Day 1

I will save you to long build up and give my explanation after: Just before the end of the 4th level short stacked my JJ ran into AA. I only had 11-12 big blinds left and needed to make a stand if I was to survive the last round of the day. The faults and trouble came in previous hands, too many for me to be even remotely happy with my performance. My AK s ran into 8 10 flush and again to 22 with a AJ2 flop K turn. I broke my own plan of attack, survive the first day and don't get married to big hands early. Show downs at the table were solid hands mostly so also had a hard time seeing these coming. I did double up with 88 at one point and though that was the repeated of the LA event (there I doubled up with 44 and went on a straight run to the final table). It was not to be this time and I did learn some valuable lessons about playing such a deep stack tournament, next time for sure will be better. In truth I am not sure when that would be. I will say this, if you took 5% of me for this event, the next one I play in, you will get 1% of any profit I make. I was a bit off today and that was because I had only slept about 3 hours. Apparently my 11pm meal did not sit well. Long story short, I was busy most of the night and morning. You deserve a shot at a healthy horse running the race.
Back to poker.
My table had 2 pros (Shane Schleger and Bill Gaze) of either side along with a 6 other solid people. At the end of the first 90min I had 38,000 building slowly and keeping pots small. Just before the break, I made a solid call with 99 on a J high flop. Something about his betting screamed AK so I called his bets each time he fired. By the end of the 2nd round, I had falling to 4.5K in chips after loosing the AK to 222 hand just before the break. By the end of round 3 I had doubled up with 88 to just 12K. Round 4 was drawing to a close when I looked down with JJ, moving the rest of my then 6K into the pot. Running into AA happens and its not the worst way to go down but out I still went.
By the end, the pros at my table were loving Poker4Life (Shane busted before me) and will be great resources moving forward with the charity. This is one very bright spot of this experience, Poker4Life solidified old relationships (especially with the WPT that let us sit at the registration table) and established many new ones. Thanks mostly to Jeremy but also a Team from Ar Loyalty we made contact with several other notable pros (Barry, Gavin, The mouth, Erik S, Kathy, and more. Personally, it was a terrible showing, for Poker4Life it was a home run. Maybe by tomorrow that will make me feel better:)
1st place was 726,000 and 26 ( or last) will take 25,000, so no 2mm first place as we were hoping. Hopefully, next time.
Poker4Life will stick around for the final time, hopfully getting at least one of the 6 to donate any % to the charity of their choice, through us.
Again, thank you for helping me and us have this experience. I am really sorry to have to report such an early exit.

Pokereve

Left the city a bit late so sat in traffic through my massage time, but the extra time in the city was spent holding my new son, another force combined with you will be behind me at the tables tomorrow.  Jeremy made the drive with me and we used the time to decide how to best position P4L throughout the 6 days of this event.

I handed over the 10K in cash at the poker desk with a big smile as they counted each bill.  There should be about 250 players, maybe more.  30,000 in chips, 90 min levels, 5 levels per day with 15 min breaks.  We start at noon tomorrow.  I go to sleep excited, and extremely grateful for this opportunity.  Thank you!

   Will send an update after the end of day 1

Prep Week

Hi! Welcome to a rookie’s attempt at blogging his poker exploits. I’ve had some poker success in the past, so with your support I’ve decided to bring Poker4Life and myself to that next step. This level of tournament is a first for me, and who knows - it could be the start of something great, if my poker dreams come true☺. I fee like I’m making the transition from the triple As to the pros. Your support means much more then just the money, and being able to share in this experience will hopefully give you more then just a piece of the horse. I will do my best to send at least one update a day when the tournament starts on April 3rd. Keep in mind the days end late so I will be coming from 8+ hours of poker. The final table will be on Wednesday April 8th and when I am seated there I hope you will come stack the studio audience in the favor of Poker4Life. Should be a wild few days and I thank you for taking this journey with me.
So how do you prepare to play 6 days of poker against the world’s best players? This week I will be focusing on clearing my plate of any unfinished work-related business so I can have a clear head entering this marathon. Speaking of marathons, my sister will be running in the Boston Marathon the following week. Might have to talk to her on how she prepares for such big and energy consuming events. We have all played long sessions at the poker table and have experienced what happens when your focus wanes even for 1 hand, let alone a few rounds. But mental toughness and consistent discipline have been my key ingredients for success in the past, and will be again. Escrima training on Monday and Tuesday, and boxing on Wednesday will not be skipped. This is a 6-day event and endurance is a factor ignored by donkeys☺.
On the felt, I have begun some practice scenarios while playing online. This includes putting my infatuation with PLO on hold, and moving back to hold’em. Playing PLO has made me a much smarter and stronger hold’em player but it’s time to focus all my attention on 2-card poker, not 4. I have also started playing more 6 and 9 person sit and go’s. Tournament style of poker differs from the cash game approach and it is important to go into Friday 100% in the right mind frame.
So all in all, your horse is taking this event and your backing very seriously. I will send another update on Thursday night, it will help me relax and quiet the butterflies.

Welcome!