Last Day of WCOOP!

Event #31 is underway! This is the one that caught my eye the first time I looked at the schedule. $1,050 Limit Hold'em 6 handed is what were playing today. More than anything else these days this is my specialty. We started with 580 players with 84 spots paying. The edge of the money is $1,566 and 1st place is $107,300. So far it's not going well. We've played 100 hands and I've only won 8 pots. That's less than half as many as I would expect. Luckily the stakes are still low so I have 80% of my starting stack left.

Also on tap today I have the $530 6-max limit hold'em second chance. This should be another chance to play my best game for solid stakes.

But wait there's more! I also have two $320 qualifiers to the $5,200 main event (one is actually 20,000 FPPs which are worth $320). I have a baby shower to go to tomorrow for some of our best friends so if I win a seat I'm going to in the words of Ricky Ricardo "have some splainin' to do." But these are just too good to pass up. The first one is for supernova's only and pokerstars put up 12 seats no matter how many players signed up. I basically got into a $450 tournament for $320. In the other it's the super duper big satellite to the main event that they have been running smaller satellite to for 2 months. They've guaranteed at least 100 seats given away and I expect this tournament to be loaded with some total buffoons who have won their way in via $4 with rebuys satellites to the satellite!

But wait! There's even more! The last thing I have today is the $1,050 HORSE second chance tournament. While the competition in this one is going to be light years ahead of the people who play the $109 HORSE tournament that I win 1/3 of the time, there just aren't very many chances to play HORSE for this kind of money.

Hopefully I can close out the 2008 WCOOP with a bang!

2008 WCOOP Event #28 ($530 6-max with rebuys) Recap

This one all came down to one hand. Sometime in the second hour of play I got moved to a new table and saw that I was up against not one, but two team pokerstars pros. Right behind me was Gavin Griffin who for a little while was the youngest player to ever win a WSOP event and is still the only player to win a title in a WSOP event, the WPT (World Poker Tour) and the EPT (European Poker Tour). Needless to say he's a great player.

So with blinds of 25/50 the first player to act raised to 150 and got called by the next player to act. Then it was up to me and I had KK! I made it 600 to go and Griffen just called out of the small blind. My first thought was "Shit, that looks like AA." The other two players called as well and the flop came down J 9 7 with two spades. Griffen checked and then the original raiser went all in for 7,500 into the 2,500 chip pot. Right away I knew that was a draw. My only decision was how sure was I that Griffen had AA. Could I really lay down KK here?

After a short moment I decided my hand was too good to fold and I went all in for 25,000. Griffen called and turned over AA! AHHHHHH! The other player had T9 and after no help I was down to 5,000 chips.

If that weasel with T9 hadn't just blown all in like a fool I might have been able to make it to the river only putting a few thousand chips in the pot.

A little while later I got the rest of my chips all in with 66 vs JJ and that was it.

I've decided to skip the second chance tournament and instead play a bunch of $33 with rebuys satellites to the $1,050 limit 6-max (there's one going off every hour). I played $150 in satellites in an attempt to make it into the $1,050 Omaha cheap, but no luck there either.

Event #29 Underway!

Sorry about the lack of preview. This one is some serious shit. 6 handed $530 with unlimited rebuys (you still have to have 4,000 chips or less to rebuy).

We started this one with 852 players and after an hour of play I'm only 30 chips down from what I started with. After 1 rebuy and the add on I'm in for $1,530. 132 spots pay with the edge of the money being $2,205 and first paying $211,000!

Event#28 ($530 Triple Shootout) Recap

In my second round I busted someone early and then sat on my 10,000 chip stack for a long time. The other players gradually busted one another and soon enough we were playing 4 handed. I caught a big break at this point. I've forgotten the precise action, but I think it went like this. I raised before the flop with 67 suited on the button and got reraised by the big blind. I called and the flop came down 6 9 T with one of my suit. My opponent made a substantial bet and I moved all in. He had AA, but I made a straight on the river and sent him packing.


At that point we were three handed. I could tell both of my opponents were nervous and neither wanted to take any big risks without a major made hand. Since I wasn't nervous at all and I had a slight chip lead I kept my foot on the gas. In fact I put the pedal to the metal! I raised almost every hand regardless of what I had. If I got reraised I usually took a flop and looked to out play my opponents. Sometimes I just hit them with a massive preflop re-reraise and blew them off whatever they had.

I think we played 3 handed for 30-45 minutes which seemed like forever. Even though the blinds were VERY small compared to our stacks (they were 75/150 with 45,000 chips in play!) I was chipping away at my opponents nicely.

Then I caught another nice break. Again I'm not sure if this is exactly how it went down, but it's close enough. I raised to 450 from the small blind with A6 and my opponent reraised to 1,350 as he had done many times before. The flop came down T 5 4 which missed me completely. I checked and my opponent checked behind me. On several previous hands anytime he'd raised or reraised before the flop and then checked it meant he missed. Then I'd bet the turn and take the pot. I guessed that was what was going to happen here too. The turn came a 6 and I bet out about 2,000. To my surprise my opponent went all in for about 9,500.

I didn't think he was capable of a slowplay or a big bluff at this stage in the tournament, but I thought this had to be one or the other. I decided it was much more likely to be a big bluff with a hand like AK, AQ or KQ so I called and my opponent showed 88! ACK! I was is such a state of shock that it took me 2 or 3 seconds to realize that I'd hit an ace on the river and had won the pot!

Now I was in total command. I had 35,000 chips or so to my opponent's 10,000. I'd actually played with this guy in maybe 100 or so SNGs, but he wasn't playing his normal game. I guess it's a little different playing the second round of a $530 triple shootout compared to $60 SNGs!

I kept on the major offensive. It wasn't unusual for me to win 6, 7 or even 10 pots in a row. But they were all small and whenever I got resistance I never had the best hand. The blinds had gone up a little bit to 100/200 and then to 125/250, but I wanted them to be at something like 500/1000. If they were bigger I could really make some progress, but with the small blinds I just couldn't chip away fast enough. With 30 mintues limits it's not like I could stall and wait for them to go up either! While I was winning tons of blinds and small pots, I wasn't getting paid off on my made hands.

I started to get really frustrated as my opponent made a slow comeback. He got it back to where we were all square and then I took him back down to 10,000 when I made trips vs his pair and straight draw.

Then a major turning point came up. I had QT and came in for a raise. My opponent reraised, I called and the flop came down AK4 with two clubs. When my opponent bet, it just felt like he had and ace. Even though I wasn't quite getting the right pot odds, I decided to call thinking if I could hit a jack I could end it. The turn was a Q and now I thought a Q, T or J all might make me the best hand so I called another big bet. The river was the jack of clubs. AH HA! I blew all in hoping it would look like a bluff and my opponent called. I thought it was over. I thought I'd done it. My opponent did have an ace, but it was the ace of clubs. He had another club too and when I made my straight, he made a flush. SHIT!

He had a small chip lead at that point, but I never recovered. I had been over an hour (maybe as long as 90 minutes) playing heads up which is the longest I've ever played heads up. It had been hundreds of hands and even though I was certain I was the better player I just felt like I was never going to beat him.

Then I did something really stupid. I had J9 on a flop of QT2 There were a few thousand chips in the pot, but it wasn't huge. My opponent made a massive over bet and put me all in for about 18,000. Without really thinking I called. I had an open ended straight draw which is great to bet with or call small bets with, but not what you want to risk all of your chips with. My opponent had QT, I missed and that was it.

I never would have made that call if it wasn't for the frustration that had built up over the past hour plus of play. It was a total amateur mistake and I'm pissed at myself for getting rattled.

With a 3.5 to 1 chip lead like that I should have won AT LEAST 80% of the time.

This WCOOP has been great and horrible at the same time. For the most part I've been playing great and I'm happy with my results, but these close calls are really hard to swallow.

2008 WCOOP Event #28 ($530 Omaha) Recap

I finished 715 of 829 in the Omaha. What a crappo tournament! That's all I have to say about that one!

The good news is I'm in 1st place in the $320 Omaha second chance after close to an hour and a half of play. We started that one with 99 players and it pays 15 spots with 15th being $653 and 1st paying $7,425.

I also picked up a quick double up in the second round of the $530 triple shootout.

Event #28 Underway

We started Event #28 $530 Omaha with 829 players. 126th is the edge of the money and pays $829. 1st is $76,268. Right now there are 764 players left and I'm in 496th with a little less than my starting stack.

Triple Shootout Double Update!

I started out Event #27 the $530 triple shootout really poorly. About 15 minutes in I lost half of my chips. I took a flop with 55 vs 2 players and decided to call a fair sized bet to see the turn on a flop of 632. The turn was a 5, but it put three clubs on board and made anyone with a 4 a straight. While I wasn't too worried about running into a straight I was worried about the flush. But I wasn't going anywhere. One of my opponents bet big and I called. I was hoping for a board pair on the river, but instead I got another club. ACK! This time my opponent bet small and I was forced to call. He had TT with one club and took down the pot.

But with the blinds still so small I wasn't under any pressure at all. I waited and waited and eventually crawled back to my original starting stack of 5,000. After that it was turbo time! I made a few good hands and before I knew it we were playing 3 handed with each of us having about 15,000 chips.

One of my too opponents was fairly passive and the other was a bit of a nut. The nut went down first and when we got to heads up I had 30,000 to his 15,000. I got him all the way down below 10,000 before allowing him to double up. I had AT, he had J8 and the board was JT5. When he made a huge bet on the turn it looked like a bluff so I called. I missed the T or A that would have given me the victory and we were back to all square. CRAP!

While it's normally good news to be up against a very passive opponent that you can just run over, it was driving me crazy in this case. I had at least 5 hands where I would have busted an aggressive or even a standard opponent. I was making two pair vs his top pair. I JJ and he had a smaller pocket pair. I was making sets and flushes and straights and making little or nothing. This guy just kept hanging around.

Then a big hand came up. With blinds at 100/200 I had my opponent out chipped 35,000 to 10,000 and made it 800 to go from the small blind with 55. My opponent called and the flop came down 764. I fired out a bit of an overbet - 2,000. My opponent made it 4,000 which made me nervous. I was almost certain I was behind at this point, but baring something really unusual I knew a 3 or an 8 would make me the best hand and I figured a third 5 would as well.

I decided to go for it and put him all in. He instantly called with 76 for top two pair. The turn was a king and I had visions of this match lasting forever. But the river was an 8! BOOM!

So I'm in the money and have $1,640 locked up. My next match will start whenever all of the other matches are done. Since it only took me 3 hours to win mine I have a few hours to wait.

In other news I also played the $320 second chance triple shootout. They didn't get the full 729 and in fact the tournament started with 208. This meant we were split into 81 tables with either 2 or 3 players. Luckily I got paired with one opponent (about 3/4 of the tables were three handed).

I was still playing heads up in my other tournament and in the Omaha so it was a little crazy for a bit. While it's easy to play multiple full games, playing two heads up games is pretty taxing.

This guy was much more aggressive than my other heads up opponent and I made some big hands against him too. I made top two pair against what he said was AA before he folded. I made a straight against his two pair and on the final hand he got his last chips in with K9 vs my A9. I took him down in 61 hands which was very fast given the deep stacks we had.

I've made the money in this one too, but so far it's only $280 which is $40 short of what I paid to get into the tournament. But if I can win the next table (which will be 9 handed) I'll be at the final table where there is some nice money. 9th is $624, 5th is $3,432, and 1st is $13,104.

So now I've just got to sit here and wait.

Event #27 Underway!

We started this one with the predicted 729 players. Even though my first table is essentially a winner take all SNG. It's a little different from the ones I'm used to playing. The SNGs that I usually play have 5 minute limits and everyone gets 1,500 chips to start. To play down to one player takes between 35 and 45 minutes (7-9 levels).

In today's tournament we all started with 5,000 chips and 30 minute limits. To add to the length the blind increases are a little slower. Instead of going to 300/600 blinds after 40 minutes, that jump happens after 5 hours of play (not counting breaks). And with more than three times as many chips in play those blinds which usually force you to go all in will only put a small ding in your stack.

Winning the first table is worth $1,640. No matter where you finish in the second round you still get $1,640. If you make it to the third round every place pays a different amount with 9th being $3,645 and 1st being $76,545.

2008 WCOOP Events #27 & #28 Preview

Event #27 is a $530 triple shootout. The way this is going to work is we'll start with 729 players playing on 81 tables. Each table will play until there is only one player left. Those remaining 81 players will then be split into 9 groups of 9 and again they'll play until there is only one player left at each table. The final 9 will come together and play it out for the title. Essentially it's like trying to win three SNGs in a row. If you win your first table you're in the money and I think no matter how you finish at your second table everyone gets the same payday.

Event #28 is $530 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo split. This is the form of Omaha in which I have the most experience. In fact it's a close race between this game, Razz, and 7 card stud as to which is my second best game behind hold'em.

These events will both be paired with a $320 second chance.

After Wednesday's action my $10,000 starting bankroll stands at $17,837.

2008 WCOOP Event #26 ($320 NL 6-Max)

No more zombie magic in this one. I finished 60th of 3,273 which paid $1,964. On the final hand I got it in with 88 vs KQ. The flop was good but the turn was a Q and that was it.

Not a single bad feeling about this one. When I was down to 2,000 chips there were 222 players left, the blinds were 500/1000 and the average stack was over 60,000. My two minute stall let me hit the jump between 217th and 216th place which if I'd had any normal run of luck is where I would have finished. 216th paid $736 so that zombie magic resulted in an extra $1,228! Solid proof that it's never over until it's over!