been a while, time for an update!

Came back from Vegas a couple of days ago, still pretty tired. 6 weeks is a loooong time to be in that place. I had fun, all a bit of a blur now though and I'm glad to be back in manchester.

I'll write about my vegas experiences later on, for some reason I'm finding it hard to form coherent sentences so I'll go through all the wsop poker stuff....

hardly played online at all, played maybe 2k hands of plo on ft, that's it. So it was all live. Played 8 tournaments overall and cashed in one. Played some live cash sessions and won in every one which was nice.

Tourney number 1: 1500nl 6 max. Can't even remember what happened in that one except that I didn't cash, only know I played it cuz I've still got the receipt. Think i was just pretty short for most of it. Remember hero calling a woman... i was wrong. something like A9 on a 88469 board maybe. i raised co she called bb, i checked back flop and called 2 streets (knew i was bluff catching on river even though it looks like a really good card) she had pawket rawkets.

number 2: 1500 plo. My 1st ever wsop cash! I came 74th for a cool $2950 (or something like that). Just trying to think of some noteworthy hands. I remember my bustout hand I'll start with that: some guy raises i flat AKTT with nut clubs and like 40bbs, pretty standard. 2 other callers. Flop J42cc. pfr checks i anounce pot. btn calls everyne else folds. turn is a blank maybe a 7 or something, i say all in. guy tanks (lol) and calls with J4xx, river A gg. Can't think of any other hands.. on to the next one!


number 3: 2500 6max nl: Lets give this 2 card game another chance... On elkys table and literally my 1st hand im in bb with AT. Some guy was actually sat in my seat and was just about to play with my stack before i turned up, wonder what happens if he did that. imagine i just take his seat. Anywyay, AT. elky raises btn i call. flop AJ4 goes check check. turn 8 i bet he raises. Wasn't thrilled, but i call river is a blank and i cf pretty quickly and didn't think it was a tough decision. Maybe 10 hands later i get dealt KK in sb. Some guy raises ep and there are 2 callers. I squeeze and everyone calls. Flop K62r. Boom! I decide to get a little sneaky and check, noone bets unfortunately. turn 8 bringing back door diamonds. I bet out and get called in 2 spots, no diamond! river is an off suit 4. Not really sure whats best here tbh since I'm obviously strong, and they probably dont have much and wont bluff much if i check, but i shove for like 2/3 pot and hope someone hero calls cuz it is a donkament. btn calls with 75dd and all my chips go to him. I then go to the bellagio and play a 12 hour session of 10/20nl. I actually quite enjoyed myself. Phil Laak was at a table close by playing 25/50 and kept bringing me food, which i thought was really nice of him! "here you go kid, looks like you could do with some healthy food" gives me some salmon and broccoli, then some fruit for dessert. thanks Phil!


Number 4: 2500 plo. Just can't think of a single hand in this one. hmm. next tournament! Actually wait, this is the one where I lost a big pot with AKTTcc i think. That hand is my trouble hand apparently. This hand was ridiculous. I raise and there are 2 callers, I'm oop. Flop comes Q98r (one club) so i bet my blockers get called by both players. Turn is like the 3c. So I shove for a little less than pot. I was pretty sure neither of them had JT, and i look so strong + i have outs. I really like my play. guy to my left sighs and folds (said he had 99 after the hand). btn calls with bare Q8.... Q8!!!! river blanks and he wins my stack. The plo tournaments all have rebuy chips though so I wasn't out. Played a few hands with the fossilman, I was sat opposite him, and found it very hard to keep a straight face when he wore those glasses. Nice guy though.



Number 5: 2500 HA: Nothing much to report here, got knocked out late in day one, just couldnt get anything going. Managed to suck out AK vs KK which was fun. Lakers game was on during that, i was more interested in watching that than playing, don't know much about the sport, but it was an exciting finish.


Number 6: 5k plo: Really liked the plo tournaments, the players were terrible and you got 3 rebuy chips! Don't think I've ever played in a softer plo game than this, I'd say it played like an average 10c/25c plo game online, just ridiculous stuff was taking place, but I wasn't making many hands and found myself with no chips before the dinner break, oh well. Was such a good spot though.


Number 7: 10k plo: Wasn't gonna play, but why not. Was doing fine in the plo side games and had a bit of cash to spare. Was going fine, table was decent. Although i had tsrasst to my direct left and ashman to his left. Ashman got knocked out kinda early which made the table better. I managed to win with AAragrag aipf against ashmans JT97, some guys QQ77, and another guys double suited KK. flop was like 552 turn 7 river... the ace from space! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pda1iRyHfJ8&NR=1). Was in a pretty good shape then I played a hand terrrribly and lost a lot of chips. co (decent reg) raises, we're like 20k deep at 100/200. i 3b Ac6cKJ which is questionable, my friend who is a plo pro says he flats there, but I like putting pressure on in position, i was pretty sure he wasnt gonna 4b there with anything but AA and the blinds were decent players. he calls flop come Q45cc he checks, this is def a check back, but i bet he raises and i get it in he has QQ. Really dont like my play in that hand fortunately it was just before the break so i had a chance to get of tilt from how badly i played that hand. A bit after dinner i got AA99 on a 953dd board all in against the table fish who had been running insanely hot. Was unlucky to run into a hand he actually played fine in that spot AK68dd, like he could have had bare 93 there. river d gg.



Number 8: THE MAIN EVENT. results were that I made day 4, and finished like 850th, 747 got paid.

Day 1: 1st hand... 50/1 blinds. mp limps btn limps, sb pumps it up to 250, mp calls, btn folds. brilliant. Can't remember too many hands, i remember hero-calling the same guy twice with like 4th pair on a 3straight/3 flush board and being right, 2nd one busted him actually. Played really well up to like the 3rd to last hand. was doing great and had like 75k. i raise Ac6h in like early/mid position. 2 callers. flop 44Tcc i cbet, 1st guy folds and guy in sb min raises. he can have like 66 here based on reads. I should just fold here, it's a tournament and tight is the way to go. but i dont and call. turn is the 8c, he c/c river blanks and he c/c again with 96cc. was really pissed off with myself since i was like "dont do anything dumb in these last few hands, it's really unecessary". so ended day 1 with like 48k i think.

Day 2: cant remember much about day 2 but i remember it being annoying. ended with 40k.

Day 3: Lose AA to 88 aipf early on and am down to 20k. steal a load of pots though and play really well and get up to like 100kish. Played well again i think, put a few chips in out of place, but overall was happy at my play on the table. table was pretty good too, not great, but just quite easy to play at. Busted phill laak that day QQ vs his AKs. With about an hour before the days end i get moved to a new table. 1st hand in bb. sb (tounrey reg) opens i call JTo in bb flop 788cc he cbet i raise he folds. next hand i open raise sb with tt, bb 3b i jam he folds. 4th hand at the table i raise 89o guy who 3b me calls everyone folds. flop KT7ss i cbet he calls, turn blank i bet again he calls (i was giving up on river if i miss cuz of my image) river Jo. BINK. I bet out pretty big he calls relatively quickly. Welcome to the table nick! ended day 3 with 229k and was feeling pretty good.


day 4: Insanle soft table, was absolutely chuffed. Seat 1: shortstack who was ridic nitty, seat 2 same. Seat 3: chipleader at the table but he was really splashy, seat 4 and 5 shortstack tournament grinders, pretty nitty cant remember 6 but he wasnt good. seat 7 drummer from system of a down. really nice guy, was gonna go get a steak with him at dinner break, but i didn't make it that long. Seat 8 decent player. Chipped up to like 400k at one point. Then played some annoying hands and was down to like 250k when i got moved table. The new table was the beginning of the end for my main event, one hand in particular anyway, and after talking to my poker friends about it I'm still not sure what to do on the turn. I had been insanely active at the table, the hand in question was like the 11th hand at the table, i had probably raised 6/10 times. bvb, sb opens i call AJ in bb. He's not done a whole lot in the 10 hands I've seen, he has a bodog patch on so I'm assuming he qualified. Flop comes Ah9d5d he cr my 15k bet to 40k, i call. Turn 9h, he shoves like 140k into the 100ishk pot. and im confused. i literally tank for 5 mins, its the last hand before break so just me n him are left at the table. I just dont think he's ever shoving a boat there. worried about AK maybe AQ. i ended up making the call, he had Ak river Q and i was down to like 80k at 2/4/500. after the break co (same guy) opens and i shove A9hh with like 16bbs otb, sb cold calls QQ i miss and get knocked out. Thought I was gonna go pretty far at the 400k mark, but thats tournaments for you! Oh well, pretty happy with how I played and think my tounrament play was a vast improvement to last year.

I'm gonna go have lunch with my parents and brother now, think that'll do for this blog. might write about other vegas experiences later.

peace!