Matt on to Day 3 at the shooting star!

I am currently squirming with envy. Matt is on to Day 3 of a MAJOR tournament. He is down to 64,000 chips, which is well below average and put him in 33rd place with 36 players remaining. But he's in the money (guaranteed a $15,000 profit at this point when you factor in the bounties) and still has a shot.

Since this is a WPT event and the final 6 players will be on national TV, the tournament has shifted gears from full tables to 6 handed tables. At Matt's table there are two players who's names I know: Joe Sebock and Vivek Rajkumar.

Other players of note still in the tournament are: Hoyt Corkins, Paul Wasicka, Kathy Liebert, and Farzad Bonyadi (there are probably a few more world class players who I'm just not familiar with).

Here is the full list of payouts:

1 $1,025,500
2 $550,000
3 $291,500
4 $230,000
5 $180,000
6 $135,000
7 - 8 $90,000
9 - 10 $60,000
11 - 12 $40,000
13 - 18 $30,000
19 - 24 $25,000
25 - 30 $20,000
31 - 36 $15,000
37 - 45 $12,500

Play resumes today at noon. I'll let you know what happens.

Matt at the Shooting Star

Every March Bay 101, the largest of the Bay Area cardrooms, hosts a World Poker Tour stop called "The Shooting Star." This tournament has a $10,000 buy in and 50 of world's best players (the "stars") have a $5,000 bounty on their heads. If you bust one of these players you istantly get $5,000 and a T-Shrit that says "I busted So and So."

Coming off his glory at in Reno, my good friend Matt Lessinger collected a pile of money from his usual backers and entered this event. On Day 1 he busted Layne Flack (Who I busted once in the WSOP! We own your ass Flack!) and picked up one $5,000 bounty. They started the day with 20,000 chips and by the end of the day he was among the chip leaders with 108,000.

Today is day 2 (there was actually a Day 1A and 1B) and they are down to 54 players from a starting field of something like 400. Matt just picked up another bounty meaning he's already got his buy in back. He's a little short of average with about 90,000 chips and the blinds will be 1,200/2,400 when he comes back.

The tournament pays 45 spots with the edge of the money being $12,500 and first place being just over $1,000,000. I have 3% and I'm thinking about all the things I could do with $30,000. I also have Jake on the hook for a trip to the Royal Hideaway (A resort in Mexico where my wife and I had our honeymoon) if Matt actually wins. He has 10% and said we should all go to celebrate and I somehow got him to agree to spring. So that's an added bonus.

You can follow the action on pokerpages.com or cardplayer.com if you are so inclined and I'll let you know what happened when it's over.

Shifting gears I'm going to quickly respond to my sister's comment on my last post. She wrote: "Considering your last post, does that mean that your goal when gambling in Reno or Vegas is to get as crazy as possible for the maximum fun factor?"

Gambling is always more fun (in my opinion) when you are with a lot of people and you are drinking and acting stupid. We all know that we're going to lose in the long run playing craps and Pai Gow and black jack. The goal is to lose as little as possible and have as much fun as possible. You would think that would mean betting the minimum and drinking the maximum, but everyone has an amount they can wager where the get a little excitement when they win, but it's not devestating when they lose. That amount is not the minimum for me. Since I make best just about every day the amount I need to bet to get any excitment at all is relatively high - about $25 a hand (or a spin or whatever) on most casino games. For some people that would seem insane. For E.B. who plays at least $100 a hand, that amount would be boring. Before I go on any gambling trip I have a certain amount of money with me and that's the absolute max that I would ever lose but I usually have a plan to "go big" and try to generate a ton of comps or "go small" and make sure I don't lose very much. Reno was a go small kind of trip.

Setting Goals

I'm a believer in setting goals, even though I'm not so great at meeting those goals. I never finished college even though I have about 80% of a Berkeley mechanical engineering degree. I'm always at least 20 pounds overweight (I'm 6'5" tall and I carry it pretty well though - at least I think so). And I always seem to make it about 3/4 of the way to achieving the goals I mention on this blog (with all of that in mind, it's a minor miracle that I made it to Supernova Elite last year).

But that doesn't mean that I'm a failure. I'm really quite the opposite. And it doesn't mean that setting goals has been a waste of time for me. If I set a goal for myself I always try to achieve it and that trying in and of itself helps me be more successful that I would have been otherwise. I might not lose that 20 pounds, but I might lose 5 or 10 before I stop giving it my all. I might not play 100,000 hands in a month, but I'll end up playing 10,000 more than I would have otherwise.

Setting SPECIFIC poker goals helps keep things in perspective. It's not helpful to say "I'm going to play as much as I can and try to win as much as I can." On the other hand saying "I'm going to earn 15,000 points in the next five days and win $1,000 during that stretch" (which are my two goals for this week) is very constructive. If I win $1,000 four days in a row and then get killed and lose $3,000 on the next day it would be easy for me to think "ACK, I just had $3,000 more dollars yesterday," but now that I have this goal, I'll still be able to think positively about a week like that even if I get smoked on the last day.

Looking at it from another angle setting a five day goal will help me think long term. Most poker players tend to think about how much they are up or down for the day. It doesn't matter if they've won $1,000 ten days straight, they'll stay in a game they otherwise would have left to try to get even if they're down $100 for the day. No one would think "I've won each of the past few hours, but I have to get even for this hour." Splitting wins and losses into days is just as arbitrary, but for some reason it comes naturally. This tendency is something I'm constantly fighting and setting goals that are for longer than a day, but not as long as a month really seems to help keep me in the right mindset.

So I'm going to win at least $1,000 this week and play enough to earn 15,000 points. If I can do both of those things in four days I'll take the 5th day off, and if I've earned the points, but am not up $1,000 I'm going to keep playing until 7 pm on Friday or until I hit that goal too.

I'll let you know what happens.

A Result So Good It Made Me Sick!

As I'm sure you all know I occasionally sell part of my action in poker tournaments. But I also take other people's action from time to time.

This weekend my good friend Matt Lessinger took the short flight to Reno to play in the $3,000 buy in event at the Grand Sierra World Poker Challange and I invested $300 for 10% of the resulting win or loss.

The tournament kicked off with 118 entrants and a VERY strong field that contained at least a dozen of the top 100 tournament players in the world as well as many other accomplished players. At the end of day 1 they were down to 16 players and Matt was in 13th chip position with the edge of the money being 9th place which paid $7,500.

Happily Matt rallied, got back into the thick of things and ended up finishing in 5th place. While 1st place paid a whopping $130,000, 5th resulted in a net profit of just over $21,000, which meant $2,100 was headed my way!

When they were down to 7 players or so I got on the horn with my good friends E.B. and Jake (who were also lucky enough to have 10% of the action!) and we agreed to throw some clothes in our overnight bags and head to Reno ASAP. Since it was going to be a three and a half hour drive we knew we probably wouldn't catch the end of the tournament, but we also knew it would be fun to go gamble it up and celebrate with Matt whatever the final result ended up being.

We made it to Reno at around midnight and met up with Matt and another friend of ours (Cole) who made the trip with Matt. We then procedded to play a hodge podge of casino games which was anchored by a spirited craps session that involved as much yelling and dumb ass behavior as they will allow. Of course we were all sending down the booze as fast as the waitress would bring it to us and by 6 or so Jake and I had had enough and called it a night. I'm not quite sure when Matt broke down and went to sleep, but I know Cole was out until 9 and in classic E.B. style he played straight through the night and met us for brunch at noon.

After a splash of additional gambling it was time to pack up and head home. Jake in true man style took a flight directly to Vegas from Reno to meet his wife and some of her MBA classmates who were headed there at the same time to blow of some post finals steam. The rest of us were headed to the car to drive back to the bay area.

Desipite being up $2,100 from Matt and being good and drunk the night before I'd kept my negative expectation gambling in check and was actually ahead $20 as we were headed out the door. Of course someone had to go and drop a $20 bill on black at a roulette table and in a matter of about 6 milliseconds we all had $20-$50 on the table.

One roll turned into a few and after assorted wins and losses I found myself with the same $20. We all declared that the next spin would be the last and I slid a $5 chip out on to the number 16 (My birthday, my anniversery, and the day I proposed to my wife are all on the 16th of various months), and a $15 bet on red. And then...BANG - 16!!! 35 to 1 on $5 and even money on another $15!

With the little roulette splash and Matt's excellent result I picked up a very easy $2,300+ and had a nice 24 hour Reno trip. Actually it was a nice 21 hours and three hours of tourture when a hangover, a huge lunch, and some sever motion sickness collided! There's nothing like having to use the emergency puke box, and then puking more as you open the car door and more into a bush and then A LOT more 2 hours later on the side of the freeway. I think it's going to be about a week before I get into a car for any reason!

A Few SCOOP Satellites

Even though the SCOOP doesn't start until April 2nd, satellite tournaments with buy ins ranging from $1.50 to $500+ are going off around the clock.

Satellites are a big part of why I've done so well in the FTOPS and WCOOP as well as the big weekly Sunday tournaments. They create a field packed with weaker players who are out of their comfort zone.

If you run a $55 Satellite to a $530 tournament and get 100 entrants you can give away nine $530 tournament entries and one $230 cash prize. The players who enter that type of tournament probably feel comfortable playing tournaments with buy ins ranging from $20 to $200. But 9 of them are headed to a $530 tournament that they would never play in if they had to put up the money right out of their pocket.

Every single SCOOP tournament has dozens if not hundreds of satellites (maybe over 1,000 to one of the main events) so when that $530 SCOOP event goes off with 4,000 players, maybe 1,000 of them bought in directly. Those are the $530 players. Those are the people who can really play (for the most part). The other 3,000 are the ones that make the tournament so profitable.

I've put together a $15,000 bankroll for the SCOOP and as per usual I've collected some of that money from investors.

Mostly out of boredom, yesterday I decided to play a few smallish satellites to the medium stakes SCOOP events. I played an $11 with rebuys satellite to a $320 event, an $82 satellite to a $215 event, and a $64 satellite to a $320 event.

I came up one spot short in the $82 tournament, but I picked up a $30 cash prize so I got a little refund. Happily I made it to the end of the $11 with rebuys. The prize breakdown in this one was a little different. It was a small field and you had to finish in the top 2 to win the $320 seat. Places 3 and 4 paid $31 and place 5 paid $20. When we got down to 6 players I was in first place and had everyone covered by a significant margin. I could tell that they players I was up against were not good and were trying pretty hard to pick up those small cash prizes (a big mistake - you have to go for it when the top two spots are 10 times the edge of the money).

So I started moving all in on every single hand no matter what I had. Everyone folded something like 8 or 9 hands in a row and when someone finally did call I had a real hand and won. By the time we were down to three players I had twice as many chips as my opponents combined and easily finished in one of the top two spots.

These were pretty much bullshit tournaments and tomorrow I expect I'll play something with a little more spice. Maybe something where I have to put up $215 or $320 to win a $2,000+ seat.

Anyway, my $15,000 starting bankroll has gotten a mirco boost up to $15,163!

A Professional Play

I made a strong read in a hand that I played great today and I thought I'd share it with you since I know there are some budding players who read this blog.

I've moved back to playing a mix of $10/$20 and $15/$30 limit 6 handed games in the past 10 days or so and I've had some strong results. The advantages of playing $10/$20vs $5/$10 are pretty staggering. First of all at the higher stakes I generate points 40% faster! That is huge. Also the rake is pretty much the same, but the stakes are twice (or three times in the case of $15/$30) as big which neutralizes the house take to some degree. Of course the players are better, but lately it seems that many of the tough pros have either been playing bigger or smaller stakes. I haven't exactly been banging out $2,000 wins every other day like I did for a while last year, but I've had a few solid wins and no big losses.

Anyway I was in a $10/$20 game today, I got dealt AA in the cutoff and the player just in front of me raised it to $20. I three bet making it $30 to go and everyone folded to my lone opponent who just called. The flop came down 3 3 4 and my opponent checked and called my bet.

The turn was a great card - a Q. My opponent came out betting and I thought "Ah ha, he has a queen! That's probably KQ or QJ." I raised and my opponent just called. The river was a king and my opponent bet out again. I raised again and he reraised me.

This is the part where I played the hand well - I capped it. I figured if he had QQ or KK he would have reraised me before the flop instead of just calling my three bet, and if he had a three or 44 he would have check raised the turn instead of betting out and just calling. That covered all of the hands that could beat me and none of them were likely. On top of that it just felt like KQ which it was. Most players would have just called the three bet on the river. They'd think they were up against a three or a deceptively played full house, but I made the max.

It might not seem like a big deal to pick up another $20 in a pot that is already around $300, but it's huge. If I can make one more big bet every 500 hands and I'll make another $150 or so a day which is another $37,000 a year.

It's hard to trust your reads sometimes and I was really proud of myself for trusting mine in this hand.

The Poker Hat Trick!

In hockey, scoring three goals in the same game is a hat trick. My good friend Matt Lessinger coined the phrase "The Poker Hat Trick" in an article in Cardplayer a few years back and defined it as check raising the same player three times in the same hand. This is something I'd never done before until today. While I've been known to bet the flop and turn and then check raise the river (I probably do that a few times a day), I'd never had the stones to check the river after check raising both the flop and the turn. But today the situation was perfect.

I was in a $10/$20 limit 6-max game in the four seat with a very aggressive player who was on total meltdown tilt in the two seat. On the hand before the one in question I played a flush draw super aggressively capping it on the flop and then three betting on the turn after I'd hit a pair. The player in the two seat also had a flush draw, which we both missed, but he still called my river bet even though all he had was ten high! I guess he was hoping I was on a smaller flush draw!

On the very next hand I was in the big blind and my nutty friend was on the button. He raised, the small blind called and I decided to see a flop with J 5 off suit. Normally this hand easily goes in the muck vs a raise and a call, but since I knew the original raiser could have any two cards and I was almost sure to get paid off if I made the best hand it was an clear decision to see the flop.

The flop came down 5 5 3 and I thought "Holy Shit! Please let him have a real hand!" While I thought I might get paid off all the way by any ace, I knew I'd make a bundle if my crazy opponent had an over pair.

The small blind checked, I did too, and of course seat two bet out. The small blind called and I raised it. Most average or good players would just call here with the plan of check raising on the turn, but pros would almost always raise. The first reason to do this is you might get three bet which means you can either cap the flop and lead out or check raise the turn. Also it's a minor disaster if you call the flop, check the turn and it gets checked behind you. Furthermore the small blind is in there. Many players will take one off with overcards on the flop and then dump on the turn. By just calling the flop you'd miss out on a potential extra small bet or two from the third player in the pot.

So I check raised. And I got three bet which led to the drool coming out of my mouth and the dollar signs popping into my eyes. I opted to just call instead of capping and betting out since I was all but sure my opponent would bet the turn.

The turn was a ten, I checked, he bet and I raised, just like I'd planned. The river was a queen which was a great card. I figured if I checked he'd assume that I had a ten or a three. If he could beat a ten I knew he'd bet and there was also a chance that he might fire with absolutely nothing. So I checked for a third time.

After a short stall he bet again, I raised, and he called me with pocket nines. It was a sweet hand!

A Sunday Million Gift

The Pokerstars Sunday Million is the largest weekly poker tournament in the world. This week 8,800 players put up $215 each in an effort to hit it big.

What I like about this tournament is it's something special. If you play a $215 tournament in the middle of the day on a Wednesday you'll find youself against 50 good players, 25 very good players and 25 great players. Almost everyone will be a winning poker player.

On the other hand, since it's something special, in the Sunday million you'll find those same hundred solid players and another hundred just like them, but you'll also have 8,600 players who are some where between pretty good and terrible. To top it off, they will all think the tournament is a big deal and will be sweating the result making it easy to pressure them into mistakes.

This week I put up my $215 just like everyone else, caught a huge break early on and turned it into a nice win.

A little more than a half hour into the tournament my starting stack of 10,000 chips was down to about 7,000, the blinds were 100/200 and I found myself in middle position with Q9. The player just to my right limped in and I decided to try to see a flop cheap. I called as did a player just to my left and along with both blinds we saw the flop 5 way.

The flop was a total bingo - J T 8 with two diamonds (I had the Q of diamonds) making me a straight! Both of the blinds checked and the player who'd limped in bet 800 into the 1,000 chip pot. I opted to just call and let the other three players get involved since I had the total nuts.

The player to my left called, the others folded and the turn came down the ace of diamonds. This was either a great card or a disaster. If someone had a hand like AT it was great. If someone had KQ or two diamonds it was a disaster.

The player to my right cooled off and checked. I bet out 1,800 into the 3,400 chip pot. There were a ton of second best hands that would have a tough time folding and given my short stack and the strength of my hand I was committed to going all the way no matter what. If someone made a flush I was dead anyway and this seemed like a good sized bet to make the maximum from another player with a second best hand.

I was not happy to see the player to my left make it 3,600 to go and the player to my right move all in for about 9,000! I thought one if not both of them could have me beat, but I decided to go for it anyway. My hand was just too strong to fold and even if I was behind I still had a draw to the second nut flush.

The player to my left who'd made it 3,600 and only hand another 5,000 or so behind thought for a long time. Eventually he typed something to the effect of "I guess 87 of diamonds is no good" and he folded. The player to my right turned over KK with the K of diamonds, the river was a blank and I went from out, to great shape. The player who had apparently folded a made flush went a little nuts in the chat box!

I used the chips in won in that pot to make the money and even go fairly deep. I ended up finishing 133rd of over 8,800 which paid a little more than $2,100! The way things have been going it was a very sweet victory - my biggest of 2009! Even more sweet since I had all of my chips in with the worst hand many hours ealier!

SCOOP!

It's the Spring Online Championship of Poker! It's a new series of tournaments on pokerstars similar to the WCOOP, but with a few differences. The SCOOP runs from April 2nd until the 12th and is made up of a whopping 66 tournaments! You can see the full schedule at www.pokerstars.com/scoop/

The way it works is every day there are two sets of tournaments each with three sets of stakes: low, medium, and high. For example on Day 1 in the morning there is NLH 6-max with rebuys. There is a $5.50 tournament, a $55 tournament and a $530 tournament all starting at the same time. Then in the afternoon there is PLO-8 with an $11 tournament, a $109 and a $1,050 all staring at the same time.

All of the "low" tournaments are $109 or less (except one that is $270), the mediums range from $109 to $1,050 (again with one exception), and the highs range from $1,050 to $10,300 (with one at a whopping $25,500).

My plan is to play all of the lows and probably 18 of the 22 mediums. As far as the highs go since most of the ones that look good to me in terms of what games are being played are $3,000+ I plan to play some satellites and see if I can get in cheap.

Some of what I do is going to depend on what kind of backing I get from my typical group of investors. I'm not going to put any cap on how much people can invest, but I will probably need some if not all of the investment up front. I'll probably put up $5,000-$8,000 of my own money, see what I can get from other people and then plan my schedule accordingly.

There will be much more on the SCOOP in coming weeks, but for now it's back to the cash game grind.

FTOPS XI Brief Recap

Well I came up short in the last few events of the FTOPS XI and ended the series with a whopping profit of $50! Better than losing but given the chances I had it was a little disappointing.

In fact I got very close to the money in the $530 main event. We started with over 5,000 players and 7,500 chips each. After dipping down to 5,000 for a moment I turboed up to over 25,000 and that's where I stayed until we got close to the money. 738 spots paid and with 1,100 players or so left I got dealt AQ suited. I got it all in vs KJ and 99 and would have had a stack that was double average as we approached the money if I took it down. But after a board with five cards under 9 came down I was out and the FTOPS XI was in the books.

Even though I broke even this set of tournaments was still a success. I finished right around the top 1% twice and gave myself two realistic shots at making a major final table with high five and six figure payouts.