The Flaming-O Streak ($100,000 Invitational) Day 1

The Harrahs $100,000 Invitational Poker Tournament in Las Vegas was a tournament full of excitement, twists & turns. I always love getting invitations in the mail to Poker Invitationals that are comped. For the most part, these allow me the opportunity to leave town & actually play poker. Normally, I am able to walk away from these invitationals with a deep finish & some cash. The skill levels at these invitationals range from complete newbies to everyday grinders.

First twist is upon registering, I find out that the tournament venue is The Flamingo & not Harrahs. Uh-oh, I've never ever won anything at The Flamingo or (Flaming-O) on slots, table games, poker, nada, zilch, period in all my travels to Vegas. It has been along time since I set foot in The Flamingo. To complicate matters, I played some Mississippi Stud at The Flamingo on my 1st day of the trip & didn't fare so well. I almost always do terrible on the 1st day of a trip & after I bust out of a tournament, hmmm.

My buddy Jay, who won the last invite by Harrah's is here for his vacation & to watch me play. Day 1 of tournament begins & I feel like Brett Favre in a Vikings Uniform walking onto Lambeau Field. The Flamingo is a casino that I just have not done well. Day 1 Starting chip stack of 1,500. Top 20% of field advances. Below are highlights from Day 1 play, 2,100 players:

Level 1 (25/50)-In hand 3 of the day, I call from small blind with 5,9x & big blind checks. Flop is 9,2,5 with 2 diamonds. I bet 125 on the flop & bb calls. The turn is a 3 & I bet 200. Once again, bb calls. River is a J, I check & bb bets 600. I go into the tank & fold. The bb goes on a tear & becomes the table leader early. I end the level with 1,075.

Level 2 (50/100/25ante) - No face cards during this level for me. Got pocket 3s, 4s a few times but the action was raised before me. At one point I was down to 325 & feel the walls closing in on me. Jay watches on & I go chat a few minutes to clear my head.

Level 3 (100/200/50ante)- Mid level I pick up A3 suited in button position & limp with 4 callers. I start the hand with 850 in chips. Flop is A,9,6x. Everyone checks including me. WTF am I thinking? I'm looking to accumulate chips with a dangerous move. The turn is a 2. I go all-in for 650 & am called by the chipleader that I tangled with in Level 1. She turns over pocket 4s & my stack grows to 1875. I end the level with 1,200.

Level 4 (200/400/75ante) More than 60% of totals field is gone, I can see the finish line to Day 2 nearing. The blinds & antes numb me down to 550 but I pick up 5,6 hearts in bb position & flop a full house with 3 players in the pot. I check the flop, turn & finally on the river I put my last 300 in & am called by button position & win a pot of 1,475.

Level 5 (300/600/200ante) Over 75 % of field eliminated, top 20% advance. My survival game plan is working as experience is kicking in. Most players shove with any face, but I hold on & wait for position. My table image is tight & I will be changing gears from tight to aggro. Players that were chip leaders early on have been eliminated. The aggressive blind structure, varied level of player skill sets makes for an interesting tournament pace. We are down to 4 players at my table, I eliminate a player with 3,5 suite in sb position & make this a tighter race. I end the Level with 2,250 & chip stack is growing. A crowd of 40 gathers around our table as the once short-stack (me) is looming large. Floor personnel now guard our table as spectators are inches from us. I love the crowd & pressure as I've never been chip leader at our table but the other two players have.

Level 6 (500/1,000/200ante) The chip leader (seat 5), me (seat 3) & loose player( seat 6) are in a shove battle for the blinds. At the start of the level, seat 6- 14,500; seat 5- 5,100; me 2,250. Now , Seat 5-11,000; Seat 6- 7,000; & me 6,500. I shove every 1.5 orbits to grow my stack but never from the same position & each time my bet is not called. Most of my stack is comprised of green chips (25) lol. Each time I shove, my stack appears larger than the amount seems. jay stands in the background & shoots me a glance "almost there!".

Level 7 (800/1600/300ante) I'm dealt K,10 suited in button position. I just won a huge pot on the last hand & am taking the time to stack my chips & watch the other 2 players from the corner of my eye at the same time. I notice seat 6 (bb) reaching for chips & seat 5 (sb) reaching for his & eyeballing seat 6. I check my stack of 8,800 & realize it's not worth the gamble as I'm certain I will advance to day 2 after this hand. I do the unthinkable & fold. Sb calls, bb min-raises & sb instacalls. The flop is 7,8,4x. The sb checks, bb goes all-in for 3,100 into a pot of over 9k. Sb calls with pocket 9s, bb rolls over open ended straight & flush draws. The river bricks & I advance to hard earned Day 2. I was down to 325 in level 2 & still made it. Chip stacks would be re-set for all players on Day 2. All players advancing to Day 2 are in the money! So, my losing streak for The Flaming-O is over for now. My experience & composure were key in me advancing to Day 2.

Next time see how far I advance at The Harrahs $100,000 Invitational Poker Tournament that's held at The Flamingo or to follow my Vegas/life escapades on twitter . You can also view all of my blog posts since 2007 on Poker Across America (Chewey's Corner).

Caption: Me sizing up the competition at my table!

Stay Cool & Get Paid!
Chewey

2010 Ballys Winterfest Poker - Part 2

Nearly one week has passed since the 2010 Ballys Winterfest Poker concluded. Would the lack of playing in live tournament situations the last 3 months affect my play? Would my past experiences & reading abilities be enough to guide me deep? The answer to both questions ended with a "yes". This invite was a series of (3) 1 day tournaments. The tournament schedule consisted of playing a shootout prelim (top 2 advancing) in the morning & "Finals" regular tournament style in the afternoon-evening with a long break in between the morning & afternoon. I did not like this schedule too much as there was not enough time to rest or do other stuff in between sessions.

In the prelim sessions, you start out with 1,500 in chips, blinds start at 25/50 & increase every 15 minutes. As if that wasn't aggressive enough; antes started in Level 2. This would make for fast play, not alot of deep stack play.

Event 1 Prelims- My highpoint is t-3,825 through Level 3 as I use an aggressive style of play to accumulate chips & engage the shorter stacks in isolation play. Level 4 Blinds 200/400/75 Ante- I'm dealt Pocket 10s on button & raise to 1,100. The small blind fold, big blind calls (t-2,000 after call). Flop is 10,J,2. Big Blind checks, I shove with t-2,100 & have a set of 10s. Big Blind insta-calls w/ A,K & rivers straight. Go figure! Three hands later, I go all-in for t-1,600 w/pocket 5s & called by A,K same guy from three hands ago. Flop is Q,6,Q,. I end up getting counterfeited on the river & his Ace plays. Out in 3rd & time to rebuy. I end up facing this guy again during a later session, weird! I finish 3rd in the rebuy but advance without winning a single hand. I was down to t-400 but survived & advanced based on the rules of a player not being able to have 2 seats in one tournament & there was a big 15-minute Big Suits" discussion but ruled in my favor.

Event 1 Finals- The field is whittled from 850 to 204. You start with 5,000 in chips; blinds start 100/200 & Antes in Level 2. I'm able to win a few small pots to chip up to t-10,100 at end of Level 3. Level 4 Blinds 500/1000/300 antes. I'm dealt A,K spades UTG position & raise to 2,800 & mid position player goes all-in for 4,100. I call & he reveals pocket 9s, the board hits me but he turns a 3rd 9 & I'm down to t-6,000. A few hands later, I'm dealt pocket 10s in mid position & go all in for 4,500 against K,9x. This guy ends up hitting his damn flush on the river. So, the theme of day 1 is I hate pocket 10s & A,K. It didn't matter if I had either hand, I would always lose with these two hands. Deep run but not enough for the money. However, my friend Jay ends up winning the tournament & I'm happy for him. We party like modest rock stars the rest of the night & rest up late for Event 2.

Event 2 Prelims- I advance to the afternoon session based on good short stacked play. Key hands with blinds 100/200/50 antes. I'm dealt 8s in Hi-Jack position & fold because there is a raise & re-reraise before me. Next hand, I'm dealt 2,3 suited & shove all-in with t-550 in chips & am not called. This hand was huge in that I was able to chip up to 1,100 in chips with 5 players left. This move allowed me to use my experience to make the final two as other players were trying to survive. One more key hand develops with blinds 300/600/100 ante. I'm dealt A,K off in button position & in three handed play; top 2 advance. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the small blind lurch forward in seat after peeking at her cards & big blind watching the small blind. Neither player is watching me as I'm short stacked with 2,500. I fold & small blind raises, big blind shoves all-in. Small Blind wins hand deals once chip leader a big blow & I end up advancing on the next hand as the once chip leader is out. i was happy with my play in this session as masterfully managed my short-stack. Key concepts that helped me were observing table pre-flop activity, player range reads.

Event 2 Finals- I make it down to the final 4 tables but am snapped off with pocket 9s by A,8x with running cards to complete their flush. Finished 40th of 1,150. Deep but not deep enough. For those keeping score, Pocket 10s, AK, Pocket 9s all led to my demise during the first 2 events.

Event 3- 10,6 offsuit killed me twice & sent me steaming. How in the world does this stuff happen? It does, & I won't complain anymore. Karma, lady lucky or lack thereof, was definitely not on my side this trip. I could not hit a machine or card if you super glued it to me. Did I have fun this trip? I think you can see the answer for yourself. Nice people do finish ----/ I'm going to start being mean, just caring about me, & get crazy! Just joking, play nice everyone! Good Luck to everyone unless we are in the same hand. In which case, I'll wish you luck after the hand.

Chewey

2010 Ballys Winterfest Poker

After a 4 month hiatus, Chewey's Blog is back. I've been on a world-wide cruise sipping Bloody Marys; looking for the next top supermodel; and just living it up. Just kidding! Actually, during the last 4 months, my focus has been on my poker business projects & not too much in the realm of tournaments or cash games. I know that I will not be playing forever & the shelf-life of a grinder is similar to a pro-athlete; hence business projects. Quick recap of my 2010 WSOP, I did play a few tournaments and was disappointed at myself. I had modest & high expectations but finished below them. I will blog about these expectations in a future blog.

Back to the present. Over the last few months, I have played mainly online at Bodog. Nothing too high-stakesish, just trying to see if I can put with donks at the micro-stakes. Playing at these levels forces me to appreciate the basics of Hold-em. I've also been playing mixed-games such as Stud, Hi-Li, Duece to Seven Draw for my 2011 WSOP campaign.

This won't be a super long blog as I'm literally running out of my room for 2010 Bally's Winterfest Poker Event at The Classic Bally's here in beautiful Las Vegas! Sign me up for an endorsement deal here, lol. The Winterfest is a invitational series of (3) 1-day tournaments in No-Limit Hold'em Poker. The playing schedule is crazy in that I will play in the mornings & have afternoons off but come back to play in the evenings. This reminds me of 2-a days in High School & College Ball. Not my favorite type of schedule but if there's a prize pool, I'm there. Players fields will be large (1,500-3,000), that's my kind of field!

I would like to thank all of my friends, family, on facebook, twitter community for your outpouring of support. Also, thanks to my every day friends for your support as well. With my phone, texts, emails blowing up. Keep it going , I always try to answer my mail, etc. I learned that from the "Prince of Poker" Scotty Nguyen himself this summer. To receive updates, you can subscribe to my blog as well. Below the stat tracker box on left side of my blog page.

Will the 4 month hiatus from the Live Poker Scene affect my play? Lack of training change my playing style? Find out in the next installment of Chewey's/247poker Blog! No big promises here, just my news as it happens!

My table awaits.

Viva Las Vegas!
Chewey

WSOP June 2010 Prep

Time flies when you're playing poker / traveling. Here is a quick wrap of my last trip (April) in Vegas after my 8th Place Finish in WSOP Vegas Circuit Event 12; I went busto early in 2009 NPT Championship @ Golden Nugget. Then ran ultra-terrible in cash games 4/8, 8/16 & 10/20 Limit. I had to evaluate my play, was I doing something different? Was I missing value bets, over-raising too much? Yes & No- it was called fatigue. I did something that I seldom do in my office (Vegas); I took a tourist day doing the Harrah's 24-Hour Buffet Pass & walking from casino to casino admiring the views.

I did 6 Buffets with The 24 Hour Pass & managed not to overdo it with my blood sugar levels success, but I did gain some weight :(. Before the trip was over, I managed to be in the right place at the right time by playing a table game "Mississippi Stud". You put out a bet, get two cards. If you want to continue, you put another bet out up to 3xs your original bet. Get another card, same thing, and a 5th card, same thing. The object is to make a pair of 6sto 10s you push. If at anytime, you makes a pair of jacks or better, triple your bet & you get paid! Basically, you make a 5 card hand & not playing against anyone. Long story short, I was playing $15/hand which euals minimum of $60 if you chase for all 5 of your cards. I played 30 minutes & was up a few hundred. I felt the mojo & increased my bet to $25 & was dealt pocket 6s, could this be the hand? I tripled my other 3 bets ($75) as I was guaranteed to not lose this hand. The next card was a 3. The 4th card a 6 & the 5th card a 6. I made 4 of a kind 6s & no one knew but me. The dealer remarked before turning over my cards "At least you got 2pair." I smiled & said you bet! He turned over and it was 4 6's which paid 40 to 1 = $10,000 windfall, ding, ding, ding! I got paid & made sure to tip the dealer & the pit boss stated "you better hold on to those, quiet man!" I did not celebrate but just smiled. Chewey has left the building! Up for the April trip.

Now for the past month, I've been focusing primarily on my Limit Holdem Game in preparation for my WSOP/LV Campaign. Mainly playing 10/20 Limit & occasionally 4/8. Catching up on poker work & family stuff. June is here & after my long flight complete with the blaring intercom alarm that went on for the entire 3 hour flight, my head is pounding, wonder why?

Here's my tentative schedule of events I plan on playing during Vegas Trip:

Weds, June 9 WSOP Event 18 Limit Hold'em $2,000
Fri, June 11 WSOP Event 23 Limit Hold'em 6 Handed $2,500
Thurs, June 17 Venetian Deep Stack Event 26 Limit Hold'em $340
Sun, June 20 Caesars Mega Stack No Limit Hold'em $330

Cash Games during June 14,16.

There will be a few other events that I may play in but these are the main ones that I plan on playing but my primary focus on this trip is to go deep in the Limit Events & reduce the buy-ins on No Limit Events. I will actually get more value for my buy-ins because you can't go all-in in one hand in Limit. It would be awesome to get a bracelet in an Limit Event & I believe I have an excellent chance. The above adjustment (game selection) coupled with my staying at 4 different places during my stay will keep me from going stagnant & help me to adjust & overcome my surroundings. Eating healthy, having a different diet regimen for WSOP, working out are also keys to success for me. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook for my latest tournament updates & if (when) I make a final table of 2010 WSOP, I'll buy my Twitter or Facebook followers dinner .

#Chewey247poker

Chewey Finishes 8th in 2010 WSOP Circuit Vegas Event 12

The 2010 Campaign is off to an exciting start for me. Thus far in 2010, I am 4 for 4 in making final tables at Limit Hold'em Events & 3 for 4 in finishing in the money. Event 12 of The 2010 WSOP Circuit- Las Vegas proved no different as I finished 8th (this was a Limit Event). It was not the 8th place finish that was memorable but the work & play required in order to get to 8th.

I would need every bit of the starting chip stack of 7,500 to eek out a 8th place finish. The 1st table of the tournament, I was seated with Pro Blair Rodman (B-Rod) & he was a monster the first two levels. He quickly accumulated over 25,000 in chip & was terrorizing the table; me included. I lost a few mid sized pots to him in Level 2 (Limits 100-200) that reduced my stack to 3,400. Mid way through Level 3 , Limits 150-300 from mid position I two-bet to 300 from mid position with pocket 2s & am called by B-Rod in the big blind for 300. Flop brings 9, 8d, 4d,. He bets 150 &I make it 2 bets to go & am called. The turn is 3d, he checks, I bet 300 & he 2bets to 600 & I 3 bet it to 900, he flat calls 900. The river is a 2, giving me bottom set. He bets 300, again I 2bet to 300 & he repops to 600 & I flat the 600. He wants to see my cards but I called his raise & am confident he's beat. He turns over pocket 10s, I turn over my set of 2s & the tyrade of censored bombs begin. I'm now up to 6,250. Rodman looks stunned with the rest of the table & says bets like this is no-limit. The next few hands my stack swells to 10k but this is short lived as my pocket Aces, Kings, Queens get cracked in the this level & my stack is down to 1,800.

In the last hand of the 3rd level right before 1st break, I'm in the big blind (1,800 chips) w/ pocket 5s 7 raised by mid-position player (4,800) who's been tight all day long. I call & see a flop of 10,6,2 & check. He checks as well. I'm thinking at this point he is on a range of a strong Ace such as A,K-A,J non suited based on his play thus far. The turn is a 3- this is where the hand gets interesting. I bet & he 2 bets it to 600, if I call-I'm committed to this hand for my tournament life as I only have 900 left. I call. On the river- the 2 appears, I check, he bets, I 2 bet & he repops & I call my last 300, he turns over- up I guessed it A,K, I turn over pocket 5s & off of tournament life support & have 6,250, whew that was probably the biggest hand for me in this tournament as my chips were on the line & I had to trust my read on the player attempting to steal a pot before the br8. Had I have folded this hand at any point, I would have been crippled beyond return.

The next 5 hours levels were pretty mundane for me as I won 1 hand every orbit & maintained just enough to stay in the field. Things were about to change after my self-imposed dinner break, even though I was short stacked when I took one, Level 6limits 400-800 & upon returning I was moved to a different table that had a player that never showed up to my right & players were taking advantage of that dead money(Mr. Phantom) in play all night long. The next few levels, I would manage to win a few pots & grow my stack to nearly 37,700 off of players attempts to steal the big blind when I was the small blind. The field thinned to 20 players & 9 spots payed.

Level 11 limits 2000-4000, down to 12 players & it was 1am, play was ending once the bubble reached but it was agreed to play on. This is where it got super interesting. Down to 10 players, officially on the bubble, lady in button position offers to table after looking at her cards to get paid $10 from each player for her to go away & for play to resume as play had stalled & it was nearly 4am the next morning. Nearly 20k was up for grabs 7 she was taking 90 dollars to go away after nearly 12 hours of play, really? So, I quickly initiated the process of getting everyone to give her $10 for her to disappear. It only took 10 minutes because of a couple of players thinking what if scenarios, I said 'get her away from the table & we can discuss other chops later" finally it was done but we were not out of the woods yet. Now there was a new problem, she was paid "hush" money to disappear but still had chips in play to the tune of 9,600; there were no antes & at this rate would take at least 2 orbits to blind her out. The chip leader to my immediate right gets into a raising war A,K with the short-stack pocket Qs & chipleader flops top pair. Oh snap! The tourney director suddenly declares Harrahs does not condone chops or deals & I knew this would happen. They said the next person out is the bubble & no money & that 9th place would go to the lady who took the "hush' money, hmmmmm., but the damn lady was gone - how was she to claim the money to give to this 9th place finisher , she was from out of town & no one knew her! I was about to look like the fool of all fools for initiating the hush money & the gravity of the situation was not lost on the entire final table. I calmly reassured the table there's still 1 card to come & thank goodness it's the Q, short stack saved & disaster averted for now.
Not sure if I would have done, had the short stack been eliminated but after the hand I deadpanned to the table, would you like some aspirin, insulin, any other medication that I may have to calm your nerves, let's play!

Finally 4:30am, the "hush" stack is blinded off, 9th place is awarded 4:40am & I am dealt pocket Jacks & run into the chipleader's rivered straight, busto for me in 8th. I'm mad because I realize I worked my tail off to get 8th place & probably one of my best Limit performances to date. It's 5am, time for me to go hit up a machine for 30 mins, then off to bed & get ready for the weekend 2009 Nationwide Poker Tour 100k National Championship (elite field of 170 ish). I'm looking for a deep run, like final table run; even though it's a No-Limit Tournament 1st place is 22k. Anything else for me is unacceptable, I'd give anything to make that final table. I'm lurking in the shadows, flying way under the radar, locked, perched & ready to go!

Until Next Time,
Chewey