Runner-Runner

SNE 2011

2011-06-11T11:38:00.001+02:00

I have finished SNE this year! Yesterday I became the 6th player in the world to do this feat, beating the previous spanish record by over 3 months!

I grinded like a mad man so that I could go to WSOP stress free and with the work finished, and I hope it pays out in the following weeks! My next post will relate to the events I'm planning to play...

As for how I've done this year I have some mixed feelings? I'm really happy the way I have handled myself and although I have played long hours I think I maintained a high level of play, but the last couple of months I endured a severe downswing in the biggest form of variance you can find, the high stakes hypers! I probably will need to modify a couple of things for my come back, but seeing how most regs are the same in the 181s and 357s I'm not too worried because in the same sample I was winning quite a bit in the lower ones! This and that the EV says it owes me quite a chunk!!

In the turbos, which I feel are my best game I've had a very productive year and I'm quite proud of that especially since I gave action to everyone and hardly ever table selected (only for some 1ks), something that I obviously don't recommend but I had no option if I wanted to reach SNE by this time of the year!

Just to finish many thanks to all those who have congratulated me in twitter or facebook, and many mora thanks to those who have endured my run!

EPT Final - Madrid

2011-05-05T09:36:00.003+02:00

Well, one of my most awaited for moments of the year has arrived: the EPT Final played at home, in Madrid.

I have a seat in Europe's most important tournament along with WSOPE main event thanks to last year's efforts becoming SNE, and I really want to make the most of it.

I have never cashed in an EPT main event, and it's about time I have a deep run in one of these! I have very high hopes going in as always when entering a big tournament and hopefully I can run well and put myself in a position to contend for the title.

For those that don't know I want the 1st event to be played in the new poker room, so it's definitely a place I know well and that always treats me well!

My SNE quest is going along nicely, but I'm grinding like mad. I have almost 700k vpps as of now, and I'm 10th in the list for people that have accrued the most. Some of the guys ahead are american, so I will also be passing them, so I may try to be the 5th or so in reaching SNE status this year.

For that I will need the High Stakes Hypers to pick up a bit during SCOOP, because since Black Friday traffic for these has died quite a bit: never thought I'd miss out on Jorj95 and company ;-)!

Also going with this theme, I don't understand how they place the EPT Final and the SCOOP at the same time! I'm planning on going really deep and that would kill like 4 or 5 days of really good action!

I will keep you posted through twitter (in Spanish though) of everything that goes on during the tournament!

Take care!

Black Friday

2011-04-18T20:41:00.002+02:00

My view on the subject is conditioned by the fact that we all knew this could totally happen. PS and FT were breaking the law by doing financial transactions with US players and at some point the Government was going to punish them.

In any case, it still amazes me how in a country that is supposed to be the land of the free, the government doesn't allow their citizens to play poker or bet online.

The more practical effects I see:

I believe PS will still be leading the market for the moment, but in the mid-term they face some difficulties because most countries are starting to regulate (Spain is next- the law should be out around june), and when they apply for a license I don't know how the governments will react regarding their status.

FT looks grimmer since most of their player pool was American.

I had more or less decided to try and finish the SNE quest before WSOP this year, and now I think I will double my efforts in order to make it.

A lot of people have panicked about their online rolls, and as far as I know, PS keeps segregated accounts as per Isle of Man laws, so in theory there should be no problem with that. With the other sites I really don't know how they work and would be a little more worried.

Why is it too much to ask to have some intelligent people making a fair regulation of online poker in order to let us all the poker players in the planet play against each other??? (In twitter terms I would add here #utopia)

ESPT Malaga

2011-04-04T14:43:00.002+02:00

I finished 14th out 375 runners, losing in the last level of day 2 after two grueling days.

I'm very happy with how I played but at the end it all came down to a bad read. I mistakingly thought a player was weak on an AJJdd5 board and believed my A9 was good, but he had the jack and the miracle ace didn't come.

I started day 2 very short stacked but a 20 minute rush saw me go from 20k to 180k in 3 hands when I doubled up with AQ vs QJ, doubled up again with a set vs Top pair and then I eliminated another player with KK vs AQ.

I was short stacked because late in day 1 I lost a huge pot with AK vs QQ and 44 that would have put me in the top 10 for day 2.

All in all it was a good tournament, but as always going deep and not coming out with at least a final table is quite dissapointing.

Finishing March

2011-03-30T20:44:00.003+02:00

I'm up to 435k vpps which means I accrued 186k in March. I wanted to be at 200k for the month but tomorrow I won't be able to play, so I won't be able to reach my goal.

Still I'm very happy with how things are going at the moment as I'm getting really good results in the Sit & Go's I 'm playing!

On Friday I'll be going south to Malaga to play in the 2nd leg of this year's Estrellas Poker Tour, where I will hopefully last a bit more than last time when I was sent packing on the 3rd level!

This means 3 fewer days of grinding, coupled with Easter Holidays (off to Valencia to watch the Cup final between Real Madrid and archrivals Barcelona) I think it will be a short month in terms of days played. A realistic goal would be to try for 200k vpps again and see if I can get there, but I also want to put myself a more difficult one: 225k!

I'll keep you posted!

Battle of the Planets

2011-03-21T13:39:00.004+01:00

I never said anything about the FTS tournament, but I basically never had anything going and although I doubled up on the 1st hand of the 2nd day, I busted 3 hands lateer when I ran AJ into QQ in a blinds battle.

What I can tell you though is that I won the Jupiter division of the weekly Battle of the Planets promotion! It's the highest leaderboard for Sit & Gos in PS and I actually crushed it!

My vpps count has grown up to 365k, so at the moment it's just good news...hope I can keep them coming!

FTS Madrid

2011-03-11T10:21:00.002+01:00

To day I'll be playing in the Full Tilt Series in my city. And it will be a "freeroll" for me! Since I finished 3rd in one of the events in last year's Masters I earned a buy in for this year, and I will be using it in this one. So watch out! Nothing more dangerous than a freeroll player! ;-)

I'll be updating my twitter account through the tournament, so if you want to know how I'm doing you'll have it easy!

My vpp count is healthily going up, I have 313k as of right now. I'm planning to do a session before the tournament, but pretty sure that tomorrow I'll take the day off since I have a wedding. It's at 1pm, so my plan is to assist until I have to leave if I'm alive in the FTS, or stay till the end if I'm eliminated!

Also, as you may have guessed I didn't make it in the PPM. I bubbled in the fan votings and most probably also bubbled in the pro voting (they never said how many points the pros gave). I'm a bit dissapointed by not being in, but there's nothing I can do! At least it won't take time away from my SNE quest!

February is finished!

2011-03-01T12:49:00.002+01:00

I almost achieved the 180k vpps goal I set myself. I ended with 176k which is pretty good and puts me at 248k for the year. This is a great pace and hopefully I can maintain it through the coming months so that I can have a peaceful WSOP and a month holidays in the summer.

For March I want to try to break the 200k vpps in a month barrier, but at the same time I need to start exercising a bit, so I will need to plan my days even better.

My results so far this year have been very promising and I just hope I can continue to grind with similar results! Also having a 5x fpp multiplier is pretty awesome ;-)!

The Poker Pro Masters results have not yet come out, and as soon as they are up I will post again. With 2 days left in the voting I was 20/50 with 20 players getting their seat, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

ICOOP Main Event

2011-02-22T13:14:00.002+01:00

It was close but I ended up 5th!

I say it was close because I chipped up choosing carefully my spots until I got it in with AK vs TT when were 5 handed to put myself with almost the same chips as the leader (100 bbs). The board came QTxTJ giving me an unnecessary straight!

I'm happy with how I played and it's pretty obvious that if you don't win races when matter you are not going to win, but as always I look at it from the bright side, and if I ever got into that position was by winning a few key races along the way.

Also huge congrats to Juan Maceiras who ended up taking it down!

Poker Pro Masters Update + ICOOP

2011-02-21T15:54:00.003+01:00

The 1st week of voting has been completed and I'm sitting just outside of the top 16!

Every vote I can get this week (the voting closes on Sunday at 23.59 CET) will be really important, so if you still haven't done it, please log into http://www.pokerpromasters.com/ and award me those 5 points!

THANKSSSS!

Also I played the Iberian COOP Main Event, which is a 2-day event, and I have made it to day 2. There are 11 players left and I'm sitting in 4th place. The structure is similar to the WCOOP main event, so I have a little over 100 bbs right now!

There's "only" 11k to the winner, but CV wise it would be pretty cool to get the "bracelet", so I'll do my best in one hour's time (17h CET)

Go go go!

Poker Pro Masters

2011-02-15T13:09:00.002+01:00

I need your help guys!

There's an invite only Heads Up tournament for the best Spanish players, and I need to be voted in the top 16 to get in!

Below is the link: please give me 5 points!

http://www.pokerpromasters.com/index.php

By the way, bear in mind that in order to vote you'll need to do it from a Facebook account

Th@nks to @ll!

Ps. If you can pass it around to get me some more votes I'd be so grateful!

January update

2011-02-01T14:45:00.002+01:00

I never wrote anything about PCa, but basically because there was nothing to say. I played 4 events and lost 6 of 7 all in pots I played, including one with AA vs AK, so when you run that bad there's nothing to say.

Holidays wise it was a well needed rest after reaching SNE and the few spanish that gathered there spent a great time!

As soon as I got back I started to grind since I had to at least reach 50k vpps to keep SNE status (although I may miss one month) and finished it with 72k. My goal is to reach SNE again this year, but I want to do it by October 1st so that I don't lose any value. That means that from now until the WSOP I'll be playing as much as I can, with my only time off being the top spanish tournaments (there's one this weekend in my home city, Madrid) and the EPT Final, which is still to be determined when and where will it take place.

So starting today I want to get to 180k in this month alone....it's a pretty heavy task but I hope I can do it!

2011

2011-01-05T17:37:00.002+01:00

I started the new year with the news that I would NOT be the new Team Pro Online in Spain. I pretty much knew it would be an Educapoker player, so no surprise there. But congrats to El Cañonero/Thalai who is definitely one of the best MTT/SNG players in Spain!

I was also interviewed (in spanish) in a format where the users of Poker10 would send questions and I had to answer them. I leave you the full interview here in case you want to read it.

I fly to Bahamas on Friday to play in the PCA. It's one of the big tournaments where the winner will get north of $2.5M, so as usual I'm very excited to have the chance to compete. I will be tweeting the tournament from Saturday, as I play on Day 1A. I have played exactly zero hands since 22/12, enjoying Christmas, resting my mind and playing some golf, so I'm as hungry for cards as you can be, and I really think it's a good way to go into a tournament.

About this year, I'm not going to write any goals, although if everything goes according to plan I may try to hit 1.25M vpps, so that I take full advantage of the SNE status. The hypers have changed somewhat and I will need to adjust parts of my game to the new format, but I will still play a lot of the regular turbos.

In the live front I will try to play the ESPT and the Full Tilt Series here in Spain and as soon as the WSOP schedule comes out I will see how long I want to be there this year and how many tournaments I can play. The final of the EPT is also on my schedule as SNE, and I would like to play more EPTs but I don't think I will be playing any others unless I qualify into them (or I get signed by Stars or FT.... JAJAJAJA!!).

And last but not least I want to get my handicap down as much as possible, so that means I will try to take at least 1 lesson/week plus going by myself as many times as possible while keeping my grinding hours untouched.

Happy year to everybody and may the luck be with you!

And me ;-)!

Black Stars!

2010-12-22T17:11:00.003+01:00

They look pretty nice, don't they!

Supernova Elite

2010-12-22T17:04:00.002+01:00

Finished it!

It was a long, hard grind but I'm finally there!

SNE!!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Tomorrow

2010-12-22T02:07:00.002+01:00

Just a quick update:

Tomorrow I will reach SNE!

Only 5k vpps left and after having grinded 13k and 14k vpps on Monday and Tuesday respectively, it seems like I'm already there!

Can't wait to load up the photo with the black stars in my avatar...

Quarter Finalist in the FTS Masters

2010-12-20T13:15:00.003+01:00

Like the Spanish football team until just a few years back...couldn't get through the quarter finals even though I deserved it!

The tournament had a structure made for TV, and it was comprised of 3 different tournaments awarding points.

The 1st one was the deep stacked one and I finished 9th/32. I won a huge hand with A4s vs A8 and J9 of clubs on a AQ4cc flop when I managed to hold, and from there on I played cautiously, but the blinds were skyrocketing towards the end and I ended up FT bubble boy when I shoved T9s into kings.

The 2nd one was a 4-handed shootout that led into an 8-handed FT. I got unlucky-very lucky, when I ran JJ into AA sb vs bb with 14 bbs, and a jack hit the turn to put me chip leader at my table. I started HU with a 2:1 advantage, but I then failed to finish it off when my 77 lost to A4, and then couldn't make the come back when I lost A5 vs KJ.

I was sitting in 11th place after this event and the goal had been accomplished: I would be playing in the turbo tournament with the best 16. I calculated that I would need to finish at least 6th, but I took pen and paper with me in order to be sure as people started to get eliminated.

Also Full Tilt decided to award €5K to 1st place and a Full Tilt Series buy in to 2nd and 3rd, so that those that were already qualified into the last 8 would take it seriously and not collude. This turbo was more like a Hyper Turbo tournament, and I'm very used to this kind of structure. I played it well and got really lucky when I most needed it. When we were 9 left I had probably the 3rd biggest stack, but only 17bbs, and in our 4-handed table I shoved over the raise of the chip leader, who only had like 22 bbs. He was the loosest player ever and would minraise with at least 50% of his hands, so my AQ was like the nuts. But to my surprise he started agonizing and finally called with KK! I thought I was toast, but on the door I saw the ace that put me chip leader entering the FT.

I had a very interesting spot with 88 in the BB vs a BTN push for half my stack when I was still not guaranteed a place in the HU round that I let pass. I had 50% of the chips in play when we were down to 3 handed, but then I lost A3 vs K9 first, and Q8 vs A7 last, to finish 3rd earning one of the buy ins to next year's Full Tilt Series.

Adding up the 3 events I was standing in 3rd place and would play vs the 6th; Rebe! The Heads Up match was quite turbo and after going back and forth with no big pots I had a slight 6:4 advantage. I got pocket tens on the button and min raised and Rebe shoved with KT. I obviously called but grimaced when the fist card out of the deck was a king. I couldn't recover.

I had a great time though and the show will probably air on TV in 6 months time or so. I think I did my part well, both on the tables and in the interviews, and hopefully someone will notice and give me the Pro contract that I'm looking for ;-)!

The only bad part is that I hate losing and I really wanted to go all the way! And I also wanted to play that semifinal vs Leo Margets: it would have been a fun one! Huge congrats to her though! She's proved once again that she's one hell of a good player!

Now I just have to finish the SNE thing...33k vpps to go!

Masters Full Tilt Series

2010-12-13T19:08:00.002+01:00

I had totally ruled out the possibility of playing after last week's result in the final, but just a few moments ago I received a call saying I had the last spot if I wanted it. I guess a lot of people couldn't make it because I think I was in 28th place or something like that, but I quickly accepted the spot!

The Masters is a Winner Takes All for 100K euros, and to determine the winner there will be a deep stack tourney and a shootout tourney where the 32 starting players will be reduced to 16. Then 8 players will be cut after a Turbo tourney, and the remaining 8 will play heads up matches until only one is left standing.

I think I have a very good shot as I'm mainly a Sit & Go player, so let's get lucky!

This tournament will make me lose a few more grinding days, and now my goal to make my last 46k vpps is the 23rd. Good job I piled them up so that if anything came up I could still make it on time!

FTS Barcelona Day 1

2010-12-03T13:40:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I started the final of the Full Tilt Series. 194 players looking for the first prize: 150k!

I had a very rough first day, one of those days when everything that can go bad goes bad, and I only managed to finish the day with 17175 chips with the blinds starting today at 250-500/50. Since the structure is so slow I still feel I have a good chance if I can double up at some point today, so I hope my day 2 goes totally opposite to my day 2 last week at the EPT, just as my day 1 was the total opposite to my day 1 in the EPT!

I've also been running some numbers and I believe that if I made it into the last 30 players I would mathematically secure a place in the Masters, which is a 100k freeroll for the best players in the FTS throughout the year.

We start at 4pm...time for some running good!

PS. I played with Filippo Candio and he played much worse than what we've seen from him in the Main Event. I'm not sure if this has something to do with the fact that after winning a lot in a tournament he just doesn't care, but his play was atrocious at every level. At least he didn't suckout on anyone and start screaming ;-)!

End of November

2010-12-01T10:30:00.002+01:00

November's gone and I'm at 934k vpps. Only 66k more and I'll be home!

I will need to play 10/11 more days in order to reach SNE, but since I have to go tomorrow to Barcelona to play in the final of the Full Tilt Series and Monday and Wednesday are bank holidays I'll be spending away, I won't be back in the grind until the 9th or so, which means I'll be getting there later than expected.

Also, I'm still in the hunt for one of the 16 places that give an entry into the Masters, which will be played 15th through 17th, so that would delay it even more...it's a good thing I managed to accrue so many vpps these past 3 months!!

Results wise I followed my best month ever with the worst ever. It was to be expected because I was obviously running above expectation. Combining both I come out ahead easily, so no need to worry here, but I really want to have a winning month in December to end the year in a good note...

Off I go!

EPT Barcelona Recap

2010-11-25T18:54:00.003+01:00

I had a very good table draw because I was in table 6 which meant I was going to stay there all day. Also there were a few weak players and I managed to chip up solidly throughout the day, never being all in for all my chips and only playing a big pot at showdown in a hand where I 3 bet AA and busted a shorter stack on a Ten high flop who was holding JTo. So I ended the day just above average with over 45 bbs to start the next day.

Day 2 on the other side was the usual nightmare that make people hate tournaments so much (not me!! I love them!). I was drawn a table with 4 short stacks (between 10 and 16 bbs) and 3 mega big stacks, so I basically couldn't do much if I didn't have good cards or spots. I was card dead the first couple of levels and I kept bleeding chips, and I couldn't even find spots in which to pressure the short stacks.

So suddenly I was left with 16 bbs when our table got moved to the tv table, where I don't think I played more than 6 or 7 hands. I opened 44 in MP and got shoved by a shortie. I called and lost the race vs his AQ. I was left with 5 bbs and I got them in with A3 vs T9 and I also lost.
Very frustrating to have this kind of day in the biggest tournament ever to be played in Spain, but I don't think I could have done much else.

Next week is the final of the Full Tilt Series, so hopefully I'll be able to make it deep there!

EPT Barcelona

2010-11-22T12:43:00.002+01:00

And the day finally arrived!

I'm playing on day 1B (tomorrow) but I'll be going today and will finally be able to take a break from the online grind. I'm very excited as usual when I play a big event, and since this takes place in my country I really want to do well and go deep. As everybody knows getting sponsored is more a thing of going deep in a major than proving all year round that you're a good player, so I hope I can run like a god this week and become the first ever spanish champion in an EPT!

I will be updating through Twitter in case you are interested...

GLGLGL!

At 870k

2010-11-12T20:53:00.002+01:00

That's the number of vpps I reached today. I'm in the home stretch, and I really want to get there as soon as possible because I'm starting to feel the need to do other things besides grinding!

Thankfully in 10 days or so I'll be in Barcelona ready to play in the EPT!

The upward trend I set in the last couple of months has inverted, but I was expecting it, since I was running way above expectation. Even so, I want to revert it once again in the few days I have before going back to the live playing environment...did I tell you already that I'm really looking forward to that? ;-)

October Recap

2010-11-01T14:36:00.003+01:00

October just finished and I have to say it's been a really good month!

I accrued 155k more vpps and my total has reached 815k, so I'm in a pretty good position to become SNE at some point during early-mid December. And I tell you something, I can't wait for that moment to come!

Also things on the tables have been going really well and I have managed to finish the month ranked #4 by http://www.pokerprolabs.com/ on the Sit & Go category (ranked #2 in Pokerstars). I think it's quite an achievement and I hope I can mantain myself at the top of the S&G grinders!

I also had a couple of deep runs in the Sunday Majors but it was not meant to be as I finished in 40th in the Million and 45th in the Sunday 500.

All in all I'm very pleased with how things are going, and I'm really looking forward to start the grind in November, but with the back of my mind set in making a great EPT in Barcelona. It's going to be my first live tournament in 3 months (the SNE quest wouldn't allow me to lose time travelling to tournaments) and the biggest I've played at my home country, and I'm ready to make some noise!

Pokerstars Team Pro Online

2010-10-21T11:04:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I received the notification that this year's process has started. I spent the full day working on updating my resumé and therefore didn't accrue any vpps...it will take me a day longer now to get to SNE ;-)!

As is always the case with these processes I'm excited about the possibility of joining such an elite team and I hope everything goes well and they realise I should be their newest online pro!

Wish me luck!

On and on

2010-10-19T13:30:00.002+02:00

This is what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks. Playing a lot to keep up the pace so that I can get SNE as soon as possible. I have close to 750k vpps, so I'm expecting to get there somewhere around the middle of December, since I will hace a couple of weeks along the way where I won't be able to play much (EPT Barcelona and the final of the FT Series also in Barcelona).

I'm happy with that and also with how it's been going lately. I'm having good results and that is always really encouraging...I hope it can stay this way (fingers crossed!)

Tonight I will be taking it off since Real Madrid play AC Milan in what is always a huge match. Last year they beat us in a weird game and hopefully we'll get revenge this time!

End of September

2010-09-30T20:02:00.002+02:00

Well, I must say that I'm quite pleased with how much poker I've put in this month!

Although I said I was aiming at 180k vpps and I didn't quite make it, 170k which is the final number is a hell of a lot! It puts me at 660k for the year and if I keep pushing like I did this month I should have no problems reaching SNE...

End of WCOOP

2010-09-27T02:35:00.002+02:00

I just finished my participation in the WCOOP. I lost a big coin flip AK vs JJ in the Main Event. It was early but it was a spot where I think I have to go all the way.

I have mixed feelings because I have cashed 4 times which is good, but I could have had a really huge score a couple of times and just couldn't get lucky at the end.

I cashed the $530+R and also the $530+1R+1A, where I finished 17th. Lost AT vs KQ which would have given me the chance to fight for it all, but although I flopped an ace, the river brought one of the three tens that were left to give him a straight and send me packing. Pretty disheartening to not make a final table I thought I was going to make and not play for the online bracelet.

This weekend I have made very few vpps due to that deep run and I stand at 633k for the year and 143k for the month. I still have 4 days left of September, and although I don't think I'll get to 180k, my total is going to be well over 160k and that is an awful lot! :-)

I'm off to bed now and I'll just say GL GL GL to all the spanish guys that are still in the hunt in the ME!

WCOOP updates

2010-09-22T05:20:00.002+02:00

I just busted from event 48 (I 3bet and got called, cbet with TPTK and got called, and check raised all in the turn when the card that was also giving me the nut flush draw was his gutshot card) and that makes me 2/15.

I had great chances in WCOOP-30 and 42, but at the end I didn't get lucky enough. The first one was the Triple Shootout, where I won my first table and then proceeded to finish 3rd that gave me the 15th place overall (doesn't really matter but it looks better!). I lost a crucial pot 4 handed with 77 vs J8 all in preflop and I couldn't recover from there.

The other was this Sunday's and after 12 hours playing I got bad beat on a Q high flop all in with AQ vs KQ. I still had chips and tried to mount a comeback but couldn't and finished 227/3200+.

My vpps race is going well. I have collected 123k vpps so far this month! It's 3k below the pace I had set for myself but still good enough to make me happy and think that I'll be able to get the coveted SNE status.

I'm off to bed now since I have to get some good sleep because there's a lot of poker to be played tomorrow and the rest of the week as the biggest tournaments are still to be played...and I'm planning to go all the way in at least one of them! Wish me luck!

Good and bad

2010-09-14T12:05:00.002+02:00

Hey, just wanted to update on my advances.

I have accrued more than 75k vpps in these start to September which puts me just over 2k vpps behind pace to my 180k vpps goal for the month. I have played every day except for Saturday since I went out on Friday, had to wake up early to do some house stuff and then a wedding. I'm happy with the rhythm I've gotten into and I really expect to make it.

WCOOP on the other hand are going awful. I'm 0 for 9. No cashes whatsoever. I really hope my luck is being reserved for the bigger events to come.

On the other hand, in my regular S&Gs I'm on quite a heater and I tell you, it feels much better when you run above expectation! ;-)

Have to keep grinding...

Start WCOOP

2010-09-06T14:39:00.003+02:00

I played yesterday WCOOP-1 and WCOOP-3, both $215 events, one 6-handed and the other full ring. I couldn't do much in any of the two and busted way before the money. I will be playing quite a few events and I'm really hoping to make some deep runs and maybe a final table.

My vpps quest is a tough one, but I think the 180k goal for the month will be achieved. At the moment I have accrued almost 28k, which is 2k behind pace, but with the long WCOOP events coming I think I'll be able to log really long hours.

Time to keep working...

Going for it

2010-08-30T11:49:00.002+02:00

After having two weeks of holidays where I finally disconnected from poker totally I came back on Thursday to play in Full Till Series in Madrid. The tournament came down to a big coin flip that I lost with AK vs QQ that would have put me well over 130bbs, and I was left with 15 bbs or so that I put in with TT after a raise and a call only to see the OR show Aces. I think I still have a chance to make it into the Masters if I make a good showing in Barcelona in December, but that's a long way away.

I do have good news of this weekend since I managed to get 2nd in the Battle of the Planets promotion ($50k triple shootout), but the most important thing for me at the moment is to get back on track in my quest of then Supernova Elite status.

I'm close to 500k vpps, so I'm basically halfway with only 1/3 of the year left, but I'm pretty positive about making it. And to make my chances grow I will have to do a monster September. I'm aiming at 180k vpps this month which I hope to achieve by playing lots and lots of poker with the help of the WCOOP, since I'll be playing quite a few events, using them to grind in parallel my usual Sit & Go's.

I think I'll be using the blog to motivate me and I'll try to write at least each week with my progress.

Wish me luck!

WSOP 2010 Main Event

2010-07-06T01:59:00.002+02:00

I will recap my series after they are finished, but just to sum it up quickly I have cashed 3 times including the very deep run in the 6-max event. So I'm obviously very happy with how I've played and run this month.

Tomorrow I play day 1B of the Main Event, which is what we are really here for. I have very high hopes of making a deep run this year and will try to play my best in every single hand. I will also have the best mind set possible all the time, which will allow me to believe that I can win every showdown I play.

Being positive is underestimated.

I'm going for it!

7th Event 26 2500$ 6max

2010-06-17T08:27:00.002+02:00

Wow! What a run! I really thought this was the one!

I'm very happy of how I played and although I was obviously very dissapointed when I busted, I have to think positively and see the bright side: it's the best result ever in a WSOP event for a spanish player.

I'm not going to bore you with any hand details as I suppose you can find them online, i just want to say thanks to all those who followed me so closely, specially those in Spain that didn't go to sleep until I was eliminated.

And by the way, this was just the start, as I'm sure there are a lot of good things left to come in this Series...

Full Tilt Series Málaga

2010-06-07T15:39:00.002+02:00

Bubbled the Final table in my last tournament before Vegas. I think I'm playing really good poker making very few mistakes and putting myself in position to take a shot at winning these things but you obviously need some very good luck at then end and although I managed to double up a couple of times when the blinds were getting huge I finally couldn't win the race that would have given me the chance to go for it AQs vs JJ for a 300k pot.

It's a shame because the televised FT started at 8 players and although i actually made the last table I won't even get some the very needed exposure.

You always end up totally empty after getting close but not making it, but I'm going to take the positive side this time and see this as a preview of big things to come in one week's time in Vegas where I will give my all to become the first spaniard to bring a bracelet home.

Ramblings

2010-05-25T14:48:00.002+02:00

In no particular order....

- I hated Lost's last season. What was the best show ever has turned out to be, in my opinion, nothing more than meh. They didn't bother explaining anything and instead chose to add some new ridiculous parallel world that turned out to be some kind of purgatory. What a joke!

- My soccer team real Madrid have been piling error after error year after year, and I don't know how they can manage not to learn from them. It's insane to sack a coach that broke the record for most points during the season and had 102 goals in 38 games with a so-so team.
The club just doesn't plan anything and have decided to hire now Mourinho, who is obviously one of the best out there, but someone who makes his teams play like crap. Like everybody defending and 2 or 3 really good players up front to decide. I would have understood bringing him last season when the team was playing really poorly, but it doesn't make sense bringing him now.

(The reason he's coming is that the worst president ever Mr Florentino Perez thinks Pellegrini's not a media kind of guy and he wants a coach with charisma.....what a joke!)

- This weekend I'll be playing in Alicante the Estrellas Poker Tour (Pokerstars spanish circuit)

- I'm like 50K vpps behind SNE pace, but I think I will be able to come through at the end.

- I'm also enjoying golf a lot lately and it has become my newest hobby.

- Less than 3 weeks for my annual trip to Vegas for the WSOP (12th June - 15th July at the Rio) and for the start of the football World Cup. I really like my chance's and Spain's chances!

Paradise Poker Tour Madrid

2010-05-10T10:35:00.002+02:00

251 players in this 550€ event.

I played 2 days my game and felt I had a real chance this time. But then I found AKs, there was a raise UTG and a call in UTG+1, I had 23 BBs so I just moved them in and let them guess if I'm squeezing with or without a hand. UTG folds but UTG+1 calls with AQo.

Queen on the door and there goes the 200K+ pot (blinds were 2K-4K) and I finish 15th.

Still waiting to run good this year...

Day 2 FTS Peralada

2010-04-25T13:34:00.002+02:00

I never had a real chance and busted 41st.

My last play was moving in for 11 bbs in the SB with 54s and getting called by the BB with ATo. A pretty uninteresting Q97-K-T board ensued and I was out.

I had a dream table with 2 or 3 people that would never fold to anything, but you need to get some cards and I never did. I don't think I misplayed any hands but there are some tournaments when you just don't have luck with the spots that you're given.

Next weekend I will not be playing, but after that I start a really busy schedule:

- 7/9 May: Paradise Poker Tour Madrid
- 14/16 May: Spanish Poker Tour Ibiza
- 28/30 May: Estrellas Poker Tour Alicante
- 4/6 June: Full Tilt Series Málaga
-12 June/15 July: WSOP

I'm going for a month to play my 4th World Series and I'm really excited once again. I'll be staying at the Rio and have plans of playing quite a few events. As soon as I have the plan layed out I will post it here, but it will look very similar to last year's.

Day 1 FTS Peralada

2010-04-24T14:04:00.002+02:00

I managed to get through the first day (7 levels) with 27325 chips, below the 36K average. But I'm happy, as I was down to just 10K in level 6, when I doubled up with JJ vs AQs aipf, despite having to sweat a flop with 2 cards of his suit.

I then proceeded to kill off the same guy with AQs vs A5o, and picked up another pot where I 4bet an Italian guy at the very end of the day.

The tournament has had actually fewer people than expected, only 128. The volcanic cloud was the reason for 30+ players that had satellited in to change their package for the next stop. 16 pplayers will make the money and the winner will take home €60K.

72 players remain and there are still quite a few spewy ones, so hopefully I'll get some cards and some spots to take advantage of this.

FTS Peralada

2010-04-23T10:32:00.002+02:00

Writing from the airport in Gerona, waiting to be picked up to go the tourney's venue, Peralada's Castle.

The event is the first of this year's Full Tilt Series in Spain and has a 1650€ buy in (€150K guaranteed). I don't actually know how many players are expected, but many french guys cross the border and I certainly hope I can have a few of the "spewy" ones at my table.

I'll keep you posted of my advances....

Didn't get to day 2

2010-04-10T11:56:00.002+02:00

Half an hour before the end of the day I was knocked out by the chip leader.

A young northern european (as Hellmuth likes to call them) with a big stack had just arrived at the table. With blinds 300-600/75 there was a limper, I iso raised with AKo to 2250 from LP and he 3 bet from the SB to almost 6K I shipped it in for 24K, and he folded.

So his stereotype of being loose aggressive seemed like a good read.

After 3 hands exactly I open raised JJ to 1500 in UTG+2 and he 3 bet me again to 4500 from the HJ/CO. So I thought against this kind of guy I can't play jacks weakly and 4 bet it all in, but this time he had the goods and my jacks were no match to his kings.

Cooler or could I have gotten away vs this guy with this particular history?

ESPT Málaga

2010-04-09T09:24:00.002+02:00

Pokerstars finally decided to launch a circuit in Spain and today is day 1b of the €1K event.

Around 300 players are expected, so the prize pool will be very juicy.

I have a lot of expectations going in (as always I guess) and the few days of holidays I took in Easter (went to Athens) were I had a great time with absolutely no contact to poker in any form did me a lot of good.

Now I just need the mythologicla gods to let me run like one of them ;-)!

I'll keep you posted on my advances...

Ages

2010-03-10T10:48:00.002+01:00

It's been ages since I last wrote, the main reason being I've been playing lots and lots of poker and the last thing you want to do after finishing every session is to start writing.

I'm generating a lot of VPPs at the moment and I'm really considering trying to obtain SNE status in Stars.

It would mean logging a lot of hours but the rewards at the end of the year I think are worth it.

Results wise though I'm not happy at all. I had the worse January possible running over 20 buy ins below expectation, and have tried to qualify to EPTs without any success whatsoever. I'm also playing most big sunday MTTS and getting raped week after week. But we know how variance works, so I have no doubt that things will turn my way too at some point, and you just have to be prepared to be able to grab when the opportunity presents itself.

Hopefully I won't wait this long to write again...and can be back with some good news soon!

See you around!

Didn't make it

2010-01-11T12:19:00.003+01:00

I actually never had a chance to compete for a place because of the points system that was used to determine the 20 finalists that would be interviewed on Sunday with the 10 packages on the line.

I had seen in the web that the points would be awarded as follows: 35% Online poker skills, 25% live poker skills, 20% ambassador potential, 20% poker community.

I knew that if they followed this strictly I would not have a chance because in the first category "online poker skills", it was mentioned that the points would be based on whatever amount of play and results you had gotten on the two months that the promotion ran in Everest Poker. The problem is that I never thought that they would just ignore any other results that you had on the other important sites. So even though I am one of the best online MTT players in Spain I obtained 2 points out of 35 for not playing at their site.

If I were involved in selecting 10 players I would consider every single result they have had not only those of two months, but that was their decision and I obviously can't say anything about it because everyone was playing under the same rules.

The second category though ended up being a total joke. You would believe that to measure your live poker skills they would take a look at your live results in tournaments.... WRONG! They decided to award those 25 points based on the RESULTS of 2 Turbo Sit & Go's and a 2 hour cash game! LOL! Again, you could argue it's a fair system because everyone plays under the same rules, but it was luck basically what determined how many points you got in the Live Skills department. So in this one, again actually having won 6 live tournaments would count for nothing, while people that ran good in a couple of sits would get maximum points.

The third category was well conducted. It was an interview to measure your abilities in front of a camera which is something very important if you are going to be representing a site around the world. Actually in my opinion only having this count as 20% was too little as it's going to be a big part of the job during the year to talk to the media.

The fourth and last categoty was again pretty absurd in my opinion. Points were given according to how many everest poker players voted for you in your profile. So if you basically convinced a lot of your friends to do it you would get better marks. I can't really see why that would make you a better candidate for the package...

I guess a lot of people may believe I'm ranting because I lost, but I'm not. I'm actually happy to have seen a very good friend get picked deservedly (ENHORABUENA JAVI!). But what I do believe is that the system chosen to select had so many flaws that it was borderline absurd. Almost 45% was decided upon playing 2 sits, 60 hands of cash game and convincing your friends to vote. That's not a serious way to choose the best 10 players amongst the 200 that turned up.

As for myself, I knew I had a big handicap because it's not the site I usually play in, but I tried to make up for it composing a 30+ pages CV in which I had all my results documented along with my appearances in the media, the articles I have written, the training sites I've worked with, etc...

I was a fool to believe that they would at least take a look at it and see that I was well suited for the job, but following an absurdly designed "fair" system seemed to be more important than to try to see which were the best suited players for the job.

I will keep working hard on my game and there's no way I will be stopped by any setbacks on reaching my goals. I still plan on winning a big one day...

New Year

2010-01-07T18:07:00.002+01:00

Well, I must say that the start of the year has not been as good as I would have liked...I've been stomach sick for the most part!

But I'm super excited because this weekend I have the chance to become a sponsored player thanks to Everest Poker's Live the Dream promotion!

The casting will take place on Saturday, when they will trim the 180 players or so that have qualified to only 20, and Sunday, when the best 10 will be chosen. I think I have a good chance, but you never know with these things, so keep your fingers crossed please!

As soon as I finally know whether I'm chosen or not I will then decide my goals for the year, and how I want to achieve them. And also what plans I have for this blog!

Happy new year to all!

Happy holidays

2009-12-22T11:57:00.003+01:00

Last time I wrote I announced that I still had one tournament left.

The grand Final of the CEP in Alicante was everything but grand. They managed to make a worse structure with 3 days to play opposed to the usual 2, and that's something that is really hard. Props to them lol...

My tournament was absolutely awful and to cap it all off I busted when I pushed in on a 764hh flop with 55 only to get called by 55 and lose to running hearts to his 5h.

Tha last couple of days I've been thinking about the blog and how I have left it aside for the past year or so, and I think I want to start posting a little more often, although I don't know if I want it to become merely informative or adding some strategy.

My real hopes at the moment lie in the Everest Poker promotion which will take place in a couple of weeks. It would be the best possible way to start the year, and if I made it I think everything would be much easier. Even the blog would revive for sure as I would have a lot more to write about.

Well, what this post was actually about was wishing you all a very happy holidays with your family and friends, so......

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

No gain

2009-12-06T20:01:00.002+01:00

Day 2 started off really well when I doubled up with AA vs AQo, but then I played JJ passively preflop and thought I had found a great spot on a ten-high flop vs a donk bettor which I thought had TP or a flush draw. So I got it in on the turn and as it turns out he had outplayed me with a set of 8s.

My 14 bbs remaining finally went in from from the button and I also lost that one to bust.

Next weekend is my last tournament of the year. The final of the Spanish Championship in Alicante...let's see if I can close the year on a high note!

FTPS Madrid

2009-12-04T13:15:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I played day 1 of the best ever tournament to be played in my city.

It's Full Tilt Poker Spain Series and the buy in was 3200€.

226 players including Gus Hansen turned up, 24 will cash and 1st prize will be €200K.

The structure is insanely good. as an example I will say that it has the 250/500 level and the 350/ 700 level!

We started with 30K in chips and I'm a bit dissapointed to have just below 20K (19550), but it was an 8 hour grind where I could find no cards and no spots.

Today the first level will be 300/600, so I have just above 30 bbs left, and I'm still planning on giving a hard time to every one in my table.

I'll keep you posted

Busted 3rd level

2009-11-18T11:38:00.002+01:00

I'm not usually a player that takes a whole lot of risks, but this time I did so and didn't come out well.

I had gone down to 15K from the 30K starting stack, but I managed to double up with 99 vs KK on a Q99 board, so I was playing again with 30K.

I raised to 500 in MP with QsTs (blinds 100-200) and I was called by the HJ, button and BB.

The flop was Jd9d3s. I bet 1200 and got raised to 3300 by the HJ (french player). I called.

Turn was 6s. I elected to check raise all in his 6800 bet and he quickly called with a set of 9s.

River was another 9 to give him quads and that was that.

Do you guys hate my play? Would you rather be more passive?

EPT Vilamoura

2009-11-16T19:42:00.003+01:00

I just arrived in the hotel I'll be staying during the tournament and as usual it's pretty nice.

I play tomorrow day 1A, and I hope I can start accumulating chips early, although the structure is insanely good and with 30K stacks and blinds starting at 50-100 I think you can wait patiently for good spots.

I'm very pumped up and ready to make some noise...

EPT Vilamoura!

2009-11-06T11:58:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I managed to reach the always difficult Step 6 in Pokerstars, and decided that my best bet was to play the one that awarded packaged to EPT Vilamoura which will be played 17th-22nd November in Portugal.

It was a 12 man S&G that awarded 2 seats worth $10K (seat + 1 week hotel + expenses) and 3rd and 4th would each get $1,880.

I had a huge hand 9 handed where I was all in with queens vs AK and AK, and I held and I ended up booking my place in the Event!

I'm so pumped up to play another major....

I really want to go deep and get the chance I'm looking for....

I'll keep you posted!

Everest Poker-Live the Dream

2009-11-05T18:48:00.002+01:00

As I told you all last week I qualified to the Live the Dream promotion in Everest Poker.

They are going to choose 10 players out of 200 to represent the site playing tournaments around the world in a package worth $100K.

The criteria for choosing includes updating a profile page and getting people to vote the player, and I thought that maybe some of you have a registered account (which is necessary to vote) and would like to come by and drop me some good marks ;-)!

I'll leave you
here with my profile page in case you'd like to give me a boost!

Many Thanks in advance!

Changes

2009-10-30T12:12:00.003+01:00

The last couple of weeks I have endured a few important changes:

- I have parted ways with my agent.

- I have qualified for Everest Poker's promotion Live the Dream. $100K to play tournaments around the world sounds like a good deal! Now I just have to go to Vienna January 8th-10th and get the package in the live casting :-)!

- Sadly, attending Vienna means I won't be able to play the PCA in Bahamas this year, which is a tournament that I didn't want to miss and one in which I was going to put all my efforts into satelliting in.

- I have made it all the way to Step 6 and I will be using it to try my luck in EPT Vilamoura, which is the next big event I have my sights in.

In a more personal note I'll be spending the weekend in Rome, a city in which I have never been in despite having travelled through most of Europe.....and I can't wait!!

A good sunday

2009-10-12T04:48:00.003+02:00

When a sunday night goes well you forget about the thousand beats, coolers, set, ups, etc that you endure all through the year.

I have just finished 4th in the Stars 109+ and 7th in the Stars 55+!

I lost AKs vs KJo 4-handed for quite a big pot, but I obviously ran really well to get there, so I can't complain much (although I also lost a chip leading pot when 11 players left KK vs JJ).

I'm so happy to see results again! And with the confidence boost I hope I can take my poker to a new level!

PS. Thanks and lots of thanks to all of the railers! It makes me feel I'm not only playing for myself but also for all those that trust in me!

CEP Murcia

2009-09-28T12:04:00.002+02:00

I finished 14/191, after I lost a pot with 15 players left for 20% of all the chips in play with AQ vs AJ, when a f***ing jack hit the river. Then I ran 77 into KK with 6 BBs and went from chip leader to busto in 10 minutes.

This year I can't seem to win a big pot in a crucial confrontoation, but I'm sure I'm doing things right and results will surely come.

This weekend I'm off to Barcelona for the Full Tilt Series where I hope I can keep playing my best.

WCOOP

2009-09-23T17:43:00.002+02:00

I played a bunch of MTTs these past two weeks, and my results couldn't have been more dissapointing. These are the year's online biggest tourneys and running as bad as I have didn't help one bit.

I think I'm going to concentrate in playing some 6-max cash games for a while, but never forgetting that we are approaching a time of the year where there are lots of live tournaments.

This weekend I will try my luck in CEP Murcia (660€ buy in) and next week I have the FTS in Barcelona (1650€)....let's hope I can get a couple of good results there!

By the way, Pokerstars has announced the creation of an Online Pro Team......

Wouldn't that be the biggest thing ever!!??

Not playing

2009-09-04T03:04:00.002+02:00

Tried three times and couldn't even get close. My only chance came in the first one where I lost a 25K preflop pot when average was 15K with JJ vs T7s.

At least I have a fun weekend waiting ahead...

EPT Barcelona

2009-09-02T14:24:00.002+02:00

I know I must be the worst blogger ever, but I have mostly abandoned the habit and I find it hard to update unless there's good reason to.

I've been invited to Coldplay's concert in Barcelona which takes place in Barcelona on Friday, and since the EPT starts that same day in the same city I have decided to go two days earlier to try my luck in a couple of satellites today and tomorrow.

I don't have any other exciting things to report after WSOP besides going two weeks on holidays without the computer (true holidays!) and having started to play some cash games instead of sit & go's.

WCOOP start tomorrow and I'm planning to play in quite a few of those events. We'll see if I can get an online bracelet ;-)!

I'll keep you posted if I do make it into the real thing in Barcelona...

Out of the 2009 WSOP ME

2009-07-09T03:29:00.002+02:00

I had an awful table at the start which included Erik Seidel. I had him all in with ATo vs AQo but couldn't get his bounty and when I was finally moved I had dropped to 20K.

In the new table I went as low as 15K but went back up to 36K, when I finally saw AA in the SB vs a button raise, we got it in preflop and he had the other two aces. It' ssick because given my image, I had already reraised quite a few times I was gettin it in vs TT+ and AK for sure, if not against other hands like 99 or AQ too

In the nexw orbit I was down to 29K, and I misplayed a hand and cost me the tournament. I flat called an UTG raise and HJ call with AKo (big mistake) and couldn't get away from the hand on an AJ7 flop against the UTG raiser who had 77.

Live and learn

Main Event day 1A. finished with 37300

2009-07-05T03:17:00.001+02:00

I had a great start and got up to 57K, but I had a terrible 4th level and finished in my lowest point of the day.

The structure is awesome and I'm just about average with a little less than 100 BBs.

I restart on Tuesday, day 2A on table Orange 83 seat 5.

WPT Bellagio Cup V $540: 15 out of 353

2009-07-02T14:37:00.002+02:00

I almost went all the way in this one, but at the end the tournament was so turbo that you needed to catch cards or hold, and my A9s lost to A4o and then I lost a coin flip 66 vs JTo to end my tourney.

It's my third cash since I'm in Vegas, but two of them came in the lower buy in events. The level of play is worse for sure, but I just think I've run better in these events...

Now I have to decide which day to play the Main Event. I'm leaning towards 1A, although 1D is also possible.

I'll let you know as soon as I decide for sure!

Event 56: $5K 6-handed

2009-07-02T14:34:00.002+02:00

I'm quickly updating that I lost in the 6th level. It was a very interesting tournament but I don't have the time to recap it all. Too many things happen when six handed!

In my bustout hand I took a risk that I think was the right move in a chosen spot, but I happen to run into a hand, and it's always dissapointing to get it all in in bad shape as it was in this case 77 vs KK, but I think the played I made was correct given the action that had been going on at the table...

Event 52: $3K Triple Chance

2009-06-29T20:33:00.002+02:00

I added on right away and therefore started with 9K in chips. I don't understand why people mostly preferred to play with 3K and bring the other 3K in turns if they got busted, but even Humberto Brenes never added on until he was forced to at the end of level 3.

My tourney was quite eventful as I got involved in some pots, but I couldn't overcome being completely unlucky in the all in pots I played.

In the first level (25-50) folded to the CO he opens to 150. I reraise with KK to 450 in the button and he quickly pushes for 3K. I insta call and he shows AJo and gets there in the river.

I went as low as 3775 chips but after winning some small pots I was back up to 6500 in the 3rd level. A guy with 3K in chips opens to 400 in MP, Hijack with 2300 flat calls and I'm in the SB with AKo. I make a committing reraise to 1600, the original raiser folds and the HJ calls and leaves himself 700 chips behind lol. I set him in obviously in the 943 all spade flop (I had the ace of spades) and he calls with A5 of hearts. Turn blank, river red deuce and I lose another 6K pot.

The first hand after the break, with blinds 100-200, MP raises to 600 and I look at AQo and shove for 3450, and I get looked up by 55. Flop 5-3-3.

Humberto asked me if I had hit a child recently....I think that sums it up...

Tomorrow I'll be ready for the most fun event of the year though, the $5K 6-handed...

WSOP 2009: Part II

2009-06-27T23:43:00.002+02:00

I arrived last night in Vegas.

In this second trip I'm planning on playing the following events:

3,000$ Triple Chance tomorrow.
5,000$ 6-handed on the 30th
10,000$ Main Event.

I still need to decide which day 1 to play in, but I'm leaning towards the latter days, either 1C or 1D.

I'm very excited to be here again, and I really have my hopes set in making at least another deep run. Only this time I want to go all the way to the FT...

Event 19: Busto

2009-06-09T00:51:00.002+02:00

I just busted in the 3rd level. I started off really bad and by the end of the first break I was down to 4K (7500 starting stack). I lost a hand and was down to 3300 when this happened:

CO raise to 425 (he had opened like 100% when folded to him)
Button all in for 1800
SB all in for 4200
I'm BB and see AKo and obviously call. CO folds.

Shorty had 33 and SB had AQo. River's a queen and I'm done.

My first part here in the WSOP has come to an end. Tomorrow I'll just relax or maybe play some cash and I'm leaving on Wednesday. I'll be back on the 26th of june for the triple chance, the $5K 6-handed and the main event.

Thanks to all for the support!

Event 19: $2500 NLHE 6-max

2009-06-08T09:02:00.001+02:00

I woke up today, went shopping, to the pool, got a massage and went to the movies to watch The Hangover.

I'm ready to go deep again tomorrow.

Event 13: 46th

2009-06-07T08:21:00.003+02:00

I just lost a 550K pot that would have put me chip leader with 45 players left with KK vs AK, with another player having folded AK also.

To say I'm sick or disheartened wouldn't reflect my true feelings at the moment. They are much worse than that.

I don't know what to do.

Event 13: 2500$ NLHE. Day 2. 175 players left, 117 paid.

2009-06-06T20:58:00.000+02:00

Seat assignments:

(Table 63)
Louie Cohen - 57800
David Sun - 24800
Dick Carson - 19700
Loren Klein - 58100
Anguila - 29000
Sergey Pomerantsev - 12200
Torrey Reily - 114200
David Nielsen - 28100
Sean Gildea - 65700

Average is 45K but I'm planning on going really deep...

Event 9: $1500 NLHE 6-max

2009-06-03T23:03:00.003+02:00

I got up to almost 7K in the 1st level (4500 starting stack), and with blinds 50-100 there's a raise from the CO, I reraise JJ in the SB and he calls. Flop is QT2 and I cbet enough to commit myself, he pushes I call for 900 more. He has a well played AA.

I'm left with 3400 and 7 hands later I raise from the CO with QQ, SB calls and BB squeezes, I 4bet to 1800, he ships I call. He shows AA obv.

Oh well, not much I could do I think in this one...

Event 7: Busto

2009-06-03T02:48:00.002+02:00

I'm gone again in the 5th level, 100-200/25.

I couldn't get much going in the first couple of levels and was between 3K and 6K (4,5K starting stack) all the time.

Elimination hand I have 4700 and I'm in the BB. Folded to the button who is the chip leader at the table and is opening a lot of pots. He raises to 600. SB folds and I look at KQ. I raise basically committing myself to 2K. He tanks and calls. I ship my 2,7K as soon as the flop is dealt 8-6-5. Insta calls with a set of 6s obviously and I'm gone (even though I hit a king lol).

Maybe I should've pushed, but I always thinks it looks stronger to 3bet.

Oh well, tomorrow is the 1500$ 6 handed event. Let's see if I can do something in that one.

Event 7: $1500 NLHE

2009-06-02T20:31:00.002+02:00

I start in about half an hour.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Cashed in the Venetian $550 DSE

2009-06-01T20:02:00.002+02:00

Ended up 45th out of 592.

Played close to my a-game all throughout and was among the chip leaders from the 6th level on. The pot that got me there I raised a limper to 2300 in the 300-600/50 level and the SB who was the chip leader of the table at the time min reraised to 5000. I had 32K to start the hand and obviously called thinking I'm done if I don't hit a set. Flop is a fantastic J-9-4 and the SB goes all in lol. I call and crack his obvious aces.

From there I chipped up really well and got up to 130K and was thinking I had a good chance, but when we were 80 players left I lost a 90K pot TT vs 88 (we both hit a set and he turned quads...live poker is rigged!) that left me just below average and with the blinds going up and up I just couldn't do much...I ended up cashing which is OK because it's my first hendon mob american flag.

Tomorrow I'll probably play the $1,5K Event 7 of the WSOP...let's see if I can do well!

Event 4: Busto

2009-05-31T03:17:00.002+02:00

I was just knocked out.

Level 5: 100-200 blinds. I had just doubled up with AQs vs AJs to get to highest point of the day, 5600 chips.

Folded to me in HJ I raise to 525 with TT. In the BB there's an oldish man that has just arrived less than 5 hands ago. He reraises to 1500. I don't know anything about him besides he's an old man (probably tight), but with 27 BBs I think shipping it in is the best move since I can't call and folding seems too weak. Anybody think otherwise??

Well the man tanked for like 5 minutes and finally made a crying call with Jacks and I didn't get help.

GG me.

Event 4: $1K NLHE

2009-05-30T19:49:00.002+02:00

The event was close to being sold out last night, which means 5600 players will compete. It's divided into two day 1s, and I start today in an hour or so, day 1A.

Starting stack is T3000$. It begins at 25-25 and levels last for an hour. It's important to build a stack early, but I'm not too worried since I can also play good poker with 20-30 BBs.

I've been waiting all year for what's starting shortly...

Let's see what I can do. I'll keep you posted.

WSOP 2009

2009-05-26T12:28:00.002+02:00

Just a quick entry.

I'm off to Vegas on Thursday. I will be there for 2 weeks. I will play 4 to 6 events during that time and then I'll come back to Madrid.

On the 26th of June I'll get on a plane again to play the last few events before the Main Event and the ME itself.

I'm quite excited about it, and hopefully I'll be able to run good and run deep.

It's time for the blog to become alive again...

U1st Sports

2009-04-21T15:54:00.002+02:00

I have signed with U1st Sports. They will act as my agents for the time being.

I think it's a very big step forward and hopefully I will be able to land some kind of contract in the near future that will allow me to be present in the bigger live tourneys around the world.

Here's the team blog: U1st Poker Team

In other news I have everything sorted out already for this year's WSOP and I really can't wait for it to come. I'm planning on playing between 8-10 events including the Main Event.

This weekend is the 4th leg of the CEP in Madrid. We'll see how it goes...

A win online

2009-04-03T19:49:00.003+02:00

After some months in which I'm mostly playing D0Ns I happened to take down an online tournament. Not the biggest one but good for my morale nonetheless.

My sights are still on the bigger ones. Hopefully I will be able to do some damage soon...

Took it down

2009-02-05T20:10:00.002+01:00

My 1st live event of the year (i don't know why but I consider PCA as last year's) and I got 1st!! 1K buy-in and around 50 players started, with some of the best spanish players "invited" (we had to put up the buy-in) as it was the grtand opening of the new poker room.

I played a very good tournament and didn't make any mistakes at all imo, won a huge coinflip and then waited for really good spots to put my money in....and it paid off! It's such a great feeling when you win, and even better when you win playing what you consider is your a-game!

I hope I can keep improving and maybe some day I'll end up catching the dream of taking down a major...

Not updating

2009-02-03T16:40:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the lack of updates to everybody...I haven't felt the urge to write and haven't done so, but I want to start posting a little more often from now on...it's been almost a month since I last wrote anything here!

I'm going to try to write at least once a week, and hopefully I'll get into the habit again and maybe I will write much more than that.

I obviously didn't even cash in the PCA in Bahamas. I think I played really well but I failed to follow through in a pot where I had reraised preflop with KK and an ace flopped. From what I had seen from the other guy, he was most likely to hold A-x and when he bet I let go my hand incorrectly as he showed 77. I was left as a short stach in the last level of Day 1 and ended up shoving AT from the CO for 13 BBs getting called by AJs in the button. I turned a ten but he rivered a flush and that was that.

Online I have been playing mostly the DoN's and some MTTs, so basically grinding waiting for the big score.

I haven't played live since I came back from the Bahamas, but tomorrow I have a 54 player S&G in the new poker room in Madrid's casino where I hope things can start well for me. I have also booked my plane ticket for the 2nd leg of the Spanish Championship in Barcelona, the place where I won my first big tournament last year. We'll see if I can repeat!

I think for now this should be enough, but I really want to make a 2008 review post in the next few days and my 2009 plans...

See you soon!

New Year

2009-01-02T22:41:00.002+01:00

I have been on holidays the past two weeks or so (Buenos Aires and Floripa), so I want to wish everybody a belated happy new year!

I always write a post with goals for the year, but I want to wait until I come back from the PCA in bahamas to write 2009's and recap 2008.

My mind is now officially in Bahamas where I will play in day 1b (Jan 6th).

Best of luck to all in 2009!!!

Very close

2008-12-23T00:09:00.002+01:00

I am in Buenos Aires visiting a friend. I brought my computer so that I could play while he's at work, but after going out thursday-saturday and since we had no plans for sunday I also decided to play some of the majors.

I only managed to go really deep in one, the Sunday 500. I won a huge coin flip with AKs vs QQ and the very next hand I doubled up again and took the chip lead with 70 players left (SB had AA and raised preflop. I called with T9s from the BB and hit the flop hard J-T-T. I raised his flop bet and he called. King on the turn and he c-rai, I called and no miracle ace on the river gave me the pot.)

Down to 15 I was standing 8th and it was folded to me on the button. I had 99 and raised. The BB who was extremely aggressive pushed all in for 25 BBs and I basically instacalled. He showed ATo and won the race. It was 91K for the winner, so getting 4K "only" actually hurts.

I will spend Christmas here, and on the 26th we're off to Brazil for holidays on the beach. That way I should have my batteries fully charged for the PCA which starts in Bahamas on Jan 5th, which I'm really looking forward to.

Merry Christmas to everybody!!

WBCOOP 2008

2008-12-04T14:03:00.000+01:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code:
document.write(paramCode)
768436

PCA

2008-12-02T01:48:00.003+01:00

I'm sooo excited right now!! I overcame a heads up deficit of 2,5K vs 240K with 2500-5000 blinds....LOL!

It was so sick because I was playing literally vs the worst ever player. Every time there was a flop I would take as many chips as I wanted so he finally decided to go all in for like 30 BBs almost every time. So I trapped him with QQ and he went all in with A7o but he spiked the ace and I was down to 25K. I recovered and went up to even and in a hand where I trapped him beautifully (I had trips and straight draw in the turn) he caught a higher straight in the river with 84 (I had 64 and the board went 7-6-6-3-5) so I was left with less than the BB. I won the first all in race and then he folded (LOL!!) when I pushed for 15K on his blind, and from there on I just don't know what happened but I managed to win or hold the next few races and I shipped the seat!!!!

The Eel will be seen in Bahamas this year!! Watch out!

EPT Budapest

2008-11-02T16:25:00.002+01:00

I just arrived in Madrid after spending the full week in Budapest, and although I couldn't manage to get deep in the main event, I TOOK DOWN THE 1070€ SIDE EVENT FOR OVER 38K!

It's great when you run good in the late stages of a tournament, and in this one I managed to pull off two or three key races that helped me win the whole thing.

I think I played very well all around, especially bearing in mind I survived a KK vs AA pot that left me short stacked like in the 8th level. I waited patiently for good spots in which to steal or resteal and the timing seemed to be spot on.

To say I'm very very pleased is an understatement...

As for the main event, I doubled up in the 10th hand or so, which is why I'm mostly dissapointed as I think that I should have been able to get far deeper after such a promising start. I ended up pushing my below average stack of 12K over a raise with AQ only to get called by 88 and lose the race just 3 hands before the end of day 1.

Budapest

2008-10-27T20:47:00.003+01:00

I arrived a few hours ago in Budapest. I'm playing day 1A tomorrow from at 1pm so I'm planning on resting as much as possible. I will order some room service and watch a couple of movies until I fall asleep.
The weekend was pretty hectic since we had a tournament in San Sebastian (450Kms from Madrid) and Mel and I made it to day 2 of the 660€ buy in main event. In the end we were pretty dissapointed as he finished 8th and I couldn't even make the FT coming in 12th. I ran bad in the all in showdowns and this tournament is a crapshoot in the late stages, so really nothing I could do. I fell in standard manner, restealing an aggresive player's button raise with A6s only to find this time he had pocket tens. I turned the nut flush but he also turned a full house and I couldn't river the royal...lol!
I'm very excited about tomorrow. My mind is always in winning a big event like this one and hopefully I can put myself in contention. I want to play every hand well, thinking through my actions and most important of all, I want to be aggressive and play fearlessly. Luck always favors the brave.

EPT Budapest

2008-10-12T00:47:00.002+02:00

Finally some good news to report! I managed to qualify for the EPT in Budapest that will take place in 2-3 weeks time. Here's the snapshot...I'm off partying to celebrate!!

CEP Murcia

2008-09-30T00:57:00.002+02:00

I played this weekend the last stage of the CEP (660€ buy-in) where 118 players started. I made it to day 2 6th of 24 with 54.8K and the average at 47K. On the 8th hand of day 2, the chip leader raised to 10.5K from the CO at blinds 1.5K-3K/300 and I made the standard push from the SB with AKo. He called with TT (140K stack to start the hand) and we were playing for a 100K pot to put me chip leader but I could never catch up and off I went in the bubble again.

I'm quite happy with how the tourney went from the start and I made very few mistakes. Just a pity I couldn't win the crucial race...

Not worried about bubbling because in neither of the last two times I was short when the bubble came, but since I couldn't score any points fot the annual ranking I think the goal of being first at the end of the year is pretty much remote atm.

WCOOP ME

2008-09-22T15:40:00.002+02:00

I managed to satellite into the ME at the last minute and obviously decided to play. Almost $1.8M for the winner, I just couldn't pass that.

The structure was really really deep at the start and then it got more normal. When we started we had 500 BBs and obviously that's when I received AK 3 times, KK twice, TT...

After that it was a total grind for hours where I just couldn't get a hand and stayed with the starting stack of 25K dragging the occasional pot.

Finaly I got QQ and got it in vs AKs winning the coinflip to be above average for the first time, but I got moved to a pretty difficult table where raise-reraise was the norm and I couldn't get anything going. I lost 2 midsize pots when I opened with 44 (best starting hand I saw in 2 hours at that table besides AJo which I saw twice UTG) and was left with less than 20BBs at 750-1500/150.

My last hand was like two minutes before the levels moved up to 1K-2K and I had 27K. I was in the SB and BigEgypt raised from MP. I had KJo and had not had a chance yet in almost 2 hours to put a 3rd bet so I thought I could have a lot of folding equity even though he had quite a big stack. I reraised to 13K leaving 14K behind (totaly committed) and he thought and finally pushed we 66. The flop was promising as it gave me gutshout to go along with my overcards, but a 6 on the turn and a blank on the river sealed my fate. 650th or so with 324 getting money.

It's a pity to be able to play in one of these great events and not getting cards/spots or some kind of break.

WCOOP are finally over. I have 2 mincashes out of 9 events. I have played with the best players in the world and I think i have been able to hold my own. I still have to make some adjustments to become a better player but I think I'm getting there. Only regret though is not being able to make the FT in the Triple Shootout. I botched that heads up mightily but hopefully I will learn from those mistakes and will not repeat them.

These three weeks have been hectic and I will miss the action and the hopes of the big run in the best online events of the year.

Back to the grind...

Triple Shootout WCOOP

2008-09-19T15:17:00.003+02:00

I had such a huge chance yesterday and I blew it. I don't have much time to recap cause I'm going to one of my best friend's wedding, but let me just tell you that you have to grab this kind of chances.

I won the 1st S&G after more than 4 hours (had Lee Nelson among other really difficult players) playing totally mistake-free poker.

In the second one I managed to get to heads up with almost a 3:1 advantage and killed my chances by playing the only reckless poker I played throughout the 10 hours or so that I was in front of my computer.

Being the bubble is always the worst place to be, but I want to see the positive side of it. I'm getting close, and in a tournament where the structure and players had such a high level I proved I can compete. Now I will have to learn to close it out properly!

I'm probably dome with the WCOOP unless I miraculously satellite into the ME. I had two minor cashes in 8 events. I guess it's an OK result although I was definitely hoping for at least one FT...

Minor cash in Event 23 WCOOP

2008-09-17T05:13:00.003+02:00

I just finished playing after more than 8 hours of grueling poker the 530$+1R+1A MTT. I ended up 168th with 171 cashing for just over $2K, but the pot I lost was worth 125K at 1K-2K blinds. I had 77 and reraised the loosest player at the table. He came over the top but I had put in almost 1/3 of my chips and wasn't going to lay down vs him. He had KQo and rivered a straight on me.
I had previosuly lost another big coin flip with JJ vs AKs that left me pretty much shortstacked, but a couple of suckouts close to the bubble made me get in the money. It's hard to be dissapointed because very easily I could have been eliminated 10 or 20 spots from the money (Q7 vs AT and AQ vs QQ), but if the first coin flip had fallen on my side I wouldn't be talking about the two suckouts, and if I had won the second I would have put myself in position to make something happen.
I still have a couple more chances to make a big score ($320 6-max tomorrow and $530 triple shootout on thursday).

WCOOP Update

2008-09-12T04:59:00.002+02:00

At least a week since I last updated, but I haven't had too much to say. I've played 4 events so far and didn't last too long on any of them. I have made some costly mistakes early in most of them but I'm also not running as good as I'd like (obviously lol). Sunday was the worst day of all though because there were some sick prize pools in every tourney (109+, 55+, 109, 55...) and I managed to lose in all of them after getting it in as huge favorite every time (what else is new lol!)

Tomorrow I have a wedding and for the weekend I have qualified for the EPT Budapest qualifier and for the big sunday WCOOP touney (1050$). Let's see if I can turn the tide around...

WCOOP 2008

2008-09-05T03:25:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow marks the start of the best online tournament series, the World Championships Of Online Poker in Stars. I've been looking forward to these events for quite some time, and I've actually decided to skip going to the EPT in Barcelona (satellites and side events) to concentrate on these.
As of today I have already qualified into the following NLH events:

- Event 1 Sep 5: 215$ 6-max
- Event 6 Sep 7: 530$
- Event 9 Sep 9: 215$ 4-max
- Event 26 Sep 17: 320$ 6-max

I want to play also the following events:

- Event 13 Sep 11: 215$+R
- Event 20 Sep 14: 1050$

In the maybe category I will leave the Main Event (5200$), the 530$ triple shootout, the 530$ PLH and the 530$ 1R1A. As you can see these are quite big buy in events and it will certainly depend on how I'm doing in satellites, cash games and the earlier tournaments.

Best of luck to everybody that will take part in these!

Weekend full of poker

2008-09-01T20:15:00.002+02:00

I played the Madrid leg of the CEP. 216 players for 660€ each that would award 34K to the winner. 25 players got paid and I finished 26th. How do you say it....BUBBLEBOY!!
The last hand was pretty standard as I pushed K9o from the button with 32K at 3K-6K/600 running into pocket kings obviously in the SB. But the problem was that when we entered that level I must have been 6th of 30 with 115K. I lost 16K in a late position raise and then lost more on a pretty difficult hand. Maybe you guys have some thoughts.

Awful weak player limps for 6K in MP with 27,5K total (LOL). I have 99 in HJ and I raise it up to 20K (I have 100K). Button, who has me covered flats in the button, and the other guy also calls leaving himself 7,5K, which he pushes when the board comes J-5-2 with 2 diamonds. What would you do here? The button has played very tight the 2 levels I have played with him and the only hand he has shown was when he doubled up where he minreraised with KK.

I'll let you give me some thoughts before I tell you how the hand developed and what I did.

In other news I went really deep in the Sunday Million. I came in 42nd of 7200+ and it's so frustrating to come close to a big payday and miss. I did have 1 huge suckout vs Belowabove when my AQo cracked his AA and I obviously ran kind of good late (although I missed a couple of key coinflips also), but I went out in pretty sick fashion. At blinds 40K-80K/4K the CO who was standing 2nd in chips and raising 100% in late position opened for 200K and from the button I reraised all in for 1,4M which he called with 66. I had 9d8d and was playing a coinflip that would put me with almost 3M in chips and 7th of 42 remaining. I hit an 8 on the flop, but then it went runner-runner clubs to give him a 6-high flush. SO devastating!! I know it's a coinflip, but once you hit it sucks to see your hopes go "down the drain"...

I'm happy though because I'm giving myself the chance to make a score and with patience and work I'm sure it'll come...hopefully soon!

Olympics Basketball Final

2008-08-25T00:39:00.002+02:00

I witnessed today the greatest basketball international game ever. The display of both teams was absolutely outstanding and I was thrilled the whole game because of how the Spanish team performed. My only regret though is to see what would have happened had the refs acted like they should signalling the obvious travelling faults that the american players kept making. I'm not sure if in the US is known that the international rules DO NOT allow players to take steps before bouncing the ball, and it was pretty sad/demoralizing seeing refs that always signal those faults in the Euroleague kind of looking away every time the did it (there was one instance when Kobe took the ball half way that the whole stadium was standing up not believing that the refs hadn't seen it, which they obviously had but must have had some kind of instructions to be more lenient with them).

In any case, it was an amazing game, and it shows that if the USA team wants to win regularly at international level they will have to show up with their best players or otherwise they will most probably lose.

Near miss

2008-08-08T08:43:00.004+02:00

I'm on holidays but after going out (I don't drink) sometimes we fire up some tournaments. Today I found one at 5:30 am 4-handed and it proved to be a good choice. I played at the start in some of the softest tables I've ever witnessed in Stars and chipped up like crazy without ever showing down or making very easy value bets and/or picking weak bluffing attempts. I then had a couple of big hands paid off fully and I entered the FT with 1/2 the chips in play. In the 3rd hand though I found AKs and I got it aipf vs KK (SB vs Button). In the 6th hand I got it in with AA (that I slowplayed preflop) vs 99 on a 7 high flop and a 9 hit the river. I was down to 13 BBs but managed to play the shortstack well finishing 2nd when my Td8d met Ad9d on a 9h5d3d flop (I hit a ten in the turn and he rivered a nine lol).

It looks as if my streak online is still alive even though I'm only playing whenever I feel like it...

Tao's 5th Birthday

2008-08-05T01:44:00.002+02:00

I'm really bad pimping internet stuff, so I'll just leave you the link to Tao of Poker where you'll find the instructions to play a tournament that will celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the best and most notorious poker blog, which was actually the first I ever read, and where I followed the WSOP for the 1st time.

I'm on holidays at the moment and I'm not sure I will find the time to play it, but I seriously encourage all of you to play it. Sick 1st prize and a lot of fun people to play with.

CEP Tarragona and big online win!

2008-07-29T02:13:00.004+02:00

I left on Wednesday to go to Barcelona before attending the CEP in Tarragona. It was a holiday trip and as always I stayed at "Chez Nuñez", who was actually intending to satellite into saturday's Main Event. He finally managed to convince a couple of friends and on Friday after 10 hours of play he decided to take the 35th place money instead of the seat that was awarded to the other 34, as he had some work to do on Monday and couldn't risk it in case he made it to the final table. So in his first ever live tournament he got almost a 500€ profit! (Entry into the tournament is 660€)

As for my tourney I played very solidly, but two hands were I reraised preflop and had to lay them down (both correctly) put me as a short stack, and I ended up getting my money in with a flush draw that never got there. Nothing new in my live run with the all ins....

..which is totally the opposite to my online running at the moment! Take a look at this:

Another WIN!! I think I played very well throughout, but I also managed two key suckouts, one in the FT bubble when I crai with JT on a QJ6 board and got called by AJ, pulling the miracle ten in the river (ty riverstars!), and the other when we were 8-handed in the FT and I reraised a guy potcommitting myself with AQs, only to see the SB wake up with KK. But my luck online is definately there now, and I runner-runnered a flush! (ty again riverstars!)

From there I played great and abused the table (obviuosly helped by getting some cards and flops at the right times), and after coming with a 3:1 chip lead to HU I lost it (I got it all in with QQ vs A6o pre and lost) and suddenly found myself having to overcome that same deficit, but I out of nowhere I finally had a run of cards and won 3 all ins in a row: ATo vs QJs, AKo vs 88 and the final one QQ vs TT.

And in 3 days I'm off on holidays!

Life is sweet at the moment...hope it stays this way for looooong time!

Long Time

2008-07-22T19:35:00.002+02:00

I finally had a decent score online. Played very solidly and made the most of some chips that were handed to me in the mid-stages of the tournament (a huge donk raised, some guy reraised him and I pushed with KK, with the huge donk caling with A9o lol).

I played very tight at the FT, but once we were 4-5 handed I opened up becoming the aggressor at the table. The biggest pot I played was when we were 4-handed and the SB raised my BB. I reraised with 88 and he moved in. He did have folding equity, but I thought he didn't have much. I was right when he showed QTo and I felt a bit sick thinking his overcards would hit, but two lovely eights on the flop took away all my worries!

3 handed and with 2/3 of the chips in play I just abused until I finally took it down with KK vs A2.

Sunday Tourneys

2008-07-21T11:55:00.002+02:00

I couldn't get much going in the Warm up or Million, but I blew a big stack in the 109$ freezeout in a battle of blinds when I got very stubborn with ace rag. I wasn't too pleased!

Good thing was that I was still in the 201R1A which I managed to final table, although I could only get a 4th place, which is OK, but leaves a kind of sour taste.

Also went deep in the 11R where I lost a huge pot with AQs vs JJ and 22 that could have given me the stack to contend with less than 200 to go of the 3000+ that started.

I bleieve in my game at the moment, but my goal is to play mistake-free poker, and sometimes I still make the occasional blunder.

Fun hands in the ME

2008-07-16T19:29:00.002+02:00

One of the most important things in the ME is your starting table. You need someone who will donate to you early. Someone like this guy.

1st hand of the 3rd level (blinds 150-300) he raises to 1200 from the CO. SB calls and the BB raises to 5000 leaving 10K behind. He flat calls and the SB folds. Flop comes Q-high rainbow, BB pushes with AA and he snapcalls with QQ. SO he's up to 35K or so.

Very next hand he limps in the Hijack and the CO, who is the classic old man (ultra tight rock) raises to 1500. He calls and see a Q-5-3 flop with 2 clubs. He donk bets 2000 and the old man starts to count his chips announcing a raise. He puts out 8K, but then decides that his whole 14K are going in and announces all in. Everyone in the room knows that he has AA, KK or QQ except for this fellow who decides his A5o with no clubs is good enough for a call. Pretty difficult to find a worse call imo.

When I look back at my Main event the hand I believe was the unluckiest for me was when this same guy raised in the 2nd level from MP and I called with 55 in the button. The flop was A-Q-5 with 2 clubs and when I raised his c-bet he immediately folded. Now I know that if he had held an ace I would have stacked him...