...and busto in the WSOPC Baltimore Main Event. To say that I was card-challenged throughout the day would be an understatement. The only good value spot I could find I held ATdd on AA3ccJx against Dennis Phillips' A6, but we ended up chopping upon a K river; if I could have faded the chop or his three boat outs I would have had a 30k stack as of level 4 from 20kss. Despite being card dead, I won a couple of 3bet pots that kept me around starting stack most of the first few levels despite air balling both times.

I did make in retrospect what I think was a mistake and went for a c/r turning my hand into a bluff with T8 on a T95rKx board where I had been the preflop opener and got flatted by the BTN and BB. I led 1200 into 2650 on the flop and got called by the button. Turn Kx. Checked to BTN who bet 1800. I check-raised to 4500 and then folded after villain shoved. This villain struck me as the type who wouldn't proceed further w/o a nutty hand, and after watching how he played a bunch of other hands I was certain he would have raised two pair or a set on the flop, limiting his nutty hands to QJ and maybe KT. Nevertheless, I don't think it was worth the risk and I think I may have forced action due in some part to my frustration over being card dead.

Ultimately went out in a pretty annoying spot. I raise KJcc in the CO with a 27bb stack. Both blinds call. Flop QTJr. SB leads 1/3 pot, BB folds, I call. Turn Jx. SB checks, I bet 1/3 pot, BB goes allin. While I didn't feel good about it, I didn't think I could find a hero fold in this spot against this particular villain and folding would leave me with an allin or fold stack. I called; he had QJ. Gg.

Pretty disappointing experience but so it goes. On the bright side, I had a good day of PLO cash yesterday and finished +$1830 over two short sessions of 5-5-10 PLO. Decided to extend my stay here another week and spend at least a day or two as a vacation and check out some museums and other cool things in the area, plus hang out with old friends. After this trip, I'll most likely head to Borgata for that series.

Tried to add this edit to my last post regarding my bustout hand, but the window of time for editing has closed:

<<The more I think about this last hand, the more I'm wondering if I should have just folded after getting check-raised on the turn. The only hands he could take this line with that I realistically beat/chop with are worse Jx (he could have J9, and he was loose enough such he was playing J7/J8 type hands), and KJ, with a minimal % chance of him turning a hand like T9 or similar into a bluff. While I needed only 30% equity for the call to be profitable, I'm pretty sure he's not showing up with worse than KJ often enough. I may have let the fact I had made so few hands during the day cloud my judgment when I actually made a hand. While folding might at first glance seem overly hero-y, the more I think about it the more I think it's probably the correct line.>>

Anyone have suggestions as to cool things to do in Baltimore/D.C.? I'm hoping to spend a decent amount of time this coming week doing vacation-y and fun things.

Some ideas:
-places I've checked out before that I would like to check out again: American History Museum, National Archives, Sackler Gallery, National Zoo, Lincoln & Jefferson Monuments & WWII Memorial/Vietnam War Memorial, Arlington Cemetary
-driving a bit and checking out some of the more notable Civil War battle sites (i.e., Gettysburg, Antietam)
-checking out Meditation Center of D.C.
-driving around and checking out some of the more notable places from the Serial podcast (i.e., the Best Buy, the high school and library, etc.), maybe a little weird but for whatever reason this seems like it'd be interesting

All of the Smithsonian's on the National Mall.

Is any legislation in session? Call the office of any state reps and they should be able to get you in the tour/sessions to watch.

The National Art Museum is especially interesting. After years of art history in college and high school, seeing a work of art in person is a totally different experience.

Here's a NYT piece that touches on material similar to the book Drive that I recommended previously itt (more book recommendations forthcoming): http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/op...pgtype=article .

I'm really hoping that some kind of new movement takes off in American workplace and management culture that accounts for all the research indicating that we're driven more by intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic motivation.

Thanks for the suggestions, BetStack. I've been to the National Art Museum before and enjoyed it; I'll add that to my list of potential destinations. As for legislation, I abhor politics too much for that.

Miss seeing you around!

Spy Museum and Natural History are amazing. Native American museum's really good too.

Vet wall is something else, out of all the memorials downtown I like that one the best.

If you're into nightlife, there is a myriad of bar's, clubs, lounges all over. U street and adam's morgan are a good place to start.

Good suggestions, thanks! I've actually been to the Spy Museum before (like ten years ago) and liked it but not sure I'd want to go back. I do think I'd like the Native American museum a lot, though, adding that to the list (probably Natural History, too). The Adams Morgan area is awesome; might try to spend some time there.



Meanwhile, I just had my best session of cash in awhile: +$4k playing 5-5-10 PLO with occasional $25 rock at MDL. While I sat down w/o blinking at the stakes (game is same size or a little smaller than the 5-10 PLO w/ $20 button straddle game I put in a ton of volume in earlier this year), I realized shortly into the session that the game felt a little big while I've been dealing with a downswing, especially in a still pretty foreign poker environment. Fortunately, I ran very well at what was a good but not great table. My PLO results this trip have been extremely good thus far while NLHE have been unspectacular, mostly thanks to one hand where I went a little too nuts with KTdd on a JT5ddTx board and ended up losing $1600 against pocket fives.

Anyways, I'm really glad I extended the trip, for multiple reasons. For one thing, it feels nice to be on the road; I was getting bored and restless at home, especially with games being pretty lousy. I love the 24/7 availability of games here combined with the short drive to each casino and this all being in a suburban environment rather than Vegas. It's also been awesome to catch up with several old friends who live in the area.

Here's an interview with me authored by bob_124 based on our conversation during the day break between days 1 and 2 of my WSOP Main Event: http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/i...niel-jones.php .

Our conversation was quite enjoyable for me and I'm glad that it's been preserved via a couple of different pieces by Ben.

A bunch of us regs from Hollywood Columbus are making a trip to Live! this weekend! I've played there a few times already and I love the action and comparatively easier games. I plan on playing the 2/2 PLO, 2/5 NL, and maybe some 10/20 limit holdem if it's running. Also looking forward to getting some Peri Peri chicken while there.

For things to do in DC, I'd second the Spy Museum recommendation, as well as making a drive to Dulles to see the Air and Space Museum Udvar Hazy annex. They have all the huge planes, missiles, Space Shuttle, etc that can't fit in the DC Mall location.

If you want a cool place to eat, peruse, people watch, etc., check out Union Market.

I'm loving the action at MDL and I'm sure as always you won't be disappointed. Btw, I just googled Peri Peri out of curiosity and it looks amazing; I'll try to stop by there some time this week and check it out. So far I've been eating at all too familiar places; excited to try something new out.

Thanks for the vacation suggestions. I'm going to have my first vacation day tomorrow (Wed), or at least that's the plan; I'm hoping to check out the American History Museum at the very least and then meet friends in VA or the Adams Morgan area. If I leave early enough I'm hoping I have enough time to also check out the Sackler Gallery, war memorials, presidential monuments, etc. Pretty excited as I love all things history.



In other news, my last few sessions of cash out here have gone really well and I'm even happier now that I extended my trip. I've finally had my first bit of extended rungood post mid-WSOP after a lot of runbad and am very grateful for it.

Yup, another form of tilt I have to watch out for in myself. Thanks for the great material.

Ask for B'more and DC food suggestions in the LLSNL chat thread if interested. Several regs there are from that area.

Since you are a fan of Russian writers, why not try a Russian restaurant in DC.

I suggest Mari Vanna on Connecticut ave around Dupont Circle. Very lively atmosphere and very good renditions of Russian staples. Good wine and vodka selections.

Sure, thanks for the kind words.

Ended up packing in a bunch of activities yesterday in an enjoyable day. Visited the Lincoln Monument, WWII Memorial, MLK Memorial, National Archives, American History Museum, and (way more briefly than I would have liked) the Natural History Museum. Did a lot of walking; my feet haven't been that tired in a long time. After all that, my buddy picked me up and we had dinner at an Indian place I thought was great in Alexandria.

I'm hoping to do some more vacation-y stuff on Sunday but probably won't have time for a Russian meal, although that does sound intriguing.

Booked Mon-Thurs for Atlantic City, looking forward to playing the $560 $2mil gty and, if I bust, the OE tourney. If things are going well I'll stay for that whole series.

MDL action has been awesome, games so plentiful and good action. Can't exaggerate how cool it is to have 24/7 action available in a wealthy suburban area of the country. This is much more my speed than Vegas during the WSOP. I'm still considering moving from Ohio and Baltimore/DC is beginning to rival LA for my attention. For one thing, PLO is much more popular here than in LA. The games here also seem to be friendlier and are much closer to what I'm used to in terms of the general table vibe than what I've observed in LA. It's also cool that Parx and the Borgata and their big mixed action aren't that far away. Finally, my sister might me moving from LA, in which case I would lose a major reason for moving and I wouldn't know many people there, whereas I have a bunch of friends here.

Your write up has me thinking to move to Maryland too haha.

Had a really strong week of cash game results and finished just shy of +$10k for the week. I intentionally played a lot of different games/stakes (2-5 + 5-10 NL, 2-2, 5-5, and 5-5-10 PLO) to get a sense of the profitability picture across all stakes at MDL to inform my decision whether to move here. I did well and managed a solid profit in every game and stake. A very nice change of pace after the last few weeks. A different kind of experience for me as it involved a lot of table/game changing and short sessions compared to my typical long sessions at home. I'm still farther away than I would like from my profitability peak for the year, but I made a lot of progress heading back in the right direction and I'm really glad that I extended my trip even though I keep hearing the games at home have gotten much better over the last couple weeks (poker season may be back upon us).

I've been feeling sort of down lately, probably because I didn't do a great job this week exercising or meditating (the former b/c my ipod suddenly stopped working properly and I'm too cheap to buy a new one rather than fix it but won't be spending enough time here to drop the ipod off at a repair shop, where they would need to order a new headphone jack). It's really difficult for me to run without music. As far as meditating, I've just fallen prey to laziness/tiredness (due in no small part to the lack of exercise) and need to will through it.

I'm also feeling ambivalent about heading to Borgata and I have some fear, however irrational, about ending the trip on a bad note. Historically, I've been massacre'd in cash games at that poker room and I also find AC kind of tilting in the sense you feel like they're trying to squeeze you for every penny they can get. I only booked a room for M-R (was able to get an extremely good rate with Harrah's AC), so if things aren't going well I'm just gonna head back home next weekend. My hope is to ship the big $560 and then just play the rest of the tourneys of the series. If tourneys aren't going well and I end up playing cash, I plan on focusing on PLO and mixed. My NL results this trip have been great but it's beyond dispute at this point that I have a much bigger edge in PLO, especially at the 5-10 and above level. Part of that is I looked at my hours for the year and I've played a whopping 3.5x more PLO than NL. Playing some 50-100 or 75-150 stud8 would be awesome, but I doubt it's going to be spread as a solo game at those stakes.

Btw, went to Nando's and it was great; really good fries w/ spicy mayo sauce.

Visiting a couple of museums and the National Cemetary tomorrow with my friend then off to Borgata on Monday.

Excellent thread chief. It was cool to read the saga of your ME. Good luck at the borg!

Thanks, squeazle!

Miss all the HH's itt. Loved your analysis.

Bagged 89k from 20k starting off a single bullet in the Borgata $560 $2M gty. Played pretty well overall but could have played a couple hands better. Wish I could type more but I'm currently limited to Internet via my phone only and it's a chore to type on the 2p2 app.

tapatalk is better fwiw but phone posting on forums is the nut low regardless. gl in the tourney.

Quick update: Cashed the $560 for slightly better than mincash; was pretty card dead then busted shoving nut flush draw on J84dd and getting heroed by pocket sixes then whiffing. Immediately hopped in the $500 OE(o8/stud8) after busting and survived day 1 with healthy stack. 12 left out of 74, I'm probably 5/12.

Sigh, bubble boy of the OE. Made a mistake in a stud8 hand that put a dent in my stack and it proved fatal. I've had a bad cold for a couple days that resulted in a couple nights of two-four hours sleep, and I'm sure that affected my play to some extent, but that's still no excuse for a poorly played hand. Disappointed but still good experience for the next time.

Sucks dude. Curious how the Stud8 mistake went down?

'sup Doc, thanks for popping in. This will be a little tricky to remember, especially given how sleep deprived I was when the hand went down, but the general details of the stud8 hand are as follows:

I am the bringin with (AdQc)3c. Among the other 8 players there are mostly high upcards showing with, I think, a couple low cards (I can't remember which two, though). It gets folded all the way to the chipleader to my direct right, who's the person at the table I've played with the least as the final two tables had just gotten consolidated at 9 players into one table and we had avoided each other all tournament. He raises with (xx)J.

The level was ante 1k, bringin 2.5k, bets 4k-8k, and I want to say I started the hand with around 65k. Against his raise (8k), I am getting immediate pot odds such that I only need 22% equity going forward for a call to be profitable. We had played a bunch of hands of stud8 and after another couple of hands were going to switch to o8.

My thinking at the time was that he was opening a wide range here on the assumption that I would be folding a large % of the time as the only other player remaining in the pot. Moreover, at 65k I was quite below average stack, with three stacks smaller than mine remaining (~42k, ~20k, ~40k) and only one elimination before the FT (official FT)/ITM bubble burst. Thus I am very vulnerable to ICM pressure and as such it seemed like a good spot for him to apply pressure.

I defended, aware that the immediate pot odds (again, need only 22% equity) were very appealing in a vacuum (ignoring ICM for a moment) and aware my equity against a hand like split jacks was around 40% (I should mention, I don't think there were any other jack upcards, increasing the likelihood he does in fact have split jacks). I thought he was capable of raising wide (i.e., more than split jacks), but, if he has split jacks, I still have about 40% equity.

Heading to fourth street, my plan was to fire and try to steal if the upcards came favorably based on my assumption that his range was weak and that by calling I was repping a strong range.

Fourth street gets dealt. I'm dealt (AdQc)3cKd, he's dealt (xx)JxTx. I check, he bets. At this point, it was time to abandon ship and give up, as committing another bet puts me in a very precarious position going forward, as I'm really only happy with an A, K, or Q upcard on fifth, and even then I'm not going to be eager to commit more chips into the pot. I check, he bets, and I made a huge mistake and called on the assumption I may have still had the best hand.

We were each dealt junk on fifth street and I folded to his bet. Villain was kind and flashed me a jack in the hole (meaning he had split jacks) before mucking.

As soon as this hand was over, I felt like it was a trainwreck as played by me and by far the worst hand I played all tournament and quite possibly the entire three week trip (I just arrived back home). Almost certainly, I would have played the hand better had I not been severely sleep deprived and still dealing with the effects of a bad cold, but, again, I don't like to make excuses and the bottom line is I believe I'm capable of playing my best no matter what circumstances, sometimes it's just more difficult than other times to do so.

As to why I think the hand was so poorly played, on fourth street, even if I have a hunch that I might have the best hand, it doesn't matter as this is not a cash game and 8k (not to mention the high probability of future bets of 16k occurring) is way too big a % of my stack to commit on a hunch. So, I think a call on fourth street is absolutely terrible.

I think the call on third street was also quite bad. Though I think third street is defensible in a cash game under some circumstances given the power of the ace in the hole and the whole headsup dynamic of last remaining player versus the bringin, I think in this situation it is a mandatory fold. For one thing, if I'm not dealt an ace or queen on fourth street, I'm going to be quite uncomfortable, so I'm going to be uncomfortable 80%+ of the time. Even though my plan was to try to steal w/o improving, anyways, in retrospect that seems too optimistic and too uncertain given the ICM dynamics of having several stacks smaller than me who are about to feel the brunt of impending o8 big blinds (8k).

Basically, and, now I can say, predictably, my splashing around reduced me to the level of the other short stacks and cost me some critical ICM leverage. If I fold, I ensure I leave them alone on the hot seats. Instead, I got too fixated on sheer range-versus-range equity without considering that equity in the greater context of the ICM situation, which should have forced me to play only strong hands in such a spot.

Tbh, I did run bad on day two. I never made a good hand, I lost a lot of medium-sized pots, and the short stacks doubled up or chopped three times instead of busting when at risk where if they eliminated we would have been at the official FT and ITM.

Ultimately, I went out in an annoying spot in a hand I've found myself questioning given the ICM situation. One of the player's stacks had been reduced all the way down to 6k with a couple hands of o8 left and neither of us were going to have to post a blind before the stud8 round began. In stud8, the antes/bringin are basically going to force him to go allin the first or second hand. With a stack of 23.5k myself, I decided I was going to fold everything but very premium hands and wait until the stud8 round forced this player to commit his stack.

The second-to-last o8 hand gets dealt. Scott Baumstein raises (16k) in MP, the chipleader folds. I'm in the HJ and I have the two other shortest stacks to my left, so I know they'll be folding basically everything if I enter the pot. Moreover, I knew Baumstein was aware of the situation and was capable of raising wide as he had been ever since accumulating a stack. I peel my cards and I have AA39 and a suited ace, right on the margins of the very strong hands I had decided I would play. I decided to 3bet allin and try to build a stack back up rather than watch my stack dwindle to nothing as I waited for the very short stack to double up, chop, or bust in stud8. The short stacks fold, and, to my chagrin, both of the blinds call, each big stacks but each had been playing pretty tight. I had been fairly sure they were both going to fold in a double-raised pot, and as soon as I saw them both call I felt sick. At the same time, I was also now in a position to win/chop a 94k rather than 60k pot. Unfortunately, the board came out terribly and I knew I was basically drawing dead before the cards were turned over. I exited the table as the stone bubble.

There are other hands I'm questioning too, like defending against a CO raise in o8 with KK63 on the BTN (tight blinds, and at the time I had a decently big stack). Truthfully, I'm a much better stud8 than o8 (or, at least, fixed limit o8) player and there is still a ton of room for improvement for me in developing a stronger o8 game.

Anyways, all of this, especially the stud8 hand, goes to show that I'm still not above making obvious, big mistakes and that I still have plenty of room for improvement generally in mixed tournament play. While the sleep deprivation obviously made me more prone to mistakes, I refuse to let that operate as an excuse. The ironic thing is, I had been sleeping great on the road the whole East Coast trip, which had made two trips in a row I slept well while traveling despite a long history of severe sleep issues while traveling. This time, though, a bad cold and struggling breathing combined with tourney adrenaline made sleep damn near impossible.