Oliver Gill

So today I dropped $375 playing cash games at 2/3. Bought in for $200, got all in preflop with QQ against AK on the second hand. Board comes KKxxx. Bought in again for $175 (all the cash I had on me at the time but still not that short since the max buy-in is $200 at 2/3NL). Ran it up to about $360 through winning a bunch of small pots and getting a third of the stacks in preflop with AQ against KQ against a short stack with about $60 then getting the rest in on the KQx flop and hitting an ace on the turn. After that, I lost a few small pots then got involved in my only truly interesting hand of the session

I’m holding As Qs UTG with effective stacks of ~$300. We’re 8 handed.

I raise to $12 (standard raise at this table and i’m opening a lot so I don’t look super strong), two loose/bad stations call, strong LAG who seems like an online player and has made a sick multi street calldown with one pair against another good player and 3bet light multiple times since i’ve been at the table makes it $35. Why so small? I haven’t flatted any 3bets so I decide he’s trying to isolate one or both of the weak players behind me which means he’s light as in A8+ KJ+ 66+ type of light. This means I can’t fold. I can’t really 4bet either with the stacks since it would commit me and I can’t get it in profitably against villain’s 5bet shove range so I elect to call, which is something I basically never do out of position with AQ. I’m fairly sure villain doesn’t have AK though since the 3bet would be a bit larger since he doesn’t want 3 callers if he has AK. With that in mind, I feel like villain’s most likely holdings are 99-KK, A9-AK, KQ with a very small chance of AA, QQ, AQ (due to my holdings) or having some sort of air or low PP/suited connectors(which is also possible). Villain covers me easily.

Anyhow, the two awful weak players also flat (they’re both under $200 and with ranges as wide as Q7s, KTo, 54s, etc) and we take a flop with just under $150 in the pot.

Flop:

Ad Tc 3s

I check with the intention of jamming over any reasonable cbet from any of the three players. The two weak players check. Villain (he’s either CO or BTN, i can’t remember) bets $85 which is actually quite large for a cbet into a 4 way $150 pot for live poker. I move in as planned, the weak players fold and villain tanks (??) so i’m thinking he has KK and is worried i’m bluffshoving (he’s seen me bluffshove before) or some sort of ace rag type hand. He calls and turns over AT and I brick out to lose my second $700 pot in two days.

I’m actually going to post this hand in NLHE cash strategy to get some input. Am I supposed to fold AQ which has probably 55-57% equity against villain’s 3bet range simply because i’m OOP here? The whole hand seems pretty gross and it feels like checkshoving the flop may be bad since he’s snapping with AK+ (well, apparently not) but may not pay me off with weaker hands; then again if I lead the flop I may simply get three folds if he doesn’t have an ace (or induce a bluffshove from villain) and if I checkcall the flop I give him a free chance at a likely two outs and he isn’t going to pay me anyway when I continue on the turn or river. My shove is significantly less than a full pot raise so I think it’s okay. It seems gross to flat a 3bet OOP though and lose 100bb when I hit, although I guess i’m probably just overanalysing things because if the flop is A93 or AJ3 I end up getting his stack instead of him getting mine.

Anyway

Cash: -$375
Tournaments: $0

This trip is in danger of going into Vegas trip territory from a financial perspective if I don’t cash in the $1100 6max or Main though.

I’ve also decided if I bust everything from here and drop 4k or whatever for the series then i’m done with playing poker professionally for the time being, i’ll be on a close to 20k downswing and my roll will below 20k for the first time in about a year and i’ll have to drop down slightly and regrind for a while as i’m working full time.

Or I can just win the Main Event. Either way.

After staying up until 7am watching Season 3 of Nip/Tuck (which I highly recommend, by the way), I sleep in until late afternoon and make my way over to Crown for a cash session since there are no tournaments on today (it’s 1b of the $550 event i’ve already busted from).

I find myself at a fairly soft table. The first time I get involved is with an effective stack of ~$190 at 2/3NL. Villain is an incompetent player who continues with way too many hands postflop.

Dealt to SwoopAE: 3d 3s

One limper, I make it $10 from MP, four players call.

Flop: 8d Th 3h

Cool.

Checked to me, I bet $25, CO calls, everyone else folds.

Turn: 7h

I feel villain is very light here even though he coldcalled with several players to act behind and since he should have me on air, I check with the intention of checkraising all in since he very rarely has a flush draw and should be betting most of his range if I check. Also, if he bets it should be half of my stack so by checkshoving i’m getting paid by any pair and any draw. Leading is probably also fine here. Anyway…. villain checks behind. Well then. That plan didn’t work.

River: 6h

Oh now why would you do that to me… wait, I did it to myself. I check and villain checks his cards then bets $25. Well, i’m not good here very often but I call anyway since i’m getting over 4-1. Villain tables Ad Qh and I feel really stupid for not betting the turn. To be fair, I expected him to bet hands like that when I checked the turn.

After the hand, villain says he put me on AK which is why he called on the flop. I’m not sure whether he called to chase his 3 outs against AK or to bluff me on the turn, although since he didn’t bluff the turn when I checked, i’m pretty sure he’s just a retard. I probably have bet the turn though, I had my read on villain a little off since I expected him to bet single heart hands on the turn if I checked.

Anyway, I then manage to get my last $140 or so all in three way on the flop with AA against AQ and QT on a Q63 board. Unfortunately, the board runs out 6Q and I get stacked as the villains catch one of their few outs to chop my money.

I rebuy and build my stack up to $400 when I flop a set of eights againt a guy who turns two pair to stack him. I get three streets from a straight draw that becomes a straight on the turn then get two streets with a set of tens a few hours later.

I get involved in another amusing hand when a drunk, loud, young guy who doesn’t seem to understand the game and raises every hand elects to raise to $25 by throwing out a single $25 chip without announcing it. The call stands. He’s been doing this with hands like Q9. I find Ad Kc so I figure i’ll raise to $15 and give him a chance to make a mistake and repop me. Three players call behind me and then villain asks if he can raise and then says he wants to raise to $25. Ship it. He has approximately $230 in front of him, I cover easily. I repop to $165 and villain elects to (??) call with $70 behind.

Flop: Ac 2d 4s

Villain checks and I elect to check behind since I basically have the nuts now and villain is bad enough to fold if I bet here. I want that last $70.

Turn: 9s

Villain checks again, which is unexpected because he’s very aggressive. Anyway, I can’t give him another card so I bet $75 and he folds. LOL, Donkaments. Well, Cashgameaments at least.

I find myself sitting above $700 so i’m up a buyin and a half now. It’s close to 3am and I get involved in one last hand.

Incompetent guy from the previous hand (who has rebought and has ~$190, SB has ~$280, BB has ~$700) limps in, I find Ah Kh and raise to $15, BTN calls, SB calls, BB calls. Again, incompetent guy minreraises to $25. Cool. I decide that none of the players behind me are capable of flatting AA or KK so I simply move my $700 into the middle since villain’s range is like the top half of hands AND he’s calling.

BTN folds.
SB goes into the tank. What? SB eventually announces call. I guess it’s AQ or TT-JJ then?
BB goes into the tank. What the fuck? She’s over 200BB deep! She eventually folds and the incompetent guy announces call.

The board runs out JTT97 and I know i’m pretty screwed but i’ll get a sidepot if SB has AQ. SB shows QQ. What? Okay then. Incompetent guy shows KTo to more than triple up to over $600 as SB rakes in the $150 or so in the sidepot.

[x] Lost a flip for 3BI

I’m down to $430 and I play around to my button, set mining unsuccessfully once and hitting middle pair once and firing then checkfolding a bad turn. I cash out $401, for a profit of $1 and wander over to hand out with Michelle who has turned up at Crown at 3am after a night of drinking and a guy whose name I can’t recall. I get KFC and then wander back to the hostel to watch some TV.

By the numbers

Tournaments: $0
Cash Games: +$1

Ship it, I made a dollar. That’s like 14c/hr. Ballin!

Yeah, so the title sums up my day.

I spend most of the afternoon mucking around online without actually playing any poker then head into Crown at around 6pm for dinner. At 7:10, I make my way over to Table 25 and find myself seated at a particularly weak table of randoms. $550 250k GTD, Day 1a has ~230 runners. There are two day ones and a repechage. We’re starting with 10k at 25/50 with 30 minute levels on Day 1 and 40 minute levels on Day 2.

I find my way up to 11k early after calling a tight player’s raise with JJ and getting two streets on a 863KK board, villain shows A6 at showdown when I checkcall the river. Not sure whether she was betting for value or bluffing and she probably wasn’t sure either. Come to think of it, maybe she wasn’t as tight a player as I thought.

I find a bunch of pocket pairs and miss a bunch of flops, with 99, 88, 88 and 66 all failing to connect. With the nines, I fire into three players on a 653 flop and find one caller. The turn is a 4 and on a rainbow board, I can’t see any hand i’m beating anymore except 88 so I check/fold the turn. I figure he has a set more than anything since one of the other players says he folded 77 but I don’t beat anything anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

I also get involved in a few minor pots and have my cbets raised or get horrible flops such as KQ5 when i’m holding TT and I simply give up my hand. By halfway through the 75/150 level, i’ve leaked down to about 7,500 and although I still have plenty of chips, the frustration is setting in.

Sam Youssef, a multimillionaire whale who plays high stakes has been moved to the table and he’s sitting two to my right. He’s a massive aggrodonk preflop and a massive station postflop. Logically, this means that i’m going to have a brain implosion and fire three barrels into him with air sooner or later and it turns out to be sooner rather than later. I’m so retarded sometimes. My bustout hand pains me to type because my line is embarrasingly retarded both preflop and on all three streets.

Sam raises to 400 on the button (his range is ATC here) and the SB calls, I know i’m supposed to fold but I elect to throw out another 250 with 7d5s for some unknown reason. I never defend in spots like this but I feel like I can take the pot with a flop bet on a lot of boards. Anyhow, there’s mistake number one.

Flop: Th3d2c

That’s actually a pretty good board for me to fire once at and then give up, I guess. Live players fold to donkbets out of the blinds more than they should for the record.

SB checks
I miscalculate the level we’re on for some reason, thinking it’s 50/100 instead of 75/150 despite having been the big blind in this hand and elect to lead 375 (what I thought was half pot but what turns out to be significantly less obviously)
Sam calls. When he calls, this means he has total air and from his demeanour, I can tell he has a low PP under the tens at best and probably air. Because of this, I decide that 2barreling looks pretty strong and that i’m going to 2barrel most turns and he’ll give up if he hasn’t hit.
SB calls, which surprises me, but he doesn’t look particularly invested in the hand so I figure he has something retarded like a gutshot.

Turn: Ac

The SB checks and looks like he’s given up, so I elect to 2barrel as planned. I look at the stack sizes and decide that since there are a lot of rivers that I can fire and Sam has a weak ace at best, i’m going to lead small again and fire the river as well if he calls. Which of course is completely retarded against a station who I have played with many times before. I lead 800 with the intention of firing the river if Sam calls and giving up if he raises or the SB comes along.

Sam says something like ‘really?’ which I take as a sign he has a low PP or some marginal hand. He calls and the SB folds. There is now about 4,000 in the pot and I have about 5,700 behind.

River: 3c

Pretty much the perfect scare card. The runner runner flush gets there, middle pair on the flop gets there, Sam may suck but he knows i’m not firing a ten a third time so firing again here looks super strong, like 75% nuts (better than top pair) 25% air strong. The only missed draw I could have is something like 54 which is a miniscule portion of my range and absolutely everything else got there except for total air (which, unfortunately, is exactly what I have)

My head is telling me ‘he’s a station, give up’ but my gut says he’s weak and he can’t call a large river bet.

This is where it gets interesting. The dealer messes up my change (I threw out a white 1k chip on the turn for my 800 bet) and tries to push me back 1200, just as i’m reaching forward with my 5,500 stack of large denomination chips in my hand. I’m about to announce all-in, but then I think for some reason that i’m actually 7k deep instead of 5.7k, the dealer stops me to take back the 1,000 chip as I reach for it and in doing so, I drop the 5,500 stack in my other hand on the felt. Oops, I just bet 5,500 of my 5,700 stack with total air, without announcing all in, in the clumsiest manner in history. Live players view all in bets as stronger than all but one chip type bets for some reason so this actually matters.

Anyway, Sam asks how much I bet, I state 5,500 (with 200 behind) and he asks me if I have a set (he means a three but whatever, he said set). I don’t say anything and he says something along the lines of ‘you have a set but I have to pay you off’ and calls, showing As Ks which unfortunately is right at the top of his range. I think he’s calling me with most aces, although he probably shouldn’t be since my range is something like 70% nuts 30% air. maybe i’m overestimating how often I have a runner runner flush, set or 3x here. I shouldn’t have 3x much unless it’s threes full since I led the turn. He looks quite surprised to have won the hand, says something like ‘you know better than to try and bluff me’ (which I do since he’s a station) and I curse myself for being a retard with fancy play syndrome.

I’m almost all in blind from the SB so I throw in my last chip since 75 of my 200 is in on the SB and I bust when two players somehow end up all in on the flop and my 94o is drawing dead. I’m completely disgusted with my play. I even had a soft table. That was just inexcusably bad and a blatant waste of $550 (or, well, the $400 or so in equity that my stack was worth before the hand)

I can’t recall butchering a hand this badly with total air for 50BB against a station in a long, long time.

I’m more upset busting in this spot than I have been at any time over the past few months, including all of my flip for the chiplead on the bubble spots in Vegas. A three barrel all in bluff there is not just bad, it’s something a retarded, spewy live donk muppet would do. I’m ashamed of how badly I played today. It’s just awful.

Anyway, I head up to the cinema and watch GI Joe to unwind, it’s a typical fun action movie with a nonsense plot and random bad dialogue but it’s entertaining enough to see once. It’s still only about 11pm but I can’t bring myself to play any cash since i’ll just spew off money with that hand still on my mind so I head back to the hostel to basically do nothing for the rest of the night, write up my trip report/confession that I suck and maybe watch some TV.

Tomorrow i’ll play some cash and try to undo the damage I did to my roll with my massive failure today. The goal is to run up my $1100 buyin for the 6max event playing cash over the weekend when the Crown donks come out to drink, play and spew off money.

I really need to write a note on my hand when I play live tournaments that says ‘don’t be creative, don’t bluff, be a TAG/nit until the antes kick in then steamroll them by pushbotting when we’re down to 15bb average stacks’.

Ugh, I suck at poker. Today was disgraceful, but tomorrow is a new day and… well… nevermind, i’m a luckbox, i’m due and i’ll just win the Main Event instead.

Day 2: $340 Terminator NLHE w/$100 Bounties

I find myself at Table 20, Seat 7 with 5,000 brand new shiny chips in front of me with half hour levels… only one problem… we’re 11 handed. Yeah, fuck you too Crown.

The blinds start at 25/50 and I find myself involved on the very first hand in the SB with effective stacks of 5k

Dealt to SwoopAE: As Qd

Folded to CO
CO calls 50
BTN raises 175 to 225
I call
BB folds
CO folds

Flop: Ks Js 8c

I’m pretty much done with this hand if he fires a reasonable bet since it’s all over his range and i’m behind a low PP anyway so I check.

Villain bets 200. That’s odd. I decide he must have a low PP or a monster and elect to call and lead most turns then give up if I get any further action unless I hit something.

Turn: Ah

Well, that changes things. Leading this card makes no sense so I check.

Villain bets 500. I don’t really like this but I have to call down now since the only hands that should be beating me here are AK, AJ and sets. I elect to call and checkcall most rivers.

River: 9d

The river changes nothing really, so I check with the intention of going with my read since I essentially only beat a bluff or a very badly played AT on this board. Villain bets 1,000. I’m thinking about folding but villain’s mannerisms seem fairly weak so I make an ‘I don’t beat anything other than a bluff but villain could be a spewy retard because it’s live poker’ call.

Villain shows 73 offsuit and I take down a nice pot with my bluffcatcher. Who am I kidding, i’m just a station.

Anyway, i’ve got off to a nice start and i’m up to nearly 7k.

I stay mostly uninvolved for a while, win and lose some small pots raising preflop and then either cbetting or giving up with mixed results and then find myself in another hand at 100/200 with a stack of ~7500. I cover most players at the table, BTN has ~2200 and SB has ~1400.

I find 2d 2h UTG+1 and those of you who have played with me know this is my ‘lucky hand’. I consider mucking since the stack sizes are awkward but we’re 9 handed at the moment so whatever, I raise. I make it 500.

BTN elects to call, leaving ~1700 behind. BTN is a spewy live donk who limpcalls and flats large raises out of position only to checkfold the flop and stuff like that. He’s awful.

In any case, SB elects to go all in for 1400, only 900 on top of my raise. With a bounty worth a third of a buyin on the line and potentially two if BTN calls with the largest stack being 11bb, I snap reshove and BTN tank-folds. LOL, donkaments at BTN flatcalling a quarter of his stack and then folding preflop. Anyway…

Villain turns over Qc Qs and I remain in my seat, calmly telling villain that I have the stone cold nuts and he’s going to the rail. After all, I have my lucky hand and i’m going to run good today. Villain starts yelling ‘HOLD, ONE TIME!’ and stuff like live donks yell when they’re all in.

Flop: Jc 6c 5h

Um, two please?

Turn: 3c

I haz teh gutshot!

Unfortunately, villain has picked up a flush draw so I only have four outs.

I calmly repeat that I have the stone cold and ask the dealer for a two or a four.

River: 4s

Ship it! I make a straight and villain starts cursing at either me or the dealer, it’s hard to tell. He tells his friend on the rail that i’m a ‘fucking donk luckbox’ and I tend to agree. It’s fun being a luckbox though.

I find myself with about 9.5k and then go completely card dead, stealing once per orbit for the next three levels. I raise preflop with Ah 7h at 200/400, get one caller, flop a nut flush draw and open shove. Villain quickly mucks. I play position and win one hand per orbit without seeing a hand better than KcTc (which I folded) for about two hours (only about 6-7 orbits/4levels for live poker) and find myself sitting with 9,000 at the start of 500/1k with the average at 18k. I jam some random hands on the SB two orbits in a row then on the button on the next orbit. I also pick up a pot when SB (a nitty woman named Kim who is apparently good but seems to be a massive nit) limps and I jam some random two cards like Q6 and she folds. I haven’t seen a pocket pair other than 22 yet and my next best hand after the AQ on the first hand was ATo or some rubbish. Still, i’m staying afloat because my table sucks. With no antes though, accumulating is hard so i’m just staying afloat.

Finally, on the last hand of 500/1k, I find Qd Qh in MP. A weak player limps UTG+1 and I raise to 5,000 with a ~10k stack because it’s live poker and he’s going to view that as weak because he’s retarded and i’ve been going all in a lot. It folds around to villain who elects to shove and I quickly call. Villain has Ac 7c and i’m looking good to double up with ~22k in the pot.

Flop: Kc Jc 9h

Well, I never said it was going to be easy.

Turn: 9d

Hold, please.

River: 4h

I somehow hold and climb to 22k, which is close to the average. We’re down to a little under a quarter of the field.

At 600/1200, I find a nice spot to jam over a limper with AJ, he tank-folds and then says he had AQ.

My response to that can be best described by watching Durrrr’s facial expression on the HSP episode when Eastgate just calls Durrrr when Eastgate has A6 and Durrrr has 62 on the 66xxx board. Limp-fold to the 15bb stack is optimal, sir.

I continue stealing blinds on the BTN and CO every orbit and jam every SB into the nitty BB who only has ~12k, he continues to fold.

I eventually find AQ again and jam over a raiser who folds and suddenly I have 37k despite only having gone to showdown three times during the tournament, twice of which was during the first level.

At 800/1600, my friend James raises to 4500 with ~25k on the CO, I say ‘sorry James’ and snap-shove my ~35k with 99 on the SB, BB immediately overcalls for about 17k, much to my disgust. James folds Ah Jh face up and I pray to be up against AK. Sadly, BB has KK and i’m going to need to bink a nine. Suckout again perhaps?

Flop: Q87
Turn: 2
River: 6

I brick out and find myself with ~18k as the blinds go up to 1k/2k. At this point we’re down to about 40 players, with 251 runners and 20 places paid.

I open shove A8o on the button, AQ UTG+1 and 33 UTG over the next orbit without callers to move back to about 27k. Some idiot tank-folds and claims he has AK to my UTG shove. LOL, Donkaments. ‘But I didn’t have a made hand’, he protests, when the table laughs at his perceived nittiness. He didn’t show the hand though so who knows. I fold my blinds and then wake up with Jc Js on the cutoff with about 35 players left and ~24k. Cool. UTG raises to 6,000. Not cool. Fortunately, UTG is a young Asian Gambler Kid™ who is beyond retarded at poker. Example: At 500/1k, he opens 4.5x in MP with AsTs, gets shoved on for 13x, the shove gets overcalled by a guy with 28x, he flats the overcaller, checks the 8x7s6s flop, overcaller jams, he tank calls getting over 5-1 with 13 clean outs after putting half of the effective stacks in preflop, then gets there. Seriously, he flatted a shove and overcaller pre for 60% of the stacks then considered folding once he hit as hard as he could realistically expect to hit. Anyway, for this reason, I know i’m way, way good against his UTG range and I also know he isn’t folding to a 12BB shove after i’ve open shoved 3 of the past 10 hands. I move in, he calls and tables Qh Qd. Of course the idiot has a hand. Anyway, a jack would be nice. Maybe two of them.

Flop: Tc 8c 6d

I pick up some runner-runner draws. It’s a start. How about the nine of clubs on the turn?

Turn: 2s

Well that didn’t help. Jack, please. I’m going to win this tournament. I feel it.

The river… is a king. The paint got me all excited. Oh well.

I head off to the rail with my single bounty chip for a loss of $240 and yet ANOTHER top 20% of the field without cashing finish. I’m getting a lot of those.

I watch James for a while but he loses a big flip with about 30 left and sadly, the remaining members of Team Obnoxious Jerks both fail to cash in the event.

Tomorrow i’m thinking about playing Day 1a of the $550 250k GTD event.

A rundown of today, by the numbers

Tournaments: -$240 (-$340 Buy-in, +$100 cash for bounty)
Cash: $0

Net: -$240

As if I would have two winning days in a row.

I’m feeling good about tomorrow though. I won 1/3 key races today, went to showdown 6 times all tournament (4 AIPF, won 2/4, the AQ hand and a checked down bvb pot which I won) and still accumulated well, ran up a stack twice and just lost the key pots.

I wouldn’t change how I played any hand today, at all, so i’m very happy with my play but disappointed with the result, obviously.

Maybe tomorrow i’ll start my journey towards that huge score. It should be about 60k for the win in tomorrow’s event. That would be nice.

Live poker. Sigh. Gotta win those races… um, I mean 20/80s… whatever.

…and the blog is back!

A couple of days ago, I was deliberating whether or not to subject myself to more live poker so soon after leaving Las Vegas. After a session of being 3bet and 4bet by maniacs online, I decided that live poker was calling me. After a quick look at the list of upcoming tournament series in the nearby region, I was left with three choices; ANZPT Queensland (my home state’s first poker championship), The Victorian Poker Championships at Crown and AAPT Macau. With Macau being slightly out of my price range with a 6k main event, I was forced to decide between a $2500 ANZPT Event at Jupiters where the floor staff don’t know the difference between a straight and a flush or a $2700 Main Event at Crown, which is arguably the world’s best poker room (better than any in Vegas anyway) with a full schedule of preliminary events including an $1100 6-max event, a $550 250k GTD event, several $230-340 events, a $340 Teams Event and a $240 HA Event w/$100 rebuys.

Five minutes later, I booked my flights to Melbourne for the Victorian Poker Championships.

Day 1

4 August 2009

I arrive in Melbourne at 3pm with four hours until I meet James for the Teams Event. I check into the increasingly familiar hostel I normally stay at and make my way over to Crown for some 2/3NL.

I buy in for the max, which sadly is $200. The max buy-in and rake at 2/3 are pretty much the only bad things about the Crown poker room.

I win and lose a few small pots then find myself involved in my first large pot with approximately $200 in front of me. We’re 9 handed, UTG has $76, UTG+1 has ~$150.

Dealt to SwoopAE: 6c 6s

UTG raises to $16 (lol donkaments but this is standard for cash at Crown)
UTG+1 calls
UTG+2 calls
MP1 calls
I call on HJ
Button calls
BB calls

Flop: 6h Jd Qs

Cool.

BB checks
UTG shoves all-in for $60
UTG+1 calls
Folded to me
I raise $65 to $125
Folded to UTG+1
UTG+1 moves all-in for about $25 more
I call

UTG+1 tables AQo
UTG keeps his cards face down

Turn: 8c
River: 6c

UTG mucks and I find myself up to about $480

I flop another set and get one street of action and then get all in preflop with KK against a very short stack’s TT which holds. I’m sitting with about $580 when I find myself involved in another big hand. Everyone is pretty deep this time, all of the players involved in the hand have over $200 and some have similar stacks to me.

Five players limp for $3, I limp with Ac 3c on the button, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: 9c 8c 6d

SB bets $15
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls
CO raises $15 to $30
I think over my options then elect to call since my hand plays really, really well 6-way here.
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 calls
MP1 calls

There is now about $200 in the pot. So sick.

Turn: 7d

What a sick turn card. Please let me see the river cheap… Please!

Checked around to CO

CO bets $55
I call
SB calls
BB calls
UTG+1 tank-calls
MP1 folds

WTF is going on in this hand? There’s close to $500 in the pot and several players, myself included, have close to a pot sized bet behind and even the shorter stacks still have $100 or more behind.

River: Kh

Gross spot to brick out.

Checked around to CO who bets $100
I fold
SB calls
BB folds
UTG+1 tank-calls again.

Take a moment to try and work out what everyone has here.

CO tables… K5o for the bottom end of the straight. How does he ever have that, ever? He minraises the flop with the bottom end of a gutshot then bets 1/5 pot with his bluffcatcher with only one player to act behind him on the river? WTF?

SB tables… 97o for two pair.

What the fuck?

UTG+1 tables… T9o for the second nut straight. How does a ten scoop this 300BB pot? UTG+1 is a solid young guy and probably the second best player at the table after me. He tells me that he almost threw his hand away on the turn when CO bet with four callers. So ridiculously sick. I understand that he chops a lot there but how does he ever scoop that, ever?

BB tells me he had the diamond flush draw (wtf?) and MP1 won’t say what he had.

Anyway, I drop a hundred or so in that pot where I somehow have NINE clean outs to the nuts on the flop six way

About half an hour later, I find Qd Qh UTG and raise to $15 with two callers.

The flop is 9s 6d 3h and I bet $37, MP folds and BTN jams about $130. I call, the board bricks out and button mucks. Probably TT or 87 or something. Whatever.

I cash out about $580 when James arrives for a 2BI profit and we get delicious Indian food for dinner with Chris from the epic last night in Vegas story and an Asian girl named Demi he is playing with in the Teams Event. I recognise Demi from the Crown Poker Room but i’d never known her name.

We buy into the teams event which is 5k stack/30min levels and James has a mostly uneventful first level; he flops a straight in a 3way pot and gets 2 folds when he bets the flop and loses some small pots, giving me about 4600 in chips to work with.

My first hand comes up against George, a late-40s Crown regular who is massively spewy preflop, limpcalling huge bets with hands that flop really badly and a station postflop. George is one of those guys who thinks he’s good at poker but he’s possibly the biggest loser out of the Crown regulars in both cash games and tournaments.

The blinds are at 50/100 and we’re already under 50bb deep

I find Ad Js in MP and raise to 250, BTN calls, George calls in BB

Flop: As 8c 6h

George checks, I bet 325 (very small but there’s some method to the madness as it allows me to get 3 streets instead of 2 on the right boards), BTN folds, George calls. I intend to get three streets of value on a safe board or check behind and snap the river on a bad turn

Turn: 6d

George checks, I quickly check behind. This is a terrible card since George’s range to checkcall this flop is roughly ace rag, 9x, 6x, 87. After I check, he’s the type of player who bets hands with some showdown value for no reason so i’m 100% sure he’s leading his entire range on any river.

River: Kc

George bets 850, I quickly call, he tables 86o and I feel kinda stupid for not betting more on the flop, although he would have called anyway since he never folds a pair to one bet.

A few hands later I find myself involved again with ~3400. Most players at the table cover.

MP limps, George limps on HJ, I raise to 475 with 9h 8h. I’m expecting to get called a lot by one or both players who will check fold flops when they miss. Accumulation 101.

Flop: 5c 3s 2d

Well, they either have a set or air here. Both villains check, I bet 1,000 (I like this since a single chip looks very strong live), MP folds and George elects to raise all-in. He’s not capable of making a move here so he pretty much always has a set. I have nine high and have to fold regardless, George tables Ac 4d for the flopped wheel. Nice work limp-calling a 4.75x raise there with 40bb effective stacks then failing to get value. I’m actually quite fortunate I had air there since the overpair which is probably 50% of my range is basically getting stacked there since i’m getting nearly 4-1 to call off when he shoves.

So i’ve spewed off down to 1725 and things aren’t going well, but a double up puts us close to the chip average.

A few hands later I find Kd Qc in MP. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps and UTG+2 limps. UTG+2 is George, the other two are randoms who have been limping weak hands. I’m certain none of them have a legitimate hand but it’s gross to move in with 4-5 players to act behind. I move in anyway for 17BB and get overcalled, the three limpers fold and claim they folded A4, A2 and A8 before the cards are exposed. The overcalling villain shows AQ and although i’m dominated, all of the aces are out of the deck so villain is drawing virtually dead if I hit.

Flop: 445

One of the limpers starts moaning about how his A4 would have made trips. I don’t suppose I could have a king here?

Turn Q

Well, I have a few outs to chop now as well. King, Queen or a Four perhaps?

River: 3

George has a small tantrum about how his A2 would have made a wheel and how he would have probably called me if everyone folded (he’s not capable of making that call for 17BB with A2 anyway) as I shake hands with everyone and head off to the rail after playing for less than 20 minutes.

I apologise to James for my failure but we agree that the hands are fairly standard with the 98s button raise being non-compulsory of course but not really leaky either since we were looking to accumulate without showdown early.

We play some more cash and I win a bunch of small pots flopping top pair/two pair hands mostly and then stacking a guy for most of a buy-in when I get it in with bottom set against top pair. I flopped three sets playing live poker today. So sick. I cash out around midnight and head back to the hostel to get some sleep. The $340 Bounty event is tomorrow.

Anyway, my Teams Event failure aside… he’s the breakdown for Day 1

Tournaments: -$170
Cash:+ approx $600
Overall: +$430

I wake up early for a change and head into Caesars for the Megastack at midday. The first few levels are fairly uneventful; we start with 15k at 25/50 and i’m finding some premium hands although getting little action and I manage to chip up to 20k without any major showdowns. Unfortunately, around the start of the 75/150 level, the poker gods decide to flip my doomswitch and i’m card dead for several hours. I manage to stay afloat between 16-18k for several levels by picking up hands, isolating limpers and bluffing in postflop spots but accumulating at a table full of TAGs is next to impossible when i’m card dead. Eventually the table breaks and I take 17k to my new table at 200/400/50. I drop to about 15k then a short stack shoves about 4k into my aces so I find my way back to 19k. I find spots to 3bet twice (once with air, once with jacks) and get 4bet shoved on both times, the second time by a total nit whose range is QQ+ AK so I have to lay it down.

I remain mostly uninvolved until 400/800/100 and i’ve climbed back to around 20k stealing blinds and isolating weak players in hands when eventually I get involved again. I find Qd Jd, a weak player limps, I raise to 5x, he calls and then check-raises all in on an Axx flop and I have to give it up. That one hurts and i’m down to 11k. I pushbot my way back to 15k by the ridiculous 80 minute dinner break and head over to the Augustus Cafe to use part of my stockpile of $10 food vouchers that I have accumulated on a meal. After some delicious chicken, I find my way back to the poker room and prepare for some pushbotting with my 12bb stack.

After a couple of hands, I find myself involved in my first significant pot of the day on the small blind.

Effective stacks ~15k (both villains cover me) at 600/1200/100

Dealt to SwoopAE: Qc Qs

Folds to the button who is a super loose fish who almost minraises to 2500. I think it over for a couple of seconds and decide that 3betting is better than jamming against this guy whose opening range is literally any two, since I do want to get it in here.

Then something weird happens. At the EXACT same moment that I announce raise, the BB throws in three yellow 1k chips to go with his 1200 already out there which is 4200 total. Odd. The dealer says that my raise changes the action so he can take his almost minreraise back. The BB then says he didnt mean to raise to 4200 and was intending to call. I ask for the floor and the floor rules he can take his raise back. Odd. After it’s all sorted, the dealer says that my raise stands and regardless of my raise amount, the BB can take his chips back. I elect to raise to 6600 (lol donkaments, but it’s live poker and they’re both fish so whatever) and the BB now decides to fold instead of min3bet. Okay then. Button decides to call though, despite it being completely obvious that I have a monster.

Flop: As 9s 2c

I check, BB announces the good old ‘i’ll put you all in’ for my remaining 8k and I snapcall with my queens, he tables Jc 9c and i’m way ahead but I have to dodge five outs.

Turn: 8c
River: 4h

I fade the 5-outer and double to around 30k.

A few hands later, a weak player who limpfolds a lot decides to limp UTG, a deepstacked loose-passive guy limps behind him and it folds around to me on the cutoff. I decide that with 5k in the pot and both limpers folding in excess of 90% of the time I can’t do anything other than move in here and fortunately I manage to find Qc Jc which makes my decision a lot easier. I ship my 29.5k in and the button immediately calls all in behind me for 15k. Fuck. Everyone else folds. ‘I hope you have AK’, I tell the button as I table my QcJc. To my surprise and delight, he tables ThTd and we’re off to the races!

Flop: Picture in the window! Excitement! Oh crap, it’s a king

Flop: Kd 8s 4c

No help so far. Queen please?

Turn: 3s

I don’t suppose I could bink the river…?

River: 8h

I guess not. So much for being back to an average stack. I sink back to 14k and open shove territory.

A few hands later, I find Qs 4h and jam over the same weak guy who limped UTG before when he limps again, he quickly folds and i’m back to 17k.

An orbit later, I open shove 15k with Ah Qs and find a caller in a horrible Asian player three to my left, he tables Ks Qc and I need to fade a king.

Flop: 2d 2h 8h

Hold, please.

Turn:9s

River: Ad

Excellent. I climb back to about 31k and life is good again. The average at this point is about 38k.

About ten hands later, it folds around to the weak-fishy button who limps, SB is a new player to the table, a young early 20s Irish guy with an Irish Poker Open card protector who has 3bet once and opened about 2 pots despite only having been here for an orbit. He’s short with about 16.5k. He elects to move all in over the limper and my first thought is ‘he’s an online player his range is any two’. I squeeze out Ah Tc in the BB which sucks because I was thinking ‘the minimum hand I reshove with here is AT’ before I looked at my cards. It’s a tough spot though since it’s live poker. I ask Irish Guy some questions and he seems nervous (i’m completely unconcerned about the button) so I decide to reshove. Button folds, SB shows AQ and I announce to the table that i’m really stupid because everyone in live poker is a nit until proven otherwise. The extremely loud New York Yankees fan at the next table who has been yelling all day looks over, perhaps amused that someone is almost as loud and annoying as he is. Anyway, I don’t suppose I could spike a ten perhaps?

Flop: QQ2

LOL, Donkaments. I guess not.

Turn: 9

River: 4

Well, that was fun. Sigh at being retarded; no one’s range is any two cards in live poker, because they’re all a bunch of nits. I sink back to about 13k with a few minutes left in the level.

I pick up the blinds open shoving Ts9s and then elect to jam 15k over the same weak-tight limper from the earlier hands who now has a similar stack to me. This time he calls and we both table AQ and chop it up. This guy is literally limping in over 50% of pots with a ridiculous range. He’s down to about 9bb and limps again; a couple orbits later after the blinds go up to 800/1600/200. I have ~11bb and I find Qs 9s and figure I fold out over half of his limping range because he’s just that much of a retard and move in again, this time he asks how much more and then elects to call and tables Ad Ah (the first time he’s actually had a big hand all day after limping).

Some spades would be nice. I tell villain that I have a nice hand to crack his aces with and i’m going to win this pot.

Flop: Js 4s 3d

Villain’s face goes all white as I ask for another spade.

Turn: 8h

More outs. Crack aces one time?

River: Kd

I guess not. I wish everyone luck and prepare to head to the rail, then realise i’m left with about 2800, good for a little over 1.5bb. Comeback time!

I fold my next two hands and then find myself in the big blind. Horrible Asian player raises to about 5500 (lol) and gets 4 callers (even more lol since the average stack at the table is about 30k). I throw my last few hundred in without looking at my cards and hope for the best; theres about 13k in the main pot and 15k in the sidepot.

Flop: Ts 7d 2c

This looks promising. Asian guy open shoves about 30k and the other three players fold. Asian guy tables 6d 6h (!?!?!?) and i’m very, very live.

I squeeze my first card and discover 9d. Well, that’s an okay start. I flip my other card and unfortunately, it’s the 3c

Turn: 7s

Well, hello! I now have three nines and three tens left in the deck that can save me.

River: Qh

Or not. I wish everyone luck and head to the rail, busting outside the money but in the top third of the field for what seems like the tenth time in my last twelve tournaments or something ridiculous like that.

I consider heading to the Rio to see how Ozone and doing and catch up with James who is grinding cash there but i’m really tired so instead I wander home, book my flight back to LA on the 15th and fall asleep shortly after.

I’m calling my bank in a few hours when it opens in Australia in a last ditch effort to get the 10k in USD in time to register for Day 1d of the Main Event tomorrow.
I had no idea it would be this difficult to transfer 10k from my Australian bank account to cash here in the US.

Here’s what i’ve tried so far

P2P transfer – fallen through
Western Union – can only transfer $999 in first transfer
Bank Wire to Rio – too late to do via bank, Full Tilt sent me an email saying they couldn’t do it
Gary Benson’s Intercash service – Gary left LV and is currently in the Mediterranean
ATM – My bank won’t let me withdraw more than $1500/day and I only tried for the first time yesterday
FTP$ to Cash – Couldn’t find a buyer.
So now you understand how my past couple of days have been spent.

The last 48 hours has been a little bit difficult. If I don’t get to play the main it’ll be disappointing but i’ll just play some 1k events over the coming week as my ‘take a shot’ attempt which is really probably the smarter option anyway due to bankroll management and the fact that I am a massive life nit. I’m still playing the Main though if my bank will let me withdraw the 10k, I went down to the Rio today and the atmosphere is great.

I watched Negreanu on the feature table for a while, picked up my Full Tilt gear from the FTP Suite, explored the Full Tilt lounge and laughed at the hilarity of about 30 of Dennis Phillips supporters in uniform on the rail next to his table. The atmosphere at the rio is like nothing else.

Yesterday, I played another $330 Megastack at the Rio. A couple levels in, I got involved in a big pot where I bet/3bet all in on the flop with a nut flush draw while deep against an older guy who pretty clearly had top pair or an overpair; he tanked for a while and eventually called off his stack with the overpair and I missed my 12 outs to end my very uneventful tournament. After busting, I headed to the Stratosphere to check out the thrill rides at the top. The rides were surprisingly awesome and the view of the strip from 1100 feet is fantastic. Although the surrounding area is seedy and I wouldn’t recommend staying there, the Stratosphere is definitely worth the visit. I also found a pizza place that actually serves BBQ Chicken Pizza here in America. It’s one of the most popular types of Pizza in Australia and yet you can’t find it anywhere here in America.

After the thrill rides, I lost $50 playing blackjack against a dealer who keps making 6K5 21s against my JT and stuff so i’m back down from being up $51.50 to being up $1.50 in pit games for the trip. Kinda pales in comparison to the 5k or so i’m down from playing poker. LOL, Donkaments, etc.

I’ll upload my photos from the Rio today shortly, check out the SwoopAE’s Photography Thread in the Poker Stories section of the forums.

I have spent the past 48 hours mostly avoiding poker; with the exceptions of a small winning session of 1/2 at the Venetian and a small losing session of 4/8 Mixed at the Hard Rock. Today was Day 1a of the Main Event and assuming i’m able to get the cash together by tomorrow morning (my options are find a Bank of America branch or transfer Mike the money online for cash) I am fully intending to play Day 1b of the Main Event this year. Failing that (Mike isn’t home and I have no idea where the nearest BoA branch is), i’ll be playing Day 1c most likely.

I spent Day 21 hanging out with James, Michelle, Tim and a bunch of other Aussies from Melbourne. We played some cash at the Venetian and then headed out for dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. Have I mentioned how enormous the food portions are in America? An appetizer or salad is a full meal here. Their beer is also huge, I ordered a Stella and they brought me a 20 oz glass (probably about double the size of a normal beer on tap back home). No wonder this country has an obesity problem, I can’t eat three meals a day here if I try.

I spent today hanging out at the condo before wandering down the road to the Hard Rock for the annual 2+2 meetup. We play some 4/8 mixed games and I drop about 25 bets due to a mixture of playing badly and running badly at a table including 2+2ers ‘Dynasty’ ‘Ashixxx’ ‘Count Chocilic’ (names have probably been misspelled) and a bunch of others whose online names I can’t recall. Famous poker players in attendance include Phil Hellmuth, David Sklansky, Isabelle Mercier, Greg Raymer and probably a few others I missed plus notable online players including Bond18, cking and a bunch of other online players who crush stakes where my bankroll would consist of roughly one buy-in. I decide to leave at about 11pm since i’m planning on playing the Main tomorrow, i’m starting to get drunk and i’ve already lost 25 big bets playing 2-7 Triple Draw, Double Flop Omaha, Badugi and a bunch of other random games.

I’ve signed up for coverage during the Main Event at pocketfiveslive.com and hopefully a few of my hands get covered by PokerNews as well, they might since i’ve met Tim Duckworth (one of their main reporters) at Crown a few times and I think he knows who I am.

I’m still waiting to hear from Ozone, he should be arriving in town pretty soon since he’s playing the Main Event (as far as I know anyway). Seb has disappeared to Los Angeles for a few days so my rail will probably be fairly thin and consisting pretty much exclusively of random Aussies I know who happen to be in town.

It’s been a quiet couple of names but tomorrow it begins; the Main Event. If everything goes to plan, i’ll be celebrating my status as one of the November Nine in two weeks time.

Another day, another flip, another river and another $340 gone up in smoke. This trip is nothing short of a financial disaster so far.

I wake up early and after chilling at home for a while, I make my way over to Caesars for my what seems like nine hundredth attempt to run deep in a $340 Megastack.

Like usual, I hit no cards early but chip up to about 22k anyway by the start of 200/400/50 without playing any significant hands. My edge is so huge playing deepstack tournament poker. During the first three hours or so, my table is super nitty and i’m super card dead so I amuse myself by teaching the thtree guys sitting in the seats next to me how to play ‘Lodden Thinks’. For those of you who don’t watch High Stakes Poker, the basic premise is that you come up with a question (for example, how many kangaroos are there in Australia) and choose a subject (let’s assume it’s me). The guys i’m playing the game with are Jeff, Joe and Mike. One of them has to decide on the number of kangaroos that they think that I think are in Australia (lets assume Mike does this). Now Joe and Jeff take turns bidding, starting at 1 and going up in whatever increments they choose until one of them decides that the other’s number is more than Mike’s answer to the question (as the subject, my actual answer here is irrelevant). When one of them chooses the under on the number thrown out by the other (lets say 10 million in this case), that person has 10 million and under and the other person has 10 million and one and over. Mike reveals his answer, whoever has the over/under right wins and then I reveal my answer and much hilarity ensures (questions include how many women Joe thinks Jeff has had sex with to how many hookers Mike thinks I think are in Vegas to how many Zoos I think Jeff thinks there are in the world and many more)

Finally, the blinds hit 300/600/75 and the game winds down when Jeff busts when his nut flush draw goes down to a set. After breaking even for a few orbits, I finally find myself involved. I raise to 1750, random aggro villain shoves ~6.5k, I call with Kh Jh, villain has AJo, I bink a king and move up to about 30k. Cool, but could I please save my running good for when we’re playing for stacks?

The table breaks and then I find myself involved again at 400/800/100. UTG raises to 2000, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 moves all in for 4400 total, I reshove with QQ to isolate, everyone folds, UTG+2 has AQ and my QQ holds. Suddenly I have about 41k. I lose a few thousand without finding any hands and at 600/1200/100 I find myself involved again with ~35k, villain covers.

Weak-passive player in MP limps for 1200, I raise to 4400 on the button with 8s 7c, The player in SB (station pre, hyper aggro postflop middle aged Euro) decides to call, everyone else folds. With a little under 12k in the pot, we take a flop.

Flop: Jh 5h 2c

SB leads 5500. I evaluate my options; i’m essentially drawing dead but there’s 17.5k in the pot and I have 30k behind and giving up after raising the limper preflop seems very weak since I have a fairly tight image. I figure that he never has better than top pair since he led out and is rarely that strong so I elect to move all in (within about 2-3 seconds of his bet) and villain quickly folds. I find myself back at 50k and life is good.

I still can’t find any hands and by 800/1600/200, i’ve dropped back to 45k (average is about 48k at this point with slightly under a third of the field remaining). I still haven’t put a significant portion of my stack at risk. I know the first of the two big flips that will take me into the money is coming soon though.

Sure enough, it folds to the button who moves all in for about 19k on my BB; I look down at Ah Qh and snapcall, villain unfortunately has sixes (I think his range is almost any two) and we’re racing. I tell him i’m going to hit an ace or queen because i’m feeling it.

Flop: Td 7d 2h

No help. Ace please?

Turn: As

Bink! Wow, it looks like today might actually be a deep run…

River: 6c

I guess not. The river doesn’t surprise me at all; i’m not running below expectation n all in pots this trip but I seem to win every 5k flip and lose every 40k flip.

Sigh.

Well, I still, have 26k, time for a recovery.

I stay alive taking the blinds once per orbit and about 20 hands later on the last hand of the level, I find myself involved again with a ~24k stack. Villain has ~35k and is a young guy wearing a baseball cap who seems competent but not particularly aggressive.

Folded to me on hijack with 9c 9s, I see that there are a bunch of 20-35k stacks behind me and decide i’m strong enough to raise/call instead of open shove, I raise to 5k (standard at this table) and young guy reraises to 15k on the button. I hate this spot, he’s always strong, i’d much rather be facing a shove. I know i’m doomed because his range is probably TT+ AQ+ but folding leaves me with under 10bb since next hand is 1k/2k and raisefolding a 15bb stack with 99 is just retarded. I make a speech about how everyone is a nit until proven otherwise in live poker then announce that i’m all in anyway, villain calls and tables Qd Qh and the doorcard is Qs. I wish villain luck and wander away as the dealer runs out the rest of the board. I figure they’ll call me back if I make running nines. Evidently, I don’t and I fail to cash in yet another Megastack despite chipping up to three times the starting stack without a showdown for a major portion of my stack for what feels like the millionth time. I’m really disillusioned, far more so than normal and although it’s completely standard to lose a few key flips over a sample size of 15 tournaments, it feels like the situation is completely hopeless. When we’re 60+BB deep, I chip up uncontested but as soon as we hit reshove stacks, I lose a flip or two and suddenly i’m open shoving into queens or aces.

I need to stay deep in the Main Event and hopefully I can find a way to get ITM without every needing to win a flip then maybe win some key flips for a deep run. Because my trip has been such a financial disaster so far (down about 5k now) i’m thinking of selling off about 20-30% of myself in the Main Event. Seb’s expressed interest in 10%, Glockers has 2% already and I gave 1% to TWLLM and Kid Hustlr a while back for helping me out at various points in my poker career. Leaves about 16% more I might sell, although I haven’t decided yet for sure.

In any case, I eventually wander home through the excruciating heat (even though it’s 10pm) and figure that tomorrow’s a new day, i’ll be taking it off poker and then i’ll probably be playing either Day 1a or 1b of the Main Event.

Here’s to my redemption and impending deep run in the Main Event. As Skeptix would say, it’s time to do it to it.

After lying in bed unable to sleep, I get up and decide to watch some American TV and stay up at late as I can then try and sleep late in the afternoon so I can wake up early in the morning and reset my sleeping patterns in time for the Main Event.

American TV is weird. One channel is running an informercial, featuring a Pastor with a Southern accent trying to convince viewers to purchase a vial of ‘Blood of Jesus’ (it looks like water with food colouring) for good luck. If you order now, it comes with a multicoloured piece of cloth with some biblical quote about wealth embroidered on it which will bring you money. Listening to the obviously fake ‘real testimonials’ amuses me for about five minutes before I change the channel and end up watching several episodes of ‘Angel’ back to back. The advertisements on this new channel are also hilarious. There is one ad for a headache relief pill which lists the possible side effects as ‘stomach ulcers, internal bleeding and muscle loss’ and urgses your the consumer to ‘contact your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms leading to likely side effects including (random symptoms). The ad concludes by stating ‘Product Name isn’t for everyone: Know the risks, know the benefits’. Really? Is anyone going to buy a medical product for something as minor as headache relief with the slogan ‘Our product isn’t for everyone, know the risks, know the benefits’ with side effects including internal bleeding and stomach ulcers?

If I see the ad again i’ll take note of what the product’s name is (I forget) and try and find a link to the ad online.

I also withdraw my 10k in WSOP Main Event funds from Moneybookers to my bank account so that i’m ready to transfer the money to either Mike or Seb or whoever ends up wanting a 10k bank transfer for 10k in cash. I swear everyone i’ve met here is loaded with cash after a great series. It’s going to fell really weird handing over 10k in cash for a tournament buy-in since this will be the first time i’ve bought into a huge tournament without being auto-registered.

By the early afternoon, i’m completely shattered decide to let myself fall asleep. I wake up at 3am, play some poker and decide that Day 20 will be the day I actually final table a Caesars Megastack event and i’m not going to oversleep for a change. Now all I need is to win some flips, flop some sets, find some aces and activate my luckbox. Poker is easy when you flop the nuts. Hopefully it’s my turn today.