July News & Notes

- Summertime at the Post Office means one thing: Vacations. It's called Primetime, and more people are allowed to take vacations. Naturally, that means less workers, and more overtime.

However, this year is different. We had two carriers retire yesterday, and they were both overtime workhorses. There was someone else who went out for back surgery, and won't be back until sometime in September. Between the three of them, that 140 - 150 hours per week that need to be covered.

What that means for me is a hell of lot of overtime. I've been getting off work most days this week between 6:30 - 7pm, and I really don't feel like playing poker after I walk in my front door after 7pm. I've only played one day since I got back from Vegas, and I will probably only play once or twice a week for the rest or the summer.

Of course, less poker means less blogging. I've been trying to do an entry every 2 - 3 days, but it will probably slow down to one or two a week.

- As I've mentioned a few times, various home game players made the journey to the WSOP last month. A total of six players played in seven events, and we went 0-7. Nobody won a Bracelet, or made it to a Final Table. Nobody cashed in an Event, or even made it to Day 2 of an Event. Hell, nobody even made it to the Dinner Break of Day 1. One or two of them didn't even make it out of Level 1. Overall, a very pathetic showing for us at the Rio.

Certainly, there was some bad luck involved. Besides my AA vs KK hand, another player (Colin) had his AK run into AA on a A K x Flop, and lost most of his chips. He did make a bit of a comeback, but it's hard to recover in these smaller chip tournaments.

- Some of the casinos out here (Atlantis, Peppermill, and Grand Sierra) like to offer Free Play to their customers. Most of them do it on various day during the month, and the amount depends on your Players Card's level. I'm haven't been dumping large amounts of money in the Pit, so most of my offers are in the $5 - $10 range, with the occasional $15 or $20. They also have a couple of days each month when you can exchange Comps for Free Play, usually at a rate of $2 Comp equals $1 Free Play (or $100 Comps = $50 Free Play).

At first, I was ignoring these little offers. But in April, I started to take them more seriously. It's free money, and it takes very little effort by me to get it. Since many of the offers are on Mondays or Tuesdays, I drive around to the various casinos to collect the Free Play, and I may or may not play any Poker. However, I wouldn't bother if it was only the $5 offer, becasue I didn't think it was worth the gas or my time. I also did the Comp for Free Play exchange at the Peppermill and Atlantis. I used the Free Play on Video Poker, either Jacks Or Better or Deuces Wild.

Since April 1, I'm up $430 with this Free Play. That's certainly not retirement money, but it's not chump change either. I look at it as Rakeback from the casinos, just the Online sites used to do back in the good olde days.

LOL Donkaments #4

Harrah's 8pm $80 - 06.17.11

This tournament has a much better structure than the other Harrah's tourney I played. They gave us 8000 chips, added a couple of levels, and started the antes later. They also had a $20 Bounty for this one.

Being a Friday night in Las Vegas during the WSOP, this one had 102 players, which is kinda silly for a daily tournament. All the tables were in use, and that included a couple of $1/$2 NL games.

Things went well in the beginning, and my table draw was good. I was able to slowly build my stack, although I didn't get the monster stack that I had gotten in other tourneys. It took them awhile to break our table, which was good for me. I even got two Bounties before the table finally broke.

I got a really good seat at the new table, as the Big Stack was on my direct Right. Things were going along OK, but the structure started to become a problem. Even though it's a better structure than before, any daily tournament structure will be a problem with 102 players. With only three tables left, all of us were getting shortstack. That's when this hand happened in the 1500/3000/300 level:

It folded around to a Mid player, who min-raised to 6000. Only the SB called, and he was the Big Stack at the table. I'm the BB with 55, and I go All-In for 26500.

I played with the Mid player at the previous table, and he's a passive Super-Nit. He could easily have a bigger pair than me, but I have him covered. I don't think he'll risk his tournament with out a premium hand. However, I haven't been at the new table that long, and I don't know much about the Big Stack. He's got a lot of chips, but my stack would take a serious chunk out of his stack.

Ultimately, I do have a pocket pair, and I'm under 10 Big Blinds. If the Big Stack folds, then picking up the 12k plus antes will be good for my stack. If he calls, then hopefully we are in a coin flip, which wouldn't be a bad thing at this stage of the tournament.

The Mid player thinks for a bit, and folds. The Big Stack thinks for a much longer time. Meanwhile, his Buddy had already busted from the tournament and is watching the action. He comments about how big the pot is. The Dealer quickly chewed out the Buddy for opening his mouth when he's not involved in the hand.

I think the Big Stack listened to his Buddy, because he called right after the comment with KJo. He hit a J on the Flop, but I picked up a Gutshot on the Turn. The River didn't help me, and I was out in 26th place.

Even thought the Buddy should have kept his mouth shut, I really didn't mind the call. With three tables left, winning this coin flip would have given me the monster double-up, and that would have hopefully propelled me to the Final Table. In the Bally's tourney I played just before this one, I got that monster double-up (AQd vs 55) with about 15 players left. That gave me the Big Stack, and I rode it to victory. This time it didn't work out.

Oh, well. That's (tournament) Poker. At least I got two bounties to cover half of my buy-in.

All-In Or Fold

Last week in Las Vegas, I found out about a unusual tournament at the Aria. On Monday night, they had a $160 "All-In Or Fold" Tournament with a $25 Bounty.

Why is it called "All-In Or Fold"?

Because those are your only options preflop, All-In or Fold. No limping, no min-raising, and no just calling a shorter stack's All-In. It's only All-In or Fold. If everyone chooses Fold, then the BB gets a walk and we move on to the next hand. Seems simple, right?

Well, I get bored with just regular "TV Poker" tournaments. So I will happily jump at any opportunity to play something different, as long as it doesn't cost me too much money. The $160 is well within my buy-in range.

This was put on by LIPS, although I don't know why since guys were allowed to play. There was 97 players for this tournament, which was a bit surprising to me. Although there were a few players that signed up for the evening tournament, and immediately un-registered after they realized what was happening.

The other surprising thing about this night was the play. We got 6000 chips, and the Blinds started at 100/100. To me, it seemed the "proper" strategy was to play tight, because why risk 6000 chips to win 200? However, it appeared that I was one of the few players who had this thought. On the very first hand at my table, UTG went All-In for the 6000, and he had AKo. A Mid player called the All-In with ATo, and was out of the tournament.

Other players were treating this like a rebuy tournament, even though they couldn't rebuy. There was a Kid at my table who still had a chip stack in a Cash game. He declared that he was here to gamble in order to get a monster stack, or he would go just back to his $2/$5 table. Overall, I was very surprised on how few walks were given to the Big Blind.

As for my tournament, I got a decent seat at the table. The two players on my Left were playing tight, and waiting for premium hands. This meant I was able to steal the occasional Blinds. However, right after those two players was the Kid who wanted to gamble.

I was able to double up in Level 1 with my AQ vs TT. In a later hand, the UTG shoved. I was UTG+1 with 33, and had to fold. Two other players shoved All-In. I would have flopped a Set and collected two bounties and got a monster stack. Oh well, right fold - wrong time.

In the next level, I lost my double up with my AJ vs JJ. After that, I went very card dead. With so many players willing to gamble, I had to pop the clutch, and drop into Super Nit gear for a while. Eventually, a very active Lady shoved. I had 7h 7d, and was the only caller. She had KQc. The Flop was 7c 5c 4c, giving her the Flush and me Top Set. I missed my Full House Draw, and was out in 45th place.

Now I'm gonna take off my Player hat, and put on my Tournament Director hat. This was their first attempt at this type of tournament, and nobody was happy with the structure. It had 6000 chips and 20 min levels: 100/100, 100/200, 200/300, 200/400, 300/600, 300/600/100 (I'm not sure what the rest of the levels were, since I left.)

Some of the players though the structure was way too slow. It should have 10 min levels, start with less chips, have the levels go up much steeper, and have antes much sooner. Not surprisingly, these were the players who were here to get their gamble on.

As a former TD, I do agree that the structure needs some work. If I were to run this for one of my home games, I would start with less chips. I think something in the 30BB - 40BB range would be good, but I would have the Blinds go up slowly. I would have antes starting in Level 1 or 2. There needs to be something in the pot that's worth risking your whole stack. I would also probably have 15 minute levels.

While this seems like a turbo, it's not necessarily the case. What happened in this tournament was tables started breaking rather quickly after the late buy-ins ended. But once we went from nine tables down to five or six, things started slowing down. Stacks got bigger, and players were less willing to risk all their chips against another big stack. So once the initial stacks doubled up, and maybe doubled up again, there was some fold equity against other players, and the bust-outs went much slower.

Of course, building a tourney structure is always a bit of theory before it's actually tested. Once it's played a couple of times, then more adjustments can be made. Maybe some of my CPMGers will give this one a try.

LOL Donkaments #3

Bally's 4pm $75 - 06.17.11

I played in this tourney because it was the only one on my list for 4pm. Although if I knew how bad the structure was, I probably wouldn't have played it. They give us 5000 chips, which is ok. But the Blinds start at 100/200, and double double double after that (100/200, 200/400, 400/800, 500/1000, 1000/2000, 2000/4000, 4000/8000).

Since this was such a terrible structure starting out with 25 Big Blinds, I decided to go with an all Preflop strategy. No limping or calling, just raise or 3-Bet. Overall, I did a decent job of sticking to it, and it worked beautifully. I won the first few pots I played, and I was steadily building my stack, while I rarely had to show my cards. By the time we got to the break, I had around 13k - 15k. The field of 47 players was down to three tables.

Things kept going well as I stuck to the plan. When we got down around 15 players, I made a standard raise from UTG with AQd. The SB moved All-In, and had me covered as we were the two Big Stacks at the table. He was at my first table, and he didn't mind getting his chips in the middle. That means his range of hand for 3-Betting is rather wide, so I quickly called. He had 55, and I won the race. This left him very shortstack, and I knocked him out on the next hand.

When we got to the Final Table, I had the dominate stack of 58k, which was 25% of the chips. I stuck to the plan, and was able to avoid any bad luck. The weirdest thing about the Final Table was there was no mention of a chop, bubble save, or any other type of deal. I would have had no problem discussing some sort of deal due to the retarded blind structure, just as long as I got the big chunk of money.

Even when the Bubble popped with five players getting paid, there was not a word uttered. This was bizarre to me because there is almost always something mentioned in Reno tournaments. I guess I got lucky in getting a Final Table full of tourists.

When it got to three handed, I had the Tower of Power with over 160k chips, and the other two players were close together around 35k each. Even with the  Big Stack, I brought up making a deal. I wanted to protect my equity because the blinds were 4k/8k, and my chip dominance could be in trouble with a bad River card followed by a lost coin flip.

At first, I suggested that I get 1st place, and they chop 2nd and 3rd for $517. One of them said he would rather just play it out, as he doesn't get to play short handed very often. I was certainly not afraid to play it out with these two, but I kinda wanted to get some dinner. I made one more offer. I suggested they both get $550, and I'll take the rest. They looked at each other, and agreed to it.

So by giving up $70, I walked out of the poker room with $955 after the Dealer Tip.

WSOP '11: Putting A Bow On It

I walked through the front door of my apartment about 6:15pm last night. Once again, it was a very uneventful trip through the mountains and deserts of Nevada. Here are my final thoughts.

~ If you have never been to Las Vegas during the WSOP, you have to visit at least once in your lifetime. It is Poker-Palozza in Sin City, and not just at the Rio. With all the extra tournament series around town, all the Poker Room are busier than normal. Some Dealers were complaining that they had to work 8-10 hours straight without breaks.

With so many poker players at the Rio, it's amazing how many Bad Beat Stories are floating through the air. In the elevator, in the bathroom, or in line for a restaurant, it's common to overhear little sound bites of conversation. "I had AK on the Button." "That stupid Spade on the River." "I can't win a Race." "I hate Jacks."

~ As for my "goals" for this trip, one of my most successful was my morning Strip Walk. I did it on most days, only missing my early morning Cash session, and yesterday. I started at Bill's Gambling Hall because the parking garage is right by Las Vegas Blvd. I headed South to Tropicana, across the pedestrian bridge to Excalibur, all the way North to the Fashion Show Mall, across the pedestrian bridge to Wynn, and back to Bill's. Some times I would walk the opposite way. It was about five miles round trip. Some days, I only did half or three quarters, depending on how I felt or if I was in a hurry. I would definitely recommend this if it is something that you would be in to.

~ I said I wanted to play $2/$5 in all the Big Rooms. Well, I only played two session of $2/$5, one at the Rio and one at Aria. I did play $1/$3 at Caesars after the Heads-Up tournament, but I never set foot in any of the other Big Rooms. I also played some more $1/$2 and $1/$3, and a $1/$2 HA session at the Palms. Overall, I played seven Cash sessions, and was down $195.

~ I did a good job of staying away from the Pit. I did do a little social gambling with my poker buddies from Cleveland. On Saturday night, we headed to Downtown to hang out, and I ended up dropping $100 on Roulette.

When I was at the Palms, they had a new table game called 7-14-21. It's sort of a hybrid of Blackjack and Pia Gow. I tried it out for about an hour, and left up $35.

~ As far as tournaments, I played in five larger tournaments, and I went 0-5. Some of it was do to bad luck, and some of it was due to questionable play. It was really disappointing that I couldn't even make to a dinner break in any of these tournaments.

~ The only thing that kept this trip from being a disaster was the smaller daily tournaments. I played in eight daily tournaments under $100, and had three cashes: a 2-way chop, a 3-way chop, and another 3-way chop where I got a big chunk of the prizepool.

It does seem that I have become a specialist in these little tournaments. That's good for maintaining my bankroll, and it's also good for my ego. But it doesn't seem to translate into the bigger buy-in, larger field tournaments that has better players.

~ Overall, I would rate the trip as Meh! (not great, didn't suck). The Grand Total was -$672, but it's +$828 if I take out the $1500 Event. Like I said, not great, didn't suck.

The other problem with this trip was it was just too damn long. I "hit the wall" on Saturday, and spent half the day in my hotel room. I was looking forward to heading home for the last three days.

Maybe spending nine nights in Las Vegas would have been more enjoyable if I was still living in Cleveland. However, I now live five minutes away from the top two poker rooms in Reno. I can play poker any day I want to, but I can also not play any day I don't want to. I doubt I will play any poker until at least Friday, or maybe even Sunday.

Don't get me wrong, the Poker in Las Vegas is waaaayyyy better then the Poker in Reno. I will certainly go back, but just for a few days at a time. I have no clue when that will be, or if I will be back for WSOP '12.

LOL Donkaments #2

Harrah's 3pm $60 - 06.15.11

They give you 6000 chips for this one and 20 minute levels, but the structure is not even close to the Caesars' structure. 48 players signed up for this one.

I was extremely card dead for this start. I guess it was making up the the Caesars' tourney. I basically blinded off down to 2600 at the break.

The next level was 300/600/75. The player in front of me raised to 1500. I looked down at QJo, and shipped in my 2525. I'm in the mode of "Get Me Chips Or Get Me Out Of Here", as I will just run to the next tournament on my list. But then the SB goes All-In. He seemed like he was a goofball who was catching cards. The original raiser thought for a bit, and folded. SB had AK, but I flopped a Queen to almost triple up.

Right after this hand, they broke our table. In one of my first hands at the new table, I get 88, and win a decent pot to knock out a player. Shortly after that, I 3-Bet with AK in the SB, and win a good pot from the chip leader of the table. By the end of the 300/600/75 level, I have over 18k chips. Sometimes this is a funny game.

After that, I really didn't get many hands to play. But I was able to maintain my chipstack in the 15k - 25k range through naked aggression. Nobody at my table was doing anything but playing their own cards, so I took advantage of it when I could. But the structure was on the fast side, so there wasn't much room to maneuver.

When we got to the Final Table, I had 24k and was one of the shortstacks. The blinds were 1500/3000/400, so I was in Push-N-Pray mode. It went ok, as I was able to maintain my stack. But I never got the big double up you need at a Final Table. Also, the structure got retarded. It went from 1500/3k/400 to 3k/6k/800 to 5k/10k/1k.

I did have a chance to get some chips when I shoved with A5o, and a shorter stacked called with A4d. But a 4 on the Flop took a nice chunk of my stack that I had manage to build through stealing.

Shortly after that hand, the level went up to 5k/10k/1k, and I was the BB. I only had 25k, which meant I was almost pot committed. But I just couldn't commit the last of my stack with 93s. It was a good thing I folded, because I got A8h in the SB. However, the BB woke up with AA. I did pick up a Flush Draw on the Turn, but it wasn't meant to be. I finished in 7th, which was the Bubble. Officially, five players got paid, but the Bubble Save talk started before the next hand was even dealt. I don't blame them, as they are just flipping coins at this point.

I did manage to place a $50 moneyline bet (+115) on the Boston Bruins to win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I won $57.50, so that basically covered this buy-in.

LOL Donkaments #1

Caesars Palace 9am $70 - 06/15/11

You get 4000 chips, and 20 minute levels with a decent structure for a daily tournament. They got 44 players on three tables. They have Re-Entry, and a lot of players used it.

Very first hand, I limped in Mid with J9d. Four players saw the Flop of Js 9c 8c. UTG+1 bet 150. I raised to 400 to either isolate, or just win the pot. It folded to him, and he called. Turn was [Js 9c 8c] 7s. Yuck! We both checked. River was [Js 9c 8c 7s] Jh. He led out for 600. It's rather obvious that he had a J, so I raised to 1500. He called with KJ.

Things kept going well for me. I knocked out a few more players, including my AKs vs an AKo when I hit a Flush. I had 11200 at the first break.

The carnage continued at our table, which became the Table Of Death. I wish this was a Bounty tournament, as I was the main head hunter. When we got to the Final Table, I had 48100, almost triple the average of 17600. Nobody else even had 20000. I had only one thought going through my head... Don't screw this up!

Well, the good news is that I didn't screw it up, but Lady Luck definitely put up a fight. I had numerous situations and suckouts to deal with. It started in the first orbit when I raised to 2000 with QQ. Next player went All-In for 9800. I made the call, and he had AA. I also had other hands that I raised with, but had to fold after another player went All-In, including AJ when the other guy had KK.

There was an old guy who was to my Left+1, which meant he's the BB when I'm the Button. He was a terrible calling station. This would be wonderful if it was a Cash game, but it can be very annoying at a Final Table. He also had the toughness of a cockroach, as he just would not die. I raise with KK on the Button. He went All-In with A6c, and flopped an Ace. He kept calling bets, almost never raised, and just would not die.

By the time we got to the next break, we had just popped the Bubble, and had five players left. The stacks had evened up considerably, and I was no longer chip leader. The leader had around 28k, I had 25k, and the short stack was around 12k - 15k. Since I couldn't raise to steal blinds because of the old geezer, I shifted gears down in to Small Pot Poker. I limped on the Button three consecutive times. The SB and BB (old geezer) called. I would make a small bet on the Flop or Turn with Middle Pair, the Geezer would call with Bottom Pair, and I would be good at showdown. With the Blinds at 1000/2000 and 1500/3000, these were good sized pots, and I was successful at rebuilding my chip lead through stealthy aggression.

After I got my stack over 40k, I started to raise a little more. I had bled the Old Geezer down to the point that he was hanging on for dear life, and he actually started to fold. By the time he finally got knocked out in 5th place, I had almost 70k.

During three handed play, I raised the Button with AQo. The SB moved All-In with a decent stack, and I called. He had AJh, and flopped the Flush. That took over half of my stack, and I had to go into survival mode. I carefully maneuvered with small pots, some All-Ins, and a few good folds. Once again, I was able to slowly get my chips lead back thanks to a rather good blind structure.

Eventually, the AJh guy knocked out the 3rd place player. We did a quick chip count, and I was ahead by only 4000 or 5000 chips. We decided to do an even chop. I left the Poker Room at 1:40pm with $705 after the Dealer's Tip.

Satellite Man

I played some single table satellites to try to earn some money for the $1500 Event. Here's what happened:

#1 $125. 1000 chips. 15 min levels. Blinds start at 25/25. I played very tight at the start. Picked up AA in the SB, and 3-Bet from 125 to 325. Original raiser called. I shoved the Flop, and he folded. I won another small pot or two, which got me to 1600 when this hand happened.

I limped for 25 in Mid with 66. Five players saw a Flop of A 6 3. The player before me bet 100. I just call. This is a great board to slowplay because there are no obvious draws. Two other player called the 100. Turn [A 6 3] J. Same player bet 200. I call. Next player calls. Last player goes All-In for 700. First guy thinks for a bit, and folds. The moment his cards hit the muck, I say "All-In". The third play thinks for a bit, and goes All-In. One player had AJ for Two Pair, and the other one had 54 for the Open-Ender. River [A 6 3 J] 4, and I had everyone covered. I now had 4600 chips, which is almost half the chips in play.

With such a monster stack, I went into lockdown mode. I did ended up knocking out a few more players, including another double elimination when I woke up with AKh in the BB. By the time I got to heads-up, the last remaining stack was about even with me. So we chopped up the money for $60 and a $500 tournament chip each.

#2 $125. I got a lot more limping hands in the first level, and I played most of them. I also won most of them, including this one:

I limped in Mid with 66. Cutoff raised to 150. Three players called, and so did I. Flop T 9 4. It checked around to the Cutoff, and he bet 225. The SB called, and it folded back to me. The 225 bet seemed weak to me, and the call wasn't strong either. I decided to follow my gut, and shove All In for 650 more. This is definitely a bluff as I do not want a call. The Cutoff thought for a while before finally folding. The SB also folded, and I didn't show my hand.

With that hand, I had 2600 chips at the end of Level 1. However, unlike the first satellite, I ran into some hands, and my stack went up and down, but never below the starting 1000. Another difference from the first one was players were not getting eliminated. When we hit the 150/300 level, there was still six players left. That meant it was time for Push-N-Pray. In the Hyjack, I looked at the first card and saw a King. I shoved All-In for 1350. The BB quickly called with ATo. My other card turned out to be a 5, and I missed everything. I finished in 5th place.

#3 $125. I was rather card dead for this one. I did hit a Straight against someone to knock them out. Fortunately, the table was rather passive, so I was able to do some stealing. But I never got the big double up that you need in these quickies.

The knockouts happened at a good pace, and we had three players left at the 100/200 level. The other two players were talking about doing an equity chop. I was the shortstack with 2200. I said No because at the 100/200 level, we can still play a little poker. Also, I like my skill advantage against these two, and I'm not afraid to bubble. Well, I did bubble when my A4d ran into A7o, and I missed everything. They did some sort of chop as I was walking away from the table

#4 $345 8-Game. I didn't want to play a satellite this big, but there were trying to sell the last seat, and there were no seats for a $125 or $175 NL.

The game started with 2000 chips. The levels were 20 minutes, and each game round was only four hands. We had eight players.

I'll skip all the stuff in the middle, and get to the important stuff. I got to Heads-Up, but the other guy had a monster chip lead. He started talking about some kind of deal. There was 5 $500 chips, and some cash (maybe $120). He offered to give me a $500 Chip. At first, I wanted 2 Chips, but even I knew that was silly. I then made the offer of $100 and a Chip. He said No, so we played. We started in the O8 round, and got to the Razz round. We both got dealt good starting hands, and got it All-In. He got an 86 Low by 5th Street. I hit a K on 4th, but was drawing to a 6-Low in 5th. However, 6th and 7th Street were a 9 K, and I walked away in 2nd with nothing.

In hindsight, I really screwed up this one by not taking his offer, and I'm not being results-oriented because I lost. Being that I didn't want to play a satellite this big, taking any profit would have a good thing, especially since the profit would have covered satellite #3 that I played just before this one. Also, I'm not an expert at some of the eight games. I'm decent at O8 and Razz, but Stud and Stud8 are my weakest games.

I Love The Smell Of Paulsons In The Morning

7:30 - I head down to the Rio Pavilion to play an early morning Cash session. They have two tables each of $1/$3, $2/$5, and $5/$10 in the Lower section. I put my name on the $2/$5 list, but if they open a $1/$3 table, I will jump on it.

8:00 $439 - They opened up the $1/$3 game, so I sat down for one orbit. I lost a pot with Top Pair to Nut Flush before I got called to the $2/$5 table. The table is 9-handed, and nobody has a stack over $1000. I buy-in for the max of $500 minus what I lost at the $1/$3 table.

8:30 $513 - Action is decent, but not crazy. I played a couple of pots with the biggest being my Two Pair vs Straight. It was an ugly board, with a Flush and 4-Card Straight on it, so it wasn't a big hit. I pulled $200 more out if my pocket.

My seat draw kinda sucks. A few Old Guy just sat down on my Right. The Kids are on my Left, and one of them seems to be Action Guy. If I get a chance to switch seats, I will do so.

9:00 $500 - I was able to move two seat over. It's not ideal, but it's better. A played a couple of pots, but nothing big. The best was a Big Blind Special with 92o. Flop was 992. The Button bet, and I was the only caller. The Turn was the last 9, and it killed my action.

9:30 $777 - I got my second BBS in a row. Cutoff raised $20. I called in the BB with 66. Three players saw a Flop of 8 8 6. It checked to Cutoff who bet $35. I was only caller. Turn [8 8 6] 9. I checked, and she bet $55. I fired out five Green chips for a check-raise to $125. She thought for about 15 seconds before saying All-In with QQ for about $300.

10:00 $812 - A quiet level for me. I won a couple of small pots, but nothing noteworthy. There are some new players here. The Action is still good, but not crazy. The Seniors Event is today, so there are a ton of walkers and scooters around.

10:30 $866 - A Kid raised $20 UTG. Mid guy called. I was the next player with KQc, and 3-Bet to $60. Only the Kid called. The Flop was T 9 4. He checked, and I bet four Green chips with my Gutshot and Two Overs. He though for a bit, folded his hand, and asked if it was JJ or QQ. I told him QQ, which was half right since I had one Queen in my hand.

11:00 $1090 - UTG raised to $15. Almost everyone called. I'm the SB with AQo, and 3-Bet to $80. It folded all the way to the Button, who called. He's an older gentleman who's playing like one. Flop was Jh 9h 6c. I bet $110. He snap called, and only had about $100 behind. No doubt that he has a J. Turn [Jh 9h 6c] As. I give a quiet thanks to the Poker Gods, and bet enough to put him All-In. Before I finish putting the chips in the pot, he quickly threw his cards into the muck.

11:40 $1164 - It folded around to the Hyjack who limped. The Cutoff also limped. I'm the Button with QQ, and made my standard raise of $15. The Hyjack thought for a moment, and check-raised to $80. The Cutoff folded, and it didn't take me long grab eight Green chips to 4-Bet to $215. The Hyjack is a Kid who has been at the table for the whole session. He's very no-nonsense, and would not have limped in the Hyjack with a premium hand. He goes into deep thought for almost a minute before folding.

Two other hands were me raising with QTo, and I got one caller. I fired a C-Bet on the A-Flop, but he called. It got checked down, and I ended up hitting a backdoor 4-Card Flush.

In the very last hand or the session, there was a Button Straddle, and I limped UTG with AKo. Mid player raised to $40, and I was one of two players who called. I flopped a Broadway Draw and checked. Mid bet $85, and I decided this just wasn't a fight worth fighting.

I cashed out with $464 profit, and went back to my room to finish this entry. Next is lunch, and then I will play in the Rio's $235 Deepstack at 2pm. Hopefully, I will make it to the Dinner Break in that one.

EDIT: 2pm - The Seniors Event today has almost 3800 entrants, and sign-ups are still open. The WSOP had shut down all satellites and some Cash games just to try and get enough tables. My 2pm tourney has been moved to 4pm, but I think it will be later than that. They still have previous Events to restart, plus Seniors would rather fold down to 2 Big Blinds than going All-In with a "junk hand".

I'm gonna try to cancel my entry. There are a few Poker Buddies here from Cleveland, so I may see what they're doing.

WSOP $1500 - End Of Level 6 (100/200/25)

The Timer says 2500 players. Well, my new table has plenty of Internet Kids, but the cards have improved. I knocked out a shortstack with my A6c vs 33 for 1250. I also won a decent pot with KK, and got above 9000 chips when this hand happened in the 100/200 level.

Kid raised to 450 from UTG. Kid in Mid called. Kid on the Button called. I'm the SB, look down at Ah Ac, and 3-Bet to 1550. UTG thinks for a bit, and moved All-In for 7600. Mid and Button fold. UTG has Kh Kd. Flop was Td 7d 3d, giving him the Flush Draw. The Turn was 5c, but the River was 9d giving him the 4-Card Flush.

Very next hand, only one player limped in. I'm the Button with 22, and ship it in for 1375. The Blinds folded. The only limper was a 50's gentleman who has a little over 3000. It doesn't take him long to call with 77. (Of course, why did he limp with 77 in the first place?) As you can probably assume, I didn't get lucky, and I finished somewhere around 1800th place.

Maybe one of these days, I can make it to the Dinner Break.