Merlotgirl and I played in the biweekly $550 tournament hosted by TJ Cloutier at Choctaw Casino this past Sunday.
30 players.
30 minute blinds
10,000 starting stack
Antes start in level 4
Paying top 3
$15,000 prize pool
TJ Cloutier (who is now the spokesman for the Choctaw Casino Poker Room) was the first player to bust out when his flopped 2 pair runs into a full house, about 5 minutes into the tournament. He wasn't at my table (but there was a $550 bounty on his head) so the player who knocked him out (a dealer from Winstar) was freerolling.
I knocked the second player out of the tournament and doubled up about halfway through the first blind level. It folds to me in the Hi Jack seat and I rase 3XBB with 10 10. The BB calls. Flop comes A 7 7. BB checks, I throw out a 3/4 pot sized C Bet. and the BB calls. Damn. He has an Ace, I need to shut it down now. The turn is a Q. He checks. I check. River is the prettiest 10 I ever saw. He makes a pot size bet. I triple it. He pushes all in. I insta call. He slow plays his 777AA flopped full house, into me hitting a bigger boat on the river. Sweet!
I mixed it up a few times with the player immediately to my right (who played about 80% of the hands) he would either limp and call a raise, or raise to begin with virtually every hand. I had one big hand with him when my Kc Qc flopped 2 clubs. I called a sizable c bet by him. The most beautiful card in the deck fell on the river (Ac) giving me the nut flush (and the nuts on this unpaired board). He bet about 4,500. I took half my 500 chips and half my 1,000 chips and spilled them over the bet line, making it somewhere in the neighborhood of a raise to 11,000 or so. He folded, saying he had a set of 9's. I don't beleive him.
This guy's stack went up and down like a roller coaster. He had a pretty significant stack when he got into this hand with another player. He limped UTG. 3 other callers until it got to the short stack, who put about 2/3's of his stack in (raising about 5X the BB). Guy thought about it...then came over the top for about 3 times the guys raise. it folded to the original raiser, who couldn't get his chips in fast enough. Original raiser showed JJ. Overbetting LAG shows 2 4 off suit claiming he thought he could push the guy off his hand. Uhhh....he had more than half his chips in the pot already. Not sure how you came up with that play. JJ doubled up (and eventually made final table).
I get moved to Merlot's table. Blinds are 400 / 800. UTG raises to 2,400. I wake up with AA in MP and reraise to 6,000. It folds to UTG. He goes in the tank. Asks me if I'll show him my cards if he folds. I tell him..."My wife's father told her never to show anyone your cards unless you have to." He says...that's her, not you. I say "Goes for me too." Then I remember what we talked about at one of our bootcamps. People want to call. They just need a reason to. So I looked away...looked nervous...scratched my face...anything i could think of to get him to call. Finally, he laid it down. Grrrr....
I get moved to the other table. We're down to 2 tables, and my stack is dwindling. I'm somewhere around 16 - 18 K. Blinds are 500 / 1000. I'm BB with Q 9 offsuit. UTG calls. It folds to the SB who calls. flop comes up with two hearts and Q high. SB checks, I bet 2,500. UTG Pushes all in. I go in the tank. I don't beleive he's got a bigger Queen. He would have raised with AQ, KQ and possibly QJ. Why play QJ or Q 10 out of position. He could have flopped a set. I doubt it was 2 pair, on the pretty raggedy board. His bet would leave me with about 8K if I lost. I thought some more, and decided he most likely had heart suited connectors and was trying to push me off the hand on a semi bluff. I thought for another minute or so and decided I was pretty sure i was ahead. So I called. He had 8 10 of hearts, and missed on the turn and river. whew.....that was helpful.
Merlotgirl and I both made final table. One of the relatively shorter stacks asks if everyone can agree to a “save” where 4th through 9th get their buyins back, and they recalculate 1st, 2nd and 3rd. One player, the big stack at the time, an old rancher says no. He is the only “no”. I have no problem with this…he has friends at the table, and they say he never chops. That’s fine. The second biggest stack, mentions that it’s bad karma not to…and off we go.
A few hands later, I have KK and raise under the gun, the rancher (immediately to my right in the big blind) goes all in. I insta call. He has QQ. He gets no help and he has now gone from biggest stack , to shortest stack. Karma at work.
Probably a half hour later, Merlotgirl finishes him off. I don’t remember the details, but she knocks him out. With him gone we are able to make the deal, so everyone left gets their buy-ins back.
After my KK hand I go card dead for the next three blind levels. During that time, Merlotgirl gets crippled and is sitting with 2,600 and the blinds are 2,000 / 4,000. she’s BB for less. She gets one player to call…and with me in the SB, I come along for an additional 2,000. The other caller and I check it down. He paired the 9 on the river. There were 2 Kings on the board. Merlot flips over her cards. The first card she turns over is a K…cha ching….she’s tripled up and then some.
Next hand she has 55….and pushes all in to take the blinds and antes.
Next hand she’s all in again. 2 callers. Board comes up with a couple face cards, and a 9…the river is a 7…which matches the pocket 7’s she has in her hand. Another triple up and then some….now she’s sitting on 36,000 or so.
From 2,600 to 36,000 in 4 hands.
It gets better. She doubles up one more time when she raises with AA, player to my right goes all in, and she calls. He has KK and doesn’t improve. So now she’s sitting on 76,000. And probably the second biggest stack. About 8 hands after she couldn’t post her BB.
My 60,000 stack got blinded and anted down to about 28k when It folds to me and I have 88. I push. The guy 2 to my left in the SB wakes up with AA and calls. I don’t hit. I bust out 7th.
Merlot runs into a guy who flopped two small sets, and she eventually busted out 6th.
So we played 7 and a half hours, and got our money back. It was a great tournament. The overall quality of play was much, much better then the usual $200 or $300 tournaments. It was great practice.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Choctaw Grand Opening
With the new Choctaw Casino and Resort opening February 9th, Merlotgirl and I decided to go there instead of heading up to Tulsa for the Oklahoma State Poker Championships. Since Choctaw was having a great series of Tournaments, with TJ Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Kathy Liebert playing with bounties on their heads it was a great choice.
We planned on playing in each of the tournaments. The tournament schedule went like this:
Wednesday 7PM $100 buy-in
Thursday 3PM $200 buy-in
Friday 7PM $300 buy-in
Saturday 11AM$500 buy-in
Sunday 11AM Freeroll (10K prize pool)
Wednesday
We left right after Merlotgirl got home from work Wednesday. Buck Naked told us the tournament was filling up. We were able to get him to buy us in while we were driving up there and we rolled in about 6:30. We checked into the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and headed down to the poker room. The Casino and the Hotel are beautiful. Everything was incredibly well done. The hotel room was spacious, had a great bed, big TV. The only thing that would have made it better was if there was a tub in the bathroom. Merlotgirl does like to bathe. The shower was great though!!!
We get to the poker room, and it is buzzing. 30 tables, and all of them either set up for the tournament or full of cash players. Great set up. I see the high stakes room, with its 4 tables. Take a walk to the back, and into the players lounge which was very nice. Then back to the room to find my seat. As I sit down I notice the plethora of TV's dropping down from the ceilings. I also notice that the chairs are the adjustable ones that I've only seen at Binions since they remodeled. They are the nicest poker chairs I've ever sat in. This poker room is going to be absolutely awesome!!!
There are a large number of friends playing the tournament that night, so we put together a $20 Last Longer bet. Merlotgirl and I didn't need to worry about it that night, as we were both out in the first blind level. I'm not sure about Merlotgirls hand, but I folded my way through almost the entire 1st blind level. Then I decide if I raise with AJo UTG I should be able to pick up the blinds. So I raise the 25/25 blinds to 200. I get one caller and the button makes it 1,000. He's by far the weakest player at our table, so I fold figuring he has a monster. Other player folds and he shows AA. Next hand, I'm in the BB and wake up with QQ. There are 5 limpers including the player with AA last hand. I raise it to 300. He's the only caller. Flop comes
Q-X-X rainbow. Here's where I screw up. Instead of betting pot, or 3/4 pot I decide I have a monster, and bet just 250. He calls. Turn comes up another blank, no flush draw. Only str8 possibility would be pretty ragged. Another blank on the river. It could make a gut shot, but that is unlikely. I bet 1300. He insta shoves. I lo0k at the board. The only hand that beats me is a 57 that hits a gut shot. I call and turn over my top set. He shows 5 7 for the str8. Interesting. I did outlast Kathy Liebert though.
They were going to cap the entries at 140, but had so many people waiting that they ended up sitting over 60 alternates. They opened several more tables, and ended up with 214 players. Snake, Nawlins and Princess went pretty deep (final 4 or 5 tables). Snake and Nawlins split the Last Man Standing Pot. And Snake catches a $500 plus payday. Sweet!!!!!
Gumbah and I sweated Snake to see his JJ beat AA when he flopped a full house KKJ and Turned Quads. He went out a short time later when his AK never improved against an 88.
You can see Snake in the 5 Seat and follow Final Table Action right here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4635895
Thursday
Thursday morning we wake up and head to the Boot Camp being given by TJ, Kathy Liebert and Tom McEvoy. It was great and streamed live by RoundersRadio.com. They televised the Boot Camps (Days 2 and 3) as well as the Final Tables of the Tournaments.
The Thursday Tournament saw Bobcat, Merlotgirl and I get to the final 2 tables, out of 90 or so starters,but fail to cash. I won the Last Longer bet when I finished 12th. Bobcat and Merlot went out shortly before I did. Merlot got to play quite a while at Kathy Liebert's table, and when they broke from 3 tables down to 2, both of them came to my table.
Friday
We planned on playing in each of the tournaments. The tournament schedule went like this:
Wednesday 7PM $100 buy-in
Thursday 3PM $200 buy-in
Friday 7PM $300 buy-in
Saturday 11AM$500 buy-in
Sunday 11AM Freeroll (10K prize pool)
Wednesday
We left right after Merlotgirl got home from work Wednesday. Buck Naked told us the tournament was filling up. We were able to get him to buy us in while we were driving up there and we rolled in about 6:30. We checked into the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and headed down to the poker room. The Casino and the Hotel are beautiful. Everything was incredibly well done. The hotel room was spacious, had a great bed, big TV. The only thing that would have made it better was if there was a tub in the bathroom. Merlotgirl does like to bathe. The shower was great though!!!
We get to the poker room, and it is buzzing. 30 tables, and all of them either set up for the tournament or full of cash players. Great set up. I see the high stakes room, with its 4 tables. Take a walk to the back, and into the players lounge which was very nice. Then back to the room to find my seat. As I sit down I notice the plethora of TV's dropping down from the ceilings. I also notice that the chairs are the adjustable ones that I've only seen at Binions since they remodeled. They are the nicest poker chairs I've ever sat in. This poker room is going to be absolutely awesome!!!
There are a large number of friends playing the tournament that night, so we put together a $20 Last Longer bet. Merlotgirl and I didn't need to worry about it that night, as we were both out in the first blind level. I'm not sure about Merlotgirls hand, but I folded my way through almost the entire 1st blind level. Then I decide if I raise with AJo UTG I should be able to pick up the blinds. So I raise the 25/25 blinds to 200. I get one caller and the button makes it 1,000. He's by far the weakest player at our table, so I fold figuring he has a monster. Other player folds and he shows AA. Next hand, I'm in the BB and wake up with QQ. There are 5 limpers including the player with AA last hand. I raise it to 300. He's the only caller. Flop comes
Q-X-X rainbow. Here's where I screw up. Instead of betting pot, or 3/4 pot I decide I have a monster, and bet just 250. He calls. Turn comes up another blank, no flush draw. Only str8 possibility would be pretty ragged. Another blank on the river. It could make a gut shot, but that is unlikely. I bet 1300. He insta shoves. I lo0k at the board. The only hand that beats me is a 57 that hits a gut shot. I call and turn over my top set. He shows 5 7 for the str8. Interesting. I did outlast Kathy Liebert though.
They were going to cap the entries at 140, but had so many people waiting that they ended up sitting over 60 alternates. They opened several more tables, and ended up with 214 players. Snake, Nawlins and Princess went pretty deep (final 4 or 5 tables). Snake and Nawlins split the Last Man Standing Pot. And Snake catches a $500 plus payday. Sweet!!!!!
Gumbah and I sweated Snake to see his JJ beat AA when he flopped a full house KKJ and Turned Quads. He went out a short time later when his AK never improved against an 88.
You can see Snake in the 5 Seat and follow Final Table Action right here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4635895
Thursday
Thursday morning we wake up and head to the Boot Camp being given by TJ, Kathy Liebert and Tom McEvoy. It was great and streamed live by RoundersRadio.com. They televised the Boot Camps (Days 2 and 3) as well as the Final Tables of the Tournaments.
The Thursday Tournament saw Bobcat, Merlotgirl and I get to the final 2 tables, out of 90 or so starters,but fail to cash. I won the Last Longer bet when I finished 12th. Bobcat and Merlot went out shortly before I did. Merlot got to play quite a while at Kathy Liebert's table, and when they broke from 3 tables down to 2, both of them came to my table.
Friday
Friday nights Tournament was going to turn out to be another large field. $300 + $30 buy-in got you 8k in chips. Half hour blind levels. Ante's kick in at level 4. There were somewhere around 142 players. Paying out 14. As the luck of the draw would have it my seat assignment is Table 1 Seat 6. Right in between John Manby, in Seat 5 (at least I have position on him) and Merlotgirl in Seat 7. We asked the TD Marvin if one of us could get a seat change, but her couldn't do anything about it. He did hook us up by making our table the second to break.
The only hand of note for me was an Ah6h that I overlimped on the button with. I flopped the nut flush and called a flop and turn bet. The player checked the river to me, and I value bet it, but he laid it down. John doubled up fairly early when he raised PF, was re-raised and called. Flop came 7Jx. Player bet. John called his bet. The turn brought a K. Player bet, John raised and I forget if the other player re-raised, and John 4 bet it all in or if the player pushed and John called. Either way they got all the chips in the middle and Johns set of Kings beat the other players flopped set of 7's. Merlot lost a couple of pots, she doubled up when she flopped a set of J's and the other player flopped Top Pair, Top kicker with AK. About the only other hand I win at this table is when it folds to my small blind, and I wake up with KK and Raise Merlot, and she folds.
When they broke our table I was down to about 6,200, and much shorter that John who had around 20K and Merlot in the teens. I move to TJ Cloutier's table. He's 3 to my right, so at least I have some position on him and can stay out of his pots. Although he is in the cutoff, on my BB. I am just sliding along, blinding out when the BB comes to me. Blinds are 300 / 600 with a 100 ante. Along the way a short stack goes all in for 900. The SB, me and 2 limpers call his all-in. so there 5 x 900, plus the 1,000 in antes in the pot for 5,500. I've got 8h4h. The board comes up something like A K 6 2 8. It gets checked all the way to the river, and my 84 is the winner when I hit my 8. Ridiculous. I almost double up.
A little later it folds to me on the button. I shove with KhQh. Get called by the SB who is short stacked. She has AK and I'm way behind, looking to lose half my stack. Then the flop comes QQX, with a K on the turn so she's drawing dead. That hand got me out of Push/Fold territory for the first time in a while.
An orbit later. I raise a short stacks BB when I have a suited KQ again. He calls. Flop comes out Q high. He checks. I bet almost all his chips. He shoves over the top and I call. His KJ is drawing dead to running J's. He had no other draw. As I stack those chips TJ says to me "Don't you just love it when they give you their chips?" To which I respond "Yes sir I do."
We're at 400 / 800 and right before the next break it folds to the Small Blind who raises my BB to 1,900. He's pretty short stacked, so I decide to defend my BB with 7h8h. Flop comes up Q T 8. He C-bets. I call, not thinking he has any of that and my 8 is good. A blank comes off on the turn and I still think I'm ahead. He bets, I call. River brings another blank. He checks this time. I check. He says "If you could call those other bets, you've got me beat." I turn over the 78, and drag a decent pot as his AK hit air.
At this point I've got about 66K, and am in pretty good shape as we are down to about 5 tables. The rest of the night is a struggle. I haven't had many premier hands. Had KK once. Never had AA, QQ, JJ, TT, 99 or 88. Only pocket pairs were 33, 44 and 77. Never had AK or AQ. Had a bunch of crap like AJ and KQ, and somehow got lucky with them at the right times.
Merlot rocks the short stack for a long time when we are 5 tables and busts out when we get down to 3 tables. After a while at 2 tables, I get moved from TJ's table to Kathy Liebert's. I'm 3 players to the right of her, and my stack has blinded and anted down to push/fold size again. Luckily my tight image garners me a lot of folds when I do push. Each time I push and pick up the blinds and ante's gets me through another orbit.
Finally, we're down to 14 and in the money. When we get to 12 I'm moved back to TJ's table. Now I'm 2 players to the right of him. I'm still in push/fold mode as are a couple players at each table. We get down to 11. The Final Table bubble. Blinds are 5,000 / 10,000 with 1,000 antes. My BB. UTG who is Short Stacked with only 13,000 shoves. It folds to me in the BB. There's my BB, the SB, his push and 6.000 in antes in the pot. 34,000. And I've only got 13,000 behind. I look down at J6, and figure while the hand sucks, I can't pass up those odds. Especially since he should be pushing with any two cards. So I call. He turns over J8. Crap. I was hoping I had 2 live cards. Board comes out with a J on it and 2 big cards, so I'm hoping for a chop. Until the 6 on the river does him in. So I quadruple up with my J6 suckout, and we're down to final table.
We move into the High Stakes Room where they have the RoundersRadio.com live streaming video set up, and we redraw for seats.
Seat 1 - Crazy Asian Guy. That's what Kathy Liebert called him. He was at my table earlier with TJ, and then at Kathy's table when I was there and he was gambling all night. Often getting his chips in bad, but sucking out.
Seat 2 - TJ Cloutier. A poker legend. A Hall of Famer. One of the best Tournament Poker players of all time.
Seat 3 - Young Hoodie kid. Very nice young kid. Respectful, and played very well.
Seat 4 - Luckbox. Incredibly loose player that was at the table I was at with TJ for a very long time. One of those players, that seemed to be raising with trash, and inevitably hitting it hard. One hand in particular I recall him raising when he was on the button with 9d 5d and getting re-raised by the Big Blind with AK. He called, and proceeded to flop a diamond flush, getting all the chips in on the flop.
Seat 5 - Yours truly. I felt like i had grinded my way to the final table. Never got any great hands. Just got lucky in a couple of really crucial spots, and managed my push/fold game really well.
Seat 6 - Kathy Liebert. All time Female Tournament Money winner. One of the top Tournament players in the world, regardless of gender.
Seat 7 - Young lady named Kristen. Very good local player. We see her up Choctaw all the time.
Seat 8 - 20 year old kid. Another really good young poker player. No attitude, just a good solid player.
Seat 9 - The other Asian player. Not crazy like Seat 1. Excellent player.
Seat 10 - Older woman. She finished 5th in the $100 buy-in tournament so she has been here before. Very good player.
There are a few shorter stacks then me, so my first thought is to move up a slot or 2 on the payout ladder, and see what develops from there. Only a hand or two into final table action young hoodie kid (shortest stack) goes all in with A5 and gets knocked out.
Several hands later, at about the 10:00 minute mark Luckbox Raises my BB, and I instashove when I wake up with AdAh. I'm thrilled when he calls me with A5. Flop comes up X23, and Kathy Liebert lets out a moan...then comes the 4, and I'm drawing dead to a 5. The river brings a blank, and I'm down to a few chips. I end up pushing all in a few hands later, rather than getting blinded out, and I go out in 9th place. I collect my $1,280 from Marvin, and head off to sleep with Merlot. It's 4 am, and the $500 tournament starts in 7 hours. Time to sleep fast.
A replay of my 15 minutes of Final Table fame can be seen here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4691144
Saturday
It looks like Merlot, Yogi, Cupcake and I are the One-Outer representatives in todays $500 + $60 tournament. We start off with some 60 players or so. My table draw is again at TJ's table. Today starts off much better than yesterday for me. I'm actually getting some hands to play, and I work my starting stack of 10,000 up to 14,000 at first break.
It was in the middle of blind level 6 when blinds were 400 - 800, with a 75 ante, that this hand happened. It folds to TJ who raises to 2,500. I wake up in the BB with AQo. I toy with the idea of re-raising, then decide to flat call and see a flop. Flop comes up A 6 7. I check. TJ bets 3,500. I push all in. TJ instacalls for all of his chips. This can't be a good thing. He shows A7. And while I have him covered, I'm drawing dead to a Q. No Q comes and I'm down to about 600 in chips. I end up going out on the next hand.
Merlotgirl was up napping, after she busted out. When I got to the room we decided to go eat lunch, and I beat myself up about that hand. The quote of the day from me was: "What made me think I could outplay TJ Cloutier after the flop?" I should have trusted my instincts that my AQ had TJ beat pre-flop. After playing with him some 14 hours or so over the week, I know he lays down that weak Ace preflop if I re-raise him.
Nap, watch a movie, and play cash and drink cocktails in Bobcat and Kathy's suite that night.
Sunday
Check out in the morning. Merlot signs us up for the 10K Freeroll. It looks like it's just me, Merlotgirl, Leo and Kathy Kratz for the Freeroll. Ends up being a 70 player field and they are paying 7. Leo is first gone. I can't get any traction after the first blind level, and bust out next. I then go to play some 1/2 NL. Merlot girl is out next although she made it to the last 2 or 3 tables. Kathy goes deep making final 8 where they chopped the prize. She'll have to tell us what her payday was.
I sit down at a 1/2 NL table. Buy-in for $150. First hand I play I'm in the Cutoff and overlimp for $2. BB makes it $12. I call with Ah3h and the SB calls. Flop comes 6h 7h Jh. Cha ching. SB chekcs. BB bets $25. I Call. SB calls. Pot = $114. Turn comes a blank. SB checks. BB bets $40 and is all in. I call. SB calls. River brings an A. SB decides to bet out $45. I go all in for another $33. He ends up foliding. He had 2 hearts with a str8 flush draw that missed. BB turns over KhQh for the second nut flush, and my A3 wins a sizeable pot.
Several hands later. I get KK in my BB. There are 6 limpers in the pot so I raise to $20. UTG in seat 9 calls...and I'm so tired I don't realize that seat 1 also calls. Flop comes up Q88. I bet $45. Seat 9 folds...since I don't know that Seat 1 called preflop I turn over my cards and show KK. I can see the players in seats 5 and 6 looking at me like, what the hell is he doing showing his cards. Now I don't know if seat 1 saw my KK or ot, but he goes over the top for another $50. I consider it for a moment. Then decide he either saw my hand and is making a play at it, or did not see my hand and has a pretty strong hand on his own. I reriase him another hundred which puts him all in...and he calls. Crap...maybe he did have an 8. The turn and river come with blanks...he turns over JJ...and I win a monster pot. I've now got about $600 in front of me, and while I was unhappy to see Merlotgirl walk in the room (since it meant she busted out), I was very happy to quit good and head for home.
Summary
The new Choctaw Casino and Resort is just beautiful. The Poker Room is incredible. It is truly set up for the players. Warmly decorated. Excellent chairs. Beautiful Lounge area. Away from all of the noise and confusion on the main floor. The only negative I saw was that they allow smoking right outside the poker room where the board is. If they made you go downstairs to smoke, the entire area would be smoke free and just aswesome! As it is, it is a great Poker Room.
Playing poker with TJ Cloutier and Kathy Liebert was an experience that I just can't explain. They are just incredible ambassadors for the game of poker. The stories they were telling and the presence they bring to the table was worth the price of the buy-in. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance at all to play with Tom McEvoy, but I did speak to him briefly a few times. If there is any justice he will be joining TJ as a Poker Hall of Famer this year. His contributions to poker over the years have been huge. The books he's written, the bracelts he's won and his crusading (along with Kathy Liebert) for smoke free poker rooms is something I'll think about everytime I sit down at a poker table.
To sit down at a final table with TJ Cloutier on one side of me, and Kathy Liebert on the other side was priceless. That doesn't happen in other competitive arenas. I can't go play with Tiger Woods...I can't compete with Andy Roddick...but I can play poker with the greats of the game, and feel like I didn't embarrass myself at all. When TJ Cloutier tells you it was a pleasure playing with you , and that you play well (he didn't tell everyone that)...or Kathy Liebert tells Merlotgirl that she played well (she didn't tell everyone that either), it gives you the confidence, and the incentive to keep working hard on your game. As Kathy said at one of the Boot Camps we atteneded..."I spent over $300 on Amazon last week buying poker books...if you aren't working on your game, you're going to lose ground, because everyone else is." She couldn't emphaize enough how important it is to know what other people are thinking.
WSOP Here We Come!!!!
You can see the Boot Camps Right here:
Boot Camp #1
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4642675
Boot Camp #2
Friday, February 5, 2010
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
I maintain that I play AHL Poker for a variety of reasons including being able to play with friends, socialize, have fun, and from time to time win a little money. The side benefit I get from playing AHL Poker is that it helps me work on my "Tilt Game". Or being immune to Tilting. I still think that is a valuable by-product of playing. But I think it's about time to shine a light on some problems.
While it is a stretch to call poker a sport, it is certainly, by any measure a competition. One of the key components to any competition is the sportsmanship of the competitors. Embedded in the concept of sportsmanship is respect for the game being played, and respect for the participants.
Whether or not it's written into the rules or not (and most of these are)it comes down to valuing each of the players time, and respecting their desire to compete in a fair game.
So to make my point and share my thoughts on the topic, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, this is what it means to me...
It means not muck diving.
It means not rabbit hunting.
It means paying attention to the hand, so that you don't have to be reminded to post your blinds, or that the action is on you.
It means shuffling a few times and dealing the cards. The fact that the cards are in your hands is not a good reason to shuffle the cards 27 times, and go off on a monologue.
It means not hiding your chips.
It means not covering your cards.
It means playing in turn.
It means not splashing the pot.
It means letting the dealer run the table while they are dealing.
It means asking for help if you don't know how to handle a side pot.
It means you move to the correct seat when you are moved to a new table.
It means acting like adults.
and it means treating others the way you want to be treated.
Diatribe over.
While it is a stretch to call poker a sport, it is certainly, by any measure a competition. One of the key components to any competition is the sportsmanship of the competitors. Embedded in the concept of sportsmanship is respect for the game being played, and respect for the participants.
Whether or not it's written into the rules or not (and most of these are)it comes down to valuing each of the players time, and respecting their desire to compete in a fair game.
So to make my point and share my thoughts on the topic, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, this is what it means to me...
It means not muck diving.
It means not rabbit hunting.
It means paying attention to the hand, so that you don't have to be reminded to post your blinds, or that the action is on you.
It means shuffling a few times and dealing the cards. The fact that the cards are in your hands is not a good reason to shuffle the cards 27 times, and go off on a monologue.
It means not hiding your chips.
It means not covering your cards.
It means playing in turn.
It means not splashing the pot.
It means letting the dealer run the table while they are dealing.
It means asking for help if you don't know how to handle a side pot.
It means you move to the correct seat when you are moved to a new table.
It means acting like adults.
and it means treating others the way you want to be treated.
Diatribe over.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Here We Go Again
Wow, it's been a long time since I've actually blogged. So much has transpired. I'll be blogging much more often. There has been a whole lot going on with us media wise. We'ew pretty much all on Facebook now. Our Webmaster Buck Naked is working on our website (which is up and running) www.oneouterspoker.com. Stop by and check out the stuff on there. It's pretty slick and we're just scratching the surface.
As you can see from my Countdown Timer above, the WSOP rapidly approaches. We're only 142 days away until those cards are in the air. We'll be starting something new that a bunch of us wanted to try. We're going to put together a One Outers WSOP Boot Camp. It will kick off at our house this Saturday. We'll be getting together to discuss whatever topics come to mind in order to get us ready for the WSOP. This first session will be mostly brainstorming, but I'll also be facilitating discussion on "Early Game Play". Hopefully it either reinforces what players already think, or opens some eyes. We'll see.
Many of us will be heading up to Choctaw Casino's grand opening next week to play in their nightly tournaments. TJ CLoutier, Kathy Liebert and Tom McEvoy will all be playing and have bounties on their heads.
Until my next post remember to look left, and tilt less.
As you can see from my Countdown Timer above, the WSOP rapidly approaches. We're only 142 days away until those cards are in the air. We'll be starting something new that a bunch of us wanted to try. We're going to put together a One Outers WSOP Boot Camp. It will kick off at our house this Saturday. We'll be getting together to discuss whatever topics come to mind in order to get us ready for the WSOP. This first session will be mostly brainstorming, but I'll also be facilitating discussion on "Early Game Play". Hopefully it either reinforces what players already think, or opens some eyes. We'll see.
Many of us will be heading up to Choctaw Casino's grand opening next week to play in their nightly tournaments. TJ CLoutier, Kathy Liebert and Tom McEvoy will all be playing and have bounties on their heads.
Until my next post remember to look left, and tilt less.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Vegas Recap Part 3
If I thought sleeping after Day 1 was difficult, then sleeping after the completion of Day 2 was totally impossible. I tried and tried, and I'm sure I managed to drift off for a nap every once in a while, but there would be no good sleep this night. Once it was daybreak I got online and checked the seating assignments and chip stacks. It turns out I was aobut where I thought I would be 15th in chips with 27 to go.
I checked Poker Pages to get some insight into the players at my table, and then noted that Leo had already provided me a pretty good rundown of several of them. It was going to be a tough day for sure.
We repeated the room service and hanging out in the room start to the day. We got down to the Amazon Room about a half hour early. Just hung around by where the final table would be.
Sat down about 10 minutes before the start of Day 3 and unbagged and stacked my chips. The day started with me winning a couple small pots unchallenged. Typically we were seeing a raise and everyone folding, or a raise and a reraise / push and folding around. There were some really dubious calls of all ins. I wasn't invovled in any.
One memorable hand had me sitting in the BB with 8d 9d. It folded to Marco Johnson in the SB, who completed. The flop was 7d Td Js. Nice. I flop the nut str8 with an open ended str8 flush redraw. Marco made a min bet of 16K. I raised to 51K. Marco folded. In retrospect I may have played this hand too fast, and could have gotten more value by flatting the flop bet, and inducing a bet on the turn.
Joe Simmons who started the day as chip leader went card dead and didn't drag a pot through the first blind level. In fact, early in the second blind level he was sitting in the BB, and it folded around to the small blind (Jason Potter) who thought about raising, and then laid it down. Joe Simmons turned over KK and was apparently on "walk tilt".
Mike Eise is to my immediate left and is getting hit in the head with the deck. He's showing down monster hand after monster hand, and had more than tripled up to take the chip lead with 1.3 million, before my last hand.
With blinds of 10K / 20K and ante's of 3k I have 265K left. I'm in the BB and look down at 88. Joe Simmons raises under the gun to 55K. I reraise all in and get snap called by Mike Eise. Joe Simmons goes in the tank for a bit, and then folds AQ. I've got my money in good against Mike's AK. I was a 55 / 45 favorite preflop. Way behind on the flop of 4s As Kc. I picked up a flush draw on the turn to improve my odds to 23 / 77. No spade or 8 on the river, and I'm done.
I stood up and worked my way around the table congratulating all of the players. I waited for the floorman to give me my payout information. As I leave the area the One Outers and the folks following Mike Eiese are all congratulating me. It was a truly, truly awesome feeling. Somehow I managed to not break down in tears, although I was close.
We go to the payout area and it takes a while for us to go through the process. After we get paid out we head over for beer and appetizers at McFadden's Irish Pub. It was great to celebrate with everyone who made the trip. We then headedout to the pool for a dip before going to a great steak dinner that night at Voodoo Steak and Lounge at the top of the RIO.
I've played in only a handful of tournaments with a buy-in over $300, and managed to do well in most of them. Of the 7 tournaments that fit into this category, I've got this 21st place cash, a 9th place cash in Tulsa, a 2nd place cash at Choctaw, a 20th place cash at Winstar, and bubbled out of another Choctaw deepstack tournament. What I've learned about myself is this...I'm definitely a better tournament player than cash player, and the better the blind structure, the more it suits my play. What I've derived from this is that everyone plays the game differently. Everyone's A game is different. If I play my A game, which is tight and aggressive, as well as I can play it, I can do well. If I try to play someone elses style, say LAGgy, I'll never do as well as them. I need to stay in my comfort zone and play the game as well as I can play it. My style won't work for others who are Loose and Aggressive. But if they play their style, they'll be successful. So if I were to give anyone any advice I'd say explore everything, know the theory behind every action, never stop learning, but find the way you are most comfortable playing, and concentrate on playing that A game. And then I'll repeat what Tommy Angelo inscribed in my copy of The Elements of Poker. "You must be good at losing to be a good poker player".
I checked Poker Pages to get some insight into the players at my table, and then noted that Leo had already provided me a pretty good rundown of several of them. It was going to be a tough day for sure.
We repeated the room service and hanging out in the room start to the day. We got down to the Amazon Room about a half hour early. Just hung around by where the final table would be.
Sat down about 10 minutes before the start of Day 3 and unbagged and stacked my chips. The day started with me winning a couple small pots unchallenged. Typically we were seeing a raise and everyone folding, or a raise and a reraise / push and folding around. There were some really dubious calls of all ins. I wasn't invovled in any.
One memorable hand had me sitting in the BB with 8d 9d. It folded to Marco Johnson in the SB, who completed. The flop was 7d Td Js. Nice. I flop the nut str8 with an open ended str8 flush redraw. Marco made a min bet of 16K. I raised to 51K. Marco folded. In retrospect I may have played this hand too fast, and could have gotten more value by flatting the flop bet, and inducing a bet on the turn.
Joe Simmons who started the day as chip leader went card dead and didn't drag a pot through the first blind level. In fact, early in the second blind level he was sitting in the BB, and it folded around to the small blind (Jason Potter) who thought about raising, and then laid it down. Joe Simmons turned over KK and was apparently on "walk tilt".
Mike Eise is to my immediate left and is getting hit in the head with the deck. He's showing down monster hand after monster hand, and had more than tripled up to take the chip lead with 1.3 million, before my last hand.
With blinds of 10K / 20K and ante's of 3k I have 265K left. I'm in the BB and look down at 88. Joe Simmons raises under the gun to 55K. I reraise all in and get snap called by Mike Eise. Joe Simmons goes in the tank for a bit, and then folds AQ. I've got my money in good against Mike's AK. I was a 55 / 45 favorite preflop. Way behind on the flop of 4s As Kc. I picked up a flush draw on the turn to improve my odds to 23 / 77. No spade or 8 on the river, and I'm done.
I stood up and worked my way around the table congratulating all of the players. I waited for the floorman to give me my payout information. As I leave the area the One Outers and the folks following Mike Eiese are all congratulating me. It was a truly, truly awesome feeling. Somehow I managed to not break down in tears, although I was close.
We go to the payout area and it takes a while for us to go through the process. After we get paid out we head over for beer and appetizers at McFadden's Irish Pub. It was great to celebrate with everyone who made the trip. We then headedout to the pool for a dip before going to a great steak dinner that night at Voodoo Steak and Lounge at the top of the RIO.
I've played in only a handful of tournaments with a buy-in over $300, and managed to do well in most of them. Of the 7 tournaments that fit into this category, I've got this 21st place cash, a 9th place cash in Tulsa, a 2nd place cash at Choctaw, a 20th place cash at Winstar, and bubbled out of another Choctaw deepstack tournament. What I've learned about myself is this...I'm definitely a better tournament player than cash player, and the better the blind structure, the more it suits my play. What I've derived from this is that everyone plays the game differently. Everyone's A game is different. If I play my A game, which is tight and aggressive, as well as I can play it, I can do well. If I try to play someone elses style, say LAGgy, I'll never do as well as them. I need to stay in my comfort zone and play the game as well as I can play it. My style won't work for others who are Loose and Aggressive. But if they play their style, they'll be successful. So if I were to give anyone any advice I'd say explore everything, know the theory behind every action, never stop learning, but find the way you are most comfortable playing, and concentrate on playing that A game. And then I'll repeat what Tommy Angelo inscribed in my copy of The Elements of Poker. "You must be good at losing to be a good poker player".
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Vegas Recap (Part 2)
After playing from Noon until 1:30am Merlot, myself, Pinkie and Nannuck go to the IBar for a nightcap. There won't be much good sleep tonight. The adrenaline high from playing all day fades slowly. I sleep restlessly, and get up early. I read the WSOP recap and blog a bit. Room Service and hanging out until we restart at 2pm.
I begin the day with a very comfortable stack of 48K. My plan is to stay out of trouble until we fade the 57 players we need to, to get in the money. Once we get close to the bubble we play hand for hand. When a hand is finished at a table the dealer has to stand up. When all the dealers are standing, and we haven't lost anyone...they sit and deal the next hand. We only played hand for hand for a few hands. Once the bubble broke everyone cheered, and people started dropping right and left. When it burst, there was a player at the table next to me with 400 in chips. With 200 ante's he could only survive 2 more hands. He hung on to cash. We all congratulated him.
By now we were all in the Amazon Room. Merlotgirl and Nannuck were able to pull up chairs right outside the ropes where my table was. I was in seat 5, directly in front of the dealer, and Merlot and Nannuck were about 10 feet to my right.
The 1 (Norwegian Kid), 2 (Mats Gavatin)and 3 seats at my table were involved in an awful lot of pots. I survived by playing tight and picking my spots. Slowly my stack continued to grow. After a while Marco "Crazy Marco" Johnson gets moved to my table in seat 8 (at this point he is one of the chip leaders). Immediately to my left is Team Ultimatebet Pro Liv Boeree, and the eventual bracelet winner Mike Eise is in seat 7.
My three most memorable hands occur at this table. The first one requires a little back story. After Marco Johnson got to our table with a big stack he was using his stack liberally. One time in particular he reraised a player. When the player in seat 3 woke up with AA he pushed all in and Marco was forced to call. He tabled 6h 8h. Flopped an open ended str8 flush draw. Hit the flush on the turn...and the str8 flush on the river. This was the first hand we had seen him showdown. Several times before that I had called a standard raise with a pocket pair, hoping to see a flop, only to have Marco re-raise overbet significantly. We're down to 80 players or so and I call a standard raise with 88. Marco makes it significantly more than that on a overbet re-raise, and I decide I'll go with 88. He insta calls with KK...and I'm all but out of the Event. As the dealer places the burn card and stacks the flop before laying it out...Merlot can see before anyone else that the window card is an 8...and she almost passes out with a gasp. Marco doesn't improve and I dodge a huge bullet and suck out for the first and only time of the tournament.
After that hand I'm comfortably sitting on about 190K. And this hand happens. I have As Qs in middle position. Seat 1 raises...as he did about every third hand. I flat as does Mike Eise. Flop comes with 2 spades ...seat 1 checks...we both check behind. K of spades on the turn. Seat 1 bets. I raise 2 and a half times his bet. Mike Eise reraises me another 25K. I reraise all in and he tanks for a bit...and then folds. This hand gets me to around 270K.
Over several hours a couple hands had folded to me in the SB to find me holding 55 and 66. With Liv Boeree in the BB, I raised each time. The first time she pushed all in over the top...and I folded. The second time she did the same thing over my c-bet on the flop...and I folded even though I thougth I may have had her beat. I thought I would use her aggression against her in a better spot. I only had to wait about a half hour longer. I was in MP and looked at the red Aces. I raised 3x. Liv Boeree pushed allin over the top, everyone folded...and I insta call. She sees my AA and mutters "shit" as her AQ is way behind. With an A on the flop and no Q she's drawing dead. Third times the charm. That's the first pro I've ever knocked out that I'm aware of. Here's what Poker News, Bluff and the WSOP site had to say about that hand:
Boeree Busto
We quickly ran over to find Liv Boeree packing up her belongings. The outcome . . . she was all in preflop holding Ac Qc against Ad Ah and the board of As 9d 7h 5d Js would see her vacate the tournament floor for a nice $7,237 payday.
Adding Liv's stack to mine put me at about 370K. We played until 3Am and I survived the day with 345K. When we got down to the final 27 players we redrew for seats to play out the remaining 5 minutes of blind level 20. I once again drew the 5 seat. Mike Eise in the 6 Seat. Marco Johnson in the 4 Seat. The 2 chip leaders of the tournament Jason "JP OSU" Potter in the 9 seat and Joe Simmons in the 1 seat. Each with about 1 million. We played two hands in that 5 minutes. Both hands pitted Potter agaisnt Simmons. The first hand Simmons bluffed Potter on the turn and showed it. The next hand he bet Potter out of the hand on the turn as well. As we were bagging and tagging our chips Jason said "Hard to imagine being on tilt with almost a million chips, but i think I am".
For I don't know how long Nannuck, Pinkie, Counting Girl, Buck, Cupcake and Yogi with appearances from Kim and Gary, and Glenda, helped Dori sweat me until 3 AM. Even a couple I used to play with at The Abbey came by to lend support. It's pretty cool, and shows what an amazing group of friends we hang out with. I can't thank them enough. While I definitely want to be going deep again next year, if not, I sure want to be sweating several of them.
Which brings me to Merlotgirl. I don't think it's enough for me to say she's perfect for me in every way. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, competitively, and any other words you can think of that end in ly. She's also made my poker game a whole lot better. You're the best Pook.
I begin the day with a very comfortable stack of 48K. My plan is to stay out of trouble until we fade the 57 players we need to, to get in the money. Once we get close to the bubble we play hand for hand. When a hand is finished at a table the dealer has to stand up. When all the dealers are standing, and we haven't lost anyone...they sit and deal the next hand. We only played hand for hand for a few hands. Once the bubble broke everyone cheered, and people started dropping right and left. When it burst, there was a player at the table next to me with 400 in chips. With 200 ante's he could only survive 2 more hands. He hung on to cash. We all congratulated him.
By now we were all in the Amazon Room. Merlotgirl and Nannuck were able to pull up chairs right outside the ropes where my table was. I was in seat 5, directly in front of the dealer, and Merlot and Nannuck were about 10 feet to my right.
The 1 (Norwegian Kid), 2 (Mats Gavatin)and 3 seats at my table were involved in an awful lot of pots. I survived by playing tight and picking my spots. Slowly my stack continued to grow. After a while Marco "Crazy Marco" Johnson gets moved to my table in seat 8 (at this point he is one of the chip leaders). Immediately to my left is Team Ultimatebet Pro Liv Boeree, and the eventual bracelet winner Mike Eise is in seat 7.
My three most memorable hands occur at this table. The first one requires a little back story. After Marco Johnson got to our table with a big stack he was using his stack liberally. One time in particular he reraised a player. When the player in seat 3 woke up with AA he pushed all in and Marco was forced to call. He tabled 6h 8h. Flopped an open ended str8 flush draw. Hit the flush on the turn...and the str8 flush on the river. This was the first hand we had seen him showdown. Several times before that I had called a standard raise with a pocket pair, hoping to see a flop, only to have Marco re-raise overbet significantly. We're down to 80 players or so and I call a standard raise with 88. Marco makes it significantly more than that on a overbet re-raise, and I decide I'll go with 88. He insta calls with KK...and I'm all but out of the Event. As the dealer places the burn card and stacks the flop before laying it out...Merlot can see before anyone else that the window card is an 8...and she almost passes out with a gasp. Marco doesn't improve and I dodge a huge bullet and suck out for the first and only time of the tournament.
After that hand I'm comfortably sitting on about 190K. And this hand happens. I have As Qs in middle position. Seat 1 raises...as he did about every third hand. I flat as does Mike Eise. Flop comes with 2 spades ...seat 1 checks...we both check behind. K of spades on the turn. Seat 1 bets. I raise 2 and a half times his bet. Mike Eise reraises me another 25K. I reraise all in and he tanks for a bit...and then folds. This hand gets me to around 270K.
Over several hours a couple hands had folded to me in the SB to find me holding 55 and 66. With Liv Boeree in the BB, I raised each time. The first time she pushed all in over the top...and I folded. The second time she did the same thing over my c-bet on the flop...and I folded even though I thougth I may have had her beat. I thought I would use her aggression against her in a better spot. I only had to wait about a half hour longer. I was in MP and looked at the red Aces. I raised 3x. Liv Boeree pushed allin over the top, everyone folded...and I insta call. She sees my AA and mutters "shit" as her AQ is way behind. With an A on the flop and no Q she's drawing dead. Third times the charm. That's the first pro I've ever knocked out that I'm aware of. Here's what Poker News, Bluff and the WSOP site had to say about that hand:
Boeree Busto
We quickly ran over to find Liv Boeree packing up her belongings. The outcome . . . she was all in preflop holding Ac Qc against Ad Ah and the board of As 9d 7h 5d Js would see her vacate the tournament floor for a nice $7,237 payday.
Adding Liv's stack to mine put me at about 370K. We played until 3Am and I survived the day with 345K. When we got down to the final 27 players we redrew for seats to play out the remaining 5 minutes of blind level 20. I once again drew the 5 seat. Mike Eise in the 6 Seat. Marco Johnson in the 4 Seat. The 2 chip leaders of the tournament Jason "JP OSU" Potter in the 9 seat and Joe Simmons in the 1 seat. Each with about 1 million. We played two hands in that 5 minutes. Both hands pitted Potter agaisnt Simmons. The first hand Simmons bluffed Potter on the turn and showed it. The next hand he bet Potter out of the hand on the turn as well. As we were bagging and tagging our chips Jason said "Hard to imagine being on tilt with almost a million chips, but i think I am".
For I don't know how long Nannuck, Pinkie, Counting Girl, Buck, Cupcake and Yogi with appearances from Kim and Gary, and Glenda, helped Dori sweat me until 3 AM. Even a couple I used to play with at The Abbey came by to lend support. It's pretty cool, and shows what an amazing group of friends we hang out with. I can't thank them enough. While I definitely want to be going deep again next year, if not, I sure want to be sweating several of them.
Which brings me to Merlotgirl. I don't think it's enough for me to say she's perfect for me in every way. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, competitively, and any other words you can think of that end in ly. She's also made my poker game a whole lot better. You're the best Pook.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Vegas Recap
Merlotgirl and I arrived home from Vegas today. It was a truly amazing experience that I'll try to recap on the blog, and then post to the AHL website.
I won't be able to tell all of the stories. People went and did their own thing a lot, and we'll just have to ask them to recount their experiences.
The Participants
Jim Coyle
Dori Coyle
Kevin Artman
Michelle Artman
Kurt Dohmann
Gail Dohmann
Doris Wagner
Mickey Preseisen
Janette Brown
Rob Watkins
Glenda Maddox
Kim Hartley
Gary Hartley
Also present were little Cade Hartley (watch out for him in the 2030 WSOP) and Kim's sister Andie, who watched Cade.
ARRIVAL DAY
Everyone arrived at different times throughout the week. When Dori and I and the Dohmann's got there Friday we decided to get our seat assignment for the tournament the next day. I'm glad we did. The scene there is Poker Disney World. There were 2 Final Tables going on, another tournament in full swing, and the restart of Day 2 for another tournament. Throw on top of that the daily 2:00 PM Bracelet ceremony. It was definitely the center of the poker universe.
To anyone playing in a future event, I highly recommend getting there a day early so you can get the star gazing out of your system early. We spot Gavin Smith immediately. Then at the table next to him is Phil Ivey, and Sean Sheikhan (Sheiky). Dori almost runs over Daniel Negreneau.
We wander around for a while and get some autographs for my hat. John Juanda, Svetlana Gromenkova are the first two we get. Plenty more to come.
The entire group went out to dinner that night at Battista's Hole in the Wall. It's a neat little Italian eatery behind Bally's. We enjoyed the great food and the free wine. Made some friends from Montana and sang along with the accordion player who played "Take me out to the Ballgame".
After that it was time to get to bed and get some rest before Day One of Event #28.
DAY ONE
Dori and I started the day with Room Service as we slowly got ready to play. Several of us then went to the Artman's room for some Yoga with Michelle. It was a great way to get ourselves ready for what hopefully will be a long day.
I get to my table about 15 minutes early and get situated. I'm at Table 158 in the Brasilia Room. Since they are expecting in the neighborhood of 2,700 players they use the Amazon, Brasilia and Miranda Rooms. The room starts to fill up with players and spectators alike. It's quite a scene. My first goal of the day is to make it out of my room. They are breaking tables into the Amazon Room.
As I sit there playing the third or fourth hand I look up to see David and Kelley from Varsity Club watching the table. They were there to see how we were doing. So a huge shout out to them for cheering us on. The first hand I win is with the 6d 7d. It's folded to me in the cutoff. I limp. SB completes and BB checks. Flop comes up 2 9 A. It checks to me. I bet 160 and they fold. Cool. I win my first hand at the WSOP and it's a bluff.
Blind levels are 60 minutes long, so there's plenty of time to just be patient and let others make mistakes. I run into a case of the second best hand syndrome, and go into the first break (every 2 blind levels) with only 1,700 in chips. At this point Doris has already doubled up and is sitting on 9,000.
We go back and blinds are 75 /150. With 11x BB's I'm pretty much in Push / Fold territory. I win a couple pots when I push with AJ, and KQ and get no callers. Now I have enough chips to go back to playing poker. Player to my right raises to 450. I reraise to 1,100 and player in the small blind pushes all in and has me covered. Player to my right folds QQ. I call, and am thrilled to see him turn over AQ. A K on the flop. And he's drawing dead. I'm doubled up.
During this blind level Dori gets moved to the table right next to mine. In fact she sits in the seat with her back to my back. It seems Bernard Grospelier "Elky" had busted out of that seat. Yes, the Elky who is leading pokerdom in POY points.
By the time we get to the second break I am no longer on life support. Doris is playing fantastic and is up to 26,000 and I'm out of the woods and well above average with 14,000.
I meet my first goal as we get our table moved in tact to the Amazon room. I'd hate to break this table up as I've got pretty good reads on some of the players, and my table image is set. When you play very few hands, you get respect when you raise. And that's what my image is.
When we get to Dinner break after 6 blind levels, there are only 3 of us left. Doris leading the way with 30,000. Me close behind with 28.000 and Mickey hanging in with 7,000. There are 846 left and average stack is 14,000. Doris and I are comfortably above average and Mickey is in push / fold mode.
By the time we go to our next break after 8 levels, it's down to Doris and I. Seconds before, Dori awarded Mickey with the $1100 "last man standing - not in the money" prize pool. Go Nannuck! So, Doris has 53,000 and I'm sitting on 26,000. We're still well above average stacks.
We're going to play 10 levels tonight, unless we can get down to the final 279 (which is the money). If it looks close we'll start another level. As luck would have it we don't get there that night. We end the night after 10 blind levels. 335 players left including Doris with 48,000 and me with 40,000.
Time for bed and to try and sleep before we kick it off again at 2:00 tomorrow.
It's one hell of a great time to make it to day 2 of a WSOP event. 2,638 players started, including some of the greatest players in the world (Ivan Demidov, David Levy, David "The Maven" Chicotsky. Brett Jungblut, Hevad Kahn, Thor Hansen, Liv Boeree, Pam Brunson, Jerry Buss, Svetlana Gromenkova, Allen Kessler, Thayer Rasmussen. Neil Channing, Humberto Brenes, Tom McEvoy, Maarco Johnson (who I predict will win a bracelet soon), JC Tran, Dennis Phillips, Ylon Scwartz, Amarillo Slim, Jason Mercier, etc...)
TO BE CONTINUED.......
I won't be able to tell all of the stories. People went and did their own thing a lot, and we'll just have to ask them to recount their experiences.
The Participants
Jim Coyle
Dori Coyle
Kevin Artman
Michelle Artman
Kurt Dohmann
Gail Dohmann
Doris Wagner
Mickey Preseisen
Janette Brown
Rob Watkins
Glenda Maddox
Kim Hartley
Gary Hartley
Also present were little Cade Hartley (watch out for him in the 2030 WSOP) and Kim's sister Andie, who watched Cade.
ARRIVAL DAY
Everyone arrived at different times throughout the week. When Dori and I and the Dohmann's got there Friday we decided to get our seat assignment for the tournament the next day. I'm glad we did. The scene there is Poker Disney World. There were 2 Final Tables going on, another tournament in full swing, and the restart of Day 2 for another tournament. Throw on top of that the daily 2:00 PM Bracelet ceremony. It was definitely the center of the poker universe.
To anyone playing in a future event, I highly recommend getting there a day early so you can get the star gazing out of your system early. We spot Gavin Smith immediately. Then at the table next to him is Phil Ivey, and Sean Sheikhan (Sheiky). Dori almost runs over Daniel Negreneau.
We wander around for a while and get some autographs for my hat. John Juanda, Svetlana Gromenkova are the first two we get. Plenty more to come.
The entire group went out to dinner that night at Battista's Hole in the Wall. It's a neat little Italian eatery behind Bally's. We enjoyed the great food and the free wine. Made some friends from Montana and sang along with the accordion player who played "Take me out to the Ballgame".
After that it was time to get to bed and get some rest before Day One of Event #28.
DAY ONE
Dori and I started the day with Room Service as we slowly got ready to play. Several of us then went to the Artman's room for some Yoga with Michelle. It was a great way to get ourselves ready for what hopefully will be a long day.
I get to my table about 15 minutes early and get situated. I'm at Table 158 in the Brasilia Room. Since they are expecting in the neighborhood of 2,700 players they use the Amazon, Brasilia and Miranda Rooms. The room starts to fill up with players and spectators alike. It's quite a scene. My first goal of the day is to make it out of my room. They are breaking tables into the Amazon Room.
As I sit there playing the third or fourth hand I look up to see David and Kelley from Varsity Club watching the table. They were there to see how we were doing. So a huge shout out to them for cheering us on. The first hand I win is with the 6d 7d. It's folded to me in the cutoff. I limp. SB completes and BB checks. Flop comes up 2 9 A. It checks to me. I bet 160 and they fold. Cool. I win my first hand at the WSOP and it's a bluff.
Blind levels are 60 minutes long, so there's plenty of time to just be patient and let others make mistakes. I run into a case of the second best hand syndrome, and go into the first break (every 2 blind levels) with only 1,700 in chips. At this point Doris has already doubled up and is sitting on 9,000.
We go back and blinds are 75 /150. With 11x BB's I'm pretty much in Push / Fold territory. I win a couple pots when I push with AJ, and KQ and get no callers. Now I have enough chips to go back to playing poker. Player to my right raises to 450. I reraise to 1,100 and player in the small blind pushes all in and has me covered. Player to my right folds QQ. I call, and am thrilled to see him turn over AQ. A K on the flop. And he's drawing dead. I'm doubled up.
During this blind level Dori gets moved to the table right next to mine. In fact she sits in the seat with her back to my back. It seems Bernard Grospelier "Elky" had busted out of that seat. Yes, the Elky who is leading pokerdom in POY points.
By the time we get to the second break I am no longer on life support. Doris is playing fantastic and is up to 26,000 and I'm out of the woods and well above average with 14,000.
I meet my first goal as we get our table moved in tact to the Amazon room. I'd hate to break this table up as I've got pretty good reads on some of the players, and my table image is set. When you play very few hands, you get respect when you raise. And that's what my image is.
When we get to Dinner break after 6 blind levels, there are only 3 of us left. Doris leading the way with 30,000. Me close behind with 28.000 and Mickey hanging in with 7,000. There are 846 left and average stack is 14,000. Doris and I are comfortably above average and Mickey is in push / fold mode.
By the time we go to our next break after 8 levels, it's down to Doris and I. Seconds before, Dori awarded Mickey with the $1100 "last man standing - not in the money" prize pool. Go Nannuck! So, Doris has 53,000 and I'm sitting on 26,000. We're still well above average stacks.
We're going to play 10 levels tonight, unless we can get down to the final 279 (which is the money). If it looks close we'll start another level. As luck would have it we don't get there that night. We end the night after 10 blind levels. 335 players left including Doris with 48,000 and me with 40,000.
Time for bed and to try and sleep before we kick it off again at 2:00 tomorrow.
It's one hell of a great time to make it to day 2 of a WSOP event. 2,638 players started, including some of the greatest players in the world (Ivan Demidov, David Levy, David "The Maven" Chicotsky. Brett Jungblut, Hevad Kahn, Thor Hansen, Liv Boeree, Pam Brunson, Jerry Buss, Svetlana Gromenkova, Allen Kessler, Thayer Rasmussen. Neil Channing, Humberto Brenes, Tom McEvoy, Maarco Johnson (who I predict will win a bracelet soon), JC Tran, Dennis Phillips, Ylon Scwartz, Amarillo Slim, Jason Mercier, etc...)
TO BE CONTINUED.......
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