I have been playing some really good Poker as of late.Winning those satellites have given me a big confidence boost. I do see one weakness I need to work on though and thats Heads Up play.

I have done it on-line several times, but not very often live. I did make a huge comeback in the super satellite, but there is always room for improvement in one’s heads up game.

Yesterday was Event#4 at the LAPC and 800 players showed up to play the $335.00 NL Holdem Event.With 40 minute levels and a starting stack of 3000 chips you have to play good and catch some luck.

I decided to watch the table play for a bit before doing anything. I did not know anyone at my table yesterday and with the blinds only being 25-25 I had at least 8 hands to see before the BB hit me.

It appeared to be a very tight table and early on I just did not have any cards to play. With the blinds being small and the pots at my table being small, it was not worth the risk of trying to pick up a 125 chips here and there with nothing in my hand.

Halfway through level 2 I am at 2975 in chips when I look down at AQ of spades.There were 3 limpers in front of me so i raised to 200 chips as the blinds were 25-50. Now I have not come into a pot raising yet in the first hour, but one player called me.

The flop was 6d-Ah-Ad I actually bet 500 chips into this pot and he called.The turn was the 7s and I bet 1200 chips into the pot and he calls. The river is the Jd and I check because there is a diamond flush out there and I think he was chasing it. I only have 1100 chips left and I check and he turns over 7-10 diamonds for the flush.

I am a little upset, but I take a few deep breaths get up and stretch for a minute and sit back down to play Poker.

I build my stack up to 10,000 chips by level 6 after catching a few hands and some players making moves. I called an all in of a guy with QQ and he had KQ and I won that race.I flopped a set of sevens and another player went all in with a gut shot straight and the guy to my left folded 99 and would of been in the pot if Mr gut shot did not go all in.

Early in level 7 and more than two-thirds of the original 800 players are gone and the average chip stack is just under 10k. I am sitting on just a bit over that when I get AA in the BB. The SB raises the pot as there are two limpers in the 200-400 with 50 ante level. He puts in 1600 chips and I re-raise to an extra 4000. The SB goes all in and table Ah-8s and I turn over my AA. The As-3s-2h hits the flop and the turn and river are spades also and I am finished for the day after 5hours of play.

I made a nice profit this week however, I sold my super satellite voucher for $950.00 to give me a total profit for a few days work around $2100.00.

I am going to have my surgery in the next few days so I will not be playing any Poker for a few weeks. I will be at home and I will try and find something interesting to write about.

Check out my video blogs over at Pokerroad.com in the forums. They were fun to do and hopefully soon I will be able to post them here.

Take care….Be Safe…..

Finally all my patience is paying off. Now if I can only turn some of this good poker I have been playing in satellites into a win today in the $335.00 Event #4 at Commerce Casino’s 2009 LAPC.

I played 2 satellites last night and a super satellite. I chopped an $80.00 and took two thirds of the money in a $120.00 satellite.A very nice $900.00 profit. I then entered the super satellite for $130.00 and played against 13 other players, its a winner take all mini tournament where you get a voucher for $1,050.00 and $50.00 cash,second place actually received $350.00 in this satellite.

I started off playing real good and after about 2 hours and 45 minutes I was heads up with this guy who was a really good and aggressive player.

He had me out chipped by about 24,000 and honestly, his arrogance got to me a little bit. He was just throwing in huge stacks of chips the first few hands and with the blinds at 300-600 and a 50 ante I went all in and won to double up. A few hands later, I went all in again and know we were even in chips.

I could see he was steaming and I had a few friends watching and rooting for me. After winning a small pot I was now the chip leader and I am dealt Q8 of hearts. He looks at his hand and again tosses in a big stack. I know he is doing this with any two cards and I see he is really upset and losing alot of his chips, so I go all in.

He turns over Kd-3d and on the flop is an 8 and I take down the super satellite, as he berates me for going all in with that hand.

Nice 3 hours of work and a very nice evening at Commerce. I am playing event #4 today, so I am hoping my good will continues.

Take Care….Be Safe…….

It was an absolute madhouse for the LAPC Opening Day at Commerce casino here in Los Angeles.I sat down to play against 1,592 other players in the $335.00 NL Holdem Event.

I had entered on Tuesday night after winning a satellite and I am glad I did. I arrived at Commerce at 12:15pm pst and the line was the largest I had ever seen at Commerce. I thought I was at the Rio for a WSOP Event there were so many players waiting to register.

The ballroom was already buzzing with people and Matt Savage and his staff did a fantastic job setting it up. They ran string s from wall to wall and had the table numbers posted above the tables. This made it so much easier to find your table as in years past the numbers of the tables were on the back of the dealers chairs.

Since the field was so big yesterday and they had players coming from the tent on the patio and from downstairs, it made it so much easier to get into your new assigned seat.

Commerce handled the 1593 players with ease. It was an amazing site to see on a Thursday afternoon and it was great for Poker. The largest tournament in Commerce’s illustrious career and they did not disappoint.

Originally the prize pool was going to pay the top 72 players however, due to the large turnout it was changed to the final 100 players with first place pocketing $128,000.

Over 900 players busted in the first 4 hours, me included. In level 4 I had Ad-Kh and made a raise from the button. The BB, Allen Le (Nam Le’s brother) who I have played with often re-raised me.I thought maybe Allen was trying to steal the blinds and antes so I just called him. The flop came out Kd-Qd-Jd in that order giving me top pair and a flush draw, Royal Flush draw. Allen bet I went all in and he tabled KK for a set.I was actually surprised he was that strong, but I had so many outs and I thought I was going to hit one of those 12 outs either on the turn or the river, but they did not come and my day was over.

With so many players I did not want to sit another level and nurse my chips. I took a risk and I thought I had the best of it. I played good again and I am not at all disappointed.

I played a $120.00 satellite and chopped it with another gentleman and took some video of the days event for Pokerroad.com to post in the forums.

I will not be playing until Sundays event as I need some rest, this stomach injury is really kicking me in the posteria.

Take care …..Be Safe……..

Played in the $245.00 NL deep stack event last night at the Hustler Casino.There were over 226 players and the $45,000 guarantee was met.

About 20 minutes into the event I am on the button and there is a raise to 350 chips when the blinds were 25-50. There was only 125 in the pot and in the early goings a few of the players were over betting to try and steal the 75 chips in the pot. Some new strategy I have seen lately in Deepstack events.

I disagree with this strategy in the first level of play trying to get 75 chips with a 200 bet when you risk losing.

I look down at my cards and I have AA and I raise it to 900 chips. The player insta calls me.
The flop is Q-3-5 rainbow and he checks and I put in 1200 chips. He raises to 2500 chips and I go all in. Again, he calls instantly and tables QJ. He looks surprised when I turn over my AA but the surprise look goes away when a J hits the turn. I had 200 chips left and put them in a few hands later with AKs and lost.

So There was still a grip of traffic and I have never played cash games at the Hustler before. I got into a 100-300 no Limit for $200.00 and 6 hours later walked away with $880.00. Eased the pain a bit.

Till the next one……………Take care….Be Safe…………

Last Night at the Hustler they had a $45,000 guarantee NL event for $345.00.They neede 150 players to make the guarantee and only 144 showed so the Hustler had to put up only $1800.00.

It was a tough night, 5000 starting chips again and I had AK suited about 4 times and could not hit a flop. I played with no more than 6500 chips until I busted 43rd with Q10 hearts on a flop with two hearts. I was so short stacked 4100 chips, there was no way no one was not going to call. I had 44 as my only pocket pair of the night and I folded them due to a big raise infront.

I was patient and had one lucky hand to keep me alive when my A9 beat AJ on a all in for my last 3200 chips to double me back up.

I have no gripes about my game, again made to great calls last night on perfect reads but they were very small pots.

I feel good still about Poker for 2009 and I know a nice payday is on the horizon..

Take Care….Be Safe…..

I went to the Hustler Casino last night with two of my friends to play in the $255.00 NL Deepstack event.

Paul “The Machine” Valencia, a fellow partner in Crime (LAPD) and Jim “I can’t spell Poker” Pittman joined the other 199 entrants for an evening Tournament Poker at it’s finest.

I drew a very tough table with the previous nights winner and two other players who have a fantastic Poker resume. I was actually complimented by one of them who asked for a table change, because I was to his left and we have battled in the past.

I picked up a few pots as the table was super super aggressive to begin. Paul and I had talked about this before the event started how the players tonite will be playing as if this is a 2-4 hold em game. They were raising raises calling every flop and chasing when they could.

The goal as you all know is to chip up to be dominant early and $250.00 is not very much money to some of these guys who play the LA tournament scene regularly. This one thing you have to overcome here in LA the deep pocket aggressive player.

The hand that crippled me was right before the end of level 3. I was in SB with 44 and there were 3 limpers and the BB checked. Blinds were 100-200 and I had only 4800 chips from the starting stack of 5000.

I had several pocket pairs in level two, 10-10,9-9,8-8, but I missed hitting sets and there were big raises on the flops and I made good lay downs not chasing or I would have been out earlier.

The flop came out 4-10-2 I hit my set and bet 450 chips immediately and got two callers. The turn was another 2 and I bet 1800 this time and both players called. The river was another 10 and there was no flush out there and I had a strange feeling about that 10. I only bet 500 and the BB raised to 2000 and the other player folded.

I Knew I was behind so I folded my hand face up and the table was AMAZED I folded a full house. The BB turned over the 10s as he mucked his hand and raked in the pot.

This is 2009, hands like that happened to me last year and I will be damned if i am going to let this happen again this year.I ended up getting my last 1200 chips in a few hands earlier with AJspades but another player had JJ and they held up.

I made some great reads again and just was not able to get involved with some of the big pots early. I fell really good on how i am playing and I am going to play the $345.00 event tonite at the Hustler.

I was not planning on Playiong but I received some unfortunate news today. I was injured in a struggle with a suspect in December and I have a very serious umbilical hernia requiring IMMEDIATE surgery. They are planning surgery for Monday and it’s going to put me down for 4-6 weeks. This is going to cause me not play in some LAPC events I was looking forward to.

It’s a long year ahead with many tournaments and I am sure I will get my fill.

Congratulations to the Machine for taking 9th place. He pushed all in with his 41k and was called by a guy with QJ. Paul had 88 and lost when a Jack hit the flop. You played great Paul and its your first final table in a big event so CONGRATS..I will collect my 5% from you later…LOL…

Take Care….. Be Safe….

The Hustler Casino is Having a weeks worth of Tournaments ending with a $1000.00 buy in Championship tomorrow, Sunday the 11th at Noon.

At 3pm today they had a Super Satellite with a buy in of 130.00. Dying to play some live Poker I went down there after work and Joined the other 45 players who registered.

The top 5 players would make it to tomorrow and 6th place would get $650.00.With 17 to go I had 17,000 in chips after my AQ beat AK when I flopped a Q.The gentleman I beat pushed his last 4,000 in when the blinds were 400-800 and a very good player next to me went all in for 6800 chips.

I looked down at AK and thought for a bit and did not want to risk a third of my stack at this point.Player one had A9 and the player to my left had AQ and the flop was KK4.I played to careful and if I would of called I would be sitting with around 30k in chips.

I had been playing really good and at this point every hand I raised with i won so I thought I would wait for a better spot.

As the blinds reached 600-1200 I had 14,900 chips when a very aggressive cash player who had gone in three times in a row pushed his 9200 chips all in again. I was on the button and had KdKs and I called his all in. He turned up AJ and the flop was As-2s-3s, turn Ad and river was 9h and I was crippled and lost my BB when the button went all in and I had A5c.

He turned up 99 and I only had 3600 chips left and I busted 11th.

I was really happy with my game, the 45 person sng’s I have been playing kept me fresh and after being away from live tournaments awhile I was very happy with my reads and style of play.

I may play the 345.00 event on Tuesday at the Hustlers finale or just wait until next week to play some satellites, that start at Commerce on Friday for the LAPC.

Very nice start to 2009 and I actually had a few big hands at good times and I only had one all in caller when I had AA in BB, by a young lady with 66.

Take Care….Be Safe…..