2006 WSOP blog
08/10/06 4:00PM CST
I suppose I must wrap things up on this blog. I was knocked out of
the tournament about 3 hours into day two.
I was able to double up early and
actually had about 14,000 chips at one point but the blinds
whittled me away. I know I am just an average player but man, it
felt like these guys were just sitting and waiting for me to try
to make a move and they always re-raised my raise. Very
frustrating when you are not getting many good starting hands.
I played though the first 2 hours
and was ready for the next set of blinds at 300/600 with 75 ante.
I finally got a monster starting
hand of A-A and I was the small blind. Only one problem, everyone
folded around to me. I made a modest raise to 1200 to see if I
could get something. The Big Blind looked over at me and said,
"Are trying to steal my blind?" He tossed his cards in
the muck and I flipped my A-A over towards him. Of course the
table lets out a moan and groan. I wish that one would have earned
me a few thousand but oh well.
Nothing more came for the next 40
minutes or so I just sat and waited.
Last hand: I was in the 8th spot.
The guy under the gun called 600. The guy in the 5th spot raised
to make it 2000, they guy in the 7th spot called the 2000. I
peaked and had A-Q suited. With about 5500 left, I decided to go
all in. Everyone folded around to the 5th seat, he called. The 7th
seat folded as well. I flipped up my A-Q to see 8-8 across the
table. I never improved and that was it.
The guy who knocked me out was
Danny Masterson from 'That 70s Show', he plays Hyde.
I had a great time playing and will
go back next year. Not sure if I will try to get in the big game
since the time commitment is so long but I will play in the
smaller games.
Thank you for your well wishes and
comments.
Ron
07/31/06 5:30PM CST
Well I made it through the first day. Sorry for the long time
between updates but we finished around 5:00AM Saturday morning. I
had to go back to the hotel, get some sleep and run to the
airport.
I play again on Tuesday at 12:00PM
PST, I will catch a flight in the morning and go straight to the
Rio to play.
I am short stacked with 5,650 in
chips and need to make a good move very quick. The blinds will be
250/500 with 50 antes so I will not last long without some luck.
The average stack is in the 25,000 range so I have some work to
do. I will try to keep you updated as much as possible.
Ron Lesseraux
07/28/06 7:10PM PST
We are on dinner break right now for 1 1/2 hours and have played
through 3 levels of blinds which will be 100-200 w/25 ante next.
The game resumes at 8:20PM local time. You may have guessed, I am
still in the game. I have 14,650 chips back from a low of 8,000. I
am at a new table since ours was broken to fill seats of players
knocked out. Not such a great feeling sitting in the spot where
the previous person good booted but oh well.
Just to give you a little play by
play:
I had A-3 in the big blind an had about
four callers so I checked my 100 chips. the flop came A-7-A. I put
in a bet of 600 chips to get rid of the pretenders. All but one
folded. the turn came 3 and I filled up. I made a bet of 1200 and
the guy behind me called quickly. The river came a 6 and I
checked. A bet of 1500 was made to me. I took a little time and
thought it through. I guess I am lucky that my tight play always
overrides my decisions, I just called the 1500. He turned over A-6
to win the very nice pot. That knocked me down to around 8,000.
I thought I played it well, it
could have been much worse. I did suffer mentally for several more
hands but decided that I could not have played it much
differently, the guy had a set just like me from the get go so I
do not think he was folding. I recovered and starting thinking
about making some of that money back.
I was moved to a new table that
seemed to be a nice group. They were a little tougher than the
first table with no visible weak player ( you know what that
means, if you can not spot the sucker at a table, you are the
sucker).
I had Q-J and made a raise to 600,
the guy that won a seat on PartyPoker called me. The flop came
4-Q-9, I bet 800, he called. The turn was a J. I bet 2000 and he
called. Frigin river came a 10. I checked and I guess he thought I
was about to spring a major trap so he checked and turned over
A-J. I had 2 pair and took down a good sized pot. It felt great
and really bothered him. He has been after me ever since.
There was a short stack just to my
left. I was under the gun (first to act). I called 200, he moved
all in with 1800, the rest of the table folded to me including the
the blinds. I had 5-5. This guy was really in a tail spin and I
figured he thought he had the best two cards he might see so I
said to him, "You got a little pair?" He would not make
eye contact at all. I figured him for A-something two big cards so
I called. He had A-7. The flop came 4-5-6. I had my set. The turn
came 8. He had me beat with a straight. The river knocked him out
with another 6 to give me a full house. So I have my first
knock-out under my belt.
That is about all of the more
memorable hands, there have been a few more but nothing two
exciting.
I am feeling good and will try to
keep adding a little at a time.
I hope I can get some updates in
later.
Ron
Lesseraux
07/28/06 2:30PM PST
The day has begun. We arer currently 2 hours and 20 minutes into
the tournament. About 60 people have been knocked out. I am
holding my own. I have about 11,500 chips and have played a good
number of hands. I have been able to loosen up a bit and I am not
the "weak target" at the table. There are a couple of
guys that I go after when in position. It is a lot of fun and I am
not as nervous as I thought I would be.
They say 1st prize will be well
over 10 Million Dollars.
James Garner of Rockford Files
& Maverick fame opened the tournament with "Shuffle up
and deal".
Blinds just went to 50 & 100.
The rounds are two hours long so they think we will be here until
3 or 4 in the morning. When ever we get to 900 players we will
stop. We are still at 200 since they had alternates.
I offered to buy the table In-n-Out
if someone else went to get it but I had no takers.
Talk with you soon.
Ron
Lesseraux
07/27/07 Midnight PST
It is bedtime before the big day. I was reading over the blind
schedule. We will play 6 rounds of blinds at 100 minutes per
rounds. With breaks included, the first round should end near
midnight on Friday. Sounds like a long day to me. I have been
reading up on my odds, etc. today and am as ready as can be. I
intend on loosening up a bit and playing position better than I
normally do ( thanks for the advice Steve).
I am hoping for the best. I will
take my laptop with me and try to update if they give us enough
time between rounds.
I must say that I am a bit nervous
but I guess that is expected.
Talk with you soon.
Ron
Lesseraux
P.S. The Rio Seafood buffet is just
average, for the same $40, I would go to the Wynn or Bellagio
first.
07/26/06 6:30PM PST
I guess there are a few ways I can say this but the one that comes
to mind is "I'm IN!!!!!". I won a seat in the WSOP Main
Event today. I entered a $225 satellite tournament that began this
morning at 10:00AM. There were 234 entrants and I was able to hang
on to get one of the top 14 places. Each of the top 14 players
received a $10,000 buy in and $300 in cash. I have been signed up
and I start play on Friday, table #187, seat 9.
It was a very long day. We finished
5:00PM and only had minor breaks in between the action. I played
my usual tight play only playing about a dozen hands or so. I did
not bust out a single person but got one guy really mad at me.
This guy was big blind for 200 chips, I called in late position
with 10-J. The flop came 3-9-Q. He came out with another 200
so I raised to 800, not that great of a hand but it was
something; and I had not seen that many good cards. If he had
nothing, he would fold. He re-raised all in and had me covered. I
only had about 600 left. I thought the guy was trying to make a
move on me so with just the 600 left, I said I called and flipped
over my cards telling him that I needed a K. Bad play, this guy
flips over A-Q, I am not looking so good. The turn comes a Q, of
course he is all smiles until the river gets him with a K. I made
my straight. Very lucky on my part. He was so upset, he was bad
mouthing the fact that I should never have even called his big
blind. He cried for about 10 hands and finally got knocked out. I
never claimed to be a great poker player, just got lucky at his
expense.
I am really excited about the big
game, I think I am going to go grab a good book or two and
solidify the number of outs, pot odds, etc. for me. I hope that
helps me on Friday.
For now, I think I am going
downstairs and have a cigar. I smoked the new Joya de Nicaragua
Celebracion 660, a terrific medium full cigar that starts off with
some spice and ends nice and firm.
I will keep you updated on various
activities later today and tomorrow. Email me if you like.
Ron
Lesseraux
P.S. Who knew Chris Moneymaker was
not very tall? 5'6" or so???
07/25/06 6:00PM PST
Things have not started off with a bang as I had hoped. The poker
floor is swamped with players. There must be double the amount of
people here compared to last year. The $1500 no-limit game started
today, there were 2800 entrys into that tournament. The poker room
can only seat 200 at a time so as players were eliminated,
alternates sat down to play. I did not join in that game so there
was nothing to do until 3:00PM.
I entered a $225 no-limit game and
did not have much luck. I won a few small pots and was whittled
down. When it was time to make a stand, I had 10-10 in the hole
and went for it. My opponent had A-J and a J fell so I was out. I
only lasted for less than an hour. It was tough from the
beginning, you only receive 200 chips and have to get involved
right away or risk getting bounced like I did.
I will go back in a little bit to
try my luck at the single table games which will open up in an
hour or so.
While I waited, I smoked Tabacalera
Troplicals Mombacho, it was a triple Ligero Torpedo with a bit of
a kick, I think it was rated around 90 or so. Tropical has
revamped their entire line of cigars putting a huge emphasis on
quality construction. The cigar burned well and smoked nicely. You
could compare it to a Camacho Corojo in strength. We should have
these in stock within a week or so.
I also smoked La Flor Dominicanas
new Coronado Churchill. This cigar is a bit more my speed, medium
full with good earthy tones. The draw was a bit too firm but these
are fresh off the press so the moisture was too high. I guess I
could leave them outside for about 10 minutes to fix that (it is
well over 100f here). We should have these within a month or two,
Litto is finishing them up now and they need to rest a bit before
shipping.
I am going to smoke another cigar
and or have a bit to eat. I did have myself an In-n-Out burger
today so I am happy.
Back to the grind... Email me you
comments.
Ron
Lesseraux
07/21/06 3:00 PM CST
It
is that time again. The 2006 WSOP (World Series of Poker) is well
under way with the Main Event beginning on July 28th.
The RTDA (Cigar
Convention) ended on July 19th. I will start my WSOP/RTDA blog on
the 25th telling you about my adventures playing poker and smoking
the latest cigars available in the market.
Even though it has
been a year since last WSOP, I still consider myself an
average player at best. As with last years trip, my plan is to play in multiple tournaments in an effort to earn the
$10,000 entry fee for the WSOP Main Event. I expect to earn some
money but not so sure if I can get the entire amount. If I can not
earn it, I will not play in the Main Event. I will be in Las Vegas
from July 24th through July 29th, longer if I earn the 10K.
I should also mention
that I have a weakness for Slot Machines. I hope that the poker
keeps me too
busy to play those one arm bandits. I am going alone so I should be able
to focus on just playing cards.
I will keep you
informed of my daily activity and show all of my wins and losses
along with a cumulative total. I really enjoyed the emails last
year so keep them coming. If you
would like to drop me a line while I am out, click on my name
below for the address.
Ron
Lesseraux
P.S. I have tons of
cigars to smoke and report back to you.
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