I once again took the pilgrimage to Commerce Casino in Commerce, California (just outside of LA). The last time I went out there was two years ago, and I got absolutely demolished in the cash games, amazingly getting it in good twice for enormous pots and losing both of them. This time I really wanted to get revenge. I went out with Jeff (gopheresque) and Ye (omniheart--and we met Olivier out there), we rented a car, a friend who was out of town offered to let me stay in his super nice apartment in West Hollywood, all signs were pointing to a great trip. I sat down in a 20/40 game and immediately saw my friend get stacked two hands in all in on the flop with a J high flush v. a K high flush. Things did not look good. I proceeded to double through a shortish stack when I 3-bet an early position raiser, he called, and I stacked on a J high flop with AA to his JJJ. Sigh. Then came a really crazy hand. This was 20/40/80, and the button (who by the way he was talking was a live pro) makes it 160 on the button after everyone had folded. It was pretty clear by his actions and his raise size that he was not strong. The SB calls and I call with 37ss from the BB. Flop comes out 1074ss. The SB very quickly bets out 400, I make it 1200 with my pair + FD, and the button very quickly makes it 3500. The SB folds and I think for a bit and shove in for 9kish. He all but snap calls and I think I'm drawing to a flush, but amazingly he has A10 and of course he holds. I really don't know how I should have played that. I think if I raise the flop I can't really fold, but I probably should have just flatted the 400 lead out. Not really sure on that one. The other big cash game hand I played was against Antonio Esfandari. We were playing 20/40 6-handed late night (Phil Laak is in the game) and I made it 200 pre with AKo, he 3-bets me from the BB to 700. I call in position around 10k deep. Flop comes 942r . He c-bets 1100 and I float him. Turn is an A. He bets 2200. I have around 5600 behind. I am really not sure of the right play here but I think it's call. I called. River came a 9 and he asked me how much I had left and he bet 6k. I tanked a long time but eventually I couldn't find the fold button and he had 910o. Nice hand, sigh.

In any case thankfully I saved myself from busting more in the cash games and I wound up playing the 10k HU event. This was an amazingly tough field with both live and internet pros everywhere. The tournament was a double elimination, and they started with around 110 players, so a few people had byes. The first person I played was Matt Brady who I later found out had won Aruba. I played really solidly and made one (I think incorrect fold early on). He limped the BTN, I raised QJ from the BB, and he called. The flop came J56. I bet and he called. The turn was a 6. I check called. The river was a K, I checked, and he tanked for a long time (I actually asked him if he knew the action was on him) and he overbet shoved. Obviously he is representing a 6, KJ, a chop block, or air. Something about the bet felt funny but if I folded I would still have a decent chip lead and I felt in control of the match so I laid it down (after the match he told me he had 34 but I don't know if I believe him). Either way I grinded him down and moved on to the second round. In the second round I played Gavin Smith, the full tilt pro. I was actually fairly excited to play him (again, there were a ton of tough players in the field) as I had played with him HU cash a bunch, and had a good idea of how he would play. Our match was over really quickly as he never got any momentum and I won a big hand early. The third match was against Vadim Trincher, the father of Ilya, who I have played with a bunch in NY. Our match was the longest of any match the entire tournament, lasting over three and a half hours, by the end it was just a preflop war and I ran good in all-ins. The fourth match was the money match, against Will "the thrill" a live tourney pro. Again, I felt fairly confident against him and even though he jumped out to an early lead I never had any real trouble and I was in the money. This is when things got interesting. Since I was guaranteed (even if I lost) 25k, I was essentially free-rolling. I was in the elite eight of the winners bracket and if I won the match I would be guaranteed 50k. Unfortunately, my opponent was David Oppenheim, widely regarded as one of the best live players in the world. Obviously I have probably played more HU NLHE than he has, but he has a tremendous amount of live experience and I knew he would put a lot of pressure on me. I didn't come up with a good strategy to counteract him beforehand, and he put a lot of pressure on me and I was quickly down in the match. I actually took a slight chip lead when I doubled through him on a 109xx flush draw board with J10 against his J8. But after that I never picked up a hand and he ground me down. The next match was against Amak316 and we got it all in very early in a flip with my 67cc v. his 1010 on 984cc board. I turned a 7 but it was not to be. I played the main event as well but never got anything going there either and busted after the dinner break on day 1.

LA is a pretty awesome town, and thankfully I got to enjoy some of the nightlife while I was there. Jared (harrington10) introduced me to Rami (Arbianight) and once Jared said I was one of the people responsible for solving the UB scandal and getting all the refunds he immediately invited me out with him. Ye came along as well, and we went to a club called Ecco in Hollywood. The DJ was really good, and we popped bottles all night, free of charge! Rami-if you are reading this I really appreciate it and anytime you are in NY holla at me. I went to dinner with Marcie and Meredith, Marcie was a friend from college and Meredith is her writing partner. They are working on a web show, a tv movie, and a tv show, all at once. Pretty amazing and if I had ever moved to Hollywood there is no doubt I would have liked to try and make it as a TV writer. Oh well, maybe some day. I came back a small loser on the trip despite the HU cash, because of entry fees + some cash game losses.

However, when I came back to NY I had a pretty insane night. I went to a home game in Jersey City run by a few live pros. The game is in a nice apartment right on the Hudson (and I mean literally 20 feet from the water) virtually right across the river from my apartment (you can see my apartment from the balcony). I went with a friend and I backed him for the session. In the cab ride over I offered him 50% of my action but he declined. The game is a 10/25 6k cap game but it was playing really crazy because two of the players were just there for fun and the stakes were so small for them they were just having fun. One player got 6k all in preflop with A5o, and wound up winning 2/3 times (they ran business) v. 1010. My friend quickly doubled through with A8 on A108 against 108, and he wound up winning 18k on the night. I wound up winning around 36k, plus I had half of the 18k for a nice little win in a 10/25 game. Ship it. The big hand of the night I am in the cutoff with 79dd and I call a 200 raise after like 5 callers. I have about 5k to start. The BB reraises to 1500 and there are 4 callers before me! I see the button reaching for chips to call, so I figure why not. Flop comes out 876 with one diamond . The BB shoves it in. One of the guys calls in front of me, so I ship my last 3500 in there. The button folds and while he is folding he accidentally flips over a 10. Not to fear, turn J, river 5. The BB wound up having almost no flop equity on the flop with JJ (although he turned outs), and the caller had flopped the joint with 45o. Amazingly, I still had around 30% equity, which I will take any day with that overlay. This month has been one of my best months, and I am looking to make March even better. Ty luck,

David