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.

More SCOOP Bad News

I came up short in the $33 and $320 8-game as well as the $55 and $530.

This is a major disappointment, not so much because of the money, but because these should be the tournaments in which I have the highest expected value and I didn't even sniff the money. Frustrating to say the least.

5 tournaments left in the SCOOP: $270 heads up matches, $215 HORSE, $215 NL hold'em, $109 NL hold'em (the low stakes main event - $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool), and $1,050 NL hold'em (the medium stakes main event - $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool). The go off in that order starting Saturday morning.

Even in the worst case scenario if I blank in all of these I'll have about $3,000 of my $7,500 FTOPS/SCOOP bankroll left.

Of course the best case scenario is a mid six figure pay day, which is why we play. Let's hope I finish out the 2010 SCOOP with a bang!

Thursday's Action.

$33 and $320 8 game mixed games today starting right now. I'm going to late register. I always like my chances when we're playing more than one game.

SCOOP Event #28 ($109 w rebuys) Recap.

We started this tournament with 2,066 entrants all shooting for the $103,856 first place prize or at least the $551 for 270th. At the end of the rebuy period I had about 11,000 chips which was what I got for my buy in, one rebuy and the add on. About 4 hours into the tournament I was all the way up to 15K. What a boring 4 hours!

At that point an interesting hand came up. The blinds were 150/300 and the under the gun player made it 750 to go. He got called by a player a few spots to his left and I made it 3,000 to go with TT. The UTG player who had about 60,000 chips called. The other guy thought for about 30 seconds and then went all in for about 18K.

This seemed very suspicious. I thought maybe the all in player thought I was putting on a squeeze play and decided to "resqueeze." I couldn't rule out AA or AK, but looking back a hand like 77 or 88 makes the most sense. In the end I folded, because I was worried I might get called by both players and TT plays like shit against two hands. The UTG player folded so I have no idea what they both had.

I finally caught a break when I got dealt AA. A player in early position raised to 1,200 with KJ and I just called (the blinds were 250/500 by that point). The flop came down J T 8. He bet, I moved all in and he called.

One or two hands later I got dealt KQs. A player in middle position made it something like 1,100 to go and I just called. The flop came down J T 2 giving me two overs and a straight draw. My opponent bet about half the pot on the flop and again I opted to just call thinking I could hit or if he missed I'd likely be able to steal the pot with a bet on the turn.

The turn was a brick and my opponent checked. I bet 6K into the 7K pot and he called. Yikes! The river was another blank, he checked and without hesitation I moved all in for 20K. Scary! He thought for 10 seconds and folded leaving me with a stack of 41K when average was about 30K.

A little while later I got a big boost and then a big screw job. On the first one I reraised a guy all in who had about 20K. I had AQs and he had KK. I made a flush and was up to 60k. Then I got a cheap look in the big blinds with 89. The flop came with an 8 and a 9 making me two pair. But I was against 88 who flopped a set! ACK! After those two hands I was at 20K.

With about 450 players left I had 14K and average was 53K. I caught a huge break when I got it all in and flopped a Q with AQ vs AK! I caught another break when I folded 77 after being very close to raising it. It turns out I would have been against 88 and the flop came with a 7 and an 8! That would have been curtains for sure.

I won several small pots and one moderate one to take my stack to 60K when we made the money.

On my final hand I had JJ. The blinds were up to 1K/2K with a 250 ante and a player opened for something like 6K. I had a little over 50K and I thought about making it 15K to go, but I decided I should just get it all in there and pick up the 11,000 that was lingering out there in the pot. I got called by AK and he hit an ace. That's usually how a tournament ends.

I finished 185th which paid $681. Again not a ton of money, but it always feels good to cash.

SCOOP Event #28 Underway.

After a day off yesterday I'm back in SCOOP action today with $109 with rebuys 9 handed no limit hold'em. You get 3,000 chips for the buy in, 3,000 chips for a rebuy (you can only rebuy if you have 3,000 chips or less) and 5,000 for the add on at the end of the first hour. So I should have at least 11,000 chips at the end of the first hour when the blinds go from 30/60 to 40/80.

That's right. 140 or so big blinds at the end of the first hour. That is deep stack poker! This one is going to take FOREVER! Probably 7 hours to make the money. Luckily I feel rested and ready. Look for twitter updates.

SCOOP Update

Since my last post I've played 4 (well three and a half) SCOOP tournaments and come up short in them all.

The biggest disappointment came in the $215 triple shootout. Starting at a table of 10 players and needing to beat all of them to make the money I made it down to 1 opponent. And I was much better than him. And at one point I had a 33,000 to 17,000 chip lead.

He beat me because I did exactly what I shouldn't have done; I played big pots. If you have the skill advantage you want to play small pots and let your edge kick in over time. If you just throw your chips in there who knows what might happen. I can't remember the last time I felt so frustrated about a tournament result. I totally blew it! I won $1,700 in the cash games that day and still felt super pissed at the end of my work day.

The other 3 tournaments were two turbo limit tournaments ($22 and $215) that ended very quickly without much fanfare and a $162 half pot limit hold'em, half pot limit Omaha. In that one I got dealt AA on the button, raised, got reraised and I raised again (I considered calling, but decided to be aggressive). The flop came down jack high garbage and my opponent check raised me all in. I called and he showed me JJ! BOO!

I'm losing $1,689 for the SCOOP, and my $7,500 FTOPS/SCOOP bankroll sits at $5,248.

Nothing today, but $109 with rebuys tomorrow at 2 PT and $320 8 game at 11 on Thursday.

SCOOP Event #13 $162 "Ante Up" Recap

This tournament had a very interesting format. I thought it was just going to be antes from hand #1, but it turns out it was increasing antes with blinds of 5/5 the whole way through. After the first few levels there were effectively no blinds.

My opponents clearly had no idea how to adjust to this format. I'd say about 2/3 of the pots were being raised preflop. That means 1/3 of the time you could see a flop for 5 chips. We started with 5,000. I can see when the antes are 10 chips a player, or even 25, folding might be an option. But when the antes are 100 and there's 900 in the pot and 1/3 of the time you get to see a flop with a shot of hitting big and winning that 900, folding for 5 chips is crazy.

But EVERY SINGLE HAND 2, 3 or 4 players would fold preflop with no raise. Even when the antes got up to 500 a player and there was 4,500 in the pot before anyone had done anything and these guys had 50,000 chips they were STILL not putting in those 5 chips to see the flop. It's flabbergasting! What are you worried about someone popping it and losing .01% of your stack? PUSSIES!

I committed to playing every hand for 5 chips early on as did some of my thinking opponents. I think the fact that I play limit all day and am used to seeing flop after flop in spots where my opponents could have a wide range of hands and playing pots on the turn and river helped me a lot.

Early on I was on the button and a few people had called the 5 chips. The ante was 50 a player so there was close to 500 in the pot. Confused by the format everyone was playing really tight and passive. I decided I was going to just start shooting at the pots with air for a while until I got some resistance. So I made it 400 to go with T2.

I got called by one player in the field and the flop came down Q 9 8. My opponent checked to me and I bet out 600 still on a bluff. He called me and the turn came down a jack. BINGO! My total bluff turned into a straight! My opponent checked and I checked behind him hoping to convince him that I didn't have a ten in my hand.

The river was a brick and my opponent moved all in! HA! I had about 4,000 left in my stack and snap called him. He had QJ and I was up to 11,000.

At this point he went ballistic going on about how I was a moron and how could I play T2 and how he was rich because of players like me. For 30 minutes every time I'd lose a pot he'd call me an ATM or a donk or my favorite a "Donk ATM." Clearly he was rattled big time (he raised to 900 on the very next had with only 450 in the pot)and this hand helped me later on.

I flopped a straight vs a set and busted a short stack who had AJ vs my AK and found myself with 18K. We started with 2,007 players, at that point there were 575 left and I had a dead average stack.

I was up to 25K when I got into it with Mr. Donk ATM again. We were 4+ hours into the tournament and we were still at the same table which was a little surprising. The antes were 200 a player at this point and I made it 1,200 to go with AK. Mr. Donk called me and the flop came down A 8 2 rainbow.

I knew he was thinking about the hand with the T2. He'd mentioned it hours after it happened. I was sure he'd call me with anything at all if I bet the flop and there was no way he'd have me on AK. So I bet and he called. The turn was a blank and I checked hoping he'd bet, but he checked behind. The river was another blank and I decided to overbet the pot to make it look like a bluff. There was about 6,000 in the pot and I bet 7,000. He insta called me with QQ. He was down to 5K and I was up to 35K. SUCK IT JERK!

I still had about 35K which was average when we made the money with 288 players left.

I caught a nice break beating JJ with AQ which took me up to 62K and had me in great shape. At that point I was in 60th of 219 remaining players.

I'd faded down to less than 40K when the following hand came up. I had J9s and I made it to the flop cheap (for more than 5, but not a ton). The antes were about 500 at this point and the flop came down K T 8 with two spades. My lone opponent bet out 10,000 into the pot of about 10,000 and I decided to go for it. So I moved all in for something like 35K. He called me with AT of spades! Whoops! The turn was an ace, but the river was a queen and I was up to 77K!

At that point I started dreaming big, but I was done in soon after by a hand I might have misplayed or at the very least could have played differently.

I had about 60K, got 88 and made it about 4K to go. I got reraised to 10K and I called. The flop came down 2 3 4, I checked, my opponent bet 15K and I went all in. He thought for a little bit and called me with 99. No miracles and that was it. When I got reraised preflop it felt like a big pair and I feel like maybe I could have check folded the flop. Of course if he has 77 I feel like a genius so who knows.

I finished 153rd which paid $376. Not off the charts by any means, but it felt good to make the money.

A Big 4 days of SCOOP Action

Brick city in the Mixed hold'em and the 7-card stud. Not much to tell. If you want a little more detail you can look back at my twitter updates.

At 11 PT Friday I have $162 NLH with antes from the start and I might play $55 limit Omaha 8 at 3.

On Saturday I have $215 triple shootout in the morning and then $22 and $215 limit turbo (5-minute limits) at 5 PT.

On Sunday we're back with $215 NLH "big antes" (not sure exactly what that means) in the morning and $215 NLH in the afternoon

Monday is $162 PL hold'em/PLO at 11 am, and maybe $11 and $109 with rebuys turbo at 5 pm.

Tuesday is going to be an off day with 5 days of SCOOP after that.

It only takes one good one to make this whole thing a big success.