coming up.

First, tonight is the First of the new edition Twitter Poker Tour, relaunched into a month long format. The TPT had for the previous 4 seasons, been broken into 12 week seasons. After season 4, it culminated with an 18 player event for an entry into the Sunday Brawl on Full Tilt Poker (a $256 prize value from a $5 + $1 buy in). I played in that event, and got busted by the eventual champ - @_desperado. In the hand, I made a preflop raise with AQos to 2.5 the big blind from Middle Position, and only GoofyRooster came along from the BB. The flop came out T high, and was checked to me, I fired a continuation bet of about 60% of the pot, and was called. The turn brought the doom card for me, which was a Q, and action was again checked to me. I again fired another bullet, only this time, I was re-raised. I shoved my stack with Top pair, top kicker, and got insta-called my GoofyRooster who flipped over QT for two pair. The river bricked, and I finished in 9th place. Congrats to @_desperado on the win!

Tonight however, the TPT is going to change things up by going to Month long leaderboards and giving out a bunch of cash added incentives to TPT players. In fact, more than $300 is planned on being given out this month through cash added events and prizes given to the winners of the events and the top players on the leaderboard. It should be very well attended, and I suspect that we will begin to see the TPT grow steadily.

Tomorrow night, we resume the home game activities, as we should have a full table of people. I anticipate 10-12 players tomorrow night for the home game at Pablosplace.

On Saturday night, I'll be playing in the Monte Carlo Night Charity Poker Tournament to benefit Devonshire PALS. I have no idea how big this event will be, but I am extremely excited to be participating. The tournament benefits an incredible cause, benefiting the youth here in the San Fernando Valley, and also features a HOST of Celebrity's and Poker Professionals. Some celebrity names include the likes of John Travolta, Brad Garrett, Camryn Manheim, Sinbad, and the host of the Party Nancy Cartwright, best known for being the Voice of Bart Simpson. Poker Pro's expected to participate include WSOP Main Event Champions Jamie Gold and Jerry Yang, Pam Brunson, Todd Brunson, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Kenna James, Jennifer Harman, and Sammy Farha.

I have to thank everyone on Twitter who participated in helping me attend this event. Through your donations (and a little help from my friends), we were able to raise the $250 for this charity to participate in the event. What a success!!! Thanks are in order to, @4get24betme, @cprpoker, @pokerplasm, @stevebrogan, @_desperado, and @thekeylime from the TPT for their donations, as well as Team7Deuce members @slayernyte, @skulllead, and Tim. I hope to represent the TPT and Pablosplace well with my play in the event, as well as send regular updates with Twitpics through my @coolwhipflea twitter account.

Finally, on Sunday I will be playing at the Bicycle Casino as part of the Bike's "Big Poker October." The tournament schedule for their 7PM tournaments feature 18 events with varying buy in's (from $60 to $335) of NLHE tournaments, culminating with a Player Participation Free Roll event on October 18th. In order to qualify for the free roll, you need only play in 1 of the first 17 events. I'm looking forward to these deep stack events and hopeful to have a good deep run (finally).

That about sums up the weekend that will be. I'm excited about the action to come. Additionally, if you would like to help contribute to the Devonshire PALS charity, please use the Donate Button on the top Left of Pablosplace, and I'll make certain that every penny gets donated directly to the charity. Thanks in advance for your help! Cheers, P

TPT Season 4 Final Event

2009-09-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I’ll be playing in the Twitter Poker Tour Season 4 Finale, where the winner receives a $256 entry in the Full Tilt Poker Sunday Brawl. There are 18 players who qualified based on points accumulated in the TPT standings over the 12 week season. I actually qualified through my play in both the TPT, and the TPTE. Here are the players who will be playing in the event (their Full Tilt Poker Names, and their twitter ID’s):

4get 2 4bet me - @4get24betme
Astro_Pup - @TracyJSnell
Broker91 - @JustPlayPoker
Excalibur9 - @Glasgowgooner
Fleapid - @Coolwhipflea
GoofyRooster - @_desperado
KingSteve7 - @KingSteve
McChickenHead - @prp2
MrSoprano111 - @MrSoprano
Mysticslayer - @MysticalJett
ShackedIn06 - @Bloomey
StevieTrips - @SteveBrogan
Street 3 - @Street3
Swyyft - @Swyyft
Taz31362 - @TreyStill
Teruna - @x10man
Widmayer - @Widmayer
WOWSPLAT - @CaptainWowsplat

I will be in full rail mode, giving real time tweets courtesy of Twitter on my @Pablosplace Twitter account. Feel free to give me a follow for the real time updates.

Good luck everyone!

Note – both Cprpoker (@cprpoker) and Amuzulo (@chucksmith) qualified for the tournament, but will be unable to attend. There spots were filled based on the alternate selection process established by the TPT leaderboard.

Running Bad

2009-09-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

You'll have to forgive me for not blogging much of late. I've lacked motivation to do much of anything. Life has dealt me cards that have served as a horrible run of late, and I have really been mired in a deep depression, maybe worse than when I went through my divorce. It really seems that every area of my life has been running poorly, and my motivation to write about it has really not been to high. So as I sit and watch the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins battle each other (in a game that I'd rather not be watching, but thanks to Time Warner Cables battle with the NFL, it's the only NFL game being televised at the moment), I thought I would take the opportunity to vent, blog style.

Home life has been stressful on a couple of fronts. I'm more than a little frustrated from the medical stuff with Traci sometimes, and these last few weeks have been relatively good ones. I mean, there hasn't been a regression, but things are for the most part stagnant, and it's endlessly frustrating. I wouldn't wish what she goes through on my worst enemy, and to see her stuck in it, well it hurts. More than I can really express in words. Both of us go through our deserved points of frustration for various aspects of the situation. Again, we continue to hold onto the hope that her body will continue to heal itself, and that hopefully, some form of normalcy will emerge.

In poker, I am continuing to run bad, and I am going through a rut that I've never really quite experienced before. I really feel that I'm playing well, but I'm just having bad results. On Labor day, 4 of us went to the Bike for the Noon'er and I busted in about 70th. I played SUPER tight for the first 4 levels because I caught zero cards. I actually folded every single hand prior to the first break, because I just had absolutely nothing to work with. After the break, I fought my way back to my starting stack, and then began to chip up. I really took advantage of a very unskilled table and was able to increase my starting stack of 4k to over 11k by the time my table broke. But when I moved to my new table, disaster struck in the form of a 3 outer. I called for all of my chips with QQ from the SB to an all-in raise from the cutoff. The BB folded, and when we turned up our cards, I was ahead as my opponent showed Ac-6c. But the Ace of spades on the flop would end my day in non-poetic fashion, and I would head home defeated yet again.

In the TPT, I ran out of luck as I'd chipped up well early, but with 11 players remaining and blinds at 100-200, I got unlucky with KK. I was UTG and opened for a min raise, and then was re-raised to 1200. Action folded to the BB who also called, and I shoved my stack for around 9k when it got to me. The original re-raised tanked for a little bit before letting go of what he said was QQ, and the BB snap called with AA. I was toast in 11th place, and dropped 2 more spots in the TPT leaderboard.

In all, my online play has just headed south for a solid 2 week period, and I'm down more than $300 in the last 2 weeks. It's not so much that I've made really bad plays, as much as it has been I'm seeing myself end up with unfortunate results.

At the home game this past Friday, Robert ran white hot in the end to ship it. I made a move with TT heads up with Robert and he showed A-8os. We were all in pre-flop and the flop came out 5-4-7. The 6c on the turn crushed me, and I was down to the 3 remaining 8's in the deck to chop the pot. But the river was a Tc to give me a set to lose. Robert continued his streak calling an all in by both Andrew and Chris on a board of 7d-7h-5d. Chris showed A-5 for two pair, and Andrew showed 7-6 for a set and a backdoor straight draw. But Robert tossed over Kd-Td for the flush draw and he'd hit it on the turn when the 4d came up. The river was a meaningless Ace, and Robert controlled more than 80% of the chips in play with 4 players remaining, and would cruise to the win.

Finally for me, I was running great in a satellite to the 750k yesterday on tilt, where the top 8 people gained entry to the event. I was 6th in chips with 4k left, and I open shoved from middle position with QQ. The Big blind called with A-7os for 90% of his stack, and the flop hit an Ace again. It's just been that kind of week for me with poker.

I was involved in a pretty in depth discussion about some of my plays in the forum's on the TPT site and on Poker VT, and I'm confident that I made the right plays in each of these situations, but that they just ended poorly for me. A little bit of bad luck.

Here's the end all, I'm in a tough spot. Both emotionally, and financially. I've never really been faced with a point in life quite like this before. I'm really scared for the first time in my life about how things are going to play out. I hope, and hold onto that hope, that things will work out OK in the end. I mean, it's not life my life is peril or anything that serious, but I would really love to have a day without the stresses that life is bringing these days. A day where, everything was just ok.

I'm making an effort to be thankful for all the things that I do have in life. I mean, I still have a roof over my head (thanks in large part to some help financially from the family in helping us pay the rent) and I still have food in the refrigerator (thanks in part to a shopping spree by my former in-laws), and I have friends and family that know exactly where I'm at, and what we're going through. They've opened their hearts, and they've been there for us to the point that I can't begin to express my gratitude for the love that they've shown.

Going through this stuff makes you really appreciate the good times all the more I guess, and long for them. I believe that those times are simply around the corner and that despite the fact that I don't have any clue on how I'm going to get out of what I'm currently stuck in, I have faith that I'll get through it all ok.

Update on Monte Carlo Night

2009-09-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to those that have already contributed. As of this moment, we're more than halfway to our goal with a little under a month to go. Through pledges and donations, we've been able to raise $170, which leaves just $80 to go to hit our goal of $250 total.

I would love to exceed that goal, as 100% of your contributions on Pablosplace go directly to the charity Devonshire-Pals. Please help me by donating whatever you can. Just click on the "Dontate" button on the top right of Pablosplace, and I'll see to it that every penny is credited to the charity, whatever the amount ($1, $5, $10, $9.64 - anything).

Many thanks to the following people on twitter for already contributing:

@4get24betme
@cprpoker
@pokerplasm
@stevebrogan
@_desperado
@slayernyte
@skulllead
@thekeylime

Hopefully, I'll be able to continue to add to this list, and report back about the goal being hit! Thanks for your help and your charity!

The 4th Annual Monte Carlo Night Charity Tournament Benefiting PALS

2009-09-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Police Department Devonshire Police Activity League Supporters, better known as Devonshire PALS, is highly effective at deterring gangs and preventing crime. For more than 30 years, PALS has provided after school and weekend enrichment programs for at-risk children and teens that build strong, positive relationships between youth and the LAPD.

PALS promotes trust and understanding between young people and police officers by bringing youth under the supervision and constructive influence of dedicated law enforcement professionals. The program is based on the conviction that young people—if they are reached early enough—can develop strong, positive attitudes toward police officers and the law.

On October 3rd, North Valley Honorary Mayor Nancy Cartwright, ("The Voice of Bart Simpson") Hosts the 4th Annual Celebration of Food, Dance, Drink, Celebrity Guests, Live Auction and Texas Hold 'Em Poker, with the proceeds going to benefit Devonshire PALS new youth center for Kids-at-Risk.

Scheduled to attend the event are 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jamie Gold, and 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Jerry Yang, along with many other celebrities and poker pro’s.

The Twitter Poker Tour is planning on having me represent the TPT at the event, and is raising funds so that I can attend and play. All of the proceeds donated to the Pablosplace Donate Button will be given directly to the charity. Please help me in raising at least $250 to attend the event. Whatever you can help with ($1, $5, $10 or any amount) would be greatly appreciated.

I’ll update everyone on the status through Pablospace, my Facebook, and Twitter. If you’re not following Pablosplace on Twitter, Its @Pablosplace.

Pablosplace.com: Need your feedback.

2009-08-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

http://bit.ly/dzgla

Need your feedback.

2009-08-18T07:41:00.001-07:00

Is this the same person?

The Power of position.

2009-08-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

When beginners describe what hand they played, they usually start by describing what their hole cards were, and then tell the story about the betting. An expert however, would never describe the aspects of any hand, without first describing his position. That’s because in NLHE, position is sometimes as important, if not more important than the hand you hold.

Position is a very simple concept. Position simply refers to when you have to act relative to your opponents. In a typical 9 handed Texas Hold’Em game, there are 3 basic positions and the blinds (early, middle, and late position). The person sitting directly to the left of the Big Blind (“BB”) is considered to be Under the Gun (“UTG”). In a 9 handed table, the UTG player and the 2 players to his left (UTG +1 and UTG + 2) are considered to be in “Early position” as these will be the players that will be the earliest to act in the hand. They’ll act by either calling the BB, raising, or simply folding their hand. But again, these 3 players are the “Early Position Players.”

The next two players to the left of the Early position would be considered in “Middle Position.” They are located a the very middle of the table relative to where the blinds are. And finally, “Late Position” is defined by players who are either on the Dealer button, or to the direct right of the dealer button. The position to the direct right of the dealer button is also known as the “Cutoff.” There is tremendous power in poker by playing more hands in Late Position than in Early Position, simply because you have more information. This helps a poker player determine so many aspects of what they should or should not do with their hand.

Also, you will be able to change the starting range of your hands based on your position on the table, playing more hands in Late Position than you would in Early or Middle Position. The big reason is, you will make more money in late position than in early position. It’s not that you’ll be dealt more winning hands in Late position than in any other position. Cards are random, and the winning hand should theoretically be dealt to each position on the table an equal percentage of the time. However, this is poker. And what’s important in poker is not betting, but profitability. The simple idea of poker is to end up with more chips than your opponent has. And because there are dynamics in poker such as folding, there are 3 main reasons that acting in Late position is more advantageous than acting in Early or Middle position.

Reason 1) In early position, you’ll fold the best hand more often. The simple reality of No Limit Hold’Em is that you never really know what two cards your opponent has until the cards are turned over. This happens for 1 of 2 reasons. Either, all the cards have been dealt, and action has been called all the way to the river, and players have to turn over their hands to determine whose hand is best. Or, a player is called after placing all of their chips in the middle, in which case the hands must be revealed to determine who holds the best hand.

When you are acting in Early Position, you simply have less information on your opponent. Lets say for example that you’re dealt As-Qs from early position, and you receive 1 caller from Late Position. The amount of the bets at this point are irrelevant. In this situation, lets say that the flop comes out 8c-7c-6c. Suddenly, a hand that doesn’t have a club isn’t as good as a hand with them. The possibility of receiving the winning hand by the time the river card comes is very low, unless the person that called you from late position has absolutely nothing. But to have called you before the flop came up, they obviously have 2 cards, any one of which may be better than your simply Ace high. If they hold any club, or any pair, or perhaps a hand with a Ten or even a Nine-Ten hand, then you’re hand will not be a winning hand. And in order for you to win this pot, you will HAVE to bet your hand, in order to induce your opponent into folding.

In a similar case, lets say that you hold two tens as your hole cards. T-T is a good starting hand. But from early position, difficult decisions are more common. Lets say that you open from early position with your pocket pair for 4 times the BB, and again you find 1 caller. The comes out, Jc-6h-2d. There is no real straight or flush draws at this point, so the only hands that have you concerned would be a J, a pocket pair of 6’s or 2’s, or a pocket pair of J’s or better. Because you opened the hand, there is no real way to assess what your opponent has, or how good their hand is because they simply called you pre-flop. Making a standard continuation bet here is actually a very prudent play, and I’d recommend it on a board such as this.

But lets say that in this instance, your opponent calls you. Well, now you’re faced with a very difficult decision when the turn card comes out. You have to really wonder, “what hands might my opponent be holding that could have me beat.” Regardless of what the turn card is going to be, you almost have to slow down and check your pocket pair to get more information from your opponent with respect to the strength of his hand. All of this is going to cost you a risk of more money to see if your opponent calls you.

Here’s a great video of Jamie Gold vs. Chris Ferguson, in which Ferguson ALMOST lays down the winning hand because he’s in early position. Jamie’s bet from late position makes this a very difficult decision, and even Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan provide commentary on the hand that is eventually decided by a coin flip.

Chris eventually makes the right call, but you can see from the length of the video that it takes him a while to arrive at the right decision. Even after flopping such a huge hand, Chris has an extremely difficult decision because he plays this hand out of position. Jamie makes a great position bluff with absolute nothing, but the fact that he's able to act in position means that there is more pressure applied to the early position player, and almost makes him lay down the actual best hand.

Reason 2) You’ll make more with winning hands in late position. The above examples also do a wonderful job of explaining this. You can really put the players in late position on ANY hand, and their play's make it hard for the player in early position to make the right call. Lets take another look at the first example, and this time lets give Player 2 in late position AKos. So, player 1 opens with As-Qs from early position for 3 times the BB, and is called by Player 2. The flop comes up 8c-7c-6c, and now Player 1 is forced to check the flop. This gives Player 2 a tremendous advantage because he has position on his opponent, as well as the best hand. It gives the AK the opportunity to bet the flop with the best hand, and very likely pick up the pot, or check the flop of all clubs, and not have to risk any more of his stack. But just simply by being in position, you’ll be able to see more cards, which will lead to folding less often, resulting the opportunity to win more hands.

Here’s another example on how playing in Late position can help. In this video, we see Daniel Negreanu and Sam Farha tangle in a pot in the WSOP. Daniel is notorious for playing lots of pots, and makes a pre-flop bet from early position, and is called by a player from middle position, and Sam from Late position. Take a look:

Daniel initially checks the flop with the best hand because there are a lot of ways that he could be beat by the two remaining cards. He remains way ahead on the turn, and tries to get his opponents to fold by betting out 2000 on the turn card, which helped neither player. He’s successful by eliminating the player with AJ from the pot, but Sam Farha decides that it’s not too much more to come along to chase his straight and/or his flush draws. He gets lucky when it hits, and he can then bet with the best hand. Now Daniel is really in the unenviable position of either A) Calling into a hand for the rest of his chips where his hand can now be beat by a myriad of other hands, or B) getting away now with his loss by folding.

Daniel makes a great read (as he’s noted for doing), and we see that Sam takes a large pot by playing his hand in position.

Reason 3) You’ll lose less with a losing hand in late position. When you’re in late position, you have the ability to control the size of the pot. Because you’re the last to act, you have the freedom to either check and see a free card if the action is checked to you, or call or re-raise any bet in front of you. And if you miss your hand completely, you’ll be able to get away for less expensive than if you were in early position.

Here we see Johnny Chan laying down aces from position.

I really believe that Chan had to put Seed on a Jack here, but he was able to lose the absolute minimum with the absolute best possible starting hand, simply because he was in position.

To surmise, you will make more money in the long run, and you'll have much greater success if you focus on making plays in late position. That's not to say that you can't make winning plays out of position, but it makes your job as a poker player much easier if you're making your plays acting last.

Three-Peat

2009-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

(Pictured- Jeff Lisandro after winning his 3rd WSOP Bracelet in the 2009 WSOP)

10 players arrived for some action at the home game last night, and a familiar story emerged, as Jordan came down with his 3rd title in as many weeks. He played some really outstanding poker, getting the right hands at the right times, and getting his chips in good most of the night. And as it turns out, that yielded a result very similar to the previous nights....he had all of our chips.

I was the first to exit from our group, in a feat that I don't know will ever be matched. After making just short of 11 rotations, I won exactly ZERO pots. But even more incredible, is that I didn't hold a SINGLE HAND that WOULD have won. In our home game, we usually run out the remaining cards to see what would have happened, and it became more and more astounding that I would have lost every single hand. I was crippled by Janeth the first time running my AA into her J-7os. The flop came out J-J-4, and no improvement for me on the turn or river. I would bust my first time committing all of my chips with Ah-7h from the SB after action folded to me. But Jordan made a quick call with AQos, and the board produced all unders to give Jordan's Q the better kicker, and the last of my 20 chips.

I did re-buy, but with the same result. In the end, I'd move with T-T in what ended up being a 5 way pot. An Ace on the was my undoing as Amber bet 10 more to chase everyone, and tossed Ah-6h for 2 pair, and bust me for good in 10th. I figured if I could go that many hands without winning a pot, that it just wasn't my night.

Bust outs happened quickly after I left, and we consolidated to 1 table. Jay was followed by Janeth, then followed by Amber, then Robert. Chris would exit in 5th, and left us 4 handed with Jordan holding a significant chip lead, Tim in second, Traci 3rd, and newcomer Lynn the short stack, though still healthy with about 100 chips.

The action 4 handed was really good, and lasted almost another hour. Lynn would be the next to exit however, as the chips went all in on a Board of A-K-Q. Jordan raised enough to put Lynn all-in, and she called tabling K-T, but Jordan felted QQ for the made set. The turn gave Lynn some more outs when another K hit the board. But the 9d on the river gave the pot to Jordan with the full house.

In 3 handed action, action was very serious. For nearly 2 and a half hours, Jordan, Tim, and Traci played their stacks brilliantly, with chip leads exchanging hands a few times. Jordan had his AA cracked by Tim's J-T, when Tim had flopped a pair of T's, and moved. Jordan tabled the best hand until the river when Tim hit 2 pair with his J. That was the first time since the 2 tables consolidated that Jordan wouldn't be chip leader.

But about 20 minutes later, he'd get it back moving all in on an Ace high flop, and Tim making the call. Jordan was way ahead with his AK to Tim's AT. The board would run out without a T, and Jordan doubled again.

Traci was being blinded down, but would get healthy through Tim as she committed all of her chips of 5-5-6-Q. Tim would make the call with a small flush, but Traci would table Q-5 for the made full house.

Tables would turn on Traci later when she would get her chips in again with two pair, but Tim had again turned his flush with Ad-Kd, and he would cripple Traci. She would eventually go out in 3rd a couple of hands later, just after 1:30 in the morning.

The heads up between Jordan and Tim lasted about 30 minutes. The final hand was an interesting one, as all of the action happened pre-flop. With blinds at 10-20, Jordan opened from the SB with a min raise to 40. Tim thought for a bit before re-raising to 80. Jordan hemmed and hawed, until he said "lets make it 160." Tim really went into the tank, and said aloud "I think you have J's...maybe tens." Finally, Tim shoved it all in, and Jordan asked for a count. With about 300 behind, Jordan figured himself to be a coin flip at worst, and made the call having Tim covered. It turns out, Tim was spot on, and Jordan was more right than he knew. Jordan showed JJ and Tim, A-T.

The flop really dashed any chance that Tim had as it fell J-7-7 meaning that Tim needed running aces to win. But a K on the turn closed the door, and Jordan had his 3rd consecutive win.

See you all next week, as Jordan tries for an unprecedented 4th consecutive home game win.

Hey ESPN - Can we get some more time for Poker?

2009-08-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

ESPN's television coverage of the 2009 World Series of Poker began a few weeks ago, on Tuesday, July 28th. Poker players from around the globe representing a total of 115 nations and territories showed up at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas this summer. There was a number of broken records through the 57 events at during the 40th Annual WSOP, including the mark for most total player entries.

The 60,875 entries in this year’s 57 tournaments eclipsed the previous record of 58,720 entries established in 2008. The strong showing helped propel the total WSOP prize pool past $1 billion since the tournament’s inception in 1970. The total 2009 prize pool surpassed $174 million and, for only the second time in WSOP history, every member of the Main Event final table will win $1 million or more.

ESPN is back at it as the Television host for the 2009 WSOP, as they have been in the past, with Norman Chad and Lon McEachern calling the action with their witty banter. It's done VERY well, and is a very entertaining watch.

This coming Tuesday, ESPN begins airing the Main Event, with Day 1A showing 2 episodes back to back, which I'm eager to see. I mean, this IS the main event. But as I looked at the schedule of WSOP events, there was little else that saw television time. I mean, there will be 31 episodes leading up to the 'November Nine' and the final table of the main event, and of those 31 episodes, 25 of them are main event episodes. (For the records, there have already been 2 episodes for the $40k buy in final table which was won by Russian Vitaly Lunkin, 2 for the WSOP Champions Invitational which was claimed by Tom McEvoy, and 2 for the Charity Event for Ante up for Africa which was won by Alex Bolotin).

It bothers me that we're unable to see any of the 3 bracelets won by WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro, or the two bracelets each won by John Brock Parker, Greg 'FTB' Mueller, or November 9 Final Table Member - Phil Ivey. Those would all be really cool.

It would also be great TV to see Steve Sung's AMAZING final table run, and the capture of his first bracelet in that GIGANTIC No Limit Hold'em event. Or ANY of Daniel Negreanu's 8 cashes (mostly, his runner up finish in Event #14 or 4th in Event #18. And I would absolutely love to see the hilarity that ensued in the very first cash by ESPN Commentator Norman Chad, who finished a miraculous 32nd in Event #53, the Stud-8 event.

There was a ton of poker played this summer, that just won't make TV, and I think that it's a shame. There should be someway to broadcast these events and take advantage of the brilliant poker that was played. I wonder if I'm alone in wanting to see it.

The TPT Charity for Bad Beat on Cancer - A success!

2009-08-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

We had 103 total players in the tournament tonight which means that we raised $515 for Bad Beat on Cancer. It was a tremendous success!

The event had 5 Full Tilt Pro's participate with Andy Bloch holding the chip lead for most of the early part of the tournament. Rafe Furst Battled hard, but would make an exit in 53rd place. Michael Craig also played, ending his tournament in 63rd, and Adam Schoenfeld would exit in 93rd.

18 places were paid, and professional poker player Soraya Homam would run the longest of the pro's, making her exit in 13th.

In the end, the tournament was won by oooDR GoNZooo, who went into heads up play with @Vegasgeek with a 2 to 1 chip advantage. On the final hand, an all in was A8 vs. AK, but the 8 on the river gave the win to oooDR GoNZooo, and the top prize with $139.05.

Thanks to everyone who participated, especially the pro's who played and donated their money and their time. It was really their participation that made this possible.

And a special thanks to everyone who worked so hard on promoting this event. It was incredible to see the number of twitter posts, blog posts, forum posts, and everything that you could possibly imagine to promote this event. What a success. I can't wait for the next one.

The TPT Charity for Bad Beat on Cancer

2009-08-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

I make no secret about how cancer has touched my life. My wife Traci was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, caught at stage 4 just over 6 years ago. The softball sized tumor had settled neatly near her lungs, and was making it difficult to breathe.

The early detection of the cancer allowed for her doctors to treat the tumor aggressively. They attacked it with chemo that placed her within inches of death, obliterating her immune system, and making her susceptible to practically everything. But she survived. The tumor shrunk to virtually nothing, and a bone marrow transplant removed all the cancer in her bone marrow, to where she now lives cancer free. This happened about 6 1/2 years ago.

However, the bone marrow transplant did not go without complication, because there was not a perfect match for Traci. After a search through the bone marrow registry, doctors were able to get as close as match as possible (a 5 out of a possible 6, and a further check would reveal an 11 out of a possible 12 - as close as you could get). Because it wasn't a prefect match there were some side affects that she continues to struggle today. Traci is currently afflicted with a condition called Graph vs. Host disease. In Traci's case, her skin never really fully accepted the new bone marrow from her donor, and even today, her body fights this new marrow by attacking her own skin. It has caused a great number of issues with her skin including loss of elasticity of her skin. Subsequently, Traci has has lost of motor function in her right arm at the elbow joint, and both of her legs at the knee and ankle. This has rendered her incapable of walking within the last year.

Traci's case of GVH had grown even more severe as her body continued to attack her skin to such a degree that the skin began to tear and opens up. In her legs, her top skin has been wounded so deeply, that most of the skin below her knees eroded, leaving behind an open wound. These wounds on her legs are dressed by her physicians and changed weekly under conscious sedation, and are the main source of her pain. It is a constant reminder of the cancer that once was.

We do still hold onto the hope that healing will eventually take place, and that the worst of it is all behind us. Over the last year, while it has been a consistent battle, there have been improvements and things to rejoice over. Traci's body has showed the ability to regenerate new skin over her sores, which means that her body isn't damaged beyond repair by the GVH. But the healing process is painfully slow, and we don't know when it will be complete. But we hope it will, and we hope for it soon.

Much of Traci's existence today can be attributed to the early detection of her disease. Cancer is different for everyone, and every case of cancer has a different tale to tell. Ours is one of victory. I am so blessed to have Traci be a part of my life. To have her beside me is a great honor. She has a spirit of life and appreciation for all the little things that exudes happiness and joy that is unparalleled. It's infectious.

Mixing my passion for poker and my detest for Cancer, the members of our homegame (Team7Deuce) have partnered with the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and taken the 1% Pledge to Put a Bad Beat on Cancer (http://www.preventcancer.org/). This charity works diligently in the early detection of cancer, and preventing cancer from becoming a life threatening disease.

I am proud to have worked with the Twitter Poker Tour in putting together the TPT Charity for BBoC, in which fellow poker players can play poker together and raise money for this great charity. The tournament is today, August 9th at 6:15 EST/3:15 PST, and will be held on Full Tilt Poker. The buy in is only $10 with half of the proceeds going to put a Bad Beat on Cancer. The tournament ID# is 99488653 and the password is TPTFORBBOC. Professional Poker Players Andy Bloch, Rafe Furst, and a freind of Pablosplace; Lee Childs have all joined the tournament. You can test your poker skills by playing against some of the best poker players in the game, and in doing so, give money back to this great charity.

On behalf of my family, my friends, and everyone whose life is touched by this brutal disease, I want to thank you in advance for participating in this tournament, and helping us fight cancer. Through your charity, I hope that others might be able to experience the joy of life that winning the battle against cancer can bring.

Twice as Nice

2009-08-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last night saw 8 players take the action at the felt at the home game, and it was a similar story for Jordan who took down his 2nd First Place Finish in as many weeks. Jordan mixed a very patient early play, with a tight aggressive strategy late to chip up huge, and never looked back.

In the end, Janeth was the first player to be eliminated, followed by myself, and then by Jay. Tim would be the next to go on a hand that was really the swing hand of the night.

From early position Robert opened with a min raise, and Jordan re-raised in a 3 bet. Tim came over the top all in, and Robert let it go. Jordan found himself priced to call and made the chip commitment for virtually all of his chips and tabled AKos to Tim's QQ. The anticipation didn't last long, as the flip proved to be a big advantage for Jordan when a K hit the flop. No help for Tim on the turn or river meant that he was sent to the rail, as Jordan had him covered by a mere 6 chips.

That big pot gave Jordan a huge chip advantage, and when Andrew left in 4th, and Traci in 3rd, it left him large stacked against Robert heads up.

The final hand played out with all the money going in on the turn card with the board reading Qd-Jd-Ac-As. Robert made the shove, and Jordan made the easy call tabling Ad-9d for the winning set and having Robert drawing dead with Jh-8h. The river fell the meaningless 4s and Jordan took down is 2nd Pablosplace title in as many weeks.

Next week looks good to go, so we'll see you all here.

Last Night's TPT

2009-08-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been running well in tournaments the last week or so. For some reason, I've been running really good in the ring games, but tourney's I've just run dry. Last night was no exception.

I couldn't really get anything going early in the TPT, and then I was bounced in 15th after getting crippled on a bad move. I called from middle position with 4-4 after a player open min raised. The button and both blinds came along, and the flop came out 2-3-5. Action checked around to me, and I simply checked, which is where I think I made the biggest mistake in this hand. The button checked as well, and we all saw a turn card of a 7. This time, when action was checked back to me, I opened it up for about 1/3 the pot, and the button and SB folded. But the BB shoved all in. It was folded back to me for most of my stack and I went with a read that said he was on AK. I was wrong, and my opponent tabled 77 for top set. I was crushed, had a few outs, but the board bricked out and I was crippled down to 460 chips.

Two hands later I got it all in with Qh-Jh from early position, and had one raiser. Action folded around and I was heads up against 7-7. The board held up for the pair of 7's and I was eliminated.

I'm not really sure yet as to why it is that I've been running so good on the cash games, but so bad in the tourney's. I'll have to take a look at some of my plays through my hand history's and see if I can put it all together.

Tonight is the home game at Pablosplace. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with the gang. Cheers, P

November 9 Spotlight - Darvin Moon

2009-08-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Darvin Moon is from Oakland, MD, and is the chip leader of the “November Nine” with an astonishing 58.93 million in chips – just under a third of the chips in play. Moon has held the lead of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event since Day Six. The 45-year-old logger from western Maryland is a longtime poker player who learned the game at the feet of his grandfather.

Moon started in poker by playing Seven Card Stud with his grandfather and never even picked up Texas Hold’em until about three years ago. He played in tournaments around the Maryland area that were fundraisers for local fire departments and other charitable organizations. Little did Darvin know that poker would lead him to the 2009 WSOP Main Event, let alone the final table or the chip lead.

Moon played in a $130 buy in tournament in Wheeling, WV and won the event, with the prize for winning either $10,000 or the buy in to the WSOP Main Event. After a great deal of deliberation, Moon chose to take his shot at the WSOP and has been steamrolling anyone who gets in his path. In his eight days of play at the Rio, he never once had all of his chips in the center and has been able to defeat some of the toughest players in poker on the way to the “November Nine.” With his chip stack and tight playing style it will be difficult to root him out of the Number One position. Darvin once said during play that, “…I had pocket kings one time and the other guy pushed all in over the top of me. I just mucked my hand pre-flop. I mean, he has to have aces. What else can he have?”

Darvin Moon is enjoying his ride as chip leader of the “November Nine.” He commented during the play at the 2009 World Series, “I got my goals set. It’s not first. But it’s not ninth, either. I’ll be happy. I don’t care if I go out on the first hand tomorrow. I’ve had fun. It’s been worth every minute of it. I just like to play, and it’s unreal. It’s something I can’t even dream of doing, and here I am.”

November 9 Spotlight - Eric Buchman

2009-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Eric Buchman, is 29 years old and hails from Valley Stream, New York. He will enter the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event with 34.8 million in chips; second only to Darvin Moon. Although the $1,263,602 that is guaranteed to each of the November 9 will be by far Buchman’s largest tournament cash, he has been excelling on the tournament circuit since 2002 and has amassed more than $900,000 in career tournament earnings. Buchman’s notable results prior to the 2009 Main Event are a win in the 2004 New England Poker Classic that netted him $275,400, a second place finish in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em bracelet event in the 2006 WSOP for $174,938, and another runners-up effort in the $5,000 buy-in Main Event at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Atlantic City, worth another $208,666.

Including the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Eric Buchman now has 10 career World Series of Poker cashes, making him the third most accomplished player at the final table, behind Jeff Shulman, and Phil Ivey.

Buchman was involved in one of the more interesting hands on Day 7 of the Main Event. Shortly after the dinner break with the blinds at $50,000-$100,000 and a $10,000 ante, Eric Buchman opted against a standard opening raise and decided to move all-in with Ace-10 of hearts for just over 3 million; a massive over bet of the pot. However, his attempted steal was unsuccessful when Jonathan Tamayo decided to make a stand with his pair of Jacks. At risk for his tournament life, Buchman needed a bit of good fortune to extend his run in the Main Event. The flop came down a perfect 9h-7h-2h, giving Buchman the nut flush and a crucial double up to over 6 million chips. Buchman never looked back, ending Day 7 with just over 10 million.

On Day 8, Buchman used the moral support of his family and his 8 years of experience in professional poker to chip away at the remaining players, more than tripling his stack before the end of play without many large confrontations. When the final table resumes, there is no question that Eric Buchman has a dangerous combination of poker wits, and chips that will make him a serious contender for the 2009 WSOP Main Event bracelet; the most coveted piece of hardware in Poker.

November 9 Spotlight - Steve Begleiter

2009-08-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

The pressure of the main-event final table might get to some people, but one man who will likely be unfazed by that pressure is Steven Begleiter, someone who has experienced the intense thrills of success and the deep pains of failure, and not only at the poker table. Begleiter witnessed firsthand the epic rise and fall of Bear Stearns, the global investment banks and securities trading and brokerage firms.

“If you look through the old Bears Stearns annual reports, you’ll see my picture in them,” said Begleiter, who worked for the firm for 24 years, the last nine of them as the head of corporate strategy. “And if you read some of the books that come out about the demise of Bear Stearns, you’ll see my name in them.”

Begleiter, the 47-year-old father of three from New York, admits that things didn’t end well at his last job. The giant firm collapsed last year after federal aid couldn’t keep it afloat, eventually being sold to JP Morgan in the midst of a looming economic crisis.

“I was there the day we were sold to JP Morgan last year,” said Begleiter. “I did well there, but obviously it didn’t end well.” Still, Begleiter remains an ardent supporter of his colleagues, saying that he has “nothing bad to say about anybody” and that he “worked with a great group of people.”

Now, at the final table of the biggest poker tournament of the year, he hopes to make them proud. “One of the real legacies we can create for the firm is that of all of us who spread out to do other things, people have really succeeded. Now, I don’t want to make a big deal out of making the final table, I mean, it’s just poker,” said Begleiter, “but I think it’s emblematic of what people from Bear Stearns will be doing in other areas over the next few years.”

Begleiter now works as a principal in a private equity firm, “a dream job” that he has had since last August. He said that his new colleagues had no idea he was going to play in the main event. Begleiter didn’t tell too many people because he thought he’d be in Las Vegas for Fourth of July weekend, and then be back home in time for work.

Fortunately for him, that didn’t happen. “I basically disappeared. I wasn’t going to miss any work if I didn’t make it through day 1,” said Begleiter. “But I started showing up in blogs, and people were like, ‘Doesn’t this guy work with you?’” He says his new company has been “phenomenal and supportive” while cheering him on in the main event.

Begleiter first learned how to play poker from his father as he watched over his shoulder when he was just a boy. He made his WSOP main-event debut last year using $5,000 of his winnings from a local poker league and $5,000 of his own money to participate in the event. Although he didn’t cash in the event, he had a great time.

This year, he won $10,000 from the league and headed back to Vegas for a second try. This year’s attempt went just a little bit better. With nine people left, Begleiter finds himself in fantastic position to contend for the world championship. He is third in chips with just under 30 million.

But more than the money, more than even a chance to be called a world champion, what Begleiter really wants to do is celebrate this accomplishment with his wife Karen and three children, aged between 11 and 16.

“You know, when you’re a teenager, you look at your parents like, ‘Who are these idiots?’ when they’re telling you what to do. I just want to see the look on their faces when it sinks in that their dad actually made the final table,” said Begleiter. “Of course, their dad is an idiot, but at least he made the final table.”

November 9 Spotlight - Jeff Shulman

2009-08-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Editor of CardPlayer Magazine, Jeff Shulman resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He’s 34 years-old and is no stranger to Main Event Final Tables. In 2000, Jeff finished seventh in the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event, banking $146,000 when he was just 25. That tournament was ultimately won by Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, who firmly entrenched himself as one of poker’s top stars. This time, Shulman looks to make a much deeper run, and add Poker’s most prestigious bracelet to his already impressive collection of tournament cashes. Though, the bracelet may not be very important to Jeff.

Immediately following the final elimination in July of the Main Event, Shulman ignited controversy by claiming that if he won he might “toss out” the tournament’s celebratory bracelet instead of wearing it. Many in the industry speculated that Shulman’s comments stemmed from the fact that Bluff, not CardPlayer, received media rights to the WSOP. However, Shulman retorted to reporters, “It’s my lack of respect for the WSOP and the management and what they’ve done to all of the players. I don’t like it.”

Shulman’s comments have polarized the attitudes towards the Nevada native among those in the industry. Some have inquired why the CardPlayer Magazine Editor entered the tournament, while others have questioned whether he should return to the Rio in November for the final table of the Main Event. He has since formulated alternatives to trashing the bracelet, including auctioning it off for charity, holding a tournament for players shut out of the 2009 Main Event and awarding the bracelet to its winner, and giving the piece of hardware away on Spade Club, CardPlayer’s subscription-based online poker site.

Shulman’s last final table appearance at a WSOP event prior to the 2009 Main Event came in 2005, when he finished seventh in a $5,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament for $50,000. Shulman finished 12th in the Season III World Poker Tour Championship, taking home $94,000, and owns nearly $400,000 in career earnings on the WPT circuit.

He’s the son of CardPlayer owner Barry Shulman and has become one of the most influential figures in the industry. Shulman’s nonchalant attitude is in stark contrast to the serious nature of most poker players. When asked if this easy-going mantra gives him an advantage over other players in the game, Shulman candidly explained to reporters gathered around him at the WSOP, “I feel like I’m on Adderall and everyone else is on Xanax.”

CardPlayer is one of the world’s premier poker magazines and has over 20,000 subscribers. Besides its American version, Shulman and company produce CardPlayer Europe, which distributes nearly 13,000 copies across 40 countries. CardPlayer features live coverage of top tournaments around the world, including WPT events.

Shulman will enter the November 9 final table 4th in chips with just under 20 million to his credit, and will certainly be a difficult player to send to the rail.

Tim's Birthday Poker

2009-07-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Night, the group got together at BJ's Brewery for some dinner to celebrate Tim's turning yet another year older. It was a fun time, with some great grub and some great fellowship.

After the meal, we headed back to my place for some poker action. In all, we were 7 handed. The play started out pretty fast, and included both Tim and I having to exercise our re-buy options relatively early (Tim a few times, although once he got really unlucky when I called his pre-flop all-in with 44. He showed 77 and I flopped a set of 4's to bust him).

In the end, once the re-buy period was over, Tim was the first player to exit. Chris would follow him, and Amber shortly after. Amber was clearly under the weather, and committed the last of her chips on a Q high board, but I made the call with KK and had her Q4 dominated. The turn and river offered her no improvement, and she was eliminated in 5th.

4 handed action lasted a few hours as Jay, Cherice, Traci and I were all relatively similarly stacked, though I believe that Traci began with the most chips, and Cherice near as many, and Jay and I were slightly shorter. We played really great poker, but it was very conservative for the most part. A lot of preflop raises to steal the blinds, with occasional continuation bets on the flop to scoop relatively smallish pots. I was able to chip up quite nicely to a decent stack, and a relatively comfortable chip lead.

Jay would be the 1st of our foursome to go out committing the last of his chips short stacked and just coming out behind. And 3 handed action commenced, and went about another hour. The first all in and call happened with the board showing Ks-Js-7c-2h. Traci made the move all in and I was faced with a very tough decision holding As-2s. It wasn't that much more to make the call, but I really didn't have a great read on her. Based on implied and pot odds, I went against my gut, and made the call hoping to hit the river. Traci tossed over 2-2 for the turned set, and the river bricked out doubling her up.

Shortly there after, I would steal a couple more blinds, and then play back at Cherice to get the rest of her chips in the middle on the turn. I had made a standard pre-flop bet of 3 times with K9, and Cherice came along. The flop came K high, and I made a continuation bet of another 30, and Cherice again made the call. The turn came with a 9, and I moved all in, Cherice committed the remainder of her chips with an Ace high, and I raked a good pot to take a sizable chip advantage to heads up.

Heads up with Traci lasted only two hands, when I got Traci to commit all of her chips after turning a straight. She called with middle pair, and the evening was over. It was the second win for me in as many nights.

Next Friday looks good to go for the home game, so we'll be a go at the same time as usual. See ya then. - Cheers, P

November 9 Spotlight - Joe Cada

2009-07-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Like many young aspiring poker pros, Joe Cada realized that college wasn't for him. The Shelby Township, Michigan native took the leap toward becoming a professional poker player shortly after beginning classes at Macomb Community College. And while most dropouts find the transition difficult, Cada's decision to leave school turned out to be the most lucrative of his young life. A short time later, he became a member of the 2009 World Series of Poker November Nine.

A cash game specialist, Cada took a stab at his first ever World Series of Poker this year after turning 21 last year. he cashed twice before the Main Event, taking 64th in Event #13 ($2,500 No Limit Hold'em) for $6,681, and then 17th in Event #34 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) for $21m533. Once among the chip leaders of Event #34, Cada was eliminated by the 2009 WPT Player of the Year, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier when Grospellier spiked a two-outer on the river against him.

Joe will enter the final table fifth in chips with just over 13 Million. He made a big move on Day 8, doubling his stack despite having his pocket aces cracked by the pocket tens of Jamie Robbins after all the chips went in pre-flop. That 3.5 million chip pot would have given Joe more ammunition to fire at his table mates, but it certainly didn't prevent him from attacking any more. Cada was easily the most active player at his table and even played back at Phil Ivey several times as the final table approached.

Joe is a risk taker, and will likely be one of the players to move quickly in this tournament. Hopefully, Joe can continue to move UP in chips. But one thing is for certain, Joe will see his share of the action.

November 9 Spotlight - Kevin Schaffel

2009-07-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Kevin Schaffel is from Coral Springs, FL, and is the oldest member of the 2009 "November 9" at 51 years of age. He currently sits among the middle of the pack, 6th in chips with a little over 12 million.

A divorced father of two college aged children, Schaffel owned and operated several businesses prior to taking up poker and his run at the 2009 WSOP Main Event. In 2006, after putting his printing and direct mail businesses on the shelf because of a downturn, Shaffel increased the number of poker tournaments that he played, and began moving around the country chasing the poker circuit. While his name is not immediately recognizable to the casual poker fan, Schaffel actually has had a grea deal of success in the WSOP Main Event.

In the 2004 Main Event, Schaffel would exit in 42nd place for$60,000. In 2008, Schaffel would again cash in the Main Event, finising 324th for a $32,166 pay day. Kevin also has cashes in the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and two World Poker Tour Events, including a 5th place finish in the 2007 Legends of Poker $5,000 buy in event, which brought Kevin $21,375. In all, Schaffel has earned more than $1.4 million at the tables, including his payout for being a member of the "November Nine."

Kevin will be sponsored by PokerStars when the Final Table resumes in November.

November 9 Spotlight - Phil Ivey

2009-07-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

It's hard to build up a poker player as accomplished as Phil Ivey. When he enters the Amazon Room and sits at the WSOP Main Event Final Table in November, Phil will easily have the most poker experience. Ivey's been on Poker's Biggest stage for years, and has so many success stories, it's hard to say what the best ones are. You can make a case that Phil is not only the best poker player alive (some would argue that to be true - and I agree that he has to be in that discussion), but some may say (and I don't think that they're off base) that Ivey is perhaps the greatest poker player to have ever played the game. He is that good. A win at this main event would only add to a collection of impressive poker accomplishments.

Phil is a professional poker player who plays online at Full Tilt Poker, and I went there to read up on his bio. What I came accross just continued to surprise me the more that I read. I wanted to share with you the bio on Full Tilt, because it does an excellent job on capturing the tournament poker accomplishments of Ivey (much better than I ever could have done). So, enjoy:

Raised in New Jersey, Phil's poker career began in Atlantic City. he made his name as a high stakes player before moving on to the live tournament circuit in 2000. It was then, at the age of 23, Phil won his first World Series of Poker title - beating Phil Hellmuth and Amarillo Slim in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event.

2002 saw Ivey claim 3 more WSOP bracelets, winning the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud, $2,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo and $2,000 SHOE events. Over the next couple of years, his success continued with wins in a World Poker Open event, two Bellagio and two Commerce events. In addition to these performances, he also made several WPT final tables - impressive results for a player only 25 years of age.

In 2005, Phil earned his 5th WSOP bracelet in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event, and made two more WPT final tables. He finished 2nd in the WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, before winning the Monte Carlo Millions tournament for $1 million in prize money. Phil then went on to win a further $600,000 just 24 hours late, with a first-place finish at "The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo."

In January 2006, Phil was named Player of the Year by the UK Gaming awards, "Bluff Magazine" and "All In Magazine." His incredible run continued at the 2006 WSOP, with a 2nd place finish in the $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event and a 3rd place finish in the $50k HORSE event, winning over $800k in total. He also increased his reputation through the heads-up Phil Ivey vs. Andy Beal challenge, where he won over $16 million in just three days by playing against the poker billionaire.

The following year, Phil won the "Earphones Please" episode of "Poker After Dark" for $130k before making the final table in the 2007 WSOP $5k HORSE event. In 2008, Phil made his 8th appearance at the WPT Championships, where he won his first ever WPT title and landed in the top ten on the all-time tournament money list.

In 2009, Phil has proven himself as one of the greatest players of all time by winning two more WSOP Bracelets and by making it to the final table of the Main Event.

His 6th gold bracelet came in the $2.5k No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event when he bested a field of 147 entrants, including some of the world's top poker players, for more than $96k. He won his 7th bracelet in the $2.5k Omaha/Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo event for over $220k in prize money, a victory which ties Phil in fourth place with Billy Baxter for All-Time Bracelet wins.

In November, Phil will be looking for his third bracelet of the year and his first Main Event win when he sits down at the Main Event final table. Coming to the table with 9.8 million chips, Phil is guaranteed to add a minimum of $1.26 million to his career tournament earnings as a member of the "November Nine." To date, he has cashed in 36 WSOP events and accrued over $10.8 million in career tournament earnings.

Ask anyone who knows even a little about poker, and Phil Ivey will be the answer as the favorite to win this event.

Took down the home game

2009-07-25T09:09:00.001-07:00

I must be playing some pretty good poker lately, as last night I was able to take down the home game again. We had 11 players to start, which meant that we again had to play with two tables. These are my favorite games because for me, more people simply equals more fun.

I started off play just completely cold. I played basically two pots, and committed little chips to them as neither of them really panned out for me (AK from the button lost to a 4 flush - and Kd-Td from the CO was re-raised all in, so I let it go). But apparently tight was right, as Janeth went out in 11th, and Jay in 10th - we re-drew our seats to complete a final table.

I opened with a flurry as I began in the SB with AA at 3/6 blinds. Robert 3 bet the pot, and Traci moved all in from the button for her last 34. I thought about the best way to get Robert's chips and then decided that 18 was nice, 34 of Traci's was better, and I moved all in to isolate. Everyone else folded, and Traci tabled JJ. The Aces held, and I began chipping up with a finally healthy stack.

Becky would be the next to exit in 9th place as she would get the remaining 8 chips she had in the middle with K9, but ran into Robert's Ace high. Chris would exit to Robert as well in 7th. Cherice would exit in 6th having played wonderfully. She moved with K9 as well, and got called by A8 of Robert. The flop came out A-K-J, which gave some hope to Cherice as she hit at least a pair, and the turn 9 gave her two and the lead. But the river 8 gave Robert a better 2 pair, and her night was done.

With 5 left, Robert would be the next to exit when I felted him with 88 vs. KQ. I raised pre-flop and he made the call. The board came out 9-4-4, and Robert moved all in. I made the call putting him on two overs, and ended up having him covered. The board ran out with two under's and my pair was enough to take that large pot. 4th place went to Brian who committed the last of his stack on the river with the board reading Q-2-T-9-2. I made the call with AA, and they were good.

3 handed, I was able to eliminate Jordan. I had the big stack, and I limped from the small blind with 5d-4d and the flop came out 6c-8d-9c. I checked, and Jordan checked behind. The turn was a 3d and I bet the minimum 10, and Jordan just called. The river was the Kd and I bet out 20, Jordan moved all in and I called with my flush. He showed T-7 for the flopped straight, and exited after the runner-runner flush.

Heads up, I commanded a huge chip advantage of about 900 to 200, and it actually went back and forth pretty well for the first 15 hands or so. The final hand played out with me having Kd-4d on the button, and opening to 30, Tim made the call. The flop came out J high with Jd-4d-Th. I checked and Tim checked as well. The turn was the 9h, and I again checked. Tim bet 50 which left him with only 60 or so behind, and I thought for a while deciding that I was getting too good of implied odds to fold, and just called. The river brought the Qc, and Tim moved all in. I called with my K high straight, and Tim tabled a pair of J's to be eliminated in 2nd.

It was a fun night of poker, and I'm glad that we had such a great turnout. Tonight, we're going out for Tim's birthday, and then likely coming back for some more home game action. Cheers, Paul

November 9 - Antoine Saout

2009-07-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

In recent history, the World Series of Poker Main Events have been a stage where relative unknown poker players have placed their untapped skills on the worlds largest poker stage, and emerged from an unknown player to a multi-millionaire superstar. Since Chris Moneymaker won the prize of World Champion in 2003, it has become the popular trend to qualify for the Main Event through small online satellites with low buy-ins, and parlay that into a mega bucks. Such is the case for Antoine Saout.

The 25-year old Frenchman from Saint Martin des Champs, is playing in his first ever World Series and has no documented live poker cashes or experience. Saout started playing poker approximately eighteen months ago and won his seat to the 2009 WSOP Main Event on the Internet through a $50 satellite on Everest Poker (http://www.everestpoker.com/). In fact, many on the site are now sharing in the success that Saout is enjoying. Thanks to Saout's breakthrough of being an Everest Poker player who made it to the "November Nine," 51 players have earned a share of $1 Million, which breaks down to roughly $19,000 per person.

Antoine Saout has had potentially the toughest road to earning his way to the "November Nine" final table. For the final three days of playing the 2009 Main Event, he was in the unenviable position of being on the left of fellow "November 9" combatant Phil Ivey. Saout sits on one of the shortest stacks at the final table with only 9.5 million chips, but he does have history one his side. Should Saout chip up to an eventual win, I believe that this would be tremendous for poker as it would place the Chris Moneymaker effect back in action. The year after Moneymaker took home the big prize on his $50 sattelite, poker exploded! I would expect to see the same effect if Saout were to do the same.

Shipping the TPT

2009-07-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Last night's Twitter Poker Tour turned out a successful venture for me as I took down the TPT for my first time. I've won the TPTE event before, but this was my first win in the TPT after several previous cashes.

I was awe struck when I'd received a message that Lee Childs had joined the TPT for the evening, and opened his table to watch how he attacked the field. In the beginning, he was extremely aggressive as there were 28 players, and 4 tables. So with the action being shorter, Lee attacked often, and picked up some very good pots to chip to one of the leaders.

Then his table was moved as we consolidated to 3 tables, and he tightened up to some degree. @Kingsteve was at his table and chipped up huge, and would remain that way until 3 handed.

On my table, I was playing solid poker for the most part, and made one costly mistake early. With QQ, I opened for a min raise from early position. The flop came out harmless 7-4-2, and I opened for half pot sized bet. I got a call, and a raise behind me, and I re-raised. A fold then a shove, and I had a decision to make. There were 2 spades on the board, and I put my opponent on a flush or straight draw, having him covered. I made the call, and he tossed over 7-7 for the winning set. That one hurt a lot, as my 3000 starting stack had dwindled to around 800.

I would fall to under 700 when I was able to get things into gear. Blinds were still low enough that even though I was short, I could make some moves. I shoved with T-T at one point, and doubled my stack in a flip after the flop. I then called a pre-flop shove with AK after making a solid read, and my opponent tabled AT. That one took me to almost 2k. I would take some small pots, and then have a stack over 3k.

Then my big pot came with two tables left. I had AQ in the SB, and I was able to see a flop with 5 other players just by limping. The flop came Q-9-9, and I felt that I was best. I checked it to see what other players did, and an early position player opened, and was raised by a middle position player. I called, as did the early position player, so 3 of us saw the turn. It was harmless so I led out with a bet of 3/4 pot. The early position player called, and then the middle position player raiser went all in. I made the call, the EP player folded, and we showed our cards. My AQ was in great shape against KQ. The river blanked, my kicker played, and I chipped up to over 10k with that pot.

I rode that stack to the final table, where I played my best poker. I was involved in a lot of pots, and got the best of the ones that I was in most of the time. I didn't have spectaculr cards, but I used position and solid bets to chip up. I moved when I made my hands, and it worked.

Lee childs would eventually go out in 7th place moving his last 4k with 77, and getting called by another middle pair (I believe it was 99).

I had chipped up to about 35k when we'd made it to 3 handed poker having @Kingsteve covered by only 80 chips, when the big hand of the night came in. I woke up in the BB with QQ, and Steve had made a pre-flop 3 bet from the button. I min-raised him, and he 3-bet me. I shoved my stack and he made the call with AJ. The Q's held and elminated in Steve in one giant pot, where I would take a 75k to 9k lead into heads up. From there, I controled action and took down the eventual win.

It was a fun tournament, and I am still in a little shock that I took it down to be honest. In looking back on my play, I really only made 2 mistakes, but got lucky on 1 of them. I moved with TT on a board of Q-8-5. This was after I'd re-raised pre-flop from the big blind and was called. My opponent said that they'd laid down JJ, which had they called, I would've busted. But the shove made them muck their hand, and I continued to chip up.

I had a blast, and now have a TPT title under my belt. Hopefully, I can continue this kind of play and end up the season on the top of the leaderboard.

November 9 spotlight - James Akenhead

2009-07-23T07:20:00.001-07:00

James Akenhead is a British Poker Pro and has just two World Series of Poker cashes to his name. Both of Akenhead's cashes came after deep runs on poker's biggest stage. James finishes as the runner-up to Grant Hinkle in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament during the 2008 WSOP, earning $520,000. he also took 39th in a 1,500 Euro buy-in No Limit Hold'em Event in the WSOP Europe festivities in London that year, taking home just over 3,000 Euros for the effort. James is a former railroad conductor who now competes on the green felts for a living.

Akenhead is a regular on the Grosvenor U.K. Poker Tour and finished 4th in the 888.com U.K. Open in 2008 after winning two preliminary heats. Akenhead is one of Britains top players, coming from a long line of pro's from the country including David 'Devilfish' Ulliot, Roland de Wofe, John Gale, and Liv Boeree. In July of 2007, James made his mark on U.S. soil winning a $1,000 event during the Bellagio Cup with a $41,000 prize. He's since cashed in tournaments around the world, including the United States, Bahamas, Germany, Ireland, and France.

James Akenhead is one of two non-U.S. players at the 2009 Main Event final table, joining Frenchman Antoine Saout. He's just 26 years-old and is the tournament's short stack. He'll likely have the support of poker's established pro's during the finale, who are looking to buck an ongoing trend of amateurs winning the Main Event.

Announcing the November 9

2009-07-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

Over the next 9 Days, I'll be posting player Bio's on each of the 9 members of the Final Table of the Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker. I think that it will be fun to get to know a little more about each of the players.

Here's the Schedule:

Day 1 - James Akenhead, 6.8m
Day 2 - Antoine Saout, 9.5m
Day 3 - Phil Ivey, 9.7m
Day 4 - Kevin Schaffel, 12.3m
Day 5 - Joseph Cada, 13.2m
Day 6 - Jeff Shulman, 19.5m
Day 7 - Steven Begleiter, 29.8m
Day 8 - Eric Buchman, 34.8m
Day 9 - Darvin Moon, Chip Leader, 58.9m

I hope you enjoy the content.

The Twitter Poker Tour Charity Tournament (Benefiting Bad Beat on Cancer)

2009-07-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to have worked on and put together a Charity Poker event with the Twitter Poker Tour to benefit Bad Beat on Cancer. this is a charity that is near to my heart as my wife Traci is a cancer survivor. The event will be hosted on Full Tilt Poker, and be on Sunday, August 9th at 6:15PM EST/(3:15PM PST). The Tournament Number is 99488653, and the password is TPTFOR BBOC. The buy in is only $10, with half of those proceeds going directly to the charity. There will be several top Full Tilt Poker Pro's attending, and the event is open to everyone.

I'm passionate about poker, and doubly passionate about the eradication of cancer. I think that it's impossible these days to not know someone who has been impacted by cancer. In our case, I would hope that no individual would ever have to endure what our family has had to endure, and that perhaps one day, we'll even discover a cure.

There are tons of wonderful charity's out there, and a bunch that are affiliated with cancer. But for me, The Prevent Cancer Foundation is the group that Pablosplace and Team7Deuce has joined with, and taken the 1% pledge to donate 1% of all of our tournament proceeds to charity.

I hope that every reader of Pablosplace, every member of Team7Deuce, and every member of the Twitter Poker Tour will join me in participating in this tournament, and in giving back to this worthwhile charity. I thank you in advance for your charity.

Paul

The November 9

2009-07-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Surviving a field of 6,494 player, 9 players will reconvene at the final table in November for a shot at $8.5 Million and the most illustrious prize in Poker History, a Main Event Championship Bracelet. Here are the final 9 Players, their Chip Counts, and their World Series of Poker Experience:

Darvin Moon – (58,930,000) CHIP LEADER – The beneficiary of two gigantic pots late, Moon has soared to the chip lead. He busted Bill Kopp in 11th place by flopping a better flush with Qd-Jd to Kopp’s 5d-3d, and won a pot worth about 45k. Then, he eliminated Jordan Smith in 10th place with 88 vs AA by flopping a set of 8’s, and getting Smith all in on the flop. This is Moon’s first ever tournament cash at the WSOP, and he's set himself up nicely to run very deep with almost twice as many chips as then closest player at the final table.

Eric Buchman – (34,800,000) – This makes double digit cashes for Eric Buchman as he has 9 previous WSOP Cashes, totaling $320,893 in tournament winnings. He also has 1 Circuit cash to the tune of $208,666. He is no stranger to final tables with 3 already under his belt (1 being that circuit event, the $5,000 buy in Atlantic City where he finished 2nd). He finished runner up in the 2006 WSOP in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event, and 6th in this year’s $2,500 buy in Omaha/Seven Card Stud HL/8 or better event. Eric is a professional poker player, and a force to be reckoned with as he sits 2nd in chips. He is very experienced.

Steven Begleiter – (29,885,000) – Another unknown in poker, Begleiter has also made this his first ever WSOP Cash. With just under 30 million chips, Steven is poised to make a very deep run.

Jeff Shulman – (19,580,000) - ‘Happy’ Shulman is another experienced player who is no stranger to the cash in the WSOP. With 15 career WSOP Tournament Cashes, and $289,551 in career earnings at the WSOP, Shulman is an experienced player. He was 4 other final table’s in the WSOP, but never finished better than 3rd. In 2000, he made only $500 in the Charity No Limit Hold’em event for that 3rd place finish. His biggest cash to date was that same year where he made the final table of the Main Event, but was eliminated in 7th place for $146,700. Things have changed at the main event since ‘Happy’ last took part in a final table, but look for him to use his prior experience to accumulate chips.

Joseph Cada – (13,215,000) – Cada had his first, second, and only cashes at this year’s WSOP. He placed 64th in Event 13 (the No Limit Hold’em $2,500 buy-in event) for $6,681, and he placed 17th in Event 34 (the $1,500 buy in No-Limit Hold’em) for $21,533. Joseph is being railed by the pro’s at Ultimate Bet, so expect names like Hellmuth, Duke, and Tiffany Michelle to be names along the rail if Joe is able to run deep.

Kevin Schaffel – (12,390,000) – This is Kevin’s second career WSOP cash, with the other coming in as a 324th place finish in last year’s Main Event. Schaffel picked up a payday of $32,166 for that performance.

Phil Ivey – (9,765,000) – The best player at this table is probably the best player in the world. Ivey is the 7 time bracelet winning monster that NO player at this table wants to get involved with. Despite the fact that he’s shorter on chips, the professional poker player is a regular to all high stakes games. He was the youngest player ever to attain 5 WSOP bracelets, and of his 7 previous victories, none have come in No Limit Hold’em. He has 35 WSOP Cashes, 22 of which came at Final Tables. Despite the fact that Ivey holds more than $3.4 million in career WSOP Tournament winnings, this will be his largest WSOP cash. Of the 6,494 players that entered the tournament, Ivey is considered one of the favorites by most, and at this final table, he has to be counted a favorite regardless of his chip size. Expect Ivey to use his experience to take some uncontested pots, simply because other players want to avoid him.

Antoine Saout – (9,500,000) – The Frenchman of the field is one of two non US players. Saout has made this final table his first WSOP cash, and hopes to make it the year that an international player takes it away from the Yanks. He’s got a long road to hoe if that’s the case as he’s sitting 8th of the 9 remaining players.

James Akenhead – (6,800,000) – The Brit comes into the Final Table with the fewest chips of the November 9, but is not without his WSOP final table experience. Akenhead has 2 other WSOP cashes to his credit, including a runner up in last year’s $1,500 buy in No Limit Hold’em Event #2. His 2nd place finish netted the Brit a sum of $520,219. Later that season at the WSOPE, James also placed 39th in the E1500 buy in event netting him 3075 Euro’s. Make no mistake, James is an excellent player, and very capable of doubling his stack to make this very competitive.

All 9 players are capable of putting together a run, and winning it all. It’s almost a shame that we have to wait till November to see who will be crowned the next champion. I’ll have a piece on each of the players with a little bit more bio information as we approach the main event. But for now, that’s all on the main event till November. Cheers, P

3 Tables Left in the 2009 Main Event

2009-07-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, day 7 of Event #57 drew to a close, and the massive field of 6,494 that began with hopes, dreams, and aspirations of becoming the next world champion of the main event were dashed by every player but for these final 27 players. 26 players will walk away with large cash prizes, but only 1 will go down in poker history with the title 'World Champion'.

Out chip leader for the moment is one, Darvin Moon; who in custom practice for the WSOP main event, has earned his first ever WSOP cash. He has no major tournament victories or cashes to speak of, and yet sits on a stack of more than 20 million, better than 4 million more than second place Billy Kopp.

But the real story of the 27 remaining players is that of the 11.7 Million of some guy named Phil Ivey. The 7 time bracelet winner is THRIVING in this years main event, and ask any player remaining, he is the player that you don’t want to tangle with. Ivey is in rare form even for his standards, dominating this Main Event field. He’s playing a different game this year than everyone else, and it has just been a higher level of poker than everyone.

The remaining 3 tables have two goals: First, to survive today’s carnage as 18 players will leave us, and we’ll be down to the final table. Make that table, and you’re guaranteed at least $1 million in cash earnings from the tournament, but sponsorships galore and poker infamy await the 9 players who will resume their play in November for the chance to become the next WSOP Main Event Champion. The second goal is to come out on top of that final table, and claim the ultimate prize of $8.5 million, and Champ.

Here is how the final 3 table’s will sit as we begin play today at noon.

(Table 1)
Jesse Haabak - 2,750,000
Ian Tavelli - 4,385,000
James Calderaro - 6,475,000
Jonathan Tamayo - 3,300,000
Warren Zackey - 5,485,000
Eric Buchman - 10,005,000
Leo Margets - 1,530,000 (the lone remaining female)
Tommy Vedes - 5,070,000
James Akenhead - 8,615,000

(Table 2)
Phil Ivey - 11,350,000
Jeff Shulman - 10,170,000
George Caragiorgas - 1,615,000
Nick Maimone - 1,545,000
Andrew Lichtenberger - 5,625,000
Marco Mattes - 5,285,000
Joseph Cada - 6,565,000
Darvin Moon - 20,160,000
Jordan Smith - 4,510,000

(Table 3)
Jamie Robbins - 9,795,000
Antonio Esfandiari - 4,470,000
Francois Balmigere - 1,440,000
Ludovic Lacay - 5,610,000
Steven Begleiter - 11,885,000
Ben Lamb - 9,410,000
Antoine Saout - 11,135,000
Kevin Schaffel - 11,245,000
Billy Kopp - 15,970,000

Later in the day, I will be sending out updates through twitter (http://www.twitter.com/pablosplace) from my @Pablosplace account. Feel free to follow the bust outs from there.

The 2nd Annual Seven Deuce Day Tournament

2009-07-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

There are 4 events that Team7Deuce makes a tradition, and the Seven Deuce Day Tournament is the only one that I would call a holiday. It was become tradition that every July 2nd, Team7Deuce don’s our team apparel and heads to a casino, to take our home game to the felt.

Last year’s tournament produced a single cash, as Andrew made a deep run and finished in the money. But this years Seven Deuce Day would produce two cashes, one a final table.

7 members of our group made it to the Bicycle Casino on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 for the 2nd Annual Seven Deuce Day tourney. Besides myself, Tim, Andrew, Jordan, Jay, Amber, and Chris were in attendance, and I think that we represented our group VERY well. The tournament started each player with 4,000 starting chips, and 20 minute levels, beginning at 25/25. 6 of us made it to the first break (which was 4 levels) with Jay making the first exit of our group slightly before the break.

And at the break, we actually were mostly just hanging in. Only Tim and Jordan were on the positive side of stacks, with Tim slightly over his starting stack, and Jordan chipping up to over 17k. I had played some really great poker in the first few levels to chip up to over 6k, but lost a big pot when I bluffed all in with 7-2os, and found one caller after the turn.

The hand played out (with 75-150 blinds) I raised from early position to 300, and found 3 callers. The flop came out 8-9-4 giving me a backdoor straight draw. I put my opponents on absolutely nothing having seen a few levels of play with each of them, and after the SB checked, I led out with 600. There was only one caller from the cutoff position, and we saw the turn of a rainbow T. I immediately moved my remaining 6k into the pot, and he made a quick call showing KJo. I praised him for his great read as the river fell blank with a 3, and he doubled his stack through me, as I dipped below 3k for the first time in the tournament. I had to question his logic by calling with K high, and a straight draw. He had said that he’d put me on AK, so I REALLY don’t get the call. But, he had the best hand. Although, I’d get the best of him in the end.

After the break, Chris would hit the rail quickly. I think I overheard him say that he was all in AT vs. AJ. That was enough to end his day about midway through the tournament. Amber would follow him shortly after that. My table broke with 8 tables remaining, and I was moved to seat 2 at Jordan’s table. I got lucky as my tournament life was spared and picked up some steam with an all in with 88 from early position. But I was called by KK and was in trouble. The Seven-Deuce magic kicked in though as an 8 hit the flop, and I sent my opponent to the rail while moving to around 10k by the time that I was pulled from that table to re-balance. With about 6 tables remaining, I saw that Jordan had hit the rail. He had just gone card dead, and the blinds and antes had just really eaten him alive.

Then, my big hand of the tournament came into play. I was playing very solid poker, and had chipped up to around 20k, when I woke up with AA in the SB. A middle position player (whom I’ve played with before and identified him as the most solid player at my table) limped in, and found a caller from the hi-jack seat. But the button looked down at his cards and immediately announced all in. I asked for a count, and it was just under 15k. I moved my 20k in, and the other two players folding (the one that I thought to be a good player showed A9os). When cards were turned up, the button seat showed Ks-Ts. I had him crushed with my Aces, until the flop came out K-T-K. The flopped boat was devastating because there was only 1 remaining Ace in the deck. But as fate would have it, Seven Deuce Day was going to be lucky as the turn was the last Ace in the deck, and my boat was better. The river was a J, and I moved to over 37k on that hand, and had a sizeable chip advantage at my table.

But things went south for me from that point, and I couldn’t catch any cards. I went card dead for about 90 minutes, until I busted. I was still healthy at the bubble with about 25k, and noticed that Andrew had gone out just before the bubble burst. He would hit the rail in 30th place, and only 27 players would get paid.

Things continued to head south for me as the blinds went to 2000-4000 with a 500 ante, and I had chipped down to about 14k. I was in the cutoff seat when I looked down at KQo and figured it was time to make a move. I pushed all in, and found a caller who tossed over AA, and my day was done in 15th place. I was very happy with the way that I’d played. I got unlucky once, and lucky once, and played great the remainder of the day. It was a good tournament.

The final player from our team still in the running was Tim, and he was also holding onto around 14k. He never really chipped up very big though, but somehow managed to survive a couple of all in’s shortstacked, and found his way to 1 table. With ten players remaining, about 1/3 of his stack was gone through when he went through the blinds without seeing a flop. Then he placed 2 of his remaining 3k into the ante from the button, and folded. It was a good thing too as it allowed him to move up one more spot. With 7 players remaining, Tim committed his last 1k chip into the ante as the Blinds were 5k-10k with a 2k ante. In a three way all in (Tim was one of them) two players were eliminated. Tim’s A6 would not hold, and he was eliminated in 7th place. This was Tim’s 3rd final table, and second in a row. A great performance by him.

I want to thank everyone on Team7Deuce that made the day so incredible. It was a very fun day of poker with some amazing representation by our group. I’m looking forward to the next event, and hopefully, the next tournament win.

A month off of Blogging - Recap

2009-07-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away……I had a blog. Upon this blog, my intent was to share the home game results for Pablosplace and the games of Team7Deuce. That blog blossomed a little last year when I received some positive responses to my coverage of the WSOP. I also began including some items of my personal play for some additional content, and I would recap the play of the Twitter Poker Tour.

Then, I had a wedding, and a honeymoon, and then Traci had a hospital stay, and I made a Vegas run, and things just kept getting tossed by the wayside. All that to say that life has yet to resume to any form of normalcy until this morning, where I can once again write about life.

The week of the wedding was somewhat of a blur. There were so many little details to attend to, so many little items that needed personal attention, that I actually played very little poker. On Friday night, instead of playing poker, the guys and I left the rehearsal dinner and went to see ‘The Hangover.’ If you haven’t seen this movie yet, make plans now. It was one of the single most funny films I have ever seen. From the commercials, you would think that you’d seen it all. But in reality, it has so many unexpected plot twist, amazing lines, fantastic delivery, and a story that is completely and totally unique. All in all, it was one of the best films I’ve seen.

The morning of the wedding, Tim, Andrew, Brendan and I all headed down to the Pechanga Casino for their daily tournament, (A $20+5 buy in with a 1 time optional $3 add on). The tournament is somewhat of a donkament, and the structure is just completely insane. You start with 2500 chips, and the blinds double every 15 minutes, starting at 25/50. Within 60 minutes, the 25 chips are colored up. It’s really fast.

I would be the first of the group to go busto on the wedding day, on 300-600 blinds. I made a raise to 1800 after one limper had tossed chips in. Action folded back around to the guy who moved all in. I made the call with Ad-Qd and the tossed over K-To. He would flop a K and I’d be done as he just barely had me covered. An interesting play. I was out at about the midway point.
Andrew would follow me to the rail a few moments later. But Tim and Brendan decided to make deep runs, and both cashed in dramatic fashion. Andrew and I were sweating both of them as they were only a table apart, and Tim was growing very short stacked. From the big blind, Tim squeezed a 6-2os, and was nearly all in because of the blinds. The UTG player 3 bet, and the table folded. We encouraged Tim to play his 2 live cards, which turned out to be bad advice turned good. Tim made the call for the rest of his stack with his measly 6-2 and his opponent tossed over pocket tens. But as I said, we weren’t done, as the flop produced a deuce, and the turn another to give Tim’s set of deuces the win. We went beserk as did the casino, who I think was really pulling for Team7Deuce.

So much so, that the dealer informed Andrew and I that “your buddy is all in here, you want to come check it out?” And we headed over to see that Brendan had shoved with pocket 9’s and been called by the large stack who held pocket J’s. I made it to the table in time to quib “Oooh!! At least you still have 2 outs!!!” The dealer nearly lost his sides laughing so hard, as did the other players at the table. The flop came out with all overs, but didn’t improve either hand. The turn was a meaningless 6 giving Brendan one card. And wouldn’t you know, he hit his 2-outer on the river! The table exploded and cheered. Even the guy with J’s had to give Brendan a hand shake. The room just became electric as both our guys were getting closer to the money.

Tim would shortly after get involved in another big hand as a guy bluff raised with Jd-9d and Tim made the all in call with AQo. A third player went all in with 88 and the flop came out good for Tim as he’d flopped a Q, and took the 3-way pot. That gave him enough chips to cruise to the money. The bubble burst with Brendan very short stack, and Tim average stack. Brendan would finally leave the game in 17th, and Tim would make the Final Table, eventually going busto in 7th. It was an incredible start to an incredible day, as we made the 3 hour trek to Marina Del Rey to get me married. The party was incredible, and I was so happy about really every detail.
Traci and I left the following day for our honeymoon, a week long cruise to the Mexican Riviera. It was an unreal vacation, which included a little Parasailing in Cabo San Lucas, and much too much food throughout. A great trip from start to finish. However, when we returned, Traci had spiked a fever of 102, and had an elevated white cell count which indicated an infection of some kind, and was hospitalized. Between managing the kids and spending days at work, and nights at the hospital, blogging got tossed by the wayside. But with a week long stay and a healthy dose of antibiotics, the fever subsided, her stomach settled, and Traci came home.

This past weekend, Tim and I threw a shotgun bachelor party together for Robert, and we made a suicide run to Las Vegas. On our way, I was following the action through twitter as play had reached the money bubble at the main event. The bubble burst as we were traveling somewhere through Victorville, and we made the decision to start our party by railing at the main event at the Rio. The experience was one like no other I’d ever experience.

As we walked along the hallways, just outside of the Amazon room, I nudged Tim as we’d pass Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen. It suddenly became very real that we were at the World Series of Poker. Somehow, the giant banners didn’t kick that into gear for me. Seeing Men Nguyen meant that it was real. We walked into the Amazon room, and immediately saw that there was an all in and a call at the secondary Feature Table. Joe Hachem was had called a short stacked all in turning a straight, and his opponent tabled top pair to be eliminated. We watched this table for a little bit noticing that three seats to Joe’s right was reigning WSOP Main Event Champ Peter Eastgate, also with a good sized stack. We made our way around the room, just star struck. Mike Sexton (and sitting next to him was actor Lou Diamond Phillips), Kenny Tran, Joe Sebock, and then over to the Featured table where we saw Phil Ivey. We left that for a small bit and saw Phil Hellmuth standing up talking to a tournament official about something. It was unreal.

When we’d got there, play had about 5 minutes remaining on level 17 and the announcement came over the P.A. from Jack Effel that the players would finish that level, and be done for the day. So it turned out a good thing that we began our day there. We left with a couple minutes remaining in the level, and shortly after the announcement of the bust of Phil Hellmuth, who had moved all in on a board of J-T-X with AA, and two callers came along, on with J-T, and the other with 8-9. The 7 on the turn gave the player with the straight the large pot, and sent the Poker Brat to the rail, but having extended his personal record of the most cashes in WSOP history.

From there, we went to dinner at Stack in the Mirage. I had DM’d Lee Childs to see if he was interested in using our extra VIP pass to the VooDoo Lounge that evening, but he responded back that he was well chipped in the Deepstack event at the Venetian, and he likely wouldn’t be able to make it. So after dinner, we walked across the street to rail on Lee for a little. And when we did, we found that he wasn’t the only player there. There were about 90 or so players remaining, including WSOP Main Event Champions from 2002 Robert Varkonyi and 2006 Jamie Gold.

I went up to Lee while he wasn’t in the hand to say hello. He was amazing, and began recounting a hand he’d just been in where the his opponent check folded the flop to Lee’s aces. I gave him my card and wished him well, telling him that I hoped that given his stack, he wouldn’t be able to join us. And it turned out, that he was still alive when play stopped for the evening at around 2AM. It was a remarkable trip.

I left out a few tournaments that I’d played in, notably Seven Deuce Day, as I actually wrote a specific blog just for that one while Traci was in the hospital. It was easy to do as she was sleeping most of the time. And a few TPT tournaments, including the last one on Thursday where I again bubbled the cash in 5th place in the first Deepstack Tournament in the new Season 4 format. I really like the new format. I also left out a few homegames, and my bachelor party tournament which was an amazing time at the Pechanga with the guys. I’d last the longest of our group that day, going out in about 40th.

From here out though, it looks like things will return to some form of normalcy, and I can again begin to blog with some regularity. Thanks for baring with me through my silence, and I look forward to updating you regularly going forward. Cheers, Paul

WSOP Day 9 - 6 of 1, Half a dozen of the other

2009-06-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

Day number 9 of the 2009 World Series of Poker would bring another story for the history books, as two more champions were crowned. The most notable story had to be that of the 6th Bracelet of Poker legend, Phil Ivey. Ivey’s poker prowess is renowned throughout the poker world, and he is heralded by many as the greatest poker player to have ever lived. The owner of now 6 bracelets, Ivey is certainly more than deserving of being in the discussion.

Ivey took down Event #8, the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball No Limit Event, besting a field of 147 to claim the top prize, but the player that became the 146th elimination proved to be his toughest foe. John Monnette has yet to win a bracelet, and will have to settle for “he played amazing, but couldn’t best one of the greats.” For three and a half hours, these two players locked horns heads up. Monnette began with the chip lead, but Ivey would eventually take it from him, and held a giant 8 to 1 advantage. Then, Monnette would refuse to roll over, doubling up twice to take a similar lead. But Ivey would rebound and get a double himself, eventually squeeze a 3:2 lead, and get all the money in to claim the top prize. He didn’t take much time to relish in the victory, as he snapped a few quick photos with his new jewelry, and jetted over to take his seat in the $10,000 Mixed World Championship.

Here is how the final table was paid:

1st – Phil Ivey, Champion ($96,367)
2nd – John Monnette ($59,586)
3rd – Yan Chen ($38,891)
4th – Eric Kesselman ($26,757)
5th – Rodeen Telbi ($19,346)
6th – Raphael Zimmerman ($14,663)
7th – Elia Ahmadian ($11,627)

Congratulations to Phil Ivey, who now sees himself as tied for the 7th most bracelets of all time. I think that everyone is expecting Ivey to continue to climb that ladder.

In Event #7, the $1,500 Buy in No Limit Hold’em, 2791 players would enter the field, and Travis Johnson would best them all. He was the prominent figure throughout the day, and was on the right side of some big early pots against Michael Pesek and Gary Tang. He was able to ride that large stack to the final table, and play his way to an eventual Bracelet. Congratulations to Travis Johnson. Here’s how the final table paid out:

1st – Travis Johnson, Champion ($666,853)
2nd – Steve Karp ($414,116)
3rd – Michael Ciotola ($273,385)
4th – Mark Salinaro ($193,343)
5th – Craig McConville ($145,721)
6th – Brian McInnis ($116,234)
7th – Walter Wright ($97,985)
8th – Jim McLain ($87,013)
9th – Kam Low ($81,185)

This was Travis Johnson’s first cash as well as his first bracelet in his WSOP history. Congratulations to Travis.

A new rule at the WSOP dictates that play will end at 3AM. I think that it’s a good rule, as really there isn’t much need to continue to play till all eternity. But the trend has been set that instead of playing events down to the final table, we’re playing them just short of that, and then restarting the day in the afternoon. Such was the case for events # 9 and #10, as they will return 8 and 18 players respectively.

In Event # 9, the 6 max tournament has seen some brilliant, and some amazingly aggressive play. The final 8 remaining players and their chip counts are:

Charel Furey – 1,690,000
Bryce Yockey – 1,489,000
Carman Cavella – 1,059,000
Peter Gould – 780,000
Bryn Kenney – 656,000
Praz Bansi – 630,000
Ken Aldridge – 411,000
Manny Minaya – 339,000

One of these 8 men will emerge victorious for the next bracelet of the 40th WSOP.

In Event #10 the final elimination game more than an hour prior to the cutoff, so it was a welcomed sign. I think that eliminations will pick up as the day restarts. There are 2 players that have really pulled away from the rest of the field, Daniel Makowsky is the chip leader with 561,000 and Rami Boukai has 508,000. Between the two of these players, they account for nearly 30% of the chips in play. But in Omaha, it could really go any way.

The other two events in play saw action trimmed slightly. Event #11 will be back with 243 participants, of which 171 of them will make the money. There are still some big names left including the likes of T.J. Cloutier and Phil Hellmuth. The chip leader on the day is the very young Scott Hall with 144,000. There is still a lot of poker left in this event.

In Event #12, the chip leader emerged as a poker veteran. Daniel Negreanu is tops of the remaining 128 players of the $10,000 Mixed Game championship. But only 66 players hit the rail in play. This event has a number of top name pros still alive like Mike Matusow, Greg Raymer, John Juanda, and Phil Ivey who made it back in time to still be in the mix with a decent stack.

That’s about it from day 9. Events #13 and #14 also kick off today (#13 is the $2,500 buy in No Limit Hold’em event, and #14 is the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event). See you tomorrow.

WSOP Day 8 - Three Times the Charms

2009-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Day 8 produced three champions, Event #4 – Steve Sung, Event #5 – Jason Mercier, and Event #6 – Freddie Ellis. I couldn’t be more proud of Steve for this take down, and the way that he played, this may be the first of a couple pieces of jewelry that he’ll have to add to his collection.

In Event #4, Steve Sung would just flat out dominate the final table. It seemed that whenever there was a large pot brewing, Steve was right in the middle of it. He came here to play, and to win, and that’s exactly what he did. It started out rough for Sung, who began the day 2nd in chips, only to see the first few hours give him a terrible run. He was spewing chips around the table, and saw himself fall to under $1 million chips. He needed a re-bound, and re-bound he did. With a strong push over about 1 hour, Steve chipped up to our chip leader, eliminating 3 players en route to getting there. By the time 4 handed poker began, Steve was holding onto roughly 60% of the chips in play, and he’d never look back. In the Final hand, Steve held pocket K’s for the long awaited 1st bracelet of his career. I predict that it will be one of a few that he’ll have by the time his career is done. A special Pablosplace congratulations to Steve, who is a Pablosplace follower.

Here is how the final table played down, and the money won:

1st – Steve Sung, Champion ($771,338)
2nd – Pete Vilandos ($473,282)
3rd – James Matz III ($313,826)
4th – Larry Sidebotham ($227,253)
5th – Nathaniel Mullen ($175,851)
6th – Dan Heimiller ($145,009)
7th – Jeffrey Oakes ($126,612)
8th – Phong Huynh ($117,414)
9th – Daniel Fuhs ($114,167)

In Event #5, it was the Jason Mercier show. Day 1 of this event saw Mercier storm to a giant chip lead, and Jason would have to slow down some in day 2. But his giant stack was really able to carry him the entire way to the final table, where when we’d reach the last 9 players, Jason was 4th in Chips. But his experience really shined through as, eventual short stacks panicked and threw their chips around, Jason calmly side stepped the land mines, and took advantage of the good opportunities. When heads up play began, the stacks were relatively close between he and eventual runner up Steven Burkholder. But about 30 minutes in, Jason asserted himself, and took over the match completely. This was also Jason’s first bracelet, and his 5th overall cash in his WSOP career. But I love when one of the good guys of poker takes down a prize like this.

Here is how the final table finished out:

1st – Jason Mercier, Champion ($237,462)
2nd – Steven Burkholder ($146,748)
3rd – Kevin Iacofano ($96,128)
4th – Matt Giannetti ($66,544)
5th – Chris Biondino ($48,533)
6th – Jonathan Tare ($37,192)
7th – Dario Alioto ($29,881)
8th – An Tran ($25,122)
9th – Vic Park ($22,052)

Congratulations again to Jason Mercier.

In event #6, a World Champion was crowned. The $10,000 buy in events are really the pinnacle events of their related game, and the 7-Card Stud championship is a bracelet that any poker player would covet. This one would end up being shipped to the affable Freddie Ellis, who really controlled the rail, the media, and everyone else at the Rio, as he was able to use his jolly demeanor and overall pleasant attitude to win over the casino. Then he would use his cards to win the table that he was sitting at. It was a well played event by Freddie, who got the exact cards that he needed at exactly the right times that he needed them to take down this prize, his first bracelet as well. Here’s how the final 8 players finished:

1st – Freddie Ellis, Champion ($373,751)
2nd – Eric Drache ($231,013)
3rd – Ville Wahlbeck ($152,914)
4th – Max Pescatori ($107,958)
5th – Hasan Habib ($80,968)
6th – Ivan Schertzer ($64,297)
7th – Greg Mueller ($53,885)
8th – Tim Phan ($47,532)

Congratulations to the man who has the best last name in all of poker, Freddie Ellis (not that I’m biased).

The plan for Event #7 and Event #8 were to play down to the final table. And with 9:51 remaining on the clock in level 15, Event #8 was able to achieve that when Layne Flack busted in 8th place. Event #7 however, had different ideas.

In what began as a mass genocide, Event #7 started this day with a field of 337 remaining players, half of which would be gone by the dinner break. But players must have come back sleepy from the food, as play slowed to an absolute crawl. When play stopped at 3AM, 33 players removed themselves from their chairs, bagged their chips, and returned to their beds for some much needed rest. Play will resume again today at 1pm. Leading the pack at the moment with the largest stacks would be Steven Karp (990k), Jacob Kalb (950k), and Craig McConville (900k). But really, all of my hopefuls have fallen, including my main hopeful Lee Childs, who fell victim to the 2 outer. A pre-flop all in with QQ (or Fleapowder as it is more commonly known) was called by a player with JJ. The turn would deliver the dagger J, and Lee would leave much earlier than hoped for. I still think that there are a couple of final tables for Acumen53, and that this is only the first of many cashes for Childs.

In Event #8, the Deuce to Seven Lo-Ball tournament reached their final table. When play resumes today, here’s how the players will be stacked:

1 – John Monnette (259,000)
2 – Raphael Zimmerman (238,000)
3 – Yan Chen (159,000)
4 – Elia Ahmadian (136,900)
5 – Eric Kesselman (119,400)
6 – Phil Ivey (106,300)
7 – Rodeen Talebi (94,500)

The favorite to win this event has got to be Ivey, who despite being 6th in chips, is never out of a tournament until he has zero. Phil is also responsible of the best quote of the day, as he showed up casually late to the tournament, sat down and glanced at his cards awkwardly, and said “What game is this?” The players all laughed it up as the dealer informed him. He then commented “Where did all my chips go?” and the dealer had to explain about the add-on’s. Ivey replied “Oh, I want to re-buy.” And the dealer informed him that he’d have to wait till the hand was over. So Ivey raised that hand, and took the pot. Classic.

The other two events that got underway yesterday were Event #9 (the No-Limit Hold’em 6 Max tourney) and Event #10 (the Pot Limit Omaha Tourney). After ten levels of play, Event #9 came to an end with nearly 1,300 players failing to make it to day 2. Play was not surprisingly frantic as the stakes continue to grow as the pay scales move up faster and faster. 105 players will get underway today, as the intent is to play this event down to a final table. I don’t see that being much of an issue. The top 5 chip counts at the end of the day belonged to Doug Lee (200k), David Fox (175k), David Squires (170k), Ken Aldridge (135k), and Jeremiah Smith (131k).

And in Event #10, 104 players remain from the starting field of 453. They were only allowing players behind the ropes as the players bagged their chips, so I don’t really have any counts to report. But players that are still alive in this event include the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Alex Kravchenko, Hevad Khan, and Adam Levy (who survived the day with just 4,500 chips). I’ll be able to get more information on who’s left later today.

That’s a wrap from day 8. Today’s events under way will include the Final table of event #8, and the likely play down to the final table of Event #7, #9, and #10. In addition to those 4 events, 2 more get under way. Event #11 is the $2,000 buy in No Limit Hold’em event, a 3 day monster that should see several Top Name pro’s. And Event #12, the World Championship $10,000 Mixed Event, which should really bring out some huge names. It will be an entertaining day yet again at the Rio.

Congratulations again to the champions, and see you again tomorrow. Cheers

WSOP Day 7 - A Bracelet tease

2009-06-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Day 7 of the World Series of Poker was an absolute zoo. There were 5 different tournaments underway simultaneously, including one that had originally been planned to finish. But it looks as though at least 3 bracelets will be given out on Day 8 now.

While originally slated to provide the bracelet in Event #4, the $1,000 Buy in “Obama Stimulus” No Limit Hold’em event, we just didn’t get that far. Because it required 2 day 1’s, and a monster field of 6012 players, Day 2 wasn’t able to play down to the final table, and the final 51 players began the day in the afternoon. At around 10PM, with 10 people remaining, the players and the event staff discussed moving the final table to today at 2PM, and there was a consensus agreement that once the table had eliminated the player in 10th position, the Wednesday 9 would resume action.

And shortly after the break, that’s exactly what happened, as Steve Sung eliminated Eric Chhor in 10th. Both players took a flop of A-6-4, and Steve raised enough to move Chhor all in. Chhor made the call with AJ, and found himself painfully behind Sung’s 2-pair, A6. The board ran out Turn/River Q-T, and Chhor was done in 10th ($80,567) And so the final 9 players will do battle for the final day today. Here is are how they are chipped:

1 – Dan Heimiller (4,155,000)
2 – Steve Sung (3,395,000)
3 – Vilandos ‘Pete’ Panovote (1,940,000)
4 – James Matz III (1,885,000)
5 – Jeff Oakes – (1,680,000)
6 – Larry Sidebotham – (1,500,000)
7 – Phong Huynh – (1,310,000)
8- Nathan Mullen – (1,210,000)
9 – Danny Fuhs – (965,000)

Steve Sung has performed WONDERFULLY, and I still hope that he takes this one down. He got very lucky earlier against Phong Huynh, when his tournament was at stake. On a board of J-Q-2, Sung put all of his chips in the middle. Huynh thought for a while before making the call, and having Sung covered with AJ. Sung tossed over AK, and was in need of help. He would get it on the river as a T hit giving Sung Broadway, and vaulting him to the top of the leader board with that pot. Hopefully, Steve can continue his good fortune and ride this wave to the 4th bracelet of the WSOP.

In Event #5, the pot limit Omaha Tournament, we have reached our second final table of the day. After 18 levels of play, Day one chip leader Jason Mercier is still in the running, having ridden his large stack to the final nine, and in 4th position overall. Here is how the final Nine in Event # 5 are stacked.

1 – Kevin Iacofano (770,000)
2 – Jonathan Tare (639,000)
3 – An Tran (445,000)
4 – Jason Mercier (384,400)
5 – Victa Park (341,000)
6 – Dario Alioto (315,000)
7 – Matt Giannetti (311,000)
8 – Steven Burkholder (263,000)
9 – Chris Biondino (182,000)

I still think that Mercier is the best player at this table, but he’s really been stuck in neutral for quite some time. Eventually, players are going to be forced to play pots with him, and I would be surprised if he doesn’t emerge with some Jewelry from this event.

Event # 7 was slated to play down to the final 8, however after some 13 hours of play, it was apparent that after 3:00 AM was reached, tomorrow would be better to play 2 tables to a finisher (also, that's one of the rules in the WSOP - no play after 3AM). 101 Players made their way into the 7-Card Stud World Championship, and to me, the most interesting story is that of Daniel Negreanu. Kid Poker was down to around 10,000 chips before making some hands, and using them to rake some incredible pots. Eventually, he’d rally to over 300,000 chips, before seeing those dwindle to under 200,000. Here are how the final 11 players are chipped:

1 – Eric Drache (785,000)
2 – Hasan Habib (593,000)
3 – Freddie Ellis (580,000)
4 – Jeff Lisandro (524,000)
5 – Ville Wahlbeck (472,000)
6 – Max Pescatori (401,000)
7 – Ivan Schertzer (368,000)
8 – Greg Mueller (208,000)
9 – Daniel Negreanu (191,000)
10 – Ray Dehkharghani (141,000)
11 – Tim Phan (45,000)

Tim Phan is hanging on for dear life, but in 7-card stud, I would never rule a player out. Chip swings can happen easily, and quickly.

The last two events in play were events #7 and #8. Event #7 is the $1,500 buy in No Limit Hold’em event. 2791 Entries were involved in Day 1, and as play ended for the night, just 338 players remain. We’re creeping in on the bubble which is 297. The player that I would VERY much like to see take this one down is Lee Childs. Lee had a tough late run, and saw his chip stack take a hit, but he’s still very much in the running. Currently, he’s holding a stack well south of the leaders, but his $15,800 still gives him enough to make some noise with a couple of good hands. Lee is definitely patient enough to make some trouble for anyone that wants to get into a pot with him.

The biggest stacks belong to Victor Greely (195k), Jerry Fowler (183k), Gary Tang (145k), Jacob Fernandez (123k), and Paul Dominski (102k). Those are the 100k club members, with other notable players in the field, including the likes of Brandon Cantu, Shaun Deeb, Alex Jacob, and ‘Minneapolis’ Jim Meehan.

And finally, Event # 8 wrapped it’s day one. There were 147 official entrants in the No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event, and the big names all turned out for this. Unfortunately for Daniel Negreanu, multi-tabling this event and the seven card stud event proved to be a disaster in this event. But eliminations also took place for players such as Doyle Brunson, Chau Giang, Allen Cunningham, Mike Caro, and Jen Harman. Surviving the day 1 carnage were 35 players, and among them, some of the top names are there. Players still looking for this bracelet include the likes of Freddy Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, and Erick Lindgren. It’ll be interesting to see what the final table of this event looks like, as it is likely to include a star studded table.

Well that about wraps the day. Today should be quite a news-worthy day as 3 bracelets will be awarded for Events #4, #5, and #6. In addition, Event #8 should play down to the final table, and it is hopeful that the same result can be reached for event #7, but I think that is a stretch. In addition to those 5 events, 2 more get under way. Event # 9 begins it’s 3-day adventure, as the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Max tournament starts. This should be a very large field as well. And Event #10 also gets under way, the $2,500 buy in Pot Limit Omaha Tournament. It should be another crazy poker day at the Rio. Cheers

Day 6 - A Corvette for a Champ

2009-06-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

The end of Day 6 brought us a championship, but no bracelets. In the Champions Invitational event, 1983 WSOP Main Event winner Tom McEvoy bested the most ceremonious field ever assembled, by outlasting the other 19 former world champs. He rode a very hot day 2 to win the very first ever “Binion Cup” and a vintage, fully restored, 1970 Corvette Stingray convertible. Very nice. It was an interesting tournament field from the standpoint that every time two players mixed it up, it was a battle between former world champs. It was definitely eye candy for the poker player. In the end though McEvoy emerged as the ceremony champ, so congratulations Tom.

There were 3 other events under way during day 6, each of which was designed to shrink the field, and no tournament did a better job of that than Event #5 – the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament. You kind of have to be an action junkie to play PLO, as the game is notorious for inducing “flopitis,” a common disease of PLO players whereby they are compelled to see a flop, any flop, regardless of their hand holdings, just to see if they hit something. Holding 4 hole cards instead of the 2 that Hold’em offers, gives gamblers more opportunities, and most find that all too tempting to waste throwing chips in the middle to see what they hit.

Well Day 6 certainly didn’t disappoint, as we moved things along to the money today. We began with 809 players competing for the coveted bracelet of Event #5, and the day finished with just 81 players after the final level, all of which are now in the money. Jason Mercier emerged from the carnage as the days chip lead, having amassed a large stack taking advantage of the tight play of his opponents at the bubble. It was brilliant tournament play by Mercier, and excellent strategy as he now has 227,000 chips, which is good for 88,000 more than 2nd place. It’s a big gap for the other players to over come. Play will resume today at 2PM in the PLO tourney and continue until a final table is reached. If it goes like yesterday, we may have that Final Table by the dinner break.

It was the 2nd day for Event #4, the No Limit Hold’em “Obama Stimulus” (as the players have dubbed it) $1,000 buy in event, and we narrowed the massive 6012 players down to the final 50. Play was fast and furious, and saw the exit of most of the notable names, including JC Tran. Tran got the rest of his chips in with a weak Ace, and it didn’t hold.

Of the 50 remaining players in the field, the chip leader is Danny Fuhs, who amassed a nice stack of 1,112,000, and is the only player over the million chip mark. Other notable players are Eric Mizrachi (75,000) whose brother is Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Full Tilt Pro Lee Watkinson (108,000), and Steve Sung (335,000). I’ve got to pull for all three of these guys, with Steve being my personal pick to take this one down. I love watching Steve play poker, and I think that he is one of the most unheralded players in the game. Steve has 3 WSOP Final tables under his belt, but has yet to take a bracelet home. In the 2007 WSOP, he cashed in 3rd in the 7-Card Stud $1,500 buy in for $51,222, and he also made the Final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship that year. He was the first to exit that Final table however in 9th place, for $50,177. Last year, Steve just missed the final table of the Limit Hold’em Championship event, finishing 14th for $30,738, and he also made the final Table of the World Championship 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo event, finishing 7th for $46,001. I’m hoping that Event #4 will prove to deliver Steve’s first piece of WSOP jewelry.

The last event in play yesterday was the World Championship 7-Card Stud $10,000 buy in Event #6. As you’d expect a World Championship to deliver, the event featured a star-studded field that was chalked full of poker talent. The eight levels of play seemed to zoom by, and there were very few eliminations. In fact, the first bust didn't take place until just before the dinner break, after 4 full levels of play. But eventually players would start to see their chip stacks dwindle, and the play would present more regular casualties. 3 players of note reamining in the tournament are the chip leaders, 2006 $5,000 Seven-Card Stud champ Benjamin Lin, 2008 Double Final Tabelist (in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. and $10,000 Eight Game mix) Matthew Glantz, and David Oppenheim, who has made the Final table of this event the last two years. Each of these players is at or around the chip lead with around 100,000 chips each.

Today the remaining 102 players will play down to a final table of 8, which if play continues at this pace, won’t happen till the November 9 are assembled. Actually, I expect that things should pick up mightily as the blind levels increase.

That’s all from Day 6. Today we’ll have the above mentioned tournaments in action, as well as 2 more getting under way. Event #7 begins which is the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, which is a 3-Day event. I think that this one will be very well participated in. But I expect a smallish field for Event #8, the Deuce to Seven Draw Lowball (No-Limit) event. It’s a $2,500 buy in, that I just don’t see being as popular as the $1000 less NLHE King. We’ll see later today, and I’ll update you tomorrow. Cheers!

WSOP Day 5 - Two for the money

2009-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

After two straight days without a bracelet, 2 championships were won yesterday. Congratulations are in order to Vitaly Lunkin for taking down the Bracelet in Event #2. He bested a field comprised of exactly 200 other players, that included easily the most challenging, and best players in a single tournament ever assembled. The win gave Lunkin the jewelry and a nice $1,891,012 prize for the 1st place finish.

But while the money was impressive, I think that the better story belongs to the champion of Event #3. The 2009 WSOP has been a year of records so far, and perhaps it was only fitting that the Omaha 8-or-Better event concluded with a history making performance. Thang Luu, who was last years defending champion in this event, eclipsed a record-setting field of 918 entrants to capture his second bracelet. What makes Luu’s run in this event even more amazing, was that back in 2007, Luu took 2nd place in this event for $147,726. Then last year, he bettered that performance by overcoming the largest Omaha Tournament ever played to win the event for $243,342. But this year, he performed a feat that can only be compared to Johnny Chan’s back to back World Championships. His second win in a row in this event will leave Luu in the poker annals as maybe the greatest tournament Omaha player of all time, as his bracelet winning performance this year earned him $263,135. He began the tournament early with the chip lead, and would ride the large stack to the final table. Eventually, with 3 players remaining, Luu would over take the lead, and never look back. I think that the WSOP will have a hard time topping this story this year. Congratulations to Thang Luu.

In this event, the final table payouts went as such:
1st – Thang Luu, Champion ($263,135
2nd – Ed Smith ($162,110)
3rd – Ming Reslock ($106,373)
4th – Robert Price ($73,405)
5th – Pascal Leyo ($53,293)
6th – Jordan Rich ($40,612)
7th – Jim Geary ($32,404)
8th – Freddy Deeb ($27,029)
9th – Senovio III Ramirez ($23,520)

In Event #2 – It was Lunkin’s day for sure. This was Lunkin’s second WSOP bracelet. The other came in last year’s $1,500 buy in NLHE event, where Lunkin finished 1st for $628,417. His only other WSOP cash had come in the 2006 main event where he’d squeezed into the money in 829th place for a cash of $14,597. But he dominated the play in the end at this final table winning many of his pots without a showdown, and that proved to be the winning formula. Here’s how the final table finished:

1st – Vitaly Lunkin – Champion ($1,891,012)
2nd – Isacc Haxton ($1,168,566)
3rd – Greg Raymer ($774,927)
4th – Dani Stern ($548,315)
5th – Justin Bonomo ($413,166)
6th – Alec Torelli ($329,730)
7th – Alex Velhuis ($277,940)
8th – Noah Schwartz ($246,834)
9th – Ted Forrest ($230,317)

It was a tremendous 3 day tournament, and congratulations to Lunkin for his second bracelet.

In the other 2 events played that day, Event #4 was completely overshadowed by the Champions event. I talk about the Champions Event second however as the Event #4 update is brief.

3012 players today, and 3000 players yesterday, combined for a field of 6,012 total. It was a large enough field that the $1,000 buy in NLHE event needed to be broken down into 2 day 1’s. Today was day 1b, and the main story was that of the play of poker great JC Tran. My favorite story of this event was that in learning that Tran was not the chip leader, he got fired up. Tran was sitting at a table with around $50k in chips, and he was told that the day 1a chip leader finished on 130,000. JC proclaimed, “How am I going to reach that here? They need to break my table.” Shortly after that, JC was moved to the Amazon room, and as play ended, he was around 120,000. There are now 767 total players from both days remaining, and they will all combine today to play today at around 2PM.

In a special event this year, the 40th WSOP is having an invitation only invent. The 20 surviving Main Event champions were invited to a free roll to compete for a Corvette. The champions that have already made their exit from the event include, Jamie Gold, Chris Moneymaker, Jerry Yang, Amarillo Slim Preston, Brad Daughtery, Scotty Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, and also Greg Raymer. Unfortunately for Raymer, he was blinded out for much of the tournament having been playing in the #Event 2 $40k final table during the same time. He did sit down for a couple of orbits during the $40k dinner break, but the lost chips in the blinds were really too much to overcome. He’d eventually return after busting in 3rd place from the $40k, and move all in with Ad-9c only to have Carlos Mortensen wake up with KK. The board offered no help, and Raymer was eliminated in 16th.

But of the remaining 10 players, here’s how they are chipped:
1st – Carlos Mortensen (42,375)
2nd – Tom McEvoy (31,000)
3rd – Jim Bechtel (30,475)
4th – Doyle Brunson (20,250)
5th – Dan Harrington (19,975)
6th – Peter Eastgate (18,425)
7th – Huck Seed (15,400)
8th – Robert Varkonyi (13,450)
9th – Berry Johnston (7,625)
10th – Phil Hellmuth (1,125)

The Poker Brat is extremely short stacked, and his stay will likely be short lived at this table.

That’s a wrap on Day 5. Today’s Day 6 brings the action for Event #4 closer to a final table, and the final table for the Champions Invitational will be played out as well. In addition to that, two more events kick off as the 3 day Event #5 and Event #6 get started. Event #5 is the $1,500 buy in Pot-Limit Omaha event, and Event #6 is the World Championship Seven Card Stud $10,000 buy in event. That one should prove VERY interesting. That’s it for day 5.

WSOP Day 4 - "Shrinkage Continued"

2009-05-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Day 4 of the 40th annual WSOP can really be surmised in just 1 paragraph. Event #2 played to the Final Table and Quit. Event #3 played till 19 players were left and quit. And Event #4 was day 1a, played till 376 players remained, and quit. See a trend?

There were no bracelets handed out for the second straight day, as the effort was to shrink down the size of some of the incredibly large fields. It was however an incredible day of poker that included the usual WSOP hoopla, including this year’s Lemonade Selling Contest for Refugees International. The contest pitted a lemonade stand hosted by Annie Duke of Poker fame and Celebrity Apprentice runner up (she got hosed) vs. Norman Chad, the comical co-host along with Norman Chad of the ESPN broadcasts of the WSOP. It was lots of fun, and eventually saw Annie win the contest, and promptly donate all of the proceeds to charity.

But as for the poker itself, Event #2 has finally made it to the final table. The remaining 9 players all have unique stories. There is a WSOP World Champion still amazingly in the field, and a Pablosplace hopeful. Greg Raymer, the winner of the 2004 NLHE Main Event, has suffered some of the most unfortunate luck that I can remember, and is still in great position with 3.3 million chips, which is good for 4th place.

In a series of 4 hands over 2 levels of play, Raymer saw beats that I’ve ranted about from online play, but really, when there are 14 people left in a $40k buy in event, and you’re playing for $1.8 million, or even at the Final table of that event, these are just sick. The first hand, Raymer was dealt AA, and called a shove from a short stack, who flipped over As-Qs. With 2 spades on the flop, the river spade gave his opponent a flush for the win. Not terrible, as you can’t fault the guy for shoving with a premium hand.

In the second one though, it was much sicker. Raymer made a pre-flop raise, and another Short stacked player shoved with K9o. Raymer again called with AA and the flop produced a K, and the River a 9 to give his opponent two pair. But Raymer went back to work and accumulated more chips like the champion he is.

Then, when the action went to 10 handed, Raymer was dealt QQ. An Ace hit the flop on and the board was all hearts. Raymer bet it, and his opponent called. The players checked the turn and river and Raymer commented “Ace is good.” His opponent – AJ.

Finally, Raymer again has AA and shoves, only to be called by Ted Forrest who also shows AA. The pot is chopped on this one, but Raymer took it like the a champion. He just kept winning pots with other cards and now sits in a great position at the Final Table.

My other hopeful, and the guy that I really hope wins it all is Noah Schwartz. He is currently sitting short stacked with only 660,000 in chips, which is 8th of 9 players. He had been up around 3 million, but got very unlucky as he moved over the top of a player that was stealing with 7-6 (he had shoved all in) and then was called by another player with T-T. Noah flipped QQ and was in great shape pre-flop, but the flop produced a T, and the turn another T to give Torelli Quad T’s to scoop a giant pot. Schwartz is still alive, but will need a couple of double ups to make a run at the title. But I commend him for his amazing play and this Final Table appearance. Great job Noah.

In Event #3, the bubble burst at 90 players, and we ended the day with 19 players remaining. My eye has been on 2 players in the remaining field. 1 is the defending champion of this event, Thang Luu, who is currently sitting 2nd in chips with 410k. Repeats in the WSOP are just flat out impossible in this day and age. The field sizes continue to grow, and players are getting better and better as more and more players learn how to play the game. I think it will be very interesting to see if Thang can hang in there to win a second championship in this even in a row.
The other player that I’ve had my eye on is Freddy Deeb. I’ve only caught a little bit of poker on TV lately, but the couple that I have, were WPT events that saw Deeb at the Final Table. Deeb is really an undervalued player in my opinion. He is truly a fantastic poker player, that plays all of the games well, evidenced by the fact that 1 of his 2 WSOP bracelets came in the H.O.R.S.E. event. But he’s had 25 total cashes a the WSOP, 14 of which were Final table’s, resulting in 2 Championships (the 2007 H.O.R.S.E Championship, and the 1996 $5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball). He also bubbled in 10th of the $3,000 Limit Hold’em event, or it would’ve been 15 Final Tables. Deeb is an incredibly accomplished poker pro, and I wish him luck in this event.

In Event #4, the field size had to be capped. There were 2 days of poker that are considered to be Day 1a and Day 1b. Because of the size of the field, these days needed to be broken down this way to accommodate all the players, but because of the calendar of events, the field size is capped at 3,000 players per day. Well, day 2 sold out already, and we have a field size that has 6,000 players bought in. Day 1a finished with very few big names still in it. Jason Mercier and Corwin Cole are probably the two largest names that remain in this field, as nearly 90% of the field was eliminated that played in Day 1a. 376 players will wait a day to resume, as Day 1b gets under way with the other 3,000 players today.

Also today, we have the Final Table of Event #2 this afternoon, The final 19 players of Event #3 will be in play, and a special event in which the 25 surviving WSOP Main Event Champions will be competing in a Freeroll event. Greg Raymer will likely have to miss this event as he’ll be playing in the $40k, but the field will host an incredible set of names. It should make for a great television broadcast as well.

That’s all for Day 4. I’ll have more from Day 5, including the likely awarding of the next 2 bracelets of the WSOP 2009 tomorrow morning. Cheers

Pablosplace History is Made

2009-05-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last night saw another one of the ladies of Team7Deuce take down the home game, although this time it was a first. Amber has played with us for nearly a year, and while she's cashed several times, Heads up poker has just never been her friend. Last night things completely turned for her on her very first heads up hand as she and Gary moved all their chips into the middle on a flop of Q-J-6. Amber had shoved, and Gary made the call. Gary flipped over A-10 for Ace high and a gut-shot straight draw, but Amber tossed over Q-3 for the made top pair. The turn card helped out Amber even more as the 3c fell, meaning that Gary was drawing dead to the 4 remaining K's in the deck. But the river card of 9h meant that Amber would claim her first title at the Pablosplace Home Game. I couldn't be more proud. Congrats!

It was a great game last night as 9 players saw action to the felt in total. That means that we paid 3 players, and Traci returned to cash in 3rd, moving with Pocket Q's, but was called by Gary who tossed over A-6 suited to win the pot when he flopped an Ace.

It was great fun. I'm looking forward to getting my chance again next week as it's the last home game before the bachelor party game, a nice live game tune up. We should have a decent crowd here too as I've already spoken with several players that will be returning from last night, and another few that say that they are DEFINITELY in for next week.

Until then, Cheers - P

WSOP Day 3 - A day of Shrinkage

2009-05-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of the WSOP produced no bracelets. It was a day to trim the fields of Event #2, the open $40k buy in even and the Monster Event #3, $1500 Omaha Hi/Low-Eight or Better. Both tournaments are monsters in their own right for completely different reasons.

In Event #2 – play began with 89 of the original 201 players competing for a huge cash prize. This was the second day of this event, and action got going quickly with many big name pro’s hitting the rail. The likes of which that made their final exit included Doyle Brunson, Mike “the mouth” Matusow, Phil Ivey, Chris Moneymaker, Huck Seed, Michael DeMichele, Hoyt Corkins, and Antonio Esfandiari among others. In the end, 23 players are remaining. The last 4 finishers all were in the money and took home a prize of $71,858 for their two day efforts. Those cashers were, Vanessa Rousso (27th), JC Tran (26th), Sorel Mizzi (25th), and David “The Dragon” Pham (24th).

The 23 remaining players will get under way today at the Rio as we work closer to the final table. Of the remaining players, the top chip holders are

1- Justin Bonomo (2.6 mil)
2- Ted Forest (2.5 mil)
3- David Baker (2.3 mil)
4- Greg Raymer (2.1 mil)
5- Lex Veldhuis (2.1 mil)

After that, the next place chip count is at 1.2 mil. I’m still pulling for Noah Schwartz (541k) to win this one, but he’s going to have to play some amazing poker today to get into the money.

I find it interesting that Ted Forest was able to do so well given the fact that he didn’t return from the Dinner Break…well, on time at least. 52 players went to dinner, and 51 came back. About 2 hours later, Ted Forest returned to his seat where he’s missed several rounds of blinds and antes. He claimed that he’d gone back to his hotel room and fell asleep. Well the nice mid tournament nap apparently refreshed him, and he’s now 2nd in chips!

In Event #3, we saw that largest field EVER in the history of the WSOP for a Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo-Eight or Better event. 918 total players bought in for the $1500 entry, which is almost 100 more than entered for this event last year. This is a great sign as to the continued growth of Poker. The event included several marquis names including the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, and Chris Ferguson. Probably the most interesting story of Event #3 is that last years champion in this event, Thang Lu, is not only alive in the tourney, but thriving as the chip leader. It’ll be interesting to see if he can hang onto the lead and repeat as the champion in this event.

A total of 197 players will make their way to the Rio again today to resume play. Chip counts weren’t made available as I wrote this, so I don’t have any updates there. But I’ll let you know about more notables at some point.

Today will have three events in play, as we play down to a Final Table in Event #2, Reduce the field size of Event #3, and begin play in Event #4. I thing Event #4 (which is the $1,000 NLHE event) may actually pose the largest field size of any of the tournaments outside the Main Event. It’ll be interesting to see how many players turn out for their shot at a bracelet.

I’ll have more for you tomorrow. Cheers, Paul

WSOP Day 2 - The first Bracelet

2009-05-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Day 2 brought the very first bracelet of the 40th Annual WSOP. And the first champion of 2009 was none other than a bartender from N9NE Steakhouse in Las Vegas, NV - Andrew Cohen. This was Andrew’s second WSOP cash, as he'd finished 15th in Event #3 WSOP Circuit event for a little more than $15k in the 2006/2007 series. But this time, he made away with the jewelry and the top prize in Event 1 $500 buy in NLHE, which was $83,778.

Andrew really stepped up his game at the final table and began knocking out most of the competitors at the final table to take a huge chip lead that he wouldn’t relinquish. When play slowed down (and it got terrible slow when we hit 5 players remaining), Andrew was the first to really start to mix things up, and he came out on the better side of each of the showdowns to eventually claim the prize.

Most of the participants in the field were relative unknowns, but Andrew now holds the esteemed honor (even if it is for a day) of being the ONLY 2009 Bracelet winner. Congratulations Andrew.

In the other event, the media circus began when Event 2 got under way. Event 2 is the “Who’s Who” of the poker world, and is the $40,000 buy in NLHE event. The field size had been talked about in many poker circles, and in the end, there were 201 players who paid the $40k to enter the tournament, which means a prize pool of a whopping $7.7 million, of which first place would take home just short of $1.9 million. Not too shabby. The tournament will begin paying the final 3 tables (or 27 players if you’re wondering), and with over 200 big name pro’s, there were a TON of notable exits yesterday. The current chip leaders after day 1 are:

Bruno Fituossi – 812,500
Chris Moneymaker – 805,500
Justin Bonomo – 738,000
Alexander Veldhuis – 646,500
Kyle Wilson – 611,500
Brian Townsend – 609,000
Michael DeMichele – 519,500
Emil Patel – 494,500
Alan Sass – 491,000
Andrew Black – 449,500

Personally, I’m pulling for Mark Seif (411,500) or Noah Schwartz (168,000), as those are two people that I’ve had dealings with. They are tremendous human beings, and seeing them take down an event like this would be 100% deserving. I’ll provide more info on twitter (@Pablosplace) as the day unfolds. Action will resume again in the Amazon Room at 2PM as the 89 remaining players toss their chips around in an effort to win the 2nd bracelet and likely one of the largest cash prizes of the 2009 WSOP

I think that one of the great surprises of this event so far has to be the great play of Former WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker. Chris just hasn’t received much respect from the top name pro’s since winning the Main Event a few years ago. He’s a skilled player, who definitely got lucky to win that event, but was good enough to get himself there. I like Chris for the same reason that many other players like him; he is largely responsible for the poker boom. It was Chris that took a $40 online satellite buy in all the way to a WSOP Main Event Championship and millions of dollars. Overnight, it gave every amateur poker player the dream of being able to run lucky enough to do exactly the same thing. People everywhere chase the dream of what Chris was able to accomplish. I know that I am not alone when I think “maybe one day, that could be me.” Chris is a wonderful ambassador for the game of poker and gives all of us amateurs hope. I wish him continued success at this event as well.

In addition to the action of Event 2, Event 3 will also get underway today. Event 3 is the $1,500 buy in Omaha Hi-Low Split (8 or better) event, and should attract a decent crowd. I’ll bet that most of the high profile pro’s that busted in Day 1 of Event 2 will likely be playing in this event.

That’s it for the Day 2 recap. I’ll have more information about Day 3 tomorrow morning. Cheers, P

WSOP - Day 1 Complete

2009-05-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

The elimination of the bubble player signifies not just that all the remaining players are in the money, but this bubble also tells us that it's the end of Day 1 of Event #1, the Casino Employees $500 NLHE buy in. The end of the Day 1 comes after some 13 hours of play in which 866 participants began throwing chips around in an effort to seize the first bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker. Play was very fast and furious from the get-go, with more than half of the field sent packing in the first 4 hours. While the field contained mostly relative unknown players, there were a few notable names that brought their $500 and a dream of being the first winner of the WSOP. Pat Poels came and went quickly, busting within the first hour and a half of play. Legendary Tournament Director Jack McClelland would do slightly better, but he also would leave the felt just after the dinner break. Kyle Morris and Marsha Waggoner were also in play, but neither of them advanced to day two.

As far as players that are left, a late charge helped Cesar Chavez chip up to the chip lead after Day 1, after amassing a 107,700 stack. Other than Chavez, it looked as though there was only one other player above the 100k mark. Casey Kuhn, a dealer at the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in Iowa who made the trip out west to do some playing of his own was at 101,300 just before play ended. These two men have really distanced themselves from the rest of the field. But there are still 79 other players hungry to catch them, of which about two dozen players of which will start Day 2 in the 80,000-chip range.

That’s all the news from Day 1. Today begins Day 2 and the start of the eagerly awaited $40k buy in NLHE event. This field will be star packed with many big named pro’s as it promises to be one of the richest pots of the tournament. There are several guesses as to the number of participants that will vie for the huge crown, but most seem to think it will be between 200 and 300.

That’s all from Day 1 in the Las Vegas desert.

The World Series of Poker - 2009

2009-05-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

So the 40th Annual World Series of Poker kicks off in style tomorrow in Las Vegas, with an unbelievable 57 bracelets to be handed out throughout the multiple events. Event 1 is the $500 buy in Casino Employees event, which plays No-Limit Hold’em.

The next couple of months is a poker player’s dream as this is the pinnacle of the poker calendar. Who amongst you will become the next Jeff Madsen, who turned his 21st birthday into multiple Bracelets? Who has it in them to become this year’s Erick Lindgren, last year’s Player of the year? Can someone else become the next Chris Moneymaker, and turn a $40 buy in into the greatest prize that poker has to offer? Will Phil Hellmuth end the series still having the most bracelets of all time? Will Jamie Gold still be the WSOP’s all time money leader?

So many questions will be played out over the next few months, and you can count on Pablosplace to deliver you with the updated results of all 57 events. I am after all addicted to this. I still carry with me the dream that one day, I’ll be able to join the crowd of fellow players at the event, but for now, it remains a dream.

I have some people that I’ve been chatting with recently that I’ll be pulling for, as well as some pro’s that I think would make some really interesting stories. In the end, I’ll make it as entertaining to read on my site as I possibly can, and I hope that you all enjoy my feedback.

A note, I will be missing some events between June 20th through June 28th, as I have this little thing going on in life (getting married and going on a honeymoon). But other than that, I’ll be blogging pretty religiously, and tweeting as well (you can follow me on twitter as @Pablosplace). Good luck to all of my friends that will be participating!

Throwing a changeup

2009-05-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of re-designing Pablosplace, but I have no real clue how to do it. I'm not a tech guy at all, and I have no real knowledge in Web Design. I don't know if it will be financially worthwhile, but I'm interested in changing a few things on Pablosplace. If you know about "How To" do this kind of thing, contact me. I'd be interested to hear costs associated with a web re-design, and how labor intensive and expensive it might be to do the things that I want to do. Thanks, Paul

oh, e-mail is probably the best way (fleapid@yahoo.com)

Pablosplace Teams with The Sports Legends Challenge

2009-05-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Would you like to attend the Ultimate Sports Fantasy? If you're a sports fan, then you have to take a look at this. The Sports Legends Challenge is placing 25 Legendary Sports Icons together with 25 poker pro's at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Don't miss your chance to join sports icons:

Troy Aiken, Emmitt Smith, Jerry West, Reggie Jackson, Michael Strahan, Herschel Walker, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Mike Ditka, Kyle and Richard Petty, "Dr. J" Julius Erving, "Sugar" Ray Leonard, Bobby Hull, Fuzzy Zoeler, and more.

There will also be an incredible collection of pro's in attendance and playing with you including, WSOP World Champions:
Phil Hellmuth Jr.
Johnny Chan
Jamie Gold
Tom McEvoy

and other Top Pros like: Annie Duke, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Laak, Gavin Smith, Chip Jett, Amir Vahedi, Layne Flack, and so many more.

If you're thinking of entering the event, make sure that you use my Promo code to get a discount on the experience.

For info on the experience, you can click on the icon at the top right of Pablosplace.com For info on the attending celebrities and icons, click here :http://www.sportslegendschallenge.com/meet-legends.html

And to register for the event, click here http://www.sportslegendschallenge.com/how-to-enter.html

One weird week

2009-05-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm kinda glad that it's Friday today. I just wish that I wasn't going on this trip with Girl Scouts. I could use the time to relax with fewer kids in the house. Take it easy and wind down from everything that's happened in work, at home, and just basically in life. It's been a tornado, and now it's time to start picking up the pieces.

I'm glad that Traci's back home again. But it has added a few more wrinkles to the home life. She requires a lot of work when she's here simply because she needs assistance with everything, and there are a lot of things to do. But still, I'm glad to have her home.

The kids are.....well, they are kids. And they certainly can make life challenging. They have so many things happening in their social calendar, that it's hard to balance it all. And what little time I have left over, I try and squeeze some me time in. It's tough with all that is going on to simply relax, and let go.

When it comes to poker, I'd say that this is largely my problem of late. I've been too distracted by what's going on around me and the things that I need to do, places that I need to go, errands that I need to run, small household chores that need to be finished, etc. etc. etc., I haven't focused at all on having fun with poker, and playing well. All these distractions kind of came to a head last night.

I had to pick up Abby and Emma from my ex's at 5:30 which meant that I was going to cut it short to get back home. 2 phone calls as I arrived to pick up the kids meant that things were just running late. By the time that I got back to the house, 15 minutes had elapsed in the tourney. When I sat down, I was already down 180 chips. But I rebounded to chip in the right direction.

I'd eventually get over 4k in chips at one point, before blinds would take me down, and then chaos ensued. I was arranging the kids to get bathes taken care of, the older girls packed for their trips, and then Traci came home at the same time. There were orders being barked, kids running through the house looking for things and needing help, the little ones were in the tub. It was just a madhouse for about 30 minutes. That's when I busted. With 16 players left, I was moved from one table to the other and woke up in the BB with AK on my first hand at that table. A player from early position limped, and a player from middle position raised 3 times. Action folded to me, and I re-raised half the pot. The limper folded, and the original player moved all in. I called, but was in trouble when my opponent flipped KK. That would be my end of poker for the night.

There were 52 entrants in the tournament, and I guess that I can say that I exacted my revenge against Andy Bloch. After the QQ debacle a few weeks ago, I min-raised the first hand at his table with Q-10o from middle position. The CO and Button came along, and Andy folded from the small blind (advantage - me). The BB came along as well. We checked down the board to the river, and my turned Pair of Q's ended up the best hand. (advantage-me). Andy would bust a couple hands late in a race (AJ vs. 88) and his AJ never caught up (advantage-me). Overall I would say in the score vs. Andy Bloch, we're even (Score Andy -1, Pablo -1).

I'm hopeful that after I get home from this weekend with the Girl Scouts that I'll be able to recharge my batteries somehow. I could really use it. The home game tonight will be hosted at Andrew's house. Let me know if you need details on it, and I'll send you all the info that you need. Until next week, cheers - P

Life is fragile. Respect it, and live it.

2009-05-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been a whirlwind. I had a friend say that I’m going through hell, and I don’t buy that. It’s been challenging both emotionally and physically for sure. But the reality is, everyone will come out the stronger for it.

On Thursday, Traci went in to see her doctors because her Hickman Catheter site was infected. It actually appeared a few weeks back, but then antibiotics began to clear up the infection. But once the antibiotics had run there course, the site became infected again, and the doctors wanted to pull it out. (In case you don’t know what a Hickman is, check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickman_line). The reality is, a Hickman should only be in for 6-8 months before they should be removed because of the risk of infection. Traci’s had hers for well over a year. It was just time to remove it.

The hospital was full however. So instead of admitting her, and getting her a room, they sent her down to the ER to wait in the hall with everyone else who has a whooping cough and the swine flu. Turns out, that’s not so good for someone with a compromised immune system (another attribute incurred from cancer patients having undergone Chemo), and we fought to get a room. The nurses were actually really great and stole a room for us as soon as one became available. The reality was, the hallways were lined with patients because the ER was so jam-packed. So getting a room was really a luxury.

But there in the ER, Traci sat. We waited, and waited for availability in the OR to remover the Hickman, and they kept coming in and saying “there was a trauma, and we couldn’t get you in.” Or, “we just had to bump you, and you’ll have to wait a little longer.” It was frustrating as her last meal was at 11AM on Thursday. Finally, I left at 4AM Friday morning because I still had to get the kids to school.

Friday came and went, and I got done with work and picked up the kids from Girl Scouts and dropped them at home with Traci’s grandparents. When I got back to the hospital at around 7PM, I found out that Traci had still not been offered anything to eat. I took out my anger at the Doctors and the Nurses there in the ER. Right there in the Nurses Station, I very loudly began to berate them for their lack of care, their inability to pay attention to a patient, and their sheer neglect for Traci as a person. It had been over 30 hours and she hadn’t been offered anything to eat. It was unacceptable, and I lost it. I screamed at the Doctors that they were Hitler, running this show and treating these patients worse than Jews in a concentration camp. I demanded that they get on the line with surgery and either get her in there now, or let her eat. The latter took place in moments.

On Saturday morning, Traci was set to have the IR attempt to install a new Pick line. This was difficult simply because prior to getting the Hickman, the doctors preferred that she get a Pick Line. But because the Graph vs. Host disease has attacked her skin so violently, and because her veins are so small, a Pick line was nearly impossible to install. After several failed attempts the last time, the physicians and surgeons finally relented and agreed to install the Hickman. Fortunately this time, a good vein was found on her right bicep, and after several tries, the surgeon finally was able to install the line. And later that evening, she went into the OR to have the infected Hickman Catheter removed.

Everything went smoothly. Traci was incredible through it all. She had a really positive attitude saying things like “well, thank goodness it was this weekend. I’d rather have it now than over Emma’s birthday, or the Wedding, or the Bridal Shower.” I couldn’t believe how great she was. There was of course the occasional crying, and there were plenty of complaints about the eating (or lack there of), but overall, I was amazed by her positive attitude and positive outlook on the whole situation. It was encouraging.

I also want to thank all of my friends who kept asking about how things were going, both through text and on twitter. It was extremely peaceful to have those positive affirming messages come through, just checking on us both. Your thoughts and prayers were absolutely felt, welcomed, and totally appreciated.

Mother’s Day was a day of recovery from the procedures. Traci is today in bright spirits. I brought her kids in to see her and visit for a while along with a Mom’s Day flower arrangement. It was a good time.

Now that things have settled down, I’m hopeful that Traci will be home by Tuesday. And the healing should have come far enough along that we can resume some form of normalcy. I’m missing that at the moment. I don’t like coming home to an empty house, or sleeping in a bed alone. I miss my partner. And I’ll be happy to have her home.

Some takeaways from all of this, a moral if you will; I’m so appreciative of life. It’s something that I think that all of us take for granted. It’s a gift. The ability to simply exist every day, and the ability to love. There are so many trivial things that can affect us every day, and damper our moods and our outlooks on life. I think that it’s important that we remember that the fact that we’re here to begin with is a miracle itself. I came away from this weekend simply happy that I have so many loved ones in my life. Thankful that my children are healthy and happy. And thankful that the woman that I am going to marry is going to come home. Everything else just seems to me to be less important. I’m not worried about the fact that I’m still behind two months in pay from my employer. I’m not worried about the trivial things in life. I intend on focusing on those items that bring about joy in my life, and that of others.

A renewed sense of vigor

2009-05-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

After my "Poker Vacation" post, I took a good 48 hours away from my laptop. I just needed sometime to really clear my head, and wash out the negative thoughts. I mean, I was catching what I called some REALLY terrible beats, and to some degree, they were. But a recent post that I read on cardplayer (http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/15786) kind of renewed me as a poker player.

I started to go back to those losses, and asked myself "If I was in the other player's shoes, would I have made the same call." In the heat of the moment, I can emphatically berate my opponent for what would otherwise be a crumby read, and a bad move. But not everyone plays poker the same way. That's what makes this game fun and challenging. If all of us played the same way, it would be a boring game.

I have to start giving credit to the guys that are calling an all in with A-5os when I have KK. That just takes plain guts. I should commend guys for chasing that dream when I've got a set of 10's on a 10 high board, and he goes runner-runner flush. I should praise players for their grit and their tenacity for breaking AA and KK on the same hand with 7-6 suited. Those plays, while statistically improbable, are far from impossible because I've seen them. They happen, and they happen a lot. All that I can do is say "nice hand sir," and move onto the next one. Because it's a game. This isn't personal, or some vendetta that someone has. It's a couple of people playing a game of cards.

I still want to win at it though, and I've sort of switched gears to some degree. Patrick Sebastian (or @Sebastianrocks on Twitter) had started a new contest idea that proposed a race to $250. The idea was, start with a bankroll of $10, play in games for no greater than 10% of your bankroll, and the first one to $250 wins. It was exactly what I needed, when I needed it.

One of the videos that I'd watched on the Full Tilt Poker academy was by Chris Ferguson where he detailed his bankroll building strategy on his quest to turn $0 into $10,000. It took him quite a while to get things really going, but once he did, he simply adhered to strict bankroll management strategies in order to steadily move in the upward direction. I liked what he had to say, and I wanted to follow it to some degree, but I lacked 3 things that good poker players need to be successful: 1) Patience 2) Discipline and then eventually 3) Confidence

Playing at the micro levels can be intensely frustrating. A $45 player S&G win at the $1.25 buy in level produced a whopping $17 prize, or a $16 ROI. That still doesn't really give you enough cash to move up to the larger levels. And each loss puts you further and further into a hole.

I've made the decision not to upload several hundred dollars into my online accounts simply because I want to prove to myself that I have the capability of playing well enough at the lower levels before testing myself completely at the higher stakes. I think that from time to time, I can play with those players. And I'm starting to build my confidence enough to the point where I feel that I have enough experience to belong.

I needed that run of just really bad cards. I needed that run of unfortunate beats, and disappointing results. I needed it in order to grow as a player, and learn how to roll with the punches in this game. It can be cruel. But it is a game. And it should be fun.

I'll be attacking this $10 to $250 challenge with a renewed vigor and doing everything that I can to get there at my own pace. If I win the challenge, all the better. But I really simply want to begin to build my online bankroll, one session at a time.

The U.S. Poker Directory - A Fantastic Site

2009-05-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

A couple of months back, I started a discussion post on the Twitter Poker Tour website (http://www.twitterpokertour.com/ – for the plug). I was curious as to what card rooms everyone was playing in for live poker, and what stakes they were playing in. I was hopeful to find good tournament action wherever I went, and got some really great feedback from several players as to where they played, and what limits, and their likes and dislikes about certain venues. It was a very surface level chat that, while I enjoyed, didn’t really answer the questions that I had about poker rooms across the US.

Recently I ran into Jeff Becker on Facebook. Jeff has a website called US Poker Directory (http://www.uspokerdirectory.com/). On this site, I found all of the information that I was looking for, and then some. Jeff led me to a virtual map that used Google maps technology to have mapped every Brick and Mortar poker room in the US. It sounds pretty improbable, but I encourage you to check it out here (http://uspokerdirectory.com/poker-room-locations/). I was WAY impressed with what I saw.

If you scroll over any individual city, you can zoom in to see all of the casinos/card rooms in a geographical layout. By clicking on the icon, you pull up the casino/card room’s contact information, address, and a review of that card room by anyone who has stopped by. It’s EXACTLY what I was looking for.

I encourage you to give the site a look, and provide some commentary on the card rooms that you’ve played in. The more participation and feedback that we can generate, the better the site becomes. Congrats Jeff on a marvelous site!!!

I'm taking a poker vacation

2009-05-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

So tonight at Pablosplace, we had 13 players show up for Traci's birthday. An impressive turnout for sure. It was one of the single most bizarre nights EVER in the HISTORY of Pablosplace.

It began with a Mona Vie taste testing, that was really more of a sales pitch than a taste test. It was interesting to see the history of the product, and the tasting was actually pretty good. But really I could have done without the attempt at gathering us in as sales people. I just don't think that it's something that I have the time for, nor the ability to commit to at this time.

Once we actually began play, there were players EMPHATICALLY stressing the needs for a Turbo Blind. I was out voted on the 30 minute levels by the group who insisted on 15 minute levels, which is WAY too short for our play. We actually went up 2 levels on our table before we made one full rotation. Sick.

I caught a dead run of cards, and made it to 8 handed. I finally caught AK and raised the 3-6 blinds to 18 after Jason limped. Tim asked me for a count from the BB and eventually raising to 60, the remainder of my chips. Jason made the call for his last 20 or so, and I called. Tim said that I was ahead which actually shocked me. He tossed J-8o and Jason, K-8. But it didn't matter any. A Jack hit the flop and I was done.

I'm done with poker for now. I just have to admit that my play is just terrible. I can't believe that it's just bad luck, or bad beats, or anything of the sort. It's OBVIOUS that it's my play because the losing is just too consistent. I'm giving up poker for a while. I'm not sure how long, but I need the break apparently. No online play, and no live play until I can get my head right. This game has just ceased being fun, and I hate it. I'm so mad, and it's my home game. It's just not right.

I'll blog again when I've got the confidence back. Though I have no clue when that will be.

A 4th place finish in the TPT

2009-04-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

I got to the Twitter Poker Tour a little late tonight. I left the office in Santa Monica after 4:00 PM, and thought that I would have plenty of time to get home. But, apparently a Police officer riding a motorcycle was struck on the 10 Freeway, and LAPD answering an "Office Down" call shut down the 10 Freeway. So the surface streets were more packed than the non-moving freeway, and it took more than 2 hours to get home.

But when I did, I'd only missed a few rotations, and started the chipping up. I got to around $4k and then I couldn't really find a hand that would get me past that mark. I hovered there for a long time, and then slowly I dwindled as the blinds increased on the final table.

6 handed, I got lucky as I shoved with 6-6 and won a race against A-Q. I survived 2 more bust outs, and then ran KQ into AJ to be eliminated in 4th place. It was my first cash in the TPT in a few tournaments. I was definitely happy with the run.

Tomorrow should be a good game at Pablosplace. It's Traci's Birthday, and we should have 2 tables in action for poker. Also, I'll be taking the final order for Team7Deuce Shirts on Friday, as I want them to be back in time before the wedding, and definitely for Seven-Deuce Day.

Team7Deuce Puts a Bad Beat on Cancer

2009-04-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that every member of Team7Deuce has taken the 1% pledge to work with the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and will be donating 1% of all of our poker winnings to “Putting a Bad Beat on Cancer.” This is obviously a topic that hits very close to home, as my fiancé Traci, put the ultimate Bad Beat on Cancer by surviving Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma with a successful Bone Marrow Transplant over 6 years ago. This announcement comes just days after her 6 year anniversary.

I had been chatting with co-founder Rafe Furst, a WSOP bracelet winner in the 2006 $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’Em event. I found out about his affiliation with the group and all of his efforts, and immediately took action by taking it to the home game just last night. Rafe, along with Phil Gordon had a tremendous idea at the 2003 WSOP that grew like wildfire.

“It dawned on us that if players pledged just one percent of their winnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation as a tax-deductible donation,” explains Phil, “it would go a long way in reaching the public about the achievability of preventing cancer.” So they lobbied their friends in the poker community and the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative took off. Before they knew it, 80 players had pledged enough money to fund a promising research grant for an entire year.

Bad Beat on Cancer has grown exponentially since 2003. Thousands of amateur and professional players across the country and around the world are pledging to put a Bad Beat on Caner – from home leagues (like Pablosplace) on up to the World Series of Poker. The initiative grew even further when Phil and Rafe partnered with the Foundation to launch “I’ll Raise You A Million” – a year-long fundraising campaign beginning with the 2006 World Series of Poker, and ending with the 2007 Capitol Hill Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Tournament. Their $1 million goal was met in just 10 months!

I would encourage everyone to join me and my fellow members of Team7Deuce in donating 1% of their winnings to a charity foundation as instrumental as The Prevent Cancer foundation. The main goal behind their program is to one day, we can envision a future where cancer incidence and mortality will be significantly reduced through preventative measures. Their mission is carried out in 3 main ways:

- By funding research that helps us understand how to prevent cancer
- By educating the public about how to prevent cancer
- By reaching out to communities across the country through our resources, events and partnerships with other organizations.

To learn more about the Prevent Cancer Foundation, please visit http://www.preventcancer.org

Traci DOMINATES

2009-04-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

They say that the sign of a great teacher is when you can teach someone to be better than you. While I’m reluctant to say that Traci is a better player than I am, the last few times we’ve had two hole cards, she’s lasted longer and been altogether dominant.

Last night I got an e-mail from Traci that said:

“I love you so much, oh yeah, I am so going to kick your butt in poker tonight! Xoxoxoxox”

Well, she did more than just talk the talk. I would say that she walked the walk, but she’s in a wheelchair, so maybe she rolled the roll??? (This is terrible, I know)

Traci dominated play at the table last night as we were 8 handed. After a couple of re-buys from Chris and from Andrew, Amber was the first to exit the table, followed by Chris, and then by me. I had played brilliantly up to that point and got a huge chip stack (about 1/3 of the chips in play), and Traci struck. I 4-bet from the button with AQ, and 4 players took a flop of Ah-8h-6h. The BB checked, and Traci bet out ¼ the pot. The late position caller folded, and I raised all in. BB folded, and Traci tanked before making the call with pocket 8’s. Her set ended up holding up, and that one still left me with about 50 or so chips. But then I doubled Jay (again with AQ, as his QJ proved much better when not one, but two J’s hit the board.

Traci would then double through Jay turning a flush, and getting Jay to call her all in with top two pair, and she then controlled about 60% of the chips in play with 5 players left. I would make my final stand (again with AQ) and was called by Jay who tabled pocket 8’s (again). An 8 hit the flop in addition to a K, a T on the turn gave me some outs. But the river was a brick and I was out in 6th.

Jordan would leave short stacked in 5th. Tim in 4th. Andrew was busted by Traci in one of the sickest hands I’ve seen here at Pablosplace. With blinds at 5-10, Andrew checked his option form the BB. The flop came A-3-5, and Traci bet 20. Andrew called. The turn was another 5, and Traci bet another 20. Andrew raised, and Traci moved all in. Andrew insta-called and tabled the flopped straight with 2-4. Traci tossed over K-5 for the set, and was way behind. But lady luck loved her on this hand as an A hit the board to pair it, and gave Traci’s boat the winning hand. Andrew was covered by Traci by a mere 2 chips (403 to 401), and Traci got a commanding heads up lead vs. Jay.

But that didn’t deter Jay as he attacked from the get go, winning several hands and doubling twice to take a serious chip advantage. But the lead would pass back and forth a total of 5 times over more than 150. Finally, with blinds at 20-40, the final hand was played. An All in by Traci, and a call by Jay produced Traci’s Kh-Js vs. Jay’s Qh-4h. The board ran out 3h-Ah-7s-8d-3s to give Traci’s K the best hand and the win. She definitely backed up her claim last night and played an altogether brilliant game.

Later today, I’ll have a big announcement up on Pablosplace, but now, I have to run to coach Kelli’s softball team. Later - P

Day 5 complete at the WPT Championship

2009-04-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

With 10 players left, here are the seat assignments for today"

Seat 1 - Justin Young - 4,220,000
Seat 2 - Elky Grospellier - 1,965,000
Seat 3 - Bruno Fitoussi - 1,615,000
Seat 4 - Scotty Nguyen - 5,880,000
Seat 5 - Brian Rast - 3,025,000
Seat 6 - Eugene Katchalov - 2,385,000
Seat 7 - Shannon Shorr - 3,155,000
Seat 8 - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 5,105,000
Seat 9 - Christian Harder - 4,650,000
Seat 10 - Ran Azor - 1,810,000

Players will resume today at Level 23, with blinds at $30,000/$60,000, 5,000 ante. They'll play till 6 players are remaining, and then call it quits. They'll resume 6 handed for the TV broadcast later.

Twitter Poker Mania!!!

2009-04-24T08:17:00.001-07:00

So yesterday, I was in the office in Santa Monica. This is rare for me, as I’m generally in the field, but my boss has commissioned me with the task of restructuring the collections department in an effort to improve our receivables. So I spent the first half of the day “observing” our collections officer and determining “best practices” and what-not.

While doing so, I had the Tweetdeck opened and figured, why not register for the European Twitter Poker Tour, and put some more cash in the prize pool. I didn’t think that I’d be able to play the full event, because once my boss returned, I’d have to….ummm…focus on work (or at least make it look that way). So I minimized my screen and began to work on a project, and whenever my screen popped up to play, I played. Then, my boss came in and I made the decision to give my chips away. Trouble was, I was winning. I had one hand that I even said “here’s a gift” and moved in post flop with 8-4os, and no pair or draw on the board. The trouble is, I was called by two over cards that also didn’t pair, and the board turned an 8, and rivered a 4. I then bounced another player going all in with AJ vs. AT, and all of the sudden, I was the chip leader.

When my boss actually did enter, I closed Full Tilt down for a few minutes while we met, and then he left for lunch. So I fired it back up again and actually played poker. At this point, I was in pretty good shape. I made one more interesting gamble calling an All in that identified as a steal. I called with 9h-7h. I figured that it wasn’t too expensive and that my two cards were probably live. I was right as the button turned over A-2os, and I got lucky on the flop when a 7 hit, and luckier still when the turn produced another 7 locking that one up.

Heads up, I went against @SteveBrogan, and it only lasted a few hands. We were all in, on all of them I think, and I won 2 out of 3 to take down the first place prize. The final hand, both of us paired out 6 on the flop. @SteveBrogan moved and I called. He tossed over K-6, and I held A-6. So my kicker played and I won. My first TPT win! Pretty lucky, and awesome in the same breath.

When I wrapped up in the office, I hustled home for the US TPT and played very well early. I had Aces 3 times before the first break, and used them to chip up to the top 3 spots. From there, I pretty much cruised to the final table, taking a few pots here and there. I would eventually get bounced on a really dumb play, as I moved all in on a board of Ad-Jd-10c. I didn’t put my opponent on either an Ace or a J, and I was right about that. I had Jc-2c, and thought it was good. I was VERY wrong about that as he made the call, and showed K-Qos. I was drawing almost dead to the broadway straight, and said farewell in 7th place. But I was happy with my play throughout. Congrats are definitely in order to @Rhoegg, who was short stacked when I busted, but decided to turn it on, and took the event down to win a TPT T-shirt and a 1 month subscription to the DeucesCracked poker school. Pretty awesome!

So, two final table appearances in one day, and a win to boot. I was very happy with my play yesterday, and I hope that it carries over to the next few days of poker playing. The home game is a go for tonight. I’ll see you all here. Cheers, P

Middle of the Day update for the WPT Championship

2009-04-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

With Eric Lieu exiting in 19th place, they have consolidated the tournament to the final two tables. Players are now on Level 22 with blinds at $20,000/$40,000 ante $5,000. Here's how it stacks up for the 18 remaining players:

TABLE 1
Seat 1 - Ran Azor - 2,100,000
Seat 2 - Christian Harder - 4,000,000
Seat 3 - Bruno Fitoussi - 750,000
Seat 4 - Freddy Deeb - 1,650,000
Seat 5 - Blake Cahail - 450,000
Seat 6 - Jennifer Harman - 1,050,000
Seat 7 - Brian Rast - 2,700,000
Seat 8 - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 1,450,000
Seat 9 - Andrew Lichtenberger - 1,300,000

TABLE 2
Seat 1 - Justin Young - 4,700,000
Seat 2 - Elky Grospellier - 950,000
Seat 3 - Ross Boatman - 1,400,000
Seat 4 - Sinan Yoyen - 900,000
Seat 5 - Owen Crowe - 1,500,000
Seat 6 - Jeff Madsen - 500,000
Seat 7 - Eugene Katchalov - 3,000,000
Seat 8 - Shannon Shorr - 2,200,000
Seat 9 - Scotty Nguyen - 2,400,000

WPT Championship Day 4 complete

2009-04-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

At the end of Day 4, there are now 24 players remaining. It's been a pretty incredible tournament. I'm not sure on the seat assignments for day 5, but here are the chip counts.

Player Name-Chipcount
Eugene Katchalo-4,294,000
Christian Harder-3,083,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko-2,613,000
Justin Young-2,553,000
Brian Rast-1,931,000
Scotty Nguyen-1,823,000
Andrew Lichtenberger-1,663,000
Freddy Deeb-1,575,000
Ross Boatman-1,545,000
Owen Crowe-1,500,000
Jeff Madsen-1,265,000
Elky Grospellier-1,230,000
Shannon Shorr-1,200,000
Sinan Yoyen-1,137,000
Blake Cahail-1,083,000
Andy Miller-1,011,000
Ran Azor-859,000
Eric Liu-844,000
Jennifer Harman-821,000
Marco Johnson-814,000
Matt Hyman-433,000
Nick Binger-401,000
David Grey-322,000
Bruno Fitoussi-210,000

WPT Update

2009-04-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

For anyone else that is as interested in this as I am, I've been following the WPT Championship (A NLHE $25k buyin event at the Bellagio) quite closely. Players yesterday completed a marathon Day 3, and are primed for Day 4.

This was an interesting format as 337 players paid the $25k to buy in, and everyone received $100k to start, with blinds at $25/50 on Level 1. Now THAT's deepstack poker.

Anyway, as Day 4 begins, 62 players remain. Blinds are at $4k-8k with $1k ante on level 15. Here are the chip counts and seat assignments.

Table 53
Quinn Do 211,000
Will Failla 305,000
Hyon Kim 338,000
Steve Billirakis 1,722,000
Eric Liu 688,000
Ron Levi 204,000
Jeff Madsen 712,000
Boris Becker 306,000
Steven Brecher 318,000

Table 54
Blake Cahail 1,059,000
Christian Harder 728,000
Philip Gurian 475,000
Owen Crowe 177,000
Phil Ivey 1,036,000
David Benyamine 268,000
Jimmy Fricke 259,000
Matthew Glantz 214,000
Michael Demichele 789,000

Table 55
Justin Young 732,000
Kathy Liebert 290,000
Andy Miller 604,000
Scotty Nguyen 557,000
Bertrand Grospellier 378,000
Shannon Shorr 120,000
Javed Abrahams 760,000
Mike Matusow 272,000
Matthew Hyman 1,663,000

Table 56
Markus Gonsalves 405,000
Eugene Katchalov 764,000
Steve Sung 392,000
Dutch Boyd 253,000
Sam Farha 90,000
Mark Seif 1,315,000
Jennifer Harman 828,000
Steven Fung 135,000
David Singer 1,116,000

Table 59
Jonathan Aguiar 489,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko 464,000
Ulises Roman 622,000
Jimmy Ngoc Tran 177,000
Nenad Medic 1,306,000
David Grey 406,000
Cody Slaubaugh 377,000
Ran Azor 388,000
Barny Boatman 534,000

Table 60
Ross Boatman 456,000
Sinan Yoyen 323,000
Fred Bonyadi 208,000
David Baker 952,000
Chris Ferguson 338,000
Naseem Salem 296,000
Andrew Lichtenberger 664,000
John Martin 418,000

Table 62
Chad Batista 515,000
Marco Johnson 553,000
Freddy Deeb 932,000
Chris Bell 604,000
Liv Boeree 299,000
Nick Binger 1,036,000
Bryan Rast 365,000
Evan Mcniff 234,000
Bruno Fitoussi 286,000

Poker Host

2009-04-21T08:42:00.001-07:00

So last week, I was watching twitter when I caught wind of a $10 trivia contest hosted by Pokerhost (http://www.pokerhost.com). The trivia question was one that I knew, so I answered and I won the $10. Way cool.

So I created an account on Pokerhost’s domain, uploaded their software and gave it a try. I used my $10 balance to buy into a couple of $2 games, and I liked what I saw. The gaming experience is simple and easy, and the there aren’t as many players on the site as some of the other mega sites (ie. Stars or Tilt). So with smaller tournament fields, and a smaller S&G’s, there are more opportunities to win. I’ve played in a couple of Double or nothing S&G’s and I’ve had pretty good luck (albeit, the Bad beat monster did rear it’s ugly head as I had AA cracked by KK and then the next hand KK cracked by T-T. But lets be honest, this is me we’re talking about, so it was bound to happen).

All in all, I’d encourage you to give Pokerhost a shot. I think that if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy the experience. And give @TeamPokerHost a follow on Twitter. Maybe you can win some free dough too!!!

I got crushed by Andy Bloch

2009-04-17T09:48:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, a group of us from Team7Deuce decided to make a run at the Noon’er at the Bike. Jordan, Tim, and I all made the trek, and Traci was feeling well enough to give it a go as well. It was awesome.

I busted first of our group, running into trouble early by getting beat by a full house. But I busted getting my chips in good. A guy 4 bet pre-flop, and I called it from the button with Ah-Th. The flop came out Qh-9h-3h. Action checked back to the guy who opened with the 4-bet, and he moved all in. I made the call, and everyone folded. He tabled Qs-9s. The turn bricked, and the river fell the 9d and I was done before level 2 had completed.

It was very easy to rail on the rest of our group though as Traci, Tim, and Jordon all sat at the same table. Jordan would be the next to go on the last hand before the first break. He re-raised the guy to his right, and when action folded back to him the guy re-raised again enough to put Jordan all in. Jordan tilted a little and made the call with 9-9 only to run into K-K, and his day was done. Shortly after the break, Tim’s day was done. I missed the hand going to get food, but by the time that I came back, he was railing on Traci.

Traci made a great deep run out of it too. She totally outplayed a guy by check raising a flopped set of 3’s on a board of 9-6-3, she checked from the SB, and the UTG player opened. Action folded to Traci who raised enough to put him all in, and he called off all his chips with J-9. She then took a great pot with AK shortly after the 2nd break, and rode those chips all the way to a 26th place finish. A very respectable finish despite the fact that it was short of the money. She outlasted all of us, and most of the 168 player field.

Last night’s TPT was a very short one for me. On my 3rd hand, I woke up in middle position with QQ. I 3-bet it, and got re-raise by none other than Andy Bloch (in case you’re wondering who Andy is check here http://www.andybloch.com/gl/pub/index.php). I should have known better than to try and play my worst hand, but I haven’t learned yet I guess. Anyway, the SB came along for the ride, and I decided to re-raise about half my stack. Andy re-raised again, and the SB called. I moved the last few of my chips, Andy and the SB called. The flop came out 7h-Ad-10h, and I knew that I was toast. Andy moved all in for his last 180 and the SB obviously made the call. But I was down to 2 outs when Andy tabled KK. And given the fact that neither of the other Q’s showed up on the turn or river, I was out in 41st place (of 41 runners). Andy would Twitpic the hand from his flight back to Las Vegas from JFK (http://twitpic.com/3fkgn).

That’s about it for the last couple of days. We look good to go for the home game tonight. Oh, and a big announcement is coming on Pablosplace on Wednesday. I’m very hush-hush about it now, but if you e-mail me, I’ll send you all the details. (I’m such a tease, I know).

A couple good nights

2009-04-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

So, I finished the TPT event on Thursday in 6th place, bubbling out in a bad way. I played pretty tight throughout the tournament very unintentionally, and it seemed to work.

Early in the tournament, I caught aces, and used them to more than double up to over $3200, but I really got stuck there after that, and slowly began to dwindle. But it wasn't until the final table that the dwindling took place.

Eventually, with 6 players left, I made a move to steal with A8o, and got raised by the SB. I was pretty much committed at that point and put the rest of my chips in, only to be called by AK, and my night was done.

I did enough to pass two people on the TLB, and finished well within my goal of top 3. I'm really proud of my second place finish on the Leader Board standings, and can't wait for Season 3 to get under way. Congrats to @Treystill for winning the Season 2 leaderboard, and congrats to @SteveBrogan for 3rd place, @Rhoegg for 4th, and @72Suited for 5th. It was a great season.

Also, congrats to @Mac_Zealot for winning the season 2 Finale and the big cash.

Then, last night there were only 5 players at the home game. Some last minute cancellations, and some prior obligations led to the smaller turnout, but we had a lot fun playing anyway. Brendan was the first to go out last night, and was followed by Chris. Tim nursed his short stack until the end getting eliminated by Amber in 3rd. Heads up between Amber and I lasted for quite a few hands. I came into the Heads up as the chip leader, and won more than my share of pots.

The final hand came with me in the BB, and Amber made the 5/10 blinds 20, and I re-raised to 80. Amber called, and we took a flop of J-4-3. Amber pushed all in, and I thought for a little bit before making the call with A-9. She tabled A-2, and the board bricked out giving me my 2nd win in as many weeks.

Next week, I have the TPT on Thursday as Season 3 kicks into gear, and the home game at Pablosplace looks good to go.

Also on Wednesday, it looks like we could have a small group going down to the Bike to play in the nooner. Right now, Tim, Jordan, and I are in it, and Chris is a maybe. Cheers, P

Catching up

2009-04-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't been really blogging much of late, and I looked at Pablosplace and noticed that I've been talking much more of recent the results of my online poker playing, and much less about the home game. This kind of bummed me out.

While the truth of the matter is that I play a lot more online then I do live games, the site was originally intended to document my poker gaming. In the beginning, it was just video games and the Friday Night game at Pablosplace. But now, I do a lot more playing, both live and on the web. I think I just need to be more diligent about documenting it all. I don't want it to spiral out of control. This really helps me stay centered, and I think that I need that from time to time.

So this week has been a busy one, with two trips to The Bike, Two large fields, and a Pablosplace game that was a ton of fun.

I'll begin with the home game that saw 10 players again to the table. Amber, Chris, Robert, Andrew, Tim, Tay, Jay, Traci and myself all made it there, and a long time return by Brendan, who hadn't made a home game since the Encino days. It was nice to have him along as he made a few wonderful plays en route to chipping his way to a 3rd place finish. Traci and I would go heads up, and I had a 3 to 1 lead in the heads up. I basically just leaned on her until eventually I would turn a flush and get all of her chips in for the win. It was a great night that saw me come from behind on two massive luckfests to win. I was all in for my life twice against Tay, but managed to win both hands. The first was and all in from UTG with Ah-10s. Tay was in the big blind and made the call with QQ. The board ran out with the 4th spade on the river giving me an eventually flush and the double up.

Later, I would move with KK and Tay would call with A-x. The flop produced an Ace, but the turn delivered the case K, and I would cripple Tay, who would go out in 4th place. It was a really fun night, and I'm happy to see the home game produce back to back 10 player tables. I'd love to keep that momentum going.

For the two Bike runs, I went last Wednesday down to see if I could get into the daily nooner, but got there too late. But I stumbled into a $60 S&G, and figured that I'd try my luck. It turns out, this game was nothing but luck, as you began with $500 chips, and blinds of $25/$25 increasing every 15 minutes. Whoever got their chips in good first was going to win, so I go aggressive early, and it worked. I flopped top two pair on a guy with A9, and he missed his flush to double me. Then I flopped an Ace with AJ sooted to win another big pot. From there, I stuck at around 1500 chips until I finished in 2nd place. It was a $160 cash, and I was happy with it.

Then yesterday, after my lunch appointment canceled, I met Tim at the Bike for the nooner. I would outlast him in the tournament by about 20 people, but I misplayed my final hand something awful to bust. I was playing very tight throughout the tournament, and had chipped up finally after the second break with KK. But in the final hand, I raised from the small blind with 8-8 to 1500 with blinds at 200/400 ante 50. The BB folded and so did the first limper, but the second guy came along. The flop came out 10s-9c-8s, and I got nervous and checked it. I should have shoved right there with my set because I was best. My opponent got to see the free turn by checking behind me and the J fell on the turn. I decided that apparently now that I was behind, it was a good time to shove and pushed all in. He insta-called with his AQ, and I was done in about 50th. Despite playing well through the early stages of the tournament, I deserved to go out on that hand. My favorite thing of this tournament was the giant yell from one of the tables. A guy moved all in pre-flop with 2-3os, and got called by KK. The flop came out 2-2-3, and the guy with KK just went berserk. It was hilarious.

My two good Internet runs came in the Midnight Madness where I played my way into a 70th place finish. With a field size of 1967, I was very happy with my play, and with my finish. I ended up with a $33 cash in it, and was quite pleased with it.

The second came in a free roll tournament that I found last second. There were 2700 entries and I played great. Eventually, I would bust in the money in 25th place. It was only a $2 cash, but for no money put in, I was happy with it.

My FTP bankroll has taken a monster beating this week though. Despite some really good cashes (the Midnight Madness and an $11 45 player S&G 2nd place finish). I had to pay $10 to @BrooklynBeast for the Twitter NCAA09 March Madness pool. My brackets finished both 2nd and 3rd, but it was a winner take all. Had Louisville beaten Michigan St. in the elite 8, I would have won it all, but alas it was not to be. At the moment, my FTP balance sits at just over $13 and my PS balance is at $18.

My plan is to focus on gaining more money at a very slow rate. I've been very successful in the $1.25 Matrix tournaments, and cash in almost all of them in one way or another. They aren't terribly profitable though, as my best result to date came from a $3.80 prize. But the odds are good in cashing as you play 4 single table S&G's at the same time with the same players. Each time you outlast someone you get a point in the matrix pool, and if you KO that person you get 2 points in the matrix pool. Additionally, you get 2 bonus points for any individual S&G match you win. In the end, each S&G pays out the top 3 finishers, and then you also get paid if you finish in the top 3 of the matrix pool. The prizes are smaller though, but I've seemed to slowly work my way in an upward direction playing them, whereas It's been quite the opposite at the other tourney's I'm playing in.

Tonight is the Season 2 Finale of the Twitter Poker Tour. I'm pumped up for it like you can't believe. I really want to win this one. I feel like I'm completely outclassed as a poker player at these things. I don't think that I'm even in the same league as most of the players, yet I'm sitting in 4th place on the Leaderboard. I would love just 1 win, and this would be a great time to do it. In truth, I'd like to finish either 2nd or 3rd in the overall standings and win a free shirt. If not, then I'd hope to upgrade to a hoodie.

Lastly, the home game at Pablosplace looks good for tomorrow. I hope that we see the same kind of turnout that we've had the last couple of weeks. I really enjoy having the full table, and maybe we'll move to some 2 table action. If this gets more regular, maybe I'll buy another set of chips. An maybe, just maybe, I can talk Traci into letting me turn the garage into a poker room yet. Now THAT's a long shot and a half.

Ok, done with my book now. And I feel all caught up. Cheers, P

A final table at the TPT

2009-04-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I managed to play my way into the Final Table at the Twitter Poker Tour event on Full Tilt. I came into the tournament as the Bounty, and got very lucky early to chip up to over 3k. But I got stuck there for the most part, and went card dead after the first break.

At the final table, I re-raised a 3-bet from the BB with 6-6, and shoved it all in. Short stacked, I figured that if I was going to play the hand, I needed to represent a monster. Trouble was, it was an easy call by Gemgirl6 who tabled KK, and I was done in 9th place.

It was a little disconcerting given the fact that I came into the event in 2nd place on the Leaderboard Standings, made the final table, and then proceeded to drop 2 places in the standings. Great runs by @SteveBrogan (who cashed in 4th place), moved him up to 2nd in the Leaderboard standings. And a win by @Treystill vaulted him to the top spot from outside the top 10. It was @Treystill's second TPT win this season.

The TLB Standings are VERY close heading into Thursday's final event of the season on Pokerstars. The top 4 places are separated by less than 31 TLB points. Here's the top 10 as it currently stands.

POS NAME POINTS
1 taz31362 598.25
2 Steve_Treys/StevieTrips 575.80
3 rhoegg 572.10
4 Fleapid 566.60
5 Zonetrap (pokerplasm) 466.00
6 gemgirl6/LaBangBang 446.00
7 MustangFund 438.00
8 ungarop 424.00
9 sotied 416.80
10 cprpoker (geoffm33) 404.40

I'm feeling pretty confident that I should finish in the prizes as the top 5 positions are awarded a prize, but when it comes to poker, anything is possible. I would like to win an event, as I've yet to do that. My best so far is a 3rd place finish way back in the first event, but I've been pretty consistent for the most part throughout the season. A victory would be super sweet!

Congrats again to the cashes, and a special congrats to @Treystill for the victory. See you guys again on Pokerstars this Thrusday for the finale!

Blinded into 11th place

2009-03-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I couldn’t play in the Twitter Poker Tour because I was traveling. After 3 days of business meetings, I was heading home and catching the twitter updates of players as they were either going out, or reporting on where they were. I’d registered in the event solely to gain the points, and it was a good thing that I did. My 11th place finish was worth 44 TLB points, and keeps me in 2nd place for the Tournament Leaderboard Standings. With 2 events to go, I’m hoping that I can stay in the top 5 and win a prize.

Here’s the top 10 as it currently stands:

POS NAME POINTS
1 rhoegg 540.10
2 Fleapid 516.60
3 Steve_Treys/StevieTrips 496.00
4 taz31362 458.00
5 Zonetrap (pokerplasm) 422.00
6 MustangFund 414.00
7 cprpoker (geoffm33) 390.40
8 gemgirl6/LaBangBang 388.00
9 sotied 374.80
10 ungarop 372.00

This coming Thursday could also prove to be interesting for attendance on my part as I’m holding a booth open at the San Diego Association of Realtors Trade Show. I don’t know what time I’ll finish with that, but I’ll bring the lap top with me, and see if I can find a spot to hunker down and play. I don’t want to be blinded through again. I’d like to cash in one of the final two of the season, and hopefully win one.

I do want to send my congratulations to the players who enjoyed my financial contribution to the pot and stole every one of my blinds (I mean seriously, was it too much to ask that everyone just fold when I’m in the big blind????). Congrats to 5th place, beaplayer63, 4th – thereelgator, 3rd – john.ebjr, and 2nd – Wuzzle69.

And a special congrats to edihpoker for getting the best of the 32 player field.