Jackpot!

I finally won two tourneys in the same night again and this time it was good for a jackpot. I won the 2 Big daily doubles on Full Tilt that start at 10:00 and 10:01 pm est. These are usually 15k guarantees and get around 250 players or so but the $30k jackpot was hit just in June after not cleared out for a while and they were only 10k guaranteeds this night with just 190 players each. They are $75 buyins btw, $60 going to the tourney pool, $9 to the jackpot, and $6 for the fees. Each win was worth $3k, and the final jackpot figures were...

mattster24 $9,351.32 Double Win
mattster24 $831.23 Double Final Table
mattster24 $249.37 Best Double Finish
mattster24 $93.51 Double Cash

so around $10.5k, pretty solid.

I went down and played some blackjack afterwards and got down to $180 and put it all out there, and got some sort of hand I needed to double on, I pulled $140 out of my wallet and doubled for less, that gave me $500 to work with, I left it all out there and doubled that. I now had $1000 which was the table max so I figured may as well table max it one time, her up card was a 6 and I squeezed(it was a doubledeck pitch game) out my cards and the first was a 3 and the second was an 8, the pit boss watched as I squeezed and he was laughing as he knew I was going to have to find some way to double this down. So Karec ran up to the room to get another $1000 so I could double down. He got back I put the $1000 out there for the double down and she gave me my double card(face down) and she turned over a ten for 16 then an 8 or something and bustoed. shew...

$10k Limit Day 2

The day started out pretty well as I picked up AK and got a 3 bet in and was called on a 234 flop and turn and checked down the river to beat AJ. My high point was 95k about 15 minutes into the day putting me probably top 5 in chips and that was as high as I would get. I was pretty card dead the entire day and when I would pick up hands they were no good. I picked up AK in the sb and Steve Sung(aggressive young Asian) raises, I 3 bet, he calls. Flop AAT, he has TT, so there goes quite a few chips. I couldn't pick up anything after that for about an hour when I picked up AQ on the button and run into AA in the sb. That took me to around 35k in chips when avg was 90 or so with 45 players left. Hoyt Corkins had just came to our table with a ton of chips and he raises utg +1, I 3 bet with TT, he 4 bets, I just call. I only had enough chips left for flop/turn/river bets basically so he bets the Qxx flop and I call, turn x he bets I call, river K, he bets, I call and he has AK of course. There was no point to me raising at any point because he was never folding, at least I don't think, I'm pretty sure he doesn't fold the turn if I raise. That left me with 3k chips which I got in with AQ vs AK. bleh

I believe that it is for me at the WSOP, played 9 events cashed 3 and barely made any money. Had my chances once again this year just like last year but once again no day 2 luck. oh well. Time to go home and play some golf and get that single digit handicap.

$10k Limit

I finally got a bunch of sleep last night since I busted early in the $1500, woke up around 2 pm Vegas time and turned on the US Open just in time to see Tiger already lost the lead. I had to leave right after he donked his second shot on the par 5 14th I think into some nasty stuff. I get over to the Rio and I'm watching it before the tourney starts but then the tourney starts and I have no tv view from where I'm sitting. There is a big tv real close but it has the tourney clock on it, but there is a hanging tv with the same thing on it so I go over to a floorman and see if he could change it to the Open, he says he wishes he could but can't since it has the clock on it and that tv is tied into the same system as the hanging tv. I go back to my seat and Bill Edler sits down across from me and he goes over to the floorman and asks the same thing and still no dice. So I'm getting up between every hand and trying to get a view of a tv that is so far away that I can't really tell what is going on. Phil Ivey then sits on my left which is not too great but sort of cool since I've never played with him and I'm sure it will be somewhat interesting. I ask him if he could get the open on for us since I know he'll be wanting to watch the Lakers/Celtics game anyway later since he has a million dollar bet on the series. He textes someone and a couple minutes later I see a Rio suit walking through the tourney area, a guy I saw doing something for Phil the other day, this guy goes to the tv and puts it on the Open, Phil looks over to me and says "you happy?" ha

Phil and Bill were doing a few prop bets on golf, like if this guy would get up and down, if the putt would make it to the hole or not, I wanted to get in on it, but couldn't find anytihng I really liked and didn't really want to take the worst of it on any bets. Doyle joined our table a bit later, Ivey won $185k off of Doyle before Ivey finally busted on flop props. 185 thousand on frickin props in a couple hours, pretty sick.

Onto the tourney I hung around 20k for a while until I picked up Aces and got into a 4 way 3 bet pot and managed to not get it to hold, that and a couple other random hands got me down to around 13k when I picked up AK twice in about 5 hands and won big pots off of Phil Ivey, the second one basically busting him. I got up to about 30k when I picked up Aces again and once again had some action preflop as it went 3 ways for 3 bets. I then managed to lose with Aces again, not the way to win limit tourneys or any tourney for that matter. I went on a terror after that though winning about every pot I was involved in including flopping a boat with 22 vs Bill Edler on a KK2 flop and flopping a double gutter plus flush draw with JTs vs Brandon Adams and getting there on the turn for a big pot. So besides those 2 aces hands I ran pretty well. I finished the day with 74k in chips which is good for top 10 with 98 left. 218 started, $500k to win. GL to me tomorrow.

WSOP $2000 Day 2

Built up early winning QQ vs AK but then lost AK all in preflop to KQ which would have put me over double average. I never got much going after that and just kept grinding away until I finally picked up AKs with 13 bigs in early position, I shoved and someone wakes up with Aces behind me, gg me. I went out 48th for $7500, my third WSOP cash, but once again nothing big. I played the $1500 today and was out early losing almost half my stack when I got Aces cracked then lost AQ to AJ all in preflop, bleh. Tomorrow I have the $10k Limit World Championship at 5 pm.

$2000 Day 1

Have $53k going into day 2, avg is 40k, 134 left, 99th pays $4700. I built up quickly today and had 13k by the first break, got most of it with a set of Tens vs top pair. I was card dead most of the day and didn't really do much til a few hours later when I sucked out with sixes all in preflop vs Joe Sebok's sevens to get me to 25k. A few hands later I picked up aces in the cutoff, I raised bb called. Flop A52, he checkraises me, I call. Turn 6 he bets, I shove he calls and has 57 of hearts which he turned a flush draw which was pretty sick but I dodged the heart river and doubled. Run good time tomorrow.

WSOP $2500 Day 2

Lost around half my stack on random stuff, money bubble bursts, 2 hands later pick up TT in the big blind... Aaronbeen raises in the cut to 5k, I shove 40k from the big blind, he calls. Flop Ace and I am out in 99th for $5700. So standard.

WSOP $2500 Day 1

Made it through day 1 with $70k in chips, average stack is $50k. 140 left, 99 pay... 1st is 666k.

Another Bubble

Got Headsup in the $5k shootout only to bust 2nd after playing 11.5 hours. Our table was the final table to finish, one table was done at 330 pm, by 7 there were only a few tables remaining of the original 36th. If I would have won I would have been guaranteed $17,000 and advanced to the final 36 tomorrow. Back to back bubbles.... not much fun at all, I've already logged 35 hours or so of live poker in 3 tourneys. It's much funner to bust out in 2 hours and have your whole day to do something. Sort of frustrated, but I'm playing pretty well I think so that's all that really matters. I'm too lazy and tired to post about any hands really, I actually did run well today besides the whole playing 11.5 hours and bubbling thing. Got the $2500 NL tomorrow, I'll be texting updates Here

Text Updates

I can now text updates to so you can follow along there, probably text at least every 2 hours or so while I play. Playing $5k shootout(sit n go) today.

WSOP $2k

1592 players, 153 paid, I busted 160th. That seems like enough to say about that.

WSOP $5k Mixed Holdem Day 2

Came into the day in pretty good shape somewhere around 25/91 with $47k. I got to my seat and immediately wasn't thrilled with Noah Boeken and David Williams on my left, Lindgren on Williams left and there was actually an open seat on my left for a while until Gavin Griffin filled it. I'm not even sure if I played a hand in the first hour, I know I didn't play a single hand in the first 30 minutes during the limit portion. I really didn't have any big hands, I maintained my stack by 3 betting in the no limit portion and can't remember dragging any decent pots in the limit portion.

The first notable hand that I remember well was when I picked up AQs in the small blind and Robert Williamson raised in the cutoff to 4500, I made it 12k to go and he tanked and finally put his 16k total in with A8s. He flops the nut flush so that was real cute, instead of being over 60k, I'm down to 30k. I think I chipped that back up a bit then lost with TT in the limit portion. I 3 bet a lp raiser, continued an all rags flop, King turned and I checked and he checked, river A, i check and call to his obv A4. That put me in bad shape, but then I finally got a suckout winning A5 to David Williams Jacks to get me back to around 40k. From then on it was a grind, I did pick up Aces and Queens in a single orbit only to get no action. I then picked up QQ in the bb a bit later and flatted Newhizzle's utg raise. Flop KTx, I checkcall, turn A, I checkfold.

When we got to the total bubble we were in the limit portion and I had 28k at the start of the bubble which was 2k/4k blinds 4k/8k limit, which put me basically in last. I think there was one stack shorter than mine and he doubled up twice while we were on the total bubble. I did get all in vs Lindgren AKo vs AKo and he flops a frickin flush draw but doesn't get there. Then all of a sudden the bubble burst and I was in the money. I busted 2 hands later shoving 18k with A6s with 1k/2k blinds, Lindgren picked up AK in the big blind. My cash was good for $10,922, which isn't horrible to start the series. Tomorrow is the $2k.

WSOP $5k Mixed Holdem Day 1

Yesterday was the Mixed holdem event which is 30 minutes limit, then 30 minutes no limit. My opening table was pretty interesting. Barry Greenstein, Amak316, unknown live regular, Devilfish Ulliot, Phil Hellmuth, Lee Markholt, Hoyt Corkins, SCTrojans, unknown foreigner. Pretty sick table. I picked up ATo in the no limit portion in mp and made it 250 to go, Devilfish is the only caller. Flop A Q Q, we both check. Turn A of clubs putting a flush draw out, I bet 500, Devilfish calls. River Jclubs, I bet 1000, Devilfish makes it 6k, I think for about a minute and call really thinking I'm only hoping not to see QQ here and maybe he is just trying a bluff. Instead he has KT of clubs for the ole Royal Flush. The neat 1 outer. That was sick, but what was even sicker is what he said afterwards, he said he called the turn and was going to raise any river as he didnt think I had an ace... bleh. That knocked me down to about 4k. I got moved from that table a bit after to a table where shockingly I only recoginzed two players and that is a female foreign team PokerStars Pro and the other was a younger kid who plays some in Indiana.


I chipped up pretty quickly at this new table, I picked up JJ in the sb with a raise and 2 callers in front at the 75/150 level and put 1500 out there and everyone snapfolded. Called a raise from the sb wiht AJs flopped flush draw got there on turn but didn't get that much out of it. In the limit portion I had been playing very aggressive and it continued when I raised a limper with JTo and got paid on all 3 streets on a T high board which put me back to 10k and in pretty good shape. My only real big hand of the day came up next in the no limit portion. I raised KTs in mp and was called by the player to my left and the bb. The flop came T84 with 2 hearts and I bet about half the pot and was called by both. The turn was another Ten and I bet 60% of the pot and the bb checkraised and I moved in and he tanked and called with JT and I held for a 25k pot. I was moved shortly thereafter.

My new table would appear to be a bit tougher as I had Nenad Medic and David Williams on my left since both are so aggressive. I really didn't play that many interesting hands at this new table as I chipped up pretty much only in the limit portion with constant 3 bets which usually didn't get to showdown. I went from 20k-40k in one 30 minute portion. Antonio Esfindari was on my right and he didn't play very well, at least in the limit portion to which he admitted he didn't really know what he was doing, it seems most of the players don't really know how to correctly play limit, which is why I am definately playing the $10k limit event coming up. I stayed around 35-40k for 2.5 hours or so until the last 15 minutes of the night when I picked up QQ on the button. David Williams raised utg to 1800, young kid makes it 4800, and I make it 16k to go and they both fold. The younge kid said he had TT. The very next hand 2 limpers limped in and I limped with T9s. Flop 766, checked around, turn K checked around, river 8, checked to me I bet 2k and get 2 callers and that was the last hand of the night ending me with 47,000 putting me in 25th with 91 players left. 36 pay which is like $10k and first is almost $400k.

Play starts here in a couple hours, updates can be found at http://www.pokernews.com. Also in a few days I am going to start using
Final Table Sweat which will allow me to text updates to that page as I play. Currently it is only set up to post online and to post from a browser on your phone which my ancient phone isn't capable of doing but supposebly I will be able to normal text in the next couple of days.