Looking for backers for World Series of Poker

OK its WSOP time again. Last year I had a backer put me up in Vegas and try to get myself into the Main Event and if not for a horrid run of cards late the night before the Main Event, I would have my entry. I'm looking for entry into the Main Event from one or more backers or I'm willing to do try the satellite route again if need be. I know this is a long shot but I got nothing to lose by asking. If you are seriously interested send me a message and we can discuss the details.

Thanks,
Dan
Jack of Heartz

leaving Las Vegas???

Man I hope so. I get to the airport way too early because check out was 11am and my flight was like 3.30 pm. I didn't want to be lugging my suitcase arund Vegas and figured I'd get here early, have lunch and chill out at the bar or whatever. Well I get here but can't check in for my flight more than 4 hours early but I can print my boarding passes. I wait about 30 minutes and then go to check in but my flight to Phoenix has been canceled. Now it would make sense to just let me take the next Nashville flight they have an open seat on. There are like 4 more Nashville flights today but the reason I chose the Phoenix layover was because it was a lot cheaper. Anyway they schedule me for a flight that lands in Phoenix about 10 minutes before my Phoenix flight departs and told me they would hold the plane for me. Now as bad as my luck has been this week I have no expectations of that plane being there and I fully expect to stay in Phoenix tonight. I also got stopped by security at the airport screening because my laptop was out of the case like it was supposed to be but not in a bin by itself so my laptop and bag had to be searched.

I've also walked about all of the terminals here in Vegas as my original flight was at one end and my new flight at the very other end of the terminal. Like the 50 miles I walked the last week weren't enough I needed to get a couple more in today I guess. I think I finally lost some weight though between the heat and the walking so thats a good thing. And free wireless internet at the airport is cool too. I was fully expecting to have to pay for internet here. No electrical outlets handy though so once my battery dies I'm back to reading a book and trying to stay awake waiting a few more hours for my flight.

So I hope to be land in Nashville around 1am today. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to spend the night in Phoenix which may be ok if I know ahead of time I can call a couple friends in Phoenix and at least go out to dinner with them. I'm so exhausted right now and when I get home I'm going to sleep for at least a day before getting out of bed and doing anything else. lol

I was expecting a phone call from the last job interview I had but they haven't called today so maybe I hear from them tomorrow. They had said I would hear from them today if I was still in consideration though so we'll see what happens. I'm still on the list for a couple other new jobs they are creating in the coming months as well.

Anyway this should be the last update from Vegas. Its starting to feel like the Hotel California. You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave...

last update

OK last update. I got up and went to Caesar's today to play the last Mega Stack event before their Main Event which starts tomorrow. It was a $550 buy in with $15,000 starting chips. Really nice structure and a long long tournament. They expected it to last until 5am this morning. I busted out after dinner break at around 9pm and we were still a few hours from the money I think. I think Caesar's may have the best poker room I've seen in Vegas and their tournament area is very nice. Comfrortable chairs, lots of room, bigger than average tables as well. To be fair I haven't sat in any other poker rooms because the Rio tournaments are so big they are using huge conference rooms for the tournaments but I've walked through several smaller casino's poker rooms and none have come close to Caesars. Also I think I like their casino the best. They have the forum shops which are very nice and Casa Fuente is there so thats a bonus as well. They have an awesome SportsBook there that is by far the best I've seen here and some very nice resteraunts. I haven't gone to the night clubs but I know PURE is there and its supposed to be one of the best spots on the strip.

Another thing thats been weird is I bet I've heard 10 different languaes spoken while I've been here and seen more Asians in 1 week than I ever have in my life. I know Asians probably tend to gamble more than anyone but I bet 20% of the people I've seen in Vegas have been Asians.

Tomorrow is an off day. Gordon is back in town and Moki flies out tomorrow evening and I think Marco is free as well so hopefully we're all going to get to hang out on Monday. I fly out on Tuesday afternoon and will land in Nashville around midnight on Wednesday and plan to sleep all day Wednesday when I get home LOL!

I think when I look back on this week it will be fun. Just so much stress from the interviews and then trying to make this last ditch effort to get in was a lot at once. I've been more relaxed the last couple of days and even though I didn't win anything in the tournaments I had a lot more fun playing them than I did the 1st two days of the trip. And since I've learned where to go to catch the shuttles and I'm not walking all around Vegas in the mid day heat or paying $15 a trip for the shuttles its been better as well. Hopefully when I get back I'll have a couple of jobs lined up and can pick which one I like best and then go back to playing poker part time and maybe even enjoy playing again. But hey at least I finally gave Vegas and the WSOP a shot. It was never my plan 2.5 years ago after the WPT event to never go back to work, just to get out of the job I had because I hated it.

Anyway this update is way longer than I meant for it to be. Hopefully I get to sleep in today and then hang out and have some fun around town tomorrow before my trip back. I'm not looking forward to the flight back. This was the longest flight I've ever had and it was the roughest one I've had. We had turbulance for almost 2 hours of the 4 hour trip.

Oh and another thing. You know those massage people at the poker events. I'm sure they are the airport and stuff like that but I've never had reason to get one before this week. I had a 20 minute massage and I thought the guy was trying to kill me. He put me in arm bars, punched me, i swear he might have kicked me a couple times as well. But when he was through I felt great somehow. Until 4 hours after the massage when I came back and sat down in a chair and my entire back was sore to the touch. IDK what he did to make my muscles loosen up like they did but man it made me sore as well. OK thats it. I'm going to grab a bite to eat and crash.

l8r guys

its all over now baby blue

OK well today got off to a bad start and it really sums up my 3 years of trying to make the WSOP main event. My plan today was to play the 4pm and 9pm satellites. I stop at the Rio to eat because I had 2 hours before the tournament started and evrey tournament has been running registration 1 hour into the event. I get down there about 90 minutes before the start and there is a huge line. I get near the front and they announce registration is closed for the 4pm tournament because they don't have enough tables to let anyone else in. If they had allowed 1 more table I would have been in the tournament. I wait 20-30 minutes for them to make the official announcement and I'm out of luck. They tell us if we want to play any other tournaments that night to register right then. So I get back in line to register for the 9pm event. Only to get to the front of the line and told I can't register for 3 more hours because they haven't opened registration for that event even though the tournament director announced that we could register for all events. I storm off and walk around the casino a while and meet up with Moki who decides to go back and see if we can get in and for some reason we can now register for the 9pm event. Which is fine. We sign up and meet Marco and go over to Casa Fuente for a cigar and a mojito since we have 4+ hours to kill.

We come back and there is almost 300 players in the event and 28 seats to the main event are going out. I really liked my table as it was full of fish. I raise 3 times in the 1st level and all 3 times I get 2-3 callers and they donk the flop into me and I had to fold. Level 2 old man to my right in the SB raises my BB and I call with A9. Flops K8x he bets I raise thinking he's on a steal and he quickly calls. Turn is a K and he checks and I check behind thinking he must have something to call the flop and he probably isn't folding the turn. River is a 9 and he quickly bets and I call and he shows T8o and I've got back my chips I lost in level 1. Next hand of interest I get TT in LP and an agro donk in MP raises again and I flat but then the SB flats too which kind of scared me but I know he's been wanting to get chips from this guy and could be calling light. Flop comes T85 all clubs and the SB leads out for pot, MP calls and I tank and decide to shove. I don't want to see a club on the turn and have to give up on my set and both players think a while then fold. SB tells me later he had the flush draw and overs. This gave me about 13,000 in chips and we started with 6,000. I go to break with about 12,000 and in very good shape. There are about 190 players remaining at this point.

We go to break and come back and things quickly go south. About 20 minutes before break a very agro kid comes in to my right raising a lot of pots. He raises UTG and I 3 bet AKs and then a shorty in the BB shoves me but his bet is only 2x my bet so I have an easy call. He shows KK and flop comes with the case K and I double him. I'm now down to about 8,000 chips and blinds went up a couple hands later. I now had about 15 blinds. I get QQ UTG+1 and same agro player raises UTG again and I think a minute and shove. He tanks and counts down his stack 3 times and starts to move it in then backs up and thinks about it. I really thought he was calling but after about 3 minutes he folds. About 5 hands later I get 77 in the BB. UTG+1 older Italian guy who had been playing kind of tight limps, then the btn limps, the SB limps. Now I have about 19 blinds but there are 5 blinds in there and I shove trying to take it down there and UTG+1 snap calls and when everyone folds he shows JJ and I'm out.

Its been a good run. I don't regret any of my plays as I feel I played as well as I ever have live. My reads were spot on, I played a tight agressive game just got unlucky in a few key pots when I needed to get lucky. Since I didn't get to play the 4pm sat today I think I'm going across the street to Caesar's and play the Mega Stack event there tomorrow. Slow structure, huge stacks, and it should be a fun tournament to kill some time tomorrow so maybe I won't be thinking about the main event.

another update

OK I tried to do an update earlier today but it seems it didn't go through. I busted in the 1st tournament today just before 1st break. Nothing interesting happened just nothing went well.

I played a 2nd event tonight and I typed up all the details on my other blog but unless you're a poker player they probably won't mean a lot. The biggest thing was I played probably the best live poker I've ever played. Everything was going great through about 4 hours of the event. Down to 50 people with 15 getting seats into the Main Event and I get coolered and put out of the tournament. Really feel like jumping off my 9th floor balcony onto the strip below right now. I've got a couple more shots at it tomorrow but I'm really disappointed right now at how today ended for me. I've come a lot closer to getting into the WSOP before. Last year I came in 3rd place on back to back nights for a seat and the 2nd one I got all my money in as 80% favorite and still lost. So 4 out of 5 times I would have won a seat but I couldn't. I really think this tournament just wasn't meant for me to be in it. Anyway we'll see what tomorrow brings. If I'm done tomorrow I guess I can get drunk and hang ut the next 2 days before I fly out.

Vegas update #1

OK landed in Vegas and was dead tired. I hadn’t slept much the last 2 days because of job interviews. Last interview went great but once again I don’t have all the training they’d like me to have so I’m not holding my breath on any of them. Hooked up with Moki and he took me on a tour of a couple of the casinos. The tournament room in the RIO is massive. If you’ve ever watched the WSOP coverage on ESPN you’ve seen the room but its so much bigger in person. It has 2,000 people playing poker in it, not to mention the dealers, tournament staff, reporters, friends standing around the tables. Its just amazing. We spent the night at Casa Fuente smoking/drinking late into the night. Then I had a party to attend back at the Rio for Cardplayers.com. I got there late but the party was still going strong. I finally left around 4am after having spent several hours talking poker and strategy with one of Cardrunners top pros. Overall though I’m not all that impressed with Vegas. Its so damn hot. Its over 110 degrees and the locals tell me its cooler now than the last couple of weeks when it was around 120. And man its so expensive to get around town. Cab rides are $5 for the 1st mile and $2.50 a mile after that. And the Rio where the tournaments are isn’t close enough to walk to anything so I have to cab to get there every day or walk ½ a mile to another Harrah’s properties to try and catch the shuttle which runs every 30 minutes. But they start late and shut down earlier than is convenient for me. The city looks nice especially at night when it’s all lit up but between the heat, the crowds, and the prices I’m just not as excited about it as I thought I would be. But anyway today was my 1st day in a tournament. Played the afternoon $550 buy in event which payed out 1 out of 20 a seat. Below is part of what I typed up as a trip report on another site and I’m lazy and just cut/paste it here. Today Moki and I played the 4pm sat. I was a card rack in the 1st 3 levels. AA 2x, AK 2x, KK once. I was still at my starting stack nearing 1st break even after getting paid off a couple times. A couple very loose agro guys either 3 bet me pre, or CRAI on flops. I had only shown down AK once and AA 2x. Those were my only showdowns so I look like a complete nit. Blinds are going up and I have about 11BBs. 3 guys limp and I shove A7s and everyone folds. Next hand I get KK on the btn. 1 limp, I raise, SB shoves and I call he had 53o and doubled me up. At 1st break I'm 2.5x the starting stack and somewhat above average.Get back from break and I get KK but no action when I 3 bet. I kept slowly chipping up but the blinds are rising and most people are getting below 10BB stacks. LP agro kid with 12BBs raises and I shove TT he had KK and cripples me with 150 left. I steal once or twice and then just sit back playing the waiting game as I had enough chips to wait. I get 88 UTG and shove and moron on the button calls all in with 44 and doubled me back up again. Next orbit blinds go up and I'm down to about 6BBs. I shove K7s UTG+1 and get 2 calls behind me. One guy had A9s and the other AQo. Flop comes T98 giving me the straight and flush draws. Turn is a 6 giving me the straight, but the river is a J giving AQ the 3 outter and eliminated me with about 110 players left and top 20 get a seat in the Main Event. I win that hand and I was back above average at a very weak table. I blame it on Moki busting out cause after he stopped by my table to tell me he was going to dinner I ran horrible. lol Hopefully we both have better luck tomorrow.

Also not sure how much I'll get to update as my cell connection here through my laptop is really bad. I'll do what I can but not sure I can do daily updates but obv if I get a seat or something huge happens I'll do my best to get it up on here.

Getting ready for Vegas

OK updates here will probably be short and sweet. Not sure what kind of internet I'm going to have in Vegas. I'm bringing my cell phone but I don't plan on hanging in the room much so I probably won't pay for wireless service at the hotel.

I had 2 interviews yesterday 1 in Ardmore that the pay sucks but the hours are 12 hours a day 3 days a week with an occasional 4th day but its Mon-Wed which would give me weekends off and would be pretty sweet. But I probably won't take the job but I won't hear back for a couple weeks on it. I got a phone call from Tennessee Stamping yesterday just before I left for my interview in Ardmore for a Quality Control position that looks very interesting but I don't have the programming experience they want. But they had my resume a month ago for a Supervisor position they had open and the plant manager liked my resume enough to hang on to it and called me 1st about this opening. He's going to keep looking for someone with the experience in programming he wants but if he can't find them in a few weeks I think I might have a shot at the opening since we both know I can learn the programming pretty quick. The money here could be very good and it looks like a cool place to work. I was in the interview for an hour with the plant manager and almost 1/2 of it was just us casually talking about similiar experiences in my past jobs and his past jobs. Don't think I've ever had an interview that was so casual and relaxed and it went really well but I'm not holding my breath on it.

I have another interview at 9am this morning with an IT firm in Columbia. It is along the lines of what I'd like to do if I were to work in the computer field. Looks like they are doing IT work for small companies that can't afford to keep a full time computer tech on site. I think I'd have to learn some things to get to where I'd need to be but the e-mail from them sounds like they are looking for people they can train and thats fine with me.

My general plan is I'm flying in to Vegas this afternoon. I've got a party with Cardrunners tonight I've got to attend then I'm going to crash early I'm sure as I haven't slept much in the last 2 days and I'm already drinking energy drinks to get me going this morning. I'll be playing 2 tournaments a day at the Rio on Thurs, Fri and Sat. I think they are like 10am and 4pm. They pay 1 in 20 people a seat to the $10,000 Main Event. So I'm giving myself 6 chance to get in roughly my odds are 1 in 3 of me getting in. I think I've got an advantage over these fields so I'll be optomisitic and say I think I have a 50/50 chance of playing in the Main Event. I need to play good and catch a couple breaks along the way and I'll be in.

If I do make it into the Main Event I will probably be playing on Sunday at noon. The tournament is going to be close to 8,000 people so they have broken the starting days into 4 days to fit everyone in. If I make it past Sunday I think Monday is an off day and I'll play again on Tuesday and probably play until I'm out of the tournament. I don't expect we will get to the money payouts until late Wednesday or early Thursday. Thats just an estimate on my past though.

If I don't make the Main Event I'm just going to hang out on Sunday and Monday and relax and enjoy Vegas. I've got an afternoon flight out of town and a layover in Phoenix so I won't land in Nashville until after midnight Wednesday morning. I've got a couple friends who live there and a couple more friends who are in town this week and know they're way around Vegas. So no matter what happens I think I'll have a blast. Obviously if I make it past Sunday in the Main Event I'll be making a last minute flight change and I have no idea when I'll try to fly back.

Anyway I need to start dragging my suitcase and laptop out to the car and get ready for my interview. Prayers and well wished are greatly appreciated. Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. Vegas here I come.