Holiday shopping

I went to the mall today, and it was a test of patience. Some of these employees are incompetent, it's ridiculous how they can't accomplish some of the simplest tasks. One person had to ring up one item 3 times, and then realizing they made another mistake had to delete the entire order, and do it again. Then for no reason whatsoever, they proceeded to split up the items into two groups and have each one charged separately.

Poker has increased the patience for stuff like this though. Before I would get exasperated, and make some snide remark about someone's intelligence. But now, I know there is simply no benefit from something like that. It's like just empty anger that makes one person feel bad and you feel like you're getting revenge. But for what? It costs you a few minutes at most. I sit at a poker table and sometimes see a hand play out that takes 15-20 minutes. I never comment about the absurd amount of time involved. I see people tanking for several minutes about easy decisions. I don't say anything. Sometimes people have trouble. It happens. No need to make such a big deal out of it.

On the bright side, I'm doing well enough I can actually afford to go holiday shopping! Finally started to turn stuff around. I'm having a good December so far, here's to hoping it'll go well.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

November Update

November
Cash Games

Live

($16,773.75)

Online

$1,260.50

Tournaments
Live

($769.50)

Online

$1.77

Poker

($16,280.98)

Staking

$1,764.64

Other Gambling

($21,777.50)

Month's Expenses

$0.00

Net on month

($36,293.84)

Ran really bad in poker games, but I ran even worse in prop bets. Made money staking people though which is nice. Staking is kinda complicated cause when I swap with someone it goes down as my poker results, but when I just buy their action it goes down on staking. I'll need to figure out some way to make it more clear later.

I'm glad November is over with. I'm barely up anything on the year now. I need a really good December to make this year even half decent.

lol poker

I was just rereading some of the hands I've played previously (and wrote on the blog), and hahaha, I suck at poker. I see some mistakes that I wouldn't make today. I guess I've made some progress, but I really need to get better.

October Update

October

Cash Games

Live $14,803.50
Online ($156.41)

Tournaments

Live ($90.00)
Online $0.00

Poker $14,557.09
Staking ($4,550.45)
Other Gambling $0.00
Month's Expenses $0.00
Net on month $10,006.64

Made a recovery this month.
Unfortunately I got crushed taking a piece of Zach in some big games. My timing for staking people has been pretty atrocious.

Random musings

It's crazy how big the games I'm playing are. Like a year ago, 5-10 was a big game to me. Winning or losing 2-3k in a night is what I expected. Now I'm playing games where the pot preflop will be over 3k. The difference on a nightly basis is enormous. In the past 7 days, I had a 13k winning day, a 15k winning day and a 11k losing day. That's one week. The kind of numbers were my monthly results from last year. It's crazy. I feel more motivated to play lower stakes to pad my bankroll, but its also hard to play a game like 5-5 seriously when I'm used to playing stakes 5x to 10x as large. I'm heading to hustler now, hopefully they'll have something bigger for me to play.

The really neat thing about all these bigger games is that I've met a lot of really interested people. They are almost all really successful in some field in life. Like this one guy I know has been around the gambling industry for years, and he was one of the most influential people in that business during the steve wynn era. Another guy is named Archie Karas, he's an infamous gambler for turning 10k into $50 million and then losing it all. Great guy, but wow that's sick to gamble away that kind of money. It's not like he had another $50 mil, that was pretty much his net worth.

Anyways, I was just a little bored and felt like sharing my thoughts.
I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

September Update

My computer broke down at the end of September, and I finally got it fixed. Just one more way I ran bad in september.

Worst month of my life in poker. I ran so bad. Got crushed counting in vegas again as well. I think I'm going to do more reading on blackjack before I decide to play again. The game has so much variance that it's not really worth playing a small edge.



September

Cash Games
Live ($31,982.50)
Online ($1,894.90)

Tournaments
Online ($1,433.50)

Poker ($35,310.90)

Staking $2,483.06

Other Gambling ($4,330.00)

Month's Expenses $0.00

Net on month ($37,157.84)

Win Big or Tilt hard

I'll just leave this here

August Update

August
Cash Games
Live $19,305.92
Online $2,113.25

Tournaments
Live ($1,855.45)
Online ($831.19)

Poker $18,732.53
Staking $790.00
Other Gambling $0.00
Month's Expenses$0.00
Net on month $19,522.53

Nothing super special to mention other than I applied for a job with the WPT. Might be the first job I get after I graduate college.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Taking a day off

I went to the OC fair with some poker friends on Sunday. We prop bet on a ton of games, and the I zeroed out until we got to the ring toss, when I finally landed a winner on my first throw. I won a giant fish, which led to a ton of poker jokes, and then we played some low stakes poker for fun when we got back. I had a blast. The pictures tell a better story than I do.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

July Update

July
Cash Games
Live ($7,453.00)
Online ($2,080.30)

Tournaments
Live ($5,060.00)
Online ($1,221.07)

Poker ($15,814.37)

Staking ($6,094.46)
Other Gambling $0.00
Month's Expenses $368.70

Net on month ($21,540.13)


Worst month of my life. Went on a serious downswing live, + busted the main event + got crushed in staking. $5,500 of the backing was for one guy in the main event, who I think is a very good player, but got it all in with a flush against a set, and lost.

Hopefully August is better.

My professional career so far

Here are some numbers starting from last May, which is when I graduated from LMU.

From May 09 to today July 9th, my current profit is $131,033.27. This includes expenses and profits/losses from backing and other gambling. That's 14.25 months, which is an avg monthly profit of $9,036.77.

In 1,068 hours of recorded live play since October 09, I have won $127,664. That is about $118/hr. This is also spread out across a variety of stakes from as low as $0.25/$0.50 to as high as $50/$100. However, having sold action out in many of the higher stakes games, my own personal profit is not that high.

I have played 52 tournaments live since October 09. I have a net profit of only $3,082. That is pretty meager. I need to improve my skill level in tournaments or it's simply not worth playing. To be fair a lot of those losses were incurred this summer during the WSOP, where I was on a pretty big downswing. I cashed in 8 of the 52 tournaments for an 15% in the money rate. However, since it's from October on, it doesn't include last year's WSOP, where I had my big cash.

My online results are more complicated due to sheer volume. To sum it up, since May last year, I'm down in online tournaments, and probably around break even in online cash games, although the exact number is unknown.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

The end of the WSOP

Busted the main event today. Was grinding for a while, but I couldn't ever get any easy chips. I had won them all the hard way and then they went all down the drain when I had to fold JJ on an ace high board in a 3bet pot, then had a guy backdoor a straight against me.

Altogether I played 22 WSOP events. I have two cashes both in PLO. My total tournament net is -$17,378.

I won $2,782 in cash games while in vegas.

I'm down $10,114 backing people while in Vegas. $3,000 was backing Kevin in a 50-100 PLO game and $5,500 was my share of John's main event action.

I'm $1,885 playing blackjack. Also got barred from playing at South Point Casino.

Overall the trip cost me, $26,595. Sucks.

I'm debating playing the Venetian $5k on Monday. I've heard it's a good tournament, but I honestly don't know if I want to play it. Busting the main event was so emotionally draining. We'll see. I kinda just want to get back to playing cash games in LA.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

It's the greatest tournament in the world!

day 1 of the WSOP main event

Started with 30k at 50/100

ended with 23.5k at 200/400/25

Fourth hand of the day I get 77, raise to 300, and the BTN calls. The flop is KK7r, I bet 475 and get called. Turn is a 3. I check going for a c/r vs Kx and wanting to avoid blowing a hand like 99 off the hand. He checks behind. The river is a J. I bet 1125, and he raises about 2400 more. I'm not happy but I'm also not about to fold a full house early on day 1 without rock solid reads. I call, he has JJ.

I 3barrel a guy a few hands later and find out he turned a set. First round of blinds down to 16k, and ran into two sets. Not good.

I spent most of the day slowly grinding back up. I got up to 35k several times, but then lost big pots to get back down. I had to fold JJ to a 3barrel on a 7 high board. Then I made two pair with QT on a QT99 board and he had 89. To end the day I got AKo AIPF vs 88 and lost that flip.

The big pots I won were QQ vs A7s on Ts2s3c flop, and one pot where I made a big bluff with 95o. I also busted a shorty when he called my reraise with KQo. Bad, especially when the board comes out Queen high and I have KK. I did hit two more sets that day with KK and JJ but won small pots with both.

Nothing special to note. My table was bad, but I was unable to capitalize. I didn't flop pairs much. Pretty sure the odds of flopping a pair are about 9:1 against. I'm not a math player though. :)

Hopefully I run better day 2. Good thing the structure in the main event is amazing.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

June Monthly Report and WSOP updates

June

Cash Games

Live $38,782.00
Online ($509.25)

Tournaments

Live ($12,704.68)
Online ($824.83)

Poker $24,743.24

Staking ($3,534.00)

Other Gambling $825.00
Month's Expenses $0.00
Net on month $22,034.24

I started winning in blackjack again. I'm still stuck overall though. On the bright side I got a confirmation that I'm counting correctly. I got barred from playing at South Point Casino. I'm actually kind of proud. That's a milestone in every counter's career.

I've played 20 WSOP events so far. I have 2 cashes, $3,800 for the $1500 PLO, and $9800 for a 19th place finish in the $2500 PLO. Overall I'm down though. Been running pretty bad in tourneys.

Last weekend, the Hustler Casino told me I was a finalist in their $100k drawing and that I had a 1/100 shot to win a hundred grand. When I drove back and arrived, they told me actually I was 1 of 100 people to enter a 4 digit passcode. And if THAT matched, then I won the 100k. So basically my EV was only like $10. Hardly worth driving back to LA for. I decided to go to Malibu after the drawing, which wasn't a total waste. I won a Snuggie.

I ended up having a killer session at Malibu. I played for 20 hours and ended up winning $36k. I deposited some of my winnings, took some back to Vegas, and the game actually couldn't pay me that day cause everyone was on markers. The guys running the game actually flew out to Vegas to pay me my winnings. That's pretty good service right there.

I'm really looking forward to the main event. I feel a little rusty in NLHE, so I'm playing online as practice. I feel like I'm due to make a big run, and I'm hoping it's in the main event. But I need to practice hard, so I can make the most of any good luck I might receive. Wish me luck.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

WSOP Updates

I'm currently 0/7 in tournaments so far.

I've played

$1k NLHE

$1.5 Limit O8

$2.5k 2-7 Triple draw

$1.5k NLHE

$1k NLHE

$1.5k NLHE 6 handed
$5k NLHE

I've been running pretty bad in the tournaments. In the $5k I got 3 outted twice to go out.
I raised TT to 375 on the button, and the SB calls and Annette Oberstad calls in the BB.
The flop is Qs Qc 6d. They both check, and I bet 700. Annette calls. 5d hits the turn. She check calls 1250. The river is an Ace. She checks and I valuebet 2600. She calls with A4o. Sucks she got there, but I think I made a good valuebet on the river. Later Annette and I talked for a bit and she thinks I made a thin but good valuebet.

Then I got moved to table 1 where this happened within 4 hands.

First hand, I fold

Second hand, I decide to fold J8o in HJ.
CO opens to 525, Havad Kahn 3bets the button to 1375, Noah Boeken cold 4bets the SB to 4100, and the BB tank 5 bet jams for 18k. Everyone tank folds to the shove.

Sick table I'm at.

Hand 3 I fold.
Hand 4, UTG raises to 550, I get AK in MP and 3bet to 1350. He shoves and puts me in, I snap call. He has AJo. Jack high flop and the tournament is over.


I also had a rough cash game session last night where I lost about $2k. Almost all of it was to John Hanson, who just ran super hot against me. John's a friend of mine from Hustler casino, but doesn't play Omaha hi/lo very well. Oh well it happens. I'm still around 8k in that 5/10 omaha game.

Taking today off. $1.5k PLO tomorrow, then another day off. Next weekend, I'm going to head back home for a few days then come back, unless I go deep into a tourney on Thursday.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

May Results and more about the WSOP

May

Cash Games

Live $25,372.50
Online ($506.34)

Tournaments

Live ($1,316.50)
Online ($431.99)

Poker $23,117.67

Staking ($5,730.00)
Other Gambling ($3,000.00)
Month's Expenses ($135.58)

Net on month $14,252.09


I ended up bubbling the $1500 O8 event. I placed 97th. 81 spots paid. That sucked. I also lost my last longer bet with Jeff Madsen. Apparently I also bubbled the $1k buyin, cause after day 1 only 40 people needed to bust in order to cash.

Since then I busted the $2500, 2-7 Triple draw event, and the 1500 NLHE. I've also won about 2500 in cash games, so at least it's not going all downhill.

I got more coming up, but I might take a break for a few days and celebrate a friends birthday. Might not too. Sucks be a degen sometimes.

I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

First week in vegas during the WSOP

I showed up and had fun before the WSOP started. I was hanging out with Matt and we played some 1/2 NL and 1/2 PLO. I also managed to drop 3k in blackjack. Counting has gone very badly for me. I am 100% sure I am counting properly, but working on a 1% edge is very small. I would estimate my edge in poker is around 3-5%, and my swings in that are huge. A 1% creates substantially bigger swings. It doesn't bother me though, and I hit my stop loss, so that's all that matters.

I played the $1k NLHE event at the WSOP, now that it's officially started. I spent the entire day grinding a short to barely below average stack, and simply couldn't get any traction. I made several really big laydowns, including folding TT to a 3bet when I had only 11bb. I was right and he had JJ.

I eventually busted with only 10 minutes left of play in day 1 when I shoved with K4s with 9bb and ran into aces.

I'm going to play the $1500 limit Omaha 8 or better tourny today. Wish me luck.

I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

A Big Score

Biggest cash game week of my life last week. I won like $35k last week.

I was playing 50/100 PLO8 and NLHE heads up in Malibu, and won like $25k. It was a pretty tough match, but I made two really big hands where I won huge pots.

The first one was where I had AsKcQs4c, and reraised preflop. He called and flop was Ts9c3c. I bet he called. The turn was the Js. This card gives me the nut straight, the nut flush draw, the second nut flush draw, and redraws to a higher straight. So I bet, he raised me all in! It's pretty crazy when there is no bad card in the deck except a board pair. Of course the board pairs on the river. But thankfully he had a lower straight and I won the 14k pot.

I won another huge pot when I had JJ and he had A3, and the flop came out AJ3. Not much skill involved there.

I've also gone out and got a lot of backing for the WSOP. I now have almost 30k in backing for the WSOP. That's huge for me. I can now comfortably say I have the money I need to play all the events I want to. I'm ready to take Vegas head on this year, and I expect to walk away with the money. Watch out, I'm playing good and running even better.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

April Showers, May Flowers

... which get immediately trampled on.

Started off May by losing 10k in the first two days. I've been pretty sick of losing live, and I was actually sick. So I decided to take a break and just play online poker for a while. It's good for my sleep schedule too, which I have to normalize by the time the WSOP comes around. I've been trying to step my game up to improve and focus on playing better. I even took some time to today to actively look for leaks to plug, something I haven't done in a while. I think I might've found a few preflop leaks, and I'll examine it more before the WSOP comes around.

I'm also actively learning PLO now. I used to just play whenever I felt like it, but now that I have some people I can discuss strategy with it, I'm trying harder to learn the game. It also helps I'm playing online, which gives me a chance to play the game at much lower stakes than I can in a live setting. I'm also winning online which is giving me motivation to play.

I've been working on trying to get backing for the WSOP as well. I was pretty suprised but, getting backing is actually fairly time consuming. Drawing up contracts and making deals takes a while. It's taking care of all the small details. It's been well worth it, because now I'm getting partially backed into several events and have a place to stay during the WSOP.

Wish me luck. These upcoming three months are going to be some of the most important in my life.

I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

April Monthly Results

Cash Games

Live $2,254.00
Online ($1,819.58)

Tournaments

Live $0.00
Online ($480.27)

Poker ($45.85)

Staking ($212.00)
Other Gambling ($2,900.00)

Net on month ($3,157.85)

I was banking against some big blackjack players when I was at the hustler. Banking means you pay a small fee to be the house against the other players. I was paying about $20 in order to bank against $6k in bets. Unfortunately the big players got the best of me and ended up winning around 3k.

I was down almost 10k this month, but managed to salvage my losses in poker in the past 3 days. I booked a 3k win, a 3.3k win and a 1.2k win in three consecutive days. Feels good to starting winning again. I'm looking forward to May.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Fun hands from home games

10/25 Pot Limit Omaha

Zack a PLO specialist raises to 75 in the CO. I call with QcTs9c5s on the button. Zack calls in the SB.
Flop is 7d 7c 2d. Zack checks, Kevin bets 125. I bluff raise to 450. Zack thinks for a bit then cold calls. Kevin hesitates, then folds. The turn is the 9d. Zack leads for 1k, I tank for a little then raise to 3k. Zack thinks then says, well I was planning to fold. And he folds A7. I show him the bluff. Mike Sexton was at the table, and he said, well maybe you'll win a bracelet this WSOP after all.

10/25 5 card PLO8
I limp in with A244J double suited. And three callers including Mike Sexton, who is on the button. the flop is KK4 rainbow. The table checks to Mike who bets $150, then I check raise to $600. He flat calls. The turn is a 3, I bet $1300, and he repots it for another $4000 or so. I fold my full house and nut low draw and he shows me 4 kings.

10/25 NLHE
6 way limped pot, I check 78c in the BB.

Flop is 8h7s6s. John Palmer (a friend of mine, he's a very good player) bets 150, and I raise to 450. The BTN cold calls. He's pretty bad. John tanks and calls. The turn is a Kd. John checks, I bet 1150, the BTN calls, and John tanks again, then calls. The river is a 5c, a pretty terrible card for my hand. Everybody checks and John turns over 95 for a flopped straight.
This was kinda interesting for me, cause I think I might've lost more than necessary.

The Craziest Hand I've Ever Seen

This came up in the 10/25 dealer's choice game last night. Vince Van Patten choose Pot Limit Omaha. 7 players limp in, and the flop comes out Jc 9d 7d. I have KT89 and flopped the nut straight. I check, and the UTG player bets $200. It folds around to the maniac who makes it 600. I fold when it gets back to me because I think there is a high chance I'm getting freerolled.

UTG makes it 1800. Jack the maniac goes all in. Jack the nit, the UTG player instantly calls 6k deep.

Jack the nit. JhJsTh8s

Jack the maniac. QcTd8d4h

Good fold by me. Brag

Turn 2d.

River Jd.

Quads loses to a straight flush. I've never seen someone get it in with the nuts, freeroll into quads, and still to lose to other player's freeroll. SICKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Nice hand Jack. Tough beat Jack. Four Jacks no good.

Anyways I won a couple grand last night. Helped stem the bleeding.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Short Status Update

April is not off to a good start. Down $1,800 in the first week.

I started a new challenge though. Since I was short on cash for a little while, I moved down in stakes at the hustler. My goal was to win some money at the $1-2 game, and then move up to a bigger game. I was planning to win $2,000 at that game. I want to see what a realistic hourly rate will be, and I also want to get some discipline to play tighter.

I've been played a lot of PLO8 lately too. I plan to play some 10/25 5 card PLO8 at a home game on Friday. Wish me luck. Pot limit Omaha 8 or better is a special game because it allows a very low variance way to turn a profit against weak players who will draw for one half of the pot when you have a lock on the other, allowing you to freeroll them.

I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

March Results

I wish this was an April Fool's joke, but March was brutal. This was my first losing month since September though, so I guess it's all good.

March

Cash Games

Live ($8,948.00)

Online $4,389.24

Tournaments

Live $3,274.85

Online ($176.76)

Poker ($1,460.68)

Staking ($1,725.40)

Other Gambling ($5,900.00)

Month's Expenses ($299.58)

Net on month ($9,385.66)

Harrah's Rincon

I drove down to San Diego on Sunday to go to Harrah's Rincon. Nate came along for the ride, and we traversed the winding mountain to get to the casino.
Harrah's Rincon was hosting a WSOP Circuit event. The buyin was $5170, and the field was reasonably soft. There were definitely some good players in it, but over all I thought I was +EV. Unfortunately, it's really hard to prove that when you flop 4 pairs in 4 hours.
I got dealt AK 0 times, AJ and AQs once and lost with each. For pairs, I got 22x 3 times, 33, 44, 66, 88, 99x2, TT and lost with all of them. I got QQ, raised and flopped a set, but got no action. I got KK when I was down to 4k in chips and ran into Aces. I flopped a King to double up, but then I busted with 79 vs 95 on a 923 flop. 3 outer on the river. Well that's how my day went.

Bryan Devonshire won the event. He's a fairly well known pro who signed with Ultimate Bet.

Brandon Cantu was on my table also. He's also signed with UB. And we had a hand where the dealer really screwed up. Cantu got it all in against a shorter stack with AK vs TT on a AT4 flop. The dealer pushes Cantu's entire stack over, without ever counting the chip stacks. Because we were in the ballroom, all the cameras were way too far away, and then the tournament director had no clue what to do.

On the other hand, I was really impressed by the tournament structure.
We started with 15k in chips at 25/50 blinds. The 40 minute levels kinda sucked, but were made up by the fact that they had every single blind level.
50/75, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 100/200/25, 150/300, 200/400 and so on. They didn't skip any levels, which is very uncommon.


I won about $1,500 in cash games while I was there. However, I lost like $4,000 in blackjack. It's really hard to say that and have people still believe I can turn a profit counting cards. But variance in blackjack is far greater than that in poker.

I was getting into extremely profitable situations like getting A6 against a 5 showing, yet I would constantly lose those hands. Further it was pretty brutal losing those hands, because usually that's when I was pressing my bets. In a game where it's essentially 50/50, I was losing 70% of my hands. And I'm not referring to the hands I bust, I'm talking about hands where I would get dealt 18s, 20s, or 15s vs a 4 showing and so on. Yet the dealer constantly improved to beat me. It was pretty sick, but hey oh well. I felt like I had an edge there. Well, that's what bankroll management is for.

When I went home, I won like $2,200 online, so eh I guess it all balances out.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

March Madness

A lot has happened in March.

I was running pretty bad to start the month. I've played everyday so far, and I had a pretty crazy week where I won about $14k one night and managed to lose $10k two nights later.

On the bright side, I managed to turn it around when I final tabled a $555 buyin tournament at the Bicycle Casino. There were just under 600 runners, and we made a 7 way deal that got me $19k. I didn't have all my own action, but it still pulled me out of the hole on the month.

I really think I played the Bike tournament perfectly. I felt like I had extremely accurate reads, and I made all the right moves. If I didn't run kings into aces at the end of the first day I probably would've had an excellent shot at winning.
With my chip position (6th in chips out of 7 remaining), they originally they offered me 17k, but I bargained my way up to 19k. With the extra $2,000 I felt I had to chop despite wanting to play it out.


I had a really sick hand from earlier in the month.

5-10 blinds at Hustler

UTG limps, Winston limps in MP, I raise AA to 50 in HJ, and the button calls. UTG calls, Winston calls.

Flop is JT9r, and UTG checks. Winston bets $150, and I think for a bit and then throw my Aces away. I really think his leading range on this flop is really strong, and Aces are just in bad shape here. The BTN calls with a set of tens and UTG calls.
The turn is a 9. UTG checks, Winston checks, BTN bets 250, UTG folds, Winston tanks and calls. River is a 6 putting out a backdoor flush. Winston now leads out for 300, and the BTN makes it 900. Winston mucks.
And he says he had J9. I really don't know if I can believe that but if it's true, it's a sick fold.

March is now on track to be a winning month, even if it's not by a lot.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

February Results

I did amazingly well at live cash games. If I didn't lose money playing the NAPT and the LAPC, I would've met my goal of 15k a month.

February

Cash Games

Live $21,671.00

Online $555.21

Tournaments

Live ($8,485.00)

Online ($1,346.64)

Poker $12,394.57

Staking ($3,454.85)

Other Gambling ($110.00)

Month's Expenses ($690.39)

Net on month $8,139.33

Busting Day 1 Again

Felt like I played this one well, but bad luck this time.

Table draw
Seat 1: Joe Bartholdi (WPT winner)

Seat 2: Older nit, bad at bet sizing

Seat 3: FTP satellite winner

Seat 4: Barry Greenstein

Seat 5: Me

Seat 6: James Cambell a.k.a. P0kerPr0 (http://officialpokerrankings.com/fulltiltpoker/P0KERPR0/poker/results/FFCE15CE7FF74482AC211837E235748F.html?t=2)

Seat 7: Older nit

Seat 8: Semi decent but tightish player

Seat 9: Middle aged thinking but baddish player

20k

25/50

Barry opens to 150 on the button, and I toss in a 500 with Ah Ks from the SB. Dealer points out it's a call, so the BB folds. The flop is 7h 6d 2h. I lead for 250, planning to use my perceived strength on later streets. He calls. The turn is the 6h. I bet 600 and he folds.

Seat 1 limps, Seat 3 raises to 200, I call in CO with 2c 5c and 3 other calls. Flop is 9s 8c 3c. The PFR bets 500, I call, Btn calls, and the limper calls. The turn is a 4c. UTG limper leads for 2500. I think for a bit then call. River is a Td. He bets 3500. I tank for a bit and decide to call. He has Ac 7c.

It's close and might be a fold. I thought he had a flush but wasn't certain. There wasn't too much else he could have. I was planning to fold to 5k or more. Later on break he told me I thought you would fold to 5k, so I bet only 3500.

12k

50/100

I open JJ to 300, BTN in seat 8 3bets to 1025. The BB cold calls. I call and flop is Js 8s 5h. I c/r the btn's 1675 bet to 4k and he folds.

30k

100/200

Barry opens utg to 550. I call with AKd right behind. The flop is Td 4s 5c. He bets 700, and I float. The turn is a Jc. He bets 1300, and I float again. The river is a 3c. He bets 3k. I think this is kinda fishy, and I debate shoving, but I eventually fold. I think he bets AA-QQ smaller, so I think this has to be a backdoor flush or a set to be legit.

Seat 7 opens UTG+1 to 700. Barry calls in the SB and I call in the BB with T8s. The flop is Q95r. Everyone checks. I bet 1200 on the 4c turn, and they both call. The river 2h bricks the backdoor flush draw and I bet 2800 and they both fold.

Seat 9 opens to 500. FTP satellite guy calls in the CO, and I 3bet the SB to 1875 with AA. Seat 9 calls and the flop is TT4r. I bet 2100, and he minraises to 2100? lol, so I call. Turn is Kh, I check raise all in over his 4k bet and he folds to my 8k more.

20k

25/100/200

I open 97o to 550 from CO and the BB calls. He check/calls my 300 on the A96r flop. On the turn Qc, we both check. The river he checks and I bet 600. Now he check/raises to 2200. I tank call, and he has A8o. I think I leveled myself. It's hard for me to fold the river because I never have a hand stronger than KK, and doubtful even that. So I called, because it's relatively a good spot to try to bluff me.

The HJ opens to 525 and I call with 97d and the BB calls. The flop is Jd 8h 4s. The BB leads for 875. The HJ calls and I call. The turn is a 6 giving me open ended. The BB checks and I call the HJ 3100 bet. The BB folds, which was unfortunate, because I was hoping he came along. The river bricks and the I fold to the HJs bet. He later told me he had KK which means I probably get his whole stack on a river brick.

20k
25/150/300

I open KK to 750, and Seat 3 calls in the BB. The flop is Jc 4c 3s. He check/calls my 1200 bet. The turn is a 5s. He checks and I bet 2700. He moves in for 10k more after some thought. I tank for a bit and decide I have to call. He shows me 45d for turned two pair, and I brick the river. I'm down to under 3k.

Three hands later I'm in the SB with QQ. Barry G opens the button to 800. I shove for 2400 and he calls with Q3o. I'm a 94% favorite, but when the flop comes down Ac6c4s, I know I'm drawing dead. After all his equity increased to 8%. He catches running 25 and makes a straight to bust me.

Thought I played well. Mostly played my standard game the rest of the time, never really got a whole lot going.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

First Day of the NAPT... and the Only One.

A lot of standardish hands but I lost my notes for some more complex ones.

50/100

I open QQ to 300 in EPish, and I get 3bet to 800 by the guy to my left. I flat call. Flop is Kc Jh Tc. I check and fold to his 1800 bet. The pot is only 1750, and I felt his range was pretty strong. I'm not sure what else I can do, calling seems bad because I can't take any heat, and my draw is pretty obvious so I don't have much implied odds. A queen could be no good. I decide my best bet is too simply fold.

75/150

I open J6d in MP when two players to my left are telegraphing folds. Both the blinds call me and hey the flop is J66 with two spades. I bet 725 when checked to, and the SB calls me. The turn is the Ah, and the SB c/c my 875 bet. River is another J, and I think for a bit then bet 1250. He calls and mucks. I made my bet small on the turn because I thought I could get him to hero call with a hand like 88 hoping that I'm bluffing the ace. I also think if I bet too big he might fold a Jack.

50/200/400

I literally played one hand the entire level. I opened A6s, and the lag player to my left called. The flop was QT4r with a spade, I cbet he calls. I c/f the 9 on turn as that's a really bad card for to continue on given how much of his range improves in some way or another. I can really only make him fold AT, 77 or less, as most combinations of hands that have a T make a straight draw, all straight draws improve to either a pair or a straight, and most queens will have a straight

draw. AQ won't but also won't fold to another bet anyways. Seems bad to keep betting.

75/300/600

I am still card dead. Only played 3 hands. I open KQ to 1600, and fold to a 3bet.

I open A9o in HJ, get called by BB, and the flop is AJ8 with two spades. He c/cs my 2250 bet, and the turn is a Ks. We both check. River is a T and he bets 4400. I don't really see how I can call here, almost everything in his flop calling range is ahead of me now.

Then the LAG opens in EP to 1600. The SB calls, and I call with 89d. The flop is Ks 7d 8h. We both check to LAG who bets around 2100, the SB calls and I call. The turn is the Ts, and the LAG bets approx 3700, we both call again. The river is a 4c, and we check to LAG who thinks then bets about 7k. The SB calls, then I ship the river for 20k more. The LAG tank calls with AA, and the SB folds two pair.

I thought my line looked a lot like 56 or a slowplayed J9. But in retrospect I realize, that I probably don't check J9 on the river because the risk that he checks behind. So I'm really only repping like one hand, and even then I might just lead the river with it. I feel somewhat stupid for trying this, but at the time I thought it looked really strong.

I also played a satellite to the high roller event but busted. I'm up around 8k in cash games now.

I'm feeling too lazy to blog much more, but LAPC coming up next.

Back in Sin City

I flew out to Vegas on Wednesday for the NAPT. I came a little early to hang with Mike because he was only going to be here till Saturday. It was my fastest trip with through TSA ever, I managed to get through all the hassle in under 3 minutes. Pretty impressive to me. I guess they are getting more efficient.

I'm staying at the Venetian because they decided to comp me for 4 free nights for no reason whatsoever. I played a little blackjack with them before, and I guess that was enough for them. I decided to give them some action in exchange, and apparently it was a bad idea. I'm pretty sure I'm counting cards correctly, but I'm down about 3.3k with an average bet of around 150. I suppose thats not really that much given that standard deviation of an average bet of 50 would be around $1,400. Variance is pretty insane in a game where you only have a 1-2% edge at best. Oh well the real plan was to get my run bad out before the NAPT started.

I've done really well in poker though. I won about 1k at Venetian in a 1/2 pot limit omaha mix game. It was half high low and half high only. Then I went to Bellagio and won about 5.5k at 10/20 there. I coolered someone with a set of aces against a set of fives on the A95r flop for about 2.1k. It almost makes up for my blackjack run bad.

Mike decided to go for Diamond card status with Harrah's. After running some numbers he found he can go Diamond in a single day at video poker. His expected loss is only a few hundred, something that can easily be recouped by the perks of being a Diamond card holder. He had to borrow $700 from me to do it, but he managed to pull it off with a loss of around 2k. That's probably worthwhile to him, although if I had diamond card status, I honestly don't know what I'd do with it.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the NAPT. It's a $5k buyin sponsored by Pokerstars and has a televised final table. Updates will be on twitter at http://twitter.com/SuddenlyBryce

Wish me luck. I could use it.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Some Interesting Recent Hands

Warning - Strategic Content below

February started off badly for me with three straight losing days in a row. Today I managed to book a win an turn it around. Here are some interesting hands of late.

From 2/4 online

Villian is fishy over small sample.

Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

MP1: $630.20
MP2: $300.00
Hero (CO): $400.00
BTN: $314.60
SB: $977.50
BB: $144.90
UTG: $400.00
UTG+1: $400.00
UTG+2: $414.70

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is CO with Th 9h
5 folds, Hero raises to $12, BTN calls $12, 2 folds

Flop: ($30.00) 8c 8d 5h (2 players)
Hero bets $20, BTN calls $20

Turn: ($70.00) Jh (2 players)
Hero bets $48, BTN calls $48

River: ($166.00) Jc (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $100, Hero raises to $320 all in (He only has $134 left)

What kinds of hands do you think the BTN has here? I was thinking he has some busted straight draws, some counterfeited pocket pairs, maybe an 8 that he decided to slowplay the whole way. I don't think it's likely he has a Jack but he's fishy, so I thought he might float with overcards. In retrospect, I think shoving is bad because if I have him beat, he'll fold, and there aren't many hands I lose to that he'll fold to a shove.

I can break down his hand range into this

Busted straight draws - 97, 96, 76, 74, 46 with 97 and 67 being most likely.

Counterfeited pairs - 22, 33, 44, 66, 77, 5x and I beat 95 or smaller kicker, chop with T5, and lose to Q5 or better

Full House - 8x and Jx, and 55. None of these are folding if I raise.

Pocket pairs - 99 through AA. I don't know if he would flat call the whole way with these hands, but if he would and he still bets the river I doubt he's folding.

No pair - Ace high might fold, but probably wouldn't bet, king high and queen high definitely are folding for a raise.

So basically I can only get Queen high or king high to fold with a raise, and that's not worth risking an additional $134 to try to get a fold from those. It seems check calling with ten high is the best option if I decide not to fold. Seems backwards, but the game is weird sometimes.

As it turns out, he had KK and I lose.

Hand 2.
Villian is mostly unknown.

Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter

BTN: $394.00
SB: $300.00
Hero (BB): $522.60
UTG: $400.00
UTG+1: $400.00
UTG+2: $119.60
MP1: $406.00
MP2: $450.00
CO: $400.00

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is BB with Qd Jh
6 folds, BTN raises to $12, 1 fold, Hero calls $8

Flop: ($25.00) Td Ad 2c (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $24, Hero raises to $68, BTN calls $44 e

Turn: ($161.00) Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($161.00) Tc (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $72, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $72

In my opinion, it's rare that some bets full pot on boards like this. People realize that most of the time when they bet this board after a button raise, they will be bluffing and bet smaller for to save money. And then they also bet smaller with an ace to disguise their hand. A ten wouldn't bet so big, because it's hard to get value from worse. So I think he has a draw, maybe a gutshot, maybe a flush draw. It might be better to call here, but I would be more inclined to do that if I had King high for a stronger no pair. Either way, if I didn't have the gutshot draw I would just fold.

After check/raising and getting called, I decided I would continue betting on certain turn cards, but the Ace is a bad card to continue on. If I'm wrong and he has an Ace he will never fold. If he has a Ten, he may decide now I have a flush draw since the odds of me having an ace went down. So I check, and decide to make a decision based on his betsizing. When he checks behind, I figure my original read is correct and he does in fact have a draw. The river double pairs the board and I check planning on him to either bluff his draw, or check down and lose. He bets $72 into a sizable pot. This is a pretty small bet and I read it as a cheap bluff attempt. It could be a ten, but it seems likely a ten would bet the turn to protect from the obvious draws that could check raise the flop and then check the turn. I call and he has Kd 4d. Opps, good read, but he still beat me!

Wild hand from the Hustler

The 5-10 game was kinda dead until these three guys sat down. I'm pretty sure they came together, and they were all weak players compared to the average in that game.

The entire table limps in!, and then the BB raises to 100 more, the first two limpers fold, and then everyone calls before the small blind shoves for 75 more. Everyone calls that as well. I have 7d 4d. 185 x 7 is 1295, so less the rake we have almost $1,300 in the pot before even seeing a flop!

The flop is Jd 4c 6h
The PFR bets 200, one guy calls, I call getting 8.5:1 odds, (but praying for raise behind, although I think someone needs at least two pair to raise here) and one other player calls.

The turn is the Qd, and the pot is now $2,100. The PFR bets $400, the other guy calls again, and I call. The fourth player folds.

Pot is now $3,300 when the river is the 5d, the PFR disgustingly checks (not sure what he's afraid of, good check I guess), the other guy shoves for $1,500, I call and PFR folds.

My flush wins the pot against the J5o, and the all in player's unknown hand to scoop a 6.3k pot.

I give lessons on how to run hot, only $500/hr.

I'll see you across the felt.

Bryce

January Monthly Results

January

Cash Games

Live $18,131.00
Online ($2,122.30)
Tournaments

Live $27,421.50
Online ($3,224.48)

Poker $40,205.73

Staking ($931.28)

Other Gambling $2,875.00

Month's Expenses ($3,393.02)

Net on month $38,756.43

On the 31st, I played a ton of tournaments online and ended up dropping almost $2k. Then I went to the hustler and didn't quite win it all back, so I feel slightly short of winning $40k this month. Still this is the best month of my life after my WSOP final table last year. I'm excited because this puts me well on my way to my $300k goal for this year. I'm hoping I can get one big tournament score a month, I plan to play enough poker to make it happen.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Shot Taking and the LAPC Prelims

I've been playing poker almost nonstop lately. I think I've been playing over 60 hours a week for the past 2 weeks. I've been playing a lot online as well. Since I've been doing well lately, I have a confidence boost and decided to take some shots at bigger games.

I've been playing 2/4 online with some mixed results. I rediscovered my ability to spew off chips like a complete donkey. On the other hand, I forgot when I'm on my A game, I can hang with the best of 'em. A fun hand from 2/4 the other night. You can't bluff me man, I'm the best calling station in the world. I SNAP called the river too.

***** Hand History for Game 38829973121 ***** (Poker Stars)
$400.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, January 27, 06:50:34 ET 2010
Table Tomita VIII (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: ungar-like ( $507.00 USD )
Seat 3: jessyj ( $403.00 USD )
Seat 5: slapnuts3 ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 6: LilDeano89 ( $400.00 USD )
Seat 7: Seingalt1725 ( $425.80 USD )
Seat 8: Leviathan101 ( $400.00 USD )
jessyj posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
slapnuts3 posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Leviathan101 [ Tc Td ]
LilDeano89 raises [$12.00 USD]
Seingalt1725 folds
Leviathan101 calls [$12.00 USD]
ungar-like folds
jessyj folds
slapnuts3 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8s, 6c, 2h ]
LilDeano89 bets [$24.00 USD]
Leviathan101 calls [$24.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qc ]
LilDeano89 bets [$56.00 USD]
Leviathan101 calls [$56.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 7s ]
LilDeano89 bets [$145.00 USD]
Leviathan101 calls [$145.00 USD]
LilDeano89 shows [Ac, 4c ]
Leviathan101 shows [Tc, Td ]
Leviathan101 wins $477.00 USD from main pot



I played the LAPC $1 million guarantee last week. The had 4 day 1s and let you buy into the next one of you busted a previous one. They call it a reentry tournament, and it's kinda similar to rebuys kinda not. I think they will grow in popularity, as they can bring really big prize pools for small buyins.
Anyways I ended up playing all 4 day1s and didn't cash. Poof there goes $1,300. At least I got to play cash games afterwards. I'll probably play the $300 HU event, and the Chinese poker event, but nothing else until the main event.

Going to the commerce reminded me why I don't like it there. It's so impersonal. I feel like its a chicken coup and I'm just stuffed in there with everyone else. Although, I like commerce slightly more now that I took a shot at the 10/20 no limit game there and took them for almost $3k in under 3 hours. I'm really proud of this hand.

I raised AKo to $70 in middle position and the CO and BTN call. I had already figured out the CO is straightfoward and ABC, and the button was willing to make a lot of moves if he sensed weakness. The flop is K83r, and I decide to check and let the button bluff. The CO checks, and the BTN predictably bets $250. I hum and haw and try to make him think I have like QQ or JJ then call. The CO overcalls. On a K83r flop, he nearly always has a King, and might occasionally have a 8 or 3 with a backdoor flush draw. The turn is a T, and everyone checks. The river is a 5, and I decide to check once again. If the CO bet, I was going to check/raise and if the BTN bet, I was going to call and try to get the CO to overcall. The CO checks and the BTN bet $500, I call and the CO calls. The BTN just looks at his hand and clearly indicates he's got squat as I turn over my hand like its the nuts. The CO mumbles about how he was sure I had QQ and then throws KJs into the muck face up.
I think I got maximum value there, because it would be hard for KJ to call three streets after I raise preflop. Even if it did, I would probably make around the same amount.


I played 10/20/40 last night at the hustler, three handed with Zack (very good regular) and Mike (rich Colorado native). I ended up winning like $5k in a long session, including a 5 hour heads up match against Mike. I quit at noon and was up around $2k from HU. I would've been up a lot more, but I ran one bad bluff for around $1k when I couldn't get him to fold QQ on a 8d 6d 4s 3d 2h board. Oh well nice call sir. He insisted we tipped the dealers really well. Normally this is no problem for me, but he was talking like giving them $30 each when they sat down and like another 20 when they left. Adding in the drop and honestly I think I gave away like $500 in tips and drop. Oh well, he basically payed for it all.

I'm up almost $40k this month now. I'm on a tear atm, and am super focused. I'm not letting up for now, gonna keep crushing until I have a real reason to slow down.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Final days here

Nothing much to report.

I won a $550 PLO8 donkament with 45 players. Took down 7370 for first.
Then I played some blackjack and won some more.

Flying back tomorrow, can't wait to be back in LA. I had fun here, but the weather sucked the whole time. I plan to come back next year, hopefully it'll be nicer by then.

LAPC coming up next.



I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Day 4 of play - Failure

Today was short and bittersweet. I'm out, but I cashed for 52k. 47th out of 1520 is pretty decent. Everybody who has 1% of me will get $520. Could be better could be worse.

It's kinda tilting that pokernews and the PCA live updates have a short story for every single other player eliminated, but don't have one for me.

Didn't play for more than two levels today, so not too many hands.

Here is my starting line up for the day.




800k
Folds to in the small blind. He limps in. I get 88 and raise 30k more to 46k total. He limp/shoves for 400k. I call, he had A6o. Flop is A69, turn Q and a dramatic 8 on the river.

New table
Amit and John Duthie on my right. Ryan D'Angelo (g0lfa, won 2 wcoop bracelets this year) in seat 4. I'm in seat 1.

1.2 mil
I raise AQc UTG+! to 35k. Amit calls in the BB. The flop is Th 7s 2c. He check calls 43k. Turn is a Qh. He checks, I bet 98k. He check/raises to 230k. I shove for 600k, he folds.

1.5 mil
Next hand I raise QJh to 35k. John Duthie 3bets the BB to 86k. I call. The flop is Ah 2h 4d. He bets 95k. I call. Turn is a 3d. He bets 300k, I decide I should fold. In a cash game I might shove there, but I think its very thin and too high variance for a tournament.

1.3 mil
Duthie raises the button to 36k. I call in the SB with 98c. The flop is Kd 9d 6s. I check/call 35k. The turn is a Qs. We both check. River is a 7. I check/call 50k after some thinking and he has QJh.

1.3 mil
MP opens to 40k. I flat AKs on the button to induce a squeeze out of the SB or BB, and also to disguise my hand. The flop is QJ6r no spades. He check/calls my 52k. We check down and he has 99. I probably could've barreled him out there, but I decided that I have a tiny bit of showdown value and he might turn his hand into a bluff.

3k/10k/20k
1.2 mil
I open JJ to 45k in MP, the CO 3bets to 115k with 400k behind. I shove he has AA and holds.

700k - My bust hand
g0lfa raises to 48k in MP. I call with KQc in the bb. The flop is Tc 2d 7c. So my default line with around 50bb would be to lead out for a bit less than the pot, and then 3bet all in. However, I think g0fla is a bit too good to fall for that, so I don't think he'll bluff raise. Instead I decide to c/c flop and c/r cards on the turn that give me extra draws. If a club comes out, I'll lead, since he probably expects me to c/r most flush draws on that flop. I c/c 60k or so. The turn is the Ks. I decide now that I will c/c turn and c/c river and give him a chance to barrel and rep AK. I c/c 150k. The river is a 5d. I check and he shoves for my last 400k.
This is kinda gross. I really only beat a 3 barrel bluff, but I think my hand looks weak. KQ is literally the top of my range in this spot. I don't really think he would just ship AK or AA (I could be wrong), because I don't think there are many hands in my range I can call with.
I tank for a while then call. He has KTh for top two.

It was a good run, but man it hurts to be on the otherside of the rail.
Try again at the LAPC? I'll be selling action for the main event at $103 for 1%, like the PCA.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce

Day 3 - Today's Goal - Turn a million chips into a million dollars

Wheeeeeeeee. Ended the day with 874k. Not bad, but I had 1.3 million at one point. Blinds tomorrow will be 8000/16000. (I think. Might be 7500/15000) Average is 700k, and I'm guaranteed $38k at this point. I bet my backers are happy.

Most of today's hands were easier or more straight forward than before. As the tournament goes down the home stretch, it'll probably be like that. I left out the nuts and bolts hand and just wrote down the juicy stuff.

Today I'll try to post my stack size then villain's. I'm working from memory though, so I could be off a bit.

Here are my stack sizes on each breack.

My starting table was a little softer this time around but still had 3 name pros.



We were 8 handed for all of today.
Blinds and Antes 400/2k/4k
My stack: 274k His Stack: 170k
First hand of the day

Folds to me in the SB, and I decide to limp A9o. I have no idea how he plays, or have any idea how to respond to a 3bet. He looks young and dressed well, so I'm gonna assume he's a little laggish. He raises to 14k. I call.
Flop is Qc 3c 3s. I check and call 16k. We check down the turn and river and I win.


290k
Matt Venegrin 120k
He open limps the button? Kinda weird. I check in the BB with 69o. I bet 6k on the T62r flop, and he calls. I immediately get some kind of gut instinct he's floating. Turn is an offsuit 7. Not a good card cause it makes 67, 78, 79, 89, beat me but good cause it gives me extra equity if he has a ten. I check and call his 16k bet on the turn. River is a 5. This is also a terrible card for the same reasons as a 7. I check and he tanks for a good time then bets 20k. I tank for a bit and decide his smallish bet could only be a bluff or a decent ten for value. If he had two pair (or better), I think he would bet bigger, and I don't think he would valuebet T8 or less. If he had JT or better, I think he would've raised preflop. So I figure it has to be a bluff or T9. Also when he tanks for a while, I think he is bet sizing a bluff or thinking about some really thin or something. If he had two pair, he probably wouldn't have taken so long. So after a bunch of probablys, I call and he mucks. I show 69o and he mutters to himself that he is terrible for trying to bluff calling stations. Shrugs.

New table. Another fun line up.
Seat 1: Me, Seat 2: a Winamax French pro, Seat 3: Daniel Negreanu, Seat 4: weak player, Seat 5: Another Winamax player, Seat 6: Random, Seat 7: Huck Seed, Seat 8: random

At least I quickly identified some softer spots. Negreanu was short also which was nice.

500/2.5k/5k
These hands took place on or near the money bubble.
300k
I raised 7h7c in the CO to 13k, and the BTN shoves for 115k. I call and he has AQs. We have a sweat when the flop comes out 643 with two hearts, a Qh hits the turn, and I catch a 5 on the river to improve to the winner.

410k
MP2 raises to 15k UTG. I call with Kh Qs otb (on the button). Flop is Qh 3h Qc. He bets 20k, and I minraise to 40k. This is an attempt to get him to bluff reraise, or flat call drawing very thin. A lot of decent thinkers will interpret this as a bluff or a flush draw because minraising a queen seems to make it so blatantly obvious that it is clearly not a queen. He makes it 80k, and I move in for 140k more and he folds.

570k
I raise 97o to abuse the bubble (hell one player just litterally got up and left the table. What's up with that?) Folds to Huck Seed in the SB and he shoves. I fold. Then he tells me he never looked at his cards and turned over 93o. lolol, it's Winston's hand. nice play Huck

Villain in next hand busts Negreanu with 33 vs A9 on the bubble.

600k, just after the bubble. Villian has like 400k
Weaker player opened to 12.5k, I 3bet 22 in the SB to 32.5k. He tanks and goes to muck, then stares at me and changes his mind to call! I saw his about to fold, so clearly his hand isn't that good. I decide I will cbet any flop and then reevaulate from there. The flop is K T 5r. He calls my 47k cbet, and I put him squarely on KQ. The turn is a 2. Apparently customs didn't take away my luckbox, cause when I check/raise him to 175k, he shoves on me! I call and as I thought he has KQ and is drawing dead. I passed 1 million that hand.



Sumo is still doing work. His hand broke though.


6 handed
1 mil
Huck opens UTG for 12k, MP calls, I call in the CO with QQ, and the SB calls.
The flop is KT8r. Checks around. The turn is a 9 and the winamax player in the SB decides to shove for around 60k which is slightly more than a potsized bet. It folds to me and I snap call. I think his range is like Kx, and lots of pairs with straight draws, and maybe even some bare straight draws. He has KJ, and I'm drawing really thin. River bricks and he doubles.


900k - He has 220k
I open AKd to 12k, winamax 3bets to 22.5k, I 4bet to 60k, he shoves I call, and he turns over 86s. Board runs out 3 diamonds and I win with the nuts.

1.09 mil - 500k
I limp AQd in the SB as a trap against the new aggresive player. He raises to 15.5k and I call. The flop is Td7c4h, with one diamond. I c/c 22k. The turn is the Qc and I c/c 36k. The river is a 4, and I lead for 94.5k. He tanks for a long time and then calls and mucks. He said he had KQ. Seems reasonable.

500/3k/6k
1.3 mil - 300k
UTG opens (same villian as before) to 13.5k. I call in the SB with 76h. Flop is Ah Td 6s. Checks through. The turn is 3h. I bet 19.5k and he calls. The river is the As, and I c/f to 21k.

1.1 mil - 350k
I raise ATd UTG+1 to 13.5k. Guy behind me calls (same villian). Flop is Qc 9c 2c. I bet 14k. He calls. Turn is 6h. I bet 34.5k, and he folds.

1.2 mil - 80k
Btn opens to 16k. I 3bet ATd in SB to 40k. He calls? half his stack. Flop is 952r. I put him in and he calls with A5s. (lol wtf) He holds.

1 mil - 200k
(same villian) SB completes, I check in BB with 42o. Flop is Q62r. He bets 7k, I call. Turn is a 3. He bets 10k, I call. River is a 9. We both check, he had J6o.

1.2 mil - 350k
I raise J9c to 18k, in the SB. The BB calls. The flops is Kc 9s 4c. I bet 23.5k, the BB raises to 62k. I reraise to 150k, he shoves, I call and we're off to the races. He has K7d. brick brick, and I'm down to 900k.

1k/4k/8k
900k
Huck raises UTG+1 to 21k. I call with with 55 in the CO. Flops is 2h 3h 3d. He checks, I bet 28k. He c/res to 100k. I tank for a bit then shove for his last 80k. He calls with AQh and makes a flush.

I want to talk about this hand for a bit. I think my image was not wildly aggresive. I think I was playing my cards well, but aggresively and Huck knew that. I was also checking back a lot and pot controlling a fair amount, so I don't think he thought I would bet the flop with pure air very often. So I think if he actually had an overpair, he would just lead and give me a chance to float him. When he check/raised I was very confidant he had a flush draw (and I need to be given how small my equity is if beaten). I called, he said nice read, and got there.

New table and it's a pretty tough one. Several online high stakes cash players (like 25/50, 10/20 and 100/200 mix games) and Amnon Filippi on my left.

700k - 400k
UTG+1 raises to 21k. I call with black 55 right behind. Flop is Qc Jd 9d. We both check. Turn is a Qd. He check/calls 29k. River is the 9h. He checks and I bet 45k, he whines a bit about a queen then, calls with Ad 9s.
This hand was weird to me for several reasons. First, raising A9o UTG+1 seems pretty questionable, even if you do think you play better than other people. Second, I'm kinda suprised he almost folded the river. I guess I made the right bet size. On the turn I was valuebetting very thinly against Ace high, and bluffing against 66-88. The river is weird, because normally I wouldn't bet there (I think he calls too frequently), but he almost bet it himself, then decided to check. I thought he was going to bluff wtih something like 88 with a diamond, then changed his mind. So I decided to bet pretty smallish to try to fold a chop or Ace high if he got spooked. I didn't think he had a nine because I couldn't see what nines he could have raising in EP, then c/cing the turn. I could only think of T9s or maybe K9s, and decided to go for it.

Last hand of the level
700k - 500k
SB opens to 24,000. I call with 87c in the BB. The flop is Ad 9d 3s. He check/calls my bet of 33k. The turn is a 5s, and he tank check/calls my bet of 87k. The river is the Kd, and I pull a move out of Winston's book. When he checks, I moved in. He folds after tanking for a little bit.
I have some explaining to do.
I really don't think he can call this bet here. It seems very clear to me, he had a mediocre or weak ace. There is no reason I can't have a flush. He is an online player, which means he probably views overbets from randoms as strong. He also probably won't take weird lines to trap people and rely on them making absurd plays (like this one), so I doubt he has a set or a straight. If he had a flush draw, that would likely be a great flop to cbet, so I don't think he has that either.
All in all, seems liked a good spot for it. If I got called, I would've had around 200k at 5k/10k, which is a workable 20bb stack. For the same reason, I think he will fold. He would have to call off another 380k or so with one pair. I think he will get a bit spooked and just fold thinking he has plenty of room to manuever with 38bb next level.



1k/5k/10k
CO: 400k
BTN:210k
Me: 840k
CO opens to 23k, BTN 3bets to 64k, and I cold 4bet to 200k with 77. They both fold and BTN said he had AJ.


2k/6k/12k
1 Mil
BTN opens to 32k, I 3bet 99 to 90k, Amnon 4bet shoves for 355k. The BTN snap calls all in for 320k. It's 265k more to me and there is almost no sidepot. Math time!
I'm estimating (and this is a bit optimistic IMO), that Amnon is shoving 77+, AJ+. I think the BTN is calling with like 99+, AQ+ (again optimistic) But the BTN's snapcalling range is probably more like AK, JJ+. So... with 2.5:1 odds and a very high chance of behind, ez fold. Where's the math in poker? You just saw it.
The actual math is that I have 27% equity against the two hand ranges (and this is using the buttons wider range) which is around a 3:1 dog. Getting only 2.5:1 I should fold.

AK unimproved beats AQ unimproved. If I call I have 1.7mil. Oh well, I can't call.

900k
Very next hand
I open J9 to 30k, and Amnon puts his last 28k in the middle with 88. I lose the flip.

830k
I open KQs to 30k, Amnon shoves for 46k with 88 again. I hit a king this time and he's gone.

Day end with 874k.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

I'll see you across the felt.
Bryce