Chomping at the Bit

I'm back in Atlantic City now and I can't wait to get to the casino tomorrow morning. I'm absolutely fiending to play tournament poker right now and the timing couldn't be better. I'll be playing three tournaments here and one every day in Minnesota. It's time to start racking up some CardPlayer of the Year points.

I'll be staying at a lower-budget hotel this weekend without internet so the next blog entry won't be until Sunday.

Autumn in New York

Today was a beautiful, crisp fall day. After grabbing lunch at one of the 8000 restaurants within a block of Nate and Ian's apartment I took the Subway to Central Park. I walked around and watched with nostalgia as some kids played kickball before falling asleep on a bench.

I've had a very nice time here in Manhattan but I am fiending to get back into a casino and dominate like I know I can. It looks like I will be playing $500 and $1000 preliminary events at the Taj in addition to the 10k championship next week. I know I am going to bust out bigtime in a tournament sooner or later.

Back on the Bandwagon

Two weeks ago while watching a shameful beating at the hands of the lowly Miami Dolphins I was having visions of a 4-12 Broncos season and subsequent front-office house cleaning. Now all is right in Broncoworld and they seem to be the class of the AFC West. That may have been the most impressive performance I've seen since the the toss left was a guaranteed 7 yards. Still I think the Broncos are going to finish third in the division behind the Chiefs (an Arrowhead revenge game already frightens me) and the suddenly-scary Chargers. With the Colts, Pats, Steelers, Jags, Bengals, and Dolphins all swimming around in the AFC sharktank I still think the playoffs are more unlikely than not. Still it was great to watch tonight especially after the barnburner which was the CU game on Saturday (player of the game punter John Torp).

Just wrapped another quality online session. Right now I have no equal in the Party Poker cash no limit games. I'm saying it - I am the best cash no limit hold em player on the site*

* - who plays those tables consistently. For all I know Phil Ivey may have a rarely-used Party Poker account.

New York City

Got here Friday evening and it has just been madness ever since. The closest experience I've ever had to this is actually Dunedin in New Zealand so pretty much my head is still spinning (despite doing little other than watching NFL games today with Ian). All the streets around here look like the Hill at 10 on a Friday night, whether it's 4:30 AM on a weekday or 2 in the afternoon. Right now it is 1:41 on Sunday night and outside it sounds like Pearl Street on a summer Saturday afternoon.

Despite the craziness I am enjoying the whole experience quite a bit, staying with Nate and Ian in the East Village. This week I'll be doing touristy things before heading back to AC (most likely on Thursday). I just wrapped up a brief and profitable online session and may get in another one or two in the next couple days.

A Mystery Solved

I ran into the guy from the hand of the day from day 1 that I wrote about at the Borgata buffet tonight. I asked him about that hand and he said he had AK. Well played my friend.

Borgata Final Thoughts

I’m very happy with how I played. I was a short stack for virtually the entire tournament. I picked up aces just once the whole time and kings just once. Even though I was playing so tight it seemed like I got reraised every time I went for a steal. I just kept running into big hands. I deliberately avoided raising in late position without a hand for fear of getting bluff-reraised but I never picked up anything legitimate to raise with anyways. I went five hours the last day without seeing a pair bigger than tens. I managed to outlast 80% of the field due to one big suckout and a lot of stolen pots. The big suckout was when I moved all in over the top of an aggressive player’s raise and a loose player’s call with K9. The aggressive player had QQ but I rivered a king. After that it was just constant grinding. Each of the following moves helped keep my head above water:

· Raising a bigstacked limper huge with 94o and then making a big bet on the AKJ flop when checked to
· Checkraising a tight early position limper with 75o in the SB after an A94 flop
· Check-calling a limper’s bet with 32o in the SB after an A4J flop, then betting on the river with the antinut
· Betting with 67s on a T22 rainbow flop after calling a raise and getting checked to by the preflop raiser, who folded AK face up
· Moving all-in with Q5o in the SB after a late position raise

Eventually I decided to gamble in a huge three way pot with jack-ten of hearts. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it takes a freight train to get me to fold JTs before the flop and in this case I didn’t fold it for 13 big blinds which was half my stack. If I’d won the pot I’d have been in position to make a real run but as it was I got my money in far worse than I thought. One of my opponents had JJ which was very hard to put him on based on how he played it. The other had A8 and I went broke after the flop came QT9 and I happily called the second half of my chips.

Overall I was really pleased with the tournament structure and venue. It was the finest tournament I’ve ever been a part of. I think I gained a lot of confidence and also learned a few more moves to add to the repertoire. I also saw perhaps the most amazing hand I’ve ever seen:

With blinds at 600-1200 Steve Brecher raises to 4000 in first position. He gets three callers including the big blind. The flop comes J64 rainbow and everyone checks. The turn is the Kc (the second club), the BB checks, Brecher bets 7k, the other callers fold, and the BB thinks for a minute before calling. The river is an offsuit jack. The BB thinks for about twenty seconds and then moves in for over 20k. Brecher has 20k left. He studies for about two minutes and then calls and turns over AhTh! The big blind was indeed bluffing with 6c5c but Brecher couldn’t beat this particular bluff and was sent home. Incredible hand.

Next it’s up to NYC for about a week and then back to AC for the US Poker Championship at the Taj.

Out at Borgata

I went out with around 110 left. I didn't have any cards all day or all tournament for that matter and I'm amazed I staggered this far. I will write a full report tomorrow.

Day Two Draw

My table consists of 100% nobodies and almost all have a short stack like me. It's possible this is the least glamourous table left in the tournament. Of course if I get through today I will have to handle at least two tables and probably more.

Time to play.

Day One Borgata

I survived a day of cold cards thanks to the Borgata's fantastic structure. We got 20k to start and I was down to 7.6k at the end of the fourth level. I was ice-cold flopping sets all day long (less than 10%) and won nothing the one time I hit. I also got very little out of my suited connectors which I consistently took to the flop. I had only a few big pairs and lost chips with hands like AQ and AK. Somehow though I was able to grind my way back into the mix by picking up a few unwanted pots and finished the day near my high-water mark with exactly 21k.

Hand of the day: I limp behind a limper with 99 in mid-early position for 200 (it seemed everytime I raised with something like this I got reraised by a rock) and a good player with a fairly short stack limps behind me. An average, fairly loose player in the SB raises to 1000. At this point I have about 13k. The first limper folds but I quickly call the raise in position and then to my shock the other limper raises to 4500, leaving himself with about 5k more. The SB thinks forever before folding his pocket tens and it is up to me. This is an extremely bizarre play, to represent a big hand after limping behind two limpers in late position. I was completely befuddled. I couldn't see this guy not raising us limpers with a big pair, but I couldn't see him reraising half his stack wiithout a premium hand. I had talked with this guy during the breaks enough to establish that we are both good players with some experience. So I knew that he knew that I would know he was making a very weird play. Also when the small blind raises limpers like this it is often a real big hand (since they can just see a cheap flop if they wish and they are out of position). So he had to know the SB had something in this spot. I just couldn't figure out what to do. If I played all-in with him and lost I would be crippled. I thought about the stop and go and I also thought about moving all-in but finally I mucked. He said he would later tell what he had but I lost track of him when we broke tables. Hopefully he's still in it and I'll find him tomorrow.

I still have high hopes. The goal for tomorrow is the same as it was today: survive.

Hojos and Jitneys

Writing here from a Howard Johnson in Atlantic City, which features free wireless high-speed internet despite charging $150 less than the Borgata... I think I've got a leg up on some of my competitors based on what I've seen and read the last 24 recently:

"I had planned on arriving in Atlantic city tonight, but decided to switch my flight to a later one so that I could tie up several loose ends before I leave. I'll be arriving in AC at about 6:00am and the tournament at Borgata starts at noon I believe."
- Daniel Negreanu

Does this sound like someone who is ready to compete his hardest for four days? In reality the tournament starts at 11 AM which means an earlier than usual rise for me, though not nearly as early as it will be for Mr. Negreanu.

"The way I'm running, I'm definitely not playing the main event unless I make a score on Stars this weekend, or win a seat via some satellite or another. At this point, I'm almost hoping to be driving home on Sunday."
- Matt Matros

Obviously that one speaks for itself. I also spotted Phil Ivey and Amir Vahedi at the head of a craps table an hour ago at the Borgata, game faces nowhere in sight. Personally I'm feeling sharp and focused and really looking forward to the tournament. I'm not scared of losing. At the WSOP I think I was a bit scared at times because of bankroll pressure and I think it hurt my play. No fear tomorrow.

New trip, new blog

I will be gone for over month playing in various tournaments around the country. Check back here for updates!