Al Riccobono’s Blog

In my humble opinion, the Borgata, in Atlantic City, NJ is second to none in hosting poker tournaments.  From the tournament staff, led by Tab Duchateau, does a second to none job running these events.  It is, at times, a thankless job.  However, I can tell you that I am not the only one who feels this way about the job they do.  So thank you guys, for making it a real pleasure to play there.  Something you can not say for all places as you go around the circuit.

Well, I played in a total of six events at the BWO (the East coast’s version of the WSOP…where they ALL come out to play), cashing in only the $770. tourney, finsihing 21st out of 365 players.  However, it was the Main Event that I will remember the most.  Usually, I do well in the larger buy in events and I thought it was going to be another good one for me.  Late in Day 1, I was down to 3100 chips and managed to work my way to 21K by the end of the day.  I was feeling pretty good with 35 big blinds heading into Day 2.  However, a hand I will replay over and over in my mind is haunting me, and I think will continue to do so for awhile.  I was in middle position and raised with AJ, only to be flatted by Steve Brecher on the button and the BB.  On a flop of AH-8S-3S, I bet out 3K (pot sized bet) and Steve raised me to 6500.  I thought about what he could be holding from the button.  I concluded if he had an A with a better kicker (AK or AQ), he would have re raised me preflop in that position.  So with the two spades on board and his min raise, I put him on A-J, A-10 or two spades and decided to shove my reamining 16K to try and get him off of any draws.  As it turned out, I was wrong and Steve was holding AK and pretty much trapped me with his big hand.  I have been beating myself up over this hand since I retunred home two days ago and felt I could have let the hand go.  Oh well, I guess I will have to settle for a valuable lesson and try to move forward.

I will be taking February off to try and regroup and stick to “Fatty’s” cash games and WSOP satellite tourney in the mean time.  In March, I will be at Caesar’s WSOP Circuit and Foxwoods, follwed by NAPT Mohegan Sun in April, of course, after my fantasy baseball draft on April 2nd.  Priorities!

Until March….thanks for the encouragement and support I have received from you guys!  I really appreciate that a lot!

Decided to kick off 2010 with a warm up for the Borgata Winter Open by playing the Taj Mahal’s inaugural “New Year’s Classic.”  I just wish that I wasn’t one of the very few that made that decision.  I am disappointed that more players from the East coast were not there to support a place that could potentially be a home for a new series of tournaments but, that is their choice.  Needless to say, it was very poorly attended.  I attribute it to a few things.  One, being that the PCA had just wrapped up and the BWO is coming, players decided to save it all up for Borgata.  Two, the advertising by the Taj was very poor.  Nice people there but to be frank, they were totally unprepared.  I can not imagine how it would have been had 200 people shown up.  They had a hard time handling two tables.  I hate to say it, but it is true.  I wish them the best and would like to support it, regardless of the growing pains.  It is all part of the process.  Ya live and learn I guess.  Finally, there were no guarantees put on the tournaments, so anyone who did show and saw there were only 15-25-30 people in these events, simply chose not to buy in.  Good luck to them in the future but this was not a good start.  Thank God for Gordon Eng, a friend of mine and a great player, who supported the Taj in their efforts throughout the series.  If it weren’t for him, I don’t think this series would have even gotten off the ground. 

I played in three events.  First, the limit event (I am one of the very few who enjoy limit), which got 15 players.  They paid 5 (5th being LESS than the buy in, another mistake) and I finsihed 6th.  Then I played the $550. Deep Stack, and they got 25 people and I finished in 11th.  Finally, the main event, which the buy in was reduced to $1250+$100 (another mistake) got 29 players.  I finished in 17th after a really great start.  I got AA and decided to slow play them and got caught when my opponent hit a set on the turn.  There was no action so I decided to take a chance and it backfired.  That crippled me and when I hit top pair on a 10 high board on the next hand, I shoved with a very short stack, only to be called with QQ.  All in all, it was a nice trip.  Got a little vacation with my wife, Maria and relaxed quite a bit. 

The Borgata WInter Open, most definitely the highlight of the East Coast tournament circuit because they are run so well, begins tomorrow, January 20th.  I plan on being there for the duration of the series.  Of course, if I make a few day two’s, it will reduce my schedule.  I will see how I feel each day.  Really looking forward to it!  I will keep you posted.

Stay well.

Took a ride down to AC to play in the WSOPC events at Harrah’s for a week or so.  Got there on a Thursday night to play in Friday’s $1080 and made a decent run but fell short, finishing in the 80’s and they only paid 36.  The next day was satellite day, something I usually do NOT play in since I know I am buying in to the Main Event on Sunday anyways, but it was a Saturday and I needed to play something.  So I entered myself into a $560. satellite where they gave away one seat per 10 players.  There were 108 players, so 10 seats and two cash prizes were awarded.  I was fortunate enough to save $4,500. by winning a seat for the Main Event on the cheap.  Won a monster hand in this tourney with three all in’s in front of me (knowing these guys just were trying to double up at this point and not really putting them on monsters, I decided to call with QQ.  I was ahead of the medium pairs and faced one AK suited.  I faded the sets and AK to win what had to be the largest pot of the tournament and I set myself up for a shot at a seat.  It was fun.  I will probably be playing more of those in an attempt to save my investors some money in our account.

The next day was the Main Event, one in which I had my sights on the “RING.”  I want to win a major event in my lifetime and this was a shot at it.  I played really well on Day 1 and was about 7th in chips entering Day 2.  Playing with Alan Kessler was not easy.  Man he complains a lot.  As it turned out, I wound up playing with him in another tourney and he wasn’t so bad…maybe he had a bad day?  Anyways, also played with both Bingers (Nick much nicer than his brother), Bernard Lee (real nice guy), Ted Ely and many other “top pros.”  Day 2 was real interesting and it got down to the actual bubble with only 19 players left and they were paying 18!  I am not lying when I say that it was a 3 1/2 hour bubble for ONE player to get eliminated.  I was real fortunate to stay alive on one hand close to the bubble with 55 on a 5-2-2 flop vs. KK.  Whew…that one makes up for some of the bad beats, so i won’t forget that one anytime soon.  I then was very short stacked and worked a $11K “saver” with the two other short stacks.  The minimum cash in this big event was $16,500.  I am thinking for $560., I can lock up $11,000…it is a no brainer.  Special thanks to Mike (the Nose), Lee Childs, Jason and ACap, who railed me and advised me along the way.  I wound up finishing 18th officially and was pretty happy about cashing, it was the toughest cash of my short career.  BUT…the big one got away again.  This time, 17 people away from the ring.  Aruba, 16 away.  Last year at Caesar’s, 8 away.  I am dying to win one of these and hope one day soon, I can.  I am VERY comfortable and confident with my play at this time, which is a good thing.

Wishing you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  No more “tournament” poker until next decade.  Only Fatty’s cash games, which are always interesting!

Take care and thanks for the support!

Took a trip out to Venetian last month to play in the Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event with my friend Mike.  We had a good time overall, I think….but I have to say…that place STINKS.  I mean this literally.  From the second you walk into that place, there is this God awful aroma that makes me ill.  Does anyone else smell this?  Anyways, it might not have been as bad as my game on this trip, as I was shutout and played very poorly.  I just never got into it there and I am not exactly sure why.

Anyways, I am off to Harrah’s tonight for the WSOP Circuit Events.  Friday, the $1000., Sunday the big Main Event ($5K) and possibly Tuesday’s $1500 (but I hope NOT).  Keep ya posted…..

Played in the World Poker Finals Event #1 because I was up there for a golf trip with my close friends, so I figured “why not, I am up here already.”  I had promised myself to pass on anything at Foxwoods.  I just simply do NOT like poker here.  There are a bunch of reasons, not important enough to go into detail, but generally speaking, I do not enjoy it at this dreary location.  Anyways, I played in the modified $300 shootout.  I tried at 10 p.m. but failed to qualify for the finals.  However, I did qualify at 1 p.m. and entered the finals at 4 p.m. along with the 363 others who made it out of the 1,200 who started.  They would pay the top 120 (10%).  The $75K 1st prize is nice, however, to make ANY decent money and because they do not know how to run tournaments here, you would have to make the final table to even see a decent ROI.  Well, I cashed but finished 43rd overall and brought in a WHOPPING $766!!  Nice huh?  Top 3.5% or so of the field and I made $166.  Ok, enough of that, on to the real and important stuff in life.

Went to get the results of my cat scans at Cornell in NYC, where I see Dr. John Leonard, a lymphoma specialist.  He told me that my scans were very good.  Not only that, but even some of the lymph nodes got smaller to a certain degree.  I have a low grade Non-Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma that is “festering” in my body, in both the neck area and abdomen, that, in time, will need to be treated.  However, when otherwise healthy and not having any symptoms, the treatment of choice for now, is “no treatment” and to take a “wait and watch” approach.  I go for scans every six months (even though Dr. Leonard said that he will not even do them in May) and bloodwork.  So, until the day comes where I will need some form of “chemo”, I do not think about it and live my life accordingly.  I have always kind of lived a “carefree, ya never know what tomorrow brings, so you might as well enjoy yourself” lifestyle.  I do as I please, go where I want and enjoy life.  I have seen too many people build for the “future”, put off vacations, etc…all in an effort to enjoy life later on.  And then, they pass away before that day comes and never get to enjoy what they worked so hard for.  I do not condemn them for that, and it is smart,.. however, I feel that it is also necessary to be able to enjoy things in the present as well once in awhile, if at all possible.

So all in all, a real good day for me.  I also ran into Toni Braxton at the hospital, who is NOT unattractive, by the way, and took a pic with her..nice woman.  She and Ted Turner were at Cornell donating money to the children’s cancer center there.  Good for them!

My current plans are to check out the WPC at the Taj Mahal in a couple of weeks.  I want to play in the limit event on the 5th and take it from there.  But the devil on the other shoulder is telling me to fly to Vegas mid November for the Venetian Deep Stack Series Main Event.  I will see.  In December, I will definitely be at Harrah’s for the WSOP Circuit Events. 

Until then, stay well…..

Ok, I am not sure if my latest trip was poker related or just a vacation, but one thing is for sure, it was absolutely, without question, PARADISE!

Truth be told, the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic took me to this second to none location they call “Aruba.”  Maria and I have been there four times now and it is, by far, our favorite place to go.  This year, nothing would change that.  We stayed at The Renaissance Beach Resort (timeshare), which had its own private island, which was something out of a postcard.  We really enjoyed it and hope to go back there again next year when I come in for this trip.   The restaurants, especially Sole Mare and Madame Jeanette’s stood out amongst the best of this particular stay.

Oh yeah, there was a poker tournament going on as well.  475 players opened play on Day 1 and about 260 made it to Day 2, me being one of them.  I had a somewhat modest stack but nowhere near panic mode.  Day 2 I did more of the same, a grind without getting many hands and survived to come back for Day 3, along with 85 others.  They paid 45 spots and I fell short, finishing in 68th.  I was disappointed, to say the least and questioned my final hand over and over in my mind and hopefully, will learn that I will NOT be taking the same approach in the same situation in the future.  I shoved from the cutoff with 20 big blinds with AQ only to run into AK.  A part of me says raise and then maybe I can get away, but another part says, I might have called a re-raise from one of the big stacks behind me anyways.  Either way, AQ strikes again! 

So it was a week filled with fun, sun, and relaxation (away from the tables) with my wife that I truly enjoyed.  It is defnitely the best poker trip you can possibly take in my opinion.  Utimate Bet did a solid job with the tourney and I will be back each and every year if I can help it.

Next up I think will be a brief stop at Foxwoods, followed by the US Poker Chamionships at the Taj in Atlantic City.  Then in December, the WSOP Circuit Events at Harrah’s in AC.  Of course, subject to change.

Until next time….

Well, drove back on Saturday night, right after the picnic (in which we raised over 9K for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society…yeah baby!!) to get some sleep before the Main Event the next day.  Weird to play in such a big event on a football Sunday, being I am usually knee deep in TV’s, pools, fantasy teams, computers, etc… 

Day 1 went pretty well.  I never dipped below my starting stack and built up consistently to 40K to end the day.  Definitely NOT what I wanted to end the day with but encouraging that I did not lose many pots on this day and played realy well. 

Day 2 was going exactly the same way.  Built my stack this time to 75K, when the average was about that at the time.  I felt real good and things were going well.  A new guy came to my table that I had played with in preliminary events the week prior.  He raised in early position with the blinds at 600/1200 to about 3K.  I re-raised to about 6500 with my QQ, and he flat called me.  The flop was 9-5-2 rainbow.  He shoves all in?  What??  A set?  Nope, did not put him on that, nor would he play it that way…he would have either led out smaller or checked it to me.  Well, I decided that he had JJ or 10s and called (he had me covered about 2 to 1).  He turns over AA to my QQ and I was sent packing.  Nice play…I don’t think I was getting away from that one at any time.  Oh well….

Next up, a trip to Aruba for the UB Aruba Poker Classic.  Last year, I finished 17th in this event and hope to make a deeper run this year.  Not the worst place in the world to be stuck if you DO happen to get knocked out, as it is Maria and I’s favorite place to vacation.

Hats off to the Borgata for a few weeks of fantastic tournaments.  They truly are the best …by far!

Until next time….thanks!

Played my first Heads Up tourney yesterday and I must say, it was a lot of fun.  Think of the NCAA tourney excitement, with the anticipation of the matchups, the big board, etc…it had all of that.  Ok, maybe that is a bit strong but in the poker community, it really was exciting.

After taking Wednesday off to enjoy my win (three way chop) in the Limit Holdem event, I got down to the ballroom early for the drawing and then I stopped down in Metropolitan for a quick breakfast with Gene Castro, one of the founders of PPI and a true gentleman.  We went back upstairs and began play at 11 am.  They picked me to play against Ross Mallor.   What a great guy.  We played for two hours to a draw basically, until I limped in from the SB with AQ.  Ross shoved and I snap called him.  He turned over KQ.  Needless to say, a K came on the turn to give Ross the win.  Rough beat there because you do NOT want to get dropped into the losers bracket because it is a LONG road back to the finals! 

I played Mike Katz next and we also had an up and down match for THREE hours.  We were the last second round match to finish and I outlasted him to advance to play against a real nice guy from Long Island named Damiano (never got his last name).  Poor guy was on the phone most of the match with business issues and I think that worked against him.  I won that one pretty easily and advanced to play Gene Castro.  Fantastic!  Ya’ just know it is inevitable that you are going to be playing against close friends eventually.  On top of that, Gene is one of the better HU players around.  I happened to be fortunate enough to be dealt good hands, hit flops but, I do think I played pretty well also in beating Gene.  Then I advanced to play Trevor Savage.  In doing my homework on him, I saw he was a HU specialist and knew I would have my hands full again.  Well, quite the opposite of when I played Gene, here as I got a horrible run of cards, missed the flop repeatedly and was out played by Trevor.  Good kid, great player.  My hat’s off to him. 

So, all in all, it was a learning experience.  One in which I feel like I made some noise in, did not embarrass myself and had some fun.  I will definitely do it again!  Congrats to my boy Jason Young for finishing 5th in this particular event.  Good job kid.

My wife, Maria and I are holding a “Family and Friends Picnic for a Cause” tomorrow.  We have 200 people coming and people never cease to amaze me with their generosity.  I looked online to check the donations and my very close friend, Mike “The Nose” Castaldo just donated $1,000!!  What the heck?  Anyone who knows him would NOT be surprised because they know of his generosity and character, however, it blew Maria and I away and could not be more thankful.  If anyone would like to donate to this special cause (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), they can visit our webpage at:  http://pages.lightthenight.org/wch/Wstchstr09/riaric

Weather is forecasted for 70 degrees and sunny (thanks Mom, Dad and Big Joe, who wore #70)!!  After the picnic, it is back to the Borgata for the WPT Main Event Championship.  Keep ya posted!

Well, started off the “new season” with my investors with the Borgata Poker Open series here in Atlantic City.  I went 0-4 in the first four events.  Yesterday was the $400. Limit Event.  Not many people enjoy playing limit, and by all means, it is NOT a very popular game in the grand scheme of the NL poker world.  However, it provides me, personally, with a nice change from time to time.  Yes, it could be the world’s most annoying thing to be chased down on draws and getting sucked out on not being able to protect your big hands, but, it works both ways.  Also, one monumental “suckout” does not constitute you looking for something else to do the rest of the day either.

So, 127 players in Event #10 at the Borgata.  I get seated with my close friend, Jason Young and another friend, Lacey Jones, who was voted the “hottest woman in poker.”  Great, one distraction after another!  LOL!  Anyways, from level one, we were all drinking screwdrivers and having a good ol’ time.  The Borgata blog was following this table closely.  Incidentally, I can not say enough about the guys who run the blog there at the Borgata.  These guys bust their ass trying to keep fans updated as best they could and they are covering multiple events at once.  Anyways, Jason and Lacey both busted right before dinner break (I am happy to report I sent jason to the rail….jk JY) and I was on my own afterwards.  I built up a pretty nice stack and played pretty solid all day.  As they got closer to the money, they stopped play for the day at 27 players, 9 short of the money.  I personally wanted to play down to the money (top 18) but it took a unanimous vote and well, ya know, there are always a few in the crowd who can’t agree with the majority. 

So I came back today and worked my stack up and proceeded to the final table with about an average stack.  I picked my spots and succeeded to get down to the final three.  We were very close in chips when we decided to “chop” it.  One guy, who thought because he had a little bit of a higher stack (means nothing at such high blind levels), did not want to unless we gave him “more.”  Ha….whatever dude….fine.  We gave him 9K and myself and another guy took 8K.  We would “play off” for the trophy.  The guy who did not want to chop, OF COURSE, was first to go out.  Then I was heads up for the trophy.  I was in the SB when I limped in for 30K with Q3 off suit.  Flop was Qh-7d-2c.  I bet out 30K, he called.  Turn 4h.  I bet 60K, he calls.  River 10h.  I bet 60K, he raises to 120K, ….FML….a higher kicker?  Can’t be a runner runner flush, what the hell?  I call.  He turns over 79h for a back door flush.  Was calling all the way with middle pair and backed into the flush.  That was it and he won the trophy.  Oh well, it was sort of an after thought but I wanted to win that!!  I can’t complain, I am VERY happy shipping one.  First cash since March and I needed it.  It goes down officially as a 2nd Place finish, but everyone knows a chop is basically a “win.”  My investors are happy, I am thrilled and my poor wife don’t have to hear any bad beat stories tonight!

Thanks to everyone who followed along on http://borgatapoker.blogspot.com/2009_09_15_archive.html  I really do appreciate the encouragement via text and email.  Also, thanks again to Tab and staff at Borgata, who run the best tournaments in the country, in my personal opinion.

Thursday I will be playing in the $1,090. Heads Up 64-player event.  It is double elimination.  Head back home for my big family and friends “Picnic For A Cause” on Saturday the 19th and then back here to Borgata that same night to play on Sunday, the 20th in the WPT Main Event!  I am siked!

Arrived the day before I was to start this year’s main event in order to be in New York for my nephews’ Graduation party.  Damn kids are getting old and heading off to college!  What’s that make me?

Anyways, my friend, Mike “The Nose”, and I got into Vegas on Sunday, the 5th, checked in, threw our stuff down and headed to Tao Beach with Jason (Young), his brother John, Roc and Tisha.  Rented a private cabana, which was lots of fun and had a nice relaxing day.  Saw Holly Madison in another cabana partying.  If you are into that blonde and beautiful thing, she is ok, but not my type.

Anyhow, Monday started Day 1.  It was the largest starting field of the four day 1’s.  I think we had about 2800 players.  That brought the grand total up to just under 6,500 players for this year’s Main Event.  I finished Day 1 with about 52K (started with 30) entering day two.  It was a relatively uneventful Day 1.  I did what I try to do best, not play any large pots and survive and advance.  In my mind, you can’t win this thing on Day 1.  On day two, I took some hits late that hurt, losing with AK most often.  I swear, I may fold that f’n hand pre-flop from now on.  It cost me quite a few chips and I tried making a real big bluff with a big river bet that made my opponent go into the tank for about 10 minutes, until he finally called and took down a very important big pot.  I clawed and battled but ended Day 2 with only 15K in chips.

Day 3 I knew what I had to do and when to do it but my opportunity came against Nick Schulman, who was seated directly to my right, when he put me all in with his very imposing 4-7 off and I snapped called for my last 15K with Ah-7h.  You know the rest, as these so called great players also seem to get the luck as well.  A 4 hit on the turn and sent me packing.  It would have been interesting to get to 35K and try to double up one more time and take it from there, but, it wasn’t meant to be for me this year.

I really wanted to cash this year for my own personal goal of cashing in the Main Event three years in a row.  A friend of mine researched it and told me that I was one of only 42 players who cashed in the Main Event in 2007 and 2008 and that only TWO of those players also cashed in 2006.  Pretty rare feat that unfortunately I was unable to match. 

The good news of the trip was with Mike, the Nose.  Mike is a great friend and a great player.  He just chooses not to play in many events.  Hopefully that will change soon and fast.  The Nose, a larger than life character, was playing in his first WSOP Main Event.  A poker player of many, many years, I guess it took all the talk at “Fatty’s” (our local poker Club that Mike runs) to persuade him into giving it a shot.  I guess he figured if someone like ME can cash in two in a row, well, then, quite frankly, anything is possible.  Jason Young, my close friend and young gun of the poker world, won his first WSOP bracelet last year and is also a member of the “Fatty’s” crew.  We have also had Victor Ramdin play at Fatty’s and welcome any of you to look us up when in New York to stop by.   Back to the Nose…..

After I got knocked out, I had to cool off a bit and went to my room and did the unwinding thing.  I was not too happy, to say the least but about two months before Mike and I had planned this trip, as hard as this is to believe, I had this funny feeling that the Nose would go deep.  I did not remind him of this feeling at any point during the trip.  However, this really had me intrigued and I decided to channel my disappointment and try to turn it into a positive type energy for Mike.  I met him on his dinner break and made sure he did what he had to do to mentally prepare for what was ahead of him.  He can teach me many things about the game, as he has played it much longer than I have.  However, this was one area that the past two years had prepared me for; that deep run into the main event…. and I wanted to be there for him as best I could to get him through it all.  He was as focused as I have ever seen him and proceeded to finish in 236th place.  An absolutely outstanding run, especially for his first main event.  He was focused, did not let anything interrupt his concentration, gave up late nights and drinking, all to try and make this happen.  I was real proud of the Big Nose, as he represented “Fatty’s” in fine fashion.  Congrats Nose, you did yourself and all of us who were rooting real hard for you VERY proud!

As I was sweating Mike on his 5th and final day, I decided to enter the “Dream Team” poker tournament, where you play with two others and form a three man team.  There are team prizes and individual prizes awarded.  IT was a very well run event and a lot of fun, I think I will do it again next year.  I finished 29th individually and our team was close to the top 10 but not quite.  Thanks to Jason and Manny, who allowed me to play with them on Team Los Chingones or “Team Bad Asses”, as I am told is one interpretation of that.

Next, I will be playing in the Mohegan Sun Summer Showdown on July 30th in the 700K Guanrantee Main Event and hopefully then heading to the Borgata for the $1,650 half million guarantee on August 3rd-6th.  From there, I am looking forward to Aruba in October, where the Aruba Poker Classic is held.  I booked my flights for the trip and hope to have some success out there.  Last year, I finished in 17th out of 551.

Until next time, thank you for all your support and emails, especially when I was down and out in Las Vegas!