CARDRUNNERS

I am going to rant, and complain, and bitch a lot in this post, so if you are going to be a tool and run onto 2p2 and post about how i am such a whiney bitch, stop reading right here and go fuck yourself.

So i made day 6 of the wsop main event today. I have been playing some amazing poker for the last 5 days. The best part is that i was all in ONCE before i busted, and that was day 1 and i had top full vs an overpair and dodged 2 outs on the turn. So, i get to my table, and its the featured table. I have 2.5 mil in chips going into the day, and avg is around 1.7 at 15k-30k/4k. I am in position to brandon cantu, and i am super excited to own everyone at the table.

Like the second hand in, i raise QcQs in mp to 80k, and get reraised to 200k by the player next to me. I think for a bit and call, he has me covered. I get a T95 rainbow flop, and check, and he insta fires 400k. I cry for a long time, and then call. The turn is a 2c putting 2 clubs out, and i check again. He SHIPS IT for like 2 mil. I cry cry cry and then fold. I am not sure if it was the best play, but he didnt show the hand and since i had Qc i guess he didnt have str flush draw etc, so i dno. Meh, that kinda sucked but whatever.

Anyways, here is how the hand ACTUALLY played out. Cantu opens to 100k in mp, i call in the cutoff with KJhh. Folds around and flop comes Tc 9c 8h. Cantu bets out 200k i call. The turn is a 7c, and cantu checks. I think for a bit and bet 350, and after about 5 seconds Cantu ships it in for like 1.3 mil more. I sit there for a good 10 seconds knowing im not folding, but not wanting to look stupid, and say well i cant bet fold, i call. He turns over Ac 9h, and im like OK DEALER RED CARD PLZ, and the river is a 6c.

Pretty fucking standard i guess, if you are someone that wins tournaments. However, i am not someone that wins tournaments. I am someone who gets deep in tournaments, and then gets fucked by people making the worst plays on the planet. I am sure cantu is a great guy, but this check shove is absolutely awful vs me, i am never in a bajillion years bet folding the turn. I guess he doesnt know that, which is fine i suppose, but it is still pretty retardedly terrible.

Anyways, i played an incredible tournament, i just got dicked like usual. Somehow i cant manage to win a big all in when i am a big fave late in a tournament. I am not really sure why, i have played a lot up to this point, and feel like i crush the souls of everyone at my table every single time, but it hasnt seemed to matter, yet retards that just shovel money in without any real clue or thought process behind what they are doing win nonstop. Maybe i dont know something about tournaments, in that you need to be terrible to win, but somehow i dont think this is the case.

Ok, i am done ranting i think, its just so godamned frustrating to play 50 hours of poker, beat out 6700 people, and bust in 72nd getting sucked out on in pot for second in chips, then have it reported wrong so i look like a cheese dick while the live pro gets his hand published so it doesnt seem as terrible on his part. RAWRRRRRRRR.

I am going home tonight or tomorrow i think. I really like my place out here in vegas, and have awesome roomates, but i need to see my gf and hang out with some college friends. My dad won the club championship at the golf course he plays at, so he is super excited and happy, and i want to go to dinner with him and tell him im proud of him, since he cant do that to me because i never win tournaments.

Last night i met a couple cardrunner guys that were sweating it out late, including Justin Tanaka, who was first person to ever ask to take a pic with me. It made me feel pretty good, and he seemed like a pretty cool guy. Hopefully when he turns 21 he can do better in tournaments than me.

I am not really sure what my plan is for the future. I am really sick of tournament poker. I havent had any real success in them, and feel like i have paid my dues, and play better than anyone. Maybe i am just full of myself, or have an overinflated view of my tournament game, but i really dont think this is the case. Fortunately, i DO run very good staking people, and had a 7 figure month last month including online, staking, etc. So, dont feel too bad for me. Also, gl to craigmarq who is going deep in main event, thats super awesome, maybe he will buy me something nice if he wins.

Yah, ok i have decided that im leaving tonight. I have to come back on the 21st, i have a coaching session with Tommy Angelo, to focus on the life part of being a professional poker player. For some reason i am just not all that happy with what i am doing. I have made a ton of money, have set myself up for life, but cant seem to get any fulfillment out of poker. I am working on some lifestyle changes, and they are coming along nicely, and over the past 2 months or so i have been in great spirits and just feeling much better about life all around, and my attitude towards everything has improved greatly. Today i feel like shit, but i am sure it will go away tomorrow.

Anyways, sorry i havent updated in a while, was really trying to focus on this tourney, and not get distracted. Good luck to anyone still in that reads this, though i wish craigmarq more luck ;) On other news, i have a couple cool new vids i played at smaller stakes, some 6max and HU stuff, that i think you guys will like. I am not sure when those will go up, but when i get back to tx im going to do the audio on them and hopefully they turn out well. I love you guys.

edited: Oh also, someone just linked me this, i did interview yesterday when i was actually in good shape. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/wsoptv/index.asp?curPage=1&videocatid=0&videoid=413

-David Benefield

This morning i woke up and was shocked to find THREE 2-4 nl games going. I am going to talk about a couple hands i guess.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2853611 - this hand happened pretty early in the sesh. I havent played a tone with menlo, but i think hes good and i think he thinks im good, so i dont really know wtf he was doing floating my flop CR with QJo. Obviously he banged off perfect turn and i kept firing into him like a retard. I dont really expect him to fold QJ, but i also dont really expect him to have QJ, so i dont really hate my line, just kinda unlucky, or maybe i suck who knows.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2855711 - this was biggest pot i won, gay bets for the win. i like phil, but i like his moneys too, so i dont feel too bad about it. he does own me hard a lot there though i think, as i do think id do same thing as a bluff good % of time, so kinda coolerish i guess maybe.

Now on to plo, there were a few good tables, but i played bad today i think, and got sucked out on a bit so it didnt go too well. i ended up down about 70 online today, which kinda sucks.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2853624 - this one might have been a mistake, im not really sure. war stories is a big monkey though, and i felt like i had pretty good equity vs even top set, i ended up being 35.7%, so wasnt in TERRIBLE shape, just couldnt suck out this time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2852693 - this one is pretty standard, flopped pair and wrap in reraised pot, he had one of the less great hands for me to be up against though, but was still 40.2%, so not too terrible, again, i failed to bink

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2855720 - this hand was pretty bad.. i really felt like he didnt have KJ just from his timing or whatever, but i was wrong. It seemed like it would be a good spot for me to be bluffing, his sizing on the river was like half pot, and my raise size could appear bluffy, so i donk paid it off and felt like an idiot. im not happy with this hand at all.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2855722 - immmm really not sure whats best here, pata doesnt really reraise THAT light, but he occasionally shows up with like JT99 or something like that, and its not like my hand is weak. Unfortunately he had the aces, and i was drawing slim at 32%. again, i failed to bink.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2853804 - this hand made me pretty angry, i was already stuck a bit, and this certainly didnt help. Putting in 60% of your chips pf with AK63 is not a good play imo. but apparently it was, because he won.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2855727 - this hand was soooo aids. I couldnt even flop a pair. 70k deep i was MROE than happy to stick 17k in pf, and when the flop came i was all excited till i noticed i didnt have the nuts. Oh well.

So on to other things.. i read on 2p2 that there was to be a 500-1k with 500 ante per person NL game iwth a 500-1k plo rotation game. I txtd mat at bellagio and he said it was 3-6/3, and they were about to start a must move so i headed up there. I got there and the list was like 10 ppl long, so i didnt really expect to get a seat. I told matt that i would play HU to get the other game started, and we ended up playing with me, minh la, KObyTapout,  and LarsLuzak. Not a terrible lineup, but the game filled pretty quick with a couple new york guys.

I didnt really have any cool hands till later, i was just playing pretty standard abc since these guys were all in monkey mode. Play got down to 3 handed though, and 3-6/3 lars made it 2k to go on button, and i made it 7k with 54o and he called. He had been calling reraised pretty light, but i had JUST reraised pf, so felt another one so quick would look stronger. so far no good.

Flop comes down 842, so thats a start, i think for a bit and check, Lars checks behind. (fwiw he doesnt know who i am at this point). The turn is an offsuit ace, good card for me, so i bet out 8k. He calls fairly quickly, and im pretty sure he has an ace, and im shutting down unless i hit. The river is an 8 though, pairing the board leaving A8842. I think for like 5 seconds and check, and he bets 10k pretty quick. I dont move for 10 full seconds, then reach for the stack, pulling out 33k. I slide it in there, and he is pretty unhappy. He grabs the 23k more in his hand and im sure im doomed, but he thinks better of it and mucks. I quickly flip it up then flip it over in the muck. He says 'DID U SHOW?' i say ya, he says 'WHAT U SHOW????' i say '54' he says 'F()@#%' then looks mean.

minh left shortly thereafter, and lars wanted to play HU, but i bitched out. Live HU is a boring grind, and i have a private jiu jitsu lesson tomorrow that i have to wake up for, so it was a good time to quit. I introduced myself at that point and he kinda laughed a bit and we shook hands cordially. He seems like a very nice guy. I finished up about 70k, breaking about even on the day. I cant complain i suppose. The next couple days i dont think ill do much pokering unless games are amazing. I felt pretty awful earlier after losing, and felt like i played some hands pretty awful, so i figure its not a terrible time to take a few days off. I have been killing everything though, so if games are good, ill prob play a bit.

Also, someone asked about the pancake recipe.. I use a multigrain pancake mix with flaxmeal and soy. I put in an extra half scoop of vanilla ice cream protein powder, as well as a tablespoon of chia seeds, and occasionally some extra flax. I cut up half a banana into very thin slices as well. I use soy milk as well as flax oil instead of vegetable oil, and use egg whites of course. Mix it all up, cook it, and ur good to go with semi healthy pancakes!

-David Benefield

Today i woke up, got online, and instantly got stuck like 40k. Games were good, but they broke pretty quick. I was a little sad, but went to Krantz's place for a barbeque. I got there at prob 430 and they just finished playing volleyball, so i missed out. The bbq itself was pretty solid, and there was a nice mix of ribs, chicken, buffalo, burgers, dogs, brats, and vennison. After eating we had a 5 inning whiffle ball game where my team beat Taylors team 13 to 3 before mercy rule came into play. It was quite a bit of fun stomping.

I heard games were good, so i left early and got home to join in some pretty awesome games. Chips were flying, and i managed to get unstuck then some on the day. I also had a pretty good day yesterday as well.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2845973 - this was the biggest pot i have ever been in. If i had held up, it would have been over 300k. Luckily i still got slightly under half. I was looking good on the turn, but couldnt manage to hang on to the lead. Still made me 35k though. It is funny, i sorta just said screw it and stuck the money in, i felt like i had pretty good 3 way equity, and i felt like i was ahead of stevesung for the biggish side pot. I was right, and NO ONE had an ace or a king in their hand, which was pretty sickkkkk.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2846305 - this hand was pretty cool, i feel like im 80% sure i was calling the river, but it def wouldnt have been fun. I dont think he would pot the river with TT or AA, and having the JJ blockers is def a huge help. Good thing the heart didnt come!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2846308 - this hand vs stinger might have been bad, but im not really sure. i feel like he would be bluffing this river a bit, and i didnt think he felt like he was getting called by aces or something, and seeing how it checked through, it felt like he might take a stab. i could be wrong, and i think its very close spot, but i went with it but was wrong.

Overall the last couple days have been great. I have been having an amazing series online, as well as in staking people. My personal results live tourneys arent too awful either, though i wish i could have done better than bubbling 2 final tables in 10k championship events, oh well, maybe next year. Something some of you mention is 'how can you have a good month all u do is post hands u get ownd in'. Well, i dont really like to post brag posts, or toot my horn TOO much when i have a good day/week/month, so my blog prob comes off like im a losing player. Lucky for me, im not.

I am playing the main event in the morning, and am going to make banana pancakes with joe for good luck. Every morning before he won his event we made banana pancakes, so we have to go with what works right? I am feeling very confident about my poker game in general, and am hoping to do very well in this main event. I think tomorrow should be a pretty soft day, as a lot of the younger better player crowd is going out tonight and doesnt want to paly tomorrow. Most everyone i know played day one is or playing day 4, so hopefuly i can get a great table draw and make some chips.

-David Benefield

today i made a HU video with stinger, we were playing a 2p2er, and ran really hot. He played pretty decent, just got in sick gross spots a lot vs us, so we came out on top. I think there are some interesting hands, so should be worth a video for sure. After all that i went home then went to play basketball with some people. We got kicked out of the gym after 20 minutes because apparently no gyms in las vegas stay open after 9.

Anyways, i was going to go meet up wtih all the cr guys and play beer pong at mcfaddens, but i had some drama with my gf that i had to deal with, and it just tilted me so i decided to get online and hurricane off money. This was an absolutely awful day. I bustoed my ub account, it only had 30k in it but it was the gift i got from superuser, so i was gonna try to run some up. I shoulda just cashed it out that site is so rigged. I swear to god i didnt get 2 pair or better in 500 hands of HU plo, and just got murdered

Anyways, i decided it would be fun to get unstuck, so i played some 1-2 nl on ftp.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837169 - this hand started the day off JUST right. pretty standard, but the 53s play is pretty bad pf, but whatever, next time ill try to bink it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837251 - this hand continued the awesome run. I am not really sure what else i can do, i dont know this player, but feel like he can be bluffing lots of draws and stuff, and i have top 2 and im not good at folding top 2. meh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837421 - i also got some action vs terken on stars. it was up and down match, but this certianly didnt help. Such a gross cooler, he played it very well, but stacks would have gotten in pretty much any way he did it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837325 - this hand was a little bit later, and i feel like i played it awesome. Worked out absolutely perfectly, i liked my sizing a lot, and i overbet the river to shove, i dont usually do that, but i think it looks more bluffy.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2838119 - quick fun call vs present earlier, i was playing him 3-6 ha, i ended up beating him for 60k, so that was nice.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837377 - another hand vs ansky, i thought it was super cool. I dont do stuff like this too awesome, but seemed like a perfect spot, and it worked out.

NOW ON TO PLO!!!!! /suicide

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2838123 - biggest pot i lost. Pretty much the biggest cooler on the planet. I dont think i can do absolutely anything differently, but maybe i can i dno. Phil always seems to own me and this was certainly no exception. just a gross gross cooler.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837973 - this was also pretty rigged, im not sure what else i can do in this spot, i have lots of equity vs just about anything, so i felt i needed to raise get it in. durr will lead ou there in that spot iwth a pretty wide range i feel, and JT87 is definitely ahead of it. oh well, i was still 32.7% against his nuts, just gotta run good in 2 to 1s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2837762 - the greatest part about this hand, is that i didnt go nutso after i lost. i just sort of sat there, said oh thats cool, then reloaded. the old me would have broken a monitor, thrown the desktop in the pool, and choked joe's dog with my mouse cord. it really sucks losing when ur 92.5% on the turn, but whatever, just wasnt my day i guess :(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2838142 - this is the hand i busted present on. im actually a 63.9% favorite on the flop, which is pretty cool.

I am not really sure how much i finished down today, but it wasnt good, especially considering i busted my ub account and lost a bit on stars too. Fortunately i had a fantastic month last month, and Joe made me some money winning the 6max event. I am also up slightly in live tournaments this summer, which also helps, as losing all the cash you bring to vegas kinda sucks.

I feel like my game is getting really really good at plo, and i am starting to play deeper when there is good tables. I am getting more comfortable with the swings, and feel like i handle losses much better than i used to. perhaps i am becoming more jaded, but i feel like i have grown quite a bit as a poker player over the last 2 months. Anyways, it has been a really long, really shitty day, so im going to get some sleep.

-David Benefield

So today i woke up at like 2, my dad had just gotten in town, so i hung out with him for an hour or so, caught up on some things. He was only here for tonight, then headed home, he just wanted to check out the updates on the house and help out with some stuff, so obviously i welcomed him. Anytime someone wants to show up and help out around the house i am all for it, and will even treat to dinner!

Anyways, after this i had to meet up with the CR crew, and make some videos. As soon as i showed up Stinger started recording since we were making one together. We had all these dumb rules like we had to open any 2 in the cutoff or button, and couldnt flat pf, had to 3 bet. We got stomped, so scrapped that idea and started over on my account playing normal, and i think it turned out pretty great. I did a lot of spewy stuff to see how people react to it, and it worked out pretty well. We are wrapping it up tomorrow, but im not sure when it will be up, hopefully soon since i know there is a severe lack of 6max vids on here lately. Hopefully this will help.

After that i went to naked fish with my dad and tony. My dad doesnt really do the sushi thing, so this was a little bit different for him. I think he really enjoyed it though, and it was a nice change of pace. Usually if i go out to eat with him we go to Del Friscos or Pf Changs, so was nice to mix it up a bit. I hadnt been to naked fish in a week since i had a no sushi for a week prop bet, so today was my celebratory welcome back to the sushi world, and it was glorious.

I got back and was kinda bored, and there was a 2-4 NL game running, so i felt like sitting. Like, the first orbit, this hand goes down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2832506 - i have been doing lots of the reraise pf bet 1/3 or 1/4 pot on flop kinda stuff. This time he donked into me on the turn for half pot, and i didnt really know what to make of it, so i peeled one off. The river was an offsuit K and he bet 33.2k after a bit of thought, not shove. I wasnt really sure what to make of it, and i almost folded. I timed down to literally 1 second, and called. I felt like he had 99 or TT sometimes and was turning it into a bluff or thin value or something that i cant even think of. This was probably the best definition of merging ranges i have ever seen, as i really have no idea if he was value betting or bluffing. Luckily i had slightly better, and felt like i made a good call. The rando cookie jar guy got stacked and was sitting short, then smokey left and i didnt feel like battling with trex durr and lars with a shorter stack guy.

Anyways, i guess i am happy with the minisesh, was nice to do a small run good after yesterday, i was pretty depressed about it. Peter is still in with 5 left in the plo, they are on break but hes in 4th, but everyone is relatively close in chips. Hopefully he can run good and drag it down, would be super sweet. Ok thats all i got, laters.

-David Benefield

Well i just bubled the final table of the 10k plo championship event. Basically i grinded a slightly below average stack for the entire day, picked good spots, played amazing, and then this hand came up, at 12k-24k, i have 370k stack, avg is around 750, so getting short, there is one guy with like 150, but whatever. Mizrachi opens mp to 60k, button calls, i look down at AKK3, and click the pot button making it 264k. Mizrachi calls very fast, other guy folds. Mizrachi says im getting it in on any flop, so we just stick the last 105k in, and he flips up AQT5ds. Ummmmmm ok. So far so good i guess, then board comes down T74 rainbow, but he turns his 5. I cant rebink, so im out in 10th, losing an 800k chip pot. At least my equity was only worth like 250k real dollars, so thats good.

My dad gets into town in 6 hours, he had no idea i was doing well in a tourney, so i was going to surprise him by making him come sweat the final table. Unfortunately i cant run good for myself, and we have to miss out on that. I really wanted him to see me play some poker, and if i win that hand i would have a healthy stack in the middle of the pack and be ready to stomp. Peter is still in, so i will def be rooting for him. I also like Kido, he is a dallas guy and we get along well, so im pulling for him too.

It is almost 6am now. Apparently i am supposed to meet up for a photo shoot at 10am. Somehow i dont think this is going to happen, sorry in advance to the cardrunners crew. I will make it over to residence inn when i wake up, but i am definitely giving myself some time to sleep first. Anyways, Wish i could have done better, i really felt good about this tourney, and feel like i played top notch poker both days. Just unfortunate i got binked on when it really mattered. Oh well, to sleep...

-David Benefield

JOE WINS!!! Magistr_Ludi drags down the 5k 6max NL event for 911k. It was a hell of a match, at one point he got the other guy all in HU for all of his chips 12 times, and was a favorite 10 times, and lost ALL of them. EVERY SINGLE TIME HE WAS ALL IN FOR ALL HIS CHIPS, THE OTHER GUY SUCKED OUT. It was really unbelievable. The fact that Joe kept his composure and played amazingly the entire time was just out of control.

I was tilting so hard sweating it, i dont think i have ever gotten like that over poker before. I was literally jumping up and down in my chair, yelling and screaming about how terrible the other guy played, screaming for cards to come, slouching with my head in my hands, and running out of the room to sit on the floor because i couldnt deal with the stress. This guy literally ran like god in all in preflops, it was sicko. It is VERY hard to put into words, but i was out of control tilted. I am glad that i tilted so hard and Joe saw it, because i think it kept him in line a bit seeing how i was freaking out and realizing he had to keep it together to get me sane once agian.

Also, everyone should check out his interview on pokernews, he comes across very well, and god i cant really imagine someone deserving this win more than Joe, i dont think i have ever been this happy about someone winning, not even Phil!

Also, Tony (DrunkPPlaya) was a raving lunatic tonight. He started drinking at like 3pm, and by 8 he had a towel, and was standing behind joe in the opposing player's line of sight swinging his towel around like if he was at a basketball game distracting the free throw shooter. The guy called the floor over like 5 times and was on the verge of mini freak out mode because of it. It was pretty incredible, but Tony is running around touching everyone because he gets kinda gay when hes drunk.

Amyways, tomorrow i gotta get up early for the 10k plo championship. Hopefuly i can do the super run good, but honestly i dont even care at this point because it is already like 4x the best month i have ever had. Ship it!

-David Benefield

Played a long session today, ran worse than i have in a while. lot of tables ran so i was happy, got to play for like 5-6 hours, but just couldnt get anything going.

thats my net run line, so that says a bit about how today went. Overall its still a pretty good month, so i guess i cant complain too much, but itd be nice to do a super hot run good on occasion.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2802633 - i did have a good NL hand, nord had been 3 betting my sb raise a lot, and this was first time i 4 bet him. it seems like if i get fed up and 4 bet with air, i always get shoved on, so i felt like doing it with a real hand for once, and it worked out.

i also had a few rando donks sit vs me at 200-400 nl HU, but they managed to hit and run me for 20k between them. that didnt really help, but i mean, when rando guy sits for 24k im usually pretty happy, unless they superuse.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2801824 - this hand set the tone for my day. was like my second orbit at the table, and obviously it comes down like that. from there it didnt really get much better.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2802489 - this was biggest pot i lost, it really sucks to get it in with double suited aces pf for gigando and get binked :/

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2801784 - not really sure on this one, i felt like it was kinda thin, but also felt like i needed to stick it in. was 43/57 so if he flipped it up i was sposed to get it in. durrr ran retardedly sick tonight, he has a 550k stack on a table as im writing this. was really stupid.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2802468 - this hand was really really stupid. im a whopping 59% preflop, THREE ways, which is really hard to do. at least i get cool graphs out of this.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2802279 - soooo this hand i really wasnt sure about, and really wasnt happy the way it went down. i think this is one of my problems in plo, spots like this where i am just confused about what the best play is. i think i played it ok, but i felt pretty stupid and ownd the way it worked out.

Anyways, even though i had all those hands, and ran like 200k below equity, i still only finished down like 50k on plo, and managed to win a bit in nl, so it wasnt a terrible day. So far it is one of the best months i have ever had, and i am feeling super confident about my plo game. I think i am getting pretty darn good at it, and am starting to see some results, even if it is in the form of sklansky money. I am getting more comfortable playing deeper stacks, and hopefully over the next couple months i can really start to crush. I am game selecting pretty hard though, so you wont see me playing patrik HU plo or anything. Thats all i got, my media room is almost all the way setup, 5 of the 7 speakers work, and the projector is suuuuuuper sweet. Anyhow, i have to go return some video tapes.

-David Benefield