Razz Second Chance Recap

I finished 54th of 128 in the Razz second chance. I was doing just fine with about 8,000 chips (a little above average) with 60 or so players left. Then I had two big hands go against me.

On one I was up against a player who ended up all in on 5th street and one other player. Basically they both had very marginal hands and I had 4 cards 6 and lower. All I needed to win was a card 9 or below that didn't pair me. Instead I got three straight jacks!

On the next hand I knew the player I was up against had a weak hand. I put on the big heat on with a pretty crappy hand on 5th, 6th and 7th streets and he called me with Q9732! This is a total shit hand to showdown. I know it was a big pot, but this was still a surprising call. My best 5 cards were QT974 and after I missed out on that one I was down to 2,000 chips. I was out pretty soon after that.

My starting $10,000 bankroll is now at $11,003. When it comes down to it these $162, $215, and $320 tournaments are probably not going to determine my overall fate in the WCOOP. When I start getting to the $1,050 tournaments and the $500 with rebuys later in the series that's when we'll know what's what. Of course it doesn't suck to be up thousand bucks at this stage.

2008 WCOOP Events #11 & #12 Preview

Event #11 is one that wasn't on my original schedule and I'm still not sure I'm going to play. It's $320 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split.

I was in the midst of trying to explain Omaha Hi-Lo for those of you who don't know much about it and I decided it best to just direct you to this link if you want to learn more. Also you'll notice all the other games listed on the left if you'd like to read more about them.

I have a fair amount of experience playing this game limit and not much playing it pot limit. I expect to make a game time decision and right now I think there's about a 75% chance that I'll play.

Event #12 is $320 Mixed Hold'em. Basically it's half limit and half no limit hold'em switching back and forth every half hour. I'm hoping that at least some of my competition will be much worse at limit than they are at no limit (or perhaps vice versa in fewer cases). This is the first year they've had this event and I love that they're always coming up with new ways to spice things up!

2008 WCOOP Event #10 ($215 Razz)

I finished 650th out of 1288 in today's Razz event. I'm a little dissapointed since I had high hopes for this tournament. But it just didn't come together. At one point I had my starting stack of 3,000 up to 6,700, but it was a quick downhill run to zero soon after.

In still in the $162 Razz second chance which started with 128 players and a first place prize of $4,416. We're still in the early stages, but I'll let you know what happens when I'm done.

Event #10 underway

We kicked off the $215 Razz (7 card stud where the worst hand wins) with 1,288 entrants. After an hour only 10 people have busted out. The stakes have been so small during the first two levels that it's really felt like warm up. I have my starting stack of 3,000 up to 3,330, which is of course better than being down 330, but not too exciting.



I've decided to skip the 4 handed second chance. I think it's just a bit too much of a crapshoot and it requires a great deal of attention and concentration. I will however be giving it my best in the $162 Razz second chance which starts in 2 hours.



Also I wanted to make sure no one missed these comments:

From Kristen:

Is it weird that I consider the WCOOP one of my favorite times of the year? As though it's some awesome holiday!? haha! Well, my point is..it is so fun watching and cheering you on. Even more fun when I've got a piece of the action! Regardless of my own personal gain, I am always excited for you to win because it seems like you just keep getting better and better which makes it more and more exciting! Not to mention that I most definitely have a cooler brother in law than anyone else I know! hahaha!!

From London Dave

Right you've tickled the belly the belly of Bracelet and got a whiff of the Mega pay day, I can feel it in my water ! the big one is coming, keep it up Dave, It WILL happen, I just hope I'm around to see it, Most of the games start around 7-8pm UK time hence my 3am stay ups, Sigh... up for work at 5:30am ! roll on the WCOOP!

Census T0m I think you've fallen to #3 on my list of super fans! I'd also like all of you (except Damian) to acknowledge that all of your bothers in law are no match for me in the coolness department!

WCOOP Event #9 (NL 4-max) Underway...and over.

I finished 2,761 of 3,290. This one lasted all of 36 minutes. Amazingly I started by running my starting stack of 3,000 up to 7,000 by making some hands and putting major pressure on my opponents. Then I crashed head first into a slew of made hands and that was it. Such is the nature of 4 handed play.

Hopefully I'll have better luck with the Razz.

2008 WCOOP Event #9 & 10 Preview

Event #9 is $215 4 handed NL hold'em. This is a tournament that might last 8 minutes or 8 hours for me. 4 handed play is full of confrontations and you just have to go for it. In the words of many great poker players "In order to live, you have to be willing to die." Playing so short you just have man up and get your chips in there!

Event #10 is $215 Razz. I've been playing a fair amout of Razz lately and since there are already almost 700 people signed up for this tournament I expect a large turnout. Guess what? There are about 100 people that play Razz with any kind of regularity on pokerstars. I don't know who these people are who think they're going to do anything in this tournament when they never play Razz, but I'd pay $430 to get into this one even if everyone else was paying $215.

I expect to play a few satellites to these tournaments as well. I'll let you know how it goes.

8-game Second Chance Recap

I finished 8th out of 108 in the 8-game second chance. I'm going to be brief since I've been playing for 12 straight hours and I've got a similar day on tap tomorrow. I got paid $745 for 8th which means I had a net profit in WCOOP today of $1,588 and my starting $10,000 bankroll is up to $11,595.

Even though I haven't hit a home run in this years WCOOP (Yet!), I have to be happy with my play. If I keep going deep, everything is going to come together sooner or later.

Thanks to everyone who has posted comments. Clearly I've spent some effort writing this blog and it's great to know that people are reading it. Keep up the comments!

6-max PLO Second Chance Recap

I finished 8th of 318 in the PLO second chance. On the hand I got eliminated I made a questionable play (ok a bad play) and then got outplayed on top of it!

With blinds of 800/1,600 I was on the button with 78,000 chips and made it 4,800 to go with A997 with A7 of spades. I got called by the small blind and the flop came 886 with one spade. My opponent checked and I bet 8,000 and he made it 35,000. This is the point where I should have folded. I had plenty of chips to just let this one go, but after some thought and then an instant of lack of thought I called. I thought if I made a straight or hit a 9 I'd be good.

The turn was a ten and my opponent checked. BINGO! I'd made my straight and was sure I'd be taking down the pot with a bet. I moved all in and my opponent snap called me. I knew I was done before he even turned his hand over. He had JTT8 and I was drawing totally dead.

8th place paid $1,192 which doesn't suck. Also to not only make the money, but go pretty deep into the money in both the main WCOOP event and the second chance feels pretty good.

Also since my last post I've turboed up in the 8-game second chance. I've run my starting stack of 4,000 up to 30,500 and find myself in 2nd place with 32 of the original 108 players left.

The money comes at 16th and is $432 gross. I'll let you know if I make it!

Second Chance Update

We're down to 14 in the PLO second chance. I'm in 7th, but still not in great shape chips wise since there are 3 or 4 guys with TONS of chips. If I'm going to make the final table (which is only 6 players) I'm going to have to made some progress while contending with players who have 5 times as many chips as I do and can apply major pressure.

I've been all in a few time and survived recently so no matter what happens I'll feel good. If I can hang on for a little while 10th-12th pays $715, and 7th-9th pays $1,192.

I'm also still in the 8-game second chance. There are 62 of the original 108 entrants left after 2.5 hours. I'm in 39th which is great because I had one foot in the grave about 10 minutes ago.

2008 WCOOP Event #7 ($215 6-max PLO) Recap

I finished 146th out of 2,457 in the pot limit Omaha today which paid $688. This was a great result for a tournament that I almost didn't play and in which I had fairly low expectations.

Right after we made the money I won a huge pot and foundmyself with 47,000 chips which was about twice average. But then I made a few questionable plays, had a few good bluffs not work out, missed a few draws and before I knew it I was out.

I feel great about this result. It's an odd contrast between the Limit Hold'em where I finished 33rd and felt super pissed.

In other good news I've made the money in the WCOOP $162 PLO 6-max second chance! We're down to 36 from a starting field of 318. I'm in 11th place right now and have guarenteed a gross payout of $334. 9th pays $1,192 and first pays $8,824 so while it's not going to be time to pur champagne over my head if I win, there are still some solid bucks to be had.

I'm also in the $215 8 game second chance, but it's in the early stages.