A Big Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who stayed up late to watch last night. Also thanks to E.B. for driving out here at about 1 a.m. to root me on in person and give me someone to high five after Jen went to sleep!

2008 WCOOP Events #15 & #16 Preview

Event #15 is $320 Heads Up Matches. The way it works is you play against one player and whoever wins moves on. If you win you have to wait until all of the other matches are done before being paired with a new opponent. If you win 3 matches you're in the money.

Event #16 is $215 Pot Limit Omaha with 1 rebuy and 1 add on. This is a tournament that wasn't on my original schedule, but since I'm now flush with cash and I did so well in the other PLO that I played I figured why not.

Also I want to give myself as many chances to cash as possible. There are only about 75 players who have 3 or more cashes, 25 who have 4 or more, 6 who have 5, one who has 6, and one with 7. While it would be tough for me to contend for most cashes, I might be able to get into the top ten by the time it's all over. I do have 4 cashes in the second chance tournaments in 6 tries, but that doesn't count for anything except the money won of course (and a little satisfaction!).

This Omaha tournament will be 9 handed and unlike yesterdays rebuy tournament where you could rebuy as many times as you wanted during the first hour (assuming you had under 2,000 chips), in this one you can only rebuy once. At the end of the first hour you can add more chips with the add on. Basically the max commitment in this one is $615.

2008 WCOOP Event #13 ($215 with rebuys) Recap

At this point much of yesterday's tournament has blended together so the details aren't going to be as sharp as most of my posts. And while I'm trying to get myself to just feel good about it I can't help but have mixed feelings.

When I last left off I had about 90,000 chips with 88 players left. Soon after a very aggressive player moved all in from the cutoff and I called with 77. He turned over J9s, but I flopped a 7 and moved up to over 200,000.

The great thing about this tournament is I was stuck at between a third and half of average for hours and hours, but I still had plenty of chips in relation to the blinds. This allowed me to stay patient and wait for good hands which I got plenty of.

Specifically I kept getting AQ! I must have had it 10 times after we got down to less than 100 players. And I won with it every time! Usually it was by blowing all in against an initial raiser who every time but one folded. I got called one time by 88, but managed to hit an ace and double up.

With less than 25 players left I had by far my favorite hand of the tournament (although that one with K9 suited is second). I wish I could remember all the precise details, but I think it went something like this. With blinds of 6,000/12,000 a player raised on the button to 30,000 and I made it 110,000 to go with 99 (I had something like 600,000 when the hand started). My opponent called and the flop came down QJ9 with two hearts giving me a set! I bet out about 150,000, my opponent who had about the same number of chips I did, made it 320,000 and I moved all in. I was hoping to see hand like AA or AQ, but instead my opponent showed KJ of hearts giving him a straight and a flush draw. In other words he was 39% to win while with AA he would have only ben 11% and with AQ it would have been 5%!

But then the turn came down...and it was a 9! QUADS BABY! 1,000,000 chips baby!

This was the first time I was in really good shape chip wise and it looked like I had a great chance to make the final table. For a long time I was telling myself that if I could just make it to 18th or better I'd be happy. All of the pay jumps were around $150 every time we'd lose another 9 players, but while 19th-27th paid $2,685 16th-18th paid $5,114. This was enough that I would feel like this tournament was a real success. We crossed that pay line and then quickly made the next pay jump. 13th to 15th paid $7,671. Before I knew it we were down to 12 which paid $10,228.

We played with 10 players for a good while and it seemed like we'd never make it down to the final table. Then I got a total gift. The blinds were 15,000/30,000 and the shortest stack had about 440,000. He was in the small blind and made a bold move with J8 moving all in. I woke up with QQ in the big blind and took him out!

Then I totally blew it! At one point at the final table I had over 2,000,000 chips, but with about 1,600,000 left I flushed my whole stack on one hand. With blinds of 20,000/40,000 I raised to 120,000 with KJ and got called by the big blind. The flop came down J T 7 and after my opponent checked I bet out 240,000. He just called and the turn came an 8. This was truly a terrible card since now any 9 made a straight. Again my opponent checked which is exactly what I should have done. Instead thought "There's no reason he should have a 9 is there?" And then I moved all in. I got snap called by T9 and that was it.

9th place paid $14,192. I won't remind you what the other places paid, because it sucks to think about what if. So officially I'm going to stop moping and try this again!

9th PLACE PAID $14,192! WCOOP FINAL TABLE BABY! This was a real marathon. I played for over 15 hours which is the longest I've ever played in any poker tournament.

The best part is now the WCOOP is guaranteed to show a profit! That right all of you backers, you'll all be getting a check from me when this is all done. For how much remains to be seen.

Right now my starting bankroll of $10,000 had ballooned to $23,723!

Still in it!

I think everyone who has big interest in this tournament is either watching live or asleep. I'm still in it late enough that London Dave is probably on his lunch break by now. Since it's so late and this is looking like a pretty nice finish I'm going to wait until morning for the full write up of results and stories.

WCOOP Update

When we last left out hero, I was at about 31,000. With about 35,000 I picked up KK and was facing an all in of about 18,000 in front of me. Yay! Kings should be good right? Wrong! He had AA and I was down under 20,000.

A few hands later I moved all in from 1st position with KQ. I got called by AJ, but I flopped 2 kings and was up to 30,000.

A few hands later I picked up 66. The player to my right who happened to be the same guy who had the AA and the AJ moved all in for 10,000. I decided to gamble and moved all in over the top. When the next player to act moved all in too I knew I was in trouble. The first guy had A9 and the second guy had KK, but I nailed a 6 on the flop and was up over 70,000!

Since then I've been in maintain mode and have about 90,000. We're down to 88 which pays $1,918 gross and I'm in 62nd.

I also finished 5th in the $215 Stud second chance which paid $512.

Heavy Action!

After my last post I went up to 50,000 chips by winning three pots. On the first I raised with QJ, and got one caller in the big blind. The flop came Q high and my opponent check called a good sized bet. The turn was a brick and I decided if this was it then oh well. After he checked the turn I moved all in and he folded.

A few hands later with blinds at 600/1,200 a player who'd been raising very often made his standard 3,000 bet and I just called with KJ on the button. The small blind came along too and the flop came down A Q T all spades. The original raiser made it 7,200 I instantly moved all in and took down the pot.

Then I went back down to about 30,000. And then all the way back up to 70,000 when the following hand came up. I raised from the button with Q9s and got reraised by the big blind. I called and the flop came down JT9. He made a good sized bet and I moved all in. After some thought he folded and I was up to over 90,000.

Then I got totally jobbed. With blinds of 800/1,600 a player made it 3,935 to go from middle position (Really!). I decided to see a flop with 78 from the big blind. The flop came down 5 6 J and I was going to check raise semibluff, but my opponent checked behind me. The turn was a 9 which was a total bingo card making me the nut straight. I check raised him all in and he showed 69 for two pair. To my shock on horror the river was a 9 making him a full house and costing me 85,000 chips. SHIT!

I'm back to 31,000 now in 164th of 199, but still in it.

In the Money!

We made it to the money in the $215 with rebuys! Right now I'm in 235th of 318. Anything could happen from here on out. I'll post again if I get elminated or make it over 50,000 chips.

Event #13 Update

After 5 hours and 30 mintues of play I'm still in the $215 with rebuys. I have about 19,000 chips which puts me at a little more than half of average and in 342nd place out of the 460 players left. 324 make the money which is over $1,000.

The good news is the blinds are still small relative my (and everyone else's) chip stack. When we come back from break we're looking at 400/800 blinds with a 75 chips ante so I'm a long way from all in or fold mode. I feel like I need one more big hand to get me there. Hopefully I'll have one just fall in my lap!

I'm also still in the $215 stud second chance. This one went off with a whopping 32 players! If I'd noticed that it was going to be such a small field before it was too late to unregister I wouldn't have played. First is $2,500+ which is nothing to sneeze at and now that I'm in I'm going to give it everything I've got.

This is amazing! While writing this post I just got the big hand I wanted! HA! I was in the big blind with K9 of clubs and a player open raised to 2,400. He got called in one spot and I decided to take a small gamble hoping to hit the flop hard. The risky aspect of taking a flop with a hand like this is not so much the 1,600 extra chips invested, it's the possiblilty of hitting a K or a 9 and running into a better K or 9 or an overpair.

But I hit the flop pretty hard. It came down K 7 4 with two clubs! While I thought I might be behind, there was no way in hell I was folding top pair and a flush draw! My worst nightmare was checking, having both other players check and having a non club ace drop on the turn. Of course that scenario was extremely unlikely, but nonetheless that's what I was thinking about when I decided to go for the check raise.

The original raiser bet out 4,000 and I moved all in for 16,000 and he snap called me. I was sure it must be a big hand since he spent less time that it takes to blink your eye to think this one over. I was SHOCKED to see him turn over 67! To my absolute horror the turn was a 7 giving him the best hand, but luckily the river was the deuce of clubs and I took down a 40,000 chip pot! Right now I'm in 170th of 412.

2008 WCOOP Event #14 ($320 Stud) Recap

I finished 425th out of 627 in today's stud tournament. My chip stack bounced around between 2,000 and 5,000 for the three hours that I lasted. I feel like I played well, I just ran into a bunch of full houses. I also had a slew of hands where going into the river I'd have one pair and so would my opponent, but I was always catching a brick while they were finding just enough to call my river bet.

In other news I started out really strong in the $162 second chance with rebuys and had more than twice average at the end of the rebuy period. Then I got involved in a few hands where I faced some tough decisions. In one my opponent either played a hand very weakly to induce a bluff or because he was really scared of going broke. Whatever it was it worked for him and I blew off about a third of my stack.

A while later I was down to about 7,000 chips from my peak of 17,000 when I called a small raise out of the big blind with 67 vs three opponents. The flop came down 865 giving me middle pair and a straight draw. This seemed like the perfect situation to use the good old check raise semibluff. I checked and the last player to act made a standard bet and I moved all in. He quickly called with TT and I missed. At the time the money went in I was 44% to win and if I'd hit I'd have been back to the good side of average.

Event #14 Underway!

We stared today's $320 Stud tournament with 627 players. After an hour of play only one unlucky bastard has gone broke. I briefly had my starting stack of 4,000 up to about 6,000, but have since come back down to 4,300. 96 spots pay with the edge of the money returning $451. 8th place pays $3,292 and 1st place is $33,388.

I'm still doing fine in the $215 with rebuys. I was in bad shape for a moment. After not winning a pot other than a few blind steals for about an hour and a half (close to 100 hands) and losing a few moderate pots I was down to around 5,500.

Then I picked up 99 and raised to 600. I felt a little nervous when I saw this hand because I knew it was enough to go with if I got challenged given my stack size, but It wasn't enough to feel good about it. I had a feeling I might end up all in vs AK or AQ hoping to survive. Instead I got called by one player and flopped a full house!!

With 977 on the board I decided to check. While it's very suspicious to raise and then check, the player I was up against seemed pretty inexperienced and I thought he might fall right into my trap. Even if he checked behind me he might pick up something on the turn that would generate some action for me.

After my check he bet 600 into the 1,500 pot which looked like a tester to me. I just called and the turn came a king. This was a great card since I thought he might have called me with something like KQ. I checked again and he bet 600 again. I just called again and the river came a 5. I was torn about betting or checking here, and against a good player I'd certainly bet. But against this guy I decided to check. He bet out 600 for a third time and this time I dropped the all in bomb! He thought for about ten seconds and called with KT.

After one or two other small pots I'm up to 13,400 which is just shy of average with 1,125 players left.

The $162 second chance rebuy tournament is also underway with 330 entrants although the prizes won't be displayed until after the rebuy period.