WSOP Circuit at Harrahs Rincon in San Diego. Event No 2 Aftermath

Off I went to Harrahs Rincon to play WSOP Circuit Event #2 armed with a great deal of confidence and knowledge. I wanted to play some satellites the day before the event. Instead of driving back and forth I decided to stay there, so I could wake up nice and rested.

I went to the ball room where their WSOPC tournaments are held and saw they only had 1/2 the tables they did the previous year. They moved the bulk of the tournament across their new poker room on the 2nd floor and thats where my table was... So with 10 min to go I had to go across the casino through hundreds of slot machines and players. I got lucky and was able to squeeze into an elevator and make it to 2nd floor. When I saw the room I was in complete shock. Not only was it small it was cramped with poor ventilation. Harrahs really dropped the ball on this. Their tournament in this casino went from an A+ to a C- for sure. All the restaurants are located near the old ball room. I could already tell that breaks were going to be a problem. They were and thats a whole different story.

With their local boys players of the year announcement the call of shuffle up and deal was heard, and play began.  The structure in these tournaments is outstanding. Gives you a lot of room to sit back and learn. I could already tell I was in an aggressive table. Everyone wanted to get in all the pots as cheaply as possible in order to flop the nuts. Well you don't always flop the nuts so a lot of players were spewing chips at a nice pace. After about 10 minutes I had enough of sitting back. I had all the info at the time I needed so I began to 3bet and lead out more. I began to chip up nicely and got myself up to about 14k or so.

I was in level 2 with about 15k when a player had enough of my re raising I guess and decided to play at/with me. The action started with blinds 25/50 UTG+2 player raised to 300. I looked down on the button and saw AA. Mid position player smooth calls it, and so does the High Jack. AWESOME! I got action. So I needed to weed out the weak and made it 2000. Well they were in a chip giving mood so why not over bet it a little. Sure enough the original raiser calls. Others folded right away. The flop AcXTc and while I'm very happy that I hit my set the flush draw had me a little uneasy.

The player then leads 4000 into a 4675 pot leaving himself with 5k.  He was a tight player that wasn't playing many hands so I put him on AK and is trying to protect his hand. I reraise him and put him all in. He SNAP CALLS and turns over AdJc!!! The turn brings another club and so does the river. He jumps up as happy as he can be as if he made a good play. I'm ussed to getting sucked out online and say nice hand, keep my cool, and am ready for next hand. Loosing a 22k pot this early in an MTT is not a big deal. Its a deep structure tourney that gives you chances to recover. All though I am left with 4k and the short stack at my table. I just have to tighten up a little at this point. Can't be aggressive like I was and off we go.

As play continues I wait for a while until getting TT on the button. It is checked to me and I raise, and both blinds come a long. The flop Txx rainbow. Nice! I bet again and this time the BB 3bets me and I call. Turn x. BB and I check. Another small blank on river and bb checks again, I value bet and he calls. He shows AKs and missed. He only called cause he thought I had same hand...

I continue to chip up by 3betting from late position with SQUADOOSH. This works great in live MTT's. You can get a lot of reads on players not like online. So by this point I am almost at starting stack when the following happens.

We are in level 7 blinds 50/100 25a. I had just 3bet a player pre from the Small Blind and stole the pot. In the Big Blind I look down and see KK. UTG raises to 800, UTG+1 smooth calls it. I re-raise to 3475 and only UTG calls. The flop KT9 and I kind of like it. If player was crazy like me he could have QJ and i would be in trouble. So I have 2 options here I can lead out, or check raise him.I need chips so I don't want him to fold by leading. I go with option number two and decide to check it. Sure enough he bets out 2k into a 7700 pot. I have 6k behind so I move all in. He snap calls me, we flip our cards, he see's my set, he shows AJo and he says "I thought you were bluffing and I have outs".  Thats ok with me. I want players to gamble because they won't hit their hands every time. Well the turn brought a Q and he's jumping up and down as if he had already won. A solid player to my right says "He has outs. He pairs the board and he wins". Well the river was a blank and i was out.

I was upset for about 1/2 a second but though of Matt Affleck and realized bad beats happen. I was more disappointed then anything. I had high hopes that I would do well this time around and I didn't. It was my 3rd year playing this tourney and expected bigger things from me. I am still disappointed but there is nothing you can do in those situations. I played it well and like Paul aka Coolwhipflea said to me "You made the mistake of getting it in good".

There is another MTT coming up this Friday. I might take another shot at it, at worst I am getting better and better every time I play this MTT. Its just bad timing right now as I am getting ready to be out of work. I don't know if I should be using up 10% of my bankroll for 1 tournament. I had a nice deep run last night in the MiniFtops #24 but a 2500/33k player finish didn't pay out as much as I wanted(1st). Will continue to grind it this week in hopes of getting that buy in.

Good luck me and thanks to all my friends for their great support.

Angel 'gijoe' Valdez

WSOP Circuit at Harrahs Rincon in San Diego, Ca is BAAACK 2011 Part 1

Its that time of the year when the WSOP comes around to my back yard a long with my hopes, illusions, and delusions. This will be my 3rd year playing this event and my 4th series that I've played at. I know I have improved a great deal each time I have played. I can even say I made very good improvements from my last event I played at the WSOPC in Chicago till today.

This past year I didn't play as many live tournaments as did the previous years. I know I needed to learn more about poker its self. What good is it to be able to get reads on players if my Poker Hand reading skills needed a lot of work. So I played thousands of hands online like Super Turbos, Rush MTT's, SnG's, Double Stack and Deepstacks MTT's, and different buy ins. I got a chance to work with Tristan Wade,  The Grinder, and Alex Outhred. Can't even begin to thank The OPT for all the help, support and great advice.  I wanted to get good at reading flops and more important playing them correctly.

The results have exceeded my own expectations. It's been a work in progress and I've put a LOT of work to get there. All I need now is to put it into effect. I tell myself "I'M THE BEST" all the time to pump myself up and get motivated, but this year its different. I'm digging deep and going way back...I mean waaay back to my Drill Sergeant who used to say to me when I was in the Army "You know what to do. Now its time to MAKE IT HAPPEN".




So MAKE IT HAPPEN and SHIP IT!

-Angel 'gijoe' Valdez

Final Table of the WPT(LAPC ME) at Commerce Casino

Final Table of the LAPC ME

While I didn't goto any of the previous days of play(shame on me) I decided I wanted to watch the big boys play the WPT(LAPC ME) Final Table at Commerce yesterday. See if I can pick up any points on table manner, style of play etc.

The televised WPT Final Tables are 6 handed. I believe this holds a greater edge over any other televised final tables. 6 handed games are much more aggressive because players can open up their hand ranges and take advantage of the short stacks.

That turned out to be true to form as we were in our 3rd hand when the Raise, Re-Raise, Re-Re-Raise and ALL IN and a Call sounded between Gregory Brooks and Vivek Rajkumar. We waited on what Steve Gross would do since he was the Re-re-reraising player... He went into the tank for a couple of minutes. It was a tough choice for him. When the hand started he was at 1.3m and his re-raise was for 650k and half his stack. As the time ran out in my opinion I kept saying no way he folds. He will be crippled in a 6 handed table. But I was wrong and he folded, and thats why he's the pro. Vivek turned up QQ while Gregory showed Big Pocket Rockets. Aces held up but on the turn I believe a J hit and Steve had a look of disgust as if he laid down JJ that would have given him a set. We'll have to wait for the show for us to see what he had. Crazy hand. Great start to the night. I was hooked after that :)

Gregory went on to take that pot he won convert it into a win. His play through out the night was that of a man that would not give up any pot easily or would make it easy on any opponent. He put the pressure on every single street but always in position. I don't recall him playing aggressive out of position at all. If a player bet he would re-raise. If he was check raised he would call and on the next street he would wait for other player to act first. If that player checked to him he would fire off a monster bet of close to 3/4 of the pot. It was unbelievable the amount of dead money that he won with out a show down. He took advantage of the bottom 3 players that wanted to move up to the good pay outs. His 2 all ins that I saw him play he had Straight and flush draws.  Great game by a very young player that we will be hearing more of for sure.

Other cool things that happened while there was met Matt Affleck, The Royal Flush Girls, Derryl Fish, Amir "Homer Simpson" Lehavot, and many other pro's. But I have to say the biggest treat I got when I arrived there was being able to throw "Paul Elis" name to the door person and be walked to the media row with out a question. 

door person: Hi sir, can I help you? Who are you with?

Me: ahhh Paul Elis

door person: Yes sir, right this way, I hope you enjoy your time....

Easy as 1-2-3!

Got the best view of the house and even got our own big screen TV to watch the flop. Of course I paid Paul with beers as the night went on... =) Had to keep the man happy ya kno.

Great moment were when Vivek decided to pump up the crowd by buying his entire section a round of drinks! I will have to remember that when I make my first WSOP, WSOPC or WPT Final table. Thats a great way to get every one to cheer for you lol It gave a new vibe to the entire place and I will have to say I was swayed very promptly to the Vivek side and chanted along with every one else INDIA INDIA INDIA lolol

Wish I had taken any pictures but thats me. I'll wait for Paul to post them and then steal them :D

Check out the Commerce Blog on the WPT for more pics and great info 

I recommend for all who wish to improve their game to go watch the pro's live at any chance you get. They are good for a reason and there are a ton of little tips you can can pick up from them.

-Angel 'gijoe' Valdez