This month's winner:

Event: World Series of Poker, Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (Various Buy-Ins), July 13 – July 28, 2006

Played in the Pot-Limit Omaha tourney today and lasted a pretty long time — i.e., got knocked out on the second hand! The format for this tournament is so stupid; everyone was complaining. Anyway, I was up against Devilfish and Tom McEvoy (the 1983 WSOP Main Event champ), and all three of us got all our chips in on the turn. I had the top three pair and the nut flush draw. Basically, I had to go for it — and I would’ve tripled up if I’d hit one of my 17 outs. Devilfish ended up scooping the pot with bottom set when one of the only blanks left in the deck hit on the river and knocked out both me and McEvoy.

Afterward, I played again in the pot-limit Omaha cash game. Damn, I wish there were a regular game spread back home. Pot-limit Omaha is quickly becoming my favorite game.

Well, that’s all for now. Tomorrow is a $1,500 NL Hold’em tourney.

Event: World Series of Poker, Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (Various Buy-Ins), July 13 – July 28, 2006

Played in the NL Shootout today. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the event. We ended up playing our first table six-handed and most people expected to play the first table 10-handed. The event also paid 100 out of 600 entries, which I can’t stand; I love the shootout format. Anyway, I couldn’t get anything going today. The player to my left flopped set after set and accumulated all the chips. He eventually knocked me out when I had 10-10, he had 3-3, and he flopped a set on a board of 9-8-3.

I’ve been playing in the 10-25 pot-limit Omaha game the last two days and have done very well (up around $8,000). I think I like the pot-limit format better in all games, including Hold’em. No limit is suited second best to my strengths, and limit poker is by far my weakest game. My main strengths are reading players and making good post-flop decisions, which I think have the least value in limit. Pot limit is great because most of the heavy betting comes AFTER the flop and that plays right into my strength. It allows me to take a lot of flops cheap in order to score big when I hit.

I lost $1,100 on the very first hand of pot-limit Omaha I played yesterday, but I saved $2,800 by reading the other two players correctly. The board came 5-4-2-5-4, in that order, with the 5-4-2 of spades. I had 5-2 in my hand, so I’d made a full house on the turn. On the river, the player last to act bet $2,800 and the other guy called. I thought about it for a while because I was steamed from getting beaten up pretty good in the 75-150 Omaha HL game, but I felt sure that the last guy had a straight flush and the other guy had 4-4; those really were the only hands that made any sense. I saved the $2,800 by making the fold because it was, indeed, a straight flush versus quads. I’d bought into the game for $5,000 and after the first hand I was already down to $3,800. After two hours, though, I’d built my stack up to $10,000 and then it was time for sleep.

I played in the pot-limit Omaha game again today, after getting knocked out of the tournament, and picked up another $3,000. It really is an awesome game and I wish they had a regular pot-limit Omaha game at all casinos. It’s a lot more fun than NL Hold’em, in my opinion. I think it’ll be my first choice for cash games while I’m here in Las Vegas.

Tomorrow’s tournament, oddly enough: $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha. Should be fun!

Event: World Series of Poker, Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (Various Buy-Ins), July 13 – July 28, 2006

After four levels in the $2,000 No-Limit tourney today, I have about 21,500 in chips. The second highest chip count at my table is around 6,000, so I’m doing really well so far.

* * * *

I’m on dinner break. Not sure where I am in relation to the field, but I have around 33,000 in chips. Cardplayer.com keeps asking about my chip count, so I’m probably on their site. Still a long ways left for today; we’ll probably be playing until 2:00 a.m. or so. They’re paying the top 153 spots and we’re down to about 400 players from 2,000.

* * * *

Woohoo, I’ve cashed in at the second event! We’re down to about 150. I still have a healthy stack at about 45,000. One more level for today then we break for tomorrow.

* * * *

Ended the day with 56,000 in chips. I’m currently 18th in chips of the 101 players remaining. We go back tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. to get rolling again. I am definitely in the hunt. I don’t have a lot of time to discuss today’s hands because I need to hit the hay, but one interesting hand happened when my stack was at around 40,000. I had red queens and under-the-gun raised to 3,600 (blinds were 600-1200). I just smoothed called his raise to see the hand played out when a tight French player behind me re-raised an additional 10,000. He had about another 15,000 left, so this hand could potentially put me down to around 10,000 if I misplayed it. My first consideration was whether he had K-K or A-A. This was a strong possibility as I’d only seen good hands from him and he’d also shown the ability to make a big fold. I decided I was going to take a flop and if no ace or king flopped, I’d move in. The flop came J-J-6 and I moved all-in. He thought about it and ended up folding. He told me he had A-K and I believe this to be true. He said that if I checked the flop, he would have moved in. My hand was not the type to trap with. I was happy to take the pot without having to endure a turn and river, and giving him the chance to hit an ace or a king. I really like this play — the smooth calling a big re-raise pre-flop and then pushing in on the flop. It puts a lot of pressure on one’s opponent to make the right decision.

* * * *

Got half my stack in with A-9 suited versus A-5 off suit and lost when a 5 came. Then I waited around and pushed in with 10-10 and lost to A-J. Finished 68th. Oh, well. Tomorrow is a new day.

Event: World Series of Poker, Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (Various Buy-Ins), July 13 – July 28, 2006

Entered the $2,500 NL Shorthanded event today. The event started late, so I played some $75-150 Omaha Hi-Low to kill time. Won one big hand — had A-5-6-Q with hearts and the board was Q-4-3-2 with two hearts. I had lock low, lock high, and a lock high redraw. My hand was huge and there was a lot of action on the flop and the turn. The river was a beautiful off-suit jack and I only got called by one person. I scooped up about a $3,000 pot. That was about it, though; didn’t play many eventful hands other than that. I ended up winning a little over $1,500 in less than an hour. Not a terrible way to kill time!

On to the tournament. I’ve decided to try something different this year, since I’m playing in an event every day and rate my own play every day. I’m going to try to be honest with my self evaluations. Today, I honestly give myself an A. I played extremely controlled (even though, for my style, this means playing a lot of pots) and the last hand, when all the money went in, I was a decent favorite.

My first table is a great one — I feel like I’ll easily control it. We start with 2,500 in chips and the blinds start at 25-25. We’re playing six-handed at all the tables because it’s a short-handed event. A very funny thing happens on the first hand. A young kid raises to 75, everyone folds to me, and I call my blind with 6-5 off suit. The flop comes 10-8-4 rainbow, I check, the kid bets 100, and I call my gut-shot straight draw. The turn is an ace, I check, he checks. The river is a 9, making the board A-10-9-8-4. I think about bluffing at the pot, but decide to check. The kid checks behind me. I say, “You win,” and I muck my hand because it obviously can’t be any good. He says, “You shouldn’t have done that,” and shows 5-3 of hearts. My 6 high actually would have won the first pot if I’d just shown it!

I am raising about 90 percent of the hands. I keep making small raises and my opponents assign me the label of “maniac” right away — which is perfect; it’s just the image I want. They are so scared to play with me that I raise the minimum to 50, and if they have a big hand they make it something like 550 because they don’t want to play post-flop. By continually throwing out small pre-flop raises, I’m narrowing the possible hands they can have while no one has any idea what I hold. I’m then making solid post-flop decisions: winning all the pots when everyone has nothing, getting away from other players’ solid hands cheaply, and maximizing my take on my big hands. The young kid is the only one who wants to play with me, and we tangle in a lot of pots.

On one hand, I raise with 7-2. The flop comes J-7-6 with two spades. I bet 200, the kid check-raises all-in, and I’m seriously contemplating calling. He has me covered at this point so if I’m wrong, I’m out. Even though I feel my hand is best (he made too big of a raise for me to think I’m beat; a huge overbet), I decide to fold because I’m pretty sure I can dominate the table and there’s no reason to take unnecessary risks. He shows 5-4 for an up-and-down straight draw. This outcome gave me even more confidence because my read was on. I think he thought he was rattling me or something.

Later on, two hands before my table broke up, I pick up J-7. I have about 3,000 chips at the time. The kid is in the big blind and has about 1,500 in chips. I raise to 75, the button calls, and then the kid calls, too. The flop comes 7-5-3 with two spades. I bet 200, the button calls (he started the hand with about 3,500 chips, so he has me covered), the kid thinks about it and goes all-in for an additional 1,300. This hand feels very similar to the previous one I’d played against him. The circumstances are different, though, because this time I have him outchipped 2-1, so if I end up going heads-up against his all-in and lose, I’d still have 1,500 chips (enough ammo this early in the tournament that I’d still be healthy). My major cause for concern is the button’s smooth call of my bet behind me. I figure that the button has, at best, a hand like A-7 and that if I go all-in on top of the original all-in, he’d lay down a hand like that. So, I decide to move all-in. The button folds and the kid has Q-2 of spades. I dodge both the spade and the queen and I’m up to about 5,000 chips.

Our table breaks — which is very unfortunate for me — and I move to a new table. I recognize some of the players and can tell instantly that this is going to be a tougher table than the last one. The stacks are as follows: me, 5,000; the first player to my left, 7,500 (close to being chip leader in tournament at this point); second to my left, 800; third to my left, 4,400; fourth to my left, 1,000; and fifth to my left (one to my right), 400. One of the few guys who has me covered is sitting directly to my left. I play very few hands and believe I’ve established the exact opposite image I’d created at the first table. The few times I’m involved in a hand, I pick up the pot with a bet on the flop.

When I’m in the button position, the following hand comes up. Under-the-gun raises to 175 and everyone folds to me. I have 5-4 spades. I decide to call because I feel like I can win the pot even if I miss the flop — and I can possibly win a really big pot if things fall into place. The small blind is the chip leader and he looks like he’s contemplating a re-raise. I’m thinking that this isn’t good — if he re-raises, I can’t make it to the flop. I’m praying for him to just call so I can see a flop. He ends up calling and the big blind folds. The flop comes Q-8-4 with one spade, and the small blind leads out for 400. The original raiser folds and now I’m left with a decision. I’m pretty sure I’m beat, but what does he have? I don’t think he has A-A or K-K because he’d have probably re-raised these pre-flop. I think he might have Q-Q, but this is a very unusual hand to lead out with the flop of Q-8-4 rainbow. I finally narrow down his hand to most likely being 8-8 or A-Q. These are the two hands with which he would most likely consider re-raising pre-flop but might elect not to. I finally decide that A-Q is the most probable holding because I just don’t think he’d lead out at the flop if he hit a set. Okay, I decide to gamble here and call. Some might argue against this call, but let’s look at the facts. First, I’m calling 400 when there’s already 1,000 in the pot, so I’m getting almost 3-1 on my call. Second, being the one guy who has me covered, my hand is so disguised that if I can hit it on the turn, I might be able to double up. Third, this guy was playing really tightly and I thought there was a possibility of seeing a free river card if I missed the turn.

The turn is a 5 — eureka, I hit it! He checks to me (so I was right about possibly getting a free river card) and now I have to decide what to do. I bet 1,500 and he quickly puts me all-in. Ouch, now I don’t know what to do. I need to analyze this hand and see if I messed up. Did he flop a set? If he did, he played the hand AWESOMELY. He trapped me here drawing dead. How can I fold this hand? I really didn’t expect him to move on me. After thinking about it for four or five minutes, I decide that, with only another 2,000 in front of me, I have to call and hope I’m ahead. I finally call and he flips over A-Q. My read was right the whole way! Now all I had to do was dodge eight outs once. Thirty six out of 44 cards on the river double me up and put me in the chip lead of the tournament (still a long way to go, of course, but with over 10,000 in front of me, that table was going to face a LOT OF PRESSURE). Alas, the river was another 8, nullifying my two pair and knocking me out of the tournament.

Obviously, I was pained at first (getting knocked out of a tournament ALWAYS sucks), but after sitting back and analyzing the day, I am not upset with my effort and don’t feel like I made any mistakes. I put myself in a good situation to accumulate a lot of chips early, and I got really unlucky to get knocked out. There is really not much more I could ask for.

Well, on to the next! Tomorrow is a $2,000 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em event. I’ve also signed up for the main event already, so I could pick my day — I’ll be playing on Day One (July 28).