Day 1 and off to NY City

Day one at Fallsview began with 125 players, keeping in mind there are two more day ones, so there will probably be just under 400 players total. Starting chips were 30,000 which is 10,000 more than last year, and the structure is decent. I had a great starting table and Joe Sebok. He and I seem to be at starting tables more often than chance would dictate. Joe is always fun at the table and today was no exception, especially since there are no electronic devices of any kind permitted, including ipods, and it put him on life tilt. Not to say that he didn't play well, which he did, but instead of being entertained by his ipod, he entertained the table. My table broke 2^nd and my next table was interesting. There were several players who were regulars in the Fallsview cash game that I have played with before and Luke Staudenmaier, who is a solid player. I felt like I played pretty well except I did misplay a hand against Luke. He raised 3 big blinds from the hijack seat, and it's folded around to me in the big blind and I look down at two aces. I re-raise a full pot back at him and he calls rather quickly. The flop comes J 10 7 with two spades. I open with about 60% of the pot and he moves all in. I thought he was not that strong and maybe had a pair and a flush draw. He had me covered by a couple of chips so it really was an all in situation for him. I have seen him over bet the flop with a set in the past and although he looked weak to me I decided folding was the best option. It turned out he had pocket 5's and I was way ahead, but tournaments are about survival, and although I hated folding, I wasn't willing to put my tournament life on the line with one pair. Unfortunately for Luke with 4 hands to go in the day and about 90k in chips, which was almost double average, he flopped bottom set against middle set and doubled up a loose aggressive local player Johnny Mori.

Annette Obrestad came to our table pretty short with 11k in chips. She was playing her short stack well, tight with the occasional all in move, which was never called. With ten minutes to go they draw for the number of remaining hands and Annette was to be the big blind on the last hand. She began saying "guys don't play the last hand because I'm going all in." On the last hand Johnny in the lojack seat who has massive chips having just doubled through Luke raises 3big blinds and on the button I have AJ. Regularly I might fold here but Johnny looked weak and I thought Annette was kidding. Well she wasn't, gave a little speech, and moved all in. Johnny tanked for a good while and folded what he claimed was 89 suited. I took a few moments and felt like the chances of her being a head were small, but I hate coin flips. I had about 39k in chips with the average being around 50k. I called and she showed A 6, and failed to improve. I felt a little bad knocking her out on the last hand of the night, but that's poker and I needed the chips. I ended the day with about 52k.

I am running to NY City today for my little brother's birthday and will be back tomorrow. On the short flight to NY I met Australian singer Delta Goodrem and sat with one of her group, Dale. They were returning from a charity concert and were continuing on a tour which started in January, and I thought I traveled a lot. Delta is an aspiring poker player and was trying to teach her group to play the night before. I hope I can catch up with them perhaps in Australia during the Aussie Millions.

Before leaving I did have a really nice dinner last night with MJ and Hevad Kahn, and I had to throw the party because of the last longer bet I lost from the sit & go. We discussed a bunch of hands, I always like getting alternative view points from players I respect. MJ was really nice and drove me to the Buffalo airport this morning. It is amazing how the boarder agents, both US and Canada, are almost nasty. I understand they are doing their job and protecting us, but come on, being nasty is unnecessary.

For more information on Roy Winston, you can visit his website: www.oraclepoker.net or send him an email. The contents presented herein on this blog are purely the opinions of Roy Winston, and are not intended to reflect or promote the opinions of any other person, group, or entity. If you like what I write than thanks for reading, and if not well, thanks anyway.