A HUGE Score!  [10.22.2005]
I had a huge score today. I played the $600+40 Million Dollar Guarenteed tourney on Party. There were 1727 players and I finished 2nd. It paid $110,000. This is the biggest score I�ve ever had before, and it feels great.

All the pieces just fell into the right place yesterday. Early on I played a standard tight-solid game, making a few big plays when the opportunity arose. Here�s one that I particularly liked: http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?page=view&hand=152273 Basically I was representing KQ or AK, and that�s exactly what he put me on. My guess is he had a mid pair like 88 or 99.

Starting with about 60 players remaining, I started to get very cold cards. By the time 20 players were left, I was pretty short stacked. I got very lucky and caught a bunch of hands when my table got 6 handed. I didn�t pick up aces or anything, but just hands like 88 and ATo that I could safely steal the huge blinds with. I went from about 70k to 250k by the time we were down to the final table.

At the start of the final table, I played pretty tight. The prize jumps were pretty big. After a while I realized everyone at the table except for two guys were playing pretty scared. I started stealing a bunch, and even reraising a couple of times, but everyone was just too afraid to put all of their chips in.

I was very fortunate that I never ran into any huge hands on my steals. It�s funny, usually when you think of luck in tournaments, you think of all-in situations and suckouts. In that sense I was actually pretty unlucky. I had one suckout for all of my chips, but that was only a 40/60 situation. Midway through the tournament I lost half my chips with KK vs A5s. Also, during the middle stages, I lost a ton of coinflips.

Don�t get me wrong, I still had to get very lucky to finish second. At the final table, I never ran into any big hands. When I finally did run into AQ, I happened to have AK.

I know I�ve bitched and complained a lot about 25th place finishes and what not. Hopefully that makes a little more sense now. This 2nd place makes up for so many of those finishes. It�s crazy, but the way tournaments are set up, they are so top heavy that you need to get some of these big finishes to be a winner.

The rakeback issue is still up in the air. Basically, rakeback is 100% illegal on Party. I know that high volume players will still look for rakeback even though it�s not allowed, so if you are a very high volume player, email me at [email protected] and I can point you in the right direction. Several of the major affiliates right now are making promises they can�t live up to, and given the information I have on the subject, I�m in a position where I need to make sure that these guys don�t get away with it.

In the next couple of weeks I hope to branch out as an affiliate to virtually al the other sites that actually do allow rakeback, so I�ll be able to offer all the readers on my site the best deals possible regardless of the volume of play.

The WPT is in Town, and I Made a Day Two Already!
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WSOP Wrapup and Bellagio Cup start
July 11th, 2007

WSOP #8 - 1k Rebuy and Ante Up for Africa
July 5th, 2007

WSOP #7 - Nobody Calls Earl a Chicken
July 2nd, 2007

WSOP #6 - 1.5k NL and the Robert Williamson Angle Shot
June 30th, 2007

WSOP #5 - 50k HORSE, and LOL Hellmuthaments #2
June 29th, 2007

WSOP #4 - Day 3 of the 50k Horse!
June 25th, 2007

WSOP #3 - Minor Cold Streak, 1.5k NL Commentary and 50k Horse
June 22nd, 2007

WSOP Update #2 - 2k NL Final Table
June 13th, 2007

WSOP Update #1 - Smokey Wins!
June 12th, 2007

It Has Begun!
May 31st, 2007

Once
May 26th, 2007

HORSE!
April 30th, 2007

Bellagio 25k Main Event
April 29th, 2007

Bellagio Update
April 11th, 2007

Brand New x3
April 4th, 2007

PoY, Reality TV Show, and Jennifer Tilly
March 30th, 2007

San Jose and some Interesting Hands
March 11th, 2007

Wynn 10k
March 8th, 2007

Alan Sass wins a tourney, and the cover of Bluff Magazine!
March 4th, 2007

Overdue Update
February 23rd, 2007

Two more huge finishes (Including a win finally)!!!
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I Am Justin Bonomo. Hear Me Roar!
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The Dreaded TV Bubble
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Such Zees
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Doing Well Again!
December 10th, 2006

Back to Back Final Tables!
December 8th, 2006

Day 2!
December 6th, 2006

lol.
December 2nd, 2006

Slackage, SENS, and Elections
November 11th, 2006

Festa Al Lago at the Bellagio
October 12th, 2006

Aruba: non-poker stuff
October 11th, 2006

Aruba Tournament Report
October 10th, 2006

Summary of the Legislation against Unlawful Internet Gambling
October 4th, 2006

Aruba and the Methuselah Foundation
September 24th, 2006

Poker, Ebooks, and Obadiahs
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My Weekend
September 10th, 2006

My Favorite 2+2 Post of All Time
September 4th, 2006

Look! It's a blog!!!!!!!!!11!!1!1!!one!!1!
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Overdue Update
July 13th, 2006

Random Public Service Announcement
June 16th, 2006

Brutal Downswing, Beautiful Recovery
February 23rd, 2006

The Quest Begins
February 20th, 2006

Day 1 Complete
February 20th, 2006

New Article
February 19th, 2006

Another Quick Update
February 16th, 2006

Stuff
February 7th, 2006

Random Update
January 27th, 2006

Exposing the Scammer and a Rant About Emails
January 18th, 2006

Dissecting a Hand #1
January 17th, 2006

WPT Update #2
January 12th, 2006

WPT Update #1
January 6th, 2006

Holiday Stuff
December 29th, 2005

The TLB Record and a Million Dollar Beating
December 22nd, 2005

N82 Guest Writes a Blog
December 19th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
December 15th, 2005

The Race is On!
December 14th, 2005

$137,000 and Rakeback Info!
December 11th, 2005

MySpace!
December 9th, 2005

October + November Results
December 5th, 2005

Live Long Enough to Live Forever
November 30th, 2005

Thanksgiving
November 23rd, 2005

Back to the Old Routine
November 15th, 2005

An Update! (Finally)
November 5th, 2005

The Boys Are Back in Town
October 27th, 2005

A HUGE Score!
October 22nd, 2005

Sundays...
October 16th, 2005

Another Tournament Win
October 10th, 2005

The Day the World Ended
October 8th, 2005

Aruba Trip Report
October 7th, 2005

Ding! (from Aruba)
September 26th, 2005

A Quick $20k!
September 21st, 2005

WCOOP Main Event - Jordan Berkowitz Wins
September 18th, 2005

Photo Gallery Update and 5k SNG Stats
September 15th, 2005

WCOOP, Bellagio, UB, and Some Screen Names
September 11th, 2005

WCOOP Update
September 9th, 2005

A MEGA Update
September 7th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
September 6th, 2005

Back to Work
September 4th, 2005

Victory!
August 29th, 2005

Paaaaiiiiiinn
August 26th, 2005

Veronica O, The Aristocrats, and Ian
August 25th, 2005

The Grind
August 23rd, 2005

A Terrible Day
August 19th, 2005

I'm Home
August 11th, 2005

Update from Amsterdam
July 30th, 2005

Quick Update
July 17th, 2005

An Absolutely Amazing Day
July 12th, 2005

The Quest is Complete!
July 11th, 2005

Back from Mexico
July 6th, 2005

Going to Mexico
June 27th, 2005

Quest Results After the Halfway Mark
June 26th, 2005

Party Poker Million Dollar Guarenteed
June 25th, 2005

Back from Vegas
June 23rd, 2005

Las Vegas
June 21st, 2005

I Bought a Car
June 18th, 2005

A Quest Update
June 15th, 2005

A New Quest
June 13th, 2005

Magic Players Are Taking the Poker World by Storm
June 10th, 2005

10/20 NL and SNGs
June 6th, 2005

Sneak Peak
June 2nd, 2005

Life in LA
May 31st, 2005

Stuff
May 19th, 2005

Another Final Table Report
May 16th, 2005

LA
May 15th, 2005

30 hours til LA
May 8th, 2005

Super Tuesday Tournament Report
May 4th, 2005

Taking it to the Next Level
May 2nd, 2005

A Not So Super Monday
April 26th, 2005

LA here I come!
April 26th, 2005

Turning Stone Conclusion
April 25th, 2005

Turning Stone Update 2
April 22nd, 2005

Turning Stone Update 1
April 21st, 2005

EPT Deauville on TV
April 19th, 2005

Drunken Home Game
April 16th, 2005

Catching Up
April 15th, 2005

Monte Carlo EPT Part I.
March 15th, 2005

WOW - Vienna Tournament Recap
March 11th, 2005

Sleepless in Vienna
March 10th, 2005

Going to Vienna
March 9th, 2005