Update from Mid American

I skipped out on playing both the 500+50 and the 2k main event because of the prizepools being so bad. The 550 on Thursday only ended up with 91 players I believe so I decided to play online and it paid off. I took 2nd in the 50 freezout on Stars at 5:30 for $6800 and took 3rd in the 50 cubed on stars at 5:15 for 3k. I let the 50 freezeout slip away from me after having a dominating chiplead heads up versus a super weak opponent. He hit alot of flops and I didn't. In the 50 cubed on stars I got QJ all in vs A2 on AK2T board for around 70 percent of the chips in play 3 handed but a 2 hit the river. I also got 11th in the 20k on Tilt that was 6k to win and I was sitting 2/11 at one point. I had bubbles in the Stars 7pm 109 and Tilt 7pm 75. Oh well, still a pretty solid day and I can't complain. I'm thinking of grinding this Sunday which is rare for me but who knows. I want to give a shout out to Joby for getting 5th in the 300+40 on Wednesday for 2k, Mattster got 9th in the event for around 900 or so. I got rocked by Kurt(Te amo luna) in omaha flips in the hotel room in which I lost 10 out of 10 hands versus him. It was pretty disgusting as I was drawing dead 3 times to the turn out of the 10 hands. The next time I play online, I'll give ya update. Take it easy, Later

Mid American Poker Classic Events #3 and #4

Event #3 was yesterday as it was a 200+30 buyin. I ended up making a deep run and finishing 18th which paid $377. I lost a big flip on the bubble to get me short. Today was the 300+40 buyin and I built up a decent stack before losing AK to 44 and 22 to A8 to end my day. Tommorow is the 500+50 and I'm thinking of skipping it and playing online as the prizepools here have been very week. I will definately be playing the 2k buyin on Friday. I hate to make it short like this, but I've got to get some other stuff done.

Mid American Poker Classic Events #1 and #2

I've been pretty busy the last couple of days and haven't had time to update on these events. Event #1 was a 300+40 buyin and started with 7k chips and 40 minute levels. I was complete card dead in the first 2 hours and only managed to drag 1 pot but it was a big one. I picked up 33 utg and opened to 300 at 50-100 with around a 5500 starting stack. UTG+2 3 bets to 700 and another player calls so I decide to peel. The flop rolls out T93, I get it in verse both players and they have JJ and AK to get me up over 15k. I ended up with around 14.5k going into first break with the blinds going to 100-200 with 25 ante. A few hands after break I get JJ in vs AK for 14k and I couldn't hold and that dropped me down around 7k. Not alot happened until the 200-400 level with me have around 7k still and me calling a 4500 shove with AJ, the shover had KJ. K hit the river and I was down to around 3k soon busting after with me shoving J3 running into AA. Congrats to Steve Crawford in this event, for finishing 5th for 3k.

Event #2 was 500+50 buyin with a 10k starting stack and 50 minute levels. I lost a big pot early when I turned a flush with J9hh only to have my opponent to fill up with T6o on the river. I fought a shortstack entire first 2 hours and had 3k going into first break. I doubled up right after first break with a suckout of AJ vs AQ all in preflop to get me back to 6k or so. Than I flatted a raise out of the BB at 75-150 with 53hh after a raise and 2 calls. The flop rolls out 643 with 2 spades. I end up getting in vs KTss and got there on the turn to bust me out.

I'm not sure If I'm going to play the 200+25 down there or not since the fields are so small. If I don't I still have 3 more tournies down there with another 300+40, 500+50 and the 2k main. The next event I'm for sure playing is Wednesday which is the 300+40 and I'll try to have an update after that event. On the online front I played one day last week and had 2 final tables but very disappointing. I got 4th Tilt 50 single rebuy and the Tilt 50 rebuy for around $2200 each. That sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

A break from Poker

I haven't played in over a week and have just been hanging out with family and friends. I watched IU in the Maui go 1-2 with a tough game vs Chaminade. I played ps3 a couple of nights with friends and played a classic game on NBA2k9 that went into 4 overtimes. I watched alot of football this past weekend also and Florida looks amazing. I'm actually glad Notre Dame's season is over, not sure if they will get to a bowl game or not at 6-6. They really don't deserve one. There is some serious talks Charlie won't be back next year and I think they should bring him back for at least one more year. When your starters on offense are mostly freshman/sophmores you can't expect them to be great. They have made a tremendous improvement from last year to this year. At 6-6, they blew 3 games they had in there in grasp, I think its a mix of youth and coaching to blame. They did the same thing with Ty Willingham fired him after Quinn's sophmore year, come on now give someone a chance before you up and quit on them. I don't know if Weiss is the coach of the future but let's give him a fair opportunity before letting him go.

Onto the poker front, I plan on playing tonight and taking off tommorow night due to the IU/Wake Forest game and the Duke/Purdue game. I hope I can get a session in tonight. I'll keep ya updated, I'll hopefully have an update after every tourney at Mid-American which begins on Friday. Talk at ya later.

Quick Update

I have played a couple of sessions since my last update but nothing good has come out of either. I have been spending time with Angie and some friends for the most part and trying to enjoy life. I probably won't play again until the beginning of next week at the earliest, since Thanksgiving is next week I doubt I play awhole lot. The Mid-American Poker Classic is right around the corner and I am looking forward to get on live front again. That about sums it up, talk to you later.

Oh yeah quick note, Congrats to Mattster24 for winning the 320 Stars last Wednesaday night, he chopped it heads up for 47k but went on to win after chopping. Much deserved as he has been playing really good as of late.

Some Online play from this week.

I put in some hours Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. On Saturday morning me and mattster24 decided to grind at 5 in the morning until college football kicked off. I final tabled the 5.50 rebuy on stars and finished 3rd for $1178.00. On Sunday night, I won the 50 single rebuy single addon on Pokerstars at 12:15am for around $2800 which I didn't play much on Sunday at all. On Monday night, I had a couple of deep runs, getting 11th in the 11rebuy on stars for around $700 and went deep in the 33 at 11pm and also got 6th in the 50 single rebuy single addon on Pokerstars. On Wednesday night I only played 2 tournaments the 320 on Stars and FTOPS Event #1 on Tilt. I bricked the 320 in the 2nd hour but made a deep run in FTOPS. I ended up building up a huge stack early on and was sitting really good at 92k at 800-1600 in the money. I than proceeded to run AQ into AK for 100k stack. That dropped me pretty low, but built back up to 75k without a showdown. I than ran AK into AA to a 40k stack at 1700-3400 to knock me back down to 35k. I ended up flatting a minraise with T9o from the BB and the flop rolling out T42 with 2 spades and got all in vs AQss and got it to hold somehow. That got me back up to around 75k or so. I than got another double with AQ vs 99 all in preflop to get me up to around 135k. At the 3k-6k level, I ended up running QQ into KK for around a 260k stack or so which would of been top 25, instead I was out at 144th. Paid around 500 profit or so, but I won a 20 person last longer at a $100 a person on pocketfives to profit $1900 from that. The next time I play with probably be Sunday night. Things are going really good for me right now in poker.

On the live front, The Mid-American Poker Classic is rolling around to the Horseshoe in New Albany, it will be here I think December 3rd-12th. I plan on playing every NLHE event down there. Also, I would like to break my non-cash streak in live, if I do that I like my chances. Seeing how I've cashed 3 live events this year and all 3 have led to final tables. Well that is about it, I'll talk at ya later.

Some online poker

I didn't expect to play til Sunday at the earliest as I stated in my last blog. I played a few times in between and had a couple of 5k scores. I took 2nd in the Stars 109 turbo last Wednesday night for $5500. I also took 3rd in the 7pm 109 Stars Saturday night for around $5200. I played 6 tournies on Sunday and only cashed one, which was the Tilt 750k and it wasn't for much losing a flip. I sattied into 3 of the other majors so wasn't in for much. I played tonight and built up some stacks but ran into some bad luck. I lost AA vs QQ allin preflop for 50k at 250-500 to a ranked p5's player, which I simply can't beat no matter how good I get in vs them. I also lost AA vs KJ on J63 rainbow in a 24 buyin on Tilt in the money for 80k at 800-1600. I really don't know when I'll play again as I'm wanting to take some time off and relax. Poker is really stressing me out as of late, I shouldn't get tore up over getting 2 and 3 outed as I should be used to it by now. I'm also on one of my biggest heaters in my poker career so I should be wanting to play. The Horseshoe in New Albany is having a circuit down there next week called the Golden Boy. I might slide down there and play an event, but there taking 20 percent out for charity. Yikes!!!!!!! I don't know I'll play it day by day and see where it takes me. I'm going to try to live each day to the fullest rather than looking in the future. If I wake up and want to play poker, I'll play, if I wake up and just feel like watching Tv, I'll watch Tv, if I feel like going and hanging out with my friends or Angie, I'll do that.

On a side note, I found out last Monday that my sister is pregnant. This will be her second child,she has a 3 year old boy named Skyler. I really enjoy spending time with him when I get the chance. That is all that I have to say. I don't know when I'll update again, depends when I play I suppose. See ya.

Biggest online score ever

It's been a super long time since I've posted so I need to update. Last week I played a couple of nights had a bunch of deep runs but the only significant one was me getting 4th in the 129 Bounty on Full Tilt for 3k. I lost 99 vs T4 for 40BB+ pot with 4 left in that. It was 8k to win. I played this past Saturday night last minute, and it paid off with my biggest score ever online in the Stars 162 for 19k. It was a great feeling and I ran pretty well throughout the whole tourney. I've played around 25 hours total the last few days and have had some deep runs but nothing special. Monday was absolutely brutal as I only cashed 2 of 30 tournaments on the day but today there was some progress. I'm taking off until at least Sunday, as I got some stuff going on the rest of the week. We'll I'll talk at ya later, Goodnight!

WSOP Indiana and Online

I bricked both the 550 and 1060 on Thursday and Friday to have 0 cashes at the circuit. So disappointing to know how soft those fields were and not come away with anything. I plan on playing a bunch online the next month or so. I had 3 final tables last Wednesday night but got 8th, 9th, and 9th. I wasn't too happy about it but made around 2k on the night. I plan on playing tomorrow night and all day Wednesday so I'll probably have an update sometime this week on those sessions. That about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

WSOP Indiana

Sorry for not posting on this subject sooner than what I have. I've just been really busy with alot of different things. My first event was last Thursday with the 300+40. I built up a pretty good stack to around 40k at 300-600 when I lost JJ vs QJ allin preflop for a 20k pot to knock me down to 30k. I just basically blinded down to around 18k when the blinds hit 600-1200 with a 200 ante. The button opened to 3100, who was an older aggresive player, I shipped in with Q7o and he obviously had QQ. The next event was on Friday a 500+50 event, in which I built an enormous stack and getting in very good about every time. I had around 120k at 1500-3k with around 48 players left and 36 paying. I had been very aggresive to this point trying to punish the bubble. I pick up KK in early position and make it 8100 to go and chipleader shoves over the top who had around 250k or so, I snap off and he obviously has AA to end my day. Sickest part of the hand is he is the only guy at the table who has me covered and I was probably top 5 or so at that point. I played the 1000+60 on Saturday in which I donked down hard and got all in with gutter vs set. I played the 300+40 on Monday which was a turbo event and busted after an hour and half or so with KQ vs AJ allin preflop. Tuesday was the 500+50 PLO event which I skipped. Today was the 300+40 event and I busted in the first hour. My AK was no good vs 77 on K7655 board and than I busted with KJdd on J979 board with 2 diamonds in which I was commited after the flop, I obviously got slowrolled by 77. I wasn't too happy and I let the guy know about it. Tomorrow is the 500+50 and Friday is the 1000+60 which I'll be playing both and hopefully winning one. I hope to play in the 5k Main on Sunday but it will take a win or satellite for me to play. I'm going to try to give you updates after each of these next two events. I plan on playing online tonight, I'll talk at ya later.

WSOP Indiana

Wsop Indiana is here I justed busted first event right after dinner break. I got the 500+50 tommorow and 1000+60 on Saturday, I'll have all the updates from the tournaments on Sunday.

Poker and Football

I haven't played much poker at all since my last update. I have played one MTT session and it was last Tuesday night. I didn't get anything going really except for getting a big stack in the 22 rebuy on Stars. We got down to 25 players and I lost QQ vs KQ allin preflop, AJ vs AT all in preflop, and than I ran KK into AA to bust out 17th or 18th. I've been playing sit n go's here and there and doing pretty decent. I'd say I'll continue to play more sit n go's then MTT's within the next few weeks or so. I have the World Series of Poker Circuit in Indiana coming up October 2nd so I'm trying to prepare for that. Once again I've set lofty goals for it. I always like to set my expectations high for myself as I know I can attain my goals as long as I stay focused and run average. Thats about all I have to say about the poker front.

How bout dem Irish? They are 2-0 now after taking down Michigan on Saturday. They have a tough test this Saturday on the road vs Michigan St. The Irish are getting 9 points this Saturday. I think this is way too many points. I'm trying to be unbiased in my thought process on this one and I just don't see how Michigan St. could be favored by 9 here. After posting this, I'm sure Notre Dame will get crushed, ha. Golden Tate has been a stud so far this year, he is just a sophmore who was impressive at the end of last year. I really feel in 2 years, which is Claussens senior year, they will be contending for the National Championship. They have so much young talent and I think they'll put the pieces together by than. Also, USC dominated Ohio St. in a big win this weekend. If I'm Pete Carroll I'm not sure if I could look myself in the mirror in the morning. Funny how one of his players gets arrested with a felony the weekend before but recieves no punishment. Well played there Petey boy. I hope karma catches up to you in the worst way. Your program is so dirty I can smell it here in Indiana. I'm just waiting for you to choke sometime in this season because it will happen. How you blew that national championship vs Texas I'll never know. I loved every second of it. Well I guess I need to simmer down for a moment as that is all I got to say on that subject. I'm going to play golf at French Lick next Monday with a bunch of other guys. This could be the last time I play this year. That is all I got, I'll talk at ya later.

Sunday Sunday

I decided to play Sunday and play all the majors and 530 WCOOP(World Championship of Online Poker). I wish I wouldn't of played after dropping around $1800 on the day. I went semi deep in the Tilt Mulligan but lost a big flip with around 180 left. I only played around 8 tournaments on the day as I was trying to keep a close eye on football. I was pretty disappointed in the Colts performance. I took yesterday off as I had planned to play all day but didn't get much sleep from the night before so I took it off and watched Monday Night Football. I am going to play tonight though and hope I can get a good score. I doubt I play the rest of the week though as I'm going to go watch Journey tomorrow night and than I have golf league on Thursday. I'm most likely not going to play any all weekend as I plan to watch football non stop. I'm pretty excited about the Notre Dame/Michigan game and USC/Ohio St game. I'll have an update from tonight's session either tonight or tomorrow. I'll talk at ya later.

Online from last night

I decided to play last night and it went pretty awful until the 27.50 turbo on Stars. I ended up getting 4th for $1265 and ran awful in that late. That was my only cash of the night and I profited around $450. I probably won't play again until Sunday. I plan on going over to mattster's house and watching NFL on his 5 TV setup and playing all day. My birthday is tommorow, I'm going to be turning 25. When I was in high school and you told me I would be playing poker for a living when I was 25 I would of probably told you were the dumbest person on Earth. There is 4 or 5 of us going out tommorow to celebrate and it should be a good time. I have a few shoutouts I'd like to make today before I log off. First, Congrats to Mattster for getting engaged to Lindsay Clem. Also, Congrats to Stephen "gtfobish" Crawford for getting his biggest online score ever of $2500 in the Daily Double A last night on Full Tilt. The kid has been crushing here lately. Well that about sums it up, I'll probably post on Monday at the latest.

Denny Crum Main Event and Online Win

I decided to play in the Denny Crum Main Event yesterday and wish I hadn't of now. It was a 1900+86 buyin and it only got 54 players with it being 32k to win. I chipped up a bit early and ended up playing a hand bad and getting in with 97 on 862 flop vs KK and couldn't get there and it knocked me down to around 4k at 100-200. I limped 75dd from the sb after a limper. The flop came JT3 with 2 diamonds. I check called a bet of 400. The turn was a J and it went check check. River brought the 6 diamonds and I shoved and guy snapped with J8dd to have me outflushed. That bout sums up that circuit. I had no intentions of playing today and got the idea from Angie. I'm glad she talked me into playing as I won the 70k on pokerstars for 14.1k. That is my biggest online score of the year. I ran insanely good deep in this winning 3 flips at the final table. Also, I think this is the first tournament I've never been 2 or 3 outed in that I had won. I won a 3 way allin on the last hand when I had a 3-1 chiplead going into this hand. I picked up JJ on the button and the sb shipped and the bb called who had equal stacks and I snapped. They had 88 and AQ, the flop brought a J to basically leave them dead and another J on the river to win in style. This was a big win for me and finally got another 5 figure score. I plan on playing either later tonight or Tuesday night. I'll talk ya later.

Updates from last 2 tournaments at Denny Crum Poker Open

I just got back home from busting the 500+50 buyin today. I built my 5k stack up to 9500 when I got J9ss in vs J7 on a J97 flop. Soon after we took a break, and right after break I raise ATcc at 100-200 to 550 and the sb called. The flop rolls out TT7. He check calls my 700 bet and the turn was a 6. He checked to me and I checked behind hoping he would lead into me on the river. The river was a 2. He checked I bet 1625 and he checkraised me all in for another 1675 and I thought for a bit, but the guy had already raised twice on the river and was called both times as he was bluffing. I called and he flipped up 66 for the turned set. That knocked me down to around 4200 in chips. Then I open A2hh in late position and the same player called, and the BB shipped in his 8 BB. I shoved over the top to isolate and the other player snapped. The shortstack had 55 and the caller had AQ. The flop came A52 which I was going to gain chips on the hand even thought the shortstack flopped a set until the Q rivered and knocked me out. I played in the 300+40 on Wednesday and never got awhole lot going in that either as I lost back to back flips to cripple me and I busted out of that fairly early. I'm not sure if I'm going back to down to play the 2k main event on Saturday or not yet. If I do I'll keep ya updated. I'm going to try to play alot of online next week. I got to get going though, as I have golf league soon. I'll talk at ya later.

Quick Update from Denny Crum

I'm having problems with my internet connection here at the Horseshoe in New Albany. This will have to be a quick update. Played the 200+30 today and busted out on the 3rd hand when I get 98hh in vs KK on KT26 with 3 hearts. I couldn't get the flush to hold vs the set when he rivered another K. I just hung out most of the day, and since I was having problems with my laptop I couldn't play online tonight as planned, instead I procede to drop 1k in the 2-5NL game here. Whats funny though is I wouldn't of played in 1k worth of buyins tonight, so my internet connection screws me over. Also, who knows what would of happened online tonight. Well I gotta get, I hope the running bad ends tommorow. I'm not sure if I'll update til I get home Thursday night. I have a 300+40 tommorow and a 500+50 on Thursday. Talk at ya later.

Last minute decision pays off and Mattster24 dominating

I decided to play the 109 turbo at 2:40 on Stars and the 109 turbo at 3 on Tilt late last night as I was bored and railing a couple of friends deep in FTOPS Main Event. I busted out of the Stars within the first hour but caught some good luck in the one at Tilt. I won KQ vs AQ all in preflop early on to get the double up. A couple hands later I 3 bet an aggresive player with J7ss and he mucked. Very next hand he raised I shoved in my 6k at 150-300 on the button with AJ he snap called me with A6 and I got it to hold for a top 5 stack. I kept building my stack up and soon after we were in the money. I won a couple of 60/40's to maintain my stack. Going into the final table I was 7 of 9. The players went flying out and I won A9 vs K7 and JJ vs K3 to bust 2 players. We got down to 3 handed and I ran A6 into AK. 3rd place was good enough for $3500.00. The big news from yesterday though was Mattster getting 4th in the Stars Sunday Warm-Up for 40k. He lost AK vs KQ 4 handed for what would of been a huge chiplead 3 handed. Instead he was the short stack 4 handed and he ended up busting out soon after. Congrats to him though for the big score and hopefully this is a sign to come of a big rush heading into some live events here within the next month or two.

I'm leaving for Gatlinberg, TN on Thursday morning and will be down there vacationing until Monday. I have a full slate of live tournies for that whole week when I get back. The tournament series is the Denny Crum Poker Classic at the Horseshoe in New Albany. I'll be playing a 200+30 buyin on Tuesday, a 300+40 buyin on Wednesday, a 500+50 buyin on Thursday, and the 1900+86 Main Event on Saturday. I'll be staying down there a couple of nights next week and plan on playing online if I bust early but who knows. I'll be keeping my blog updated nightly while I'm down there giving you the tournament summary. I'm really looking forward to playing down there next week. I've always thought I was a better live player than online and hopefully I can run average and play some good poker and well see what happens. I have a $600 fantasy draft coming up Wednesday night in which I'm partners with Mattster. I doubt I have any more updates until I get back from Gatlinberg and down at the Horseshoe playing live. I'll talk at ya later.

So many big stacks....

I built up some huge stacks in alot of tournaments last night but caught no luck deep in them. I played the 24+2 buyin at 10pm at tilt. It was over 7k to win last night. I had a huge stack entire tourney and with 17 left I lose KK vs TT allin preflop for the chiplead. In the Tilt 50 single I ran TT into KK with 19 left but couldn't get the suckout there. In the Stars 11 rebuy I lose AK vs 77 for a huge stack with around 70 left. I final tabled the Tilt Fiddy Turbo and got 6th when I ran A9 into JJ in a blind battle. That paid close to $1200. I had a couple of other small cashes on the day but nothing big. I ended up profiting around $500. Such a sick day though for the stacks I had and couldn't get the big score. Well I'm running behind and gotta hop in the shower before I go golfing. I'll talk at ya later.

FTOPS and SNG's

I played FTOPS 200 turbo last night and some SNGS. In the FTOPS turbo, I doubled early on with AQ vs AT to get a decent stack. I 3 bet a couple of times and had around 5500 at 120-240. I pick up KK in late position only to run into AA and AK for a top 10 stack, but I couldn't hit my 1 outer. I played in some SNGS on stars and ended up winning a couple hundred after getting 2nd in a 60/45 man. I ended up breaking even on the night which isn't so bad. I'm going to play some tournaments tonight probably start at either 9:30 or 10:30. I'll talk at ya later.

Some online play from last night

Last night was the first night I've played since the last update. Things started out pretty ugly from the get go as I got AA cracked twice in the 162 on stars but somehow still cashed. One of them was on the bubble where I flatted AA preflop vs a big stack and got a shortstack to squeeze and got all in 3 ways vs AK and 84o. I couldn't hold vs the 84o. It was probably the worst squeeze play I've ever seen as the guy shoved in his 11 BB which he has 0 fold equity. That pot was for a top 15 stack with around 160 left, I broke even on the hand though as AK had twice as many chips as him. I built up some huge stacks in the tilt 50 single rebuy single addon but went card dead and add a cooler and was busto short of the money. I ended up final tabling the 50 rebuy on tilt once again, this time for 7th for around 1k. I ended up losing around 100 on the day, which isn't anything really for the stakes I play. Tonight I plan on playing the FTOPS 200 turbo at 9pm and than just play a bunch Sit-n-go's. Probably multi table some $60/45 player and $60/9 player ones.

I shot a 79 in mens league on Thursday which is a pretty good score for me but really should of been alot better. I lipped out so many putts it was rediculous. Oh well, I don't plan on playing anymore golf until this Thursday mens league. I went to the state fair for the first time with Angie on Saturday. I really don't see how the people who put this on expect people to afford this place who have a family of 5 or 6. It was $7 for a tenderloin, $6 for cotten candy, $7 for mozzarella sticks, some of the games that last 20 seconds were $5 a person. I had a good time though. We walked around the whole runway and saw everything. Well that about sums it up, give ya updates either tonight or tommorow after tonight's session.

Oh yeah, I'd like to congratulate Stephen "aka smcrawford2, gtfobish" Crawford for recording his biggest score in a online MTT of $1800 for his first place score in the Full Tilt 3 dollar rebuy.

Back to the dark side of Online

After having a great night on Monday night, I was hoping the rush would continue. The night started off great I ran into a couple of coolers but the poker gods bailed me out. I built up some pretty good stacks but going card dead deep didn't lead to a big score only led to a couple of small cashes and a couple of bubbles. FTOPS(Full Tilt Online Poker Series) started last night and I decided to play it. I grinded this tourney for hours until I won a pretty big sized coinflip to get me over average. This tourney started with around 5800 players and it paid 738 places I believe. I ended up busting around 830th when my TT couldn't hold vs 99 for 27k stack at 500-1k. Nothing like grinding a tourney for four hours and getting in that good for a good stack only to get 2 outed. So a night that started off great ended just worse than what it started. I ran absolutley running horrid at the end of the night. Oh well, thats how poker goes. I probably won't play again til Monday, but could log in some hours on Sunday. Well I'm bout to hit the shower and go play in mens league. Talk at ya later.

4 Final Tables, 0 Wins

I went over to mattster's house and played online last night with him. I think playing with him motivates me and it really makes poker better all the way around. This is the first time I've played since my last post and I was really looking forward to it since I was going to be playing over at his house. I ended up with 4 final tables which that is new record for me. My first final table came in the Tilt 35k at 7pm in which I got 3rd for a little over $4700. This would be the only final table I got my money in bad as I was severly shortstacked 3 handed. My next final table came in the Tilt 33 rebuy at 8:30pm. I had a big stack the entire tourney but kind of dwindled away deep into it but won a flip and got AA all in vs QQ for a huge pot to get me into the final table. I ended up busting out 6th here as I lost AA vs AT allin preflop. That tourney paid a little over $1600. The whole night I had huge stacks it seemed like and was doing quite well until I lost KK vs AQ allin preflop in the 163 at Tilt for a huge stack. It didn't seem to matter though as I continued to build stacks. I was at the final tables of the 70k at 9:30 at Stars and 50 rebuy at tilt at 11:30 at the same time. I ended up getting 4th in the stars 70k as I lost 99 vs AK/K9 allin preflop for a pretty good sized chiplead. I also lost K8 vs T8 to a shorstack on the final table bubble who had shoved into me the last 3 times. I made the hero call but couldn't get it to hold. I ended up cashing that one for a little over $5200. I ended up getting 4th in the Tilt 50 rebuy for a little over $2300. I took a sick beat 5 handed in which I raised 88 on the button and the SB called. We were currently 1-2 in chips with me having the chiplead. The flop rolls out J98. He bets 15k into the pot I make it 45k he than makes it 81k and I shove and he calls with QJ. The turn brought his dream card with the T, and I couldn't fill up on the river. I would of had a dominating chiplead 3 handed. I ended up getting QQ all in preflop vs A8 but couldn't get it to hold either for 26 BB. That tourney was $6200 to win and I feel I left some money out there on that one. All in all, I ended up profiting around 11.5k on the day. I was still pretty upset last night the way the final tables went as I got my money in great in some big pots but couldn't get it to hold. I ran well though the majority of the night, it wasn't like I was sucking out alot, it was just having my hands hold at the right times. It would be super nice to run like that everyday, but face it we all know thats not going to happen. It could of very well easily been a 20-25k+ night though. I don't think I'm going to play tonight as I only got 4 hours of sleep last night, but I do plan on playing Wednesday night as FTOPS is starting. Oh yeah, before I forget mattster took 2nd in the Tilt 50 single rebuy single addon for $3800.

I played some golf yesterday with mattster in the afternoon. I shot a 40 from the tips playing it down as I'm doing that more often now. It makes the game tougher but thats how it's meant to be played. I started out 4 over after 4 with me just duck hooking my drive. I hit some crisp iron shots in which I hit 4 right over the flag stick. If I get my driver figured out and keep hitting my irons the way I have lately I could end up being a single digit handicapp I think by the end of the year. Which I don't really care about a whole lot, but it would be a good accomplishment since I haven't been a single digit since 3 years ago when I played everyday. Well that sums it up, talk at ya later.

Some Online Poker

I hadn't played since my last update except for a few turbos here and there until last night. One of the turbos I got 6th in which was the Tilt Fiddy Turbo and I took home a little over 1k for it. I ended up with 5 cashes last night and barely turned a profit. I built up some good stacks but once I got in the money I couldn't get anything going. I lost a 65k flip in the the 18k guaranteed at tilt at 600-1200 which would of been good for a 3rd place stack instead out 21st. I also lost a 40BB near the bubble of this. I final tabled the 50 single rebuy single addon at Stars but it only paid around 450 as it only had 81 players. The other cashes were just min cashes where I lost flips in 2 of the 3. That about sums it up on the poker front and probably won't be playing any the rest of the week as I am super busy. If I do play it would be tonight or Sunday.

I have my cousins wedding this weekend in Greenwood. It should be a good time. Also, I mentioned in a previous post me and mattster were going to play in a 2 man scramble but it got cancelled. It got rescheduled for sometime in September and we still plan on playing it. I actually played really well in mens league last Thursday night. I came in with a 38 with a double bogey. I also had 3 3 putts which putting continues to haunt me. I'm playing in a 2 man best ball tournament with my uncle. It's a handicapped event which I dislike in a way since everyone complains about the winners being sandbaggers. I've always been tagged as a "sandbagger" which in previous years could of been the case but not anymore. I feel my handicapp is actually lower right now than what it should be. If I could ever learn to putt I could be a single digit handicapp pretty easy I think. I watched Step Brothers and Dark Knight this weekend and both were real good. I also want to say congrats to Joby "aa_thief_aa" Bragg for getting his biggest online score to date with a 2nd place finish in a 11 MTT for a little over $2300. That about sums it up, talk to you later.

Online Poker

The break didn't last to long and I ended up playing tonight. Once again I should stick to my original thoughts as tonight was a total disaster. I cashed one tourney which was the 33 cake rebuy and it was small as I ran TT into AA there. I ran KK into AA twice tonight. I also lost a huge pot in the Tilt 50 single rebuy single addon in which I got AKcc on 874 flop with 2 clubs vs KK and couldn't get there. In the Stars 50 single rebuy single addon I raise QT and get called out of the SB. The flop rolls out TT3 obviously he has AT. Oh well, thats how it goes. Im taking tommorow off and going to watch a few friends play softball. That about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

Friday Night Pokah

I decided to play tonight because there wasn't anything to do really. Some friends went out and hit up the bars and to be quite honest ever since I met Angie I haven't had the urge to go to the bars and make a fool out of myself. As you know if you have read my last couple of blogs I've been on a downswing and things started off awful again tonight but that would change later on in the evening. I had 3 bubbles tonight coming in the Stars 162, Stars 77 6 max, and the Cake 33 rebuy. The Stars 77 6 max was obviously the most brual as I had a huge stack the entire tourney. I lost a 90BB coinflip and a 120BB coinflip to the same exact guy all on the bubble. I held the best hand both times but couldn't get either to hold. I cashed the 11pm Stars 109 in which I lost a 26BB flip with AKs vs 66. I also cashed the Turbo Fiddy at Tilt where I got 13th when I lost A2 vs T9 and than ran 66 into 99 to bust. That tourney was 5200 to win and could of easily happened in "turbo" mode. Oh well, I ended up winning the 12:15 Stars 50 single rebuy single addon for a little over 3k. I was tied for the chiplead with 10 left and the other chipleader was at my table and was steaming a bit as I took a pot off him the hand before. We are playing super deep as we both have around 65 BB. He raised and a player flatted and I called with 86s out of the BB. The flop rolls out 882 rainbow. I check he bets, other guy folds, and I raise it up and he snap shoves and I obviously snap. He rolls over A2 in which im a huge favorite. The A turned and I was like here we go, but he bricked and I had a massive chiplead going into the final table. I ended up winning a flip on the first hand of the final table and took down another big pot with a flush draw that was uncontested. All of a sudden I had a 4-1 chiplead and was thinking that I will run the table over, I was dead wrong. Another player, basically ran the rest of the tourney over until headsup. In which I dominated him, he kept bluffing into me and I was snap calling every pair I had. I was in shock he kept bluffing his stack off to me and figured he would adjust. He had me down 3-1 headsup and I came back and took a 3-1 lead on him heads up. I ended up getting QJdd in against his 88 on a 742 with 2 diamonds flop. The turn brought the 8d and the river came the 2 fill him up and to double him right back up to make us even. Once again, I just kept chipping away at his stack. The final hand came where I called a raise with 97ss and the flop rolled out T85 with 2 spades. I ended up checkraising him on the flop and he shoved and flipped over A8. This one didn't end in dramatic fashion as I peeled off the 6 on the turn and leaving him drawing dead.

This tourney was a huge cofidence boost to me even though it's not the biggest score but it might be the biggest win for me. I've had a rough two weeks, I couldn't win a key hand when needed to be. That means me not holding on a 80/20, 70/30, 60/40. I couldn't win the key coinflips deep in a tourney. I had already made the decision tonight to take some time off from the game. When I say it's been a rough two weeks, I mean I can't sleep at night, lay in bed for hours upon hours thinking about the beats I just took. I've played poker for way to long now to let this affect me. I have had way worse swings than this one, most notably the 21k downswing last year from August through October. I rebounded though and made some serious money from November through Feburary. I just need some time off and get back to exercising daily like I was before I went to Vegas. That could be a huge part to my sleeping problems I really dont know. I do know when I exercised daily I felt better about myself everyday. I was always upbeat and in a good mood. One positive thing I can take out of this downswing was that I never gave up, never gave up in one tourney. I battled through and tried to make the best out of every tourney. Yeah, I might of cried to mattster on AIM about the beats, but I didn't let it affect my play one second. I don't know how much time I'll be taking off, its hard to take off time after a good win. It could be a few days, a week, a month I really don't know right now.

Me and Mattster are playing in a 2 man scramble on the 26th of this month. I'd say we'll be on the course a bunch this next week preparing for it. I really need to get my driver figured out as I hit it badly in mens league on Thursday night. I just haven't played as much golf this summer as I'm used to and its affecting my game as well. I really need to be playign 4-5 times a day and there is no reason not to really. I'm hoping Matt's putter is hot on next Saturday as it usually is this event. Last 2 years we have played we shot even and 1 under par. We'll have to do much better than that to get in the top 3. We end up with way too many bogeys and and if we eliminate them totally we could give it a run for a good finish. Well its past 5am here, time to try to get some sleep. I know when I wake up tommorow it will be a good feeling for the first time after a poker session in a long time. Take it easy, later.

Online Poker

It's been awhile since my last blog and I have been playing quite a bit of poker. I've had a couple of final tables both coming in the Tilt 50 rebuy. The 2 final tables though haven't turned into any profits whatsoever. I'm on a 4k downswing which isn't much at all, but it is my biggest downswing that I've had in awhile which is amazing for the limits I play. I have been running bad for the past 2 weeks. I don't think I've ran this bad in this amount time ever. I feel I'm at the top of my game and I wouldn't be suprised if I get a big score soon. The tides will turn it's only a matter of time. I really don't know when I'll play again but it's more than likely going to be on Sunday. I have mens league tommorrow which I'm looking forward to. I'm also going to get back into the routine of blogging after every online session. The WSOP Circuit schedule came out and Caesars Indiana is October 2nd-14th and I plan on being there about everyday. Also, there having a circuit in Gary, Indiana this year in late October which I'll probably make that trip too. That about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

Also, I wanted to say congrats to Stephen "smcrawford2" Crawford for getting second in a 30+3 MTT on stars last week for a little over 1k.

Been Awhile...

I haven't really played all that much online since my last update. I played last Tuesday and didn't really have any good results. Went deep in the Tilt 50/50 at 930 but got 77 all in vs QQ on J97 and couldn't get it to hold for the chiplead with 17 left. I can't remember to many other details from that night, but didn't get the big score. I played mens league on Thursday shooting a 39 on the front and played poorly on the back and ended up quitting after 7 because of the rain. On Friday, had a family outing and had the fireworks deal. Then on Sunday through yesterday I went up and spent time with Angie. I played last night as a last minute decision and boy should of I just went to bed instead. I bricked every tourney I played in with a couple of deep runs only to bubble. Might of been the sickest night I ever had though, as I couldn't build a stack and when I did I lost a huge flip or got 3 outed. Oh well, thats how it goes. I plan on putting in another long session tonight and hopefully will show some good results. I'll talk at ya later.

Back from Vegas and another Online Win

I haven't posted since I got back from Vegas as nothing much had occured until last night. Monday night was my first online session I put in since returning home last Wednesday night. I played some golf and spent some time with Angie. I played on Monday night and ran pretty poorly losing over 80 percent of my coinflip situations. I got deep in a couple of tournaments but lost flips in both and those didn't pay too great. I played last night and started off pretty slow as I normally do but kicked it in later in the evening. I played in the Tilt 50/50 got pretty deep in this and busted around 60th losing QJ vs A8 all in preflop for around 30 BB. I got a small return on that tourney. I played in the Tilt 50 single rebuy single addon again, the one I won twice in one week while I was in Vegas, I ended up getting 8th for around $600 but I lost a big pot with 10 left with AA vs K9 all in on a KJ8 flop when he turned a 9. I lost AQs vs AK all in preflop to bust out. I also went deep in the Stars 109 at 11pm when I busted out 14th with AK vs KT all in on a J425 board with 3 diamonds I had the A dia too bad he had the KTdia and I rivered a 3 for the wheel but not good enough to best his flush. That was for a second place stack instead out 14th for a $333 cash. I also went deep in the Tilt 50 rebuy at 11:30pm where I busted out 12th with 55 vs AT all in preflop for a 2nd place stack in which I thought the guy made a horrid call with the AT in this spot but oh well thats how it goes. I had a small return on this tourney as well. I ended up winning the Stars 50 single rebuy single addon at 12:15am for around $4300. I bascially ran this tourney over the entire way as I was top 5 the whole tournament. I owned a guy 3 handed in back to back pots to give me and 8-1 chip advantage going into heads up and I won KQ vs K3 all in preflop to bust the guy and to give me win. I have been crushing here lately online with 4 wins this month and alot of other solid cashes. I'm really happy with my play overall and I hope I continue improving my game and making some money.

I have played quite a bit of golf since my return to Vegas. I played awful my first outing in mens league on Thursday even though I shot a 43 which isn't horrible. I ended up going up to Indy for the weekend and spending time with Angie. I came home Sunday night and hit the links on Monday and turned in my best round of the year with a 76. I was really happy after the round and I was +3 combined on hole #1 both times. I played 9 holes yesterday and shot a 43 but made a couple of bucks playing against a few friends. Today was my scratch cup match for the rights to play in the championship and I got beat 1 up through 18 holes. I was 3 down through 9 as I played pretty poorly and my opponent made me pay for it. I ended up winning the first 2 holes on the back to get to only 1 down but he ended up winning hole 15 to go up 2 with 3 to play. I won 16 and 17 to get back to even going into the 18th. He ended up making a par and I bogeyed when I duffed a chip. I shot 86 to his 83. I hit 2 fairways all day and he missed just two. I didn't play my best game but I know he wasn't on top of his game either. It was a great match and probably the most comepetive 18 holes of golf I've every played. I really enjoyed it even though I lost as I just love competition. I hate losing though haha. I doubt I play any poker tonight as I have to get up at 7:15 in the morning to go to greenwood with my uncle to get fitted for a tux for my cousin Trista's wedding. I'm going to try to put in a session tommorow night, but I have mens league and not sure how much I'll drink haha. For the weekend, not sure what I'll be doing but it will probably involve some golf and I'll probably play some poker on Sunday night. That about sums it up, take it easy.

Venetian 1k and Online

The only live tournament I played in since my last post was the 1k at the Venetian. This was a great structure that allowed alot of play starting with 15k chips and 1 hour levels. The tourney got 148 players and was around 45k to win. Not much really went on for me in the first two hours as I was complete card dead but was around 15k in chips going into first break. After first break, I should of went broke when I called a raise with AJhh and flop came T97 with 2 hearts. Luckily the guy played KK very slow. I was knocked down around 9k after that hand and just maintained it going into 2nd break with blinds jumping up to 200-400. I built that 9k up to 19k without showdown. I ended up getting AK all in preflop vs QQ for 40k stack at 300-600 and I whiffed. This was also the last live tourney I was going to play and it was really disappointing. I ran pretty bad in coinflip situations throughout the two and half week span I was out here.

Onto the online front, I played on Saturday night and didn't end up getting any big scores. I lost KK vs JJ all in preflop for a huge stack in the money of the 109 at stars. I ran really bad this night losing tons of 70/30s and some 80/20s as well. I took Sunday off from online and watched the Lakers/Celtics game that night and just took it easy. I ended up playing last night and it paid off. I took 4th in the Tilt 163 65k buyin which was good for $6800. First place was 19.6k though and would of been really nice to close that one out strong. I also took 8th in the 11pm Stars 109 which was good for around $800 but was around 7700 to win and I was 3/9 going into the final table. Oh well, I can't really complain how things went online for me while I've been out here in Vegas as I had 3 wins and that 4th place finish in the 163. I really am starting to enjoy playing online again but I think the big thing is I've been playing with mattster and it's alot more fun to talk about poker and sports with someone than sit in your room all day like your in prison.

We leave tommorow to come back to Indiana and I am so glad as it has gotten really old living out of a hotel for 17 days. I'm really excited to get back and start golfing again as I haven't picked up any clubs since a couple of days before we left to come out here. I think that about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

Venetian 550 and Venetian 340 Blowup

I played in the Venetian 550 on Tuesday and never got too much going in this tourney. I ended up running 88 into QQ at the 200-400 level for around 22k in chips in a late position battle against an aggresive young kid. On Tuesday, my girlfriend Angie and Matt's girlfriend Lindsey flew out to come and see us for a couple of days. We went bowling on Tuesday night and I absolutley sucked it up and bowled a 78 and 99. Talk about stinking up the place. On Wednesday I took the day off from poker and we went and hung out all day. We ate at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville which was really good. We ended up going to the piano bar at New York New York which was a really good time also.

On Thursday I played in the 340 at the Venetian. I don't even know where to begin to talk about this tournament really. Each player started out with 12k in chips and I was down to 7800 fairly quickly losing with a boat to quads in which I feel I lost the minimum. With blinds moving up to 100-200 I got 66 all in vs AQ when I was the button and he was the BB and I got it to hold to push my stack up to 16k. I ended up getting J9s all in on the river on a board of 995QA in which I think I played the hand perfect to double up to 32k. I'm not sure what the guy had as he mucked. After break, I ended up gettin back down to aroud 17k in which I whiffed a huge draw holding KJcc on a T98 board with 2 clubs vs AQcc. Then the hand of the tournament was when I limped AA under the gun and it folded around to the button who limped and the sb completed and the bb checked. The flop came 653 with 2 hearts and it checked to me I led 2200 out and it folded to the sb who made it 6500 and I ended up shipping in my remaining chips and he snapped and showed me 42 for the straight. I was packing up my ipod until the 2 of hearts turned and than the 7 of hearts rivered giving me a flush with my AA and a huge stack. I was up to 49k going into second break. The guy with 42 kept saying what did you put me on and how could you think you were ahead. I replied "If I knew what you had I would of folded." Oh well, I ended up chipping up to 64k after break when the following hand took place. A guy raised to 5500 under the gun at 600-1200 and I picked up AA once again and just decided to flat. The flop came out 953 with 2 spades and the bettor makes it 15k which is over potsized and I ended up shipping on him which he had another 25k back and he called and flipped up 65ss which was middle pair and flush draw. I got it to hold and was up over 100k. A little bit later, I got AK all in vs KT in a blind battle for around a 50k pot and was up over 125k. I ended up just basically running the last couple of levels over from there and was up to 193k at dinner break and most likley the chiplead. I want to flashback to Tunica in January where I had a huge chiplead in the 1k at dinner break and over triple average with 38 left in the field. I ended up getting 21st in this tourney when 18 paid. That tourney was 66k to win and left me with major dissapointment. Back to yesterdays tourney I come back from dinner break and get moved to a different table which I liked since I was being somewhat super aggresive at my other table. First hand back I raise QTo on the button to 8k at 1500-3k and instantly get shoved on. No big deal as I had plenty of chips right? Very next hand I pick up JJ in the cutoff and open to 8k again, the BB ships 60k on me and I snap and he shows me KJ. I was pretty happy until the flop rolled out AQT and that was about it. That dropped me down to around 125k. I was still in great shape over double average. A couple of hands later a guy ships in 30k at 1500-3k still and I pick up 99 in the BB and make the call and he shows me A5. Once again, I'm thrilled to be in the position I'm in even more so when another player said he folded an A. It wasn't meant to be for me to hold there as the board ran out JJ2A7. That dropped me down to around 100k. Just a few hands later a woman limps in the sb and I check QTo from the BB. The flop rolls out QJ8 and she instantly shoves in 40k, I end up making the call and she flips over KQ obv the turn brought a K to give me an openender and the river blanked and all of a sudden I was down to around 60k. Just a couple of minutes later a player opened in the cutoff to 12k at 2k-4k and I shipped in 60k over him with KQo and he snapped me with AJs and I couldn't hit and was out of the tournament. The tourney was 38k to win and I busted out around 50th which was good for absolutley nothing but disappointment. I was in shock for awhile of what just had happened. To go from chiplead at dinner break, to out in under an hour is just mind boggling. I had a really great chance at a big score and it slipped away yet again. That about sums up the tournament and the way this trip has gone on the live front. I'll probably play online the next couple of days but I could end up playing the 330 at Caesars tommorow and I'll most likely play the 540 at the Venetian on Monday which would be my last tournament of the trip. I'm still up money on this trip since I've had some good online scores, but the live portion has been very disappointing to my standards or hell probably anyones standards seeing how I've bricked every live tournament. Thats about all I have to say about that. Mattster is currently in the money in the 2k wsop event with a pretty decent stack so hopefully he'll catch a few breaks deep in this one and get a big score. He has been playing awesome this whole trip and I think this could be his time to shine. I'll talk at ya later.

Some Online and Venetian 550

I played a little bit online over the past couple of days. Didn't have any good results though. I went deep in a couple of 109's on stars but couldn't get anything going at the end. I played a couple of the sunday majors yesterday and didn't cash any of them. In the Sunday Mulligan on Tilt I got AA all in vs JJ on a T87 flop and I couldn't get it to hold for a double average stack. Other than that, nothing really major has happened.

Today I played in the Venetian 500+50. I've already busted out within the first six levels once again. I ended up running 99 into QQ preflop for 25k at 300-600. That is all I have to say about that tourney. Tommorrow I'll be playing in the Venetian 500+50 once again. I hope to play better and make a deep run. I think I'm going to play some online again tonight. I'll keep ya updated, take it easy.

Another Online Win and 550 Venetian

I continued my heater last night and won the Tilt 50 single rebuy single addon again. I actually ended up chopping it up with the one and only mattster. I won a couple of flips deep in this to get me a big stack at the final table. Once we got 3 handed I ran JT into QQ on a QTT flop, I lost the minimum though as we checked the flop and I led the turn and he called, and than I check called the river. I ended up busting the guy in third with A7s vs JT all in preflop. Once we got heads up it was total domination by me, haha. Actually I hit a few flops on him and he didn't get too many cards. I ended up winning 55 vs his A6 allin preflop and when the 5 hit the flop it sealed the deal. We chopped it for $4300 apiece. I also final tabled the stars 50 single rebuy single addon. I got 6th for around $600, I lost TT vs Q9 all in preflop for 22 BB. Turned out to be a pretty solid night. This is the first time I've ever won the same tourney twice let alone in a 4 day span. This is also the first time I've won 3 tournies in one week.

I played the Venetian 500+50 buyin today. It was 66k to win today with around 460 players I believe. They have added more chips and give us 15k now instead of the 10k, well it didn't matter as I've already busted once again in the first 3 hours. About the third hand in I pick up QQ behind 2 limpers and make it 250 to go at 25-50. Both call and flop rolls out 654 with 2 diamonds. First limper checked, 2nd limper led for 550, I made it 1650 to go and the first limper folded, and the bettor shoved all in. I tanked for about a minute and folded. I really don't know what the guy had to shove there I'm thinking maybe 2 pair or a huge draw I don't think he shoves 14k more with a set. Nothing really much happened after that in the first 2 hours and I was around 13.5k going into 2nd break. Right after 2nd break I chipped up in a nice pot with 96s on a 8765 board. I was up to around 15k. Then, I limp with 63s after 2 limpers at 100-200 with 25 ante, guy behind makes it 1225 to go and I was pretty sure he had nothing. Folded to me and I made it 3700 to go and he thought for a minute and called. The flop rolled out A87 and I led 2600 and he quickly made it 5200. I tanked for about 2 minutes just acting like I had a big hand and I folded and he showed me Q6. It was a sick play by both of us, he just had position and made the sicker play. He told me if I led 4k on the flop he would of folded. I tip my hat to you sir! That dropped me down to 8500 in chips. I opened A3s in mp about 10 hands later and got called in 2 spots. The flop rolled out T22 rainbow. Checked all the way around. The turn was the 8 clubs to give me a flush draw. I checked guy led 3k into the pot and once again I didn't think he was strong to overbet the pot and I shipped in my 8k and he snaps me with 77 obv and I can't hit my draw. I'm not real for sure what is going on with my live play, I usually always get a big stack and not bust in the first 3 hours or so. I don't know if I have some tells or what, but it seems like when im whiffing flops or trying to make a move they are picking me off and when I flop a monster I'm not getting paid. I think I might take the next couple of days off from live tournies and get refocused. I'll probably play online or just take a break and having some fun in the sin city. Well I'm getting ready to play some online and I hope to keep the heater going, I'll talk at ya later.

Online and 260 Binions

I played some online last night but just played a few Sit n go's. I played 4 60 turbos single tables and a 60/45 man. I bricked the 60/45 but in the 60 single tables I had 2 1sts and 2 2nds out of the 4. In of the ones I got second in I lost Q3 all in vs J9 on a 9433 board all in on the turn. Than I lost K6 vs K2 to the same guy to bust that would of given me back the chiplead. Oh well, I profited $492 off those 5 sit n go's so I can't complain. I also played in the 260 buyin at Binions today. You start with 7k in chips with 30 minute levels with the blinds starting at 25-50. I raised 33 at 25-50 get 4 callers the flop rolls out J53 no action obv. At 50-100, I pick up AA and an aggresive woman raises to 400 under the gun and I flat, the SB makes it 1200 to go she folds and I decide to just call again. The flop rolls out T88 he leads for around 1400 I just call. Turn is a 2 and he leads out 2200 and I shove in and he calls and shows me TT. That dropped me down to around 1200 in chips and I ended up doubling up with TT vs 44. The blinds jumped to 75-150 and I raise to 450 with around a 2400 stack to start the hand. I get 3 callers and the flop rolls out 532. I check and guy leads out 900 and I ship and he shows me A4 for the wheel. I'm getting sick of busting tournies very early. Me and mattster are going to go grab something to eat here in a bit and after that I plan on grinding online tonight to try to get another good score. That about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later.

Online Poker and Venetian 300+40

I played online last night and got some really big stacks but couldn't get the big score for the second consective night. It was really aggrevating but I can't complain as I thought I played really well. I played in the 300+40 Venetian today and busted out in the first 40 minutes. I lost half my chips where I flopped a flush with the 87hh on a J42 all heart board. Guy led into me, I raised really big and he just called. Turn was the Ah and he shoved into me and I had to give it up. I was down to around 3500 when I limped with KQss after 2 limpers. The flop came out QT6 with 2 spades and I ended up getting it all in and was up against QT. I couldn't hit and I was eliminated early on. I came back to the room and decided to play some online and I ended up winning the 33 turbo at full tilt for 1k. It had around 113 players. Not a big score, but when you win any tournament its a special feeling. I think I might grind some Sit n go's or cash later on tonight. Well I'll let ya go, take it easy.

Also, I will be playing the 225+25 at Binions tommorow which stars at 2pm Vegas time. The Venetian is having an Omaha event so I won't be playing there.

Online Win and 340 Venetian

After I busted the 550 Venetian last night, I came back to the room and fired up some tournies. The first tourney I started was the tilt 50 single rebuy single addon at 10:30. I got off to a real slow start until after the first break. I ended up getting a really good stack at second break. Right after second break though I lost QQ vs A9 all in preflop. I kind of stayed around the 20 BB chipstack until I won AK vs AQ all in preflop to get me a top 5 stack. I also got AA vs AQ all in preflop for a ton of chips. I was the chipleader with 18 left which was in the money. I ended up getting tripped over tripped though and was 10/10. I ended up shoving 98 and got called by A6 and I won to put me up to 21 BB. Very next hand , I get AQ all in preflop vs AJ to almost double up again and bust a player. I was chipleader going into the final table after being 10/10. I busted a player with KK allin preflop from a shorstack who shoved 53. I kind of just stayed around the same stack until 4 handed. I limped K6s in the sb and the bb checked. Flop came KQ4 with 2 diamonds but not of my suit. I checked and the BB checked and the turn peeled off a 9. I bet around 8k and he shoved in 40k and I called and was up against J5 and got it to hold. Than 3 handed I got 88 all in preflop vs 64 and got it to hold up to bust the guy and get headsup. The headsup battle didn't last long as I got T9 in vs KT on a 8549 board, which he had flush draw and I got it to hold. That tourney was 5100 to win. This was a big confidence boost and I hope this is the start of a heater. I didn't run to well in my other tournies though. In the 33 MTT on stars at 11:00 I lost back to back flips and got 3 outed in the money. I was in the top 5 of chips the whole way but no luck at the end. In the stars 109 at 1 I lost QQ vs TT allin preflop. In the tilt fiddy turbo I chopped AA vs K7 for 25 BB with 40 left and ended up losing a flip to bust out with around 36 left just short of the money. I also lost AJ vs A7 to the same guy in the turbo fiddy at tilt right after I doubled the hand before. Oh well, I can't complain as I got the win that I've been looking for.

I played the 300+40 buyin at the Venetian today. You start out with 6k in chips and 40 minute levels. I didn't do much in the first 2 hours and found myself with around 6500 in chips going into first break. A couple of hands back from break at 100-200 level I decided to limp KK in early position. A young player limped behind and it was 4 ways to the flop with the blinds coming in. The flop was AK7 and I led 500 into it. The young player made it 1100 to go and I just decided to call it. The turn was an A and I checked and he bet 4k and I only had around 4800 left and shoved and he obviously called and showed me AJ. I got it to hold and was up to around 12.5k. From there I ended up losing around 5k with JTs on a J638 board that I ended up folding on the turn and that dropped me to around 6500 or so. I built that back up to around 11.5k with the blinds at 300-600 without showdown. A very aggresive young kid opened to 1600 at 300-600 and I shoved in with KJ and he tanked for a bit and ended up calling with TT and I couldn't win the race. I busted out around 145th or so out of 327 entrants. The tourney was 29k to win today. I'll be playing onling later tonight and will be playing the 300+40 Venetian tommorow.

Also, I'm in the final four of the scratch cup at my local course. I was the 10 seed coming into the tournament. I upset the 7 seed who I beat 3 and 2. After that I had to play the 2 seed which was my brother, I ended up beating him 2 up. I'm starting to hit the ball good but with me being in Las Vegas for 18 days I doubt I'll pick up a club out here. So I'll probably be rusty when I get back for my next match but it's not like im supposed to win anyways. Thats about it, talk to ya later.

Online and 550 Ventetian

I just got into Las Vegas last night around 9:45pm. I came straight to the room and fired up some tournaments. I ended up breaking even on the night. I had some good chances to get a good score and its really dissapointing. I had fun playing last night though for the second consective time that I played. That is a huge plus for me, hopefully I'll get the will to log some major hours once I get back to Indiana. I went deep in the tilt 22 rebuy last night but got my money in bad with around 13 left with me holding A5 and my opponent tabling JJ. I couldn't catch the 3 outer and I was sent packing. I basically dominated the 109 turbo at tilt that started at 3. I had the chiplead from about 140 left down to the final table. I ended up running TT into AA though and I busted 8th. 8th place was good for around $615 when first place was around $5800 to win. That was really disappointing but that is how turbos are. I lost back to back flips in the stars 50 single rebuy single addon to bust out 19th where the top 9 paid. That about sums it up online.

I played the 500+50 Venetian deepstack tournament today. The structure is pretty good with 10k starting stack and 40 minute levels. I started out hot, flopping a set with 99 in a 3 way with raise pot early on. The flop rolled out K94 and I got my opponent to call off his stack with AK. That shot me up to around 25k and I ended up getting to 30k at first break after winning a decent pot with AA. Right after first break I got all in with T7dd on 976 flop with 2 diamonds vs A9 and I couldn't hit the draw and that dropped me down to 24k. A few hands later I end up getting KJ all in vs JJ on QJ45K board to drop me down to around 14k. Sick thing about this hand was that the guy with JJ was a total manaic and was shoving on the flop and turn with total air. I ended up building my stack back up to 25k when I won a good pot with QJ vs JT on a J high flop. The blinds jumped to 300-600 with 50 ante and a good player shoved in 6k and I called him with 99. He flipped up A6 and the board ran out TT7A4 and he doubled through me. I ended up raising about 6 out of 7 hands with total air and building my stack back up to around 25k. Last hand before second break I get 88 all in vs A9 for 21k in chips and his A9 got there to drop me down to 14k going to break. Once again after break, I built my stack without showdown back to 23k. I blinded down to around 19k. Than I raised a limper with AJcc and he called the flop came K72 with 2 clubs. He checkraised me all in with KT and I called and hit my club on the river to get to 37k. A few hands later the button opened and I shoved over his 14k stack with A7 at 400-800 and he snapped me with A8 and he held up. From there I went total card dead and ended up having around 15k in chips with blinds going to 800-1600. I ended up shoving A5o and the sb tanked and finally called with AK, haha. I couldn't suck out and I busted out around 85th out of 297 entrants or so. The tourney was 44k to win today. Tommorow I'll be playing in the 300+40 at the Venetian. I'm starting to play online for the rest of the evening so I will talk to you later.

Poker from last night

I decided to play one last time before I left for vegas last night. I built up some pretty good stacks in the 22 rebuy 6 max at tilt. I ended up busting out 7th with AJ vs KK all in preflop. First place was around 3k to win, I ended up gettin 350 or so for seventh. I also had a really good stack in the tilt 35k the entire tourney but ended up busting out around 27th. A good player raised utg and I had 33k at 1500-3k and shipped it in with AQ only to have a player snap call behind with AA. I also got JJ all in vs AK on a 432 flop in this tourney with around 45 left for a ton of chips. The guy made a horrible play and has made horrible plays against me in the past. I ended up losing around 400 on the night despite having a couple of deep runs.

I leave for Vegas on Sunday and don't return til the 18th. I have high expectations and lofty goals but I think they are attainable as long as I play the poker I know I'm capable of. Also, I'm hoping the poker gods will be my side for the trip. I think if I can run "decent" and play good fundamental poker I can get a couple of big scores. Well I let ya go, later.

More Poker

I decided to play tonight and things have gone pretty bad. I'm not playing 100 percent focused and have decided to quit until WSOP. I don't know how much I'll play online out there. I want to take the time off to get focused and prepare for the live events. I have a good feeling I'm going to ship something. I am still playing right now but only have the stars 22 rebuy left. I leave for Vegas June 1st and will be coming home June 18th. I'll be playing mostly at the Venetian. Well that about sums it up, peace!

Random

I haven't played a whole lot of poker here recently as I hate the game. Last Sunday, I played in the FTOPS 322 in which I lost a flip with 104 left AQ vs JJ to bust for an 8th place stack. That tourney was 263k to win obv. Be nice to catch a break one time deep in a big tourney like that. Most of the week I helped my buddy Dave put down wood flooring and I really don't miss the physical work grind at all. I played some today and built some stacks but nothing every happened that was noteworthy. Well I'm going to run but I'll leave ya with a hand history from the 500+35 FTOPS today.......
SJMIN posts the small blind of 60
K-Rock2525 posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to K-Rock2525 [Ad Ac]
talv folds
ShizelReturns folds
IBPROPHIN calls 120
nomoballer folds
tedsfishfry has 15 seconds left to act
geeforce1 sits down
geeforce1 adds 4,675
tedsfishfry folds
pepochino folds
SJMIN has 15 seconds left to act
SJMIN calls 60
K-Rock2525 raises to 420
IBPROPHIN has 15 seconds left to act
IBPROPHIN raises to 2,890, and is all in
SJMIN folds
K-Rock2525 calls 2,470
IBPROPHIN shows [3h 3c]
K-Rock2525 shows [Ad Ac]
*** FLOP *** [3d Js 5d]
*** TURN *** [3d Js 5d] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [3d Js 5d 7s] [8d]
IBPROPHIN shows three of a kind, Threes
K-Rock2525 shows a pair of Aces
IBPROPHIN wins the pot (5,900) with three of a kind, Threes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,900 | Rake 0
Board: [3d Js 5d 7s 8d]
Seat 1: K-Rock2525 (big blind) showed [Ad Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: talv didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: ShizelReturns didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: IBPROPHIN showed [3h 3c] and won (5,900) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 6: nomoballer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: tedsfishfry didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: pepochino (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: SJMIN (small blind) folded before the Flop

Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby

I went to the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and it was fantastic. We got into the track around 10:30. That gave us time to set up shop and start looking at the racing forums. Me and my friend Matt Rohr had a really solid day. We picked the winner in six out of the first seven races. We also hit back to back trifectas in the 7th and 8th races. I have to give credit to my uncle on the 8th for supplying me with the winner in the trifecta. I got a voicemail with 2 minutes to post from him telling me to take the tri, I did and it payed around $395 on a 2 dollar bet. I ended up winning around $1070. Not too bad of a day for really having no clue of what your doing. The weather was the only bad part of the day. It poured most of the day, but it didn't really matter as we were pouring in the money. Me and Rohr also made our annual TV appearance again...HA. I haven't gotten the oppurtunity to watch it yet, but one of rohr's friends has it taped and I'm supposed to get a copy sometime.

I think I posted earlier in one of my blogs that I was supposed to be going to the Derby also. Well it didn't pan out and I ended up not making the trip. I bet the 9th and the Derby and whiffed my bets and lost around $80. I was really impressed by Big Brown and this is the first time in a long time I've thought a horse would win the Triple Crown. I just don't really see this horse getting beat. He will for sure go off as the 1-9 favorite in the Preakness. So there won't be any value in betting him. I don't even know if I'll even wager any bets for that race. It was a pretty good weekend though on the betting front.

I'm not real sure right now when I'll play poker again online. It could be later tonight or sometime in two weeks. I really have no urge to play anytime soon, but who knows. I plan on playing alot of golf from now until I leave for Vegas in June. I plan on buying a new driver with my winnings from the track this past weekend. On a side note, Tom Crean keeps landing recruit after recruit and I couldn't be more happier with the direction he is taking the team. Well I'll let ya go, take it easy.

Why I hate the game called poker

I took quite some time off at the end of March and alot of April just for the pure fact of hatrid towards the game of poker. It's not really the bad beats or anything like thats it's just I don't have the passion to play like I once did. I shouldn't say I hate poker in general, I love to play live but have gotten tired of online play. It has become almost dreadful to have to sit and play in front of the computer all day. I find myself to become bored quickly and just can't stand it really. I would really like to see myself traveling alot within the next couple of years but that seems highly doubtful. Well enough whining, I got some notes from tournaments I played last night.

I played around 6-10 tournaments last night. I was doing really well in the full tilt 35k and went deep. With 16 left I was sitting around 6/16. I picked up AA utg and raised it up and got called from the BB who had called my last utg raise from the BB as well. The flop came KJ4 and he checked to me I led and he raised. I thought about it for awhile and was deciding on whether to just flat and try to trap him or just shove. I end up calling and the turn brought a T. He end up shoving in and I called and he showed me KJ. The river brought no such luck and I was out 16th. In the stars 22 rebuy I built up a pretty good stack. I ended up getting AA allin preflop vs KK and couldn't get it to hold. I ended up busting right in the money when I ran A8 into AJ in a blind battle for 30 BB. I have a cute hand history from the stars 162 from last night too.....
Dealt to K-Rock2525 [Qs Qc]
jdgobucks: folds
RGAWAY: folds
propokerkid1: raises 1600 to 1700 and is all-in
K-Rock2525: raises 60 to 1760 and is all-in
VARICO: folds
thebighouse6: folds
1BigAceHole: folds
honeyhocream: folds
PlopPlopPlop: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ac 9c 3s]
*** TURN *** [Ac 9c 3s] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Ac 9c 3s 6s] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
propokerkid1: shows [7d Td] (a straight, Six to Ten)
K-Rock2525: shows [Qs Qc] (a pair of Queens)
propokerkid1 collected 3550 from pot
propokerkid1 said, "BYE"

The guy has the nerve to say BYE after a horrid play. Also, I just doubled through this guy like the orbit before when blinds were at 25-50 and he raised to 150 on the button and I shoved in 900 from the sb with ATo and he snap called me with K5o. I have one more hand history and this one is from the full tilt 50/50...
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to K-Rock2525 [Kc Qd]
RicardoDB folds
cashsimmons has returned
K-Rock2525 raises to 120
Adrius280506 folds
cashsimmons folds
jadedjason folds
NutsErryTime folds
dmkay folds
Gigaloff calls 100
Nyteride calls 80
*** FLOP *** [3s 4d Qc]
Gigaloff checks
Nyteride bets 360
K-Rock2525 calls 360
Gigaloff folds
*** TURN *** [3s 4d Qc] [2s]
Nyteride bets 720
K-Rock2525 raises to 1,505, and is all in
Nyteride calls 785
K-Rock2525 shows [Kc Qd]
Nyteride shows [6c 6h]
*** RIVER *** [3s 4d Qc 2s] [5s]
K-Rock2525 shows a pair of Queens
Nyteride shows a straight, Six high
Nyteride wins the pot (4,090) with a straight, Six high
K-Rock2525 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,090 | Rake 0
Board: [3s 4d Qc 2s 5s]
Seat 1: dmkay (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Gigaloff (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Nyteride (big blind) showed [6c 6h] and won (4,090) with a straight, Six high
Seat 4: RicardoDB didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: K-Rock2525 showed [Kc Qd] and lost with a pair of Queens

I just flatted the flop when he bet the pot hoping for another potsized bet on the turn. I got in good but couldn't get it to hold. Well enough about poker, onto what I have planned for the next couple of days.

Tommorow I have mens league out at the golf course. I'm going to play at 1 with a couple of other guys than I have league at 3 o'clock and 5:50. Should be a fun day and I hope I play well. On Friday, I'm going to the Kentucky Oaks with a good friend of mine. I went last year and it was one of the best days of the year. Hopefully I'll make it on TV again this year. Than on Saturday I'm going to a Kentucky Derby party which should be a good time. After that I have another party to go to that evening. So the next couple of days should be alot of fun. Well I'll let ya go, take it easy.

Alabama Golf Trip and Poker

I haven't updated in forever and It's mostly been because I haven't played any poker at all. I've been on the golf course alot. I left for Alabama on the 20th with 15 other guys and came home on the 25th. It was a really good time altogether and I put together a couple of solid rounds. I shot 81 one day on a par 72 with a triple bogey and 3 double bogeys. Would have been an excellent round if not for a couple of bad holes. I also shot 86 one day on a par 72 course which was the hardest course we played. I had a quad bogey and a triple bogey on front side along with a couple of double bogeys on the back. We played some poker a couple of nights down there and lost around 25 bucks. We played a bunch of 7 card and 5 card stud.

On the poker front, I decided to play some tournaments last night instead of going to a friends house for the wrestling pay per view event. I started out with the Stars second chance, and it was going real well for a while. I ended up losing four straight flips to bust out. Also, I played the 7 pm 109 in which I flatted a raise with AA trying to trap and the flop came TT9. I checked out of the SB, he led into me and I raised all in and he quickly called with JT. That knocked me down to around 6 BB and ended up losing AK vs 99 all in preflop against the same guy with JT. I built up a pretty good stack in the tilt 163 65k at 8. I ended up cashing this tournament but not for much as I lost 88 vs QQ all in preflop for 20 BB. In the tilt 33 rebuy, I ended up getting 5th for a little over $1800. I came into the final table 9/9 and at one point was 1/9. I won AK vs 33 all in preflop than I won a massive pot with AQ vs AJ all in preflop, where the board ran out JJ3TK. I ended up running A8 into AK for alot of chips in a button vs BB battle. Then I lost A3 vs K5 which would of busted a player and given me some chips to work with. I was left with .5 of a BB and busted out the next hand. At the same time I was at the final table of the tilt 33 rebuy, I built a big stack in the stars 22 rebuy. I was sitting 3/14 but end up busting out 14th. I ran AT into AQ vs a shortstack. Then I lost AJ vs 99 for a bunch of chips. Then I raised with 55 with around 15 BB and a player 3 bets me who was aggresive and I ended up sticking my chips in and he shows 98o. Obviously I lose that race. I made a pretty good profit on the day but still disappointing when you build stacks like I did and didn't get the big score. Oh well, there are more tournaments starting up every couple of minutes and I plan on playing some tonight. I got some stuff I got to get done before playing tonight, so I'll talk at ya later.

WSOP Indiana Event #10 and Event #11

I have been really busy over the last couple of days and haven't got the chance to update on these two tournies. Event #10 was a 300+40 buyin starting with 2500 in chips. Now this tournament with the structure doesn't allow much play. I got AA cracked within the first 5 minutes by KJo and was down to 1500 quickly. I was lucky I didn't go broke as I feel I lost about the minimum. I built my stack back up 2200 with the blinds moving to 25-50. I limp called a raise with 96s against a manaic after 3 others came in also. The flop came 952 with 2 hearts and it checked around to the original raiser who led out 500 and it folded to me and I thought for around 30 seconds and ended up shoving in around 2k total. He thought for a while and he ended up calling with 77. The turn brought a third heart...he had the 7 of hearts...river came the fourth heart to complete his runner runner heart draw. I hate busting out early in events especially to donks. haha

Event #11 was a 1000+60 buyin and was a really good structure. Each player started out with 5k in chips and 50 minute levels. This is one of the events I've looked forward to the most because of how much play it has. The tourney started with 241 players and it ended up being 73k to win plus a 5k main event seat. I ended up making 3 big laydowns early on that two of them the players showed and had me beat but not sure about the other. I had 98s in the BB at the 25-50 level and the utg player came in for a raise and two more callers so I called. The flop came JT6 with 2 hearts, I checked, the original raiser led out for around half the pot came back to me and I called. The turn was the prettiest card in the deck which was the 7 clubs. I checked with the intention of checkraising and he checked behind. The river was the 3 hearts completing a possible flush. I ended up leading for around 800 and the player thought and made it right around 2300 and I didn't take long to fold and mucked it face up. He never showed his cards, but I think this early on in a tourney and no real reads on the player I thought it was best to muck here, as I don't see him doing this with anything less than the nut flush. The two other laydowns I made were where I flopped top pair top kicker and mucked on the river, the guy showed me where he had flopped two pair out of the BB. The other one is where I flopped top pair with a K kicker and I mucked on the turn of JT32, and he showed me JT. After those three pots I was down to around 3100 in chips. I ended up winning a pretty decent pot with AJ on a J93 board and the guy mucked to my checkraise on the flop. I built my stack back up to 5k right at first break. About 20 minutes into the 50-100 level, I picked up 55 utg and decided to limp, 4 other players joined in. The flop came AQ5 with 2 hearts. I decided to check as I thought someone behind had to of had an A. Well it checked all the way around. The turn brought the T of spades. I led 400, a player just flatted the 400, than a guy who was involved in literally almost every pot made it 2k to go, it came back to me and I tanked for 2 minutes, I wasn't debating a fold ever, but I wanted it to look like I had a tough decision. I ended up shoving in for around 5k total, and the player who just called the 400, instantly calls and I know im beat. The flop raiser now tanks for another 2 minutes and ends up calling with AQ lol, AQ in that spot is never good, are you kidding? haha. The guy who never raised and called both bets had it with KJ. The river brought no help and I busted early out of this tourney as well. This is maybe one of the sickest hands I've ever been in. First, I decide to slowplay and than the player with AQ decides to slowplay on the button with top two pair. If I lead on the flop or he bets out on the flop, I end up taking all his chips and would have a great stack of 10.5k. Oh well, that is how poker goes and I feel like I played great this whole circuit and even though I turned a profit it is disappointing in the financial column to play what I think might be the best poker I've ever played for two weeks. Also, congrats to mattster for placing 6th in the 1k event for just a bit over 11k. I know he is probably disappointed to as he lost JJ vs A2 all in preflop for 525k in chips 8 handed when there was only 1.2 million in chips in play. He would of had a dominating chiplead and no doubt the best player at the final table. Well I think it about sums it up, I'll talk at ya later

WSOP Indiana Event #9

Well I went down to Caesars again today to play the 500+50 buyin 1/2 holdem 1/2 omaha. Me and Mattster got seated at the same table. The tournament started out with 100 players and 3500 starting chips. I started out kind of rocky early on but hit a groove in holdem and quickly found my stack up to 9k at 1st break with around 85 players left. I continued my hot start during the holdem session when I limped with J9hh after two limpers at the 100-200 level. The flop was KQT with 2 spades. A player led out for 700 and I made it 2400 to go and the player snap called me with only around 3k back. The turn was a pretty red 3 and the player quickly checked and I put him all, he tanked and called with KQ and I held up. That put me up to around 14.5k going into the omaha 150-300 level. I limped JT87 double suited from the small blind after 3 limpers. The flop came 976 with 2 spades but none of my suit. I ended up checkraising a guy all in and he quickly called with AT85 with 2 spades but I rivered the 8 non spade to scoop the pot. I got incredibly lucky to win this pot let alone chop it as he was basically freerolling it. I went on break with around 20k with around 34 left feeling really good about my chances as I had to of been top 3 if not chipleader. They paid 18 in the event and I was average in the money. Then all hell broke loose after the break. Blinds are 200-400 and we started out with holdem. I raised KQdd under the gun to 1100 and a loose aggresive player with 17k who was also top 5 in chips called. The flop was gin with it coming JT9 with 2 hearts. I led out 1600 and he quickly called. The turn card brought a J and I checked to him with the intention of checkraising him. He instantly goes allin for 14.5k and I snapped him. The player goes "oh S@#* !!!" and wouldn't flip his cards over until the river had peeled. He flips up 99 for the turned boat and I wasn't too happy as I thought I had it the way he acted. I ended up being down to around 4k in chips or so and ended up busting in the omaha portion at 300-600. This has to of been maybe the most disapointing live tourney I've played except for maybe the 1k wpt event in Tunica where I dusted off a huge stack after dinner break. That pot would of put me around 39k-40k in chips when the average at the final table would of been 35k and this is with around 30 players left! Oh well, I'm going to probably go down and play the 300+40 event tommorrow and give it all I got. Well I'll keep it updated, later.

WSOP Indiana Event #8 and Online cash

I went down with mattster today and played in Event #8 at Caesars. It was a 500+50 buyin 6 max NL today. The tourney started out pretty good with me chipping up to 5500 from the 3500 starting stack. I missed a couple of draws right before break though and was down to 3800 at 1st break. 3rd hand back after break I raised QQ to 300 at 50-100 in the cutoff and the sb called. The flop came 732 and he checked and I led 400, he made it 1200, and I shoved and he ends up folding. I took down another nice pot when I won a flip with AK vs QQ all in preflop and was up to 8200 in chips going into the 100-200 level. I made it 550 to go with KQ utg+1 and the sb called. A little information on this player, I had raised 4 times in the first 2 levels and he 3 bet me twice. The flop came K64 and he led into me for 700 and I just called. Turn was a 9 and he leads for 2500, I think for a second and end up shoving and he tanks and calls me with AK. So that was a pretty sick spot in my opinion as I thought there was no way he could have AK in that spot just flat calling preflop after he had 3 bet me twice. Kind of disappointing as this was the tourney I was looking forward to the most.

I ended up coming out of my 2 week hiatus tonight and played some online cash for the first time in a long time. I wish I hadn't of, as I truly got rocked. I ended up dropping $1700 on the night in a little span. Most of it coming in the 5/10 NL Cap game on full tilt which I usually crush when I play. First hand I played, guy opens to 30 who seemed on tilt as he had just lost 2 allins, so I end up shoving 300 which is the cap with 66, and Aaron "GambleAB" Bartley snap calls out of the BB with 33. Well he spikes a 3 on the flop and I couldn't catch up and the $652 dollar pot got shipped his way. How he got a full tilt contract is beyond me, as he plays terrible everytime I've played with him. I guess that is why his nickname is "GambleAB" because obviously he likes to gamble hardcore. I usually don't talk bad about anyone but for someone who lucks into a contract like him and plays so bad is absurd. WelL enough about that, I'm heading down to Caesars tommorow to play Event #9 which is a 500+50 buyin 1/2 holdem 1/2 omaha. Also, the Alabama golf trip is right around the corner on the 20th and I'm so ready to play. Wish me luck, later.

WSOP Indiana Event #3 and Event #5

WSOP Event #3 was this past Thursday and it was a 500+50 buyin. It got a pretty decent field with 261 players and it was 38.9k plus a 5k main event seat. The structure was so much better than the 300+40 buyin. I really never got awhole lot going on early in this tournament until around the 300-600 level. I just got moved to the table and within the first 20 minutes I noticed how it might of been the tightest table ever. I ended up raising 3 out of the last 4 hands before dinner break and increased my stack from around 10k to 16.3k. After dinner though I got moved and I wasn't too happy as I was planning on running the table over. I ended up getting moved to alot crazier table. I just kind of laid back and maintained my stack for the remaining of the 400-800 level. We were approaching the bubble and I started picking up my aggression once the table started to tighten. I was raising 4 out of 5 hands and noone was playing back at me. There was a couple of times where I raised without looking at my cards. I built my stack from like 17k-75k without ever showing down except I won AJ vs 86 all in preflop vs a shortstack. Than with 28 left and only 27 paying I opened J2o utg and the guy on my immediate left 3 bets me and the guy behind him 4 bets and I obviously insta mucked and the guy who 3 bet me was priced in to call the guys 4 bet and the 3 bettor showed 96o and the 4 bettor had AA. AA held up on the hand by the way, but there will be some more hands involving the 3 bettor. I just kept raising and raising even when we got in the money as people were playing so tight. With about 21 left I pulled a sick bluff on a guy in a blind battle. I limped in from the sb with T9o and he checked his option. The flop comes AQ8 with 2 hearts. I lead for 3k and he raises it to 8k, I thought about coming over the top there but decided to just call because I thought he was super weak. The turn card was the K and I checked and he bet 15k and I instantly shoved on him and he tanked for 2 minutes and he folded and I showed the T high bluff. I actually spoke to the kid today and he said he only had an 8. I kept playing aggressive and we were down to 14 when the following hand took place. I raised 62s utg to 8k at 1500-3k and the 3 bettor who 3 bet me with 96o comes in for another 3 bet this time he makes it 28k I think and it came back to me and I shoved in my stack knowing he was just trying to make the final table and he would lay alot of hands down to me. He tanked for like 2 minutes and folded AQ face up and I had to show the 62s. He was furious and lucky for him we went on break after that or I think he would of tilted off his entire stack. We got to the final table pretty quick after break. I went into the final table 2nd in chips. The chipleader was on my right and busted the last 3 guys to get to the final table. The final table was pretty uneventful for me as I really never got any hands and the players started playing back at me more as they thought I was a manaic. We were down to 7 when a player raised half his stack where he only had like 9 BB and I gambled and shoved on him with 22 and he called with 98s and I won the flip. Than things got bad. That flip put me right at the chiplead. A good online player was the shortstack with like 88k at 6k-12k and he shoves in his stack and I wake up with QQ behind him, bad timing for me as he obviously would have KK in that spot. That put me down to 147k which was 5/5 but I was one double away from having the chiplead. The same player with KK shoves 133k from the button and I snap AQ out of the sb vs him and he showed 55 and I lost the flip crippling me as I only had 1 BB and was out next hand when I went in with Q8 and the BB had KQ. 5th place was good for $7200. Not a bad day, but very frustrating when you know there is that much money at the top and I had the chips to win.

I skipped the 300+40 buyin on Friday as Me and Matt didn't get back into Brownstown until about 4:30 in the morning. I played in Event #5 today and I built my 3500 stack up over 8k by the 100-200 level and was feeling pretty good. I ended up checkraising a guy all in with a flush draw and he called with top pair and I couldn't hit. That put me down to around 4k. Not much really happened after that though and I ended up squeezing the cutoff raiser and button caller with 33 with 3300in chips at 100-200 with 25ante. I had a bad feeling obviously when both snap called. The board ran out AT922 and they checked it down. The original raiser mucks his cards before we ever flip ours over, but the coldcaller had KK so gg me. On Friday night, I played some blackjack with castellimich and my friend Luke. Me and castellimich decided to put in 500 apiece and play one hand. We were up in the high limit room and it was the first time I had ever been in there. So I'm pretty nervous until we get 20 with the dealer showing a 9 and than he flipped up a pretty T. Well castellimich wanted to keep playing but I took my 500 profit and ran, obviously he ends up winning the next six hands but lost the next one and he quit. He ended up profiting 3k. So I basically cost myself 3k by being a sissy. Me, Castellimich, Luke, and another guy I hung out with who was Fred all decided to go down to 4th street live in Louisville. This is an amazing place and if you have never been you have to go check it out. I won't get into the details but I spent around 400 bucks and it was worth every penny as I've never seen anything like it. We had a real good time and ended up going to three different bars. We went to Howl at the Moon, Sullys, and I can't think of the name of the first bar we were at but it was a country bar. I liked the country bar the best as that was where all the exciting stuff happened. Well it's getting late and I'm starting to ramble so goodnight.

WSOP Indiana Event #2

Well I ended up playing in the WSOP event today which was a 300+40 buyin 1/2 holdem 1/2 omaha. I had my doubts playing in this event because I have little experience in omaha. I actually think I played really well in omaha today though. The structure was alot better today in this event than it was in the tournament yesterday. They had a 75-150 level and a 150-300 level which yesterday didn't have. I started out pretty good and ended up having 5500 in chips at first break. Each player started with 2500 in chips so it was a good start. I called a raise after 2 callers with JJ97 3 suited in the omaha portion. The flop came out KJ3 with 2 clubs, which I didn't have clubs. A very good player led out 300 and I decided to pot it to 1800 on such a draw heavy flop and a player behind goes allin. The original bettor ends up folding and I had to call another 600 in chips I believe. He flipped up AA9x with the club draw. He ended up rivering an A but I hit the backdoor flush draw to scoop the pot. I pretty much maintained my stack the rest of the day until the last hand of the 150-300 level which was PLO and I started the hand with 5300 in chips. There was 3 limpers in the pot and I decided to limp A763 double suited from the sb. The flop was A74 rainbow with me flopping top 2 pair, a gutshot straight draw, and a backdoor club flush draw. I decided to check, with the intention of checkraising, the bb led out 1500 which was a potsized bet, folds to the last limper who just calls and I decided to shove my stack as I thought I had the best hand. The BB ends up calling and shows me 4429 and I couldn't suckout. I was really happy with my play overall today as I really never got any premium hands. I'll be playing in Event #3 tommorow which is a 500+50 buyin. Well I'll let ya know how that goes, cya later.

WSOP Indiana Event #1 and Tom Crean!!!!

I showed up a couple hours early as Event #1 has usually had a ton of alternates. Obviously I show up 2 hours early and there ended up being zero alternates. Todays tourney was a 300+40 buyin and the structure was really bad. Each player started with 2500 in chips and the blinds at 25-25 with 30 minute levels. I flopped a set on the second hand with 33 on a A43 flop and got no action. That was about how my day went, when I hit a flop I didn't get paid and when I whiffed and tried to steal I got played back at. I ended up have around 2k in chips when the blinds went up to 100-200 and I picked up KQs in the cutoff. It folded around to me and I shoved and the BB snap called me, but took at least 1 minute before he flipped up his cards while the dealer was counting out the chipstacks. He ended up showing AA and that was all she wrote. I was kind of ticked off he took so long to show his cards as I think it's bad poker ettiquette to slowroll someone. The event tommorrow is a 340 1/2 NLH 1/2 Omaha and I'll be skipping that since I'm not a big omaha player. The next event I'll be playing is on Thursday and it is a 500+50 buyin.

The last week or so has been very sick for IU basketball. But today was all worth it once they hired Tom Crean. He is an amazing coach who I think is better than anyone they could have gotten. Even though next year is going to be a rocky one I think he will put us back to the top within a couple of years. Also, I hope Tony Bennett loses every game he ever coaches. I'm not for sure how a guy like him can turn down the IU job. But I'm glad he did as I'm much happier having Tom Crean than him.

On a side note, Joby is going to be going to Vegas with me and matt this summer. He has been wanting to go ever since I can remember and this will be his first trip. So hopefully he has a good time and makes some money in the process. Well that about sums it up, talk at ya later.