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Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
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3:50 am - we're moving!
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| Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
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2:37 am - out of the hole?
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Well I think i've won back the money I lost during the 100/200 shot in new york, just with the ol' steady grinding style. I've been playing more hands this month which is nice, playing pretty well and just putting in the hours. There was a trip last week to Lucky Chances in which I booked a 5k win (report here). I'll probably go down again tomorrow, hopefully the game is softer than it was last time (though if I keep booking wins like I have been I suppose it doesn't matter too much who i'm playing against).
My trip to Vegas was pretty fun, albeit colder than I expected. Took some fools to skytown on saturday, but played kinda poorly sunday. Our team finished 3-3. We didn't gamble all that much (aside from a little paigow poker, which was rigged). I did play a little poker with some friends before our flights came home on sunday. It was 1-2 NL at the Riviera and the game was really, really easy, as to be expected. I outplayed the pants off some people (including running good in some spots) but then lost a $600 pot when I had aces and a dude raised my flop bet and then shoved over my 3-bet with a naked flush draw and got there on the turn. So it goes. A lot of the dudes at the table seemed really sympathetic to me, telling me about how they've taken bad beats too. I didn't say anything about my occupation or the beats i've taken against fewer outs and in vastly bigger pots, but thats ok. As far as those guys know i'm just another hopeful young kid who thinks he can play some cards. The good news is, as long as there are stupid people in live poker games, I won't ever have to work a job I don't like.
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| Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
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12:15 am - End of november and such and such
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Well November ended rather poorly, in terms of poker winnings. I spent the last week in NYC working on a project, and only played a little bit of poker. One night of 25/50nl I dropped about 4k before the fish went bust (meh). Then some friends and I split the action on a 100/200nl game that was good. Gus Hansen was in the game, which always bodes well, and there were some other fishy players too along with the standard cast of regulars. Of course we had pretty much an all-star team playing, so we certainly had an edge in the game, but we ran really terribly and lost 5 buyins over the course of a few hours. Its a little ridiculous to get it in preflop with say, AK against TT, and flip coins for amounts that could buy Mercedes'. And its way worse when you lose all of them, heh. Of course losing 5 buyins is way worse at 100/200, but the action was divided 6 ways so none of us got hit too hard. We went out to a really nice sushi dinner afterwards which I didn't have to pay for because I run like god at credit card roulette, and then some drinks and such, but the mood was a little down because of the big loss. So it goes though.
The project turned out quite nicely though! More about that pretty soon but for the time being its on the down low. I'm pretty excited about it.
I guess I finished November down somewhere between 20 and 25k, which is my worst month ever, but I really didn't play that much (and of course after big months in September and October I can't feel too bad about it). December though, I'm ready to rock and put in a lot of hands. I've already put in 3 nice long sessions so far and booked about 11k in wins. And I'm heading down to Lucky Chances tomorrow, so thats pretty much another +5k in EV (we'll see how it actually works out)
And i'm heading to vegas this weekend, but its for an ultimate tournament so I probably won't play any cards while i'm there. Should be a lot of fun.
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| Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
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10:10 pm - A profitable trip to lucky chances
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report is here. I don't want to copy the whole thing over, but there it is. have fun, kids!
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| Friday, November 16th, 2007
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12:55 am - vacation, sorta
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Its been a while since i posted, from the looks of it. But, i've been busy. Here's a little recap:
Finished up October with a little downturn, but ended up about $65k or so for the month. Began November without playing too much, but down a little bit. Played an ultimate tournament in Fresno, which was fun (although Fresno suuuuucks). We were defending our title from last year, when we took a pickup team of random people down and won it all. We lost in the finals this year though, much in part to being almost savage in the finals (savage = only 7 healthy players on a team).
On wednesday I got some cash from the bank and went down to Lucky Chances to play. Got in a pretty decent session but finished down a few K. There was only one big hand of note, in which I got it in on the flop with bottom 2 against top 2 in a multiway raised pot. Probably could have laid it down to his flop shove, but so it goes. Plus i didn't have a notepad with me so I couldnt get many hands down, and I don't remember them all that well at this point unless something jogs my memory. But i'll be back there soon. Maybe even tomorrow?
Last Thursday until this Wednesday morning I took a trip to Hawaii for about 5 days to play in another ultimate tournament with some dudes from my club team and some random people from the Islands and elsewhere, who all turned out to be pretty awesome too. We camped on the beach, played a few games a day on fields a short walk away, partied at the fields, and hung out at the beach all day (and night) when nothing else was happening, or we just wanted some quality beach-time. It was pretty much the best way to spend a few days on a vacation. I expect that I'll probably be back to Hawaii sometime soon, because its amazing and I can. Just gotta convince somebody else to go with me so I've got somebody to play with.
But now i'm back home and getting back to the grind. Today I played 6-8 tables of 10/20 for about 4.5 hours straight, and ended up even within 9 bucks. Kinda sucks to not have won anything after such a long session, but I can't complain. I lost a few big pots where I had a lot of equity when the money went in (6k pot with KK against AK preflop, 6k pot with KK against JT on T9x in on the flop). Its easy and yet pretty ridiculous to see how much the variance of the biggest pots you play plays a role in the overall results of a day or week.
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| Friday, October 26th, 2007
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2:28 am - Living the dream
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Well I have been doing pretty well the last few days, just like the rest of the month. Yesterday I didn't play much, except some 25/50 on full tilt. Within the first 40 hands of the session, I was up $10k. I'm not sure I've won so much money so fast before, its pretty awesome though. Anyhow, after that the deck cooled off for me and I was up and down a little the rest of the session and finished up about $9100 or so. Anyhow, here's the big ones, both of which were awesome.
FullTiltPoker Game #3957230823: Table Coral Isle (6 max) - $25/$50 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:28:30 ET - 2007/10/24
Seat 1: luvtheWNBA ($4,466)
Seat 2: DJ Sensei ($4,575)
Seat 3: SamH133 ($3,825)
Seat 4: chunjung ($5,319)
Seat 5: play2kill ($7,497)
Seat 6: JAYDEN21 ($4,092.30)
play2kill posts the small blind of $25
JAYDEN21 posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DJ Sensei [Kd Ks]
luvtheWNBA raises to $175
DJ Sensei calls $175
SamH133 folds
chunjung calls $175
play2kill folds
JAYDEN21 folds
*** FLOP *** [9h 3c 4h]
luvtheWNBA checks
DJ Sensei bets $475
chunjung folds
luvtheWNBA has 15 seconds left to act
luvtheWNBA raises to $1,600
DJ Sensei has 15 seconds left to act
DJ Sensei raises to $4,400, and is all in
luvtheWNBA calls $2,691, and is all in
DJ Sensei shows [Kd Ks]
luvtheWNBA shows [Ts Tc]
Uncalled bet of $109 returned to DJ Sensei
*** TURN *** [9h 3c 4h] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [9h 3c 4h 3h] [Kc]
DJ Sensei shows a full house, Kings full of Threes
luvtheWNBA shows two pair, Tens and Threes
DJ Sensei wins the pot ($9,179) with a full house, Kings full of Threes
and
FullTiltPoker Game #3957338124: Table Coral Isle (6 max) - $25/$50 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:38:46 ET - 2007/10/24
Seat 1: luvtheWNBA ($4,950)
Seat 2: DJ Sensei ($10,360)
Seat 3: SamH133 ($6,569)
Seat 4: chunjung ($5,807)
Seat 5: play2kill ($7,247)
Seat 6: JAYDEN21 ($3,414.30)
luvtheWNBA posts the small blind of $25
DJ Sensei posts the big blind of $50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DJ Sensei [Ah 9s]
SamH133 folds
chunjung folds
play2kill folds
JAYDEN21 folds
luvtheWNBA raises to $200
DJ Sensei calls $150
*** FLOP *** [Ad 9h 9d]
luvtheWNBA bets $300
DJ Sensei calls $300
*** TURN *** [Ad 9h 9d] [Qh]
luvtheWNBA has 15 seconds left to act
luvtheWNBA bets $800
DJ Sensei calls $800
*** RIVER *** [Ad 9h 9d Qh] [Jd]
luvtheWNBA has 15 seconds left to act
luvtheWNBA bets $3,650, and is all in
DJ Sensei calls $3,650
*** SHOW DOWN ***
luvtheWNBA shows [Ts Ks] a straight, Ace high
DJ Sensei shows [Ah 9s] a full house, Nines full of Aces
DJ Sensei wins the pot ($9,897) with a full house, Nines full of Aces
Both of these were a little bit of a cooler as far as the hands dealt to us, but he clearly played them in such a way that he lost the most, both times. Whether his plays were +EV against my entire range is hard to say, but likely false. Especially the river bet in the second hand. Pretty inexcusable for a high-stakes player to make such glaring errors, I think, but I won't correct him.
Later that night I played a little cake 10/20, ended up losing a few K. Mostly running bad, I think, as the weakest part of my ranges kept hitting the stronger part of my opponents'.
Today I had only one coaching session at 1, then had the afternoon off. After a brief trip down to the mission to get a new bike chain and a burrito, i came back and found some decent 10/20 games running on cake and on bodog, so, I played 4 tables for a few hours, and grinded out a nice little 5k win. Sucked out a few times, but mostly just playing solidly I think. I spent the evening playing with Jenny (I bought her some new cat toys that just arrived today), cooking and eating a big pot of tortellini with some sauce I whipped up from random stuff lying around (Marinara sauce, Vodka sauce, oregano, and a nicely ripe avocado I sliced up and mixed in), and playing Halo 3 (gamertag is Salmon Slinger if you want to get pwned). Good times. Came back to the "office" after that, felt the itch to play a little HU, so I loaded up an 8/16 HU table on cake (yes I know, 8/16 is hilarious). Some fish came, and I stacked him for a little more than a halfstack in the very first hand, but after that he ended up running good against me and came back to take me for a G or so. I think I played pretty well though, made a lot of nice thin valuebets and such. Couldn't get the big hands at the right time or something though. Also, I'm not sure he was really a fish or not, but I think I'd be happy to play him again.
So in any case, i'm currently up about almost 70k online this month (Including coaching fees, but thats just a few K). Counting the 6k loss at the Borgata, I'm up $63k on the month. Booya. Now all I have to do is
a) find a sweet Halloween costume
b) cruise into the end of the month with a few more solid winning days.
c) build Jenny a fort with all the random boxes lying around and some duct tape
d) figure out what the deal is with this personal assistant i'm supposed to have coming over to do my busy work.
Oh and if I wake up and feel pretty good about it, and nothing is going on tomorrow night, i'll probably try and nab some cash from the banks (apparently theres a 5k max on cash withdrawals per branch unless you call ahead to arrange it, heh), and head down to lucky chances to play a little of the "big game". We'll see.
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| Monday, October 22nd, 2007
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1:23 am - 25/50 is big, and variancey. obv.
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Well, I don't think i've played a whole ton of hands in the last week, but its been a fairly eventful one I suppose.
1) I cashed out my absolute poker account. There was only a little over 1k in there, mostly from coaching payments, but I just didn't really trust them to have my money, and wanted to make sure to get it out while I still could, if they for some reason go under. Fortunately, they completed the cashout to epassporte, and i'm halfway to getting that money back. Don't plan to cash it out from epass just yet, but will probably ship some other money in there and then do a big wire transfer to my bank account. Wire transfers, as it turns out, are the easiest way to move large amounts of money around online. You don't even have to go to the bank!
2) Been playing a bit more 25/50 lately. Now, the effect that that has on me is that it makes me desire to play fewer hands. The variance is pretty huge in both directions, so I'm still adjusting to that. Bankroll isn't so much an issue, i'm definitely rolled to play in good 25/50 games, but, its the biggest jump in stakes that i've experienced thus far. Kinda like jumping straight from 2/4nl to 5/10nl and skipping 3/6. Of course, having a 15/30nl game is a bit silly, but still.
I think the fact that my month so far has been so successful is another force steering me away from playing a ton, I'm already kinda coasting into the finish line. Not to say I won't be looking for good games, but, i'm not gonna jump in and start grinding a big session if the games aren't looking good. Probably not a bad way to do things, but, it is definitely always good to get in the hands. Its how we make the money, after all.
So, anyhow, I booked a 10k day on tuesday, just by one-tabling 10/20 for a few hours. The table was ripe, the cards fell in the right direction, it was great. I won a 6k pot when I got it in with AA against KQ on a KQ77 board. He checkminraised the flop in such a spot that I had to even think about folding right then, but figured my odds were good and I'd have a better idea of what was up after the turn. Well, the turn was great, pairing the bottom card, and when he check-raise shoved, I called for the win. Booya, run good one time. I won a number of medium pots with good calls, picking off illadvised bluffs from the table soft spots. I almost won a huge pot with a set against a deep fish, but he folded the turn so I only made out with about $1500 of his. I also got into a reraised pot with AK against a guy who was 3k deep and had position on me, and after he minraised the flop on a dry K high board, I called and went into bluffcatcher mode. After he checked behind the blank turn, I checked the river to give him some more rope, and he put out a big river bet, which I picked off to beat his AJ high. Its always nice to play a pot in such a way as to win the most from somebody (and of course to win the big pot, obviously). After that it was just some more valuetowning in little pots and winning about $1200 from a fish when I got it in with 99 on a low board after reraising him, and I beat out his top pair of 5's, 6 kicker. I quit after booking the 10k win, mostly because the table broke up and there werent any other good ones.
Wednesday I played just a little, I think a good-looking 25/50 game that quickly broke, and made a few hundred dollars. Sessions like that are a little weak from the professional standpoint, but when looked at from an outsiders point of view, probably makes my job seem even more absurd. Yes its crazy that I have 5 figure days on the regular (mostly up, but certainly a fair number of downers too, of course). Its almost even more crazy that I can play for just 5 or 10 minutes while killing time, or waiting for something else, or even just because the game is only good that long, and come out ahead by an amount that most people work all day (or longer) to make. My job is amazing.
So anyhow, on Thursday I felt like playing big, and loaded up a few 25/50 tables, including a few on fulltilt, a site that I have not played much on in some time. But I had some loot on there, and the game looked good, so I got in it. Well, it didn't take long for me to get stuck 3 buyins across various tables. One was due to bluffshoving the river against a blocking bet that turned out to be a rivered boat (quite well played by him, at least on the river. He had 77 on a 64267 board. raised pre, cbet and I called, he c/c turn, and block-called river). So naturally, that sucked. But fortunately, karma was shining upon me, at least after I gave in and sent a railtard $10. Well, wouldn't you know it, I started nailing hands and started stacking this fish all over the place. And by the end of the session (an admittedly short one, of a few hundred hands) I was not only unstuck, but up a few K. Wooo! I will say though, that the part of that session and ones like it that stick in my head the longest is the part where I was stuck a lot of money really fast. Thats how variance is, I guess. Just gotta keep playing in good lineups and making the right plays.
Friday I didn't really play, as I was both tired and a little shellshocked from the previous night's session, and Saturday I didn't play, mostly out of laziness and lack of motivation to do so. Today I was up in the Muir woods hiking most of the day, and only put in a brief session at 25/50 before the game stopped looking like it was worth it. Made about $400, heh.
On the month so far, i'm up about 54k playing online and down 6k playing live, for a net of about 48k. Pretty solid month so far, i'd say. Hopefully I can put in some good sessions this coming week and make even more! Also, in other good news, I've got enough money in cash form (well, once I go and get it from a few different branches of my bank) to start playing live again at Lucky Chances. Hopefully i'll make it down there this week at least once, and come back with more money than when I left (and a sweet trip report, of course).
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| Monday, October 15th, 2007
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10:17 pm - Continue shipping the monies, please
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Well, last thursday afternoon I logged on to the tables to play a little session before I had to leave for the airport. 6 tables of 10/20, and stacked mad fools for another 8k. I barely made it to the airport on time for my flight, and, as it turned out, I wasn't even on the flight. Apparently I was supposed to fly out wednesday night instead of thursday, but just didn't bother to re-check it before I had to go. Oh well. Instead of my prized and pre-ordained exit row seat, I got stuck in the middle seat of a regular row (I'm 6'4", so the exit row is my last bastion of hope when flying, especially on a 5+ hour flight like this one). I also had to buy a new ticket at face value. Couldn't complain too much though, after an 18-hour 26k+ upswing. The flight was pretty reasonable, thanks to noise-canceling headphones and a good book ('The World is Flat', check it out if you get a chance).
Friday I played a little and booked a small win, but nothing worth writing about. The weekend was pretty great, as usual. I toured a chocolate factory in the East Bay, played disc golf in golden gate park, and generally rocked out.
Tonight I got back to the grind, playing 6 tables of 10/20. Despite some gross suckouts for big pots, and losing a few stacks to my (perhaps ill-advised?) bluffs being picked off, I finished up about 8k. Woo! That makes about +34k so far this month at the halfway point, which is obviously quite nice. Tomorrow i'm getting back into some heavy-duty coaching, and starting to work on some other projects. And, of course, shipping all of the money.
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| Thursday, October 11th, 2007
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4:24 am - A Career day at the tables!
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Woooooo just finished up a session today and won $18,725. It ranks as my biggest day by a few thousand bones. The funny thing was, it wasn't even a marathon session, or playing super-high stakes. It was just about 3 hours of 4-tabling 10/20 NL, running really hot, playing really well, and generally being a superstar. Oh, and some gigantic fish came along to help out, too. So here for your reading pleasure are some of the biggest hands of the night (with names changed to protect the fish, heh).
In this hand, I had a read on the super fish (who had earlier run up a huuuuuge stack by luckboxing) that he would pot the flop with Ace-rag after reraising it preflop, and would stack off to lots of action on the turn after potting it again (Some other guy was dumb enough to semibluff shove the turn with no fold equity earlier at that table, and I happened to look back and check the HH once I saw the weak hands that were allin). So in this hand I set the trap and hoped that he didn't luck into two pair, AK, or a set or straight. Well, it turned out he had a much, much worse hand. Queen-Jack offsuit. And yes, he did call off about $1400 more on the turn when I checkraised all-in with queen high, no draw. And he was drawing stone dead. Mmmmmm, I love fish.
Seat 1: DJ Sensei (3414.00 in chips)
Seat 4: Super Fish (3909.62 in chips)
Seat 5: CardCrzy (975.00 in chips)
Seat 6: shangly (5373.00 in chips)
Seat 7: Thats_Right (5707.00 in chips)
Seat 10: SmartLAG (4341.00 in chips)
Thats_Right: posts small blind $10
SmartLAG: posts big blind $20
Dealt to DJ Sensei [ Qd As ]
DJ Sensei: raises to $70
Super Fish: raises to $220
CardCrzy: folds
shangly: folds
Thats_Right: folds
SmartLAG: folds
DJ Sensei: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 8h, 7c, Ah. ]
DJ Sensei: checks
Super Fish: bets $470
DJ Sensei: calls
*** TURN *** [ 6d. ]
DJ Sensei: checks
Super Fish: bets $1,410
DJ Sensei: is all in
Super Fish: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 2h. ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DJ Sensei wins $6,855 with Pair of Aces
He busted out and left soon after, but thats OK. He'll be back (I hope!)
In this next hand, I just take a couple of calling stations to valuetown. DLnba had pocket fives, and "Calling station" had Ace seven (no flush draw, of course). Its not too often that you can win a 3-way pot for stacks, but its pretty great when it happens.
Seat 1: DJ Sensei (7482.00 in chips)
Seat 2: EFfortleSSLY (2038.00 in chips)
Seat 4: Calling Station (1290.00 in chips)
Seat 5: manuteboljr (1867.00 in chips)
Seat 9: DLnba (1404.50 in chips)
DLnba: posts small blind $10
DJ Sensei: posts big blind $20
Dealt to DJ Sensei [ As Ah ]
EFfortleSSLY: folds
Calling Station: raises to $70
manuteboljr: folds
DLnba: calls
DJ Sensei: raises to $260
Calling Station: calls
DLnba: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 8d, 6s, 7h. ]
DLnba: checks
DJ Sensei: bets $345
Calling Station: calls
DLnba: calls
*** TURN *** [ Qs. ]
DLnba: checks
DJ Sensei: bets $800
Calling Station: is all in
DLnba: is all in
DJ Sensei: returns uncalled bet $0.50
*** RIVER *** [ Kd. ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DJ Sensei wins $228.90 with Pair of Aces
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DJ Sensei wins $3,868.10 with Pair of Aces
This one, I somehow win a coinflip (guess thats how I know i'm running good!). The calling station seemed to be getting fed up with me owning him, so I called off stacks here hoping to see a semibluff or bluff. Normally I think this is a fold against guys like him, but when he's steamed up, it becomes a call. In this case, he had Ac9c and I won the flip. Woo!
Seat 1: DJ Sensei (11981.50 in chips)
Seat 2: EFfortleSSLY (3575.00 in chips)
Seat 5: manuteboljr (2088.00 in chips)
Seat 8: Calling Station (2466.00 in chips)
Calling Station: posts small blind $10
DJ Sensei: posts big blind $20
Dealt to DJ Sensei [ Qs Kh ]
EFfortleSSLY: folds
manuteboljr: folds
Calling Station: raises to $60
DJ Sensei: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Kc, 6c, 9d. ]
Calling Station: bets $120
DJ Sensei: raises to $360
Calling Station: is all in
DJ Sensei: calls
*** TURN *** [ 6s. ]
*** RIVER *** [ 2d. ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DJ Sensei wins $4,930 with Two Pairs, Kings and Sixes
This one is an example of me completely outplaying somebody. Or being a calling station? You be the judge. The guy who I'll call "aggroman" had shown tendencies of loose aggression, and knowing that this was a prime board for a 3-barrel given that my hand can never be all that strong, I decided to make a hero calldown. You'll definitely run into an overpair here fairly often, but given bet sizing and timing tells, I felt pretty good about it. And, because I was running good, this time it was a bruff. Yesssssss.
Seat 1: DJ Sensei (13890.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Aggroman (2914.00 in chips)
Seat 5: manuteboljr (3020.00 in chips)
manuteboljr: posts small blind $10
DJ Sensei: posts big blind $20
Dealt to DJ Sensei [ 8d 8s ]
Aggroman: raises to $70
manuteboljr: folds
DJ Sensei: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 3h, Ts, 3c. ]
DJ Sensei: checks
Aggroman: bets $100
DJ Sensei: calls
*** TURN *** [ 5d. ]
DJ Sensei: checks
Aggroman: bets $280
DJ Sensei: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 6s. ]
DJ Sensei: checks
Aggroman: bets $655
DJ Sensei: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Aggroman: shows [ 7c, 9s. ] (Pair of Threes )
DJ Sensei: shows [ 8d, 8s. ] (Two Pairs, Eights and Threes )
DJ Sensei wins $2,219 with Two Pairs, Eights and Threes
So, for now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I fly back to San Francisco again (I'm in Bethesda MD right now, staying at my friend's apartment. I'll probably buy him something nice tomorrow since the internet here is so lucky, heh). All this traveling is fun, and I love any chance to hang out with old friends, but it sure is nice to relax at home, make some papes stackin' fools, and enjoy the good life.
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| Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
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1:24 am - End of September, beginning of October... one long poker game
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Well, aside from a quite enjoyable trip to New York, September didn't end up quite as I would have hoped. I think I finished the month up about 30k or something like that, certainly a disappointing result after the hot start. But, in the life of a pro, the game doesn't begin and end according to any calendar. It just keeps on going, for better or worse. And I really cant complain about making a G a day.
October is off to a pretty good start though, I'm up about 10k over the first 2 days, just playing 10/20 and 5/10 like usual. Hopefully I can keep up this pace for a good while. Also, pokerstars approved my wire transfer, so hopefully I can turn it into sweet, sweet cash and take it to the Borgata this coming weekend, where it will multiply.
I could write in much more detail about the NY trip, but i'm kinda tired right now, so i'll do that later, maybe.
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| Monday, September 24th, 2007
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1:35 am - finishing it up strong
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Well at this point i'm up about $40k on the month, from mostly 5/10 and 10/20 NL with some 25/50 NL and a little bit of 10/20 PLO. The last couple of weeks have been pretty variance-filled, but not too hard. Mentally, i'm in a very good place now (much as a result of a well-padded bankroll). I'll have a live roll ready pretty soon, for both my trip to Atlantic City and Lucky Chances, its pretty much just a matter of wiring the money out of pokerstars. I'd like to have a live roll of about $50k if I could, just so I could play in just about any good live game up to 25/50 and not feel too tight about the money. That, or so I could stroll into the mercedes dealership and plunk down some straight cash for an AMG convertible. Sike, I don't need a car. In fact i've gotten pretty used to not having one, I almost prefer to ride my bike around the city now. Part of it is increased skill with urban riding, and the fact that I can zip around moving cars without them even realizing it, and react pretty quickly to changes in traffic or lights. But theres definitely something to be said for getting myself around the old-fashioned way, and doing a little to help the ol' environment. At this point I'm more or less resigned to our species' fate as a result of screwing the planet up beyond all hope, but it can't hurt to try and fix it, or do what I can. Once more of my roll is relegated to longer-term investments, I plan to use much of it on progressive (but also profitable) endeavors. For the time being though, the best return I can reasonably assume to get on my money is investing in my own poker play through a large bankroll and the ability to play in the most profitable games I can (which are generally the biggest ones available, except for the nosebleed stakes games on Stars or FTP).
But, thats long-term business. For the time being, i'm focused on a few other things:
1) Taking a trip to New York City which leaves tomorrow night.
I've never been to the city, so i'm pretty excited about it. I'm there primarily to meet with some other poker players on business, but I'm not sure the extent to which I am allowed or encouraged to expound upon it, so i'll just say that they're flying me there and putting me up in a hotel so it must be something cool. I'm staying a few extra days too, because, well, why not. I've got a number of friends who live there now too who I haven't seen in a while, so that'll be great as well. My playing time for the remainder of the month will be cut down by the trip, but whatever. It's still been a pretty damn good month, 100k or not. Also, I'll have the chance to fly on Virgin America airlines, which is new and apparently awesome, so I'm excited about that. They have power outlets at the seats, and better foodservice, and generally very cool things going on. Also, ship the exit row seat on a cross-country flight. BOOYA! They made me pay like $25 extra for it, but there is no possible better use of $25.
2) DC/Durham/Atlantic City:
Another trip that's primarily for pleasure, and for the purposes of seeing some of my best college friends who, for some reason, are still on the east coast. I've tried to get them to move out here, but apparently its a whole to-do. In any case, I try to make it back at least twice a year for the beerfests that happen in Durham and Raleigh. This time the tickets are quite scarce and sold out, so we may or may not make it to the actual beerfest, but, thats not really the important thing. We're gonna spend a few days up in Atlantic City, where I'll plan to tear up the NL games at the Borgata and maybe the Trop and the Taj too, depending on who has the good ones running.
3) Hawaii.
I'm going in November to play ultimate frisbee and loaf around. Should be pretty awesome, though I haven't made specific plans yet.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
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5:15 pm - An interesting fish-chasing session, and monthly update
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So last night, after watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, I loaded up some tables for a little night-time session. I had some coaching sessions scheduled for this afternoon, so I didn't want to stay up too late, but, I ended up doing just that because of this fish.
It started off with a standard bluff. Well, maybe not standard, but, because this guy was an unknown and likely to be the fish of the table, I decided to show it to him and get him riled up. late-night fish tend to be more aggressive (perhaps drunk?) than daytime fish, so getting them on tilt is pretty useful.
DJ Sensei is dealt [5s,7s]
FeltFiend: folds
lucas23g: folds
Fish: calls $20.00
DJ Sensei: raises $50.00 to $70.00
gil2368: folds
POKARMASTAR: folds
zizazziza412: folds
Fish: calls $50.00
--- DEALING FLOP [Jc,Tc,Js]
Fish: bets $60.00
DJ Sensei: raises $130.00 to $190.00
Fish: calls $130.00
--- DEALING TURN [4s]
Fish: bets $200.00
DJ Sensei: raises $400.00 to $600.00
Fish: folds
$400.00 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
DJ Sensei: shows [5s,7s], a Pair, Jacks
Hand 905450008:
DJ Sensei: wins($947.00)
with a Pair, Jacks
Soon after that hand, he confirms that he is, in fact, a fish, with very loose-passive preflop play, and consistently bad postflop bluffing. Then this hand happens:
DJ Sensei is dealt [Ad,Ah]
FeltFiend: folds
Fish: calls $20.00
POKARMASTAR: folds
DJ Sensei: raises $79.00 to $99.00 - From the BB, as it were
Fish: raises $79.00 to $178.00 - whaaaaaa?
So then I start playing the game that i like to play when a fish does weird stupid stuff and I have the nuts. Its called "keep minraising until he goes all in".
DJ Sensei: raises $79.00 to $257.00
Fish: raises $79.00 to $336.00
DJ Sensei: raises $79.00 to $415.00
Fish: raises $79.00 to $494.00
DJ Sensei: raises $79.00 to $573.00
Fish: goes all in $980.00
DJ Sensei: calls $901.00
Fish: shows [Jc,9h], High Card, Jack
--- DEALING FLOP [Qd,5h,7c]
--- DEALING TURN [6c]
--- DEALING RIVER [3s]
DJ Sensei: shows [Ad,Ah], a Pair, Aces
Fish: shows [Jc,9h], High Card, Queen
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($2,956.00)
Ship it. The kind of pot that poker dreams are made of. Soon after, the exact same situation arises again. Hoping that he's not tricking me with some sort of "real hand", I go with it again.
DJ Sensei: posts the small blind $10.00
FeltFiend: posts the big blind $20.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
DJ Sensei is dealt [Jc,Ah]
Fish: calls $20.00
POKARMASTAR: folds
DJ Sensei: raises $91.00 to $111.00
FeltFiend: folds
Fish: raises $91.00 to $202.00
DJ Sensei: raises $313.00 to $515.00
Fish: goes all in $1,264.00
DJ Sensei: calls $951.00
Fish: shows [9s,Kd], High Card, King
--- DEALING FLOP [5c,2c,2h]
--- DEALING TURN [2d]
--- DEALING RIVER [Ac]
DJ Sensei: shows [Jc,Ah], a Full House, Deuces full of Aces
Fish: shows [9s,Kd], Three of a Kind, Deuces
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($2,950.00)
Jackpot! And then, again!
DJ Sensei is dealt [Ks,Ah]
FeltFiend:, it's your turn. You have 10 seconds to act
FeltFiend:, it's your turn. You have 5 seconds to act
FeltFiend: folds
Fish: calls $20.00
POKARMASTAR: folds
DJ Sensei: raises $79.00 to $99.00
Fish: raises $79.00 to $178.00
DJ Sensei: raises $267.00 to $445.00
Fish: raises $267.00 to $712.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $5,540.50
Fish: goes all in $1,275.00
$3998.50 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
Fish: shows [9c,6c], High Card, Nine
--- DEALING FLOP [Th,9h,5h]
--- DEALING TURN [Qd]
--- DEALING RIVER [4d]
DJ Sensei: shows [Ks,Ah], High Card, Ace
Fish: shows [9c,6c], a Pair, Nines
Fish: wins main pot($3,982.00)
BOLLOCKS! oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, and i've still got him covered because of the earlier hands. Then, this happens.
DJ Sensei: posts the small blind $10.00
Fish: posts the big blind $20.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
DJ Sensei is dealt [Ac,Kd]
POKARMASTAR: folds
lucas23g: raises $20.00 to $40.00
DJ Sensei: raises $159.00 to $199.00
Fish: raises $159.00 to $358.00 - "oh god oh god please hold one time"
lucas23g: folds
DJ Sensei: raises $557.00 to $915.00
Fish: raises $557.00 to $1,472.00
DJ Sensei: raises $557.00 to $2,029.00
Fish: raises $557.00 to $2,586.00
DJ Sensei: raises $557.00 to $3,143.00
Fish: raises $557.00 to $3,700.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $725.50
Fish: goes all in $30.00
$138.50 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
Fish: shows [Ah,Ad], a Pair, Aces - "NOOOOOOOOOOOO"
--- DEALING FLOP [Ks,Qs,8s]
--- DEALING TURN [Th]
--- DEALING RIVER [5c]
DJ Sensei: shows [Ac,Kd], a Pair, Kings
Fish: shows [Ah,Ad], a Pair, Aces
Fish: wins main pot($7,498.00)
Ugh. Time to get it back.
The fish sits out for a while, but comes back, and so do I. Then, I manage to stack a bunch of OTHER players in short succession, with pretty standard hands that I probably played better than they did, but I also managed to be fortunate enough to either win my coinflip, or not lose to his many outs.
DJ Sensei: posts the small blind $10.00
Fish: posts the big blind $20.00
--- DEALING POCKETS
DJ Sensei is dealt [Tc,Jc]
lucas23g: raises $50.00 to $70.00
DJ Sensei: calls $60.00
Fish: folds
--- DEALING FLOP [7c,9c,4s]
DJ Sensei: bets $120.00
lucas23g: raises $280.00 to $400.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $1,800.00
lucas23g: calls $1,520.00
lucas23g: shows [9d,Ks], a Pair, Nines
--- DEALING TURN [Kc]
--- DEALING RIVER [4h]
DJ Sensei: shows [Tc,Jc], a Flush
lucas23g: shows [9d,Ks], Two Pair, Kings and Nines
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($3,999.00)
DJ Sensei is dealt [5s,6s]
DJ Sensei: raises $50.00 to $70.00
Fish: folds
lucas23g: calls $50.00
--- DEALING FLOP [3s,9h,2s]
lucas23g: checks
DJ Sensei: bets $120.00
lucas23g: raises $230.00 to $350.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $3,769.00
lucas23g: goes all in $1,540.00
$1999.00 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
lucas23g: shows [Qh,9c], a Pair, Nines
--- DEALING TURN [4c]
--- DEALING RIVER [5c]
lucas23g: shows [Qh,9c], a Pair, Nines
DJ Sensei: shows [5s,6s], a Straight, Six high
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($3,929.00)
DJ Sensei is dealt [Kh,Kd]
Fish: calls $20.00
pepsiontherocks: raises $70.00 to $90.00
DJ Sensei: raises $210.00 to $300.00
kvs23: folds
Fish: folds
pepsiontherocks: calls $210.00
--- DEALING FLOP [2s,6s,3h]
DJ Sensei: bets $400.00
pepsiontherocks: calls $400.00
--- DEALING TURN [9h]
DJ Sensei: bets $800.00
pepsiontherocks: goes all in $2,320.00
DJ Sensei: calls $1,520.00
pepsiontherocks: shows [6h,8h], a Pair, Sixes
--- DEALING RIVER [As]
DJ Sensei: shows [Kh,Kd], a Pair, Kings
pepsiontherocks: shows [6h,8h], a Pair, Sixes
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($6,078.00)
So now, I've got over $8k on the table, and so does my fish. One time, poker gods, ONE TIME! My closest shot at it comes here, when I gin my clean concealed 3-outer on the turn. Unfortunately, he doesnt have a big enough hand to continue (which probably means he has no pair no draw)
DJ Sensei is dealt [8c,9d]
DJ Sensei: raises $50.00 to $70.00
kvs23: calls $70.00
Fish: calls $60.00
pepsiontherocks: calls $50.00
--- DEALING FLOP [Ad,5h,7h]
Fish: bets $20.00
pepsiontherocks: calls $20.00
DJ Sensei: calls $20.00
kvs23: raises $120.00 to $140.00
Fish: calls $120.00
pepsiontherocks: folds
DJ Sensei: calls $120.00
--- DEALING TURN [6c]
Fish: bets $300.00
DJ Sensei: raises $1,200.00 to $1,500.00
kvs23: folds
Fish: folds
$1200.00 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
DJ Sensei: mucks
DJ Sensei: wins($1,318.00)
And here, another example of god hating me and giving this massive fish a big hand at the right time:
DJ Sensei is dealt [Kd,Kc]
kvs23: folds
Fish: calls $20.00
pepsiontherocks: raises $70.00 to $90.00
DJ Sensei: raises $210.00 to $300.00
gral: folds
Fish: calls $280.00
pepsiontherocks: folds
--- DEALING FLOP [8s,9s,3c]
DJ Sensei: bets $500.00
Fish: raises $500.00 to $1,000.00
DJ Sensei: raises $500.00 to $1,500.00
Fish: raises $500.00 to $2,000.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $3,530.00
Fish: goes all in $1,112.50
$1917.50 is not called, return back to DJ Sensei:
Fish: shows [3d,3s], Three of a Kind, Threes
--- DEALING TURN [Ac]
--- DEALING RIVER [2c]
DJ Sensei: shows [Kd,Kc], a Pair, Kings
Fish: shows [3d,3s], Three of a Kind, Threes
Fish: wins main pot($6,933.00)
But, at least, the very next hand I get kings again, and fish calls my tiltshove and somehow I hold up.
DJ Sensei is dealt [Kc,Kd]
Fish: calls $20.00
pepsiontherocks: raises $70.00 to $90.00
DJ Sensei: goes all in $1,917.50
gral: folds
kvs23: folds
Fish: calls $1,897.50
pepsiontherocks: folds
Fish: shows [2s,Ac], High Card, Ace
--- DEALING FLOP [2h,Tc,9d]
--- DEALING TURN [6h]
--- DEALING RIVER [8s]
Fish: shows [2s,Ac], a Pair, Deuces
DJ Sensei: shows [Kc,Kd], a Pair, Kings
DJ Sensei: wins main pot($3,953.00)
Perhaps 5 hands later, lightning strikes twice, and after another crushing defeat, I decide to call it quits for the night. It was about 6:30 AM. Such is the life, I suppose.
DJ Sensei is dealt [Ad,As]
DJ Sensei: raises $50.00 to $70.00
gral: calls $70.00
kvs23: calls $70.00
Fish: folds
pepsiontherocks: folds
--- DEALING FLOP [Td,Jc,2c]
DJ Sensei: bets $180.00
gral: raises $240.00 to $420.00
kvs23: folds
DJ Sensei: raises $780.00 to $1,200.00
gral: goes all in $2,356.00
DJ Sensei: calls $1,576.00
gral: shows [Th,Tc], Three of a Kind, Tens
--- DEALING TURN [6h]
--- DEALING RIVER [3s]
DJ Sensei: shows [Ad,As], a Pair, Aces
gral: shows [Th,Tc], Three of a Kind, Tens
gral: wins main pot($5,790.00)
So I wind up down about $8500 on the session, but up about $5k on the other tables I had been playing earlier means it wasn't so bad.
On the month at this point I'm up about $32k, I suppose, in about 18k hands of play. Off track for my $100k goal, but theres still time. And there are certainly still fish to be stacked. Also, I expect to cash out another $20k or so soon, which will mean that i'll have a viable live bankroll, so expect some more sweet live trip reports from lucky chances or elsewhere on the horizon.
Also, I'm making a trip to New York City next week, to meet with Jay and some other folks involved with 3-bet.net. Apparently some big things are happening, so keep your eyes peeled for those, too. And the week after that i'm headed back to the East coast again, though that time its to meet up with my friends from Duke for a beer festival and a trip up to Atlantic City. Should be reminiscent of our first few trips up there, though this time I expect to be playing a little higher than 2/5NL. I still remember the first really big live session I had there at the Borgata, building up about a $3200 stack at 2/5NL over the course of an evening, and watching everybody who walked by the table ogle my stack. Its good to be the boss.
Edit: over the course of my afternoon and night sessions today I won about $10.5k. woo! poker is easy. Up $43k or so on the month. 100k is within striking distance, if I really make it clap these last ten days, or at least the 6 or 7 days on which i'll probably play good sessions.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
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4:15 am - Every time I forget about variance, it comes storming back
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Saturday was a pretty tough day on the poker front. I dropped about $18k over the course of the day, mostly at 25/50 but also several buyins at 10/20 too. The 25/50 stuff was all within the realm of pretty reasonable stuff, and its not like I'm under-rolled or anything, so I don't feel too bad about it. But it did suck, even after such a strong upswing. But I had a delicious steak dinner that night with friends, with a few bottles of wine and the full steak accompaniments. So, on the whole, not a terrible day.
Sunday I took the day off, because everybody needs a day off, and I figured it'd be good to come into the new week fresh and ready to rock.
Today I steamrolled fools again like the beginning of the month, and made another 9k or so (11k if you count some leftover rakeback that I transferred into my account, niiiiice). Just 5/10 and 10/20, I'm gonna chill on the 25/50 for now until theres another nice soft game running.
Which brings the monthly total back up to $30k or so. And if I keep putting in the hands, i've still got a very real shot at 6 figures. Wooo! Also I got a 10k check that I cashed out from bodog about a month ago, so thats good. Stupid quarterly estimated taxes are gonna eat most of it though, but, whatever, theres plenty more coming soon.
Also, thinking ahead, I won't have a complete hand-by-hand graph, since Cake HH's are off in the ether somewhere and bodog ones will be far from complete, but, I'll probably throw together a day-by-day graph of my progress. I think it'll look pretty ridiculous, if things keep going the way they are.
6 days of play so far this month:
+15k
+12k
+7k
+4k
-18k
+11k
que ridiculo.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, September 8th, 2007
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5:24 am - Still crushing
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Yo, I've been steamrolling fools some more the last few days. Still playing 5/10 and 10/20 mostly with some 25/50 thrown in when there's a nice fresh fish. I think yesterday was like $7k and today was like $4k. Or something like that. In any case I'm up about $38k so far this month, in about 5000 hands. Its completely absurd, but, amazing. I feel like i'm really on my A game, and happen to be running pretty well too. Playing in nice soft games with fish, and staying out of the ones with just regulars.
At this point i'm setting my goal for the month at one hundred thousand dollars (I think it looks a lot cooler written out like that, by the way). If I get there, that will be a completely new plateau for my career. It is pretty amazing to view my current success and think back to a few years ago, when I was playing $5 and $10 tournaments with my friends, all of us dreaming of the "big score".
Also, I just got the news today that they're somebody is moving a sushi restaurant in across the street from my apartment. The dream is real!
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| Thursday, September 6th, 2007
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2:51 am - Back on the grind, stackin them fools
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So i've finally gotten back into a good groove again lately. Playing really well, and running well too, and because I've been playing more hands across more tables (4-6 instead of just 3) the cash is flowing in nicely. So far in September (well, actually only 2 days of playing, because Labor Day weekend was all about playing frisbee in the park and partying, obviously) I'm up about $25k. Most has been from 10/20 NL and 5/10 NL, with about 5k coming from some shots at 5/10 and 10/20 PLO when theres a big fish playing. I don't know all that much about PLO yet, but some basic poker theory and the fact that most of the other people are also crappy at it makes it a pretty profitable game. I'm also up about 4k from a 25/50NL shot tonight, because I needed another 2k to make it 2 consecutive 10k days and, well, I couldn't just let it stand like that. So not only did I make the 2k, I surpassed it and made a few extra G's too, mostly from a 10k pot with set against aces (that smoothcalled pre, lol). If you include the week before Labor Day weekend, i'm on a 40k upswing. Ship ship.
I've also been coaching a lot lately, which provides both a nice steady source of income and a feeling of success when my students learn and improve quickly (and hopefully they win that loot, too). It also forces me to spend a lot of my time thinking about strategy and theory to beat all kinds of players, so I think my own game is improving more quickly than my opponents, and thats always nice. If I can get a few more cashouts from the online sites coming in, I should have a respectable cash bankroll soon, too, and that'll certainly be nice for playing in the Lucky Chances game again, as well as maybe taking some trips to play in LA or who knows where else.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, August 27th, 2007
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1:18 am - Main event trip report: Day 2
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We started the day at noon, so I had to set an alarm and wake up early for it. Luckily I was able to get a ride from a friend so I didn't have to deal with cabs and such nonsense. We started play at level 7: 500/1000 blinds and 100 ante. My table appeared to be pretty good, nobody was a name player and nobody looked particularly fearsome, save the young scandinavian kid in the 5 seat who happened to be going into day 2 with the big stack of over 200k. My 32.2k wasnt the shortest stack at the table, but close to it. I needed to make some moves and build back a stack, or else go out with a bang.
The first hand at the table, I was in the small blind (obviously) but, after a raise to 3k from the chipleader and a call by the button, I was fortunate enough to pick up AJdd and shoved it in. They folded, and I chipped up almost 8k in the first hand. Nice. Soon after that, the early-day jitters wore off and I settled into the grind. The next notable hand I played, the UTG player tossed in a 5k chip but forgot to say "raise" so it counted as a call. A middle position player called the 1k as well, and I picked up TT on the button and limped behind. The flop was 963 and UTG bet out, MP raised, and I folded without much thought. UTG got the rest of his stack in, MP snap-called, and UTG's TT was drawing nearly dead to QQ.
I picked up TT again a few hands later, opened it to 3k or 3500 or something. The button called and the BB raised 10k more. Despite what might have been an obvious squeeze, I let them go, as otherwise i'd pretty much be committed to the pot.
Half an orbit later, it folds to the small blind on the other side of the dealer. He opens to 3500, I look down at 33 and decide to reraise, rather than seeing a flop and probably hating it as well as not knowing where i stood. It was between a moderate reraise and a shove, I chose to make it 14k to go, and he shoved over the top. I called, he flipped AQo, and we were off to the races. Flop was T75, turn was a 6, and the river was the ace of spades, as it always seems to be. So it goes.
Walking out of the amazon room and the rio after getting busted out of the main event (without cashing, that is) is just about the worst feeling in poker, i'd say. good thing it doesnt happen too often.
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(comment on this)
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| Sunday, July 29th, 2007
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1:26 am - Main event trip report part 1
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We start with t20,000 in chips, blinds at 50/100. Like all events this year, they doubled the starting stacks and then started the first blind level higher, so it seems like theres more play but there really isn't. Even so, 200 big blinds is a pretty awesome starting stack, especially given that i'll be playing against tons of guys who have no idea how to wield such a stack. In any case, my starting table has no recognizable players, nor is there anybody who seems to know what they're doing particularly well. The downside is that most everyone is erring on the side of mega-tight, so its hard to extract their chips from their stacks, even if they aren't giving me any trouble with my own.
Not long after we start play, I pick up aces in middle position. I raise to 300 or 350 or something, and get 2 calls. The flop comes out A74 rainbow, a pretty decent flop for me, but since we're so deep I choose to lead out at it. The button calls my t700 bet, and then calls my 2200 bet on the 9 turn. The river is a ten, I decide to overbet the pot for 7000, and he folds, showing the case ace. Maybe I should have just valuebet regular-style.
I open JThh from late position, and am reraised by the small blind for 525 more. He's a younger Asian fellow who seems a bit inexperienced. Obviously I call. The flop comes Q8x with 2 hearts, a great drawing flop for my hand. He bets only 800, I call. I figure I could raise, but at this point i'm more interested in keeping a moderate pot against him, rather than gambling with a small edge. The turn is an offsuit T, he checks, and I check behind. The river blanks off and he bets 1600. As I'm considering my action, I notice his hand shaking ridiculously, and it does not look like a reverse tell. I call, he flips AJo, and my hand is good. The rest of my end of the table complements me on the play, a trend that would continue for most of the day. It was a friendly table for the most part, too, which I appreciated. I did have my headphones on listening to my ipod, but I took it off when I was in a hand or somebody was talking nearby, as I didn't want to miss anything important.
In the 10 seat was a young aggressive player, who seemed to want to be the table boss. I was fine with that, since I was in the 2 seat, and figured to let his aggression seep into my stack with some well-timed steals and plays. I also wanted to build an image to allow me to run over the table for the rest of the day, since we were probably not going to break at all. In any case, it folds around to the 10 seat and he starts to pick out some raising chips, but decides to just limp. I hope to have a playable hand, because I'm ready to make it rain on him. Turns out I pick up 95ss, a perfectly good hand, and limp it. The blinds come along, and it turns out UTG limped too, heh. The flop was 7h7d3h, and the blinds and UTG checked to our aggressive friend, who bet 300. I raise to 1300, seeing as how thats the best way to win the pot, and when it folds back around to him I make it 2600. Well, I know from experience that that raise is rarely a 7, so I make it 5600 to go. He calls. The turn is a black deuce, one of the best cards in the deck for me, and he checks. I make it 6k to go, and he folds it quite reluctantly. Of course I turbo-flip my hand and toss it to the middle of the table for all to see, and everyone oohs and aahs. And then, I had them right where I wanted them.
When level 2 came around, I was sitting on t30,950. A pretty solid stack, considering the way my table was playing. The blinds went up to 100/200.
The aggressive (and hopefully steaming) fellow in seat 10 opened from late position, I just called with ATcc, and the bb came along too. The flop was T9x with some spades, and I check-called 1600 or something. The turn was an offsuit K, and I check-folded to his 3k or something bet. He flashes Q7o. Yup, steaming. But, he got the best of me, so i'll have to be ready for him next time.
Matt Matros gets moved to our table after the first bustout (some scandinavian dude who went crazy with AK on a king-high monotone board and lost a lot to KK, busted soon after). He's shortstacked though, so i'm not too concerned about him. I open AQ to 800 and get 3 calls. Matt shoves from the blinds for 7100, and it doesnt take much thought to get me to call, because he's probably on any 2 decent cards there. But, I also don't want to get my whole stack in there in case somebody behind me slowplayed a big hand, however unlikely that is. So, I call, and the second caller (asian dude from the earlier hand-shaking hand) shoves for 22k. I fold without much thought, Matt shows 55, and asian dude shows JJ. The board comes out KQ5xx, and MM triples up. I would have busted the guy with jacks, but at least my read was solid. I'm not sure how much I like his shove there, but so it goes. Not much else happens during that level for me, since i'm card-dead, and I end the level with t20,675. Back to the drawing board, I suppose. Blinds are now 200/400.
With 3 limpers to me, and after not having done much of anything for a while, I raise to 2k with 84o. MM calls (3rd limper). He checks the 875 flop and I check behind. He bets 3100 on the 4 turn and I call. The river is a Q, putting 3 spades out, he checks and I check behind, and his set of 7's is good. Looks like I lost the minimum, which is cool, although I did lose a fair chunk of chips.
The button openlimps and I raise to 1900 with KJo, he snap-calls me. I bet 2k on a QQ6 flop and he snapcalls again. Turn is a J, I check he checks behind. River is a blank, I check he checks behind. 64hh no good. Maybe missed some value, but probably not.
Again, I make it through the level without too much action, because i'm card-dead as hell. Its a shame, because I had a great image after the first level. But what can you do. I end level 3 with about 19k in chips, and we're up to 200/400 with a t50 ante.
Because of the newly-added antes, I ramp up the aggression a bit. Well, as much as I can with such weak hands. A resteal works with A3s, but the next one with ATo doesn't. I raise A5o to 2k over a limper, he calls and check/folds the Q8x flop.
I raise JJ utg, and MM calls in position. Flop is AQx, I feign a strong-hand-slowplay and check, he checks behind. Turn is a blank, I bet 3k and he turbo-folds.
I call a 1600 open on the button with KQo and about 18k in chips. The SB squeezes all-in, about 7500. The raiser folds, I think about it, check on the pot odds and his likely range, and call. He flips ATo, I pat myself on the back, and when the K flops and he doesnt improve, I take all his chips, and thus, his soul. Back in business!
I raise QQ to 1600 over a limper who I didn't notice, MM calls in the small blind, and the limper calls too. The flop is a somewhat-gross K54 with some spades. We all check. The turn is another 4, the limper bets 2500, and I raise to 6k. Both fold, ship it! When the level ends, i'm sitting on about 39,000 chips, a much nicer situation.
Level 5, the blinds are 300/600 with a 75 ante. Pots are starting to get bigger, people are starting to become more desperate.
I steal lots of blinds early in the level, and resteal once with 99 successfully. After a limper and the aggressive dude in seat 10 raises to 2200, I smoothcall QQ in the cutoff. There are some shorter stacks behind who might squeeze, and I don't mind seeing a flop with this hand before getting over-committed to it, given the stack situation. Nobody else calls, and the flop comes out 875 with some diamonds. He checks, I bet 3500, he calls. The turn is a 4 of diamonds, a scary-looking card, but i've got position and solid reads. He checks, I check behind. The river is a black king. He bets 6000, I think for a bit, put him on a medium pair that he's turning into a bluff, and call. He has 98ss and my hand is good. My stack is up to about 50k.
I open A4hh under the gun to 2k. MM calls in late position, and the rest fold. The flop is 842 rainbow, I bet 3k, he calls. We check it down on a J 6 board, and he says "i've got a pair". "Me too" I say and turn my hand, his pocket 3's are no good, thankfully. I end the level with t54,700. Level 6 will be 400/800 with a 100 ante, and the green t25 chips are raced off. I steal one for my personal collection, and because a t25 chip is fairly meaningless when you're sitting on 54 thousand. I didn't think about it at the time, but I imagine i'd have taken a t100 chip if I got to a similar spot later in the tourney. Unfortunately, I didn't get that chance.
In any case, by the time we started level 6 it was midnight or after, and we were all exhausted from playing all day. A new player gets moved to my right, and he's got some chips and a young aggressive style. He becomes my nemesis for the last level.
I call his openraise to 2500 with red 9's. The flop comes T87 with some hearts, I call his 4k bet. The turn is a 2 of hearts, and he bets 8k. I think about it and fold, because I just dont see too many good ways for that hand to end, and I assume he's capable of firing the river for a bet I can't handle.
After a limper, the same guy raises his SB to 3400, and I call from the BB with pocket 5's. The limper folds, unfortunately. On an 843 flop he leads 5k and I quickly raise to 10k. He calls. The turn is a 6, he checks, and because I picked up some outs and because i'm a pussy, I check behind. River is a Q, he checks again, and knowing that my credibility for a big hand is blown, I check behind, and his TT wins the pot. Meh. Play comes to an end on day 1b, and i'm left with 32,200 in chips. Below average, but certainly not desperately short. And most importantly, i'm still in it, and headed to day 2.
So I bag up my chips and sleepily head back to the condo, where I pass out on the couch. The good news (aside from making it to day 2) is that I get to goof around for 2 days before I have to play again on Tuesday. So I do a lot of loafing, and ship about 5k in online cash games (I stay away from live play, since I didn't bring any extra money with me). We went to Craftsteak for Vanessa's birthday, and have a badass Kobe steak dinner, with some hilarious gambling involved. I didn't lose credit card roulette (i'm undefeated in it so far, after like 4 runs) so my dinner was free. And I won $50 prop-betting the over-under on the total bill (under for the win!) but there was a caveat that I had to put it on the brackjack tables, which of course I lost. But TJ ran his $50 up to like $1800. It was awesome. AND he quit when he was ahead, which was even more awesome. I didn't get a ton of sleep the night before day 2, but thats alright. I was happy to have a couch to sleep on.
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| Sunday, July 8th, 2007
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4:13 pm - The Main Event: day 1b
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After a Friday spent trying to figure out if I could get the cash for my buyin, and book a flight to vegas that evening (I could, by hitting up 2 different branches for 5k each, and southwest actually let me book a same-day flight for only $150, which was cool) I ended up packing up and flying down to Vegas in the evening. From the airport I headed straight for the Rio, registered for day 1b on Saturday, and then wandered over to Caesars to get into a juicy 2/4 limit mixed game with some other cool cats.
We stay up until about 4 or so playing crazy games like pass the trash, badugi, 2nd best holdem, and black mariah, and eventually mosey on out. I crash at vanessa's condo on the couch, and we get up around 11:30 to head over and start playing at noon.
(the rest to come later)
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| Monday, June 25th, 2007
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4:25 pm - first WSOP cash
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I cashed in event #30, $2500 shorthanded NLHE. 45th place for $5260. It was a bittersweet cash, as I had hopes of going much deeper, but so it goes. Heres the story, from start to finish:
We start with t5000 in chips, and 25/50 blinds. A few players from my starting table are missing, so we're going 4-handed for a while. As expected, the rest of my table sucks.
I open 87o into the blinds of both players who are missing, and get called twice by the guys in position. I end up 3-barreling on a board of Ah3h4h 6c As, and my river bet takes it down. Phew. I make a note not to keep doing stupid stuff like that, because it won't work most of the time.
I open 99 in MP, the button calls. TT6 flop, I bet 300 he calls. 8 turn puts a club draw out, I c/c 700, planning to probably c/f river unimproved. We check through the 2 river, and my hand is good.
The missing players show up finally, and they aren't really any good either. So, after 3 limpers, I raise KK on the button to 300. The second and third limpers call. On a Q62 two-tone flop, the second limper donks out 300 and I raise to 1200, and he calls. The turn is a 9 putting out a second flush draw, he checks and I put him allin for about 2500. He calls, and he also has KK. ummmm, right. lol.
I open AA in early position, and MP calls. Qxx flop with some diamonds, I bet he calls. Turn is a 9d, we both check. River is the Ad, a pretty gross card, but we both check again, and his KQcc is no good.
I call a raise in position with JTss, and float the 875 flop with a diamond draw. On the 4 turn, he bets again and I raise, and he folds.
I check my option in the BB after a limper with K6o. I bet 100 on the Kxx flop with a heart draw, and he calls. I bet another 200 on the brick turn, he calls again. River is another brick, I check and call a sloppy and suspicious bet of 750, and am good.
Level 2 (50/100), 11k in chips:
I open the button with K8hh, the BB shoves 1075 more, I think about it and call. His JTo wins when he flops a J.
I open red 55 from ep, get 2 calls. on the K83ssc flop, the first guy checks, I bet 700, both call. I have dreams of the 5c turning, and lo and behold it does. I bet 2500, and both fold. Maybe I should have c/r-ed. Oh well.
I check K3o in the blind, the K44hhd flop checks around. On the 3d turn, I bet 300 and am minraised by the limper, and I call. The river is a 6d. I check, he bets 1200, I think about raising but wuss out and call, his 54o is good. meh.
I open 98o from MP, the button calls. Flop is K9x with some hearts. I bet 600, he calls. Turn is a 5x, I checkraise his 1400 bet to 3900, he lays down 87hh face up. I show a 9. heh.
At the first break, I have 13,775 in chips.
Level 3 (100/200) t13775:
Not much happens, then I get moved to a new table. I complete my sb with A6ss after a limper, and lead into the 992 hhx flop. the limper calls. I check-call the Ax turn and Kx river, and his 98o is good. meh.
I get moved to a new table again, and I guess not much else happens during that level.
Level 4 (100/200/25)
I steal and am restolen a few times, and am getting a little frustrated by it. Eventually the guy just calls, and then check-calls a JJx flop with a diamond draw. He leads out 3000 on the diamond turn, and I have to muck my QxTd.
Finally I pick up a real hand (AA) and steal again, but nobody fights back. Lame.
The next hand i get AA again, raise it up again, and get reraised. I count out my chips like "do I have enough to resteal" and shove. He folds.
I raise to 1k over a limper with J9hh. He calls, and donks 1500 on the 544r flop. I shove 5500 more, and he folds to my obvious overpair. heh.
In the last hand of the level, I open the SB with K2cc, and 3-barrel the 88x A x board with 800, 1300, and 3k bets. My opponent tanks forever on the river, but finally calls with A4o.
Level 5 (150/300/25) t5925:
My stack is kinda short now, and I'm pissed about it. My image might be kinda spewy, too, given how aggressively I played in the last level. Fortunately, I get some hands to back it up finally, and go on a sick heater.
First, I get KK in the big blind. I make a small reraise of the opener, which he calls, and shove the flop blind. It comes out ATT, and he tanks. Eventually I realize that he's definitely crushed here, because he hasn't called yet. Finally he mumbles something about KJ or KQ, and calls with 55. Lol thanks buddy.
Soon after that, I open the button with TT, the same guy reraises, I insta-shove, and he folds AJ. Up to t15,700 already.
I raise the button with 88, the SB comes back at me, I call 2k more. Flop Axx with some hearts, he checks and I check it back. Turn is the 8h, he bets 2500, I shove 11k more, he calls with AxQh, and misses the river. Up to over 33k now.
Chipleader opens 1k, I smoothcall KK on the button. The BB (who I beat up on in the KK and TT hands) shoves for 7 or 8k more, the raiser tanks and finally folds, I instacall and beat his AQ.
I start stacking up a huge pile of chips because that guy had his stack in greens and blacks, mostly, and tell the table that i'm only raising aces until I finish stacking. Well wouldn't you know it, I get aces, and raise them up, reminding the table of my rule, and get 2 calls. Flop is 932r, I bet 1700 into the 3200 or so thats in there, I get raised, and shove over the top. He folds, and I finish the level with over 50k in chips.
Level 6 (200/400/50):
I open the button with KTo, and call 5k more that the SB shoves at me. His AJ holds up on a JTx T J board, but there was plenty of sweat going on.
I open 74ss from UTG, and get called by the big blind, a young sharply-dressed guy getting a massage. He check-calls the J53 flop with one spade, and we both check on the 2s turn (hello, outs!) On the 6s river (one time!) he leads out 3k, I minraise him, and he shoves. I instacall, he turns over JJ, and I take his stack and his soul.
Once again I'm moved tables, and immediately start mixing it up once i'm there. I raise the first hand and win the blinds, then I raise again with 43ss the second hand. The SB big stack reraises 3k more, so I obviously call. He appears to have about 36k behind. The flop is 852 with a spade and 2 clubs, which is pretty much the nuts for my hand. He bets 6500, and I call. The turn is an offsuit 3, he bets 10k, I think about it, look to see that he would still have a fair number of chips if he folds, and shove all in. He folds, and I show my hand to the table and the railbirds nearby, because i'm cool like that.
We head to break again, I've got about 77k in chips and am among the chipleaders.
Level 7 (300/600/75):
I reraise AQss and bet the Kxx flop, and win the pot.
I open A3o on the button and am called by the old asian SB who was earlier commenting on my aggression. Flop is AK3, he check-calls. Turn is another 3, he check-calls again. River is an 8, he checks one more time, I put him all-in, he instacalls and flips A8. see ya.
I call a raise with 99 in the small blind, and donk 2k on the 743 flop. He calls. We both check the 6 turn, and I c/c 2k on the J river. J9o is good, meh.
At the dinner break, I have around 125k in chips, good for second place and a commanding lead over 3rd and below. Unfortunately, when I come back, the table stops letting me run them over so much.
I take a few small losses (steals that dont work out, and whatnot), then raise A5o and bet-check-bet the Q24xK board and am called by QTo, meh. Dont bluff callstations.
Level 8 (400/800/100) ~t100k:
I call a raise in the BB with 75hh, and lead the Q75ccx flop and the 9x turn, but c/f the Jc river. meh.
A few more steals dont work that well, but I don't lose much.
I smoothcall a raise with JJ in the SB, then when the BB makes it 8k and the raiser folds I shove over the top. The squeezer looks confused, but folds.
Level 9 (600/1200/100) t96k:
Hand for hand play begins as we hit the bubble. God, its boring as hell. Fortunately, I can steal more from the shortstacks because I put them to a decision for all their chips and they cant call without monsters at this point.
Finally, a few people get knocked out, and we're in the money! wooooo!
Level 10 (800/1600/200):
Steve Zolotow had just lost a big coinflip and was pretty much all in for his last 300 chips (200 in the ante, the last 100 definitely going in no matter what). A young asian player on my right who had just survived the bubble and chipped up a bit opened to 5k, I reraise with ATo to commit his stack of about 32k, hoping he was on a steal, but he waked up with aces and doubled up. Misplayed on my part, I think, but so it goes.
I open AKhh to 5k and am reraised to 15k by a new british player. I reraise another 20k on top to make it look like aces, and he tanks and finally shoves another 25 or 30k, I obviously call, and win the flip against his QQ when the board comes QJx flop with a heart, 3h turn, T river. ship it. He berates me, but whatever, he can suck it.
Soon after, it folds to me in the SB with him in the BB, so I openshove my AQ. He calls with A3o (heh) but gets there to double up his shortstack. I say nothing more than "nice hand, sir" because i'm not a douchebag like he is.
Shortly after that, I get moved to table 1. Turns out thats a pretty terrible draw, because I sit down with Hoyt Corkins on my immediate left, and a young aggressive player on his left (who later turns out to be Shaun Deeb). Both have big stacks, and the rest of the table looks solid as well.
I call a raise with KQhh, and the three of us check it all the way down on an A3292 board. My KQ beats QJ and JT, and we all have a good laugh.
I call a raise with 87cc in the SB, check-call the 864 flop, and lead 15k on the 5d turn, and he mucks.
Level 11 (1000/2000/300) t125k:
I open A3ss in the SB, hoyt calls and scares the hell out of me by taking minutes for every decision and sitting there stonefaced the whole time. The flop comes T92r, and I check-fold because I think anything else he'll own me.
I open JTcc and get called by shaundeeb in the SB. He check-calls the Axx flop with some clubs, and we check the rest down when I don't improve, his AQ is good.
The SB (who I think is scandinavian-ish) opens into my BB for 8k or so, I put him in for 67k with AK, he calls with TT. Flop comes Axx, turn bricks, river is a terrible ten. I'm down to 28k in chips, and start looking for a hand. The blinds go through me, and come back around, and I'm sitting on 22,600 when I get A9hh UTG and shove it in. Hoyt makes a "gambling call" with AJ and it holds up.
Out in 45th place, and I make the long walk to the payouts room. I don't think i've been more disappointed to win $5260 in my life, but hey, its a start. There are plenty more tournaments to play, and judging from the fields so far, there is a ton of dead money waiting to be scooped up in these things.
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| Monday, June 18th, 2007
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2:15 am - razz = rigged
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So I played the $1500 Razz event today, figuring it to be easy money. Well, turns out that limit stud-style tournaments have a pretty meh structure. The first few levels almost didn't even matter, as nobody was up or down more than a few hundred chips of the 3k we started with. The next few were a little more important, but nobody was knocked out until into the 4th level, and people didn't start really dropping until the 5th and 6th levels.
Anyhow, after the 4th level I was down to about 1150 in chips. I'd been hitting mad bricks on 5th and 6th street in all the sizeable pots I got into, so I was dropping more than i'd like. Fortunately, the first hand after the dinner break I came back and more than doubled-up by getting a 743 in on early streets against victor ramdin (who isnt that great at razz, splashes around too many chips) and eventually made a 65 to beat his... crappy hand, maybe not even an 8 or a 9. I built up over 3000 in chips, then lost some pots to drop back down to below 1000, then doubled back up again and got up to 3600 at the third break. Unfortunately, I lost another good-sized pot, and then got my last chips in 3-ways with a 742 that didn't get much better, and a 9 high took it down. So it goes.
Playing the $2500 shorthanded NLHE tomorrow at noon. If I draw a good table, I have a great chance in this one, seeing as how shorthanded NL is pretty much my specialty. A bad table could be rough though, there are plenty of young solid internet players around who also are shorthanded specialists. It'll probably be my last event until the main event, but we'll see what happens. I'll probably spend more time playing live cash games, and maybe play some other tournaments either at the Rio or venetian or bellagio.
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