Hey everyone! Glad to see some people actually still check my blog even though I haven’t updated in it a long time. It’s been about a month since my last entry. This blog will probably be real long and might include some ramblings. I will organize it so you can skip over parts you are not interested in lol.

LIFE:
Since I’ve been back from Vegas I’ve played SOME poker at the casinos and online. I haven’t played too much in either but I’m starting to get back into the grind. I spent a couple weeks resting and relaxing from the WSOP, then was busy for another week or so. I took a one day trip out to LA for a meeting and have been bouncing around Florida as well. I’ve spent a lot of time with friends and family. It just feels like I have a lot going on around me at the moment, but I need to manage my time better too. I have to get a couple things sorted out before the WCOOP comes. I probably feel busier than I actually am, I just have to get some things accomplished that I’ve been putting off, that’s all.

I played in a basketball tournament a couple weeks ago with a bunch of my buddies who play professionally. Stu (thedonator) and I put the team in the tournament. We had a couple tough games. We smacked the team who ended up winning it by 20 in the first game, then we lost a tough game on a buzzer beater that we shouldn’t have lost. One of our best players hurt himself and a couple other guys couldn’t make it to the next games. It was a disaster considering we should have won the tournament altogether and pocketed some money, but it was a good time regardless. There were a lot of professional players in the tournament. It was a tough tournament but we had a good team and would have done better had a couple things gone our way.

Other than that things have been pretty normal. Working out, hanging out, doing miscellaneous things.

POKER:
Like I said briefly above, I have been playing poker here and there. When I first got back to South Florida I played poker for like 5 days straight in the casinos. I played a couple tournaments and then a couple cash games sessions. I’m glad we finally have cash games here! It’s awesome but I only played a total of three times. The games aren’t as good as they could be, but it is still nice of having the option to play somewhere. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to play online/casino/etc.

I played a few FTOPS events last week and have come close to winning the 100r turbo on FTP the last 2/3 times I played it. I got 8th and 11th. I guess that really isn’t close to winning, but close enough to mention! I was 1/8 at the final table and donked my way to an 8th place finish. I made a couple questionable plays that I wish I could take back. I’m not completely back into grind mode though but I probably will be once the WCOOP rolls around.

WSOP Day 1B:
So I’ve been meaning to talk about the WSOP for a while now. I don’t remember all of my big hands but I remember most of them. I actually received some coverage from Day 1B in two pots I played against Phil Laak. I’m not sure if this will lead to more coverage from ESPN but it was cool finally making some TV time. People always ask me “Will you be on TV?” and I always respond with if I make a big final table or something. It’s pretty neat. I don’t really look at it like a big deal but I guess it is bigger than I realize. Either way it was cool to watch and maybe I will get more coverage down the road in the tournament.

At about 2:00 minutes in I win a small pot off Laak and then at 14:00 minutes was a big pot where I cooler Phil with top set vs bottom two. That hand is kind of interesting because I had picked up something on Phil and knew he was real strong on the flop, but there was a cannon behind us so I decided to flat.. It worked out when we got the money in on the turn but there was more to the hand than just a heads up pot with top set vs bottom two. I think it was 4-5 ways on the flop.

One of the craziest hands I played in all of the main event was on Day 1. What I’m about to type is going to sound absurd to some, but here it goes. At 100/200 no ante, a tight player opened from the hijack to 750. The button who was an aggressive player called and I called with KQo in the big blind. The flop came JJTcc and we checked to the button. He bet 1100 and I raised to 2900. The tight player folded and now the button reraised me to 4k. This wasn’t a legitimate raise. His min raise should have been to 4700. The dealer didn’t realize, and neither did I, because at the time the dealer had pulled in the bets and just my 1800 was out there, so it looked like it was a legit raise. I didn’t realize that this happened until I told someone the hand later that night. So now it is 4k to me (and I didn’t realize this wasn’t correct.) and I put in a fourth bet on the flop and make it 6700. He calls instantly. The turn is the 6h and I bet 7k with 12k behind. He calls once more. The river is the Qh. The board is JTTcc6hQh and I check to him. He puts me all in and I call. He says “Do you have a jack?” I told him he has to show his hand. He says “Two pair!” while I wait for him to show me his cards. He finally turns over 99 and I scoop the pot to double up to 58k early in the day.

There was a lot more than meets the eye to this hand. I didn’t play it the best way I could have but I had history (similar hand where I folded flop to 3rd bet) with this specific player and knew what he was capable of. I hadn’t been out of line or played any big pots previous to this one, but I guess he thought I had some spazz in me. I probably gave him a little too much credit in the way he looked at poker. He was definitely trying to run over the table and in my opinion he thought he was the best one there. His banter at the end of the hand asking me if I have a jack leads me to believe he wasn’t as good as I thought he was. Either way he said he thought I had nothing and I’m not sure why he bet the river if that was the case.

I didn’t enjoy calling all in a couple hours into the Main Event, and I know this spot was probably stupid to take, but I was fairly certain of his holdings and how he would play certain hands up to this point. He had played a lot of pots and I felt in touch with his style. That’s the reason I ended up playing this hand like I did. I don’t suggest it to others though lol. It was not the best hand of poker ever played. It might be one of the worst hands ever played in the WSOP Main Event haha.

I’ll talk more about the Main Event in the next blog. I have some other interesting hands to talk about. I have to get some sleep. It feels good to be blogging again! Goodnight.