2014 SUMMER POKER SERIES -- PART II and III (BINIONS AND PLANET HOLLYWOOD)

I know I was supposed to describe my Binions and Planet Hollywood tournaments but I'm sitting in front of my word processor and can't remember a damn thing about either tournament! It's probably because old age is creeping on me or the fact these tournaments were long ago, that I don't remember of the key hands. I know the hands I played, how I played them, and what happened, but I get lose on key information like chip stacks, blind levels, what I bet. In the future, I need to utilize my "NOTEPAD feature on my Iphone:

And start writing notes on the hands I played cause I know I'm going to forget!! 

Geez!!! All I know it I had a ton of chips in the Binions tournament, but lost a ton of chips in the blind vs blind confrontation again with J7 clubs with 4 tables left then busted with JJ vs AA vs KK! I know I played very well the entire time, and made a questionable play with J7 when I flopped a pair and flush draw...probably overplayed it..

As for the Planet Hollywood tournament, I mid-cashed but it took me 10 hours the get it. I love the chips and blind structure but it was pay so TOP heavy that by the end, I had an empty feeling...like it wasn't worth my time. I'll definitely the Planet Hollywood PHamous series again, but I'm going to be more willing to play to win rather than midcash. One of the reasons, I played so cautiously was because my wife played as well but didn't cash, I was more worried about getting my money back rather than playing to win. Also the fact my wife was sitting behind pressuring me to cash, I didn't play optimal poker, especially during bubble time. I'm happy I cashed (and get my name in the poker listings) but I'm not happy of the way I cashed. 

In the future, whenever I play a cash game or tournament, especially when I know I'm going to blog about it, I'm going to write down every hand, every detail, and every move as soon as the hand is over. So when I'm ready to start blogging, I'll know exactly what I'm going to say.  

UPDATING MY BLOG!!!! NOW!!!

Been telling myself to update my blog, update my blog, update blog. Met a couple of bloggers at a Luxor on Thursday, and it made me realize, I need to continue this. Well today, I'll do just that. I'm not going to talk about one specific topic, I'll let my fingers to the walking and let the words flow...

I've been increasing my cash game poker play the past few months and other than a blimp at Harrahs about a month ago, I've done very well. I don't play as much as I would like mainly because of my family obligation and that fact that I work in a casino for 8 hrs, and I don't feel like spending my free time in a casino. Lately though, I've been consciously trying to play more. Rust is definitely a factor in my early sessions, but the past 3 of 4 sessions, I've found my groove and a comfort zone similar to the one I had when I was playing a lot a few years ago. More importantly, I've been self-analyzing a lot of the hands I've been playing seeing if I could have played them better, both winning and losing hands alike.

My tournament play has been very scarce which is completely by design. I hate playing long sessions but tournament poker you have to dedicate a lot of your time and concentration to thrive in them. I actually playedthe FIRST EVENT of the Binions Open (Where I sat next @Robvegaspoker for most of the day) and chopped up the final table for 2K,  but it came at a price...The tournament started on Saturday 2PM and we completed the deal at 6AM...Too top it off, I had to work at 11AM!! Needless to say, I was a complete zombie and it took me 2 days to completely recover physically. Poker tournaments are taxing, tough, and rough on the body/mind. Although it's the probably the most lucrative time to play tournament poker (WSOP time!!!), I'll probably only play 1 or 2 more tournament this summer.

Another aspect of my life which I've been giving a lot of my concentration as been betting Major League Baseball. I've been fascinated by the game cause it's the only sports where you can beat the game cause you can isolate certain statistics to correctly predict the outcomes of the game...The term is called sabremetrics, and I've been a student of this statistically science since the end of last year. This year, I've had some incredible winnings streaks and some tough losing streaks, but overall I am ahead. But with each passing game, I'm learning what statistics are more important than others -- (EXAMPLE, RBIs and ERA are not true measures of a baseball player.)

Well, that's a start...Once again, just wanted to get this blog updated and maybe it'll give me momentum to write and write and write...

RANDOM POKER THOUGHTS

The week that was....

Poker is funny game. One day, you're on top of the world. The next day your scrapping the bottom of the barrel.

This is what I felt like last week.

Had a late-night session at the Aliante Casino $1-$2 game and ran so bad and disgusting it was beyond words. I lost two buy ins basically on two hands SET OVER SET both times!!! If you've played enough poker you know the worst feeling in the world is being on the negative end of a set of set. I don't think I played either hand wrong, it's just so disgusting that it happened to me twice in one night and for my entire stack twice!! Oh well..

The next day I decided to play $4-$8 Limit at Orleans

I got a great set of cards!! AA, KK, QQ JJ, 10'S!! One a few occasions I got them two of three times, but after 2 hrs, I lost my entire buy in of $140!! Of all those premium hands I think I only won 2 of them!! And to put salt in the wound..I had this old fart, slow roll me for a big pot, which really pissed me off. I had it out with this guy! I was very angry, almost to the point where I wanted to fight, but what would that solve? All I know is the Orleans crew is a group of the most misarable people I've ever been around. It reminded me of my trip to The Bicycle Club in Los Angeles a few years ago, where almost every hand, people were yelling at each other, the dealers, the floors, the chip runners, the porters, anyone who would go in their way. I really don't like playing at the Orleans, but the games especially the limit games are extremely juicy, so I tolerate, but that day, I couldn't get anything going with none of my hands holding up...Again..oh well...

The day after that, I decided to play the Binions 2PM Deepstack, and despite being card dead, I managed to make a mid-cash. I played extremely well throughout the tournament, making minimal mistakes (Although I made a horrible all-in call with J8 suited). One of the highlights of the day was meeting Rob of http://robvegaspoker.blogspot.com/  He has one of the most entertaining poker blogs in the blog-sphere, feel free to read it, you'll definitely enjoy it.

Now it's time to brag...Probably the best hand I played in a long time. It also cemented the fact that despite my bad run of poker lately, I still believe I'm a good poker player:

Forgot what the blinds were, but player opened limp from middle position out of a 40kish stack and it's folded to me in the BB and I tap the table holding 10-4 offsuit. I have around 74K...The flop comes 5 5 4 with two hearts...With one player who just limps, I wanted to see where I was so I lead for 2K...He calls. The assigned him a range of small pairs and suited connectors...The Turn is a Q diamonds...I didn't think this card fit my opponents range, so I decided to bet again..this time 5K...He calls again...At this point, I eliminate pairs from his range and sqaurely on a draw heart flush or straight draw...The River is a A of hearts, completing the flush..I check...My opponent quickly shoots out 12K. This was a little bit over a pot-sized bet....I thought about a flush, but I just didn't believe my opponent would continue with a flush draw especially with the paired board. From the hands I've seen him played, he seemed like a solid player who wouldn't chase too much, but then again...what possible holdings could I possibly beat...7 6 was the only hand I could beat giving the betting action. I really didn't believe he had an ace cause he just didn't make sense that he's calling the entire was with an Ace in his hand unless he had some hand like A2 and got lucky, but then again it was possible to have that hand....I decided 7-6 was his holding..I took a deep breath, cutout 12K from my stack and relunctly shoved it towards the pot.

"Nice Call" he said, as he turns over 7 6!! My 4 wins a pretty good-sized pot.

After the tournament, My confidence in my poker ability was sky-high...sometimes I can't let the awful results of my cash games affect my thinking on a poker level.  I know I'm a good player...just got to continue chugging along and believe in myself...yeah, from time to time, you'll have doubts but if you believe in your ability the results will come.


This Friday, I'll be playing the first event of the BINIONS CLASSIC...the $110 Employee Event, I'm looking to play well and run well...wish me luck!!