Almost Famous?

I just watched the episode of Day 2 of the Main Event. At the very end, Scotty Ngyuen and some other dude are shaking hands. In the background, look directly in between these two and you will see some geek wearing a red shirt and red georgia baseball cap turned around backwards with sunglasses. That's actually me! I'm famous! There's my 15 miliseconds of fame. You have to look really fast to see me in this first video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4955861017281834070&hl=en

This one is in slow motion:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4684761143892536794&hl=en

Ok, who wants my autograph?

2007 WSOP Main Event TV Schedule

Tuesdays, August 21 until October 9 at 8 and 9 p.m. -- $10,000 main event no-limit hold 'em (Event 55)
The camera and mic were at my table several times when Miami John was there. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see how they do the editing. I wish the camera would have been there when I doubled up on him. That would have been great television.

Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks for the posts and phone calls of support for my run at the WSOP.

Vegas Redemption

Yes, I know I'm not in the Main Event any more. But, who says I have to leave Vegas? Before the Main Event I played some 1/2 and 1/3 NL holdem and 2 tournaments. I played mostly at Caesar's and some at Orleans. I lost money on most of my cash sessions and did not cash in both tournaments. I played some Black Jack and won. I lost a little on Pai Gow(that's a fun game). So, I played a $200 buy-in tourney at Caesar's today. There were 213 players and I finished in 8th for $1054. Total Redemption!!! Now, I feel better. I was beginning to worry about my poker skills. I'm leaving Vegas tomorrow on a positive note. I had a great time and hope to be back for WSOP 2008.

More Serinda

One more pic of Serinda Swan. She is the new model for Guess Jeans. She looks great and loves to play poker too! The night before this picture she won $700 playing Chinese Poker.

Another WSOP Hand

This pic is Miami John. I went all in a total of 6 times. Two of those were against pros "Miami" John Cernuto and Max Casal. Blinds were 200-400 ante 50. I picked up A,Q in early position and raised to 1200 total. I had 5600 chips and Max Casal had 80,000. He raised me another 5000, everyone folded around to me. He basically put me all in. I thought he could be making a play so, I took my time to think it through. If I didn't make the call, I have 4000 and change left. Then, I'm in all in mode. I felt like he didn't have a huge hand. Possibly, he has AK, AQ, AJ. Maybe a middle range pocket pair or is he just making a play because he has a huge chip stack? I saw him make a play earlier on the river. He went all in on the river with A,10 against another guy and he had no pair or draw. Also, I thought of how many people have been knocked out of a tournament with AQ. A ton of people. Finally, I think back to how many chips I would have left if I don't make the call. If I double up, I'm back above 10,000 chips. I said, "Screw it, I call." He turns over A,Q and we split the pot. I think I would rather he have a middle pocket pair so I could potentially double up. Two pros tried to knock me out and both were unsuccessful.

I'm Out of the Tournament

We started play at 12pm and I lasted til about 1:00am. 13 hours is not too bad. Here are some of the highlights:
-I picked up some cards early but, everyone was playing so tight that it really didn't help my chip stack very much. We started with $20,000 in chips and I went as high as 23,000. After the first level, I really didn't have great cards the rest of the tournament. When I did pick up cards someone usually had a better hand.
-I made some good laydowns early with strong hands and was complimented by some at the table.
-Kathy Liebert was one table away
-One of the featured tables was right behind me with Scotty Nguyen. I think I heard him say "baby" about a thousand times.
-The third level of play another player was knocked out at my table. Guess who filled the empty seat?........."Miami" John Cernuto. He seemed like a very nice guy. I was short stacked for about 3 hours and I doubled up on him. I'm 2 seats to his left, I have about 5,000 chips the blinds are 300-600 ante 75. He was UTG and raised 3xbb. I pushed with pocket 5s. Everyone else folded. He stared me down for about 10 seconds. That was really cool. Man, was my heart beating fast. He thinks for awhile, calculates the odds, and calls with A,J. His hand didn't improve and I doubled up on Miami John. He said, "nice hand." If anything else from this trip, I'll always remember that hand.
-The last level of the night was 100 ante blinds 400-800 and I have 8100 chips. I only had to make it 2 more hours and I would have made it past Day 1. They split up our table. The is the second hand of my new table. Player to my right in early position raises 4xbb. I look at my cards and see pocket 9s. Here's a great chance to double up. I think it's probably a coin flip so I push in my remaining 8100. Everyone else folds and he calls with A,Q. Flop 2,3,5....good.....turn...........Q. Damn!.....river....8. I'm out!
-I learned alot from the people at my table. Just about everyone at my table were very good. There was another pro at my table but, he said he didn't play many tournaments and not much No Limit. He said he cashed at 2 WSOP events 10th and 25th. His name was Max Casal. He plays mostly cash: Limit $200/$400. Chris said he thought he recognized another player at my table. This was definitely some tough competition.
I'll post some more later. I'm disappointed I didn't get through day 1 but, I'm pleased with my short stack play. I got a compliment from Miami John which was freakin cool.
There are some pictures of me on the World Series website.
www.worldseriesofpoker.com/photostore
Event #55 July 7 Day 1B Table #225

Registration is complete

Everything is set for the WSOP. I have my table and seat assignment. If they keep the tables numbered the same way they have them now, my table is located right by the rail. That's good for the group who came to watch me play. It's funny that I mentioned Shannon Elizabeth in my last post because she walked right in front of me several times when I was at the Amazon Room at the Rio. Other poker celebrities I saw: Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson, Sean Sheikhan, Tony G, Scotty Ngyuen, Marco Traniello, Jeff Lisandro, Isabelle Mercier, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, and some others I can't think of now. I went to a party for the Absolute Poker satellite winners the other night at Nero's Caesar's Palace. It was excellent food and free! I have some pictures with Serinda Swan who is the spokes model for Absolute. She is gorgeous! The other two guys in the picture are two other satellite winners who won $125,000 packages for free buy-ins to the major tournaments.

Vegas or Bust!

Well, 2 days til I leave for Vegas. I called the RIO and they processed my pre-registration paperwork and wire transfer. I play on the 7th. I just recently read that day 1 is now divided into 4 days: 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th. Day 2 will be divided into 2 days: 10th and 11th. I think this is going to be bigger than last year. That's the only reason I can see of why they would make it 4 days for day 1. Alot of people were predicting the Main Event would be around 6000 but, looks like it will be much more. Of course I'm excited about the Main Event but, the cash games are supposed to be really juicy at the very beginning of the Main Event. Have I mentioned I'm playing in the Main Event? I'll update again when I get to Vegas. It sure would be nice to play at the same table as Shannon Elizabeth. Is she married?

Update to the Main Event

I wire transferred my $10,000 to the WSOP for the Main Event. Man, is that alot of money. I could do whatever I wanted with my tournament winnings but, I played the Main Event satellite to play in the Main Event. So, I'm gonna play. There was a minor fiasco trying to wire my money out of the Absolute Poker account but, in the end, everything worked out. In fact, Absolute put $50 into my account for the trouble that was caused. People are just giving me their money!!! Lol. My pre-registration paperwork will take 2 weeks to be processed. Once that's done, it should make it easier to complete the final registration when I arrive in Vegas. Plus, I won't have to bring $10,000 in cash from ATL-LAS. I'm not too comfortable walking around with that kind of money in my pocket. I guess Hellmuth won his 11th bracelet. I'm coming after him!........NOT!!!

I have a good streak going here

My last 10 online tournaments have been good. I've cashed 8 out of the last 10 tournaments:
1/118
1/9
4/9
3/9
1/9
2/9
2/9
10/716
4/9
3/9
It sure would be nice to do that well at the Main Event. Just happy to be going.

I'M IN THE MAIN EVENT BABY!!!!!!!

I still can't believe I'll be playing poker with the best in the world. I went to dinner Friday night with some friends. When I got home, I decided to play some online poker. I've always wanted to play poker at the WSOP(World Series of Poker) but, never tried. The buy-in for the Main Event is $10,000. I wouldn't even think about spending that kind of money on a tournament buy-in. So, I played a WSOP super satellite 9 player single table Sit-n-Go, the buy-in was $13, winner take all. The winner received free entry into the Saturday night Mega Satellite($108 buy-in) for the Main Event. I won the Sit-n-Go so, my next hurdle was the 118 player Mega Satellite. The tourney paid the top 6 places but, I didn't care about 2nd. I told myself before the tournamnet that I was playing to win this thing. I could care less about the $320 2nd place finish. I played tight at the beginning of the tourney, picked up some cards and kept my chip stack at the average tourney chip stack. When there were 20 players left, everyone started to play super tight. So, I thought here's my chance to win this thing. I began raising about 30% of the time. I relied heavily on my notes, the pokertrackker software(thanks Brian), and I took advantage of the weak players and stayed away from the other big stacks. At the final table, I was slightly above average chip stack and after 2 people were knocked out, play tightened up even more. So, naturally I became more aggressive. There was one guy at the table that was pissed because of my aggression and he says, "someone call this guy!" Of course, he never did. Basically, I ran over the rest of the players to win. Victory!!........sweet. Man, I just turned $13 into $11,000. Wow!

Absolute poker should be in contact with me in the next few days and I should have more details. It's odd to see so much money in my account. I heard that the poker websites aren't allowed to buy seats any more to the WSOP so, if you win, the website will give you the money and it's up to you to take care of the registration.

The Main Event begins July 6th and ends July 17th. The first round is on the 6th, 7th and 8th so, I'll be playing on one of those three days. It will be televised on ESPN a few months after the tournament ends. There will be around 9,000 people playing and the chances of me getting on TV are slim. But, you never know.
I'll be updating this as I learn more information about the tournament and I'll of course update for as long as I'm in the tournament. Wish me Luck!