Ok so here’s the deal. I will play $70 Satellites to try and qualify for the $550 satellite in which I hope to win a seat in the main event of the United States Poker Championship on November 19, 2010 ($5000+$250).

Background:

I am in my mid 30’s and live in Queens New York. My job is pretty crummy as I spent some time being an actor for a while and now live the life of a failed actor working the graveyard shift at a law firm in midtown Manhattan. It’s like Mike McDermott said in Rounders:

Well I guess this is me. Although my life has not been completely fruitless I can honestly say that I am not where I want to be in my life at the present time.

My playing days have gone like this. I’ve played poker part-time (never solely as my profession) for about 8 years now. For the longest time I was a live player, playing mostly NLHE and Stud cash games with daily MTT tournaments in the mix too. The largest buy-in I ever played was a $550 tourney at the Borgata. Online I play on Stars and have been since about 2004 but never really seriously until 2009. Mainly when playing on Stars, I play anywhere from $2 to $38 SNGs and some cash games. My mixture of tournaments to cash games is about 85% to 15%. I am a little bit of a bankroll risk taker and have paid the price by moving up prematurely sometimes. But I think everyone has to take shots sometimes. However, don’t expect me to fork over 5K to play in this thing because I won’t.

Goals:

1. Win an ACT 1 satellite ($55+$15) into an ACT 2 satellite.
2. Play ACT 2 ($525+$25) and win a main event seat into the 2010 USPC at the Taj Mahal Atlantic City.
3. The next goal is to play awesome poker and hopefully make it into the money.
4. Once ITM, my next goal is to final table this baby and make it to day 4.
5. Finally I want to win it all and take down the 2010 USPC championship.

Now I think goals 1&2 are relatively easy and I will most likely achieve. However an obstacle to this is that I work full-time and only have the weekends to accomplish this. This gives me about 2 weeks time to win my main event seat.

Goal # 3 is somewhat harder to achieve as I know there will be a lot of really good players there including top tier pros (but hopefully not at my table). There is variance in these tournaments. Although I am always surprised when I play higher stakes, some of the play I see is often very bad. Hopefully I’m not one of the fish, which I don’t think I am. It’s very conceivable that I could make it into the money but I’ll still need a little good fortune.

With a little luck and stellar play maybe I will make it to goal # 4 and make to the final table on day # 4. If perhaps the poker gods are smiling on me strongly then anything is possible. Baby if I get there I plan to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive.

The chances of getting this far and realizing goal # 5 are statistically against me, but if I happen to win this thing then it’s beer, pizza and strippers on me! I’ll arrange some kind of 2+2 party in Atlantic City or New York.

Anyone played a major tournament before (the WSOP ME perhaps) and want to give me some advice? Does this sound realistic? The first 3 goals are realistic but then it gets more difficult. I think it is better to set very lofty goals because you will do more to achieve them and thus get further. Any advice for a newb with just another dream who wants to win it all?

yeah a wife

Day # 1 – November 5, 2010

So I roll into AC and grab a carton of Maverick’s at the Bodega before heading to my room at the Taj Mahal. After getting to my very nice room in the chairman tower at the Taj I head down toe the poker room. It’s about 1:30PM and the Act 1 satellite for the USPC doesn’t start for almost 3 hours. I decide to sit t the $1/$2 NLHE tables in the meantime.

Cash Game Part Skip this part if you only want to hear about my tournament results

A few hands in I flop a full house with 88 on an 8-5-5 board and get shoved on when a third spade hits the turn. The SB shoved but another player folded who I suspected had a big pocket when the third spade killed my action. I should have raised the flop in this one. Another hand against a real loose opponent I 3-bet pre with QQ and get called by a total fish on an 8-3-2 board. I shove the flop and he calls with 63o only to river a 6 and knock me back down to size.
I drag a few pots here and there and it is really back and forth. Another player sits in the 7-seat who I have some history with. I decide to 3-bet him pre with AKo and he shoves on me. I know him to be a weak player so I call his shove and find out that AK<KK. His KK holds and I double up a short stack. I am just over my starting stack at this point.

I manage to stay ahead somewhat and win a nice pot on the BTN with A8 when I back door the nut flush after the SB flopped a set and doesn’t bet the flop in a 3-way pot. I win a nice pot and rack up a few hands later (up about $260 on 1/2) and go over to the tournament area where and register for the satellite.

Satellite Tournament Act 1 to USPC

The satellite is a $70 satty into Act 2, a $550 satellite where 1 in 10 wins a main event seat in the USPC. That is what I am shooting for. 30 runners enter and we all start with 5,000 in chips @ 20 minute levels. 3 places get a seat into Act 2 ($500 voucher and $50 cash). Not much happens early on but I manage to win my first all-in when I 3-bet pre in position with AK. Villain check-raises me all-in on the flop on an A63 board. I tank for a minute and call it (which normally I hate to do with TPBK) because these tournaments are so weak that I have to be ahead. Villain calls my all-in and tables A7. My heart flutters as the turn brings the 5. The river bricks and I manage to scoop villain’s stack.

I couldn’t get anything going for a while after that and fall down to around 5.5K-6K in chips. The blinds were 300/600 with a 50 ante when I am dealt the 77 UTG. I have 12 BB’s and give it a second. I know I am not raise/folding as that is exploitable. We are 8-handed at the moment. I elect to shove and prayed that nobody had a better pair than me. MP2 calls me with AQ. To my dismay the door card is a Queen but the dealer slides out a King and a Seven too. My set holds up and I double up and win the flip.

The next while I managed to stay alive by shoving and picking up all the dead money in the pot without a confrontation for the most part. When there was a confrontation I managed to be ahead and win every time. Now we get down to 1 table and the guy to my left is a total reckloose and very loose. I am hoping I can double through off of him. I finally loose a confrontation with A-high to JJ against this guy when he finally has a hand. I’m down to about 20K and the blinds go up to 800/1600 with 300 antes. I keep shoving on this guy to my left – the reckloose – I swear I shoved on him 6 or 7 times when folded to me in the SB. At one point he started saying to me that he never has a hand to call my raises with. He evens shows a few of his 63o, 94o, 72o when I shove on him from the SB.

Finally we play down to 4 people and are right on the cusp. I have about 27K. The guy to my left has 55K and the fellow in the 6-seat has about the same and UTG is sitting on a micro stack of 5500. The blinds go up to 3K/1.5K with 500 antes. The micro stack posts his BB and UTG mucks his hand. I look down at 97. I know BB is all-in this hand with ATC and I want to bolster our chances of knocking him out. I call knowing he’s putting in his remaining 2K. Like a complete LAGtard f***ing idiot, SB (the reckloose) raises with a stack of about 30K in orange chips and puts them into the pot. Is this guy stupid?! BB obviously calls and I look down at my cards one last time and muck them. This guy has no conception of proper satellite strategy. Anyways, BB tables J6o and the SB shows QQ. He flops a set, game over tournament over. I qualify for Act 2 and win my seat.

The floor points to the tip jar where both the other players pony up $20. Being the stingy bastard that I am, I only donate $5. Both the other players scuffle and scoff. I don’t care. I’m not a notoriously big tipper anyways and I constantly see people over tip all the time. My Goal # 1 is accomplished and now I just have to qualify for the Main Event. I am looking forward to playing in the $550 mega satellite tomorrow.

Cliffs:

I arrive in AC and buy cigs. I play 1/2 at the Taj waiting for the satellite to start. I win ending up +$260 at the cash game table. I played my the Act 1 satellite ($55+$15) and open shoved my way to final table winning all but one confrontation where I never should have played in the first place. We got down to 4 players and I was still in it when SB shoves 10 BBs on a micro stack and pushed me out of the hand when I was hoping to bolster our chances of winning the tournament. SB flops a set and game over, tournament over, it's on to Act 2. I stiff the Taj on tips basically because I feel like it and I am looking forward to the ME qualifier. This will hopefully come up tomorrow.

November 6, 2010

I slept in late today to the tune of 2PM almost. Eventually I mosey down to the poker room and check out the tournament podium area. It's time to turn my quest to goal # 2 and try to achieve it - win my seat into the main event of the USPC. Well by 2:45PM nobody had signed up for the $550 mega satellite. I played a little $1/$2 and was up about $200 when I head back over to the tourney are around 4:10PM - 5 minutes before the start of the first mega satellite. There are no entrants. The tournament never runs. After playing more $1/$2 I sign up for the second mega satellite around 6:45PM, and come back at 8:10PM, 5 minutes before the start time. There are only 3 entrants. Eventually I get my buy-in and voucher back around 9PM when we all realized it wasn't going to happen.

I don't want to turn my goal thread into a rant but the Taj really needs to advertize their tournament serie's better. I've realized goal #1 but what good is that if nobody enters the mega to use my voucher? The Taj is beginning to suck in my book. I'll try again tomorrow but I'm skeptical if it doesn't run on Saturday then how will it run on Sunday? At 9PM I head over to the Borgata to play some $2/$5. I left there up $400. At least something good happened. The mega satellite had better run tomorrow or I may start fire bombing the Taj.

November 7, 2010

Today I tried to play in the 4:15 PM satellite and it didn't run. I sold my voucher in the morning for full price to someone who was playing in the Stud event. Luckily I got my money out of this. I had to go back to New York because of work but I intend on coming back for Friday (11/12) and hopefully they had a mega satellite then that I can get into.

Pleasse Taj! Do something to make your mega satellites run!

good read. good luck.