I am THE James

First, I realize that I have not updated this blog since November. I just haven’t taken the time to do so. So, with that being said, I thought I would take some time and give you an update on my trip out west and my life in general.

Overall, my trip out west turned out well. The first day was a little shaky due to my plane getting grounded due to engine problems. However, after arriving to Vegas 8 hours late, I got to my hotel. The rooms at the 4 Queens were much nicer than I expected for the amount I paid. Nice pillow top beds and big plasma TV’s. Room service was also reasonably prices. Other than Subway, I mostly ate room service. (Subway ended up being higher than room service was on some occasions. Go figure.)

The Grand convention area inside of the Golden Nugget was a nice place to hold an event. I enjoyed my time at the Nugget. I wound up finishing 9th in one H.O.R.S.E. event and finished 5th in the Mixed Event. Unfortunately, the 5th place finish did not garner me any money due to only 21 players registering for the event. The event paid 3 spots. The H.O.R.S.E. event paid 9. While it appeared I just squeaked in the money, that was far from the case. Two players were much shorter than I was when we got to the money, but as things turned out, the short stacks kept doubling and I stayed card dead. I could have made the final table if I folded the last hand I played, but thats how it goes.

The same week I cashed at the Nugget, I finished 4th in a H.O.R.S.E. event at Green Valley Ranch. Again, I had enough chips to make the top three but the guy in 4th place went on an amazing run of cards. I can’t complain too much. I played well, made the final table, and cashed.

After Vegas, I went to Los Angeles for a few days. I decided to play in two events at the Bike. The first was an Omaha 8 or Better event. That event I never could get anything going and went out on back to back hands when my kings full ran into aces full and then my flopped set of kings was outdrawn by a Royal Flush. I was all in on the flop in the Royal Flush hand. Hey, if I am going to lose, thats the way to lose. The next day, I played in an Omaha 8 weekly tourney at Hawaain Gardens and finished 12th in that one. Unfortunately it paid 10. That tournament had an insane structure where with 20 players left, the chip leader of the tournament had only 10 big bets. The big stack at my table had 4. I had 2 big bets and I had 4,500 chips.

The Limit Holdem tournament at the Bike was the last event I played in L.A. This event had its ups and downs, but I went on a big of a run about mid way of the event to build a nice stack. I was able to make the money in the event and eventually finish 12th place. If I would have won one more pot late in the event, I would have made the final table as we made the final table about 10 minutes after I busted. It was cool though. I played well in the event and got my 15th pro cash. I don’t know what it is about Vegas and Los Angeles that makes me perform so well, but I seem to step up my game out there.

My goal for the trip poker wise was to cash twice with 1 final table at the Nugget and to cash once in L.A. I wound up making 1 cash and 1 final table in Vegas. Of course, I ended up playing 3 fewer events than I had planned. I played 3 events as opposed to 6 events. The cash at Green Valley I don’t count since it does not count towards lifetime stats. Since I played fewer events in Vegas, I consider myself as hitting my goal. The L.A. trip, I met my goal.

After leaving L.A., I drove out to Reno to check it out. Reno is basically a smaller version of Vegas. It was ok, but I only played in one casino out there. I played at the Peppermill, where I played a couple hours at $3-$6 Omaha 8. It was a decent game, but after a couple of hours, I was bored. The Limit Holdem table had 15 names on it, so I left. The next day, I decided to head out to Virginia City, NV.

First, I stopped at the Fandango Casino in Carson City, NV. I had to pass a couple of hours before I could check into my hotel, so I decided to play in the Noon No Limit tourney. $35 with rebuys to the final table. I get into the room to play and the guy running the event is familiar. I ask him how I might know him and he tells me he used to run the tournaments at the Bike. RUBEN!!!! I then remember him and reminded him about how I was the guy that wanted to play stud satellites all the time. He then remembered me. We both asked each other, “What are you doing out here.” I told Ruben about my reasons, and I found out from him that he was retired and just took the job at the Fandango cause the area was so laid back. He was right. This was a 3 table poker room and we didn’t fill the tables. As far as the tournament, I was one of the chip leaders until a hand with 11 players left where a guy went all in against me with middle pair against my top pair. He got lucky and paired his kicker and I was crippled. I then managed a double up just shy of the final table. I did not rebuy since I didn’t want to waste any more money on a tourney that will pay only three spots. My final hand, I get 9-2 in the big blind and see a free flop. I flop top pair and push. Unfortunately, my opponent held Q-9 and busted me. This is the same guy that got lucky against me earlier. Anywho, while I wasn’t happy with how things turned out, I couldn’t complain too much. Just before the tournament, I hit two four of a kinds on a video poker machine. It paid for my buy-in to the event and then some.

After the game, I go on to Virginia City. If you want to experience how things used to be, go to Virginia City. When they say you are stepping back in time, they mean it. You will not find ANY franchises anywhere in this town. The gas station is probably 50 years old. It was a lot of fun to stay in this town. I played a lot at the local saloons. They had some video poker machines with great odds and some that still paid coins. I only had one losing day in Va City playing video poker and I won overall for the trip there. One day, I literally went around to every Saloon that was open and hit for a minimum of 30 bucks at each one. The Saloon owners were not happy with me that day. I also took some old western style pics while I was there. One of them is above.

After Virginia City, I went back to Vegas and spent a few more days before coming back home. I didn’t play anymore poker on the trip and mostly just played Video Poker. Anywho, the trip was a blast overall and I just mostly hit the highlights.

Now on to the new year. The theme for this year for myself will be health and music. On the 5th, I started working out with a personal trainer to help me lose weight. I have let my way get and stay out of control for much too long and I plan to take back the control. My goal is to get under 300 lbs eventually. I started at an insane weight of 425.6 pounds. My initial goal is to get under 400. So far, I am doing well as I am down to 417 as of today. That’s 8.6 pounds thus far. I am both dieting and exercising with the assistance of my personal trainer Tara. I truly feel that with the plan I am on, I will succeed this time. I will keep updates on this blog and let you know my progress.

The other part of this year’s theme is music. I have officially started taking piano lessons at the Mendez Academy of Music in Lynchburg, Va. Erin gave me some lessons at one point and I will now take them to another level and try to learn the piano properly. I have always wanted to play but thought it would be too difficult. Erin proved me wrong and so now I want to learn how to play.

I will continue with my poker writing. I have to fund my changes of course. As far as my poker playing, I don’t know when I will be playing in another event. I think focusing on my health will be my biggest concern. If I don’t have my health, poker becomes irrelevant. The next trip I will take will probably be the World Series of Poker in June. When I go, I will probably only go a couple of weeks as I will be working 4-H camp this year.

Anyway, I have a lot of busy and interesting times ahead of me. Keep reading as I will keep you updated about my journey.

I am writing from Event #29, the $3,000 NL Event.  Since I have last posted, we finished event #22, the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.  Jens Voertmann won the event, but it was a fantastic final table with Marcel Luske, Steve Zolotow, Hoyt Corkins, and Jennifer Harman.  Out of those four, only Marcel had any real shot to win as he finished 3rd.  He was up and down a long time but finally his loose style caught up to him.  I am glad that Voertmann won out of the two left, especially after one hand late.  Doug Ganger and Voertmann were playing a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo where Ganger slowrolled Voertmann.  After that hand, it was as if Voertmann said, “Ok, we play now.”  He just flattened Ganger after that point.

Today, I am covering the $3,000 NL event.  Some big names, but a lot of the top tier names are over in the $10,000 Limit Event.  I would much rather be there, but I guess I have to do time in the NL jail.  Actually, it’s not too bad to cover.  Its actually simple.  I think thats the point.  Its so simple a game that after a while, everything is routine.

After this event, in three days I cover the $10,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship.  That should be a lot of fun.  The only down side to all this is that I am beginning to miss some of my friends, which was to be expected.

Unless I make a last minute change, I probably wont play in a WSOP event this year.  I am planning on playing the Stud 8 or Better event down at Binion’s on the 24th, but right now anything else will depend on my schedule and how I feel.  I may hang around and play over at the Orleans open next month, but I haven’t decided.

Anyway, I will try and write again before the end of the 3k event, but this event isn’t all that exciting.

Well, the 10k Stud World Championship is behind us and Eric Brooks wound up winning the event.  With 16 players left we had Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and Erik Seidel left in our field.  Out of all of those, only Seidel made the final.  Seidel could never amass a huge stack at the final and as a result finished 5th.

I was not surprised in the least that Kostritsyn finished 3rd.  In fact, if not for some card catching, he should have been out long before then.  He made a lot of rookie mistakes during the final table.   From what I saw of his play, it amazes me that he even cashed, much less finished third in the event.  He was a prime target to trap and take a lot of chips from.  Eric Brooks caught on to this and took two huge chunks out his ass at the final table.  I told my partner Heath that was covering the event that the true stud players would take advantage of him, and they did.

Today begins the 3K H.O.R.S.E. event.  This should be a very stacked field as you will have mixed games specialist and a lot of pros trying to make their way through a smaller field.  I would not be surprised if we had 400 or more players in this event.  500 wouldn’t shock me.  I will be covering the event for Pokernews, so head over there and click on live reporting.

Finally got my first paycheck for this gig, so I finally have some money.  I haven’t played much my last two days off due to the fact I was nearly broke.  I mostly just hung out.   Summer called me today and told me that she might fly out to see me while I am here.  That would be good.  I miss her.   Of course that will just get a couple more guys talking more than they already are.  I will go into that further in a future post.

Anywho, got to go get ready for work.

I still got it. At least for tonight anyway. I just took 4th in a H.O.R.S.E. tournament over at Green Valley Ranch. The structure was such where the game and the levels changed every 15 minutes. To a degree, that makes this tournament a luck fest. For those that can play limit poker properly, this isn’t as big a deal as one thinks. (more…)

I officially arrived in Vegas on Saturday.  For the first couple of days, I mostly hung around and spent time with a couple of friends and made a brief trip to Binion’s.  Sunday, I moved into my current place of residence, all provided by the company I’m working with covering the World Series of Poker.  If your interested in seeing my place, check out

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20904&id=603808093&ref=mf

I haven’t played all that much, but for what I have played, I am down about $100.  Part of that is a tournament, and part is a loosing Omaha Hi Lo session.  I am playing way too loose in Omaha 8 and that’s the biggest reason for my loss overall.

There is a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at Green Valley Ranch, which is near where I am staying.  They run  it on Wednesdays and its a $45 buy-in.  I’ll try my hand at it tommorrow.  Ill probably spend most of this evening on Fremont, probably at the Plaza playing Sit-N-Go’s.

According to my boss, we did such a good job in New Orleans, we don’t need any additional training.  As a result, we have most of the week to goof off.  My first day of work at the WSOP will either be Friday or Saturday.  I haven’t been informed as of yet.

Anywho, not much else to talk about at the present.  I’ll update once something a little more interesting occurs.

A few days ago I posted a quiz testing your knowledge of poker.  How did you do?  Check the answers below: (more…)

Tonight, I was playing a Stud 8 or Better session that was a microcosm of how insane poker can become. Let me introduce two situations to you and you tell me what you think the outcome was on each. (more…)

It has been a very interesting couple of weeks. For those of you that have not yet heard, I was offered and have accepted a position with Pokernews to help cover this years World Series of Poker. My main job will be blogging on the different events at the Series. Chances are that with my background, I will be covering mixed events. I’m really looking forward to covering the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. After playing on the circuit for the last couple of years, it will be nice to be at the series without having to go through the pressure of performing. (more…)

Last night I decided that I would log onto Full Tilt Poker and try and play a mixed Sit N Go tournament. As soon as I logged on I saw a HORSE Sit N Go for $1.25 buy-in. Yes, this is micro stakes, but HORSE doesn’t go off easily in SnG’s, so I figured I would play. I love mixed games as most anyone that knows me can attest.

We started with Limit Holdem and I was on the button. The first hand I was dealt a pocket pair and I raised. Everyone folded. What? Micro Limits and a fold? A few hands later I get AK and raise. One person called, and we saw a Flop of K, 3, 4. I bet and the caller folded. This doesn’t sound very interesting; except for the fact this was micro limits. Usually at this limit, you get a lot of calling, raising, and reraising with any type of hand. I thought to myself, “Wow, this is a tight table.” Then the level switched to Omaha 8 or better. (more…)

The “Main Event” when broken down to its basic elements, is still a NO LIMIT HOLDEM event. That’s 1 game. The winner is considered a World champion and a great poker player. However, if you take these same players and put them in another event, what have they done? (Chris Moneymaker and Robert Varkonyi are both great examples. After winning the main event Varkonyi only has 1 other WSOP cash.) Winning the main event is great, but what does it prove. It proves you can win a No Limit Holdem event. Great. What about a Stud event? How about a PL Omaha event? I personally cannot see how they claim that the main event is the World Champion of poker when all they did was excel at ONE GAME. (more…)