Yippy a Cash, R&R until the Main Event

The last couple of days have gone pretty well for me. I began day two of the 3k WSOP triple chance event with just under 15k in chips, with the average being 55k. There were 149 of the starting 854 players remaining with the money coming at 81. I had my good friend Joe McGowan directly to my left, and he was top 3 in chips to start the day. On about the tenth hand we wound up all in against each other each with pocket 9’s. Although he flopped 4 to a flush, we chopped the pot and a few hands later Sandra Naujoks raised in early position and I woke up with AA and after a brief delay moved in for 14k above her 3,300 raise. She went into the tank for a couple of minutes before calling me with KQ off suit. I doubled, which was a great way to start off the day. A little bit later Joe and Sandra played a somewhat interesting hand. Joe who had triple average chips, and had only turned over strong hands to this point in the day, raised in the hi-jack and it was folded around to Sandra in the big blind, who called the 3 BB raise. The flop came 459 all diamonds. Sandra bet about 80% of the pot and Joe called. The turn brought the jack or queen of diamonds and Sandra checked. Joe paused for a couple of seconds and bet about 60% of the pot. Sandra went into the tank for several minutes and then moved all-in for a lot of chips. Joe insta-called and showed A 5, of course the ace was a diamond. Sandra dropped her cards in the muck, the dealer pulled them out and turned them over to show 67 with one diamond, she was drawing dead. The whole table was speechless, and our table was broken.

I never really accumulated any chips but continued to survive through the bubble and with 72 players remaining had A5 suited on the button in an unopened pot. With the blinds 1,500 3,000 and the ante 400, I moved my 19k in chips into the pot. The big blind thought about it for a full 5 minutes and finally called with 10 7. The flop came 10 7 2 and with no miracle coming I was out. Now don’t get me wrong, I wanted to go all the way, but all in all I felt I played well, and went about as far as I could for the situations I was in.

Today I played a cash game at Bellagio and had a decent day. I never won any huge pots, more of a slow and steady small ball day, which was kind of nice. I then met some friends for dinner and now I’m packing to get out of Vegas for the next 5 days.

I will be back Sunday and will be playing the main event on Monday. I am looking forward to 5 days of vacation with my girl and a couple of close friends, although it is entirely possible you will find me playing a little online on Full Tilt.

Having read Daniel Negreanu’s latest blog about redesigning the HORSE event to make it more appealing to the media I have to strongly disagree. Poker tournaments in general, and the WSOP specifically are designed for pure poker competition. If the goal is media coverage then a different approach is needed all together. I want as much TV coverage as possible, but not at the expense of the legitimacy of the events. Let’s not forget that the money for the prize pools comes from the player’s, which is unlike any other sport out there. If the sponsors’ put up the money, then let them dictate the rules, but since it’s our money we need to be the voice and in charge of the direction things go.