Well, my first tournament series as a self-proclaimed professional poker player has come and gone. All in all, I proved myself in a variety of ways, and demonstrated that I can achieve results when I put in the effort.

As you may recall from my previous blog post, I saddled up for the WCOOP, starting with qualifiers into the actual main events. I have screwed around in tournaments in the past, probably dropping 20-40k (the bulk of which came from random 5k FTOPS events) over my incredibly short career, and realizing that whenever I made something resembling a deep run it always was because my J8ss beat out JJ AIPF.

If I had to rate how I played over this tournament series I would give myself a B-. My effort was pretty pitiful during some days, and I inevitably didn't cash when I didn't play well. If I was going to play this tournament series again starting tomorrow, I would not play as many days. It is pretty much critical to prepare mentally for a tournament starting the night before, when you get a good nights rest, and eat healthy, and keep things low key. Then, the day of, you maintain focus throughout the entire event, focusing on playing your tournament tables, not mixing in cash on the side. Honestly, these tournaments should all be hugely lower than my hourly rate playing, but I still wanted to give it my all. With that said, come relive my journey with me:

Part One: Step tournaments. I started out buying in directly to step 3 and 4 tournaments, so I could learn the pace of tournaments better. I know more ICM than most cash players do (and got especially good towards the end of the series), but one of the most difficult things for me was deciphering the structure of the tournaments themselves. When could I resteal? When did I have to be more patient? I played around 35 of these steps tournaments during August.

Part Two: Satellite MTTs. In an attempt to get some MTT practice, and in some cases in an attempt to decrease the cost of my WCOOP (if you recall, I was planning on spending ~$30k in entries), I entered satellite tournaments for every buyin that was $1k or more. All in all, I spent $6,879 in satellite entries, and won buyins worth $12,400. So, that made the WCOOP $5,521 less expensive for me.

Part Three: The main events. I played a total of 12 days (for probably 100 hours total), and 20* (of 45) events. I am happy with my volume; some days I didn't play because I was doing other things, and some days I didn't play because I was run down, although I think that only happened once or twice. Out of the tournaments I played, I thought I played well in 13 tournaments. So, almost a third of the time I wasn't playing well, and it was my fault. At the time, I wasn't bothered by the fact that I had random videos playing, or surfing online, or playing a bunch of other tables. However, looking back I am mad at myself because I *should* not have been doing that stuff. I would bet money that I am -EV in tournaments when I am not playing my best. Period, end of story.

I cashed in three events:

Event 14 -- $320 Mixed Holdem 6max -- 44/1563
Event 31 -- $320+R PLO 6max -- 19/799
Event 45 -- $5200 Main Event 9m NLHE -- 148/2144 (Didn't have to look that one up ).

I am very proud of these scores and feel that I will be successful from here on out in tournaments because I understand them well, have a good knowledge of ICM, and know how to play them better.

The final talley:
Steps -- +$215
Sats -- Invested: $6,879, Results: $12,400, Difference: +$5,521
Events -- Invested: $29,515 Results: $19,169.47 Difference: -$10,345.53

I also entered a sat to EPT London during one of these days, which I would not have otherwise done. It was an $800 sat, and I won a $12,350 package.

Total Tournament Grind: $6,940.47, not including the London EPT Freeroll.

Those numbers make me feel like the last month of my life was a success! (Well, that and the fact that I made thirty-something grand from PLO, but that isn't the point of this post!)

I'm really looking forward to London. As Craig mentioned in his blog, we are going to an Arsenal game. Then, we will be going to Stockholm and Copenhagen for a week after the event (the event ends the 7th of October) to check out the scandi scene. Does anyone live around those areas? It would be fun to meet up and go to the ice bar!

Greg

* Aha! You have found the asterisk. The reason I starred me playing in 20 of 45 tournaments was because I didn't actually play in one of them. Incidentally, a lot of people noticed. Well, according to the PokerStars T&C what happened was legal, but this blog is incredibly long already, so.... it'll be the subject of the next one. I promise it's a good one though!

I have a lot of updating to do, especially from the WCOOP thus far; however, it's 6 AM EST. Day 1 of the WCOOP ME just ended and I am moving on to Day 2.

There are 178 people left, I have 203,380 in chips, average is 240. Starts back up at 5 PM EST tomorrow. Time to sleep and then win 1.7 mil....

Greg

Earlier in summer, I confided in a few people that I would be taking my position as a professional poker player very seriously after I finished my summer classes, because, well, I would be officially be a professional. Somewhere in those conversations, I explained that the WCOOP would be my first big tournament series as a professional, and I planned on taking that very seriously as well.

In preparation, I printed out the list of tournaments and divided the tournies into four groups: 1) Had to play 2) 2nd tier 3) 3rd tier 4) Not playing. Logically, I would play in the group ones no matter what, and then group twos and threes depending on how burnt out I felt. Most of these tournaments were over 1k entries, so I needed either to: get better at tournaments, or qualify into them. I decided to do both. As a personal sign of good intentions, I bought $10k worth of W$.

I have spent the last week trying to qualify for all the bigger buyin tournaments that I wanted to play. This included everything 1k and up, but most importantly the 10k NLHE High Roller, the $2100 PLO 6m, the $5200 Main Event, and the $2100 8-game. So far, I've qualified for the first two, I'm 0/2 on attempts at the ME, and no sats have run for the 8-game tourney. During this time period, I've also gotten really comfortable with tournaments in general (i.e. the pace, "when" you really need to make moves with short stacks -- something I think all cash players tend to do prematurely).

So, I'm hitting the WCOOP events full steam. The tournaments that I plan on playing amount to $29,670 in buyins (If you played every event it would cost you I believe $60,493, with $25,500 being the High Roller HU event. Ignoring that, there are $34,993 worth of buyins). From these tournaments alone, I am setting a goal of $60,000 profit. I know this is a very high number, but I will be very focused, playing less tables than most tourney players, and believe my poker IQ will make up for tactical deficiencies in games such as badugi.

More importantly, I have a bet with Craig and Mike. We are using the points system being used in the 2p2 MTT forum, and the highest score wins one embarrassing act in public from the others. Hopefully I could cash it in in London. Here's to the poker grind!

NB: I realize I am ignoring all the second chances. For the purpose of this blog, pretend they don't exist

For those not interested in tournaments, here is a link to a hilarious picture of Bill Chen I found while searching 'WCOOP' on Google. When you click it you'll know why I didn't post it.

I'm writing away from Penn Station, NY. My train leaves in about 15 minutes where I will head home and play in this cool EPT London ME qualifier. It's an $800 tournament for a ~12.5k prize package (the 5k buyin is in GBP so that's about 8k USD + hotel + travel + $1k spending).

I learned an entirely new trick over the past couple days in the city: Walking along busy sidewalks with umbrellas. I never encountered this problem, but in the narrow sidewalks of NYC, when it rains (EVERYONE has an umbrella), you have to maneuver. So, there are groups of people that play certain roles. You have the people who are in a rush... they hold their umbrellas as high above their heads as possible, occupying the "upper" lane. The shorter people take the "lower" lane. The assholes always take whichever lane they naturally fit in to, and the adjusters spy down the path and anticipate which lanes they will need to take in order to keep harmony. I am an adjuster .

So, I tentatively mapped out my WCOOP buyins, which amounts to something like $30k in entries. I'm looking forward to really buckling down, getting in lots of hours in an ultra-focused manner, and single handedly beating the La Jolla scores of Craig and Gordo.

I feel an inspired blog post coming soon, so stay tuned! Also, I will be making part four of my 5/10 FTP series in the next few days, which means in will be out in the next week or two. Enjoy!

Greg

EDIT: *Yawn*

I'm back from Vegas and pretty ready to grind. The family vacation was fun and relaxing, but I had to sneak in one night of partying -- it is Vegas after all!

Shout out to Jason (klink); I had a fun time hanging out with him. I came back in at 9 AM. He apparently beasted through his intoxication and played FTOPS that day without sleeping. I slept .

PLO has been going well. I am running heavily under EV but I'm still satisfied because I am winning, but also because I just care about playing well right now. I guess for some flavor let's throw in a hand. In PLO I think a lot of people are more hesitant to make kamikaze bluffs because equity is stressed so much. I'm a NLHE donk though:

Poker Stars $5/$10 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players

MP: $575.00
CO: $937.00
Hero (BTN): $1113.00
SB: $3690.50
BB: $1410.00
UTG: $1237.00

Pre Flop: ($15.00) Hero is BTN with 9 7 6 4
3 folds, Hero raises to $35, SB calls $30, BB calls $25

Flop: ($105.00) 8 A 2 (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $70, Hero raises to $190, SB folds, BB raises to $340, Hero raises to $1078 all in, BB folds



It's my mom's birthday today, so I'll have to cut this entry short to go hang out.

Till next time,
Greg

I played a live session last night... and the reason I was able to do that was because I am in Las Vegas(!) right now with my family on a nice weekend getaway. It's funny because everyone who knows I play poker but doesn't fully understand the concept probably thinks I'm some massive degenerate who had to convince my family to come to Vegas so I could GAMBLE MOREEEEE. In actuality, we've been coming here for five years, and my parents for long before that.

However, I did wire some money so I could play some live sessions because I enjoy it .

We went to this place The Palm in the Forum Shops, which is actually a chain based out of NYC. My brother ate a six pound lobster, which I will edit in with pictures when they get uploaded. Because, I wanted to play a session after, I played with a very good Chilean Sea Bass. One double espresso later, I was headed over to the Bellagio to grind it up and try to overcome my jet lag.



I decided to play 5/10 NLHE after unsuccessfully trying to form a HA game. We started a table and I sat in the 7 seat, with the 5,6, and 9 seats all filled by these middle aged Persian regulars. I was dressed nicely having just come from dinner, so I figured my image would be the wealthy white boy who wants to try to have a good time.

I played around a third of my hands which is fairly normal for live games where I'm really in it to just gamble and try to own people really hard. I was straddling, and doing stuff like occasionally letting someone pick one of my cards, etc. The three aforementioned regulars did a really good job shooting the shit with me and treating me respectfully (obviously assuming I was a fish because I played something like my first 8 of 10 hands).

About 20 minutes in, I am in the BB with 99 and raise to 60 facing a CO limp, button call, and SB complete. Two guys call and the flop comes JTx. After checking around, the 9h binks on the turn bringing in a BDFD. SB leads out 50, I make it 210, he says "ok I call" and quickly calls. Some heart falls on the river, he checks, I ship for probably around 600 effective, he calls and flips over QK.

So, now those three regulars are being really nice to me, probably not realizing what a sick cooler that was vs. some random kid who had played 75% of hands up to that point.

A little later, seat 5 limps, I iso K5o to 50 SB (seat 9) calls, and we see a flop three handed. The flop comes K28, and I had been pretty aggressively cbetting so I check behind when I get the option. The turn is Jd, putting a BDFD up once more. It checks to me and I bet 110, the SB calls and HJ folds. The river is an offsuit 6 and he checks. He has like 280 left, and I think for a little while before shipping it in. He asks me if my jack is really that good, thinks, and finally calls, flipping over J7ss. I check the board and confirm that there are no 7s . I flip my K5o and he gets this priceless WTF face. Then, he looks at the five seat (remember these guys are all buddies and were actually semi-softplaying each other but w/e) and he just throws his hands in the air in disbelief and they start talking in Persian. I've never actually successfully value bet someone that hard live before so it was pretty fun to see the faces after the hand.

So now they aren't being as jolly to me, but eventually go back to the normal banter as some time passes by. Then a fun one comes up. Seat 5 (UTG) limps, I overlimp with 22, seat 8 makes it $50, and we pick up one cold caller (SB) as we see a four handed flop. The board comes out 45A with two spades. It checks to me and I fire out 150. Seat 8 reluctantly folds, SB even more reluctantly folds, and the regular calls. The Jo turn goes check check. The river comes out 8o and he quickly fires out 200. I am now unhappy that 67 got there, but think he had some FD on the flop and played it passively because it's live/an ace is on the board. I think for about 10 seconds before calling, and I get the silent head nod when I announce call. He flips K2ss, I table 22, and the table goes wild. After that, I just run the table over because they all fear me.

I actually wound up leaving not that long afterward because I was pretty tired. I decided to talk the walk from the B to the Mirage (where we are staying) and just take everything in. I fucking love this city.

PS. I am probably looking to go out on Saturday. Are any of you guys in town right now?

Greg

So, I just got done playing 10,000 hands of Pot Limit Omaha at the 5/10 PLO limit on Stars. I am up a disappointing $4k, although I suppose I should be happy that I am learning PLO at 5/10 and winning already. I think I ran particularly bad against specific hands compared to ranges people should have in spots, but I will soon find out:

I am going to review every single hand that I played. Then, I'm going to watch lots of videos (Hi Ashton, Scott, Clayton, and Alex!) and figure out what cards to play preflop.

I have a midterm due Thursday for a summer class, so that must get done somewhere along the line as well. On Friday, I make my return to the tables. And I'll have part three of my series done by then.

It seems that we got Europe figured out. I will be going out for the WSOPE main event, and then playing in a bunch of EPT London events (check out the page at www.europeanpokertour.com, the events look amazingly fun!). Afterward, we will be heading to Italy most likely for the week, then I return home to the states. Who else is gonna be out there?

Greg


I will be the biggest winner on Stars 5/10 and 10/20 PLO from Mid-October until the end of the year.

Have to go for now. Will explain in the next blog post. Long story short more adventure/more finding my way around when I have no idea what the hell is going on.

So, I am typing away in the wifi enabled waiting room in the Lexus Service Dept. It's full of sandwiches, refrigerated water, flatscreens, magazines, and nice chairs. I am in for my 5,000 miles check (which I am electing to take at 4,200 miles).


Something like this, but with catered food.

Anyway, I just got back yesterday from a weekend in NYC. I am going to convince Reid to live there because it's the best city in the world . The best part is I live like 45 minutes away.

Oh, I don't think I mentioned yet that Danielle and I are broken up. Basically, I thought that our professional situations were too different for the next few years, and I wanted to experience the single life. We are trying to remain good friends though, because it's not like we broke up from a hatred of each other.

I drove in to the city on Friday night to visit my friends Brandon and Derek from high school. We went out and met up with Derek (different Derek, prittay good on FTP) and his gf Katie. We went out to a few places in the West Village. I got back and passed out on the couch at Brandon's apartment because the queen size blow up mattress he had been pimping up so much somehow wasn't blowing up with air. I woke up with gatorade by my side and a blanket draped over me so that's a win I guess. Then the adventure began.

I was going to move my car from the garage where it was on Friday uptown on Saturday, so I showed up around noon on Saturday to do that. Well, somehow they had lost my keys. I wound up speaking to some manager on the phone, and trying to remain patient as I was told they had no idea where they were. I went back to where the car was parked and searched around with an attendant but couldn't find anything. I told the manager that I was coming back the next day and expected the problem to be fixed. In addition, I wasn't going to ask that my now forced taxi rides be comped, but I did tell him that I thought it was reasonable for my 2 night stay in the garage to be free. He agreed which was nice since it saved me $70. I used that saved money + more to buy an outfit for Saturday night since I wasn't originally planning on staying both nights.

Getting into Derek's apartment in the West Village wound up being a disaster. My phone died, so I got to his apartment building but didn't know which one was his. I couldn't call, but I wound up finagling my way inside. His name wasn't on the listing because he was sub-leasing!!!!!!!!

Somehow, the mailman was in the building at the same time and I asked if he knew Derek. He said yes, and that I had just missed him by under five minutes. He thought he came from one of three apartments down the hall, so I knocked on all three doors and got zero answers. Of course, Derek was inside his apartment (one of the doors I knocked on) and just didn't hear. I went back outside and started to wander the streets for a Verizon store to buy a charger. I wound up paying some guy $5 so I could call Derek, but obviously he didn't pick up. I finally wandered around and used a pay phone (I probably have a disease on my ear now) to call him collect. I finally contacted him and told him to come let me in. As I walked up to the door, Katie showed up from down the street and said, "oh cool, good timing." I explained to her that I had been trying to get in for over an hour at that point .

As I had previously mentioned in a blog post, Derek and Katie are really good cooks. We went down to the meat packing district and got some Chilean sea bass for dinner, as well as this exotic rice, baby carrots, and bokchoi. They were delicious.

We went out and met up with Brandon and one of his co-workers. We went to some bar that spanned an entire block (although it was narrow) and then to another bar that had a techno room as well as a hip-hop/80s room. After, we got some pizza and I experienced "taco stand," which is this mobile mexican food van that somehow cooks legitimate mexican food.

The coolest part about the city is that there are a million things to do. You can literally change what you do every night, and it would take years to experience everything that the city has to offer. I feel like it's one of the best places in the world for a single guy in his 20s (especially with some extra cash), and it almost feels silly to pass up on living in some place where tons of people aspire to one day.

Who knows. My car is ready. Enough multitasking for the day.

Greg

As you all probably know at this point, Chewy busted out in 18th for over 500 in the Main Event. Craig got 55th for 108, and Clayton 68th for over 90.

Congrats to you guys for doing so well! It was really awesome to sweat and I was sad I had to leave early for school. Additionally, Congrats to Leggo in general for having the most impressive world series performance out of any site. Standard, but worth mentioning I guess.

I am headed up to Buffalo for the weekend to visit one of my friends, but will also make and release part 2 of my 5/10 ante video. Sometime during that weekend I will write up the last trip report from XS. I have to ask permission from someone to post a text message they sent me because it literally was the funniest message I've ever gotten.

Until then!

Greg