I have played six tournaments thus far and am yet to cash:

$50,000 8-Game: Painful to go out in this one, and the hand that send me in a downward spiral was a bit annoying. It was PLO and I raised in late position with Ac 9c 10 7, Noah Boeken called, as did the blind. The flop came 10c 8s 7c and I bet the flop, Noah called in position. The turn was the Jc giving me the nuts with two pair, so I bet pretty big again. The river was a 7, improving my hand to a full house, but I didn't need to improve as I went from the nuts to only beating a bluff if Noah bet. I checked, and Noah bet smallish on the river so I called. His hand was 7-10-J-K. He called me on the turn with three pairs and made sevens full of jacks.

$1500 Omaha H/L: Another case of a weird call. I called a raise with 2-2-4-5 double suited in position, and the small blind, an Asian player from LA that I have seen before and assumed was a pro called. The flop came As Kh 6s. All checked to me and I bet with the second nut low draw and my flush draw. The Asian player called the flop with 8-9-10-J and no flush draw. Just a pure gutshot? That's a pretty atrocious call there, but I lost that one too.

$1500 No Limit Hold'em: With no 5pm I decided to give this one a shot since I was out of the Omaha. I was doing really good, and came to realize that these things seem much easier than I would have expected. Very weak players in general and I got a hold of a good sized stack. I ended up busting just outside the money, and I missed one opportunity to get some chips that I regret now:
I raised to 1375 with AK with blinds at 300-600 with a 75 ante and only the big blind called, an aggressive internet player. The flop came 8c 8d 5c and he checked. I bet 1600 and he raised to 4050. I felt strongly that my AK was the best hand and he either had air or a draw. I called. The turn was the 3d and he went all in. I had 20,000 in front of me and wanted to call. I ended up talking myself out of the call figuring that even if I was right, he was going to river me a decent amount of the time and I had plenty of chips to play with. Truth is, though, 20,000 wasn't really enough to play with, and if I call and win that pot I can "do my thang." That was a mistake.

$5000 NLH Shootout: I feel like I was lucky enough to win this one, but in the end I couldn't get the job done and finished second to Chris Moore. I had my chance to end in three handed in an odd pot. Todd Brunson raised on the button 3-handed and I called from the SB with Ks 8s and Moore called from the BB. The flop came 8h-8d-3s. I checked, Moore checked, and Todd bet 4500. I raised to 10,000, and Moore moved all in. Todd called and I folded. Moore showed K-3 and Todd had J-8. It came spade, spade and I would have made the flush and busted them both! Instead, it was now heads up and I had a slight chip lead that I strengthened a bit before the key hand:
He raised to 1300 on the button and I re-raised him to 5800 or so, I don't remember, with A-5 off. The flop came 2-4-5 rainbow and I bet 8000, he raised me 15,000 more, and I went all in. He called with 44.
The last hand he limped on the button and I checked 6s 7s. The flop was Qs 8s 3 and I checked, he bet, and short stacked I moved all in. He called with a Queen and that was that.


$2500 2-7 Triple Draw: I busted out of the NLH event in time for triple draw, missing just the first hour. I proceeded to go on an insane rush making 7's and 8's like every hand. We start with 7500 in chips and I amassed 19,600 before moving to a new table. Then BAM. As good as I ran to get those chips, from that point on I didn't drag a chip and was out in like an hour.


$1500 No Limit Hold'em: Since I busted the 2-7 unexpectedly, and once again there was no 5pm tournament, I took another shot in a NLH event. I was up to about 6500 playing well, then I called a raise on the button with 22. The flop came J-9-2 with two diamonds and the pre-flop raiser bet. I raised him, he went all in, and I called. He had 99... doh. I never really recovered from that.

So next up is the $10,000 7 Card Stud Championship. I came 10th in this event last year, and I feel like I've done decent in Stud at the WSOP which prompted me to check. I was surprised to see this:
2009 $10,000 Stud 10th
2008 $10,000 Stud 11th
2007 $2000 Stud 5th

I never really considered myself a great stud player, but I don't think I suck either. I remember when I was grinding back at the Mirage in my early 20's, I took it as a personal goal to learn stud. I was mainly a limit hold'em player back then, grinding in the 40-80 or 75-150 games, but when I'd wait for a seat I'd often sit in the 15-30 stud game with the locals to learn how to play. It paid off. I developed a decent feel for the game and it's definitely a game where you need to have a good feel for what's going on. You need to have your head in the game and understand what people are doing.
There are also some nuances to tournament stud that differ from playing stud cash games. I'd say the one guy I learned the most from, in terms of stud, is definitely Ivey. He's the most aggressive stud player I'd ever played with, but playing a decent number of hours with him helped me understand the method to his madness and I incorporated a lot of that into my game.

So no noon event tomorrow gives me the day off, and I plan on continuing with my exercise program, the P90X. Today I started week 2, which is a repeat of week 1 and the goal was to do just a little better than last week, and I wasn't disappointed. Not ecstatic, but certainly not ecstatic. An extra push up here, pull up there, and I was able to get a bit more out of the ab routine.
Many people were concerned that working out during the series would be draining, but I'm finding the opposite to be true. I'm not tired at all, in fact, the more exercise I do the more energy I feel I have.

If the $10,000 Stud event doesn't go well, I'm always excited to play a limit hold'em event, and there is one slated for the next day at 5pm. I'm not discouraged at all by the slow start. The WSOP is a LONG grind and I'll get my opportunities.

Daniel Negreanu is the 2004 CardPlayer Magazine and World Poker Tour Player of the Year. He presents his poker strategies in one-on-one virtual training at pokervt.com and writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column.