WCOOP Final Thoughts

While the WCOOP wasn't a financial success it also wasn't a failure. I played in 51 statellites with buy-in's ranging from $16 to $280 and lost a total of $451. I played 10 of the WCOOP events with buy-ins totaling $5,355. I finished in the money in 3 of the 10 and lost a total of $302.

If I'd had one or two hands go differently I could have shown a solid profit instead of a small loss.

In the heads up matches, needing to win 3 matches to make the money I had my opponent out chipped 5,500 to 500 in the second match. I put him all in 5 times and was unable to win any of the five. While there were no guarentees that I'd have won the third match I was close to advancing.

In the NL hold'em with rebuys I finished 363 out of 2,081 and if I could have made it to 270, I would have picked up another $1,184.

In the $530 pot limit event I finished 198 out of 1095 needing to get to 150 to pick up $876.

And of course in the $1,050 limit event if I would have been able to move up 3 more spots from 21 to 18, I would have made another $2,400.

The point is, I was close. I could have made the money in an insane 6 out of the 10 events. I'm really happy with how I played and I'm already looking forward to my next series of big tournaments. For now it's back to the unglamorous, but profitable world of $100 single table tournaments.

I'm sure some of you have heard about the anti internet gambling legislation that got tacked on to the port security bill and cleared the senate a few days ago. I have plenty of comments about what I think it means and my expectations for the future of internet poker. But, you'll have to wait for my next post which will be coming in a day or two.

Thanks again to my backers and everyone reading this blog.

Congrats to Matt!

My good friend Matt Lessinger had a great poker day today and I thought I'd wish him congratulations and tell you a little about it. Today Matt played a $1,200 buy-in poorly run NL hold 'em tournament in Fresno, CA. The main benefit of the event was the final 6 would be on TV. ESPN? No. Fox Sports? No. Bravo? No. I'm not sure how you pronounce it, but I think the official name is "Central California Backwards Ass Hillbilly Network" or CCBAHN. TV is TV, and I've never made it to a televised final table, so maybe I should shut it...no...that's crazy.

Anyway the tournament started with 90 players, 10,000 chips per player and 40 minute limits. Sounds o.k. right? The problem is $200 of the $1200 buy in went to the house! This is an unheard of, insane, ridiculous percentage. Also whoever came up with the way the limits increased was also a total nut job. When I first heard from Matt there were 28 players left (sweet), he had 57,000 chips (sounds good), average was 32,000 (o.k.) and when he got back to the table the blinds were going to be 2,000/5,000 (WHAT!?!?). Never, ever, ever should the big blind be 1/6th of the average stack. This is just bonkers.

When they made it to the top 10, Matt had turbo-ed up to 210,000 and was in first place. The blinds were at 10,000/20,000, but once they got down to the top 6, the blinds would drop back down to 1,000/2,000 to make the TV coverage more interesting.

The next time I heard from Matt, they were down to 3 players and he was in first with 500,000 playing against a 300,000 chip stack and a 100,000 chip stack. It seemed like 10 seconds later he called back and told me he's won!

This was clearly a strong performace and while I'm happy for Matt who won over $31,000 for this effort, I'm also happy that I took 5% of his action. As a result I picked up $1,500 while sitting on my ass watching football today. SWEET! What have your friends done for you lately?

In all seriousness, congratualtions to a good friend on a fantastic victory.

Event #17 ($1050 Limit Hold'em) Recap

Event #17 was the penultimate event of the WCOOP and was my last event. With the big buy in and the fact that it was limit and not no limit, this event only drew 685 players. But, with 5,000 starting chips and 30 minute limits it was clear from the start that this would be a long event.

One of the biggest advantages limit has over no limit for a player like me is that you can't go broke (or even take much damage) on one hand in the early stages. This benefit came into play for me on the second hand of the whole tournament. I was in the small blind with 33 and after a few players called the 20 chip big blind the button raised. I called as did the big blind and all of the other callers. The flop came down 3 5 6 with 2 hearts. This was a sweet flop for me and I bet 20 hoping to get raised. Happily, I got two callers and the button raised. The pot was already big so I decided to keep my foot on the gas and I made it three bets. After a player in between us called, the button capped the betting at 4 bets (by rule there is a maximum of a bet and three raises in limit hold'em). The turn was another 5, we lost the other player, but the button and I got three 40 chip bets into the pot. I was sure he had a big pair and didn't want to see any aces or kings to show up. The river was the Q of hearts and after I bet, he raised me. I thought there was some chance he'd hit a flush, but I was pretty sure it was QQ so I just called. Sure enough, my opponent had made a full house on the river. In NL I easily could have gone broke on this hand and certainly would have lost a large percentage of my chips. But, we were playing limit so I only lost 280 chips and was left with 4,700 of my 5,000 starting chips. Yeah limit hold'em! Since it was only the second hand, however, I found myself in 681st out of 685 and my opponent found himself in 1st! HA!

The rest of the early levels were pretty uneventful. I won some pots here and there and managed to work my way up to about 8,000 by the end of round 4. Then I had a few hands go against me in round 5 and found myself down to 3,000. This was one of two times during the tournament where I was not feeling good about my chances. But then in round six I got a total gift.

With limits of 200/400 (note that in limit the "limits" and not the "blinds" are used to denote stakes - in this case the blinds are 100/200) I raised to 400 from first position with AQ. I got called by the big blind (who it turned out had 55) and the flop came down Q Q 2. BINGO! He checked, I bet, and after a short pause he called me. I was happy to get any action as I was almost certain to have the best hand here. The turn was a 7 and he check raised me! I reraised to 1200 and he called. He also checked and called a 400 chip bet on the end after a 9 came on the river. This guy way over played his hand and allowed me to pick up some stress free easy chips.

A few hands later I picked up some more chips when I busted a player who had around 1,800 chips. For some reason he decided to go nuts with J9 and I took him out with AQ. All of a sudden I was over 9,000.

During level 7 I came across maybe my favorite hand of the entire WCOOP. With limits at 300/600 I found myself with JJ on the button. A crazy player who'd been in almost every hand raised to 600 and got reraised to 900 by another player. I considered making it 1,200, but decided to just call instead. We took the flop three way and I did a double take as I saw J J K on the flop! I'd flopped quads! After a check from the crazy player and a bet of 300 from the other I decided to play it slow and just called. The crazy player folded and the turn was an 8. My opponent bet, I raised, he reraised and I capped it. The river was a 5, putting three spades on the board, and my opponent checked. I bet 600 and to my surprise he raised me! I made it 1,800, and he made it 2,400! I wished that I could have raised again. On the turn I suspected that he was holding KK and by the time the betting was over I was sure, so it was no surprise when that's exactly what he showed. This took me up to 16,700 and put me in 16th out of 460. Take that suckers.


During level 8 I moved up again when I flopped two pair with 63 after getting a look at a free flop in the big blind. I won another pot or two on level 8 and then on the 1st hand of level 9 I picked up AA! I raised and desperately hoped for callers, but found none. I was, however, now in 13th place out of 267 with 27,500 chips. I was starting to think a money finish was in the bag when it seemed like everything turned against me.

I lost AK to 66 when another player foolishly called a bet on the flop with a board of A J 4 and ended up making a flush with one of his 6's. Then I found myself in the big blind with KK and lost a big pot to A2. After those two I was down to 17,500 and not feeling great. By this time the limits were 800/1600 with blinds of 400/800 so every 9 hands I was losing 1,200 to the blinds. I got ground down to around 14,000 in this manner and then after a failed bluff, I found myself with 10,000. The limits went up again, this time to 1200/2400 and I was blinded off all the way down to 5,500 with about 150 players left. I kept thinking about how I'd had 27,000 not too much earlier and was kicking myself for not being able to hang on to them. I was also thinking about how pissed I was going to be to fall just short of the money...again.

Then I had a change of mind set. I started to think about all of the times that I've come back from nothing in other tournaments. I've done this kind of shit before. I'm not done yet. A couple of good hands and I'm right back in it.

Just like clock work, I started to make some head way. I stole the blinds once. And then I picked up AK and won a small pot with a bluff on the flop.

I was getting back into it when I picked up AQ during level 11 and raised to 2400. I got called by the big blind and the flop came down A 7 3. My opponent bet and I raised him. The turn was a K, I bet and he called. The river was another K, I bet my last 1,500 chips and he called with what turned out to be A5. This may not seem like heavy action, but this late in the tournament taking a hand all the way to the river and winning is a huge deal. I picked up almost 10,000 on this one pot and found myself in solid shape as we approached the money.

I managed to pick up enough blinds to keep me even during level 12 and sometime during that level we lost our 595th player. 90th place paid $1,668, so I was very happy to be in the money. I only had 20,000 chips, with the average stack being 38,000, but found myself in 63rd place. It took over 6 hours and I played over 500 hands(this is a much higher hand per hour rate than you'd normally expect) to get this far, but I was still hoping for more. The next money jump was up to $2,085 which would come when we made it under 60 players. In order to make it that far I knew I'd need to make some moves.

The blinds ate up a small chunk of my stack and I found myself with just under 16,000 at the beginning of level 13. With limits of 2,000/4,000 I picked up AK and made it 4,000 to go. I got called by the big blind and the flop came down K 4 2. This was a sweet flop for me and I was happy to see my opponent bet. I raised, and he reraised, and I raised again. We both knew I was going all in before the end of the hand so why wait to get it in there. On the turn I got my last 4,000 or so chips into the pot and when the cards were turned over I saw he had K8. When a harmless 9 fell on the river I was up over 32,000 chips.

A little later, after flopping a flush draw with K6 out of the big blind, I turned a 6 and rivered a K to win a small pot. I was up over 40,000 for a brief moment and then I made a second best hand that took half of my stack. Still in level 13, I raised to 4,000 with KQ of spades and got reraised by the big blind. I called and the flop came down Q 8 3 with one spade. He bet 2,000 and hoping top pair was good, I raised to 4,000. He paused for a moment and I thought that my hand must be good and he was going to fold. Then he made it 6,000. Uh oh. I figured I was behind, but there was already 23,000 in the pot so calling 2,000 more to see the turn was an easy decision. When it came out, the turn was the ace of spades. This was a great card for me since it meant I had 9 cards left in the deck that would make me the nuts (the nine remaining spades) and 5 cards (2 Q's and 3 K's) that might make me the best hand. So when my opponent bet 4,000, I called and hoped for a spade. The river was a disappointing 7 of hearts and after I called another 4,000 chips (this time just to make sure he wasn't getting out of line) he showed me AQ and took down a 41,000 chip pot.

Around this time we dropped under 60 players and I picked up another $400 in guaranteed money.

On level 14 with limits of 3,000/6,000 I picked up AK and raised to 6,000. I got called by the big blind and the flop came down J 10 6 all clubs. My opponent checked and even though I had no pairs and no clubs I had to bet. I got called and the turn was a red 4. Again my opponent checked. I only had 6,500 left so I wasn't happy when my 6,000 chip bet on the turn got called. The river was a red 3 and we both checked (I only had 500 left anyway so it really didn't matter). I was very happy to see my opponent turn up A7 with the A of clubs. If he'd had a pair instead of a flush draw I'd have been gone here.

Soon after, we dropped under 45 players and moved up another pay level, meaning I was guaranteed just over $2,700. After winning another baby pot I found myself in 30th of the 40 remaining players with 47,000 chips. I had my eye on the next pay level which would happen when we got under 30 players

On level 15 with the limits at 4,000/8,000 I reraised the tournament chip leader with 10 10. He just called and after I bet 4,000 into a 25,000 chip pot with a flop of K J 5, I was thrilled to see him fold. This pot took me up to 55,000 and is also an example of a "bluff" (I had 10 10 but it might as well have been 22 with a K and a J on the flop) that worked. I know I mention plenty of "failed bluffs" and few that work so I wanted to point this one out.

A few hands later I got AK again (I must have had AK 10-12 times during this tournament) and got some good action. After raising preflop, I bet and got called on a 10 7 2 flop. The turn was a beautiful A and I bet again, this time with confidence. I got called again, but after another 7 on the river my opponent folded to my bet. At this point I was up to 88,000.

We lost the 31st player and I moved up to the pay level where I was guaranteed $3,600.

I picked up another pot and found myself at 105,000. I started to look at moving up to the next pay level which would be with 18 players left, but this was still a mile away. Even though it was only 12 players, those 12 represented 40% of the remaining field. Sadly, I would stall at the $3,600 level.

When level 16 started with limits of 6,000/12,000 it meant that the big blind would be larger than the entire stack that we all started with. Clearly every hand was serious from this point on and I just didn't connect with some flops. First I lost 24 thousand with 88 and then another 18 thousand with AJ. Of course the blinds didn't stop chewing up my stack and soon I was running low again.

I lost both of my final 2 hands to the same guy who made a few weird plays that hurt me. First he raised with Q9 in first position and I made a loose call out of the big blind with K5 of clubs. The flop was K 9 4 and after I check raised him he was all in on the flop. I was in good shape and just needed to dodge a queen or a 9, but he got both when the turn was a 9 and the river was a queen.

After that hand, I was down to my last 15,000 chips, so when I picked up A3 it was a clear decision to raise with it. My friend from the last hand reraised with Q10 putting me all in. I was 60% to win before the flop, but he made a flush and I was eliminated in 21st place. It was 8 hours and 50 minutes after this tournament started when I got eliminated and 12 hours after I started playing that day so I was pretty tired.

I was 3 places away from another $2,500, 14 away from another $20,000 and 20 places away from another $150,000. While I was pleased to pick up a few grand, I was a little disappointed to be a few good hands away from a major pay day.

With that said, I was still very happy with how things went and it was nice to close out the WCOOP with a victory. I'll give some final thoughts in a recap of the WCOOP as a whole tomorrow.

Event# 13 ($320 6-Handed PL Hold'em) Recap

WCOOP event #13 kicked off with 1741 players seated 6 to a table. Despite small blinds relative to the chip stacks, with fewer players at each table, people were taking more risks and going broke quickly. Like I said in the preview I felt very comfortable with the format was hoping to do well in this event.

One part of playing well short handed is playing well in the blinds. After all you're in one of the blinds a third of the time in this format. Unfortunately the player who was in the small blind when I was in the big blind, gave me a lot of trouble. I didn't get to see his cards often and is possible that he was just hitting plenty of flops, but it seemed like he was putting me to the test every time and unfortunately I never managed to connect with a flop out of the big blind.

Another part of playing well short handed is about chopping out a bunch of small pots and I succeeded in doing this during the first two hours. At one point I had my chip stack up to about 5,000 (after starting with 2,500) without winning more than about 500 chips in any one pot. Around this time I picked up AJ on the button. With blinds of 50/100 the player in first position raised to 300. I thought about reraising but decided to just call. The blinds folded and the flop came down J 7 6. My opponent bet and I decided I'd just call and pop him on the turn. The turn came another J and while I was almost sure to have the best hand I thought this card would kill my action. As I expected my opponent checked, but after I bet he raised me! Great! I moved all in and hoped for a call from a hand like QQ or KK. I got the call I wanted, but not the hand. He also had AJ and after an A came on the river to make us both full houses, we split the pot.

After two hours we'd played exactly 200 hands (roughly 80 more than you'd get in 2 hours of 9 handed play) and were down to 683 players. Unfortunately I'd given back some chips and found myself with around 3,000.

During the 6th level is when I met my demise. With blinds of 100/200 I had about 2,700 chips and found myself with QJ (with the Q of spades)in the small blind. I raised to 600 and got called by the big blind who had close to 15,000 chips. The flop was A 10 5 with two spades. Normally I might bet here, but I decided that with so many chips the big blind might call me with a wide range of hands. So, I checked. I expected the big blind to bet, but he checked behind me. The turn was a 7 of spades. I figured if my opponent had anything he would have bet the flop so I bet out 1,000 and found myself facing a raise that would put me all in. I only had 1100 left, there was 4300 in the pot and the average stack was over 8,000. I had a flush draw a gut shot straight draw and some chance that a Q or a J might be good if it hit. It was a call that I had to make, but I wasn't happy about it. My opponent showed A3 and after a nothing came on the river I was eliminated in 494th place.

Tomorrow is another Omaha event and I've decided to cut out the $530 Stud-8 event that was on my original schedule so I'm "off" (meaning I'll be playing single tables and chopping wood) for two days. All that's left for me in the 2006 WCOOP is a $1,000 limit event on Saturday. I also plan to play a special $280 satellite to the $2,500 main event. Pokerstars has guaranteed 100 seats will be given away in this tournament and if I win one (or if I was to go deep in Saturday's event) I'll be playing, but other wise I'll be skipping it.

Now to finish with a splash of good news. I'm sure those of you reading who don't know me well sometimes think "how does he do this for a living? All he does is lose!" Unfortunately the stuff I write about is big buy in tournaments that have very high fluctuation. On a day to day basis the money is much more steady. In fact, if you neglect the WCOOP I'm on an 8-day winning streak and have netted somewhere in the $2,500 range during that time (this is actually a pretty low number for an 8-day winning streak - normally I'd expect closer to the $4,000 range for a streak like this one). Event #17 preview coming soon.

Event #13 preview

Event #13 is $320 6-handed pot limit hold'em. In this torunament instead of having 9 (or 10) players at a full table, there are only 6. Also instead of being played no limit, this event will be played pot limit.

If I had to choose any WCOOP event to put all my money on, it would be this one. As I mentioned in a previous post I seem to do slightly better with pot limit than I do with no limit. More importantly I feel I have a strong advantage playing short handed. While most players spend almost their entire poker lives playing against 8 or 9 other players I've made my living playing against 4 or 5 players. This goes all the way back to when I was a prop player at The Oaks Club and my job was to keep short handed games from breaking up. Perhaps more significantly, when playing single table tournaments, as players are eliminated you get to play against fewer and fewer opponenets. As a result, I have many practiced and proven strategies for playing against 4 or 5 players. Another thing that helps is I've played about 15,000 hands of 6 handed NL cash games in the past 6 weeks.

Taking out those three extra players means a whole new range of starting cards become playable. More hands are taken to the flop, and there's more room for creativity. Some of you might remember that in the 6-handed event at the WSOP I took my starting stack of 2,500 chips up to over 10,000, before losing AJ to A4 and then QQ to AQ.

Of course anything can happen and I might find myself broke and scratching my head on the first hand, but I like my chances in this one. I'll let you know how it went down.

Event #11 ($320 7-Card Stud) Recap

There's good news a bad news. The good news is this event was $320 instead of the $530 I thought it was. The bad news is I've never been eliminated in a stud event so quickly. I finished 621 of 657 and I'm not even sure how it happened. I think the problem was, other than during the first 15 minutes or so (when I made two flushes and won a whopping 200 chips)I just never improved my starting cards. I'd start with JJ10 and end up with J J 10 9 4 3 2 and loose to someone who made 5's and 4's. Or I'd start with AQJ of diamonds, catch two black small cards and have to fold.

In the hand that really did me in I got caught between two guys who both seemed to think they had the nuts (one of them started with 555 and the other only had a pair of 7's, but had a scary looking board and was foolishly trying to get rid of two people who clearly weren't going anywhere). I had a flush draw and if I'd hit it I would have had about 1.5 times average. But, I missed.

Nothing tomorrow, but look out for an event #13 preview.

Event #11 Preview

Event #11 is $530 7-card stud. I expect a much smaller field in a stud only event with a $500 price tag. Somewhere in the 500-800 player range would be a good bet. I haven't played many big stud tournaments, but neither has anyone else, because there aren't any online.

If anyone is wondering how Jen and I did in our attempt a glory in the party poker moster, we both stunk it up and were both eliminated during the second hour of play. I also lost $300 in satellites. It was a weak, weak poker day for me today.