Poker Journal

May 2004

May 29
I played the $300 No Limit Holdem tourney at Commerce Casino and I thought it was all finally coming together. The event started with more than 560 people and I probably had the best table in the house. I managed to build my chips early with two key hands. The first hand, I held QT in the small blind and it was folded around to me. I raised thinking I would just pick up the pot right there. He called me. The flop was either A98 or AKx. I know I had a gutshot straight draw and I tried to pick up the pot by making a pot size bet, but he called. I was done with my hand unless I hit the jack on the turn and I did. I bet, he raised and I reraised all-in. He called me with AJ. The river was a blank and I won a nice pot. I could see he was bothered by the way things went down. If he had raised, I was finished with the hand. Another hand had a lot of players involved and I flopped a set. I got called by two players on the flop and both of them folded on the turn, but I managed to make a lot of that hand too. Of course, they broke my table and I got moved. The second table was not bad, but not nearly as good as the first. I made a few moves, but could not pick up any big hands. I lost a lot of my chips when I raised with A7 and the big blind moved all-in. I raised to $800 and he moved in for another $890. I was getting three to one on my money and it wasn't going to break me, so I called. I almost laid the hand down and I wish I had because he had me outkicked with his A8. I told him, "I can flop a seven" and I did, but there were two diamonds on the board and his hand was suited. The turn was a diamond and I was drawing dead. I lost a few more of my chips and then I was eliminated when I moved in with A5 and got called by a player with pocket nines. I finished in about 95th place. I wasn't very disappointed by my exit, because I have learned something every time I have left a tournament and I can tell my game has grown.

When I played online the other night, there was a player that wished me well and I promised him I would give him a shout out on my site. "Hi David H. and thank you for cheering me on."

May 30
Congratulations to PokerStars.com qualifiers Greg Raymer and David Williams for their first and second place finishes in the main event of the World Series of Poker.

May 26
I went into work today and decided to play the $50 (with one rebuy) No Limit tournament. I went in determined to play the aggressive game I normally play online. From the get go, there was no looking back. I accumulated my chips and was not afraid to take race situations. I was there to win, not make the money.

I got lucky on one hand when I took pocket jacks against aces, but he was so short stacked it wasn't going to hurt my stack if I lost. Mark Seif was also playing in the tournament and I knew I was going to be in for a challenge if I ever got on his table. When we got down to two tables, we redrew for seats and I drew his table (with him holding position on me). I knew he would raise, reraise and do anything necessary to throw me off my game. He has told me he plays harder against his friends and I was prepared for this. To be honest, I didn't want to mess with him much. There was one hand where he raised my blind and I called with JT suited. One other player called in between us for all of his chips leaving a side pot of $800. The flop was J97 giving me top pair with a gutshot and I bet $4000. He moved in on me and I went into the tank for a few. It was another 9300 to me and I was a little torn as to what to do. Calling him was not going to break me, but it was going to leave me short stacked. I did not consider how much was in the main pot (about 20,000). I finally folded and he turned up QT for an open end straight draw. His game has always been about winning. He knew he needed chips and this was a great opportunity for him. Knowing all I know about him, I made a bad decision. The other guy in the pot had AQ and rivered the ace taking the main pot, but even the sidepot was worth my call. When there were 4 or 5 of us left, I took pocket jacks against KJ for and lost the hand when the board put up three hearts (he held the jack of hearts) and the turn was a king of hearts. This left me with very little chips. When there were four of us left, I was in the big blind for almost all of my chips. I told the other players "don't try and bluff me because this is a no look call". The big stack moved in and Mark called.

I looked at my cards and saw T5. I hate this hand more than any other and I decided to fold. The odds told me a call was correct, but the jump in the money between fourth and third made me fold. The big stack eliminated Mark with his pair of tens (higher kicker than mine) and we were down to three. I fought and fought. I called any pot if the majority of my chips were in the blind. One hand I had to call with 93. When he turned up pocket eights, I said "I can get a nine on the flop" and then BAM... there it was. He couldn't get me. The limits went up after that hand and the big blind was $10,000 and I only had $24,000. The big stack offered to make a deal and I decided to take it. I normally don't like deals, but considering half of my chips was going in on the next hand (which probably meant all of my chips were going in), I agreed. I ended up getting $1400. My net profit after tipping and buy-in was more than I could expect playing the $6-12 or $8-16 Holdem. Not a bad day at "work".

May 25
I just finished playing in a $100 No Limit tournament and I came in fourth place. There was not anything I could do when we got down to four players. I did not pick up any kind of hand and I was the second shortest in chips. I figured the short stack would just blind off his money. He was in the big blind with a little more than $4000 and I raised to put him all in. I held AQ and he held QT. He turned the ten and doubled up. I got absolutely nothing after that. My blinds weren't even worth protecting. I held 42, 43 and 94. I finally had to make a stand with Q9 of clubs, flopped the flush draw but didn't get there. When I finish the tournament in this manner, I feel great. I know there was absolutely NOTHING I could have done.

It was great to get back to work today. Tournament poker can be brutal for the soul. I don't know how the few players who ONLY play tournaments do it. When I play in live games, there are bad days, but I know I will win in the long run. Tournament poker are much more of individual entities and when you lose, you are done. There is a long run in tournaments too, but it is easy to not feel it when you go broke for your last chips. Every time I leave a tournament, so many thoughts go through my mind and there are days I ask myself, "Why would I be in a sport where the losses make me feel so horrible?" I don't know the answer, but I do know that when I wake up in the morning, I am already looking forward to the next one. I played in a $8-16 Holdem game all day and I won a bit. I picked up pocket queens five times and lost the first four times. I never strayed from my game and it all worked out in the end. The last pair of queens did win me a nice pot.

Commerce Casino tournaments start Friday and I know I am playing the three Omaha events. I am probably going to head over there on Friday to play in the $300 No Limit Holdem tournament. I need as much practice in live tournaments as I can get.

May 24
My trip to the World Series of Poker was exciting. Although I did not do well, I had a great time and learned a lot.

I arrived in Vegas on Thursday night. I wanted to be sure I could have one night to go party it up without it affecting my game. I hung out and drank a few beers with Mark Seif and my cousin, Joie. About midnight, I heard from Jim Miller about a Bellagio VIP party hosted by Antonio Esfandiari. The three of us decided to go and we had a blast. We danced until the club closed and then went across the street to another club. By the time we left the club, the sun was up. I managed to get some rest in my room at the Four Queens (courtesy of PokerStars) and then decided to see what the buzz was like at the Horseshoe. The place was a madhouse, but it gave me a rush. The room was packed with people and it was difficult to walk through the aisles. I headed to the PokerStars room to check in and get my seat assignment. PokerStars was very generous with the gifts they gave their online qualifiers. We each got a leather duffel bag full of goodies, including three polo shirts, two t-shirts, three hats, a parka, a box of gum, chip protector, deck of cards, water bottle, totebag, backpack, a mousepad and teddy bear (I'm probably even forgetting a few things). At the PokerStars party the layout of food was incredible and it was nice to meet a few people I play online with. Chris Moneymaker was there and he was the star of the party. He didn't have a break from people talking to him. I was glad I was able to catch up with him the day prior because I didn't want to fight through the crowd to talk with him. After the party, I went to do a final check on the number of entries to the event and couldn't believe when they told me 2400 with 200 alternates. I was always confident they would get 2000, but 2576 was incredible. I finally headed up to my room about 9:00. I wanted to make sure I got a good night's rest because I knew I would be playing for a minimum of ten hours on Saturday.

The next morning, I headed to Binions. The place was buzzing with excitement, including mine. They had added more poker tables. There were tables upstairs, downstairs, in the sportsbook and in between slot machines. I scoped out where I was going to be sitting and took a walk around. I headed over to my seat, but had to fight my way through crowds and finally sat down about a minute before start time. I found a couple of my friends (Randy Holland, Mel Judah, and Scotty Nguyen) and asked them if they were familiar with anybody at my table. All three said they knew nobody. The two people to my left were wearing PokerStars shirts so I knew they qualified online. I felt the rest of the table out during the first round and pretty much concluded that it should not be a hard table if I played my cards right. I played a lot of hands in the early rounds. My stack went up and down like a yo-yo, but I could never win a really key pot. When the first round was over, I built my stack from 10,000 to a little over 11,000. The next round things went a little haywire for me. I made a couple of mistakes including playing my nut hand weak. I was dealt pocket eights and raised four times the amount of the big blind and the button called me. The flop was AA8. I figured the guy probably had an ace and decided to bet $500. The turn was a 7. I knew this was a harmless card because the guy would not call my raise with A7, so I bet $1000 and he called. The river was another 8. This gave me four of a kind and would give him the nut full house if he held the ace (I was sure he had it). Before the river was turned up, I had already decided how I was going to play any rag card or any high card. I did not take into consideration what I would do if I made four of a kind. Because I did not take long enough to think about my hand, I only bet another $1000 which he quickly called. I know I could have got most of his chips and was disappointed with my lack of thought process on this hand. When the next hand was dealt, I already accepted my mistake and was not going to let it bother me. It was time to move on and build my chips. However, my chips did not go up, they were slowly going down and I ended up calling off $2300 of stack with KJ. The pot was limped and I called with KJ of clubs. The flop came J76 and the player that limped in first position bet out for $700 and I called (the rest of the players folded). The turn was another 6 and I called another $700. The river was a blank and I called another $700. He turned up the jack with an ace kicker and I folded my hand. It was difficult for me to put him on AJ and it cost me. I suppose I could have raised on the flop to see where I was at, but my play wasn't terrible. It did leave me with only $5000 by the next break. The next round was uneventful and I did not win any pots until I played a hand right before the dinner break. I had about $1900 in chips and got dealt pocket queens. I knew I wanted to play this hand for all of my chips so I only raised the $200 big blind to $500. All players folded to the guy in the big blind and he put me all-in. I was not pleased when he turned over AK. I suppose this is a classic case of be careful what you wish for. My hand did hold up and it was time to take my dinner break. I headed over to Tony Roma's with Mel Judah and we went over a few of my hands. He thought I could have got all of the guys chips when I made the four of a kind. He told me I wanted to play all of my chips on one hand within the next three rounds of play. When we finished eating, one person came over to ask him for his autograph (this was something I would witness A LOT).

I headed over to the tournament room and was ready to get back into the action. I have played short stacked so many times, I knew I could pull through this if I got dealt some kind of hand (or found some kind of opportunity). I had to take the blinds right when I got back and the antes were in play so my chips went down a little. Finally, I got dealt pocket kings. One player had doubled the blind so I moved all of my chips in. I got called by the person two to my left and he held pocket queens. This gave me about $4000 in chips. The next hand I picked up was in the small blind and I raised to $600 with AK. The big blind moved in and he had me covered in chips. This was the most difficult decision I was faced with during the day. I thought and thought and thought. I was pretty sure he had a pair and I didn't know if this was a time where a race situation would have been in order. I decided I would glance at my cards again and if they were suited, I would call. If they were not, I would fold. I folded my hand. The guy showed me pocket tens. I should have went for the race because I was only left with 3200 and the blinds and antes were costing me $450 per round. I tried to pick up a pot when I raised to $800 with QT. One guy across the table asked me how much I had left and then he called. The flop was KJ4. I acted first and after some thought, I decided I was going to check fold. I knew if I checked, he would bet no matter what he had. I probably should have went with this hand too. I am pretty sure, I was going to get called no matter what he had. I was also pretty sure he had a pair, but because I folded, I left myself with too few chips. I picked up a pot the next time I was in the small blind. Four players limped in and I looked at 83 of diamonds. There was $1350 in the pot and I knew I was getting the right price on my call. The flop came 863 with two clubs and I moved all of my chips in. I did not want to mess with anybody calling with a flush draw. All players folded. I had about $2500 in chips and I knew I had to play a hand soon. I folded all of my hands during the next round and finally decided to move my chips in when I was one off the button when I held AJ suited. I moved all of my chips in ($2025) and the player on the button called with AQ suited. Neither of us improved our hand and I left the tournament after approximately eight hours of play.

I was a little disappointed at first, but then reality hit me. This was my first time ever playing in the big one. It was a great learning experience and I entered this event for a mere $93. I also felt better knowing that some great players were eliminated too. Men the Master, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, and my buddy Chris Moneymaker did not make it through day one either. The worst part about losing was having to tell all my well-wishers that I did not last. I know a lot of you were hoping for good things for me and all I can say is... Next Year!

May 22
Out. I was eliminated at 9:15pm. I will write more later.

May 21
The Horseshoe is a poker madhouse. More and more people continue to sign up for the main event. I went to the Pokerstars party and got a really nice duffel bag full of shirts, hats, etc. I'm playing tomorrow with the first half of the field so I'm going to get a good night's rest.

May 20
I will be heading out to Vegas tonight. I am so excited to play and be part of this record breaking event. The last I heard, there were 1540 paid entries and I figure after super satellite day, they will easily break the 2000 mark. I feel confident about the way I have been playing during the past couple of weeks and I pray that the flops (and rivers) will be on my side. I am planning on updating my journal a little while I am in Vegas, so keep checking on my progress. I won't be able to pick up email though so I'll respond to everyone when I get home late next week. I will try to mention what is going on with some notable players as well. I already have my seat and day assignment. I am playing on day one and I was happy to hear about that. I am sure day one will be exhausting and I am glad to have a days rest afterwards.

May 17
I played in a game at work that was a poker player's dream. The game was full of action and most of it came from players trying to give their chips away. There was one guy (Erik) in particular that played in almost every hand. He announced two of his hands before his opponent even acted on his. One time, he told the guy, "I have pocket aces if you want to call" and sure enough he turned his aces up after the guy folded on the river. The No Limit Holdem tournament was about to start up and Erik told me that he was going to play all of his chips on the next hand without looking. He was in the big blind and I was second to act. I looked at pocket nines and raised, one player called, the big blind reraised and I capped. The flop was A64 and I led out and the other player folded his hand. The big blind was all in at that point and said, "let me see what I have". He turned over an ace then a king. I know he did not look at his hand. I had been playing with him a long time and this was just the type of thing he would do. On the next hand, he was involved in a decent size pot and when he got check raised on the turn, he said "I have 92 (pair of deuces on the flop) and called the guy. On the river, he told the guy "I check, but I'm going to call with the 92 if you bet". The player bet and Erik turned his 92 face up and called. Of course the hand was no good and I was thinking to myself, "Why couldn't he have just folded his AK when he had all of his chips in the pot if he wanted to give his money away that bad." I ended up leaving the game with a $150 loss.

Tonight I played in a $100 No Limit tournament and came in fifth. I won $708. I was not very happy about it because I had the best of it again when I got all-in before the flop with another player with just a few less chips than me. This player moved all of his chips in with A7 a few hands earlier, so when he next moved all of his chips in, I happily called in the big blind with AK suited. He turned up his A9. The flop was T87 giving him an open end straight draw and I thought "oh crap" and then he turned the 9. I did not improve my hand and I was left with only $2400, and the small blind was going to cost me $1000 of it. Everyone else passed so I went all-in with J2. The big blind only had 87, but he flopped an eight and turned an eight so I ended up drawing dead.

May 16
I know I haven't been as good about updating my journal this week as I have been in the past, but the Vegas trip kind of threw me off track. I have needed this time to return some normalcy in my life. After my trip, I have had to readjust to life at work and life at home, but I feel like I am back to normal now. I have played in about seven online tournaments since I have been home and my results have not been good. The best I got was a third place finish in an Omaha High Low tournament and I did not make very much profit on that.

I promised I would write about the Omaha event as the WSOP. I walked into the event with a positive attitude and was even happier when I saw the table I drew. When we got started, there were only a few of us and each time a player filled one of the empty seats, I was happy... until the last person, Mike Matusow, took his seat. I have never played with him, but I have heard he is a solid Omaha player. As soon as he sat down, he started making last longer bets and laying odds with players at other tables to see who would make it to the money. I now understand where he gets his nickname "Motormouth" from. He didn't stop for an hour and a half. I could see why many people might be thrown off of their game by having to listen to him. I was not going to let him get the best of me, but I was dying for some earplugs. I was playing well, but things were not going as planned. I found myself extremely short chipped after about three hours of play. My blinds were coming up and I knew I was going to get stuck playing a hand in one of the blinds because of my chip situation. I have been taught not to put my last chips in one before my blind unless I had a solid hand. I happened to pick up a monster right before my blind. I held A2KK and I got 3/4 of the pot. A new player was moved to my table and sat to my right which put him in the big blind. I got dealt another monster and moved my chips in once again. I held AK54 and I scooped that whole pot. I built up my chips and had a little more than average chips when I got moved to another table. I sat at my new table and sized up the competition. I was happy to see the idiot who outdrew me with runner runner during a Commerce tournament and I was a little bummed to see Scotty Nguyen. I played the first hand against the idiot and I was so glad I remembered who he was. I scooped that pot and was ready to take the whole table down. I saw the idiot raise with 235J and limp with A35T. I knew I wanted to go against him. This might have been a part of my downfall. Even an idiot will get a hand once in awhile and I lost a huge amount of my chips playing against him and Chris Bjorin. I was really mad at myself after that hand and the cards were not falling right after that. I had to call in my big blind with a horrible hand because I was short chipped and managed to come out of it alive. The next hand I played was the one I was eliminated on. The idiot raised in first position and I made it three bets with the last of my chips. I knew I should get at least half of the pot and if I managed that I would be a little better off because we would have chopped the blinds. After I reraised, Brent Carter called my three bets in the small blind and I knew I was probably in trouble. Brent's hand ended up having A2QQ and his queens won the high, and he and the idiot chopped up the low. If he hadn't picked up a hand, I would have chopped because the other guy had no high value. I was happy with my final play, but I was fuming at my decision to play the earlier hand.

The big lesson I learned from the trip was how important it is to walk away from the tournaments knowing you played a great game. Tournament poker is about losing. There are more players in these tournaments than ever before and every day almost all the players are going to walk away losers. It is all about how you deal with the losses. I was able to walk away knowing I played good in both games (despite the one hand). I know that if I am persistent the cards will fall in my favor.

May 12
I arrived in Vegas on Saturday and decided to take a stab at some satellites. I still hadn't made up my mind which event I was going to play on Sunday and I figured if I won one of the Omaha satellites, I would play it that event and forget the ladies event. I played in two of them and I did not win either one. I still was not convinced that it would be better to play in the Ladies event until I met with a representative from PokerStars. He made me an offer to wear a PokerStars shirt in the Ladies event because it was being televised. The offer was even better if I finished in the top nine. After meeting with him, I decided it was a better idea to play in the Ladies since I was basically being freerolled.

On the day of the tournament, I was ready. I sat down at my table and immediately started to accumulate chips. It did not take me long to figure out who the targets were at the table. Even the women who played a good game were easy to play against because they were so predictable. There was one woman at the table who played tight, abc poker and I was convinced of that once she threw her hand away and the cards went face up on the table. Her cards were QT. She was in position and nobody had entered the pot. This would have been a good opportunity for her to steal the blinds, but she didn't do it. A little while later, she raised my big blind and nobody else called. I looked at my cards and saw 85 offsuit. I was getting 3.5 to 1 on my money and new this would be an easy hand to play against her. If there were no high cards on the flop, I would be able to take the pot away from her so I called. The flop brought two picture cards and I checked. She checked behind me. The turn was a five giving me a pair. I checked, she bet and I called. I knew this five did not help her hand. We both checked the river and I showed my pair of fives and I won the pot. I could hear her whispering about me after that hand and I had to laugh inside. She was saying "85? And it was offsuit too". She did not realize how bad she played the hand. I would have dumped it on the flop if she bet. She let me win the pot. There were two hands I misplayed, but both of them only cost me one extra bet. One hand, I came in raising one before the button with KT and Ronnie (a woman I have played with before) called on the button. An ace flopped and I bet out and she called. I told myself that if she called, I would give up because she would only call if she had an ace. I ignored my instincts and made another bet on the turn. Once she called again, I finally gave up. I should not have bet on the turn and I was upset with myself for not listening to myself. Not long after that, I was re-analyzing the table and told myself not to mix it up with one woman in particular because I only saw her turn up two hands and both of them were pocket jacks. I little while later, I raised with AQ and she three bet her hand. I flopped the queen and led out, she raised me and I reraised her. I did this for two reasons. I wanted to see where I stood (the flop was great for my hand) and the other reason was because she seemed so weak when she raised me. I did not take into consideration that the reason why she might appear to be weak is because she did not have much tournament experience. The turn was an undercard, so I bet out again and she called. We both checked the river and she showed me pocket kings. I was even more mad at myself when I realized I made the same mistake again. I did not listen to my first instinct. I should have realized that she did not have a "weak" hand when she raised me and should have just called. The last interesting hand at this table was the same situation as the first. Melissa Hayden raised, all players folded and I was in the big blind with 85 of clubs. I called her raise. Two eights flopped and I knew if I led out, she would not put me on an eight. I led out, she raised, I reraised and she called. I bet on the turn and she called. The river was another eight giving me four of a king. I bet again and she called. The difference between the two hands was I knew Melissa understood about calling in the big blind when getting 3.5 to one on my money (as long as the cards work together).

I got moved to another table and I was not pleased with my table change. Most of the women were solid, aggressive players. There was one woman at my table who always got a hand the same time I did and she won most of the hands we played together. There was one hand where we had so much action in the pot and we both turned over the identical hand, pocket jacks. The hand after that, she raised and I reraised her in my big blind with pocket jacks again and she called. The flop was all rags, all of them diamonds and I was holding the jack of diamonds. The turn was a blank, but the river was an ace. I checked, she bet and I called. She showed me AK with the ace of diamonds. That river card cost me over $3500 in tournament chips and I would have been in good chip position if I won the hand. Instead my chips dwindled and I finished in a disappointing fiftieth place. I was disappointed when I lost, but I knew I played hard.

One of the best things about the tournament was I was filmed by ESPN. They filmed Clonie Gowen first, Evelyn Ng second and they filmed me next. After the event, one of the ESPN guys told me he was going to get me on television, but we will have to wait and see if I actually make the cut. (Clonie went out fairly early, and Evelyn went out a few hands after me.) I will discuss how the Omaha tournament went on tomorrow's entry of my journal.

May 11
Back from Las Vegas, where I didn't join Kathy Liebert, Annie Duke and Cyndy Violette in winning World Series of Poker bracelets this year. I finished about 50th in the Ladies World Championship and the $5000 Omaha High Low. It's late so I'll write more tomorrow.

May 6
I played a $30 No Limit multitable tournament last night. There were 776 players and first prize paid a little over $5000. When I registered there were about 200 players and I figured I could hone my skills for the big one and still get a decent night's sleep. When the tournament started, I couldn't believe how many people had joined the tournament and I knew if I did well, it was going to be a long night. There were a few times that I had a good hand and when somebody came over the top of me, I laid my hand down. I knew I had to start making stands so the table wouldn't run all over me. I knew I had to be table captain. Before I knew it, I was chip leader and most of the players were staying clear of me. When there were about 100 players, I was chip leader and I knew I had a legitimate shot if I stood my ground and played my game. They started paying places at 80 and when we got to 86 players, we began hand for hand play. This was the longest two hours of play, I have ever encountered. I ended up making it down to the final table as chip leader and the normal play resumed. I made one bad call with AQ because I had so many chips and it was not going to kill my stack if I lost. I did not take into consideration that the player hadn't played any hands at the final table. After that hand, I lost another pot and I was short stacked. I was the shortest stack seven handed and I knew I had to start stealing blinds. The blinds were big and each steal increased my stack greatly. I ended up working my way back up and finished in first place.

Now the big question I am asking myself is how am I going to apply what I know playing online to playing in the main event of the World Series of Poker? I haven't quite figured out why it is so much easier to play a solid, aggressive game online.

I am headed to Las Vegas on Saturday to play some World Series events and will probably play a few No Limit satellites to work on being aggressive against players when staring them in the eyes. I haven't decided what event I will play on Sunday. I have the choice to play in the $2000 Omaha Hi Low event or the $1000 Ladies Limit Holdem event. Both of these events are on Sunday and I can't make up my mind. I could play my "best" game and enter the Omaha event or I could play against the Ladies and have a chance at making it on ESPN. They are filming the Ladies event which is a plus, but I wonder if winning a gold bracelet in a Ladies event even "counts". Would I get as much respect for winning this event? Probably not. The decision will probably be made on Sunday, but if any of you have any input, please email me. I am also playing the $5000 Omaha event on Tuesday.

I received an e-mail last night after I won the No Limit event from a person who reads my journal regularly. I have met this person a couple of times while at work, but I was not able to put a face to his name. I run into so many people during the course of the month. He e-mailed me to let me know that he just won his seat for the WSOP by playing on PokerStar's $33 rebuy tournament. He wrote that I was inspirational for him as he followed my progress in my journal. I know I can not take credit for his ability, but I am flattered that I "inspired" him to be persistent in his quest for his seat. He came into my work tonight so I was able to place his face with his name and I was pleased when I saw who it was. Congratulations "Bluewave".

May 5
Ever since I won my seat, I can not think of anything else. I have not even played much at work because my mind often wanders. I have been taking small losses and booking small wins. I need to buckle down and start concentrating more when I am at the table.

I played in the $250 No Limit Holdem tournament at the Bicycle on Monday night and I played okay. For some reason, it is much easier for me to be more aggressive online and I am working on being more aggressive in live tournaments. I managed to do it on Monday, but I allowed myself to get short chipped a few times. I lost a large chunk of my stack when I decided to slowplay my pocket queens. In early rounds of tournaments, I often limp in with many hands including large pocket pairs. It makes it difficult for players to put me on hands. I figure if I slowplay big hands, I have to be capable of laying them down and I did make the correct laydown, but only after I lost about half of my chips. I was one away from the button with my queens and limped for $100. The button called and the big blind checked. The flop was QT9 with two diamonds. We all checked the flop. The turn was a 7 of diamonds. The big blind checked, I bet $400, the button called, the big blind raised to $900, I called, the button moved in, the big blind moved all-in over the top of him and I layed my hand down. When they turned their hand over, the button showed a KJ for a straight (he flopped it) with the J of diamonds and the big blind showed 86 of diamonds for a straight flush. I would have been drawing dead if I had called and was proud that I made the correct read.

There was one hand where I tried to make a move with A5 and committed half of my chips. when the blind moved in on me, I was forced to make the call. He showed pocket nines, but the ace flopped and I doubled up. I didn't get many hands and I was making moves with any hand that had a high card in it. I raised with K7, Q9, and A6 and was able to pick up a couple of blinds. After that I couldn't get any kind of hand and was having difficulty creating situations for me to steal pots. We were at the $300-600 level with $100 antes and I knew I had to make a move within one round or I would be finished. I picked up KJ suited and I was going to move-in with it, but the guy moved in front of me and I folded my hand (probably a big mistake). I laid it down and knew if I didn't get a hand I was going to be forced to play my big blind. I had $600 in the blind with $1300 left in chips and I decided to not call a raise when I was dealt 54 (probably another mistake). Now in the small blind I got dealt Q3 and decided to lay my hand down AGAIN. I was left with $900 and I got dealt A6 on the button. I thought to myself, "okay this is it". The guy in front of me came in raising and I decided to slide in under his raise and hope it protected me from the blinds calling. The small blind reraised and I knew I was in trouble. The original raiser laid his hand down and the blind turned up pocket queens. At least I had outs, but no ace got there and I left the tournament when we were down to five tables. There were 251 entrants, so I outlasted 200 players, but that doesn't count for anything. I have to take it for what it ended up being... practice for the big one.

May 2
I've been waiting for two weeks to type these three words: I DID IT! I finally won my seat tonight for the World Series of Poker main event. I played hard, took my hands to a race situation when I felt the time was right, and I even made one horrible move that worked out for me. The key hand was when I made the bad decision when we were four handed to come over the top from my big blind of the small blind raiser with an A4. He turned over his pocket nines and I thought I was dead. I was going to be the shortest stack at the table if I lost the hand. Up until that point, I was second in chips (close to first) and they were giving two seats away. I should have just folded my hand and I was so upset at myself after the flop, I was ready to crawl in a hole. The river was an ace and I couldn't believe it. I have been taking bad beats all week, but I almost felt bad for doing it. On the very next hand, the chip leader went against the short stack and took him out. We were playing four handed for a long time and then it was over in an instant. There were some really strange hands that I witnessed along the way. I thought I have seen everything in this game, but not even close. Here are two.

The blinds are 1500-3000 and the person in first position made it $12,000, another player called, and the small blind called. The flop was Q82 with two diamonds, the small blind bet 54,000, the original raiser called all in for 11,320 and the other player called. The turn was an ace of clubs. The small blind checked, the other guy moved all-in for 63,000, and after some thought the small blind folded. When the hands were turned over, the guy who bet the turn had 54 of diamonds. He won a huge side pot on a semi-bluff. I couldn't believe what I saw. The river was a five giving him a pair, but it didn't win the main pot. All of the things the player did was strange to me. He called a significant raise with Vince's (from WPT) favorite suited connectors, he overcalled a large bet with a five high diamond draw, and then made that unbelievable all-in move for the side pot.

This other hand was even more strange and the funny thing is she almost won until the river. The blinds were 3000-6000 and the girl was in the big blind. A wild player raised to 60,000 and it was going to put her all-in. She said "let's gamble" and called all-in with 64 of hearts. The original raiser had pocket fives. The flop came K77 and the turn was another King. The girl's six high was going to play until a five came on the end giving him a full house.

One hand, I would have given a guy a really bad beat. Kind of like the one's I have been taking. I had pocket fours in the small blind and one tight player raised four times the amount of the blind and another player called in front of me. I thought about calling to see if I hit the flop, but decided to fold. The flop was KJ4. I wanted to cry after seeing that. The turn was another four and I would have made four of a kind. The pot ended up being over $400,000 and I would have been a huge chip leader. One of the guys had AK and the other guy had JJ. I would have hit my one outer on him. I don't like to evaluate my hand by the end result. I always try and judge it whether I made the correct play or not. In this situation, I made the correct laydown.

The day didn't start out so great. I was psyching myself up to play in the $650 event into the WSOP and I went in ready to tear it up. I managed to hang on to some of my chips even though I ran into a higher full house and a four of a kind when I held a full house. They could have had all of my chips, but they didn't put me all-in. I survived for a short time and then made an error. One player called, another player directly in front of me made it four times the amount of the blind and I called on the button with KQ suited. The flop was Kxx with two hearts. The first person checks, the second bets, and I move all-in (about 3 times the amount of the bet). Both players called. The turn was another heart and the river was a queen of hearts. The guy in last position made a small bet and the other player folded. He showed me pocket aces with the ace of hearts. I have been getting my chips in with the best of it most time and this was not the case at all here. I left the tournament feeling depressed, but I was ready to go to battle in the Omaha tournament and show them what I was made of. I managed to get knocked out early in that too. I then decided to sign up for the WSOP tournament to win my seat. After I won the event, it made up for losing the previous tourneys.

I am going to totally prepare myself for the big event. I'll be one of about 250 people in Pokerstars gear. Of course, I'll keep posting on my progress. Thanks for the well wishes. I actually had a few rooting for me from the rail tonight.