Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Won the 100k rebuy

The last few days have flown by. I arrived back in Vegas late Tuesday night and decided to play the $1000 Texas Holdem rebuy tournament at Bellagio the next day. I don�t remember much about the tournament except every time I made the nuts I won a lot of chips and every time I had something like middle pair I bluff caught for a lot of chips. I guess I will mention some hands that I thought were fun.

I raised 22 under the gun to 6000 at 1200/2400-300. Alex Gomes, who plays well and constantly tries to outplay me called on the button. The big blind, a tight old guy, made it 8000 more. Alex had around 150k behind and I had around 200k behind. The tight guy had us covered. I called but kinda feared a weird squeeze by Alex. He just called though and it came KJ2dd. The tight guy checked. I decided to go ahead and bet 20000 for numerous reasons. Alex went all in fairly quick. I called and lost a big pot to his 73dd. Up until then, I was cruising nicely but that quickly put a stop to that.

There was another hand a little while later against my good friend Justin Young, who also constantly tries to outplay me. I raised T8o from 2nd position. He reraised to around 1/4th of his stack in 3rd position. They folded around to me and I decided to push on him even though this was the first time he 3bet me today. He thought for a while and folded. He claimed to have 77�I don�t think I believe that.

The final table was fairly stacked, with Justin Young, Alex Gomes, Rene Angelil, Shawn Cunix, Joe Beavers, and a few others. I really don�t remember much of what happened except that if flew by. I think it took around 3 hours for me to get heads up with Rene. He had around 1.4 million and I had 600k. I stole loads of pots to get to around 1.2 million to his 800k then lost a decent pot with AK to put us back even. Near the end, he raised and I reraised 85dd. I had reraised maybe 5 times over the 4 hour heads up match and he folded all but the last 2 times, once when I had AK and lost. I think he made it 50k, I made it 150k, he made it 250k. I cried and called. It came KJxdd, giving me a flush draw. I had around 700k left and the pot was 500k.

This isn�t the best spot because if I check, I fear that he will just push on me, putting me in a rough spot. He could bet like 200k and fold to a push though. I could open push and hopefully fold out small pairs and also just never fold my hand. It is usually and to fold a flush draw. Anyways, I decided to push and he called with AK and I hit.

He had around 200k left after that, which was 10bbs The next hand, I had Q2 in the sb and pushed and he snap called with J8 and I won. Interestingly enough, that flush draw was the only time I got it in for my stack during the entire tournament I think. I ended up winning $67,000, which is a nice little payday.

There is a $5,000 poker tournament today and the $25,000 main event on Sunday. These are both usually super tough fields but ill still be there.

I have been playing a little on Victory Poker when time permits. I think I had something like $2000 in my account about a week ago and am sitting at $3800 at the moment, so that�s good. Hopefully I can keep running well and putting in lots of hours.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Life is Fun

The last week has been quite hectic despite not really doing much of anything. I have been staying with Amie in NYC a lot lately and was there when the NAPT at Mohegan Sun rolled around. It turns out there isn�t really an easy way to get there from NYC besides to take the bus, which costs a whopping $20 but takes 5 hours. I decided to gamble and do that. I mostly hibernated and watched poker videos. On both the ride there and back, some little gangster kid would blare rap music out of their cheap cell phone.

It was quite annoying. All in all though, it wasn�t that bad.
The NAPT went pretty well on day one, with me ending the day with a little more than average. Day two didn�t go quite so well. I had some lag kid on my right that 3bet me every time I raised. I eventually picked up QJ and raised, fully expecting him to 3bet. That is what happened, so I shipped it in and he basically snap called with A8s. I got there and doubled.

A few hours later, the same thing happened again, but this time I had 98s. Looking back, I should have raised then just called the 3bet or maaaaybe limped. I hate limping though. Anyways, I raised, he reraised and I shipped. This time he called off with A3o and knocked me out. I am pretty sad with that. I should have just nitted it up and waited for AT or some monster like that to get in with. Lesson learned.

I am spending one more weekend with Amie in NYC before heading back to Vegas for the WPT main event at Bellagio. I have played this event twice in the past and both times got sucked out on right before the money, so hopefully I can change that
trend. After that, there is a $5000 at Caesars which is always decent.

I have been playing a lot on VictoryPoker.com lately. I have decided to sort of challenge myself to start at the low stake games and grind up my bankroll. I currently have $2700 in there, so I am going to stick to $.50/$1 and $1/2 until I get around $8000 in there, I think. It is fun to sometimes go back to the basics and just grind online. I have been getting a little fried from all the swings at high stakes PLO so I think this will be a nice way to spend the months before the WSOP where the big swings happen.

As for FloatTheTurn.com, I think I have nailed down all the details to get a new coach that has around $4 million in winnings., mostly online, so that will be great if that holds up. I am also strongly considering doing a tv show that will be posted on the site during the WSOP. It will basically be myself and my poker friends talking about life and poker, but mostly life. It should be fun. These are all in the works, so hopefully everything falls into place.

As for JonathanLittleSecrets.com, I am going to be starting a new private coaching program in the near future. If you want one of the spots to be coached by me, check it out.

That�s pretty much it. My life is the nuts right now. I wouldn�t change much of anything. Hopefully I can win my 3rd WPT title next week. That would really make it the nuts.