I got semi-deep in the early SCOOP 2k and made a cold 4b shove with T8s vs a very aggressive player who at the time I was not aware was a reg, and was then told afterwards. If I had known it was the player it turned out to be, I would've folded, so I'm a little bummed about that.

The 10k Main got off to a good start and I won a huge pot with AA to get up to 30k. Unfortunately nothing went right after that, and I ended up busting AA<88 on an 872 flop.

I got deep in a couple other random tournaments, but ran KK<AA and AQ<AK, etc at bad times.

SO... that's it. Gonna take a little time away from online MTTs and get geared up for the WSOP. My online makeup is the biggest it's ever been, so it'll be good to play some live poker. Definitely sick of playing online after a grueling few weeks of bricking FTOPS/SCOOP, many times in heartbreaking fashion.

Will probably take a couple weeks off from blogging as well, but will be back with a WSOP preview.

Till then,
AJK

Got down to final 11 in the $5,000 PLO 6-max, only to have this happen: http://www.pokerhand.org/?5439252
Got down to final 6 in UB 300, only to lose AJhh to A9o all in preflop to an offsuit gutty on the river

Right now after getting screwed on the river in another pot, im down to a very short stack nearing the bubble of the $2k horse. I am due an absolute absurd amount of karma so maybe I'll catch some heat and make a run. If so, I'll post an update... if not... back for more pain tomorrow.

-Alex

Another especially brutal session, although I guess when they're all 'especially' brutal then I should stop using the word 'especially.'

http://www.pokerhand.org/?5432190 this one for top 3 in chips with 80 left in the 1k rebuy SCOOP

then, 10 hours into the tournament, i busted the low stakes 10r version of the same event on a 1m chip flip. a couple hours after that, my horse lost an enormous flip with 30 left in the huge 30r mini ftops.

keeping my head up, i know i have to start holding up in these huge hands eventually - maybe even sucking out every once in a while? who knows.

gonna take a day or two off and get back to the tables for Saturday afternoon SCOOPS.

till then,
alex

I did finally make my exact (well, probably exact) WSOP schedule...

June 8: $5,000 NL
June 12: $1,000 NL
June 14: $2,500 6max
June 17: $5000 6max
June 20: $10,000 PLH
June 25: $1,500 NL
June 28: $1,500 NL
Jul 1: $10,000 PLO
Jul 4: Main Event

Very excited, and since it's the final frontier for these huge few months of poker, I'm hoping it can salvage what's been a rough year so far.

Will let you guys know if anything interesting happens in SCOOP/Mini FTOPS.

-AJK

Like I said, "if you don't hear from me assume it's not going well."

Well we both know you haven't heard from me.

That's because FTOPS was another brick, this time without even much in the way of close calls/deep runs. Never really got it going in any of the events. Wish I had any stories (besides bad beat stories) but I don't. Was just a rough couple weeks of poker.

SCOOP is also off to a bit of a rough start. I bricked the Sundays and took a tough mincash in the $500+R 6max last night. Today is the $1600/160 HU and $1k/100 NL, events that should be pretty good for me. Gonna play a light schedule and just try to win something big.

As far as off the tables, my girlfriend graduates this Saturday, which should be a fun day. Her parents - love em both - are coming to town, and apparently plan on tailgating before the ceremony, followed by a (final?) night out here in Bloomington. Should be a good night to get me primed for another big SCOOP Sunday.

I'll be back as soon as I have something decent to report on - I hope it's soon!

-AJK

Sorry for the delay between posts, but as you know I was in Vegas (without a computer, a new policy of mine) this weekend for the $25k WPT Championship.

Unfortunately, i don't have too much of a trip report to write up. I chipped up pretty quickly on Day 1, and went from 100k to 150k very quickly. For the rest of the entire day, I was never lower than 140k or higher than 160k - pretty incredible, and pretty boring! I finished the day with 143k, a bit above average.

Day 2, however, was not quite so steady. Despite not catching any big preflop hands, I won some nice pots, and chipped my way up to about 190k at my peak. Unfortunately, one bad calldown and one huge KK<AA aipf later, and I was back down to 35k, about 20 bb's at the time.

Obviously being an online MTT specialist, I'm pretty comfortable with a stack like that, so I was able to battle on with it for quite some time. A couple hours later, I ended up reshoving A7s out of the SB vs David Chiu's button raise for 40k total, and he tank (?) called with TT. Fortunately I hit an A on the turn, and got back up to about 80k at 800/1600.

That luck didn't last long, and pocket kings proved to be a nightmare, just like they were when I got 2 outed with them for a big pot at the WSOP main event this year. This time, I raised with them, and was called by a tight-solid pro out of the BB. The flop came JJ3, and I checked behind after he checked. The turn was a 6, and he led out. I just called and the river was a 9, making the board a very dry JJ369. Again he led out for about 2/3 pot, and I just called, commenting that "I probably should raise but can't." I was assured that I probably should NOT have raised, and he flipped over AJ. This put me back down to about 40k or so.

At this point I never really recovered, just grinding my way out stealing blinds when I could. At one point Phil Ivey was seated on my immediate left, which was kind of cool but also kind of frustrating, since his overly nonchalant attitude meant that the rest of the table had to wait forever for his blinds and antes to be posted on almost every hand. I guess he's earned that, but on the other hand, it came across as somewhat inconsiderate. Needless to say, I'm not gonna bash on Phil Ivey, and it was definitely cool to play with him for the first time. Anyways, I eventually busted, reshoving 20 bbs with AJs out of the BB vs a deepstacked Todd Terry raising in late position, who managed to pick up AK at a great time. That was all she wrote, and I busted at the very end of Day 2.

Anyways, I've written out a calendar for the rest of the year on Google Calendar, which I will try to find a way to link to on here, so that you can see which WSOP events I'm planning on playing this summer, along with which other events I plan on playing throughout the rest of 2010.

FTOPS tomorrow, SCOOP after that. I'll be posting updates as regularly as I can, but if I don't post for a while... just assume it's not going so well.

-AJK

Posting at 5AM est, fresh off chopping the UB 1k for 24k or so, second place money. A couple hours before that I took down their 109 1r1a for another 10k or so.

Some moments of interest:

- ran QQ into AA TWICE at UB 1k FT for big pots
- won A7 v JJ aipf with 4 left in the 1k, just before chopping 3 ways
- held with 74 v QJss on a 9x7s4s flop for twice the second place stack on exact bubble of the 1k
- won K4s v AQ aipf with 4 left in the 100 cubed, for a big pot, after getting caught reshoving light
- had five pocket pairs TT+ in the 100 cubed, while heads up alone

Also, meanwhile, I was doing well on Doyle's Room too. Only playing two tournaments, I took 4th in their nightly 20k for $1500, and went deep again in the Wednesday night 50k bounty tournament that I got 2nd in last week. I also happened to take out Mike Caro in the process, netting myself $1000!

So all in all, a +35k night or so. Finally a breakthrough after infinite close calls so far this year.

A few of the biggest months of my poker career are on the horizon, with SCOOP, FTOPS, WSOP, etc, and...

Heading to Vegas on Saturday morning for the 25k WPT Championship.

Feeling great!

-AJK

Partially due to this fact and partially due to everything that is ridiculous about Monaco, I had to cancel my trip to the EPT Final @ Monte Carlo. The cheapest flight I could find was $3200 round trip, and that would be two TWENTY ONE hour travel days. Throw in the expensive hotel, the expensive food and accommodations while there, etc... basically, that's too much rake to beat. I think I'll probably be skipping Monte Carlo for a few years, until I'm older and can make a whole European trip out of it. Otherwise, it's just too much for one tourney. The whole process just made me realize how much of a pain in the ass travel can be for some of these live tournies, especially overseas. I really do prefer just relaxing and playing online for the most part, but they definitely don't have regular 10k's and TV final tables online, so I'll hafta suck it up.

I did go ahead and book my trip for the $25k WPT Championship @ the Bellagio, and am pumped to get back to Vegas. I also realized that I had a ton of bonus miles saved up on my debit card, so those two flights (along with my next few after that) are free. I'm Instantly feeling much better about this trip than I would've about Monte Carlo, and I feel like it'll lead to some good karma at the tourney itself.

It's just starting to sink in how huge the next few months are... WPT, FTOPS, SCOOP, WSOP... that's a lot of acronyms. This is all happening at a time when I just got a new sponsorship and am just getting back onto the live poker scene. Let's just say I'm equally excited and anxious to see how the next few months go. They'll certainly be life-changing ... just hopefully in a good way.

Back again in a few days,
AJK

Now it's back on the grind, and I mean back on the GRIND. The past year or so I've been playing not just less often, but farrrr less tables, mostly just focusing on a few major tables at a time. Now, I'm trying the old methods that got me where I am, grinding every tourney basically $75+ or $30r+, and even playing afternoon MTT sessions for the first time in forever.

Today for example I'm registered for something like 50 tournaments between 2pm and 9pm EST, across four sites.

Also very exciting for me tonight - I am one of three bounties in a $27.50 50k guaranteed bounty tournament on Doyle's Room, where the other two bounties are Mike Caro and... Doyle Brunson! It's pretty much just awesome to share any kind of marquee with Doyle, and seeing the promotions for it definitely got me pumped to play. Hopefully I'll be a tough out, since people really gun for me in these things - the bounties are massive and it makes it +EV for people to run all-ins with me every chance they get. It's a lot of fun!

Anyways, search me anywhere and enjoy the show. = ) Time to focus!

-Alex

Still have a lot of work left to do on recovering from my recent downswing, but this is a great start. Just remembering how it feels to win again is a big step in breaking through, and I'm hoping this is just the beginning of a hot streak.

Back with a more detailed post in a couple days.

-AJK