Staying Ready: Poker Since The Monster Stack

When I won The WSOPc Monster Stack at Thunder Valley on Wednesday October 2, 2024, it was the culmination of a long poker journey. And it was a new beginning as well: having done it once, I knew that I could do it again. So I started to play more in expectation of big things. But in the six months since I’ve had very poor results – while at the same time playing the best poker of my life.

Consider my attempts this weekend at The Peppermill Poker Palooza $1,000 $300,000 Guarantee Main Event. On Day 1A on Friday, I accumulated a huge stack. I flopped two pair in a limped pot in the big blind with A3 on A103ssx and doubled up when the small blind put me All In with 103. Then I flopped a set of 10s against Jasthi Kumar when I raised in late position and he 3-bet me from the blinds. I just called to control the pot. The flop came out J10X. Jasthi made a small bet on the flop and I called, not wanting to give away the strength of my hand to a hyper-aggressive player who might not have even had a pair. The turn was a blank, Jasthi made a big bet that effectively forced me to go All In or fold, I went All In, and he tank folded.

That gave me a commanding stack until I picked up KK on the button a couple levels before the dinner break. I made my standard raise and the small blind called. The flop came down QJ2. He checked, I made a standard continuation bet and he check raised me to 10,000. I re-raised to 25,000, he shoved, and I called. He flipped over QJ and his hand held up.

I later questioned myself about re-raising here. Most amateur players will only check raise there with two pair and I strongly believed he had QJ. I think he would have called with hands like AQ or Q10 suited as well as a set of 2s. However, even if he did have QJ, I was going to have to call a turn and river bet which was essentially going to be all of chips anyways, unless another Q or J or an Ace showed up. Further, I was still ~30% to win because a K or 2 or whatever came on the turn if it came again on the river, would have given me a better two pair. On the other hand, a scare card like an Ace or running cards to make a straight likely would have slowed him down. Therefore, in retrospect I do think I should have went with my read and just called, potentially protecting my big stack for a better spot, instead of putting so many chips in when my read said that I was behind.

While I have played my best poker since The Monster Stack, I continue to make mistakes and find spots to improve. One mistake I’ve now made twice in the last month is overplaying a big stack (100+ BBs) in deeper structured tournaments. This is a function of my inexperience in these spots due to previously playing a tighter style which meant I didn’t accumulate a big stack as often as well as mostly playing smaller buy-in tournaments with less deep structures. (For the other example of when I overplayed a big stack see “A Light 5-Bet All In At The Thunder Valley $1 Million Guarantee That Cost Me Big”, March 10).

After that hand, I grinded a ~20 BB stack until the dinner break. Shortly after returning, a player who had pushed All In from UTG for ~30 BB and I called on the button with 1010. He flipped over A10 – but an Ace came on the river and I was out.

I late registered Day 1B today after the second break and got grinded down to 14.7k from a 40k starting stack at 1000/1500/1500 15 minutes before the dinner break. UTG limped, a player who had been raising a lot raised to 3,000 and I shoved with AJ. Everybody folded back to the raiser who called with J10dd. A 10 was the window card on the flop and it held up. Once again I busted in a spot where I had the other player dominated.

In fact, since The Monster Stack I have played 191 hours of tournaments and lost $27,000 – almost all of the $30,600 that I won. But, like I said, it’s not because I’m playing badly. I’ve put myself in contention a number of times. I made Day 2s at The WSOPc Monster Stack at Harvey’s in South Lake Tahoe on October 31, 2024, The WSOPc Graton Ton Of Chips on February 19, 2025 and The Peppermill Mini-Main last weekend. At Graton, I lost a flip with 88 to a player with AJ who I had slightly covered, and busted a few hands later in 44th place. That player, Luis Mendoza, went on to win the tournament for $20,075. I satellited into The $3500 WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event on March 15, 2025 and got off to a good start at a table that included former WPT Player of the Year Ant Zinno as well as local legend Michael Persky but couldn’t make any hands as the day wore on.

My point is that this is the nature of the game we love and have chosen to play. In order to win, you have to play well and run well – and I’m not running well right now. But, like a bench player in the NBA, you have to stay ready. Because one of these days I will run well again and I want to be ready in order to take advantage of it. If you let a bad run of cards cause you to start to play badly, you won’t be ready when your luck turns. When I was growing up, my Dad always used to say: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. So I keep doing my thing and staying ready, knowing that one of these days it will be my time again.