On the board

I want to start out by stating that although I can not promise proper grammar, I do promise to update this thing more while I am out in Las Vegas. If my P's and Q's aren't in order, please forgive me.

As I stated earlier, since our last post, we are now on the board so to speak. In this past 10 days or so, I have actually cashed in a few events at the WSOP. This is the second summer of the seven that I will cash for at least 3 events and that is very exciting. I was also able to do this in consecutive events so that is special in its own right to me. It is just great to finally get something going after such a slow start.

But on to the bigger and better things about the summer so far. My roommate and very close friend, Ronnie Bardah won his first bracelet at WSOP. He accomplished this feat in the $2500 6max limit holdem event, where he beat longtime grinder, Marco Johnson. Marco is also a good guy and played great to get heads up with Ronnie. Mr. Bardah just ran extremely hot and played his big hands for max value and that was that. Great job Brockton Broth, nice face!

Another friend of mine that won a bracelet today in fact is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Grinder won his 3rd bracelet in 3 years which is not even real. There is no player in poker that has been more productive in the past few years out here than Michael. I made a bet 6 years ago after the 50k began, that a player under the age of 30 would win this event within 5 years. Grinder has won this event twice along with another bracelet before he will turn 32, absolutely amazing! Way to become a legend and folk hero buddy.

Next event that I plan to play is going to be the "team no limit" tourney at the Rio on saturday at 10am. I am playing with my buddy Jeff Fogel and it should be a lot of fun. If we are unable to make a deep run I will register the $1500 nlh that starts at 12pm and I can get in till around 4:20pm, talk about a magical time. There are a few more events before the WSOP Main that I plan on grinding and making a deep run in. Trying to keep it positive, since this summer has about 2 more weeks of action in it and like I have said before, I don't plan on taking a moment for granted.

Off to sleep I go now. I promise to keep this thing updated sooner than later. I saw the movie "Ted" tonight and it was really funny. A few jokes went a little too far but it was a comedy that was a little different from the norm so I enjoyed it overall. Thanks for giving this pile of poor grammar another look, you must be bored!

SK

#4

Decided to call this one #4 because it is my fourth post to this blog. The other reason I decided on the title is because about 6 days ago, when I originally planed to post, my roommate Chris Bolek had already cashed for his 4th time out here in Vegas. Well I am obviously a procrastinator like 90% of the poker community and since I have been so slack with this, Chris actually now has 6(SIX) cashes. As you can imagine, this feat is completely outstanding. I am so happy for him even though I am actually 0-12 at the current moment, hopefully I can get something going in the $1500 WSOP tomorrow and actually have an accomplishment of my own to write about.

I guess it's not too bad out here in the desert for me. Although, since my last post, I have actually had some chips in another $1500 and $1000 WSOP respectively. When I say chips, I dont mean 10 big blinds but actual stacks of 25-45K in each of these events. If you are familiar with my style of play(stone nit) this probably surprises you that I have not converted these stacks to at least one cash. I guess that is the way it goes and I am humbly 0-12 like I have stated earlier.

There is other good news and also some bad. The good news is that my girlfriend and some of my most interesting friends and have come to town. One of my friends that have arrived is my buddy Jeff Fogel, who I have known about 20 years now. This is the first time he has been here for WSOP since 2006, many things have changed and he is taking it all in. The bad news, unfortunately, is that I have caught this nasty flu bug that is going around. This thing has attacked many poker players, including my roommate from Florida, the colorful, Ronnie Bardah. Pretty random that both of us are really sick with same flu, considering we havent even bumped into each other and shaken hands, WOW.

Try not to feel too bad for me, I usually complain plenty, and being sick with this bug takes that up quite a notch. I am so lucky to have my girlfriend here with me until friday and she has taken the best care of me. Without her I would be laying face down in the desert somewhere with the buzzards picking at my liver.

In closing, I would like to once again congratulate my roommate, Chris Bolek on his amazing start to this WSOP. It would not surprise me one bit if he catches up to me in lifetime cashes this summer alone; for now Chris is 4 in this summer and has 7 total cashes lifetime. I am willing to bet my last food comp that he is not done yet. It is always awesome to see hard work and preparation pay off, as CB has worked harder on his game than anyone I know. I also want to congratulate Matt Waxman on his final table in the 10K H.O.R.S.E. event. Matt late-regged this event and was selling action on Twitter at the last moment. Many of his friends made jokes that they would buy at .8, which is less than even markup, which I am sure highly motivated him to make the amazing run he did. This final table included Phil Ivey, Helmuth, John Monnette, and David Baker to name a few elite players. Although Matt finished 7th, in my personal opinion, I was equally, if not more proud of that final table than I was for his win in Paris for around $800K. Matt played amazing and I am sure this will not be his last final table at WSOP, especially in mixed games.

That should close this thing out, as I feel like a death sandwich and just tired of rambling ungrammatical nonsense. I will try to update this thing sooner than later, until then, thanks for giving it a look, you must be bored. :)

SK

Less is More..

Decided to call this one 'Less is More' because I am pretty sure I have been rambling a bunch. Anyways, since my last post, the $1500 shootout was no good. I raise called A10cc from the cutoff and the guy had me beat with AQoff. The hand held and I got my last in with J7cc against A3off and was out. On to the next one.

On Thursday I played the $1500 6max no limit event. I got off to a great start and had my initial 4500 up to about 10,500. But this is 6max and really volatile at all times so got back down to 5k in no time. Eventually I was moved to my second table, found some momentum, and wound up getting my stack up to around 20-25k. I would peak at about 64k after dinner, but after I lost 4 pots containing (14-30)K I found myself working ~32K @500-1000. Two away from the money, I was dealt 22(2nd favorite hand of SK) and after a middle position open to t2100 and a call from the small blind, I decided to see a flop of KK2cc. This checked thru until we saw the 7s where the small blind checked, I lead for 4600, all the money got in and the middle opener had K2dd. Great to be drawing stone dead on the flop and after 6 events I have lost twice full house to better full house.

I decided to take Friday off and play continued on Saturday where I participated in the $1500 no limit at the Rio. This one was pretty uneventful as I was out at (100-200) 25 ante where my QQ was out flopped by AKss. We all know how that goes. :)

Tried to keep this post filled with updates/hand histories from the past three events. I am playing the first $1000 no limit event at the WSOP today. This one has about 2600 in it so far and should be a nice prize for first place.

I will try to update this blog as often as possible. As for now, thank you for giving it a look and hopefully I will have some good news soon!

SK

Really? This is what Poker has come to in 2012?

Where do I start? I played my second bracelet event of this WSOP, a multi entry $1500 No-Limit Hold’em event that began on Saturday. I ended up getting knocked out on the 5th dealt hand. In this hand I defended 76dd from small blind, positive the BB was coming along... and they did. The flop came Qc7s4h and I check-called flop; turn was a 7c where I check-called too; river was 4d. My opponent bet almost half my stack, so I check-shoved all in. At this point, my opponent looked at me, shook his head, waited a good 10 seconds before he offered, "If you have quads your good". He then flipped them over and showed me pocket Queens for "Queens full!!!" What is wrong with these guys? They tank on the river with top full house and give a speech? In my opinion, this is insanity.

Anyways, I obviously entered day 1-b on Sunday, and needless to say, it was full of drama. I didn't play too big a part in this soap opera after I was eliminated at 100-200 no ante. My opponent opened from EP for 400, so I made it 1075 with AKss (with intentions of not finding many folds). Along comes a Ah7h2h flop, so we both find a way to get it All-In. He showed the old Q9hh for the flopped flush!! At least I didn't get in dead, but now I'm out again.

3rd re-buy for the event WSOP??? Of course. Which leads me to the drama....

A little backstory: To my left for day 1-b was my buddy, Will "the thrill" Failla. Will is a colorful gentleman from NYC, with heaps of success in the poker world, kicking extra-ass over the last twelve months or so. He won a WPT (BIKE LA) and I am pretty sure he hasn't finished worse than 6th in the last 6 months of play. Anyhow, it seems by the way of the "Twitter police", Will entered day 1-b twice in the same day!!! This is un-kosher; you can enter twice like I did, but only once each day, 1a and 1b respectively. OMG, the ethics board jumped in because of the cheating implications, and needless to say poker people were pissed. Will apologized over twitter, and many savvy followers responded with one simple word, "call" (hinting that he was full of shit)!

I don't have much to say about this, but if Will knew same-day double entry was illegal, then he was clearly in the wrong, If he was obtuse and honestly believed he could re-enter, then my biggest beef that he's a moron. Will is a "face" -- and a really loud and colorful one at that-- so he'd never "get away" with sneaking back into a tourney considering that when he busts, all his haters remember the hand and he'll stick out like herpes on the next break, day of mtt, etc..

My biggest issue is the "Twitter Policia" is comprised of a lot of the "cool kids" from the high-school culture of poker. I have heard many of these guys and girls -- ok, just guys; lets leave the ladies out of this (Ron Burgundy voice) -- call out the prospective cheaters many times before. In this instance they were all complaining about how bad the WSOP is run, etc., etc., and that Will clearly knew he was cheating, blah blah. Not for nothing, but these guys are constantly crying and drawing that definitive "line in the sand" (Walter Sobchak) over things like ghosting (multi accounting) in the past, but then 6 months later I see them tweeting "At dinner with so and so and his gf"!! If your gonna call someone out on Twitter, stick to it! If your gonna forgive someone in less than 6 months to a year then you guys better give Will "the Thrill" Failla the same benefit of the doubt over time. The complaints on twitter have ceased a bit in past few days, but I suggested that players upset about the way WSOP is run, they should all sit out of a standard small buy-in event such as a $1000 or $1500 NLH event. This was met by a huge LOL by my peer, Jason Mercier.

On the lite-brite side of things, my good friend Barry Hutter made a deep run in this reentry no-limit from above. Barry's been on a tear lately, playing at a high level. His run ended when he lost a 3 way all-in between Josh Duhamel who had 22, Brian Rast who held AQ; Barry's 1010 couldn't hold like steel. Brian won that pot and is now at the final table today with one of my favorite poker females, Amanda Musumeci. Amanda is an awesome poker player and an extremely hard worker as this shows as she has qualified for the WSOP national championship held this July 4th i believe. She may be going for her second bracelet in that one, GL Mander!!!

Well that re-entry took a long time to rant about, so back to me. My 3rd tourney was the 1500 Pot-Limit Omaha on Monday. OMG, I enjoyed the crap out of this one this one. I never played any Bracelet events out of the Hold’em discipline, but this one really kept me interested. My Omaha game needs some tweaking, but this mattered little with the considering the cards I was dealt -- all terrible. I actually managed to make it down to about 240 people out of the 960 that entered. 117 runners would cash, but after my KK52DD was out-flopped by AJ98HH, I was on my way to my second "In-N-Out" meal of the day (only thing that fills the void). My good friends Tristan Wade and Adam Adler were both still in this thing with 18 left, but Adam went out and Tristan is at his 4th final table in the past 2 WSOPs -- an amazing accomplishment! GL Tristan, I want to get first tryouts for your entourage!!

I am off to the 1500nl shootout that begins in 20 min or so. After a bowl of frosted mini-wheats I'll have my A-game and hopefully win my first table in this thing. I've hit 3rd or 2nd in the last 3 of these I played in, but unfortunately you money when you win the whole sit-and-go. Wish me luck; I also accept prayers in any form of religion.

In closing, I'd just like to thank my wonderful girlfriend for finally starting this blog for me. I've been asking some of my "boys" to do this for like 2 years, lol. Some of them have started their own blogs during this time, "cough, cough, TWADE"!! Also would like to thank Ryan Smith for proofreading these rants so whoever is reading them doesn't get any dumber looking at this "withered" collection of words. 

Have a better Day!

SK

The first cut is the deepest...

Okay so after years and years of making fun of others that have blogs especially with Daniel Tosh, I have decided to deliver to the masses (5 people + 2 small dogs) my thoughts from day to day.

The primary purpose of this thing I guess is to be able to give updates on poker and the blazay blah. I am currently in Las Vegas for the WSOP. This is actually my 7th WSOP that I have had the good fortune to be a part of, after all you have to be fortunate for people to continuously send you out to the desert with a big bag of money and not put you in a hole when you don't bring it all back at the end.

The first and only event I have played since my arrival was the $1500 Pot Limit Holdem that began on wednesday. I had been looking forward to that one for quite some time, but like many other things with that much anticipation it was over all to quickly. I started at a terrible table full of Langoliers (really good players) where I proceeded not to win one single hand. When that table broke, I got moved to another pretty bad (Larry David VOICE)  table that was a little better than the prior. Daniel Kelly (DJK123) was at this one and I guess it was kind of fun to watch him win every single time he put any money in the pot, free education! I made it to the break and on the very first hand of the 3rd level, I was dealt 99 and drawing stone dead by the time the turn gave us a 7c 3s 2d 4c board as my very arrogant looking opponent showed me the old A5off, well played sir!

I have kind of eased into this WSOP, in past years I probably would have been in 5 MTTs(multi table tournaments that run like 3 days) but this year I have kind of settled in and played more cash and some 1 table tourneys. Since I have been successful in these endeavors so far I will continue to do what I have done so far. I have added some activities to my poker life with this blog and The Poker Action Hotline podcasts that I have been doing in the past month. On wednesday after the failed $1500PLH, I was able to participate in the current podcast where are guests included Bryan Micon and Mariya Mayrinick. It was an excellent show done by our host Dave Lemmon, produced from a laptop and microphone in the Amazon room. I look forward to our next show where I hope to have my buddy Jake Bazeman as a guest, he just got 2nd place in the first $1500NLH for around $400k. He is one of a kind guy from Cincinnati, Ohio that I have traveled many places on the tour with. I also was able to secure Nick Jivkov, the guy who actually won the $1500 Pot Limit Holdem bracelet last night for the tune of around $200k, so that should be an excellent podcast also. I will be posting each podcast in this Blogspot or whatever we will call it.

Well that is a good start I guess. I will do my absolute best to update this thing as much as I can. Gonna head up and shower up for this $1500NLH that begins in a little under an hour. This is a reentry and the first of its kind for the WSOP, many are anticipating it getting a first place of around 1 million dollars. Thanks for giving this group of words a good look, I hope it didn't hurt your eyes to much. :)

SK