Twitter News and WSOP Event #18 Preview

I've discovered that the poker players I follow on twitter who are playing in WSOP event #17 have all been including #WSOP17 in their posts. Then when I clicked on that notation it brought me to all the tweets that included #WSOP17.

So tomorrow I'll be including #WSOP18 in all of my tweets. If you click on that you can read the tweets of all the other players who are tweeting about WSOP event #18 and of course anyone who is following those other players will be able to read my tweets. If you want other news and updates I'd encourage you to check out pokernews.com, pokerpages.com or cardplayer.com (probably in that order). It's doubtful that there will be anything about me on there (unless I tangle with someone famous or end up with the chip lead), but you'll be able to check out stuff about the tournament in general.

On to the Event #18 Preview! This tournament is $2,000 limit hold'em. I've spend the past almost 3 years of my career playing limit hold'em day after day. If I get anything between an OK and a good run of cards I should make the money and if I get a great run of cards, the sky is the limit. I have no doubt that I could win this tournament.

Last year there were 446 entrants and 45 spots paid with anything at the final table paying over $20,000 and 1st place being $190,000.

We're starting with 6,000 chips, stakes of 50/100, and 60 minute levels. Every two hours we get a 20 minute break and after 6 hours of play we get a 90 minute dinner break. If I make it through 10 levels (by then the stakes will be 800/1,600) I'll be on to day 2 which will start Thursday at 2:30.

Look for twitter updates and send me all the mojo you can muster!

News From Vegas

Ok, not really news per se, but more an update of what I've been doing and how I've been feeling. Nothing and shitty! Good night!

Just kidding. My flight in was a smooth as can be without the normal terror producing turbulence that you get flying into Vegas in the summertime. My cab driver saw my Ipod and spent the whole ride grilling me for tech support about how to get video onto his ipod. I was smart enough to get a room in the part of the Rio that is slightly closer to the convention area.

I had Chinese for dinner which was interesting for two reasons. First the Chinese place here is right next to the sports book and game 3 of the NBA finals was going on at the time. If you want to hear people cheer with conviction, and groan with true pain you should watch a major sporting event in a sports book.

Secondly I got a great fortune in my fortune cookie. It read "Listen attentively. You will come out ahead in the coming week." If a verbal tell leads to me doing something in one of these tournaments I'm framing that fortune!

After dinner I made my way down to the tournament area. The first year I came to the WSOP in 2005 everything was packed into the Amazon Room. The main tournaments, cash games, satellites, other nightly tournaments, tournament registration, the cashier, and the televised feature table were all packed into that one room. It's a huge ass room (40,000 square feet), but it was still crowded.

Now everything has it's own room and the main tournaments go off in the TWO biggest rooms in the massive Rio convention area. It's pretty amazing.

Noon to 5 is when there is the most hustle and bustle down there, but there was still some electricity in the air at 9 pm when I went down to register for tomorrow's tournament.

Phil Helmuth was sitting at table that was on the corner of the playing area and about 75 people were gathered around watching him in the $5,000 no limit hold'em event. No doubt they were wondering if he's the same in person as he is on TV. He is. I've played with him 3 times and he is always talking and always talking about himself.

In other goings on the final table of Event #16 $10,000 7 card stud hi-lo was going on with Jennifer Harmon, John Junada, Dario Minieri, and Steve Zolotow in the action. I didn't recognize anyone else at first glance, but you can bet that no one who sucks is playing that game for that cash.

The final two tables of event #13, $1,500 no limit were in action and the final 50 or so players in the $1,500 6 handed were also fighting it out.

The ten minutes I spent walking around checking what was going on really made me want to play! I'm ready!

It's Go Time!

I'm off to the airport in a few minutes to head to Vegas for the WSOP! I'm fired up!

In Huff WSOP tradition my wife Jen took some pictures of our son Peyton holding and playing with the $13,000 I'm rolling into Vegas with. They should be up soon.

$550 Lucky Chances Tournament Recap

I wanted to get in a tournament or two of in person play before I headed off to the WSOP and sure enough Lucky Chances in Colma is running a series of tournaments this week.

Sunday's event was a $550 10 handed NL hold'em event that drew just over 200 players. I played against about 30 different players in this one and 25 of them couldn't carry a bag of shit if it said poker on the side. I feel like I've never had higher positive expected value in a $500+ tournament in my entire career.

I played well and ran my starting stack of 6,000 up to 10,000 without ever making a real hand or ever having to show my cards. Everyone was so transparent that I just waited until I was confident no one hand anything and then fired at the pot.

About 2 hours in I got one of my legs cut out from under me. The blinds were 100/200 and I was in the cutoff with pocket tens. The player to my right made it 700 to go and I made it 2,100. He thought for a long time and he was not the type of player who would do this as an act. After a solid 60 seconds he moved all in for 5,000. Getting 7 to 3 on my money with only half my stack at risk I couldn't see folding to an opponent who honestly seemed unsure. When I called he acted like he was dead, but then he flipped up JJ and happily took the pot when no tens showed up.

I bounced around a little bit, but eventually went down the tubes almost 4 hours in when my JJ lost to AT. I finished about 100th. I played great all day and got my money in with way the best of it. I can't ask much more of myself than that.

Tomorrow I expect to face a lot of the same players in a $330 NL tournament with the same structure and then Tuesday it's off to Vegas!

Angry Dealings with Carbon Poker

I miss pokerstars. Their customer service is better than any customer service in any industry I've ever encountered in my life. I've e-mailed their support a few dozen times over the years and without fail I've gotten a response within the hour (sometimes in less than 10 minutes) written by a human, who knows how to read, and addressing my precise problem.

Little in the world makes me more aggravated than waiting 48 hours for a response and getting a form letter that barely has anything to do with my problem. I want to write back "What's wrong with you fucking morons? Didn't you read my e-mail?"

I could write pokerstars an e-mail right now that says "Hey Ass lickers! I think you should go hump a turtle! What do you think of that?" In 20 minutes they'd write me back with something like this:

Dear AceSedai:

Thanks for your e-mail! We are thrilled that you've noticed our ass licking! We here at pokerstars want to be the best at everything, from tournaments to cash games to ass licking!

As far as humping turtles goes, at this time we don't have access to any live turtles, but we are currently humping a stuffed turtle. To compensate you for any inconvenience this turtle substitution may have caused we are going to credit your account with $100.

Furthermore we have added both live and stuffed turtles with a variety of feed and clothing options to the Pokerstars FPP store.

Don't hesitate to contact us in the future with any other ass licking or turtle humping concerns! Good luck at the tables!

Chris Moneymaker

I bring this up because Carbon poker is making me angry. After finishing the last level of "The Race" promotion I went to make a cashout. When I did, $200 I earned as part of that promotion disappeared from my account. "Whoops!" I thought as I do when I make a mistake. Looking back on the terms and conditions of that promotion (no surprise that it was in fine print) I saw that I have to wait 7 days after the end of the promotion before I can cashout.

Luckily there is a happy little button that allows me to cancel a pending cashout. So that's what I did, maybe 10 minutes later. Of course my $200 was still gone, but I figured a short e-mail to support would fix the problem. WRONG!

37 hours later (literally) I got a response telling me that my $200 was gone because I had cashed out. What's wrong with you fucking morons? Didn't you read my e-mail? I never actually cashed out!

I'm tempted to write them an e-mail that says "Hey Ass lickers! I think you should go hump a turtle! What do you think of that?"

I'm sure 3 days later I'd get a response that said:

Dear Player

We are directing your e-mail to the appropriate department. Expect a response in 15 business days. We have charged your account a $100 processing fee for this e-mail. Marginal luck at the tables!

Support

I bet they do have a turtle humping department at Carbon poker. Ass lickers!

The Race - Conclusion

When I first looked at Carbon poker's "The Race" promotion I was sure it was going to be a slam dunk pile of cash for me. It was on the border of too good to be true at first glance, but the deeper I dug the worse and worse the promotion got.

Why did I believe that this was going to be such a big deal? The reason is poker sites need players. The more players they have the more than can expect to get. If I know there are going to be games going on a site at the stakes I'm interested in I'll keep money on that site and check it often. If they don't have the players once or twice I might never look back.

For the casual player it's hard to find a reason to NOT play on pokerstars. If you want to play $5/$10 limit poker on Carbon you'll probably find one game going. It might be 2 on the weekend or zero on a weekday morning. If there is one game you might have to wait 15 minutes to get into it. That's not long at a card room, but it's forever sitting in front of your computer. On the other hand pokerstars will have somewhere between 10 and 40 games going 24 hours a day. Right now (11 am on a Thursday) there is one $5/$10 game on Carbon and 20 on pokerstars.

What about no limit? Let's look at a popular level like $1/$2 blinds NL. On carbon poker they have eight 6 handed games going (4 of them actually have 5 or less players) and zero 9 handed games. Not bad right. Well pokerstars has 75 6-max games and 60 9 handed games going.

It's hard to compete with that huge load of games. Never longer than 30 seconds to get into a game and if you don't like the players, pick a new game!

The only way to lure players away from pokerstars to other sites is promotions. I thought The Race was carbon making a huge push to lure players away. I thought they might be willing to lose money in the short term to bring in new players and fill up their tables. I was wrong.

After my last post about The Race I realized when I put all of the promotions together I was making about 68% rakeback. I get a flat 75% on cake and on Absolute if you pile up the rakeback, rake races, deposit bonuses, and absolute points it's over 70%. Plus the games are better on AP.

So I bailed on the race. I completed 9 levels and made about $500.

WSOP Warm Up

I've been playing a few multitables here and there in an effort to get ready for the WSOP. Yesterday I finished 2nd of 137 in a $55 NL hold'em tournament which paid $1,200. That's not off the charts money by any means, and the field wasn't exactly loaded with pros, but it was still good for some momentum heading into the series.

Also in an effort to warm up for the WSOP, I'll be playing two tournaments in person just before I head out to Vegas. Both tournaments are taking place at Lucky Chances in Colma, CA. The first is on Sunday and features a $550 buy in and a guaranteed 1st place prize of $40,000. The second is on Monday, has a $330 buy in and a $20,000 1st place guarantee.

My guess is that each tournament will have about 200 entrants and feature the regular bay area tournament players. Hopefully I can book a nice cash and go into the WSOP feeling sharp. I'll let you know how it goes.

WSOP 2010 Starts Tomorrow

While I won't be in Vegas until June 8th, the 2010 World Series of Poker kicks off tomorrow with 57 bracelet events with buy ins ranging from $1,000 to $50,000.

I spent an hour this morning sitting at Starbucks reading Bluff Magazine and it feels like just about every article in the June issue is about the WSOP. Reading about how many of the big name pros are getting excited about the series makes me excited to get there and start playing!

I have a very positive feeling about this year which will be my 6th at the WSOP. I have more experience under my belt and compared to many of the players I'll be an old veteran.

But there are other things working in my favor as well. For one I've lost 20 pounds since last summer (Almost 30 since January of 2009). Playing from noon until 2 in the morning takes it's toll on everyone and I'm hoping that my improved physical fitness will help me deal with the long hours.

Another advantage I'll have over many of my opponents is I'm totally Vegased out. When I was 21 and even when I was 25 (I'm 30 now) I wanted to go out and get rip roaring drunk and gamble it up non stop! Hit me! Yo eleven! More Whisky! Clackity clack!

I've spent over 100 days in Vegas over the past 10 years (Plus a few dozen in Tahoe, Reno, Atlantic City, etc.)and I've had my fill. I still have fun playing negative EV games with my friends, but I no longer feel like spending time in my hotel room is wasting precious Vegas moments. While many of my opponents will be getting shit faced, trying to get laid, going to clubs, getting lap dances and playing craps long into the night, I'll be asleep.

Also working for me is, I've done this all before. I know where the bathrooms are and that I have to leave the table 20 seconds before the breaks start (have you ever seen 2,000 people get up to go to the bathroom at the same time?). I know where I like to eat at the Rio on dinner break and to not eat too much and cause a food coma. I know that I need to bring a snack to get me from the noon start time to the dinner break. I know that if you drink a red bull and a coffee you're going to miss two hands while you go take a piss. I'm not star struck by any of the players (Phil Helmuth? Yeah I've played against him 3 times, busted him once and saw him almost eat a graham cracker he found on the floor - REALLY!). I'm extremely good looking which distracts all of my opponents and lulls them into submission. I know it takes about 16 minutes to get from a room in the Masquerade tower at the Rio to the Amazon room. Did I mention the bathrooms, because that really is a big deal?

It really is exciting. There is nothing like the feel of a fat roll of hundred dollar bills in your pocket and peeling off 20 or 30 of them like it's nothing to buy into one of these tournaments. Or even better having so many that you need to carry around $1,000 chips instead because the roll of hundreds is so bulky that it won't fit in your pocket comfortably anymore.

More on the WSOP soon. I really feel like this is going to be my year!

SCOOP Recap

When you add it all up I lost $3,314 in the FTOPS and SCOOP combined. I played a total of 28 tournaments and had 4 money finishes. Under these conditions I'm shooting for something cloer to 25% in the money rather than 1 in 7.

Of course I had my opponent all in more than once with a chance to make the money if I won one of those confrontations in the both the triple shootout and the first heads up matches event. I easily could have (and probably should have) had 6 cashes instead of 4.

Looking ahead, I'm really excited about the WSOP this year. I feel like I've found the perfect mix of tournaments to play and I'm coming into the series more focused than ever. This will be my sixth year at the WSOP, I'm playing 6 tournaments, so I'm going to go on the record and predict a finish of 6th place or better on one of these events!

The action kicks off at the Rio the last few days in May, but my 2010 WOSP will start June 9th.

The Race Days 5-14

When I first saw the race promotion I thought "holy shit, they are giving me $25,000." At first glance it looked like all I needed to do was earn 100,000 points or pay $10,000 in rake to hit all of the race prizes. But then I saw that the list of point milestones were not cumulative targets, but rather 15 individual promotions that had to be hit independent of one another. At that point it looked like I'd need to pay over $30,000 in rake to hit them all.

In an equally disappointing moment I learned that because of my 35% rakeback deal I would only be earning points at 65% the rate of normal players. It makes sense, but I didn't know about it. Factoring that in I'd need to pay an insane $46,000 in rake in one month to hit all the levels.

Also I was expecting (foolishly) that rake back nation would be having their normal rake race for Carbon, which was canceled. That's another $1,000 I thought I'd get.

Also I learned that since I have a rakeback deal I'm not eligible for other parts of the Carbon VIP program.

Add all of this up and instead of making enough from this promotion to buy a car, it looks more like flat screen TV kind of money. I'm not going to look a gift few grand in the mouth, but it's not as earth shattering as I'd hoped.

So far I've earned about 20,000 points which has allowed me to hit the first 8 milestones and pick up a whopping $302.50. I expect to finish the month with about 50,000 which will mean I'll end up making an extra $1,502 from the race.

To get there I will have ended up paying $7,693 in rake. Factoring in the money from the race, the value of the actual points, my 35% rakeback, and clearing of two deposit bonuses, I'll be getting back $5,282 or 68% of my rake. Not too bad at all. Not the 100% I was hoping for at the start, but still solid.