WSOPC NOLA 2014

At this point it has been a brutal 7 years. I have had my moments of “normalcy” but the more I thought about it I asked myself what is normal? How do you define normal? I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as normal. We are all human beings, and we are all fucked up in one way or another. We are perfectly imperfect. We are wholeheartedly unique. This is a barrier that I have had difficulty overcoming since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am who I am. Love me or hate me I’m going to be me. I have to love and respect myself before I can do the same for others. I will no longer tolerate myself being negative. Keep in mind I am writing this blog hopefully in the past tense but as my present self. I will also remove anyone or anything from my life that has nothing to do with me reaching my goals. I will also no longer tolerate people blatantly disrespecting me especially to my face. I don’t expect anyone to kiss my ass or walk on eggshells around me, but let it be known that if you have nothing nice or positive to say about me just don’t say it or unfortunately we will have to deal with reality. Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I’m done with people who have an underlying agenda, or people that use me for their benefit. It will no longer go unnoticed or unattended to. I just won’t fucking deal with it any longer.

Every spring around May since its inception, the World Series of Poker circuit makes its final stop in New Orleans just before the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. So the time has come once again, and it’s the same old story. I am in a depressive state of mind; I have no money, story of my fucking life. I get a phone call out of the blue. It is a person whom I am rather close with yet actually has a life outside of poker. He asked if I planned on playing the first ring event for the WSOPC NOLA. I told him that I was not intending on it, and that my backer only had intentions of putting me in the reentry. I decided to go anyway whether I played or not, just to get out of the house. In the morning we got to Harrah’s New Orleans & all seemed normal. Rather quiet yet you could feel the electricity staring to build. Just before the tournament I was offered a proposal. My friend offered to put me in for a full stake no makeup for 60% equity. I accepted. He later decided to sell half to another individual and have me put up the juice for an even 50% equity. It was booked.

The first level was rough as I didn’t play many hands, and the ones that I did ended up being second best. I had to dig deep mentally. Tournament poker is all about mental toughness and survival as well as having a skilled, well executed game plan. The first significant hand for the tournament had arrived. I had a meh table draw. I had competent players whom I had history in succession to my left. Blinds were at 50/100, and effective stacks 8.5k with 10k starting stacks. It folded to me in the LoJack and I looked down at two black kings. I opened to 250. Folded to the button, and he decided to flat. The SB was an old man probably 60+, and had played fairly standard. He 3b squeezed big to I believe 1500. Now vs a normal squeeze I had several options here but with this specific dynamic I felt my options were limited. So instead of 5b to induce a 6b shove I flat called and decided to play post flop. Button folded & we saw a TXXr flop. He open plowed for 7k effective and I covered. I leaned back in my chair and say "what the fuck" out loud but in a normal yet very questionable tone with a very perplexed look on my face. I went through my process as I do with every decision. I was talking out loud but I will not disclose my intentions as you will have to figure those out on your own, but I asked him "did you really just shove into me for your tournament life with Aces, or are you just overvaluing a hand & turning it into a bluff"? His mannerisms just didn’t seem right. His artery in his neck looked like it was about to explode. His facial expression had changed slightly. At this moment I knew my hand was best more often than not so I called off. He indeed had QQ. The board bricked out and I got the full double. Although this hand may seem standard which it kind of was, it was a very pivotal point for me early in this bird. Now I had gained some momentum. When confidence begins to flow through my veins my blood becomes like ice water, and I transfer into a mindset which makes me very difficult to beat. In rare form, very rarely this tournament did my money go into the middle without either being ahead or having significant equity. I felt that I had played very well. My reads were dead on, and even though this was the case I still made a few mistakes.

Eventually my starting table broke, and my new table was just dreamy. I managed to chip up to about 110k on dinner or so. Things were going well, and they did not slow down after dinner, however my table did get tougher with the addition of Jason Mayfield to my direct left, but he was short, and Bo Grey whom I remember as a 2/5 reg from my early days of grinding cash at Harrahs. Thankfully Bo was 4 to my right, and we were the two biggest stacks at not only our table but in the room. That didn’t stop us from battling. We both were too competitive, and were trying to put ourselves in position to win the tournament. We didn’t lock up in too many hands that were significant at this table, but when we redrew for the final 27 we ended up drawing the same table, and he was 2 to my right with Jeff Sager to my direct left. Jeff and I are good friends from high school. The first significant hand that Bo and I get involved in was later in the night when the blinds were getting high yet enough chips in play to compensate for the structure. If I am not mistaken, I was the chip leader at 4k/8k/1k. I’m unsure of the ante; we were 9 handed. There was 21k in the pot, and effective stacks were roughly 500k. I had about 800k to start, so roughly 62.5bb effective. It folded to Bo in the cutoff, and he opened for 16k. Button folded, and I looked down at the AJo. I decided to peel, and Jeff folded in the BB. We looked at the JXXcc flop. I had the Jc. There was now 53k in the pot, and I checked to Bo. He continued for 25k and I called. Turn came 8c. I lead 57k for value into 103k. He tanked for a moment, and raised me to roughly 129k if I remember right. I went into the tank for a bit and decided to 3b rip as I had decided either we have the same hand giving him a better club draw along with top pair, or that I have the best hand and would prefer not to have to show down. He tanked for a while, and eventually settled on folding. I essentially put him to a decision for his tournament life while turning my hand into a bluff, all while making it extremely difficult to call off with one pair type hands.

After this level we started losing players left and right. We were now on the FT bubble. I had lost a few pots but I was still chip leader in very good shape. The last woman standing in the field was to my direct right, and has shown competence and played well to this point. Blinds were 6k/12k/2k and it was folded to her. She shoved her last 15bb (about 180k) with two black nines. Unfortunately for her I woke up with AKss to her direct left, and decided to isolate her by reshoving. We got the AxxKx runout and were down to the official FT and was time to bag. I bagged 921k to end the night going into the 9 handed FT. I had roughly triple the average. Should be a layup but….

The next day I showed up refreshed. Got a decent nap in but couldn’t sleep. I was stone jayyyed & ready to get to work. The FT started off fast. Like first or second hand DJ McKinnon & Bo Grey get it AIPF KK vs JJ. Bo flopped a jack & DJ rivered a king. A few quick eliminations, especially Jeff Sager who got 99 AIPF and was short on chips on the button. Unfortunately for him, Bo had opened utg with aces. GG bud. A few more hit the showers, and we were down to 4 handed. It was me, Bo, DJ, and a guy by the name of Louis George. I had about 1.3M of the 2.8M in play. Bo had been crippled earlier, and had about 80k. Louis had roughly 650k, and DJ had 770k. Bo was the button, DJ in the sb, and Louis in the bb. I opened AQhh utg 4 handed at 16kbb to 35k. Bo and DJ fold. Louis completed. First of all I played with Louis a lot in the last 2 tables. He had some sort of medium strength hand here. All aces were in his limping range other than AK, AQ, and AA that he is not reraising here. Medium pairs etc. We saw a AK7r with one heart flop. Louis checked. I continued for 40k. Louis check raised to 117k. I tanked for a bit mapping out how I wanted to continue. His range was pretty polarized in this spot in my opinion. I put him on a rather narrow range of hands that beat me, and several other hands that I could induce to get in bad, so I decided to put the pressure back on him, so I 3bet to 241k. He snap ripped. Now honestly he does this with all of his aces and two pair/set combos. He had one set in his (77). He had one two pair hand in his range which (A7). I truly felt he would have folded K7 preflop. I called. He had A7 off. Turn came a K. Bink! Now I had 95% equity with one card to come. My buddy said something that brought a real negative thought into my mind, and boom 7h river! FUCK MY LIFE! WHEN WILL IT FUCKING END? His comment truly changed nothing. It was coming regardless. I collected myself. Said nice hand and moved on. After eliminating Bo Grey on the very next hand several orbits later came my bust out hand which I really like. 3 handed play & DJ was on the button and folded. Louis opened from the sb to 45k at 16kbb. I peeled the 45dd from the bb. There was about 96k in the middle, and I started the hand with 434k or 27bb. We look at the T68dd flop. I flopped a low end gutter, and a flush draw plus both of my cards were more than likely live. Louis lead 45k, I made it 117k. He called. My intention here was suicide ripping every turn here even the ones that completed my hand. The Jc peeled off on the turn, and he checked. I took about 5 seconds and shoved Allin for 270k. He snap called with….Wait for it….K9o with the 9 of diamonds. El OH FUCKING EL! Ok. The river came the most dreaded card out of the 52 that compose it. The 7h. I thought I won for a second until I realized that it filled his double gutter. Wow. I stood up. Shook both of their hands and wished them GG & GL. I busted in 3rd place for just over $9k. It was a good run. I had the ring in my sights. It Would have been an extremely fun battle heads up with DJ but it was not meant to be. I snap registered for the $365 PLO ring event, and stone bubbled to Joe McKeenan. Cool story right bro?

I played the reentry for my backer & bagged 11th in chips going into Day 2. It was a very awkward day. I managed to min cash & take a loss on my double barrel. It was real meh. I also ended up playing the 6max and ended up punting early, only to go dine at Ruth’s Chris with the Kid. It was an unbelievable meal and cost a whole lot less than a tilt pit session. Outside of that, I played cash the rest of the series did well, and soon as I got home snap booked a flight and hotel to Las Vegas for the WSOP. Hopefully this blog provided some depth & excitement. It’s been a while since I have last blogged so it feels really good to get some controlled spew on paper. I have a few more follow ups in the works covering the first trip to Las Vegas for the WSOP, and my return trip for the Main Event. Till then & thanks for reading.