Costa Rica Trip Report (part 3)
DAY 4
Well, I missed a day of updates because, gasp, I was actually playing poker! Unfortunately here I sit in my hotel room while the final table goes on. I didn’t even make day 2 of the tournament, due to the wonderful amount of luck that has plagued me this year.
I drew a really good table, in my opinion, with Humberto Brenes and TJ Cloutier on my right, and a bunch of randoms that weren’t very good at poker on my left. Humberto was surprisingly a really nice guy contrary to how he acts on TV.
The first three hours of the tournament were pretty straightforward. I flopped a set of fives against Humberto’s set of jacks, but an all diamond flop minimized my losses. Called a guy’s bets all the way down with AQ on an ace high board and he showed a bluff. Won a couple small pots here and there. Started the fourth level with 17k, up from our starting stack of 12k.
I made a large misstep with my AQ by getting involved with a guy who had kings. I couldn’t get away from it on a queen high board and dropped myself down to 10k. Fortunately I picked up kings and acted really weak and got a guy to call my all in on a T66 flop to double up.
The disaster luck came when I just called a raise with pocket jacks after the tightest player at the table raised. He almost literally only played aces, so I had to assume I was behind. The flop came KJT, and he bet out 1500. I made it 4800 ready to call his all-in as I was almost sure he held aces. He did go all in, I instacalled, he showed aces, and rivered a queen for the straight. 22k+ pot going the wrong way.
Left with just 6k, I went card dead and pushed where I could to stay alive. Eventually ended up reraising all in with AK only to run into kings. Went out around 9:30pm. Bah.
Costa Rica Trip Report (part 2)
DAY 2
Well, I made it out to the poker room last night and I really don’t know what to make of it. I played a little $1/$2 NL and made a small profit when a guy tried to bluff me with AQ on a J4497 board. I called with J9.
Surprisingly, there are quite a few pros here for the main event. I spotted TJ Cloutier, Tom McEvoy, Kenna James, KrazyKanuck, Young Pham, and Kathy Leibert.
Oh and Kato Kaelin. Yes, that Kato Kaelin.
Played a little bit more poker and lost a bit after getting my aces cracked in the first five minutes. He had queens and the final board was 9TJK8, of course. I chipped back up a bit, but not enough to wind up in profit-land.
True Poker bought all of the qualifiers dinner, and everyone was dying to know my screenname. They finally got it out of me when a guy admitted to be the one that sucked out on me for a seat… to relive the misery, he had AJ and I had Q9 and we got it all in on a J994 board. Miracle jack on the river. Ouch.
Most everyone has been pretty friendly, and the True Poker & LSOP staff has been great. Tomorrow the main event starts at 1pm… looking forward to a nice deep stack event. 12k in chips with hour levels. If I don’t draw anyone dangerous, it should be pretty easy to make day two. Wish me luck!
Costa Rica Trip Report (part 1)
DAY 1 – Wednesday: Travel Day
Well, I’m in Costa Rica! I must say that wasn’t a bad travel day at all. The flights were decent (what’s that? Continental still gives out free food and drinks on their flights? Gasp!) and each flight was only about 3 hours. My new laptop really made the trip tolerable, though, as it had enough battery power to let me watch movies all the way through each flight, with a recharge in Houston inbetween.
I now sit in a cab, where I’m pained to sit in silence as my cabbie knows little English and I know un poquito Espanol. Oh wow, police blockade in the road as I type it. Only word I understood was “routine” … I think. I hope.
Whew… don’t know what that was about and I don’t think I want to. But the blockade was right in front of my hotel so I’m in my room now, all checked in. The reviews of the hotel online weren’t the best, but I’m pleasantly surprised.
OK, I’m off to go wander the hotel and see if I can find a bar with some English-speakers. The silence is deafening!
