July Review - Vacations and Variance

July ended up being roughly two thirds of a regular month due to my spending the first ten days on vacation in Vegas to play the WSOP ME. The experience was good times, though it would have been nice to have dodged the fairly early KK < AA cooler in the tournament itself.

The online month kind of sucked. I ran terribly at limits higher than 100nl, and at the end of the month experienced the largest downswing of my career (it ended up being around ~19 BIs or so I believe). If most regulars ran like me they'd be busto so fast - if someone has outs against me with one card to come they are a favorite, number of outs be damned. Being out several buyins in AIEV every session like clockwork isn't a whole lot of fun.

Here's the graph, excluding the AIEV because it's depressing and I promised a few people I'd stop complaining for a bit (yes, I realize much of the above paragraph was in fact complaining):


The bottom line:
$5731.85 winnings
+$174.91 loldonkaments
+$5200 milestone bonus ($6k - $800 FPP value to purchase)
+$3264.97 FPP value (58303 VPPs * 3.5FPPs/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
-----------------------------------------------------------
$14371.73 USD total profit
After considering the really lame exchange rate, that's about ~$15570 CDN

Note that I didn't include the -$9k WSOP ME action (80% of my own for -$8k, 10% of Jrock's for -$1k) in the month. It's not really fair to attribute big buy-in tourneys to a single month, but it'll come into play when I do my yearly review. Same goes for the tourney package value of like ~$40k+ when I hit SNE. It doesn't really make sense to count that all in November or whenever I crack the 1 mil VPP mark.

The good news is I'm 72%+ to my SNE goal for the year, and can somewhat coast my way there.

Donkaments Tilt Me So Much...

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	712,085
SNE Pace:	142,165 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Aion Beta (PC)

It's been a long time since I've updated the blog given how much I have to talk about. I guess I'll try to go chronologically. Around the time of my last post, my account was credited the 100k VPPs for playing the WSOP ME. This put me well over 600k, and I was able to purchase the 600k VPP milestone bonus, $5200 of free money ($6k - $800 FPP value to buy). Cool.

I also managed to finish Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the DS for the first time. There are something like 6 unique ending paths, and right now I'm almost through it again to check out a different one. It was a very good game, despite getting pretty crazy hard near the end of my first playthrough.

Moving on, last week I wrote the Concept of the Week for the microstakes full ring forum of 2+2. It spent the past week stickied, and I'm told has garnered more replies than any previous CotW (mine is the 25th in the series). I think I did a pretty decent job on the topic, which was "Playing Professionally". You can find the thread here.

Poker wise, I still run worse than anyone (ok, besides one person who knows who he is) but win quite a bit of money regardless. Today was especially painful though, as I decided to try my hand at some of the qualifying tourneys for the America's Cup of Poker. They run daily for three weeks, and if your country makes it (Canada will) the top five point winners for their country travel to Argentina to represent in a televised event. I busted early out of the first two small time tourneys today, but in the big $5.50 buy-in (lol) event I managed to make the final table, and then all the way to the final three. We were all very even in terms of chips, when I was dealt QQ in the BB and got it in vs the BTN's 55 preflop. Of course he spikes a 5 and it's GG me. After some quick mental math, a win of that tourney would likely have gotten me about half the way to the Argentina trip points wise, instead I'm stuck with a measly 1/3rd of that. On the upside I did ship $183.60 from the third place finish.

Finally, I pre-ordered two copies of the Aion Collectors Edition today and as a result have two beta keys. Aion is an upcoming MMORPG that looks like lots of fun. My girlfriend and will be trying out the next beta event. Hopefully I don't need to upgrade my system for it to run decently. My box is getting very, very old and I do always enjoy building myself a new toy, but I really don't want to go through the hassle of moving my poker databases. I guess we'll see how it pans out.

Another $2k day already!?!?

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	691,696
SNE Pace:	146,436 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

I had a brutal Friday, and at one point was stuck around $1k but fought back and ended up slightly better than break-even before considering rakeback (of which I earned around $250).

Saturday however, I learned how to occasionally fade 2 outs with one card to come. The result was a +$2100 profit session, $250 of which was rakeback. Saturday graph below:


Here's a fun hand from Friday which helped me get unstuck. MP2 villain is a 13/6 nit, BTN is a big donk, and the overcaller in the BB is ChicagoJoey. 88 is way too big a hand for him to get away from preflop when he's on tilt, obviously.

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
MP3: $106.70 (106.7 bb)
CO: $100 (100 bb)
BTN: $51.75 (51.8 bb)
Hero (SB): $105.20 (105.2 bb)
BB: $125.95 (126 bb)
MP1: $156.50 (156.5 bb)
MP2: $100 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is SB with Ac Ah
MP1 folds, MP2 raises to $4, 2 folds, BTN raises to $12, Hero calls $11.50, BB calls $11, MP2 raises to $41, BTN raises to $51.75 and is all-in, Hero raises to $80.75, BB calls $68.75, MP2 raises to $100 and is all-in, Hero calls $19.25, BB calls $19.25

Flop: ($351.75) Ts 5s Tc (4 players, 2 are all-in)
Hero bets $5.20 and is all-in, BB calls $5.20

Turn: ($362.15) 9d (4 players, 3 are all-in)
River: ($362.15) 5h (4 players, 3 are all-in)

Results: $362.15 pot ($3 rake)
Hero showed Ac Ah (two pairs, Aces and Tens) and won $359.15 ($253.95 net)
BB mucked 8d 8s (two pairs, Tens and Eights) and lost (-$105.20 net)
MP2 mucked Kh Kd (two pairs, Kings and Tens) and lost (-$100 net)
BTN mucked Ad Qc (two pairs, Tens and Fives) and lost (-$51.75 net)

I could get used to a $700 hourly...

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	681,962
SNE Pace:	142,182 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)

Where to begin. Poker since my return from Vegas was really lame to start. From Saturday through Wednesday I put in a great deal of volume (~50k hands total) but ran abysmally, making me little more than an FPP pro for the duration. Technically I was up around $400 plus the ~$1k rakeback.

That all changed on Thursday however. First, I logged in and noticed that I was credited my 100k VPP bonus for playing the WSOP ME. Note that it is reflected in the Status Update, and thanks to it I am very well ahead of SNE pace. I've also exceeded the two thirds mark of the journey.

I put in a short session of around an hour and a half before going for dinner with my girlfriend and mother, and ended up winning around $400. At the end of said session I fired off a quick email to Stars support asking about the status of a cashout in USD that had gone a month without arriving. They confirmed it was sent, and was a postal problem (which doesn't surprise me, I've had other issues with Canada Post lately). If the cheque doesn't arrive soon I can always just have them cancel it and recredit my account. Pokerstars support was awesome as always.

My inquiry regarding the late cheque must have caused them to activate my boomswitch, as over my second hour and a half session of the day I rode a massive upswing. I only played three hours total on the day, but ended up with the graph below:


I believe this is my best single day ever, which is especially remarkable given that I played far less than my typical volume. It's even more impressive given that I took a pretty sick beat in the hand below (villain is a fish, obvious from the 3b size):

Poker Stars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
MP1: $361.85 (180.9 bb)
MP2: $216.55 (108.3 bb)
MP3: $223.60 (111.8 bb)
Hero (CO): $312.10 (156.1 bb)
BTN: $62 (31 bb)
SB: $200 (100 bb)
BB: $201 (100.5 bb)
UTG: $226.95 (113.5 bb)
UTG+1: $276.40 (138.2 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with 5s 5h
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $8, MP3 calls $8, Hero calls $8, 3 folds, UTG raises to $14, MP2 calls $6, MP3 calls $6, Hero calls $6

Flop: ($59) 5c 2d As (4 players)
UTG bets $20, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, Hero calls $20

Turn: ($99) Ac (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $59, UTG raises to $192.95 and is all-in, Hero calls $133.95

River: ($484.90) Kd (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $484.90 pot ($3 rake)
UTG showed Ah Kh (a full house, Aces full of Kings) and won $481.90 ($254.95 net)
Hero mucked 5s 5h (a full house, Fives full of Aces) and lost (-$226.95 net)

The day could have reached legendary status without that beat...

Final Vegas Stuff

Arrived home a few hours ago.

Penn and Teller was pretty good, though a little on the short side especially compared to Mystere. The shark reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay was awesome, they had fish and stingrays from the Caribbean that I was familiar with. M&M world and Coke world were both neat.

The Pokerstars party was packed, and while we didn't stay long enough to witness the performance by Nelly, I was able to meet up with a bunch of SSFR 2+2 regulars. Jrock, Gutter, Ehafner, Swtwtr, and a few others were in attendance. Good guys.

I have 10% of Jrock's action, and he may still be alive in the ME. I know he started Day 3 very short (~30k) but I've been told he had around 100k at the dinner break. It looks like the money bubble will be bursting during Day 4, probably in the first half of the day. One time Jrock!

Back to the grind starting tomorrow.

Vegas Update 5 - Mystere, Eyewear, Dolphins and African Cats

We started the day by heading down to Fremont Street. I was expecting it to feel like "old Vegas" and it delivered. Unfortunately old school Vegas wasn't terribly interesting or entertaining. We definitely could have skipped the visit.

After visiting some dissapointing northern strip hotels and walking through another high end shopping complex, we eventually made it to the Mirage and took in the Dolphin Habitat/Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden. The dolphins were great, and the lions, tigers, and leopard entertaining as well. Most definitely worth the $15.

As we had a bunch of time to kill before our Mystere show, some of it was spent purchasing a new pair of Gunnar sunglasses. They are yellow tinted, and look much more like regular glasses than sunglasses, so I'll be sporting the pseudo-intellectual douchebag look occasonally now.

Mystere was very well done. As it is the only Cirque to Soleil show I've seen, so I have no model for comparison. The music was top notch, and its style being similar to some of Yasunori Mitsuda's work along with the presence of dozens of harlequin like creatures created a bit of a Chrono Cross flashback. I would definitely go see another Cirque production.

Penn and Tellar tomorrow, should be good!

Vegas Update 4 - It Figures

Today was my starting day of the WSOP ME. David Sklansky tried to take the seat to my right, but quickly figured out he was in fact at the wrong table, and moved one table away. D'oh - though in hindsight, I guess not having a huge nit on my right is ok.

I would later witness Phil Hellmuth's grand entrance (including rose petals being strewn in front of him, and a parade of 100+ women in togas). I got to meet Dennis Phillips, and brushed shoulders with Scotty Nyugen and Andy Black. Dan Harrington and Mike Matusow were also somewhere around Day 1c.

I sat down and my table was primarily young guys, with sunglasses/ipods, etc.
There was one middle aged guy two seats to my left whom said he qualified through live play, and played like it. While a couple of the online pros were very likely 6-max players, they played a fairly TAG game.

I picked up a decent number of hands, but got very little action. My first decent pot I called a EP raise with JJ, called the flop on a dry undercard board, and the turn K. Villain had 88, dunno why he decided to turn it into a bluff on the turn. He would be the first to busto from my table.

I lost two sizable pots to vilains holding AQ. In one case villain called down with AQ high two streets before spiking a Q on the river vs my 99 on an undercard board... then he checks back the river obv.

Midway through the second level, I ended up turning a straight vs the Finnish kid directly on my left. Unfortunately the flush got there on the river which definitely cost me some value, but it ended up being a decent sized pot that I took down.

With a minute left in the third level, my stack was up to ~36k (starting stack of 30k), with blinds of 150/300. I had actually worked the stack up to ~37k earlier, before the two hands vs AQ had me down below the starting chips. After the straight hand vs the Fin and a few squeezes etc. I was back up near my high point.

So, last hand of the third level. Live player UTG limps. MP TAGgy guy raises to 4bb. I 3bet with KK to 14bb. Live player folds, TAGgy guy calls. Flop is 225. He checks, I bet 20bb. He thinks about it a lot and shoves. I call. He flips over AA. I run so good. Wish I could have gotten KK vs AA when the structure had my stack at 300bb so I could have folded somewhere.

So, I have like 4k chips left. 4th level, blinds 150/300 with a 25 ante. I pick up AQ in the CO, shove it in. Get called by AKs in the BB obv. I fail to spike, gg.

Loldonkaments.

Hopefully Cirque do Soleil tomorrow is enjoyable.

Vegas Update 3: Freerolls and Sinking Ships (Literally)

So it seems due to lower than usual WSOP ME turnout, they are only playing 4 blind levels on the Day 1s instead of the typical 5. This means I'll likely be in action tomorrow from about noon to 10:30 PM, rather than to midnight as would traditionally be the case. It also means people will be getting eliminated slower, and we'll likely have to wait until Day 4 to reach the money bubble.

On Saturday I played my Supernova 6 max live freeroll, which given the blind structure was essentially a sit and go tournament. We started with 50bbs. I ended up finishing 4th after A9 < A2 AIPF (2 on the river obv) and AT < KQ AIPF. What was neat about the experience (aside from the free $100 USD for sitting down and playing) was that the young guy who was sitting to my left asked early on if anyone at the table was 2p2. I said I was. He asked my screen name. I said Ronfar. Turned out he was booger369, whom I was very familiar with and had played quite a few hands with online. He's a megatabling 100nl and 200nl reg. It was fun talking with him, and he's also playing the ME tomorrow.

The girlfriend and I spent the better part of the rest of the day exploring the strip. We looked around many of the forum shops at Caesar's Palace, which was quite an experience. A pretty awesome toy store and a breathtaking art gallery of a big name photographer were the highlights. I briefly considered dropping a few dimes at the gallery, but thought better of it. We then took in the Sirens vs Pirates battle at Treasure Island, while chatting up an older couple from Vancouver Island. The ice breaker was when the gentleman mentioned Tim Horton's, I gave him a good stare and then remarked that he must be Canadian. The performance itself was pretty good, very close to what I was expecting. We also managed to pick up our Mystere Cirque du Soleil tickets while at TI, we will be seeing the show on Monday.

Tomorrow is the big day. I guess my goal is just to survive Day 1, but given the structure that might not be terribly hard. It's a start though. Run good one time!

Vegas Update 2: That's A Lot Of Free Clothing

Today I registered for the WSOP ME. It was an interesting trial, which played out as below:

(1) Took the shuttle bus from the Palms to the Rio.
(2) Stood in line at a WSOP desk, explained situation, got sent to WSOP cage.
(3) Stood in line at WSOP cage, they confirmed the money I wired was there and waiting, but couldn't register me because I didn't have a player's card, which I needed to get from the desk I went to in (2).
(4) Returned to WSOP desk in (2). No line this time, yay. Unfortunately, they are lame and won't give me a player's card without a passport, which I left in my room. Canadian driver's license no good.
(5) Took the shuttle bus from the Rio to the Palms.
(6) Hungry, so we got a pizza and some chicken.
(7) Retrieved passport from the room at Palms place.
(8) Took shuttle bus back to the Rio.
(9) Went to WSOP Desk and obtained a player's card.
(10) Went to WSOP Cage and registered.
(11) Took shuttle bus back to the Palms.
(12) Went to Pokerstars office and with proof of registration, received a bag full of lots of free gear (additional stuff was also given free to my girlfriend). Met Supernova host and got booked for 2 tickets to Mystere on Monday. Signed up for special freeroll for tomorrow (Saturday) at 2:00.

After that ordeal, we took a cab and picked up some groceries for the week. Finally, we spent an enjoyable two and a half hours watching the new Transformers movie. Who knew the Palms had a full blown megaplex theatre? More seats there than in the entire Chinook theatre back home.

Vegas Update 1: Arrival

We got into Vegas a few hours ago. The suite at Palms Place is very nice, the upgrade from the Palms hotel to a suite at Palms Place due to my Supernova status appears to be a big difference maker. You can check out our room here:
http://www.palmsplace.com/accommodations/studio.php.

The real thing looks exactly like the pictures online. We are on the top floor of non-penthouse suites, the 36th.

Tomorrow I'll be registering at the Rio, and hopefully we'll pick up some groceries and such. It's nice having a kitchen available.

We enjoyed a late dinner at Simon, one of two venues located in Palm's Place. There are many more restaurants at the generic Palms, but Simon had a sushi bar that was very, very high quality. Pricing was ok.

On the flight over I finished Crimson Gem Saga for the PSP. I expected a lot more than it delivered. A very pretty game with some decent gameplay elements, but not much else. I started up Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor for the DS. It looks like it's going to be very good, and contain much of the appeal of the Persona titles which also fall under the Shin Megami Tensei series.