TENTATIVELY on the way to Vegas June 26-29

...I say this because after an emergency room visit that ended up being just dehydration and then a car accident where I had to pay a 2K deductible two weeks later, money has been a bit scarce. Still, I am going to endeavor to make it. I've had some good runs on Bovada and America's Cardroom and I'm feeling good about my game. Two weeks ago I stone bubbled a satellite event for the ME out here in LA. That stung - just the opportunity to play in the 10K ME has evaded me twice now )getting close in another sat in 2011 online), but I'm going to keep trying to take a stab or two every year. I'm not sure how I will proceed in terms of scheduling should I go. I usually play a daily deepstack at the Rio, along with a Phamous event and something at Binion's or the Nugget (as I usually stay at the Downtown Grand - hands down the best hotel for the money in town). I will play a good dose of cash Day 1, and my fortunes there will largely determine how high my buyins go. I may head out to play sometime this month to see if I can't build up some more $$ to take with me. Admittedly I have no been playing a lot of cash recently, so I need to sit down and put some hours in to get comfortable. Good luck to all making the trip!

Again at the Normandie, 4/11

I think this Saturday Normandie tournament will be my new poker fix. With the $10 discount and a $2500 Guarantee, it offers plenty of play, the people are nice and they have a pretty tasty lunch you can have beforehand. Things went a lot better this week, though I did not cash. Re-entries are allowed through the first three levels, which happen to be 30 minute levels at 25/50, 50/100 and 100/200. then things start to go up quickly and levels shorten to 20 minutes. A lot of these people know each other and play this tournament every week. In fact, one elderly fellow at my table called it 'his home game.' While I was friendly and chatted with everyone, it was obvious that they know each other's tendencies well, and didn't know mine. Throughout the first three levels my 3bets were rarely challenged, so I opened my pre-flop range considerably to take advantage of this. The thing I noticed the most, especially as the levels went up, is that with a couple of exceptions, people had NO concept of how much money was in the pot, and people were giving others incredible odds to call.I caught two baby flushes this way, and over the course of the game, I felted three players, one with a baby flush and two others with AA twice(I know, run good helps). 109 entries were going to pay 10, and I went out in 21st. The average stack was 20BB as the blind levels started to get crazy, and while I did my best short stack ninja work that kept me treading water, at 300/1000/2000 I had dipped to 18K and called a shove from a larger stack with AQ. I was ahead of his KQ, but a King came on the flop and though I had a straight draw and the A over as outs on the turn, I didnt get there. Typically, if I get that kind of action ahead of me, I would pick a better spot, but I had seen him win at showdown with much less than AQ, so I dont really fault my play - I was ahead, after all. I think this field is very beatable, and I'm getting to play live for a cheap price, which my wallet likes! I'll be back.

Coin flip

Made it back to the live tables after a couple of month's absence, with one of the local poker groups here floating a $10 discount on a $40 tournament at Normandie Casino, which I had yet to go to, so I figured I would check it out.

Kind of a dreary place...bad lighting, low ceilings, but the staff was nice enough. I make my buyin and sit down to play. 6000 chips, 25 min levels

Lots of limping.  I took advantage of that by raising late with not much, maybe 10's being the best hand I saw all day.  We are roughly an hour in when this happens.

Im utg with starting stack, 100/200.  I look down at QhKh and raise it to 500.  Folds until the button who conpletes.  I tangled with this guy ince before, splitting a pot with Ax and neither of us beating the board. He had been routinely linping.

Board comes Ah Jc 3h.  With 1300 in the pot And liking this draw, I make it 1000. Villain pauses a bit, and matter of factly, says, I'm going all in. 

He's got me covered, and im fairly cerain he has an ace...but i have a nut flush draw and a straight draw. With all the hearts and 10's, i come to thr cinclusion its a coin flip (in reality im a 53/47 dog, after looking later). 

This is always tough, staking a tournament on a coin flip this early.. But, if i hit, Im in great shape with well over 12k.  I call, and its all black for the turn and river, and Im out.

I dont fault the play, and in a cash game it would be a no-brainer call.  Still, i could have gotten away from that and still been ok. But in theory, the move is, essentially, a $40 bet.  Thats it.  In a 1k wsop event? It would be a 1k bet, and with that perspective I went home thinking a lot about how buy-in anount might be affecting my play adversely...assuming i felt my call with kq was just.  To say that in another scenario I would fold to that shove is an interesting reflection on where my game is...and isnt.

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After a long hiatus...

It's been a long time since I've written. Money has been tight so live play hasnt been an option for me despite living 10 miles away from three different card rooms, but that will all change on Friday, as I will enter one of the cheaper buy-ins at the LAPC at Commerce on Friday. I'll be looking forward to it. Otherwise, I'm still on that same first deposit I made on Bovada in 2008. As some might remember, I clocked about 15K in two scores three years ago that padded the bankroll there for some time(of which I cashed out all but $500), but for the first time, it is trending downward close to zero. Mostly that has been due to a serious lack of volume. I'll min cash here, bust out there, never really making any really deep runs. Wile I don't see my $ situation changing drastically anytime soon, I'll be trying to save up for the WSOP.

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Commerce Freeroll Tournament - A WSOP warmup

It was sure was nice of Commerce Casino - all you basically had to to was login and register in your "My Account" page and poof - you're registered in a 10K guarantee tournament!

So today was the day.  Nothing like a free tournament in a real tournament setting to get your juices flowing before a weeklong WSOP binge.  Michelle came with me, and expecting the freeroll to have a not-so-friendly structure, we set the over/under for starting chips at 4K, and I took the under.  To my surprise, it was 5K!  But only 15 minute levels - and some crazy jumps later in the tournament.

583 runners, 60 getting paid.  Now, to save you the suspense I busted around 85th, 25 short of the money but the most interesting part of the tournament was with exception of my bustout hand, I DID NOT LOSE A SINGLE HAND in the tournament.  That's how bad this structure was.  I did chop hands however.....FIVE OF THEM.  Aq, Kj, and AJ twice.  Also uncharacteristic, and probably was a major detriment to cashing. They were without a doubt the most interesting hands. At the second break I was short, but as short stack hero I brought it back up to 21.5K, but this structure was so bad(900/1800/200 to 1200/2400/500 anyone?) it seems like everyone was feeling the crunch. At 2000/4000/1000 I was at about 5BB and shoved with a4 with one caller, who showed 69os.  Clear until the river, when he spiked a 6 - winning that would have probably gotten me to the money.  Overall I was happy with the way I played, and feel pretty good going into Tuesday.  Here's our tentative plan...

Tues.  Cash/ WSOP $135 Daily Deepstack
Wed. Cash/ PH 6pm $100
Thurs. Cash/ Golden Nugget $125 or possibly Aria
Fri.  we leave, but will stay the day depending on how well we do.

Cash is obviously the major variable, but the best option for chasing losses.

I'll be reporting soon from Vegas!