Thanks for the post Schneids.
I did fly out to Vegas this weekend planning to play in the Bellagio Friday at Five (1000 buy in) and both Ultimate Poker Challenge tournaments.
The Friday at five tournament went pretty well. I felt like I had a horseshoe up my a all weekend. I either made great reads or got very lucky. One hand I was UTG+1, UTG limped, I limped with 55, and next went all in and folded around to me. He raised about 6 BB and ~2/5 of my stack. I thought and called and he had 44 and I began to accumulate chips. I really can't remember very many hands leading up to the final table. I know I was very short stacked, loose cannon raised 4xBB, I went all in for 8xBB with AK, he called with QJ. The flop was QT4, turn T and river K to keep me alive. Next hand I get KT in the sb, and Raise 3x BB. Mel Judah goes all in for 8x BB. I consider that I will still have a playable stack if I lose and call. He has QQ, uhoh. Flop 3 5 6 turn 7, and river K to knock Judah out. This was about the only time I got super lucky in the tournament. I am really not very good at remembering details about hands. At the first break I told myself that I needed to be more confident and that I could win it. I had been running so bad in tournaments that my attitude was very off. I made it to the final table, but only the top 9 got paid. I knocked out number ten and shortly after I got the chip lead. I took a major hit when I went all in with AQs against a min raiser and he called for all his chips with 55, I didn't improve and only had 3 BB. I managed to make my way back up slowly without any huge hands and managed to knock out Minneapolis Jim Meehan in 5th place with 55 vs. A6s. Then all the other players were discussing doing a deal. I really wanted to play it out as the second chip leader had about 93000, I had 95000 and the other two (who I thought were good players) had about 20000 each. I really thought I could outplay then both, but when the TD said I would be taking 23,000+, I decided that I should just take it, rather than risk it trying to win 13k more. Second was supposed to be 20k, so I got more than that.
bellagio results (without deal)
On to the Ultimate Poker Challenge. I started at a table with John Hennigan two to my right and Cyndy Violette on my immediate right. Once again I am really bad at remembering hands, but I can remember ever hand at the final table surprisingly. When the interviewer asked me what were some big hands on day 1 I told him I couldn't remember. John Hennigan was out very quickly. Followed by Cyndy Violette a little later (which sucked, I really didn't mind looking at her, lol). Daniel Negreanu played, but I never sat with him. The play inside 28 players was all 7 handed (which helped considering my SH experience.) I got moved a lot, but with 3 tables left on, Josh Arieh was two to my right, Chad Layne was on the opposite side of the table. I managed to pick off a lot of bluffs. JA limped on the button and I checked in the BB with K2. flop was K46. I bet and JA called. turn was like T, check check, and river was not an ace and I checked and JA bet about 15% of my stack. I called and he threw his 35 in the air. I really caught him bluffing a lot. I called his flop bet with position with 22 and we checked it down and it was good. His final hand I raised with QQ to about 2300? cold call on button and he called. flop was A45 two clubs and he moved in from the BB for about 2600. I didn't put him on an ace and called, CC folded. He had 67c. I was really running well and he wiffed on all his outs. I knocked another player out with K9 vs. KT, but it was really no risk to my stack. I really started bullying people around with 10 left (I was chipleader). I moved over the top when I knew they just wanted to get around me. Gavin Smith was shortstacked on the bubble but managed to get on the TV. I was chipleader with 7 left (10 bonus points) going into the final (ultimate 7). I will leave the final table a surprise, but I am sure I will have to explain myself to all the people who said I was lucky to win. I won 10k, a $5000 cruise and a seat in the semi finals. And a tournament win which will be on nationally syndicated tv. Which is awesome.
UPC
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