EVENT 36 $1500 - Day 1 and Done

12 Noon - Shuffle up and deal - starting chip count: 3000 1 hour blinds
Level 1 - 2400 Players Left
Played pocket 9's twice on the first level and lost both times. Stack sitting at 2400 and next Level 2 blinds 50-100 approaches.
Level 2 - 2100 Players Left
Pocket 2's on the cut off and called for 100. BB raises to 300. I put him on AK and smooth called. Flop: 2 3 5. He bets 700 and I come over him with the set of 2's, he calls and busts out and brings my stack to almost 5K.
Level 3 - 1600 Players Left
Saw us move to the main room beside the ESPN TV table and my stack remained the same until we were moved again. First hand I'm dealt AA and min raise it to 450 and cut off with KK makes it 1450 to go. He has about 3000 left and so I come over him and he calls right away and my AA hold up which brings me to 10K.
Level 4 - 1200 Players Left
Nothing eventful happened other than stealing blinds and picking random hands to raise with in position with my stack being has high as 12000.
Level 5 - 940 Players Left
Utterly card cold. Still feeling strong as the blinds were at 150-300 with 25 ante. Average pre-flop raising is hovering about 950. My stack is slightly shrinking to 9500 but still lots of game.
Level 6 - 650 Players Left
Over 2/3 of the field is gone. My stack sitting just over 8900 and I haven't seen anything. Talking to myself in my head, I am reminding myself there is lots of game left. My cards remain cold. We were roughly 15 minutes away from dinner break. Blinds at 2-400 with 50 antes and I am dealt QQ. I raise to 1000 and player next to me calls but a 3rd raises to 5000. I'm thinking in my head AA and I take a minute to think about what he may have. The re-raise clearly indicated AA or KK. This is the point of the tournament where I've worked hard to build my stack but after being card cold for almost 2 levels the sensibility and maturity to toss the QQ's just went out the window. I call the 5000 and the flop is J-8-6. I'm first to act with 4000 left and I have no choice but to push. He blurbs out something thinking I flopped a set but still calls with AA. I'm very disappointed of course. I shake his hands and I'm done.

Arrived, registered, and ready to go....

We checked in last night at around midnight after picking up our car rental and headed straight to the Rio to register for Event 36. 1350 poeple were registered as of 1:AM so my prediction of 2300-2600 players is right on track.

40 degrees of dry heat and you really feel it. It's weird because I don't perspire as much here as I do back home. But I'm rested and ready. Took in about 6 hours sleep and hearty breakfast and big cup of coffee. I'm feeling great!

WSOP 2008 June 18-22

One year later and another chance of poker glory in one of the events of the 2008 WSOP. Chances are slim to none with relatively small buy in and huge field but it is still worth a shot. Large field tournaments like these are literally like satellites in Day 1 with the actual tournament starting in Day 2 and if you are fortunate enough to survive the countless All-ins and 50/50's then you have more than likely reached Day 3.

I will be heading down with my dad and bro with intentions of spending quality family time with the boys...hahahahahaa. My dad will be playing in some juicy $5-$10 NL side cash games while my brother Russ is still debating on either playing in a satellite Sit N Go for the event or buy directly in, which if he does the latter then he will likely be relegated to find his "lucky" slot machine with the old ladies. (He won 3 jackpots last year playing quarter slots taking home over $7K).

We fly into LAS tomorrow night and will be heading straight to the Rio to register for the $1500 Buy In NLHE Event 36 being held at noon on June 19/08. Judging from the participant numbers from the previous events this year, there could be anywhere from 1500-3000 players. Seeing that this is close to a weekend and the WSOP being in full swing, I expect the number of players to hover around 2300. Serge "The Jesus" Denis has picked up 10% of my action. (He played and fought fiercely in the Razz event last week being short stacked and knocked out with a 6-high hand - a damn good hand in that game).

The weather is expected to average over 40 C degrees during the day and 28 C degrees at night. My approach this year will be much different. I'm going to make it a point to enjoy my stay and take the time to relax and find a pool to lounge and drink when I'm not playing.

Talk to y'all again once I'm registered and settled in.