WSOP Circuit Event at Caesars

So this is my first post on this blog...figured now was as good a time as any. I just returned from the WSOP Circuit up in Atlantic City.

I had been running really well the weeks leading up to the trip winning a bunch of SNGs and 2 table tourneys in our home game and also taking 1st in the Thursday night $40 MTT at MMC the week before.

On to AC...I played in a total of 4 tournaments (2 small non-WSOP events) and cashed in 3 of them. My biggest finish for the week (not financially - but accomplishment wise) was finishing 65th in Event 1 of the World Series of Poker Circuit at Caesars.

http://cardplayer.com/players/results/Derek_Tenbusch/53695

Here is a little blurb about that event from The Poker Forum:

Atlantic City, NJ (March 6, 2007) Winning a poker tournament is never easy. The task is even more challenging when there are over a thousand competitors, all with the same desire to win. Then, there are the emotional challenges such as losing big pots, taking bad beats, and otherwise trying to remain focused no matter which cards are dealt out and what flops come.

A whopping 1,106 players entered the $300 buy-in no-limit hold em tournament officially listed as Event #1. The thousand-plus field ranked as the second-largest tournament in the three-year history of the WSOP Circuit. Only the recent Circuit event held at the Grand Tunica Casino-Resort in Mississippi in January 2007 attracted more entries (with 1,345).

As you can see, it was a huge field so I was pretty stoked to play as well as I did and finish in 65th. I dont have any bad beat stories or dramatic ways that I went bust. I simply got in to some pots toward the end that I ended up having to fold, and then got short stacked to where I had to push all in with my next good hand. I pushed and got called by a btter hand and did not improve. The end.

My only memorable hands were pretty straight forward. I had AA 4 times early and merely stole the blinds with two of them. One other time I raised 3x the big blind and got a caller. Flop came A10x and I checked. He bet out and I smooth called. The flop brought another 10 and I was praying that he had A10 or at least a 10. I checked again he bet the minimum and when I raised, he folded. Perhaps I could have made a little more on this hand by just smooth calling again. I cant imagine he put me on AA here which makes me think he probably had a small A so when I reraised he figured me for a 10.

I also pushed all in with JJ when the blinds were 500/1000 and I had about 8,000 chips left. Got called by AQ and my jacks actually held up...maybe for the first time ever? This was the hand that really propelled me into the money as I now had chips to make some moves with and accumulate more chips.

All in all a good time and a memorable few days in AC.