PokerNations.com launch, PLO, and more!

Date: Tue, Aug 25, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

As those of you that follow this blog might remember, I am one of the partners over at PokerNations. Anthony Martino has been working SUPER hard on the site, and has let me know that it's now ready to show to my readers. I'm extremely pleased with how the site has turned out so far. If you have a minute, I would like to welcome you to go check it out. If you sign up, be sure to check out my profile and add me as a friend. As always, feel free to give feedback too!

I've been playing A LOT of pot limit omaha lately. I'm just really enjoying the game. Right now, I would consider myself a PLO cash player primarily, so I'll probably start talking about that a lot more in my blog. I kind of wrestled with that decision a bit, as most people who follow me do so because they enjoy my discussion on tournament play. I still play tournaments, and have no intention of quitting them. I play on Sundays and Wednesdays because Sundays are still SUPER soft and not playing then would just be criminal, and Wednesdays my parents watch my kids so I don't feel like I'm 'missing out' on anything when I play that night. I also make special exceptions for FTOPS and WCOOP upcoming. At this point though, while I still LOVE tournaments and plan on continuing to play them both live and online at a high level, I'm really focused on becoming a world class PLO player.

I'm not even close yet. I beat the 1/2 PLO games for a very healthy win rate but I still struggle at times in the 2/4 games. I'm playing way too straightforward right now, mainly because beating the 1/2 and lower games you can simply play solid starting hands hit flops and bet, bet, bet and show a nice profit. I'm going through Jeff Hwang's new book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha, and I'm watching PLO videos on various sites, including PXF. Full disclosure, Jeff Hwang's book is through my publisher, Dimat Publishing. I still think it's a great book, but I always like to disclose when there may be any conflict of interest just to be honest. For now in PLO I'm still really focusing on some of the basics in pre-flop hand selection and post flop play. I see SOOO many mistakes in PLO I know these games are beatable at very high levels, but the swings are massive. In some ways I think the game was built for me because I control tilt perhaps better than any poker player I know and otherwise good poker players can easily tilt in PLO. Anyways, I'll be talking about PLO a lot more in the days/weeks/months to come.

Lastly, there is an August Pro tournament on Lock Poker next Monday, the 31st. This tournament is going to have all the new Lock Poker pros in as bounties. If you knock one out, you will get 1 hour of free training from them. I, unfortunately, will not be able to play due to a prior obligation, but getting coaching from any of these guys can do nothing but improve your game. Don't forget if you download Lock Poker at http://www.lockpoker.com/download/rizen and use bonus code 'rizen' when you sign up, you will get an instant 110% deposit bonus. If you're having troubles depositing feel free to e-mail me at rizen@lockpoker.com and I will help out as best I can. If you already have an account, you can reload using the code 'augustpro' and get a 25% reload bonus. Using either option will get you a free ticket into the August Pro tournament. Otherwise, the tournament is a $10+1 with a standard prize pool. Good luck!

-Rizen

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Ask Rizen

Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I'm a bit late on the 'Ask Rizen' this week obviously (or a bit early I guess, depending on how you look at it). I've been fairly busy with things over at Lock Poker and FTOPS. We also got a new puppy at the house for my kids, and it's been fun, but is taking some time out of my day. I've been managing to hit the gym pretty regularly as well, which has felt nice. I only got a chance to play in 8 of the 25 FTOPS events. I cashed in 2, neither a super significant cash. I collected one pro bounty as well, which made me right around break even for the series. I bubbled both the NLHE and PLO heads up events, which always feels brutal. I really hate losing the first round in a heads up tournament, but at least then it doesn't use up quite as much time! In the 4 other events I never really got anything going. Here are a couple of questions for an abbreviated ask rizen. I'll do a full slate this Friday.

Q: I've been reading and re-reading all the relevant poker books, played 200,000 hands at least and analyzed my play afterwards. Still, I don't seem to advance at all and running break even for a year. I play online at the 25NL-cash and $5 SnG's so it's hard to blame it on bad luck, because the level of play is so low at these stakes.

I tried to figure it out and come to the conclusion I'm fine when I can analyze a hand for a few minutes, but at the tables I feel like I don't have enough time to find out the best play. My brain is just too slow I guess. Do you think there's a way to work on this, or is it only possible to become a good poker player if you're able to make fast and correct decisions?

A: Most people if they tell me they're running break even over that sort of sample size I would tell them to drop down, but I'm not sure how much softer the games are going to get if you drop to 10NL-cash and $2 SnGs. Without knowing more about your play it's hard to say if you're playing poorly or not, but based on your self assessment this could be right. Without knowing how many tables you currently play, I would honestly drop down to a single table and try and stay really focused and make good decisions. I'd slowly add more tables once I was able to play enough hands to get a feel on if my results were improving. I know as I was learning to play going from 1 table to 2 was a tremendous hurdle and going from 2 to 4 seemed nearly impossible at the time.

If you're already playing 1 table and struggling with timing and decisions, I'm not really sure what to say. Live poker obviously would allow you more time to think out your decisions, but if you're needing the full time and time bank to make these decisions one tabling you probably need to do some more work away from the table mastering the concepts so they come a little more automatically at the table.

Q: Generic question about the release of Volume II of the book here.

A: I've gotten probably a dozen of these questions. Quite honestly at this point I don't know. I should have a firm release date in the next few weeks and when I do I'll share. There were some unexpected delays in finishing the second book that I can't really go into here. I think it's going to be a great book and I do share in the disappointment that we haven't been able to get it out sooner. Once I have a firmer release date I promise to let everyone know, but at this point anything I post would be speculation or guesswork. I would be extremely disappointed and surprised if it slipped all the way out of 2009 though and anticipate it to be out well before then.

-Rizen

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Lock Poker Welcomes 7 Pros into the Family. Eric "Rizen" Lynch becomes VP of Product development.

Date: Thu, Aug 6, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

Here is a copy of the press release. I'm very excited to be taking an expanded role at Lock Poker and getting to work with all these great poker players!

ABERDEEN, New Jersey (August 1, 2009) – Seven of the best and most respected players in the poker world have joined Lock Pro. Eric "rizen" Lynch has accepted the position at Lock Poker as VP of Product Development.

The newly announced Lock Pros are: WSOP bracelet winners Jason Young and the legendary Brett ‘Gank’ Jungblut, Mike Leah who is currently ranked 6th in Cardplayer’s POY race, online phenoms Matt ‘AllInat420’ Stout (he also owns a WSOP Circuit Ring), Joe ‘JoeytheB’ Brooks and Kyle ‘kwob20’ Bowker who is the first player to win two WCOOP events in the same year.

"One of the most exciting aspects and driving forces behind me joining Lock Poker was getting an opportunity to have an impact on the business direction of the company. said Eric "rizen" Lynch. Accepting the position of VP of product development will allow me to really create the room for the player. This will give us at Lock Poker some really innovative and unique opportunities that leverage the unique abilities and personalities of these new pros moving forward."

“We are thrilled to welcome this incredible group of players as part of the Lock Poker family,” said Jennifer Larson, sole founder and CEO of Lock Poker. “We will be integrating them into all aspects of the business. These Pro's are the insight we need to really create the best online poker experience worldwide"

All seven players, as well as Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, are clients of Poker Players International, the world’s largest poker agency. PPI founders Eugene Castro and Randall Kasper expressed their enthusiasm with respect to the signings as well as the direction Lock Poker is headed.

“We basically worked together to construct a Pro Program from the ground up. The parameters were fleshed out for Eric and even further for this expansion phase. Lock truly wants to create a partnership with its pro players, and was willing to go beyond traditional industry measures to create a phenomenal package for these guys” remarked PPI’s Agency Leader Randy Kasper. “I think the poker world is going to be blown away by Lock’s plans for these players.”

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Special 'Rizen Time' cash game this Wednesday!

Date: Mon, Aug 3, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

This Wednesday on Lock Poker we will be doing another special event. This time it will be a cash game starting at 9pm ET. There will be two full ring rooms titled 'Rizen's Room I' and 'Rizen's Room II'. One is a .25/.50 game and the other is 1/2. I will be running and recording on both tables. The first person to have aces cracked at each table will win a free 1 hour training session with me.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun and am looking forward to it. If you would like to play and are having troubles signing up or depositing money e-mail me at rizen@lockpoker.com and I will do my best to make sure you get the assistance you need so you can play in the event if you would like.

-Rizen

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Ask Rizen

Date: Fri, Jul 31, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I had a lot of fun at my tournament on Lock Poker. Congrats to the two winners of free coaching! We're going to be doing more things like this in the future. In fact next Wed we'll be doing two tables of full ring no limit cash (one at higher stakes and one at lower stakes) and giving out some free sessions then too. Download Lock Poker and play with me next Wed. More details soon to follow.

Q: I have played poker regularly for about 6 years. I have read all of the major poker books including yours. I have a good grip on the math as well as the strategy and psychology of poker. I have never been able to break through with a Multitable win larger than $2000(Online and Live). I have played at least 1 event in the WSOP each of the past 5 years as well as multiple SnG satellites at the RIO. I do not blow money or have a gambling problem. I play within my bankrolls allowance and never found the money to be an issue. I recently decided that I have been wasting my time with poker. I spent a couple thousand on the first part of the WSOP and other events (Venetian, Binions). I finally cashed in Event #4 which was my first WSOP event cash ever. All that being said I have decided to quit poker. What is your opinion on how much of your life should be poker related? Would you say if you don't LOVE it consistenly then you shouldn't spend your time playing? There are times when poker just tortures you, getting your money in good and losing over and over. Im struggling with my decision to leave poker behind for a new hobby but feel like there is so much more to life than poker.

A: I edited this one a little bit to leave out some personal information. First off, there is A LOT more to life than poker. I play professionally and I wouldn't rank poker as the #1 thing in my life, although it would probably fall in the top 5. For 99% of recreational/hobby poker players out there, the game should primarily be about fun. Ideally if you can at least break even or maybe make a few bucks on your hobby, that's great. At the end of the day though it should be fun. If you're not having fun, you shouldn't play, period. I know this sounds simple, but also re-read your message. You use phrases like 'wasting my time' and 'tortures you'. Obviously if you feel this way then it's not fun, and probably unhealthy. I think at the very least taking a break is probably the right thing for you. Like any other hobby, you can come back at some point in the future if you want.

Imagine your hobby were golf. At first you really get into it, going to the driving range every day, playing 72 holes a weekend. Well after 6 months or so of that, you might start to get frustrated every time you don't hit your tee shot on the fairway, or disgusted every time you make a double bogey. That doesn't mean you should quit golf completely, but it means it's not fun for you and you need to step back and take things a little less seriously. I would say that you should really only play poker if it's enjoyable for you, and when it's not enjoyable and starts having a negative impact on your life you should take a break or stop altogether. I am fortunate enough to still love the game, but I even go through patches where I am frustrated and take a healthy break.

Q: Do you do any personalized instruction? Private lessons, mentoring, tutoring, etc?

A: Yes I do, but right now I almost have more than I can handle. We've been doing some promotions on Lock Poker given away free instruction, but as of right now I'm not really adding any new students. If you want you can e-mail me (rizenpoker@gmail.com) and I'll put you on a waiting list.

Q: I've just started playing the big online tournaments on Sundays (played strictly sit n gos for a long time). I did pretty well early on just playing my game and had a stack around average as the money bubble approached. At this point, the blinds/antes got so high, that it essentially became all in or fold almost every hand. For example, in a 100k guaranteed last Sunday, the blinds were at 500/1000 with antes, and the average stack at the money bubble was around 17k. I would say about 80% of the hands or so someone moved in preflop. Is this the correct play at this point? I tried normal raises to 3k a couple times and someone pushed all in every time and I was forced to fold. I then ended up shortstacked and elminated shortly after. I guess my question is whether this is normal at this time, and I should only play hands I'm willing to play all in preflop? Or if this tournament/my table was abnormal and I should continue to try to play my game at this point in the tournament? I know there is no real cut and dry answer, but if you could provide any insight from your experience it would be greatly appreciated.

A: Well, if the average stack is only 17 big blinds then moving all in pre-flop probably isn't a bad play, but that doesn't mean it's correct. If you are at a table like you describe, where every 3x raise is getting shoved on, then yes. You should only be playing hands you'll be willing to go all in with or moving all in yourself as a steal. But just moving all in in every tournament like this would be a mistake. The table dictates what you can do. If the table is letting you get away with 3x steals, then 3x stealing is a far better plan than open shoving because you'll be able to methodically build a stack with lower risk. If the table is not, then you must get chips other ways, which can include moving all in. You must always be adapting to the way the table is playing and making the appropriate adjustments. In this particular case you describe, you're pretty much going to have to pick spots to move all in and know you're going to play big pots.

-Rizen

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Ask Rizen

Date: Mon, Jul 27, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I'm a few days late on this, but starting next week it will be on Fridays again. I've been taking a much needed post WSOP breather. Been playing a fair amount of PLO cash but taking frequent breaks and spending time with the family when I can. Please feel free to keep sending in questions for 'Ask Rizen'. If I haven't answered yours yet I'm not ignoring you, I have about 20 questions or so in the queue and I usually answer 3 each week, but I try and answer every question I get either here or by private e-mail. Don't forget about the special tournament on Lock Poker Monday at 9pm ET. I will be playing that as well as the two private PXF sub tournaments tomorrow. There are several ways during the Lock Poker tournament to win free one on one coaching with me as well as cash prizes obviously.

Q: Eric, in a tournament late stages MP you have a medium stack and pick up QQ you raise and are reraised by the button. How do you proceed?

A: Like any other poker situation this is largely an 'it depends' situation. That being said it would be VERY rare that I would run across the type of player who I would ever be looking to fold against here. Assuming a medium sized stack is in the 30 big blind range or so, I would get all my chips in the middle pre-flop pretty close to 100% of the time here unless I had a VERY strong read.

Q: In Winning Poker Tournaments...." in hand 77 you reasoned that there was a good chance he had a weak ace yet you still pushed your stack giving him about 3 to 1. The blinds werent tearing him apart and he did fold but how did you know the guy would fold? Whatever you bet, if he called then you lose. Was he tight passive? I dont think I would have folded an ace there having the hand go down the way it did. you an pearljammer have very different approaches yet they both work. help me understand your cognitive process here. books great so far. however i'm having some difficulty putting myself in your shoes through a number of hands.

A: Actually, in hand 77 I said that there was a slight chance he had a weak ace, and most of his range consists of draws that on the turn miss. On the flop on that hand I didn't even put a weak ace in his range, and on the turn my exact wording is 'Even if he did call pre-flop with some sort of weak ace...' which at least the intent was to address that there is some non zero chance that he could have an ace here. So in short, my reasoning was that a vast majority of the time he has a missed draw here with one card to come, and even when he does happen to have a made hand, it's not an easy call for him.

Q: The WSOP this year is now letting players unregister after an event has started. If the the player doesn't show up for the first two levels of play, their stack is removed and their money refunded. I know the WSOP is doing this to generate more revenue, but at first glance I think the whole idea is just horrible. As a player, you can wait and see which seat you were assigned and then if you don't like your table you have the option to just sit the event out. It just seems a lot less fair to me. What's your opinion on this matter and do you think the change is here to stay?

A: Obviously this question was sent in right before the WSOP, but I do think it's here to stay. I can understand both sides of the argument here, but honestly I think this rule has little likelihood of being abused. I'm assuming the WSOP did this to combat player complaints, particularly from players who registered for events early then had extenuating circumstances that cause them to miss the event, and then ask for a refund after the fact. It's much easier logistically to just take the stack out of play after two levels and refund everyone so that no one gets caught up in an odd situation. People could potentially abuse it, but for the most part we're talking about WSOP events here. There aren't a whole lot of events where you're going to be faced with tables so tough you would consider not playing, and even so tables break and things happen. While people could abuse it I just don't see it happening very often at all and even if it does it really doesn't hurt the other players at all. I honestly have a bigger problem with the rule that allows you to register, get your seat card, unregister, and then re-register again, which essentially allows you to switch seats before an event starts if you happen to learn something about your table you don't like.

The honest truth is though the WSOP has made a lot of strides the last few years that I've seen. It's not perfect, but most of the rules are pretty good at this point. I personally don't have a problem with this rule, but I can see how some players might, even though I think the impact it actually has on the game is pretty minimal. From an administrative point of view I can see this rule cutting down on A LOT of headaches and player complaints. I think the good outweighs the bad here.

-Rizen

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Special Tournament on Lock Poker

Date: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

There will be a special tournament on Monday, July 27th at 9pm ET on Lock Poker. This should be a really fun event and I'm looking forward to it. The entry is $5 and the winner, in addition to the prize pool, will get 1 hour of free coaching from me. The person who knocks me out will get a free hand history review. I also have a few other ways you can get into the tournament via bonus codes.

If you are a new customer making your first deposit, use the bonus code 'RizenJuly' and you will get a 100% deposit bonus as well as a free ticket to the tournament. As a reminder, if you haven't signed up yet you can do so here.

If you already have an account, you can reload it using the code 'RizenReload' and in addition to a ticket for the tournament you will receive a 25% bonus on your reload.

I will also be recording the tournament live as I play it for a possible future video, for those of you that like that sort of thing.

It should be a fun time and I'm looking forward to it!

-Rizen

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Back Home!

Date: Thu, Jul 16, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I posted this on Twitter, but I assume most of you know that I'm back home by now. Day 3 of the ME was pretty short for me. The first level I splashed in a few pots, but generally just tread water a little and ended up going from 41k to 36k. The second hand or so after break on the next level Hevad Khan opened in middle position on my big blind, as he had been doing A LOT that day. I looked down at AJo and that was good enough. He tank/called with 55 and I didn't win the race despite flopping a gut shot with my two overs.

If I had to grade my play in the main event I'd probably give myself a B-. I lost three big pots on day 2 where I made river calls with the worst hand. In 1 of them I think my call was a no brainer, but the other 2 I really should have found a fold. In all 3 my gut instinct was to fold as I really didn't think they were bluffing, and I should have followed that. I think I was trying way too hard to get my chips back from a big pot I lost earlier in day 2 where I got all in with a guy with ~25 big blinds with JJ vs his AQ. The flop was all unders and he said 'good game' and started to get up and walk away, so of course the turn was an A and the river a Q for good measure. That took me from 75k to 45k or so early in day 2 and I never really recovered although I did eventually build my stack back up some.

Aside from the two bad river calls on day 2 though I was pretty happy with my play, but given that all 3 of the pots where I thought I was beat were over 20k and the river bets I called were over 10k each, I could have easily finished day 2 with over 70k had I followed my instincts. I've been playing poker long enough that my instincts are right 99% of the time, and I find that when I don't follow them I usually regret it. So that's why the 'B-'.

Overall for the series I'd give myself a 'B' but I was slightly in the red for the entire series. I only had one cash, although it was a pretty big one at 12th place for over 30k. I felt I played fairly well throughout the entire series but played a couple of spots pretty weakly in the early events as I was still getting into a groove and then the bad river calls in the main event. I actually feel like I ran pretty poorly in the series. I can't remember ever putting a bad beat on someone the entire series (that doesn't mean it didn't happen once, I just don't remember it) and I only won one coin flip that I can remember. I'm not saying that to complain about it, but in evaluating my own play it's important to try and be honest with myself in all aspects. Since I had a slightly losing series I feel that in order to give myself anything over a 'C' I really need to be able to look back and honestly tell myself if I ran bad in spots or if i I played bad. I think there were a few spots I played poorly, but in general I feel like if I'd been able to win instead of lose a few key coin flips I would have had a profitable series.

I don't know what's next right now. I'm back home enjoying time in Kansas with the family. I've been away off and on so long I'm just laying low and relaxing. Playing a lot of pot limit omaha right now and virtually no tournaments. I'm sure the tournament bug will bite me again soon, but for now I'm enjoying playing on my schedule when I want and enjoying time with the family.

-Rizen

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Day 3 ME today!

Date: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I meant to do a full report on day 2 but I've been running errands, changing flights, extending hotel stays, etc so I haven't had a chance to do a full update. I'll do a full report on the main event at some point depending on the timing. I'll have to keep this brief as I'm leaving for the Rio in 5 minutes but I go into today with ~42k, which is a workable stack, but not one I can afford to be making any mistakes or losing many pots with. I'll probably have the first two levels to accumulate some chips or officially go into short stack ninja mode. Some of it will depend on my table.

Either way, anything is possible and I'm going to play my best, but i'm going to have to have a little run good today or at the very least have some hands hold up. I'm confident I know exactly what to do with this stack though so I'm not too worried about playing well. Good luck to everyone else still in it (unless you're at my table) and hopefully I won't get a chance to update this blog until the wee hours of the night or tomorrow morning for a day 4 preview!

-Rizen

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Day 2 of the ME today

Date: Wed, Jul 8, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I made it through day 1 with ~44k in chips, and even though that's around average it was a real struggle for me to make it through with that stack. Day 1 just felt like I had to work REALLY hard with lots of really tough decisions and lots of places where I could have very easily made other decisions and either won or lost more. I think i played pretty well, but it was a very tough day of poker and I'm pretty sure i laid down the best hand a few times.

That being said, the structure is great and I did make it through with around an average stack. Hopefully today is easier than day 1, but my table looks pretty tough with Brian Lemke, Joe Hachem, 'mman_status', and 'JohnnyBelow' all at my table along with a 120k stack to my immediate left. I'll be over 80 big blinds deep though so we'll see how the table plays and how I run. Lots of chips on the table could be a very good thing.

Given that a lot of other players check this blog now when they know they're playing me I'm not going to share any of my hands that didn't show down until the end of the tournament. That being said my two biggest hands on day 1 happened after dinner.

In the first hand, the button open limped and I was in the small blind. The button was a pretty tight player who didn't like to fold pre-flop once he put chips in the middle, so I just completed in the small blind with Th5h. The flop was KhQhx. I lead into the flop and the big blind called and the button folded. turn was Jh so I had the second nut flush and a straight flush redraw. I bet 1100 into a 1800-ish pot and the big blind made it 3100. After checking my cards to make it look like I might be on a draw I called. river was a brick and I check/called a 4k bet. Big blind had 4h2h for the flush as well and I wondered to myself several times if I should have won more there, but I'm pretty sure he folds if I 3 bet the turn. I could have check/raised the river but I'd have really hated it if he shoved, and I'm not sure I get paid off by his range.

Second hand I had AQo in the big blind and a very aggressive opener in the CO had raised. I would 3 bet a lot here but the CO player was one that wasn't folding pre a lot and REALLY liked to try to outplay people post flop. He was really tough to play against and I didn't want to 3 bet then miss 2/3 of the time and have to decide to c-bet or not. I figured just calling would disguise the strength of my hand as well, so that's what I did. Flop was Q-8-4 with two spades (I had no spades). I check/called because I really thought this particular player based on a few previous hands at the table would 3 barrel a really wide range here, so letting him bet my hand for me would be more profitable than check/raising, and since he 3 barrels wide enough a flush draw isn't a huge part of his range. Turn was a 2 or a 3, and I check/called again. The river was a terrible card, the Ks, but I checked and he bet about 3/4 of the pot and I called and he said 'i can't win' which was nice and I won a nice pot.

Those two hands took me from around 18k to 45k after dinner. I had a really tough day 1 table with Matt Matros, Jimmy Geary, and Joe McGowan at my table. There were a couple of clear marks, but my seat was pretty poor to take advantage of it. I had some really tough decisions in the first 3 levels and dipped as low as 16k, but finished the day really strong and am looking forward to carrying that momentum into today!

-Rizen

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Main Event Today

Date: Sun, Jul 5, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I realize in the last post I forgot to mention which day's main event I am playing. Well, I am playing today on orange 68 seat 6. Starts in a little over 2 hours so going to make this short and sweet!

-Rizen

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Belated Update

Date: Fri, Jul 3, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

During the 3 days of the $3k I didn't have much time to update. I was sleeping surprisingly well during the event and almost missed the start on day 1. On day 2 i had some other things to take care of and almost ran late for the 2pm restart, which was obviously then pushed back to 3pm but I was already at the Rio so didn't drive back. We didn't finish play until after 3am on day 2 and then I had to switch from my condo to the hotel room I'm staying in the rest of my stay, so I didn't get settled into my room until nearly 5am and had a 1pm restart on day 3.

Since then I've been relaxing and unwinding a little, trying not to think too much about poker, although I did play the $1500 at the Bellagio yesterday. Did okay, but the Bellagio tournaments accelerate REALLY fast after 100/200 25 ante and I found myself with 13k at 300/600 and on my first re-steal ran into TT with J9s and didn't get there.

I know you guys want to hear more about the 3k, so going to do my best to do a somewhat short recap. On day 1 my first table was REALLY good. I had some good players (including Johnny Lodden) to my left, and most of the players at my table were European but competent. I had two players to my left though who were overplaying hands and playing huge pots. I managed to get a bunch of chips out of one of them when I flopped a set versus his top pair and my set held. They were holding back their add on chips so i only got a little over 3k on that one, but I was able to see cheap flops and know if I hit they would overplay their hands.

After that I got moved to a tougher table with online players Maridu, Jordan 'scarface79' Smith, NoahSD, and later on Tony 'Bond18' Dunst. NoahSD was playing very aggressively and I had a physical read on him that allowed me to call down with 99 on a T-4-4-Q-7 board with two hearts by the turn. By that point I had quite a few chips and was really able to play a lot of post flop poker. I felt like I had a very solid read on the table and was able to play really well post flop versus everyone. I had a Russian player named Sergey (hopefully I spelled that right) three to my left who was tough to play against and didn't like to fold.

I don't mean to sound like i'm complaining at all considering my finish, but I actually ran pretty poorly in pre-flop all ins throughout the tournament, on day 1 I had 3 pre-flop all ins, QQ vs 99 (I won), JJ vs 66 (I lost) and 55 vs AT (I lost). I had enough chips I was able to go through most of those though and ended the day with 66,500 chips, good for above average.

On day 2 I started at what I thought was going to be an easier table, given that the only player I knew was Antonio Esfandiari. Turned out that wasn't the case at all though, there was a really tough Russian player (not Sergey, this one finished about 15th and I'm not about to try and remember his name). Both Antonio and the Russian were three betting a lot and generally not making life easy as I was the 3 seat and they were the 5 and 7 seats respectively. After folding to 3-4 straight three bets I finally 4 bet with AJo when the Russian 3 bet me. He woke up with KK and 5 bet and I was committed so I called. Ace in the window no problem and doubled through to about 120k. After that i got into a groove stealing a lot of pots from early position as opening from later almost always induced action as well as 3 betting some of the weaker players.

I slowly built my way up to about 270k in chips and was actually I believe the chip leader in the tournament shortly before the bubble, although they weren't covering me at all so I just know I had more chips than the rest of the listed leaders. I was actually pretty inactive on the bubble only stealing a few pots as my table was not a good one for bubble abuse. After the bubble burst I think I doubled every short stack at my table. I remember doubling AK with AJ, K9 with 55, and QQ with AKs. I did bust Nenad Medic who was short with QQ vs his T9o. I think I had a few other all ins versus short stacks post bubble, but generally it didn't go well for me and I got down from 270k high point to 70k at 400/800 after doubling another short stack with 44 vs his 66.

Isaac Baron moved to my table then and even though I really didn't want to play a lot of short stack pots with him since I knew he knew my all in range and would play optimally against it, we had some unavoidable situations come up. In the first he raised QJo in the CO and I had A2s and 70k in the small blind and I felt I was ahead of his range. I shoved and he called and I flopped A high with two of my suit. Isaac was live to a 3 out gutter on the river, but I won then on the very next orbit he was short and shipped AKs on the button and I had TT in the big blind and called. I won the race and suddenly had 170k again. Blinds got bigger but through re-stealing the rest of the night I finished with 230k and pretty much no showdowns.

Moving into day 3 I was a very short stack, but I had 20 big blinds and knew what to do. I stayed alive with some steals/re-steals and eventually had a player in the small blind move all in when i had 270k. I squeezed out ATo and called. He had KTo and I flopped the ace to make the sweat somewhat minimal. Shortly after that Jason 'TheMasterJ33' DeWitt (hopefully I spelled that right, he played amazing in this event) raised and I had AKo. I re-raised and he folded and suddenly I was above 600k and over average for the first time in a while.

It wouldn't last long though. It was folded to a short stack in the small blind who announced all in. Blinds were 8k/16k 2k ante so there was a lot of money in the pot. He moved in for 130k. He was super tight though and I actually considered folding my A4o, but there was just too much in the pot. he was the type of player I really didn't expect to be ahead of very often there, although he would move in with KQ and some other hands i was a slight favorite over. I only had to call 114k more into a 168k pot though so the price was good. Turns out he had A6o and I wasn't a huge dog, as we chop a lot. The board ran out with two low cards that didn't make a wheel or my 4 and I doubled him up. Shortly after that I had about 400k and opened for 40k with 99 in the CO. A player on the button announced all in and had about 700k. Max Greenwood and Jason 'JCarver' Somerville (another amazing player) had about 280k and 500k respectively, so it was a 500k effective shove. Both players folded, although one of them (Max I think) thought for a bit, making me think he might have had something like AQ or something.

I had played against the button a lot on day 2 and had seen him shove with A7o and T3s, but both times he was MUCH shorter. In general he was fairly tight though. The only big overshove I'd seen him make before he had AK. I also had played with him enough to know he's never shoving AA/KK there. I felt like his range would include a lot of AK/AQ type hands, and maybe even 88. With the dead money in the pot and a little over 20 big blinds behind I felt it was worth a call given his range. He ended up having QQ, which surprised me, and I didn't get there and busted 12th.

I was very happy with my play all 3 days, and I made a handful of mistakes (all of which I got punished for) but for three days of poker I was very happy with my play. I could have folded the 99 since I really didn't think he had lower pairs very often except maybe 88, but there was a lot of dead money in the pot and I felt like the price was right versus his range and was playing for the bracelet. Folding the 99 would have essentially put my back to where I was to start the day with 20 big blinds, and I really think that he had AK/AQ a lot there, and even some wild bluffs sometimes given my image from the previous day versus this player.

It was nice to make a deep run although I'm obviously a little disappointed it wasn't deeper. I'm happy with my play though and feel I'm in a great spot play wise to make a solid run in the main event. I'll be playing Sunday (1C). Good luck to everyone else playing unless you're at my table!

-Rizen

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Day 2 of $3k today

Date: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

I made my first day 2 yesterday finishing with 66,500 in the $3k triple chance. Looking at my table I'll be 3rd in chips there with Antonio Esfandiari 2 to my left. 81 spots pay and like 150 are left, so we still have a lot of work to do. I was pretty happy with my play overall yesterday. I made 3 mistakes that I remember, and paid for all 3. two of them were pretty big mistakes, and the third wasn't too bad though. there was a 4th questionable play but if it was a mistake I think it was a really small one.

I had some pretty tough tables but my seat worked well and the tables worked well stylistically for me. I hate to sound like I'm complaining when I have a big stack, but I actually ran pretty poorly yesterday, losing big pots with JJ vs 66 against a short stack and 55 vs ATs all in versus a short stack. I did win QQ vs 99 all in vs a decent stack though, but those were my only 3 situations where I had another player all in and ran out 5 cards, the rest of the time i was seeing flops, using my reads, and making good decisions.

I've got a good chip stack though, so I like my chances at making a run here. Anything can happen though, coolers, beats, bad decisions, but I feel really good about how I'm playing and looking forward to making a nice, deep run here.

-Rizen

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No $1500 for me today

Date: Sat, Jun 27, 2009 Live Professional Internet Tournament

Event got sold out while I was in line. Flew back in late last night and didn't get any cash until this morning until the bank opened and when I got in line they announced it was sold out. I'm glad the event got lots of participants but obviously if I knew it was going to sell out I would have flown in a day later to spend more time with my family. As it is I'll probably play online today and head back up around 1pm to see if they're selling late registration seats and if not regist for tomorrow. Good luck to everyone who is in it.

-Rizen

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