Pics from my 2013 WSOP Main Event Experience

Here are a bunch of the pics I took during my 2013 WSOP Main Event.    For those who want a more detailed play-by-play of my experience including many hands and strategy thoughts, check out my All Vegas Poker blog ->   http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9638&start=900#p247770

I sat next to Barry Greenstein all day (13 hours) on Day 1

I was one table over from Johnny Chan at the beginning of Day 3

I snuck in and partially photobombed Johnny in this ESPN clip

Annette_15

Phil Hellmuth and Jen Harman

Benton Blakeman

Broke Living JRB

Chuck, Scott and I

Doyle was a table over late on Day 3 (talon_chick in foreground)

Ike Haxton at beginning of Day 4

Right before my demise on Day 4, sitting next to Mad Marvin.

John, Jess, Patsy and I at the Mirage

Scott, John, Liezl, Jess, Patsy and I

Late on Day 3...

Moneypants John!!

Patsy with some random birthday boy at Ping Pang Pong

Top of the world.... Voodoo Lounge!

Scott Davies!!

Toolbox Doug Lee!

John and I

Patron Shots at Voodoo Lounge

I busted AhKh << JJ all in preflop for about a 40BB pot

My AVPblog of the Main Event - I cashed in 538th place

Here is a link to my blog detailing my entire Main Event experience.  I had such a great time!

http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9638&start=900#p247770

Links to main event package and my main blog at allvegaspoker

My online blog at AllvegasPoker -> 

http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9638

My Main Event package ->  

http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=20649

Finally Experienced some full length online MTTs

Oh yeah... I was supposed to post the good news. Well the good news is a little bit of a stretch

I got to play normal length online MTTs for a whole weekend. My wife had knee surgery so we shipped the kids out to keep them from getting in the way and being bored. Anyways since I had no kid duties I was easily able to take care of her while playing. The cool part is that Maximus was in full swing on merge so I got to play plenty of high buyin tourneys.

I did pretty well early on running deep In a lot of the lower buyins ($33-$109). Going into Sunday I was up over $1K. I gave a lot back though as I took a shot at the $525 and $215 main events and failed. I went down swinging short of the bubble though as I got caught in both events pulling a coupe semi-bluffs that ran into big hands and didn't draw out. I ended up winning about $500 or so overall for the weekend

The good news is I felt extremely comfortable playing at the highest stake MTTs. Normally I can't swing 6-7 hour sessions so I'm stuck playing turbo MTTs at best and they don't run higher than $60. Also the blinds escalate fast so there's only marginal wiggle room after the first hour.

I really felt that I was better than most of the field. Afterwards, I reviewed a bunch of key hands and felt good about them. I found a lot of good spots to 3bet and apply pressure and didn't get myself into trouble too much. Most of my reads seemed right too..

Unfort I didn't hit any big scores but i put myself in position late for it to occur. A couple more flips or suckouts here and there woulda helped but I had some good runs at the scattered $20-$40K first place prizes.

Bottom line is this: It was fun, I felt comfy and it was good practice for the upcoming wsop

With SNGs dying my next move will prob be to mix in more turbo MTTs. I doubt they will be as profitable since they do not run enough but ill still get to play the game I enjoy and make some $$ at the same time. Ill need to experiment with playing several sites at once (and hope my laptop doesn't crash in the process)

After the main event I prob will refocus my time to play SNGs on Bovada unless Merge corrects the mess they've made. Regardless I will follow the volume and/or money where it leads me

Sorry if the good news is anticlimactic. Gotta keep it positive somehow as US online poker dries up more and more

Merge SNGs are dead :(

good and bad news poker-wise...

first, the bad news...

SNGs on Merge network are dead as of May 1st. For those who don't know, Merge Network is a combination of poker sites (skins) that share the same software and player base. Carbon and Aced are owned by Merge itself. Sportsbook, Players Only and some smaller skins are owned by Jazette. Carbon and Aced have better rakeback deals and thus are frequented more by regs/better players. The other skins have sports books which historically means fishier players who bet sports and then go play poker for fun (often to win their money back). Yes, I'm generalizing and some of this is my speculation as to the player base...

anyways, On May 1st, Jazette decided to segregate their player base from the other skins. my educated guess and some rumors say this is to keep their weaker player base from losing poker money to the better players on Aced/Carbon. Supposedly, each month the skins have to true-up with each other and pay the difference in winnings amongst players. So if the Jazette skins historically are owing money to Carbon/Aced then money is trickling off their site which could instead stay on the site and be spent on sportsbooks or generating more rake in existing poker games. That is my theory at least...

the net effect is the segregation of these players has killed the SNG volume. SNGs need players to take off. Before BCP and Lock split off Merge I used to be able to play $50 DoNs consistently with $100 DoNs occasionally running. After they left $50 DoNs would occasionally run but I could still get in about 15-20 minimum $20 DoNs at night while multitabling.

This had already started to trickle down in February when Merge lowered their rakeback deals causing some SNG regs (like myself ) to play other games or other sites. Now, this is the final straw. The player base has been segmented so now is hard to even get one let alone 20 $20 DoNs going. Even the $10 DoNs (which I almost never have to play) aren't running.

Basically, SNGs are dead on Merge until something changes.

Now the good news... <continued tomorrow night>

PS. MTTs are not segregated... just cash games and SNGs

WSOP Main Event Staking Package has been posted - get a piece while you can

I just finished posting my staking package on allvegaspoker.com

I decided to put it there first because I have a strong sense of loyalty to the site and wanted to give members a chance to buy a piece.   I will eventually move it to 2+2 if it doesn't sell out quickly enough.   I have a  good amount of work-related and non-poker friends who will probably buy action so I'm actually hoping I don't even need to move it to 2+2.  we'll see...

anyways, I am excited and feel like I'm well prepared to take a deep run in the tourney.

Here is a link to my staking package if interested...

http://www.allvegaspoker.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=20649

Good Results so far with turbo MTTS (small sample)

Since January, I've been mixing in turbo MTTs to help me prepare for the main event in July.   I can only swing 2-3 hour sessions due to work and family and only at  nights 3-4 days a week tops.   Not many $11+ turbo MTTs run at night so I've only been able to mix in maybe 2-3 at a time when I play (the $5s just aren't worth my time despite how soft they are).  

To keep the volume rolling I'm stacking all the $20 and up DoNs that run and also starting to mix in any $20 and up 9 mans that run.   Volume keeps declining on Merge so I'm struggling some nights just to get 10 tables going hence I've started to add the 9mans (I played this a lot pre BF).  However, mixing these different types together I prob can't play more than 15 at a time anyways.

So far results have been pretty solid.  I've played a little over 150 with a solid ROI of 84%.   I suspect this ROI is unsustainable and too high so I'll enjoy it for now.  

I've also been doing fine in the DoNs that I've mixed at the same time.   It helps keep the extra cash flowing especially since Merge modified their rakeback returns in February (effectively scooping prob $10 an hour off my profits).  

So I'll keep playing anyways... stay tuned for a post about my pending WSOP Main Event journey.  I'll be playing Day 2 and staying at the Rio!

Here's a graph of my turbo MTTs and DoNs this year (rakeback included on DoNs)

Vook Luckboxes another online MTT for a "big" score

ok.   I still owe a trip report for my Vegas visit but I have other important news to share first...
I am going to play in the Main Event.   I have already talked it over with my wife and she agrees to go for it.   I will probably get a solid staking package going in about 2-3 months for anybody who is interested.   I also plan on starting a thread here to discuss my planning and strategy.   All comments will be welcome.  

So one of the things I wanted to do to prepare was to start mixing in some online MTTs (I usually only play 1 table SNGs since it's hard for me to play longer 3 hours at a time).   So I don't have the time for normal speed tourneys.   Instead I decided to start playing turbo speed MTTs while I stack the profitable DoNs in the corner.    Well.. I am off to a good start.

The night after returning from Vegas I took first out of 492 in the $11 Merge $2.5K Guarantee.  I wrote about that in my last blog update->   http://vookenmeister.blogspot.com/2013/01/won-my-first-large-field-mtt-1k.html

Then tonight I played a couple more MTTs while I was grinding DoNS.   After busting out of the $33 Merge nightly turbo MTT, I decided to late reg for the $60 mtt that was already running.   Well,  I ended up winning that also for a nice score of a little over $1500 profit.

I got much luckier in this event as halfway thru I tripled up when my A2 > A9.    I also managed to crack Aces three handed at the final table after getting my money in behind (would've meant 3rd place and only $600).

Here is a pic of the winning tourney lobby...   Probably won't sleep much tonight!!!   Still excited since I don't play these tourneys very often.

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz171/vookenmeister/bigscore_zps30358dc9.jpg

Won my first large field MTT ($1K)

Yippee!   I took down my first large field MTT (472 runners) Tuesday night (one night after returning from Vegas).  It was an $11 merge turbo shove fest, first place was $1K.

Obviously, I had a good run of luck, but I also feel I played well.   I only got all in behind and called once.  There were many other hands that didn't hold but I had chips to cover.
I also was lucky enough to have AA dealt to me twice at the final table (and got action each time).

Here are some pivotal hands from the tourney.

Hand 1,
THis was 9 handed.   Folded to me on the button and I standard shove with 65s > QT.   Winning this 40/60 was a difference of $900

http://www.pokerhand.org/?6521951

Hand 2.
Now we are heads up and I'm trailing almost 2 to 1 in chips. I had been raising almost every button.  he was usually folding.

I hit low pair, ace kicker on flop.  I actually decide to check because I don't want to get raised and bet off the hand.  I'm actually waiting to see what he does on the turn.
Turn is a very safe four.  He leads 2/3 pot on a double flush board.  It just seems like this misses his range a ton.    He might have a flush draw but unlikely this board makes him a monster.  I'm down 2 to 1 in chips anyways so decide to shove over expecting to be ahead most of the time and even get a fold from some 2nd pairs when I am not.   No clue what he had but he folded.  Interesting hand... it worked out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?6521952
Last hand.   My new favorite had of 83o   He was playing so tight that with 11 effective BBs, I went for a button steal again despite my cards.  He called OOP which allows me to narrow his hand to not include pairs.   

I lead out and stack off on an 833 board when i hit top pair, no kicker.   The only hands that beat me here are A8,K8,Q8,98, A3, maybe K3.

He played this hand poorly (as opposed to my playing it well).
pS. obviously he was too tight since he didn't ship it preflop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?6521955

Very happy with the big score as the turbo MTTs go so fast that you need a good amount of luck.

I'll recap the Vegas trip later!

Vegas Trip this weekend - a Drinking Trip

It's Vegas time!   my flight leaves in the morning.    I arrive at about 11am Friday local time.   I fly back Monday around lunch time.   Lots of things planned for the trip.   A couple of my good friends from an online skype strategy group are meeting me there plus I'll be meeting up with some other AVP friends throughout the weekend.   It's going to be a packed weekend with lots of drinking and poker and next thing I know it will be time to fly back.   Good times!

Tentative plans:
- arrive, check in and meet friends at Bally's cash game
- Friday 2pm Treasure Island tourney.  looking forward to meeting Troy there.
- Friday 7pm Aria tourney
- Friday night debauchery somewhere late, probably Hard Rock
- Saturday afternoon - maybe cash games/ maybe football watch/ maybe both
- Saturday 7pm Mirage tourney, wear green, meet other AVPers that show up (please come on down, Mirage kicks ass!)
- Mirage cash game as folks bust out
- Voodoo lounge sometime after Saturday night with friends (Scott Davies and my online buddies, anyone else?)
Sunday I've left slightly open TBD, probably going to play cash games.