2008 Goals

I'm ready for 2008 and I've set some fairly lofty goals for myself.
I'm going to increase my visits to casinos this year and push for more live play at higher levels.
If any of you ATL guys want to schedule a weekend trip to Tunica let me know. I'll be going on a fairly regular basis this year. I'm going to focus on my cash game a good bit this year but I also plan on playing some sizeable tournaments as well.
Here are my poker goals for 2008:

1. Cash for over 5 grand in a live tournament
2. Log in 100 hours of live play at the 1/2 and 1/3 no limit tables
3. Hang out with all my friends and have a great time at Okie Vegas
4. Win a tournament with over $200 buy-in
5. Win my 6th Mookie title

I think I have set some pretty good goals; not so large that they are not attainable and large enough to make me work for.

I hope everyone has had a great year and that next year will be your year!!!

Mele Kalikimaka

T.O.C. is in the Books

The Battle is over and jeciimd is our champion. I don't think anyone can say he hasn't proven himself a worthy competitor. Best of luck in Australia!!!
My friend Huntsvegas came very close. He displayed his true character throughout the tournament by winning hands and losing hands gracefully and with dignity. Great job! I'll see you next Friday.

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

Razz Tourney Tonight

Come on out and join us tonight for Poker Enthusiast's private Razz tourney on Full Tilt tonight at 9:30 eastern. The password is pokere.
There's a $10 bounty on my head so come on out and pick up some easy $$$$$.
Head on over to PokerEnthusiast's blog for all the details.

Rewarding Bad Play

If you don't like bad beats........then it's no big deal. I'm just having fun with titles today. The month of December has actually been very kind to me and there just haven't been that many suckouts.
I had the pleasure of playing at 23Skidoo's Saturday night. It was awesome. He has a really good recap of the first tournament with links to all the many bloggers that were in attendance.
As I mentally prepared for this tournament I assembled a list of notes on all the players I was expecting to see there. I quickly realized it was going to be an interesting evening with the styles of play I could see forming on my list. Wow!!! I'm going to have to play at my very best to avoid an early exit, I thought.
Before the game I met up with several of the guys for a bite to eat at The Ale House.
BrainMc, Kajagugu, Sham, Gnome, and I finished up our meal and headed for Skidoo's.
Skidoo has a list of all that attended so head on over to his blog for the full recap and list of attendees. I managed to place 2nd in the tournament. Doug G. ( a PokerCat arena regular ) was on fire and played the big stack well taking it down.
Several of the guys had a table going so the final 4 or 5 of us from the tournament decided to play a turbo sit-n-go. We were joined by ButchHoward's wife and I place 2nd again as Butch's wife knocked me out for the win.
I got a few phone calls during the evening from Kat and TripJax; great talking to both of you!!!
Trip's brother would have gotten the long distance award if Gnome wasn't there all the way from Hawaii. SurlyPokerGnome has been an online friend for a long time and I finally got a chance to play some live poker with him. Great meeting you!!!
There were several people there that started at the other table and I didn't get a chance to play cards with all night but it was great seeing all of you.
Thanks a lot to Skidoo for hosting!!!

Memphis00 Makes a Splash and Biloxi Trip Report

Wow!!! It's been a crazy week and I've had hardly any time for poker or blogging. I'm home now and getting settled in a little.
The trip reports from Vegas are rolling in and I am enjoying reading them. I wish I could have been there but it wasn't to be this time around. I did manage to slip away to Biloxi for a couple of days with Mrs. Surf. We played a $120 buy-in at the Beau Rivage with about 50 other folks. I went out in 16th place but Mrs. Surf managed to make the final table and finish 6th for a nice little cash. That's 4 final tables in a row for her and her record of outlasting me in every single live casino tourney we have played together continues.
Anyone considering going to Biloxi, I encourage you to go ahead and get out there. The Hard Rock is open right next to the Beau Rivage and it is awesome! The Grand is preparing to build a new casino there that the locals were saying is going to be huge and should open in 2010.
My friend Memphis00 made a big splash in his debut in The Mookie tournament last night. He had the chip lead for most of the tournament but lost a couple of big hands at the final table to go out in 9th. He has a good recount of it on his blog. Great job bro!!!

I'm heading over to Skidoo's Saturday. It should be a really fun time. I'll be meeting up with several friends I haven't seen in a while and slinging some cards around.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Allow me to introduce: Memphis00

A friend of mine has started a new blog. His name is Memphis00 . Make sure and stop by and welcome him to the community.

Britbloggerment Walk of Shame

It's been a busy week and I meant to post this earlier. I completely earned this!!!

Friends

I've made a lot of really good friends playing poker. Last night was one of those nights I thoroughly enjoy. It started with Kat's Friday night $1 rebuy. It was a nice turnout and Kat and I went all in 10 times in a row at the beginning of the game in honour of Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel. I was talking to several friends in the girly chat and watching my father win first place in a sit-n-go. Way to go dad!!!
Someone mentioned that they were going to play the razz tournament that was about to start. I was running fairly well in Kat's tournament and didn't want to start anything else right then. A few other people started signing up for the razz tourney and then they started talking about a last-longer competition. I'm a sucker for some good competition so I signed up as well.
I got off to a rocky start in the razz tourney and I was eliminated from Kat's tourney so it gave me a chance to focus on rebuilding my stack in razz. Razz is a lot about sitting back and picking your spots. I used to push, push, push when I picked a hand I was going to play. By observing Poker Enthusiast I have learned that sometimes it is better to control the size of the pot in case you brick, brick, brick which happens a lot.
My stack started to build back up and then I won a couple of huge pots and found myself near the top of the board. Meanwhile a lot of the players in the last longer were heading the other direction. Numb Bono threw out the additional challenge of one of us winning the whole thing. I set my sights and did my best but fell short finishing in 3rd place but I did manage to take the last-longer challenge down.
The TOC is nearing the end and I haven't won a seat yet. I'll keep giving it my best shot and hopefully the next few events will go well.
I'm heading back over to BrainMc's tonight for another live tourney. I can't wait!

Have a great week everyone and especially to all of you heading to Vegas!!!