new wsop update

okay..so here's the couple of updates for the entire package so far:

1. I missed three 560s for the DSE and decided to play the last wsop event before the main which was the $2500 (so..I put up some of my own money along with 560*3).

$2500 event: was pretty happy about my first table. Shannon Elizabeth was on my table, along with 4 nits and 2 fish. It didn't take a long time before I doubled up my stack with QJs on KT569 board against AK who crai the river. Built my stack up to 21k before the dinner break, was playing well, got some cards. After the dinner break, my luck totally turned around and was running horribly bad. Had JJ and lost to a fish's 24dd on 662A2 board. Then I had A9cc from co vs SB fish's A7 on A7554 board (I checked back flop and pot controlled well).

Few orbits later, I busted Shannon with KK against her AQ aipf. Too bad I didn't get a "I knocked out Carbon poker pro" tshirt from her, nor did I get a hand shake or smile from her.

So my stack after the dinner break has been fluctuating up and down...Then I proceed to lost AK vs AT aipf again..and was down to below 10k in chips. just couple mins before the blind went up to 4/8, I decided to take my chance and shove 6k utg w/ Q9o (bad shove but i dont' want to let blinds increase and hit me in the bb and become super short). Got called in two spots, AJo and AKhh. 9 ball on the turn and I trippled up. yay! finally run good once! So I ended day 1 with 17.5k.

Day2:

blind started at 400/800/100, I lost ATs vs AQo for 7bb aipf pot and again became a short stack. Got moved to a new table and open shoved two hands in a row, no calls. the busting hand: had 12k utg at 400/800/100, looked down 88, obv the easiest ship in the world, too bad wasn't good enough against utg+1's AA. gg me.

$5K 6max tournament report: I have to admit, this is by far the toughest tournament field I've ever played in my entire life. I think it's also good and bad for me. Good thing is that it makes me play my A++++ game and concentrate 200%, bad thing is that I know they are not gonna make my life easy. So here we go, some notable hands I can recall. guy two to my right is the famous Shane Schlager, guy to my right is gp333 is I remember it correctly, guy to my left is mattg1983 who also won the 5k plo last year? So anyway, I was lucky enough to get some good cards and got paid off early and built my stack to 23k ish when this hand happened: Shane open from the button, I flat in the bb with 66, flop came down 356, check/check, turn 8, i led and he calls, river was another 8, i check, he vbets, i c/r to 4800ish and he tank calls with his trip 8s. The very next hand, he opens from the hj, i flat in the sb with 33, mattg calls. flop 3T8 two clubs, this time, I decided to lead out (different line with set, to confuse ppl), mattg folds and shane raises. I thought for a little and jams and shane snaps with his oesd. turn boated me up and shane hit the rail. Then gp333 started to become quite active and I wasn't ready to let him get an easy life. We played multiple pots against each other, I won most of them and busted him at the end. just the hand before the 1st break (or 2nd..i don't remember), he opens from the co as he has been doing, I 3bet otb with Q8o, he calls obv, he hates to fold to 3bet. flop came down KJX, he check/calls my cbet, turn was 7 I think, he check/calls again, river was another brick, he check and folds to my 3rd barrel and says nice hand to me. phew... two hands before I bust him: it was bvb situation, folds to him in the sb, he opens as he has been doing all the time to my big blind, I defend with 9To, flop K78, he cbets, I call, turn 8, he bets, I call, river 5, he checks, I bet a 1/3 pot and he instant mucks. Hand I busted him: he opens utg, I flat with AJo, everyone folds, flop A low low, he check/calls my bet as a pfr, turn was another low card, he c/c again, river was a J, he check/tanks/calls my river shove and he hit the rail. Up to this point, I have to say that I was playing my A++ game and was super confident. Then I proceed to lose two big pots. One was where I limp sb with T7o, mattg checks behind, flop J37ss, I led, he raises, and I call. turn was a Q, I check/call again, river was an offsuit Ace, I check and he shoves for 8k, I tank and went through the whole hand and I knew that Ace is almost in his range, nor does he have anything decent, and both Q and A are good scary cards for him to get me off my weak pair hand. So I was thinking, this is either a flopped two pair hand, or a completely air. I called and he showed Q4o lol. Then I lost another big pot against an unknown button who has been raising my bb pretty often. He opens btn, i 3bet with A7o from bb, he tanks and 4bets, I instant ship it in, too bad I ran into his QQ and failed to improve. AFter the dinner break, David Singer was on my table and this busto hand happened: he opens co, I 3bet from sb with AsQh. he calls. flop KsQsJ, I check, David cbets 7kish, I c/r over 60% of my stack and he tanks tanks tanks and decides to shove. I snap and he turns over TsJh. I was in a very good shape against his 6 outers. turn was a J and GG me. Well played David, that's all I can say about you. All in all, of all the events I played, the only one I played bad was the 1600 at the venetian, everything else I was def playing well or even my A plus game. Now, I'm just looking forward to the ME and hopefully the luck can be on my side this time

WSOP updates 6/14 (xpot in the market place-selling shares forum on 2p2)

sorry guys, I've been pretty busy with the live action, for those who are following my action and care about how I'm doing in Vegas, here you go :)


6/1 Event 7 $2,500 (27TD)

Was super excited to get back to Vegas and play wsop, it's been almost a year since last year's WSOP. I'm fully prepared, mentally and physically, for this year's wsop. I have the highest confidence compared to before.

Came to my first event with confidence and ease. I liked my table draw, it was really good and soft, 2 nits who only play basically the nuts, 1 guy to my left who has no clue what he's doing but keep capping pre and draw 3. Seat 4 I heard is famous in nlhe mtt circuit but apparently a lagtard in 27TD.

Anyway, I started off by vbetting my 23487 in bvb situation and this old nit pat on the 3rd draw (i made 87 on 2nd and 3rd draw went pat/pat) and c/c with 23458 loool. wp sir.

Then I kept bricking all my 2345X, 2346X draws against this fish who would c/r one 2nd draw, draw 2 and make 76 on me. another wp sir.

Hand that I busted in was in bvb situation where I 3bet this old nits open with 245XX, he called. drew 2 and 2, I got 2345X and raised all in his donk bet. he turned over 24569 and I bricked my 2nd and last draw. All in all, I think I played this tournament really well but you know how it is when you keep bricking everything. next yr I guess.

6/8 Event 17 $5,000 (nlhe)

This is the 3rd wsop event of this year (I put myself in the 1500 plh), table wasn't as tough as I expected it to be, quite a few nits and couple of guys who are just somewhat clueless (but has no fold button, unbluffable, which i'll explain later).

I soon recognized a guy who bought majority of my action from last year (fionn) and he gave me a smile on the table, though I wasn't quite sure if it was him. The whole day I was pretty card dead, so I'd just be patient and tried to pick my spots.

One hand I lost like 3k in chips trying to bluff this guy who has no fold button and played his hand so strangely. The action went like this: it was a 5 way limped pot and I limped QXdd otb. flop came down Ad8h3s, went checked around, turn was a As, checked to the utg2 limper who bets 1/2 the pot. I tanked for like 30 secs before making the call (trying to take it away on the river, based on what card falls), river was a Js iirc, guy checked, I tanked for like 30 mins and decided to bluff at this river by betting nearly the pot size (3kish) and he instant check/called with T8ss....

Later at 50/100 (either that or 75/150), utg2 (3400) opens to like...2.5x, everyone folds to me in sb with AKhh. I 3bet to 6x (obv calling a shove, or jam if i whiff the flop, or bet a gay ass bet to induce if i hit the flop), utg2 calls. flop AcJs7c, i made a gay ass small cbet and he instant jammed. I obv snapped and he turned over JQcc and rivered J and doubled up. gg me.

2 hands later, I picked up AQss from co and made it 2.5x, folded to bb who's an old nit who flats. flopped Ac4h4s, bb c/c my 1/2 pot cbet. Turn was 7s, bb checks and I bet 2k into 2500 and bb tanks and calls. river was a 4 and bb checks, I bet 5.4k and bb instant calls with AJ (lol fml? ) and splits the pot.

so here comes to the hand that busted me. old nits opens from ep, gets 3 callers, I looked down K3cc and completes. flop Tc7c3, I decided to take bet/3bet shove line to maximize my equity. I led out and pfr folds, fionn calls, another guy calls. Turn was a brick and jammed my last pot size bet on the turn, fionn calls with 333 and I bricked the river. another gg.



6/14 Event 26 $2,500 (6m)

I woke up today and was super excited at this event, not only because I just went deep in the $162 6m on PS yesterday but also I have picked up a lot of 6m mtt stuff. My pre-set strategy for this tournament is to play tight and patient early in the tournament because everyone's gonna be playing like a 3bet maniac on my table (which turned out to be true also).

I went with my strategy and was pretty much card dead until this hand where I picked up KJss and lost 3k to AA on JT36Q board. Then I grinded back to 6.5k ish when I called down with 99 on Tc8c453 board from btn vs co's 2 barrel with K4ss.

New table: I really have to say that $2500 6m isn't an easy event, I can already recognize two faces on my new table the moment I sit down. Two of them are regulars at live hsnl games I often see at Bellagio and Rio. Not much going on this table except for when I flopped a fd 4 way pot and went busto. utg opens to 350 from utg, hsnl regs flats, sb calls and I completed with 46cc. flop QJ3cc and I check, utg cbets 900, reg raises to 2100 (preflop was like 1500). I do a quick math and knew I was even getting instant odds on my fd and decided to go with the hand and let the math decide who it's going to favor this time and check/jammed. pfr rejammed and hsnl snaps. UTG has KJ for top two and hsnl has KTcc, I was drawing super slim and that's how I busted.

Venetian DSE:

6/7 $550+ 10 (for the bonus chips)

This is one of the events where I have a monster stack at the first break and started to run like **** after the break. I worked my 15k starting stack to like 40k going into lvl3. Then this hand happened 2 hands before the break. a mtt reg opens from ep and I flat pre with AA hoping one of the short stacks behind me would ship. bb completes and we go to the flop. Flop K72, bb checks, pfr cbet, i flat, bb folds. turn 8, pfr tanks and c/c my 2/3 pot bet. river 6, pfr checks and i bet close to pot and he tanks and jams for 5k more and I snap and he shows 666 for river set lol. wp sir, I have no clue where you learned that from.

Got moved to a new table, not much going on except for I am trying to find a spot to double up my semi shortstack. Then I finally picked up AJdd and shoved for 15bb stack, guy next to me calls with 88 and we're off to race. Flop Q73dd, turn K and river bricks again...

well, I guess variance is just not on my side yet.

6/9 $1590+10

I have to admit that this is the most horrible event I ever played in my life, not because the field is tough, my table wasn't tough at all, I was just playing horribly bad and had no patience and blew away a lot of chips trying to turn my made hand into bluff against an euro guy who has no fold button at all. Really can't complain anything but to blame myself only. I deserve to get knocked out from this event. I have waken up though..I'm really tilted at how horrible my play was, completely not professional, I am going to take 1 day off and cool myself down before the next event. I promise I will get back on track.

5/31- first night in Vegas, gotta love "the ladies"

Finally landed to the Vegas airport and really can't wait to see one of my good friends/teachers "big mao". After picking me up, dropping stuff off at the hotel, we went to the Rio so I can register for tomorrow's 27TD event.

To the Rio poker tournament area, the entire setup looks quite different from last year. It's much more organized and spacious. Harrah's really did do a good job this year accomodating most players' needs. Big plus for separating cash game/satellite from WSOP event areas. Two thumbs up for this.

Anyway, after I got my seat card, I went straight to 5/10 nlhe cash game to make some easy money. Had couple of big hands through out the night. First hand that stacked me was when I picked up QQ on the button after two ppl limped. I made it 70 pre and BB (a fairly tight black dude) instant repopped to 250 (we're 1100 effective), I tanked a bit and called. Flop came down T68ss and he popped it. I tanked and called. Turn was a 6 and he shipped his last 400-500ish stack and I reluctantly called only because I was getting literally almost 4 to 1 on my money. Oh well, ladies ain't enough up against BB's pair of Kings. pretty standard given the situation and how active I have been on the table right?

just couple of orbits later, some guy straddled on the button and I (in the sb) was the first to act. I looked down QQ again and decided to make it 90 dollars to go. Folded around to mp1 who made it 290 to go. Our effetive stack was 1200ish. so I tanked and called (and yea..wtf right? everytime when I have QQ, I always get the type of action I am not expecting). Flop came down Q73r board and I checked/called his cbet. Turn was the case Q, making me the unbeatable nuts- four of a kind, Queens!. I checked and the preflop 3better instant shipped and I snapped, obv hand held up.

After the QQ hand, I ended up profiting roughly 200 dollars for the night and decided to go back to hotel to get some sleep before 5pm the next day for the tournament.

hello Vegas :)

5/26- back in the US!

omg, it's been a while! I've never felt this excited to be back in the US. Had a blast down in SD with bunch of UCLA Anderson kids and looking forward to the Vegas trip. Really can't wait to get back to my "2nd home" for more live action.

random things

Just realized that it's been almost half a year since last time I blogged. Figured it'd be a good time to update my status to those who cares about me.

Here we go:

It's been 4 months since I moved to this new city- Taichung. To be honest, I really love this city. Way more than I like Taipei. For some weird reason, I actually wouldn't mind settling down here. There are multiple reasons why Taichung > Taipei imo:

1. People are reall friendly, down to earth here. Unlike most fast-paced, indifferent, money-oriented Taipei people, people in Taichung really make you feel the warmth.

2. Weather is 100X better than Taipei. Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm living in the suburbs in the US here. Everything is pretty spread out here, road is also wide and clean which makes my driving (or scooter riding) experience unbelievably enjoyable.

3. Food! omg, I can't tell you how much I love the food in Taichung, it's not only cheaper but also better! I really can't complain about the food in Taichung, you've got so many options available in this big city, may it be authentic Korean food, Indian curry, or Mid Eastern food. You name it, they've got it! It's what's keeping me alive here.

4. Standard of living is obviously lower than Taipei, you really get more bang for your buck here.

All in all, I love this new city and the friends who have been working with me and supporting me. Speaking of which, I can't be any more grateful for this group of friends. Without them, this poker project would never be possible. Without them, my life away from home would be another boring life in another city on my life path. There were several times where they didn't have to do me the favor but went out of their way to have me taken care of. I can't possibly succeed in this thing without you all.

Now back to the business. Poker. Poker has been not bad for me this year. Even though January was kind of rough, Feb and March were both awesome. Thanks to the FTP's new game: Rush poker, it helped me build back my roll easily and earning tons of rakeback. With APPT Macau and WSOP on the way. This would be my last month to put everything together and get ready for the big tournament of the year.

As far as coaching goes, I've taken on many students (more than I expected tbh), some of them are just lazy Joes, some of them are hard working bees. You just can't expect all of your students to be the same, right? There are specific 4 students who work extra hard and I've seen their improvement which gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Some poople asked me why I even bother to give out all the secrets to people. What can I say? I like taking care of people, I like watching my students grow and improve. It makes me specifically proud if one of my students is able to succeed in this poker world; and when people ask him what his story is behind his success, my name is mentioned. You know what I mean? It's something most people just don't get.

Anyhow, I have been actually pretty satisfied with the first 1/3 of the year. Really looking forward to the rest of it and the Vegas trip.

on with the fun.

APPT Cebu, day 1A recap- Chip Leader at the end of day 1!!!

I've been pretty lazy about my blog and I know a lot of people are waiting to see my Korea/Auckland trip report. But before I get back to that, I have some good news to share with all of you first.

First: Cebu is obv a stunning place, at least the resort itself. I haven't been able to check out the beach and water activities but will def find a time to do so.

Second: I'm the chip leader with 158.5k in chips at the end of day1A!!!! booya! one time?

So right before the tournament started, I told myself that I'm going to be playing hyper aggro style, either I go very deep or go home early cuz I'm tired of surviving till day2 and bust out of the money.

table 1:

My first table was actually really good, full of old nits and live donks. So it wasn't very hard for me to lag it up a bit, but not until Steve Yea (FTP red pro, super aggro but spewy) arrived at my table. You can imagine that some fireworks are about to go off.

First confrontation:

2 ppl limp at 50/100, I made it 600 pre w/ JdJc, Steve called in the sb, two limper both called.

Flop ($2500) 5d 6d 9c

Steve checked, limper 1 donk bet 800, limper 2 folded and I made a strong raise to 2800. Steve tanked for a long time and c/r to 6kish...limper folded and back to me. I know Steve is aggro but he probably is not making a move when there's a bet and a raise. So I let the hand go.

few orbits later, after I got my stack up to roughtly 28k, a major firework occured between me and Yea.

Confrontation 2:

folded to me in co w/ A5ss and I made it 525 (100/200) to go, a mid age tag fish flats otb and Steve made a squeeze from sb to 1750. I decided to flat to manipulate him with my position. btn folded.

Flop: 2d 2 3d ($4200ish)

Steve cbet 2k and I tanked a bit and flatted.

Turn: 4d (8200ish)

Steve checked and I made a pretty large bet of 7kish, leaving Steve only 8k if he just calls.
He tanked and tanked and tanked and decided to shove all in and I snapped him. I turned my hand up and he threw his hand into the muck w/o even trying to see what the river card was.

River brought an useless 5d and Steve Yea hit the rail. (lol steve yea, stop pulling moves on someone who can own your soul)

After that hand, I was in complete control of my table, raising literally 30-40% of the hands and either everyone folded pre or just took it down after flop. There were few times where ppl just couldn't take it anymore and tried to play pots w/ me but failed due to the positional advantage and chip advantage I had.

at about level 5, I got moved to a new table.

New table:

I have to admit that I made a pretty unforgivable mistake by trying to run the new table over w/o even observing how the new table is playing. Here's the hand I blew off 20k in chips 3rd hand in.

Folds to me in co w/ 36o and I made it 1200 to go at 200/400/50. sb (looks like a local philippino) flats.

Flop KKs8s (3200)

sb donks out 1200 and I thought for a bit and decided to bluff raise him. I made it 3500 and he quickly flats. At this point, I put him on weak pair and fd.

Turn 5d

he quickly c/c my 6500 bet and had 10k left

river was a 4h

he instant check/called my river shove and showed me K9cc. yuck.

I was pretty upset at myself after the hand and was wondering why I couldn't hit the break sometimes.

Stack after the hand: 60k. (started at the table with about 80k)

few rounds later, at 300/600, a guy w/ pokerstar gear, who's been playing sorta tight open 5x utg, folds to me otb and looked down my first AKo of the day. I looked at his stack and found him only have 14k left. So I decided to just reshove on him. He didn't even tank before snap calling and turned over QQ. sweet, a race situation where I never win.

Flop AA8!!! oh wow, one time?! not so much the case when the Q dropped the turn and I failed to boat up on the river. Like, seriously, when can I ever win a flip in a major tournament?

Stack after that hand: about 40k left.

Then this major hand that determined my table leader status occurred.

Folds to the button who's been pretty tight and he opened 5x. Sb flats and I looked down AQhh. I was like...this guy's never folding to my 3bet and I'd be pretty damn crushed if he shoves over my 3bet. So I decided to just flat and play for my stack if i hit my A or Q.

Flop: As 2d 3h (pot: 1ok)

sb checks and I checked and btn potted it, leaving himself 20k. sb folds and I was like...well, if he has AK, so be it but i'm not folding my top pair Q kicker when the guy has put in 1/3 of his stack in. So I check/raised him all in and he called and showed me the last hand I wanted to see- AK.

I was thinking to myself, well, at least I could go home early and check out the beach tmr. However, my beach plan was crushed when the Q dropped on the turn and my hand held up!!!

Back to 70k in chips and after that hand, needless to say, I was in a complete charge again. Few people tried to play pots with me but all failed. Then I got involved with 2 pots back to back against the guy who donk bet his trips earlier in the post.

First hand: I opened AK on the button and he flats his bb again.

Flop KJ3 two hearts. he donks out and I decided to take the same line I took when I bluffed him earlier. I made a 3x raise and he flats. Turn was an offsuit 6 and he c/f to my all in bet.

Very next hand. Folds to me in co w/ AK again and I opened. He flatted in the sb again. flop AT3 and he c/c my 1/2 pot cbet. turn was a 8 and he instant c/c my shove (he didn't have much left and I knew he wouldn't fold his top pair). My AK held up against his A6ss. ship it fish!

After that big lucky suckout and knocked out that fish. My chip stack was at 120k and the whole table was just sitting there trying to wait for a hand to play with me when at the same time kept folding to my raise and cbet and brought my chip stack to 158k at the end of day1. ;)

Here's the link to the pokernews post: http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2009-appt-cebu/main-event/day1a/

Justice! finally took down a donkament.

Was really upset about the fact that I dropped 13.5 BIs at 1/2 yesterday, ran extremely bad and wa a little on tilt. Woke up today and decided to just play some donkaments for fun. Little did I know, I ran soooo much better in donkaments.

This is literally the 2nd FT I make in MTT this yr.

Now I'm feeling great.



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