I can’t remember a whole lot of the hands that I played last night. My second hand I landed up betting $70 or so on the turn with a middle pair of eights only to get raised by this chick.I lost $135 or so on that hand. Ihad to fold AK when I got re-raised on a $45 contiuaton bet heads up with like a 7-high flop.

I lost almost half of my $500 buy-in in the $2-$5 game before it landed up paying off big time because I had ran a couple pots at a guy who had caught me both times when I was floating on the button. But in the small blind, five-handed, he straddled the button to $10. I had folded every single time in the hour and a half that I played that he did this, which was every time he had the button. With 108, for some reason, I decided to just call and two others also called. He checked and the flop came A79. I bet $25 and it folded around to the button guy who made it $70. I called and bet $105 when the 6 turn gave me the nut straight. There was a diamond flush draw with the A and 7 so I think my bet looked like I was trying to steal with just a draw. He called and when the river bricked a black 3, I tanked for almost a full minute shuffling my chips and then cut out a $205 bet. As I did with the $105 turn bet, I twirled the last $5 chip in my fingers before setting it atop the rest of the chips. He called and turned over 79 before I could show my straight like he knew I was bluffing. I showed my cards and raked the pot.

I built my stack to over a grand and left after an hour and a half or so when we got to four and then finally three-handed. Once again, I pulled the quick hit-n-run instead of waiting for my seat at the main game.

I don’t know if I’m scared or what, but I don’t seem to ever want to stay after winning a lot in a short time. I guess it’s something I’m going to have to really focus on doing if I’m going to play regularly or I probably won’t get much action after a while. It’s just so nice to win with so little play. A $535 profit in ninety minutes just sounded like too good a day at work.

I will never play cards if I’m not ‘feeling it’. Unless it’s a tournament or a certain game I have planned on playing, I won’t play poker if I get a bad vibe before the session. A handful of times I have either turned around on the highway or decided to do something else once arriving in Kansas City because I felt uneasy about the session. I’m writing this because last night I battled with myself because I really want to start beating games day in and out but I wasn’t feeling optomistic about the night. I thrive on positive thinking and play better with confidence and badly when I’m upset.

This is a simple rule I have always followed and I’m pretty sure it’s saved me a losing session everytime I turned back. Last night was an example of this and I landed up having a great time in town at a friends, playing beer pong all night.

Well, they played beer pong and I just drank the beer,

There’s something about being home that keeps me from playing a whole lot of poker. My family and friends occupy a lot of my time, but I thrive on every moment of my life I share with them and the memories are always happy ones. Lawrence, too, is a tremendously special place. Between the University and downtown Lawrence, there are so many venues to indulge from that every day brings a surprise. Lawrence creates its own energy from the campus and people. This excitement makes it difficult for me to spend an entire Saturday afternoon on the felt because if there isn’t a KU football game or basketball game, it’s a KC soccer game or Chiefs game or Beerfest or a going away party or a cool outdoor concert or a league soccer or basketball game and the other fun times that make up life in Lawrence. I find it hard to make to the cardrooms when I’m home, but this week marks the beginning of my first serious attempt to hit the tables regularly in Kansas City, so here goes.

The night started somewhat badly since it seemed every time I made bet, someone was popping me right in the teeth. The third hand i was dealt, I had A10dd in middle position and opened in a $2-$5 game for $20. I bought in for $400. The button raised me to $70 and although I was beat and out of position, I called. There’s a reason you don’t do that. You’re beat and out of position. I whiffed on the jack-high flop and folded to his $125 bet.

After this hand I concluded that KJ truly is garbage hand. I opened in middle position to $20 and the big blind check-raised my $25 flop bet to $75 after the board fell 235. I should have just taken the free card.

I called a $20 bet in the small blind with a bettor and two other callers. The flop came QQ10 and everyone checked. I bet $65 on the turn, a 3, and the button caller raised to $165. I’m pretty sure he turned the boat.

With K9 I called $20 on the button behind a bettor and single caller. The flop came 953 and the caller bet $50. I called and we both checked the 8 turn. On the river, he bet $100 and I tanked because I thought I had been played by the straight or boat. Since I was already stuck I called and he flipped over J9 so it was nice to take down a pot.

I called a cutoff’s bet of $25 with AQcc in the big blind and missed.

This hand I really like. On the button I raise to $20 with K5cc because there was just a single limper and the blinds and I was already feeling frisky. The limper called. The flop 632 gave me a straight draw. I didn’t expect him to bet, but he threw out $30. I called hoping to either hit my straight or king. On the turn, a jack, he bet $30 again and then I thought raising him small to take the pot on the river so I raised to $75 and he snap called. The river bricked, a 5, and he checked. I threw out a black and green chip worth $125 and he folded a six face-up. After the dealer shipped me the pot I showed him the K5 and he smiled and knocked the table. I wouldn’t have shown but he did and I was feeling good about the play since it had worked perfectly. I truly think anymore or less and he would have called.

The next hand went down with the same guy. I called his $20 bet with AJ in the small blind and a limper came along, too. I checked the AK10 flop unfortunately set on calling down the hand since i could be easily beat here. The limper checks and the guy bets $35 so I call. The turn Q gives me Broadway but I know there is no way he can put me on a jack so when he bets $75 I’m praying he has three kings and raise him $125. He folds saying I must have the jack so I show him and he again nods in approval. After the bluff and having to fold right there, I know it cooled him down a little.

On my last hand, with 67cc, I called a $20 bet on the button and took a flop four-handed. A45 and the blind checked, the original bettor made it $35. Another limper folded and I called opened ended. I thought about raising but the small blind was still behind and I was about to leave so I didn’t want to get in a huge pot. The turn was a jack and the original bettor checked out of turn so the small blind started to cut out a big bet, but landed up only putting out $55 giving me just the right price. The river 8 gave me the nuts, he checked and i bet $90 after a few moments. The small blind tanked and thought and thought and just as i thought he was gonna muck his cards he called showing 54dd for two pair. It was a great way to end the night and convenient for me because the table was five-handed at that point and it broke up leaving only the main game going strong.

I came up $535 for the night and headed to the Power and Light District in downtown KC for some drinks with a friend, Karl, who also had a killer night on the felt. Nice job, Karl.

I’m going to hit the felt hard in the coming weeks and my goal is to cash at about at 75% rate, so we’ll see how it goes.

Not much is new since being back in Lawrence the past week. I haven’t had any time to play between soccer, basketball, KU football and beerfest.
On Saturday, a group of friends and myself made the short drive to the Legends in Kansas City to enjoy Beerfest. I don’t know how long they have been doing it but there were over a hundred different types of beer from dozens of brewers that came from across the nation. My friend, Ricky, got us all in for free which landed up saving everyone a couple hundred dollars total. Although Beerfest ran concurrent with the Kansas v Oklahoma football game (OU smashed us 45-31) it was a lot of fun since we were able to run downstairs to the restaurant and shop pavillion after Beerfest to catch the end of the romp.
Afterwards was just as much fun, though, as we saw the Kansas City Wizards extend their playoff chase with a 3-2 win over the San Jose Quakes after a miraculous goal in the third minute of stoppage. That is the second game I’ve been to this year where the Wiz’ won with end-game theatrics. I gotta say KC Wizards games are always a blast and I encourage anyone to take a Saturday and watch them play next season in their new stadium.

This week I’m getting ready to return to the Bay area for some fun in the City and then to LA. I really want to make it to Commerce Casino, which boasts one of the largest poker rooms in the world. Since I’m driving a new car home from California, I’d like to make stops at a few different casinos over the week but it’s not my priority.

I found myself at one of my favorite cardrooms yesterday. The Spirit Mountain Casino poker room in Grande Ronde, Oregon, about thirty minutes west of Salem, has 17 tables and daily spreads tournaments and round-the-clock ring games with limits as high as 40-80. I’d have to say it’s the premier cardroom in Oregon and possible one of the best in the Northwest. But before we saw any flops, my friend and I had some great rib eye steaks one of the casino restaurants. Going in there for a meal after getting to the casino is kind of a tradition every time I come back to Oregon and the Mountain. It was great.

To start, I somehow found myself playing a ridiculously structured $120 bounty tournament with 2k in starting chips, blinds starting at 25-50 and twenty-minute levels. My buddy that I’m staying with is a local pro and tricked me in to playing. Anyways, I busted out pretty early with garbage and left the poker room for a second. My buddy made it to the tournament final table, though. The final six decided to chop the pot and each took $706. With five $20 bounties, my buddy made almost $700 profit. Nice job, Dom. Getting felted early in the tournament actually worked out pretty well for me though because I hit a small jackpot on a quarter slot machine for $250! 7-7-5xPay!!! It was great and I recouped my tournament buy-in plus in one pull. Afterwards I headed back to the poker room and sat down at a $2-$5 no-limit game with $400.
The second hand I played, I called a middle position raiser’s $20 bet in the small blind with pocket 7s. One limper between us also called and we took a flop. 823. The limper checked and the bettor made it $30. I gotta say that some advice Grant Hinkle gave really came in right here. He told me to pay attention to people’s betting patterns and the size of the bets compared to earlier street or pre-flop bets. I’ve already noticed in the past couple sessions how much a difference it can make in determining someone’s strength. Often, when a person bets out small like that, say only half as much more than their pre-flop raise, as he did in this hand, they are weak and are trying to execute a continuation. I re-raised to $75, confident my pair was good and the bettor reluctantly called. The turn was an 8 and the river A shipped him the pot when he turned over AQ. I wasn’t disappointed though because I made a great read and if I can learn to correctly use the trends in betting size as a tool, then I can really dominate my opponents. I took a small hit with that hand and had to wait a couple hours for my cards to start coming around.
In one hand, I straddled the blind for $10. Two limpers called as did the small blind and I raised to $60 with K9hh. The first limper re-raised all-in to $115. This guy had been playing almost every pot I opened and almost every time, since he had position on me, I had to release my hand after missing on the flop. This time, I made a loose call with pot odds hoping to bust him. The board came down something sick and I completely missed everything. When I conceded the pot with king high, all he could muster was Q9dd and I took the pot down. It’s always nice to win with king high. I felted him again an orbit later when he raised to $20 before the flop against me and another player and then stacked off the rest of his rebuy with Q10 against my AQ when a queen flopped. He had about $110 left and called my raise all-in on the flop after betting $40. It was a nice pot to take down.
Another hand, I limped in the cutoff with 45off along with four other limpers only to have the button raise to $20. Three limpers and myself called as we took a flop five-handed. 464. Beautiful. We all checked to the button. I will almost always bet out right here it’s just more profitable to create action and induce your opponents to bluff or call you down with mediocre cards. The button raiser, Ben, had been showing a lot of post-flop strength and three-barrel bluffed a guy once when hearts ran out on his ace so I knew he would bet for sure. He bet $60, the small blind called and I raised $115 more to quick folds.
The last hand I played came under the gun, which I had already decided was going to be my last for the night. I squeezed out two kings and raised to $25. A middle position player called and it came to the small blind who moved all-in for $90 or so. This guy, the small blind, had moved all-in blind for $300 along with another player earlier in the night when the table agreed to fold to their dealt hands for the gamble. His k4 lost that hand to the other guy’s kq. Ridiculous. I knew he had garbage, but it gave me a chance to isolate his money with a re-raise. I popped it another $200 to force out the caller. The flop did come with an ace but the all-in Army dude mucked to my kings and the original caller confirmed a folded ace so the crazy guy move actually proved a $200 swing for my stack with the pot. I cashed out $430 ahead for the night.
Oregon is my favorite place in the world and the poker room here at Spirit Mountain will be a great place to play over the next few days. I’m really going to focus on betting patterns. I think it might make a tremendous and immediate impact on my game.

Today’s post is extra special and you must read all about it. I recently met Grant Hinkle at a Monday night home game in the KC metro. I quickly learned he had won a bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker. I asked Grant for an interview and ThePokerVagrant is lucky to have him as a guest.
Grant, I’d first like to congratulate you on your WSOP bracelet win this summer. I appreciate your sitting down with ThePokerVagrant.com to answer a few questions about poker and your WSOP experience.

TPV- Can you give us a brief history of when you started playing and how you ended up at The World Series of Poker?
Grant- I started playing about five years ago when ESPN first started airing the WSOP main event and Chris Moneymaker won. My friends and I started playing more home game tournaments and I really got into the game. Eventually I started playing online and deposited $50 and grinded for a while until something just clicked. I started growing my bankroll and playing higher limits. I played my first World Series Event last year and had a blast. Any players that love the game should definitely make the trip, even if its just for one of the weekend events as its such a great experience.

TPV- Lets talk about your bracelet win a little. How do you like your new celebrity?
Grant- The celebrity status is mostly just on the poker world side of things. If I get recognized out in public it is usually by a fellow poker player. I love talking poker though so its fun to meet new people and shoot the bull with them.

TPV- We only got to see part of your tournament run at final table on ESPN. Aside from the final table where we all saw lady luck help propel you to the bracelet, can you recount some memorable/important hands that ThePokerVagrant readers could dissect?
Grant- Just to set it up from watching the ESPN episode it will look like I had a lot of luck, however I was pretty much card dead from the final two tables down and had to earn a high percentage of my pots without showdown. I basically had seven total ‘real’ starting hands over the final two tables and 14 hours of play. (watch Grant win his first bracelet in Event #2 at the 2008 WSOP)
Obviously the final hand where I had Td4d and drew out against AcKh was a dramatic ending and is the image that sticks in everyone’s mind. I was fortunate to win that hand, but if you look at the actual equity I have a 37.3% chance to win or about a 3/2 underdog. The drama of hitting quads I think added to everyone’s perceived bad beat factor.
To put it another way, if my opponent had JdJh and I had AcKs, my AK would only have a 42.7% chance to win the hand. Yet if I won, people wouldn’t even think twice about it and would consider it a ‘coinflip’ even though I was roughly the same 3/2 underdog in the hand.
We played several hundred hands at the final table and battled heads-up for over two hours. ESPN showed 24 hands from the final table and 2 from the heads up match. So viewers don’t really get to see how players are playing or the history that leads to how certain hands play out. Second place finisher James Akenhead and myself were the two most aggressive players at the table and we were both ratcheting up our aggression to counter each other.
The only other hand where I was behind when the money went in was the hand against Mike Ngo when I had AJ vs his AK. That hand was just about as standard as it gets. Before I raised I was hoping he would shove on me, and when he did shove I just took a few seconds to recount his stack and make sure it was in line with what I estimated before the action.
What isn’t really made clear in the broadcast is that it is folded to me in the small blind vs Mike Ngo in the big blind. He only had about 1.6 mil left with 60K/120K blinds. He had also just open shoved 15 big blinds UTG w/ AT in the blind level before where he ran into Akenhead’s KK and spiked an A. So with as active as I had been opening and then doing it from the small blind I think AJ is well above his shove range there. I just happened to run in to the top range.
So out of the entire coverage there were only two hands where the money went in and I was behind. I was actually very card dead the entire final table and if you notice my chip count goes from last place up to first and extends a pretty healthy lead without many big pots being shown. Part of that is all the hands where I was raising and 3-betting people preflop and taking pots down uncontested. That doesn’t make for very exciting television though.
In terms of hands they didn’t show, here is one from the heads up match that I thought they would show for sure:
Hand #124 - Grant Hinkle
Grant Hinkle has the button in seat 10. He raises to 300,000 straight. Again, Akenhead pops him back for 600,000 more. This is almost becoming routine. Hinkle has finally had enough; he puts in a third raise to 1.2 million. Akenhead is counting down his stack, trying to determine how much he would have left behind if he calls. Which he does. A flop worth 2.4 million is coming.

{4-Hearts} {7-Diamonds} {K-Clubs} is the flop. Akenhead checks to Hinkle, who fires out 1.5 million. Akenhead thinks, then folds. Hinkle wins a big pot to rebuild his stack.
James had started 3 betting out of position more liberally and I wasn’t getting any real starting hands to counter so I had to take matters into my own hands. This is the first time I four-bet bluffed him. The blinds were smaller so our stacks were deeper so I couldn’t ship it in like the T4s hand. So we saw the flop and the hardest part of this hand was having to pull the trigger for a 1.5 million continuation bet. I had Qc2c in this hand.
The majority of my chips during the final two tables came from focusing on attacking and raising the players that were trying to inch their way up the pay chart. I opened a lot of pots and 3bet anytime someone came into the pot that I thought was folding everything except the very top range of hands.

TPV- Were you ever all-in at any point in the tournament? We’re you ever behind when all-in?
Grant- I assume you mean all-in and called when my tournament life is at risk. I was at two points during the tournament, but not at the final table.
The first time was the hand that launched me and led to me being top 5 in chips after Day 1. The blinds were at 500-1000 blinds and I had about 12K in my stack so I was looking to double up. I was dealt AKs and opened the pot with my standard raise in mid position. The next player (player A) called my raise and then the player on the button (player B) reraised to 6K total, player B is also the big stack at the table. It folded back to me and I shoved all in. Now Player A that is caught in the middle starts deliberating and finally after about two minutes says “Fine, I guess I’m all in too.” Player B now calls quickly and we turn up our hands. Player A who apparently had a tough lay down flips up pocket fives and Player B on the button flips up pocket queens. I spike an ace on the flop and triple up to about 36K. That was the only time I was all-in and called when behind with my tournament life at risk. From there I raised pretty much every hand until the end of Day 1 and finished with about 76K in chips for fifth place in the tournament.
The only other time that I was all-in and called with my tournament life at risk was when we were down to about 50 players left. My stack was about 120K and blinds were 6000-12000 so again I was looking to double up. I was happy to pick up AA under the gun and instead of shoving just made my normal raise. The player behind me reraises all in and has me covered (player A). Then the very next player (B) deliberates and calls all-in (covered by player A). I obviously have an easy decision and get my chips in and its time to turn up our hands.
Me: AA
Player A: K9o
Player B: 67s
Wow! The flop was nine high and the 67 flopped a gutshot so I had to fade some outs, but managed to again triple up. That was the last time that I was all-in and called with my tournament life at risk.

TPV- Ok, now that you’ve got a bracelet and having experienced poker success at the highest levels, can you still play with friends for smaller stakes?
Grant-Yes, I play pretty regularly on Monday’s with a group when I just want to have fun, drink beer and relax. Although I am still very competitive so I play to win the tournament.

TPV- How did the rest of your WSOP turn out? I know you came home after your win before heading back to the Rio.
Grant- The rest of my WSOP went well. The highlight was my brother winning a bracelet ten days after me. I only played two other events as I still had my day job back in KC that I didn’t want to burn any bridges with.
The other $1,500 event I played I was top 10 in chips with about 300 players left and the top 180 paid. I ended up getting moved to the chip leader’s table and tried to pull a huge bluff that would have positioned me as massive chip leader and a good shot at winning another event. Unfortunately he made a very tough, but correct call and I was then short stacked and lost my first coinflip 99 < AT.
The main event was fun and I got a great table draw. However everytime I chipped up, I got chopped back down and basically was in spin cycle with my original starting stack. By Day 2 I was shortstacked and lost my first all-in. It has a great structure though and I hope they keep it for next year as it really allows a lot of play.

TPV- Grant, you are no stranger to big money cashes in poker. You won an event during the first FTOPS for $145,000 and topped nearly 4,000 players at this summer’s WSOP to add another $831,00 to your bankroll and a bracelet to your wrist. I’ve read that you are looking to turn pro. Can you describe the transition from a serious amateur to professional?
Grant- It isn’t as big of a transition for me. All professional means is you do it for a living. The last four years my main source of income was poker even though I was only playing about 20 hours a week and had a salaried day job. So now I just get to do it full time and hopefully get to put in at least 40-50 hours a week.

TPV- What is your schedule going to consist of? Basically, what and where are you going to be playing?
Grant- My wife and I recently moved so I haven’t been able to play as much as I’d like yet. However, once I get into a routine it will mostly be online and will consist of cash games in the afternoon, tournaments at night and if I bust early in tournaments I can fire up some cash games.

TPV- What games and where might someone find you playing live and online? Multi-table tournaments? Cash games? Sit-N-Gos?
Grant- Before with a day-job I primarily played cash games as it allowed me to stop whenever I needed to and was a lot more flexible for my schedule. Now that I am doing it full time I will mostly be playing online multi-table tourneys.
Because of the loss limit law in Missouri they don’t really spread high enough stakes for me to play regularly. But when I do play live I usually play at Ameristar in the 15/30 limit game. The lineup has a lot of good personalities and most of the players give lots of action so its a fun game to sit down in.

TPV- I want to give you a chance to brag a little. What has made you a successful player? What are some things going through your mind as you play or prepare? What do you do on the felt to maximize your success?
Grant- I think the thing that has made me successful is my love and passion for the game. It makes me hungry to learn and analyze my own game to look for leaks or areas of improvement. I think another underrated part of poker, especially if you are multi-tabling online is emotional stability. I rarely tilt or get too far away from neutral when playing or at the table.

TPV- What would you say are some basic elements that make up a winning player?
Grant- There is no substitute for experience, but the basic elements of most winning players are an aggressive style, the ability to analyze/hand read situations, a disregard for money when at the table, and some form of steam control.

TPV- Are there tells you’ve noticed are common among weak players that you’d be willing to share.
Grant- Yes, the most common tells are betting pattern or sizing tells. They are all pretty player dependent though so you just have to pay attention to the individual situations and once you see a players hole cards you can associate that tell to them.

TPV- Your success in poker has transitioned from a career in marketing. What skills did school and marketing give you, if any?
Grant- Marketing is all about knowing your audience. When playing live tournaments you have to size people up pretty quickly since a lot of them have pretty fast structures. There are a lot of assumptions I immediately make at the table when I first sit down. Based on how people’s personal appearance you can already determine a good part of their playing style and whether they will be conservative or loose and passive or aggressive. At the same time this last time I sold myself as a conservative player that was just happy to be there by dressing business casual even though I was usually one of the most active and aggressive players at the table.

TPV- If the only way to go is up, then you’ve got a lot to look forward to, Grant. What are your immediate plans for poker and your long term goals?
Grant- Unfortunately you can also go down so it is important to always be analyzing and studying the changes in the game. My immediate plans are to further improve my tournament game now that I have more time to play them and to study some other forms of poker like pot limit omaha and some of the other mixed games like HORSE.
Long term I’d love to play the full live circuit.

TPV- How has the frenzy treated your family? Will life as a professional leave you with more or less family time and how will you deal with it?
Grant- My wife has always supported my poker play so family life shouldn’t be affected. She owns her own maternity apparel company called To the Nines Maternity (www.twotheninesmaternity.com) and also works from home. So we actually will get more time together.

TPV- Grant, I don’t want to take too much more of your time so I’ll ask for simple responses to these last questions.
TPV- How important is postition?
Grant- Very important. You can control the action and the pot size a lot easier in position since you get to see the others act before you on every street.

TPV- How important is hand strength?
Grant- Not as important as position.

TPV- When is overbetting a good idea?
Grant- If you have an opponent that has a suspicious/curious personality it could be a good idea against them as they might pay off with a lot lighter holdings.

TPV- If you’ve already wona bracelet, what do you dream about?
Grant- Winning another tournament. That’s ultimately the best feeling out there when you’ve waded through a field and come out on top. Unfortunately it is pretty tough to do, so I hope I am fortunate enough to have another chance.

TPV- What are your sources for poker information? Who and what do you read to improve your game?
Grant- I try to read as much as I can as everything can be a source of inspiration or give you another way to look at a situation. The place I get the most improvement though is from looking through my own hands and discussing them with other players I consider to be good.

TPV- It’s so sick that your brother, Blair, won a bracelet a week after you did. Who would win in a best of seven?

Grant- Tournament wise Blair definitely would. As a cash-game player there are so many situations that come up that would only happen in a tournament and he is way better equipped for those as most of his experience is in tournament poker.

TPV- Thank you for sharing some of your thoughts about the game. A lot of information about poker strategy and thought is available, but it often comes from the perspective of players who put up tens of thousands of dollars daily to play the game. Not all of us are high rollers and I know you’ve come from the bottom up and are humble about your game. Congratulations again and we hope to hear about your continued success. ThePokerVagrant.

I’ve been in Reno for a few days now and decided to take it easy today. I slept in and headed to the pool around one to soak up some sun. My room overlooks the pool and I’ve gone down to loosen up before the tournaments on Monday and Tuesday. Its big, not too deep, but definitely spacious- about a hundred feet at it’s widest.

I headed to the poker room/ tournament area just before the tournament started at 3 pm. I agreed to take half of this player that I met and have played with over the week. His name is Scoop and he gave me some great advice when we got to three-handed in yesterday’s tournament. So in a way I did play in the tournament today. He made it to the final table but didn’t cash. I wasn’t upset or disappointed. I’ll be happy to stake a player I think has a good chance to cash or win in a game.
It’s the first time I have ever done anything like that. He was part of a four man poker troupe that toured the small stakes tournament circuit. There we’re actually a couple of them. Three or four players who have a main backer and share rooms, expenses, etc. Scoop kinda schooled me on how it goes down and I learned that staking goes on more than I had suspected meaning at a tournament like this you might be playing against a few players that are basically on the same team. Same thing for the cash games.
I might play a little tonight but I think my card playing for this trip is over. Reno has been an exciting place to play as always. I padded my bankroll with some small ring game cashes and the tournament win so I’m headed to Oregon and Spirit Mountain next with some momentum and high spirits.

I won today’s $200+$30 No-Limit Hold ‘Em for $1,969 and a cool trophy for just over five hours of work. The field was small, 27 players, but I outlasted them all and earned my first real tournament win since starting ThePokerVagrant. I’m really excited right now and hope this is just the start of something big in my poker career.
Since there is no way I can recount all of my hands, (I forgot a poker chart I made to help me document hands throughout my play) I’ll share a few of the ones that helped me win.
The first didn’t come until we had consolidated to two tables. I had built my stack to about 7k when the average was about 4k. In an unopened pot two from the button, I raised to 600 with A7ss and the button made it 2,500 straight. This guy had been running over my first table and caught about five miracles to build his stack to almost 10k in the first hour. When this hand came up, I had him covered by about 700 and decided to re-raise all-in because I truly believed he was trying to bully me. The guy snap called with pocket deuces. Ducks! I was headed back to my room until an Ace fell on the river. Unbelievable. I never hit those four and six-outers, so it was a good omen.
I headed to the final table with my 14k stack in tact. I really was just playing my regular game and felt good about my chances to make the final three. Oh yeah, only the top three spots were originally supposed to get paid so it was basically still a crap shoot with eight players. I somehow managed to make it to five-handed, but I only had about 8,000 in chips so I was in really bad shape when the blinds were at 300-600 and 75 antes because I lost a huge hand with pocket eights, seven-handed. Almost 10k in one hand. At this point, the other small stack and I proposed that each of the top three pay spots drop $75 so that fifth could get $75 and fourth $150. Everyone agreed and we continued play. This is where I started to pick up cards.
I knocked out the fifth player with my favorite hand, eights. My opponent held AJ and was all-in for 6,000 or so. I barely had him covered. The flop came Q910. The turn and river bricked and I couldn’t believe I had faded all his outs. At this point and a few hands later, the chips really evened out on one hand when the chip leader’s A10 lost to AK. This was the new chop that we worked out: Everyone gets $1,000 leaving $969 and the trophy for the winner. I had chipped up to 24,100 at the four-handed chop. The blinds made their way to 600-1200 with 100 ante and I made big re-raises with AKss and black queens. I started paying very aggressively and openly told everyone how much I wanted to win.
The fourth guy got knocked out on something stupid like nine-high and we we’re three-handed. Blinds were now at 800-1,600 when the decisive hand of my tournament came up. I was on the big blind and the button raised to 7,000. The small blind moved all-in for like 10,400 or so and I looked down at pocket sixes. I really should have folded but a lot of stuff started playing through my mind. First, there was no difference in prize money between second and third. A pair is probably the best hand here. If I’m gonna have a chance heads up, I need some chips. I moved all-in for 18k total and after about four minutes the original raiser called. Three-way all-in for all the money and an extra grand on the line. How exciting.
Me: 66 Raiser: 910dd Caller: A7off
The raiser was stoked to have live cards and I was thrilled to see my pair was best. This is how the board ran out.
Flop: J95 Turn: 5 River: 6
I was walking away from the table when I peeked at the river from behind the tournament director. I quietly pumped my first and pointed in happiness at a nearby dealer that I had befriended over the week. The two-outer full house vaulted me to over 45k in chips, the chip lead and the win in sight. We only played five hands heads-up before the final card was dealt. The blinds were ridiculous; 1,000-2,000 and a 300 ante. He raised to 10k on the button and I called with KQ. I really wanted to push here but I knew he would call with almost any two cards since I could tell he was still visible upset from my suckout. Also, he was continuation betting 90% of the time so I had to flop big or fold. The flop came down J10K. No way I’m folding. No way all of my chips aren’t getting in the pot. So just as I’m reaching to grab chips, I pull a fake out and check, hoping to check-raise a bet. Well, I didn’t have to because he pushed all-in. We didn’t even count it out but it had to be like 25k because I figured there was 81k in the pool. He turned over A5! He needed my queen for Broadway. The turn was a 6 and the river 9 shipped me the pot, the trophy and the cash.
Jessie, my opponent heads-up, and the third place finisher we’re great players who we’re much more experienced than me, but still offered advice throughout the final stages of the tournament and showed respect for my win.

My goal was to win an event here at the Grand Sierra this week and I’m really surprised I actually did. I know my game is strong, but I see many weakness in my game including the math aspect. What I mean is that I haven’t learned to use bet size to manipulate players into establishing my range. I need to learn to min-raise more often in situations where I have my opponent dead and fold in some situations where my “pot odds” are favorable. Despite that, I know I played well and got lucky, too, but that combination is descriptive of anyone’s tournament success. I guess tonight was just my night.

I just got back from the Eldorado casino in downtown Reno. I took those suckers for $330 in about two hours. The Eldorado has the only decent cardroom in downtown Reno, so I always make a stop when I’m in town because it’ been good for a nice session every time. I don’t think I’ve ever lost there and tonight was no different at a $1-$2.
The first part to my game is that I rarely limp into a pot. I’d say I open a pot with a raise about 75% of the hands I play. I’ll bet I opened damn near a quarter of all hands played in the two-hour session. I had to have won at least $80 in blinds and limps. Another $80 from continuation bets after my $12 pre-flop raises wee called. I was playing crazy aggressively tonight and getting great flops to bluff at. An older Chinese guy played back at me once when I had opened a pot with 107ss. The flop smacked me, too. 1098. Top pair and open-ended. He bet out $30 and I fumbled with my chips, cutting out a possible raise. He went for his chips right away in a manner that almost always indicated weakness, you know, when someone grabs their chips in defense of a possible raise. I say to him, “Ready to get ‘em all in?” He said, “I’m ready,” very confidently I really thought him strong at that point. Maybe top two or a set of nines. I just called and he shoved almost all his chips on the turn, which was a 5. The bet was like $150, a huge over bet. I landed up mucking after about thirty seconds. I ultimately decided he had j10 and was just trying to outplay me with a weird bet. Regardless, he had me in bad shape with j10.
The biggest hand saw me with pocket nine on the button. I raised a multi-way limped pot to $20. The big blind and an under-the-gun limper called and we took a flop. 567. The small blind bet $15, the limper called and I sized up their stacks, menacingly. I love doing that, staring at an opponents chips before you act. It makes you look strong. Anyways, I grabbed as many chips as I could with one hand and plopped them in the pot. The small blind called for $137 and the limper folded. The turn was a black ace and the river 9 gave me a set. He didn’t reveal his cards but the old man said, “nice catch,” so I must have gotten lucky on his two pair. He might have had jacks or tens but I think he would have re-raised my pre-flop bet with a big pair.
I four-bet a guy all-in with q10 when I flopped a 10. I raised to $12 before the flop. He called out of the big blind. He bet $10 on the flop, I raised to $30 with top pair and he re-raised $30 more to $60 straight. Again I looked right into his eyes and plopped a huge stack in the pot. He folded very quickly.
All sessions should go like this. A table with weak players combined with mediocre cards is always a recipe for success. Thanks, Eldorado, for all the memories!