Made it to the Rio today a little late. My boss was on my ass to make sure I was on time, but I didn't expect the cab ride to take more than 30 minutes. Just seems pretty ridiculous that it took that long. Maybe it's because we had to take an alternate route or maybe because we hit every red light in the area, who knows. Either way, not a good impression Donnie. But moving on from that, we had the World Championship PLHE event to cover. Last year, this event was only a $5,000 buy in, whereas this year they've bumped it to $10,000. The buzz around the WSOP was that only 200-250 or so players would come out for this event, but it was said that this event will be full of big name pros. Who else would play a $10,000 PLHE event?
Despite the skeptics, the field ran over 350, with the final amount of entries 352. Amnon Filippi took a brave prop bet in which he bet the over on 350. He made it just a few minutes before late registration was over, after sitting right at 350 for most of the second level. He pocketed $1,000 for the bet. There were plenty of other big names, both poker pros and not, in the field. Here's some of them:
Eli Elezra
TJ Cloutier
Shannon Elizabeth
Chris Ferguson
Erik Seidel
Ted Lawson
Phil Ivey
Todd Brunson
Doyle Brunson
Phil Laak
Antonio Esfandiari
Patrik Antonius
David Benyamine
Clonie Gowen
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Tilly
Marco Traniello
Tuan Le
Kenny Tran
Bill Edler
Paul Galfond
Tom Dwan
Max Pescatori
Dario Minieri
David Singer
Daniel Negreanu
All right, you get the point. The list goes on and on. There had to be 3-5 big names at every table, it was a pretty superior field. There was some good play and some bad play. I don't really understand why when it comes to PLHE, people always want to bet the pot. This wasn't the case of the pros, but of the more unexperienced players. They always wanted to jam the pot and bet max amounts, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just easier to say "pot" than to size out your bet accordingly, who knows. But as I was logging hands on the live reporting page, you can definitely see why the pros are pros. A lot of the pros were picking up smaller pots here and there and letting their less experienced opponents hang themselves in the big pots. You rarely saw a pro racing off for a big amount of chips early on. You also saw them playing their bigger pairs slower than the inexperienced players. You know what they say, even aces are just one pair.
After the day was said and done, here are some of the big names left in the field of 70 runners:
Chris Ferguson
Andy Bloch
Anna Wroblewski
Humberto Brenes
Lyle Berman
Nenad Medic
Rolf Slotboom
Phil Laak
David Benyamine
Beth Shak
Patrik Antonius
Allen Kessler
Hasan Habib
Chris Bell
Jennifer Harman
Bill Chen
Ted Lawson
Tuan Le
Mark Newhouse
Eli Elezra (chip leader after day 1)
Kathy Liebert
There are also some fairly well known online players left in the field. I myself am a big advocate for the online game and believe that the online players are right up there with the live players in terms of ability, if not ahead of them. The philosophies, strategies and tactics, and hand experience is very abundant in the online poker world and it's only a matter of time before online players begin capturing the majority of the events played today.
Play for day 2 will begin at 2pm and play down until the final table. It should take a few hours and the money is set at 36 players. I'm thinking that the final table will consist of about 50% big name pros and 50% online players, they just both seem to have this event down. I am personally picking Nenad Medic and Patrik Antonius to go really deep in this event, along with online star Vivek "Psyduck" Rajkumar.
Be sure to check the event updates in the live reporting section at PokerNews.com.
5.28.2008
Phoenixaments get big!
I hosted my weekly tournament on Full Tilt tonight at 9pm EST. It's a 6-handed rebuy plus add-on tournament that costs $1+1 to enter. All rebuy tournaments created on FTP have a mandatory entry fee of $1 so there's no getting around that. I choose 6-handed tables because I figured it would increase the action and I love to play 6 max. There's a lot more 'play' on these tables and you can really open up your game.
The real reason I am bringing this up is because it became a complete nut-fest from the get go. I had a table that was really ready to gamble. I was one of 3 people in my table in for over 25 rebuys. The other two players were in for about 10 a piece. We had a total of 16 entrants to the tournament and one FTOPS event winner, who just happened to be at my table gambling like all hell. When the hour rebuy period was all said and done, 13 players remained and 12 of them added on. In total, we had 16 entries, 306 rebuys, and 12 add-ons. The pot was a massive $324 to be paid out to the top 3 places. With all my rebuy craziness, I did manage to gather a big stack for after the break and sat 4/13 in chips. I ran a big draw into a bigger draw and was busted in 8th place. I did manage to make a few bucks because I had a good piece of phoenix1333 who came in 2nd place. Here's a screen shot of the tournament lobby.
For those of you who want to get in on the action, the information is in the right sidebar of this page. I invite anyone who reads the blog to jump in and play in it with us. It's a hell of a time, but you better be sure to bring your gamble. Heck, going into the second hour of play, the average stack was over 225 BBs deep! Hope to see you signed up next week!
The real reason I am bringing this up is because it became a complete nut-fest from the get go. I had a table that was really ready to gamble. I was one of 3 people in my table in for over 25 rebuys. The other two players were in for about 10 a piece. We had a total of 16 entrants to the tournament and one FTOPS event winner, who just happened to be at my table gambling like all hell. When the hour rebuy period was all said and done, 13 players remained and 12 of them added on. In total, we had 16 entries, 306 rebuys, and 12 add-ons. The pot was a massive $324 to be paid out to the top 3 places. With all my rebuy craziness, I did manage to gather a big stack for after the break and sat 4/13 in chips. I ran a big draw into a bigger draw and was busted in 8th place. I did manage to make a few bucks because I had a good piece of phoenix1333 who came in 2nd place. Here's a screen shot of the tournament lobby.
For those of you who want to get in on the action, the information is in the right sidebar of this page. I invite anyone who reads the blog to jump in and play in it with us. It's a hell of a time, but you better be sure to bring your gamble. Heck, going into the second hour of play, the average stack was over 225 BBs deep! Hope to see you signed up next week!Vegas!
I made it out to Vegas the other night. I just got done jamming in some old posts from New Orleans so be sure to read them all. I'm living out here in a sick house thanks to Poker News and will be covering the WSOP for them. I've been here one night and already had a blast, played some poker, and met some really cool people.Be sure to check back as I'll update with trip reports and poker. I hope to get in a ton of playing while I am out here.
5.27.2008
A couple hands from the N.O. session.
HAND #1:
MP was all over the place. Raising with a very wide range of hands PF and calling with almost ATC. He also chased a lot of hands until the river and would make extremely weak calls on every street. Played anything suited, raises with suited connectors, also likes to see the flop with almost all connectors and most one/two-gappers. Would raise his option out of the big blind with a wide range and with anything marginal to good. Loved to min-raise on the flop to steal when he thought you weren't strong.
CO was LAG. He liked to raise and re-raise PF but seemed to have it somewhat under control. He'd raise or re-raise with pairs PF and was super aggressive oF if he sensed any weakness. Played draws heavy and built up a stack from 200 to 800+ rather quickly using this aggressive style and just running people over.
Hero (UTG+1) $190
MP $85
CO $850
Hero KJcc raises to $10.
MP calls.
CO re-raises to $25.
Hero calls. {This call might be marginal, but I know MP is calling and that I have a pretty solid hand against the range of CO. Not to mention a big connection will net me a big pot.}
MP calls.
Flop 3s 6c 2c.
Hero checks {I thought before checking here and decided to see how the PF raiser acted.}
MP checks
CO bets $75 {Immediately bet upon his action.}
Hero has $165 remaining
MP has $60 remaining
Hero's play?
With his immediate bet, I have CO on an overpair. Against 88-TT I have 15 outs if he has no clubs and 14 outs if he has one club, so I'm pretty much a favorite here with my flush draw and two overs. If he has JJ, I have 12 outs as I hold the Jc. In this situation, I'm a slight dog, but basically flipping here. With QQ, the odds go slightly down because he has the chance of having the Qc to take away an out from me. If he has KK or AA, I'm looking at simply flush outs which will make me about a 2-1 dog in the hand.
I'm getting just over 2-1 on a call and I know I'm not getting any fold equity against this player. I also have to factor in that MP is still in the hand and could easily hold some of my outs or even clubs. I'm almost certain he's not going to fold his hand even with simply two overcards, he just can't get away from it here. In fact, he had the chips in his hand ready to be put in. This will raise my pot odds slightly, but decrease my odds in the hand. Even if he does win the hand and I can win the side pot from CO, I'll break even, so he is my main concern.
Against the range I have CO on, I'm almost certain that shoving is the best. Even though I don't believe I have any fold equity against him, there might be a slight amount, like 5-10%.
With all that said, what's everyone's take on the optimum play here? I say shove for the long run of things. A friend of mine claimed that calling is the worst play, and I do agree there. He also claimed that folding isn't a bad play, in fact, he mentioned it's somewhat 50/50 with folding and shoving. I strongly disagree with that and believe this hand can't be folded unless you put him on a set or AXcc for a better draw. Please, chime in with your opinions.
HAND #2:
MP is the same from before that was in the CO and the SB is relatively new to the table. He seems like a pretty standard 1/2 live NL player, calling a lot of pots PF and then proceeding with standard play.
Hero (BB) $175
MP $850
SB $200
Multiple players limped to Hero in the BB with AKhh.
Hero raises to $17.
MP calls.
SB calls.
Flop 9 T K, rainbow.
SB checks.
Hero bets $35.
MP calls.
SB calls.
Turn 7.
SB checks.
Hero checks. {I checked here because as I began to think about my action, the MP player grabbed a stack of chips of about $75 and was ready to fire. I didn't really buy this action by him and though I'd check it to him and see if he did fire. This could also induce a call from the SB to trap him in as well.}
MP bets $100. {He grabbed more chips and fired out.}
SB folds.
Hero raises all in for $123 total, $23 more.
MP actually took time to think and then reluctantly made the call and I knew I had him.
I tabled AKhh and TPTK after the river and he mucked.
MP was all over the place. Raising with a very wide range of hands PF and calling with almost ATC. He also chased a lot of hands until the river and would make extremely weak calls on every street. Played anything suited, raises with suited connectors, also likes to see the flop with almost all connectors and most one/two-gappers. Would raise his option out of the big blind with a wide range and with anything marginal to good. Loved to min-raise on the flop to steal when he thought you weren't strong.
CO was LAG. He liked to raise and re-raise PF but seemed to have it somewhat under control. He'd raise or re-raise with pairs PF and was super aggressive oF if he sensed any weakness. Played draws heavy and built up a stack from 200 to 800+ rather quickly using this aggressive style and just running people over.
Hero (UTG+1) $190
MP $85
CO $850
Hero KJcc raises to $10.
MP calls.
CO re-raises to $25.
Hero calls. {This call might be marginal, but I know MP is calling and that I have a pretty solid hand against the range of CO. Not to mention a big connection will net me a big pot.}
MP calls.
Flop 3s 6c 2c.
Hero checks {I thought before checking here and decided to see how the PF raiser acted.}
MP checks
CO bets $75 {Immediately bet upon his action.}
Hero has $165 remaining
MP has $60 remaining
Hero's play?
With his immediate bet, I have CO on an overpair. Against 88-TT I have 15 outs if he has no clubs and 14 outs if he has one club, so I'm pretty much a favorite here with my flush draw and two overs. If he has JJ, I have 12 outs as I hold the Jc. In this situation, I'm a slight dog, but basically flipping here. With QQ, the odds go slightly down because he has the chance of having the Qc to take away an out from me. If he has KK or AA, I'm looking at simply flush outs which will make me about a 2-1 dog in the hand.
I'm getting just over 2-1 on a call and I know I'm not getting any fold equity against this player. I also have to factor in that MP is still in the hand and could easily hold some of my outs or even clubs. I'm almost certain he's not going to fold his hand even with simply two overcards, he just can't get away from it here. In fact, he had the chips in his hand ready to be put in. This will raise my pot odds slightly, but decrease my odds in the hand. Even if he does win the hand and I can win the side pot from CO, I'll break even, so he is my main concern.
Against the range I have CO on, I'm almost certain that shoving is the best. Even though I don't believe I have any fold equity against him, there might be a slight amount, like 5-10%.
With all that said, what's everyone's take on the optimum play here? I say shove for the long run of things. A friend of mine claimed that calling is the worst play, and I do agree there. He also claimed that folding isn't a bad play, in fact, he mentioned it's somewhat 50/50 with folding and shoving. I strongly disagree with that and believe this hand can't be folded unless you put him on a set or AXcc for a better draw. Please, chime in with your opinions.
HAND #2:
MP is the same from before that was in the CO and the SB is relatively new to the table. He seems like a pretty standard 1/2 live NL player, calling a lot of pots PF and then proceeding with standard play.
Hero (BB) $175
MP $850
SB $200
Multiple players limped to Hero in the BB with AKhh.
Hero raises to $17.
MP calls.
SB calls.
Flop 9 T K, rainbow.
SB checks.
Hero bets $35.
MP calls.
SB calls.
Turn 7.
SB checks.
Hero checks. {I checked here because as I began to think about my action, the MP player grabbed a stack of chips of about $75 and was ready to fire. I didn't really buy this action by him and though I'd check it to him and see if he did fire. This could also induce a call from the SB to trap him in as well.}
MP bets $100. {He grabbed more chips and fired out.}
SB folds.
Hero raises all in for $123 total, $23 more.
MP actually took time to think and then reluctantly made the call and I knew I had him.
I tabled AKhh and TPTK after the river and he mucked.
New Orleans Day 4: Final table and a late night session.
The final table setup was really cool. It was going to be aired on a 1-hour delay at worldseriesofpoker.com as well as on Bluff's website. When the final table finally began, the fireworks weren't delayed for a second.Miles raised it up on the first hand, which I expected him to do anyway with the chip lead. Ed Jatho re-raised behind Miles, something I also expected. Jatho was a solid player that liked to whack off the younger kids when he felt that they were getting out of hand. He probably just figured Miles was getting out of line and would re-raise here with a pretty wide range of decent hands, I'd say 6s or better and AJ+. But then Marc Fratter thought and smooth called behind Jatho. Now, this just wreaks of a huge hand from Fratter, I'd say KK or AA, more likely AA. Action folded back to Miles (all three of these players in the hand were seated right next to one another) and he thought for a while before announcing re-raise. Now, Miles is smart enough here to know that the flat call behind by Fratter is really strong so in order for him to re-raise, I can only see him having AA or KK as well. But because it's more likely that Fratter would be flatting with AA, Miles re-raise to me looked like he had AA. Could two players really have AA on the first hand of the final table? With a player trapper between?
Jatho didn't give it much thought and moved all in, this seemed to be a mistake in my opinion. I just don't think he really thought that hand out. Fratter made the same mistake and went all in behind Jatho rather quickly. Miles quickly made the call after a short hesitation. I know the feeling that Miles had, 'Is this really happening?!?!?' Miles showed AA, Jatho JJ, and Fratter QQ. Wow! The first hand of the final table and we have some big hands all in preflop.
Miles ended up winning the hand and amassed an enormous chip lead over everyone else. This is when I said this tournament is over. There's just no way anyone will be able to take him down now. The feeling around the rest of the room was mutual and you could see the heads of the other players at the table sag as if they knew Miles was going to just run them over.
The other player I thought would have a great showing, Jeff Tims, did well until he got unlucky in a hand. He got it all in PF with the best of it, but went down and was on the short stack. He did manage to cash for over $70k, so he made a pretty solid showing this entire trip; up over $120k. Lou Esposito did well also and cashed pretty good. He was on the short stack for most of the final table and couldn't really get much going. He final tabled the final 3 events of this circuit, which is pretty damn good.
I believe it took under 60 hands to get down to heads-up play. That was pretty amazing. When we got to heads up, the players were both so deep that it seemed like this could go for a long time. Miles made it along with Nick Ceci. Both these players had such contrasting styles. Miles was an excellent post flop player and liked to play small-pot poker, chipping away at his opponents' stacks. he never really seemed to get involved in huge pots. If he did, he either had the best hand or was putting a ton of pressure on the other player. Ceci on the other hand was betting like a madman. I don't really know if he had a method to his madness, but some of his play was absurd. He'd fire out bets of two and three times the pot size often, it was so weird. PF he would raise to 5-6 times the BB from the button and generally called any raise that Miles made from the SB. I remember Miles making a few comments about Ceci not wanting to play small pots. I believe Miles was just going to wait him out and wait for a mistake from Ceci with such large bets.
When the final big hand came up, I believe Miles thought just that. Ceci made some insane overbet of the pot and Miles thought he had the best hand and knew Ceci wouldn't fold once putting that much money in so he fired all in. Ceci actually had a better hand than Miles here and there's not much Miles could have done. I do think that Miles may have gotten a little impatient with Ceci's playing style. This hand didn't knock Miles out, but it pretty much ruined his chances. He was down 2.3 million to just his 150k. It would be a huge mountain to climb to get that back. In the end it was Ceci coming out on top, despite being the far inferior player in my opinion.
Congrats to all players and winners. It was such a sick tournament and I can't even imagine what the WSOP is going to be like.
After that, we wrapped up and headed back to the hotel to get changed. We then headed back over to the casino and I sat in for a $1/2 NL session. Let me tell you, these players were horrendous. I had two guys at my table that brought their hole cards up to their face with both hands every time. I kid you not, they really did this. Some of the plays people were making were just atrocious and I was almost drooling at one point. I put in a 4-hour session and finished up $175. I'll be posting some of my key hands later on.
5.23.2008
New Orleans Day 3: Main event day 2
Timothy "T.K." Miles has a huge stack going into day 2 of the tournament and he is just playing amazingly. I mentioned that I had picked him and Jeff Tims to take the event down, and both these players are looking poised to do so. I am not at liberty to give me opinion on play over at Poker News, but I am wide open here. Some of the players were just making horrible plays. It was just unbelievable that they even made it this far. As play got closer and closer to the money bubble, I also liked how Daryl Fish was doing. He began raising a lot of pots, sometimes 3 or 4 in a row. He could tell when there were spots that people were looking to just fold into the money and he attacked. I didn't really pay much attention to Fish earlier than around the money bubble because he was playing fairly tight, solid poker, winning the occasional pot. As the bubbled approached, the kid just started taking over and increasing his stack a lot from the blinds and antes. I liked his chances the longer the day went on.
Miles did the same, raising a lot of pots and following through with aggressive post flop play. I'd have to say that Miles is easily one of the best players I have ever witnessed, the guy just reads the game so well. Just a little note to anyone if you ever find yourself at a table with him: if and when Miles talks to you in a hand, don't respond! This guy is a sicko with his live reads and people just kept giving him information to use against them. Not once did he act quickly or stumble during today's play, it was pretty much flawless. I'm also pretty sure that Miles could see every flop possible and then outplay anyone post flop, he's really that good.
Tims was another animal. While Miles and Fish were raising a lot of pots preflop and attacking the action, Tims seemed to just sit back and let things come to him. Tims didn't raise a lot of pots, but if someone raised on his table, there was a pretty damn good chance he'd be coming over the top of you. What scared a lot of players off is that Tims was showing down excellent hands all day. Players didn't really want to get involved in pots with him without a strong hand after they were 3-bet. In one hand, Tims made a sickening call on the with AT, for ace high. HIs opponent showed ace high as well, but was outkicked by Tims' 10 to his 9. It was just a sick call of the player's all in. The guy had shoved 26,000 into a pot of just over 40,000. I'd have to say it was one of the best calls I have ever seen. This play sent a real message to the field that Tims wasn't messing around and that his win of event #12 was no joke.
The day ended with Tims and Miles both making the final table. Miles was killing it with a decent chip lead and I can't see him going down tomorrow. Tims is in the upper half and is easily a force. Fish didn't make the final table, as he got caught shoving to pick up the blinds and antes and was dominated big time. I forgot to mention that Lou Esposito also made the final table. He won December's version of this event and is a really solid player. New Orleans is pretty good him I guess, as he's made 3 final tables of this WSOP-Circuit.
After the play, we decided to head out to Bourbon Street. The final table wasn't set to begin until 2p CST on Wednesday, so why not go out for a few drinks. By a few drinks, I mean 2-for-1 beers and a few shots. I was feeling pretty good all night long and Bourbon St. is a lot of fun. It did smell pretty bad, but the people were pretty cool and pretty drunk as well. It was only a Tuesday night, so I can see why not too many people were out. I had planned on playing, but the others wanted to head out so I obliged. I can always just play tomorrow and I did have a blast.
Miles did the same, raising a lot of pots and following through with aggressive post flop play. I'd have to say that Miles is easily one of the best players I have ever witnessed, the guy just reads the game so well. Just a little note to anyone if you ever find yourself at a table with him: if and when Miles talks to you in a hand, don't respond! This guy is a sicko with his live reads and people just kept giving him information to use against them. Not once did he act quickly or stumble during today's play, it was pretty much flawless. I'm also pretty sure that Miles could see every flop possible and then outplay anyone post flop, he's really that good.
Tims was another animal. While Miles and Fish were raising a lot of pots preflop and attacking the action, Tims seemed to just sit back and let things come to him. Tims didn't raise a lot of pots, but if someone raised on his table, there was a pretty damn good chance he'd be coming over the top of you. What scared a lot of players off is that Tims was showing down excellent hands all day. Players didn't really want to get involved in pots with him without a strong hand after they were 3-bet. In one hand, Tims made a sickening call on the with AT, for ace high. HIs opponent showed ace high as well, but was outkicked by Tims' 10 to his 9. It was just a sick call of the player's all in. The guy had shoved 26,000 into a pot of just over 40,000. I'd have to say it was one of the best calls I have ever seen. This play sent a real message to the field that Tims wasn't messing around and that his win of event #12 was no joke.
The day ended with Tims and Miles both making the final table. Miles was killing it with a decent chip lead and I can't see him going down tomorrow. Tims is in the upper half and is easily a force. Fish didn't make the final table, as he got caught shoving to pick up the blinds and antes and was dominated big time. I forgot to mention that Lou Esposito also made the final table. He won December's version of this event and is a really solid player. New Orleans is pretty good him I guess, as he's made 3 final tables of this WSOP-Circuit.
After the play, we decided to head out to Bourbon Street. The final table wasn't set to begin until 2p CST on Wednesday, so why not go out for a few drinks. By a few drinks, I mean 2-for-1 beers and a few shots. I was feeling pretty good all night long and Bourbon St. is a lot of fun. It did smell pretty bad, but the people were pretty cool and pretty drunk as well. It was only a Tuesday night, so I can see why not too many people were out. I had planned on playing, but the others wanted to head out so I obliged. I can always just play tomorrow and I did have a blast.
5.20.2008
New Orleans Day 2: Tournament action begins.
We got to Harrah's around 10a CST to get set up and ready for the tournament. Players began piling into the room right around start time of the tournament at 12 noon. Here's a list of a few notable names that made it to the event:
TJ Cloutier
Gavin Smith
Josh Arieh
Alan 'BodogAri' Engel
Jimmy Tran
Steve Dannenmann
Young Phan
Doug 'Rico' Carli
Lou Esposito
Bill Edler
Kimberly Lansing
Ted Lawson
Jonathan Little
Chris Bell
I was doing both field reporting and blogging for the tournament throughout the day so I was able to witness a lot of the action. I was really impressed by the play of Jeff Tims (upper picture) and Timothy 'TK' Miles (lower picture). Both of them accumulated a good amount of chips early on and played really well throughout the day. Miles played a lot of pots, but played them so well that his opponent just couldn't seem to ever slow him down.
Tims made some really solid, strong plays in key pots to get a good stack. Tims won an earlier preliminary event here at Harrah's, the $500 NLHE for over $58,000. I did witness him getting lucky in a key hand when he ran AK into AQ on a board of AQx. The money went in on the flop, but when the turn spiked a K Tims took back the lead and ended up winning the hand.
Lou Esposito won December's version of this event and was down to 5,000 chips late in the day. He ended the day tied for the chip lead and looks poised to make another big splash here at Harrah's. If I had to pick, one of these three players is going to take this event down. Miles is just playing so well in every hand and making amazing decision that I can't really see him missing the final table.
I hope everyone can follow along on PokerNews.com and stay up with the action.
Don't forget to give me a shout on the live updates page.
TJ Cloutier
Gavin Smith
Josh Arieh
Alan 'BodogAri' Engel
Jimmy Tran
Steve Dannenmann
Young Phan
Doug 'Rico' Carli
Lou Esposito
Bill Edler
Kimberly Lansing
Ted Lawson
Jonathan Little
Chris Bell
I was doing both field reporting and blogging for the tournament throughout the day so I was able to witness a lot of the action. I was really impressed by the play of Jeff Tims (upper picture) and Timothy 'TK' Miles (lower picture). Both of them accumulated a good amount of chips early on and played really well throughout the day. Miles played a lot of pots, but played them so well that his opponent just couldn't seem to ever slow him down.
Tims made some really solid, strong plays in key pots to get a good stack. Tims won an earlier preliminary event here at Harrah's, the $500 NLHE for over $58,000. I did witness him getting lucky in a key hand when he ran AK into AQ on a board of AQx. The money went in on the flop, but when the turn spiked a K Tims took back the lead and ended up winning the hand.
Lou Esposito won December's version of this event and was down to 5,000 chips late in the day. He ended the day tied for the chip lead and looks poised to make another big splash here at Harrah's. If I had to pick, one of these three players is going to take this event down. Miles is just playing so well in every hand and making amazing decision that I can't really see him missing the final table.
I hope everyone can follow along on PokerNews.com and stay up with the action.
Don't forget to give me a shout on the live updates page.
5.18.2008
New Orleans Day 1: Arrival in the durty.
So like I said earlier, I arrived in New Orleans around 1:15p CT. Once we got off the plane, the events just seemed to begin.
Upon getting down to the baggage claim, there was a jazz band just jamming out of about 6 or 7 guys. They went to whichever carousel was running and played for the crowd of people. You could definitely tell who the locals were, as they began dancing to the music right there in the airport. It was such an awesome site to see! The music was so good and I do love jazz music, especially when it's upbeat.
After grabbing our bags, we headed to grab a taxi. Now, I've been on many cab rides in my day, but this one was quite the trip. First off, I don't think the guy spoke one word of English. This isn't that bad, as I can usually understand some Spanish when they break it down, but even his Spanish didn't sound like anything. It's was some sort of crazy Cajun Spanglish that just baffled us. We ended up driving down the freeway while he yelled at us. All this while he was beeped at by 3 different people for crossing into their lanes. I looked over at my roommate as he was doing the sign of the cross for his own good. I just laughed and tried to enjoy the ride we were on. After we got down to the French Quarter, we drove up and down side streets looking for the hotel. We finally found it after the third or so street. As he began to slow down and park, I realized he didn't even have the meter running the entire time. Great! Not only had we had a crazy ride, but who knows what he is going to charge us for this escapade. As he came around to get our bags out of the back, he said it's be $35. It seemed a little high for what couldn't be more that a8 8 or 9 minute cab ride, but who knows. He just paid it, tipped the guy for the near death experiences and went on our way.
As we checked in, they informed us that our room wasn't even ready yet. No big deal, we dropped off our bags for them to hold for us and went off on into the city. We wandered around for a little while and then decided to head to Harrah's and check it out. After all, it was the place where we'd be spending the majority of the rest of our trip, so why not get acquainted.
We browsed the casino some before finding a spot in the bar for a few drinks and to watch the Celtics take on the Cavaliers. I am a huge Celtics fan and am hoping we can pull of some big things this year! We watched the game and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel for a meeting with the entire crew from Poker News.
After the meeting was over with, we headed back to the casino to hit up the buffet. It was amazing, but pretty pricey at $30 or so. It's a good thing it was free! They had a ton of local food including all kinds of seafood and crawfish. I had to try out the crawfish and they were decent. They had a very salty taste to them. And after dinner we browsed the casino some more, mostly the tournament room and then I watched my roommate for a while as he played some $1/2 NL. While I was watching, I realized how bad these players were and how much I need to make sure to put in a few sessions while I'm here.
We start the tournament tomorrow and I'll be blogging and updating on Poker News, so be sure to check it out. They even have a new feature where you can give me a shout under my posts, so be sure to let me know how I'm doing!
Upon getting down to the baggage claim, there was a jazz band just jamming out of about 6 or 7 guys. They went to whichever carousel was running and played for the crowd of people. You could definitely tell who the locals were, as they began dancing to the music right there in the airport. It was such an awesome site to see! The music was so good and I do love jazz music, especially when it's upbeat.
After grabbing our bags, we headed to grab a taxi. Now, I've been on many cab rides in my day, but this one was quite the trip. First off, I don't think the guy spoke one word of English. This isn't that bad, as I can usually understand some Spanish when they break it down, but even his Spanish didn't sound like anything. It's was some sort of crazy Cajun Spanglish that just baffled us. We ended up driving down the freeway while he yelled at us. All this while he was beeped at by 3 different people for crossing into their lanes. I looked over at my roommate as he was doing the sign of the cross for his own good. I just laughed and tried to enjoy the ride we were on. After we got down to the French Quarter, we drove up and down side streets looking for the hotel. We finally found it after the third or so street. As he began to slow down and park, I realized he didn't even have the meter running the entire time. Great! Not only had we had a crazy ride, but who knows what he is going to charge us for this escapade. As he came around to get our bags out of the back, he said it's be $35. It seemed a little high for what couldn't be more that a8 8 or 9 minute cab ride, but who knows. He just paid it, tipped the guy for the near death experiences and went on our way.
As we checked in, they informed us that our room wasn't even ready yet. No big deal, we dropped off our bags for them to hold for us and went off on into the city. We wandered around for a little while and then decided to head to Harrah's and check it out. After all, it was the place where we'd be spending the majority of the rest of our trip, so why not get acquainted.
We browsed the casino some before finding a spot in the bar for a few drinks and to watch the Celtics take on the Cavaliers. I am a huge Celtics fan and am hoping we can pull of some big things this year! We watched the game and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel for a meeting with the entire crew from Poker News.
After the meeting was over with, we headed back to the casino to hit up the buffet. It was amazing, but pretty pricey at $30 or so. It's a good thing it was free! They had a ton of local food including all kinds of seafood and crawfish. I had to try out the crawfish and they were decent. They had a very salty taste to them. And after dinner we browsed the casino some more, mostly the tournament room and then I watched my roommate for a while as he played some $1/2 NL. While I was watching, I realized how bad these players were and how much I need to make sure to put in a few sessions while I'm here.
We start the tournament tomorrow and I'll be blogging and updating on Poker News, so be sure to check it out. They even have a new feature where you can give me a shout under my posts, so be sure to let me know how I'm doing!
Harrah's New Orleans.
I know it's been a while since I've posted last, but I'll deal with all of that jazz later. I arrived in New Orleans today to cover the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's New Orleans with Poker News. I'm really excited for my opportunity and can't wait until the event gets started tomorrow! We're heading over to a meeting and then to the casino now. I'll be posting daily updates at the end of the night and you should also be able to catch my live blogging over at PokerNews.com under the 'Live Reporting' section.
In the spirit of New Orleans... stay big 'n easy!
5.02.2008
Days off.
As everyone can tell, I haven't been playing for a while now. I normally push through bad runs, but this time I'm trying something different. I am taking some time off. I haven't played much recently, but I plan to start back up this weekend. I'll take more time tomorrow to recap the month, the challenge, and talk about my latest sessions.
As most of you have probably heard, the WSOP main event final table has been rescheduled for November. The tournament will play down to the final table and then be put on hold for a few months. The play leading up until the final table will be aired up until November 10th, when the final table will take place. Then, on November 11th, the final table show will air for 2 hours. This is an attempt to make watching the final table as live as possible. I understand both the pros and cons about this decision, but I'm not sure I like it as a player.
Personally, if I played the tournament and made it to the final table, I would want to continue with the normal schedule of things. Waiting months would only increase the quality of play of my opponents and allow any advantages I would possibly have. If I was a pro, I would be especially irritated because of the amount of amateurs and weaker players that play in this tournament, it's inevitable that some of them will reach the final table. I understand that this may do big things for poker in general, but with that much money on the line, I'd rather play it in the moment. Advantages, momentum, and skill will all be compromised to a degree. You can read more about this HERE.
As most of you have probably heard, the WSOP main event final table has been rescheduled for November. The tournament will play down to the final table and then be put on hold for a few months. The play leading up until the final table will be aired up until November 10th, when the final table will take place. Then, on November 11th, the final table show will air for 2 hours. This is an attempt to make watching the final table as live as possible. I understand both the pros and cons about this decision, but I'm not sure I like it as a player.
Personally, if I played the tournament and made it to the final table, I would want to continue with the normal schedule of things. Waiting months would only increase the quality of play of my opponents and allow any advantages I would possibly have. If I was a pro, I would be especially irritated because of the amount of amateurs and weaker players that play in this tournament, it's inevitable that some of them will reach the final table. I understand that this may do big things for poker in general, but with that much money on the line, I'd rather play it in the moment. Advantages, momentum, and skill will all be compromised to a degree. You can read more about this HERE.
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