Today sucked. I can honestly say that I think the $1500 event was the one I was supposed to win the other day. That has been the only tournament this whole trip where I actually ran good (Aside from running AK into KK on the bubble and AKcc vs AA -- but I blew that hand.) I hate talking about running good and running bad and getting unlucky, I absolutely hate it. I feel like every day, every hand, is a new moment and I don't ever want to feel like I am in a bad "run" or something that can last for months on end. So anyways, that $1500 tournament I was winning races, making good calls, winning pots and my hands were holding (aka running good lol.) Hopefully I can have another tournament where I run "good" and can get deeper and have a better finish.

In the 1k rebuy today I shoved a couple hands during the first 2 hours of rebuy period and didn't get any action. I won some small pots here and there and at the end of the break I had 4650 chips and opted to do the double addon for $2k more so my stack went up to 8650 chips while being in for $4k, which is about the minimum in this tournament if you double rebuy and double addon. There were really no interesting hands before the rebuy, but I did pick up some stuff on the opponents at my table and I liked my chances after the rebuy period. I had Chris McCormack two to my left, Jon "pokertrip" Freidberg directly to my right, and Thomas Wahlroos across from me. The other players were randoms or people I never played with before. I recognized one more player but have no clue what his name was.

About 5 hands after the rebuy period ended this familiar player raised for his third time in about four hands and Freidberg called from the small blind and I called from the big blind with 9Thh. (Blinds 100-200, Raiser made it 500) I had about 8.5k to start the hand, Jon had a little under 8, and the other player had about 12k or so I believe, maybe 14k. The flop came A64s rainbow and we both checked to the raiser. He fired 1200 and Jon raised to 3200. Now I didn't believe the raiser had an ace either, and I was thinking about stabbing here, but his 1200 bet is pretty strong so I figured he had to have some piece of the flop. I figured Jon had to have a piece too but Jon raised to 3200 leaving himself 3050. Its a pretty big raise and it looks like hes committing himself, but I thought he was doing this on a bluff after I thought about it. I felt like shoving in here with air, but I gave the other player the credit for having a piece and folded. The other player called 2k and the turn came the 2s. Jon shoved all in for his last 3050 and the player called with AQdd. Jon turned a flush draw along with his gutter on the flop (He had 78ss) and the river came the 5h and Jon rivered his straight. After the hand Jon said exactly what I was thinking. "You raised like three hands after break already, I couldn't put you on an ace. I was folding if you moved in on the flop or I was check folding the turn if I didn't hit a pair or anything to improve my draw." The other player said "You were going to fold the flop or turn after you put in half your stack? That's good poker." He said sarcastically. It was a pretty weird hand and I wish I had a piece to shove on Jon there, because I didn't think he was too strong on the flop. And I think the other player should just put him in on the flop unless he 1) Wants to have Jon bluff off the turn or 2) If he thinks he has the best hand whats the point of just calling the flop and calling the turn all in if you think you are beat in the first place? The only purpose of just calling the flop is for Jon to bluff all in on the turn. If you are behind on the flop why even call? Either way, Jon got lucky and doubled up.

The very next hand Thomas Wahlroos opens for 600 (he had been in a lot of hands) and Jon Freidberg reraised to 1800 on the button. Since Jon just got a lot of chips through the double up I figured he could be reraising here using his new found chips and position. I looked down at QQ and was forced to make a decision. Freidberg hadn't done anything too crazy during the rebuy period, but I thought about him just getting chips, and thought he would reraise Wahlroos who was active with 99-AA and AQ and some other hands in the range. I looked at Jon he didn't seem overly confident in his hand, as he was just waiting for me to make my decision, and with about 8300 total I decided to reraise all in for 6350 more, on top of the 1800 raise, for 8150 total. He got a count and called pretty quickly, and flipped up AKcc. Damn. I mean, that's good for me, but I was hoping he had Jacks or something. The board ran out 34cc9h8h so I was safe going into the river, just needed to dodge an Ace, king or club. The river came the 9 of clubs and Jon rivered his flush to knock me out and win a ~17k pot. I'm only ever shoving QQ, KK, AA, and probably AK there. So I don't know how much I like his call, but I guess nobody who plays online folds AK, so it kind of makes me think back to the Bellagio 2k when I mucked AK. I wish I was just like every other Internet player and never folded AK. Oh well. When I fold AK I win, and when I jam it in like a moron (like in the $1500) I run into AA and KK, lol, fair game. Oh well, nothing you can do. I was going to play really tight after the rebuy period because normally people play huge pots after the rebuy breaks so I stuck to my strategy although I got it in as a coin flip.

That's all I have to say about that. Don't know what else to say. Tomorrow is another event and I will be playing it whatever it is, so maybe tomorrow will go better. Time is running out. I need to get that big score soon, before I leave Vegas.

I'm over at Stu's place right now with Hans, Rob Mizrachi (who's bad), Mike Mizrachi (The Grinder), and our other buddy Louie. We're all messing around playing online poker cash games. I played some tournaments online earlier and they didn't go so well. Tomorrow is the 1k rebuy and I'm excited about it. Hopefully it will go well. I'm really confident about my No limit game right now and cant wait for tomorrow. Just need to eliminate those little mistakes here and there and everything will go great. I got a couple pictures from Hans' girlfriend Christy from when she was here the other day and we went out. She has some more pictures shes going to send me but here are some of them now.



Me, Hans and Christy at Cafe Martorano's at the Rio.



Me and Hans...



Hans, Joe (One of our friends from Florida), and me at Tabu.

Those are all the pictures I have right now. Christy will send me some more tomorrow I'm sure. We have some pictures from Kaizen, Tryst, and some other places I believe. I'll see when I get them. I'll update the blog tomorrow after I am the chip leader going into day two of the 1k rebuy =) Oh yeah by the way, Cafe Martorano's is an awesome restaurant at the Rio. It actually originated in South Florida where I live. It is located in North Miami Beach and it is better than the one they have in Vegas. If anyone is down in South Florida they definitely need to check it out. I think they realized how good it was and then the Rio paid the owner to come out to Vegas and run and create the one they have there. At least thats what I heard, who knows. Anyways you should definitely check it out if you're in Vegas and enjoy Italian food

So after Hans chopped the Second Chance on Sunday night we went to Kaizen (the sushi place I talked about earlier.) Me, him, and his girlfriend Christy all enjoyed dinner and then we decided to go to Tryst at the Wynn. Tryst is the nightclub I talked about in a previous blog as well. It was alright. We just hung out, listened to music, and socialized with each other. We hung out there for an hour or so, the music started to get pretty boring so we decided to leave. We left the club and went into the casino and Hans wanted to play in the pits. Now I have said I wouldn’t play in this pits this year because its pointless and a waste of money, but Hans decided to back me in the pits LOL. He gave me some money and we sat down at the Pai Gow table. I think I went on to win like $80 and then he wanted to play Blackjack. I then lost all the money back at Blackjack and we were even, so it was worth the fun since we didn’t lose any money fortunately. It was fun hanging out with Hans and Christy and celebrating his win although we took it easy and just hung out.

Last night the same group of us went to Nine Steak House at the Palms because it was Christy's last night here visiting Hans and that place was awesome as well. I had their Lobster Bisque soup and then Main Scallops for my main dish it was really good. I suggest everyone try this place if you haven’t already. Their steaks are great and they have a ton of other good dishes and appetizers. After that we went back to Hans and Stu’s place and just hung out.

I think tomorrow I am going to play the WSOP $1k rebuy tournament, which can get pretty expensive. Hopefully I can get in the tournament for cheap and get some chips and make a good run at another good finish. I played it last year and it was a lot of fun and I think I was in for $7k. So hopefully this year goes a little better.

$1500 NL Hand History:

This tournament started off really good for me and I got chips early and kept accumulating chips throughout the whole tournament until I busted. The first hand that has any significance came early in the 25-50 level. I had RainKhan at my table and he was really the only threat, so I was going to stay away from him early and try to pick on the weaker players. At 25-50 a player limps for under the gun, and it folds around to the button who makes it 150. I look down at AKo and normally I would just call here so early in the tournament, but I think the button is just making a play for position since he didn’t raise so much and I'm not really worried about the limper. The players are pretty transparent so I think he would of raised a premium hand, better than mine. I decide to make it 475 and the UTG limper makes it like 1200 with 675 or so behind. The button folds and I think him not moving in and just reraising leaving himself chips is pretty weak, so I put him all in and he calls with AQo. I win that hand and go up to 5kish early.

I raise one hand with 33 to 150 and the button calls with 1200 behind and the big blind moves all in for his last 400 or so, I reraise all in to isolate, he flips over 89 and I win the race. Also at 100-200 I won 66 vs. KJ when I made it 525 in middle position and the cutoff shoved in for 1400. So I am winning some flips early and building my stack.

Another interesting hand at 100-200 was between me and Hevad "RainKhan" Khan. He limped for 200 in early position with a stack of about 2400 - 2800 and the button made it 800. I looked down at AKcc gain with about 6k in chips and decided to move all in again. I thought Hevad might limp with a big hand here, since he hadn’t limped the whole tournament, but my hand is strong and I have him covered 2-1. I’m the one putting him to the decision if he has a real hand or not. It got back to him and he thought about it for about 10-20 seconds and moved all in as well. The button folded and Hevad flipped QQ to my AKcc and I won another race when the king flopped.

I lost a couple small pots to a player on my right who didn’t like to fold middle pair to me or any draws, and he kept hitting so that was frustrating. I’m at about 9k or so when this interesting hand comes up. Under the gun limps, I limp on the button with 69ss and one player is all in for 25 chips. The flop comes J58ss and I flop a straight flush draw. Under the gun leads out for 900 with about 3k behind and I decide to play it fast and try to gamble for a big pot. I make it 3k and it gets back to the UTG limper and he moves all in for all his chips and I call. He flips over AhJs for top pair and top kicker. I turn the flush and he doesn’t hit a higher flush on the river and I win a nice pot and move up to about 14k or so at 100-200.

Another hand I have AcKh and a tight player makes it 700 in early position. I reraise him to 2900 and it gets back to him he moves in his total 4k. I tell him I think we have the same hand, and we do. He flips over AdKc and the flop comes AT5hhh. So all I need is another heart and I win the pot. I’m freerolling (cant lose can only win) for a chance at a 8k pot. The turn comes the Qh and I win the 8k pot and go up to 23k. Yes, I was running good in this tournament at this point =)

At 150-300 there are 4 limpers including a UTG limp, and I pick up QQ on the button and make it 1900. The under the gun limper shoves in for 5k and I call. He turns over AK and I flop a Queen and win another nice pot.

Also at 150-300 and ante an under the gun raiser makes it 800, Kwob (online player from the Bellagio) calls on the button and I call in the big blind with AQo. The flop comes Q83 and the under the gun raiser shoves after I check. Kwob folds and I call and he flips over Q6cc. He needs running clubs or a 6 and he doesn’t hit either so I win another nice pot. I’m up over 30k at this point and in great position to make a run deep. This table breaks which I was at in the Brasilia room and I get moved to the Amazon room. Unfortunately, Kwob was moved to the same table as well. He’s a good player.

At the new table there is another internet cash game player, AllStar6, I believe his name was. Him and Kwob end up going at it and Kwob wins a big pot AK vs. his KThh and Kwob goes up to like 30k in chips as well. One hand comes up between me and Kwob where he raises the cutoff and I have AQo in the small blind. I think most internet players would reraise another internet player here, but I think the best play is just to call. We are both very deep and I’m not trying to get into a huge pot out of position with this sort of hand. The big blind calls, the flop comes K72 rainbow and we all check. The turn comes another K and I think about leading out, but decide to knuckle again. Kwob bets and I think about it for a little bit. I don’t think he has a king but I think he is making a bet with like 99 - JJ or something and decide not to try to make hero calls down with AQ high and muck. We get into a conversation about the hand and I told him I thought he had 99 or TT or something and wouldn’t call him down with AQ and he told me he had TT. He’s a solid player so I'm glad I didn’t let my ego get involved and just played the hand the way I did.

I continued to chip up and play pots when this one interesting hand came up. I got moved to a great new table that I would be finishing the day at. The table had a lot of weak players, and I loved it. I raised one hand with KQcc at 400-800 50ante or so. I raised to 1950 and one guy called who had about 18k in chips or so. I had about 50k at this point maybe 60k. The flop came J53 rainbow. I bet out 2450 and he called. The turn came a 6 and I bet out 3800 this time. He thought for a little bit and called again. With him calling me twice and not really raising I figured he had a hand like 88 99 or TT. I thought he would of raised by now with a set or a strong jack. On the river the board paired 3 and I asked him how many chips he had left. The dealer counted out his stack of about 10k and I contemplated what to do. There was a lot of chips out there already and we were closing in on the bubble. I know nobody wants to lose right before the money, so I figured I would bluff the river. I waited for the player to move his chips back to his area, away from the middle of the table where the dealer was counting them out. I didn’t want his chips already out in front of him so he could call easier since they were already out there. So I thought about it for a minute and declared that I was all in. He asked me if I had a set and folded in about 10 seconds. Phew.

Another hand at 400-800 I make it 1950 with 88 in middle position and the big blind calls, leaving himself with 4400 chips. The flop comes A33hh and he moves all in. I think about it for a minute and think he’s on a flush draw. No way he has a 3. He could possibly have a baby ace and just want to pick up the pot, but I figure its a flush draw and call him. He turns over KThh and its still a gamble. He turns the Ks but I river the 8s and knock him out. It was a 12k or so pot, it wouldn’t of hurt me too much but its always nice to even win the small ones.

The guy I bluffed earlier calls my raise from the cutoff when I make it 1950 with K9o close to the bubble. He calls from the small blind leaving himself about 8k and the flop comes 933hh and he checks to me. I move all in and he calls pretty instantly with AQo the turn comes the 6 and the river comes the 2 and I knock him out and win a nice pot once again.

A short stack moves all in for 5k I have 22 on the button and decide to gamble, she flips over A5cc and turns the flush. No biggie, it was a gamble. Then a hand before the break comes up where I raise with A9o in middle position to 1950 and the button reraises me to 4400. Wow, what a small raise. This player was a fairly new player but I’m priced in and decide to see a flop. The flop comes A78 rainbow and I check to him. He bets 8k in a really shy manner. He said his bet in a real soft voice and he seemed genuinely nervous. Now if I take the information preflop and his flop bet, he made a small reraise, which is normally a monster with these guys. Now I have an Ace on an Ace high board and if he does happen to have pocket aces, would he really be firing 1/3 his stack on the flop where he flopped the nuts? I didn’t think he would. I thought he had like KK or QQ and I decided to move all in. I moved all in and he folded after about 10 seconds. When I got back from the break he said he had 99 and he played it bad. (The guy next to him said he should of taken a free card for the turn, little did he know he had 1 out.) Anyway, that was another good pot to pick up.

Again, nearing the bubble, a tight player who was representing Pokerstars (polish guy) made it 2900 under the gun at 500/1000 100a and I reraise him to 10k for the first time in 2 hours with AKo. He thought about it for a couple minutes and with 25k behind he opted to fold, showing AK face up. I told him good lay down =)

Online player "Gbecks" gets moved to my table with a good amount of chips and he’s the only player I’m worried about. One interesting hand and the only hand we played, he limped the cutoff and I checked my option in the big blind with QTo. The flop came AK6 and I checked to him. He bet 1600. He doesn’t need to have a hand here limping the cutoff, he mostly raises an Ace there, so I decide with a rainbow board I can call 1600 and maybe make a play on the turn or spike a J. The turn comes the Js putting two spades on board and giving me the nuts. I check to him and he bets out 4500. At this point I’m thinking he turned two pair with KJ, and I decide to play my hand tricky and instead of making a small reraise with the nuts, I raise 20k MORE, to 24500. I wanted to do this to confuse him mostly, but I think leading the turn would of been the better play. But I opted to check because he doesn’t need to have a hand there ever really, so I make the big raise and he thinks about it for a couple minutes and folds. He said he folded A6 for two pair. If he did really fold that, good fold.

Those were about all the interesting hands minus a couple from the $1500 NL event. I didn’t repost the two huge pots I played with AK since I already typed those up. Hopefully I can eliminate my mistakes, since in No Limit holdem one mistake can cost you a tournament. If I can stop making mistakes at points in tournaments then my results should become a lot better. Tomorrow is a new day and we will see how it goes.

On a closing note, congratulations to my sister and her boyfriend (Megan and Jeff) on their engagement. They have been together for about 7-8 years and decided to tie the knot. They will be getting married in September and I am actually the MAID OF HONOR. Haha. I’m not sure how that’s going to work, but hopefully I don’t have to wear a dress or anything.