WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 4/1

So I've been a pretty lazy blogger.  I haven't posted since the end of last season.  Quick recap I ended up buying Jason M's seat at the WSOP.  I lasted about 8-9 hours before busting out.  I didn't really have a whole lot work out for me. I was mostly treading water the entire time.

So back to this year.  A couple players have dropped out.  Noah because he's lame, and because his wife will be having twins midway through the season. Also Jason S dropped out as he moved to San Diego and will also be out of the country for four weeks during the season.

Returning is Rich who won season two and did not play last year.

The opening week did not go well for me.

Midway through the second round I got AhQh in early position. I raised and Archie to my left reraised.  The flop was Qd8h2d. I checked and Archie be half the pot.  I called.  Archie likes to be big when there is a flush draw on the board.  I put him on trying to chase a flush away.  The turn is 7h giving me top pair and and a flush draw.  I check and Archie bets half pot again.  Calling would leave us with 5BB left.  I went in the tank and eventually called.  I put him on AA, KK and scared of a flush.  If I didn't have the flush draw I would have folded. Raising would have been pointless, he would have called no matter what and worst case I could go with the whole chip and a chair theory  The river was 3c and we checked down.  I was right he had KK.  While that play crippled my chances in this game I'm not super upset about the play.  At least I'm pretty confident in my reads on Archie now.

I planned on doing a whole lot of folding from then on, but a few hands later I got 99 under the gun.  I went all in for my 5BB  (which was going to be 2BB after the next two hands when the blinds went up).

I got three callers who checked down to the river.  Archie ended up being the only one to connect with the board when his AT turned into a pair of tens.  Out in last place.  Not the ideal way to start.  Definitely need to tighten up next time.  Oh well.


Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 3/12

So... this week was fairly anti-climactic.  For me anyway

The league winners have already been decided.  The three Jasons were no-shows.  Archie didn't show up until he was down to 300 chips.  Then he started playing and won a few all-ins to vault into second place.  Problematic because we decided that late comers earn zero points, but never said what happens if they actually win money.

I went out if fifth.  I was up and down and my all-in preflop KK ran into Shane's TT with a T on the flop.  Shane had somehow managed to get 50% of the tables chips.  I don't know.  I may be a little drunk.

OK fine, I typed most of this out as soon as I was eliminated.  Archie went on to win despite showing up almost an hour late.  So maybe it was a little more exciting than I originally thought.  I'm not rewriting this.  Se previous paragraph where I mentioned I may be drunk.

Archie gets $150 for the win, but zero points.

The results for this week are:

1. Archie
2. Shane
3. Greg
4. Noah
5. Aaron
6. Me
7. Mark
8. Jason M (No-Show)
9. Jason K (No-Show)
10. Jason S (No-Show)

And the final standings are:

1. Mark (92/86)
2. Jason M (85/85)
3. Shane (83/81)
4. Greg (73/73)
5. Aaron (74/70)
6. Noah (63/61)
7. Me (62/60)
8. Archie (52/52)
9. Jason S (48/48)
10. Jason K (19/19)

Jason M sold his seat to me for $100.   I get 40% of the winnings.  He gets 15%.  I would have easily paid more or given up a higher percent, but he didn't have any desire to actually play in the WSOP so this is probably a win for both of us.

Hopefully we'll be back next year, but I'm not confident.  Jason K was a no show for the last third.  As was Jason S.  S at least had an excuse as he was changing jobs and moving cross country.  Also Noah and Mark indicated they are probably out. We may be able to find some people to fill their places, or maybe we just call it a good run and leave it at that.

I'll be in Vegas the last weekend in June.  Hopefully I can improve upon last year's performance and actually cash this time.



This may be the

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/11

This week was odd. Jasons S and K were no-shows again.

I did really well in the beginning. I doubled up early with QQ. Jason M called a flop bet, then I check raised him on the turn when I picked up a set. I went all-in on the river and he called with bottom pair. I have no idea what he was thinking.

The next hand I had 72o and bloffed Greg off of a big pot with a large bet on the river when it gave flush possibilities.

I got QQ additional times in the tourney, but each one fared worse than the hand before.

Before I get to that, I'll just say that I was tired and not really focusing on the game, so I made a bunch of plays that I probably wouldn't have normally made. Some worked, some didn't. I was never really in danger of going out until I did.

My second QQ came when I was in the big blind. Archie raised from the small blind and I reraised, causing him to fold. (side note, our group has gotten terribly passive. So much preflop limping and family pots.

My third QQ came four handed. I raised, and Shane reraised out of the big blind. The flop is all under cards, two clubs and he bets my remaining chips. I make a crying call, putting him on KK or AA. He turns over AK, both clubs. That was actually a good bet on his part. Something I didn't think him capable of. Puts a ton of pressure on me to fold plus he has a ton of outs. Which of course he hits.

Not a terrible result except that it was one of my better results this season.

Here are the results from this week, and the overall standings.

1. Shane
2. Greg
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Aaron
6. Archie
7. Noah
8. Jason M
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

Overall

1. Jason M (85/84)
2. Mark (88/81)
3. Shane (68/66)
4. Aaron (68/64)
5. Greg (62/62)
6. Me (57/55)
7. Noah (55/53)
8. Archie(52/50)
9. Jason S (48/48)
10. Jason K (19/19)

So unless my math is wrong Jason M and Mark have clinched the top two spots.  Technically Shane could tie mark, but Jason M said he doesn't think he can make it next week, and the other two Jason's I don't expect to show at all, so there is an almost guaranteed three points for Mark.   

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/10

This is one of those weeks when I feel like PokerStars was just messing with me.  I got absolutely brutally awful cards all night.  And had I played them I think I would have flopped two pair, or at least made two pair by the turn 87% of the time.

Jasons K and S were no shows again.  I think K has given up, and S is in the process of moving across country.   I hovered around the starting stack size most of the game.  for some reason I was able to see the flop on my BB for free almost every orbit.  So I was able to hang around.  Ultimately when we were four handed I tried to bluff Mark off a pot and he made a great call with bottom pair.  That left me pretty short stacked and then I tried to get cute by reraising all-in with bottom pair, hoping Noah was just trying to steal my blind.  He had top pair and knocked me out.  It was probably an ill-advised move at that point, but I was banking on him bluffing and I was wrong.

In the grand scheme of things is probably doesn't matter as Mark and Jason M were still in it, and they don't need to beat me at this point. They just need to stick around for a while to accumulate enough points to prevent me from catching them.  I'll have to do the math later, but I think I'm mathematically eliminated at this point,

This weeks results are:

1. Noah
2. Jason M
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Archie
6. Greg
7. Aaron
8. Shane
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

The overall standings are:

1. Jason M (83/82)
2. Mark (80 /73)
3. Aaron (63/59)
4. Shane (53/51)
5. Greg (51/51)
6. Noah (52/50)
7. Me (51/49)
8. Jason S (48/48)
9. Archie (48/46)
10. Jason K(19/19)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com