Mental Preparation

Yesterday and today has basically been a chill out session.

Yesterday we took Azimuts limo downtown and walked around before going into binions and the mansion poker dome. Im strictly on no booze in the 48 hours leading up to the main event. (Once it starts it maybe a different story if im nervous or feel i need to play more agressively)
Played $1,$2 NL for an hour or so which was an eye opener to say the least. It makes the micro limits cash games on crytologic look tight. Regular raises preflop of between 10 and 30$ and callers all over the shop. Anyway i actually sat down with $400 and got up later with exactly ......$400 !!!

Only got about 5 hours sleep last night as i woke up at 8am and couldnt drop off again. Its 7pm here now and i do feel tired but will only try to sleep midnight or later as i could be playing 12 noon until 3:30am if the first 2 days are anything to go by.
Just been hanging around today in the pool , the cryptologic lounge or the room. Looks like the CPC 2005 will be on challenge TV later in the year as ive seen some DVDs , it remains to be seen whether any of my TV table bits are shown but ive seen myself in the background once of twice.

The only downside of today is because ive qualified through a littlewoods promotion and not a room wide cryptologic one i may not be able to enter the $200k freeroll on 5 August for those that havent cashed in the main event. On paper this is worth $2000+ with only around 100 runners and bounties on some players as well. There is still a chance though but if i cash in the main event it is all irrelevant anyway !!!

Congratulations to you Pete (oranges) if you are reading this as i see you made the 2006 CPC today. (see comments on earlier post below)

OK im off , dunno what to do, i hadnt ruled out going in the gym for a bit but i think its getting a bit late for that now.

I hope the next post is a happy one :))

Steve Davis / Rumjungle Juice

Saw Steve Davis at breakfast yesterday. He declined the offer to join us when i called him a legend as he was looking for his mates already sat down.

Chilled out most of the day by pool and picking up wad of free stuff from WSOP stands various poker sites were giving away to promote. Best thing was the girls everywhere in skimpy outfits , these americans know how to get your attention when advertising !!!

Got very drunk in the evening , think the cocktail called rumjungle juice at $12 a piece done us all. Rum + various other ingredients that we didnt even bother reading. Anyway got a smacking hangover this morning but plenty of time to recover. Is very good meeting up with the guys we met in St Kitts. Kev (Azimut), Luke (Meg80), Mark (Unstable) mixing with me (Animal) and Gary (3jacksjb) makes for a lethal combination of booze, gambling and general good humour.

We all played a crapshoot $70 NL tourney at Caesars Palace at the end of last night which was funny after so much drink. Started 11pm but me and Gary were out and back at the Rio by 1:30am so dunno how the other 2 finished (Mark had crashed a bit earlier without playing)

As for the WSOP day 1A is over, its definitely 2 hour levels and they have played down to 800 players as well. 12 noon through to 3:15am ish = 15 hours including breaks so its a long day to survive. Luke was a casualty at level 2 (50,100) when a guy called a reraise of $2700 with KK only to flop K77 against Lukes AA, nasty. Just over 8500 entrants were registered in the end , crazy.

Most people i know seem to have day 1C (sunday), as for today once i get rid of this hangover i think its basically a chill out session all day again with some poker in the evening. Definitely only light booze between now and Monday so my heads hopefully in the right place.

Arrived and time to settle in

Absolutely knackered but finally made it into our room at 3pm (local time)

My god it is hot outside i dont think i will spend much time outside in the next 2 weeks at all. 41 degrees when we landed !!!

Good news, after being told all littlewoods players were playing day 1A, they have changed it for several of us and im now playing day 1D so i have 3 full days to settle in before the main tournament.

Seems gary's laptop is gonna be constantly connected so should be a fair few blog updates out here as well.

Time to chill out for a few hours before the welcome meeting and then ill certainly be having a good look at the poker room.

PS: Van Rensburg if u r reading this u are probably at work first thing in the morning while we are getting pissed last thing at night over here. Enjoy :)

Viva Las Vegas

Ok its just over twelve hours before i leave and i just cant wait to get out there at the moment. I have not heard which day 1 im on yet , i just hope its not Day 1A so ive got a bit of time to refresh from the travelling.

Technically i am now at the end of July for my monthly profit. Any cashes (please be cashes :)) ) in vegas will go into my August profit.

July 2006 profit = £812

Not gonna analyse that too much as its been a strange month, far too hot for a lot of multis. Ive placed close enough to big or huge wins without getting that extra bit of luck for the huge stuff and lets face it my mind is totally on the build up to the WSOP main event.

On another note, on 1 August 2006 i will have been playing poker full time online for exactly a whole year. ( Was part time from 1 Feb 2005)
My records show £64,788 profit for that year which im sure i would have grabbed if i knew that 12 months ago. Ive justified quitting my job to myself and others anyway !

Its just over a year (23 July 2005) since i played in the late night poker series in Cardiff and got in front of the tv cameras for the first time. Lets hope theres more tv appearances to come ! Unfortunately i was unable to try and qualify for late night poker again this year as it appeared strict that you cant be a professional to play in it :(

Hopefully access to a computer should be frequent enough for me to keep this blog updated in vegas. If not follow my progress using the "Clinton Cards" link to the right as he's mentioned he will be updating littlewoods players progress.

The 50k

Well i cashed for a crap £300 for 32nd/414 entrants.
Positives:
1) over 4 hours of play 10 handed , ups and downs , emotions all over the shop, good practise for vegas
2) consider myself to have played very well escaping a couple of bustable situations and making what was probably the biggest call of the month for me

Negatives:
1) Lost an AQ vs A5 for a 9k pot when about 100 players left , was left on 7k.
2) Bit annoyed about the way i lost a 40k pot (luck ran out) , details below.

Right where to start , i cant be assed to go through loads of hand historys so ill do a summary with approx. figures of some hands.

a) Hand 4 of the tournament:
Dealt AA on the button , immediately think raise big i dont wanna bust a 2500 stack at 10,20 without making someone pay. Anyway no need worry utg raises to 500 and next guy moves allin. I call and so does initial mad raiser !
AA vs AK vs AQ and i hold up to take a triple up early chiplead.

I float between 7500 and 8200 before the next hand

b) Blinds 25,50 1 caller i make it 150 with AhKh and guy calls behind me and initial caller calls.
Flop is K75 rainbow check i bet 300 guy behind folds and other guy flat calls. Consider this suspicious as no raise if KQ and what can he be holding to flat call, 86std mayb or something bigger.
Turn = 10h giving me the flush draw as well as top pair. Chk Chk (As im suspicious of flop call and wanna take free shot at nut flush)
River = 5h giving me the flush but pairing the board , hmm. At this point my brother standing behind me looks excited but im explaining how i didnt like the flop call and wanna see if he bets the 600 i expect him to into the 1075 pot with a full house (or hopefully a bluff or KQ) . He bets 550 and i cant fold this online so im glad ive slowed the betting up because i tell my brother ive gotta call and i expect him to hold 77.
77 is shown and i lose to a full house with nut flush (ask my brother if u dont believe me !!)
He had a good stack of over 3k at this point and i wonder how much i would have got if the heart hadnt paired the board but escaped well so happy enough.

Anyway i get back to 8k again soon after this and stay at this stack for a long time as the blinds go up. I then get a few hands and get up to 12k before the hand ive mentioned above.

c) Button AQ raise 300 blind to 900, small blind goes 4200 allin , i call hoping its a resteal , he shows A5off and catches a 4th heart on the river to give him a flush with the 5 in his hand , OUCH. Down to 7k at 150,300 and very annoyed. Pot was to get back into the top 10 with hmm maybe 80-90 players left.

Still fuming from the above and only about 6-7hands later

d) KK early position, i flat call 300 determined to trap someone and risk my chips after the above. Guy 2 to my left raises to 1200, now its been a long time since i havent gone back over the top allin (8-9 times/10 i probably would) but i dont wanna give this guy a chance to fold when im playing 7k and still well away from the money (pays to 50).
Flop is a awful A97 (2 diamonds) and i reluctantly check hoping to pick up on his bet size.
He bets 2700 of his 6k stack into the 3k pot, i take until nearly the last second to decide on instinct he would have bet less if he had a big ace so i shut my eyes (not really) and move 6k all in. Appears the time i took helped because he called me instantly with 1010 and i was up to 15k and into the top 10 or so. Probably without doubt the call (or raise) of the month for me.

Anyway i springboarded forwards with this stack picking up JJ on a ten high flop for a nice pot and then busting a 8k stack playing JJ slow and hitting trips, fortunately he obliged by betting his last 5k at the river with king high !

Went a bit card dead around the bubble and below but did steal enough to sustain my 30k stack and was basically drifting from top few to 10th or 11th. I did lose a 55 vs 88 for 15k that didnt help when i was pot committed to a short stacks allin.

Anyway into the last 40 and i tightened up 10 handed. Playing a 25k stack i then decided to play aa slow when utg raised the 1200 big blind to 3600. Flop was a J85 (2 spades) and he bet 8400 into the approx 10k pot, ideal i must be ahead and i decide to flat call hoping he puts me on a draw and moves in on the turn with or without a hand. Turn is a nasty looking J but im still convinced im ahead and decide to check after he checks hoping to induce a river call or bet. River is a 10 and he now bets 7k and i decide i have to call , still believing im ahead if im honest but not believing enough to stick my last 6k in as well. The guy shows JJ for quad Jacks ......!!! OUCH.

I immediately recognise that if i had overraised preflop or played the hand at my normal speed of betting i would have bust completely but im left with a 6k stack and chance to recover.

I push with J10off and am uncalled to get to 7-8k then i push allin on my small blind with A7off only to run into the chipleaders 1010 in the big blind !!! No help and im out 32nd for a 15k pot, no 2nd chance with the 6k i somehow kept from the quad jacks hand , damn.

For the record i lost a 40k pot on the JJJJ and im convinced ive played it well anyway and have just been very unluck not to get a double up and move into the top 5 at the time.

Summary

No big money but a cash and some nice poker play by myself before running into the quads. Had some nice pocket and flop cards but not everything held up or got lucky so overall the luck factor could have been better or worse and i believe was somewhere in the middle.

Other tournaments included busting AA vs AQstd for a pot to go 70/138 stack of 5500 on blinds of 100,200 in the £27 10k. 414 entrants so bit annoying but at the time left me just in the 50k and i hoped the luck would balance out in that.

Backswards Dummies Triumph

Christ what a load of bull:

Game #3086364614: Hold'em NL (50/100) - 2006/07/22 - 22:28:59 (GMT)
Table "£10K SATURDAY 2964908 - 10" Seat 10 is the button.
Seat 1: tate111 (4805 in chips)
Seat 2: Flushed99 (5377 in chips)
Seat 3: Dorado (1682 in chips)
Seat 4: Pred@tor (2040 in chips)
Seat 6: kaptabs (2874.50 in chips)
Seat 7: _lookout_ (1544 in chips)
Seat 8: marcus21 (2657 in chips)
Seat 9: Mackjnr (3622.50 in chips)
Seat 10: Number9 (1723 in chips)
tate111: posts small blind 50
Flushed99: posts big blind 100
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Flushed99 [Jc Ah]
Dorado: calls 100
Pred@tor: folds
kaptabs: calls 100
_lookout_: folds
marcus21: folds
Mackjnr: folds
Number9: calls 100
tate111: calls 50
Flushed99: raises to 5377 and is all-in
Dorado: is all-in 1582
kaptabs: folds
Number9: folds
tate111: folds
Returned uncalled bets 3,695 to Flushed99
----- FLOP ----- [Ad 2s 7c]
----- TURN ----- [Ad 2s 7c][Kd]
----- RIVER ----- [Ad 2s 7c Kd][Qd]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Flushed99: shows [Jc Ah] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
Dorado: shows [Ks Qh] (Two Pairs, Kings and Queens, Ace high)
Dorado collects 3664 from Main pot

Dorado = what we call a "backwards dummy" , hand = not good enough to raise to steal blinds or win pot preflop, but happy to call an allin when almost certain to be behind.
Boy did i give this guy some shit after that hand. If he has a real hand , fair enough i need to get lucky but the flat callers are enough to take the pot there and then without a call with the best hand instead of raising and possibly missing the flop out of position.

Pot was to go 10/200 , 412 entrants.
I bet an unraised pot agressively a few hands later only to get chk raised on the turn and forced to fold leaving me on 1500 chips then along comes another backwards dummy:
I should also mention i had put in the chat box i was on big time tilt due to the above hoping to get a real hand and an easy double against a dumb caller believing what they read.

Game #3086482574: Hold'em NL (75/150) - 2006/07/22 - 22:42:09 (GMT)
Table "£10K SATURDAY 2964908 - 10" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 1: tate111 (7255 in chips)
Seat 2: Flushed99 (1545 in chips)
Seat 3: Dorado (3489 in chips)
Seat 4: Pred@tor (1740 in chips)
Seat 5: Gancher (4072.50 in chips)
Seat 6: kaptabs (2549.50 in chips)
Seat 8: marcus21 (2882 in chips)
Seat 9: Mackjnr (3472.50 in chips)
Seat 10: Number9 (3392 in chips)
marcus21: posts big blind 150
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Flushed99 [Kh Ac]
Mackjnr: calls 150
Number9: folds
tate111: calls 150
Flushed99: raises to 1545 and is all-in
Dorado: folds
Pred@tor: folds
Gancher: folds
kaptabs: folds
marcus21: folds
Mackjnr: calls 1395
tate111: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Qh 2h Th]
----- TURN ----- [Qh 2h Th][7c]
----- RIVER ----- [Qh 2h Th 7c][3s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Flushed99: shows [Kh Ac] (High Card Ace)
Mackjnr: shows [3d Ad] (A Pair of Threes, Ace high)
Mackjnr collects 3390 from Main pot

Now i know both of the above are preflop allins to order doesnt matter but after the flop the 1st one has to catch runner KK KQ QQ or J10 and does, the second one has to catch runner runner for a straight (without any hearts) or a 3 (only 2 left that are not hearts). Cant get my poker odds thingy to work so just have to imagine how short those 2 are after the flops.

As i've said many times before roll on Las Vegas, cant put up with much more of the online bullshit im experiencing.

Time To Blog I Guess

Ouch and Ouch again.

15k £55 260 entrants:
Was progressing nicely about 30/90 when i committed to QQ preflop only to run into AA.
No 20% beat was a coming so i went out 90th on a pot to go 4th at the time.

$18 rebuy 430 entrants, only rebought once.
Before rebuys over i lost:
KK vs JJ vs AK to have gone 4th/320
I then got sucked into a massive 4 way pot with bottom trips only to run into middle trips (and 2 donkeys that couldnt lay a top pair down) . Other way round , if i had the middle trips the pot was to have gone 1st/300 !!!
I didnt rebuy as too weak a stack to make any real difference, i then lost Jh10h vs Kh8s on a 875 (2 hearts flop) to have got back to an average stack with 200 left.

I've just gambled early in the 10k calling an allin with a crap AQ and managed to double against JJ so im gonna take plenty of flops and see if i can cash in a multi, just for a change !

Call It Impatience But It Was A Stupid Move

$25 23players 1st = $468 2nd = $268
Played my "A" game up to heads up.
Then : Approx 19k vs 27k we started, i knew this guy was tight as he had the chip lead at the final table and never ever agressed without a premium hand.
I adjust to this and bet a lot of flops getting to a chiplead of 29k vs 17k then at 600,1200 i pick up 22 on the button and just move straight allin for the blinds. I didnt want action obviously but when the rock called and showed 88 i thought shit i would have folded here if i knew he had AK as i didnt want a coinflip until he was weaker as he was so tight. Anyway next hand he tops up and i go allin with K4std to take the pot down. Then using the fact i look to be on tilt i move straight allin next hand from the button with AJstd (allin = about 13k blinds still 600,1200). Of course he calls with K6off and spikes a king and busts me (pot was go back to 28k vs 16k lead). Joke of a player and with someone so tight i know i should have not gone allin with that 22 as i would get many better spots.

I know im not enjoying my poker when i continually abuse any player that outdraws me with a muppet play in any spot, which ive started doing again a bit too frequently. Certainly nothing to
be proud of but i have to release somehow.

Earlier i did get lucky in a sub for the £50k in one pot which i used to spring me forward and qualify with ease afterwards.

Saying that i would rather have had the luck in a bigger game but that just never happens these days.

£55 15k 260 entrants got up to an ok stack before 77 vs AJstd lost for a pot to go 30/90. Shortstacked i waste my luck and double through and get back in. Then i lose a huge pot AK vs QQ vs JJ (JJ was the easiest fold ive seen all day and for me i would have struggled to call with QQ the way the hand played). Pot was to go 6/80 (pays to 30) , more importantly a fair stack to play as tight or loose as the table dictated.

£27 10k approx 400 entrants, just busted 99 vs AJ for pot to go 50/190, again the AJ was an absolute muppet of a calling station i have huge notes on and was friggen lucky to spike a jack on the river because there was another raiser and caller at 300 so his A or J was bound to be blocked out a bit.

Right thats another big moan out the way , im off.

Nice

Oh what a load of bull, my luck is just deserted me completely, i dunno how many stts today 4 , 5 maybe 6. Outdraws and bad beats in all of them. Someone is against me at the poker tables at the moment and it will take some luck to turn it round. Get the chips in with the better hand and get beat time after time after time. Muppets play hands completely backwards and always seem to outdraw me playing the worst poker possible.

I just wanna get off this online shite and get to some live stuff in vegas to give me a change, some more variety and, more importantly, a big stack in a main event to play with.

Poor Progress

After a day full of beats on the stts and sixpacs yesterday ive played 3 multis today.

All crap, usual rubbish story beaten with the best hand preflop or on the flop in 2 for more than average chips with half the field left in one and in the last quarter of the other.

The only time i seem to win a few lucky preflop pots in multis is when im shortstacked which is (excuse my language) fucking useless as i seem to get countless outdraws in the last few months with a dominating hand for a huge pot.

As stated before its far too hot so im pretty much unable to play any more tonight and will return tommorrow for more punishment.

Vegas Preparation

It appears the english weather has decided to prepare me for vegas by reaching ridiculously high temperatures !

Anyway its a bit too hot for me so ive actually been playing a fair bit of poker in the afternoon for a change. The problem at the moment is it gets far too stuffy in the evening once the computer has been on for 2 hours or more so this is putting me off entering a lot of multis i otherwise would.

Didnt play the sunday £50k in the end , couldnt face it so switched off for an hour. Came back on for the £27 10k only to bust QQ vs 99 for 4k preflop when the blinds were only 25,50. Same multi story again i guess.

Mainly been playing £11-£33 sixpacs and a few 10 player ones as well and got back some of what i lost at the weekend.

Today i've actually played about £250 worth of buyins , going well down at first only to recover and im about £100 up at present. I would say im quite enjoying playing at the moment but it is a bit frustrating not wanting to play many multis because of the heat.

I leave a week tommorrow so i guess i better start packing soon. Also gotta print bus and plane tickets and get me some travel insurance. Really looking forward to going out to Las Vegas again. Last (and the only) time i was there (April 2004) i really picked up the bug for poker after only being online for tiny bits of poker before i went there. Should be good to see vegas in a different way to last time and of course entering the main event will be a huge experience.

Final WSOP Madness Failure and Bad Beat 25$k added

Didnt really get going in the WSOP this time and lost AKstd vs AK vs 1010 for an ok pot , flopped the flush draw but no further help.

The 25$k added was a different story.
After getting a good extra 1000 or so early busting aa with 63off when he played it slow:
JJ vs 1010 loses for a pot to go 8th out of 200 (was 360 entrants) blinds only 50,100 5500 stack if won but was down to 1k
Came back and won a 88 vs KJ for 7600 when KJ didnt believe my button raise then :

utg raises to 900, button calls, i have KK in the big blind and move allin 6800 as to pot is big anyway. utg folds button calls with 1010 and of course rivers a 9 for a straight.
Same old story a huge beat for a huge pot.

If i won that i was 4th/88 and it paid to 40 so i know i could hav stole shit loads when it tightened up just like the 50$k added did 2 weeks ago.

Anyway i have 5 minutes to decide on the 50k , i dunno whether i can face it or not.

4th WSOP Madness Post (Just When You Thought It Couldnt Get Worse)

Well this pretty much sums up the day. I decided to play this one more agressive from the start so i was raising most pots i came into and built my stack up slowly hoping to get paid for being active if i hit a monster.

To put this strategy into context i won both the pots before this one by limping and betting the flop and by raising and just taking the blinds:


Table "WSOP MADNESS 2 2966232 - 7" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1: tbpoker13 (850 in chips)
Seat 2: oreo (1525 in chips)
Seat 3: Graham5 (1250 in chips)
Seat 4: Madman911 sits out
Seat 5: Drunkfish (2065 in chips)
Seat 6: Animal (2360 in chips)
Seat 7: Lfc_cl_05 (2255 in chips)
Seat 8: Erica85 (3070 in chips)
Seat 9: Arissboy (5590 in chips)
Seat 10: 007apr (5405 in chips)
Graham5: posts small blind 25
Madman911: posts big blind 50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Animal [As Ah]
Drunkfish: folds
Animal: raises to 150
Lfc_cl_05: folds
Erica85: folds
Arissboy: calls 150
007apr: folds
tbpoker13: calls 150
oreo: folds
Graham5: raises to 1250 and is all-in
Madman911: folds
Madman911 sits back
Animal: raises to 2360 and is all-in
Arissboy: folds
tbpoker13: folds
Returned uncalled bets 1,110 to Animal
----- FLOP ----- [Jh 9h 6h]
----- TURN ----- [Jh 9h 6h][7c]
----- RIVER ----- [Jh 9h 6h 7c][7s]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Animal: shows [As Ah] (Two Pairs, Aces and Sevens, Jack high)
Graham5: shows [7h 7d] (Four of a kind, Sevens, Jack high)
Graham5 collects 2850 from Main pot

Pot was to go 11th/122 with 3 x $14000 packages and residual cash to 8th in this one. Flaming joke after that flop increased my odds from 80% to 91.2%. OK so its just an ordinary beat u might say. 21 hands later after ive recovered my 1100 stack back up to a playable one:

Along comes the same guy and just to take the piss:

Game #3018076934: Hold'em NL (50/100) - 2006/07/16 - 01:50:12 (UK)
Table "WSOP MADNESS 2 2966232 - 7" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: tbpoker13 (1100 in chips)
Seat 2: oreo (1350 in chips)
Seat 3: Graham5 (3125 in chips)
Seat 4: Swakopmun (1890 in chips)
Seat 5: Drunkfish (2315 in chips)
Seat 6: Animal (2495 in chips)
Seat 7: Lfc_cl_05 (770 in chips)
Seat 8: Erica85 (2995 in chips)
Seat 9: Arissboy (5240 in chips)
Seat 10: 007apr (5635 in chips)
Drunkfish: posts small blind 50
Animal: posts big blind 100
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Animal [Jc Qs]
Lfc_cl_05: folds
Erica85: folds
Arissboy: folds
007apr: folds
tbpoker13: folds
oreo: folds
Graham5: raises to 200
Swakopmun: folds
Drunkfish: folds
Animal: calls 100
----- FLOP ----- [9c 6c Jd]
Animal: checks
Graham5: bets 400
Animal: raises to 2295 and is all-in
Graham5: calls 1895
----- TURN ----- [9c 6c Jd][4c]
----- RIVER ----- [9c 6c Jd 4c][9h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Animal: shows [Jc Qs] (Two Pairs, Jacks and Nines, Queen high)
Graham5: shows [8c Ac] (A Flush, Ace high)
Graham5 collects 5040 from Main pot

Summary , his gay raise forces me to take a flop. Im happy to lose if he has an overpair and check raise to block him out as he has made the pot big enough. He still calls for nearly all his stack and of course hits. That pot would have put me 10-15th/109 as well so in the end i take 2 beats from the same player both for big pots.

What a night, i cant fault my play at all and because of this im not as pissed off as i normally would be. In fact i think ive played almost my "a" game and just wish i had been given a chance to get closer in 1 of them. Pretty much got my chips in when in front in all 5 and lost some big pots in a lot of them. Its a dent to the monthly bankroll that i know i could afford so hopefully my luck will be better tommorrow and im glad to have blogged this lot out of my system.

3rd WSOP Madness Post (Mad As A Wild Animal)

oh my god i hope ive just had a beat i will never get in a big live event, i would go nuts.

This one started well. limped with 24off as loads of callers in and caught a cheap gutshot for a smallish but good pot.

Next hand i limp with 910std and flop the straight , i raise the flop and a guy goes 1k allin with A10 on a QJ8 board and doesnt hit so im up to over 3k at only level 2.

I start thinking very nice table lots of flat callers so play almost any 2 linked cards but anyway only about 6 hands later:

1010 in the big blind, utg goes 210 from 30 and i debate whether i want to even flop at such a price but the implied odds are there as he has me covered and im still a 2970 stack if i fold on the flop and another caller decides for me anyway.

Animal: calls 180
----- FLOP ----- [Th 6h 7s]
Animal: checks
USFULIFU: bets 360
Cat159: folds
Animal: raises to 2990 and is all-in
USFULIFU: calls 2630
----- TURN ----- [Th 6h 7s][8h]
----- RIVER ----- [Th 6h 7s 8h][Jh]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Animal: shows [Td Ts] (Three of a kind, Tens, Jack high)
USFULIFU: shows [5s 5h] (A Flush, Jack high)
USFULIFU collects 6625 from Main pot

I decide to go allin putting him on JJ or better and going for the whole stack by looking like im on a draw or top pair. I cant believe the muppet called with 55 but in the same spot i obviously want the call every time. 92% to win that and 1.5% to split it, ouch.

Pot was to go 1st/200 with 5 x $14000 paid out and residual cash to 8th, more importantly i would have had a monster stack and again my fate would have been more in my own hands for a bit anyway.

2nd WSOP Madness Post

Never got going in this , always sustained starting stack of 2k then:
50,100 im on the button with 88, guy 2 to my left goes allin 1500 for the 3rd hand running, i go allin 1800 or so. Small blind cant fold his AK so im in terrible shape (well 31% 3 way so not disasterous)

Pot was to go 30th/259 with 8 x $14000 paying out in this one , but with a decent stack of 5500 at 50,100.

I was more annoyed with the way this pot went cos its not proper poker at all. I think if i was those 3 players i would raise (or flat call) with the 9,10 std, get overraised by the 88 or allin. Have to fold the AK because of raise and reraise. I hate pure luck situations like this but there was no way i was passing 88 here and thats poker, some people cant play so just stick them all in and never consider folding AK in their life.

1st WSOP Madness Post

Thought i would blog these as i bust as its an expensive long evening.

1st $150 WSOP. Out when blinds 50,100 for a 3800pot both in blinds 66 vs AQstd he flops a flush.

2nd $150 WSOP. Lost my 2k stack down to 600 early but recovered to 2k when blinds small then built to 4k playing my big hands slow. Then:

75,150 in the bb with KK. 1k stack goes allin early with acerag std. 7k chippie flat calls. I decide to give him a chance to bite by raising to 2k rather than going allin knowing i wont fold if he calls whatever the board. He goes back over top with 1010 and of course the 10 flops. Out to a dummy that cant fold 10s preflop, nice and annoying , especially when the pot was to go 8th/255 left with 9 x $14000 up for grabs with residual cash to 19. Would have been nice to have been given a chance to use a stack like that but thats poker.

Lost coinflips in 2 x $20 subs at late stage alongside the above and also busted a $50 tourney with no cards from start to finish anyway.

....................................

Not played too much the last 2 days, won 3/6 sixpacs yesterday but got nowhere in 4 or 5 multis yesterday and today and my sixpacs record today was unplaced in 4 i think.
Ive done a couple of rough tallys for the month and i know that the last week has seen me break even after my first winning week.

.....................................

Not too much to report except that i seem to have lost interest a bit since sunday. The multis i have played have been very disappointing but ive maybe covered the losses with a few sixpacs and a bit of cash.

Have qualified for the $25000 added $22 game tournament on sunday with mpp points so will have that running alongside the $150 10 WSOP seated added one which also starts at 6pm.

Saturday has ,from 6pm, several $150 tournaments with 6,5,4,3, and 2 WSOP packages added of which i hope to maybe play all but at the least play first 3 or 4 and see how im running later on for the midnight and 1am ones.

I hope i cash in at least 1 of these as it may prove a costly weekend in buyins otherwise which could seriously dent my monthly profit to date. Way too much value to avoid playing them though and hopefully the standard will be a nice mixture of good and bad players and, more importantly, the blind structures will be kind.

May try and reduce my play even more before saturday and sundays hectic schedules, friday off completely might be a good idea to increase my desire to play properly.

Mild Success

Played most of my games this afternoon today as world cup final was always gonna distract me later on in the day.

Best result was 3rd/116 in a £20 multi for £220 but, as always theres always room to moan.
Had A7 vs J10 to have gone 1st/4 with almost double 2nd places chips.
Also KJ vs A2 to have gone 1st/4 with slightly less than above.
Finally exit was 78std vs QJ for pot to go 2nd/3, cant complain about that one.

Also had a small win of errr $80 or mayb $100 for 5th/72 in a $1000 freeroll.
Again pots at the final table in order (and not including lots of steals) were:

AJ vs 44 to have gone 1st/5
A8 vs A4 split when short stacked
K10 vs QJ pot odds when short stacked lost. would have improved to 4 players left.
AJ vs QJ won to double up
66 vs Q2sd won to double up and go 1st/5
K2 vs KQ lost to have gone massive chip leader of 4
A5std vs AA ! to have gone back into the lead but eliminated instead.

Blinds were huge so i was in almost every other pot to some extent using others chips to kind of freeroll but in the end just ran into bigger hands and i think the idiot that had virtually blinded out won about 20 pots in a row to win , thats poker.

I played 20euros and £27 games as well with no progress.
The only bigger entry of the day was the $150 30 min blinds game with only 11 entrants.
This paid to 4 and when i lost a big pot KK vs AJ of about 2800 to have gone joint 1st/8 with 5500 at only 30, 60 blinds i knew it wasnt my day.
Obviously i still had a great chance to recover but i overraised a raiser 6 handed with jj only to run into aa for a 4k pot.
Finally i overraised a raiser with AJ only to run into QQ and another QQ , apparantly another guy folded JJ that hand as well !!!
Ignoring the JJ factor i was actually in ok shape at about 32% to more than triple up but no help came so i was out 6th. Still would be 30%+ even if u took the jj factor into play.

Anyway on the day im up , bit annoying not to finally break the cycle of final table syndrome in a cash multi and win one for a change but it all helps and 3rd is better than 9th or 10th. £440 and £660 were 2nd and 1st in that £20 multi just for the record , so not huge but would have been a nice win to supplement further multi entrance fees for the month :(

No Joy

Well i have to say ive played that well but my exit hand takes the piss a bit. Was to go 4/14 with 3 x $14000 prizes up for grabs.

There was only 24 entrants and with 1 sitting out there was an almost double prize pool of $42000 so excellent value.

Some very interesting hands in it though. Think i will post them here to clear my head. Im actually not that pissed off because i played well so thats all you can do sometimes. Bit gutted maybe though :(

1)

Seat 1: deany (3035 in chips)
Seat 2: Zepto (3535 in chips)
Seat 3: THE-NUT5 sits out
Seat 4: Animal (2805 in chips)
Seat 5: molle1 (2420 in chips)
Seat 6: Millar007 (995 in chips)
Seat 7: tlaya21 (2400 in chips)
Seat 8: bybow (2475 in chips)
Animal: posts small blind 15
molle1: posts big blind 30
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Animal [Ah Ad]
Millar007: folds
tlaya21: folds
bybow: folds
deany: folds
Zepto: raises to 120
THE-NUT5: folds
THE-NUT5 sits back
Animal: calls 105
molle1: folds
----- FLOP ----- [Jc Jh As]
Animal: bets 90
Zepto: raises to 330
Animal: calls 240
----- TURN ----- [Jc Jh As][Th]
Animal: checks
Zepto: bets 570
Animal: raises to 1140
Zepto: folds
Returned uncalled bets 570 to Animal
Animal: doesn't show hand
Animal collects 2070 from Main pot

Zepto was a serial button raiser and didnt seem to care that the blinds were only tiny so his range of hands could almost be anything. For this reason i flat call hoping to trap on the flop. With such a big flop i feel the only way to build a pot is to lead weak as he is a very agressive player and probably wont resist trying to pounce on a weak bet. This works but my only mistake in the end is my raise on the turn , should have flat called and hoped he bet the river. Saying that if he held KQ or maybe even if he had the jack i may have got all his chips so im not too disappointed.

Basically i think if i check call or check raise the flop he will stop betting and i would have got a much smaller pot for sure so overall im very happy with the pot size.

2)

Note i also flopped a straight in the small blind the hand before this with 10,7 without any action but bear this in mind when you see how i got away. After 2 flopped straights in a row u can think u r invincible and let your guard down if u r not careful.

Seat 1: deany (3400 in chips)
Seat 2: Zepto (2965 in chips)
Seat 3: THE-NUT5 (2245 in chips)
Seat 4: Animal (3555 in chips)
Seat 5: molle1 (2375 in chips)
Seat 6: Millar007 (340 in chips)
Seat 7: tlaya21 (2647.50 in chips)
Seat 8: bybow (2472.50 in chips)
molle1: posts small blind 15
Millar007: posts big blind 30

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Animal [9h Qc]
tlaya21: folds
bybow: folds
deany: raises to 60
Zepto: calls 60
THE-NUT5: folds
Animal: calls 60
molle1: folds
Millar007: calls 30
----- FLOP ----- [8d Jh Tc]
Millar007: checks
deany: bets 60
Zepto: calls 60
Animal: raises to 270
Millar007: folds
deany: folds
Zepto: calls 210
----- TURN ----- [8d Jh Tc][Ad]
Zepto: checks
Animal: checks
----- RIVER ----- [8d Jh Tc Ad][7c]
Zepto: bets 600
Animal: calls 600
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Zepto: shows [Qd Ks] (A Straight, Ace high)
Animal: mucks hand [9h Qc]
Zepto collects 2055 from Main pot

Played this hand near perfect except i couldnt bring myself to fold the river bet of 600. I put him on KQ as soon as the turn came which was why i didnt continue my flop bet. I typed in KQ before i called as well. Hopefully in vegas if this happens i will be able to use tells or body language to be able to fold in these type of situations.

Anyway a lot of tournaments i go bust there but as it was im still in but back to starting stack. Similar to my slow up of betting my trip 8s in an earlier post a few days back im very happy to have got away cheaply.

Ok brief description of other hands rather than the hand history as they lead to my exit in the end and all involve me and u guessed it Zepto !!!

Him on button 9200 stack raises the 100 to 300. Im in small blinds with A6std and go 1400 allin and he folds.

Him small blind 8600 stack raises the 150 to 450. Im in the big blind with 94off and go 2225 allin and he folds.

So there was plenty of history and below is our final clash where i got the better of him but he got lucky, thats poker !!!

Table "WSOP Main Event 2946062 - 1" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: deany (5850 in chips)
Seat 2: Zepto (8197.50 in chips)
Seat 4: Animal (2600 in chips)
Seat 6: Giuseppe (8730 in chips)
Seat 7: _Junior_ (4325 in chips)
Seat 8: bybow (3317.50 in chips)
Seat 10: lewielaro sits out
Giuseppe: posts small blind 75
_Junior_: posts big blind 150
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Animal [Ac Qs]
bybow: folds
lewielaro: folds
lewielaro sits back
deany: folds
Zepto: raises to 450
Animal: raises to 2600 and is all-in
Giuseppe: folds
_Junior_: folds
Zepto: calls 2150
----- FLOP ----- [8h Kc 7h]
----- TURN ----- [8h Kc 7h][2s]
----- RIVER ----- [8h Kc 7h 2s][4c]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Animal: shows [Ac Qs] (High Card Ace)
Zepto: shows [Qh Kh] (A Pair of Kings, Queen high)
Zepto collects 5425 from Main pot

This being the exit hand it appears i had reversed the advantage of being a serial raiser. As i had restole before a few times with crap and he defintely thought his KQstd was probably good , hense the call immediately. Pot size of this value at these blinds makes me cringe a bit as i feel i would have been at least 50/50 to make the top 3 by being very agressive with that stack but never mind.
70/30 i was to win that hand but really u dont want the call as i want to build the stack avoiding preflop allins unless i am well covering the allin with my stack.

Summing up i would have took a 70% chance of getting a stack at those blinds before we started so in the end ive played well but just been unlucky in my opinion. Also got some good restealing practise in which i seem to enjoy a lot at the moment. Could well be my exit hand in vegas on a resteal the way i use them lately lol.

Its Final Time

Well i have to say that must be one of most enjoyable satellites ive played for a long time.
After doubling up with JJ or a AJ7 flop at only level2 when the other guy had called my raise behind me with A7std i never really went out of the top 8. There were 5 packages of $1050 to the next level and a tiny $200 spare for 6th. With 13 or 14 left i was leading with 10k when i took a nasty beat JJ vs 55 for a 4k pot. I quickly recovered to 10k by stealing a fair bit only for AKstd vs 33 to lose for a 8k pot against the same guy that had got the 55 beat. :(
Could have put me on tilt but i actually wasnt that pissed off cos i knew we were playing for 5th i was still a big favourite with 8-9k. Shortly after we hit the final table and i tightened up until a few players went out. I think i knocked someone out cos when we were down to 8 players i was 2nd on about 11 or 12k. 1st had over 25k and could have almost raised every hand or at least every other hand but he didnt seem to know how to use the stack properly so whilst being agressive he was being stupid calling allins with middle hands or crap. In fact he actually lost his chips down to 2k before recovering !!! Whilst all this was going on i stole well and uncalled i grew my stack steadily to 16k. After ages a player finally went out , i had been aggressing a fair bit when i became chip leader at 18k and as i didnt like the way others were playing i could see a path to guarantee me a seat if i was careful. The blinds had gone up to 300-600 as well so with 3 players 5-6k stacks at the table i decided on the allin if first to get into the pot every hand. This worked a charm as nobody wants to call the allin when there are 2 others in the same boat, about 10 hands later and a 35k stack my work was done for me when, as i had hoped, 2 of the lowest stacks faced off AQ vs KQ and im through in style to the final tommorrow at 5pm.

Flippening Eck

Same story, coinflips at the late crucial stage fail and i lose.

1) 55 vs AQ to go chipleader of 5 in a sub for the $154 WSOP qualifier. 2 go through and cash for 3rd and 4th , me nothing.

2) 55 vs AJ to go 5/26 in the 305 player 4k tournament. Pot would never have been so big but i stole so much around the bubble without being called, think i moved 4 out of 7 times at one point with only 1 genuine hand.

3) A3std vs QJstd ..27 player $25 with added money. i call the allin from the other player as im hellish weak and hes just weaker than me on the button. Pot was to cash and go joint 3rd in chips. 6th/27 = bubble and no cash.

Break time to refocus and back later for more punishment and also the $140 WSOP i subbed for the other night.

Half Year Review

Been meaning to do a poker summary of this for a few days now.

POSITIVES

I've made £10,176 in total for the first 6 months of this year.

I've qualfied and been to Deauville (France) and Brighton for buyins of 4,000 euros and £750 respectively.

I was very happy with my play in Deauville and 2/3 of the events in Brighton.

I've won my package for the main event of the World Series for the end of July worth $15,000.

I've been in profit in each of the 6 calendar months.

I've won a $2,000 or 1% stake in a racehorse.

I've won and been on a VIP trip to the Newmarket 2,000 guineas.

I've actually been bothered to create a poker blog which is surprisingly useful and, recognising this, i actually update it a lot more often than i expected to.

I've been very close to other packages, the closest being the Ladbrokes $22,500 package that i missed out on unluckily in May.

Considering how boring Deauville was i surprised myself by hardly playing any casino games, mainly watching others and just telling myself it just aint that attraction it might once have been.

I have played a variety of games in different months to gain experience and now have better strategies for sixpacs and cash neither of which i had played much of until this year.

I still prefer this lifestyle to my old office job and love setting my own flexible hours or just not playing if im not in the mood or just want a complete day off.

NEGATIVES

At the end of last year i hoped to make a minimum of £2,000 every month, this has only happened 2/6 months.

My preflop allin luck in big live events was not good and in the end cost me the huge chance of cashing in Deauville and Brighton twice.

My final table luck (or just before final table) especially since March has not been great and i would hope this levels out with a good few top 3 finishes in several multis for big money for the rest of the year.

Whilst i want to visit new places poker takes me to i shall not be hurrying back to Deauville next year, just wasnt my cup of tea in terms of location and surroundings. Pretty much nothing to do other than casino and poker sidegames were very thin on the ground after the main event.

My racehorse didnt look that impressive and it remains to be seen whether it runs and just how much i will get when they sell it later in the year. Think i would take £500 and be happy at this time.

My overall enjoyment for the game is definitely not been there for the last 4 or 5 months compared to what it was the second half of last year.

I've put on maybe half a stone and worse im as unfit as ever in my life. When i quit work i thought i would get fitter with spare time galore but my motivation to just get out there comes and goes. I am trying to put this right this month to set me up for a possible long slog in the main event.


SUMMARY

Who knows whats in store for the next 6 months and i guess that is part of the appeal of being a professional poker player. One things for sure im sure i will continue to blog the ups and downs, win or lose.

Steady On

Steady enough day with handful of multis (mainly subs) and bit of omaha cash on the side. Didnt really keep note of all records but made 1 x $150 WSOP next stage friday, and 1 x $154 WSOP final with 10 packages added a week sunday, so definitely up on paper on the day. Did ok on the omaha as well , may go on to target the 500mpp points i need to be able to enter the $25000 added tournament a week sunday but will decide that in a few days depending on how many ive done through choice by then.

Im not sure whats changed this month , maybe the good start (that could have been a great start) , but i seem to be enjoying my poker more than i have for ages. I would like to think this will continue for the month so im nicely relaxed and motivated for the WSOP main event. If i could i would play the main event tommorrow as my confidence is running well at the moment.

On another note i only got about £125 in rakeback from last month. Again this shows a decrease in overall play and buyins compared to the previous months £150. I was on holiday for a week so fair enough i guess. If my enjoyment of the game contnues as it is i think it might increase back up towards the £300 it was the 2 months before those.

So Close Again !!!!

Played a few multis only as still too hot really, biggest buy in was the 10k, £27 only 302 players.
Was running steady the whole way until i lost a 88 vs KQstd coinflip then i became in last 5 places as we approached the bubble. Sustained stack OK then got nice treble up KJstd vs 88 vs 66 and then never looked back until final table. Doubled through from 10k to 20k with QQ vs 88 then had a very mad hand against a weak player, cant find hand history so summarise here.

me 99 on button 22k stack this other guy plays before me 40k stack blinds 400,800 with ante.
he raises to 2400 and i decide to flat call with 99 as dont wanna flip at this stage as im well stacked in relation to the blinds. flop is K9rag rainbow he checks and i check hoping to build a big pot from turn. Turn is a blank rag and he bets 3500, i raise him to 7000 and he flat calls, ok im not sure wtf hes got but happy with call. River is a 2nd king and after he checks i hope he has slow played AK but to be honest i have no idea what he has the way it has unfolded maybe middle pocket or something. I move allin 11k and he calls me instantly with AQ on his completely missed board unreal, what a double lol.

Anyway that set me up well and i never was in doubt to make the final table realisticly after that. 10 minutes before i was 2400 stack 42nd/44 left and now im 45k stack 2nd/28 lovely lol.

Right the beats came as usual at the final table and i will post the history here for the biggie.

final table 9 left
------HAND 132------Game #2898804914: Hold'em NL (1500/3000) - 2006/07/05 - 01:20:02 (GMT)Table "£10K TUESDAY 2929920 -
1" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 2: Tko583 (17187.50 in chips)
Seat 3: pebbles48 (71695.50 in chips)
Seat 4: Mrgard (140389 in chips)
Seat 5: DonWarro (25765 in chips)
Seat 6: trogoy123 (52572 in chips)
Seat 7: Flushed99 (40525 in chips)
Seat 8: Bad_beat_ (48989.50 in chips)
Seat 9: Robpam001 (47046.50 in chips)
Seat 10: jane19 (8830 in chips)

pebbles48: posts the ante 400Mrgard: posts the ante 400DonWarro: posts the ante 400trogoy123: posts the ante 400Flushed99: posts the ante 400Bad_beat_: posts the ante 400Robpam001: posts the ante 400jane19: posts the ante 400Tko583: posts the ante
400

pebbles48: posts small blind 1500
Mrgard: posts big blind 3000
----- HOLE CARDS -----dealt to Flushed99 [Kc Kh]
DonWarro: raises to 8500
trogoy123: folds
Flushed99: raises to 40125 and is all-in
Bad_beat_: folds
Robpam001: folds
jane19: folds
Tko583: folds
pebbles48: folds
Mrgard: folds
DonWarro: is all-in
16865Returned uncalled bets 14,760 to Flushed99
----- FLOP ----- [4d 6s 4h]----- TURN ----- [4d 6s 4h][Ac]----- RIVER ----- [4d 6s 4h Ac][Td]
----- SHOW DOWN -----Flushed99: shows [Kc Kh] (Two Pairs, Kings and Fours, Ace high)DonWarro: shows [Js As] (Two Pairs, Aces and Fours, Jack high)DonWarro collects 58830 from Main pot

Pot to go 2/8 , ok its a fairly standard beat on the face of it but this guy is unreal. 10 minutes earlier playing a 22k stack with 13 players left and 7 handed he raises the 2400bb to 7200 and then proceeds to fold when the short stack moves allin 12000. 5k more for a 25k pot i cant believe he folded that and then calls me for his whole stack at the final table with a hand that is 100% beaten basically every time i make that overraise move as im no where near the button or the blinds.

I pushed next hand with 77 and stole , then a few hands later i got 77 again and went with it knowing i was called ( i only had 5 xbb at this point and there was a raiser already)

Turned out i was up against KQ and he hit to take the 46k pot which would have got me right back in , but i finish 8th for a poor £300. £2500 for 1st, £1600 for 2nd and £900 for 3rd OUCH OUCH OUCH.

KK is still my favourite hand , dont think that will ever change even if i win the WSOP.

Only other close one was the 163 player $22 at midnight which i busted on a flop when i moved 3500 allin for only a 1100 pot from the small blind with 97off on a 9d8h3d flop only to be called by 8d2d. This is 49.9% vs 50.1% according to my calculator so as 50/50 as u get. I did right and got all chips in first so not much else i could do. Anyway pot was to go 9/27 on reasonable stack of about 9k with the blinds only 150,300 + antes, but fair enough i guess.

Positives are another final table, with minor profit on the night.
Negatives are the obvious basic luck i need to finish top 3 or win 1 of these where the real money is.

Its Hot , Im Not

Blimey, if this temporary heatwave is practise for Vegas im definitely staying inside in the air conditioned casinos. Vegas currently 27 low to 40 degrees high for next few days and i cant handle 31,32 degrees ish that we have as high here.

Nothing too much to report had nice coinflip winners in 2 sixpacs but winnings about cancelled out by unplacing in 5 multis where coinflips went back to usual standard to average out.

Emotions

Life is full of them and so is poker. After that footie performance and exit and far too many lagers i was sick and suffered a big due hangover today. Also lost about $400 playing 2,5$ NL cash when very drunk, bluffs didnt work but i dont remember anything about the hands just the bluffing.

So up step the 50k and the 50$k added. Also a joke of a connection , whether it was due to the lightning the heat or something else i dont know but i lost many hands after countless disconnections. The 50k i ran well (with outside help when disconnected) until 300,600 a big blind of K10std when i called the 3k allin from the small blind who had 87off and outflopped me the git. Was playing a 6k stack at the time but guessed he would push with crap so made the right call. 2 hands later KJstd on button 3k doesnt improve against acerag and im out 62nd out of 395 players (pays to 40).

OK on to the big story , in the 50$k added i got a good steady stack going and once i made it to the top 30 never looked back despite the 12 minute blinds which turned the bloody thing into a big crapshoot unfortunately. Stole loads around the bubble as the table was incredibly tight with people avoiding the $200 bubble. Couldnt have played better the whole tournament and when my QQ ran into AK i actually held and won a huge pot to go 1st on 50k or so. Next hand i won another 15k or so with KK and hand after stole with AJstd. Suddenly i was on 65-70k with nearest in 2nd with 38k. God i wished the blind structure was longer at this point as i knew i would have a massive advantage. Anyway with lots of allins and pot odds i was running ok but basically went card dead from 20 players down and from 12 players down i think i lost every allin preflop which must have been 5 or 6 times. Lost count of number of 10-20k pots i lost and with 1 or 2 bigger than that there was nothing else i could do. Anyway at the final table the short stacks who had been blinding out ridiculously low kept doubling through and suddenly i found myself with 45k with a 8k big blind approaching (to put it into context i was still probably 4th or 5th at this stage but i want 1st or 2nd and will not blind out in a crapshoot such as this). I moved allin 9 handed with 44 only to be called by both short stacks 12k and 5ksih . 4 overcards i think it was ace rag and king rag and both hit so im down to 30k with 8k big blind approaching. 8 handed (as 1 went out that hand) i get K10std either utg or in 2nd position and push 30k allin just hoping to steal the huge blinds and double. 2 callers big chip with aa , nice timing and smaller chippie that loses so i go out 7th out of 336 entrants as i dont improve.

I get $2400 for my trouble but there was 15000$, 10000$ , 6000$ for 1st, 2nd , 3rd so im absolutely gutted. Played really well, did hold up on the huge QQ pot so set me on my way and almost guarantee the final table but in the end the crapshoot luck element caught up and i lost too many flips in a row to lose out on the huge payout.

Its a good start to the month and will fund many more multis, ill probably avoid the stts sixpacs and cash (unless i do 500mpps for next 25$k added tournament) now that i have a bankroll profit.