It is a cash

I finally cashed in a RiverChasers HORSE event today. I played most of them over the last couple of months and would make the final table and then bubble on the cash. Though it was only a fourth place finish, I will take it.

I led a good chunk of the tournament too. I got some nice hands and was able to consistently chip up. I had reached a high of 24k when most people were still below 10k. But when the blinds got up there, my hands started to fall. In the Stud events I was running two pair up against straights or sets. It felt like nothing was going to hold up. Before I knew it, I was down to just 3k. That was a heck of a drop.

But I fought back. It started with pocket 4s that managed to hold up against A Q. From there I played a nice conservative game. Sadly, it was the Stud portion that led to my demise. Three Kings ran into 3 Aces. Ouch!

Big congratulations to Mike Maloney for the win. He played a nice final table. You couldn't tell if he was just stealing or if he had a good hand. He mixed it up well.

Also, congrats to Pauly for his cash at the WSOP. Took 119 in one of the donkaments. Well done Pauly! Wading through a crowd of donkeys is a hell of a feat!

Also need to congratulate Blinders and Joe Speaker. Along with Pauly, they have launch a cool fantasy sports game- Fantasy Sports Live. Like fantasy sports? Like poker? Just like a Reeces peanut butter cup, they took two great games and combined them into one. Check it out!


Bonus code STB will get you 10 bucks on a deposit of $50. Deposit more and get a bigger bonus.

Waffle free radio

For once, it isn't a I-busted-out-of-the-Mookie early posts. I went deep last night, all the way to 13th place. I was somewhat content with my play, but not totally happy.

I seem to find the wrong spot to either try to steal or put pressure on a player who has a monster. I guess my late game reads are going for shit right now. For example, I was over 6k when there was a raise in EP. I figure this person was trying to get some chips with a small pair so I re-raised with 7 7. They had A A.

This is a spot where I should have been either folding or calling and folding on the flop. Instead I played the greed card and gave away half of my stack. Not a good thing. I really need to work on patience and find the right spots to hit. Being aggressive is good, but finding the right time to hit is critical.

Later on in the Dookie, I would play loose, wild and free. Lots of raising with big pairs instead of solid O8 hands. It was a small buy in so I got my money worths of fun. I just need to learn to buckle down and take it slow and easy.

I listened to the Buddy Dank radio show as the tourney went on. It was good to hear the commentary of what was happening at the other tables. It provided another dimension to the game. Until they got Waffles on there and then it became a snooze fest. Unless you like to hear the best strategies for winning $1 HU SnGs or a full $6 SnG. Between him and the whisky, I was ready to pass out.

And what is with the music selection Dank has? It looks like he took over the apartment of a hippy lesbian that left her CD collection behind. More Melissa Etheridge than Metallica? He must have taken time to go around the country following the old Lillith Fair tour. Next thing you know he will have videos of the Indigo Girls playing. Need better tunes. Much better tunes.

Crazy

After reading Pauly's comments about the donkfests that the $1500 NL tournaments at the WSOP have become, it really got me to thinking. Specifically, if I don't like to play online tournaments with over 1000 players, why would I want to play one live? Sure playing in the WSOP would be fun, but do I really want to try and out last 2000 players over a couple of days? Having read Hoy's comments about needed to ease his body and mind on a dinner break, the answer is quite simply, no. Hell, with all I drink, I would be drunk by the end of the first day and pushing with anything.

A couple days ago, I had a revelation. If I would win an entry into any WSOP event, I know exactly which one it would be. Razz. That might be the one game where any blogger could compete against the top players and make a good run if they got lucky.

Plus, after following PokerStar's Katja Thater's Razz run, it seems to be the most logical event to enter. Damn did she play well in such a frustrating game. But with 300 players avoiding bricks, it would appear to be the best event to catch a bracelet. As long as you are not at Katja's table that is.

Playing the rush

Both the Mookie and RiverChaser tournaments were total abominations for me last week. I played little poker because of it. Did some Triple Draw and went south. Tried some SnGs that didn't pay off. Thus when I finally got on a rush, I went for it.

The game wasn't poker though. It was a booze raffle at the church festival.

Saturday night is when I hit my rush. I won my first bottle of booze right away, good old number 6, the last paddle bought. I came right back with a quick second win. I knew the streak was good and real. How could I stop now? Only 2 bucks a paddle. 4 bottles of booze being won every round. I was finally on a rush and had to keep going.

The rest of the people began to fear me as bottle after bottle was pushed my way. The cute brunette on the side was eyeing me up. She noticed who her competition was and looked to be changing up her play. Others stayed away. It took some time to sell the rest of the paddles one they saw I was in. When I won a bottle of wine on the next draw, I think I heard someone say "Same winners all the time!"

But like all good things, even rushes come to an end. The paddles soon went cold. I stepped away, booked my win and went off for another beer.

It did feel good to win again.

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Moo

I didn't last long enough to call it the Mookie. I believe I was in all of 17 minutes. Ran K K into A K and saw not one A, but a second as well to knock me out. All the money was in preflop and Zeem drew out. So it goes.

Now maybe I got spoiled by live tournament play this past weekend, but didn't these blinds go up pretty fast? Full Tilt has 10 minutes levels? Guess I never realized it before. I thought they were 15.

After the WPBT tournament on Saturday, I headed over with some of the guys to the Tilted Kilt before heading out to dinner. Just before I left, I realized I was sitting with some of the power brokers in the poker reporting world. Dr. Pauly of Tao of Poker fame was sitting across from me. On my far left was the Poker Prof of LasVegasVegas. You want to know what is going in Vegas? Poker, shows, shopping, news, pics? It is all at LasVegas Vegas. Also across from me was Dan Michalski of Pokerati. Though he didn't have a pink shirt on, it was nice to talk with him. His people have been attacking the WSOP both at the table and around. Spaceman from Bluff was at the far end with Rachel, the newly crowned WPBT Champion. Grubby, the bloggers slot expet- hey have I got a nice story for you on playing the Wheel of Fortune machine. Only people missing were Otis from Pokerstars and the Wicked Chops boys. Not that I left Change100 out, she of Pokerworks and Pokernews. I ran into her as I was leaving the Kilt.

Toss in the many other people I met for the first time on this trip- bayne, brainmc (you still owe me a beer), Irongirl, Alan's brother John, Poker Gnome, some of the Full Tilt forum people at the IP, among everyone else. Apologies for not listing you. A trip that I thought I may be disappointed with turned out to be very good.

Guess Metal Skool and strippers can do that for you.

Tournaments weren't good

There isn't much to say about the tournaments I played while in Vegas. Binions 2 am saw me out around 22 of 33. I may have notes at home on what happened but it doesn't matter. I believe I took a heck of a beat that crippled me.

I played in the World Poker Classic on Thursday. The H.O.R.S.E bucked me pretty good. Played loose in the H & O and found myself not hitting at all. So I tightened up. Really tightened up. It was until two hours into the tournament that I won my first hand in the Stud portion. It was that bad. I would soon be out when the H got back around. I played poorly in this event. No ifs, and, or buts about it.

The WPBT tournament was a cluster fuck. Bad structure and a dick for a director. I started off well. With Grubby on my right and bayne on my left, I knew I couldn't get too tricky. I chipped up early by restealing from Grubby when he acted like he would muck then tried to buy the pot. Even got away with laying down the Hammer and getting the pot with a pair of 7s.

But with the tournament in turbo mode, I knew I either had to chip up quickly or have no chance to get deep. I was willing to gamble to get there. When Fuel55 got aggressive, I followed his act. He pointed out that at level 3, we basically had an M of 10. So, I raised with 7 7 in EP and called his push. I knew I had him covered and if I won the hand, I would run over the table. I expected to see A high from him but was surprised to see J J. Ouch! The flop was live for both of us- 8 9 10. I caught a nice 6 on the turn for my straight. But in grand suck and resuck fashion, a Q hit to give Fuel the higher straight. Two hands later I would be out. Such is the game.

Ironically, cash game were better for me, especially playing the 1/2 NL at the MGM and Hooters. In the past I made bad moves, trying to be overly aggressive and push people around or make calls when I knew I was beat but talked myself out of it. I listened to what Blood had to say. If he said the table was beatable if I played conservatively, I went with it. I guess that is why I even sat down at the 2/5 at the Rio late one night.

Following his advice, I played some straight forward poker to begin with. Nothing fancy, nothing aggro. Once I got a read for the table, I began to loosen up against certain players. Yep, play the players, not the cards. I got a feel for who I could push off a hand, who I could maximize value with, who I should avoid, etc. I came away with a feeling of confidence. In fact, there was only one hand that I wish I would have played differently.

2/5 NL at the Rio. Again, Blood told me to take a seat saying I could handle the higher stakes with these players. I was up about $50 when I decided to call 10 more from the BB with 10 7s. Flop came 10 high. I decided I was going to check raise the guy. He didn't seem strong and I felt my 10 was good. He bet 30 and I raised to 75. He called. Maybe I should have raised more. I then checked the turn. Here is where I think I made a mistake. I should have bet out, showing strength. I believe he may have folded. He checked behind and the river was checked as well. He showed A 10 for the win. Would anyone have been more aggressive there?

Apart from that hand, I was pleased with my NL game this trip. I look forward to developing it next time I am out there. I may even make a trip to the Indian casino in town.

I only played a bit of limit at the MGM. 4/8 on a very loose table. I felt like I was just unlucky. People kept hitting on the turn and beating me. I didn't play my best because of that. Plus, I had to sit next to the mimosa drinking Falstaff. Guess that explains the skirt! But I got the waitress to call him mimosa boy and had her ask the bartender if he wanted to see the lady that was pounding down the girlie drinks.

Final thing. Big congrats to Mrs. Spaceman! She took down the WPBT event in a very tough, entertaining match up with Grubette. The head to head battle was very exciting to watch as these ladies dumped my horse at the table. Yeah, I bet on Waffles to take it down and had confidence he would. But a suckout later he was done. At least I had some side action against Grubette. Nothing against her, I just took a bet against the huge stack from winning it all. Once again, congrats to Rachel for the win.

Vegas

Tournaments were bad. Especially the abortion that was the WPBT at the Orleans. Worst. Tournament. Ever. Falstaff did a great job with setting it up but the tournament director at the Orleans was a complete dick. Man, was he an asshole.

Cash games good. Miami Don was right. Things were on the soft side. That is why I avoided confrontations with other bloggers.

Dealer choice with bloggers at the was a drunkfest. Or at least I was but what do you expect. Downing Makers Mark for 5 hours prior to showing up can do that to you.

Oh, and Metal Skool totally fuckin' rocked!!! It was a great time hanging with Blood and hearing some good music.

More later.

Played like a fiddle

I had some fun in the last Wheatie. Wasn't playing tight, nor was I playing loose. I think my table would disagree with my claim of not playing loose. I was a tad loose in the blinds, but played like a rock from early position. When the time seemed right to snag a pot with air, I took it. I guess my instinct was on during the first hour.

But it left me in the second. I made a terrible play and got bounced. I didn't think about the hand my opponent had when I made the call. I was in the SB with around 3k and had been dealt A Jo. There was a raise from MP. I called to see a flop of K K x. It checked around. With the turn J, I bet half the pot, around 550. I was quickly raised.

That should have been the flashing light to get on out. I would still have enough chips to pick and choose a place to get back into the tournament. I was far from being crippled.

Instead I made a hasty decision. I put him on a mid pair and pushed. He flipped A Ks and I was done. My opponent played me like a fiddle.

I should know better than that. Laying down that hand isn't hard. I would have been alive and with an M around 15, could have found a better spot to make a play. But I had fun.

Big thanks to Wil for hosting these tournaments over the last couple years. It has been a good time. I can proudly say I won two of the Wheaties, though I am still awaiting my bracelets for doing so.

Now I need to sit at work for the next 7.5 hours. I won't get much done. My head is already in Vegas. Before the Wheatie last night I played some hold em, both limit and NL. I intend to play both out there. I know my NL game is weaker but I have had some success out there in the past. It has been my overplaying of hands that has cost me money. I know I can overcome that crutch. Hopefully I learn more this weekend and have some success.

I look forward to meeting new people out there. Just look for the guy with the Drinking for Jesus shirt on Thursday or the Brewers jersey on Saturday. I will be more than happy to buy you a drink.

3 days

3 days. That is what separates me from Las Vegas. 3 days of work.

Maybe I should put it in a better light.

69. Most people like that number a bit better.

69 hours until I should be at the Rio, cold beer in hand, looking to get my gamble on.

I know it will be quite a bit different this time around. It is the changing of the guard. Quite a number of people that had attended each event will not be present. That really sucks. That means I won't have the chance to spend time with old friends. I will have to spend the first night drinking until the sun rises. I will have to find someone to throw the dice with. Play Pai Gow with. To go see Metal Skool.

It would seem the crowd that is going out this time is more intent on playing poker than socializing. I will get some hours in at the tables, but the best part of the last couple WPBT events have been at the bars. Whether it be the Sake bar at the IP or the sports book bar at the MGM, it has been the conversations around the bar that are remembered most. Not the action at the tables. Something inside me says that may be different this year.

I hope not.

I look forward to meeting a new group of people. I know that someone is going to want to get their drunk on. Or at least do some drunken bowling.

Goals for this week...

• Watch Blood play some NL. I am a total donkey at the NL cash tables. I need all the help I can get, especially with all the action that will be out there.
• Win the majority of my baseball bets. The Milwaukee Brewers will be playing the Texas Rangers in Arlington. It should be easy money as the Brew Crew has a knack for beating up weak teams. They struggle against good team. But with this on the road, there are no sure things.
• But Pauly, Change, Otis, Jason and others covering the WSOP a drink at a small token of thanks for the work they are doing.
• Make money at Pai Gow. Or at least get nice and drunk doing so. Pai Gow is a drinking game. You will push a lot of hands. If you lost a lot, that is just really bad luck. One can spend a number of hours drinking Maker's Mark and ginger ale and catch a terrific buzz at a Pai Gow table. I intend to do just that.
• Play a daily tournament somewhere. Don't know which one or the buy in but I will play a live tournament other than Saturday's game.

I just need to get through the next 69 hours.

Wrong time to gamble

I was doing ok in the Riverchasers tournament last night. Was. I gambled in two spots and was out. All I wanted to do was last long enough to hear the new Poison album that I was obtaining, but I couldn't do that.

In both gambles, I made a mistake. In the first, I misinterpreted some tight play for a short stack push. Yes, he was short stacked but I hadn't noticed he wasn't playing many hands. I made a call with A 7s in the BB and found myself up against A Ko. Though after the turn I had both a straight and flush draw, neither would hit. I didn't mind that one too much. I wanted to gamble and went with it.

In the second gamble, I thought I could push TripJax off his hand. It looked like a steal from the button as he had been raising a lot. So with J 10o, I pushed back. He bet about a third of his chips and I didn't think he would call. I was a bit surprised that he insta-called with K 10, but later thought I might make the same move. Probably not but I might.

At the very least, I have learned a bit. The middle rounds of these tournaments have been rough on me. I lose patience and try to chip up with not-so-great hands. Hopefully I get this out of my system by the time I land in Vegas. Just 5 days now.

Another Mookie, another quick exit.

There were 61 runners in the Mookie last night. I wasn't one of them. Sure I was entered, but I wasn't in contention after about 10 minutes. Once again I donked myself out. I started off well and thought I was focused but I was wrong.

My starting table was going to be interesting

oossuuu754
fuel55
GMoney
Joe Speaker
GCox
NumbBono
23 skiddoo
riggstad

AQo to start off the tournament. There was 1 limper so I go with pot bet. I wasn't worried about running into a fancy play with A A right off the bat. Flop is A high with 2 hearts and I bet 300 and take down the first hand. Some people believe if you win the first hand, you are destined to lose. I don't believe that that crap. At least, not yet.

Soon I would get K K in the BB. It folds around to SB who completes. I bump it up to 115 and he calls. Hmmm. Flop is Q Q 3. Did he call with paint? I toss out a bet to see his reaction. A smooth call would be suspicious. Instead, it is a fold. Good to know the cowboys won't get cracked right away.

I went to get a beer and missed some action. Speaker was out! Apparently he flopped a set with his 10s. Problem was GMoney flopped a set of Queens. Ouch!

I am raising a lot of pots now that I jumped out to a small lead. With A Jo, I raise another. But then there is a re-raise. I decide to gamble and call. Flop is all diamonds though. Crap! I quickly fold.

I then fold for the next 25 minutes and promptly donk out with A 8s. Yep, A 8s. I was finishing up a SnG and was paying more attention to that. Some guy was winning pots with crap hands (including a big pot he took off of me with bottom pair) and I didn't like him. So with all the folding I was doing in the Mook, I wanted some action there. So I raised in EP. Osu called as did one other. Flop was K high but with two clubs. Hey, I have two clubs. So I check-raised him hoping my A was good. It wasn't as he showed A K. No club and I make another early exit.

One thing I must remember is that you cannot check raise someone if you don't have enough chips to scare him off. Man was that an atrocious play! I hang my head in shame just thinking about it. Heck, it was a piss poor showing last night. Hopefully the RiverChasers can pick me up.

At least I won the SnG.

Changes

I haven't been playing much poker lately. With much nicer weather, I would rather be outside than stuck in front of a pc. But that doesn't stop me from reading during the day. Sometimes I don't like what I see. There seems to be changes going on the blogosphere. To me, most of these changes aren't that good. I could say they are rather sad.

It appears more people would rather read someone bitch about losing a hand than a decent trip report or how someone played their tournament. Reading a good rant can be entertaining but when everyone else begins to do it, it gets tired. Quick. Especially when people think that insulting someone for the way they played a hand is the epitome of entertainment.

This shift towards just bitching about how lucky someone else got just isn't good. Or insulting others for how they played in a blogger tournament. If you cannot sniff out the Hammer, then you shouldn't be playing poker. If you do not realize that they games are more social than serious poker, maybe it isn't the game for you. Don't assume that others are not taking the game seriously because they are playing on the loose side. Ever think that you just so happen to catch them while they were changing gears? Or that maybe they had a bad read and just so happened to get lucky. It happens. Get over it and yourself.

I don't see BadBlood, F-Train, the guys at Up for Poker, or others complaining about their bad beats. They don't have Matusow meltdowns or Hellmuthian blowups. They get over it quickly and don't need a profanity laced tirade to paint the picture of what happened. The funny thing about this, is I would bet most of the players bitching probably do not care for Hellmuth or Matusows style, but they are falling in their line, walking down that same path.

Vegas is just over a week away. Looking over the list of attendees so far has been somewhat disappointing. Looks like the old guard that first started these fun gatherings is mostly absent. I am all for meeting new people but seeing old friends was something I always looked forward to. Maybe the list isn't updated. There has got to be more than 31 people showing up. I am not complaining though. It does take some work to get all of this done so go thank Falstaff for his efforts. Make sure to buy him a cold one when you see him in the bowling alley.

Rollercoasting the Mookie

I never limp with A A.

Well almost never. Actually, I like to believe I will not limp.

But there I was at the final table of the Mookie last night, I believe second in chips, limping either UTG or UTG+1 with A A.

I believe I was called in 3 places. Not good.

I ended up losing to a set of 6s, hit on the flop. Can't say they would have folded that hand to a raise or not. I doubt it so to an extent, it probably didn't matter. But I think I would have been happier having my aces cracked with I had raised the hand.

Instead I went out with a wimper in 6th? I think so. Not sure as I had gotten back from the bar just in time to play and throughout the course of the night, drank the rest of the beer I had in the house. I was even encouraged to run out to the store and get more at the break. Would have if I could have. Stores were already closed. Instead, I had a bottle of Maker's Mark to hit if needed.

I was a bit surprised to make the final table. The deck was hitting me hard early. As Joe Speaker put it, it was giving me a concussion. And I was doing my best to take advantage of it. I built my stack up and wielded it pretty well. It afforded me the opportunity to really mix up my play. Gave me the chance to not only steal, but to resteal as well. Restealing is a much better rush than stealing.

I was cruising pretty well, sitting in the top 3 for most of the first 2 hours. Then I lost with A K
vs 7 7 and dropped right to the bottom. I was getting ready to break stuff over the cursed tournament until the deck slapped me around again. A couple timely pushes and doubles got me right back into the game.

So I was disappointed that I wasn't able to make a mad rush at the end. I am not happy with the way I played those aces. I felt I could catch Zeem, who apparently had crushed his other tables and had a big lead. But I screwed the pooch instead. Oh well. Can't complain too much to getting back into the game. Congrats to willwonka on the victory.

Check out Linda's rant at Table Tango about Harrah's expo during the WSOP, The Gaming Life Expo-Girls, Games, and Gear. Strange something like that happens still happens today.

Big Game

It was going to be tough playing the Big Game. The Sopranos were on and battling for my limited attention span. It didn't help to start at this table:
Julius Goat
Pauly
bayne
Dionsysus
Hoy
Iggy
Big Pirate

Just lovely. 49 started and I get a table with the top 2 from the leaderboard. I have tourney player Hoy and the never sleeping Pauly as well. I think was really ticked me off was each of these people have a game I respect. No soft players here. Except for me. Hopefully I could get through the first hour. With the Sopranos and then Entourage, it wasn't going to be easy. I had every intention to play really tight.

Got aces early but got nothing but the blinds. I was UTG and was tempted to limp, but decided it was too early for that. About the only other hand I played was with Iggy where I flopped a set of deuces. He didn't bite on the re-raise but it was a nice little pot.

I was happy to make it through the Sopranos with no damage. Especially after Tony busted up the guy's jaw. Brutal!

As Entourage began, I thought of loosening up but once the bikinis were on with Drama at a pool, I knew I shouldn't. It felt like the table was busy feeling each other out for the first 30 minutes. Only one big action hand had occurred and I didn't want to do something stupid to cause the second. It was like a boxing match and I was willing to spar along for the next 30 minutes.

Had one interesting hand come up. There was a limper from mid position. With A Ko, I raised it pot from the cutoff. The button and blinds folded. But then the limper re-raised. WTF? I thought it out a bit and folded. I wish I had more time (and had the TV off) to figure out what was happening. I kind of regret the fold. I don't think they were really that strong after I thinking about it.

Once Entourage was over, I realized now I had no excuses. Time to buckle down and plays some poker. At the end of the first session, I was down a bit to 2565. I had my work cut out for me.

I didn't play many hands. Cards were on the cool side. The only pot I took down was from the BB and I got lucky on the river. But I had plenty of time. No need to do something stupid just because I was bored. Besides, the table hadn't changed much. Still not many confrontations going on.

I avoided one myself. I tried to steal Pauly's blind and he pushed back. Following through with J 10 wasn't right so I had to fold. Next hand I come right back with A Qs. Being a stubborn person, I pushed when Bayne practically forced me all in. My thought was he was pushing back just like Pauly did and had A rag. I got lucky when I hit my flush on the turn. Should have known bayne-a solid player- for a better hand than A rag.

I then began the processs of folding for an hour. I don't think I raised the entire second session. The table had changed a bit. We had smaller stacks that weren't afraid to shove. Any stupid play would be painful. And I was determined not to make one of them.

Soon, I was right back to the starting stack. I wasn't getting much traction at all. Jumped up to 4500 but that was about it. The cards weren't getting any better andif I did see a flop from the blinds, it completely missed. I was fighting hard not to go crazy with steals because I sure didn't have any hands that would likely stand up.

I was in bad shape at the second break. On life support. My cards were beyond dead. I was praying for any ace to push with and couldn't even get that. Now I had little choice but to make a move with any two cards. I wouldn't have to worry about the blinds for a couple of hands but the antes were going to kill me.

I went out with a wimper at 19. Iggy's pocket deuces held up to my A 4s. It was the best hand I had seen in an hour. I wasn't surprised it didn't hit. Maybe I will do better next time.

No chasing here

When I looked at the RiverChasers leader board earlier in the day, I immediately had one goal in mind. Pass Al in the standings. If I couldn't cash, I wanted to do well enough to pass up the hippie in the standings.

I was going to play tight. No stupid moves like the one I tried in the Mookie the previous night. I was going to find spots to hit big pots instead of little ones. I even tried a Phil Hellmuth trick and showed up 30 minutes late.

None of that mattered. I was beyond card dead. Pocket pairs twice, A Q once. That was it. So it wasn't too surprising that when I got K K, that A J would suck out on the river. That's poker. I did earn a couple points (I think), but not enough to get past Al who easily outlasted me.

I did wonder if I made a mistake of being too tight. Blinds were 60/120 when I got the kings. I only had 385 (?) in chips. I was pathetically low as my last two blinds were the same old crap I had been receiving. Sure any two cards can win, but I have a problem getting all my chips in with a 30% chance of winning. Call me strange.

But then again, sometimes you need to do just that. I don't think it would have mattered though even when I had 600. With Hoy doing the raising, I knew I couldn't push him off any hand with a raise of just 300 more. He is calling every day and twice on Sundays for a minimum more. And Q 3 ain't going to cut it either.

So I sadly went out with a wimper. The best hand of the night defeated. At least I got hooched up at the bar and only paid $10 for 6 beers- half of that ten went to the bartender as a tip.

Small w

I think I can chalk up yesterday as one in the W column. At least as a small w.

I haven't been playing much lately. With better weather, there are most things in life to enjoy. And I think by not playing as much poker lately, I have been enjoying the game more.

Beside the weather, blasting away most of my Full Tilt bankroll had not helped. In fact, it took me off of my game. Instead of playing any of the guarantee tournaments, I was playing the token tournaments for cheaper entries. And it wasn't working. I found myself playing my opponent's game, not mine.

It wasn't until I was below $100 that I realized what I was doing. It felt like I was waiting for the monthly welfare check from FTP to arrive. In fact, I thought of not playing for a couple of months to allow it to build back up. Or I could go back to the tried and true practise of playing SnGs for cash. I knew if I could stay focused, I could be patient and wait out the small stacks when bubble time was around and punish them when good cards arrived. Or in some cases didn't.

So I felt good cashing in two of three SnGs last night. They were only $10 buy-ins but I need to start somewhere. Sticking around to 11 in the Wheatie helped boost some confidence as well. Though it felt like my cards were total shit for most of the tournament, I found some areas I could exploit and felt I could make that final push. If only I didn't have to chop a pot, I would have been in contention (calling my push with K 7 for 3/4 of your chips is a great move! Damn board had to pair a second time!)

Now I wonder if I can shake this monkey they call the Mookie off my back tonight?

Mind boggling video

I think I may have been as stunned as Iggy was when I viewed this video . It is mind boggling in so many ways that it cannot be real. In the end, I am not sure what was worse, some of the thoughts he had (such as 9 4 being a better hand than A 9 because of the straight possibilities???) or that he may have a blog featuring strategy on play money tournaments.

Just remember, learn to fear K 7. It is a pretty good hand!

Next time

I missed the RiverChasers Bracelet race tonight. Got back in to town from camping all weekend and didn't turn the computer on until it was an hour in. That stunk. I spent time last week earning a token just for that tournament. Feels like a waste.

Whenever things are going bad for me, I like to switch the sites I play at. I think I am going to take the time to play at Bodog some more. The overlays on their guaranteed tournaments made it worthwhile. The quality of player is still not that great too. Plus, they have a number of WSOP qualifiers running, giving you a chance to turn a buck into millions.

Loathe

Thanks Falstaff. I hate you.

I loathe memes. Hate them with a passion. Rarely do I even respond. You know the memes that include a question like "Who is least likely to respond?" I bat 1.000 in those among my friends. They know I will not respond with anything but "Please do send this bullshit my way!"

But better people that I have done it so I will play along this one time. Plus, I needed something to do while this boring conference call was going on.

1. If I ruled the world, I would ban certain music in bars. For starters, you would never hear AC/DC's "Shook me All Night Long", Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights", or Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" ever again in a bar. Too many knuckleheads that feel the need to scream out the chorus (rarely do they know the rest of the song) at the top of their drunken lungs. Also, all Dave Matthews Band would be banned. It is bar buzzkill music.

2. Early in my career, I worked on an IPO for a wrestling company out of Florida. Went down to for a due diligence meeting and met the people involved like the Macho Man and the Bushwackers. I spoke with the main guy involved and he swore he could get me involved as a wrestling manager. Unfortunately, the IPO never got off the ground and I never did get my fame in fortune in the squared circle. My shot at glory in sports entertainment is gone. Yes, I still watch wrestling. It is the best soap opera around for men.

3. Remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry cannot remember what his girlfriend's name was? He kept looking for stuff that would show what it was. I did that once. Woke up the next morning with a girl and for the life of me could not recall her name. When she asked if she could take a shower, I quickly obliged and got her a towel. While the water ran, I ran through her purse looking for a drivers licence. And no, her name was not Dolores.

4. I have one fear in life. A fear of regret. I do not want the opportunity to do something come and go without taking advantage of it if I can. I don't like thinking back on life and saying "Damn, I should have done that back in college, or why didn't I go there when I had chance?" I think back to high school and how I wish I would have played football. To college where I wish I would have gone to Florida with my girlfriend. Life if about living and I intend to live while I can.

5. I own all the Autograph CDs as well as most of the work of Huey Lewis and the News on disc too. I also own most of the Duran Duran albums on vinyl. I even owned a Duran Duran t-shirt. Thankfully I grew out of that 80s stuff in college. I thought I would toss in some embarrassing stuff just for shits and giggles.

6. I had a role (albeit a minor one) in a major mutual fund scandal a couple years ago. Spent some hours talking with company attorneys and somehow did not need to speak with SEC or a certain AG from the east coast. That is all I can say about that here, except I was taken care of later.

7. I have a bad habit of watching people eat and then critiquing them. If I am dining with someone, I can help but notice any quirks they may have such as not letting food touch other food or how they eat like all of their vegetables first then the meat. That kind of thing. I used to eat with a guy who would cut his spaghetti into little tiny bits. WTF? Same person would cut his wife's meat like a mother does for a child. Drove me nuts.

Also like others, I shall kill my meme portion here, no tagging.

The Mook rolls me again

It was another miserable showing in the Mook. In fact, it was a miserable night of poker. I went 1-3-1. That would be a small win at HORSE, 3 losses in MTT (two token SnGs), and a break even at Razz.

The two losses in the SnGs really sucked. One guy hit his two outer and I check raised him all in with TPTK. I felt good about the move until his K hit the turn. Soon, in the other SnG, I would push with a short stack with A Ks and run into 10 10. As good as the K on the flop looked, it paled in comparison to the 10 that hit the board as well.

Yep, nothing like playing for an hour to go home with nothing.

In the Mook, I semi-donked my chips away. I didn't play a hand for the first 15 minutes. I figured I could raise with just about anything and get away with it. That was a bad idea. Sure I got loose with K 9, but the flop of Q J 8 with 2 clubs gave me a gut. I figured most people would have noticed my tight play so I tossed out the continuation bet, about half the pot to make it look like I wanted the call. Turn was no help and I bet half the pot. I now had my opponent on a flush draw. If the river was a blank, I would push. Sure enough, I pushed. And was called by A J.

Being called down by second pair irked me a bit. I didn't have to fire all 3 bullets, but it was the only way to take it down. Now one could argue that they had a read on me. If so, I say bullshit! I had never played with this person before and had not played a single hand (except for the blinds) up to this point. All I could do was sigh and put a note on his name.

It could have been worse. At least I didn't get slowrolled by him. On the next hand, with just 30 left, I was all in with A Q. Same guy and Otis got involved. From what I recall, the action unfolded just like the previous hand. Otis kept firing away, but I believe he actually had something unlike me. On the river, Otis pushed. The other player took his time and then started talking.

"really?"

"are you sure?"

He then called showing a full house, made on the turn.

Not good. People, no matter what, don't be an ass at the table. There is rarely a place for slowrolling an opponent. It will come back to kick you in the ass. And that could literally. I am sure this donkey will get his soon enough.

To an extent, I am happy there is no River Chasers tonight. Just not running well. I don't think it is necessarily my game that is bad right now (part of it no doubt, but not all), just can't get over the hump. I may not play until next week at this point. I need some tokens for the WPBT even as well as the RC bracelet. Hopefully, I can score those soon.

Vegas

I haven't played much poker lately. Besides hitting up some of the blogger tournies, my bankroll on Full Tilt has been on the low end. When I do play I try to earn tokens for other events so it has been kinda boring. I need to hit one nice score to lift the funds up so I can get reckless again.

Maybe this Sunday in Miami Don's Big Game...

It is just under a month away. Only 29 days until Vegas.

I am so in need of a vacation to just get away. Go somewhere without a care in the world, with plenty of booze to keep me going. I heard they have that in Vegas so I figured I must go.

I have spent some time game planning for the trip. Nothing is ever set in stone. Going with the flow works well in Vegas, but having ideas can help. Thus I am searching around looking for things that might be interesting.

I get in Wednesday around 11 pm. Should be checked in at the Rio and good to go by midnight or so. Hopefully I can get in touch with Pauly, Change, or Otis and see if they are done working for the day so I can buy them a drink or five. Before hitting up some Pai Gow of course.

For once, there is actually some music I wouldn't mind seeing. Usually bands that interest me play either a week before or a week after I am in Vegas. For example, I see Tesla is playing the week after. But of interest is Metal Skool (Thursday) and Richard Cheese (Sunday) both at the Hard Rock. There has to be some hair metal fans that wouldn't mind crashing the Metal Skool show.

And in between drink and toss chips like a fish.

I should be playing the WWdN tonight. Hope to see some people there.

And brdweb, if you read this, shoot me an email stb31@hotmail.com. I need to transfer your the funds from the bracelet race.

Another uninspring Mook

Walking the line of loose aggressive and mixing up your game can be troublesome. I tried it last night and basically got nowhere in the Mookie. From the get go I was done, running A Q into a turn push that I had to fold. From there it never got any better. The highest chip count I believe I had was 1700.

Thus when my Q Q was cracked by jjok's 10 10, it just seemed fitting. I expected the 10 to hit, just wasn't sure if it would be the flop, turn or river. Those queens were the best hand I saw all night. Thus we my crappy play before, I really didn't deserve to earn any points.

It somewhat felt like a kick in the gut then when I walk into work and quickly notice Howard Lederer's puss on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The article (hope the link works) is simple. Is poker a game of skill or luck? Sadly they don't answer their own question.

But Lederer does have one great argument.

"The vast majority of high-betting poker hands are decided after all players
except the winner have folded. So if no one shows his cards, can you
legally argue that the outcome was determined by luck?"

Check out the article if you can. But do yourself a favor and skip over Annie Duke's stupid comment about losing on purpose. It is not the brightest thing a poker player can say.

Corrections and congratulations

I realized in my haste to post about the Blogger tourney, that I did not update the actual prize. Sir Al was kind enough to pony up the extra dough to ensure a seat was won. Congrats to brdweb on his win. You could go and leave a comment but his comments require some log in that most people probably don't have.

Last fall during the trip to the Bash, I played some blackjack with brdweb. He went on a tear, stacking up chips while I couldn't hit squat. Seeing how he has offered 1% to all final tablers from the tourney, I will have to sweat him a bit in his event. I just need to check what day #15 is on. If he can hit his stride at the WSOP, we may all make a little pocket change.

Bracelet race

Sadly, we did not get the needed number of players to send a blogger to the World Series, but 58 showed up to play.

I didn't like my draw at first. Having the Luckbox on your right is never good. Having Pokerstage, Lucko, and Lightning there wasn't good either. But I could do anything about it but play.

Not much happened early as people settled in. Pokerstage was raising it up and chipping up. I was just hoping for a chance to hit it big. I would do that the first time against him. With A Qs UTG, I popped it up. But Pokerstage came back with a re-raise. Hmmm...let's see a flop. Flop was Q 3 3. Guess I will be seeing more cards here. If the flop didn't hit, then I would be gone. I checked knowing he would bet. Did I want to raise right away or not? I just called. Turn was a 3. Now I have a full house. Nice. Or so it seems. He goes all in. He has me covered as well. Does he have aces or kings? Can I fold a full house? No and no. I made the call and was relieved to see 9 9.

That vaulted me to the top of the pack. I would really only play one more big hand just before the break. Because I hadn't been playing many hands, I called a 3xs raise in the BB with 10 7s. Glad I did as the flop came 8 9 J, a straight. I checked and just called the bet though I maybe should have raised as there was a flush draw there. The turn was nothing and all the chips went in. He had flopped a set of 8s. Wow! I felt bad as the board didn't pair up on the river and I was over 10k.

I was able to drop the Hammer before I got a set of 5s would take out Maudie. Then the cards went cold for a bit. I got some chips with preflop re-raises with some pairs. The 5s were good to me again as they took out the Hammer. I am shocked I didn't lose the hand as I know better than to mess with such a powerful hand.

I took out another opponent when they pushed with J 9 to my Big Slick. Then started to pick off pots now that the antes would included. I took a small hit when my 7s ran into As. It knocked me out of first place.

But then aces started running wild at the table. Thankfully, I was a recipient and they weren't cracked. That popped me back into first with just 20 left. From there, I had to deal with F-Train and then Bobby Bracelet being on my left. But flopping some sets doesn't hurt. But when they don't give any action, it does. Going into the second break, I was sitting just over 20k and in 2nd place. At least I can watch the Sopranos for a couple of minutes.

Not much happened when play started back up. I dumped some chips to Bob with second pair. I try to steal with K Q but run into Aces. Just can't get much going.

I had fallen to 7th by the time we hit the final table. And friggin F-Train is there on my left again. Great. It doesn't matter much as I keep on folding. Cards are colder than cold for me. Can't even play the Hammer at this point.

I do get a double up with A Ko. Pops me back over 20k. Leader is only at 25k so there is a lot of play left. But more folding ensues. I try to steal with Q 10s, but the flops is bad and I can't continue bet it. My opponent could have pretty much anything w5ith the way he has played. I get the blinds with 5s and then thwart a steal with Q Js. I knew he had the steal and would not call.

But all good things come to an end. I make a re-raise with 8 8 and get called by 10 10. No suckout for me and I was done in 7th.

I can't complain. I was happy with my play. Could have been a bit more aggressive in some spots but played well.

Highlight of the Mookie

My play in the Mookie wasn't much. Finished 25 out of 73 when my A Ko didn't hit against Mookie (J J) and another (99).

But I got to see the hand of the night. From the SB, Waffles just calls. Al checks in the BB. Flop goes check check. Turn check check. Appears Al is using a quick check strategy. River, check check.

Waffles mucks and the pot goes to Al.

Oh, Al wasn't even online.

Hellmuth and his blow ups

No not blow up dolls.

Like others, I am enjoying Pauly's recaps of the WPT Championship event. Great reporting as always.

So it seems that Hellmuth is not only leading, but came close to ripping a guy a new one. Berated a dude for 3o minutes. Here is how Pauly called it:

Here's what happened. Hellmuth raised under the gun to 20K and Buchanon reraised to more than 50K at the CO. Hellmuth called as the flop was 10d-6d-3h. Hellmuth check-called a 120K bet. The turn was 7d and both players checked. The river was the 9c and both players checked again."I got a pair of sixes," announced
Hellmuth as he tabled As-6s. Buchanon flipped over K-7 for a pair of sevens.

And boom goes the dynamite!

Think about it for a moment. You make a read and decide that maybe Hellmuth is not that strong. For all we know, he is playing a lot of pots and Buchanon is folding a lot. He may have been working hard to cultivate a rock hard image. Buchanon may want to mix it up, change gears. So he re-raises Phil hoping to take it down now. Instead, Phil calls. A continuation bet is made that is just called. Both turn and river are checked.

So if Phil's read is that good, why didn't he bet one of the final streets?

But the worst part of the story is after someone going off on him for some time, his best comeback is "learn to take a beat".

WTF?

Does this Buchanon have no balls?

You have a perfect spot to tell someone off. To put him in their place. You just outplayed a top pro and can tell him exactly that. But the best you have is "learn to take a beat"?

Pansy.

Flunked MATH

I flunked out of the MATH tourney last night, lasting a whopping 30 minutes.

It was the hand immediately after a table change that sent me packing. 10 10 in the BB. After everyone and their mother limped in, the SB popped it up. I figured he was going for a squeeze play, a move I would have made. So I re-popped it to just under a grand. Only the SB called.

The flop was J high. He checked and I bet just over half the pot. That was a mistake as it committed me with just 600 behind. He waited and waited and pushed all in. I called to see his set of Jacks. Goodnight and good luck.

On my way out I accused him of slow rolling and called him an a-hole. I apologize for that as it was not a slow roll, but a way to make me think he was stealing it back.

I knew I probably shouldn't have played to begin with. Mondays don't work well for me. After being out at a ballgame on Sunday, drinking the day away, I usually use Monday to catch up on sleep. The last thing I should be doing is playing a tournament- double stack nonetheless!- when I am beat.

If I could remember, I would tell you

I was comfortably boozed up by the time the Riverchasers tournament started. Makers Mark was flowing through my veins, soothing my spirit. I needed that after a hellacious day at work.

Bottom line is I don't have a clue how I went out in the tournament last night. I know I finished 13th. I think I pushed with K 9s on a short stack. A pathetic steal attempt.

My main drunken focus was on the token frenzy. I needed to get the bad taste out of my mouth from the night before. I am happy to report that I was in 2nd place when I earned the toke. Now I can get the memory of the assmunch pushing every hand out of my head. For the record, I did not mimic the ass when I had my huge stack.

I do recall finishing the token frenzy and realizing I was seriously short stacked in the RC game. That is it.

I think if I had a drink right now, I would catch my buzz back. It was that good of a night.

Drinking and Mooking

, After the grocery shopping was done, I headed next door to the liquor store to get some drinking material for the Mookie. I knew I was better off driving down the road to a proper liquor store if I wanted to find some really interesting beer to drink. But being lazy, I figured I would at least go in for a look.

When I saw the Maker's Mark on sale, I knew I wouldn't be going to a different store. With a bottle in my hand, I headed over to the beer to make due with what they had. As I pondered over the beer in the cooler, I noticed one on the shelves outside the cooler. Lakefront Cherry Lager. Below it, was the Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat.

I hadn't had the Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat is a long time and recalled not being too impressed. But I couldn't recall drinking the Lakefront. As I drove home, I was pretty sure I had. Sure enough, I had some last year and enjoyed it. I looked forward to enjoying it during the Mook.

Two beers are down when the table shows up. Al is on my right with GCox next to him. Jeciimd, willwonka, and crazdgamer are the only other names I recognize. Hopefully I don't donk out right away. Or confuse the Mookie with the token frenzy I am in.

Typical start. Not much is happening. I get some good hands to start in the SB. J J and A K in the first two orbits and get nothing out of it. I raise with A K and A Q and just get the blinds. You know how exciting that is.

Al takes chips off of me when he flops trip 9s. Of course my K in out there as well and I give him some coin. Meanwhile in the token frenzy, I continue to fold.

Things get interesting when I raise it up with the Hammer. Get two callers. Hmmm....flop is J 10 3, all diamonds. I bet 500 into a 650 pot. Crazdgamer folds but Al is thinking. Can't be good. But can't be too bad either if he has to think. He finally folds and I can display the Hammer.

But the glory would be short. With A Qs, I raise it up again and crazdgamer seems determine to play hands with me. Flop is 10 K 10. He checks. I check behind as well. Usually I will pop the continuation bet but something doesn't seem right. Turn is a rag and now he is betting out. I fold and he shows A 10. Ah, the dreaded A 10 tried to suck me in.

I catch a bit of luck at Al's expense. With A Q, I just call his raise. Flop is 10 K 4. He checks as do I. I hit the J on the turn. Now Al bets out. I decide a min-raise is in order. It may show strength but look like a steal. Afterwards I realize it was a bad bet as it left only 350 behind. Al doesn't call and take down a nice pot.

Table seems pretty tight suddenly. Not sure why. Over on the frenzy, I keep folding away. I get a timely double up just before the break when a huge stack decides to play his A 3 against my J J. He doesn't hit any of his 3 outs and I am just over 5k with 37 left. Puts me at 18 with 24 getting $75 tokens. I then notice Drizz is just behind me. Hopefully we can both hang on for the token.

Nothing much is happening now. I can steal a blind here and there, but it is still pretty tight. So I try to loosen things up by raising with A 7s. Oops, get a caller. Try the continuation bet but it gets raised. That didn't work. To make things worse, I accidentally hit the call button on the next hand as I am UTG. Crap! I finish the first session at 1800, dropping 800 just before the break.

Right off of the break, I get A Ks. Not bad. A player in EP pushes. Gotta call. He shows 10s. Flop is no help but the turn and river are both Aces and I am over 3k. Over on the token frenzy, some dickhead has been moved over with a huge stack. And all he does is push. We are at the bubble and he pushes every hand. There are no tiny stacks at the table. His actions are meaningless. Really pisses me off when I have to fold 9 9. I know he ain't got jack but still, I don't want to be the doofus again.

Because it is hand for hand and the jackass to my right keeps raising, the blinds zoom around to me. I get A Q. Same hand I busted on the bubble a couple weeks ago. Thanks to the asshole, I am out in 25th and miss the token. #$&#%&*$^%^#$@!!!!!

Now I just dumped my chips in the Mook by calling a reraise to my reraise. I just have 10 10. My opponent had K K. Hits a K on the flop and I am basically done. Yep, done in 35th.

Still mad at the ass in the frenzy. No need to be pushing for 20 hands straight.

Move along

Nothing to really talk about today. I went out early in a frenzy tournament when my K Qs was beat by A 6s. The BB called my 4xs bet. Flop was very friendly, J 10, 8. I had the flush draw, the OESD. My opponent pushed. The best was more than the pot. That alone seemed fishy, but I had the outs.

Or so I thought.

Well, that sucked was the only thing I could think of. I wasn't mad. I don't think his play was exemplary. Something I wouldn't do necessarily. Calling the big bet when you are behind, praying for a flop, and then pushing a draw isn't necessarily a bright idea. The only hands that will call you are going to be ahead or have big draws.

I then went on to make a bad call in the Wheatie. I had been muddling around most of the game. Played the Hammer hard to just about triple up and got myself into contention.

People should be smarter. If a 7 hits the flop after someone had raised it preflop in a blogger tournament, you do not re-raise. Betting into the Hammer just about always certain doom for you. Sure enough, my second pair became trips on the turn, and a boat on the river. Cha-ching!

But I would soon screw it up. With K Q on the button, I went for the steal. Not only did the SB call, but the BB, Budohorseman, as well. Flop was Q high. SB bet and then Budo raised all in. At this point, my mind stopped and I made a rather quick WTF call. I didn't take the time to analyze the situation. Q high flop. A bet and a raise. I wasn't afraid of the SB betting out. He was pretty loose. But a quick raise all in? That should have set off major alarms and told me to slam on the brakes and watch. Especially because it was Budo.

But no, I made the call and was sent packing. SB had KK, Budo A Q. Why SB didn't re-raise is beyond me. Sure you can attempt to slow play it for a huge pot, but you also can lose it all just like he did.

That is the kind of hand that aggravates me. I had a reason to go for the steal, but every reason to fold the flop. Making the bad play pisses me off.

I should be around for the Mookie tonight. Just need to make sure I hit the liquor store first so I can get revved up for the game.

Any suggestions on the brew for the night?

No money

One hand. It was one steal attempt gone bad that took me out. The hand was at a critical point of the tournament. That hand led to my own Matusow blow up and I was bounced somewhere in the 20s.

There was 108 people ponying up $50 to play at the smoker last night. Biggest crowd yet I believe.

As I have stated before, this crowd is full of bad poker players. I have a good understanding of how most of them play. That is probably why I was upset with my own implosion at the end.

I had made it through the early rounds with nothing significant going on. Stole some blinds, got caught trying to steal, and maybe overplayed pockets kings (was going for the bounty on a loose guy and was sure he would call with his A high). Got lucky when I pushed on the short end with A 2 and was called by A 6. The deuce on the flop kept me alive. I would chip up some more taking out a player but of course the bounty money was gone.

It was when I was moved to table 1 that it got ugly. With blinds at 500/1000, the table seemed tight. That was mistake 1. I made a quick judgement on how the table appeared to be with just 4 hands being played. I had posted my blinds and seen them go so I figured I would get them back by stealing. With K 5 I went for it. Problem was the SB woke up with A Q. That was mistake 2.

When this tournament gets down to less than 30 players, most of the field is on the short end. Ms of less than 2. Most of these players will fold their blinds to raises even if it leaves them micro-stacked. I have seen people with 2000 post the blinds, pay the 1500, and try to last out the next orbit to squeak into the money. Knowing this, stealing with K 5 was a bad move. I could have lasted another orbit, found a much better place to steal, and made my way to the final table.

I knew that one double up would get me there. That was my focus. But I got untracked by trying to steal a blind. It was the wrong move at the wrong time of the tournament and I paid for it.

I spent some time talking with some people that had been playing in Badger Poker a couple years ago. A number of these people have migrated into this game. One of them even used to read this blog. When she told me that she didn't anymore, I promised her I would make fun of her here, but I will not. She is a cute little blond who kept filling up my cup as she brought the pitcher around. Give me beer and you get a pass. If she does read this and they get a home game going, you can reach me at stb31@hotmail.com. I am up for playing.

Smoker time

There really wasn't much to talk about from the Mookie. I played like crap and made an early exit. Not Hoyazo early, but early. Just kidding Hoy.

This was right after busting out early in the token frenzy. Yep, I was taken out by A 10 after he called my pre-flop raise and half pot bet, chasing his 3 outer for the straight. Damn A 10. The most overrated hand in online poker.

So tonight I will be playing in a live game. Going to church to play in the smoker. As I have said before, these fields are pretty poor. Any good player that can avoid the brutal beat will make money. Hopefully I can collect some bounties and make that money at the final table.

No cash, but still a winner at the Wheatie

As the WWdN went on last night, I began to realize something. It had been a long time since I had dropped the Hammer on someone. I hadn't felt the rush of winning with the glorious 7 2o. Sure I was doing well, having chipped up in the first period to around 3500. My reads were on and better yet, I was playing back strongly at people.

Sometimes when I play the Wheatie, I don't take it as seriously as I should. I may try some different strategies or play more aggressive than normal. You know, do something different to see if I can improve as a player. Yesterday it was defending my blinds. Going in I was determined to defend my blinds with any cards that would work. So if they were suited or connected, I was going to play them.

It worked well. I had a frisky player on my right who continually tried to raise me out. Only problem was, I was connecting. My read was he was raising with an A or maybe some face cards. Boards were coming in low. So I would either hit a pair or an OESD. I usually would check/call, sometimes raise, or bet out the turn. If anything, I believe it may have confused my opponent, because he did a lot of folding.

It was somewhere in the beginning of the second session when I made a play I am quite proud of. The Hammer had finally come home. I don't know if anyone had been noticing but I had tightened up quite a bit. I wasn't playing many hands, especially in EP. With blinds at 75/150, I made my raise to 500 in EP. It folded around quickly to Wil in the BB. He didn't act right away.

Uh oh, he caught a hand. This can't be good.

Then he spoke: "i have to do some math. I think i'm jamming at you, stb"

I think I then make a classic mistake.

I talked back. "Bring it!"

I instantly gave myself a Homer Simpson. DOH! The old strong means weak tell. As Wil thought about his play, I began to put him on a range of hands. My gut was telling me low pair (6s or less) or A Q or A J. But as I was putting him on a hand, I could tell he was putting me on a hand. Thus, my talking was just what he wanted to hear.

He quickly said "okay" followed by a "good luck" and went all in. Well, he wasn't lying about jamming. I made a quick call. I had to. If I had any other mediocre hand I would have folded. But not this one. It was the Hammer. Though it would cost me another 1279, I was feeling good about my play and knew I could make it up if somehow, some imbalance in the universe would occur and the Hammer would go down.

Plus, call it stupid, but I just knew it would win.

Wil showed his A Q and quickly yelled "HAMMER!". I wouldn't be surprised if he had me on this particular hand. Play with bloggers long enough and you develop the sense.

What Wil didn't see right away was the 7 on the flop. When the J hit the turn, his jubilance of making the right play was fading. I believe his words were "oh dear". The 10 on the river sealed it.

The Hammer had claimed another victim.

Wil was the best of sports after taking the beat. With all the morons on the rail yapping away in the chat about what an idiot play I had made (ha, non-believers), Wil took it as a pro will and told me to go on and take it all down.

Well, I didn't take it all down. I ran into my own beat later on. With 9 9, I had raised it up and was facing an all in from a player that I was not too familiar with. I sensed weakness and made the call. I was right; he had 6 6. But he spiked his 6 on the river to cripple me. I doubled up once but made a bad push against A A, giving me a finish in 13th.

So I didn't win the WWdN last night, but I still collected a prize:



Now congratulate Pauly on his ESPN gig.

Learn to speak Dutch to piss off Harrahs

I see that Al received an interesting email from the fine people at Full Tilt Poker concerning the use of the term World Series of Poker. Harrahs is hell bent on protecting the use of the phrase. To an extent, I cannot blame them.

To an extent. The NFL does the same thing in protecting the term Super Bowl. I am sure we could find a number of of instances where someone is acting like you are kicking a baby by using their precious terms.

Thus, I have decided to begin speaking Dutch. Thanks to this handy dandy translator, I now will now refer to anything to do with that card event in Vegas from June to August the World Series van Poker! Go get a trademark on that one Harrahs!

I am checking the schedule here to see when I will hit the tables next. I should be able to play the Wheatie tonight. But the Mookie tomorrow looks to be a no go. I am heading to the Indians/Angels game because, well, it is there. And it is baseball. It is not the first time the Indians will call a Milwaukee stadium home. Only this time, it will not be a movie.

Last longer tilt

I went on some serious tilt last night during the RiverChasers tournament. I had a nice drunken rant going on in the chat all because of it. Now that I think about it the next day, it was rather ridiculous. Even though I came in 3rd last night and helped my meager FTP bankroll, the tilting is still in my mind.

I went on tilt shortly after getting in a last longer bet. The amount was nominal, the buy-in. We were basically even in chips (he had 30 more?) around 3300 or so. Within 5 minutes I would dump half of my stack and look pretty bad. But here is where the tilt comes in. My foe in the last longer bet went on auto-fold.

WTF?

My initial reaction was "He is going to win a last longer by folding and waiting for me to screw up? That is bullshit!" As I raged on like a madman, someone pointed out a simple thought. Maybe something came up and they had to log off. My beer boggled mind skipped over what was probably the obvious answer. So I was able to get an email address and send them a message asking what happened. And told them to pay up! If they had an emergency, I am willing to drop the bet. I don't want to win like that just like I didn't want to lose like that.

I think was set me on tilt was the concept that someone could win a last longer bet by not playing. It feels like an insult. They are saying you will beat yourself. That they can win not by beating your with their skill, but by watching you implode. Kinda like having a Matusow meltdown.

I ask this question. Should someone be able to win a last longer bet by simply not playing? I feel that they shouldn't because the spirit of the bet to play to win. But as the bet implies, who ever last longer win. Doesn't state how you last longer, just that you last longer.

Anyways, I guess that is what happens when you go from work to bar to poker game. The stupidest thing can set your beer soaked brain on tilt.

I am happy with 3rd

Not content, but happy with my 3rd place finish in the RiverChasers tournament tonight. I say the cops outside my house was a distraction.

More tomorrow.

After screwing myself, a final table ain't bad

I made a good run in the Mookie last night. Unlike a token frenzy tournament earlier where I had a brain fart and went out on the bubble (instead of folding A Q and trying to limp into a token I pushed into the all in stack and got outflopped), I made the money going out in 9th.

Not the way I wanted it to end but I cannot complain. I played terrible in the middle of the tournament and shouldn't have been around that long. I was raising with good hands, but folding to re-raises. I might have well just put a target on my face and handed out arrows. I don't know if I was playing a very loose image or not, but I sure didn't make any adjustments. It took a suckout for me to get in a position to make the final table.

Some of the play last night was highly questionable. Or maybe I should say, some of the justification for shitty play was highly questionable. I don't care if you put lipstick on a pig and call it pretty, calling a raise and re-raise with A rag is a stupid play. But doing so will send Al on some major tilt.

Congrats to Miami Don on his back to back wins.

See you at the RiverChasers tonight.

Vegas

I have my flight and room booked for the WPBT Summer Classic. Looking at a long stay of 5 days. I really need to get away from the workplace and relax. I have a room booked at the Rio. The rate I got was cheaper than the Orleans. Even with cabbing it to and fro, I will still be better off. Plus, I am sure I have a much better room than what I would get at the big O.

I didn't play that much poker this weekend. When I did, I got taken down by inferior hands and inferior plays by inferior players. Apparently calling a re-raise with A 3 suited, thus committing all of your chips, is the way to win your tournament.

I don't think I will be playing the Wheatie tonight. I may be going to the Brewers game instead so no title defense.

Don't know how many of the Battle of the Blogger tournaments I will be playing. With them at Full Tilt, it will be tough. My bankroll took a hit last month and it is quite thin. Most of my time there will be playing token games just to get in these events. While the token games are usually easy, being taken down by A 3 suited can dampen one's spirits.

But the plan as of now is to hit the Mookie on Wednesday. I should try to save some face and get my name on the scoreboard.

Dead Money

A couple weeks back, I had received an email asking if I was interested in reading a book and giving it a review. It wasn't your ordinary poker book, but a bit of a mystery novel with poker as the theme. Seeing as I hadn't read a good book as of late, I jumped at the opportunity.

To me, the easiest way I can tell if I like a book is how fast I read it. If I quit doing other things to finish the book because it is good. Five hours after picking it up, I had finished Dead Money: A No Limit Poker Novel by Rudy Stegemoeller.

I found the story quite engaging. The characters were believable and more importantly, likable. The story centers around Mark Newcomb, a poker player who goes off to play in a tournament. He soon finds himself involved in a murder case when he stumbles on the dead body of a famous player. Other players are soon involved and even though someone has been killed, the tournament must go on.

What we get is a mix of poker and solving a murder case. As much as our hero Mark Newcomb tries not to be involved, he keeps getting sucked back in.

There are a couple of things I enjoyed about the book. The style itself reminded me of a series of novels I read by Harlan Coben and the Myron Bolitar character. These guys are not detectives but smart enough to notice little things that help them stay out of trouble (for the most part).

I also liked the approach taken in Dead Money. You get the thought process of our lead character. From how he interacts with the characters to how he plays poker. Like how he spends time in the casino until early in the morning and gets barely enough sleep for the tournament. It reminded me of the blogger gatherings in Vegas. I even started picture some of the other characters as bloggers or famous poker players. It had me wondering which players in real life had their counterpart in the book.

You get some poker play in the book, but not too much and yet not too little. Plus, it is all realistic. Though I don't know if I would lay down A J suited when I flop a flush draw and get re-raised early in tournament. Beyond that, there is some angle shooting, a-hole players, and push monkeys.

Next time you are heading to Vegas, I would easily recommend reading the book. It will certainly make the plane ride go faster.

Don't forget to read Pauly's updates on the EPT in Monte Carlo. He live stuff is here and as well as his personal thoughts here and here. I am liking the brunette in the Poker News videos as well. Nice!

Also, you can keep yourself updated on the PokerStars players via the hard working Otis at the PStars blog. Unfortunately there are no odds of him locking himself on the balcony this year. The wager has been taken off the board.

Before I knew it,

I won the Wheatie. And if Blogger wasn't being such a bitch, I would show it.

Maybe tomorrow. Right now I need finish the Razz freeroll Al had set up.

It always feels good to win a tournament, but for me, it seems like it has been a long time. After bubbling in the iPod, bubbling in Al's Euro tournament on Sunday, and making the final table and finishing two out of the money at Sunday HORSE, it was time I broke through and took one down.

It makes makes me a two-time WWdN winner. I also took down the last longer bet (obviously) with Biggestron, Zeem, Columbo and rico, making it the biggest Wheatie win EVER!

I don't bore you with details, but it helps to flop a full house with the Hiltons and get paid off. Then to deliver a crushing blow by slow playing A A heads up.

Hopefully I can get some kind of streak going.

I have no idea how the Razz tournament finished. I had to be up early to meet with my boss this morning and didn't feel like staying up an extra hour or so to win $20. I will have to check it out to see where I finished.

Summer Classic time is coming

Falstaff has an update on the WPBT Summer Classic set for June 6-11th. I am pretty sure I will be making my way out there for the festivities, though I may not be staying at the Orleans. I can get a free room at the Rio (for Thursday and Sunday) and may take advantage of it seeing how the cost would be the same as staying at the Orleans, but with a nicer room. Plus, with people playing in the WSOP, it could give them a place to crash if needed. I don't think it is too far from the Orleans to begin with.

At least that is what I am thinking right about now. All I need is for airfare to get cheap and I will be booked.


After work yesterday, I headed to a bar to kill some time before meeting with my boss. As I drank my beer, I tried to figure out who the people were at the bar. To my right were 4 ladies and a guy of various ages. I put them on being teachers. On the other side were some people that work for the same company as I do, but are in a different division. To my left was a couple drinking margaritas. Across from me was a tall guy.

The tall guy was by himself, enjoying a smoke. Then he answered the phone and ordered some drinks. He got a bottle of beer and a half strawberry/half regular blended margarita. Ah, he would have company.

When I saw the chick he was with, I had one simple reaction. Ouch, my eyes! I then took a second glance and it hit me. This girl looked like someone I knew. I racked my brain until I figured it out.

It looked like F-Train but with a wig. Now, I am not trying to rip on the F-Train. Not by any means. But this girl was a dead ringer for him, but with a blonde wig. Same nose, chin, eyes and forehead. I tried to take a picture on my phone but the glare from the windows kept messing it up. Plus, I think the big guy was hearing the camera noise from the phone as he shot me a look as I tried to nonchalantly take a picture.

Note to self

Do not rest your eyes between hands in a tournament. You may just fall asleep and get blinded out.

Ugly Tuesday

Tuesday was an ugly night of play. Bubbled in a 2 table SnG. Went out 40 spots out of the money on the 19k guaranteed after some clown called my push with just A J, and dropped a buy-in at an O8 table where dude kept hitting everything sending me spinning off on the tilt-a-whirl.

Frustration doesn't cover it. I skipped the Mookie last night because of it. I may skip the RiverChasers and CC tonight as well. Or not. Must find where my mind is at. Except for the O8 tilting, I don't think my plays in the tournaments were wrong.

Should have stayed away

With the onset of March Madness, I decided to take some time away to go hang out with friend, drink beer, and watch the games. I figured a couple days away from the game would leave me refreshed and ready to come back focused.

Wow, was I wrong. It felt like every possible suckout that I could incur, I did incur. It was brutal. Get good hands in triple draw and have someone catch 2 on the last draw to just beat me. Again and again.

So I figured I would switch it up and play some Razz. I might as well have dropped a bowling ball on my groin. Suddenly good hands became bad as brick after brick hit me.

Hopefully I have gotten all the bad plays out of the way and tomorrow will be a much, much better day.

About the only good thing I did was read a good book. More on that later.

Role of a big stack in a satellite

I found myself in the enviable role of the big stack very early in the Token Frenzy tonight on Full Tilt. Within the first half hour, I had over 7500, more than 2500 than the next stack. Getting quads, flopping a couple sets, and putting pressure on small stacks can do it for you.

But then I was thinking...how should one play the big stack in a satellite? In this case, 36 spots would get a token. At 7500, I will easily win a token if I stay put.

But is staying put the right plan?

By staying put, I mean folding everything. Got A A? Fold, no need to play. You have basically won the prize, why bother to get in conflicts.

Or do you let the table you are at dictate your action? If small stacks are present, do you try to knock them out, thus helping out others?

Do you just play great starting hands? Big pairs so you have the best odds going in.

I don't think there is any correct way to play the big stack. Sure the most conservative method of walking away is the safest, but is it the best?

I decided that I was only going to play the best hands, and then in position, as long as there were a bunch of shorties at the table.

The strategy worked well, especially when the deck hit me silly. But then I found myself moved to a table where the small stacks were suddenly 2500. Bigger stacks at 4500, 6000 were at the table as well. Suddenly I found myself being ultra-conservative.

But other stacks weren't. They wanted to play a lot of pots and knock people out. I saw calls of raises with K 10o, or 7 9s. I was amazed by the amount of gamble people had when they didn't need to. Like one big stack pushing all in on a re-raise with 4 4 against a medium stack with A K. Made no sense.

Would anyone gamble like that when they don't need to?

Bubble

No Ipod for you!

Yep, played for a couple hours and hit the Ipod bubble in the pokeronamac tourney. My K K was cracked by A Q. So I got like $2.75 instead.

At least I played pretty well throught the tournament, but could have done better at the final table. I was steaming a bit and tried to play too many hands. Limp, call, fold. Not a winning strategy.

It does have me prepared to wage a war on the bracelet races. I will have to start playing some of them now that I have collected some tokens.

Thanks again to the pokeronamac gang for hosting the tournament.

Jacked off

Damn them Jacks. Within minutes, I was out of both the Riverchasers and CC's tournaments when a J hit the board. One made me groan. The other pissed me off.

I had raised in EP with 5 5. Table was tight, it was early, and I wanted to see some flops. So I called the re-raise. Presto! I flop my set. I decide to check-raise my opponent. Hmm...he calls. I check the turn even though now a back door flush is possible. At this point, I am confident my set is still good, but I am thinking about how I can maximize the pot. My opponent checks as well. River is the J of spades. No way did he hit a flush. I push (about 3/4 of the pot I believe). He thinks and takes his time before calling and showing pocket Jacks. Ugh!

I don't know if a turn bet would have won the hand for me or not, but that is the risk with trying to get as much out of your opponent as you can. You may just be giving them the maximum.

Over in the Riverchasers side, I was the victim of a donkey play. I had already doubled up to about 3800 and had only 2 people at the table that were good players. With 9 9, I called the pot raise from my right. The flop came 3 3 2. I liked it. Hell, I loved it. I saw another pot size bet come out. I felt I had the best hand and knew this donk would pay me off if I raised. So I popped it. Hard. All in to get him off the hand. He took his time and let the lights go all the way down before calling. He showed A J.

WTF?

Putting in all of your chips with nothing? I hate going up against A J. It always beats me. Sure enough, a J hit the turn. Nice suckout.

Just like that I was out. I was tempted to berate the player but decided not too. Well, more like I was really pissed and just shut my pc off.

This morning I was still steaming a bit. But then it hit me. I hadn't had a brutal beat in a while. Nothing I can do when I play it right. If I had just raised pot, there is no way he is folding. They simply do not fold those hands in the RC tournaments.

Just have to wait until the next one to get my revenge.

Bad run

Been on a bad run lately. Some of it bad cards, some of it tilting.

I thought a couple days away would help but it didn't. Whether it be triple draw or hold em, I was on the short end too many times.

Maybe I can turn in around in the Wheatie tonight.

Update: Scored a token in a Token Frenzy. Was breezing along until I made a move on a short stack with A Qs. He had little choice but to call for 300 more in the BB. But his J 8 flopped a pair and I couldn't improve. Suddenly I was short and it wasn't looking good with the blinds coming along.

Of course, the blinds bump up to 600/1200/200. I have 2300. There are some short stacks that are going to be all in before I get the blinds in 3 hands. But if they win their hands, I am in trouble. Just as the BB is about to hit, I am moved to a new table! 1 hand later the bubble bursts and I have a token.

I will take that as a win. Heck, I need what I can get.

Another update: Made the money and promptly went out in 9th place. Wasn't paying attention and pushed with K 10o. If I had known I was in fact, re-raising someone, then I wouldn't have done it.

Oh well, can't complain. I did make the money which is some consolation.

DQB

I ended up playing quite a bit of poker last night. I balanced some TD with HE to basically come up a couple dollars up.

Meanwhile, I took advantage of a token frenzy tournament that Hoy mentioned yesterday. Getting the token wasn't as tough as remembering it was a Turbo. I chipped up early and was willing to sit on the sideline. But I got greedy with pocket 9s and suddenly found myself on the outside looking in. Sure there were plenty of players left and I was never in dire straits but it is easier to be in the middle of the pack and only play monsters that scrambling trying to survive the bubble.

Plus with so many players not understanding the concept of a satellite, having that cushion is needed. Cannot tell you how many times I saw a big stack getting involved with A rag or K 9 off and bullying people around. For the most part, if I have a stack in the sat, I am sitting back, letting others do all the banging. Until I have a monster or I know of weak players that I can knock out.

So with 36 players getting tokens, I promptly went out in 36th place. At the same time, I went on a nice TD run erasing the hole I was in for a nice profit.

If only I had done better in CC's tourney. We started with basically 6 at a table. Bayne had to bludgeon me with his quad kings to more than cripple me. Well played. I had you tagged for A K and a set. Man, was I off thinking my rivered straight was good.

I did notice a trend when I play triple draw. After jumping up to a nice win, I tend to give it all back and then some. I end up playing looser than I normally would. Toss in one card draws that just don't get there or some clown pulling 4, 3 and 2 to make a 7 and I see all profit gone and me fighting to get back to where I started. I think that is one goal for the weekend. To not play so many hands and try to draw out because I see other people hit.

Best thing is I am still loving the game.

Too busy drinking to play

I was too busy drinking to play in the Mookie last night. I did see Maudie going all Godzilla on everyone. She finished strongly in fourth, just about pulling it off.

Iggy is back in his old digs. I won't do a smooch fest like Hoy but I don't feel like kissing a lot of midget ass (just kidding Hoy). I must admit I am jealous of the little guy. He is going to the UFC fights this weekend. About the closest I get to a UFC fight is two morons arguing over a cribbage game at the bar.

Pauly is still working hard in L.A. I found something he wrote to be quite interesting. In his Day 4 recap, he mentions this about play Bill Edler:

Edler has a reputation of being one of the nicest guys on the tournament
circuit. He's a patient player with solid fundamentals. He admits that his
biggest leak is that he has issues with mathematics. Edler is meticulous about
keeping his stacks in a specific order and size, and can often seen trading
chips with other players to maintain a uniformity of chip stacks and colors.

I started wondering if it would be wrong to tilt the guy based on that knowledge. Either get the table to not trade chips or even better, if you know he is most likely to just call a bet, bet some strange offbeat number. Instead of say 30,000, bet 30375, try to get him to break down his even stacks. Once, he does, you make all your stacks even and then comment about how sloppy his chips look.

Sadly, it appears Chilly is leaving the ring. His farewell post is out. I hope he continues to read and comment. He has some of the best comments out there.

Hopefully I can get out and play CC's tournament tonight. You know where and when.