Blogger Birthday Bash

One last day of the Vegas trip is still coming. But there is a blogger tournament report to kick out. 67 of the best (?) bloggers on the net ponied up their cash to participate in the Dr. Pauly Birthday Bash on Titan Poker. How Pauly found time to play himself is beyond me. The man just got back from Europe and is working the Borgata Open in AC. Does he ever take a break?

My first table was interesting. Didn't recognize a single person. I also didn't recognize any hands. I got crap for the first two orbits. I did learn that "crap" is a forbidden word on Titan though. Yeah, you cannot say crap but you can say turds. And bitches.

So since I am not getting any cards, I loosen up a bit to get some chips. With Q J suited, I raise it up from EP. Get one caller. Flop is all low 3 6 8, two diamonds. I bet half the pot and get called. Turn is a 2. I bet half the pot and my opponent folds. Back above where I started.

Tourney seems tight. Takes about a half hour for someone to bust out. And for me to get moved to a new table. I don't recognize any of the players here either. Poker Bully mentions his site. As I go to check it out, something strange happens. I get some cards. Raise with A Q but no action. Raise with A A and no action. Raise with the Hammer and someone pushes all in. WTF? At least I got to play some poker without doing anything too stupid.

I then get moved AGAIN! This time to a star studded table. Easycure, SirWafl, Poker Geek, and Gracie.

I pony back and forth here getting some chips and giving them back until I lose a big hand from the small blind. I just call with 10 3. Flop comes 2 10 K. I check and call the bet. Turn is a 10. I check raise him. On the river I bet 500 and just get called. He shows K 10 for the boat. Ouch! The break soon comes and I am at 565. Dead last among the living. That puts me at 52. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

Once action gets going I look for something to move with. The BB soon comes around and with 9 9, I push my 485 in to take on the two limpers. SirWafl calls right away and I think I am toast. He shows K Q spades. Flop is J J 10. Ugly. Turn a 2 and the river a J. I double through.

Couple of hands later, I get A A. With 2 limpers, I pop it to 350, looking like I want to buy it a bit. But it folds around. Damn. But I am at 1490, close to the start.

But just for a while. Blinds come and go. I then make a move with K 10 suited in EP but get re-raised by Poker Geek and have to fold. I try it again later and get the blinds. Then I begin to bleed some chips in the blinds as the cards have abandoned me again. I double up with K J against 5 5 but I give a chunk back when I try to drop the Hammer but run into J J. I called his all in bet simply because I had to try to drop the Hammer on someone.

I then bounce back up again with A J clubs hitting the flush on the turn. Sorry EZ.

I don't see many hands up into the break. The big stack is using his chips to push me around in the blinds. Then a push monkey comes in to my right. I am just begging for something to fight back with. Finally I get A J suited (diamonds) but run into A J suited (hearts) to split a pot.

A few hands later A K shows up and I double up. I need one more double and I can make a run for the final table. Then the ladies show up- the Hilton Sisters. They look beautiful. The big stack makes his usual raise again to 1000. I push my 3700 in. He calls and shows- K K! FUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGG! 8 10 J flop. Not too bad. A 9 would save me. Nope. No 9 or Q and I am done in 21. See ya! Those bitches let me down.

Overall I am ok with the way I played. Could have been more aggressive in some spots but feel I did ok considering I haven't played many tournaments over the past quarter. I don't know if I will keep money over at Titan. Software is blah, but play is soft. I may grind out some on the limit tables before moving on. I just hope they don't need for me to fax pictures and stuff to withdraw.