Re-Cap from WSOP Main Event

First of all, thanks for watching my blogs throught the series. Many of you were watching and I appreciate the nice comments.

I was extremely dissappointed with my finish since I really fought hard to get my stack up to around 65,000. Throughout the tournament, the cards were never real good to me, I struggled for every 1000 that I got. I had pocket aces only once with no action and pocket kings once with small action.

Well, here is a re-cap of my last hand. I was middle position, blinds were 600/1200 with a 200 ante. The pot was raised to 2400 and then again re-raised to 6000 to my right. I had about 56,000 at the time. I thought at this time a call was correct. There was another one in late position who also called. There was 4 way action in the pot and about 26K in chips. The flop came Ace of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Six of Spades. I thought it was a great flop for my Ace-King. First position checks, the person to my right makes it 10,000. I thought for a while and figured it was either all in to keep the flush guy from drawing or fold. Well obviously I did not fold and moved in with all of my chips. The button folds, the next guy went into the think tank for about 5 minutes and finally folded. It thought at this time, the guy to my right would probably lay it down, but instead he said "I have to call this even though I hate to" . Those were words I did not want to hear since now we were either tied or just he had me crushed. He also said "show me your pocket aces". I knew I was beat then as he then turned over pocket queens to complete his set. The turn comes a King to give me the top two pair and the river was a Four of Hearts. The other guy said he would have made the flush! It was over for me as he had me covered.

Now, my Monday morning quarterbacking of my hand. In retrospect I would and should have folded pre-flop. I had to call the raise and re-raise as a strong hand maybe Aces or Kings. After I saw the flop I could have flat called the 10,000 but even then, I would have been all in after the turn card since I had top tow pair. So for those who say to flat call, the turn would have had all of us in!!

Again thanks for watching and I will post here as the tourneys progress. My next one is planned for the LA Legend of Poker in August. Keep in touch!

Tournament over

I had a monster and was beat by a bigger one. Once I cool off I will write the details. It is over though.

MAIN EVENT 2nd Report Day 4!!

We just got out for a 15 minute break and there are so many people here!! My stack is good at 55,400 chips and there are about 1150 left in the tournament. I really have not caught cards, but have been able to catch once in a while and steal a few blinds. When we return, there will be 500/1000 blinds with 200 antes. This round should move a couple of hundred short stacks out. Phil Ivey has been playing on the table next to me, so you can imagine the TV cameras stay on him.

This level will also take us to the dinner break. They are not sure how long we will play tonight, but my guess is through level 13. We are coming up on level 10. I feel very good about my stack as well as my play. I just need the good cards to come!!

1st Report from Day 4 WSOP 1st Break

We have just finished our level 8 and my chips are at 42,900. An increase of about 5K. We started the day with 1884 and my guess is that we are down to about 1620. My cards are not bad, I had my stack to about 56K but ran into a hand that did not make and I had to get away from it. I am about #4 stack at my table and do not expect to move since it is table 3.

They announced the pay scale and it will start at 560 with the final table being all millionaires with 9th paying $1,000,000 and first paying $7,500,000.

We are on break for 30 minutes and we also are going back to 2 hour blinds. They are thinking that we will play until about midnight. When we return, the blinds will be 400/800 with 100 antes. They just raced off our green $25 chips!!!

I hope to give you a good report in about 2 hours!!

WSOP DAY 4 about to Start!!!!

Day 4 is about to begin and I have my Mom from New York and my Dad from Texas with me and that is the coolest part. I feel very nervous and very good about my chips and where I stand. It appears that we are just over 1900 with the beginning count being 5661. Cardplayer reports that they will be paying 560 and I fell that we will get there today if not first thing tomorrow. We start one hour later, noon pacific and it is a mystery how long we will be playing today. My guess is 6 levels which will be just about 12 hours. I very much like that I am above average by about 9000 chips and I will be starting out on Table 3 Seat 5 which means that I most likely will not move all day from that spot. Tension is high, stakes are overwhelming and we are about to shuffle up and deal. Talk at you in about 3 hours!!

End of 1st Day of WSOP Report MOVING ON!!!

Well, GREAT NEWS from the WSOP! I finished day one and things are well. I have 37,725 in chips with the average just barely below 30,000. According to www.cardplayer.com, I am ranked 163 from first day with my chip count. I will play again this Sunday when it is the official 2nd day of the tournament. They are playing Day 1 for the second group of 1900 and tomorrow will play the Day 1 for the 3rd group. We will meet on Sunday with about 2000 and then according to rumours, the pay structure will begin at 550 and down.

Some of the hands that made my day were pocket 10's and I called a small stack after the flop of three small cards in and he showed pocket 9's. I struggled from 3,000 when I thought that I could be in trouble and it took me about 5 hours to get back to 10,000! This tournament is so intense and there are by far the best players playing in the world championship event. The other big hand that I had was pocket jacks and I raised middle position to 3 times the blind, the button calls the 1200. Flop came K-J-8 and I checked. Button puts 4000, I slow play and raise to 8,000. He then says "I will put you all in" (music to my ears!). I called and he shows A-K and my set doubles me up. Then it was about blind stealing and position the rest of the night. We had to play 20 minutes into the 8th level to get down to the required 650. It was 15 hours 20 minutes of solid play.

I am quite happy about my chances here and if I play a smart game, good things will happen!!! By the way, ESPN was all over one of my all in's. I am sure that the media coverage will be heavy on Sunday. I will report back starting on Sunday at noon pacific, hoping that I have availability of internet connections. Thanks and have a good day!!

John

4th Report from WSOP

It is dinner time, good chips coming back at 9425 and there are about 600 gone. Gotta make this one quick. I am having to borrow puters and may not be able to post till morning. I feel very good about my game and the blinds are 150/300 25 ante when we return.

This is Bralynn, doing a Blog Report for John Wells, because he was unable to get to a computer himself.

John's current chip stack is around 6800, with the average stack being around 10,700.

There have been about 150 people eliminated.

When play resumes, the blinds will be 100/200 with a 25 ante.

After the next break, in about 2 hours, it will be a lunch break.

According to WSOP officials, they are going to play down to 660 people tonight.

2nd Report from the MAIN EVENT WSOP!!

We have now concluded 200 minutes of play and the blinds when i go back will be 100/200. My stack is good about 11K and there are maybe 100 out of the race. My table is fairly predictable with the guy directly to my right being on fire!! He and I are buddies, so he is not gunning for me!!! It always helps to have friends!!!!

Phil Laak just arrrived late and looks kind of like maybe he had no sleep!! He is playing close to me on a different table. Chris Ferguson just had pocket aces and a guy with K-9 and the guy flopped the K and the 9. The crowd was roaring and then on the river, Chris had the board air to make him the highest two pair. He would have been elimated if it was not for that happening. See you in 100 minutes!!!

Report from the MAIN EVENT 1st Break!

Well, we are through with the first 100 minutes and my stack is about even at 9775. I am sitting to the right of Chris Bigeler and the media is a frenzy. The rail is filled with hundreds of people as well as the room full of players. They will be cutting off registration now and the last count prior to play is 5603 with my guess is that there will be 5800 total.

My game is good, table is fairly easy to read, now I just need the cards to come. I do expect to be moved in the next round as they are breaking tables close to me. I would guess there are about 80-100 already out of the tournament.

Talk at ya in about 100 minutes!!

BAD news from the 1K re-buy

Well, it is over on this one. I was just unable to catch cards that win. The cards when i would get them would just get outdrawn. Next update will be Thursday beginning 11am pacific when I will be playing the main event!!

1st Report from the 1K NL Re-Buy tourney, NOT BAD!

Well, we just finished the first two levels and the re-buy and add on period. I was not getting good cards but was able to pick up a pair of 9's with 3 all in and flopped the set. My chip stack is at 3725 with the average being about 3K. I did not do any re-buys but did add on at the end. I feel good and my cards just need to cooperate and hopefully it will be a long day. I cannot believe it, Phil Helmuth is right behind me and he has not squeaked a word out!!! I feel that I am missing the show.

Talk to you in two hours!!

July 4th FIREWORKS Special!! $1000 NL re-buy EVENT

Well, it is time for the $1000 NL re-buy tourney to begin and is guaranteed to get wild and crazy. I hope that my cards run great for me as the bad beats are killing me on the satellites. I hope to be on a loose table so that I can double up quickly. There are exected to be around 1000 in the tournament. Things have been pretty quiet at the WSOP as it is the low before the storm.

I did get my $10,000 buy in for the main event confirmed today and I wil be laying the first day, Thursday July 7th. They have 4600 registered today and expect a full sell out!!

I will report in two hours on the progress of the tournament today!!

Arrival back at the WSOP July 3rd

Well, I am back for the duration and feeling good. I was planning on playing the $3000 limit holdem event today but opted not to do so. I have been playing the small single table sit and go's and will try to sharpen the game today with those.

There are 4400 entered into the main event as of this morning and they expect a sellout by Wednesday of 6600.

I will not post a blog until tomorrow when I will play the $1000 NL re-buy tourney. This is the tourney where Negraneu last year bought in 29 times!! He did go on to win over 100K!! hopefully, it won't take me that much!!!

WSOP PLANS

Well, I am back in Texas right now and will be returning to Vegas to play for the duration this coming Saturday, July 2nd. I am planning on playing the $1000 NL Re-Buy tournament on July 4th and possibly the limit tournament on the 3rd. I am planning on playing at the Ballagio in their tourney as well. I then have a dinner with the Full Tilt Pros and the Big Dance begins on July 7th. I am not sure of my first day of play since they are breaking it down to 3 first days! They really expect the 6000 number to be reality. I am on top of my game right now as I arrived home and placed in the Pokerstars 700K guaranteed. I was barely awake from travelling all night. I will post here when my first day will be as well as the other event updates. Thanks for following my progress.