July 6- Day 1

Chewey Advances to Day 2 of the Big Show! Now that the important news has been posted, lets discuss how I got there.

The night before day 1, I could not sleep and was thinking about other things such as how the website traffic had quadrupled in the past few days; the recent signings of several new sponsors for Poker Across America and whether the booth at the Big Show would draw traffic to the site. Some of the new sponsors include Casino Dealer Video School, Official Glass Dealer Button Company. Check these guys out in the retailers section of the website and they make a high quality product for players and dealers. Also be on the lookout for an online site that will be sponsoring me and Poker Across America in the coming weeks. As mentioned in the earlier blogs, Poker Across America (PAA) has a booth at the Big Show. The booth has increased exposure to the website and left many users asking the question of "Why wasn't a site like this been done for Poker before?" and the truth is that it takes a ton of work and dedication to maintain. The PAA team has been ecstatic about the buzz that has been generated surrounding the site and this has caught the attention of many of poker's biggest names. Now if only I can make that final table; that is my ultimate dream!

It is 4am and finally I am able to catch some shut eye. Before you know it, it's time to shuffle up and deal The Big Show has started and I do not realize that I am seated next to pro Matt Hilger until 3 hours into the tournament. We strike up a conversation and talk about PAA. I'm dealt a pair of 3s and raise from middle position and everyone folds to the big blind. The big blind raises my bet and I re raise it to 1200 which is double his bet. The big Blind folds and I am able to take down a medium sized pot. My chip stack sits at 22,500. Level passes and my stack is at 19,300. There are several comments made by the other players at my table about the more aggressive blind structure for this year's tournament. The blinds start at 50-100 and double up every two hours and the antes kick in in the 4th level.

Level 2 passes and I won maybe two pots at the most in this level to maintain my stack around 17,000. Nothing much to write about in this level. Level 3 begins and immediately I lose a multi-way pot for 2200 to a flush on the river. My stack is down to 13,000 and I change my mind set to become aggressive as the rest of the table is beginning to tighten up. I manage to raise a few pot uncontested pots pre-flop and increase my stack to 18,000 in a matter of 20 minutes with the blinds at 200, 400. This is the last level in which there are no antes. I am dealt two low suited cards in UTG position and raise the pot to 1500 and get two callers: button position and the big blind. The flop comes 3,6,7 and the big blind puts out a feeler bet of 1000. I raise to 2100 and take the pot down. By the end of level three, my chip stack is at 26,300. Could the Chewey chip express be taking off?

Level 4 passes and during this level Matt Hilger has switched gears and is a lot more aggressive raising uncontested pots and never limping in from any position. he increases his stack from 18,000 to over 35,000 in this level. It is very important that I not tangle with him in any pots during this level as he is on a roll. It is now 7:30pm and dinner break is upon us we have lost roughly 300 players from the big show thus far in Day 1A. i return from dinner break and see that many of the player had heavy dinners and were getting tired. It is time to turn on the juice and play aggressive. I feel good and am ready for the 8 hour stretch of poker that lies ahead. Level 5 ends and this is the my best level of the tournament thus far. I increase my stack from 20,050 to 40,000 and am using my tight image to my advantage. In the 90 minutes following the dinner break, over 250 players have busted out from the tournament. This blind structure is way too aggressive and we will talk about this in my future blogs following the Big Show. We are now past 2 a.m. and the tournament director announces that we will be playing out the remaining levels as scheduled. This puts us on a projection to end Day 1A around 430 a.m. and will have marked one of my longest poker playing days ever at 15 hours.

Level 6 is upon is and my stack is around 39,000 and I began to eye the clock to see how close we are to making Day 2. My strategy at this point is to maintain my current stack and make it to Day 2. We have under 20 minutes remaining in the Day 1 and I am dealt pocket 7s. The blinds are at 400-800 with 100 antes. I raise to 2500 and get two callers. Uggh, this may be a huge pot and I will definitely need that magical 7 to pop the pot later. The flop brings A,K,Q and it is raised by the big blind and reraised by the middle postion player and I fold. when you sit 10+ hours at the same table with the same players, you begin to pick up certain playing patterns and mannerisms. I picked up a few from the big blind player in this hand and put him on a draw. The turn was a 2 and the river a 10. The big blind flips over J, 9 for broadway ans was bluffing after the flop and managed to catch the magical 10. This hand decreases my stack to 37,000. The next hand I have A,K suited and raise the pot to 2100 and get three callers again. The board brings 3,6,7 and completely misses me. I now sit at 34,000. The next two hands , I pay the small and big blind plus antes. These two hands decrease my stack to 28,000. The very next hand I am dealt K,Q suited and raise it to 2,500 and get called by player in Seat 8. Seat 8 and I have tangled in many pots during the day with me winning the majority. The flop brings K,6,J. I have top pair and bet out 3,200. Seat 8 looks at his cards and stares into the distance. Here's the mannerism that I picked up on and I know that he's bluffing. He raises to 10,000. I look at him and know that I am the favorite thus far. I reraise to put him all-in and he calls. He flips over 6,8 off suit and I think this is just like roulette as this player is basically hoping for the suckout card. The turn is a 10 and I now have a draw to the straight which I don't need. The river is a freaking 8 and he wins with two pair. This decimates my stack to 1,100 with under 10 minutes remaining in the day. I get up from the table and feel like punching the wall. After 14 hours and 45 minutes worth of solid play, I only have 1,100 in chips and hear is this guy that suddenly decides to gamble and gets lucky to double his stack through me. The whole table realizes the suckout that has just occurred and offers me small words of encouragement. It is this point that I think of what the odds are of me coming back from way back to make the final table. I'm not giving up yet, they are going to rip my last few chips from me before I leave the table. I am dealt 10, 5 off suit and am about to be blinded out and decide to move all-in with my remaining 1,100. I get not 1 or 2 callers but 4 callers and Hilger says to me "Good Luck Chewey!". I began to walk away from the table and realize that my Big Show could be over in a flash. The board brings 7,8, K and the remaining players check down the pot. The turn brings a 6 and suddenly I am 20 feet away from the table and am ready to hit the exit in a hurry. The river brings a 9 and somehow I win the hand to increase my stack to 6,700. When the 9 hits, I am stunned but emotionless as we have played for nearly 15 hours and I'm super exhausted ready for bed. Five minutes remain and could I limp into Day 2? I put in my obligatory blinds and this reduces my stack to 5,500. I look up at the clock and it ticks, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1......... Tournament Director announces "Congratulations,players you've made it to Day 2!" and I think to myself, holy cow, am I the smallest stack in the tournament? I bag my chips up and began to write my name and want to write "donations to the bad beat fund" but think twice about that and hand my bag to the dealer. It is 5am and I'm ready for bed. The blinds will be at 500-1000 with antes at 100 for Day 2. I'll be looking up to double up early and often to get back in the thick of the tournament. Day 2 is on Tuesday. Check back for updates on Chewey's run at the Big Show.

Down but not out! Thanks River Rats and Roulette Players!
Chewey