On the comeback trail...or so I thought

David and I decided to play in a tournament the next day. After looking up the daily schedule in Cardplayer we decided that we would play in the MGM's morning tournament. The MGM was right across the street so it was convenient enough, and the buy-in was reasonable. We registered and had a little time prior to the tournament so we each got seated in a cash game. I was able to double through a player for just under my buy-in when a player that had been playing very aggressive called my all-in with his 6-6. I was holding J-J at the time. I had originally limped hoping that he would raise because he had been doing this quite a bit, and once he obliged I was able to get all my chips in. Shortly after that the tournament was getting ready to start so I got seated for that.

We started with 1200 in chips and blinds at 25-25. Blinds were to go up every 20 minutes. The MGM stated they didn't allow rebuys, but instead during the first hour if you were knocked out you could get yourself on the "alternate" list. If spots opened up you would be able to accept a seat as an "alternate". Basically it's a rebuy opportunity for the first hour. With the blinds as high as they were in relation to the starting amount I was trying to be very selective. I did get 4-4 under the gun and tried to limp for 25, but when the player to my left made it 225 to go and got another caller I let the hand go and painfully watched the flop come 4-9-9, which I am sure would have been ahead at that time. After some blinds and increases I thought I had found my opportunity with A-K and the blinds at 50-100. My stack was 875, which was quickly becoming a very short stack so I moved in and promptly found myself with two callers. One held AA and the other A9, so unless the T-J-Q or a couple of Kings showed up I knew I was done. With my tournament done I got back in to a cash game and started getting some hands. I managed to work my way up to triple my buy-in so I moved up to the $2/$5 from the $1/$2 game. I was playing aggressive enough in hands that I got involved in so that my cards were hardly ever displayed. This continued for about 6 1/2 hours and I had worked my stack to a little over 12 times my buy-in. Boy, do I wish I had left right then! Things were going so well though I had no reason to think anything would go wrong. In the next ten minutes I managed to lose the whole stack! I was dealt AA in the first of the two hands, raised it, got a couple callers, and after a flop of J-5-2 I thought I was in good shape when a player bet in to me. I raised, setting the player to a decision for his chips, and he happily called holding 5-5. My Aces had been cracked and I lost about half my stack. Two hands later I was in the big blind and got dealt 4h-2h. The pot was unraised, and after an all heart flop (A-Q-J), that same player and I started betting and raising one another. I felt that a flopped flush would be good there, but my opponent had also flopped the flush, and since his flush was larger than mine (T-7) he was able to obtain the rest of my stack. I was betting on the low probability of two flushes being out since the odds of a person flopping a flush are a little over 100-1. It made for a lousy ending to what had been a pretty solid day of poker, but that's the risk of No-Limit play. It only takes one or two mistakes to make up for a really good session. It was time to take a break, and concentrate on re-building my stack the next day.

A game with a bit of flavor

David and I grabbed a bite to eat at the ESPN Zone, which is located inside the NY NY hotel. It's a large restaurant/bar with plenty of screens to watch pretty much whatever game you want. It took a while to get seated because the host asks what game/event you are interested in, and then they try to find a seat near those screens. So after eating there we decided to head over to see what the MGM's poker room was like.

We got there and found that they have approximately 30 tables of which about 4 or 5 were being used for Limit Hold 'em, and about 8 tables were being used for No Limit Hold 'em. After getting some information about their daily tournament we got seated at the $1/$2 No Limit game. I bought in for $100. The game had lots of players taking lots of flops. I tried playing my normal style, but I wasn't hitting any flops. Even when I got a solid hand like QQ I ended up against 4 or 5 players and both the Ace and King hit. The game had several international players with two Aussies, a Brit, and a New Zealander in the game. The one Aussie could not be shaken off of seeing a flop unless there were at least 2 raises before it got to him. This session ended up with my getting whittled down to the felt in a slow, frustrating fashion. After a second buy-in and continued lack of success I decided to call it a night and get some rest, hoping that maybe I was just tired from travelling that day and would play better on a full night's rest.

I’m sorry sir, but do you have your ID or a player’s club card?

Well, it was good to be back in Vegas again. The last time I was here was June when Dan and I played in the World Series of Poker. This trip was planned to be a longer trip than I usually do for Vegas. I arrived Wednesday noonish and was staying until my flight left Tuesday morning around 7am. This trip was a little different, with everyone that was coming to Vegas arriving and leaving on different days. I already mentioned when I came in, David showed up later Wednesday and left early Monday. Dan showed up later on Friday and left Monday afternoon. Chris showed up later on Thursday and was leaving Wednesday. Brian showed up Thursday and left late Monday night. David, Dan, and I stayed at NY NY, and Brian and Chris were staying at the Imperial Palace. So all in all five of us were out there, and there was lots of poker to be played.

I had some time to kill prior to meeting up with David, so after making a poor decision to play a little craps at NY NY where I lost $107, I decided to take a stroll down to the Bellagio to play in their poker room. I got my name on the $2/$5 No Limit game, and found out that the Bellagio had changed the format a little bit. When I was here in June that game had a buy-in of $200. It now had a $200 minimum with a $500 maximum.

I looked around the room to see if there were any recognizable faces, as a lot of the pros play here in Bobby's Room, which is a separate room within the poker room at the Bellagio, but none were to be seen. The poker room was rather busy though, as the WPT's Five Diamond Classic had just wrapped up on Tuesday, and there were still a lot of people playing at the poker rooms that were here for that. I didn't see any of the poker pros until my name got called. I went to get some chips and saw Erik Seidel talking with either a fan or a friend while he was waiting in line at the cage. He got in line behind me, and since there were a couple people in front of me yet I decided to turn around and say hi and acknowledge the guy. He was friendly enough. I commented on his pair of Full Tilt commercials, which I'm sure no one has EVER mentioned to him before, and then I got called up to the window. While I was being helped another cashier asked Erik to step up to the cage. It turns out he was either cashing in some chips or getting some smaller ones because when he put his chips on the counter he had several $5000 chips there. As I was trying to count his stack I heard his cashier ask, "I'm sorry sir, but do you have ID?" at which point I almost started laughing. I looked at the cashier and told him, "Umm, I can vouch that he's Erik Seidel as can most of the room." The cashier looked briefly at me then turned to Erik and asked, "Well, do you have a player's club card?" Now I had to laugh! Here is a guy who's won seven WSOP bracelets and probably plays in this room with the big hitters on a regular basis being asked for ID! Erik handled it pretty well, giving the guy the "don't-you-know-who-I-am" look, but pulled out his ID for him. I just couldn't stop laughing as I got my chips and headed to my seat.

I took my seat and early in to the game I found myself holding Ad-3d in early position. I made it $15 to go, and was called by two players including the big blind. The flop hit me pretty hard as it came 2d-4s-5s with two spades. I decided to bet my wheel hoping that an overpair would raise it, but my bet drove out the late position players and the big blind called. The turn came King. The big blind checked to me so I bet a little over half the pot hoping that if the player was on the flush draw they'd just go away, but this player decided to raise me. I was trying to put the player on a hand with which they would check-raise me. Since I was holding the second nuts I guessed that he was on a flush draw that paired him or maybe even had now two-paired him (maybe with the Ks), so I decided to reraise all in. I was called immediately. Now, unlike most casinos' cash games once players are all in and the betting is complete the Bellagio makes you turn over your cards. It was then I got the bad news. He was holding the 3s-6s, so he had flopped the higher straight when I flopped the wheel and he had a redraw to a flush and was open-ended for the straight flush. By the way, THAT's a good hand with which to check-raise. The river didn't matter and I was down pretty quickly. Rather than rebuy right away I decided to head back to the hotel since David was going to be arriving a little later. I figured we'd grab a bite to eat and get on to the next session someplace.

My last cash game of the WSOP trip

I had all day Friday to kill and decided to play poker over at the Wynn all day. I really enjoyed their poker room and figured this would be a good way to wrap up the trip. I played poker from noon until about 9pm when I had to leave to grab my luggage and get to the airport.

I was drinking Long Island Iced Teas all day long, and as the day wore on I found myself getting more and more chatty (go figure). I normally don't talk a whole lot to the other players, but I was finding myself being able to extract lots of information out of the other players. I'm sure since I was not being as "rigid" as I normally am I was giving up some more information in my play, but I know that I was picking up lots more and so as I slowed down my drinking I still kept the chatty part of my game going.

I started the session by working my way from my $300 buy-in up to about $850 in chips through just really solid play, never once having to risk my entire stack of chips, but it was around 4 hours in to the session that I stepped on a couple of land mines that cost me all those chips plus $300 more.

I was in seat 5 at the table all day long. A new player in seat 10 had limped in as did several other players when I looked down at my small blind and saw I had pocket 8s. I decided to limp and take a flop to see what happened. I know, I know, you're thinking "you should have raised". I disagree. There were 5 or 6 limpers, and I didn't know if anyone was trying to be coy with a hand. If I make a big hand out of the flop I can really hit someone hard with it, and it makes it easy (and cheap) to get away from if you miss. Anyway, the flop comes:

7-7-7

Now, usually when three of a card is on the board the fourth isn't in play. It doesn't always work out that way, but a significant majority of the time it does. I decided to lead out and bet. I bet $25 into the $35 pot, and only got one caller. It was the new player in seat 10. In a situation like this pocket pairs are usually very good hands. It was the turn card here that made it so that I wasn't getting away from this pot. The turn card was an 8. This gave me the 2nd best hand possible, a boat 8s full of 7s. I led out and bet again ($60), but this time I guessed that my bet was a trapping bet. I was now hoping my opponent had a bigger pair than me. Since he limped preflop I was guessing that he could be holding 9s or Ts. He calls again. The river comes 2. I bet $100, and this time the player moves all in. Obviously he may have the 7, but with that turn card there and the pot the size that it was I felt that there was almost no way I could fold there, so I called his $225 and he very promptly turned over 7-5 showing me the quad 7s. Where it looks like this may have been an easy fold keep in mind that he had the only hand that could beat me (also known as "the cooler").

So I lost a lot of money in that pot, but I was still up. About 15 minutes later I get pocket Aces in middle position and bump it up to $25. Two players call. The board flops:

A-T-T

giving me a full house. The first player, a guy named Joe who was at the table the full 9 hours, checked to me and I fired $35 at the pot. I fired the bet hoping someone would have a piece of it and come over the top of me. The player behind me folds and Joe calls. Now Joe was a real nice guy and was very friendly to me all day. He kept telling me "I give you money" as he paid me off on hand after hand. Well he calls the $35 and turn card comes Ten. Now I'm back to the same situation I was in the last hand I described. Once again, a significant majority of the time no one has that 4th card. This time I was hoping Joe was calling me with an Ace since it would appear that if we both had an Ace this would be a split pot. Since I had AA I knew that wasn't the case. Joe checked and I bet $75 at the turn. Joe calls, telling me as he calls that "I do not think you have the Ten". The river comes a blank, and now he leads out and bets $200. Well, I am certainly going to call that. Joe did have about $6000 on the table. If he had moved all in I am about 95% sure I would have folded. However, it was only a $200 bet, and he would need the cooler to beat me, and sure enough, Joe had the cooler.

You may be asking, how did Joe get $6000 on the table? At the Wynn's $2-$5 No Limit game, the minimum buy in is $200, but there is no maximum. Also, when you play at some of the poker rooms in Vegas, you can have $100 bills on the table and they play. Earlier in the day, a player had beat Joe in a sizable pot, and in the very next hand that player and Joe were going heads up again and the player had asked the dealer how much Joe had in front of him because I think he thought he had Joe covered. Joe didn't like that he was being asked that and pulled out a wad of rubber-banded $100 bills and tossed it on the table and promptly told the player, "I have the table covered".

So now in the space of about 15 minutes I went from being very much ahead to very much down, having lost to the cooler twice. The drinks were kicking in and I had a lot of work to do. It's hard to try and stay chatty and friendly when you've taken a couple hits like that, but I managed to do it, reminding myself I was still way up for the trip. I started grinding away again. I did manage to get a lot of chips back about an hour and a half later when I found Ks-9s in middle position. The pot was bumped to $20, but there were three callers so I called. The flop comes:

As-8s-rag

giving me the nut flush draw. A player bet $30 and I called and another player called. The turn missed me and the player again led out, this time with $60. I raised to $200, knowing that if he has a weak Ace he may chuck it anyway. The other player folded and the initial bettor, Shannon, called. The river was the 7s and since there was no pair on the board I knew I had the nuts. Shannon put me all in and I called instantly, winning a nice pot. I think Shannon thought that when I raised at the turn I may have had two pair, and since he called that he may have been on the flush draw so he tried to represent it with his bet. He didn't count on my raising with the draw. He did comment a little after that how dumb of a bet that was since he himself didn't have two pair if he got called by anything he was beat. That's one of those that sometimes you determine "if I bet at the river, what can call me?" and realize that only hands that can beat you will call you. That's not always the case, but he was holding AJ as it turned out so when he put all his chips out there, the only hand calling him was beating him.

My next big hand came at the expense of Joe, but he set himself up for a bigger loss than he needed to. I was dealt the Ah-4h in a hand that was only raised to $15 so I made the call when the board came:

Qh-6h-2h

flopping me the nuts! I check, now trying to extract the maximum out of this hand. Joe bets $45 I think, gets a caller, and I call. The turn card was an 8. I check, Joe bets $50, the other player goes away, and I call. The river didn't pair the board and I checked again. I knew Joe had something and wasn't going to just check it. This time he bets $15, and then flips his cards face up on the table! One thing you should know, you can show your cards at a poker game. You can only do it when it is heads up action though. Some players do this to get a reaction out of their opponent. Joe also had flopped the flush, but he had 8h Th for a baby flush. Well, I knew I had the nuts before, but now knowing what Joe had it changed what I was planning on doing entirely. When he threw out that silly $15 on the end I was going to bump it to $100. Now, I was going to have to try and sell a steal. I kind of tried doing that "wild eyed look all over the place" look to make it look like I was thinking about it and then moved all in for $450! It was an insane overbet, and I knew it. I wanted Joe to question that bet. It worked, as he called me and I showed him the nuts. Joe just smiled and said, "See? I give you money."

That wasn't the only time I saw cards before having to make a decision. I had a player show me his A-rag when I was on a drawing hand at the turn that I made at the river and got paid off, and another player thought that there were no players left and turned his hand over when I was in the process of calling. I did have that player beat, but decided to not raise instead of calling since I had already started to move those chips out there, and I thought it would be unethical to do it to a player who had done it on accident when I had planned on just calling and started to make a motion to just call.

It was around 8:45 or so when I had $1100 in chips and a couple $100 bills in front of me, putting me up $400+ for the session. In my second to last hand I was dealt As-Qd and bumped it to $40. Two players called. One of them, Gary, was a player who only bet or played the river with a very strong hand. He had been at the table all day long himself. The flop came:

Qx-5c-9c

I now have top pair with top kicker so I bet $100, hoping to just take it down here. Gary calls, and the other player mucks it. The turn comes 3c. I bet $200, and Gary comments "You must have made your flush, heh?". Honestly, those may have been the first words spoken by this guy when he wasn't asked a direct question all day. Given the fact that he only played the river with strong hands and the fact that he was there when I paid off the quads both times I think he was trying to do what Joe had been trying to do when Joe had told me "I don't think you have the Ten" earlier, although this time it wasn't just a cooler that could beat me. There were many, many hands that could beat AQ. The river brought a 5, and I decided to check being fairly certain that the verbal statement Gary made was a sign of strength, and he quickly confirmed that with a $300 bet. I chucked my AQ, and when the BB got to me it was time to go. I racked my chips and headed to the cage to cash them in. I ended being up $39 for the session. Not great considering it was nine hours of play, but it's always better to be in the black than the red. I did get to drink for free all day and had an enjoyable time at the table with Ricardo, Joe, Nick, Shannon, Orash, Gary, Steve, and Oliver. I look forward to my next visit to Vegas. I'll be sure to stop back at the Wynn again!

The cash games out here aren't going too bad, either

Aside from the WSOP Dan and I have been going to various poker rooms on the strip. On Monday we visited the Wynn's poker room and Caesar's poker room. On Wednesday after Dan finally got busted in the tournament we were at the Wynn again. The Wynn's poker room is the nicest poker room I've seen. Very plush. It also seemed to be run very well as far as seating players and managing the room. The cocktail waitresses were coming around very regularly and we didn't have to wait long to get your drinks. Caesar's poker room is very large, but man does it lack any character. Very spacious, but the monitors are all too far away from the tables and there is just something about it that just says blah. They do have a separate tournament section partitioned off from the cash games, and that is pretty nice.

On Thursday, Dan and I visited the Venetian's poker room. That one was pretty nice, too. Definitely better than Caesar's, but not as nice as the Wynn. I think it would be very hard to find a nicer poker room than the Wynn personally. Dan had a 5:30 flight so after he left for the airport I headed over to the Bellagio's poker room. They are reputed to have the best poker room on the strip. The place was packed when I got there, and I had to wait about an hour to get a seat at a game, which is unusual at the Vegas poker rooms. I asked some of the players who appeared to be regulars about that when I sat down, and they said that it had to be because of the WSOP. The room itself was nice and was being managed very well. The cocktail service was pretty decent, too.

On Monday I got killed in the cash games. I lost $400 at the Wynn. Most of that occurred in one hand where I flopped a straight and somebody else flopped two pair. I was holding Jd 9d when the board came:

7x 8x Tx

After I check-called my opponent on the flop, a King peeled off on the turn. My opponent checked so I decided to bet and he raised me $1oo. I knew I still had the nuts so I moved in for my remaining $225 and he called me with 8T. An 8 hit on the river, filling my opponent's boat and wiping me out. Dan also took a little hit, and that was when we decided to head to Caesar's. I dropped another $200 there and decided to call it a night. It also had my confidence heading in to Tuesday rather shaken.

Things started to get better after Monday's massacre. In fact, I haven't lost at a cash game that I sat down at since Monday. On Wednesday at the Rio while Dan was finishing the tournament I played at the cash games the Rio was running and made about $100. I picked up a little over $500 at the Wynn on Wednesday in a 4 1/2 hour session, although I do have to admit that I got lucky in a couple of hands. Ironically, I did to someone else what I had done to me on Monday. I was holding 8h 9h when the board flopped:

9-8-3

giving me top two pair. I slow played them (bad Jason!) and check called. The turn brought a Jack, and when my opponent bet again I moved all in for about $250. My opponent called and showed me the nuts (7-T) for straight, but the river came 8 of all things and I was able to escape with a nice pot.

On Thursday when Dan and I were at the Venetian I made just under $100 on a session. It was nice because early in the session I was down my initial buy-in of $300 when my QQ was blown away by KJ. I worked my way back, and on one of my last hands I got back in to the black on what I thought was a pretty sweet hand. I was holding 7d 9d when the flop came:

7c 6d Td

giving me middle pair, a gutshot straight draw, a flush draw, and a straight flush draw. Three of us had gone to the flop and I was in the middle. The first opponent checked. I bet $50 into the $60 pot and the player behind me called. The initial checker raised all in, which amounted to another $153. I had another $300+ in chips, and my opponent behind me had me covered so I decided to move all in to shut the other player out. If I just called I didn't want to give him the correct pot odds to call if he was on a bigger draw, and I also wanted to represent a real big hand in case he was holding something marginal yet better than me so he could chuck it. As it turned out he had Kd Jd and did lay it down. After the all in was determined the turn came a blank, but the river came 8c giving me the nuts. My opponent was shocked at my play since he had As Ts (top pair, top kicker), but if you count all the outs I had (2 sevens, 3 nines, 4 eights, any diamond) I was actually the favorite when the money went in.

After Dan left and I went to the Bellagio, I had a nice session where I made $739 in 2 1/2 hours. I've got one day left here, and I think I'll go to the Wynn and play some more there. My flight leaves at midnight Vegas time and is scheduled to get in to Milwaukee around 5:30am so it's going to be a long day today.

So...how'd that other guy do?

My friend Dan was still playing today in the tournament, and when we arrived at the Rio today at 1:30 we found the Pot Limit event going on already. I had considered entering this tournament myself, but I haven't played ANY Pot Limit tourneys or cash games so I am not familiar of the nuances of Pot Limit. I didn't think it would be smart to play my first Pot Limit tournament at the WSOP at cost of $1500.

Dan had 21,700 in chips, and we had looked at Cardplayer.com's website and found out that he was in 77th out of the remaining 122 players. The next tier for the payouts to go up was at 108th place, and with Dan having 45 players behind him in chips we thought that should be attainable. The tier after that ended at 82nd place.

Blinds started Day 2 at 1200-2400 with a 300 ante, so at Dan's table, which was 9-handed, each orbit was going to cost 6300 chips. That meant Dan had about 3 rounds of playing time left if he didn't improve his stack. Dan got dealt JJ once, moved all in, and got no callers. Dan also got 3-3 once, but on that hand there was a raise and reraise before it got to him. The board did bring a 3 so that turned out to be a lost opportunity for Dan.

Dan's tournament ended with the following hand:

Dan: Kd Qd

Opponent: A K

Dan's opponent limped, and Dan moved all in with his remaining 13200 in chips. The opponent called and the board did not help Dan at all. Dan ended up making it to 80th place, which earned him $7578. Awesome job!

All in all, a pretty successful trip. Two players, a field of 2776 players (2nd largest in WSOP history), and we came away with two cashes. Woo Hoo!!

Table 154 - a battle with a World Champion

Table 154 was up against the walkway so there were lots of people behind me when I got to my seat. I also found Greg Raymer, the 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion, sitting at my table when I arrived. I was in seat 9, and Greg was in seat 4. After arriving here we went on a break where we found that we were down to 279 players. When we came back we were going to be playing "round-for-round" play. When you get near the cashing bubble you have to play in a way so that players cannot stall to try and make it to the money. In the past they have played hand-for-hand, but that took too long as everyone had to wait until one hand was played until the next hand could be played. With the round-for-round format you play once around the table and then stop until everyone has finished their round. If enough players have been knocked out then they stop the round-for-round play and play continues normally. If not, then everyone does another round. This continues until the cash bubble has been burst.

I had 5800 in chips and the blinds were 400-800 with a 100 ante. This didn't give me too many options, and I certainly didn't want to go broke before cashing. During the first, and only, round of round-for-round play I ended up being all in twice and had what amounted to an all in decision against Greg Raymer.

When we got back from the break I was under the gun and found AK offsuit. Knowing that I would have to pay blinds on my next two hands I decided to move all in, just praying that everyone would be afraid of losing chips this close to cashing. No one called and I won myself and extra set of blinds and antes. I folded my BB, but then came what really probably amounts to my best tournament hand.

I was in the small blind. Greg Raymer, who was in early position, decided to raise to 2200. Everyone folded to me. I looked down and found Ac Qd. Normally I would play this hand in a heartbeat, but this is completely different. Raymer put on his funky sunglasses that are one of his staples and he and I started a staredown that lasted about 2 minutes. During the staredown I was thinking about my options and doing my math on the pot. If I move all in it's only for 4400 chips on top of Raymer's raise. This would also mean that Raymer would have to call 4400 to see about a 14200 pot. Now I know Raymer is smart enough to do that math, and those types of odds are going to be good for almost any hand. Add to the fact that he raised from mid-early position and not late position, which probably means he's not doing an outright steal, and that means he's going to call. Now, do I want to put my tournament life on the line with AQ when I know that he's going to call? I may have the lead, but I didn't think so. The staredown seemed to go on forever. I eventually showed the railbirds behind me my hand and let the hand go. Raymer asked me if I would feel better if I knew what he had. He showed me pocket Ts, making me feel better. Had it not been a decision for all my chips just prior to the cash bubble I would have called. Even if he had shown me AJ or worse I would have been OK with my decision.

It all became worthwhile on the next hand when I was on the button. Everyone folded to me, and I found AKoffsuit. This time it's a no brainer. I only have to beat the blinds, one of whom has fewer chips than me. I moved all in and the big blind called with A2offsuit. A King came off on the flop along with a pair of fours, and when the turn came five and the river came King my full house sent the big blind packing.

Let me tell you, being that close to the bubble and having to make those decisions isn't easy. Even when you feel confident you have the best hand there is always the chance that your opponent(s) could outdraw you.

After the first round of round-for-round play 14 players were eliminated and the bubble had burst. We were now in the money!! Woo Hoo! Now it's time to play to accumulate chips. Unfortunately, the cards were no longer cooperating with me. As blinds and antes passed I was getting whittled down again. Then finally, with blinds at 600-1200 with a 200 ante I met my fate. With 6000 chips left and being in the big blind, a player in later position raised to 2400, the minimum raise. I looked down and found J-8offsuit. Obviously this isn't a good hand, but the blinds add up to 1800 and the antes are 2000. With the raise of 2400, and my being forced to post 1200 moving all in was the play. The player would have the correct pot odds to call, but he could fold. If he calls the pot would be about 14200. He thought about it and called with As Td. The flop came:

J-4-4

giving me the lead. The turn came:

A

crushing me. The river didn't help, and I was eliminated in 188^th place, cashing for $3,410. All in all a great time. I can now officially say that I have career earnings in the WSOP. Personally, seeing how the tournament runs I realize how tough it is to cash. For Dan and I to both get there is really something.

Be sure to follow Dan Nemec on cardplayer.com's website as they do live updates in blog format on their website!!