Yesterday I’m looking at the Jets/Pats under, which was between 42 and 40 depending on when you got it. Pretty low number but WeatherUnderground shows 98% chance of rain.The weather channel on my tv shows 100% humidity in Foxboro and so does weather.com.

So I take the under a few hours before game time. When I turn on my tv, the weather looks wayyyyyy too nice for a low number like 40. Completely unacceptable. Obviously I got crushed.

I know weather is somewhat unreliable but day of? A few hours beforehand? Come on.

Um yeah…. so is there a weather site that actually knows what’s going on?

My best friend and manager Truman knew some guys who were in town for Dream Team Poker, which was a team poker thing that went down at the Hard Rock. I’d hoped to compete but wasn’t able to work it out schedule-wise. I did attend the kick-off party in the penthouse suite at the Hard Rock. The suite had a tub/pool in the middle of it and it made me think that probably a lot of rockstars have gotten freaky in that tub. Blegh! Hope someone cleans the pool from time to time. It also had a sweet bowling alley but I of course waited till the end of the night to get my bowl on, at which point a self-important bouncer (aren’t they all?) told me that the bowling lane was closed. Oh really? Because it wasn’t closed two seconds ago when three blondes wearing half a t-shirt wanted to bowl. Good party, lame bouncer.

Later that night I met up with Justin Bonomo and JC Alvarado at The Artisan. This place is really cool, about as non-Vegas as you’re going to find. First off, The Artisan is pretty far off the beaten path so the drunken bachelor party crowd is nonexistent. The atmosphere is like a dark library stocked with weird – and probably famous – pieces of art. Obviously they’re replicas but it all makes for some good dark, funky, ambience. Best yet, there’s no video poker or annoying slot machines anywhere around. I’ll definitely be back. 

On Saturday I tried out the new Hard Rock poker room, which is pretty sweet. They play good music the whole time and there’s plenty of space so you don’t feel cramped. Was it just me or were the cocktail girls extra fast? Oh also, it turns out that my favorite card hostess Lexi – who’s nametag says SEXY – moved over to the Rock from Caesars, so she came and played for a while too.

Truman’s friends wanted to get drinks and play some $1-2 so we all sat down. Right as the table was starting, Tiffany Michelle, Maria Ho, and Christina Lindley showed up and started talking smack so obviously we had to settle it on the table. Tiffany and I traded stacks for the whole night and I really don’t know who got the best of whom.

I wanted to keep battling at the table but NOBU was calling my name so the boys and I sat down to a bunch of dishes: salmon tartar w/ caviar (good), lobster roll (ok), house special (eh) and Black Cod (INCREDIBLYFREAKINGAMAZING!!!!!!) Seriously you guys should go there. The Cod gets the nod.

The girls invited us to their party at The Bank, this club in the Bellagio. I normally hate going to clubs but I actually had a really fun time. Ran in to Jeff Madsen, Greg Mueller and a bunch of other pros. It’s fun to hang out with poker players away from the tables because for once, we’re not trying to kill each other. Not much sleep though. :

On Sunday I sweated my football bets with Eric Lindgren, who has the sickest sports-watching setup imaginable. He has 9 huge flat screens to watch all the different games at once. For someone like me with no attention span, it’s absolute heaven! After I saw his Flat Screen Wall of Awesomeness for the first time, I was inspired to build my own, although mine’s on a slightly smaller scale.

I did really well this week with the bets (Giants +3, ATL +1, Texans/Ravens over 42) and of course my Tennessee Money Train Titans covered handily. You’re my boy(s) BLUE!!

Then Tru and I headed to the Rio to watch some of the Main Event final table. We got there just in time to see Chino Rheem go out on a bad beat (AQ to AK all-in prelflop). He never flinched though, even though I know seeing the Queen come out must have felt like a dagger in the gut. It made me wonder, would you rather go out from the ME on a bad beat or due to a mistake you made? Seems obvious that one would probably rather get bad beat but it might depend on your beliefs about luck, superstition, God, etc. Anyway, hope everyone had a good weekend!  As always, you can hit me up at kwickfish.com.
–Paul

Georges St-Pierre vs. Jon Fitch
Pick: GSP
Who I want: Ambivalent (I really like both fighters)
Analysis: I think Fitch has a lot of talent and heart, but right now I feel that it’s GSP’s time.  He is in such great shape and has faced tougher opposition than Fitch.  I will say that Fitch has probably the best shot of dethroning GSP of anyone, but I think his victory will come in the inevitable rematch.

Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
Pick: Herring
Who I want: Herring
Analysis: The Texas Crazy Horse is a force to be reckoned with in the Heavyweight division.  I thought he dominated the fight against Cheick Kongo  a match that I thought Kongo would win handily.  Herring is one of the better conditioned athletes in his weight class and he can definitely deliver  but more importantly take a shot.

Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta
Pick: Florian
Who I want: Ambivalent (I really like both fighters)
Analysis: I think this fight has potential to be the most exciting fight of the night.  I picked Florian because of the quality fighters he’s matched up against.  Huerta always seems to find a way to win, and there’s definitely something to be said for that, but I think that this will definitely be his toughest fight to date.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson
Pick: Gamburyan
Who I want: Gamburyan
Analysis: I don’t know much about Emerson, but Gamburyan is an absolute beast.  He is always really fun to watch and has a lot of potential in this sport.

Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia
Pick: MacDonald
Who I want: Ambivalent
Analysis: I was really impressed with MacDonald in the match against Rich Franklin (even though he ended up getting TKO’d).  He has been on fire recently, with wins over Joe Doerksen  albeit not the Doerksen in his prime, Chris Leben, and Ed Herman

Luke Cummo vs. Tamdan McCrory
Pick: I’ll have to wait to see the fighters since I don’t know much about either fighter
Who I want: Ambivalent
Analysis:

Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen
Pick: Kongo
Who I want: Evensen
Analysis: I used to be a Kongo fan, but I think his fights are usually a little slow paced and boring.

Andre Gusmao vs. Jon Jones
Pick: Jones  although I might change the pick once I see the fighters
Who I want: Jones
Analysis: Hopefully this will be an exciting fight, as both fighters are undefeated and both making their UFC debuts.  I don’t know why I’m rooting for Jones, maybe because I like his style of fighting  Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, and Wrestling.

Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno
Pick: Wilson  although again, I might change the pick once I see the fighters
Who I want: Ambivalent
Analysis: I’m picking Wilson solely because he took Jon Fitch the distance, but I could very well change my mind if I don’t see what I’m looking for when he comes out.

Ben Saunders vs. Ryan Thomas
Pick: I’ll have to wait to see the fighters since I don’t know much about either fighter
Who I want: Ambivalent
Analysis: I don’t know anything about these guys.

Getcha Popcorn Ready!
Paul

Brodie Farber vs. Rory Markham
  Prediction: Markham  correct
  Who I wanted: Ambivalent
   Analysis: This fight could have gone either way.  At first Markham got the upper hand with a couple of early shots, and then Farber went on the attack and landed a ton of shots in a row; however, Markham was backing up for most of the shots, so it didn’t look like the shots did much damage at the time.  Then Farber kept pursuing Markham and ran into a devastating roundhouse that immediately ended the fight. Definitely one of the most dramatic finishes of the night.

Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns
  Prediction: Johnson  incorrect
  Who I wanted: Johnson
  Analysis: I will say that I thought that the fight was slightly in Johnson’s favor before he couldn’t continue due to being eye gouged for the third or forth time.  In my opinion Burns should have been disqualified rather than Johnson being declared TKO’d.

Cain Velasquez vs. Jake O’Brien
  Prediction: Velasquez  correct
  Who I wanted: Ambivalent
  Analysis: I didn’t know much about either fighter here, I just decided to pick who I thought looked best prepared for the fight.  They both looked like really talented guys and I’m excited to see them both fight again.

Hermes Franca vs. Frank Edgar
  Prediction: Franca  incorrect
  Who I wanted: Edgar
  Analysis: Edgar really impressed me in this fight.  I thought Franca would submit him at some point throughout the fight, but Edgar’s standup and ground and pound was just too much for Franca.  I really like Edgar not only for his talent in the ring, but he seems like a really cool guy in his pre and post fight interviews.  From now on I’m both rooting for and betting on this kid :

Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
  Prediction: Vera  correct
  Who I wanted: Vera
  Analysis: This had to be the worst fight of the night.  Vera looked like an absolute monster in the ring because he cut down to 205 (he usually fights in the Heavyweight division).  However, his energy was dramatically affected by the weight cut and it definitely showed in the ring.  Normally I like watching him fight, but he merely eeked out a mind-numbingly boring Unanimous Decision in this fight.  If he wants me back as a fan, he’ll have to show a lot more life.

Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
  Prediction: Silva  correct
  Who I wanted: Silva
  Analysis: My only complaint was that the fight didn’t last long enough.  Silva has to be one of the best (if not the best) pound for pound fighters in MMA.  He is so sick that he chose to fight up a weight class at 205 for this fight (He normally fights at 185).  Can anyone stop him, even at 205? If anyone can, Forrest Griffin probably stands the best chance, but even there, I’d give a clear edge to Silva.

Savant Young vs. Mark Hominick
  Prediction: Hominick  correct
  Who I wanted: Young
  Analysis: I had seen Hominick fight before and thought he was winning the fight in a couple of his losses where he got caught.  I think he is a little under rated, so I chose to pick him over Young, even though I wanted to see Young win the fight.

Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo
  Prediction: Barnett  correct
  Who I wanted: Ambivalent
  Analysis: I didn’t really know anything about either of these fighters coming in, so again I waited until I saw them both and was pretty confident in my pick.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell
  Prediction: Arlovski  correct
  Who I wanted: Arlovski
  Analysis: Arlovski is really fun to watch and he’s an absolute machine.  He weighs 235 lbs. and is incredibly ripped, unlike most heavyweights.  He looks like a wolverine because he’s really hairy and wears a mouth guard that looks like he has fangs.  His precision and tenacity won this fight, though I will say that Rothwell can freakin take a punch.  That guy should have been knocked out much earlier.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia
  Prediction: Emelianenko  correct
  Who I wanted: Emelianenko
  Analysis: I’ve watched Emelianenko in Pride Fighting and he is extremely fun to watch.  Mainly because he looks like a complete chump when he enters the ring and anyone who is new to the sport automatically thinks he is going to get his ass handed to him and then he goes and proves everyone wrong.  I love watching him fight and I really hope that he works out contract negotiations to enter the UFC because he deserves more notoriety than he currently has.  Personally, I think that he should hire on a nutrition/training expert because a cut Emelianenko would be extremely scary. Good Stuff!
Paul

Although I ended Day 01 with only 27k, I was very happy with how I played. I put myself in one bad situation where I didn’t pot commit myself when I continuation bet. I had to make a tough call with Jacks on a Q, 7, 9 board. It ended up being a good call but I still allowed myself to be put to a very difficult decision, something good poker players try to avoid.

Day 02 didn’t go my way. I lost half my stack within the first hour and although I managed to double up a few times, I kept getting whittled down until I made my stand with K, 5. When my opponent turned over A, 10, I knew I was dead. The &*%%* A, 10 has been my elimination hand in many a tournament. It hates me like A, Q hates Hellmuth.

On a side note, the online coverage during the WSOP was top notch. Huge improvement from years past. Yes, I just said that. It took me literally hours to read through all the hand histories. The captions were dorky but I know some people go nuts for that stuff. Seriously though, nice job guys.

There was one bright spot to the series. After surviving Day 01, I attended Phil Gordon’s annual 4th of July party and got talked into playing the $500 buy-in World Series of Rochambeau, where I took second place. Yes, please dust off your favorite Wasicka second place joke. Before making my run, I met a very weird dude who called himself Master Roshambollah, but you can call me Master Rosh for short and claimed to be a Retired RPS player. He had these weird sayings like, I did not choose RPS greatness, it was thrust upon me, and stuff like that. Hilarious. Even more hilarious, he lost in the first round! He was gracious in defeat and complimented me for my deep run. Weird Dude, Fun Night.

I thought about playing the Bellagio events, but one can only stomach Vegas in the summer for so long before its time to get out of town. Good luck to Thomas Fuller who’s playing today in the Bellagio Cup.

Oh and I finally got a phone.

So dear lovely, sweet, awesome, Lady Luck,

This is Paul. You’ve been very good to me in the past and I’d really
like for us to get back together. We make a good pair. I need you by my
side.

You remember how the two of us cruised through the 06 Main Event? You
looking all sexy and me looking like the degenerate that I am? Well
that dirty man is back. You might recognize me tomorrow. I’ll be
wearing that huge ugly plaid shirt that I wore for three days straight
in 06. I’ll also be wearing my lucky boxers.

I’ll be at the Rio tomorrow, baby. Meet me there?

So I was thinking& Kind of sucks that the Main Event runs during the fourth of July. Don’t get me wrong, poker is fun. But the fourth is for barbecue, volleyball, and beer.

Here’s my Main Event plan: Play Day 1a on July 3rd, hopefully make it through. Unwind and party on the fourth. One day to recover. Then two more days to focus and get my mind right before coming back for Day 2a on the 8th. There will be imitators.

I haven’t been playing too many of the WSOP donkaments this time around. They really aren’t my specialty. I have an absolutely abysmal track record in tournies with buy-ins less than $5k.

I have been playing a lot online, however, and things have been all over the place. I played some 25/50 a week ago and ran pretty badly. Recently it’s been better though. My hands have held up.

On Saturday, I played a round of golf in the middle of the day. Five hours outside in Vegas in June? Pretty brutal. I have a newfound respect for Eric Lindgren, who won that huge bet last summer that he could play four rounds of golf in one day, walking the whole way and carrying his clubs.  Oh and he had to shoot under 100 each time. I still would have taken Eric though.

Yesterday I taught at the WSOP Academy with Annie Duke. I really like teaching at these. It’s cool to see people so fired up to play poker. It gets me fired up. I worked on general cash game strategies and Annie talked about preflop starting hands and the math behind making a preflop raise. It’s cool to see people soaking up all the information but it’s obvious that it takes a while to incorporate everything. I’d say the most common mistake people made yesterday was putting way too much money in preflop trying to hit sets. Putting a fifth of your stack in preflop with 3, 3 just isn’t profitable.

Well that’s it from here. I probably won’t play anything live until the ME but you should be able to find me online.  Kwicky

Oh well, no biggie, I still have 7,000.

Later I raised second position with 3,3 and got called by the big blind.  I felt I had a strong read on this particular opponent, even this early.  The flop came K,Q,5 and I threw out 250.  He called after a think and the turn was a 6.  He checked and I still had him as weak, so I decided to throw out 525 and he folded.

A round later I raised under the gun with 7s,6s and was called by both the button and the big blind.  The flop was Jd,7c,6d.  I fired 525, the button folded and the big blind quickly raised to 1275.  At this point I decided that he likely had a big draw because I thought it was unlikely that he would flat call my preflop raise with J,7 or J,6 or J,J.  There’s a slight possibility that he called me with 7,7 or 6,6, but I think I’d just have to chalk that up to a cooler if that turned out to be the case.  I ruled out a jack trying to find out where he’s at because my opponent was out of position and he could easily be called by many hands that don’t necessarily have him beat, thus he’d gain no information with a raise.  I thought he was most likely to hold a flush draw and a pair, a flush draw and a straight draw, or a flush draw and an over card.  I thought a naked flush draw would likely either raise me bigger or flat call and play the hand slower.  After making my read I looked at chip stacks and thought the correct play was to flat call and either raise him all-in on the turn or price him out if he checked it to me.  I called and the turn was the Qs.  Perfect card.  A card in the 8 through T range would be a little worrisome because he could easily hit a higher two pair or his straight.  This, however was the perfect card because, as I noted earlier I didn’t think he’d raise me that small on the flop with a hand like J,Q.  He bet 1,800 and I had an easy decision move all-in.  My raise was 4,200 more and there was 4,825 in the pot.  Therefore, he’s getting a little over 2:1 to call, which is great because he either has to make a bad call or a good fold and I win a nice sized pot.  It turns out he called the 4,200 with Ad,Kd.  Wow, I didn’t put him on that strong of a hand because he didn’t squeeze preflop, but nonetheless, he still only has 11 outs (or 22% chance to win).  Unfortunately, the river brought the 9d, sending me packing after only a few rounds.  Oh well, I felt great about the few hands I did play and I’m feeling really confident for my next tournament. Off to the pool! Paul

I had a great last weekend. Some friends of mine road tripped it out here and we hung out with a bunch of players who are all renting a huge house for the series. They call it the Castle. We played some drunken $1/$2, hung out by the pool, and generally got into mischief. A few nights ago, these guys wanted to grab dinner at the South Point. The entrees were taking forever so Bag, Wolf, and I headed to the blackjack tables. Ten minutes later I hadn’t lost a single hand and I decided to call it quits (for the time being) on a great note.

I have to be in the mood for a typical Vegas weekend but it’s a lot easier to get right when many of my closest friends are around. We spent a couple of nights drinking Fat Tires in the hot tub, pulled a few successful joint sessions, and capped the weekend off with drinks at Fat Tuesdays (these places that essentially serve slushies brimming with grain alcohol). I don’t have the stones to try it but they offer a GIGANTIC jug of what is essentially frozen jungle juice for $45 that looks like it would kill all but the most hardcore lushes.

I also hit up the shooting range, which is a ton of fun. The range rents about 50 different kinds of guns there so there’s always something to try. After plinking away with some standard handguns, I decided it was time to get ridiculous. I rented a .50 cal handgun, almost the most useless invention in firearms history. It had a huge barrel on it, and one of those stocks that braces on your bicep. Why is this gun almost the most useless invention? Because at the gun range owner’s suggestion, the next gun I tried was The Little Dragon, a fully automatic handgun. This thing was completely ridiculous. Picture a handgun, but then realize that the clip sticks down about 10 inches below the gun. They told me to really lean into it and thankfully I did because as soon as my finger hit the trigger, the gun tore through 25 rounds in about 2 seconds. I couldn’t hit a damn thing but wow was this awesome! Completely impractical, completely fun. I burst fired the next clip and actually managed to hit the target. Blackpowder therapy. :

Like all good weekends, this one came to a much needed end. My friends left on Tuesday morning and I headed down to the Rio for a NL short-handed event. Back to it! Paul

That sums it up for video games but I’d be holding out on you guys if I didn’t tell you about Settlers of Catan. In my opinion, Catan is the coolest board game invented. It’s a cross between Monopoly and Risk. The object of the game is to accumulate points. You do so by controlling land and collecting resources from the land. There are a number of ways to win. I like it because, due to luck and what your opponents are doing, your strategy changes throughout the game. Also, because the board pieces are assembled randomly, no two games are the same. I’ve also played some Super Smash Bros., Tripoli, and Quoridor. Good stuff.

As for poker, I’ve been playing exclusively heads up cash games. Come find me online. : Paul

I haven’t written anything in a while because there hasn’t been much to say.  I had a small cash at the Bay 101 but other than that, things have been pretty lukewarm for me at the poker table.

I celebrated the Bay 101 score with a trip to Colorado, where I took one run at my favorite ski resort (Arapahoe Basin) and promptly destroyed my knee. When I got the knee checked out, the initial diagnoses was a torn ACL but now it’s looking more like I have a strained ACL and a partially torn MCL. Much better because (I’m told) an MCL receives blood so it can heal on its own, whereas an ACL doesn’t. I’m slowly getting mobility back.

Before the WPT Championships, I taught at another WSOP Academy. I really love teaching at events like these because people are so friendly and the whole event is really fun. Each instructor brings a different viewpoint and a different set of experiences and it’s really interesting to hear how each person approaches the same situation.

The Academy ended and then it was time for my favorite event of the year: The WPT Championships. I’ve blogged about this before but I LOVE THIS TOURNAMENT.  This is the one that started it all for me, the one that built my bankroll.

Even though I had a tough table draw for day 01 of the Championship, I got off to a great start. My first table was pretty loaded so everyone played very carefully. Among others, my table included Chris Ferguson, Kathy Liebert, Erica Schoenberg, Nenad Medic, and David Chiu, who ended up winning the whole thing. We passed small amounts of chips around for hours until one guy finally busted. Shortly thereafter, I got moved to a new table and doubled up when my turned straight held up against a slow-played flopped set. I ended the day with a comfortable 92k.

After the first level on Day 02 though, everything went to garbage. After busting a guy to get my stack up to 120k, I took a few hits and dropped down to 60k. That’s when this happened:

With the blinds at 500/1000 I raised the cutoff to 3,500 with Q, 10 spades. Even with my music blasting, I clearly heard the button say, 10k as he tossed in a chip of the same amount. Easy fold, I’m thinking. Then disaster strikes. The obviously stone-deaf small blind throws in 3500. The floor rules that he has to leave the 3500 in but he can call or fold. He decides to call and even though I think the cutoff is strong and I really don’t want to call here, now I’m getting around 4 to 1 on my money. I make the call and pick up a flush draw. I don’t want to make a large bet out of position and then have to fold so I check raise all in and get snap called by the button’s KK. No spades for me and I’m out. So frustrating. What should have been an easy fold ended up costing me my shot at $3.4 mill.  Two hours later I was on a plane out of Vegas.

So that’s what’s going on with me. No tournaments planned until the WSOP. For now I’ll be playing online, fixing my knee, and enjoying spring. Talk to you soon, Paul

Well, I’m out of the Bay 101 Shooting Star. On day one, I played the best tournament poker of my career. Unfortunately, on day two, I played like absolute garbage for the first half of the day but was then able to come back strong. Today I’ve had a lot of mixed emotions, which normally I’d say is a bad thing, but I learned a lot and I’m going to use this knowledge to tear it up next time. It never feels good to write these posts, but I think it’s essential in order to further my quest to continually improve my game.

It felt so good to make the money. Counting the bounty I got for busting “The Magician,” I took home a little over $8k in profit. It’s not a huge score but anytime you’re bringing money in it’s a good day. The biggest benefit to me was the confidence boost. After going through a nine month slump, it felt good to finally get that monkey off my back.

Day 03 was short and painful. I started by waking up earlier than I did yesterday, so I got up at 8:30am. I got ready for the day, talked with Thomas about some playing strategy, listened to some music, stretched, and ran circles around my hotel. I then had another strategy talk with Nappy and grabbed a quick breakfast. When I arrived at the casino I was ready to play some awesome poker.

One of the first hands of the day John Phan raised first position (playing six handed) and got called two seats behind by the table chip leader. In the big blind I picked up a 9d,Td and flat called the additional 5,000. Blinds were 1,500/3,000/500 ante at this point and I started with a 137,000 stack. The flop came Kh, 9h, 5. I thought for a while about what to do and ultimately decided to check. The other two checked as well. The turn brought an off suit 3 and I decided to bet 10,000 which was a fairly small bet. I like betting out here, but I think in retrospect I should have made a large bet to force someone to pick up a hand if they want to re-raise me. Even a king would likely flat call and then I could possibly suck out with a 9 or a T on the river and win a big pot. Anyway, John re-raised my bet to 45,000 and although I wasn’t convinced he was that strong here I decided the reward wasn’t worth the risk and I folded.

Two hands later the chip leader is now under the gun (UTG) and he raises to 9,500. It folds to me and I look down and see A,K. After that first pot, I now have around 115,000. My game plan coming in was to try and trap with A,K to possibly get a squeeze play from John, so I decided to call. I looked over at the raise and decided to match what he put out. I grabbed two pink (5,000 chip), four blue (1,000), and one yellow (500). For those of you who are good at math, you’ve probably realized that I put out too much and therein lies a problem. The floor was called over and ruled that since the 9,500 raise was a raise of 6,500 on the big blind that in order for my motion to be a re-raise it had to be at least half the initial raise. This meant that my raise had to be at least 3,250 to make it legit. Well, for those of you who are bad at math, my 14,500 was at least 3,250 more than the initial 9,500, so it was ruled a re-raise and I had to make the minimum allowable re-raise which was 6,500 on top of the initial 9,500.

The result is that I had to make it 16,000. UTG now makes the obligatory re-raise because he knows that I most likely made an honest mistake (which I did). He re-re-raises 15,000 more, so now he has 41,000 out there, which is perfect because now I can go all-in and get great fold equity and even if he does call I should be way ahead of his range because he has no clue that I’m flatting with A,K preflop. He called, which obviously made me happy that I might be getting it all-in with a dominant hand. However, excitement soon turned to dread as A,A was then flipped over in front of me.

When the flop came a bland Q high there was no excitement of a suckout to be had and I shook everyone’s hand and made my exit. I will admit that I was extremely upset with myself for making this “misclick” because it resulted in me exiting the tournament. Had I just called, as intended, I could have gotten away from the hand postflop. I hugged my family and had nothing to say, other than “What can you do?” I felt really bad because my dad had just flown in to see me play and really didn’t get to see much action, but se la vi.

On my walk home I started to analyze the situation a little more and became increasingly excited. I try to learn at least one thing from every tournament I play in so that I can be that much better the next time. I was thinking about what I can learn from this tournament and two things came to mind. The first being preparation. On the second day of play I slept terribly. I woke up at 5:30am because the air conditioning unit in the room decided to randomly start blasting freezing air on me. I finally figured out how to turn the thing off and went back to bed. Then I woke up at 9:30 and there wasn’t enough time to eat breakfast. I was in a rush to get to the casino, and my iPhone was out of batteries, so I had no phone or music. I started out the day very badly and the way the day went followed suit. The following night I turned off the A/C unit and got up two hours before the tournament instead of just one. I was super excited and ready to play and that’s the mindset I need to be in.

The other thing I learned was adding the “accidental misclick” to my repertoire. Although it was a genuine misclick during the hand, I believe that if you were to run that scenario out a hundred times that I would be in great shape in terms of EV. The fact that I don’t want to just make a big re-raise and only get into an all-in as a likely coin flip and my stack size made it quite possibly the optimal way to play the hand. The facts were that I got the guy to put in 41k preflop, which would normally leave me with plenty of fold equity if he has nothing (which is ideal because A,K isn’t a huge favorite over a random hand) and he will gladly get it in with hands that I have dominated, such as an A,Q or K,Q because it looks like I either might have a low to mid pair or a suited connector. Most players will re-raise in a spot where it looks like your opponent accidentally re-raised with the intention of calling and that is what you can take advantage of at the table.

A lot of people might consider this a dirty angle shoot, but my take on any situation like this is that if it’s within the rules, then it’s fine. If you know how someone will react to a certain situation and you use that against them, then I think that is just owning them, rather than playing dirty. Anyway, after thinking about the situation and talking it over with Thomas, I felt much better and decided to get it out on paper so that I didn’t have it looming inside.

Right now I just can’t wait to get back on the felt, and although I was planning on not playing another tournament for a while I might have to change my plans because I feel unstoppable right now and another big score is just around the corner. Wish me luck! :

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check Kwickfish.com

I didn’t get to attend the draw party last year and although I would have preferred to repeat at the LAPC, the draw party was a nice consolation prize. People were in good spirits and even people who drew each other acted cool. When asked who he’d most like to play, Jamie Gold said he’d prefer to draw me but I guess the fates had other plans. Jamie drew a qualifier. I guess the epic rematch will have to wait. Don’t think I haven’t dreamed about once or twice. :

The highlight for me was meeting Jerome Bettis. I don’t usually swoon for celebrities but I have to admit, I’m a big Bus fan. He embodies so much of what I believe in: hard work, a good attitude, discipline, having fun, and putting your head down when it’s time to get the job done. I only spoke to him for a couple of minutes but he really seemed like a stand up guy.

So I’m in the hearts bracket, which means I get to show up at the lovely hour of 10:15am tomorrow. It’s all good. I’m ready. I’ll be facing Freddy Deeb. It should be a good match. Freddy isn’t a nut job. He plays good poker and I respect him. Wish me luck,
Paul

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check Kwickfish.com

I’m so happy to see this! This is the poker industry getting into fighting shape: getting lean and badass. I can’t stress this enough: We don’t need more televised events, we need better ones. Think about it from a football perspective. Ever watched the NFL Europe (which folded this year because it sucked) or Arena Football? Compared to the NFL, these programs are complete duds. The players are terrible and so is every other aspect of the program including commentary, footage, coaching, etc.

In order for televised poker to succeed, the shows have to be popular. It’s not enough anymore to just see a group of guys sitting around a table playing cards for money. The stale old poker shows are basically just a Sportscenter-like compilation of all-ins. Just a bunch of coolers. Even with large amounts of money at stake, believe me, the viewing novelty wears off.

The public is ready for the real game and they want intelligent analysis, not just old jokes about a commentator’s ex-wife. This game has been televised now for a while and the viewing public wants to see actual poker being played, not just a bunch of all-ins. Now people want drama, back-stories, strategic analysis, good commentary, and good poker.

What we have now is a population explosion of poker shows. Too many deer in the forest means that none of them get enough to eat. That’s how it is in the poker world. We have too many shows. I’m all for new ideas but if televised poker is going to continue to capture America’s attention it’s time to take some of the better poker shows and make em great.

That’s what the WPT is doing. They already have Mike Sexton, definitely one of the best poker commentators (and players) out there. They always have a hot hostess, which is good I guess, but there are enough attractive women who also are knowledgeable about poker. What about getting one of them? Think the Rachel Nichols of poker.

But this blog isn’t one of my rants, it’s a celebration. Seriously, nice job WPT. You guys trimmed a little fat off the TV circuit while at the same time upgrading the meat of the show. This is a big step in the right direction. Coming on the heels of the WPT’s recent structure improvements, in my opinion this program is clearly leading the way in the quality revolution. First there was poker. Then there was too much poker. Now we’re heading where we need to go: Great Poker.

Well played, guys. Paul

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check Kwickfish.com

I fit into the first description. After much self reflection, I’ve never really worked all that hard at anything in my life. Whether it came to school, athletics, friends, or just everyday life; things just made sense to me. I never had to over think things or put in hard time to accomplish my goals. One of my sisters is the complete opposite. She fits into the second category. She works really hard and gets what she wants. Nothing comes easy, which probably makes attaining her goals that much more gratifying.

I view my situation as both a gift and a curse at the same time. A gift because I can take on any new pursuit and do fairly well at it. I learn very quickly. If I like it, I’ll often become obsessed, and won’t stop until either I get sick of it or until I move on to my next obsession.

However, because I usually do pretty well at things from the get go, I rarely fail and this is my curse. Sometimes failing is good because it makes you want to succeed that much more. Maybe failing is what lights the fire under those people who fall into the second category. I feel as though I’m stuck in a place where I have had some success, but in order to truly excel I need that fire, that motivation, that drive. Natural talent alone isn’t enough to make the cut.

There are a few things that I’ve decided I need to improve in order to attain that third status – someone who has both the talent and out-works their competition. Motivation, self image, discipline, willpower, and balance.

The biggest obstacle I’m always trying to overcome is motivation. There are a few reasons why it is really hard to get motivated to not only play, but to be the best. First off, I live a comfortable life right now. I have the means right now to go out and buy whatever I feel will make me happier. At first this sounds really cool, and believe me I’m not taking this situation for granted. But after a while material possessions become boring and most of my stuff just sits around and gets dusty, not to mention being a complete waste of money.

Part of me feels as though I’d truly be happier if I had nothing and had to work my ass off to get something I wanted. As I said before, the hard work one puts in to reach goals is a huge part of what makes attaining those goals satisfying. When things come and go as you please, there’s no real enthusiasm or excitement. Not only that, but I think that having nothing would make me want to improve my situation and that in and of itself would give me all the motivation I needed. However, I’m at a point where success won’t change my lifestyle all that much, and that is hindering my mentality.

Also, knowing that I’ll probably never again accomplish what I’ve accomplished in the past is depressing. The logical part of me knows that mathematically the chances of me seeing another final table of an event as large as the 06 WSOP Main Event are probably worse than the Rockies ever winning the World Series – pretty bleak to say the least. That is not how a champion should feel, which brings me to my next point.

Before the 2006 Main Event, my goal was to make the final table. Now, if you were to ask someone what the odds of me actually doing that, maybe I would have been 2,000 to 1. However, in my mind I was already there. Throughout the tournament, when I took a bad beat or cooler, etc. I wouldn’t be upset at all because I knew that I was destined to make the final table. It felt as though I already knew that I was going to be there and nothing else mattered. Other people believed in me and, more importantly, I believed in myself. I truly believed that I was the best player in the world. Whether I was or wasn’t didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I believed with absolute conviction that no one stood a chance against me.

I used to play mainly online, and that might be where my confidence stemmed from. Instead of worrying about what other people thought about me, I would talk trash to the little icons on the computer monitor. After I felt I had outplayed someone, I would very arrogantly proclaim, “owned.” Owned!! That would basically sum up how the hand played out. There was no need for poker tracker or shark scope or any other fancy software to tell me how good my opponents were. All that mattered was that I knew that I was the best player at the tables (as did my opponents). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to turn into some Humberto Brenes and constantly remind people of how good I am… maybe in my head I will The fiiiiiiiishhhyyyy!!! The fiiiiiiishhhhhhyyyyyyy is huuuuuunnnnnnnggrryyy!!!!

I’ll be the first to admit that I lack discipline. I never stick with anything for very long. I’m always inclined to take the easy road. Maybe it’s all that math and science that’s been implanted into me that makes me want to take the path of least resistance. Honestly, I don’t really know why I feel the way I do, but that’s not what’s important. Knowing that it can pose a problem and wanting to change is what is crucial.

I can’t really explain my reasons for doing some of the things I do; I know that it doesn’t make sense to any ‘normal’ person, but sometimes I have a tough time with priorities. When I see a $25 late fee on a cable bill I freak out and throw a temper tantrum. But then I’ll go lose $5,000 in a tournament and feel fine. Before my score at the World Series, I entered a $14,000 tournament and slept through the second day of play. Eventually I was blinded out of the tournament because I stayed up all night playing a $1/$2 no limit cash game the night before.

I know that this makes absolutely no sense, but I can’t control doing irrational things sometimes. In college I studied for many hours in preparation for a final exam in which I needed at least a 70% to maintain my “B” in the class, but then never took the exam. I even wrote a nine page essay for another final and didn’t turn in the paper because it wasn’t exactly how I wanted it – even though I only needed a 60% on the paper to maintain my “A”.

I’ve also been lacking balance in my life. Running bad, playing bad, and depression seem to go hand in hand. I find that when I start running bad, inevitably I start playing less and less optimally. Playing bad, in turn, leads to me feeling guilty and depressed that I didn’t have the discipline to stop. That negative energy then attracts ugly situations such as coolers, bad beats, etc. that are uncontrollable and even more infuriating because they are now continually happening. And so goes the cycle – a nasty downward spiral that can devastate a bankroll.

When this situation starts to show it’s ugly face it’s important to maintain discipline and walk away. Degeneracy has a natural affinity towards this downward spiral, and I’ve noticed that the more I focus on more important areas of my life, the easier it is to break the cycle.

Furthermore, recently I’ve been playing under the wrong conditions and for the wrong reasons. One thing I’ve learned from watching my favorite athletes is their brutal honesty. They call it like they see it and I respect them for it. Often times I try not to hurt people’s feelings. I tell them that they played great, even though I thought they played terribly. For a while I thought this was the right approach because I didn’t want them to feel any worse than they already were. However, I’ve come to realize that one can be honest without rubbing it in.

I think caring about what other people think has long been a weakness of mine. When I look back at some of my previous blog posts from a couple years back, I couldn’t care less what other people thought, and that was one of my strong suits. Being a nice guy doesn’t win tournaments. Feeling bad for someone doesn’t win tournaments. Killer instinct is what brings about success.

There are two kinds of pissed off. There’s the killer instinct pissed off and there’s the tilt driven pissed off. One of these moods is what I feel when I’m playing my best – I’ll let you decide which. When I get into a pot with someone, I want to hurt them. Bad. I want them to know that if they are in a pot with me, they are putting themselves in a very dangerous position where they will likely go broke. Lately, however, I’ve been playing too much under the latter guise.

Playing for the wrong reasons can also be a huge detriment. Right now it feels as if I’m in a spot where I need to post some results or fade into the realm of mediocrity. I believe that pressure can either force people to rise to the occasion or choke. I also believe that there are two types of pressure – public and personal. Public pressure is when there is a momentous occasion to be decided by who wants it more. Personal pressure, on the other hand, is living up to your own expectations and blocking out the fear that inevitably looms in the background. I usually thrive under public pressure. When I’m an underdog I tend to over perform and rise to my potential. Mainly because I love to prove others wrong. However, when I’m expected to win, at least by my own standards, I often choke. I guess this goes back to not caring what other people think.

Lately I’ve been playing to make money. Obviously I wouldn’t play if I didn’t still enjoy the game, but the primary focus of each tournament and each cash game has been to make as much money as possible. This mentality is not healthy for a few reasons. First, when things aren’t going well, it’s easy to fall into the destructive cycle as described above. Conversely, when everything seems to be going your way, it’s easy to overlook spots where you could have extracted more value.

Some of the sessions that I’m most proud of have been losing sessions. Obviously you can’t control how the cards fall. All you can do is put yourself into situations that are positive expected value and know that over time it will pay off. I find that when I try to climb out of a hole and back to even for a session are the times when I end up losing even more money and becoming even more frustrated with the game.

Instead of trying to win money, it’s time to focus on trying to own fools. This will make the game more about fun and entertainment and less about success and tying that success to self worth. It’s easier to recover from a broken ego than it is to recover from a loss when all you’re thinking about is how much you could have bought with the money you lost.

This whole article has been about what I’ve been doing wrong or have neglected to do right. I guess I’d like to wrap it up by mentioning the steps that I’m going to take to turn things around. Meditation, preparation, and visualization are the three main things that I’m going to focus on for the next chapter in my poker career (and in life for that matter).

I realize that I’m up against people who are just as talented as myself. Therefore, what will distinguish the winners from the losers at this point is who wants it more. It’s one thing to know what it takes to succeed, but it’s completely different to actually do it. To be world class in any endeavor, you must be talented and hardworking. I know that I have the talent; I guess at this point, the only question left is, “How bad do I want it?”

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

I just made my arrangements for the LAPC, so that’s definitely going to happen. I get in on the 19th and I’ll probably play the $1,500 NL tourney and possibly some cash games to warm up before the main event.

The LAPC is a crazy tournament. There is a gigantic contingent of sharks but there are also tons of regular joes. You usually don’t see such high numbers of both at the same place except perhaps at the World Series.

Commerce isn’t exactly Westwood but there’s plenty to do if you get knocked out or if you have extra time. Last year I went to a Go-Kart place that had drag cars. Very fun. Obviously poker is the focus but I really believe it’s important to have as much fun as possible when one plays. I don’t know. It helps me relax and get in a good mindset. This year I’m not sure what I’ll do for entertainment. Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier are possibilities. I’m not much of a basketball fan but you know me, I’m down for any competitive event.

Football is done for the season and while I’m bummed because I just built a pretty sweet “media room,” I’m also looking forward to getting outside a little more. I’ve started working out again and while the first two weeks back are always brutal, I think it’s really important to have physical activity in my life. I feel more balanced, more relaxed, and more confident.

As for poker, I’ve been playing a lot online recently. No details but I’m trying out a few new wrinkles. The game is constantly changing and if you play the same people enough they’ll pick up on any style. The more I play, the more I’m realizing that it’s super important to mix it up. Anyway, I’ll be posting pretty often so I’ll let you know how everything goes. Till next time,
Pablo

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Day 03 was Friday. I cabbed over to the Queen Victoria Market and picked up some fabrics from Thailand and a few other random touristy trinkets. One thing I didn’t buy was a neon green “Mankini” (think banana hammock from the movie Borat). They had several for sale at the market and I was tempted to buy one and place a little bet with Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith at the Crown bowling alley. Loser would wear the Mankini for the main event. Of course even degenerate gamblers like Joe, Gavin, and myself don’t have the stones for a prop bet like this so it never happened. And honestly, no one wants to see any of us in a Mankini.

I followed up the market experience by heading to the suburb of Brunswick, to a Lebanese restaurant for some shwarma. If you’ve never had shwarma, you’re missing out. Along with avocados, shwarma should pretty much be considered one of the major food groups. This place had the goods. Horrific service but great tatziki. Melbourne really is a wonderful city for restaurants. They are all over the place. I’m not sure anyone actually cooks in town because it seems like there are more restaurants than locals. It seems like all I ever do is talk about restaurants but when you have just flown all the way around the world, all you can do is really lay low, hydrate, and eat. Anyway, a few hours later I had a great steak dinner at one of the Crown’s nicer restaurants. I ordered a dry aged Wagyu beef tenderloin and I have to say, it was extremely tender. Definitely one of the top five steaks I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot. Our luggage finally arrived and that made the trip go even better.

On Saturday I got up early, rented a car, and drove down to Port Phillip Bay for some scuba diving. The drive was supposed to take 2 and 1/2 hours but even though we got lost for 30 minutes, it still only took me only an hour and forty-five to get there. Australians don’t speed at all and the highest speed limit I saw all day was 100 k/h, which is probably about 60 mph. Needless to say, I might have exceeded that number a little.

The dives were great. On the first dive, with no warning whatsoever, our guide headed back to the surface, leaving just Amber, myself, and Truman on the bottom. It was Truman’s first dive and none of us wanted to call it quits so we just followed a few other divers from a different group and then did our own thing. The boat crew wasn’t thrilled but Truman was. His first dive ever, and that successfully done without a guide. The water was significantly colder than in Belize but we had thick wetsuits and the fish were plentiful. I kind of freaked out when I saw a jellyfish but by the end of the dive, I’d seen quite a few and since no one else seemed particularly concerned, I didn’t worry about it. The highlight of the first dive was seeing a 2 foot long “banjo” shark sleeping on the bottom. I hoped he’d wake up so I could see more of him but I was content to let sleeping sharks lie.

The second dive was even better than the first. We dove on an old man-made rock wall, which has become a perfect spot for aquatic life. Basically the rock wall was C-shaped so we’d swim against the current, around the outside of the wall and once we’d reached the end, we’d let the current carry us back down. Then we’d do it again. There were tons of fish swimming around the rocks and to be honest, the coral and plant life were more exciting here than in Belize. After the second dive, the boat took us out to a seal colony and we snorkeled with a bunch of seals. Pretty incredible. I could barely stay awake on the drive home but with a lot of speeding I made it back to the hotel before my eyelids fell shut. I was so exhausted that I crawled in bed at 7pm and slept like a babe.

The next day and a half was pretty much entirely consumed by football playoffs interspersed with room service visits. Yes, I got up at 8 am to watch football. The following day I got up at 5.

On Tuesday I played the main event.

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

This year has been completely different. Shortly after the dinner break on day 01, I’m done. My Aussie Millions main event ended almost before it began. I’ll post the hands in a subsequent blog.

I’m glad I went deep last year but the consequence was that I really didn’t get to see much of Melbourne at all. This time I resolved to see and do a lot more and I’ve definitely done that. Amber, Truman, and I got to Australia on the 9th and our trip got off to a rocky start. I was a little jet lagged and our luggage didn’t make it but after a sizeable nap, I went to a Full Tilt meet-n-greet that proved to be a lot of fun. It sounds kind of hokey but they had a little Australian petting zoo at the party and I got to hold a crocodile, see a dragon, and have a python wrap itself around my neck. Some guy taught me how to crack a bull-whip. Like I said, hokey but fun.

I was pretty tipsy after the party so I did the responsible thing and went to play poker. : I wasn’t too bad though. I played the lowest stakes possible and it was really fun. Gavin Smith was playing with his girlfriend and although she wasn’t playing super-well, she still managed to felt me a few times. The well-known blogger Dr. Pauly played a few hands but called it quits long before I went to bed, which wasn’t until about 4:00 a.m.

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

I typically advise players to play position and keep their patience in cash games and play very aggressively and pick their spots in tournament play. However, lately I’ve noticed that I don’t really mind playing out of position and fast in cash games and I usually play a very passive tournament style, waiting for people to make mistakes rather than putting them to tough decisions.

Maybe I’m not playing optimally right now, or maybe I’m just becoming more comfortable with new situations that I wouldn’t otherwise have put myself in earlier in my career. Possibly it’s a desire to beat the game from all different angles. Whatever it is, I can’t help but wonder if I should return to the basics, or if I’ve stumbled on a new style that will later become the norm, just as the hyper-aggressive re-raising and squeeze plays eventually caught on.

It almost seems circular in how the game seems to evolve. Assume for the moment that players have evolved what they feel is a winning strategy, playing solid, tight, ABC poker. Then a few “pioneers” come along and start running over the tables and creating havoc, getting people to start making marginal calls against them (after all, they usually have nothing, right?). A few of the grinders see how effective this style is and give it a try and eventually come up with some creative plays, maybe a squeeze play or two, and before you know it, the norm is now everyone bullying, fast playing, and pushing their draws heavily. It gets to the point where now a few players feel like if they slow down just a bit, they might be able to trap the maniacs for a few buy-ins. Now the so called pioneers are the ones who have now adapted their style back to the basics and are just playing their cards. hence the cycle repeating itself.

Personally, I’m always looking for new and creative ways to play hands – mostly to educate myself so that I’ll have the proper tools to counter whatever style I see someone falling into.

One thing that I have noticed recently is that I don’t switch my style up nearly as much as I used to and I think my play has become a little predictable at the live scene. In Australia, expect to see more angles and a completely different player, not the same tight, boring player that I feel I’ve evolved into. Most people need to go back to the basics and quit bluffing; I think that I need to go back to the maniac I once was – not afraid to get it all-in drawing dead or looking like an idiot.

I almost equate it to an undefeated fighter who only cares about the record rather than what made him love the sport to begin with. The competition. Maybe he ekes out the win, but the love for the game is no longer there.

No matter what happens when the scorecards are in, for 2008, I’d like to wish you guys health, happiness, and a little luck, both on the table and away. Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
Paul

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Last year’s Heads Up was a complete whirlwind for me. I didn’t even know I’d be in it until about 12 hours befoer the first match. Once I busted out of LAPC, I drove to Vegas, caught a few hours of sleep, and headed to Caesars to play Eli Elezra. I ran well there and managed to catch a nap before round two. Mercifully, the matches are short because if I’d had to grind out more than an hour or so, I’d never have made it through the first few.

After seeing the tv coverage I would definitely have done a few things differently. I hadn’t actually played that much heads up before the tourney and I think it showed in some of my earlier rounds. At any rate, I got some good advice along the way, ran relatively well, and made a few correct calls at critical times.

This year it looks like Brian “sbrugby” Townsend, Jonathan Little, and WSOP main event winner Jerry Yang have been invited. I’ve played a little with Brian and Jonathan and they are both great players. Their success speaks for itself. I’ve never played with Jerry but he seems like a good guy and I’m glad he’ll be in the mix.

Shannon Elizabeth will be back too, which is cool. She and I had an epic battle, one that I barely came escaped from.

I really love playing Heads Up because unlike other tournaments where you might fold for an hour straight, when it’s just one vs. one, it’s all action all the time. I officially accepted today and even though the event is still months away, I’m already getting excited!

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I had to play this tournament. I love WPT tourneys and I always feel really comfortable at the Bellagio. My first big score was at the Bellagio and I wanted to get in another tournament before the New Year. Since I had to leave in 2 days, I decided to get some chips or go home. Number two happened extremely quickly.

In the first level (50/100), there was a raise to $300 and 2 callers. I made it 2k with Kings in the big blind and only the small blind called. The flop came Q 8 6 with 2 spades. He bet $2k into me and I made $6k. He made it $13k and I went all-in. He called with a set of queens. Normally I wouldn’t go broke here but like I said, I wanted to get a big stack or go home so I was willing to gamble that he had a draw or was making a move.

Then in very short succession, I lost JJ to KJ and AK to pocket JJs. Pocket jacks hate Pablo today.

Honestly I’m not sure if there’s a lesson to be learned here. I guess if I was going to learn something, I probably should have just picked the vacation or the tournament. That way I wouldn’t have felt pressure to build a big stack so quickly. Another time.-Paul

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

1. No “poker tent.” –Last year during the series, Vegas regularly experienced temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. Surrounded by grandiose buildings featuring some of the most expensively fabricated, closely controlled environments in the world, we poker players joined the homeless in being the only fools sitting in a tent in Las Freaking Vegas.

2. Beefing up the Heads-Up Championship to $10k.–Now this is what I’m talking about. The NBC Heads-Up Championship is 20k but there’s only 64 people and it’s invite only. Making the WSOP one $10k means that we’ll start seeing this become the event it deserves. I’m also glad to see they’re limiting entrants to 256. While I’d love to see it grow to 512, at least no one will get a by, which I totally profited… well… by. Perhaps the best situation is a to limit it to 256 but start a (refundable) waitlist on the off-chance that it does grow.

3. Continuing a poker tournament for charity.–I’d love to see Harrah’s commit to donating one percent of the their profits to charity (like many of the pros do) but at least they are again hosting and hyping the Ante Up for Africa tournament, with Annie Duke. This is a good thing.

4. Keeping the number of tournaments at “only” 55.–I can see how it would be tempting to add more tournaments but this would only dilute the prize pools and reduce the significance of winning a bracelet. Nice call.

I’d love to see online registration and unrestricted media access. After all, the world loves poker and getting some major media reporters into the Rio could only help the industry.

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

I was lucky enough to attend one of the do-or-die games right before the playoffs. The atmosphere was incredible. Definitely the most exciting baseball I’ve ever watched.

One of my friends is a die hard Rockies fan and he rallied the troops to go out last night to watch the “Blake St. Bombers” sweep the Diamondbacks. They did just that and I made it into the paper, but for some reason I can’t get it to show up here. Sorry about that but the pic will be up on my website momentarily. Good times!

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Sligo is a medium sized town on the western coast. It has a nice little downtown. I’d been thinking about getting a tattoo while I was in Ireland, a phrase written in Gaelic. I really believe that a person’s fate rests in their own hands, that they create their own success. I made the decision to get a tattoo saying as much but found the only tattoo artist in town was booked for two weeks straight. I really liked his work but obviously I didn’t have two weeks to wait around so I did a little shopping for friends back home and then headed to Galway, a university town known for late nights and loud music. Too bad. Would have been cool to come back with an Irish “souvenir.”

I should mention that it was on this Europe trip that I began taking a heightened interest in American football. And by interest, I really mean obsession. I decided to create a spreadsheet to try to predict the outcomes of games. It started small, but I’ve continued working through today and by now I’ve logged over 100 hours. I don’t want to give all my secrets away but I am planning an article or blog about the spreadsheet. We’ll see how it goes.

Back to Ireland. There’s only one reason to visit Galway, and that’s the nightlife. Truman and I arrived amidst a rainy downpour and a flood of rush hour traffic. The city isn’t that large but due to poor map reading skills and a little bad luck, we actually drove around the town’s central park five times before finding our accommodation. Soon enough though, the rain let up and we found ourselves the only patrons in a cozy restaurant serving delicious and really hearty food. I hadn’t heard much traditional Irish music yet but Galway had plenty of that. It actually sounded a lot to me like old time fiddle music from mountain bands in the U.S.

The following morning was my second to last day in country, notable for a few reasons. After a splendid drive along a road between sprawling boulder fields criss-crossed with rock walls, I finally visited the Cliffs of Moher, one of Ireland’s most photographed spots. This place is amazing. Here, shear cliffs wind their way like a ribbon down the coast. 700 feet below, large swells crash against the cliff walls, at times sending sea foam all the way up to the onlookers peering over. I’m not ashamed to say that when the concrete walkway ended, I hopped over the wall and continued walking along the cliffs. At this point, the only thing separating me from an extremely long swan dive was a miniscule rock wall precariously lining the cliff edge. Mother nature started spitting a little bit, which only added to my excitement.

Tragically, the other element that made this spot dramatic came when I realized upon retracing my steps, that a man was in the process of attempting suicide. There is one spot along the cliffs that forms a table-like ledge jutting out over the water. I realized to my horror that a man was dangling his feet off this cliff and was screaming at authorities to stay away from him. As I watched, the poor guy stripped off his clothes until he was only in his underwear. At this point, it had been raining for an hour straight and the temperature couldn’t have been much above freezing. It sounds morbid but I couldn’t look away. I also don’t know what ended up happening because security people closed the cliffs so we left. I’m hoping the guy’s attempt was just a cry for help. If he truly wanted to do it he could have at any time. I felt really bad for the guy and I like to think he came to his senses and talked out his problems with some friends but I’ll never know.

To say the least, the Cliffs were extremely dramatic. I’m very glad that I got to spend about 90 minutes or so before witnessing the suicide attempt because my memory doesn’t just consist of this sad experience.

On my last night on the island, I caught the utter dismantling of Ireland’s rugby team by the french in the Rugby World Cup. Need Brawl? Mix equal parts of heavy drinking and frustrated Irishmen. Add rain and stand outside any bar in Dublin. I stayed away from all hostilities but I was definitely asked several times that night if I was French. For once, it wasn’t bad to be traveling and American.

I wrapped up the Ireland trip with a three course meal inside a restored castle (touristy but very fun), a two hour tour of the Guinness “Storehouse,” and a beautiful midnight stroll through the grounds of Trinity College.

After a quick stopover at the Duty Free shop in Heathrow Airport, I finally headed home.

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

It’s already been two weeks since my trip to Barcelona, London, and the northern half of Ireland. I posted a little bit about the first two locations but have held off posting about Ireland. In truth, it’s a little overwhelming. The nine days I spent on the Emerald Isle makeup one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. After coming brutally close to a score in Barcelona and logging several unsatisfying days in London, I couldn’t wait to get away from poker and into full vacation mode. I’m part Irish and I’ve wanted to visit this part of my heritage for a long time.

After a brief stint in Dublin, my best friend Truman and I headed north to Belfast–unimaginable as a tourist destination as recent as eight years ago. Before arriving in the city, we spent time inside several reconstructed burial mounds that are 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

Belfast is a city optimistically taking steps toward a future where rivalries are settled on the rugby field or in political arenas, not with car bombs as was the case a decade ago. It was in Belfast that I discovered the absolute best thing about this country: the Irish people! Nowhere in the world have I felt more welcome than I did in Ireland. People were curious, hilariously funny, and quick to offer a welcoming hand or a “pint of brown.” One of the highlights for me was in spending time with Mickey, an off-duty Belfast police officer who asked me where I got my Full Tilt Hat. This sparked a long discussion about poker and before Truman and I knew it, Mickey had invited us to sit down and watch some Gaelic Football (a cross between soccer and rugby). Mickey and friends were amazed that we would want to visit Belfast but were quick to assure us that we would love the city. As Belfast moves forward, it will be people like Mickey who set the tone for police activity. With him at least, I know both Protestants as well as Catholics will get a fair deal.

After two days in Belfast, I headed up to the northeastern-most corner of Ireland, along a road which wound its way between crashing ocean breakers on one side and pile upon pile of grey rock walls on the other. It was one of the best roads I’ve ever driven and I would have traded all the whiskey in Ireland to have my Subaru STi with me.

Speaking of whiskey, I visited the Bushmills Distillery as well as a weird coastal rock formation called the Giant’s Causeway but the literal high point for me was in crossing over to a small island via a 40 foot high rope bridge. It was so windy that there was a guy who would periodically check to make sure the wind was less than 50mph, at which point they’d have to close the bridge. When I crossed, he said it was between 40 and 45 mph!

I finished the halfway point by visiting a large cave before heading to Sligo, where I began looking for a Celtic tattoo. But that’s another story. To be continued…

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

A couple hands later she opened UTG and I was next to act with 8,8. I normally would fold in this spot, but given the structure of the tournament and the range of hands she would have to put me on if I shoved, I decided to go with it and moved all-in. Unfortunately third position called my 10,000 all-in with a 18,000 stack and I was now fairly certain I had two outs. When it folded around to Annette I was hoping she’d come in at this point because I thought I was drawing to two outs, so when she moved all-in I was in a very bad spot, but I would at least have a big stack if I caught the miracle. Third position thought for a while and decided to call the remaining chips of Annette’s (which represented about 95% of his stack). Annette turned over the now obvious K,K, but to my utter shock the noob turned over A,T! A, 9, 8 flop! Wow, poor Annette. Even if I flop my eight she still wins a decent side pot and would still be sitting on 16k or so, but she lost to the guy who had her covered as well.

After this pot I now had some chips to work with. It folded to me and I raised to 1,600 in middle position with As,8s (I made a smaller raise because there was no small blind). A couple people called, as did the big blind. Flop was Qs, Ts, 6. The big blind opened all-in for 10,000 and I called. The other players folded and I was up against Q,5. An ace came on the turn and I ended up winning the pot and was now up to about 47,000.

I raised a couple hands later to 2,200 with Q,T and Mr. A,T called right behind me. Flop was A, Kc, x. I bet 3,500 and he called. At this point I had him on either a weak ace or a king. I normally would give up here, but I thought if I bet big on the turn he’d have to know that there was very little chance of me trying to bluff him off an ‘obvious’ ace. Therefore, I decided to bet 8,000 of his 16,000 remaining chips on the turn, which was a 5c. He thought about folding, but then decided to call at the last second, which solidified my read of a weak hand, but obviously better than mine. My plan was to put the pressure on and move it on the river, but the river brought another ace and now there was no chance of this guy folding. I checked, as did he, and he won the pot with A,9.

The table broke and I was now moved to a table with a lot of chips. I raised a few pots right away and was immediately immersed in some big pots. One of which was when I raised in middle position to 2,200 with As,8s and got called by the button. Flop was K, 3, 2s. I checked and he checked. Turn was a 4s. Now I have a gutshot, nut flush draw, and an overcard. I bet 3,000 and he called. The river was a 6s and now I bet 7,000. He thought for a while and made it 21k and I went all-in for my last 3,500. He called and my ace high flush was good. Now I was up to 79,000, cruisin- with the average at only 34,000.

Blinds: 500/1000/100 ante
I raised to 3,100 with K,J in middle position and the same guy called on the button, as did the big blind. The flop was Qs, Tc, 7s. The big blind bet 6,600 into me and I took a while and ultimately decided to flat call because he had me covered and I’d have to fold if I raised and he moved it. The button immediately moved all-in for 27,000 and the big blind folded. I thought about it for a while and decided to call for a number of reasons. First off, this is an extremely draw heavy flop. His range in this spot is incredibly wide and I might even have the best hand if he has a J,9 or 9,8. Another reason for the call was because he had just lost a big pot and I thought he might be steaming and didn’t necessarily have to have a good hand here. Also, had I called and lost the pot I would still have 35,000 which was an average stack. With a structure like this tournament has I’m willing to gamble to build a big stack because then stealing the blinds and antes will be that much easier, which is where most of my chips come from. He ended up having a T,8, which still baffles me, but the nine on the river gave me the best hand.

I raised to 3,100 a few hands later with Th,8h and the button moved all-in for 10,000 more. There was about 9,000 in the pot and I decided to call for a couple reasons. The first being that he immediately moved all-in as if he didn’t have that tough of a decision. This led me to believe that he had a good hand, but didn’t have an overpair because he seemed happy to pick up the pot right then and there without a call. Therefore, if I think he has a hand like A,K or A,Q I’m only a 40/60 (not to mention the 5-10% chance that he could be bluffing that should always be factored in). Since I’m getting around 2:1 on my money I think it’s a pretty easy call based on math alone. Maybe just as important is table image. At this point I don’t want the tight table image that I’m usually after because I want people thinking that if I put money into a pot that I’m not going to fold to a re-raise. Like I said before, most of my chips come through stealing the blinds and antes uncontested. I called and he had A,Q and I flopped an 8 to take him out. At this point I had $130,000 and quite probably the chip lead.

Blinds: 600/1,200/200 ante
Now we are paying 3,400 per round and my open is to 3,500. The stack sizes at this table are getting a little out of control because we keep busting people (about one person every three hands). The average at this point was about 40,000 and five of us had 120,000+ and a sixth had 90,000 (keep in mind there are only eight players per table at this point). Therefore, at this point, my strategy shifted from picking up blinds and antes to trying to crack a big hand and win a monster. I siphoned off a few thousand by calling raises and flopping nothing and just folding to continuation bets.

Blinds: 800/1,600/200 ante
UTG tight player raised to 4,500 and I called in middle position with 9c,8c, cutoff called, and the big blind called as well. Flop was 8, 8, 7 rainbow. Beautiful. Check, check, and I decide to fast play by betting 9,000. Cutoff called and both other players folded. At this point I think that the cutoff could be floating (having a crap hand and waiting to steal the pot on a later street), could have a draw, or could possibly have an eight as well. I know he is a crafty French player (Fabrice Soulier). An ace came on the turn and I decided to check to him, half trying to keep the pot small in case he had me out kicked and half throwing him some rope to bluff at the pot because I was making it look like I had a pocket pair. He bet 12,000 and I called after a long think. The river was a 5 and I checked again for the same reasons as before. He bet 35,000 and I called fairly quickly. Unfortunately he flipped over Q,8 and had me out kicked. Ouch. I was now down to about 50,000 in chips, but the average was still only 55,000 in chips so I wasn’t too crippled. I was happy with how I played the hand. I think a lot of people might have gone broke in that spot, but I decided to play the hand cautiously and it kept me in the tournament.

The table broke and I was now moved to a table with a much different dynamic. The stacks were much smaller and the raises were only 2.5x the big blind. I wasn’t picking up many hands and folded for the first hour or so.

Blinds: 1,000/2,000 /300 ante
We are now paying 5,400 per round and my open is going to be 5,500. The equity is great, but the pot always seemed to be opened before it got around to me. I finally pick up a 4,4 in middle position and make it 5,500. The big blind called and the flop came 8h, 7d, 3h. Normally in a cash game I’d bet here to protect my hand, but I thought this player would raise me with a wide range of hands, so I decided to check. The turn was a Kh and he now bet 6,500 into me. I thought for a minute or so and then made it 18,500 because he have to put me on a pretty big hand given my current table image and the way the hand had played out. Unfortunately for me, though, he moved me all-in for my last 22,000 and I folded.

Now it was desperation time. I was going to need to pick up some hands and open all-in before my stack dwindled down too low. I got moved to another table and the first hand I look at UTG is an Ah,Jh and I move it. Luckily everyone folded because that was one of those spots where if you get called you are going to be a coin flip at best.

A round later I picked up A,K in the cutoff and moved it for 27,000 and picked up the monstrous blinds and antes and was now up to 32,000.

Then an interesting situation came up with 60 people left in the tournament, 56 getting paid a minimum of $14,000 USD. The guy to my immediate right was complaining the whole time I’d been at the table about how he hadn’t seen a picture card in over four hours. He was short as well – had me covered by about 400 or so. He was getting very restless and wanted to make a deal with the big stack in seat 7 (three to my left). He says to the BB, “If it folds to me and I move all-in dark, will you call me dark? Assuming it folds to me and it folds back to you in the big blind?”

“Okay, I promise I’ll call you dark if it folds to you and you go all-in without looking at your cards and it folds around to me. I promise.”
“Deal”
First position folded, second position folded, third position folded.
“All-in”

After watching the guy to ensure he didn’t look at his cards, I look down at a 7,7 and make an obvious all-in, even though I don’t really like it. He could easily have an overcard or two and it might be a race for my tournament life, but I could also easily have him dominated. The only thing I really don’t like about this situation is that my play is all about not having my tournament life at risk and making sure that I have fold equity. In this scenario I knew I had no fold equity, obviously, and I could easily be a coin flip with a random hand. I ultimately decided, however, that if I was going to make a deep run at this thing, I’d have to get some chips so that I could get back in this thing, so I decided to go with it. Everyone folded around to the big blind, who was now no longer obligated to call dark. He looked at his cards and reluctantly folded a 7,5 to my dismay.
The guy to my right turned over an ugly K,Q and before I knew it I was drawing dead on the J, T, 9 flop. Tough way to go, especially when you are that close to tasting the money, but I don’t think I’d play it any differently if I had to do it over again.

At first I was pretty disgusted to go out like this, but then I thought about two things that made me feel better. The first being that I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better spot to double up by having a guy directly to my right move all-in dark. That made my decision very easy – either pick up a hand that is better than a random hand and hope to get lucky and get back in this thing or fold a bad hand. If the same scenario happens in the future, I will definitely encourage it. Also, I should have been knocked out at the start of the day with my 8,8 up against A,T and K,K. After winning that pot I promised myself that no matter how the tournament ended for me I had no right to be upset. I thought I played some great cards, had a string of great luck and then a string of bad luck. All in all a pretty typical tournament I’d say, that’s what keeps me coming back for more

As a side note, I’d like to give my condolences to The Moon. He played an awesome tournament and got sucked out on in a couple key pots. One where he trapped a guy with A,A against the other dude’s Ac,7c on a 7,5,4 one club board only to see two running clubs give the guy a flush. The money was all-in on the flop for about 70,000 when the average was still only 30,000. Then, with 300 chips he managed to build back to 10,000 in chips only to get sucked out on again with 9,9 all-in against Ks,8s. This would have put him back in contention. You should check out his awesome blog.

So thus ends another tournament. I have very few regrets and plenty of time to rest up and enjoy Barcelona before I head to London for the WSOP Europe. Today I’m off to play volleyball and tomorrow I’m hoping to hit up a soccer came. GOALA!!!!!

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

Blinds: 50/100
My open was usually a 3x raise, though I like to vary it occasionally. One pot came up where UTG woman who looked like she had no clue how to play limped. I limped in middle position with a K,T. The cutoff, button, and both blinds limped as well. Flop was T, 8, 6. Both blinds checked and the woman bet 200. I decided to raise to 400 to get it head up between the two of us and to find out if I had the best hand. Everyone folded to her, and she made a fairly quick call. At this point I had her on a T,9 or J,T or Q,T. The turn brought a beautiful Tc (putting two clubs on the board). She now bet 500 into me. I thought about it for a while and decided to flat call. I could have raised here, but I didn’t want the river to bring a scare card and then have her bet huge. I thought if I controlled the pot size I’d know where I was at throughout the whole hand. The river was the Ac. She bet 500 again and now I make it 1,300. She thought for a minute or two and then called with the J,T. I definitely could have gotten more out of her, but I also might have either lost my stack or been bluffed out of the pot had I raised on the turn and been wrong about what she had.

A while later I limped with K,J. Middle position, the button, and both blinds came in as well. Flop was Kc, Qs, 9c. Pretty scary flop, I could very easily get raised and be put in an awkward spot if I put in a bet. I think the best play here is to check and see what develops. It checked around to the button, who made it 200. The small blind quickly called and I made it 750 to go. I like making a big raise here to let people know that you have a hand, be it a big draw or two pair, set, etc. I could be on a bluff, but this early in the tournament not many people are going to go nuts without the goods..that is unless you are a European player. Both players folded and I’m cruisin up to 14,000 now.

Blinds: 100/200
Not many hands of note in this level. Mainly just opening the pot and taking it down with a continuation bet.

Blinds: 150/300
I was expecting the blinds to go from 100/200 to 100/200/50 ante. This added level through a little kink in my plans because I had been setting up a very tight, aggressive table image so that I could open it up when the antes hit. I decided to play pretty tight this level because I’d be risking 800 to win 450 and usually you want to be risking about 125% of the reward at most to make stealing worth it (at least in my opinion).

However, in this spot I couldn’t help myself, as I had noticed that the player in seat one was limping with terrible hands and raising big with good hands. He limped in early position, as did three other players. I decided I would raise any two in the small blind because it was the first squeeze I’d made all day and there was over 800 just sitting out there. I made it 900 to go and the first limper called to my surprise and everyone else folded. He only had 3,100 starting the hand, so I was very confused as to what he had. Why wouldn’t he just push all-in? The flop came Q, T, 8 and I put him in for his last 2,200 and he insta-called. He apparently decided to slow play his J, 9 offsuit and wait until he flopped the nuts to commit the rest of his chips. What a joke.. This pot was devastating not only to lose 3,100, but more so because of my blown table image. I’d spent the last four hours building a solid image that no one at the table wanted to screw with and now I’d have to tighten things up a bit, just when the antes started hitting.

One other hand of note occurred when I opened for 900 in second position with A,K, and fourth position called. The small blind raised to 2,500, which was a very small raise. I thought he had to have a big overpair because nothing else made sense. A,K and A,Q type hands would have raised a lot more, especially out of position. I didn’t think his range was that big either, as this was the first time this player had made a re-raise preflop. I finally decided to just fold because I didn’t know if I wanted to flop a pair or not. If I flopped a pair of kings or aces it would be just about impossible to fold given the pot size and if my read was right, he could easily have A,A or K,K. Long story short, I folded and forth position called. Flop was Q, J, 6 and the small blind fired out 2,500 again. Fourth position folded his A,K in disgust and the small blind showed off his trip jacks. I didn’t think he’d re-raise me in this spot with J,J – I thought Q,Q-A,A was his range, but even so I like my fold.

Blinds: 150/300/25 ante
The table broke and I was moved to another table with a few tight players to my left and a couple aggressive Scandinavian players to my right. A pretty ideal situation in most circumstances, other than the fact that the best hand I saw for the rest of the day was an A,J UTG.

Blinds: 200/400/50 ante
After folding for about an hour I decided that getting blinded out of this tournament would not be my fate. It was time to bring out the any two cards style (ATC). I hate playing this style, but sometimes it is necessary in order to maintain a respectable stack when the blinds are eating you alive. We are paying 1050 a round and I only have 12,000 at this point. Not a desperate stack by any means, but also not really sitting pretty. Every time I raise I’m risking 1,300 to pick up the 1,050, which is decent equity, but if two or three raises get re-raised, I’ll be in dire straits. For the next two hours I’m just picking which pots I want to raise based on feel. I usually decide before I look at my cards and usually only if it’s been folded to me. An exception to that rule is if the Scandinavian player two to my right raised in late position I would re-raise him every third or fourth time or so just to keep him honest, because let’s not kid ourselves, he was raising every single time it was folded to him so he usually had absolutely nothing.

Blinds: 300/600/75 ante
Now I’m risking 2,000 to pick up 1,575. Not great equity, but I really don’t have much choice. Raising less just encourages people to call or re-raise and I can’t let that thought enter their minds. I want to force people to pick up a hand in order to re-raise me. That extra 200 or 300 goes a long way in the psychological department when you are sitting at the table (at least for me). The day ended after this level, and I was able to cling on with 12,500 chips. I was extremely happy with how I played and tomorrow will be one of the hardest days to survive that I’ve faced thus far. I’m going to have to play awesome poker and get incredibly luck at the same time. Wish me luck!

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com

I’ll post more about Day 01 but I want to throw a qucik shout out to Joe Sebok. With 20 left at the Legends of Poker in LA, Joe’s atop the leaderboard. Good luck, man.

Paul Wasicka is a professional poker player based in Las Vegas, NV. For more about Paul, check www.kwickfish.com