I never ran this good in my life..wish they were all this sweeeet!

This is the type of hand that will make or break a run at the final table, drive you crazy

and keep you comin' back for more...

After finishing 2nd on Sunday, it feels great to finally finish in 1st place!

After busting out of my last two tournaments after flopping trips on the flop, I entered a 2 gold chip satellite on Power Poker for entry into the 100,000 GTD on Sunday @ 5pm.

I finished in the top 3 and won a $162.00 entry fee.

This will be the largest buy in of any tournament I've played and my main event for this year.

I'm proud of this finish because I got knocked down with this hand but didn't quit.

It would be nice to see this picture on my laptop late Sunday nite!

I was glad to see Darvin Moon make Joey Cada sweat a few times and put up a fight...7 outs away from the Main Event title.

I love the fact that Darvin didn't sell out and wear a bunch of sponsorship logo's!

My question to my blog readers would be this:

Would you have the guts to bet out on the first hand of HU play with Q-Q on a flop of K-3-2 with an A on the turn and another K on the river? or call with 9-9?

Would you go all-in with 8-7 call with a flop of 10-9-5 with another 10 on the turn, hoping to bluff your oppenent off his hand and possibly hit a straight, with a diffrence of 3 million dollars on the line? and have the guts to call with J-9?

At this stage of my poker playing life, I don't think I could be making any of those plays in front a live audience and t.v. camera's...

Both players earned their money outlasting a field of 6,494 players.

Paranoid Poker Thoughts: Since Darvin didn't take the bait and sell out to the highest bidder, perhaps he had a friend bet the "ranch" on Cada or Poker Stars made him an offer he couldn't refuse to tank the tournament with a hand like 8-7, so another Poker Stars player takes the main event down.

Who knows what goes on behind the scenes in Vegas...

In the long run, having a "working man" long shot like Darvin Moon and a young up and coming online poker pro like Joey Cada play heads up for the title, is going to be very good  business for online poker sites, attracting both demographics of players to log in and chase the dream...

See ya next year...

With all the talk about coaching, percentages, strategy and Phil Ivey, last nite's main event turned into an episode of  "Bad Beat Bully Beat Down"

Here's a list of the beat downs...

1) Akenhead's K-K loses to  Schaffel's A-A

2) Schaffel's A-A loses to Buchman's quad K's

3) Ivey's A-K loses to Moon's A-Q

4) Beglieter's Q-Q loses to Moon's A-Q with an ace on the river

5)Schulman's J-J loses to Cada's trip 3's

6) Buchman's A-Q loses to Saout's A-K

7) Saout's Q-Q loses to Cada's trip 2's

I guess Monday's HU will be anti climatic but it will be interesting if Moon can over come being the short stack...

What were your thought's about last nite's action?

Here's another look at the nine players who make up this year's World Series of Poker final table, by order of ascending chip count:

9. James Akenhead (6,800,000)

Can't help but feel for for Jordan Smith this year's bubble boy, losing with A-A to Darvin Moon's set of 8's...big time "ouch"

“All-in.”

“Call.”

The audience took a collective gasp and rose to their feet. This could be it.

The all-in player, Jordan Smith, got a look at his opponent’s hand —- pocket eights, a set of eights on the flop. He glanced back at his pocket aces with consternation written on his face. The most coveted preflop hand in hold’em was failing him, and the reality was setting in. A tournament pro for years, Smith knew the odds, and they weren’t good. He needed one of two aces left in the deck, a running straight, or a running flush — or he would be eliminated from the World Series of Poker main event in 10th place, the November Nine bubble

“People asked me why I didn’t just shove [preflop], but I don’t have any regrets as far as that goes. I think that on 80 to 90 percent of the flops, if I check, he bets, and he’s going to stack off on a lot of safe flops. If he was just straight set-mining and planning on check-folding, he wasn’t getting the right price, so I’m OK with it.”

*Card Player interview

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/7264-a-poker-life-jordan-smith

Another notable bubble boy...big time double "ouch"

It is July, 2003.

There are 10 players left in the WSOP Main Event. The next player eliminated misses the cut for the final table. Ivey looks down to find pocket 9s in his hand.

A hotshot online qualifier named Chris Moneymaker raises pre-flop. Ivey smooth calls, as does the player to his left. The flop comes Q-6-Q. Moneymaker bets out, but it’s a small, suspicious bet. Phil calls, the player to his left mucks. The turn is a 9 – Ivey makes his boat.

Moneymaker bets out again. Ivey pushes all in. Moneymaker snap calls and flips over A-Q for trips. Ivey shows his 9s and Moneymaker goes pale. Poker is not a game for the faint of heart. Ivey just needs to dodge an Ace, Queen or 6 on the river, and he’ll be in great shape for a run at the World Championship.

The river is an Ace.

http://www.philivey.com/about

You said you was hurting, almost lost your mind,
And the *game you love,  hurts you all the time.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too

Here's two hands from last nite's tournament, were you could feel the pain...In one hand, I delivered a  knockdown blow to the chip leader and one I wasn't involved in, thankfully!

As Cheno Rheem said a last year's WSOP after taking a bad beat, that's o.k. I dished out a couple of bad beats also. You have to be able to take the bad beats, the same way you give them, easier said then done.

This one must still hurt after 4 hours of play and a $400 pay day in site at the final table. Thankfully, I didn't take this hit.

Hand#203966270B003027 - $2,000 GUARANTEED BOUNTY! T6694667 -- Table 37 -- $1,500/$8,000/$16,000 NL Hold'em -- 2009/11/04 - 03:13:32
Seat 1: ITM822 ($66,314 in chips)
Seat 3: Crea***3 ($311,669 in chips) DEALER
Seat 7: fla***7 ($349,688 in chips)
Seat 8: enig***8 ($468,816 in chips)
Seat 9: siua***9 ($261,513 in chips)
ITM822 posts ante of 1,500
Creagh posts ante of 1,500
fla g8tr posts ante of 1,500
enignma posts ante of 1,500
siuann posts ante of 1,500
fla***7: posts small blind 8,000
enig***8: posts big blind 16,000
Dealt to ITM822 [Kc,5d]
siua***9: raises to 63,500
ITM822: folds
Crea***3: folds
fla***7: calls 55,500
enig***8: folds
*** FLOP *** [2h,7c,6c]
fla***7: checks
siua***9: bets 150,500
fla***7: is all in 284688.0000
siua***9: is all in 46013.0000
fla***7: returns uncalled bet 88,175
fla***7: shows [6s 6d]
siua***9: shows [Kd Kh]
*** TURN *** [2c]
*** RIVER *** [3s]
***SHOW DOWN***
fla***7: wins 543,526 with Full House, Sixes  full of Deuces
Tournament: fla***7 wins $2 bounty.

In this hand, I knocked down the chip leader at the time, playing K-10 suited on the button.

Hand#203966270B002820 - $2,000 GUARANTEED BOUNTY! T6694667 -- Table 37 -- $200/$1,000/$2,000 NL Hold'em -- 2009/11/04 - 01:35:45
Seat 1: ITM822 ($48,988 in chips) DEALER
Seat 2: LaVe***2 ($10,943 in chips)
Seat 3: jive***3 ($22,657 in chips)
Seat 4: Aust***4 ($51,021 in chips)
Seat 5: CUDJ***5 ($108,158 in chips)
Seat 6: trym***6 ($28,532 in chips)
Seat 7: fla***7 ($11,020 in chips)
Seat 9: kpin***9 ($20,284 in chips)
Seat 10: fini***10 ($89,446 in chips)
ITM822 posts ante of 200
LaVerneS posts ante of 200
jive1 posts ante of 200
AustinTX65 posts ante of 200
CUDJO posts ante of 200
trymeGdog posts ante of 200
fla g8tr posts ante of 200
kpink29 posts ante of 200
finishu posts ante of 200
LaVe***2: posts small blind 1,000
jive***3: posts big blind 2,000
Dealt to ITM822 [Kh,Th]
Aust***4: folds
CUDJ***5: calls 2,000
trym***6: folds
fla***7: folds
kpin***9: folds
fini***10: folds
ITM822: calls 2,000
LaVe***2: calls 1,000
jive***3: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ts,7d,Ks]
LaVe***2: checks
jive***3: checks
CUDJ***5: bets 9,800
ITM822: is all in 46788.0000
LaVe***2: folds
jive***3: folds
CUDJ***5: calls 36,988
ITM822: shows [Kh Th]
CUDJ***5: shows [Ac Ad]
*** TURN *** [9h]
*** RIVER *** [5d]
***SHOW DOWN***
ITM822: wins 103,376 with Two Pairs, Kings  and Tens 

What goes around, comes around...arrrrrrrr

Hand#203966411D003174 - NEW! $2,000 GUARANTEED! - Turbo 6 max T6701341 -- Table 38 -- $50/$250/$500 NL Hold'em -- 2009/11/04 - 15:19:01
pocket87 posts ante of 50
smegmoid posts ante of 50
ITM822 posts ante of 50
pock***2: posts small blind 250
smeg***4: posts big blind 500
Dealt to ITM822 [Ah,As]
ITM822: raises to 1,000
pock***2: folds
smeg***4: calls 500
*** FLOP *** [9h,5c,8h]
smeg***4: bets 1,000
ITM822: is all in 2000.0000
smeg***4: calls 1,000
smeg***4: shows [8s Ks]
ITM822: shows [Ah As]
*** TURN *** [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [Kc]
***SHOW DOWN***
smeg***4: wins 6,400 with Two Pairs, Kings  and Eights 
ITM822 finished 95 out of 55 players.

After being knocked down playing Fixed Limit and knocked out of several MTT's this afternoon,

I was ready to tap out and give up playing on Power Poker...however posting the bad beats in the forum helped me move on and focus...I'm exhuausted but feel a sense of accomplishment in gutting out my 2nd MTT final table, finishing 4th out of 486!

A-K all-ins holding up 3-4x helped me survive a tough final table with the chip leader immediatley to my left.

Never Give Up!