Halo7′s Poker Blog on Bluffworld.com

December 3, 2006 – Sunday Fun

Well, today was Sunday so I decided to play in the Sunday Million on PokerStars. While it doesn’t exactly contribute to my goal of making WSOP and WPT events, first place gets almost $200K each week so I sometimes like to play it. Plus since I am going to the PokerStars WPT event a month from now, I figured I could use the practice playing against some of the same players that will be there. I had a decent showing in the 6800 person field, but had a misstep when I pushed over a late position raiser who was prone to stealing the blinds with KQ in the small blind. The big blind repushed, and the original raiser called both our pushes with AQs which I thought was a questionable play. The BB had JJ but an Ace came on the flop so we he knocked us both out. Up until that point I was playing great, but with no-limit one mistake is all you get sometimes.

November 28, 2006 – A frustrating couple of days.

Poker is one of those things. When you are running good, it seems so easy. You win all the hands you are supposed to win, and some of the ones your aren’t and it can almost feel effortless. When you aren’t running good, you feel like a moron because you pushed when you sensed weakness and it was actually strength. It all boils down to the fact that it is poker and sometimes you will run better than others.

I played in the UltimateBet 200K on Sunday as well as the Bodog 100K and then capped off the night with the UB $33 WSOP qualifier. The UB 200K was the only one where I could have played it a bit better. I played a hand with AK horribly against a guy who had KK. I raise in early position and he reraises. I call and see the flop because typically I have no problem laying down AK if I don’t hit. Well, the flop came 77T and I check. He bets a small amount, less than half the pot, which I think is because he doesn’t like his hand. So instead of laying it down and writing off the T1800 loss preflop, I decide to check raise him all in for his remaining T4K chips. Well, he had KK and I got crippled. The 100K I felt much better about my exit, when I pushed short stacked over a limper with 66 and was thrilled when I got called by 55. That was until the 5 came on the turn. Then in the UB $33 rebuy, I push from the BB when I have 12 BB’s left with TT and the limper folds, but the SB calls me with A8o which is a horrible call. Unfortunately he hit his Ace on the turn so I was busted out of that one as well. I called it a night after that.

I also played in the $33 WSOP on Ultimatebet on Monday and Tuesday. I made it decently far in both of them (getting into the top 25% of the field) but ended up going out in both of them. In the one on Tuesday, I had a nice situation where I pushed UTG with about 9 BB’s with 88. I get reraised by AQ and then overcalled by AK so I am in a great spot to triple up and be back in the game with shared overcards. Well, there were 2 Aces left in the deck and damned if one of them didn’t come out on the turn. Ah well, when you get short you have to gamble a bit and hope that you win the flips (or better). Since only first place gets the WSOP entry in this tourney, you really have to win some races to take it down. The overlay is still almost 100% every night so I am gonna keep playing in it as often as I can.

November 25, 2006 – Can Lightning Strike Twice?

I decided after my miraculous run last week to pony up the $650 and play in the PCA Satellite again on PokerStars today. I am sick about this one hand with AKs I played horribly. Blinds were 100/200. I have about 10K in chips and villian who is right after me has about 6K. I raise UTG with AKs to $600. Villian reraises to $1800. I decide to see the flop instead of pushing preflop. Flop comes TT7 with one of my suit. I check, Villian bets $1800 (which seemed like a small bet considering the pot size and still left him with enough to fold) so I pushed. He instacalled with KK and I lost a big pot instead of just losing the $1800. I actually came back from that after giving a bunch of bad beats to that same player and almost made it again. They were giving seats to the top 16 out of 318 players and I went out 38th. I guess I shouldn’t expect to win every tournament I play, but I can still hope

November 21, 2006 – Back in the saddle!

Well, I took some time off, but now I am officially back on my poker game. I played in one of the $175 PCA double shootout qualifiers on Pokerstars in a hope to win another package (and therefore take the W$10,000 and $2,000 cash instead). I won my first table after getting great cards, then went out a hearbreaking 4th at the 2nd table (1st got PCA package, 2nd-3rd got $650 and 4th got $65). I wasn’t going to play any more poker since I had skipped the juicy Bodog $70K guaranteed (with like 30K in overlay) and the UltimateBet 2007 $33 WSOP(with like 6k in overlay) so I could concentrate on this table. But then another double shootout was starting with only 67 players so I decided to play since that is a little overlay(sort of like playing with no juice since $175*67 is only $11,675 and the package is 12K.) Surprisingly, I made it to the second table again! It was actually a tough final table with 4 good players according to thepokerdb.com but to my surprise they all busted out and I was left 4 handed with 3 of the biggest donks on the planet. I figured if I could get some cards and have them hold up, I would be in good shape. Well I got the cards, but they didn’t hold up. I lost a critical pot when I had AJ vs A8 all in pre flop and an 8 came on the turn. That got me below 10 BB and I ended up pushing some trash a little while later and ran into AJ so went out in 4th again after a great set up at the table. Maybe tomorrow…

November 20, 2006 – I remember why I took a break!

After I breezed through to get the PCA package a few days ago I knew I was in for some beats and I took them today. I played in one of the $175 PCA double shootout qualifiers on Pokerstars in a hope to win another package (and therefore take the W$10,000 and $2,000 cash instead). I really like these since sit-n-go’s are my specialty. I got down 3 handed at the first table and then got into a blind vs blind battle with AJ and he had TT. I didn’t win the race, so out in 3rd place. I then moved onto the UltimateBet $33 WSOP qualifier. There is a ton of overlay on these (tonights only had 218 runners in it for an almost 100% overlay) so I am going to be playing in them every night. I also busted out after the first break in this one with KQs vs 77. I actually flopped a King, but he hit his 2 outer 7 on the turn to put the nail in my coffin. Ah well, maybe tomorrow night will be the night. It would be nuts to go ahead and win a WSOP package this early.

November 19, 2006 – Didn’t the WSOP just finish?

Well, believe it or not, ultimatebet has already started satellites to the 2007 WSOP Main Event. They are having a 30 seats in 30 days promo from the 17th – December 16th. The best thing about it is the format is $33 buy in with no rebuys at 9:00 PM EST each night. With the current amount of sign ups, it is giving about a $5-6000 overlay every night. Hopefully this will continue since that rocks. I normally don’t like the small buy in stuff since you have to beat so many folks, but if you give me enough of an overlay and I start listening.

In any case, I played in this tonight, 244 entrants so still a 4000+ overlay. I started off good enough, but lost a coin flip with a short stack right before the first break when his TT > my AJ. Then right after the break, I had K5o in the BB. A mid position player min-raises and the sb calls so I call as well. The flop comes AK5. Sweet! I check raise all in, and the PFR shows me AA and IGHN. I might continue to take shots at this one if there continues to be nice overlays. No reason not to get your WSOP seat today

November 18, 2006 – Back from the dead!

First off, I need to apologize to my readers for not updating the site. I know some of you have been checking in every few days to see what I have been up to and have been disappointed. I don’t want to make too many excuses, but I have been working a lot on CasinoBonusWhores.com and Bet2K.com and unfortunately not this one. Combine this with the new legislation that was passed and I have been going nuts just keeping up with the changes in the industry. I also haven’t been playing much poker lately. I did play in the Pokerstars WCOOP $2700 main event which was fun and I almost made it into the $$ but not quite. I think I went out like 200 people from the bubble after having a great start. I got into some critical situations and ended up losing some 90/10s and 60/40s for huge pots that crippled me.

In any case, today I started back into it with my current goal, a WPT Seat for the Pokerstars Carribbean Adventure in January at Atlantis in the Bahamas. On Saturday, Pokerstars has a $650 buyin Satellite tournment that gives 1 seat for every 18 players or so. As you know, I think these high buyin tourneys are the best way to go since you have to beat a lot fewer folks to make it. I doubled up right before the first break and was feeling pretty good about it. Right after the 2nd break, I took a decent hit that dropped me from T5500 down to T1500. Blinds were 75/150 and EP player raised it to T600. I had AKo and reraised to T1800 and the PFR called. The Flop came KQT rainbow and he pushed all in for $2000 more. I quickly called and he showed QQ for a set. I didn’t improve and dropped down to T1500 or so. One of those situations where there isn’t much you can do.

Well, believe it or not I came back from that hit and here is the result (my screenname is BetPot):

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO! Goin’ to the Bahamas in January!

August 27, 2006 – Sunday Special

Today the only thing I played in was the Bodog $100K. Some pretty horribly play there, but I ended up going out pretty early. Running pretty badly lately. Hopefully it will turn around soon.

August 26, 2006 – Sometimes, there isn’t much you can do

Well, today I played in the W$475 EPT London qualifier that I did so well in last week on Pokerstars. I went out after about 2 hours when I raised preflop with AKo and another person reraised me around 3 times my raise. I call and the Flop came A58 with 2 spades. I checked, planning on check raising since I had a little more than the pot in my stack, and he minimum bet. I call, planning on pushing the turn if the flush card doesn’t come. The turn is a J that puts 2 flush draws on the board. I push and he instacalls with AA so IGHN.

August 25, 2006 – More of the same

I played in the Monte Carlo EPT W$22, the London W$25, and the Barcelona @$25 on Pokerstars. Didn’t make it on any of them so gonna take some time off until the W$475 London event tomorrow

August 24, 2006 – One of those “blah” days

Today was one of those days where nothing went right. I lost every race, and when I had them with pair over pair, they would hit their set. I played in the 2:00 W$215 EPT Added, a W$22R Monte Carlo qualifier, and the W$25 London and Barcelona qualifiers on Pokerstars. I think I have decided to not play in the Baden ones for a bit since they are not attracting enough interest to give away many seats. It is so much easier to make it to the final 7 than the final 4. As I alluded to, I didn’t win a thing today, just a bunch of W$ out the window. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

August 23, 2006 – EPT or bust

As usual, I played in my 3x W$25 Rebuy EPT tournamens on Pokerstars. My results lately have slipped from when it seemed like I was winning a seat every other day. So I went back and reevaluated my game a bit. I determined that I was playing a little looser than I should have been, and taking chances I didn’t need to. For example. I had pocket jacks early on in the EPT London qualifier and raised to 200. One of the many donkeys in this tourney reraises me all in for 3000. I know he has AK or AQ, but the smarter play is to pass and wait for a better spot. When you are playing against really bad players, the best and least variance course of action is often times to tighten up and just make sure you have the best of it preflop. If you just play solid poker, you will end up with less rebuys in the game and overall will have a higher ROI over time. The other thing that is of critical importance that I alluded to yesterday is to know how many chips you need to accumulate to fold your way into the seat. Often you can do some rough calculations by taking the total number of chips in play and dividing by the number of seats given. This number is often higher than what you will actually need, but if you can get 75% of that number, then it is about right. Keep in mind too, that this number can shift if one or 2 players have huge stacks since it makes the effective average at the bubble lower.

Well, it looks like all of my self reflection paid off, or maybe I am just running better, because I won the seat in the EPT London qualifier today. I was crusing along in the Barcelona tourney with about 11K chips with 16 people left when 7 got the seat when I pick up AA in the BB. An early position player raises to 1800, it folds around to me and I make it 5000. He calls and the flop is 993. I push and he calls with pocket 5′s. Great! Until the 5 comes on the turn. I am 92% to win in that spot. Ah well, you can’t play any better than that. The Baden tourney was smaller so you had to make it into the top 4 to make it today. I was up to 10K at one point, but at the critical level when the blinds moved to 200/400 I only had 5700 chips. I ended up going out 6th.

August 22, 2006 – EPT Madness

Today I played in the $215 EPT Baden special. It is a pretty nice deal since they add in an EPT package as an overlay for first place. In any case, I had a set vs a flush and a straight draw 3 ways all in, and both of them made their draws. I then played in 2 more W$ EPT qualifiers on Pokerstars. I lost in the London one with a set vs a flush draw that made it, and during Baden I made an error. I had 30K chips which was enough to fold in, but I called a raise 3 ways with pocket 8s as the chip leader. I got all the chips in on a 478 2 suited flop, but a moron had called the raise preflop with 35s and made the flush and the straight on the turn. This got me down to 20K, then against the same person, I flopped a set of queens and she called all in on a gut shot and got there on the turn. Such a frustrating game when the morons are getting lucky. I should have remembered correct satellite strategy which is, if you have enough chips to fold into a seat, then do it. The only way I could lose was to play a hand and that is what happened, so I go out 9th when 6 people get the seat.

August 21, 2006 – Deja Vu all over again

Another day, 2 more W$ EPT qualifiers on Pokerstars. After coming so close on Saturday to the package, I have renewed my desire to make it to the London EPT. I think there are only about 4 more weeks to qualify and really 3 if you consider the fact that you still need to get reasonable air fare etc. I never was able to get anything started in the EPT London qualifier, and didn’t even do the add on since I was so short and then went out shortly after the break. In the Barcelona, I faired a little better and won my first seat in a while.W$475 more in the kitty. I didn’t play in the Baden one today.

August 20, 2006 – Sunday Specials

I started out today playing in the special EPT series they were having on Pokerstars. They are running some $215 tournaments that each have a 1 seat EPT overlay added to them. Since today was the EPT London one and that is one of our current goals, I decided to give it a shot. The best part is, you can buy in with W$. Well, it wasn’t meant to be and I ended up going out on a 357 flop with pocket tens against a set of 3′s. Sometimes it is just hard to get away from certain situations.

I also played in the $100K guaranteed on Bodog. It typically has a decent overlay and today was no exception with around 15K in overlay. Nice! I started off good enough, stacking one guy with a set of Queens against his AK on a QJ flop, but then one guy ran down my AQ with Q5o and then called my AT all in with KQs and flopped the nut flush. Ah well, maybe next week. Taking the rest of the day off to reflect on my game

August 19, 2006 – EPT London Satellite

Well, today, I spent $475 of my hard earned W$ on the EPT London Satellite at 2:00 P.M on Pokerstars. I made it all the way down to 11th when the top 7 got the trip. I was in the SB with 22 and it folded around to the big stack on the button who had been raising liberally. He raised to 2400, so I pushed my 11000 stack in, and he called with AQ. Well I lost the race. I needed to double up and it was a good opportunity not to mention I think I had a lot of FE against him in that spot. If I win that flip, then I would make a seat for sure. Maybe next week.

August 18, 2006 – 3 Amigos Take 4

I took yesterday off, but wanted to play in the $475 EPT London tournament tomorrow, so I figuered I would get some more W$ before I played in it. I hit up my 3 EPT qualifiers at 3:55, 4:35, and 5:15 on Pokerstars. I am still surprised at the level of bad play in these things. I routinely see people with 50+ VPIP and worse daily. You really should be able to maintain a 200% ROI on these things if you just play solid poker.

The EPT London was a nice big tourney with 79 entrants and 11 seats given, but I really never accumulated many chips and went out 25th. My Baden performance was equally meh going out 19th when 5 entries were given out. On the Barcelona, I was down to the final 13 people when 10 got a seat and I made a huge error when I called all in with a draw which I know better than to do so I went out 13th. I hate playing bad.

August 16, 2006 – 3 Amigos Take 3

Another day, more W$ to be made, so I entered my 3 EPT qualifiers at 3:55, 4:35, and 5:15 on Pokerstars.

My EPT London tourney started off badly, with me purposefully taking a race with my TT vs AK early for a 6K pot and losing, so I ended up in the thing for W$125 with the addon. I ended up going out shortly after the break when I raised all in with AK and a guy calls me with 89s and proceeds to suck out. Well, the games wouldn’t be so good if people played well so I guess I should appreciate his bad call. I am still off and running in the other 2 EPTs. Well, I was off and running, just raised a button steal all in with J5o for almost all his chips and he calls me with A5s and unfortunately i didn’t hit my 3 outer. I forget sometimes that you can’t bluff really bad players. I went out of the 3rd tourney 14th due to a mistake. I was trying to raise to 1600 over a limper at the 200/400 level and accidently hit the button before I typed in the amount so I min raised. This let the BB in for 1 unit and he ended up beating me with a hand he probably would have folded. Hopefully I will get all my bad beats out of my system on these so I can win the $500 WPT choice on Paradise tonight.

Bleh, just went out of my $500 qualifier. I played some decent poker and ran my 2500 starting stack up to 5200 or so, but bluffed at a pot at the wrong time once, and then once I got short bet 2nd pair when it was checked to me and was check raised. Since it was a draw heavy board, I called, but he had top pair so IGHN. Maybe next time.

August 15, 2006 – More of the same

After my stellar performance yesterday, I decided to play in the “3 Amigos” again, specifally the 3 EPT qualifiers at 3:55, 4:35, and 5:15 on Pokerstars.

I never got anything started on the London tournament and went out shortly after the first break without doing the addon. I made it on the Barcelona after getting incredibly lucky several times. I went out of the Baden one after losing a huge pot with KK vs 88 all in preflop (8 on the river no less). Seems to be a trend. Back to W$1373 after unregistering so not making a ton of ground. I know I am gonna be tempted to play a few of the WCOOP events so I think bumping my W$ up now is a smart move.

Even though I am not crazy about the tournament, I decided to play in the $15 Satellite to the WPT Choice $500 on Paradise. Since our goal is to play in a WPT, I need to try to get into the $500 every day, or at least make enough to just buy in.

Woo Hoo, I won the $500 entry into tomorrow nights tournament. I made it into the top 3 out of 43 people. Getting Aces at the final table certainly helped out too. Wish me luck, and hopefully I will see some Bluffworlders there!

August 14, 2006 – W$ galore (or not)!

I noticed yesterday that in addition to my Pokerstars 3:55 PM $25R London EPT, there was also a 4:35 $25R Barcelona EPT and a 5:15 $25R Baden EPT. So I decided to play in all 3 today and see how it goes. As of right now, I am ranked 7/18, 12/31, and 30/40 respectively so we we will see how it goes.

–Well I went out 12th(8 got the seat) on the first one after I lost with AA vs TT all in preflop. Sometimes I hate poker. –Went out 10th (7 got the seat) on the 2nd one after I pushed 84o into the BB from the SB with 7 BB’s and he woke up with QQ. –Went out 14th (7 got the seat) of the 3rd one on a steal gone wrong.

Tomorrow has got to be a better day. Net loss of W$250 on the set. I could never get that key hand that would give me enough to fold in.

Since I was running so well, I entered the WPT $500 $20R satellite on Paradise. Since the $500 WPT satellite is tonight (and that is our current goal), I thought I should go for it. Maybe my running bad in the PStars ones was so I could run well in this one. — Well so much for that. Went out 14th when the money started at 9th and top 6 got the seat.

Well, since I am a glutton for punishment, I bought into the 100K guaranteed $30R on Paradise and am still in. Money starts at 110 so I anticipate going out 135th or so LOL.

I must have done something right finally. Went out 19th out of 1153 players for a $594 payout. I really should have made the FT but I made a mistake by pushing UTG with 66 with 9 BB’s. Button woke up with KK and was one of 3 at the table that had me covered. I probably should have either just folded or limp/folded to a raise (depending on who raised of course).

August 13, 2006 – Sunday Fun

I woke up too late for the Bodog 100K Guaranteed and decided I would rather play against a smaller field which elimated the millions on Party and Stars. So I bought into the $215 on UltimateBet ($200,000 Guaranteed) and the $200 on Paradise ($150,000 Guaranteed). I did quite well in both of them, staying within the top 20 after the 2nd hour. I had a big hand which would have made me one of the chip leaders in the UB tourney all in preflop where I had AK vs 88 but I lost the race and went out soon afterwards. I think I finished 150 out of 950 or so and the money was for the top 100. In the Paradise, I had similar results and went out in the top 200 when the top 90 got $$. After that, I entered the $55 WPT qualifier (to the $500 WPT choice on Paradise), but didn’t do anything special there. The last tourney I played was the $100 rebuy on Paradise ($35,000 guaranteed). It did end up being a smaller field and paid out the top 20, and I ended up going out 27th I think. So I played some good poker, but no love in the form of cashes.

August 12, 2006 – More W$ plus maybe some guaranteeds

My Vegas trip renewed how much I enjoy multi table tourneys so I was thinking about playing a few of the guaranteeds with overlays in addition to my W$ satellites and STTs. I entered the 3:55 PM EST EPT qualifier as usual. Hopefully I will be able to bring it home again. I am thinking about the Absolute 100K that starts today if there ends up being a decent overlay and then the Bodog 100K tomorrow and then maybe the UltimateBet 200K. I also sort of forgot about the Party Monster thing today so tried a $6 STT at the last minute but didn’t make it. I think this is a pretty nice semi-freeroll series so I will be trying to play in the 100K monster every Saturday. I was just looking at Paradise and saw that their $500 WPT choice tourney was tonight. Since I like the higher buy in tourneys, I may try to Satellite in via the $55 at 6:15 EST. This would mean I would either have to play in the WPT Legends in L.A. or the WPT in Niagra Falls.

Well, I was only at 3K at the break and the average was almost 6K so I decided not to do the add on. Pretty much, if the add on won’t get me to at least the average stack, then I don’t do it. I will have to get lucky in the next few levels to have a shot.

August 10, 2006 – Back to the W$ Grind

I am still deciding what my next goal will be both personally and on this web site, but I am thinking it will be the WPT Borgata event in September. I am poking around now trying to figure out what qualifiers I can play to enter on what sites, but so far it looks like Full Tilt Poker WPT Players choice may be the best shot.

Since I haven’t decided for sure, I went back to my old standby of the 3:55 PM EST EPT London tournament on PokerStars which is so full of knobs it should be a lock shop. I started out somewhat slow but then hit a big hand with AK vs KT and am sitting about 12K right now with 24 players left. The top 9 players get seats so hopefully I can pull this one out.

Well, I got really lucky on one hand to win with AT over AQ, but ended up winning the W$475 seat for a profit of W$400. This brings my W$ up to W$1412. I am not sure if I am going to use them in WCOOP or save them for when they start the WPT events again

August 8 , 2006 – WSOP Trip Report

Well, I just returned from almost 3 weeks in Vegas for the WSOP. What a blast! I played in 3 WSOP events while I was out there, Event #37 which was a $1500 buy-in, the $10,000 Main Event, and Event +41 which was also $1500 buy-in. I bought into the first $1500 and satellited into the 2nd $1500 event. I am kind of upset with my play in the WSOP events, especially the 1st and 2nd ones. In the $1500 events, you only start with T1500 in chips and the blinds are at 25 25 with 1 hour rounds. This seems slow enough, but by level 4 you are at 100-200 which means you are <10 BBs unless you have picked up something by then. I was pretty lucky in Event #37 which had 2800 entrants and was up to a high stack of T14,000 or so at my highest point. I sat at a table with T.J. Cloutier for most of the day and he was immediately to my right which wasn’t too bad. He was a card rack that day, picking up Aces 6 times while I was at the table with him. I then had a steal go wrong with J8o when a short stack came over the top of me with A9o. It was a correct call pot odds wise, but I ended up losing about 3K chips on the hand. Another mistake was calling with QJ on a Q45A8 board (villian bet the flop 500, I raised to 1500, she called, turn was check check, and I couldn’t find a fold on the river to her 2000 bet. Villian had 23o.) This hand got me down into a danger zone, and then the antes started kicking in, making it even worse. I ended up pushing on the button with A7o when I had about 8 BB’s and the SB woke up with AK. I really should have been more patient since I went out about 380th and the top 270 got paid. I really wasn’t playing to cash at that point though and was sort of playing my normal short stack game.

I am still kind of sick about going out of the $10,000 main event so early. I started off well, and cracked the guy beside me’s Aces early on for a big pot. — I have pocket 8′s in the BB and the guy beside me raises the standard raise amount of 200. The button calls and I call too. The flop comes 456 rainbow. I decide to see where I am by check raising the flop. I check, the PFR bets 400, the button folds, and I check raise to 1200. The PFR calls, which in my mind eliminates most overcards except maybe AK. So I am putting him on 99-AA or AK at this point. A king comes on the turn and I know if I check, he will bet regardless of what he has, so I decide to bet and see what he does. I bet T2000 thinking that he might lay down 99-QQ with the strength I had shown, and that I am done with the hand if he calls. Well, he calls and the river is the beautiful 7. I bet another T2000 and he makes a crying call with his aces and I pick up a nice pot. This makes me one of the chip leaders at my table and it is pretty uneventful until this hand. I have T11,000 and call T100 with QTo in late position after 2 limpers. The button limps behind me so 6 of us see the flop of QT3 rainbow. It checks around to me and I bet T500. The button thinks for a second and raises it to 1500. The button is one of the few people at the table that has me covered at this point and I know is a skilled, aggressive player. I definitely put KJ in his range at this point so I reraise to 3500. He thinks for a second again and then goes all in. At this point, I should have known I was beat and folded with 7K left, but like a donkey, I called to get shown pocket 3′s for a set. The turn and river are no help and I bust during the 4th hour. One of the great things about starting with T10,000 chips is so you can get away from hands in situations like this. I am not sure if it was just me being used to the shallower stacked tournaments or what, but I couldn’t find a fold when I should have been able to. Ah well, maybe next year.

The other $1500 Event I really never got anything started and went out after about 4 hours when I pushed on the button with 7 BBs with K7s and got called in the SB by AQo. The push was correct, and with the antes the pot odds were correct for the 60 40, but I didn’t win the race. I did get to play with Monica who I played with in St Maarten (KrazyKanuck’s significant other) and Chris Ferguson was at our table for a while before it broke.

Aside from the WSOP, I played a bunch of other tourneys and some 2-5 No Limit cash, which I had only played once before this trip. Luckily, I did great in the cash games which paid for more tournament buy ins. If I am remembering right I played in a $60 at Treasure Island (a waste of time due to a crappy structure), a $60 at the Flamingo (another waste of time), the $430 at the Mirage on one of the Sundays, the Noon $150 Caesars tournament one day (which has a nice structure and 40 minute blinds), and probably 4 of the WSOP Satellites at the Rio which were $125-525 buy in sit-N-gos. My favorite tournament was the Venetian 8 PM tournament which ends up being a $180 freezeout after you do the single addon and dealer bonus chip thing. You start with T4000 and there are 30 minute blinds with a very gradual increase. I played in this one 5 times and had some decent luck making it to the final table 2x. The first time there were 140 entrants and we ended up chopping it when it got down 4 handed. I ended up with $3400 on that one. The second time was the last night in Vegas and there were 80 entrants and I ended up chopping it when it got down to heads up and took home $2800.

July 19, 2006 – Even More W$ Satellites

I played in the 4:00 WSOP W$25R and the 4:30 EPT W$25R on PokerStars and could never convert my hands, even when I was a huge favorite. The guy who called with 55 for a 3 unit preflop raise heads up to crack my kings I can understand. But when I have 45o on a 456 board and someone calls a pot sized bet on the flop and my all in on the turn with K2o and hooks a 3 for the straight, I just don’t get it. Ah well, I have to keep reminding myself that the morons is who I make my money from so I really want that call. I was too short in the WSOP one to do the addon at the break, and busted about 15 minutes after it when my ATs < Q6o. In my EPT one I just doubled off of the same moron from earlier, so hopefully my stack will maintain until the break.

Bleh, just went out on the bubble on the EPT satellite. I called a shorty when I was third lowest in chips with Kc9c since I was getting 2:1 on the call. He turns over Tc7c so I am in great shape until the T flops. This makes me the shortest, but was still the right call. I end up pushing a few times and go out QTs vs AJo. I guess asking for 5 out of 6 wins is out of the question? LOL.

July 18, 2006 – More W$ Satellites

Seems like trying to get more W$ has become part of my routine. I noticed yesterday that since they have a $650 WSOP gateway satellite on Saturday, that they are running the $25R to the WSOP again at 4:00. I really don’t think these are as soft as the EPT, but there are still some pretty damn bad players in them. So today I entered the $25R WSOP at 4 PM and the EPT Barcelona 25R at 4:30 PM EST on PokerStars again.

I started off bad at one game when I got into a blind vs blind battle and ended up all in preflop with 77, and the BB had ATs and flopped 2 tens. Rebuy!. I don’t mind taking some almost sure coin flips in the first hour since the advantage of having a $8000 stack after the add on is pretty nice for a satellite tournament. That doesn’t mean I go all in on an J 4 2 flop with A2 and A4 like 2 people at my table just did. Like I said, soft. Well, I busted out of the WSOP one, and was in for $125(all rebuys). As a general rule, I don’t do the add on at the end of the rebuy period unless getting it will put me at the average stack or above.

I did better in the EPT tournament, and was ranked 9/36 at the first break. Top 8 get seats so I still need to accumulate some more chips, but am feeling pretty good so far. Update: Won my seat in this one. I have won 4 out of the last 5 of these and I hope it continues. I was into this one for W$75, so I ended up a net of +W$275 on both tournaments.

I also got one set of 8 $22′s in on Party since I hadn’t played non W$ stuff in a few days. Started off horrible, but pulled it out at the end with two 1sts and a 2nd for a profit of $84 overall. I really need to play more of these before I head out to Vegas for the WSOP.

July 17, 2006 – The Day After

Well, just because I got my main event seat doesn’t mean I can rest on my laurels: there are still plenty of W$ to be won! I entered the EPT Barcelona 25R on PokerStars again. Might as well start working towards a WPT or EPT event too. Hopefully I can bring it home today against the smaller field.

Update, I won the $25R and unregistered for the tournament so another W$475 banked. A friend of mine can’t believe I am posting this on this site since it might kill the games, but I firmly believe in sharing the wealth. Enough fish for everyone to eat.

July 16, 2006 – ME Satellite Day

Well I got off to a great start in the William Hill satellite today and was ranked 4th in chips with about 300 people left. The top 19 got the WSOP seat, so I was feeling pretty good. A series of bad beats ensued though, and I eventually ended up in the SB with around 10 BB’s calling another stack’s all in that barely had me covered and came in from late position. I had 99 and he had AQ and he won the race. I then moved onto the 150 seat guaranteed on PokerStars (which ended up with a massive 7377 players and 234 seats) and started off well there too and was in 250th place at the first break.. I am also playing in the $25 EPT rebuy on PokerStars that I try to play in every day. Not doing anything special in that but am still in it.

Well the bad news is I went out 20th in the EPT rebuy when the top 15 got the $475 seat. The good news is I WON MY WSOP MAIN EVENT SEAT! I made it in the top 234 in the 150 seat guaranteed, beating out a field of 7377 competitors. It is nice that the plan that I lay out here on Bluffworld can be followed and end up with a seat like we all dream of. WOO HOO! Now go get yours!

July 15, 2006 – Getting ready for the ME Sats

I have been planning on playing in the PokerStars ME 150 seat guaranteed sat for a while now, but on a whim entered a single table $36 SNG on William Hill of all places to play in their Sat tomorrow. Man those players were horrid! I won it so I will be playing in the William Hill Sat at 1:00 PM EST and the Pokerstars Sat at 4:30 PM EST

July 14, 2006 – Working on W$

Well, I figured my luck might not continue in my 4:30 EPT tournament. About an hour and a half in, I had KQs on a Q84 rainbow flop. I end up all in on the turn against 44. Better than going out on the bubble I guess. Off to 8 table for a bit. Should be extra fishy as usual since it is Friday. I better get out my 30 pound test line for this round to make sure the big one doesn’t get away.

July 13, 2006 – Working on W$ + 8 tabling 22′s

More of the same today, I played in the PokerStars 4:30 EPT tournament and got my butt kicked. KK cracked, QQ cracked, TT cracked, and finally had some hands hold up after my 4th rebuy. So I ended up into the tourney for $W227 and luckily made it to the final 7 so got W$475 for a W$248 profit. Only one crappy set of 8 in tonight, 1 1st, 1 3rd after AJ > QQ and Q6>KQ, so a loss of $36.

July 12, 2006 – Working on W$ + 8 tabling 22′s

I entered the $W25 rebuy tournament (4:30 PM EST, EPT Barcelona) on Pokerstars and got off to a good (and lucky) start when I doubled with AQ vs AK early. I thought I was gonna go out at the very end, but some pushes picked up the blinds and I made it into the top 9 to get the $475 seat. I was in it for the buyin plus the rebuy plus the add on, or $77 total, and won $475 W$ for a profit of 398 W$.

Was messing around with my sites so only got one set of 8 22′s in. It was a decent one with 2 1sts and 1 3rd so +$64 for the set. I really need to play at least 50 a day to make some money before I head out to the WSOP.

July 12, 2006 – Bluffworld.com Blog begins

With the launch of Bluffworld.com, I hope to get myself as well as others into the best major events using the least time and the least money. I am heading out for the world series on July 21st and will be there through August 8th or so. Hopefully it will end up being later if I make it into the main event and continue onwards.