WSOP Action Sold - Playing 7 Events

I guess they are right when they say that the early bird gets the worm. I have said all along that this year, I am focused on a summer of playing WSOP events and playing in what is a really special environment. I decided today to get ahead of the curve and place some of my action for sale on 2+2 and luckily for me it sold out in a very short amount of time. I will be playing 7 WSOP events and 3 events at the Venetian Deep Stack. It is likely that I will play 1 or 2 additional WSOP events depending on how I fare in some of the tournaments locally that are offering WSOP seats as prizes. I should also be playing a few more VDS events but I didnt want to put out too demanding of a schedule as I would like to be fresh going into every event.

Below is a list of the events that I am now confirmed to be playing:



Financially, selling off some of my action is the best thing to do. I know some people would be disappointed with only have a % of their action but to be honest, I will be more than happy to hand of money to anyone that had the faith to back me should I run deep again this year.

The only goal I have left now I have finalized my schedule is to play the WSOP Main Event. I also have a thread that I just wrote on 2+2 and hopefully over the next month or so I am able to fill it and can take my seat at the Main Event and chase the pipe dream.

If your looking for a small sweat of my action, take a look and lock down a piece if you can. If you cant afford that, follow the twitter link on my blog or follow me directly at http://twitter.com/elnino1wsop

My thread on 2+2 can be found here

NCAA Regional - A Much Needed Break

Things have kind of been getting on top of me lately and I felt that I needed a break to get my focus back and get my game back on track for a very profitable summer in Vegas. It just so happened that a trip I had planned for almost a year came at just the right time.

Over the years I have developed many great friendships through poker and one of the best is with Gamboooool20. Steve introduced me to rakeback and from that day we have spoke regularly and visited each other a number of times for sporting events. He came down two years ago to Texas to watch the Rangers v Indians on opening day and I returned the favor last season, taking in the Indians v Rangers. So when he gave me the opportunity about 9 months ago to buy a ticket for the NCAA regionals that were being hosted at the Q, I couldn't pass it up. I got up there a day early to celebrate St Patrick's day and it was great to be out having a few beers, not once thinking about poker.

The tournament itself was good to watch. We got some good teams in our region and although some of the games were too one-sided to make them enjoyable (Ohio St vs anyone) we did get a couple of close games. We had Marquette v Xavier in the first round and Marquette v Syracuse in the second round. I do however wonder how Jim Boehiem doesn't call a timeout when he has two left and is down by 3 with less than 30 seconds left. It seems to me to be the perfect time to settle the nerves and do what your paid for, to draw up a play to get a good look. Instead, he let them play and they missed a off balance running rushed 3 that sealed their fate. Disappointing that on the biggest stage its the coach that drops the ball.

Since arriving home from the tournament I have been getting my head down. I had a bunch of Flux work to catch up on and that took most of the first day. Its amazing how much growth is happening, in that I cant go away for 3 days without coming back to a mountain of work. Its a good thing and hopefully that growth continues throughout the summer. Having to spend a lot of time up in the air on my travels, I managed to spend about 5 hours reading through Baluga's book and I must say its worth every penny. I got home and couldn't wait to get back to the tables to implement some of the things that set a light off in my head. Its going to be a work in progress but I can already see that it is going to be profitable to add a lot of things I read to my game.

Ive got live poker tonight, followed by coaching and then more grinding. It seems like a never ending circle but it is rewarding and I just have to get through it. I am nine weeks away from Vegas and I am hoping that in the 68 days I have left before I leave that I get to go to the gym 50 times. So far, I am 1 for 1 with a visit planned later today.

Good luck at the tables.

One in $5 Million

Sadly when I double checked my PokerStars cashier this morning the $1.6 million first prize from the Sunday Million hadn't magically appeared in my account. I was one of the 59k people that ponied up $215 for a shot at a huge first prize and a sweet ride. Sadly I only made it into the second hour, losing with top two vs. the NFD in a 3bet pot. The only issue that I had with the late stages of the tournament was that considering they are playing for such a huge amount of money, there was no play involved. Everyone was so shallow and whilst I understand that every tournament must end, it just seems that it was nothing more than a lottery.

On other poker fronts, the month of February was pretty much one to forget. I didn't play the first ten days of the month due to being in Vegas with the Flux guys and then when I came back, things just didn't seem to be clicking and I seemed to be playing horribly. This tends to happen every now and then and its just a factor of going on auto pilot and not focusing on my decisions. It doesn't help that I am trying to multi task when I am playing and that can only lead to bad situations.

March has started a lot better, I am working hard on my game and really looking to progress. I played a very solid +4BI session of $100nl at the weekend and whilst I made a couple of mistakes calling off in some bad spots, I didn't let it get to me and ended with a solid day.

I've started to get ready for the WSOP and have looked to make a schedule so that I can get a thread started on 2+2 looking to get some of my action sold off. I would love to play the $10k Main Event this year and am going to do my best to make it happen. Its still early but I feel that it would be such a good experience that I need to do all that I can to be in that field.

Done for now, but more updates to follow.
Good luck at the tables.