Out...

Busted out in 49th place. Got my last 15,000 chips in with KK against 33 and the guy hit a 3 for trips to beat me.

Kind of a bum way to go out, but all in all I have no regrets. Very happy with the way I played and stoked to check this off the "things I want to do in life before I die" list.

Long drive back to NC tomorrow, so I best get some sleep.

Thanks everyone for sweating me all day.

3rd break

25k. Need to get a litle more.

376 entered. Down to 130.

36 get paid.

1st place is 56k.

Dinner brak in 45 minutes.

SCROLL DOWN

Scroll down because my post seem to be posting out of order. Most recent one is DINNER BREAK.

Dinner Break

We are at dinner break. There are 98 people left. I have 20K. Average stack is around 23K, so Im not in too bad of shape. But I'd like to double up soon. Just waiting for those Aces!

Cloutier is out. Shannon is out. Don't think there are any pros left...at least not that I recognize.

I won some nice hands over the last few levels with KK, JJ and QQ. Also made trips with pocket 8's to take down a nice pot. Tried to play AJ and some small pairs in the 6th and 7th round but people kept coming over the top for huge amounts. And they were getting multiple callers from the big stacks. Did not like my chances against more than one hand.

I played one hand poorly which perhaps I'll discuss later, but all in all I think I have played really well.

Blinds in the next level will be 500/1000 with a 100 chip ante. Seeing about 3-4 passes of the blinds per level, so I have a little time to wait, but don't want to wait long. NEED TO DOUBLE UP. Just want to make sure I get in with the best of it.

It will be interesting to see how close to the bubble things start to tighten up...assuming i see "close to the bubble".

This might be my last update before I'm either out or in the money, as it is tough to post and still find time to hit the restroom....and more importantly calculate my situation and figure out what my next moves need to be.

Hopefully the next post will be a good one. Until later...

2nd break

4500 in chips. Card dead. Ned to make a move soon.

First Break

I have 6225 in chips. Like to be higher but not bad.

T.J. Cloutier is at my table!! That's worth the $500 buy in all by itself!

Shannon Elizabeth and Jeff Shulman 1 table over.

Monday Morning

Slept relatively well (thank you Ambien). I did have a horrible nightmare that during the first level of the tournament I discovered that it was a REBUY event. ugh. People were pushing all in like crazy and accumulating these huge stacks.

2 hours until the tournament starts. Did a little workout. Shaved (rare for me). Now just trying to decide what shirt to wear...these are the real important decisions for a poker player.

Hopefully I will not have any issues posting from mu SideKick today. Lord willin...

Borgata Open Main Event

Got to see a little bit of the Borgata Open Main Event today.

Well known players still remaining: Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Tilly, John Phan and David Sklansky.

Kind of cool...

Welcome to The Borgata

I have arrived in Atlantic City! Checked in, registered.

I am at Table 7, Seat 1. I hate seat 1. Hopefully that is not a bad omen.

Might play some low stakes poker tonight to get in the mindset...then early to bed so I'm well rested for tomorrow.

The main event is going on as I type, so I will likely stop over there to see what stars are left in the tourney.

My Dolphins are not so good.

Welcome To Virginia!

127 miles down. Sitting in Virginia.

Waiting for the Dolphins game to sart to listen to on Sirius.

Should be in Atlantic City by 3 or 4 PM.

Atlantic City here I come!

I will be leaving for Atlantic City in the morning to play in the $500 No Limit Hold Em tournament at the Borgata Open. There are a few websites you can check out for info/updates on the tournament.

http://cardplayer.com/tournaments/results/6513

http://blogs.cityatlantic.com/poker/node

For the most part these sites focus on the "known" players, but it is worth checking out just to get a feel for how the tournament is progressing.

I will also attempt to post updates here on this site of my trip and, on Monday, my progress in the tournament.

While I have played in many poker tournaments over the year, this will be my first major tournament and certainly my first World Poker Tour event. I'm stoked to be doing this as it has been a goal of mine to play in a major tournament for some time.

I have several short term goals for the tournament which hopefully when all put together will lead to a strong finish overall:

(1) Make it to the 5th level when the antes kick in and maintain a healthy chip stack (M=~20 for those that know poker)

(2) Make it to the dinner break which follows the 7th level.

(3) Make it in to the money (~Top 10%)

(4) Make it to the final table.

(5) WIN!

To accomplish these I'm going to need a few things to happen:

(1) Catch a few good hands.

(2) Steal some blinds (and antes when it gets to those levels)

(3) Maximize strong hands to get the most chips possible out of my opponents when I have the winning hand

(4) Minimize my mistakes and losses and when I have the worst of it


If I can play with all of these things in mind, I think I have a good chance to do well in this event.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates starting Sunday and running through Tuesday morning when I return from my trip.

Good luck to me!