Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Poker Skillz At Their Finest

Last night I actually got a little home game together. It was kinda last minute thing. Only problem was there really wasn't any "poker" being played. See most of the group that was there, were a bunch of guys from work, mostly older then myself, that like dealer calls games. But we ain't talkin' razz or omatard here. On no, no, no sir. A sample of the games played last night.

1) Follow the Queen - Queens and whatever follows it are wild
2) 3/33, 7/27 - Closest to the low without going under or the high without going over (split pot), faces are .5 point
3) 4's, Whores, and Men with Mustaches - 5 card draw where all of these are wild
4) 7 card stud - Low spade in the hole splits the pot, Queen of spades kills the game

I guess there is some mediocum of skill to some of these games but for the most part there's no reason to fold in any of them. There were more that we played but I don't care to list them all nor do I know if they even have official names. We play basically with .10/.25 limits and no real betting structure to any of it. I guess they are kinda spread limit with a 2 dollar max or something like that. My big hand of the night was in 4's, Whores, and Men with Mustaches when my 5 dueces trumped a straight flush and another guy with 5 of a kind folded (uh yeah I said that) cause he thought someone had a better 5 of a kind. Srlsy this is poker skill at it's finest. And because there was much skillz involved I managed to win 40 bucks, not sure how, but I'll take it.

Note to Zooks: No one gives a flying fuck about the central time zone. Therefore the times on the calendar should not be in CST, no one lives there. The people who do know they need to subtract and hour from everything important because they know no one gives a fuck about them since they are in the middle of corn growing, cow shitting, flat, open roaded nowheres fuckingville. East coast bias, it's real, subscribe to it, love it, accept it. Stop confusing me. Thank You.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

More Odds and Ends

Great news courtesy of Al Cant Hang's Blog, the BBT4 is coming soon. Can't wait for that. I was fortunate make it to the TOC last year and final table that event.

The Corporation Heads-Up Tour will be back in full swing beginning next week. For the near future I am going to keep it NLHE.

Just a couple of days to get your bets in against me. As of right now I only have $35 of my own money put up. Maybe I should take it as a compliment that you have confidence in me.

As far as some actual play my hope was to go to Running Aces tonight in Minneapolis to play some live poker. Since my ride is too much of a pussy (read: deadmoney5) to drive when there is 2" of snow on the ground, no live poker for me.

I wanted to play a $109 satellite to get into a $530 mega but I could not register with my ticket. I e-mailed Stars to see what was up and they responded back about two hours later and said they exchanged the ticket for $109 T$. Woot! I used some of the money to play a step 1, fail. Then I used a step 2 ticket I had, fail. I then played 3 $2.75 hyper turbos into a $11 tourney. You get 500 chips to start, 25/50/10 blinds and 3 minute levels, fail fail fail. Fuck Poker Stars.

I logged on to Full Tilt and they had a $15 token frenzy about to start. They were giving away 27 $75 tokens with 28th getting the extra cash. I was able to get an early double then went for a big stack by playing QJcc and failing. I was able to double right away and then hang on for a while. When we were down to around 42 people I was able to get a big double with AA and was sitting in 8th, plenty to fold into the token, so I thought. Here is what happened at the end:


That's what you call cutting it close.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Misc Stuff

The track Friday was the busiest I have ever seen. Giving away $599 every 1/2 hour sure brings the people out. They normally have 5 cash tables going. Friday they had every table in the joint full which I think is around 35 tables or so. I sat in the 2/4 limit game. Should have sat in the 2/4 Omaha game. Our table actually unanimously voted to change the game to Crazy Pineapple. I ended up staying for around 2 hours and left down $30.

Online has been a mishmash of various things. I have used some of my frequent player points to play satellites. I played two last night, a 400 FPP on FT to get into the 100k tourney Sunday and a 500 FPP on FT to get into a $750k satellite. I advanced in the $750k satellite where 20% of the field won seats. I unregistered and took the points to sign up for the $100k tourney on Sunday. 10,000 runners and top 1800 get paid. I believe 1st place is $10k. That one should be fun.

I also played a $10 satellite on Bodog the other night. 13 people and 3 seats were guaranteed into a $48 tourney. Just a slight overlay. Great structure even though you started with 1000 chips. Blinds started at 5/10. For never playing on that site I recognized one person from the Bodonkey series, Carne Picante. We ended up both winning seats. I unregistered and took the T$.

Other than that just getting ready for the prop bet starting 1/1. Plenty of time to put your money up against me.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Place Your Bets, Place Your Bets

It is officially a go. I currently have one bet in so far. You have one week to put you bets in. Good luck me.

1. Money would be held in escrow by an agreed upon by gadzooks64. You can transfer the money on Full Tilt OR Poker Stars. Once I hear from Zooks I will transfer the appropriate money. Also, please post in the comments section the amount that you have transfered.
2. The odds of the bet are as follows:
3-1 for 900 sng's (your $3 to my $1)
2-1 for 800
1-1 for 700
3. scottc25 on Pokerstars will start on January 1, 2009, 12:00:00 server time and end January 31, 2009 at 11:59:59 server time. All sng's started in this time frame count.
4. I will play only $5 double or nothings and those are the only ones that will count.
5. I have to show a profit. If I do not show at least a $0.01 profit I automatically lose.
6. The minimum number of sng's completed will be the number chosen in #2 (meaning I can do more). If I fail to play in the number chosen I automatically lose the bet.
7. All stats will be tracked via Poker Tracker 3. I will provide copies of the database to the bettors. I will also heep the raw data for people to review.
8. Profit must be from Double or Nothings. FPP/VPP's don't count and can't be traded for money.
Same
9. Only Snuffy will play the scottC25 account.
10. I will be required to post updates 2 or 3 times/week. I will post updates on the Corporation Poker site.

Live Poker Today

Gonna get a couple of hours in at the track today. They have a high hand promotion where every half hour the highest hand in the room gets $599. They usually get 2 2/4 limit games and 2 1/2 no limit and a single 2/5 no limit game going. Curious to see how many they have going today.

Prop bet money is being handled by Zooks. I will write up a complete post with all rules later today or tomorrow.

Monday, December 22, 2008

WBCOOP and Pokersluts Recaps

(Please chick through to show hand replays)

A total of 369 blogger donkeys came out for the WBCOOP main event yesterday. With starting stacks of 5k and the blinds at 10/20 and 10 minute levels it was hopefully going to be a good day. As luck would have it I knew two people on my starting table, OhCaptain to my right and EasyCure to my left. I was deciding throughout the day whether to play the tourney a little more aggro than usual or not.

It quickly became apparent that UBASUKA2 was the fish at the table. Early on I actually folded AQ to his 3bet and he showed 77. Just a few hands after that I was able to win a pot vs him.



Good start to the day. it was going to be a race to see who would take his chips first. I was able to take a few more off of him with this hand.



The next big pot came about 40 minutes into play. I decided to limp with 9's on the button and see what happens.



I was able to see a free turn card and with a raise and two callers ahead of me I wanted to bump up the pot a bit to make the flush draws pay a little bit. I was perfectly willing to dump the hand if the flush got there (depending on the bet size I guess).

At the end of the first hour I was sitting on 6700 in chips. Not a great stack but more than enough to work with when the blinds were at 50/100/10. In the second hour my table broke and I landed on a table with Loretta8 and a lot of big stacks. My 6k stack was 6th on the table. The five bigger stacks all had at least 11k. I picked-up KK and played it a little cautiously after the flop.



Not long after that I picked-up aces and raised pre-flop and was called only by the BB. I cbet the flop and then checked the turn which induced a river bluff where I just flatted with the aces and got my stack a little over 10k. About 15 minutes before the second break I played the 65cc for a limp UTG+1.



My thought process after the flop was to take one off and see if I could hit. It was a large flop bet but if I miss on the turn I can fold and still have 5k and around 16 bb's. Not the greatest play in the world but I can live with it. By the second break I had 13k in chips with 141 players remaining. Not a large stack for me so I had to see if I wanted to keep pressing or fold into the money.

I was folding quite a bit in the third hour when this hand comes up which took a bit off of me.



Now I am really in lockdown mode till we reach the money, till this happens.



I mean can I play this hand any more like a pussy? If I am going to fold then just fold. Not my greatest play in history. The bubble burst shortly after that and when it burst I had 4.5 bb's left. Not long after that I shoved 66 and won the race vs AJ and I had a stack of 11k. About a half dozen hands after that my AK held vs KQ and I was all the way up to 25k and a very healthy stack. I pretty much didn't play a hand after that until the next pay bump when we reached 45 people. My bustout hand.



The double paired board kicked me out in 42nd place good for a $109 tournament ticket. I tried to see if I could use it for a sit n go but I can't. I will probably use it to play in a $109 sat to get into a $530 mega somewhere down the line.

Congrats to BuddyDank for his deep run and 12th place finish.

The good week continued last night with my 3rd place finish in Pokersluts Razz for a small profit. I still hate razz.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Out in 42nd

Won a $109 tourney entry. Will have a wrap-up tomorrow.

WBCOOP Main Event Today

After qualifying on my 4th chance I did play the last two tournaments to try and win some goodies. On Friday was the 8-game. I was knocked out in the 1st round of NLHE when 1010 lost to AA. I was going for a big stack and failed. On Saturday I ended up busting out in 133rd or so. I was at Busch Gardens earlier in the day with the family and ended up napping though the first 20 minutes. When I finally got up I was down to around 2250 in chips. My high point was around 5k and never was able to get anything going. I see that the two people out on the bubble were change100 and DrPauly.

Lets take a look at all of the people I know (in at internet sense) who made it to the 369 player final:

Aces88ss
badblood44
BuddyDank
Columbo777
DaFoundation
djhomeschool
donkulate
Easycure
gadzooks64
heffmike
lightning36
loretta8
MaAnthony
MemphisMOJO
NumbBono
OhMyCaptain
on_thg
Rakewell1
Shaminalix
ZeemJr

Now I am way to lazy of a person to link to all of their blogs. After its over I will look back to see how everyone did. It will be NFL Sunday Ticket on one part of my monitor today and the tournament in the other. Should be fun.

Friday, December 19, 2008

I Did It !!!

I was finally able to qualify for the WBCOOP on my 4th try. I had to go to my son's day dare for a "Holiday Party" about 75 minutes in so I was going to gamboool. And yes they have to call it a holiday party as not to offend anyone. So why is it before they eat they make the kids pray? Fuckers.

I was able to get an early double when I called a raise with 10,9. Flop comes 9,7,4 and I put in a check raise of meanhappyguy's cbet. He had to call with the hammer and did not improve. The very next hand I pick up J,J. A now shortstacked meanhappyguy shoves 390, next to act min-raises and I 4-bet shove. Menahappyguy has A,K and he gets the triple but I win the sizable sidepot against A,10 and I am sitting on 7600 20 minutes in. Nothing terribly interesting happens the rest of the hour and I go into the first break with 9k in chips. In hour two I held steady and towards the end in back-to back hands I was able to increase my stack to 20k. One hand I had something and in the other I was able to use my stack to get a medium stack to fold.

Hour three did not go as well as the first two. I lost half of my stack when AQ lost to AJ when he turned broadway and I was in check call mode on the turn and river. The very next hand I play A7dd and limp. Late position raises and I call. Flop comes with an ace and I call a cbet. I check the turn and he checks back. The river brings a 4flush which I dont have and it gets checked. He has the 88 with the flush. For the rest of the level I was pretty much in lockdown mode looking to get a seat. The only hands I played were 1010 and JJ where I busted short stacks. At the end of the third hour I had 8100 when the bubble burst.

Shortly into the fourth hour and after the bubble I was able to get two doubles in a span of six hands and had the stack up to 23k again and very healthy. Shortly after that with the blinds at 1k/2k/250 I shipped 20k from EP with AQ and was called by the chip leaders KK and I did not improve and was out in 48th.


Thursday night was also the Main Event for AIPS. It was a $26 token double stack HORSE event. On the very first hand of the night I had K,Q and raised. I was 3-bet and called. Flop comes K,Q,x and I lead. I was then raised and I put in the 3-bet. He ended up calling me on the turn and river and his A,K no goot. I was able to accumulate chips throughout the first hour and was sitting on around 5k.

In the second hour I was able to add more chips especially in the stud rotation. I made 2 flushes and a straight to take a few big pots. From then on I was in good shape. I would hover around 10k, lose a pot and drop to 7k, but then immediately get it back. When we were down to two tables and on the money bubble (15 paid) I was able to abuse it a bit. I was the biggest stack at the table and raised almost every O8 hand and added to my table chip lead. Blazman ended up bubbling on the other table and we were in the money.

Headed to the final table I believe I was 3rd in chips. We lost the two short stacks fairly quickly. That's when the FTP doomswitch was kicked on for me. Playing stud I hit two pair on 5th and boated up on 6th. At the same time my opponent hit trip aces and it all went in. He hit the higher boat on the river to take nearly half my stack. A couple hands later I had (Q,Q)2 and ended up being against (AA)6. On 5th I hit two pair when he hit an A and I called down. That left me with less than one BB and I was eliminated shortly after that in 6th for a little over $100.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

0/3

OK its time to steal Zook's thunder. Sure she can go 3/3 in the blogaments but I think its more impressive to go 0/3 like I have. The closest I have been is about 30 short of a seat in the Monday PLO event. I wasn't at the optimal level of concentration as I started it at the at the airport waiting for my mom and dad to fly in. At the first break I was in good shape. During the second hour I was completely card dead and kept folding down to a micro-stack. I ended up shipping it in on the last hand before the second break with 10,10,x,x and I was called in two places. I ended up losing to A,K,7,7 when he flopped a set.

I can't remember anything from the Tuesday NLHE event. I think I made the first break but busted shortly after that. Wednesday and PLO8 was going pretty good till late in the second hour I flopped the nut low with straight draws and was counterfeited on the river and was scooped in a 3-way all-in pot. I was left with 900 and was bounced shortly after that.

The Bodonkey didn't go so well the last two nights for me. Tuesday I busted well short of the final table and last night I was doing fairly well with around 3300 in chips the first hour. I ended up shoving A,K over BuddyDank's raise and he called 2300 with A,Q. I lost and was down to 1000. The next two hands I had A,K again and shipped. The second time I was called and beat 8,8. I ended up busting in the second hour in a blind vs blind battle. The SB raised and I shoved over the top with A,7. He had A,K and I was bounced.

Last night I also played the Mookie. The deck was repeatedly hitting me early. I called a raise with 75cc. Flop comes 773 and I check called a cbet. Turn is a 9 and I check shipped and was called by JJ. My hand held and I was up near 6k early on. By the end of the first hour I had the stack hovering around 10k. The second hour was not nearly as good as the first and I steadily dropped chips when my 3-bets failed. I ended up folding one hand where I called a raise pre with Q,9. Flop came Q,7,4 and I put in a raise after a cbet and I was shoved on. I took the time bank and decided to fold. I ended up busting with two tables left.

The highlight of the night though was winning my first pushfest. One winning hand was J6 over QQ on the rivered two pair. I outlasted ScottMc FTW.

3/3

As most of you know PokerStars is running the World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker. It's a freeroll for those you have blogs and, you know, actually write on them. The best part is: It's a Freeroll!

Us poker playas loves us some freeroll. Check out these prizes!


From ScreenshotA

That's just for the qualifiers! Check out the Final Event prizes:


From ScreenshotA

Now that's one loaded freeroll!

My goal was to win as many seats as I could to reduce the competition for the Final Event. So far I'm 3/3 baby! I won my seat the first time out. I managed to score a Step 2 ticket from next event. Last night I wanted a Step 3 or better. I'm may play today's event. I was up very late last night and have to bowl this morning but I'm hoping to catch a second wind by the time the tournament starts.

With the help of predator06 - the well known PLO8 player - and rail from Snuffy, nzgreen, OhCaptain and others, AND some friendly rivalry with macanthony I squeaked into 9th place last night, er this morning, for the Sunday Majors Gold Package consisting of 2 $215 tickets. Well squeaked isn't quite accurate. I was firmly in the middle of the pack when we hit the final table. It had become quite apparent that PokerStar really didn't want me to scoop a pot. I would get it all in - not an easy feat in pot limit - and be waaaaaay ahead on the flop only to lose half the pot by the river. One player even commented that I was always good for a chop. Sigh.

My bust out hand was remarkable for the fact that I couldn't even take down half the pot after outflopping both of my foes. NH. GG. IGHN



And on that note I'm off to bowling!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Corporation Tour - Heads-Up PLO Results

Congrats to TheGoadlady* for winning this weeks Corporation Tour Heads-Up event and $22.75. Rascony finished second and earned 12.75. For the next few weeks we are going to keep it NLHE. The all time money list is as follows (wins):

mrsloser64 (1) - $31.50
TheGoatlady (1) - $22.75
Blazman - $17.50
rascony - $12.75
ElSnarfGrande $10.50
scottc25 $10.50


(* - Not really a goat)

Last Day

Well this is only a few days late but by looking at everyone else's blog I am right on time! In honor of PKPNF I think I should be called PSTPS, or Professional Slot Tournament Player Snuffy. I ended up finishing in 6th place in the slot tournament good for $200. I should always have an infinite ROI in these things now cause you will never see me spending a single penny entering one.

We went over to the Golden Nugget and sat at the bar watching football for a couple hours before deciding to play some 1/2. It was a roller coaster session for me. I would lose money to the young kid on my right then double up vs the player on my left. The guy on my left was making stupid raises like to $4 and $5. I was in the BB with Q,8. He raises to $4 and gets numerous callers including me. Flop comes Q,8,4. I bet and he raises, I ship and he calls with A.Q. I hold and double. Later on after I had lost chips again I limped with AJhh UTG. A few more limpers and the flop comes J54 with one heart. I lead out for $15 and he calls. turn is the 5h. I bet $40 and he puts me in for about $40 more. River gives me the nut flush. He does the look to the sky and mucks his hand. From another player at the table they saw that he had 5,3 off. Nice play UTG +1 and an absolutely horrid call on the flop. Pretty standard suck re-suck. Funny he didn't remember when he re-sucked about a lap earlier against the kid to my right.

All told on the session I lost around $70. After watching the Vikings kick some ass we took off to the airport. I resisted all temptation of playing slots at the airport. Overall not a profitable trip but I had fun anyway. Next trip will most likely be Vegaspalooza with the Corporation.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Finally a Win

It's been a while but I finally got one today. Things have been really cold. Cold deck after cold deck, followed by inevitable bad beat. But I broke through today. How much, you ask? I don't understand......Oh you thought I meant poker. No, no. I meant solitaire on my phone while I take a dump at work. I don't win at poker any more.

This is sadly probably the biggest highlight I have that involve cards over the last few weeks. Granted I haven't been playing much and have had a few small cashes in Corp HU last week and PokerSluts, but the cash games have been drier then dry for me. Not being able to bankwins at 25NL can take a toll on your psyche. I know I'm not playing my best in cash, but honestly, trying to find the time to correct it really isn't an option right now. Hopefully that changes soon.

I did manage to get a free (read 1800 fpp) token for the AIPS Main Event on Thursday. So I will be playing that. Hopefully something good comes out there. If I don't fall asleep in the middle of it.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I Run Goooooooooood!

Courtesy of tonight's PokerSlut Tour brought to you by the donks that are the PokerSluts.



Click through to view hand replayer.

Got together with a few friends on Saturday night for some drunk home game action.

We've got a great venue - a cafe - which means we don't need to worry about keeping kids, or significant others, awake all night. However, it means that there's no Playstation or Xbox to keep people amused when they get knocked out of a SNG, so we've made it a .25c/50c cash game.

I started the night off with a bluff in the first hand. I called a raise from one of the better players with KTo. I had position on him, so I floated his flop cbet with a gutshot. The turn paired the Q, he led again so I raised him and put out what looked like a value bet on the river. He folded AJ (no pair) and I showed everyone the bluff and guaranteed myself action for the rest of the night.

I dropped my first buyin when I called a small raise with 96s in the SB and flopped bottom two on a K high flop. I check-raised the original raiser, then moved in on the J turn, which turned out to be a mistake as he had KJ, not the AK or KQ that I put him on. He boated up with another J on the river.

My first significant win of the night came when I limped with a suited baby ace and flopped the nuts versus the second nuts. Gus (the guy with the K high flush) led out, I smooth called, and a third player then raised. Gus moved allin and I made the easy call. I think he made the mistake of not realising I was still in the hand. I then turned a steel wheel to rub it in even further!

The next big hand I was involved in was a limped pot. I limped the button with J9o and flopped a gutshot on a rainbow 67T board. It was checked around to the cutoff who put out a bet, which didn't really mean much coming from him, so I called as did everyone else. The turn was the 8 completing my nut straight and putting four different suits out there which I liked a lot. I flat called a big bet Gus, a 5 came on the river and I made another easy call when he moved allin. As the saying goes, it's an easy game when you've got the nuts.

I had been straddling most times when I was UTG and getting plenty of action, but nothing playable. I think I was yet to win one of these hands when I picked up KQo and raised another $6 on top of my $1.50 straddle. I got two callers and saw a flop of Qxx all diamonds. I led at it and got raised. I wasn't sure what to make of the raise. The guy usually slow plays so I didn't think he had flopped a flush. I thought it was more likely that he had a pair, or he was just testing me to see how serious I was about my hand. If he had the Ad I would expect him to flat call in that spot rather than semi-bluff so I called as I was 99% sure I had the K of diamonds. The turn was another diamond which I checked and the other guy moved allin for about $200. It was a massive overbet, but I checked my cards again and sure enough my K was a diamond so I called. He'd turned two pair and couldn't improve on the river and I took down the biggest pot of the night.

We finally called it a night at about 4am. I left extremely wasted, but up $320 for the night. More than enough to cover the zillion beers I drank and the taxi ride home.

Tourney Day

Saturday was tourney day for me in Vegas. After a whole 3 hours of sleep I got up and went to sign up for the free slot tournament. Free breakfast with it as well which included runny scrambled eggs, cold sausage patties and luke warm bacon. Well, at least it was free. Looks like they had around 100 for the slot tourney. I racked up three blue 7's in my 5 minutes and am sitting on 5600 going into the last round today. They didn't post standing but it looks like I should be in the top 10. I am now considering becoming a professional slot tournament player.

After the slot tourney I signed up for the 10am tourney at Binions. They had 6 full tables and it paid the top 6 with 3k starting stacks. I saw a dude wearing upside down sunglasses and complaining to his buddy in the first level how his A,K lost to J,10. Not like it was all-in pre or anything. Stupid fucker. I also saw one dude get so excited that he won a pot that he knocked his seat over. Take it easy Phil.

In the second level of the tourney playing 50/100 I raised to 250 UTG with AKss. Next player behind be who was a decent playing older gentleman flats. A mid-position woman raises to 750. I decide to flat and the guy behind me ships for over 3k. The lady snap calls and I turbo-muck my hand face up. Guy had A,A and lady had K,K. If you are results oriented I would have turned the flush. Feeling good about the fold I played the next few levels and steadily increased my stack. We got down to two tables and I had 9k playing 1k/2k. I lost in the all-in fest and busted around 13th.

The main event started at 3p at Venetian, the Winter Blogger Gathering. There were a total of 82 runners. We had a decent structure till late, which I will get to. We had 10k in chips and 30 minute levels. From what I can remember my starting table included Joanada, Emptyman, OhCaptain and professional keno player Neil Fontenot. The line of the day was soon to become "You've been kenoed".

I was repeatedly hit by the deck in the first three levels. Unfortunately it didn't mean shit since the blinds were low. At the first break I had 12k. The only fairly interesting hand was when OhCaptain and myself both had A,K on a K,6,5,A,5 board. We both managed to only get 2900 each into the pot. Our table was definitely playing a non-blogger like way.

Levels 4-6 were a roller coaster for me. Almost immediately back from the break I took two hits to drop down to 9k. I then lost another pot to knock me down to 7k. I was able to rally a bit to get it back to 10k. Then with around that stack I played my biggest pot to date. Playing 300/600 there was a raise to 1800 or so and I called with A7ss. Flop comes 5,4,3. Original raiser leads for 2500 with about 6k behind and I had him covered. I thought it through to a minute and the double gutter with the A was good enough for me to shove and was called. He had 1010 but I hit my A on the river for the pot. Going into the 2nd break I had 23k.

In levels 6-9 I was able to steadily accumulate chips and had 36k headed to the break. I was able to take a lot of pots pre-flop and whenever someone called I flopped top top or a set.

Level 10 was the death of me. We went from 600/1200/100 to 1000/2000/300. What the fuck! I was the co-chip leader at my table and I had 18 big blinds. The second hand into the level I picked-up 1010 from the cutoff and raised to 6k. The other chip leader at the table called. Flop comes 8,7,4 and I cbet for 12k. He ships and I just cant fold it in this spot having over half my stack in already. He showed the 4,4. I turned a straight draw but missed everything on the river and was out just like that. If I could have sucked out there I would have about 75k and by far the chip lead in the tournament with 32 left. Oh well.

I had a hell of a time. One of the more fun tournaments I have played in ages. One of the highlight was myself being able to throw the hammer 3 times all for wins. I have one thrown back at me. I said there is no shame in bluffing off all of your chips with the hammer in a blogger event. Luckily nobody had anything when I threw it.

So who ended up winning? When I left they were down to 7 handed.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Day 2 - Everywhere

Yesterday didn't start till after Noon but it had plenty of play in. I started off playing 2/4 at Binions. I ended up dropping $80 in about an hour. The ultimate cooler (if there is such a thing in 2/4) got the last of my remaining chips. I had KsKc in a 3-way capped pot pre-flop. 632ss flop and 3 bets went it. 4s turn and only one bet in. River 4 and I got the last of my $9 in still three ways. The hands I saw were AsAc and QsQc. Nice one there. Everyone had a flush draw to go with their big pair come the turn.

In the epic mistake of the week so far I decided to play in the $110 tourney at Binions. I signed-up 10 minutes into the tourney. Standard 20 minute levels and 5k in chips. I didn't make the first break. The last hand I flopped top 2 and was trying to trap the lagtard at the table. Unfortunately the other player in the hand flushed on the river and I was out.

After Blaz busted out of the tournament (before the first break as well) we walked across the street to Golden Nugget, or as Blaz calls it in his twitter, the Golden Palace. I played in their 1/2 game while Blaz played their tournament. Nothing really exciting happened in the game. I was down about $100 when I lost the last of my chips. I raised to $12 with A,K and got 2 callers. Flop comes A,Q,9. It's checked to me and I lead for $25 into the pot leaving me committed with only around $50 behind. The blind shoves for roughly the same stack as me. I call and he had the A,9. I don't improve and I am down another $200 on the day. When Blaz busted out of the tourney we had some fun playing 2/4. After about an hour or two I got up with a whopper of a $5 profit. There was one cowboy in the game. He had the unfortunate luck of trying to look Blaz and myself up a few times. Every time he did we happened to not be full of shit that time.

After that we went to the MGM to meet-up with the bloggers to play some 3/6 HORSE. We ended up getting on the 3rd table that they opened. On my table were Blaz, Yestbay, on_thg, columbo, the guy who is getting married tomorrow (forgot his name) and later on by F-Train. A fun time was had by all. Our table eventually closer after about 5 hours and I ended up losing around $95. Standard hand for me was in the first rotation of Razz I was dealt (K,K)K.

After the mixed games I really wanted to play some more so we drove over to the Hard Rock. Very nice room. Definitely one of the better ones opened in recent memory. I sat at a 1/2 table with Blaz. I ended up losing my first $200 when I flopped bottom two on a K,8,7dd board and ran into K,8. Reload. The second $200 went much better. There were probably about 3-4 easy spots at the table. Everyone else took turns taking their money. One guy dropped around $700. I didn't play one hand where I normally wood. Blaz raised to $15 and I folded the 5c4c. The nutjob who lost all of his money shipped around $200 on the river. I would have flopped the open ender and turned the straight when the A came. Would have been an east double there. After playing till 3:30 or so we took off. I had around $340 in front of me good for a $60 loss.

Not the greatest day ever but Blaz had fun when we got back to the hotel and there wasn't a rollaway in the room as requested. A phone call, a trip to the front desk and a room change later I was able to fall asleep at 4:15. Working on 3 hours sleep right now. Gonna have to take a nap before the blogger donkament at 3p today at the Venetian.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Arrival

(Please excuse typos and grammar, its early)

My flight out of Tampa was at 2pm. I got an early boarding number and had a aisle seat on Southwest. A mother and grandmother with two twin 1 1/2 year olds ended up occupying the seats behind me. There was occasional kicking of the seat but you know what, it didn't bother me one pit. See what having a little one of your own does to you? I touched down at 5pm Vegas time, got my bag and Blaz was there to pick me up. After checking in we walked over to Caeasars to get some grub. The BBQ place in the food court is always good. Had the pulled pork plate gratis. Thank you Total Rewards.

We walked over to the IP to look for some 1/2. No luck. They had exactly one 2/4 limit game going. O'Shea's had nothing going either so we walked to the Flamingo. They had three 2/4 limit games going and two 1/2 NL games. There was a list of six people for the 1/2 game so we took a seat in the 2/4 game. We ended up playing for around two hours. I won $27. Only real hand of note was the first one. I am in the SB and Blaz raises it up in MP. About 15 callers so I just call with the AQss. Flop come QQ3 and I check call Blaz's bet. I throw in a check raise on the turn and Blaz is the only caller. I fire dark before the river and he folds.

We walked through the Bellagio to see if they were running satellites for the mega and the were, $350 two winner satellites. That might be an option for Friday depending on how I run. We then decided to walk over to Planet Ho for some 1/2. They had three tables going and I took the one available seat. I bought in for $200.

The table didn't have a ton of money on it and it looked to be a fairly tight table. On the second hand I had 9,9 from the BB and called a $12 raise from the button. Heads-up the flop comes Q,Q,4 and I check called a $15 bet. Turn is a 7 and I check raise his $15 bet to $45. He tanks and eventually folds. Good start. One other interesting hand on the night I limped with 74hh from the cutoff and saw we saw the flop 6-ways. Flop comes K,9,5 with one heart. Its checked to me so I bet out $8 since it looks like nobody is interested in the pot. I get 3 callers, oops. Turn is a 3 and it gets checked around to me and I check. River is a 6, ding ding. One player leads for $15 and I min-raise him to $30. When he calls he said two pair huh and I get to show the straight.

Not long after that hand Blaz was ready to call it a night. He was on another table. I said one more lap and I'm ready to go. I added up what I had and I was showing a $105 profit. Good round number, I will call it a night as well.

So a good first day overall. Always a plus to start a trip this way. Probably won't play till this afternoon after we check into Binions. I stayed in Bally's the first night. I was able to get $50 rate. I am very impressed with this hotel actually. I didn't expect much but the room is big and very nice.

Gamblers General Store trip today as well.

You can always follow me on Twitter as well.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Corporation Heads-Up Results

We had a great turnout of 14 last night. Because of the later start time we were able to beg and plead during the Bodonkey and the Booze Cruise for more people. Thanks to everyone who played and congrats to Jerry (mrsloser64) for winning. I think the last 3 times I have been at the same table with him in a tournament he has knocked me out.

1st - mrsloser64 - $31.50
2nd - Blazman - $17.50
3rd - ElSnarfGrande, scottc25 - $10.50

Don't forget next week its going to be heads-up PLO.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

SNGs

Snuffy and I were recently reminiscing about the good old days of poker.

The good old days, back when Neteller was alive and well, back when bonus whoring was the sport of Queens, Kings and Poker Aces.  Yep, the good old days.

That's when I played a ton of Sit-n-Gos: back before the days of Sharkscope, Official Poker Rankings or the PokerDB (now at Bluff).  This was back in the day when you could be confident at least 7 out of the 10 players at your table were complete and utter idiots.

I made a lot of money playing SNGs on PokerRoom and their skins.  I bonus whored my way through at least 4 of their skins playing exclusively SNGs.  They were very profitable.

Did anybody else notice that much of the bonus whoring dried up when Neteller closed up shop?  Most of the sites closed to US players and we have very limited ways of getting money on and off sites.  It became very cost prohibitive to move money around.  That was when I started playing almost exclusively at Full Tilt.

Coincidentally, that's the same time I stopped playing the basic SNG.  I started playing a lot of tokens and did quite well at that for a while.  I'd have tokens stacked up.  Unfortunately I wasn't having any luck converting my Tier 2 tokens into cold hard cash.  It was very frustrating.  I blame the tier SNGs for my stats sucking ass.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Overall I'm playing the least amount of poker these day than I have in the past 3 years while my bankroll is at nearly the highest it's ever been.  I'm bored with cash games - nit infested waters IMO - and don't have the time for MTTs.  I've been sticking mostly to the private MTTs that I play week in and week out.

Two days ago I decided I needed to play SNGs again.  I was once good at these.  Granted the environment has changed drastically from when I first played them back in the good old days, but damnit I have skillz!  I should be able to conquer this beast!  Uh huh... GLWT.

I'm on what you might call a heater, the upside of variance, a good run;  don't worry it will end soon rather than later but I'm going to ride this bitch for all she's worth.  I played four SNGs in the last two days and racked up a first, two seconds and a third!  Go me!  How did this happen you might be asking yourself...  How? 

I'm a nit.  There I said it.  I find any reason to fold shitty hands;  hell I've been known to fold my SB, repeatedly.  I've managed to get paid off when I have a big hand even when it's clear to any reasonably observant player that I haven't played shit in 65 hands.  My VPIP/PFR for the last SNG was 5/4 when we were down to 5 players and I still got action. 

I still got action.  That blows my mind.  So I'm back to playing SNGs for the near future anyway.  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Beauty

Warning: Thinly veiled bad beat story.

Had to share this one. Not too often you see someone play every single street badly. This was a Tier 1 token with 11 people left.




Bad pre-flop, bad on the flop and bad on the turn. At least they couldn't fuck-up the river.

Woot!!!

Got the OK from TOH to go to Vegas a day early (Thursday). This is going to help a ton and I won't feel rushed to play anything.

Vegas checklist:
  • Binions Card
  • Planet Ho Card
  • Club Coast Card
  • Harrahs Card
  • Venetian Card
  • MGM Mirage Card
  • Luckbox

That should just about do it.

I think I am going to try and play a couple of single table satellites to get into the mega-satellite for the 5 Diamond. Depending on how its going I will take 1 or 2 shots as I assume they are still 2 winner single tables. I'm not planning on playing any tournaments besides the blogger event at Venetian Saturday. I just want to play a ton of cash games. Hotel is Bally's Thursday and Binions the next two nights.

Should be fun....

Monday, December 8, 2008

Corporation Heads-Up Tour


I figured we would try this for a couple of weeks and see how the turnout is. This Tuesday at 22:00 server time the first event will happen. Week 1 will be NLHE. Next Tuesday it will be PLO. If there is interest beyond the first two weeks I will make this an ongoing item. I will keep track of winners on the blog. The CHIMPS site will now officially be toast. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Feel free to pimp this on your blog. It would be cool if we could get at least 16 people.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Soul Reading

I took a day off of the doubles to go play some more live poker at the track yesterday. Whenever I see someone's cards I usually give them one warning. You know what, when I am in the 2 seat and the flasher is in the 7 seat, fuck it. He is an idiot for being that bad. I opted to say nothing. It never helped me in any decisions I had to make during the 3 hour session as I don't even recall ever being in a hand with him. What he would do is shuffle the cards on top of each other and when he lifted one to shuffle the other under you could easily see what he had. Sometimes I was off by 1 like an 8 or a 9 but I was correct about 90% of the time.

In one particular hand I saw that he had 10,5. Flop comes 10,10,9. He leads the betting on all streets vs 2 opponents who both folded on the river. The people on my side of the table comment that he had to have a 9. I chimed in and said he had a 10. I then wanted to bet the people on my side but had no takers. I then asked the guy "you had a 10 there right? In fact I bet you had 10,5." He nodded his head and said "I had a 10, I will say that." Wonder if he was thinking if I could read his soul or not.

The session was going nowhere early. I failed to win a pot in the first hour and was down $40. One kind of spewy hand was when I had something like J,3 with the 3s. from the BB. Flop is low and its checked around. Turn is a Js bringing 3 spades and call a bet. River is a 4th spade. Opponent leads out for $15 and I made the call and was shown the nuts with the AsK. I was actually in the lead till the river, who knew.

After texting Zooks how I haven't won a hand in the first hour I picked-up K,K the very next hand and won about a $60 pot to get even. After that there wasn't anything too interesting for the next 90 minutes or so. In the last 1/2 hour I did play a 4-way pot with A,10 when the flop comes 10,10,8. I called a $4 bet (lolz) along with 2 others. The turn was a 5. There was an all-in bet of $10 and I called and both others called. River is a 9. I lead for $20 and the other two fold. The short-stack had 10,5.

One of the last hands I played was fairly interesting. I had 4,4 UTG and limped. UTG+1 raises to $10 and gets 4 callers and I call for set mining odds. The UTG+1 player was horrid. I was seeing him call $17 raises with Q,4 off and flopping the 4 which is obviously good enough to call $20 bets on the flop and turn to wait for the Q on the river to crack A,A. Flop comes 6,3,2. Not too bad for my hand. I check and it gets checked around. Turn is a 3. I lead for $20 and UTG+1 is the only caller. River is a 5. I lead for $40 and he folds. Maybe that's a spot there where I should check to see if I can induce a bluff, I'm not sure. If he has two overs he is not calling any bet of mine but if he has an overpair I need to try and take him to valuetown. Looking back an overpair doesn't seem likely otherwise he bets that flop.

At the end of the session I showed a nice $101 profit. Believe it or not the games should actually get better in the next week or so as live horse racing kicks off again. You can get the random horse bettor who has no clue to drop a couple hundred. Even some of the regulars have their nose in the Daily Racing Form looking for bets and are not paying attention.

Can't believe that the winter blogger gathering is less than a week away already. Haven't had time to get excited yet. I'm sure I will be itching to go come Monday.

Federales Take Over LAPT Event

I guess Poker Stars going to exotic locales to hold poker events finally caught up with them. In the middle of day 1 yesterday they had to suspend the tournament in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Not enough payoffs to the cops I guess. This was one I was looking to try and get to one of these years. I loved the city last time I was there. Check the following links for updates:

Pauly

PokerNews

Friday, December 5, 2008

Additional Prop Bet Items

I am going to offer additional odds for the bet:

3:1 for 900 games
2:1 for 800 games
even money for 700 games

Last night I ended up playing 30 of 'em. I ended up going 16-14 for a very small profit. I had to make a massive comeback to avoid the losing day. At one point I was 10-13. Graph update:

(click to enlarge)

Bodonkey did not go well for me last night. I had absolutely nothing the first 15 minutes. I raised one hand and c-bet after I missed the flop and was called then check folded the turn. My last hand was shortly into the second level when I called Hoy's raise with J,10 soooted. Flop comes J high and I check and he checks behind. Turn is a 10 bringing a second spade. I throw in a check raise and Hoy calls. The river is a spade. There is just no way I put him on a flush here when he raised pre. I put him on air at the end or less likely a set. I lead the river and he shipped. I thought I was just too likely to be ahead. Oops, he had the AKss. Didn't see that coming.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Betting Window is Now Open

In my post from a couple weeks ago I had the prop bet rules set out (see bold for updates):

1. Money would be held in escrow by an agreed upon third party.
gadzooks64 agreed to escrow the money. If you have another party in mind let me know.
2. Odds of the bet would be 5-1 (your $5 to my $1, this may be negotiable).
I am willing to drop this to 3-1 with one condition, see#7 below.
3. I will take action in increments of $5.
So this would be your $15 to my $5
4. scottc25 on Pokerstars will start on January 1, 2009, 12:00:00 server time and end January 31, 2009 at 11:59:59 server time. All sng's started in this time frame count.
Nothing changes here
5. I will play only $5 turbo double or nothings.
Same
6. I will show a profit.
Same
7. The minimum number of sng's completed will be at least 1000 (meaning I can do more). If I fail to play 1000 in the month I automatically lose the bet.
In connection with dropping the odds to 3-1 I am going to reduce the number to 900.
8. All stats will be tracked via Poker Tracker 3. I will provide copies of the database to the bettors.
Same, as soon as I learn how to copy the database. I can also provide an e-mail directly from Poker Stars on tournament summaries and hand histories.
9. Anything else????????????
See below
Additional added rules:

10. Profit must be from Double or Nothings. FPP/VPP's don't count and can't be traded for money.
Same
11. Only Snuffy will play the ScottC25 account.
Same
11. Required to post updates 2 or 3 times/week. Those wagering with you will want to know where they stand.
I will post updates on the Corporation Poker site a minimum of 3 weeks. Included will be total # of games played, profit/loss to date and a graph.



Now is the time to put up the money. In order to do this I need to have a minimum of $100 of my money against $300 of yours. I will accept up to $300 of my own money and possibly more. Post in the comments here if you want in on this. Also leave your e-mail address. Deposits need to be in by Sunday, December 28th. Once Zooks confirms deposit I will match the funds immediately (I actually might transfer $100 to cover the bets right away). The first day to transfer money will be Tuesday, December 16th.

Lets hear from ya......

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

World Blogger Championship of OnlinePoker

Online Poker

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

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 312205

Bodonkey FT

Before I get to the Bodonkey I will clear a few things out of my random news and notes I have been saving up.

On Monday I played a set of 3 double or nothings and went 1-2. After that I decided to give 6-tabling a go again. Worked pretty well this time and I went 5-1. I was able to follow the action much better this time. I just need the practice I guess.

I played the TuckFard Open and TuckFard2 on Monday night and whiffed everything. Last night along with the Bodonkey I played the Booze Cruise. I was able to make the final table but couldn't get anything going and finished around 7th or 8th when my A,A double suited ran into a hand that I really hate seeing, the 10,9,8,7. I knew I was toast there. I did pick-up a flush draw on the turn but failed to improve.

I have just been running hot in the Bodonkey the last few weeks. Last night made 4 final tables out of the last 5 events. In the first hour I gradually improved my starting stack. At the first break I had around 6000. I don't even remember having to show down many hands either. It was a smooth ride.

With two tables to go I ran into the exact hand that has either knocked me out or crippled me out of the last two events. I had around 8k in chips and picked-up the QQ and 3-bet and UTG raiser. UTG called and we saw a JXX flop. I can't remember but I think my opponent checked, I bet, and they check shipped it. I snap called and saw A,J. The motherfuckinpussylickin A came on the turn and I was dropped to 4k. At least I had enough chips to withstand the hit though and was able to limp into the final table holding around 5k, which was good for either 7th or 8th.

I was able to pick my spots at the final table. I don't even remember any key doubles in the early going. When we were 7 handed though the hand of the night comes up. Fellow Corporation member nzgreen had a decent stack. Two short stacks of 5k each ship it in playing 300/600 and he calls from the BB.


If you can put your opponents both with and Ace and not have your kickers it is a good play. I still don't think getting nearly 4:1 on your money is worth it in that spot. Odds say its good, but that's once the cards are flipped up. I personally don't have to stones to make that call.


When we were 4 or 5 handed I picked-up A,A in the SB and it was folded to me. I min bet them and was called. Flop was with one high card and I c-bet it to take the pot down. Pretty non-descript hand but that was the 3rd time I had A,A on the night, and that was the first time someone called a pre-flop raise.

The hand that really propelled me was vs nz when we were 4 handed I believe. I was in one of the blinds and called his pre-flop raise with A7ss. Heads-up the flop came with two spades. I check-called his c-bet. Turn was a blank and it went check check. River is a card I'm not so sure I like, and A. I check and hope to see a cheap showdown. Nz thinks and bets out 8k(I have around 11k behind). I used the time bank and thought I was ahead too much of the time here and called. He had the QJss. Basically same result as if the flush hit. That jumped me up to the co-chip lead with nz.

Nz took out 4th and 3rd and we had an all Corporation Poker heads-up battle. I know who the better heads-up player is and its not me. He had me around 2:1 entering heads up which quickly became 5:1. With the blinds at 500/1000 it wasn't going to take long. About 10 hands in I min-bet and then shipped over the top of NZ's 3-bet with A,7 and he called with A,9. Fin.

I was able to walk away with a touch over $150 in cash and t$. Our 1-2 finish puts us at 10th and 11th on the leaderboard. From my calculations it looks like the top 11 are going to get TOC seats. Should be an interesting final four events.

Congrats nz. Two blogger wins in a couple of weeks.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

60 Minutes

OK, I guess I shouldn't have been expecting steak but I was.  Imagine my horror when I was served a hotdog.  A very pretty hot dog but not at all satisfying when I was expecting steak.

You have a preconception when 60 Minutes covers a topic.  You expect to be informed with facts.  Plenty of facts.  Numerous, substantiated facts.  Not only did they claim that online poker was illegal in the United States - which is blantantly wrong - they seemed to only skim the surface of online poker while painting the entire industry with the UB/AP dirty brush. 

I still hold out hope that the new administration will make an effort to not only repeal the UIGEA but to take steps toward taxing, legalizing and regulating online gaming.  I won't hold my breath but I will keep my fingers crossed.

PokerSlut Tour XII

 
Sunday nights.  But not this Sunday night.  
Enjoy your evening with your family or 
go watch 60 Minutes like I'm about to do.  
We'll be back next week with Season XII.

Doubles, Doubles, Toils and Troubles

Figured I would throw a double or nothing update in here since I haven't said anything in a while. Since the beginning I have played a total of 92 of them. My roll is slowly grinding up and I refuse to play anything else on Stars to screw that up. I still have about $65 to go before I move up to the $10 ones. In around 80 FPP's I am clearing a $40 bonus so that should help.

This weekend I tried 6 tabling to see how difficult it would be for the challenge in January. In the beginning at 10 handed tables it was fairly easy. I could keep up with my hands and generally know what to do before action came to me. Later on when you have to keep track of push/fold ranges and your standing in each one is when I was exponentially more difficult. My eyes were really stressing late. I ended up going 4-2 in that stretch so that could be a good sign. After that many at once I need to take a small break and let the eyes rest. I had all of the tables tiled when I did it. Maybe next time I need to try and cascade them and see what happens.

I have a good idea for a table mod but I doubt it could be done. When you have all of the tiles tables you can click fold when it gets to you already. If action comes on a table and you haven't selected an action I wish the table could expand to the front, make your action, then tile back so you can see all of them. Anyone know if this has been done before? IT people start working on that for me.

Here is a graph of my progress so far. (click to enlarge)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Bodonkey

The Bodonkey was last night. I knew it would be a smaller turnout due to Thanksgiving and I was correct, 20 runners. When you add in what Bodog kicks in the prize pool was more than double what it should be. Very nice. Nzgreen was to my immediate right on my opening table. I lost a few hands early and was sitting below 2000. I was able to chip back up a little bit when I picked-up A,K UTG and limped. Behind me there was a raise and a ship from a short stack. I shipped over the top and the short stack had K,Q and I was up over 3k.

I was able to build my stack from there until I ran into this hand vs Nz. He was getting short and raised it up 3x. I re-raised with A,K and he thought and called. Off to a J,9,4 flop Nz checks with about 1300 behind. I lead at the pot for 500. I picked this amount because I wanted the bet to say I am not folding if you shove. He ends up shoving and I obviously call. He had 7,7. I turned a flush draw but never got there and I doubled him up, leaving me in the 1900 range again.

I would like to solicit opinions on how the hand was played from both ends. I contend that Nz played it badly but he said that he put me on exactly A,K and was able to proceed the way he did. I think I make that I play AQ+ and 1010+ as well. Hard to say.

I was able to double again before the first break and I was sitting on around 4k. In the second hour I flopped some sets and got other premium holdings (if you count AA and KK). One interesting hand was against donkette who was in the BB. I raised it with the 97dd in middle position and she was the only caller. Flop comes J,7,x. She open shoves into the pot. This smells soooo much like a stop and go. I didn't take long to call but she had the Q,J. Bad read me.

Headed to the final table I was one of the shorter stacks. I was able to get a double and ended up grabbing the chip lead with around 6-7 left. I kinda just hung out there and with four people left two interesting hands happened.

The first hand I had the chip lead. Not too long before against the same opponent I was able to put in a check raise on the flop with bottom two pair. He folded. Fast forward a few hands I'm holding the 8,7 and call a raise from the same player. I put in the same check raise on the flop but he calls. I lead the turn and he min-raises me back. Plan gone wrong. I fold and am now 3rd in chips and still on the bubble.

After that hand I picked-up a few pots and was in a healthy 3rd place with 4th having around 10 bb's. With blinds at 200/400 and myself sitting on around 9400 I picked-up K,K from the BB. UTG raised to 1600, a pretty high bet for this game so far. the SS folded, the SB called and it was up to me. I could either put in half my stack here or just ship it in and take the already sizable pot. I opted to raise it to 4000 to try and make it look like a steal. Original raiser folds and the SB calls. Flop comes J,x,x. SB essentially bet enough to put me all in. I shove, he calls and he has jack ace. The A hits the turn and I am crushed on the bubble. The headset took a beating after that. Why I get so mad is beyond me.

I really can't complain that much though. I did the EXACT SAME THING to a short stack with around 7-8 left when I raised, with K,10 and got reraised. Flop come K,X,X and I put him in. He calls with A,A. Turn K river 10. What comes around goes around. I'm happy with three points finishes and 3 final tables the last 4 events. Only two bubble prizes of t11 to show for it. If I keep getting there I like my chances.

Live Play

I was able to get out and play some live poker at the track again on Wednesday. I noticed an interest list for 50c/$1 on the board. Glad that they decided to do that. I saw Paboo when I first walked in and he said that it usually goes on Saturday night. First time I have seen Paboo in ages. I can imagine having a gaggle (sp) of kids will do that to you.

For playing a little over an hour I sure did pick up a lot of interesting hands. As usual I bought in for the full $100. I was down $20 early tyring to see some flops and then picked up QQ UTG. There was a raise coming from the table most of the hands so far so I went for a limp re-raise. Didn't work as 5 people called me. Flop comes J,7,4 rainbow and I lead for $10 and get one caller from the BB. The lone caller was a loose passive lady. In the couple trips around the table she would call all the way with who knows what. Turn was a another brick (maybe a 2?) and I bet out $25 after she checked and she called. River was a 10 and she checked, I checked back and my hand was good.

Next hand I played was A,9 off in MP. I played it badly against a short stack when I flopped an ace and check called. He shoved his $11 left on the turn and I called. He had the jack ace and I was no good. After that hand I bled a little and was down to $60 and I bought another $40 to get up to $100 again.

I picked-up the magical QQ again in MP and raised it to $11 and got the loose passive lady to call. Flop comes an all-under 2 spade board. I lead for $25 and she calls. The turn is the Ad and I ship for around $40 more and she turbo-mucks.

The hand I won the most on the day with was when an EP player raises to $5. About two hands before that he raised to $11 and got no callers as he showed the K,K. I was the only caller for the $5 with J,10 off. Flop come 10,10,5. I check called his $10 bet. The turn was a 7 and I checked. He lead for $10 again and I raised it to $30. He tanked for a minute and called. River was another 7. I lead out for $40. Now he starts talking. Do you have a 10, maybe a 7? I almost chimed in and said one of those but didn't, good thing. He made the crying call and after he saw my boat he flashed the A,A.

Only one other mildly interesting hand, I had J,J from the BB and after 4-5 limpers I raised it up to $15 and got 2 callers. Flop couldn't come much better with the A,A,J. I lead for a big bet of $45 here figuring anyone with an A is not going anywhere and I can get a good bit of someones stack in ahead. The other two folded and I took the pot. After about an hour and a half I got up with $205 in front of me good for a $65 profit.

Glad to see that not a lot has changed over there. I still recognized a bunch of players. When I first sat there were two seats open. I noticed the card protector of a tough player on the table when I first arrived. He was not around yet but that helped me pick my seat. A rarity for this place but when I left there were four tough players that I recognized at the table. I was more than happy to get up from the game and take the profit.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

PLO Hand

Ok, it's been a while since I've played PLO.  I did some practice cash game before this MTT fired up.  This is the 6th hand of the tournament, probably the second hand I had raised.  I really didn't like the check raise on the flop but I did think I had outs.  When the turn hit I wasn't going to go anywhere.  The river just happened to be nice for my hand.


Click here to view a larger version.

Turns out the other guy was none other than Brian Devonshire.  Granted this is only a $5 Poker Road League tournament so I'm sure it meant nothing to him.  I was really to see his hand revealed at the end.

How badly did I play this?