Anyway that has accelerated my plan to move up to $1/$2 since first prize was ~$1550, which is conveniently about the amount I wanted to make before moving up from 100NL. So 1/2 here I come, wish me luck. Best of luck to the three (?) remaining readers of this blog.

It’s been a while – been following the posts of all of you and keeping track of the pokersift site. I’ve played quite a bit and continue my evolution as a poker player. For a while, I kept a decent run of SNG’s especially at the 18man Turbo level, slowly moving up in stakes from 1.75 to 3.25 to 6.50.

Unfortunately the 6.50s are a little more of a challenge and I was back down in roll…that’s when I had an amazing experience…one that has made a huge difference in my play. I continue to be a small stakes winning player, I knock off a regular 50-100$ a week grinding and playing a few satellite tournaments where it might cost me 15$ to get into a 55$ tournament….the good news is it keeps my roll honest…not to big to afford to play bigger games…just getting by.

So back to the “Huge” difference in my play. I always been a Harrington disciple, playing my cards first, stack second and opponent third. I don’t think that is really being a poker player, I didn’t splash around in a lot of pots, I preferred to play tight – aggressive poker..and the results were there but I never felt like I was good enough to win a poker tournament. Just another player…so then it happened.

I ran into an old buddy, we had known each other in a professional environment some time ago and we played poker once in a while with a group of about 15 players. For fun, we kept a list of rankings based on a few players opinions…I was mid pack – we ranked him dead last. Mostly in jest because he wasn’t that bad, but he had never won and talked like he knew it all – so sorry to say we had to mark him last. That was four years ago..and how times change.

We had lunch and it was interesting to say the least. We started talking about his new living arrangements..he has it pretty good…and then it came out….everyone (or at least my dream).

He ran into a  random guy at a golf tournament  – sort of a friend of a friend and low and behold – they become room mates. This “guy” ends up being on the road quite a bit and needs a house sitter – rent free – to walk his dogs. Why is he on the road quite a bit you ask – we’ll he plays poker – and not just anothe player – ranked by Bluff, Card Player and POY rankings in the top ten. Needless to day my buddy signs up – and becomes a disciple of sorts….and he’s results are incredible. Tournament wins, deep runs, some serious play. He is ranked 1000th in the Official Poker Rankings, which means he is profitable. Turns out his new room mate, just learned poker 2 years earlier, got hooked and go winning pretty quick. He quits his job and becomes a tournament grinder, and one of the world best. The story just kept coming and it was one of the most enjoyable lunches I have had. Imagine rooming with the world’s best online poker player and getting daily railing….man incredible.

It was an interesting poker dominated  lunch and after – I had the itch to play – so a few SNG’s to the good. The next day I began a two day run – dying to play a tournament after the lunch … I stepped up to a 5th in a 180 man SNG and then followed up with a final table at another…with a donk out shove vs.  a 4x button raise I shoved J9s in the big blind…I thought I had him on a steal, but the chip leader turned over QQ and I was done..oh well…made me realize that I wasn’t living with a poker pro..lol.

I know I  could of won both tournaments, but I was trying some new strategy thanks to my pal and his advisor….and I was thrilled with the results. It’s been a long time since I gone back to back in a 180 man tournament, and although the talent is not high, I consider it an accomplishment to get deep 2x straight.

Bottom line is I feel like the light has come on. Some key “small ball” tips to keep pots under control … let guys make mistakes against you etc. I’ve been calling a bit more in position, and learning to play better after the flop. I called a few “opponents” and learned to stay away from the sharks and prey on the fish.

Had some good results, I also have a few wilder swings playing, but live and learn. I thought I try a tournament.

The first tournament I entered …. my “new” goal is to accumulate early – so I was splashing in a lot of pots, the cool result is everyone thought I sucked. So they would call with middle pair, flush draws and weak holdings because my range was wide. I got paid off huge. Once I realized everyone thought I was a LAGtard, I switch back to being Dan Harrington, and my stack kept rising. Finally, I bust out in 300th or so with a top 50 stack, all in on a flush draw vs. the chip leader. I had AJh and the board was 10, 9, 4 two hearts…so I figured, he might have a piece and if I can win this all in – I’d be right up in the top 10 with a decent chance to win. I’m alright losing that hand, cause I learned a ton…my game has evolved.

I’ve been playing a lot recently – had some wild runs in the 3$ rebuy – at one point in the top 50 with about 1000 left only to bust out with back to back slaughters KK vs AA and QQ vs AA. It happens.

I’m still trying to learn to get away from losing hands, and to keep switching gears, but that lunch has had an effect on me.

I asked my pal to sweat me, and teach me – and I look forward to becoming a better player and hopefully winning a tournament at some point.

I’ll keep you updated.

Now it’s time for the WSOP. I will be going out from June 12th to June 19th. My goal is to play the $1500 horse event on the 14th and maybe the $2k event on the 18th. Of course going to try and satellite my way in but I have had good results in the past with WSOP satellites (way soft) so I expect to play in at least one of the events (probably the 2k since I’m pretty  much dead money in the $1500 horse). My preference would be the horse event as that is my favorite game. I am tired of NLH and prefer the limit mixed games but my best game is NLH and I need to make money so I’ll probably end up just playing that.  Well nothing new to really talk about besides that. If any of you plan on being out in Sin City during the 12th-19th, let me know and we can meet up. Be nice to put some faces to the names.

It’s now 2 1/2 months later and things are going pretty well. I obviously could not support myself playing poker (yet- ha!) and collecting unemployment. I freelance and started my own line of handmade jewelry. The best part is, I have time to workout and play poker on my schedule.. whenever I’m feeling it. Thinking like a true poker player, I give my jewelry business my top priority, though, because I feel I have the best chance of making money in it.. and using my years of experience in the industry to turn it into a real business but whether it’s the jewelry or poker, I love what I do.

When it comes to poker.. my game is NLHE… and I don’t have the bankroll to play cash at a level I think I could be most profitable. Instead, I chose to play tournaments with structures, buy-ins and overall skill levels that work best for me.  I also just like tournaments better anyway… although I know it’s nearly impossible to make a living just playing tournaments.. money is tight.. I don’t have much of a bankroll anyway so why not play what I enjoy most? I actually won a few tournaments in March in Vegas.. and just missed the money in 8th place at Caesars last weekend.. so it’s not going so badly.

I’m planning to head back out to Vegas 1st week of June for a few tournaments. I want to play in the Venetian Deepstack on the 3rd.. I also like the daily Caesar’s tournament structures and players too (plus I need a rematch after last weekend!).. Oh, and, of course, I’ll swing by the Rio to check out the WSOP madness..

I’ve been posting poker updates on twitter and my personal blog:

http://twitter.com/sandypantalones

http://www.poker-kat.blogspot.com

Thanks to whoever is reading!!

This past weekend, I played twelve hours to cash for a whopping $150 profit in the Venetian PLO event, but it was worth it because I managed to figure a few things out.

1.  If the tournament is structured like a typical hold’em tourney or stacks aren’t deep enough (you should get substantially more starting chips in a PLO tournament than in a hold’em event) then you pretty much have to win your first pot to have a decent chance at going deep.

2. If you’ve got chips, calling raises from tight players is very profitable.  Any time during the early and middle stages of a tournament when you’ve got good position and you think someone is raising with a big pair, call them with a very wide range of hands, because they will inevitably overplay their hand.  You can knock them out with as little as two pair or float them on the flop and steal after they fire a second bullet on the turn.  People over play aces much more often in tournaments than they do in cash games.

If someone else has already called the raise, you should narrow your calling range substantially unless you have low cards, like 7654.  If there are one or more callers and you have a hand like this, go ahead and play the hand because you know a lot of the high cards are out already and are therefore less likely to flop.

3.  It’s okay to bet big wraps with position, but better to play them slow out of position.  I unfortunately built a couple of really big pots by leading out with 12-16 card draws from early position, only to have them not come in.  You can, and often should, weather this in a cash game, but in a tournament, where chip retention is just as important as stack building, it can be disastrous.

4.  Changing your style of play based on your table is even more important  than it is in hold’em tournaments.  The guys at my first table liked to see cheap flops, so I potted preflop any time there were three limpers ahead of me, and I won several hands without ever being contested.  Later, I had a much more aggressive table, so I waited for good hands and limp-reraised preflop (Rolf Slotboom style) more often instead. People seem to be less suspicious of late position raises in PLO tourneys than they are in hold’em events, so depending on your table, you might be able to take advantage of this as well.

I know none of this is earth shattering, but hopefully it will inspire someone out there who does know a thing or two about PLO tourneys to do some writing on the subject.

The final table consisted of some of the legends of poker. Barry Greenstein, Lyle Berman, Huck Seed, Eric Lindgren and Scotty Nguyen. Also included were great cash game players Matthew Glantz, Michael DeMichele and Patrick Bueno. I was stoked to watch this unfold.

We barely saw Bueno as he busted very early on the show in a razz hand to Lindgren. Next to go was Huck who got beat in a stud 8 hand by DeMichele. Then we lost Greenstein who got a nasty slow-roll by Scotty Nguyen. This was only an inkling to come. We then lost Lyle Berman in 5th to DeMichele who won a nice pot against him and Scotty in razz. This was after Scotty was acting very strange in a hand against Lyle earlier that appeared to cripple Lyle but who knows when they edit this stuff. Then the highly underrated Glantz departed in 4th in a O8 hand to Scotty.

This is when things started getting really out of hand and really who is to blame for this besides Scotty, none other than Harrah’s and the tournament directors working the final table. Scotty was acting abusive, drunk, belligerent and unsportsmanlike to both players especially DeMichele who he seemed to take a serious exception to his “celebrating” some hands he won earlier. DeMichele repeatedly apologized and said he meant no disrespect and that he won’t do it again and he kept his promise but for some reason this didn’t sit well with Scotty. He cursed at him, goaded him repeatedly, lied about his hands trying to induce calls and was just a jerk. Harrah’s needed to do something but because it was Scotty they didn’t and that is a shame. I’m not sure what could have been done but they really should have at least assessed him a penalty and maybe even kicked him out of the tourney for his behavior. If was a lesser tournament or a not so hi profiled player, they would have been given numerous warnings and penalties. His “friends” (backers) in the audience were just as bad especially Layne Flack who was obviously inebriated himself and acted very poorly. At one point, Lindgren even had to ask the TD to stop Layne from doing what he was doing. I loved it when Eric busted in 3rd and didn’t hi five Layne as he was standing there and then said he “couldn’t beat a drunk and hoped the kid wins.” Scotty went on to best DeMichele after a quick HU battle and took home almost $2 million in cash and a gaudy trophy in honor of Chip Reese.

Overall a lot of people will say this was entertaining and some will even say good for poker but this was a disgrace, a total train wreck and was anything but good for poker. It will only continue to accentuate the negative sterotypes the general public has of poker and the people who play the game. The so called “Ambassador of Poker” and “Prince of Poker” Scotty Nguyen looked pathetic and frankly beat up. Everyone can say what a dark year he has had after his famous collapse with 12 to go in the 2007 WSOP Main Event but that is no excuse for what transpired at that final table. At a time where poker gathered to remember the greatest player ever Chip Reese, Scotty’s antics ruined the moment and sadly stole the show. Nobody will talk about Reese or the quality of poker played, just Scotty and that is the last thing poker needs. Scotty has had a history of dealer abuse and verbal assaults on other players but since this renaissance in TV poker, the american public hasn’t seen this. They have only seen the “yeah baby” and gregarious Scotty and for the most part I’m sure he is like this but a dark truer picture of the man emerged and only time will tell if his reputation and image can rebound. I’m sure it will as the poker world and American public have forgiven much worse.

Lastly, I do want to say that I was glad ESPN didn’t do fancy editing to make Scotty look good and showed it how it was…my only request is to show more than 2 hours of this event like they did last year.

Through the first 3 hours I played great super tight poker and entered the final table 5th in chips around 29k. Below the FT standings

PokerStars Game #18804337849: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level X (300/600) – 2008/07/13 – 22:52:43 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: ascentrian (9140 in chips)
Seat 2: SerretaKing (11901 in chips)
Seat 3: Stewman20 (28908 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (33829 in chips)
Seat 5: tinytim3434 (10828 in chips)
Seat 6: Assassinato (31602 in chips)
Seat 7: dojaman69 (13488 in chips)
Seat 8: nashamen (54488 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (65816 in chips)

I literally played flawless poker and soon we were 3 handed and these were the standings

Seat 3: Stewman20 (105887 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (46133 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (107980 in chips)

We played 3 handed for over an hour with 2 of the people left getting seats and 3rd place getting $215.

We played some more and then this hand happened.

PokerStars Game #18805966258: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (1000/2000) – 2008/07/14 – 00:22:57 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: Stewman20 (140337 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (36866 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (82797 in chips)
Stewman20: posts the ante 200
GilbertGator: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts small blind 1000
Stewman20: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Stewman20 9♦ 4♣
GilbertGator: raises 4000 to 6000
huntt: raises 4000 to 10000
Stewman20: folds
GilbertGator: calls 4000
*** FLOP *** A♦ 9♥ 6♥
huntt: bets 72597 and is all-in
GilbertGator: calls 26666 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (45931) returned to huntt
*** TURN *** A♦ 9♥ 6♥ 5♥
*** RIVER *** A♦ 9♥ 6♥ 5♥ 5♣
*** SHOW DOWN ***
huntt: shows A♠ 6♠ (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
GilbertGator: shows 3♥ 4♥ (a flush, Nine high)
GilbertGator collected 75932 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 75932 | Rake 0
Board A♦ 9♥ 6♥ 5♥ 5♣
Seat 3: Stewman20 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: GilbertGator (button) showed 3♥ 4♥ and won (75932) with a flush, Nine high
Seat 9: huntt (small blind) showed A♠ 6♠ and lost with two pair, Aces and Sixes

This was the peak of my massive CL

PokerStars Game #18806075116: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (1000/2000) – 2008/07/14 – 00:30:01 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: Stewman20 (154737 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (29132 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (76131 in chips)

Then the beginning of the end. I raise on the button with A10 and the shortstack pushes all in and I have to call

PokerStars Game #18806147018: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (1000/2000) – 2008/07/14 – 00:34:30 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: Stewman20 (148937 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (19532 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (91531 in chips)
Stewman20: posts the ante 200
GilbertGator: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts the ante 200
GilbertGator: posts small blind 1000
huntt: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Stewman20 T♦ A♦
Stewman20: raises 5000 to 7000
GilbertGator: raises 12332 to 19332 and is all-in
huntt: folds
Stewman20: calls 12332
*** FLOP *** 3♦ Q♥ J♥
*** TURN *** 3♦ Q♥ J♥ 5♠
*** RIVER *** 3♦ Q♥ J♥ 5♠ 6♣
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GilbertGator: shows A♥ K♠ (high card Ace)
Stewman20: shows T♦ A♦ (high card Ace – lower kicker)
GilbertGator collected 41264 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 41264 | Rake 0
Board 3♦ Q♥ J♥ 5♠ 6♣
Seat 3: Stewman20 (button) showed T♦ A♦ and lost with high card Ace
Seat 4: GilbertGator (small blind) showed A♥ K♠ and won (41264) with high card Ace
Seat 9: huntt (big blind) folded before Flop

Then this hand 2 hands later

I raise from SB with QQ and BB (still shortsack) goes all in and I insta call

PokerStars Game #18806164745: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (1000/2000) – 2008/07/14 – 00:35:35 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 3: Stewman20 (127205 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (45664 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (87131 in chips)
Stewman20: posts the ante 200
GilbertGator: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts the ante 200
Stewman20: posts small blind 1000
GilbertGator: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Stewman20 Q♥ Q♣
huntt: folds
Stewman20: raises 5000 to 7000
GilbertGator: raises 38464 to 45464 and is all-in
Stewman20: calls 38464
*** FLOP *** 4♥ 3♦ 4♠
*** TURN *** 4♥ 3♦ 4♠ 3♣
*** RIVER *** 4♥ 3♦ 4♠ 3♣ A♦
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Stewman20: shows Q♥ Q♣ (two pair, Queens and Fours)
GilbertGator: shows A♥ A♣ (a full house, Aces full of Fours)
GilbertGator collected 91528 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 91528 | Rake 0
Board 4♥ 3♦ 4♠ 3♣ A♦
Seat 3: Stewman20 (small blind) showed Q♥ Q♣ and lost with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 4: GilbertGator (big blind) showed A♥ A♣ and won (91528) with a full house, Aces full of Fours
Seat 9: huntt (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Then exactly 14 hands later this happens…worst call preflop I think I have ever seen. Understand up to this point I have shown nothing but top 10 hands and my 3 other re-raises preflop while 3 handed were with KK, KK, and AQ. I can’t believe this is how it ended. From massive chip leader to out in 17 hands

PokerStars Game #18806238852: Tournament #94453533, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (1000/2000) – 2008/07/14 – 00:40:12 (ET)
Table ’94453533 1′ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 3: Stewman20 (70341 in chips)
Seat 4: GilbertGator (96928 in chips)
Seat 9: huntt (92731 in chips)
Stewman20: posts the ante 200
GilbertGator: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts the ante 200
huntt: posts small blind 1000
Stewman20: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Stewman20 A♦ K♠
GilbertGator: raises 4000 to 6000
huntt: calls 5000
Stewman20: raises 14000 to 20000
GilbertGator: folds
huntt: calls 14000
*** FLOP *** 6♠ 7♦ 8♠
huntt: checks
Stewman20: bets 50141 and is all-in
huntt: calls 50141
*** TURN *** 6♠ 7♦ 8♠ J♣
*** RIVER *** 6♠ 7♦ 8♠ J♣ 5♣
*** SHOW DOWN ***
huntt: shows T♠ J♠ (a pair of Jacks)
Stewman20: shows A♦ K♠ (high card Ace)
huntt collected 146882 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 146882 | Rake 0
Board 6♠ 7♦ 8♠ J♣ 5♣
Seat 3: Stewman20 (big blind) showed A♦ K♠ and lost with high card Ace
Seat 4: GilbertGator (button) folded before Flop
Seat 9: huntt (small blind) showed T♠ J♠ and won (146882) with a pair of Jacks

I don’t know how to have played this hand besides pushing all in preflop. Blinds were still small at 1k/2k and I wanted value. I knew I was good on the flop (he did have a lot of outs). Not upset as much of his flop call but his preflop call was horrible especially since the whole time and we had played together for over 3hours, I had shown nothing but big hands. I played so tight, here are my stats…he had no business calling my raise but hey that is poker. I’ll be back I’m sure but this one will sting for a while. Thanks to bigheeb91, fashun/wagun, and ilikebirds for railing me!!

465 hands played and saw flop:
 - 30 times out of 94 while in small blind      (32%)
 - 35 times out of 94 while in big blind      (37%)
 - 34 times out of 277 in other positions      (12%)
 - a total of 99 times out of 465      (21%)

 Pots won at showdown – 21 out of 28      (75%)
 Pots won without showdown – 81

Last week I spent pretty much the entire tourney in near-desperation mode, having made a boo-boo early on that kept me at the bottom of the leaderboard for most of the way. Wasn’t quite as bad this week, though by the time we reached the final table I again found myself with one of the short stacks.

By the way, I suggested once we got to the final table we stop everything and finish up in August. No one went for it, though . . . .

Anyhow, with the blinds 200/400 and my stack down to just a little over 2,100, I was forced to make a move. Here’s how the last hand went down (I’ve changed everybody’s names, by the way).

(Sorry . . . tried to embed the hand replayer here, but WordPress wouldn’t let me.)

Was kind of nice seeing both of them turn over tens, there. I was still a dog, but definitely in the running. According Two Dimes, I was about 30% to win with those cards vs. my two opponents, both of whom were around 33-35%.

Of course, that flop killed it. Still, it was cool to have had another decent tourney run & a genuine shot at the cash.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-journal.php?subaction=showfull&id=1209797015&archive=