Jon Bryan

Getting ready for what could be my last day in the 2006 WSOP Main Event ($10,000 buy-in).

Thanks to Bill for pointing out the website, and I have managed to do some research to prepare for day three of the WSOP Main Event.

For those trying to follow via the web, the coverage is not that good and some of it looks to be contradictory.

By my reckonings, there are 1159 players left in the tournament and I am in 1014th place. To get into the money, I have to finish in 873rd or higher. Full list of prizes is here:
http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/payout/3229

This is going to be my biggest test ever. To be honest, I am not looking forward to it in many ways. I set myself the target of getting to day two and I have done that. I know I have done well so far, but this could be where I slip up.

By the time we get down to 873 players, the average number of chips per player will be 100,000. Right now at 1159 players, the average is 75,700. If I don’t do anything to improve the size of my stack, I will not be able to survive.

We start with an hour of 600-1200 blinds with 200 for the ante. This means every pot will have 3,800 in it before any cards are dealt and my stack of chips will last me just over 60 hands. After an hour of play, we will have two hours of antes at 200 with the blinds rising to 800-1600. For those not in the know, everyone has to put an ante in every hand, and two people (in turn) put in one each of the small and big blind.

Using Bill, Graeme and Vicki’s help, I have found out who I’m sitting down with. In seat order number (from 1-10) here’s how we will line up:

Dennis January ($98,500)
Mark Eldreth ($72,700)
John Villanueva ($62,200)
Patrick Fortin ($27,900)
Chris Kane ($46,300)
Peter Kunc ($26,200)
Jon Bryan ($24,800)
Whitney Blanton ($153,400)
Ian Cox ($159,600)
Aram Zerounian ($33,200)

For those in the know, I think that this is not a bad table, but I think I have the worst possible seat. When I might want to steal the blinds and antes from the button, the two chip leaders will be in the blinds.

The Players on my table:

Aram Zerounian has only slightly more chips than me, but he finished in the money in two WSOP events last year (including 305th - $21,070 - in the Main Event) and has had two cash finishes so far in WSOP events this year.
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=27831

Dennis January has had two cash finishes in World Poker Tour events in the last 18 months. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=34450

Whitney Blanton is relatively unknown, but she started day two with the same number of chips as me. Over that day, my stack has gone down and she has increased hers by five times.

Last year, Mark Eldreth came 13th out of 377 in the 2005 Legends of Poker game in Los Angeles. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=48387

Chris Kane came 4th out of 74 in $1,000 game at The Bellagio last year.
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/players/playerBIOs.asp?playerID=9581

It looks like Mark Eldreth is an online qualifier like me and relatively unknown.

And it looks like Ian Cox, who will be the chip leader on our table, is from the UK. He recently came 7th of 37 in a tournament at Grosvenor Casino Southampton. The write up makes it look like he was lucky to get to 7th as he was the short stack at the start of the final table but his pocket tens made four of a kind on the flop when he was all in against pocket Jacks.
http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/5/south-of-england-poker-champs.htm

Thanks to all for your comments and support. I will be playing my best tomorrow, but I have a feeling that my next post may not be a positive one given the relative size of my chips.

If there is nothing on here by 8.00a.m. UK time on Saturday 4th August, expect good news.

My name, but not my photo, has made it to the Paradise Poker blog this time.
http://pokerblog.paradisepoker.com/index.php
If you scroll down and see J.Vegas drinking red bull and wearing a blue visor – he’s the one who re-raised me all in with Aces when I folded pocket Queens.

With best wishes to all,

Jonny Check Raise