Day Five, Limit HE, Event 4
I was very excited about this event coming into it, and began things running very well. In the first level I picked up AA, KK, QQ, and several other strong hands and doubled up quickly.
First hand of note came in level two. With blinds 25-50 and limits 50-100, I raised from mid position with KQh, was called only by the big blind. Flop came T87 one heart, he checked, I bet, he raised, I called. Turn A, he bet, I semi-bluffed and raised. He 3 bet after some thought, and I had pot odds to call for my J. River came A, and I could tell he hated it. He bet, I raised, and he mucked his T8 face up for flopped top two pair. I showed my K high. Hehe.
I went into the 2nd break as one of the chip leaders at 6500. My 2nd table was pretty tough with Evelyn Ng two to my right and Men Nguyen 3 to my left. We busted Men the Master, and made a great trade to pick up David Williams. Oh goodie.
Shortly thereafter my AK ran into QQ on a KQJ two tone flop, and I simply called down . Then this interesting hand came up between Williams and myself. I open raised A9o from the hi-jack, he 3 bet from the SB, and we took a flop heads up. It came 6s5s4c. He bet, I picked up a read and knew he was weak and raised, he called. Turn came 3x, he checked, and I thought I had him for sure. I bet, he called. River came Qc, and I hated that card. He checked, I checked behind, and he rolled over KQo for the winner. This hand freaked me out because for him to make that call on the turn he had to have a read on me. On the river he said, "I gotcha. I thought K high was good until you checked the river."
That hand brought me down to 1k in chips, and a few hands later I 3 bet Evelyn with black nines, and got called by both the SB and BB. Flop 843, SB bet out, called in all places. I announced "raise" and tossed in my last black chip, worth a few chuckles. By the river the board was 843,3,4, and my nines were good over J8h and 66 respectively.
And from there I went officially card dead. I doubled up after the break with AKo, got blinded off, and with 3400 this hand came up. I had QQ mid and made it 3 bets after the UTG raiser and UTG+1 caller. Flop 356 rainbow, goes check, bet, I raise, UTG thinks for a minute and calls, UTG+1 calls. Turn 2, and UTG bets 800, I only have 1k left. Call, and I disgustedly fold cause I know I was drawing dead. Player had A4c and took down the pot.
My last hand was all-in with JTd, I got 3 bet, and was busted 137th place out of over 1000 by JJ. Oh well.
I will be playing cash games tomorrow, and my next event is the $2k NL, event 6 on Saturday.
Peace Out.
Net loss: ($1500)
Day Four - Rest
So I have been reflecting on the first event here in the past day and thinking about my play. I think I made four mistakes, the last hand not included. Three of them were in the first two levels, and I eliminated that donkish behavior from my play until we returned on day two. It however was a small pot and really didn't effect much. So, here's the rundown.
I began in seat two, 18 players left. I got a fortunate draw with the two other chip leaders on the other table, and no significant stacks on my table. On the very first hand I busted Ed with the 7h8h calling his all-in bet from the big blind. I was getting a little over 2-1 on my money and flopped top two. I then gave 45k to Barry Goldberg with the J7c, another situation where I was getting 2.5-1 on my money after he went all-in over my blind steal from the small blind. My mistake was making the bet so big that I would bet getting desirable odds to call if he chose to go all in. I should have raised to 2.5 BB rather than 4 BB. Oops.
I then busted Melissa Poff, a great girl. I re-raised her all-in with the AsKs and she was pot committed and called with the AcTc. 2 spades on the flop, K on the turn, and a 3rd spade on the river sealed the deal. Then, a frisky short stack pushed all in from UTG for 38k when the blinds were 2-4k with 500. I called with 77, he had 99 and I never improved. From there on out I picked up blinds and antes and picked off steal raises to keep my stack healthy, but did not have an interesting hand until the final table.
With 7 left I open raised from the button to 24k, blinds 4-8k with 500. The BB went all-in, and I called instantly with AcAx. He had QQ, picked up 3 more outs with a gutshot straight draw on the turn, but no improvement on the river put me over 300k.
Then, with 5 left, I got in a clash with the chip leader, who was to my left and had me somewhat handcuffed all day. I raised from the SB with JTo, he called, and the flop came down KT9o. Pot was 50k, I bet 30k, he called after some thought. Turn brought a blank, I checked, and I read him as "Sweet. I actually got him." He had a medium hand at best. He bet 40k, and after a while I called. River came a blank, it went check check and I thought I was getting the pot. Nope. He had QT. Ouch. Later, same blinds, same players, I limped from the SB with Q5c, and the chip leader and I took a flop heads up. It came Qd9d5x, I bet 8k into the 13k pot, and RJ called. Turn came another 5, I bet 24k, RJ called. River brought the Kx, I made a defensive bet for 20k and took him to value town. He called, my hand was good.
Down to 4 we broke for dinner. I had a short conversation with Joe Hachem, the winner of last year's main event about final table strategy. He gave me some priceless advice. His main words were to keep the pots small, see flops, and "just play poker." Let the chip leaders go to battle.
The advice worked immediately. The short stack was busted in a hand that I opened and then folded pf, and then Chris (new chip leader) and RJ (2nd chip leader) got in a battle, and I was eagerly anticipating Chris to bust RJ - as I felt that RJ was a much better player. RJ raised from the SB, and Chris called the BB. Flop 672 rainbow, RJ made a standard bet, Chris made a standard raise, and RJ went all in over the top for about 1.5x the pot. Chris instantly called, and I was like, sweet. RJ's crushed. How wrong was I! Christ called him with King high! KING QUEEN HIGH! No draw. Funny part was that RJ was bluffing with the best hand, A4 high! a K on the river sent RJ to the rail pissed, and I celebrated my advancement into 2nd place, $66,588 guaranteed.
When we went to heads up play, I was behind about 5-1 in chips, but felt that I had a pretty good chance. Blinds were 6-12k with 2k ante, so I had some time to work, and I am very confident in my heads-up game. I clawed my way up to over 300k when this hand came down. I opened from the SB for 36k, and he called the BB after some thought. Flop 338 rainbow, chris checked, I bet 45k, chris thought for a while, staring at the board, and raised to 100k. I thought he was so weak. One, I had seen him make this move on a garbage board 4 times in the tourney, including just very recently in that hand vs. RJ. Second, staring at the board is a classic sign of weakness. And third, I figured that I could get him to lay down any non bluff hand that did not contain a 3 or an 8 or a trap (ie bigger pocket pair). I went all-in quickly for an additional 150k on top of his bet, he called instantly, and he had the 43o. So sick. Bad read, oh well. I was very confident, my instincts had been very correct for the entire tournament, and I trusted my read - which got me there in the first place.
Anyways. $70,000 cash weighs a lot. Like, a pound at least. So sexy.
We finally got going from the room to celebrate around 3am. It was my brother Jared, his gf Jackie, my buddy Danny, and the guy on the couch, Doug. We went to a new club called "Seamless", and the place was sick. We actually ran into Melissa Poff at the entrance, and we joined her party to celebrate, getting a booth with bottle service. Her party included Dutch Boyd, notable TV poker player. He is an awesome guy and we talked poker for couple of hours and had a great time goofing off and enjoying the time.
I took it easy today. I played 40-80 for a quick hit and run and made $1015 in 20 minutes. I then ended up at the 2-4 game at the Imperial Palace to simply relax and donk off some chips. I signed my first autograph of all time, which was pretty cool, and had a lot of fun playing poker which was so refreshing in the midst of this being work and a ton of hours. It was great to have a reprieve from the stress of the high stakes poker and remember that is still is a game.
I will be going to sleep as soon as the circle bar cuts the bass, and headed off to event 4 tomorrow, $1500 limit hold-em. The live updates can be found
here.
Trip stats:
Tournament winnings: $66,363
Side game winnings: $4,805
So far so good!
Day Three - 2nd place!
Well wow. First world series event of my life, I take second. $66,500 and a little change. Since I just woke up from a night of celebrating, I will be keeping this blog short. But wow, what a ride, check out cardplayer and pokerlistings.com for more fun information, but thank you all for your sweat, and thank you so much to my friends Jackie and Danny who rolled out with my brother Jared from LA, and my friends Tarek, Mike, and Matt who sweated me in at the final table. Your support meant so much to me, and thanks for joining me on the ride!
Longer post to follow...
Day Two - Final 2 tables, event 1
WOW!
What a day. 16 hours of tournament play. We started with over 1200 players, 1k in chips each. I doubled up very quickly, and then made 3 very bad plays to get myself back down to even. I was in "get chips or go home" mode and found myself in some tough spots (although I do like all my plays in those spots) and came from behind on the river 3 times to double up every time. In level 3, blinds 50-100, I opened from the hi-jack with 88 for 400. Dude pushed all in behind me on the button, a huge overbet, but I was in a quandary. I had about 1100 left, and the limits were about to go to 100-200. I was getting about 2-1 on my money and felt that my pot equity was about 40%, and I did not want to be playing a short stack. I called, he rolled over AA, and I was ready to go home when an 8 spiked on the river. Woo-hoo!
I was shortly moved with 3300 in chips to another table, where a guy had 14k to my left. Two key hands against him - and he donked off all his chips to me.
First one, 150-300 blinds, I raise to 850 with KK in the hi-jack. He calls in the cutoff and we take a flop of 6c7c8s. I bet 1500, he calls. Turn 6, I bet 2000, he goes all in, about 5k more to me, I call instantly, and he rolls over KT! No flush draw. No 9 hits and I take it down.
Second, same blinds, I raise to 900 in the hi-jack with A9o. He calls again. Flop 963 one club. 2400 in the pot, I bet 2k, he immediately goes all-in, about 8k more. Wow. What a tough spot. I think about it for about a minute and a half, and finally decide to call. This was based on a few factors. One, his previous action with KT and other goofy plays I've seen him make. Two, the size of the overbet. If he had a set or an overpair, he would have played it differently. Three, physical tells. So I call, he rolls over 64c! No funny business, and I head to the dinner break with 17k and the chip lead.
I didn't look back from there. On cardplayer.com they have a "trends" graph, and it shows a major dip in my stack - completely inaccurate.
One key pot, I had about 60k, blinds are 600-1200 with 200 ante, and an aggressive player makes it 5k early. Folds to me in the BB, and I have TT. Thinking about my options, I call, planning on pushing on a non ace flop. I flop a monster with the Ts9c7c flop, and change the game plan to check-raise. He goes all-in for 25k more, I call instantly. He had AT. What a perfect flop! An ace on the turn gave me a little scare, and I was over 90k.
Last key play, I got moved to the table with the other big stack, two to his left. After about ten hands he picked up the lead with about 120k to my 100k and this key hand happened. He opens from the button with for 10k on the 800-1600 with 300 level. SB folds after thought, and I'm in the big blind. I have K9o, and stall looking for a read. I got one, and thought he was weak, and re-raise to 30k. He goes into the tank for about 3 minutes. I'm going, crap. He has a hand. He must have a middle pocket pair, ranged 88-JJ. Finally he calls, and I'm praying for either a A or a K on the flop. Why an ace? Because it would scare the crap out of him. A9x flop, I immediately bet 30k, and he folds. Ship the chip lead to me.
Nothing major happened after that, I didn't pick up much of any hand but did manage to pick up enough blinds and antes to stay up there. I finished the day with 131k, good for 3rd place behind a 134k stack and a 206k stack.
I return for the final 2 tables today at 4pm. The large stack plays pretty poorly. I played a ton of hands with him. He ran super good in the last two levels to get where he is, cracking aces and catching a 3 outer to stay alive. My goal is to win the thing!
Be sure to sweat me in
here. The media guys are doing live updates, and I am super excited. First prize is over 120k!
Until tomorrow,
Bryan
Day One - Cash Games
I played a ton of live action today. I played one $225 satellite (lost), a little bit of NL, and 7.5 hours of 30-60. Tally is as follows:
9 hours, total profit of $2620.
I play my first event tomorrow at noon. It's the $500 buy-in employee event, which I was able to play in with my Colorado gaming license. I'm pretty excited - First prize will be in the neighborhood of $150k. You can track my progress throughout the day
here. Sweat me in!
I am staying at the Bellagio with my buddies Gennady and Scratch. The vibe here is absolutely incredible. There is so much live action and the games are so good. I am very excited and looking forward to a fruitful few weeks!
2006 World Series of Poker
I arrived this morning in Las Vegas for a three week stint at the World Series of Poker. I am planning on playing about five of the preliminary events and a ton of cash games and will be giving an almost daily update of the happenings here.
After I realized that my luggage did not make it on the same plane out of Ontario, CA that I was on this morning, I hopped in a cab and headed directly to the Rio Hotel and Casino where the Series is. I was hungry, and found a Starbucks on the way back to the convention center where the events are being held. Almost nine bucks for a plain bagel with cream cheese (not toasted!) and a venti white mocha. Hey, at least they asked if I was playing in the Series, apparently for survey purposes. Finally I headed back to the tournament room and let's just say that I am impressed. This place is HUGE. I registered for the $1500 NL Tournament on Tuesday, the first of the open preliminary events. I wanted to play in some live action games, and those did not exist. At all. No lists or anything. I am not too surprised since the place just barely opened up at 9am this morning. I decided to play in a satellite, which is a single table tournament, winner take all. I bought in for $225, and ten of us received our first hands of the 2006 WSOP.
In the first hand, a guy in early position pushed all in for 1000 chips with blinds at 25-25. The guy two spots behind him called immediately, and the two of them took a flop with the first guy holding AKo, and the 2nd guy holding AJo. I was quite surprised to say the least. Two terrible plays. Generally if you make a play like that with AK and get called you are going to be a 45% chance to win at best, and usually you are going to be a huge dog to AA or KK. However, this other guy decided that AJo was good enough to call an all-in with. Horrible horrible play. The AK held up, and we were down to nine.
The satellite was pretty uneventful for me. I never won a pot. I finally was busted when my stack was down to 575 and I open-raised from the hijack to 300 w/ATo. I was flat called by the cutoff, and the BB (over-aggressive AK guy) went all-in. I was priced in and called, as did the guy behind me surprisingly who still had a fair amount of chips. BB had A2o, guy behind had 66, and I liked my chances. KQ7 flop, turn 6, river T. Welcome to the World Series.
The play on the table was quite poor. I think I will be spending more time than I expected in the satellites if this pattern holds consistent. I am now sitting in the sports book killing time waiting for Tamir and Andy to pick me up writing this post and playing online. I am very excited for the next three weeks and am looking forward to making up for a slow start this year. Keep checking back here and sweat in my progress as I make my poker life public for the first time.
Legalism at it's finest...
I am moving back to Colorado Springs, as many of you already know.
My wife has been looking for ministry positions. She found one she really wanted, was flown out for an interview, and it went very well.
And then they had a problem. Not with Shayna. They wanted to hire her. But with me. Not with me as a person, but what I do.
Based solely on my current temporary profession of playing poker to make a living, they denied her application for assistant youth director.
I even had two phone interviews myself with the committee's involved, and informed them that this is a temporary thing - that my heart, dreams and visions still lie in the ministry.
apparently this wasn't good enough. They interviewed her. They loved her. They denied her because of my source of income. Forget the fact that I have connections within their church. Forget the fact that I have served in a church of the same denomination in the same town. Forget the fact that I have served with an outdoor ministry in the same town. Or that I was at a major church of the same denomination in LA. Or that I worked at Forest Home, which they are familiar with and fond of.
I play poker to pay my bills. Somehow that makes my wife, who has been a youth pastor for over eight years, unqualified to serve in an assistant role.
I don't do anything illegal. I don't even work in a bar or any industry that has specific biblical references against. I play poker. There are ZERO anti-gambling references in the Bible. There are references about being good stewards of your money and references against the desire to get rich quickly, but poker is a job, an investment process much like the stock market.
But that's beside the point. They denied her because of me. And for a crappy reason.
And you know how they told her? Human resources called her. Some lady that she had never talked to during this entire two month process. Reading a scripted monologue about how she was very qualified but they are continuing their search.
How insulting.
It further reminded me of how frustrated I am with the modern mindset of today's church. Whenever I am sitting around a poker table and I tell people that my wife is a youth pastor, the responses are ALWAYS positive! There is never any comment like, "Oh, those snooty church people are so bad." NEVER! What is wrong with this picture? When the postmodern gambling culture is accepting of churchgoers but the church leadership is not accepting of those in the gambling culture?
This same point can be transposed onto so many other arenas. Homeless guy walks into a church Sunday morning? Everybody freaks out. Drug dealer. Drug user. Prostitute. Convict. Biker dude. High schooler with green hair and a black NOFX shirt. College student in shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and sandals. Hippie. Or insert any other American sub-culture here.
Who did Jesus hang out with? Who did he get pissed off at? Who the hell do we think we are as members of this body of Christ, as leaders and representatives of this faith that transcends this world, to ever not accept anybody for any reason? Christ accepted us even though our own sinful nature is what drove the nails into his body two thousand years ago!
____________________________________________
Now, as I sit here and reflect on that rant, I can see the comments that are soon to be coming. Something along the lines of how "it's different when you're looking at a position of leadership within the church."
I agree. However, several key points are different in this case, and my overall point about church non-acceptance is not affected by the case study of my wife's rejection by the church.
1) They were hiring her, not me. One flesh? Sure - but she was going to be in the office 40 hrs/week, not me. I would have loved to be a volunteer, but I also would have been invisible if that was desired. Furthermore, I have quite the resume in ministry - they were getting twice the bang for their buck.
2) She was not applying for a lead position. It was an assistant's role.
3) The poor way it was handled at the end. Left a bitter taste in both of our mouths.
4) My overall point was inspired by this event, but is not based on this event.
That is all. Let the "you're a harlot" bashing begin.
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