Poker Journal

April 2005

April 30
I have made several attempts to win another seat for the WSOP by playing online, but I have not had any success. PokerStars decided to let players use W$ for WSOP televised preliminary events. This means I could have skipped the Tahoe event and played in four events at the World Series. Although I could have bought into four events, I am happy with my decision because I think playing in the main event in Tahoe will be great preparation for the main event at the WSOP. If I do happen to win another seat, I will use it for some of the tournaments I plan to play.

The Live at the Bike show on Thursday night was really interesting. Instead of a live action poker game, we had a $5,000 buy-in one table shootout. Some prominent businessmen and a couple professional tournament poker players played in the event. The show started with Tuan Le coming in for an interview. He was really nice and did a great job at commentating for the tournament. He is a regular player at the Bicycle Casino, so he was able to talk about his experiences regarding the players in the tournament. We also had visits from Amir Vahedi and Hasan Habib. The tournament play was good, but I would have liked to see a little more aggression at times. Of all the games we have had on Live at the Bike, this was the one where I could offer the most as far as commentary. I play one table sit n go's or shootouts so much that I felt like I had a lot to offer as far as commentary. Considering we had a lot of guests, I didn't get to talk as much as I would have liked. The next time we have this game on, I will make sure to post it in my journal the night before.

I did an interview on Sunday with a Canadian poker radio show. I am sure most of you missed it (especially since I haven't mentioned it until now), but the interview is archived on the website. The When you click on the archive banner, be prepared to wait about five minutes for it to download. I hope you will find that it was worth the wait. I thought the whole show was great. If you would like to listen to the show live, you can check it out on www.team1040.ca

April 26
I made a decision about the second seat to the WSOP I won. I used the W$ to register for the main event of Harrah's circuit event in Lake Tahoe. I decided to give myself two shots at a big buy-in No Limit event. I figure that even if I don't do well in the first one, playing in the event will be great preparation for the main event of the WSOP (the second one). My trip begins on May 6th. I am playing in the Ladies event on the 7th and the big event starts on the 8th. If all goes well, I will be there until the 12th.

I played in the Omaha tournament on Sunday and finally finished in the money. It has been awhile since I have done well in this event, so it was nice to be able to cash. I finished in 11th place and won a very small amount.

April 20
I had one more victory this weekend that I haven't mentioned. I won another seat to the WSOP on Sunday afternoon. The reason why it took me so long to write about it was because I wanted to make sure to let you all in on what I was going to do with the money. After a few days, I still don't know for sure.

PokerStars policy is to automatically register you for the main event when you win your first seat. You may not transfer the ticket or exchange it for cash. That works out well with me because I want to play in the event and if I had the $10,000 cash in my hand, I might not do it. If you happen to win another seat, they put $10,000 into your PokerStars account in the form of W$s. W$s can be used to play in any of the qualifying WSOP events or you can use them to play in any of the Harrah's circuit events. A lot of times people sell their W$s at a discount, so they can use the money. As a matter of fact, I bought some W$s when I knew I was going to try and qualify for the WSOP (I got a discount of $200). PokerStars does not let you use the W$s to buy into the smaller preliminary WSOP events nor do they let you buy into the main event with them (so transferring the W$s to somebody who was going to pay cash doesn't work). I have two choices; sell the W$s for a discount and buy myself into some of the preliminary events at the WSOP or play in the Harrah's circuit event in Lake Tahoe. I am leaning toward the second choice.

The second seat was a lot harder to win than the first one. The guy I got heads up with really put up a fight. At one time, he actually had me short chipped. When the heads up battle started, I had him about 2 to 1 and just when I started to make some progress, he made a comeback and got me more than 2-1. I wasn't giving up and I knew I could still win. I have been shortstacked during heads up play a lot of times and I often pull out of it. This time was no different and I won the event. I really can't believe the weekend I had (two WSOP seats and a second place finish on FullTilt's $50,000 guarantee).

I mentioned that tournament wins seem to go in cycles (at least they do for me). So I thought I might give it another try when I got home from work last night. I ran into the worst luck and bombed out of almost everything I touched. In one of the shootouts, I had a decent size stack and there were five players left when I got dealt AK. I raised and one player came over the top of me with a good size raise. I actually thought the player had a pretty big hand, so I decided to just call and look at a flop. The board was king high (rainbow) and all of our chips got into the middle. He didn't just have a big hand, he had the big hand. His aces held up and I was left with few chips. I asked the table, "why did that king have to get there on the flop?" One hand later, I was dealt AQ and slowplayed it to my death. I do not feel slowplaying it was a mistake because I needed to play for all of my chips and double up. The flop was AAx and I gave a free card to my opponent. When a deuce hit on the turn, I moved in and he called with deuces full (he had pocket deuces) and I never made a full house. I played on a multi-table tournament and basically the same thing happened. I took Queens against Aces on a nine-high board and was out of the tournament.

I will be doing the Live at the Bike show tonight, but only for the first half of the show. I think being able to see all of the hole cards and discussing strategy with my co-commentator has helped me improve my game. I need to work on it even more before the WSOP rolls around.

April 17
I played in the $50,000 guaranteed tournament on Full Tilt Poker yesterday and finished in the money. I decided to sign up for the tournament because it seemed there was going to be an overlay in the prize pool. Sure enough, only 450 people paid the $100 entry fee, so Full Tilt had to add $5000 to the pool. The other great thing about this tournament was the winner receives 10% of John Juanda's winnings at the main event of the 2005 WSOP. 2nd through 9th place receives 1% of his winnings.

I started the tournament out a little slow, but I was focused and I knew who my target was at the table. There was one player who kept going all-in every chance he got. He even asked us, "You don't mind if I go all-in every hand?" I did not respond to his question, but in my head I was thinking, "not at all". I waited for him and took all of my chips against him twice. One time, I took pocket sevens against his KJ and another time, I took AQ against his pair of sixes. I won both hands and managed to be one of the chip leaders (I was in the top ten for most of the tournament after that).

I played a pretty tight game of poker, but once in awhile I would come over the top of a player if I thought I could get away with it. It seemed like every move I was making was working out. When we got down to 18 players, I took a little hit when I came over the top of three limpers for all of my chips with AQ. I knew everybody would lay down (except for maybe the original limper) and I was correct. He called me with A9 and everybody else folded. He spiked a nine on the flop and I lost a chunk of my stack. I kept my composure and built my way back to the top. I was second in chips when we got down to nine players.

One player was playing a reckless game, but she seemed to win every pot. She kept moving in for all of her chips and I was ready and waiting. One hand, she moved all-in with 87 and got called by two people. One player had A4 and the other had KK. The flop was 54x and she rivered the six she needed. She eliminated both players. Another time, she took KJ against pocket aces and hit two kings.

The two of us ended up getting heads up and she had me out chipped about 2 1/2 to 1. I knew the exact strategy I was going to use against her. I was going to limp in every hand and hopefully she would move in when I had a decent hand. I limped, she moved in. I was in the blind, she moved in. It went like that for a few hands and finally I picked up the hand I was waiting for. I held QT and I knew it wasn't much, but it was enough to go against her with. The problem was, she didn't move in this time. Every single hand, she had moved in, but the time I wanted her to, she didn't. The flop was 644. She made a bet and I called thinking I would take it away from her on the turn. The turn was a queen. She checked, I bet, and she moved all-in. I called in an instant and before I knew it I was out of the tournament (She had Q6). I had the exact strategy to play her and I abandoned it midstream. With a flop of 644, I should have just given up because it was a limped pot. I could have waited a few more hands and got all of my chips in the pot in a better spot. I ended up getting $7,500 for my second place finish.

I want to thank all of you who watched me play in the tournament. I was amazed at how many people sat around and chatted to me at one point or another. I appreciate all the well wishers and for the positive vibes. I have played at Full Tilt in their ring games, but this is only the first multi-table tournament I have played on the site. I will definitely be playing more in the near future.

April 16
I did it! My determination paid off and I finally won my seat to the World Series of Poker by qualifying on PokerStars. The strange part about it is I won a $160 double shootout. I have not been performing well in this satellite, so I had pretty much given up on them.

I started the day out by playing in a $33 w/ rebuys and they were awarding one seat. Of course, I managed to work my way all the way down to 14th place (I keep getting close), but didn't win my seat or any money. I saw they were starting a double shootout, so I jumped on it.

My first table was pretty easy because I accumulated chips pretty early. It seemed like players were playing really big pots and being overly aggressive, so I was kind of out of my element. I normally like to play small pots because I think I can outplay most opponents after the flop. After players kept moving over the top of me, I decided I had to change my strategy. I had to get in there and play some big pots and take a couple race situations. The first hand I doubled up on was pocket eights. I raised and a player came over the top of me for all of his chips. The raise was ridiculous, but I wanted to let the players know that I was willing to call their big raises. He turned up two overcards and I ended up making quads. About two hands later, I took pocket jacks against AK. The player had less chips than I did, but enough to do some damage to my stack if I lost the hand. My hand held up and we were down to five players.

I was the big stack at the table and I knew if I could get down to three players, I would have my best shot at winning the first table. I let some of the players go to war and when we got down to three players, the game began. When the play got down to heads up, I had my opponent out chipped, but that quickly changed when I made a bad call with second pair (Ace kicker). I was out chipped 3-1, but I was determined to win. I sometimes have problems focusing at the table (I will surf the web, play two games, update my website, etc.). I knew I had to devote 100% of my attention if I wanted to win the thing, so I focused like never before. I nibbled and nibbled at my opponents stack and ended up turning the tides. I had him out chipped 3-1 and it didn't take long after that. I actually got lucky on the last hand when I took pocket sixes against Qx. The flop was QQx (x being a baby card). All of our chips got in on the flop and I turned a six.

The second table was pretty much the same thing. I accumulated chips and played few hands. I wanted to wait till I got down to three handed (or heads up). When we got down to three players, I had about $7,500 of the $13,500 in play. I let them go head to head a lot of times and picked up a few pots. When the heads up play began, I had over $8,000 in chips. The hand that was victorious for me was AK. My opponent raised the $150 big blind to $300 and I reraised to $750 and he called. The flop was K62 with two hearts. I did not have a heart in my hand, but I was still willing to slowplay and go for all of my chips. I checked, he bet $900 and I called. The turn was a queen of hearts making a possible flush. I checked again and he moved all-in for $3,440. I didn't think he made a flush and thought I still had the best hand, but it helped to know that I would still be left with over $3,000 in chips if my read was wrong. I was actually a little shocked when he turned up J6 of clubs. He was drawing to a jack or six and he never got there.

I was so happy about winning my seat. Of course, I made a few phone calls to let my friends and family know what I did. One person's advice was, "Now you need to work on your game more than ever. You just completed the easy part. Making the money in the World Series is going to be the hard part. You need to get in there and do it". Not exactly what I expected to hear, but the advice was great.

April 12
I played in another WSOP qualifier tonight and the story is pretty much the same. I managed to outlast about 200 players, but I did not win my seat.

I started the tournament out great. By the time break rolled around, I was in the top five as far as chip count. When the play resumed, it took me awhile to get moving again. I played a few hands, but ended up folding them when I missed the flop completely. I still had a lot of chips and I knew that I could wait for a good opportunity to play for all my chips. The opportunity came in a nice little package. I had pocket aces and took all of my opponents chips. I picked up the hand again a short time later, but didn't win as many chips the second time around.

After both hands, I started to get in there and mix it up. I picked up a couple pots when I came over the top of a raiser. Tonight's tournament awarded one seat to the WSOP, but it paid 17 people. I had $35,000 in chips when there were about 50 players left, but the chip leader had about $100,000. In order for me to win the tournament, I had to play for all of my chips. In most tournaments, I am totally capable of folding AK if I am forced to, but in these types of tournaments, I will always play the hand and I am willing to go broke with it. There is no possible way I would be able to win a seat into the WSOP without trying to accumulate chips. I can't win it by stealing blinds and antes, so when I was dealt AK, I went for it. One player raised the $800 big blind to $2,400 and I reraised to $7,200. When the player only doubled my raise, it crossed my mind that he might have pocket aces or kings, but even if he had kings, I was willing to go for it. I moved all-in and he called me (I had him out chipped). He had pocket aces and when an ace flopped, I was drawing to a runner runner.

I managed to stay in the game and stay focused, but I had even more ground to make up. I won a few pots here and there, but finally met my end and finished in 23rd place.

April 9
I spent the day trying to qualify for the WSOP. I started out in a $33 w/ rebuy tournament and finished in 33rd. I outlasted about 200 players, but I don't even consider 33rd place as getting close. In these kind of tournaments it is first or nothing (although top ten usually get at least some money). I did finish in the top ten in another $33. I played great, but one mistake hurt my chances of winning. We were down to about 20 players and my table was playing short handed. All of the players folded to me on the button and I raised with A8. One player in the blind called my raise. The flop was A84. He checked to me and I bet the pot. I am not sure what I was thinking, but that is definitely not the way to win chips. I had top two on an uncoordinated board and the tournament structure is such that you have to play big pots in order to win. If I had checked and tried to take the last of his chips, I might have had a better shot at winning. After that hand, I didn't get many hands at all and ended up getting short stacked. If I had more chips, I wouldn't have needed a hand because I could have used my chips as leverage.

I played in a double shootout qualifier too and managed to win my first table. It has been awhile since I have done that. I went out in 7th place on the second table. I couldn't get any cards and went out on a semi-bluff. I raised trying to steal the blinds with T9 of clubs and one player called. The flop came JJ6 with two clubs and I bet the rest of my chips. He called me with pocket Queens and I never got the club I needed. I at least won my money back for my 7th place finish.

I was planning on playing the $650 qualifier tomorrow, but forgot I had plans to see the play, "Lion King". I will probably give it a shot next week. Paradise Poker announced their next Paradise Masters and I am looking forward to that. The guaranteed prize pool is $1,500,000. The event will be held May 23rd so make sure to keep an eye out for me. Remember my Paradise name is "bite-me".

April 6
I played the $33 w/ rebuy tournament tonight and got close again. I feel like I played one of my better games, but I couldn't pick up a hand (or opportunity) in the late stage of the tournament. We started out with 255 players and I finished in 14th place.

I started the tournament out well. I had a little over $6,000 at break time and I only did one rebuy. I always take the add-on and tonight was no different. I did so and was in the top 30 when we resumed play. I picked up a pot right from the get go, but lost a big one when I made a bad read. I was in the small blind with 54 and called a limped pot. I flopped an open end straight draw and called a small bet. On the turn, I called another small bet. When my opponent bet a small amount on the river, I thought I would be able to take the pot away if I moved in. My opponent quickly called and showed a set of deuces.

After that hand, I waited patiently for a hand and managed to double up. I doubled up again shortly after that when I raised with T8 of clubs. Both players in the blind called me and I figured I had to hit the board perfectly. The flop was Q82 with no club. Both players checked to me and I thought they were setting me up. I took the free card and it was a ten giving me two pair. The player in the small blind bet $1,600, the big blind folded, and I moved all-in. Normally, I wouldn't move all-in because I want to play for all of my chips, but I thought he had hit the flop. He called my bet and showed pocket aces.

I was one of the chip leaders when the next hand came up. One player raised the $600 big blind to $3,600, I reraised to $9,000 and he moved all-in for $34,055. He turned up pocket tens and I showed him pocket aces. My hand held up and I catapulted into first place. I kept the lead until we got to about 20 players and things went crazy. I raised a couple pots with KT and laid one down when a player came over the top of me for all of his chips. I was only getting 1 1/2 to 1 on my call and I wasn't sure that both my cards were live. The other KT, I folded on the flop when an ace hit. I lost another hand with that same hand when a player just doubled my big blind. The hand was checked down to the river where I made a straight, but there was a pair on the board. I called a $15,000 bet from him and he showed me AJ for a full house. I went from chip leader to barely hanging in and I couldn't pick up a hand. I finally had to go all in with the dreaded KT. I called a raise knowing I was going to play for all of my chips regardless of the flop. I only had about $1,400 left after I called the raise. I was pleased to see a flop of T98. I figured I had the best hand, but I also knew that my opponent probably had two over cards. He bet and I called the last of my chips. He showed AJ which was even worse than what I had hoped for. He not only had the aces and jacks as outs, any queen would give him the straight. He caught the queen on the river and I was sent packing once again. Although I didn't win the seat, I am happy that I have been making it far in almost all of the satellites I have been playing in. A few more days of this and I might actually win my seat.

April 5
I had a great time on my cruise. My goal for the trip was to catch up on some much needed rest. That didn't happen. The first night, I went to bed early and left my cousin and sister on their own. After the first night, I never stopped.

During the next two days, I went to Ensenada, to dinner, to the nightclub, to two shows, the spa (for a massage, pedicure and facial) and the casino. Although I didn't get the sleep I needed or wanted, I am glad I took the trip.

I got home yesterday and was so exhausted that I spent most of the day sleeping. I did stay awake long enough to play in a $33 WSOP qualifier and I finished in 27th place because I couldn't beat 5 high. I was really pleased with the way I played the tournament and even more happy with the way my chips went into the pot on the final hand. I raised in position with pocket sevens and the guy from the blind called my raise. The board was 87x with two spades. He checked, I made a small bet hoping he would think I missed the board and he moved in. It was exactly what I hoped. He turned up 52 of spades and I had to dodge another spade. The turn was safe, but the river was the spade and out I went.

I played on another qualifier tonight, but didn't fair as well. I only made it down to about 60 players. I am determined to win my seat for the WSOP. I might take a shot at the $650 tournament this weekend.

April 1
Work was a little chaotic yesterday. I jumped around from game to game for awhile and then the boss asked me to host a mini-tournament they were having for the Live at the Bike show. Normally, I am in the commentator booth when I am at work, but they made an exception this time. On the Wednesday night show, we had a contest and the first six players who sent an email would get a chance to play a tournament for two Dodger tickets (the seats were right behind the dugout and had a value of $120). The players came in at 3:00 and we filmed the "satellite" and are going to air it on a later date.

After the satellite was finished, we had to get a new game on the "Live" table, so we could start the scheduled show. I worked on that for awhile and then I went into the booth. Normally, I do the commentating with Bart Hanson or David Tuchman, but we had a special guest last night. Roy Cooke, columnist and author, came in and hosted the show for me for a couple of hours.

After my shift was up, I went home and signed up for the $33 WSOP qualifier and I finished close to the prize again. I have been consistently making it in the top twenty, but I have only received money on one occasion. Last night was no different. I finished in 22nd place and received no money for my efforts. I have been getting so close to the prize, I am determined to win my seat.

I am heading out on my cruise today. The big boss' assistant, Traci has been working her butt off to get the cruise line to cooperate. The whole mix up on the first trip was their fault and they almost did it to me again. When Traci sent me the paperwork a couple weeks ago, I decided to call and confirm my reservation and the cruise line said it had been canceled. Traci had to start from scratch again, but it sounds as if everything is worked out. She sent me a little note with my itinerary that read, "Have a blast. I'm sure there will be no problems now, we've had every problem imaginable already." So if all goes well, I will be on a relaxing cruise this weekend. I will be back on Monday.