Scott Diamond

I played two tournaments this week. They were at the Hustler casino owned my the infamous Larry Flynt in Gardena California.

I had never been to the Hustler and my buddy Jim Pittman has his office close by and after visiting him Monday night we went to play the Deep Stack $255.00 NL event.

There were 341 people who got into the event and another 71 alternates who didn't get a shot.I tried playing position poker and it seemed to work until I called a guys all in with pocket Queens and he had pocket 9's. He turned a 9 and he put a dent in my stack. I then lost with a set of fours to a flush on the river the player chased. I even bet the pot on the turn because I knew he was chasing and lost another 2,500 chips there instead of winning 6,200.

The finale was my pocket aces against pocket Kings when a king hit on the river and I was on my way home at the level 4 break.

They play 30 minute levels with 5,000 staring chips and the blinds are 50-25 to start. The poker room is the nicest here in Southern California. The tables are a little larger then normal and the chairs are very comfortable. The food is very good and there is plenty of parking.

Tuesday night I played the $340.00 NL event and there were about 135 people entered. I was on fire the first 6 levels and was probably the chip leader when I was moved to another table with about 70 people left to go.

I played a little to tight at this table. there were 3 very aggressive players at this table and one guy who hated to lose his blinds or any hand he was in. He had built a decent size stack up by intimidation and made some huge over bets to pick up pots. Another player no matter what kind of ace he had and where he was position wise made big bets. he also had built a stack up at another table before being moved to this table so I did not see how he built his chips up. The reason I now he was calling with ace rag was because he had 3 showdowns with a small kicker and he beat AQ with A-3 twice to win big pots.

I beat the first aggressor on a flop with two clubs when I had AK clubs in my hand and he led out with a 2k bet when the blinds were 800-400 into a 2k pot. I went all in and he seemed disturbed. Later I had pocket 10's against him,again in his blind and we saw a flop of 2-5-2. he made a 3500 chip bet into 2200 chip pot. I folded and he tells me "Good Lay Down" and starts telling the guy next to him he had a huge pocket pair. He didn't even raise pre flop....

I stayed away from him after that hand and began to pick on some of the players with shorter stacks. But my luck turned sour when I called an all in with my pocket Aces against KJ off and the flop came ..A-10-7 and the turn was a Q giving him a straight and half of my stack. I lost the rest in level 12 with 29 players left when I had KK on a flop of 7-6-10 and moved all in. The second aggressor called me and turned over A-9 and hit his ace on the river and sent me home. I still cannot understand his call but if he doesn't hit an ace I am going to make the final table with the way I had been playing. He made a huge raise pre flop under the gun and it was his pattern with any ace. I just called the 3500 chip bet and when there was no ace on the board, I pushed it trying to represent a set or a big pair, which I had.

So tomorrow Friday there is an event for my poker crew at Paul's house. I have to work this weekend and his event doesn't start till 7:00pm and it is also my birthday so I may pass this up. I am still trying to decide if I am going to continue with the Poker Crew. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Joy!!!!! tell Brandon not to worry about what is being said in the forums regarding his not tipping after winning the Wynn last week. All these events now take their percentages out before hand and if Brandon said he thought the Wynn had continued this new tradition, I believe him. As for Brandi Hawbaker, they are confusing Brandon with Mark Newhouse, so it just goes to show the intelligence level of the ones bashing Brandon. The good posters have respect for other players as well as the game.

Take Care..Be safe