Weekend Roundup

First of all I just want to say congratulations to Fuel for finishing 12th in the BC Poker Championship Main Event. Way to Goooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! ( and yes, i did have a small percent so Way to Gooo Me too!!!!!!!) You were close to a huge payday Fuel, and I know you have one coming in the future!

I've finally turned it around after a couple of tough weeks and had some very nice runs in mtt's this week. 4th of 1,255 entrants, 7th of 220, 49th of 1,175 players, and I capped off the weekend by winning a $75 token in the frenzy.

I continue to run well in the Pigskin Pool on USA Today. I've moved up to 14th place of 17,090. Only 13 entrants now stand between myself and the grand prize, $1,000 gift card for Circuit City. I'm 4 picks back so I need a nearly flawless performance the next few weeks to win.

A lot of you are heading to Vegas in the near future and I just want you all to know how much I wish I could be there with you. Fate has played tricks on me and there is simply no way to swing it this year so I'm counting on some great pics and stories from you guys when you get back.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Interview Scheduled

I have an interview lined up for next week with WackyJaxon, an online poker player I have known for several years. He has made a dramatic climb through the buy-in levels and most recently scored a 5k payday in Event 13 of the FTOPS. He regularly plays fairly high stakes limit anywhere from 15/30 up to 75/150 and he plays 200-500 buck sng's. He is playing some of the biggest MTT's available and has been doing fairly well at all of these. If anyone has any specific questions you would like asked, please leave a comment on here in the next 3 or 4 days and I will do my best to include your question in the interview.
I think this is an excellent opportunity to pick the brain of someone who is on fire and has made some great improvements in their game over the last couple of years.

I'm running very well with my football picks this year. I am currently ranked 30th of 17,084 in the USA Today Pigskin pickem' contest. I need a couple of really strong weeks to catch the leaders but I am definitely within striking distance.

Have a great week at the tables everyone!!!

Reads & Rhythm

A big congrats to my friend WackyJaxon for winning 5k in Event 13 of the FTOPS!!!

Rhythm:

Live Play: To stay in a rhythm and take near the same amount of time when it is your turn gives you a couple of advantages. If you need a little extra time to go in the tank about a hand it isn't as obvious to your opponents as it would be if you normally play fast. There's plenty going on in each hand to pay attention to even if you know you are going to fold. When you know you are going to fold, you can use this time to casually observe opponents looking for tells they may be giving away.
One word of caution: One player that I play with frequently takes this to the extreme. An opponent went all in ahead of him when he held pocket aces and had already picked up a full house. He took his usual amount of time then made the call; he didn't want to break his rhythm!

Online Play: If you always auto-fold when you aren't going to play, this can give your opponent information. Exercising your thoughts before each move can keep you alert and focused on your opponents as well as your own cards.

Reads:

Live Play: Reading the strength of your opponents and knowing their ability to fold a hand is crucial. Be sure to keep in mind their actions from every street of the hand so you can figure out what they have. Calculating hand ranges is going to give you a huge advantage over the casual player. A lot of players like to wait until it's their turn before looking at their cards. I want to throw a little twist on this. If you wait until it's your turn, you give everyone a chance to see your reaction to your cards. I like to make sure the players I consider strongest at the table are not looking my way when I look at my cards.

Online Play: Going in the tank online is a little easier. You have a typed out copy of their actions on every street to review ( the dealer will announce all action at the table provided you don't have this option turned off ). You can also pull up the previous hands at the table and see exactly what kinds of hands they have shown.

Razz Tourney Tonight

Tonight is Poker Enthusiast's Razz tourney on Full Tilt.
It's listed under private tournaments and the password is pokere.
See ya there!!!

Thank You Poker Stars!!!

I received my 80gb IPod today from Poker Stars! I can't wait to start using it. Thank you Poker Stars!!!

FTOPS Event #2 Satellite

I'm about to play the $50+5 satellite to tonight's event, Razz!!! Congrats to Poker Enthusiast on winning his seat last night. I'll update later.

Update with EXTREME bad beat warning:

I was in the Razz qualifier for the FTOPS event 2
Top 49 make it. We were down to 67 players and I am at about 3k. Bets are up to 1k/2k and I'm dealt 234. I complete and get called by a player with 9k and a 9 showing. I hit an 8 and he hits a Q. I bet and I'm practically all in. When the cards flip up I have 2348 and he has 89JQ. 3 bricks and I lose the hand......sick

FTOPS Event #1 and The Mookie

The FTOPS kicks off tonight with Event #1. I'm in that along with no less than 29 Full Tilt pros and a few thousand others including several bloggers (actyper, cmitch, cracknaces,Fuel55, hoyazo, islandbum1, lucko21, NumbBono, pvanharibo, smizmiatch, and myself plus probably some i missed). Best of luck to everyone.
I'll also be playing The Mookie as well. It's an hour and a half until it starts and there is already 60 signed up so I'm sure it will probably be a record field tonight.
I'll update later on and let everyone know how it goes.

Update: I'm out of the Mookie but I have survived to the second break in the FTOPS.
3,676 entrants
1,381 still in
432 make the money

Here are the blogger chip counts that I see still in:
CMitch: 5,745 843rd
Fuel55: 5,251 909th
Surflexus: 2,945 1,243rd

We all need a good run after this break. Good luck Cmitch and Fuel (and anyone else I missed)


Update:
Fuel is out in 1,357th
Cmitch is out in 1,300th
I'm hanging in with 1,100 players still in but I need some cards soon. I'm 1,038th of 1,095.
Come on cards!!!

I'm out in 1,069th. I was in the big blind with 8 3 suited and small blind limped in. I paired the flop and caught 4 to the flush. He fired out about 600 and I shoved my 2k. He thought a while and finally called with same low pair of 3's I had only he had a 9 instead of an 8. The flush didn't come and his 9 played.

Update: I had a chance to check the leaderboard and XxMagiciaNxX is still in.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Fun With Math

I placed 4th in The Math last night.
Big Congrats to Kaja for taking it down and thanks to Riggstad for picking me in the last longer contest; glad I could help you win it.

Poker Snakes

I went to a game last night at a co-worker's house and finally broke my streak of going out on the bubble in live tournaments cashing in 3rd place. Kuro has a nice recap of the game including the now famous poker snakes. I'm not sure if he was still there or not, but the highlight of the evening for me was when one player headed down the hall to the bathroom and shouted "There's no more snakes back here is there?"
My favorite hand of the night came when I was on the button and was dealt pocket aces. The flop came out ace high rainbow and a friend of mine announced all-in. I made sure not to slow roll him and turned over my set of aces. He was drawing dead by the turn and it was a huge pot that gave me a nice stack.
I had to fold a couple of hands that crippled my stack but managed to make it in to the money. I raised with A 7 when we were down to 3 players and Matt G. reraised me all in. I called and he had KQ. I hit a 7 on the flop but he hit a queen on the turn and I was eliminated.
It was a very fun game with a large starting amount of chips (10,000) and a good blind structure. I'll be going to this one again me thinks!

70.89%

70.89% is nowhere near enough odds to reraise all in against Kajagugu this month:

I made my way over to Kaja's last night for his monthly game. There were 17 players including BrainMc, Aposec72, and several other familiar faces. My starting table was a strange combination. There were a couple of calling stations that didn't like to fold at all, two or three tight players, a couple of tight aggressive players and one loose aggressive. The combination combined with my position at the table forced me in to a strange blend of play. I got in to a couple of hands and had no idea where I stood and had to fold. I then tightened up and doubled my dwindling stack a couple of times including calling an all in KJ with my KK.
I steadily climbed after the first break and when we combined to one table, I was in excellent shape. I stayed tight-aggressive as this was a fairly tough table.
I caught KK and AA and decided not to get fancy with either. I raised big both times and showed my cards just so there would be no doubt when I came in to a hand, I wasn't messing around.
When we were down to 5 players (4 make the money), Kaja had a pretty good chip lead with probably I'm guessing a little over 20,000 or so. I had about 12 to 14 thousand and a couple of the others having about 5,000-7,000 and one other player with a similar stack to mine. I'm sitting on the button and the blinds are about 600/1,200 with 100 ante when Kaja raises it to 5,000 under the gun. The player to my right is the player with the only other sizeable stack at the table folds. I look down and find AK unsuited. I announce all in and call his 5,000 and place another 8,000 or so in to the pot. The blinds fold and Kaja reluctantly calls me with a large part of his remaining stack. He states that this is probably a bad call and he flips up KQ suited hearts so he's correct; he's a 70.89% dog.
The flop brings a couple of small hearts and the turn is another heart to complete his flush. I have the ace of hearts but the miracle 4th heart doesn't hit and I'm out on the bubble.

They were going to play another tournament but I had to leave because I had to work the next morning. Thanks for having us over Kaja; fun times.

Update: Kurokitty asked in comments if a fold is warranted in this situation. I'm putting it out there to you, the readers. Is a fold a good idea in this situation?
I think it's an excellent question. Bear in mind it's the chip leader putting in the initial raise and I'm considering his range of raising hands to be Any pair, any two big cards, any suited connectors, and possibly a few more.

Way To Go Mow!!!!

My good friend Mowenumdown put on a clinic in the 24k last night making it to the final table and making one of the biggest lay-downs I have seen in a while. He folded AK in middle position after an early position raiser and a early-mid position all in from a fairly loose player. The first raiser called after Mow's fold and we got to see the AA that Mow suspected him of having.

I have a lot of live games on tap this week so I should have a lot to talk about by Sunday. I'm playing at Kuro's tonight, Kaja's tomorrow, and Kuro and I are going to a co-worker's Saturday night.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!