very entertaining read indeed. It looks like you're becoming one good tourney player.

Question for you:

I'm more of a NL cash-game player and would like to start playing tourneys - small buy-ins of course. I've been making weekend trips these past weeks live in LA). What are the best ones to start with? Preferable the ones on the strip.

Cheers,

Ok, so as mentioned in the last post I apologize for the lack of writing lately. I honestly just didn't have the urge to write about anything going on in my life, and also thought it was pretty much the same old thing (work, play a little poker, etc…). So with that in mind I think I'm going to scale back for awhile and maybe write a summary every few weeks or so on anything new here and leave it at that.

On the poker playing front, I've now played one event at Binions (0 cash), one at Gold Nugget (0 cash), one deepstack at WSOP, one morning turbo satellite and one SNG (0 cash). Kind of depressing. Two mornings ago I get up early and play the morning nl tournament at GVR. Always have had good luck here and it was about the same. Saturdays have been huge turnouts, and this one was over the top, 85 players. Ended up paying 8 spots and we 4-way chopped it after about 3 1/2 hours of play. That was a nice bonus as I was already planning on playing the PLO 8/b at the Wynn the next day (Sunday). The other bonus was two friends at GVR were putting up half my buy-in as well, making it easier on my wallet.

Got to the Wynn about 45 minutes prior and it looked fairly calm, from previous reports it looked like they would get about 80-90 players. The only reason I was playing this one was on this day there was only no limit at Binions, Gold Nugget, and Venetian. Wel with that in mind, the flood gates opened. At the start of the tournament they had 120 seated and a long line at the window. Dealers were getting called in and they got everyone seated within the first hour or so, ending up with 181 players! With 15,000 starting chips you have some room to play, my initial table was fairly intelligent and it was a battle to climb. We never lost a player in the first 3 hours and I finally got moved to balance tables out, leaving with about 22K. The next table was a bit more lively, never a limped pot pre flop. Went to a few battles with the chip leader who was playing his role correctly, raising at least every other hand. Got a few pots off of him and then had our table get broken up after a few hours there. I arrived at the next table with 39K in chips, an healthy amount, given the chip avg was about 23 or 24K at the time. Was still getting settled in and checking out my competition when the crazy hand of the night hit. I was in late position, the table was very passive, lots of limped pots, blinds were at 400-800 I think. I held 6s10h10cKs, nothing too special but what the heck, I was in late position so I saw a flop with 6 others. Flop was 6h10s3d. Aside from the low draw not too bad of a flop for me. The first player in the BB checks, the second who was the chip leader at the table, bet out a few thousand. Then, two players before me both push all in. I'm thinking they must just be desperate and have low draws, maybe a straight draw…I reshove my stack and then the BB also shoves. The original bettor folds. The two to my right have garbage hands and were desperate, one had middle set and one had a need for runner runner high cards to possibly make a high straight. The BB had the dangerous hand and explained he was just priced in with all those chips out. He held 4d5d7cQh. So on the flop I was at 40% to win, the BB was at 35, the others were at 17 and 2. The turn thank goodness was a blank, Kc. I was then up to 50% to win, the BB at 31 and the high straight chaser was at 18. The river did me in, 2s. That hand just left me stunned, was down to about 17K. I battled a bit and got up to 24K, then fell apart on a few till the final hand before dinner. My thinking was why wait 75 minutes during dinner sitting on just 8K in chips. Of course I win the hand 3 ways with my JJ, spiking a set on the turn. So off to dinner with only 24K. After dinner break, my table breaks after a hour or so and I wander to my final table with only 15K in chips, blinds of 500-1000 and meet my demise when when my neighbor to my right raises pre flop. I look down at AcAh7s10s. Not the greatest but if I'm going to have any shot at getting back up I have to play. Just limp call hoping for a few others to pad my stack know, maybe should of raised but I'd rather take a shot then at tripling up then just doubling up. One caller and we see the flop. He bet I shove with my over pair and he calls with his flopped two pair which turned into a flush. Out the door in 65th. Happy with my play, worked on my decisions on when to just flat call and when to pot bets and did pretty well at it. Had some great reads and took down a few pots with the right timed pot bets. That set hand that did me in…welcome to Omaha, we will see you at the river.

Healthwise regarding my leg wound. My doc determined it was not what they had considered (Pyoderma-gangrenosa), and had me go visit a vascular surgeon. After doing an ultrasound, it was found that my leg wasn't healing right due to difficulty in my veins to bring blood back up to my heart. Compression stockings have already helped but the big step will be a series of three separate surgeries on 3 veins in my leg to clean them up for better blood flow. They are relatively simple procedures and I will be able to work right afterwards. With that I am told, my leg should start to heal almost immediately. I've been told that many the before by other procedures so not banking on it until it is true. Beginning to think they just like my insurance card.

Workwise, I'm still really enjoying my role at GVR. While my patience to get things improved is waning thin, I still enjoy working with a great staff and for great guests that treat me well. There are so many things I want to do there to improve the room and my boss is very open to all my thoughts, we usually talk shop at least twice a week. Had a review a few weeks ago and the only advice he gave me was to be patient on things changing. It is a very slow process there and there are so many ways we could do better and make things easier for all. I still have 4 or five things in planning stages and hopefully they will start up sooner rather than later there.

Dating….been an interesting month. While I'm still on the online dating site, not really looking too much because I have started a relationship with someone. Just still not sure if it is going anywhere. While I don't want to push it along I'm hoping to get some idea of the possibility of the future with her sooner or later. She juggles a lot with work and having just adopted two children recently, plus she has never really had someone really involved with her in her life. She really brightens my day when I get to see her so we will see where it goes.

That's about it for now, hope to maybe catch one more tournament before the crazy period ends. Looking forward to August too. One weekend I have my very best friend flying in to spend the weekend with me…front row seats to Kiss and Motley Crue along with other fun plans. Late in August I'll fly to Hot Springs, Arkansas to see my dad for a few days.

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.

Depends on what you mean by small-buy-ins. Of those under $100, I like Mirage or TI. Keep in mind that since the price is low you won't be playing for more than 3 hours so you need to make your moves when you can. At $125 I'm still a big fan of the Aria tournament. It takes about 6 to 7 hours but you have room to play.

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.

I think I will try Aria tourney this weekend. Thx so much for all your help.

Hey, Talon.

I sent you a PM. No rush. Whenever you get the time.

Another lengthly delay in posting...just honestly not too much going on, aside from a good few runs lately in cash and tournament play which I will blog on very soon. In the meantime, I will be headed down this afternoon to give the 2pm deepstack a try. While the WSOP is winding down I'm hoping for a still somewhat decent turnout with busted players and a few tournament players still around. Updates on that and the previous few days cash wins and tournament wins soon....

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.

Headed to bed after a long day of playing the deepstack. 609 players, and I made the money, busting out in 47th. Stories on it and other games I've been playing lately will be posted in a few days...

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.

I, and many others I'm sure, look forward to reading of the recent successes. Congrats! I'm heading your way soon and will send a pm soon.

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...you gotta shoot to score...

Another long awaited update. Been debating on keeping this blog going or not as in my view my life has sort of gotten stale. Not too much new to talk about. But for now maybe I'll keep it going, just in less frequency of posts.

Poker playing…took about two weeks off from playing anything as my time was wrapped up with the person I have been trying to date and get to know. I know, stupid idea there as I'm still not sure where I stand with this person and think we both have different ideas of how a relationship should be. More on that later in this. Early last week I had two overnight shifts to cover for the person that runs the room at GVR. So to help me flip my sleep around, the night before that was to happen I stuck around after work and decided to play there and try and stay up most of the night. Bought in for my usual $200 and took a few quick beats, going down to about $80. Reloaded with another $100 and tightened up a bit. Tables combined to the final table for the overnight there, with one seat actually open. In walks this younger guy, goes by the name of "J" or "Joe", not sure. He plays in there on occasion, liking to talk it up a bit, bragging all the time at the table on what he just made playing carps, that money isn't a big deal to him, etc…you get the idea. He bought in for the max, $300, but made sure others at the table saw the pile of extra black chips that he had in his pocket from all his gaming elsewhere, a big money legend in his own mind. While I picked up pretty quick on what he was going to do, it took a few others a few hands to start to figure it out. He was basically raising every hand, usually to $20, sometimes a little more, basically a little out of the comfort zone for the action at the table. After a few laps around the table he had taken down $100 form the others, usually with continuation bets, one time showing off his bluff with his garbage low hand, trying to incite the table to step up the action. I sat two players to his right, not a great spot. I had also regained what I had lost at the other table and was sitting with $300. Our moneybags player was straddling and of course as expected raising every time when it got to be his option. About the 4th time around I look at my small blind at pocket 9's. His straddle had been called by 5 or 6 players before it got to me so I was debating on thinning out the crowd or letting him do it and then raising him pre flop. He had yet to play against me so I would think I would give a pretty tight image to him. Went ahead and limped, and sure enough he raised it to $30 to play. Everyone, like sheep being led to slaughter, folded their $4 to him. I decide to really see if he wants to play, and re-raise him to $100. He announces that he is all-in and I actually snap-call. Not a smart move on my part, but with his loose style he really could be playing any two cards so I was figuring at worse I was flipping with him, more than likely he had an ace and a garbage card. He immediately turns over pocket aces!! Damn, I'm screwed. The flop comes 10-J-K, he immediately thinks he is done as he says "Your pocket Kings are good". I had yet to show my hand. The turn brought out a beautiful 9, so I just needed a garbage card and no ace or Queen. What comes on the river but another 9! Almost casually, I say to the dealer as I turn my cards over, "High hand, Table 18". The players go nuts over the way it went down. He was a bit shell-shocked but he quickly pulled out a few black chips and we are off to play more. I have to give him credit. His trash talking ways got him the action. The problem was his good cards he kept getting were getting beat by weaker hands. By the end of the night he was broke, giving out almost $2000, and lost with his Aces, pocket Kings, Queens, etc…Bad beat for him. My night ended up almost $700, cashing out for $975 after flopping back to back sets in two hands a few hours later and getting paid off well. It's nice to run with the poker gods on your side for once and making some cash.

Wednesday night that week I was scheduled for my second overnight running the room, a night I usually work the swing shift and run the Horse tournament. Last time I did that I came in prior to work and played the tournament, helping the person running the tournament with the little things about it that he really doesn't have a clue on (he only does it maybe once every 4 months, along with never really had any experience running tournaments, so it wasn't right to just let him try and do it without backup). Played well and we four way chopped the prize pool. Decided since I was on such a heater and would need to flip my sleeping back around after working this overnight shift that I should take a brief nap in the morning and play an afternoon tournament.

With the WSOP winding down being in the 3rd day of the main event, I decided to go play the 2pm deepstack. I knew the turnout would be smaller than the 1400 and 1500 figures they were getting a week or two ago, so it wouldn't go all night long if I made it that far. Sure enough, they had 609 players, still the biggest tournament I had ever played in before. But it was comforting at the start of it to know this was a "free-roll" in my mind after doing so well over the past few days. Pretty tight table at the start, raises to 150 (25-50 blinds) were getting maybe one or two callers. My goal was to adjust a few things in my play that day; first, not show any cards unless someone calls my bet. Second, if I couldn't raise with a hand pre flop I never even bothered to limp. And third, work on position betting, raising pre flop with a wider range in late position than in early position. About 40 minutes in I look down at pocket 8's in middle position. One player had limped before me (blinds of 50-100). I raise to 300, the same amount I had made any raise prior (straight 3x). The big blind and the limper call, and we see the flop of 3-8-J. They both check, and I continuation bet 1000, hoping they either caught the Jack or put me on air. The big blind folds and the limper just calls. The turn brings out another Jack. He checks again and I lead out for 1500. He debates on what to do, so I immediately place him on having a Jack and a good kicker. He min-raises me and I decide that I'm not getting away from this no matter the river so I go all-in. He snap calls and turns over Jack-Ace. I show my 8's full and the river misses him, placing me up to over 35K (started with 15K). This is fairly early in the tournament so I'm excited that I have already doubled up and maybe can play chip bully for a bit, stealing here and there, never showing my cards like I planned on working on. My stack had grown to over 50K. Then one hand started a bit of a downfall. From the small blind I call with 5-7 sooted, and 4 of us saw a flop of 4-8-K. I checked and the big blind made a small bet, followed by the other 2 calling. What the heck, no one will see me coming if I catch a 6 for the straight. Sure enough, a 6 on the turn. I decide to lead out and bet a pot size amount. Two fold and one caller. A 7 on the river, and I don't worry too much about him having a 5 to split the pot with me, I'm thinking he has a weak King, maybe two pair. So I bet out 1500 into a pot that was around 3000 at the time. He pauses and then min-raises me. I can only call, definitely not going to fold, and he turns over the 9-10 off suit, which he limped in from early position with and then caught runner runner to beat me. Oh well. But it seemed to be a pivotal hand, as I started to get great second place hands, going all the way down in chips over the next hour or so till I was back to about 18K. Time to refocus and either get a good double up or get the heck out of there and not be tortured with a short stack. Sure enough, the hand came along to do that. Pocket aces in early position. I make a decent raise and get two callers. A low ball flop comes and I lead out, get the first guy to shove as well as the second guy. Decide if one of them flopped a set not much I can do about it now and I needed to make some gains so I shove as well. They both turn over pocket Jacks! Great low flop and no way for them to win the hand. Our table breaks and I move over with about 45K in chips. Start catching cards and build up to about 70K. The chip average at that time was about 26K so I'm thinking I have plenty of time, we were 4 or 5 hours into the tournament. Get a little card dead and was very conscious of short stacks shoving a lot, so I laid back and hardly played a hand. After a few hours of that we had a dinner break and I'm sitting on 50K, but the sheer number of players dropping out and the blinds rising had the avg. chip stack at almost 90K. That really gave me a reality check that I still had more work to do. We were down to 120 players but they were only paying 63, so I needed to start making some gains. Another table move and I was actually a short stack with my 50K, the blinds had accelerated to 2000-4000 with antes so I was dangerously close to shoving mode. But as I played the 120 players kept dropping so quick, the thought then was maybe just quietly hand on for a min-cash if the cards didn't come. We quickly got down to 70ish players, I had won a few hands with all-in shoves pre flop and just taking down the blinds and antes to just stay around 50K. I thought for sure others would be more aware or the bubble approaching. But just as we were about to go hand for hand, enough got eliminated that quick to reach the money. Glad to be at that point, I'm figuring on shoving with any suited connectors, pairs, etc…but none of it came and the player dropout rate was still fast. Fast enough to reach two new pay scales and I was looking at 45th being another pay raise. But I was also in the big blind, with only 30K in chips, and one player had taken the role of chip bully like he should at that time, and he raised to 25K. I shove with my 9-10, he calls, showing Q-9. A flop of 10-8-2 looked pretty good, another 10 on the turn made it even better. But as I even predicted verbally before the dealer turned over the river, the Jack came to give him a straight, sending me out in 47th place. Still overall happy with how I did. It was my first 2pm event there and I learned that with the levels you really can't sit back for a few hours in the middle of it, thinking you have plenty of time to get chips in with better hands.

Workwise, still getting plenty of hours at GVR and plenty of variety. I'm really enjoying being the guy that covers all the positions there and I know that should pay off down the road with a full-time floor spot. For now, it's nice to run a few tournaments, maybe deal once or twice a week, and constantly be in the ear of the boss giving him ideas on building the business. I've given him so many thoughts and proposals on getting more players over and away from out local competition, half the time I think he is getting sick of it. But he does on occasion tell me he is trying to get the thumbs up from his boss for a few ideas I have had. Things move pretty slow there when changing or adding something, but I'm from the school of never sitting back on what the room is doing, always find ways to improve it. If you have ever read the book, "Who moved my cheese?", you would understand what I mean.

Dating wise, yes, frustrated is a pretty good summary of where I'm at with this woman. While she enjoys being with me, it definitely isn't a priority in her life and judging by the conversations, having someone with her never really has been. So I've taken a new approach now after a few mild arguments over my frustration in this. I'm not going to push this along at all and if something better comes my way I will not be looking back with any regrets at it. Her loss if that happens. She has openly admitted that she has been this way her whole life (she has never been married), that while she is not looking elsewhere she is just fine with maybe hanging out with once every few weeks or so. That's just not enough for me, and she knows it. There's something about her that makes me not want to just totally give up right away but I'm glad I have reset my thinking to keeping my eyes open elsewhere, including turning my profile back on with my online dating site.

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.

It's nice to still have friends from traveling with the WSOP Circuit...the photographer took a few nice shots of me and sent them to me....

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Views expressed are my own and not those of Green Valley Ranch, the WSOP, or AVP.