So i haven't updated this stupid thing in forever. Basically because I've been playing and running like shit lately. I went to Caesars for the WSOP Circuit a couple months ago and have never run worse in my life. I cashed in one tournament for barely my money back and every other tourney I played I got bad beat out of (no exceptions.) The cash games didn't treat me much better, and I don't want to go into details because it's depressing and it's over now. I went to TurningStone a couple weeks ago and did alright, but again, running back near the end of tournaments prohibited me from making any good scores. I cashed in a bounty tourney but only knocked out 2 players, and lost a huge race with 2 tables left that crippled me, and I couldn't recover. Then I got it all in against the chip leader in a different tournament with 12 players left, my AQ v. his AJ. If I won I would have been top 3 with 12 left, instead he spiked and I hit the rail with only $1000 in winnings... winner got 23k. I ended that trip basically even (i think with the room, gas, food, gambling combined I lost about $250) but the AC trip earlier seriously hurt my bankroll.
This brings us to now. I haven't had the scratch for much big playing lately so i've been a bum. I intend to go to Foxwoods a lot more this summer for the daily tourneys, and I also have a job dealing poker at the dog track in Seabrook NH. That will be fun, and will definitely help to supplement my income. Should be a good summer, and hopefully I make a couple scores this summer and can continue to play more moving forward.
-Roddy
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Off to Atlantic City
I'm leaving in a couple hours for Atlantic City for the WSOP Circuit events at Caesars Palace. Will be staying from March 5-15 and playing in most of the events, hopefully winning my way into the Main Event. I probably won't be able to blog while I'm down there, but I should have some good stories when I get back, and hopefully I'll be able to take the next step towards my overall goal after this trip. So yea, I'll be back in ~2 weeks.
-Roddy
-Roddy
Monday, February 18, 2008
Update
Just updating because I haven't posted in a while and I'm bored. There hasn't been much to talk about. I've been getting my ass kicked recently. So bad it's sick. I try not to buy into that I run worse than anyone else, and I know it's just variance, blah blah blah.. but lately it's been so ridiculously bad it's starting to get to me. Every tournament I either get coolered, or sucked out on early, or I lose a huge race in the middle of the tourney. It's really starting to grind on me because it's been like 20 tourneys without a cash, and I basically never get it in worse than 50-50. I'm just kinda venting because it's pissing me off, and since no one really reads this anyway. Whatever..
-Roddy
-Roddy
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Another Final table
No HH's for this one, but I just came in second in the $25+2 bounty tourney. Cashed for a little over 900 and another 12 bounties ($5 a piece.) With another cash mixed in on the day it runs the 24 hour total up just over $1500. Not a bad return to online poker if ya ask me. It shoulda been a win too! With almost even stacks we got all in pf my QQ v. his A6. Turn was an A and it was over.. Made me a bit mad, but I can't complain. Good little streak I got going here.
-Roddy
-Roddy
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Oh yea.
I forgot to convert the hands before I posted them.. from here on out I'll do that. So better than reading the hands like that i'll link them
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082187
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082191
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082171
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082187
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082191
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082171
Online poker
Well because of my recent goals to take poker more seriously, I redoposited money online. I put some on UB and will be putting some on Poker Stars shortly to play a bigger amount of MTTs, as those are my specialty. After a couple bad days, I finally put one in the "win" column. I didn't take first, although I should have. I was ~shortstacked near the bubble, then when we cashed I went crazy and won a bunch of hands.
RockThrobson is at seat 0 with 5625.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 12830.
Egghead61 is at seat 2 with 3690.
little punish is at seat 3 with 12195.
Alhambra is at seat 4 with 17665.
mleban is at seat 5 with 4115.
addi is at seat 6 with 36815.
2006champ is at seat 7 with 12960.
still-alive is at seat 8 with 23710.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 27760.
The button is at seat
Egghead61 posts the small blind of 400.
little punish posts the big blind of 800.
RockThrobson: -- --
RoddyAA2: Ad Ac
Egghead61: -- --
little punish: -- --
Alhambra: -- --
mleban: -- --
addi: -- --
2006champ: -- --
still-alive: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
Pre-flop:
Alhambra folds. mleban goes all-in for 4015. addi
folds. 2006champ folds. still-alive folds.
BumboKlaat folds. RockThrobson folds. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 12730. Egghead61 folds. little punish
goes all-in for 12095. RoddyAA2 is returned 635
(uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
RoddyAA2 shows Ad Ac.
little punish shows Qs Qd.
mleban shows Jd As.
Flop (board: 3d Kh 2h):
Turn (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah) :
River (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah 9d):
Showdown:
RoddyAA2 has Ad Ac Kh Ah 9d: three aces.
little punish has Qs Qd Kh Ah 9d: a pair of queens.
mleban has Jd As Kh Ah 9d: a pair of aces.
Hand #50673800-174 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins the main pot 13445 with three aces.
RoddyAA2 wins the side pot 16160 with three aces.
Then shortly after..
RIP_2PAC_BIG is at seat 0 with 23300 (sitting out).
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 69660.
Firestorm44 is at seat 2 with 69600.
MObermeier is at seat 5 with 81075.
JJRUFFNECK11 is at seat 6 with 22350.
billusa is at seat 7 with 65880.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 78525.
The button is at seat 1.
MObermeier posts the small blind of 1500.
JJRUFFNECK11 posts the big blind of 3000.
RoddyAA2: Ts Td
Firestorm44: -- --
MObermeier: -- --
JJRUFFNECK11: -- --
billusa: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
Pre-flop:
billusa folds. BumboKlaat folds. RoddyAA2 raises to
9000. Firestorm44 folds. MObermeier calls.
JJRUFFNECK11 folds.
Flop (board: 3s 4d 5d):
MObermeier goes all-in for 71775. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 60360. MObermeier is returned 11415
(uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
RoddyAA2 shows Ts Td.
MObermeier shows 5h Ah.
Turn (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc):
River (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc Qs):
Showdown:
RoddyAA2 has Ts Td 5d Jc Qs: a pair of tens.
MObermeier has 5h Ah 5d Jc Qs: a pair of fives.
Hand #50673800-267 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins 143520 with a pair of tens.
Then at the FT I actually thought I lost this hand until the chips went towards me and I rechecked the board.
moonshiner314 is at seat 1 with 179240.
BumboKlaat is at seat 2 with 96980.
hardtomemoriz is at seat 3 with 209260.
UB_QUEEN99 is at seat 4 with 45260.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 6 with 83820.
aiight try me is at seat 7 with 141440.
The button is at seat 1.
hardtomemoriz posts the small blind of 2500.
UB_QUEEN99 posts the big blind of 5000.
moonshiner314: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
hardtomemoriz: -- --
UB_QUEEN99: -- --
RoddyAA2: Jd Js
aiight try me: -- --
Pre-flop:
RoddyAA2 raises to 15000. aiight try me folds.
moonshiner314 folds. BumboKlaat calls.
hardtomemoriz folds. UB_QUEEN99 goes all-in for
44760. RoddyAA2 goes all-in for 83320. BumboKlaat
folds. RoddyAA2 is returned 38560 (uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
UB_QUEEN99 shows Td Ts.
RoddyAA2 shows Jd Js.
Flop (board: 8s Tc 2s):
Turn (board: 8s Tc 2s As):
River (board: 8s Tc 2s As 9s):
Showdown:
UB_QUEEN99 has Ts 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.
RoddyAA2 has Js 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.
Hand #50673801-58 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins 110020 with flush, ace high.
I went out shortly after when I got it all in with 33 v. AT on a 456 board. Turn was a 10 and the tourney ended on the next hand. It was an $11+1 bounty tourney, and I collected quite a few bounties as well as my cash prize. Not a huge overall score taking down about 14.5 bounties and cashing for $516.. but overall a nice return to online poker. Let's hope I can keep it going.
-Roddy
RockThrobson is at seat 0 with 5625.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 12830.
Egghead61 is at seat 2 with 3690.
little punish is at seat 3 with 12195.
Alhambra is at seat 4 with 17665.
mleban is at seat 5 with 4115.
addi is at seat 6 with 36815.
2006champ is at seat 7 with 12960.
still-alive is at seat 8 with 23710.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 27760.
The button is at seat
Egghead61 posts the small blind of 400.
little punish posts the big blind of 800.
RockThrobson: -- --
RoddyAA2: Ad Ac
Egghead61: -- --
little punish: -- --
Alhambra: -- --
mleban: -- --
addi: -- --
2006champ: -- --
still-alive: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
Pre-flop:
Alhambra folds. mleban goes all-in for 4015. addi
folds. 2006champ folds. still-alive folds.
BumboKlaat folds. RockThrobson folds. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 12730. Egghead61 folds. little punish
goes all-in for 12095. RoddyAA2 is returned 635
(uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
RoddyAA2 shows Ad Ac.
little punish shows Qs Qd.
mleban shows Jd As.
Flop (board: 3d Kh 2h):
Turn (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah) :
River (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah 9d):
Showdown:
RoddyAA2 has Ad Ac Kh Ah 9d: three aces.
little punish has Qs Qd Kh Ah 9d: a pair of queens.
mleban has Jd As Kh Ah 9d: a pair of aces.
Hand #50673800-174 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins the main pot 13445 with three aces.
RoddyAA2 wins the side pot 16160 with three aces.
Then shortly after..
RIP_2PAC_BIG is at seat 0 with 23300 (sitting out).
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 69660.
Firestorm44 is at seat 2 with 69600.
MObermeier is at seat 5 with 81075.
JJRUFFNECK11 is at seat 6 with 22350.
billusa is at seat 7 with 65880.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 78525.
The button is at seat 1.
MObermeier posts the small blind of 1500.
JJRUFFNECK11 posts the big blind of 3000.
RoddyAA2: Ts Td
Firestorm44: -- --
MObermeier: -- --
JJRUFFNECK11: -- --
billusa: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
Pre-flop:
billusa folds. BumboKlaat folds. RoddyAA2 raises to
9000. Firestorm44 folds. MObermeier calls.
JJRUFFNECK11 folds.
Flop (board: 3s 4d 5d):
MObermeier goes all-in for 71775. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 60360. MObermeier is returned 11415
(uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
RoddyAA2 shows Ts Td.
MObermeier shows 5h Ah.
Turn (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc):
River (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc Qs):
Showdown:
RoddyAA2 has Ts Td 5d Jc Qs: a pair of tens.
MObermeier has 5h Ah 5d Jc Qs: a pair of fives.
Hand #50673800-267 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins 143520 with a pair of tens.
Then at the FT I actually thought I lost this hand until the chips went towards me and I rechecked the board.
moonshiner314 is at seat 1 with 179240.
BumboKlaat is at seat 2 with 96980.
hardtomemoriz is at seat 3 with 209260.
UB_QUEEN99 is at seat 4 with 45260.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 6 with 83820.
aiight try me is at seat 7 with 141440.
The button is at seat 1.
hardtomemoriz posts the small blind of 2500.
UB_QUEEN99 posts the big blind of 5000.
moonshiner314: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
hardtomemoriz: -- --
UB_QUEEN99: -- --
RoddyAA2: Jd Js
aiight try me: -- --
Pre-flop:
RoddyAA2 raises to 15000. aiight try me folds.
moonshiner314 folds. BumboKlaat calls.
hardtomemoriz folds. UB_QUEEN99 goes all-in for
44760. RoddyAA2 goes all-in for 83320. BumboKlaat
folds. RoddyAA2 is returned 38560 (uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
UB_QUEEN99 shows Td Ts.
RoddyAA2 shows Jd Js.
Flop (board: 8s Tc 2s):
Turn (board: 8s Tc 2s As):
River (board: 8s Tc 2s As 9s):
Showdown:
UB_QUEEN99 has Ts 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.
RoddyAA2 has Js 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.
Hand #50673801-58 Summary:
RoddyAA2 wins 110020 with flush, ace high.
I went out shortly after when I got it all in with 33 v. AT on a 456 board. Turn was a 10 and the tourney ended on the next hand. It was an $11+1 bounty tourney, and I collected quite a few bounties as well as my cash prize. Not a huge overall score taking down about 14.5 bounties and cashing for $516.. but overall a nice return to online poker. Let's hope I can keep it going.
-Roddy
Saturday, February 2, 2008
WPT Borgata Main Event...
This is gonna be loooong!
So I just recently got back from a 2 week trip to Atlantic City for the WPT at Borgata. I wasn't planning on playing the main event, just the prelims, but after getting the shit kicked out of me in the prelims ($1080, $1600, $2650) and winning my seat into the ME through satellites (got in for $240.) I really was looking forward to playing my first major. I woke up on Sunday morning and hurried over to the Borgata. When I walked in, I quickly said hi to a +1 member who is a Cardplayer tournament reporter, then went to find my seat. Wouldn't you know that the only person sitting at the table at the time was Raj Patel, WPT Foxwoods winner. I sit down (sign the WPT release form) and make conversation, and pretty soon the rest of the field has filtered in and the cards are almost ready to go in the air. I don't immediately recognize anyone else at my table until right before the first card is peeled off, when Kido Pham sits down two to my right, and a guy two to his right looks relatively familiar as well, but I don't know why.
We start the tournament with 3 empty seats at the table, but it's underway. The first 2 levels weren't too exciting, I abused the older gentleman sitting to my right because he wasn't a particularly strong player. Raj is being quiet, so is Kido, and the guy in the 3 seat is pushing most of the action, he's clearly a strong player but I still don't know why he looks familiar. On the last hand of the second level a big hand happens when I river two pair (KJspades on a JT7 4 K board) and seat 2 bets big on the river, I call and he shows AQ for the nuts. I leave for the break, and still have plenty of chips (over 40k, we started with 30.) When we get back from break is when the exciting stuff starts to happen. The empty seats are all filled now, Seat 8 (i'm in 7, Raj in 9) is a guy Champie Douglas who had a big cash at Bellagio recently, seat 10 is Shankhar Pillai who is a bracelet winner, and seat 1 is some obnoxiously slow acting guy who thinks he's on tv every hand.
Champie and I bullshit about the Celtics for a while and then a huge hand comes up. I'm in the BB with 55 and it limps to me (Raj open limped and a couple others followed.) Flop is 593 with 2 clubs. The SB folded pf so i'm first to act and I fire out a bet of about 600, Raj calls, seat 2 re-raised to about 2400, i reraise to 7k and Raj RE-re-raises to 16k, seat 2 folds and I call. Turn is a 7 and I check, Raj bets 14k and i push for my last ~10 on top he bemoans his fate and calls, sheepishly flips over QQ and I win a huge pot worth over 80k! I win another big hand off of Raj and another player (seat 4) and then Raj gets knocked out. A woman from PokerPages comes by and asks what happened to Raj, takes my picture, and tells me I'm chip leader of the tournament.. Chip leader of a tournament with an almost $5M prize pool.
Not much happens for a while, I beat up on the other stacks with some reraises and i'm near 100k when Phil Ivey is moved into Raj's empty seat. This seemed like it would be more interesting than it was. He didn't care about the tournament as much as the basketball games and went out shortly after he was moved in. It's then that i realized who the 3 seat was. It was Johnny Bax (Cliff Josephy.) Moving on, soon I get in a big pot with Champie, he has ~15k left and I raise it up under the gun with KK. He re-raises and I put him all in, he calls and flips AA. I flop a K and am now up to about 120k. After this I go into hibernation. Right before dinner Shankhar and Johnny Bax get in a huge hand where the nut flush loses to a rivered fullhouse and Shankhar hits the rail. When we come back from dinner Steve Billirakis (youngest WSOP bracelet winner) is in Shankhar's seat. He takes a lot of chips from me when I bluff the wrong card. Thankfully, then our table breaks, and shortly after, Day 1 is over.. I'm in 21st place of over 300 remaining, sitting on 100,250.
Day 2 starts, I check where my table is, go and unbag my chips and immediately see some pro's at my table. I'm in the 4 seat, Isabelle Mercier is in the 1, Bill Gazes is in the 8, and Beth Shak is in the 10. Day 2 is an up and down day with not a lot of great hands to post up. Mostly it's me talking with Isabelle all day, in between playing a few hands. I dropped down to under 70k at one point, then made a score on the guy in the 2 seat (seat 3 busted and we went down to 9 handed.) He raised in MP and I had AKhearts and re-raised. He warned me to be careful and called. The flop came A34 one heart, he checked dark, I bet about 5k he insta-called. Turn was the 8hearts he checked, i bet 10k, again, he instantly called. He checked dark and the river was a 10 and i checked behind. He had AQ and I scooped a big pot (but was pissed i missed value on the river.. his quick check calls scared me a bit.. we'll come back to that soon.)
Again nothing really exciting happened, Beth and Bill both got knocked out and their seats were filled with much more chips than they had while sitting there. Again it's basically me, the 3 seat and Isabelle just talking and not doing much when me and 3 tangle again. He was playing every hand and he limped in EP so i raised him with KJ trying to take the hand. He called and the flop comes JJQ. He checks and I bet so he won't think I have the J. He calls. Turn is 4clubs and he checks and instantly calls my bet. River is another club and he checks again. Mad at myself for the last hand I played with him I fire another shell on the river.. he talks for half a minute about me flopping a full house, then calls with T9clubs. I'm hurting again. I'm short for about an hour until I bluff a big stack with 66 on a high card board and get back near 100k. After dinner I get moved to a different table right next to a big stack who raises a lot. Right before the last break of the night (the hand before) i play another huge pot. UTG (guy with chips) raises it up, MP re-raises and Im in the BB with KK. I shove, UTG thinks, then mucks, reraiser thinks for about 3 minutes into the break and calls with AK. I hold and now have over 200k.
After the break I pick up a lot more chips on random wins and am up to 275k when on back to back hands I lose big races with AK, both times against QQ. If i win either one I am top 5 in the tourney going into day 3. Instead, i'm in thirty something place with 175,000.
Day 3-Money day. Table 4, seat 4. That's my seat for the most important poker day of my life. Table 4 seat 1-Johnny Bax, Table 4 seat 2-John Hennigan, Table 4 seat 3 Scott Blackman (doubled him up AK v. QQ in a 160k pot the night before) Table 4 seat 5-Noah Schwarts, Table 4-seat 7-Al Krux.
First hand of the day is huge. I raise to 8k in MP with AQhearts and Al Krux calls me from the CO seat. Flop is T62 2 hearts. I bet 8k and Al calls. Turn is Tclubs, I check call Al's 15k bet. River is 9hearts and i bet 17k, Al raises to 40 I think and call. He shows 99 for a sick cooler, and takes half of my stack on the first hand. I barely play anything for the next few hours, but just watch Hennigan put on a clinic. I reraise once with AA and get no callers. I'm getting short, just under 10x the BB with about 15 to go until the money. I know I can't fold to the cash, nor do I want too.. so I open shove the button with J8diamonds and get instantly called by the big blind who has AK. It's ok.. just hit a pair and I'm in good shape right.. Door card is the ugly Aclubs and i think i'm out the door. But the next two cards on the flop are both Jacks and I survive! After that I go back to barely playing until I start getting blinded down again. Hennigan raises in EP with 57 left (54 pay) and I shove with 88. He doesn't want to call but does and my 8s beat his AJspades.
Couple hands later is a pretty weird. I raise in EP with AJhearts and Nam Le (moved into the 1 seat when Johnny Bax busted) and John Hennigan call in the blinds. Flop is K79 two hearts. Nam bets, John folds I call with my flush draw. Turn is a blank and it goes check check. Then the river.. the Ace of hearts.... Now I was sure I had AJ hearts so this card scares the shit out of me. Nam checks and I immediately look down and see that I actually had AdJh! I check behind and flip my A. Nam looks at me like i'm retarded and I start explaining what happened then just laugh and rake a huge pot. We're now down to 55 and playing hand for hand when I give back a lot of chips. Hennigan was kicking our asses during bubble play, raising 7 of 10 hands, when I get AQspades in the SB and he raises from the CO. He raised to 18k and I repop to 35. He calls and the flop comes 39T. I bet 40k and he immediately shoves. I "think" about it and muck. He says he had a set, and I'm just pissed I threw away 75k to the strongest player at the table. A couple other small hands happen, I win a couple blinds as we wait for the bubble to burst. It finally does and we're all in the money.
When we come back from break they move a new player to the table who's sitting on over 700k! He raises 4 of the first 5 hands at the table. The 5th of which he was UTG. Blackman calls in MP and I have AJspades. Everything is telling me to push and take it down there, but i flat call the 24k and see a flop of A95 2 spades. Checks to me, i bet 35k, OR folds, Blackman calls. Turn is another 9, Blackman checks, I push all in and he insta-calls with 55 for the boat. I don't fill on the river and Blackman (who I had all in the day before) wins a huge pot that propels him to the final table, and a $98,154 payday, and I hafta go and collect my measely $14,754 for 53rd place. All in all it was a great experience and a whole lot of fun. It will hopefully propel me into poker as my full time job, as I am gonna start taking the game much more seriously now and do whatever I can to make myself the best player I can be.
Well yea.. if you're still reading this at this point, congrats. I rambled and told a lot of stories.. but it was the best experience of my life.
-Roddy
So I just recently got back from a 2 week trip to Atlantic City for the WPT at Borgata. I wasn't planning on playing the main event, just the prelims, but after getting the shit kicked out of me in the prelims ($1080, $1600, $2650) and winning my seat into the ME through satellites (got in for $240.) I really was looking forward to playing my first major. I woke up on Sunday morning and hurried over to the Borgata. When I walked in, I quickly said hi to a +1 member who is a Cardplayer tournament reporter, then went to find my seat. Wouldn't you know that the only person sitting at the table at the time was Raj Patel, WPT Foxwoods winner. I sit down (sign the WPT release form) and make conversation, and pretty soon the rest of the field has filtered in and the cards are almost ready to go in the air. I don't immediately recognize anyone else at my table until right before the first card is peeled off, when Kido Pham sits down two to my right, and a guy two to his right looks relatively familiar as well, but I don't know why.
We start the tournament with 3 empty seats at the table, but it's underway. The first 2 levels weren't too exciting, I abused the older gentleman sitting to my right because he wasn't a particularly strong player. Raj is being quiet, so is Kido, and the guy in the 3 seat is pushing most of the action, he's clearly a strong player but I still don't know why he looks familiar. On the last hand of the second level a big hand happens when I river two pair (KJspades on a JT7 4 K board) and seat 2 bets big on the river, I call and he shows AQ for the nuts. I leave for the break, and still have plenty of chips (over 40k, we started with 30.) When we get back from break is when the exciting stuff starts to happen. The empty seats are all filled now, Seat 8 (i'm in 7, Raj in 9) is a guy Champie Douglas who had a big cash at Bellagio recently, seat 10 is Shankhar Pillai who is a bracelet winner, and seat 1 is some obnoxiously slow acting guy who thinks he's on tv every hand.
Champie and I bullshit about the Celtics for a while and then a huge hand comes up. I'm in the BB with 55 and it limps to me (Raj open limped and a couple others followed.) Flop is 593 with 2 clubs. The SB folded pf so i'm first to act and I fire out a bet of about 600, Raj calls, seat 2 re-raised to about 2400, i reraise to 7k and Raj RE-re-raises to 16k, seat 2 folds and I call. Turn is a 7 and I check, Raj bets 14k and i push for my last ~10 on top he bemoans his fate and calls, sheepishly flips over QQ and I win a huge pot worth over 80k! I win another big hand off of Raj and another player (seat 4) and then Raj gets knocked out. A woman from PokerPages comes by and asks what happened to Raj, takes my picture, and tells me I'm chip leader of the tournament.. Chip leader of a tournament with an almost $5M prize pool.
Not much happens for a while, I beat up on the other stacks with some reraises and i'm near 100k when Phil Ivey is moved into Raj's empty seat. This seemed like it would be more interesting than it was. He didn't care about the tournament as much as the basketball games and went out shortly after he was moved in. It's then that i realized who the 3 seat was. It was Johnny Bax (Cliff Josephy.) Moving on, soon I get in a big pot with Champie, he has ~15k left and I raise it up under the gun with KK. He re-raises and I put him all in, he calls and flips AA. I flop a K and am now up to about 120k. After this I go into hibernation. Right before dinner Shankhar and Johnny Bax get in a huge hand where the nut flush loses to a rivered fullhouse and Shankhar hits the rail. When we come back from dinner Steve Billirakis (youngest WSOP bracelet winner) is in Shankhar's seat. He takes a lot of chips from me when I bluff the wrong card. Thankfully, then our table breaks, and shortly after, Day 1 is over.. I'm in 21st place of over 300 remaining, sitting on 100,250.
Day 2 starts, I check where my table is, go and unbag my chips and immediately see some pro's at my table. I'm in the 4 seat, Isabelle Mercier is in the 1, Bill Gazes is in the 8, and Beth Shak is in the 10. Day 2 is an up and down day with not a lot of great hands to post up. Mostly it's me talking with Isabelle all day, in between playing a few hands. I dropped down to under 70k at one point, then made a score on the guy in the 2 seat (seat 3 busted and we went down to 9 handed.) He raised in MP and I had AKhearts and re-raised. He warned me to be careful and called. The flop came A34 one heart, he checked dark, I bet about 5k he insta-called. Turn was the 8hearts he checked, i bet 10k, again, he instantly called. He checked dark and the river was a 10 and i checked behind. He had AQ and I scooped a big pot (but was pissed i missed value on the river.. his quick check calls scared me a bit.. we'll come back to that soon.)
Again nothing really exciting happened, Beth and Bill both got knocked out and their seats were filled with much more chips than they had while sitting there. Again it's basically me, the 3 seat and Isabelle just talking and not doing much when me and 3 tangle again. He was playing every hand and he limped in EP so i raised him with KJ trying to take the hand. He called and the flop comes JJQ. He checks and I bet so he won't think I have the J. He calls. Turn is 4clubs and he checks and instantly calls my bet. River is another club and he checks again. Mad at myself for the last hand I played with him I fire another shell on the river.. he talks for half a minute about me flopping a full house, then calls with T9clubs. I'm hurting again. I'm short for about an hour until I bluff a big stack with 66 on a high card board and get back near 100k. After dinner I get moved to a different table right next to a big stack who raises a lot. Right before the last break of the night (the hand before) i play another huge pot. UTG (guy with chips) raises it up, MP re-raises and Im in the BB with KK. I shove, UTG thinks, then mucks, reraiser thinks for about 3 minutes into the break and calls with AK. I hold and now have over 200k.
After the break I pick up a lot more chips on random wins and am up to 275k when on back to back hands I lose big races with AK, both times against QQ. If i win either one I am top 5 in the tourney going into day 3. Instead, i'm in thirty something place with 175,000.
Day 3-Money day. Table 4, seat 4. That's my seat for the most important poker day of my life. Table 4 seat 1-Johnny Bax, Table 4 seat 2-John Hennigan, Table 4 seat 3 Scott Blackman (doubled him up AK v. QQ in a 160k pot the night before) Table 4 seat 5-Noah Schwarts, Table 4-seat 7-Al Krux.
First hand of the day is huge. I raise to 8k in MP with AQhearts and Al Krux calls me from the CO seat. Flop is T62 2 hearts. I bet 8k and Al calls. Turn is Tclubs, I check call Al's 15k bet. River is 9hearts and i bet 17k, Al raises to 40 I think and call. He shows 99 for a sick cooler, and takes half of my stack on the first hand. I barely play anything for the next few hours, but just watch Hennigan put on a clinic. I reraise once with AA and get no callers. I'm getting short, just under 10x the BB with about 15 to go until the money. I know I can't fold to the cash, nor do I want too.. so I open shove the button with J8diamonds and get instantly called by the big blind who has AK. It's ok.. just hit a pair and I'm in good shape right.. Door card is the ugly Aclubs and i think i'm out the door. But the next two cards on the flop are both Jacks and I survive! After that I go back to barely playing until I start getting blinded down again. Hennigan raises in EP with 57 left (54 pay) and I shove with 88. He doesn't want to call but does and my 8s beat his AJspades.
Couple hands later is a pretty weird. I raise in EP with AJhearts and Nam Le (moved into the 1 seat when Johnny Bax busted) and John Hennigan call in the blinds. Flop is K79 two hearts. Nam bets, John folds I call with my flush draw. Turn is a blank and it goes check check. Then the river.. the Ace of hearts.... Now I was sure I had AJ hearts so this card scares the shit out of me. Nam checks and I immediately look down and see that I actually had AdJh! I check behind and flip my A. Nam looks at me like i'm retarded and I start explaining what happened then just laugh and rake a huge pot. We're now down to 55 and playing hand for hand when I give back a lot of chips. Hennigan was kicking our asses during bubble play, raising 7 of 10 hands, when I get AQspades in the SB and he raises from the CO. He raised to 18k and I repop to 35. He calls and the flop comes 39T. I bet 40k and he immediately shoves. I "think" about it and muck. He says he had a set, and I'm just pissed I threw away 75k to the strongest player at the table. A couple other small hands happen, I win a couple blinds as we wait for the bubble to burst. It finally does and we're all in the money.
When we come back from break they move a new player to the table who's sitting on over 700k! He raises 4 of the first 5 hands at the table. The 5th of which he was UTG. Blackman calls in MP and I have AJspades. Everything is telling me to push and take it down there, but i flat call the 24k and see a flop of A95 2 spades. Checks to me, i bet 35k, OR folds, Blackman calls. Turn is another 9, Blackman checks, I push all in and he insta-calls with 55 for the boat. I don't fill on the river and Blackman (who I had all in the day before) wins a huge pot that propels him to the final table, and a $98,154 payday, and I hafta go and collect my measely $14,754 for 53rd place. All in all it was a great experience and a whole lot of fun. It will hopefully propel me into poker as my full time job, as I am gonna start taking the game much more seriously now and do whatever I can to make myself the best player I can be.
Well yea.. if you're still reading this at this point, congrats. I rambled and told a lot of stories.. but it was the best experience of my life.
-Roddy
New Blog
Hey guys, I decided to start blogging. I've been bored a lot lately with nothing to do, and I am starting to take poker more seriously, so a blog seemed like a pretty good idea. This first blog will basically just be an intro into me, even though basically no one will read it yet. My names Michael Roderick and I just turned 21 in December. I've been playing poker since I was 16 or 17, and started going to the casino shortly after turning 18. I made some decent online scores around then, but didn't start producing live until after my 21st birthday.
Mid-December was my first trip to Foxwoods, I came in second in the $100 daily tourney for $1500 to get me off to a good start (I should have won, had the guy all in drawing to 2 outs and he rivered me.) In January I made my first 5 figure cash when I chip-chopped the main event of the Turningstone Winter Open (1k buy in, bought in direct) for just under $11,000. After that I was elated, and a bunch of TS friends talked me into going to the Borgata for the WPT prelim events. I went down to Atlantic City for the first time and stayed for 2 weeks. I got my ass handed to me in the prelims (AA < AJ in the $1060 event, all in pf, board 8T4 7 9; KK<22 when the board reads AT6 2 T and the guy next to me mucked K2.) But then I satellited into the Main Event (10k event) for only $240 and turned the buy in into $14,754 in my first major event. My next blog will be about my experiences in the 10k event. But for now I'll end this by just saying that I will hopefully be taking the next step with poker, and that I'm really excited about how my life is turning out. I'm young, have my whole life in front of me, and i'm finally starting to excel in what I want to do. Life is good.
-Roddy
Mid-December was my first trip to Foxwoods, I came in second in the $100 daily tourney for $1500 to get me off to a good start (I should have won, had the guy all in drawing to 2 outs and he rivered me.) In January I made my first 5 figure cash when I chip-chopped the main event of the Turningstone Winter Open (1k buy in, bought in direct) for just under $11,000. After that I was elated, and a bunch of TS friends talked me into going to the Borgata for the WPT prelim events. I went down to Atlantic City for the first time and stayed for 2 weeks. I got my ass handed to me in the prelims (AA < AJ in the $1060 event, all in pf, board 8T4 7 9; KK<22 when the board reads AT6 2 T and the guy next to me mucked K2.) But then I satellited into the Main Event (10k event) for only $240 and turned the buy in into $14,754 in my first major event. My next blog will be about my experiences in the 10k event. But for now I'll end this by just saying that I will hopefully be taking the next step with poker, and that I'm really excited about how my life is turning out. I'm young, have my whole life in front of me, and i'm finally starting to excel in what I want to do. Life is good.
-Roddy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
