Dear Poker Diary

Home From Florida

2008-08-13T17:49:00.003-04:00

We took the crew down to Destin for a few days last week. It was nice for us to get to hang out with all of our kids and grandkids for a few days. I did manage to play for a little while at the Ebro poker room; plenty of action there for anyone interested. There were at least 20 tables running, mostly 1/2 and 2/5 no limit.

Biloxi Tournaments in One Month

2008-07-28T20:42:00.005-04:00

At the end of August, Mrs Surf and I are going to Biloxi to play in the Gulf Coast Poker Championships. I am playing Event 6 and also either Event 4 or 7. Mrs Surf is playing Event 5 and probably Event 7. I'm really excited about Event 6 as it is the largest buy-in tournament I have ever played breaking the $1,000 barrier.
I'm also going to be playing either the WSOP Circuit tournaments in Tunica or the WPT tournaments in Biloxi in January. I would be interested in hearing opinions on which of the two would be better to play.
In 2009, I am going to be making a big push to play a lot of tournaments larger than I have in the past so my swings will be a bit larger; hopefully for the better!

Edit: I won The Math!!! Wheeeeeeee!!!

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Home from Okie Vegas

2008-07-20T20:07:00.002-04:00

I'm back home from Oklahoma and I've been busy at work this week catching up on being gone for almost two weeks.
I had a great time in Oklahoma!!! It was great to see some old friends again and meet some new ones. Thanks so much to the GCox family and the TC family for letting me stay in your homes and thanks to Maudie and OSU for helping host.
For the record, at the casino when I folded AA face up after the flop OSU did indeed show that he had flopped two pair.
I got very lucky to win the Saturday tournament as I pulled off a few well timed bluffs and then won a huge hand heads up against Buddy Dank when he was a 2 to 1 favorite.
I'm looking for a couple of $1000+ live tournies to play in September or so. If anyone knows of any events running during that time please let me know.

Okie Vegas!!!

2008-07-03T01:30:00.001-04:00

Gone to Oklahoma!!!

Okie-Vegas and Kaja's Hood

2008-06-30T19:57:00.003-04:00

I'll be leaving ATL in a couple of days to head to Okie Vegas and I can't wait!!! I'm getting there about a week ahead of most folks to hang with my good buddy G and help him prepare for everyone's arrival the following week.
I got a chance to go play over in Kaja's neighborhood Friday night and Mrs Surf went with me. As usual she outlasted me in the tournament as she has done every time we have played together live which is about 10 times!!! She final tabled it and went on to finish in 3rd making the money....way to go!!!

MSOP: Making a Run and Royal Flush

2008-06-26T18:48:00.006-04:00

I'm in Event 46 right now. We are just a few spots to the money and I have a good stack of 37,559...sitting in 20th position right now. I've been in the top 20 for about an hour now thanks to some really good hands including a royal flush!!!

Hopefully I can keep it up!!!

Update: I'm up to 50k and we are in the money. I'm sitting around 10th of 90 right now.

Update: We're 4 hours in to the tournament and down to 58 players. I'm in 27th right now with 42k. The chip leader is to my immediate left with 130k so I'm having to be a little cautious right now as he is playing a ton of hands and hitting the flops hard.

Update: Out in 45th place. Top two pair against a flopped straight.

Attention All Razzaholics

2008-06-20T06:16:00.002-04:00

50/50 and Daily Double Tonight

2008-06-17T21:12:00.003-04:00

I won a satellite to the 50/50 tonight and I'm playing in the Daily Double tournaments on Tilt.
I cashed in both daily double tournaments a few days ago to hit a bonus for a double cash; we'll see if maybe i can repeat that and hopefully make a run in the 50/50.

Huge congrats to F-Train for cashing in the WSOP Razz event...way to go!!!!!

50/50

2008-06-12T06:23:00.003-04:00

I won about 50 bucks at a cash table around 9 last night and decided to use that money to play the 50/50. About 5 hands in I noticed mclarich at my table. I said hello to him and he hadn't noticed I was there either.
We both chipped up nicely in the first hour and sat well above average after the first hour. About an hour and a half in Mclarich ran pocket kings in to pocket aces. The guy with aces picked up four to the flush but Mclarich hit the one outer on the river to double up nicely.
I won a couple of nice pots with J 10 and A K and manged to get up to around 6k.
My demise came just after the 2nd break. I was in the small blind with A J and a player in the cutoff raised it up about 3x the big. I repopped it to about 2,500 or so and the big blind shoved with his last 2k. Now calling that would have been a no brainer as it only cost me a few more chips. The problem is the first raiser shoves for almost all my chips. I don't have him on a steal as strongly as I did but I still feel he's trying to isolate the other player. I almost fold but there's so much already in the pot I decide to call. I'm up against AQ from the Big Blind and AK...not good. I hit a jack on the flop but it was an all diamond flop giving the cutoff player a flush on the flop. I went out shortly after that but I noticed Mclarich managed to make it to the second level of payouts.
Have a great week at the tables everyone!!!

T. O. C. Decision and Fun with Riggs

2008-06-06T14:27:00.002-04:00

I'm playing in the BBT3 tournament of champions tomorrow. If I were by some miracle to finish in 1st or 2nd which believe me, with the lineup I will be facing will include at least a couple of miracles, then I have a decision that had to be made. I cannot take the time off necessary to play the W.S.O.P. this year. I have already been offered a seat to the main event previously and had to turn it down.
My decision was that if I win 1st or 2nd there is no way a blogger isn't using that money to enter the Main Event. I have extended the invitation to B.W.o.P. to play for me in the main event if I win 1st or 2nd in the T.O.C. She doesn't need to answer this yet but I sure hope I put her to that decision. : )

Riggs and I have a friendly prop bet going right now on who will lose the most weight between today and the Bash in September. We will weigh in at the bash and the loser will pay up.
I'm currently at 275 which is 45 pounds lighter than I was first of the year. I'm giving this my best shot...good luck Riggs!!! I think we will both be winners on this one no matter who has to pay up.

Attention Razz Players

2008-06-05T20:12:00.002-04:00

There is a K O R D (king of razz donks) tournament on Full Tilt Friday night at 10:15 pm. The password is pokere and it is a $8.80 buy in. 4 dollars of the buy in goes to prize pool and 4 goes to bounties paid for each player you eliminate. Come on out and join us for some Razz fun!!!

Skills Win!!!

2008-05-28T01:23:00.002-04:00

I won the Skills tournament again tonight!!! wheeeeeeee
Thanks to everyone that played and everyone that cheered me on!!!
The final 4 was a big time battle where the chips were evened back up at around 55k or so.
Vinnay, tiltaway, ChippyMcStacks, and myself....good times!!!

Fun Times

2008-05-26T09:34:00.003-04:00

I had a great time at BrainMc's Saturday night. I arrived early and got to hang out with BrainMc for a while. ISS Spock was the next to arrive. I've played online with him for a long time and this was the first time I have met him in person; great to meet you!
Everyone else arrived around tourney time including Kajagugu and Aposec72 . I called WeakPlayer just before the tourney started to see if he was going to make it. He was running late and didn't make it for the tourney but he came over later to play the cash game.
I ran pretty well in the tourney for a while but went a little card dead in the middle stages. I managed to limp in to the final table but couldn't really get much going and went out just after we merged to the final table.
I decided to cut loose and have a great time playing the table maniac at the cash table while it was 6 and 7 handed. It was a lot of fun raising 3 of every 4 hands dealt. I called down several of what I thought were losing hands on the river only to find several times that I was ahead but I did manage to lose a little overall for the night. The table filled and I had to slow up a bit in the later part of the evening but I still managed to keep my loose image intact.
Thanks BrainMc for hosting a great night of poker!!!

Goals

2008-05-21T07:48:00.003-04:00

I have some new goals to accomplish and they are big!!!!! That means a lot more playing at higher stakes.
Put on your seat belts folks, we're going for a ride!!!

Double A and B and the Skills Tourney

2008-05-13T22:16:00.005-04:00

I'm running 3 tournaments tonight. I'm off to a decent start in Daily Double Tournaments A & B just after the first break.
I'm playing the Skills tournament. It's a rotation game of limit holdem, omaha h/l, and stud h/l....not my strongest tournament games. I'm struggling to keep a stack going but hanging in so far with a few lucky hands.
Update: One hour and forty five minutes in I just busted out of Double B in about 350th place of around 1,000 players. I'm still running great in Double A with 12k and the average stack is around 6k. 341 left in and 153 cash.
I've ramped up the aggression a little in the Skills tournament and it seems to be helping a little. Of course getting the cards you need here and there helps too. We started with 67 players and there are 62 still in after a little over an hour. The top 8 make the money. I'm currently in 39th in chips.
Update: We're at the second break in the Double A. The average stack is 9,051. I'm at 16,316 in chips and 27th of the 230 left in. I'm 6th of the 51 left in the Skills tournament. There's still a long way to go in both.
Update: I stayed in a few hands I should have folded in the Skills tourney and I'm out around 27th or so. I ran 99 in to AA in the Double A and got short stacked. I went out a short time later in 77th place out of 1,050.

We Interrupt This Program.....

2008-05-12T01:00:00.002-04:00

If you get a chance check out Poker Enthusiast's raw uncensored look back at his younger years. Warning: rated R

Daily Fifteen Grand on Stars

2008-05-10T15:19:00.004-04:00

I'm playing the Daily 15 Grand on Stars right now. We are past the first break.
There are 715 of the original 2,427 entrants left in. $24,270 in the prize pool. The top 378 make the money. I'm sitting in about 400th right now with 5,000 or so in chips. the average stack is 7k so I'll need a hand here in a while. I'll be back to update.
Update: Out in 371st. I hung in to the money but I couldn't ever pick up a hand to run with before that. Once in the money I was in the big blind with K 10. It folded around to the small blind who just called. I had 800 in as the big blind and another 1,800 behind. I decided to go ahead and shove knowing he would call because he was a really lose big stack. He called and held A 4. Two more fours on the flop. I picked up an open ended straight draw on the turn but the top end was no good because it would have given him a boat. River is a blank and I'm out.

It's a little surprising to me that a field this large gets to the money in less than 2 hours.

Mookie and Doubles A & B

2008-05-07T21:51:00.002-04:00

No live blogging tonight. I'm just listening to Live Poker Radio , relaxing, and playing The Mookie along with Daily Doubles A & B on Tilt. I'm watching several bloggers in FTOPS Event #1.
Best of luck to all of you!!!

Sunday Hundred Grand and Iron Man

2008-05-04T15:33:00.012-04:00

I went to see Iron Man last night. Robert Downey Jr. did a great job as Tony Stark. I recommend it. It was very enjoyable.
I'm playing the Sunday Hundred Grand on Poker Stars and a couple of tournaments on Full Tilt.
The Sunday Hundy has 22,182 entrants and the prize pool is $221,820. The top 3,375 get paid.
I was dealt pocket aces the first hand of the game and the flop came out king high giving a player with AK top pair top kicker. He went to the felt with me and I have doubled to 6k. I'll be back in a bit to update.
Update: First update is not a good one. I made a top straight on the turn with no pair or flush on board and re-re-reraised a player who held two pair. The board paired on the river giving him a boat and I paid him off. I'm down to 2k.
Update: I picked up AK and reraised it. One caller and a king high flop. I weak bet it and he re-popped it. I shoved with just a little more and he made the crying call and doubled me up. I'm sitting at 4,370 now. The average stack is 3,418 and there are 19,438 in.
Update 3:55 pm- We have been running 25 minutes on Stars. My two tournaments are getting ready to start in 5 minutes on Tilt. I'm playing the early A & B double tournaments. It looks like we will probably have over a thousand in each. I'll post the payouts and specifics in a few. I hit a set just now on Stars but 4 clubs on the board at the river. I didn't lose much and I'm still at 4,170.
Update 4:08 pm- I went out in the Hundred with a set of fours. Opponent held A 5 and hit 2 3 4 for the straight. The two on Tilt have started.
Tourney A has 1,223 entrants and Tourney B has 1,106. The top 180 make the money in each.
Update 4:21 pm- Out of Tourney B. I flopped a flush and a player with top two pair pushed all in. He hit his boat on the turn and I'm done. I'm doing ok in the other one. I have 2,800 or so. the average is 2,347.
Update 5:07pm- 4,305 at the first break in Tourney A. The avg is 3,827 and there are 639 left in of the 1,223 that started. I'm in 225th.
Update 6:14pm- We are at the next break. I have 8,922 and the avg is 9,592. I'm 122nd of 255 left and 180 make the money...hanging in.
Update 6:28pm- I called an all in from the button out of the big blind with AQ. He held Q9 suited but made a flush and I'm down to 3,547. We're about 20 from the money.
Update 6:41pm- We're in the money. I managed to double up to 5k.
Update 6:45pm- Out in 152nd. I shoved from the small blind with A2. The big blind called with A mid and his kicker played.

T O C Here I come! ! !

2008-04-30T01:41:00.001-04:00

I just finished first in the Skills game....wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thanks to everyone that cheered me on!

Have a great week at the tables everyone!

Folding

2008-04-26T10:49:00.002-04:00

In a tournament, it is sometimes correct to fold the best hand. A race is not a good idea if you are getting a lot of situations at that particular table where you are holding a certain winner and your opponents are paying you off. Why would you want to risk your chips in a race if you are getting so many chances to win with much less risk. Of course, if you have a nice chip stack and it doesn't put you at risk to lose the majority of your stack it's often a good idea to go ahead and take the coin flip situations.

50K Guarantee on Stars : Live Blogging

2008-04-21T21:26:00.019-04:00

I'm playing the $50+5 50K Guarantee on Stars tonight and I'll be live blogging the highlights here.
It's getting ready to start in 1 minute. There are a little over 1,100 players signed up so far so the prize pool is going to exceed 50k.
I'm starting at table 31.
Update: 1,178 entrants. The top 180 make the money. 1st pays $10,602.00
Update: I picked up KK and got action. Ace on the flop and I had to let it go. I'm down to about 2,600.
Update: 20 minutes in. I just flopped a straight and I'm back up to 2,900.
Update: 26 minutes in. I had the high end of the straight on the turn and a player pushed all in ahead of me with 2 pair. The straight held and I'm up to 5,220. The average is 3,411 with 1,035 or so still in.
Update: 40 minutes in. I had to lay down JJ and QQ post flop....frustrating flops. I picked up KK and made a boat for a nice pot then caught a guy steaming and called his shove with 10 10; I end up with a straight on the hand and I'm up to 8,200. The avg is 3,800.
Update: We're at the first break. I'm at 8,260 which is 82nd of 754 with the avg stack at 4,730.
Update: I'm hanging tight 20 minutes in to the second hour. No hands to speak of. I'm at 7,685. The avg is up to 6,061. 579 players remain.
Update: 40 minutes in to the second hour and I just won a nice pot. I've been picking on a player's blinds from the cutoff and he called and check raised the flop with me hitting a jack high flop holding QJ. I thought he was probably frustrated and I made the call. He had 55 and I'm up to 11,900..... Woot! 78th of 447 remaining. Average stack is just under 8k.
Update: I decided to play AK a little unorthodox and limped in expecting a raise. No such luck and 5 to the flop. Ace high flop checks around and last player in position raises it up. I'm the only caller. A 2 pairs the board on the turn and I shove it in. He calls with A 5 and I'm up to 17k.
Update: We're at the second break. I have 17,589 which is 57th of 303 with 180 making the money. The average is 11,663.
Update: 15 minutes in to the 3rd hour and we are closing in on the money. There's 243 players left and I'm in 66th in chips with 18,639.
Update: I just folded QQ preflop with a raise and a reraise ahead of me. We're right at the money bubble. I have 17,339. The average is 16,748. I'm 71st of 211.
Update: 7 spots to the money. I have 26k for 41st of 187.
Update: We're in the money. I'm in 44th of 150 or so. I'll update the exact numbers at the break in 10 minutes.
Update: I just took a huge hit. I'm down to 7k and we're almost to the break. I had a pair of sixes on an all rag flop. Opponent sucked out with a flush draw after we were in.
Update: I just got lucky with and all in the last hand before the break. I had A 9 and shoved from the button. The big blind called with 10 10 and I turned and rivered nines. I have 11,640 at the third break. I'm 106th of 120 so I have a lot of work to do and I will have to double up soon to get the chips to work with.
Update: Down under 100 players I picked up A Q in the big blind. The utg player raised it up but he was a big stack so I thought I was probably OK to call. It was a race as he held 77 but hit a 7 and I'm out in 87th and cash for just over a hundred bucks.
This is a good tourney. I'll definitely give it another shot soon.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!

Razz

2008-04-10T19:57:00.002-04:00

I've been playing a little Razz cash lately with mixed results. I've stepped up the levels I'm playing a little and I'm playing mostly 2/4 and 3/6 with a few shots at 5/10. The swings at 5/10 are a good bit larger than I'm used to and I'm still getting used to them. I post some of the highlights at Brickinthenutz. Please check them out and I appreciate any and all feedback as I'm working hard to improve my razz play.
Jusdealem has a review of Mitchell Cogert's book Play Razz Poker To Win posted on Brickinthenutz. You can read it here. I'll be ordering this book this week and have my own review of it shortly. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Poker Stars Sunday Million

2008-04-06T16:41:00.016-04:00

The Sunday Million on Stars has just started. My table is very tight so far. I've picked up a few great starting hands but gotten no action with them.

We started with 7,680 players and the top 1,080 make the money.

Update: I just picked up AA for the second time and won a nice pot with it. I'm a little over 13k. We started with 10k.
Update: The table has loosened up a little bit. I picked up AQ suited and raised it up and got 2 callers. I had to let it go after the flop missed me entirely. I'm still over 13k.
Update: We are 40 minutes in. I'm at 12k. I had to fold a medium pair after I got reraised big preflop. There's a lot of loose action now and people are playing much less than premium hands. I'm looking for a good opportunity and being patient.
Update: We're approaching the first break. I'm at about 12,500 and the avg is 13k.
Update: Half way through the second hour. I'm a little card dead and treading water at 13,500 or so. The average is up to 17k. We've lost 3,200 players already.
Thanks to Kat, PokerEnthusiast, Donkette, CK, DuggleBogey and everyone that has wished me luck.
Update: Finally got a hand to pay off. I picked up aces and won a nice pot. We're approaching the second break and I have 27,500 and the avg is 26,200. There are 2,900 left in.
Update: 20 minutes in to hour 3. I have 30k and the avg is 35k. Hanging in there. We're down to 2,159 players.
Update: Forty minutes in to the 3rd hour. I'm at 30,500. The average is up to 43k. We have 1,713 left in and 1,080 make the money.
Update: 22,042 at the 3rd break. avg is 57,100. getting close to the money but i need a hand pretty soon.
Update: Blinds and antes were eating me up and I had to shove from the button with no play behind me with A8. called by 89. back up to 25k... 104 to the money.... 1,184 left
Update: We're in the money. I managed to triple up with 99 hitting a set. I'm still a short stack and will have to shove again soon. We're down to 815. The money goes up again at 810 so I'll wait until after that.
Update: I'm out in 765th of 7,680. I won $460.80 not bad for an $11 investment. Thanks to everyone that cheered me on.

Sunday Million on Stars Tomorrow

2008-04-05T20:53:00.002-04:00

I guess I have Full Tilt to thank for this. Their site went down just as I was looking for a tournament to play so I fired up Stars.
There was a double shootout about to start for a seat in the million dollar guarantee tomorrow and guess what; I made it.

Have a great week at the tables everyone!!!

30 Months and 300 Posts

2008-04-05T09:02:00.002-04:00

This is my 300th post on this here ol' blog and I've been documenting my poker play for over two and a half years.
I love poker plain and simple. I love to play poker, study poker, talk about poker, and even go on trips that center around poker events and gatherings. The poker blogger "community" contains people from all walks of life and many of us would have never met if not for poker blogging. I have enjoyed meeting each and every one of you that I have had the pleasure to spend time with.

There has been much talk recently about the amount of mean-spirited chat during blogger tournaments and I won't spend a lot of time on this as I don't want to fan the flames of something that is already blown way out of proportion to the attention it deserves.
If you have played poker for any length of time you have been subjected to trash talk and learned that some people voice their opinions of play and players loudly and some just choose to let their play do their talking. Is there more of it in the games? Probably so. Percentage-wise I'm not so sure there's much of a difference. I mean the blogger games are drawing in crowds of around 100 players where they used to bring in 30-40 or less so doesn't it stand to reason that there will be 2 to 3 times more of this type of behaviour for all to see.
The prizes offered in the BBT3 have a great chance of bringing in even larger crowds over the next few months. Al and the others involved did a lot of work to put this thing together and I for one appreciate it very much. I haven't won a seat to the TOC but I will be there when I can trying to win and I hope to see you there too.

Main Event Seat Offered, Braves Game, Okie-Vegas Plans

2008-04-03T15:54:00.003-04:00

It was about a week and a half ago and I was at my desk at work soaking it all in. It was a little hard to believe but I had just been offered a chance to play the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. A friend of mine had contacted me and let me know he had been offered a seat and couldn't go and wanted to know if I wanted the seat. It seems the gentleman that had won the seat couldn't go and was looking for someone that could play it.
First of all, I was and still am honoured that I was asked and don't take it lightly. I pulled up the schedule and the first thing I noticed was that it is going to run at the exact same time as Okie Vegas. Now this is a pro and a con. I already have the entire amount of time off from work that it will be running so that part is no problem. I talked to the gentleman that has the seat and everything sounded great as far as the agreement we would have. I would be responsible for travel and accomodations. This part goes on the con side but is nowhere near expensive enough to be a big discouragement.
There were a lot of pros and cons to consider and in the end after about a week of beating myself up and stressing over it I decided against playing the main event this year. I will play it but this will not be the year.
So with that out of the way a huge pressure lifted from my shoulders. Almost everyone I confided in and talked to leaned towards me going but in the end I had to go with my own feelings and for several reasons I chose not to go.
Thank you again so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

Monday night was opening day at Turner Field. Kuro and Sham were going and invited me along with several other friends including Skidoo. I mentioned that I could probably get the limo from work to take us down there and everyone seemed keen to that idea. I lined it up and off we went.
The limo picked me up at work and we headed to the Cat Arena to pick up the guys. We arrived and everyone piled in. We had one more stop down the street to pick up a couple more people that were going with us. While in the parking lot of the tavern where we were meeting them, out of the blue a guy on a Segway comes riding by. One of the guys yells out to him that he will trade him the limo for the Segway. I politely remind him that the limo is not his to trade. He explains that to the Segway guy and the guy asks if anyone wants to ride his Segway. Several of the guys take turns riding it. It was awesome watching everyone take their turn.
When we arrived at Turner Field we had the "All you can eat" seats and we headed for the concession stand. They had hot dogs, burgers, fries, popcorn, peanuts, and sodas laid out and you just loaded up on whatever you want. It was great!
Unfortunately the Braves lost the game but we had a great time. Several of the guys with us had never ridden in a limo so I was thrilled that I was able to get the limo for the night.

Okie Vegas is fast approaching. It's only about 12 weeks away. If you are on the fence and undecided about going I highly encourage you to come on out and join us. I had such a great time last year and can't wait for it to get here. Head on over to The Official Okie-Vegas Website and let G know if you are planning to attend.

Well, that's about it for now. Have a great week at the tables everyone! ! !

So much to say, so little time

2008-04-03T08:48:00.002-04:00

I've got a really huge post coming. I should have it finished tonight. It's been a really busy week and I've got a lot to talk about including:

1) My decision whether to accept a free entry to the main event of WSOP
2) Braves trip in the limo with some Atlanta poker bloggers and friends
3) Okie-Vegas plans

I should have it finished and up later tonight.

Biloxi Trip Over and I'm Home

2008-03-25T15:51:00.006-04:00

I'm back home. I cut the trip a little short and returned early yesterday. I played the 500+50 on Sunday and a 175+25 Sunday evening. Saturday evening after getting checked in to the hotel I played some 1/2 nl for about 4 hours and won 400 bucks. I won 100 playing blackjack and 100 playing video poker so I was up 600 bucks the first night. Peyton and Eli Manning were there at the casino celebrating Eli's upcoming wedding with a little bachelor party. (that's what i heard from several people there at least)
I sat at a table next to Clonie Gowen's table. I think she was playing 25/50 no limit or something like that. She and Kristy Gazes were there helping put on a WPT boot camp. I saw Clonie quite a bit while I was there. She seemed very personable and was hanging out with everyone having a great time.

The 500+50 on Sunday had a lot less players than I expected it to. There were only 92 or 93 entrants and the top 9 made the money. ( Saturday's 500+50 had about 250 or so ) I played fairly tight in the early going watching some crazy hands take place. I finally picked up a pair of nines about 40 minutes in and called a small raise of about 150 with the blinds still at 25/50 from a very aggressive player to see a 4-way flop. The flop was 3 8 J only putting one over on the board. He bet it out like usual for 300 and the other two got out of the way so it was heads up if I call. I made the call and a 10 hit the board giving me an open ended straight draw along with my nines. He bet out for another 300 and again I call. The river is a queen giving me the low side of the straight. He slows down and checks. I bet 1,000 and he calls and shows AA. This puts me up a couple thousand early on.
I stayed tight for another hour or so and don't see anything playable. At the first break I'm sitting around 5k, about an average stack.
I get several hands to see a flop with and I keep missing with pairs and connectors. The play is very aggressive post-flop and I have to throw away a lot of missed flops.
I get down to about 3k and pick up AQ. A desperate short stack across the table pushes with about 1,400. I reraise all in to isolate and everyone else folds. He flips up AK and it holds to double him up and now I'm the desperate one.
I pick up AQ 3 times in a row. I shove all 3 times and only get called once and they hold up. I'm back up to about 4k and we're about 3 and half hours in. The average is 8k and we are down to about 40 players. I get AQ once again and I'm in late position. It folds around to me and I raise it up big. The big blind calls. The flop is Q J rag and he bets out. I shove all in and he calls me. He flips over A 10 and a king hits the river to give him a straight and I'm out in about 38th.

The second tourney was at 6 pm. Several of the guys I play with in Atlanta were in it. Brian (BrianMc), Mike G (main event Mike), Mike H, and Chris D. We started with 3k in chips and the blind levels were a little faster at 30 minutes. I catch hand after hand early on but can't get anyone to stay with me. I chip up to about 4,500 without going to a showdown. Then the deck goes cold and I blind down for about an hour. I finally pick up 55 and raise it up. The big blind reraises enough to put me almost all in and I think he believes I will fold. I almost do but finally make the call and he shows 10 10. This is my worst played hand of the whole trip I think. It cripples me and I'm out an orbit later.

Monday morning I was over at the Hard Rock Casino and was standing near the restroom at the top of the escalators waiting on a friend when I saw a man with a walker getting on the escalator down below. As his walker began it's climb he flipped over backwards and was coming up the escalator practically upside down. I looked around and realized nobody else was doing anything so I ran over to the top of the escalator and met him there as he reached the top. There was one older gentleman that had gone back down a few steps but wasn't strong enough to lift him. He had managed to get him to an almost sitting position so I reached down and grabbed him and stood him up. He was a little shaken up but said he was OK. I stayed with him for a minute until some people he was there with arrived.

It's good to be home.

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

Biloxi Today

2008-03-22T08:08:00.003-04:00

Usually when my alarm clock goes off I like to hit the snooze once or twice. Today I sprang from the bed and got ready early. I'm working for a few hours this morning. I picked up my friend Travis at his house at 5:45 am. He's going with me to Biloxi. He brought his new Nintendo DS with him to keep him entertained while I log in a few hours of work.
It's about a 6 hour drive to the Beau Rivage. I can't wait to get there. We are meeting up with some of the guys from BrainMc's neighborhood game this evening at the casino.
My first tournament is Sunday at noon. It's a 500+50 buy in. I'm guessing there will be about 300-400 players. The second tourney is Monday at noon. They are both 2-day events with the final table being played the 2nd day so if I final table Sunday I won't be playing the 2nd event.
TripJax is coming down to Biloxi the following weekend which is also the same time the 2,000 buck main event is running. I'm considering going back down to play if I can either cash in one of these two events or if I can satellite in to it while I'm there this weekend.
Travis has not been to a casino very much so I'm looking forward to showing him around and teaching him how to play some of the casino games.
Hopefully I'll have some great news to blog about when I get home.

Have a great weekend and good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

BBT3 And The Beau

2008-03-18T15:56:00.002-04:00

I'll be taking a few more shots at winning a seat in to the TOC this week with The Mookie and The RiverChaser. I have a meeting after work today so I probably won't make it to the Skills game but there is a slim chance I can make it.
I'm really looking forward to the tournaments this weekend in Biloxi. The structure looks pretty good and I'm ready to go. First should pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k or so.

The Walk

2008-03-16T17:25:00.001-04:00

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Busy Week

2008-03-12T22:39:00.002-04:00

I'm having a super busy work week.
I'm out of the Mookie about 15 minutes in with AQ on a flopped Q high board against BrainMc. He has a set of tens and I'm out.... TPTK no goot.
I'm off to a decent start in the 28K. I'll report back in a bit if I can get anything going.

Big Game and Biloxi

2008-03-03T13:32:00.003-05:00

I ran very well for about 2 1/2 hours last night staying in the top 5 in chips for about the last hour i was in. I got in a blind on blind battle with Scott Fischman and lost with AQ to his 88. If anyone is unfamiliar, 88 was the hand Scott won one of his bracelets with so I seriously doubt he's laying that hand down regardless. No help for me and I double him up to a huge stack and got a decent night's sleep.
I booked my room for Biloxi today. I arrive Saturday March 22nd late and play tournaments on Sunday and Monday. This will be my first two shots at completing goals 1 and 4. I should also be able to put a dent in to goal 2.

2008 Goals in Review:
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 Scheduled for July
4. Win a tournament with over $200 buy-in
5. Win my 6th Mookie title 6th and 7th titles accomplished

BBT3 Begins

2008-03-02T19:26:00.002-05:00

I won a $75 token for my entry to The Big Game tonight as the BBT3 kicks off. I'm looking forward to the next 3 month's tournies and would like to say a big thank you to Al and all the hosts of each tournament. Thank you for all the work you will be doing over the next 3 months to pull this thing together.

If you aren't aware of it, PokerEnthusiast lost his father this week. Please take a moment to stop by his blog and wish he and his family well in their time of mourning.

I got an offer from a sponser this week to back 50% in any tourney I want him to back me in. It's a nice gesture. There may come a time when I take him up on it. I was thinking it would be in cases where I was going to play a 1k event but i decide to play two of them or a 2k instead. We'll see.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!

Beau Rivage Spring Break Poker Classic

2008-02-27T17:10:00.003-05:00

It looks like I'm going to head down to Biloxi the 22nd of March to play events 4 & 5 of the Beau Rivage Spring Break Poker Classic. Event 4 is a 500+50 and Event 5 is a 300+40. I'm thinking there will probably be about 400 players or so in each event so there should be some pretty decent prize pools. I will probably log in about 6 hours at the 1/3 or 2/5 cash tables Saturday night then play the tournies on Sunday and Monday.
The BBT3 is getting ready to kick off and Al has some of the preliminary details posted. I plan on giving it my all to get in to the TOC this time around. I was K.O.2. (King of 2nd places) last time around cashing quite a bit but never making it to the dance. I talked to Huntsvegas yesterday and told him about the prizes that were announced. While excited about the prizes this time around, I know he was thinking "If only there had been a trip for 2nd last time". I feel for ya man, but I'm sure there's at least one blogger out there that remembers missing a seat to the W.S.O.P. by one spot a couple of years ago and Huntsvegas was one of two players that made it with Lucko being the other......right G??
I went over to Skidoo's last week and played a cash game with several bloggers including WeakPlayer, BrainMc(for a few hands), PokerCat, and Skidoo. I managed to get out of there with my buy-in plus a few bucks after starting out the night in what looked like was going to be a rough time of it. It was a great time and thanks to all that attended.
I'll be playing The Mookie tonight and trying to go back to back for the second time. Come on out and join us for a fun tournament. The details can be found here.
Have a great week everyone!!!

Hoyazo Wins the 50/50!

2008-02-25T10:39:00.001-05:00

For anyone that may have missed it, Hoyazo won the 50/50 last night on Full Tilt.
Way to go Hoy!!!

Live Blogging the Daily Double on Full Tilt

2008-02-23T20:58:00.007-05:00

I'm playing the Daily Double tournaments on Full Tilt.
Come on by and say hello if you get a chance.
I'll update how I'm doing in a little while.
Update: Tourney A has 1,740 entrants and 261 make the money. Tourney B has 1,504 entrants and 216 make the money.
I'm off to a good start in B. I hit a straight and doubled up to 4,000 about 10 minutes in. Tourney A is not going well. I've lost about 700 chips and I'm sitting around 1,300.
Update: I'm up to 4,295 in tourney B and down to 1,000 in tourney A at the 40 minute mark.
Update: I finally doubled up in tourney A but then gave it all back running KK in to AA. I'm a short stack with 350. Tourney B is still going well; 3,685. 8 minutes until the first break. I'm also playing the 28k. I'll update it here as well.
Update: I'm out of A. I'm at 4,365 at the first break in B. 28k guarantee is starting.
Update: I'm out of B. I couldn't get a fold from a guy with a flush draw and he called down and hit on the river for a 6,000 pot. That left me with about 1,300. I shoved with AJ suited and lost to QJ. RaisingCayne is at my table in the 28k; we're just getting started.

The Mookie: Some Interesting Facts

2008-02-23T19:04:00.004-05:00

Here is a list of significant hands I played in The Mookie this week up until we were 4-handed.

Held / Won
AA / 1,150 ahead won at showdown (no all in)
AQ / 1,965 ahead $ in and won
xx / 720 no showdown
xx / 1,320 no showdown
A 7 / 2,680 ahead and won, no all-in
xx / 650 no showdown
xx / 850 no showdown
AA / 2,668 ahead $ in and won
56 s / 2,990 behind and won opponent had KJ offsuit
KJ s / 6,240 ahead $ in after flop opponent had QQ
xx / 4,160 no showdown
10 J s / 0 behind $ in
78 s / 0 behind $ in
AK s / 5,995 ahead $ in and won
KQ / 7,702 ahead $ in and won
xx / 2,750 no showdown
KQ / 5,240 behind $ in and sucked out
JJ / 9,264 ahead $ in and won
10 9 s / 0 behind $ in
xx / 8,350 no showdown
AK / 0 behind $ in
QQ / 16,185 ahead $ in
A8 s / 38,088 ahead $ in
xx / 18,700 no showdown
77 / 0 behind $ in
I lost 5 times when I was behind and sucked out twice
I didn't lose any races when I got in ahead. I had a pretty good sized stack most of the night so I was able to keep the pressure on most times with the exception of having to really tighten up and be careful for a while when I was seated at a table with Zowie and he had me covered.
* I held the following in the hands where there was no showdown (in random order):
56s, JJ, A 10, J 10, K J, J9s, AK, AK

This was up to the point where we were 4-handed. I got very, very lucky from that point on winning races when I was well behind.

The Mook!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-21T01:13:00.002-05:00

Wow! I got crazy lucky a couple of times at the final table but I won my 7th Mookie!!!
Don't jump Hoy!!!

Late Night Tourney on Full Tilt

2008-02-17T01:45:00.003-05:00

I'm playing a late night tourney on Full Tilt. We are one spot to the money. CheckinmyAA is at my table. I'll update in a bit when we finish.

Update:Top 24 made the money. I'm out in 14th on a brutal river. I had AQ and hit an ace and a queen but KJ hit his 10 on the river. CheckinmyAA is still rollin'.

Live Game Report

2008-02-16T10:35:00.002-05:00

I went over to Kaja's neighborhood game last night. This was the first time I had been over there that I didn't have to get up at 5 am the next morning for work. This enabled me to stay past the first tournament which worked out well for me.
I busted out of the first tourney around 6th or so just a few spots short of the money. I sat down at the cash table and won 3 1/2 times my cash game buy-in in just about 20 minutes. The first tournament finished and we broke up the cash game and played another tourney.
In the second tourney, I managed to hit a few hands early and amass a very nice stack. I carried that the rest of the way never getting in any real danger of losing a large portion of my chips. I won first and that put me ahead 3 1/2 times my two tourney buy-ins.
It was a great time and a really fun crowd.

FTOPS Event # 14

2008-02-15T01:13:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone that came by the table and gave me a shout out during the FTOPS Razz tourney. I lasted a little over 4 hours and went in 123rd of 592.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Things People Say

2008-02-11T12:08:00.000-05:00

Today at my table:

Player 1: "Come on!!!! Let's go!!!"

Player 2: "Chill, I'm making oatmeal."

Blogger $500+35 sng

2008-02-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

Fuel has invited me to play in a $500+35 sng in about 10 days. There is a banner on his blog with the exact date and time. This is higher than I normally play online so there is only one way I am going to play it. If I can win that amount or more between now and then, I will play.
I'm going to take some shots at several tournaments that could get me there. I'll post the results.

WIKIPEDIA

2008-02-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have experience editing something in Wikipedia?
I have found something that needs correcting and it's bothering me enough to go through the trouble of finding out how to correct it properly.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mookie Tournament

2008-02-07T01:12:00.000-05:00

I finished 3rd in The Mookie tonight.
Work in 4 hours.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Mookie #6

2008-01-31T02:12:00.000-05:00

I won my 6th Mookie!!!
It was a blast and Mookie played great!!! Mookie and I were heads up at the end and I got a very lucky KK to run with.
I have to get up for work in 3 hours!!!

Variance: The Good Kind

2008-01-28T20:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a great week for me in tournaments. I won the Math last Monday, 5th and in the money in The Mookie on Wednesday, chopped 1st in The Riverchaser on Thursday.
Yesterday i played the 100k guarantee on Stars and finished 125th of 20,000 players. Thanks to InstantTragedy, Slb159, gcox, katitude, pushmonkey72, and PokerEnthusiast for cheering me on.

I've got a big post rambling around in me concerning MTT play. I'll have it organized and posted soon.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone.

Mookie Tonight

2008-01-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

I'll be playing The Mookie tonight on Full Tilt. It starts at 10:00 pm est and is listed under private tournaments. The password is Vegas1 and it is $10+1 to play. Everyone is invited to join us.
There is a bounty for knocking me out. Eliminate me from the tournament and win $27.72. That amount doubles if you have 7 2 offsuit as your two starting cards!!!

Good luck everyone!!!

Razz: Playing The "Jordan"

2008-01-21T19:34:00.000-05:00

The queen door card (first exposed card dealt) hand has been dubbed "The Jordan".
Let's take a look at the odds of playing a similar hand to the one described by Jordan .

Example hand:
Antes= 80
A complete bet from early position of 50 with a 3 up.
A call from late position with a 4 up.
I have a door card of Q and my hand is Q42.
I assume that both players have 3 cards to a 7, at worst 3 to an 8.
Let's look at my best possible position. Player 1 has A38 and Player 2 has 357. They could possibly have worse than this but they could easily have better.
If I run those hands against my Q42 in the razz simulator I see that my chances of winning the hand are roughly 14.55% chance of drawing out. It's costing me 18% of the pot to call and I have 0% deception equity in my door card. In tournament play, if I have a large stack I can afford to see the next card if I choose. It's an easy fold for me, but I wouldn't call it a completely miserable call. It can certainly lead to getting you some loose calls later on which could be just enough +EV to give it some equity. I still think it's a losing propostition overall, but I wouldn't call it a terrible play.

Perspective

2008-01-16T02:04:00.001-05:00

Here's a little perspective for you:
A friend of mine was playing a golf tournament with some friends. They go paired up with one of the teams that had a pretty well known golf pro.
After missing a few shots and breaking a club or two, a guy in their group threw his $600 driver in to a lake and let out a scream of anger.
The pro, Gary Player eased over next to the young fella and quietly said, "Son, you ain't good enough to get that mad."

You can judge the size of the person by the size of the things that anger them.

That sentence right there keeps me even keeled in my poker playing. The best thing you can do when you lose a hand, a tournament, or a session is review your play, improve what you see needs improving, and move on. It's all one big session and even a hand that's ahead 80% is going to lose 1 out of every 5 times. If you get all in 5 times with those odds you are probably going to lose one of those hands. Fate isn't always fair but odds will play out over time. If you keep focused on making good decisions, you can prevail.
I am as guilty as anyone of making bad decisions sometimes but the difference is how you conduct yourself and where you go from there.

I am very competitive when I play. I want to win every time. I play to win. I practice, I prepare, and I play hard. I don't enjoy losing at all but it happens sometimes even when you play your best.

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

Mondays at the Hoy

2008-01-15T00:57:00.001-05:00

It's late. I just finished The Math tournament and finished 2nd to twoblackaces. It was a really fun tournament and I feel like I'm finally dialing back in and playing some decent poker....bout time.
Thanks a lot to everyone that railed and cheered me on.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Brickinthenutz

2008-01-14T19:44:00.000-05:00

I've added a link to Brickinthenutz on the right over there. It's a blog put together by PokerEnthusiast that is focused on the game of Razz. I guest post there from time to time along with SirFWALGMan, Instant Tragedy, and Jusdealem. Poker Enthusiast is an excellent razz player and does a nice job of explaining Razz strategy. I post some Razz hands and discuss my thoughts during the hands.
He is hosting a private tournament this Friday on Full Tilt. Here are the details:

SLB159's Umbilical KORD
$7+.70 Razz Knockout Tournament
January 18th at 9:00 eastern.

Come on out and join us for a great time.

Rediscovering Surflexus

2008-01-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

I have found myself diversifying my game so much in the past two or three months I kind of lost my way in my bread and butter games where I consistently build my roll. I've identified a few leaks that I had strangely developed. I thought I would share a few with you in hopes that maybe this will help someone.

Leak1. Seeing too many flops

I have gained more and more confidence in my ability to read players and hand ranges and I've been seeing way too many flops feeling that I would just outplay my opponents to compensate for being loose. This all began when I tried an experiment and increased my hand range in early stages of MTT's. I found myself getting huge chip leads early in tournaments. The problem was not adjusting in the mid-stages and tightening up properly. I believe I have come a long way in correcting this.

Leak 2. Playing too many different types of tournaments back to back.

I should definitely stick to one type of tournament at a time. It is extremely tough to have a Razz tourney, a limit holdem tourney, and a no limit tourney going at the same time. Make one of them a double stack and another a turbo and it gets even crazier. I am working on playing only one type of tournament at a time and focusing on the strategy for that tournament.

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

Interesting Hand

2008-01-05T06:33:00.001-05:00

I had an interesting hand last night in the late stages of Kat's tournament. Here's the hand history.
Full Tilt Poker Game #4741765903: Friday Nite Blogger Donkament (35333335), Table 2 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:02:30 ET - 2008/01/05
Seat 1: DontKnow (4,639)
Seat 2: xkm1245 (15,878)
Seat 3: surflexus (36,544)
Seat 4: Astin (32,669)
Seat 5: bayne_s (58,065)
Seat 8: MiamiDon (27,714)
Seat 9: dino_burger (56,491)
DontKnow antes 150
xkm1245 antes 150
surflexus antes 150
Astin antes 150
bayne_s antes 150
MiamiDon antes 150
dino_burger antes 150
xkm1245 posts the small blind of 600
surflexus posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #1*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to surflexus [Ah 8c]
Astin folds
bayne_s folds
MiamiDon raises to 2,655
dino_burger folds
DontKnow folds
xkm1245 folds
5,505 in the pot and it costs me 1,455 to call with Ah8c. 4 to 1 on my money and Don's aggression and range of hands is high so I call.
surflexus calls 1,455
*** FLOP *** [Qc Jc Ts]
surflexus has 15 seconds left to act
I flop a double gut shot straight draw so I think I have 8 outs to a certain win and a small chance that an ace still gives me a better hand as well so 8 outs, maybe 11. I'm still sitting at almost 10,000 even if it goes to the river with Don all in and I lose.
Astin: but then I wouldn't have won
surflexus bets 6,960
I fire out a good pot size bet here to let Don know I have a hand. It doesn't work and he comes over the top for the rest of his chips.
Astin: some friend you'd have been then
xkm1245: now you're catching on
MiamiDon raises to 24,909, and is all in
I'm getting 2 to 1 on my money with 38,829 in the pot and I have somewhere between what I'm figuring to be around a 30-35% chance of winning so it's a borderline call but it's a chance to eliminate an opponent and it doesn't break me so I go ahead and call.
surflexus calls 17,949
MiamiDon shows [Ac 7c]
surflexus shows [Ah 8c]
*** TURN *** [Qc Jc Ts] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Jc Ts 2h] [9h]
BamBamCan (Observer): llol astin
MiamiDon shows Ace Queen high
surflexus shows a straight, Queen high
surflexus wins the pot (56,778) with a straight, Queen high
MiamiDon stands up
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 56,778
Rake 0Board: [Qc Jc Ts 2h 9h]
Seat 1: DontKnow (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: xkm1245 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: surflexus (big blind) showed [Ah 8c] and won (56,778) with a straight, Queen high
Seat 4: Astin folded before the Flop
Seat 5: bayne_s folded before the Flop
Seat 8: MiamiDon showed [Ac 7c] and lost with Ace Queen high
Seat 9: dino_burger folded before the Flop
Don made a comment that this was a horrible play. Looking over the price I was getting pre-flop, I think I'm justified to call there. Once the flop hits and I have a lot of outs to the majority of the hands in the range I have him on, I bet out strong. This is maybe where I made a semi-bad play but once this bet was made I have odds to call his all in. It was a tough hand for Don but I think my play is OK here. What do you think?

Kudos to Luv2Ride00

2008-01-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

I played a very good Razz player heads up at the end of a sit-n-go tonight. Kudos to Luv2Ride00. It was a pleasure meeting you. Best of luck in your bigger tournament tonight!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-01T02:52:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone!
I'm excited about my goals for 2008 and will be making my first trip to Tunica in a couple of weeks to work on a few of them.
Poker Enthusiast has started a Razz Blog and he has asked me to contribute some Razz hand histories along with my thoughts during the hands. I think it's a really cool idea. There isn't many blogs out there dedicated to Razz play. I'll be adding a link over on the side bar for it.

If I don't have you linked up and you wish to be please let me know in the next few days. I'll be going through and updating my blogroll later in the week.

I had the pleasure of playing in the Huntsvegas Christmas tournament Friday evening. It was great to meet everyone there and I had a really great time. It's not a bad drive at all and I hope I can make it over there again soon. I went for about an hour and a half throwing away a ton of junk hands and picking up just enough pots to keep around the average stack when a very interesting hand happened that I completely misplayed on the flop. I had A J of diamonds in middle position and raised it up. I got one call out of the blinds and the flop came out with the K and Q of diamonds and a small card. It was checked to me and I decided I didn't want to get any more in to the pot without even a pair but that was a huge mistake because I could have probably taken it down right there and even if he called I had about half the deck to make a hand with. I checked and another rag hit the board and my opponent bets all in which is for about 2/3 of my remaining chips. I'm getting 2 to 1 to call and I'm really upset that I didn't bet the flop. I go ahead and call as I still think I have about a 35 to 40% chance of drawing out and my hand does not improve. He had a pair of nines. I went out not too long afterwards on a desperation shove as the blinds were about the size of my stack. Hopefully next time I get to play there, I will make a better showing.

Have a great week everyone!!!

2008 Goals

2007-12-26T21:31:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

T.O.C. is in the Books

2007-12-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-13T10:43:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T21:20:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T20:54:00.001-05:00

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

Friends

2007-12-01T12:56:00.000-05:00

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!!!

Weekend Roundup

2007-11-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-16T18:33:00.001-05:00

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!!!

2007-11-12T19:57:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-07T20:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-06T07:29:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-04T21:14:00.000-05:00

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%

2007-11-03T12:21:00.000-04:00

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!!!!

2007-11-01T13:58:00.000-04:00

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!!!

Disclaimer

2007-10-26T00:59:00.000-04:00

While I truly wish the below post were reality, it is a work of fiction for a contest someone announced today.

2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Report

2007-10-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

I've taken a lot of criticism about even being here but I don't consider it lucky. Sure I blew my entire bankroll on Full Tilt chasing a dream to play in the Aussie Millions but I have had the vision of being here for months now.
It all boiled down to the final Big Game. I got in with my last 24+2 token after going through my entire bankroll buying in to the other events. I shook off all the nervousness and pressure and prepared for the game.
The cards hit me early and I chipped up knocking out blogger after blogger and I found myself at the final table with 5 players left when this hand happened. I was dealt 7h 2s in the small blind. I had a slight chip lead and raised "the hammer" with an authoritive 4 times the blind bet. The next player min-raises me and EVERYONE at the table calls back around to me. I reluctantly call. The flop is Jc 10c 2c and we all check. The turn is the 2 of hearts and the small blind pushes all in with a small stack. We all call. The river is the last 2 in the deck and I push all in with my Hammer Quads. AA, KK, set of jacks all call and the small blind shows his flopped ace high flush first. My Hammer Quad is reavealed and the chat box goes out of control.
It was a miracle hand of poker and I was in the Tournament of Champions.
The Tournament of Champions was the toughest blogger tourney field I have ever faced. The pace of the game changed at lightning speed with each orbit. I stayed relatively tight during the craziest moments and made it to the final table with a little less than average stack.
We fought for what seemed like the entire night and before the sun came up I was qualified for the Aussie Millions and had just enough time to shower and go in to work.

Arriving in Australia, Mrs. Surf hugged my neck and told me that this was the trip of a lifetime no matter how I did in the tournament. I looked her deeply in the eyes and knew she meant it. I never thought I would be in Australia and this past week has been like a dream come true.
The tournament has went very well and I'm heading in to the final day and the final table with the chip lead and a guarantee of being able to help my parents retire in comfort.

To all of my friends and family reading this, I thank each and every one of you for supporting me and I can't wait to see you all. Becoming and being a member of the poker blogging community has been fantastic and I wish you all could be here with me today and I hope someday you all get to experience what it feels like to final table the Aussie Millions!!!

I Don't Want To See This

2007-10-23T00:24:00.000-04:00

Mrs. Surf and I were relaxing and having a nice conversation on our patio last night when suddenly a familiar sound occurred. We live on a bad curve and about once or twice a month you hear someone not quite make the turn and hit the curb or the subdivision sign across the street or if they double correct they flip and lay up against the house across the road.
This was a little worse. There was a Spack.... a grunt.... sparks...... a loud "PoW"...then a Boom!!!
I knew it was bad before I made it around the house. I shouted over my shoulder for her to call 911 and I hurried to try to help thinking the whole way that the car must be on fire.
When I got around the house there was no car. There was a motorcycle and it was slammed in to an unforgiving stop sign that held it's ground. The rider was not near the bike.
"I don't want to see this" was all I could think when suddenly I saw him. He was walking back up the hill towards his bike. Wow....walking. I asked him if he was Ok and he said "Yes". I told him he might want to sit down but he declined and came on up to the bike. He had some bad cuts and he looked like he had been on the losing end of a 12 round boxing match but he was very lucky.
His family came and got him after the police were convinced that he really was OK.

I pieced together the noises and I think they were:
Spack: Bike hits curb
Grunt: Rider hits ground
Sparks: Obviously the bike scraping the pavement
Pow: Bike hitting the pole
Boom: This I am unclear on but I think the rider hit the neighborhood brick wall sign across the road from the sign.

A friend of mine's brother got killed on this curve. There was another bike that lost it a few months ago as well and he was super lucky. He flew in to the woods and emerged very dizzy but OK as well.

I feel unprepared to handle the situation every time it happens and have no idea what to do to change that.

Thank God he was OK.

Mr. Glass and BBT2 Kickoff

2007-10-22T11:59:00.000-04:00

A few months back I went with a friend to help him shop for a new laptop. We went a few places and the service was really horrible. You have to wonder how they stay in business with the customer no-service they provide.
We finally stopped at a place and had a very pleasant experience thanks to Mr. Glass. He was very service oriented and we were soon on our way with a new laptop. I was so impressed by Mr. Glass that I played a big role in getting him hired at the company where I work.
It turns out that Mr. Glass was a blue chip prospect pitcher in high school and college but unfortunately suffered a few setbacks with arm injuries and had to give up pitching.
He likes to play poker and I invited him to come with me to Kaja's with me for a little tournament. BrainMc was there along with many of Kaja's regular crowd. I hit a few monster hands early on but got little action with them. Mr. Glass I noticed was accumulating a huge stack at the other table.
When we moved to the final table, I was a below average stack. I managed to get back in good shape but bubbled out in 4th. Mr. Glass finished in a very respectable 2nd place. Many thanks to Kaja for hosting.

The BBT2 kicked off last night on Full Tilt. I started out well then went card dead for about an hour but managed to stay around 3,500 or so when a very interesting hand developed.
I was holding pocket sixes in early position and limped in. Tripjax called from the button, Cracknaces called from the small blind and Lucko checked. The flop comes 3 6 8 rainbow. Both blinds check and I decide to bet the pot to disguise my set figuring with three players in the hand with me I will get a caller so I fire out 480. Tripjax surprises me and re-raises to 1,300. Cracknaces, not to be outdone, raises it yet again to 2,330 and all in. I don't see any way I'm getting away from my set here so I wait a few seconds and call leaving about a grand behind. Tripjax calls as well and he is all but in with 75 chips remaining. The turn is a 9 and I go ahead and put Trip all in. He calls and we all flip up. I have a set, Cracknaces has A 8 for TPTK and Tripjax has 7 8 suited which has now developed in to an open ended straight draw. The ten hits on the river and Tripjax wins a huge pot.
That knocked me way down but I managed to hang in for another hour building back up to about 4k before i made a terrible play against Buddy Dank giving him no credit for the good hand he held.
A little bad luck and a little bad play ended my chances and I will have to wait for the next one. This is a great series of tournaments with a tremendous prize package going to the winner.
Congrats to Jeciimd for winning the Big Game last night!!

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

Tagged Once Again

2007-10-16T08:48:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged once again in the latest edition of "Tell Us Some Shtuff About You". I'm sure my list will be nowhere near as interesting as some people's but here goes:

1) I'm a little too neutral. Ask anyone that thinks they know me about my political views or which sports team or even which sport I like the most and they will suddenly realize they have little or no idea.

2) I have a baseball card collection. I have no idea what I am going to do with it but it fills a lot of space.

3) I've lost almost 50 pounds since January and plan on losing 50 more before next summer.

4) I have several friends in the music business. One of them tried to "discover" me as a stand up comic and called me onstage thinking I would tell a few jokes. Instead I got the band to crank up a good Aerosmith song and I belted it out while he stood there wondering what in the world was happening. He has left me alone since then.

5) My graduating class from high school has 1 person in it; me. I finished school in an odd way. After changing high schools a few times I graduated after summer school. I was in an 11th grade homeroom that year so I had no senior year. I really miss not getting to be a part of a graduating class as I have no reunion to go to.

6) I do not trust school teachers. When I was in school I took a creative writing class and a teacher encouraged us to write something that we had very strong feelings about. She assured us it would be kept confidential and we should feel free to write whatever we want. I did and she entered mine in a contest contest and it won and was published in the newspaper.

7) I'm an organ donor. My best friend went blind, had limbs amputated and then died waiting on organs and if I can help someone to not go through what he went through I will gladly do it.

8) I love to play guitar. I sold most of my guitars a while back and I really want a new 12 string acoustic. If I win a big poker tournament it will be the first thing I buy for myself.

9) I can say/sing (take your pick) the alphabet backwards in under 5 seconds. This one is great for prop bets.

10) I enjoy playing poker. ( I know you already know this but I have to go and I can't think of anything else right now, lol )

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-15T21:52:00.000-04:00

That's all I can say about what AlCantHang just posted regarding Battle of the Boggers Part 2.
I will definitely be giving this my best shot!

6 Hours and 6 Minutes

2007-10-14T21:08:00.000-04:00

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!
I made it to 29th of 1,337 in the Blogger Championships and won an I-Pod!!!
Thanks to everyone who came by the table and wished me well. I really appreciate it!!!

PE is Hosting a Razz Tourney

2007-10-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

FTOPS Event #1 Here I Come!!!

2007-10-08T23:26:00.000-04:00

I took Hoy's advice and played the 10 buck re-buy to qualify for the FTOPS Event #1 and made it on my first try. Thanks Hoy!!!!

$75 Token

2007-10-07T01:03:00.001-04:00

I played a qualifier for the Monday 1K with my $75 token. There were 20 entrants. 1st got an entry and 2nd-4th won a little cash. Hoyazo was at my starting table. He got off to a good start while I became shorter and shorter as the players at our table kept re-raising my hands and forcing me out of pots. I was forced to tighten up as I found myself below 500 in chips early on. I would double up only to see the blinds knock me back down time and again. I finally got a little traction on a very lucky hand where I shoved with pocket tens and ran in to AA only to hit two more tens and get back in the game. Wheeeeee!!!

I missed the hand that crippled him, but somehow Hoy had gotten fairly low in chips. He and I wound up in a hand together and he shoved when I held the low end of a straight. He didn't have enough to push me out so I made the call and eliminated him.

I managed to make the final table as a very short stack where I stayed tight, picked my fights and battled my way to 4th place and $64; a lot better finish than it looked like I was going to have. Oh well, my dream of playing in the 1K this Monday night didn't come to fruition but I believe I will be in one soon.

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

Running Good

2007-10-05T01:01:00.000-04:00

I'm running pretty good this week. I placed 2nd in The Mookie last night. Big congrats to AlCantHang for taking it down.

I also won a $75 token which I plan to use to take a shot at qualifying for the Monday 1k.

I played the 28K guaranteed tonight and stayed tight for 2 and a half hours after getting crippled about 40 minutes in to finish in 83rd of 1,065. I never got back to an average stack in the last couple of hours and just hung in there as others dropped out. I hit AA and KK each once but got little action with them. One table I was at was hyper-aggressive and I couldn't make any moves because they were not folding and I wasn't getting anything playable. A couple of good hands at that particular table and I would have had a great chance of going a lot further.
I plan to play this tourney more often. I seem to do pretty well when I play it.

We interrupt this post for an important service announcement.
Please use link below for important information.
Colonoscopy and You

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

W.B.C.O.O.P.

2007-10-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 5841710

The Math and The 28k

2007-10-01T21:58:00.000-04:00

I'm playing The Math and The 28k guarantee on Full Tilt tonight.
I had a good run at a 3/6 limit table earlier today.

Daily Double

2007-09-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

I'm playing the Daily Double tonight on Tilt and almost to the first break.

Tourney A: I'm running very well and at about 5k. I'm the largest stack at my current table and feeling really good.

Tourney B: I'm staying tight but not catching many good starting hands. I'm an average stack with about 3k. There's a monster stack at the table with about 16k already. He doesn't seem to be playing crazy or anything since I arrived at this table. I have no reason to think he is a bad player so I just have to be patient and hope to catch some cards.

I'll update in a while.

Update:
I'm at the first break.
Tourney A: 195th of 760 with 4,705
Tourney B: 131st of 702 with 5,360

Update:

Tourney A: Up to 9k
Tourney B: Down to 3k

Update: 1 hour 22 minutes in

Tourney A: 8,400k 84 of 562 216 make the money
Tourney B: 12,380 17 of 533 180 make the money

Update: 1 hour 40 minutes in

Tourney A: I'm out after taking a bad beat and running in to a boat when I had trip aces with a short stack.
Tourney B: Much better news. I'm sitting in great shape still with 13,015.

Update: 2 hours 20 minutes in
Tourney B: 80th of 194 with 13,310. We're closing in on the bubble.

Update: 2 hours 25 minutes in
Tourney B: We're in the money. I'm about middle of the pack. We should see a lot of people fall out quickly now.

Update :2 hours 40 minutes in.
Tourney B: I just busted out in a 3-way all in with AK. I flopped an ace and went ahead against KK and 88 but an 8 hit on the river and he had me covered. I came in 154th.

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

Decent Run Last Night

2007-09-24T22:31:00.000-04:00

I went fairly deep in a 10+1 last night. There were about 265 entrants or so and I was in the top 5 for almost 3 hours. I ran in to AJ with AQ and he hit a jack crippling my stack as we approached the money with 34 left and 27 paying. I hung in and made it to around 22nd or so but really never recovered from that hand. I was on the button and he was the big blind. He had just suffered a terrible beat and I knew he was on tilt so I felt like I was probably ahead with the AQ and I was correct; it just didn't hold this time.
I played The Math for about 3 hands tonight when I hit a hand with about 20 outs and BDidde I think it was had a made straight on the flop. I don't remember the hand exactly but I know I hit 4 hearts (ace high) on the flop and had both ends of a straight working as well. I chased and didn't hit so at least I didn't bubble. :)
Best of luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

W.C.O.O.P. Razz

2007-09-21T08:57:00.000-04:00

Best of luck to my good friend PokerEnthusiast as he tries to solidify his title as the King of Razz Donks today on Stars. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

No Poker Content Here...Move Along

2007-09-17T14:03:00.000-04:00

I've off to a pretty good start in my football pickem league on USA Today. I'm in 166th of about 15,000 overall and 1st in most correct picks in my private league with 23 correct picks so far. If I get tonight's game correct, I'll be at 24 in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can maintain that pace or better. If Philly wins tonight I'm in a 3-way tie breaker for this weeks bragging rights. Just repeat along with me.....Philly wins, 34 points in the game total...Philly wins, 34 points in the game total.... :)
My Fantasy Football team on Yahoo that Tragedy is to blame for dragging me in to is in the cellar. Hehe..just kidding Tragedy, I'm really enjoying it.....really.....no really.

I've recently began playing a little chess on ChessHere and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's a nice change of pace. I've got games running with HighonPoker and Schaubs. It's really cool. You make a move, wait a bit and check back on your computer and see if it's your turn again yet. With a couple of games running, I usually have a move or two to make any time I get a chance to check it. It seems these guys are pretty good so I'll probably get whipped, but it's a blast!

ATC

2007-09-16T20:26:00.000-04:00

I get asked a lot about what situations I will risk my tournament life with ATC (Any Two Cards). The answer for me is "not many". I'm very comfortable playing an extremely short stack at some points in a tournament and I'll let it go when most people push. I believe that gets me to the money more than most players. I make the money about 21 to 22 percent of the tournaments I enter.
That would seem to indicate that I play too tight and probably bust out before the final table. While that sometimes is the case, I make final tables fairly often so I don't think it's a big concern.
In a multi-table tournament you can look at the blinds, the average stack, and your stack and make a decision if you are in build mode or survival mode. If I'm average stack or above, I'm definitely in build mode. I'm seeing flops and broadening my hand range. If I'm low I'm in survival mode and narrowing my range of hands and playing them hard looking for a double or triple up to come my way. There are exceptions to this as table conditions can greatly affect your ability to see cheap flops and your ability to buy hands.
So back to the question. When will I play any two cards?
Here's my answer:
1) I'm in the blinds and over 1/3 of my stack is committed by the blind. I'm probably going all in here unless I have a completely horrible hand and there's more than one raise before it gets to me.
2) I'm a big stack and there's an all in from a short stack and I'm the only one left to act and I'm getting 4 to 1 on my money or anywhere near it.
That's about it. I know I'm in the minority on this one and there's some situations most people go all in that I don't, but that's the way I play it.

Good luck at the tables this week everyone!!!

Poker Cat Arena

2007-09-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

I arrived a little late to the Poker Cat Arena tonight after a long day of work to find the game in full swing. I played it up and dropped a buy-in or two before gaining traction and ending the game up a buy-in or two. It was a great time and Kuro and I grabbed some pizza after the game and enjoyed a nice discussion of some recent poker experiences each of us has had. It was good to catch up and the pizza was great! I'm on a diet so I don't splurge often and it was cool to have a little slice of heaven.

PokerEnthusiast poses a very interesting question in his latest post regarding using computer technology to track your opponents play and data mining possible future opponents. I know some of you will have an opinion to share in these matters, so go on over there and check out a very good blog and give him a shout out.

I won 1st in a 90 player deep stack last night. Warning to anyone entering one of these late in the evening; they last a long time if you win. :)

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

G-Vegas

2007-09-08T09:59:00.000-04:00

Before I began blogging, there was a group of bloggers not too far from here that lived in a magical place called G-Vegas. I dreamed of one day having a blog of my own and a group of friends like these folks did that I could play poker and hang out with.
Most of that has since come to fruition and I now have several friends that blog and play poker and we get to hang out and have fun. One of them is Tripjax. I was talking to him last night and he mentioned that maybe there would be a trip to G-Vegas in our future. I told him I was more than ready to make that trip and if they were to have a tourney or game of some sort one weekend in say.... October or November it wouldn't take much coaxing from Trip to get a few of us Atlanta bloggers to make the short trek to G-Vegas...........( *wishing quietly for news from G-Vegas* )

Full Tilt was kind enough to throw me a bonus this week so I'll be working that off this weekend. If you see me at a table, I may or may not be able to chat much as I will probably be 3 and 4 tabling a little. I'm also going to try to satellite in to a bigger tourney this week.

I'll be making a visit to the Poker Cat Arena later this week to join up with fellow blogger 23Skidoo. I don't believe we have played any together since Okie-Vegas, so I told him that even though I would be a little late I would come on over and hang out for a little while. PokerCat is a gracious host and I really enjoy playing there.

WPBT December is up in the air for me right now and a real coin toss. I really hope to pull it off.

Best of luck at the tables this week everyone.

Tunica and The Math

2007-09-04T00:58:00.000-04:00

I just won The Math. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

The trip to Tunica was a successful one in that I gained a whole lot of live playing experience with some really good players. Unfortunately I made a few bad plays and didn't catch many cards in either of the $500+50's that I played. I won my seat in to the first one on the first try. It got down to two of us and I had him outchipped 5 to 3. It was a $65 buy-in and I gave him $150 for the tourney entry. I played a $125 satellite and got outdrawn after getting my money in ahead to go out in 4th. The top two won a $550 entry. I won the third satellite I played outright with no chop for my second $550. I got to play at a table with Montel Williams for a little while in the second $550 which was cool. He's still learning the game but he has as much fun as anyone there. I lost two close hands to the same guy and then pushed my chips all in against his unrelenting pressure when I hit 4 hearts on the flop. He called and I missed and that was it. I feel like I gained a ton of experience and I learned a couple of neat little moves I had never seen before. Here's one of them. Three people limp in to a pot and the blind checks. After the flop, the blind throws his cards away and a couple of people told him it was free to check. He said, "Oh, thanks....I always forget that." A couple of orbits later the same thing almost happens. He picks up his cards after the flop and then sets them back down and says, "I check" like he caught himself. The opponent bets strong and he comes over the top all in. The other guy is priced in and has no choice but to call really. The "rookie"..haha...in the blind flips over the nut straight...nice move sir.
It was great to see HuntsVegas again. Unfortunately he had a tough go of it; better luck next time. I also got a chance to meet Jusdealem. She came over for a while the day of Event 2. She was very nice and it was cool to get to hang out with her for a little while. Oddly enough she looks a whole lot like my sister. It felt like I had known her for a long time and we had a very good conversation.

Special thanks to my good friend PokerEnthusiast for helping me keep my friends and family informed while I was playing in Tunica. Thanks!!!

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

Home

2007-09-03T08:20:00.000-04:00

I'm home from Tunica; trip report to follow.