Mixing it up

as you could probably tell from my previous post, i'm playing more tournaments.

tournament poker is the work of the devil

it's the anti-christ of poker and a real test of patience and perseverance. i've decided to try playing more than my usual these past few days and results have been shit so far.

cash games were becoming a bore. i've also been playing alot of sng's over the past few weeks, doing well there at least.

the "Beginner" sng's running on Bodog are def worth looking into (half the field is paid). they've got to be the easiest way for an avg player to consistently profit at poker with minimal risk. there are lots of regs. but, even the regs are pretty bad when it's bubble time.

the next few weeks, i'm gonna try to play more tournaments during the day. in the past, i stayed away because alot of ballers are playing the daily guarantees. but, there's still enough drunken euro-donk sOOted monkey money to make it worth while.

Poker is like that hot chick you hate to keep comin’ back to

She teases you, manipulates you and toys with you. But, you can’t stay away. Some nights she takes care of you and makes you feel like you’re her king. Other nights she smacks you in the face with hate and disgust.

You just never know what to expect.

You want to slap her back but, she’s in control … always. You’re at her mercy hoping for another night of being on top, because when you are nothing else matters.

But that bitch just doesn’t give in that easy.

…and that’s exactly why we keep comin’ back.

Net vs Vet HU on Poker After Dark

Brian "sbrugby" Townsend went HU with Doyle Brunson for 120k on NBC's Poker After Dark Friday night. Doyle took a 2-1 chip lead into heads up play.

I won't spoil the outcome except to say the HU battle was a good one. The "Director's Cut" of this week's PAD airs tonight at 2am.

Bodog's 250k Guaranteed coming soon..

a HUGE overlay is anticipated. there are a bunch of ways to satellite in on the cheap.

NBA bad boy shoves a girl

ex-Pistons star Rick Mahorn shoves Lisa Leslie to the floor.

way to go tough guy.

Poker After Dark - "Nets vs Vets"

this week's NBC / PAD features three well known online pros vs. three accomplished veterans and by accomplished veterans, i mean poker legends.

Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Andrew "good2cu" Robl sat down with Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed and Johnny Chan. After last night's show, "durrr" finished the night with the chip lead and "good2cu" was on the bottom end but still has plenty of chips. Everyone else's stack is bunched up in the middle. The "vets" are playing pretty tight so far.

(warning: hand spoilers ahead)

Dwan won a big pot from Robl after flopping bottom set against Robl's TPGK (KQs) Robl had difficulty laying it down calling a big bet on the turn but, finally folded to Dwan's shove on the river leaving himself with 10k in chips. Chan got a bit restless during the hand because Robl was taking a long time to make his decisions. Robl picked up AA the very next hand and won some chips back.

Dwan is in the zone as expected. he picked up TT vs. Johnny Chan's JJ and they both limped pf with Dwan having position throughout the hand. but, Dwan lost the minimum on a low board.

Dwan is not unbeatable tho, Doyle beat Dwan in Roshambo.

They're all still alive with plenty of play left.

ESPN kicks off their 2008 WSOP coverage tonight.

worst case scenario

Blinders takes it down. i'm sure he'll have a brag post up later today.

he came into the final table somewhat short-stacked sitting on my left and i couldn't win a race against him. I ran AJo into his AA then his KQo outdrew my ATo in a battle of the blinds (aipf). previously, he called my jam after it was folded to me (blind shove) with K3o. My J7o couldn't catch up. Finally, i went out 4th in another aipf blind vs. blind confrontation against a player on my right. My A6o didn't hold against K8o and he picked up the Chargers tix. At least Blinders didn't get those.

But i did take out 5 players including my nemesis who always seemed to have my number in these.

Poison did a very good post on the event. Congrats to Blinders and big thanks to everyone who stopped by.

OCPT comin' to $mokkee's

This Saturday we're hosting an OCPT (OC Poker Tour) Special Event, a live $20 re-buy NLHE tournament.

The last time we hosted a live tournament we set a record for the biggest OCPT prize pool ever, which still stands.

We had 26 players and a $2000 prize pool, 1st place paid over $800. This is what happens when you bring in a keg and have the little woman flex her muscles in the kitchen busting out a bunch of kick ass poker grub.

We're doing the same thing this time around and i'm also putting a bounty on my head.

Whoever busts me out of Saturday's tournament after the re-buy period gets two (2) Chargers tickets vs the Seattle Seahawks Monday, August 25th @ 5pm PST. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN. These are our season seats which are located on the field level at the 35 yd line on the visitor's side of the stadium.

Hopefully, this will work out as well as the last time i had a bounty on myself.

666 - metal music may drive you to do bad things

kickass post from a low stakes grinder in vegas.

toss all your metal cds into a trashcan fire asap!

it only took 15 grueling hours

to set the 2008 WSOP Main Event final table scheduled for November 9th.

final chip counts via PokerNews
26,295,000 Dennis Phillips St. Louis, MO
24,400,000 Ivan Demidov Moscow, Russia
19,690,000 Scott Montgomery Ontario, Canada
18,375,000 Peter Eastgate Odense, Denmark
12,525, 000 Ylon Schwartz, Brooklyn, NY
12,520,000 Darus Suharto Ontario, Canada
10,230,000 David "Chino" Rheem Los Angeles, CA
10,210,000 Craig Marquis Arlington, TX
2,620,000 Kelly Kim Whittier, CA

Brandon Cantu called a shove with 10-5o after a raise and reraise pf.

Posted by Change100 on PokerNews
Dean Hamrick Doubles Through Brandon Cantu
Kelly Kim opened for 275,000, Brandon Cantu reraised to 950,000, and Dean Hamrick moved all in. The crowd let out an "Ooooooooooh!" and got on their feet as the action came back to Kim. Kim let his hand go and it was Cantu's turn to tank. Cantu thought for well over five minutes (Tim Loecke getting knocked out in the meantime) before saying "I call."

Cantu 10s-5c
Hamrick Ah-Ac

There was mass disbelief and gasps from the crowd as Cantu rolled over his hand. The flop was 8s-7c-5h and Cantu flopped a pair of fives. The turn was the 8d, a bad card for Cantu as Hamrick made aces up. Cantu paced in back of the table looking resigned to his fate as his entourage called for a five. The river 10d, though was the and Cantu made two pair, but it was no matter-- Hamrick's aces and eights were best and he raked in the massive pot. Cantu was down to 2.4 million after the hand while Hamrick was up to 5.5 million. Cantu is now the tournament's shortest stack.

a few hands later he lost a coin flip and went out 20th cashing $257k

posted by Change100 on PokerNews
Brandon Cantu Eliminated in 20th Place ($257,334)
Peter Eastgate raised to 300,000, Brandon Cantu moved all in from the button for 2.3 million and Eastgate called.

Cantu 9h-9d
Eastgate Ad-Qs

The flop was 8d-6d-3d. Cantu's nines still led, but Eastgate picked up the nut flush draw. The turn was the 8h, but the river was the 4d. Eastgate made his flush and Cantu was eliminated in 20th place, collecting $257,334. After the hand, Eastgate was back up over 9 million.

The Cinderella story of this year's WSOP, Tiffany Michelle ran into a monster with JackAce to finish 17th for $334k

posted by Change100 on PokerNews
Tiffany Michelle Eliminated in 17th Place ($334,534)
Dennis Phillips raised to 500,000 from UTG, Peter Eastgate called and Tiffany Michelle called from the big blind. The flop was Ad-10h-9c. Michelle checked, Phillips bet 1,000,000, Eastgate called and Michelle sat, propped up on her knees for about a minute before annoucing, "All in." She had about 3.8 million behind. Phillips folded and Eastgate called.

Eastgate As-Ah
Michelle Ac-Jd

Tiffany Michelle needed serious help. Her top pair needed running straight cards to beat Eastgate's set of aces. The turn was the 5h and Michelle was drawing dead. The river was the 6d and Tiffany Michelle's Main Event run came to an end. She exited the stage in 17th place to a standing ovation.

With those two players going down, we're left with a field of unknown's to compete for the biggest accolade in poker November 9th.

Tiffany Michelle has almost 10m in chips with 27 left

Chip counts after Day 6 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Who isn’t rooting for her at this point?

She’s gonna have at least a few ex-boyfriends digging up her number.



Phil Hellmuth probably hates AQ a lot more than I do. For the 4th straight year, it’s been his demise in the WSOP Main Event. He went out 45th this year losing a coin flip vs. Andrew Rosskamm’s J-J. Rosskamm went out later in 37th with As-Js vs Ah-Qh on a Jh-10h-9h flop. TPTK no good against the shizznuts.

Matusow got knocked out 30th after flopping trip Aces with “JackAce” but, his opponent caught up on the turn with A9sOOted. They both checked the flop and it all went in on the turn. That might leave a mark.

Now that Hellmuth and Matusow are out, ESPN must be sweating balls hoping to see Tiffany Michelle and Brandon Cantu at the final table in November.

Nicolay Losev came into Sunday 2nd in chips with over 4m. He ended up dusting off all his chips defending his blind with sOOted garb twice (both times holding a 3) to finish the night in 28th for $193k.

Posted by MeanGene on PokerNews
Nicholas Sliwinski Doubles Through Nikolay Losev
The action was folded around to Nicholas Sliwinski in the small blind and he raised to 240,000. Nicolay Losev moved all in for 3.25 million and Sliwinski said, "If I'm going home, I'm going home." He called, and found that his As-10h was indeed ahead of Losev's Qc-3c. The flop came 7h-9h-5c and the turn the Kh. "Don't do me dirty," Sliwinski said to the dealer, and on the river the 7s fell and Sliwinski's hand held up. He now sits with 3.45 million while Losev is down to 1.66 million.

Postedby MeanGene on PokerNews
Nikolay Losev Eliminated in 28th Place ($193,000)
Nicholas Sliwinski and Nikolay Losev have been sparring all night long and their final confrontation is our final hand of the night. Again the action was folded around to Sliwinski in the small blind, and this time he chose to simply call. Losev was having none of that--he raised to 775,000. Sliwinski then moved all in, meaning Losev had to decide whether to call for his last 700,000.After tanking a bit Losev made the call, and his 3h-8h were up against Sliwinski's Ac-5h. Losev had two live cards but the board ran out 10s-4d-10c-9h-4s and Nikolay Losev was our last elimination of the night, finishing in 28th place. When play resumes tomorrow Sliwinski will have a 4.9 million stack waiting for him.

sOOted crap no goot

9 players are gonna walk away with 900k on Monday and come back to play for 9m on November 9th.

action resumes at noon PST Monday.

how to go from 1.5m (60+bbs) to zero in the 2008 WSOP

$9m coin flip (at best)

Posted by MeanGene on PokerNews
Mark Vos - Eliminated

Mark Vos Busts on the Last Hand of the Night
Dennis Phillips raised to 65,000 from middle position and Mark Vos reraised to 180,000 on the button. Phillips then made it 400,000 to go and Vos came over the top all in for 1.5 million. Phillips called and showed As-Ad to Vos' Ah-Ks. He had Mark covered by around 300,000 so this hand was for Vos' tournament life, and when the board ran out Qd-9h-3d-10s-2s Vos was eliminated just as Day 5 came to an end. When Day 6 begins tomorrow, Dennis Phillips will be sitting with a 3.4 million stack.

thanks for playin'

they end the night with 79 players after level 23 (12000/24000/3000) and play down to 27 on Sunday.

189 survive Day 4 of the 2008 Main Event

...and there's not a single Bodog player left in the mix of the 189 remaining.

If that's not a wake up call to the decision makers behind Bodog's poker room they need better WSOP Qualifiers next year, i don't know what is.

subtle hints: the 5 seat WSOP Main Event guarantee was cute but a midget compared to PokerStars 200 and Full Tilt's 150 seat behemouths. the 5 seat guarantee seemed like an afterthought. it wasn't announced until weeks before the start of the Main Event. 1k WSOP Qualifiers are sorely needed as well as weekly Qualifier with a $500-$600 buy-in. Satellites to all should be running 24/7.

the good news is Bodog has announced a 250k Guarantee ($250+20 buy-in) scheduled to run 4pm ET Sunday August 10th. A monster overlay is anticipated. A minimum of $55k will be awarded to the winner.

on to Day 5 of the 2008 Main Event

well-known players left: Shawn Sheikan, Brandan Cantu, Mark Vos, Gus Hansen, Victor Ramdin, Allan Cunningham are among the chip leaders. Matt Matros, Tiffany Michelle, Jeff Madsen, Phil Helmuth, Mike Matusow, Chip Jett, Kido Pham, Hoyt Corkins, Kara Scott, Ben Roberts and Jon Friedberg.

who got the boot in Day 4: Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Evelyn Ng, Hevad Khan, Dag Mikkelsen, Alan Jaffray, Thayer "Thay3r" Rasmussen, Hasan Habib, Johnny Chan, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, Jason Lester, Adam Schoenfeld, Tim West, John-Robert Bellande, Robert Mizrachi and everyone's favorite vertically challenged poker blogger Iggy.

Chip Leaders as reported by PokerNews heading into Day 5:

2,187,000 Jeremy Joseph - Buffalo, NY
2,110,000 Nikolay Losev - Moscow, Russia
2,065,000 Cristian Dragomir - Bucharest, Romania
1,981,000 Brandon Cantu - Las Vegas, NV
1,958,000 Davor Lanini - Parma, Italy
1,851,000 David Rheem - Los Angeles, CA
1,764,000 Andrew Rosskamm - Cleveland, OH
1,761,000 James McManus - Dublin, Ireland
1,695,000 Geoffrey Herzog - Jacksonville Beach, FL
1,688,000 Albert Kim - Staten Island, NY

this is the structure scheduled for day 5:
Round Blinds Ante
(19) 5000 / 10000 1000 Duration: 39 min.
(20) 6000 / 12000 2000 Duration: 120 min.
(21) 8000 / 16000 2000 Duration: 120 min.
(22) 10000 / 20000 3000 Duration: 120 min.
(23) 12000 / 24000 3000 Duration: 120 min.
(24) 15000 / 30000 4000 Duration: 120 min.

Follow today's action starting at noon PST here and here.

gg Iggy!

Posted by TassieDevil on PokerNews

Iggy has been eliminated holding Ac-Js up against the 9h-9s of Jeremiah Smith. the board bricked out 7c-2s-2d-10c-8s to end the day early for Iggy.

Iggy managed to dodge and weave thru over 6000 other players to make it this far cashing $28,950. Well done!

Bonus code "IGGY"

Iggy cashes in the 2008 WSOP Main Event and lives to fight another day.

Posted by donpeters on pokernews

Celebrating the Money
All the players at table #7 in the orange section just ordered shots of tequila for the entire table. When they arrived, the players toasted to making the money and then downed their shots.Let the chips fly!

This hand was reported earlier

Capital Punishment

Posted by compncards on pokernews

Blanda Punished
Preflop, Steve Pestal raised to 5,000 and Bill Blanda reraised to 20,000. Pestal then came over the top all in for 102,100 and Blanda insta-called. The dealer announced, "all in and call, table 36." ESPN camera and even Lon McCarren came over to watch the hand unfold.

Blanda: As-Ah
Pestal: Ac-Qh

The flop came Js-Td-3h and Blanda was out of his seat and pacing hoping that his aces would hold. The pacing continued and Blanda started calling out for his aces to hold.

The Kh hit the river almost as if the hand was scripted, giving Pestal the gutshot straight and cracking Blanda's aces.

Blanda loudly said, "God. They ought to make convicts play this game for Punishment."A floorman then came over and gave Blanda a warning for his outburst.After the hand, Blanda is down to 150,000 and Pestal moved up to 205,000 in chips.

Fortunately, Bill Blanda still finished the day ITM.

who was sweating the turn / river more

the dealer maybe? WSOP Main Event Day 2b

reported by PokerNews

Barisch Gets a Break, But Still Can't Capitalize

Carl Restifo raised first-in, making it 2,500 to go. Action passed to Martin Barisch, and he moved all in for about 17,000. Restifo made the call, but the dealer apparently mistook the action, thinking the hand had finished. She grabbed the already-mucked cards from the rest of the table and added them to the deck in her hands. The floor was called over, and the remaining deck had to be reshuffled before the board could be dealt out. While this was happening, the players who still had cards showed them down:

Restifo: Kc-Ks
Barisch: Ah-Qc

Interestingly, three players said that they folded an ace before the dealer moved them from the muck back in to the active deck. Barisch was at risk of elimination, and his best hope was to catch one of those second-chance aces.

No such luck for him though. The dealer spread the community cards:
9c-6h-4c-7d-3c, and Barisch headed for the door.

Iggy made it to Day 3. Unfortunately, Loretta8 is out.

Jackson 5 no good

2008 WSOP Main Event day 2a

Posted by MarcC from PokerNews

Easy Game Sometimes
The flop is already out and reads as 2s-4c-4h. Mark Vos is heads up and bets 10,000 into his opponent who reraises all in. Vos makes the call with Ad-Ac and his opponent shows

Jd-5c!!

The turn comes 10c and river Jc to give Vos the pot and his opponent walks off with his tail between his legs.Vos up to 186,000 now.

The ol' re-steal gone wrong. Good read kid, good read.

Day 2a Chip Counts courtesy of PokerNews

Ray Romano is bustoooo

Ray Romano takes his $61k in chips to Day 2 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event

"I feel like this is a dream - and I apologize for how I dressed some of you".
-Ray Romano

1251 players suit up for Day 2a with Brandon Adams and Robert Mizrachi among the chip leaders.

Derrick Cobb from St. George, Utah starts the day with $1,150 in chips.

prop bets on whether Derrick makes it thru the 1st orbit?

Philip Hilm who Scotty Nguyen gifted his chips to in 2007 and final tabled last year's Main Event doesn't have a whole lot more to push around. Philip is starting the day with $7,125. Philip came into the 2007 WSOP Main Event final table with the chip lead but, donked his entire stack off to Jerry Yang with an 8-high flush draw on a Kd-Jd-5c flop. Jerry had AKo.

TPTK is *gold*

Big names playing Day 2a include Scotty Nguyen, Robert Varkonyi, Lee Markholt, Paul Wasicka, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Kathy Liebert, Patrik Antonius, Perry Friedman, "Captain" Tom Franklin, Alex Kravchenko, Todd Arnold, Vince Van Patten, Vanessa Rousso, Erik Seidel, Hoyt Corkins, Hasan Habib, Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken, Chau "I luv pokah" Giang, Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Erick Lindgren and Mark Vos.

You can follow the action here.

2461 play WSOP Main Event Day 1d / 1386 survive

those are preliminary numbers for Day 1d reported out of PokerNews.com

Harrah's reported the official total # of players in this year's WSOP to be 6844. 400 more than players than last year. Making it the 2nd largest field ever. At least there wasn't another steep decline like last year. Things seemed to have flattened out at the WSOP Main Event.

Day 1d had twice as many players as Day 1b (1158)

Notable bustouts from Day 1d include Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Andy Bloch, Tom Schneider, Robert Williamson III, Annie Duke, Jen Tilly, Chris Ferguson, John Phan, Dario Minieri, Todd Brunson, Michael Mizrachi, Cindy Violette, Layne Flack and Eugene Todd-Tran Bro.

David Oppenhiem, Victor Ramdin, Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen are among the chip leaders of Day 1d. Chip counts reported by PokerNews here.

Between the Lakers loss in the NBA Finals (rigged btw) and not winning a bracelet during this yr's WSOP, i wonder how much Ivey lost this summer.

Somehow, Phil Helmuth didn't get knocked out on day 1 this year with AQ. I'm sure i'm not the only one getting tired of Helmuth's Main Event entrance's. Seriously.

Apparently, Phil Laak dressed in disquise and made it to Day 2. This would be the equivalent of playing under a "disquised" online screen name. He must've really tortured himself being unable to perform his usual antics thoughout the entire day. He finished with slightly less than his starting stack of 20k.

All he needs to do now is setup a fake blog, bash the WSOP, Harrahs and everyone else who played a hand against him for the next six months, anonymously of course.

2008 WSOP Day 1c over and done with / 8-To is worth 26bb's?

Notable eliminations:
Lucko21, LJ, Huck Seed, Mike Sexton, Michale Gracz, Gavin Griffin, David Chiu, Justin Bonomo, Tony G, David Plastik and Marcel Luske.

David Singer, Brad Booth and Evelyn Ng are among the chip leaders. Iggy is still alive. He made it to Day 2. Loretta8 also had a good day. He ran his stack up to over 35k. GLGLGL in Day 2!

Chip counts as reported from PokerNews can be found here.

I haven't read thru all the hands reported on PokerNews but, this one stood out.

Posted by change100

#$%&! @&$%! *&%@!!!

The button and the small blind limped in, Dag Palovic raised to 2,600 from the big blind and only the button called. The flop was 7h-6h-5h. Palovic checked, the button bet 2,200 and Palovic called. The turn was the 9d. Palovic checked again, the button fired out another 4,000 and Palovic called. The river was the Qh and both players checked. The button showed 8s-Th (WTF ?!??) for the flush and Palovic mucked, cursing in a foreign tongue as he counted out the 5,450 that remained in is stack.

This guy limp/calls a 26x pf raise from the button with 8-Tx (blinds were 50/100). But, the absolute best part is the pf raiser can't fold when the possible straight draw hits the turn. Not only that, he has no heart with 3 hearts on the flop. So awesome.

AKo gone wrong??

btw, i didn't cash in my live tourney at Ocean's 11 yesterday. I never really got much going.

2008 WSOP Main Event Day 1b in the books, notable bustouts

Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Ted Forrest, Tom McEvoy, Tuan Le, Andy Black, Kenny Tran, Dewey Tomko, Jamie Gold, Humberto Brenes and Kenna James to name a few have all found their way to the rail in Day 1B of the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Here are the final chip counts for Day 1B. 1158 players started the day. Almost a 150 players less than Day 1A.

Going thru all the hands reported on Pokernews.com, i saw mostly overpairs running into bigger overpairs and sets running into bigger sets. there was the occasional flushfish missing and some bluffs were picked off but, nothing like yesterday's Quad Aces going down to a Royal Flush.

Patrik Antonius rode one of the biggest stacks throughout the day but, took a big hit on one of the last hands with J-6sOOted vs A-Jo. JackAce was goot!

Lucko, LJ and Loretta8 play for millions tomorrow in the WSOP Main Event while i play for thousands at Ocean's 11 20k guarantee ($225 buy-in).

Who needs all that media attn anyway :P

You can follow their progress at PokerNews.com

JJ is worth 200bbs? / Quad Aces should be good right?

Official chip counts from Day 1a (as reported by PokerNews)

Final overnight tallies from the WSOP show that 636 players (of 1297) survived
Day 1a action in the Main Event. Complete chip counts for all but a handful of non-reporting
players have now been posted.

The overnight Day 1a leader is Mark Garner
at 194,900 in chips.

The official top ten players are:
Mark Garner
194,900
Brandon Adams 176,450
Kellen Hunter 155,200
Stefan Mattsson
154,275
Patrick Fortin 145,275
Jeff Frerichs 138,025
Soren Peterson
135,475
Adam Hudson 127,750
Wayne Brown 124,575
Todd Rebello 123,925

There were plenty of coolers and bad beats to go around but, these two hands stood out.

How do you get all your chips in with J-J 20 minutes into the Main Event? Apparently, this guy couldn't fold J-J for his entire stack.

Posted by loganmark

That Was Quick
Less than 20 minutes into the first level and we've already had an elimination. The name of the busted player is currently unknown, despite tournament director Jack Effel's best attempts to track him or her down.He or she didn't leave without a story however. The player in question got their money in good holding A-A against the J-J of Rocco Lazazzaro on a flop of 6x-6x-2x. It was looking good through the turn, but Lazazzaro spiked a J on the river for the win. The busted player quickly vacated the tournament area and while Lazazzaro stacked his chips, which now total approximately 42,000. We originally reported that the chips went in before the flop on this hand, but that information was from a player at the table and has since been deemed inaccurate. The table consensus is that the all-in play occurred post-flop.

Surprisingly (or not), Lazazzaro didn't make it through day 1a.

...and this poor guy got frostbitten. sick

Posted by shorton

Moto-Rolled Quad Aces are Good, Right? ... RIGHT?
Motoyuki "Moto" Mabuchi raises to 850 in middle position and the button calls.The flop is Ax-Qd-9x and both check. The turn is Td and Moto bets 1,600. The button calls. The river is Ad and Moto bets 2,500. The button raises to 8,500 and Moto reraises all in.The button calls. Moto shows A-A for quad aces, but the button has Kd-Jd (the SuperDonkey!) for the Royal Flush. Moto is eliminated in stunning fashion.

Honestly, i think today would've been the best day to start the main event since it's a holiday. Many well known pros played yesterday and A lot of veterans would probably choose to spend time with friends and family instead. Day 1b would've been my absolute 1st choice.

the fish fry continues today

So it begins....

the most anticipated day in tournament poker is finally here, the 2008 WSOP Main Event kicks off today.

"I raise.....One Million"

those words were heard over and over as last year's winner steamrolled the Final Table to take down the bracelet and over 8 million bucks.



An unknown So Cal amateur who won a $225 live satellite at Pechanga Casino, Jerry Yang came into the 2007 WSOP Main Event final table sitting 8th in chips and finished the day with a mountain of chips and bundles of cash.

Jerry turned that $225 satellite win into one of the most coveted prizes in tournament poker.

Best of luck to everyone who's at the big dance this year. I'll be following all the action with envy.

"I'm so glad you're back to playing cash games"

I guess my tournament frustrations were visibly apparent last month.

It's a new month and i'm back to the nightly cash game grind. I don't play much during the day cuz the tables are usually full of nit/regs. I hold out until the donkeys with disposable incomes get home and put the kids to bed.

no offense meant toward my readers who may have spawned future poker bloggers. i'm just sayin'.

There's a real good chance i'll be playing in a live tournament this weekend at my old donkey punching stomping ground. They're running three $225 buy-in tournaments with $20k guaranteed.

I haven't played there in at least a year. When i was playing cash games at Caesar's a couple weeks ago, one of the dealers asked if i was from the SD area. Apparently, he recognized me from playing at Ocean's 11. He was a weekend warrior there at the time.

Small world

ps- i'm setting up another site dedicated to the best NFL team to never win a super bowl. they're kinda like the JC Tran, Erik Lindgren or David Benyamine of the NFL, overdue.