Christmas Greetings

I just got back from a wonderful Christimas with my wife's family. My in-laws decided to have a destination Xmas in Snowshoe, WV. I have been there a handful of times in high school and college always having a blast, but this year I have officially given up on skiing. The pain in my ankles the last time I attempted was just too much. So with their entire family looking foward to hitting the slopes I was a bit concerned, but they went out of the way to plan plenty of other reindeer games I could participate in. They took me snowmobiling for the first time and tubing for the first time. In addition to that we played a bunch of games and watched a bunch of movies, two things I absolutely love to do. They, as always, out did themselves with the gift giving. I was a very happy little boy Christmas morning.
Every year Morgan and I split up the holidays and every year I think I will miss the family aspects of the holidays, but just like every other year they show me how much a part of the family I am. They are all special people and I am very lucky to call them family.

Justin "robert07" Young

Eric "Basebaldy" Baldin is 2009 POY

Even though Eric and I are competitors in a fairly small market it was incredible watching him go after the 2009 Cardplayer Player of the Year. He made all he sacrifices needed to give himself an optimal chance for a win. Despite Cornell winning two WPT's and Yev winning the biggest live and online tournaments of 2009, Eric was still able to beat them both by a fairly large number. The victory of the Bellagio 1K rebuy event extended his lead to over 1000 points meaning only two guys had a chance to catch him. Not only that, but they had to finish 4th or higher in one of the toughest tournaments of the year.
Eric deserves all of the respect that comes along with this award and will be a great spokesman for poker over his time in this game. He is the "Dallas Clark" of poker. Everyone knows he is extremely skilled, but still manages to fly under the media radar. He is one tv final table away from being a house hold name.
Due to a huge down swing at the end of my 2009 I have had to live thru Eric's successes. Watching a close friend do well has helped me go a little less crazy during this cold streak. I hope if Eric ever runs cold I can win a huge tournament to make him feel better.

Justin "robert07" Young

Out of WPT Bellagio

I came into the day with about 21 big blinds. I wasnt going to press since I knew the structure is really good. I folded in a couple marginal spots in the first orbit erroring on the side of caution. There was a really good spot to steal a blind, but a young guy to my right took it away from me. I thought about 3 bet pushing there, but I wasnt sure how he played. The previous hand to my bust hand, the guy to my left won a nice pot. Which means its another great time to steal his BB. It folded around to the same kid on the button and he raised to 2200. I looked at Q4o and thought it was good enough, so I shoved. He took little time to call 13.5K more with KQ and despite a flop of 235 I was out the door.
I will be playing the $500 today at Bellagio for my last live tourny of the year.

Justin "robert07" Young

Day 1 of WPT Bellgio

Not that WPT's get me excited enough, but since I final tabled this event last year I was just a bit more focused....or so I thought. Its not that I played horrible on day one, but I did make a couple of mistakes. I never made a hand and when I did I called off in bad spots. I did make some nice bluffs to keep myself in the tourny, but it was not enough to earn me a pile of chips. I come into day 2 with 17K and the blinds will be 400/800. I am pleased with my table draw, but when I am this short it may come down to timing.
On a positive note Eric Baldwin won the 1K rebuy event at Bellagio. The win puts a strangle hold on the POY race with only two people having draws to beat him. Even though Yev and Cornell are nice guys I would like everyone to think bad poker thoughts about them today.

Justin "robert07" Young

5K HORSE and 1500 NL

The 5K HORSE was an after thought. I went in just to play the juicy PLO games I had seen in days past. I stopped by the tournament room just to see how many players. To my suprise the number was at 40 and growing. I still went to play cash, but secretly wanted to play the event. I sat down to play 25/50 PLO with a couple fish and a couple really good players who had been up for 30 hrs straight. I just bought in for 5K so I was a bit more selective with my starting hands, and gambled a bit more post flop. Though I thought it was a fine strategy (sp?), it did not go in my favor. The game was playing very loose so 3 people would call me down every time. So the pot was 20K+ but it reduced my odds. I got it in with top set, wraps, combo draws, 2 pairs, etc...and lost every one. After 25K left my possesion I decided to just cut my loses and play the HORSE. I ended up final tabling and finishing just in the money at 8th place. I was short for all of day 2 and got it in, in stud with (KQ)K vs Jason Mercier's (QJ)K leaving me a huge favorite. He ran off A-A on 5th and 6th streets to go ahead and I could not catch up.
I immediatley jumped in the 1500 NL and quickly build my stack to 45K (starting stack 10K). I bluffed off half of it on a missed draw. I slowly built my stack back to 55K going into dinner. Then after dinner I flopped a set and lost and put in 25% of my stack with JJ and folded to James VanAlstine. I was down to 11BB before I knew it and stuck it in with 66 against AK. An ace on the flop sent me packing.
Today is a 5K PLO rebuy which I will not be playing. The last couple months have been horrific for me and despite playing average to above average, my bankroll needs a day off.

Justin "robert07" Young

1K Rebuys and a Miserable Sunday

I played the 1K rebuy a little splashy, but my table was playing fairly nitty. I showed a couple bluffs that worked and from there I got paid off on all my made hands. The big one being KK vs AK for 50K in chips. I did the double add on to put me up to 75K. I chiped up quickly to 100K, but hovered between 120K and 80K for some time. As we approached the bubble I played a bit more aggressivley which allowed me to balloon my stack to 165K when the following hand came up. Player A (a random who on the hand before opened to 16K and folded when a small stack pushed for 30K more), opened for 11K in early. I found AKo and three bet him to 30K in hopes he is either a nit and will fold or feels attacked and will rip with worse. Instead he flat calls. I have not played with him at all, but I guessed he is not capable of slow playing a large hand in this spot. Medium pairs and AQ are the most likely range. The flop was J103 rainbow, he checked and I checked behind. With 135K behind and 75K in pot I did not like a small bet and since I had position I did not like a pot committing bet. The turn was the Ace of hearts and he immediatley bet 50K. I hate my hand and this spot and wanted to fold, but there was too good a chance I had the best hand. I could just call and see if he slows down, but I felt like I would miss some value from his range of worse hands. I decided to rip 85K more and he snapped with the nuts (KQhh). If I could have found the discipline (sp?) to just call and fold to a push on the river, I think that was the correct play. But, since I have never played with him I dont know if I could have done that. So at 115am I busted a couple spots from the money.
I got up Sunday to play the whole slate, but I did not cash in anything making the day a 4K loser. There is a Bellagio tourny today. I have no idea how much or what game, but I am going in to play. I feel like I am playing good poker and expect something to happen soon.

Justin "robert07" Young

1500 with Rebuys PLO

I'll give you a quick run down of the tournament and then the hand I was ousted from the tournament with. I ran as bad as I could during the rebuy portion of the tournament. And of course as I continued to lose I increased my gambling. We will just say I was the "rebuy" leader of the tourny. After the rebuy period closed I hit a couple hands to push me up to 145K (twice avg). A small cooler put me down to about 110K after dinner. There was 16 left and 5 spots pay. 110K was good for average and I liked my table draw. UTG limped for 1600 as did I with a pretty big hand AcQd10d4c. A double suited hand with 3 high connecters is better than a limp hand, but I wanted to see a flop with it. With aggressive players behind I could just call or reraise if certain players popped it. One other person limped and Frank Kasella bet pot out of the SB. Frank had just lost a couple big pots and has a very wide range here. The BB folded and the UTG limper called. UTG is a novice to the game, but usually selects strong hands preflop. All of my options are available and could be correct. I was more worried about UTG than Frank and thought if I pushed that he could call me down with a hand that hand me in big trouble. But....with Frank spewing a little bit I felt a call was best. The other limper folded and with 32K in the pot the flop was QcJd4h giving me top and bottom pair with a gut shot and two back door flush draws. Frank had 32K in his hand and just dropped it in as the flop was being exposed. UTG folded and it was on me with 100K in front of me. Normally I would just shove, but Frank gave a speech that made me think he was strong. The hands I was worried about was JJxx and QJxx. Knowing that Frank would beat in the middle with any draw I decided to just call leaving myself 68K behind. I was going to fold if a A, J, 10, 9, or 8 hit the turn otherwise I was going with it. The turn was a 2s and he quickly annonce all in. I was still sure he liked his hand, but had no clue if I was ahead. I missed both my back doors, but after making the call on the turn I felt I had to call. He showed KhQsJs8h for top two. I needed a A, K or 4 to win, but the 9c fell and I was out. I'd like to think I am a pretty good PLO player, but I am unsure if my analysis of this hand is correct for tounament play. Unfortunatley all the good PLO players I knew were playing, so I will have to wait to run down the hand with them.
There is a 500 NLHE today and I will be playing. Yesterday was a miserable day that had me a huge loser. It will be tough to play well in today's event when I will need to finish 2nd to recoup yesterdays loses.

Justin "robert07" Young

1K Bellagio

The 1K at bellagio started off promising. I bluffed two streets only to get there on the river and got paid off. The pot pushed me to 16K from the 10K starting stack. In a limped pot from the button I called with Q8o. With 6 way action (300 in the pot) the flop came AsQc8s. BB led for 200 and a guy in middle position raised to 600. Another guy cold called and it was on me. I could make an argument for all the options, but I elected to just call. The turn was the 8d giving me a full house. The raiser bet 1700 and the other caller folded. Hands like AA (he was the first limper) and A8 are very possible, but I cant just fold with such a draw heavy board. So I called and the river was the 9s. This completed the flush and a straight. He bet 4200 and as much as I wanted to I could not fold. He showed A8 and scooped the pot. After that I doubled with AK vs QQ aipf. I chiped up to as much as 30K before I started losing chunks at a time. A10 vs JJ, AJ vs 1010 and 77 vs AA put me out the door with about 50 left (160 started).
Today's event is the 1500 PLO with rebuys. I am hoping for a decent turnout of 75 players, but I have been wrong before.

Justin "robert07" Young

Day 2 Venetian Main Event

I went into day 2 with above average chips and a lot of confidence. The day started with me opening a ton of pots causing my stack to be in a constant state of flux. There were a couple tough spots, but overall I did not mind the table. I was moved to the easiest table in the room so I began to open up my game. Though the process was slow, I chipped up from 70K to 130K without much worries. As we were approaching the bubble, I knew I could do some real damage, but I was moved yet again. This time I was moved to the toughest table in the room. I was still able to chip up due to some timely bluffs. I was up to around 200K when the following hand came up. A super tight aggressive player raised from middle and I called from the SB with 96dd (I would fold AJ maybe AQ), and Cantu called from the big. The board was 8c7d3c giving me an open ended draw and a backdoor flush draw. We checked to him and he bet 20K (90%pot). I called and Cantu mucked. I was pretty sure he had an overpair and was hoping to catch the nuts or a good scare card on the turn. The turn was a 8s. It wasnt the best scare card, but I thought I could led out and save having to make a decision when he bet pot. So I bet 29K. He quickly announce raise and made it 90K even. I was still sure he had an overpair, so pushing to represent the third 8 is possible, but with so many draws he could find the courage for a call. Folding is certainly an option, but I wanted to play a bit more high variance since I had a plane reservation the following morning. With a call I would leave myself with 95K, and since I was sure of his hand I was going to open rip if a club hit or if I make my hand. Thinking he has to call if a non club 5 or 10 hits and he has to fold if any club hits. I made the iffy call and I was rewarded with the 5d of the river. I knew he would check behind so I led all in. He started tanking and I was pissed. I was expecting the quick crying call. After about 2 minutes he found a fold. The pot pushed me to 350K and 3rd in chips in the tourny. After losing a few smallish pots I got in 280K with top two pair against Cantu's top pair and a flush draw. The river was his heart and I was down to 45K. After being fortunate to double up with AA vs A3 and again with AQ vs A7, and again with A7 vs KQ I was amongst the trees. Then the night fell apart. I took 77 vs two all in opponents one with Q8ss, and the other with A6hh. I was clean till the river when a Q hit. The pot was 450K and would have put back to 2nd in chips with 25 to go. Then I lost another huge flip with AJo vs 66 for 60% of my stack. Then the same guy finished me off with KK vs my same AJo. I got knocked out with 4 minutes left in the day meaning I could catch my flight, but 19th was very bitter for me. For the starting hands and the all in luck I had I was amazed how deep I made it. I feel like I was playing B+/A- poker, which I havent really played since the WSOP. I am looking foward to the Bellagio starting up.

Justin "robert07" Young