The Three Biggest Pots I Have Ever Played

I played a $26 token today to try and get a $75 token for the Blogger Big Game Sunday night. I didn't get much to play early but managed to get to the final table with 2100 in chips and 5/9. That changed quickly as the first player busted and I was in 6th. Then after another pot I was 7/8. When we lost 8th place I was in last with around 1800 in chips and 200/400 blinds. I was able to make two key pushes with no caller including a 3-bet to get back to 2600. We lost 7th and it was now the token bubble and I was 6/7. There was a stack around 1400 at 300/600 and 2 4k stacks decided to get all their chips in with AQ vs KK and it was over. I'm registered for the Big Game now.

Since there hasn't been much poker form me the last couple days I thought I would recap my three biggest cash game hands I ever had. Two were winners and one was a loser.

#1 - $1600 pot - I was in Lake Charles, LA and playing 2/5. It was a must move game. The max buy-in is $300 or 1/2 the largest stack at the table. I worked the original buy-in to $800 when I got called to the main game. When I sat down I was 9th/10 in stack size. The big stack at the table had around $14k. Yes, 11,000!!! Apparently he had been playing for the last 24 hours straight. I saw him get up and leave with around $6k. I can't remember the pre-flop action but I had flopped a set. A lot of money got in on the flop with the opponent to my immediate right. After the betting on the turn I had around $100 left, about the same as him. The river brought a 3rd spade. He lifted his cards and I saw that I had him beat. He shoves his last $100 and I call. He had top pair and I raked the $1600 pot.

#2 - $1425 pot - This one came from the 2/5 game at the Rio last summer. The game was going for around and hour. Copied from my old blog.... I am in mid-late position with AQ off. There is a straddle to $10 on the button. There are 3 limpers before me and I pop it to $70. The straddle calls and all else fold. The most beautiful looking Kc,Jh,10c flop comes. I lead into the pot for $75 and he rather quickly says all-in. He has about $690 ($10 less than me). I immediately call and he says he has the nuts. I said you have A,Q too? He turns over Q,9. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I show him broadway and now he needs and ace to chop. It doesn’t show and I just won a $1425 pot.

#3 - $1200 pot - This one occurred at the Borgata in March of 2007. It was a 2/5 game and I was in for a short period of time and got the stack to $600. I had the 10,7 off in the BB in a 5 way limped pot including the SB. The flop came J,9,8 rainbow. SB checks and I bet $25. Everyone folds and the SB calls. The turn is a complete blank (like a 3). SB checks and I bet around $70. The SB raises to $150. I 3-bet shove and she calls. When she calls I said Q,10 huh? Yep. the river is a K. If I flat the turn the K is a good enough scare card for me to lose nothing more. Loss of $1200.

Riverchasers Report

Before I get into Riverchasers I will give a quick update on the other tournament that I played last night. I signed up for a $3 tournament on Full Tilt that started 5 minutes after Riverchasers. I played fairly tight as the vast majority of my concentration was on the other tourney. I think my stats were 18/4 for the whole tournament. I nitted my way to a final table busting in 9th place for $13 when my 10BB stack was shipped in over the chip leaders UTG raise and I lost with A10ss vs AQ.

Now on to the important part of the night, Riverchasers. With only two events left in the BBT3 time was running short to get a TOC seat. I got into the series fairly late as this was the 14th event that I played. Last night it was Pot Limit Omatard (or Omadraw) 8 or Better. Early on in the first or second level I picked up Q,J,9,8 single suited in the AB. There was a limp followed by a raise to 105. I called along with 2-3 others including the limper. The flop gave me a monster wrap with the 10,7,3 rainbow flop. I can't find the damn hand history but there was a significant amount of chips that went in on the flop. On the K turn the rest of the chips got in a 3-way hand and I had to hit any of the A,Q,J,9,8,6. The six on the river gave me the high and counterfitted the other two players lows and I scooped the 11k chip pot.

In around the 5th level I had the AJddxx from the BB and got to see a flop for for free. I believe the flop came down 9 high all diamonds for the flopped nuts. All of the money got in on the flop and my opponent had a lower flush. His low draw was counterfitted and I won the 22k pot. At the first break I had 22k and I believe 2nd place was around 8-9k. Enter luckbox comment here.

I really didn't play that many hands leading towards the final table. I hunk around the 20k mark for a long time and with two tables to go I got the total over 40k when he hit the final table. Here were the starting stacks:

Seat 1: Easycure (15,773)
Seat 2: scottc25 (49,648)
Seat 3: hellory (8,646)
Seat 4: lucko21 (40,256)
Seat 5: shamanalix (30,084)
Seat 6: Julkeus (27,242)
Seat 7: J0DANN1 (5,582)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (34,429)
Seat 9: PinkyStinky (13,340)

Now the deck really hit me in the face and I was able to steamroll from there. I knowcked out 9th with the following hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619234072: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 800/1600 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:09:22 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 1: Easycure (14,173)
Seat 2: scottc25 (49,648)
Seat 3: hellory (18,369)
Seat 4: lucko21 (43,056)
Seat 5: shamanalix (18,761)
Seat 6: Julkeus (32,842)
Seat 7: J0DANN1 (5,182)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (32,029)
Seat 9: PinkyStinky (10,940)
Easycure posts the small blind of 800
scottc25 posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [3h 4d 2d 7d]
hellory: agreed
hellory folds
lucko21 folds
shamanalix: powerful 6 lol
shamanalix has 15 seconds left to act
hellory: tru
shamanalix folds
Julkeus folds
J0DANN1 raises to 5,182, and is all in
Shabazz Jenkins folds
PinkyStinky folds
Easycure folds
scottc25 calls 3,582
J0DANN1 shows [6s 4h 3s 6h]
scottc25 shows [3h 4d 2d 7d]
*** FLOP *** [Kc 3c Kh]
*** TURN *** [Kc 3c Kh] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 3c Kh Ac] [5c]
J0DANN1 shows two pair, Kings and Sixes, for high andJ0DANN1 shows 6,5,4,3,A, for low
scottc25 shows a straight, Five high, for high andscottc25 shows 5,4,3,2,A, for low
scottc25 wins the high pot (5,582) with a straight, Five high
scottc25 wins the low pot (5,582) with 5,4,3,2,A
J0DANN1 stands up

Lucko took out 8th place. I then took out 7th:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619423895: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1000/2000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:25:37 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (48,001)
Seat 3: hellory (24,169)
Seat 4: lucko21 (53,629)
Seat 5: shamanalix (35,084)
Seat 6: Julkeus (16,200)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (38,058)
Seat 9: PinkyStinky (9,859)
PinkyStinky posts the small blind of 1,000
scottc25 posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [5h 6h 9d 4d]
hellory folds
lucko21 folds
shamanalix folds
Julkeus folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 2,000
PinkyStinky raises to 4,000
scottc25 calls 2,000
Shabazz Jenkins calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [Ac 6d 7s]
PinkyStinky bets 5,859, and is all in
scottc25 calls 5,859
Shabazz Jenkins calls 5,859
*** TURN *** [Ac 6d 7s] [6s]
scottc25 checks
Shabazz Jenkins checks
*** RIVER *** [Ac 6d 7s 6s] [Jd]
scottc25 checks
Shabazz Jenkins checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PinkyStinky shows [Qc As Kc 3d] two pair, Aces and Sixes, for high
scottc25 shows [5h 6h 9d 4d] three of a kind, Sixes, for high and 7,6,5,4,A, for low
Shabazz Jenkins shows [5c 3h Qd 4h] a pair of Sixes, for high and 7,6,4,3,A, for low
scottc25 wins the high pot (14,789) with three of a kind, Sixes
Shabazz Jenkins wins the low pot (14,788) with 7,6,4,3,A
PinkyStinky stands up

Then 6th:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619479409: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1200/2400 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:30:25 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (70,531)
Seat 3: hellory (20,969)
Seat 4: lucko21 (32,629)
Seat 5: shamanalix (16,484)
Seat 6: Julkeus (46,200)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (38,187)
Shabazz Jenkins posts the small blind of 1,200
scottc25 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Tc 9d Qd Jh]
hellory folds
lucko21 folds
shamanalix calls 2,400
Julkeus folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 1,200
scottc25 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh 4c 9h]
Shabazz Jenkins checks
scottc25 checks
shamanalix bets 7,200
Shabazz Jenkins folds
scottc25 raises to 28,800
shamanalix calls 6,884, and is all in
scottc25 shows [Tc 9d Qd Jh]
shamanalix shows [9s 6h 9c 4h]
Uncalled bet of 14,716 returned to scottc25
*** TURN *** [Qh 4c 9h] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 4c 9h 2s] [8s]
scottc25 shows a straight, Queen high, for high
shamanalix shows three of a kind, Nines, for high
scottc25 wins the pot (35,368) with a straight, Queen high
shamanalix stands up
No low hand qualified

5th:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619562915: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1500/3000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:37:39 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (104,115)
Seat 3: hellory (16,169)
Seat 4: lucko21 (29,629)
Seat 6: Julkeus (39,600)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (35,487)
scottc25 posts the small blind of 1,500
hellory posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [8c 3c 9d 2d]
lucko21 folds
Julkeus folds
Shabazz Jenkins folds
scottc25 raises to 9,000
hellory raises to 16,169, and is all in
scottc25 calls 7,169
hellory shows [Jc As 4c Kh]
scottc25 shows [8c 3c 9d 2d]
hellory: gg
*** FLOP *** [7s 6h 7d]
*** TURN *** [7s 6h 7d] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [7s 6h 7d Jh] [5c]
hellory shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens, for high andhellory shows 7,6,5,4,A, for low
scottc25 shows a straight, Nine high, for high andscottc25 shows 7,6,5,3,2, for low
scottc25 wins the high pot (16,169) with a straight, Nine high
scottc25 wins the low pot (16,169) with 7,6,5,3,2
hellory stands up

4th:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619588044: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1500/3000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:39:50 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (126,284)
Seat 4: lucko21 (25,129)
Seat 6: Julkeus (38,100)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (35,487)
scottc25 posts the small blind of 1,500
lucko21 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Jc 4h Js 2s]
Julkeus folds
Shabazz Jenkins has 15 seconds left to act
Shabazz Jenkins folds
scottc25 raises to 9,000
lucko21: GL ME
gadzooks64 (Observer): lucktard
lucko21 raises to 25,129, and is all in
Easycure (Observer): I hope Scott wins it though - makes good press
scottc25 calls 16,129
lucko21 shows [Qd 7d Qc 2c]
scottc25 shows [Jc 4h Js 2s]
*** FLOP *** [9h 5c Jd]
*** TURN *** [9h 5c Jd] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [9h 5c Jd Ts] [Kh]
millerd33 (Observer): BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
lucko21 shows a pair of Queens, for high
scottc25 shows three of a kind, Jacks, for high
scottc25 wins the pot (50,258) with three of a kind, Jacks
lucko21 stands up
No low hand qualified

3rd:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619612434: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1500/3000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:42:01 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (152,913)
Seat 6: Julkeus (39,600)
Seat 8: Shabazz Jenkins (32,487)
Shabazz Jenkins posts the small blind of 1,500
scottc25 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [8c Jc 4h 3d]
Julkeus folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 1,500
scottc25: a little high now
scottc25 checks
*** FLOP *** [8d Jd 8h]
Shabazz Jenkins bets 3,000
scottc25 raises to 15,000
Shabazz Jenkins raises to 29,487, and is all in
scottc25 calls 14,487
Shabazz Jenkins shows [8s Tc 5c 7c]
scottc25 shows [8c Jc 4h 3d]
*** TURN *** [8d Jd 8h] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [8d Jd 8h 2s] [Th]
Shabazz Jenkins shows a full house, Eights full of Tens, for high
scottc25 shows a full house, Eights full of Jacks, for high
scottc25 wins the pot (64,974) with a full house, Eights full of Jacks
Shabazz Jenkins stands up
No low hand qualified

And then the last hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6619638744: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 1500/3000 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 0:44:23 ET - 2008/05/30
Seat 2: scottc25 (195,900)
Seat 6: Julkeus (29,100)
scottc25 posts the small blind of 1,500
Julkeus posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [7h Ac 6d 3c]
scottc25 calls 1,500
Julkeus raises to 9,000
millerd33 (Observer): not taking free money is gheyer
scottc25 calls 6,000
*** FLOP *** [6c 8h Jc]
Julkeus bets 18,000
pushmonkey72 (Observer): bah
scottc25 raises to 72,000
Easycure (Observer): shut up about it
Julkeus calls 2,100, and is all in
scottc25 shows [7h Ac 6d 3c]
Julkeus shows [4c 7c Ks 7s]
Uncalled bet of 51,900 returned to scottc25
*** TURN *** [6c 8h Jc] [Kc]
InstantTragedy (Observer): HA! Let THEM P:LAY!
*** RIVER *** [6c 8h Jc Kc] [5d]
scottc25 shows a flush, Ace high, for high andscottc25 shows 8,6,5,3,A, for low
Julkeus shows a flush, King high, for high andJulkeus shows 8,7,6,5,4, for low
scottc25 wins the high pot (29,100) with a flush, Ace high
scottc25 wins the low pot (29,100) with 8,6,5,3,A
Julkeus stands up
scottc25 stands up

Like I said, I run really good. It was great to get the TOC seat. The TOC is on 6/7 and I will be in Vegas already. I guess I can't play the Binion's shootout event that day then.

Summarizing the whole series I was fairly pleased with how I played. The Blogger Skills did not go well for me. The MATH was horrid (all 2 I played in). The Mookie I only played once (this past Wednesday). Riverchasers was a complete success. I only played in three of them and I final tabled all of them with a 1st, 2nd and 7th all in the month of May. I am not sure if I am going to play the Big Game on Sunday or not. Depends on if I win a token to use or not.

Laettner

Vegas Expectations

As of today I'm officially one week out from departure to Sin City, so I thought I'd write a little excerpt on what I'm looking for out there. This will be my first trip out there in 5 years without the wife. Usually this helps to curtail my instatiable poker appetite, which could be a bad thing. The last time that I went without her was before I played any poker so this marks the first trip with poker on the forefront. Shit this is a bad thing isn't it? Alright then WTF am I going to do? In honor of my wife I will make a list (cause she makes more thorough and comprehensive lists then anyone I know - read she organizes I do grunt work it's why we work well together). We'll check back on this list in a few weeks and see how I did.

List is in priority order.

1) Play both the Binion's PLO event on Sunday the 8th and the Caesar's OM8 event on Tuesday the 10th. I honestly don't care if these are the only two tournies I play. Yes I would like to sat into the WSOP PLO on Tuesday and if things go well then that is a suitable substitute.

2) Play some mediocum of poker at the Rio. This could be cash games but more then likely some STT's for lammers to get into the PLO on Tuesday. This is only a 1500 event so there is a shot there. Last year my Stud8 sat went down the tubes to the guy who kept calling completes with 9's showing so there are no unreasonable expectations here.

3) Play lots of 4/8 and 5/10 limit poker. OK, OK alot is unquantifiable. Let's see 5 days - tournament allotment time - minus drinking time - sleeping time. Let's say to log at least 25 hours at these limits for the trip. Seems reasonable.

4) Partake in many alcoholic beverages with a bevy of bloggers that I have never met. I am lucky enough to be spanning two blogger gatherings. The first wave with Columbo and Falstaff and the second wave with BamBam and friends. I like meeting new people and I like drinking. Hopefully this produces 2 solid nights at least of tossing back. If anyone is looking for a suggestion, I say the Piano Bar at NYNY. I've never had a bad time there and always end up shit-ty.

5) Eat an expensive piece of cow. Preferable warmed and still bleeding on the inside (that's medium rare for you hippy tree hugging vegetarians) [RANT] Animals are here for us to eat them because we are smarter then them and they taste good. Monkeys brains got bigger cause they ate meat so since I am smarter I eat meat, thank you for leaving more meat for me [/RANT]

6) Win (OK probably lose) some money in the pits. Ever since poker I don't play as much blackjack/pai gao/craps/whatever. It's fun to get back to that every now and then especially when at a table when people are winning and/or drunk. Let's try that.

Ok this seems like a sufficient list. We'll check back in 2 weeks and see how I did. Here's to meeting people I've never met and some I already have. Let's get drinks!

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow am I ever a fuckin card rack. Pretty much nuff said. I rode the cards to a win in Riverchasers tonight good for $240 and a TOC seat. I played a $3 NLHE at the same time and made the final table but finished 9th. This Thursday definitely tops last Thursday.

Ace King Can Lick My Balls

Man has this hand completely fucked me over in the last three events. Last hand of CHIMPS was AK less than QQ. Blogger Skills was AK less than KK (fuck you wvapoker :)). The Mookie was AK less than AA. When you have a stack of 10 BB's you pretty much have to shove with it. I don't think flat calling a 3x or 3.5x bet pre-flop is a viable option.

Monday night was the MATH and it did not go well for me. I am just not a good 6-max player. In this tourney you see a ton of 3-bets. I lost almost 1/2 of my chips in the 1st level when I raised to 90 with 55 and was called by the button. I lead for 150 on the flop and was raised to 450. It looked like a standard raise in this spot so I 3-bet it to 1000. He 4-bet shoved and I had to lay it down. I was out 1/2 hour in when I shoved with AQ and I ran into AK.

Tuesday night was Event #3 of CHIMPS. It was a $1 rebuy and I managed to get through the rebuy period for about 6 rebuys and the add-on. After the add-on I had 5200 in chips. A decent stack to play with good for 2nd/7 at the table. Until my bustout hand I did not play a hand where i had over 1k in chips in the pot (more like 600). With the blinds at 120/240 I decided to shove from late position with AK and ran into QQ. I did not improve and was shown the door in 11th good for zero points.

The Blogger Skill Series on Tuesday night was PLHE. I had a much better run in this one but still wound up with nothing to show for it. I busted in 21st place two short of the points (like that really matters now). 10 minutes in I raised with 98dd and got 2 callers. Flop comes 7,4,2dd and I call a pot sized bet from the BB and so does the other player. The turn is the 6s so now I have the open ender to go with the flush draw. Its checked to the last player who fired out 480 and I'm the only caller. I hit the flush on the end and lead for 1100 and am called by a flopped set.

The rest of the first hour was fairly uneventful except for the last 10 minutes. I managed to flop quads twice, getting paid off on one of them. Going to the break I had 7500 in chips. Nothing too interesting happens in the 2nd hour which I ended at 6k in chips. My bustout hand was courtesy of guest blogger wvapoker. I thought I had AK but I see that I had the Jackace. Who loses with that? Well, me.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6593140384: Skill Series (44660298), Table 9 - 300/600 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 23:56:42 ET - 2008/05/27
Seat 2: photojenn (6,240)
Seat 3: Wadzilla (8,150)
Seat 4: Chippy McStacks (9,814)
Seat 5: surflexus (14,543)
Seat 7: wvapoker (7,736)
Seat 8: scottc25 (5,848)
Seat 9: carmensincity (12,098)
wvapoker posts the small blind of 300
scottc25 posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Ad Jc]
carmensincity folds
photojenn folds
Wadzilla folds
Chippy McStacks raises to 1,814
surflexus folds
wvapoker calls 1,514
scottc25 has 15 seconds left to act
scottc25 raises to 5,848, and is all in
Chippy McStacks folds
wvapoker calls 4,034
scottc25 shows [Ad Jc]
wvapoker shows [Kd Kh]
*** FLOP *** [Kc 9d 9c]
*** TURN *** [Kc 9d 9c] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 9d 9c 8s] [5h]
scottc25 shows a pair of Nines
Chippy McStacks: gg
wvapoker shows a full house, Kings full of Nines
wvapoker wins the pot (13,510) with a full house, Kings full of Nines

Last night was the Mookie. Like usual lately I managed to get a top 5 stack in the first hour until I called a 3500 3-bet shove with the lovely fuckin AK again after I 2 bet to get knocked down to 4k in chips. In the second hour this interesting hand came up. I posted it over on CCN to see what people thought.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6605654079: The Mookie (49938093), Table 5 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:11:51 ET - 2008/05/28
Seat 1: Evy35 (2,460)
Seat 2: anguila (7,620)
Seat 3: riggstad (3,020)
Seat 4: jeciimd (2,145)
Seat 5: scottc25 (4,230)
Seat 6: Wadzilla (3,960)
Seat 7: actyper (4,950)
Seat 8: jamyhawk (3,375)
Seat 9: tasit (6,050)
anguila posts the small blind of 60
riggstad posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Qs Qd]
jeciimd folds
scottc25 calls 120
Wadzilla raises to 460
actyper folds
jamyhawk folds
tasit folds
Evy35 folds
anguila folds
riggstad folds
scottc25 calls 340
*** FLOP *** [5h 6d Qc]
scottc25 checks
Wadzilla checks
*** TURN *** [5h 6d Qc] [As]
scottc25 bets 500
Wadzilla has 15 seconds left to act
Wadzilla raises to 1,500

Your move???

About 20 minutes into the 3rd hour after maintaining my stack I got it in with AK (yes, again) and ran into AA. Fuck this!!!

Riverchasers is tonight and I will play that one. I'm leaning against playing the big game on Sunday. We shall see how the token chasing goes. So far not so good.

Laettner

T Minus 9 Days

My Poker Skillz

Snuffy invited me to play in the blogger skillz HORSE MTT a couple weeks ago while we were playing CHIMPS. I had a serious poker jones so I said, "What the hell!" After the first break he told me that if I made the final table I would have to blog about it. Well, I made the FT, but didn't blog about. I really can't recall hands like most people. Maybe I just suck at poker. I remember when people suck out on me, but rarely when I suck on them. That had to of happen a few times for me to build the stack that I had, because I was the chip leader for most of the tourney and finished 7th.

On to last night. I wanted to play the CHIMPS "crack smoking" event $1 NLHE Rebuy. I think I went off for at least 10 rebuys and the addon. I signed up for the PLHE Blogger Skillz, too. We got a 3K stack and I was patient. I had Snuffy to my immediate left to keep me inline, too. He was getting upset with me after he through away a couple small pairs to my opening raise in late position. We got involved in a pot HU when he was in the SB and I was on the button. I raised with AJ of hearts and he called with I think the 84 with the 4(d). The flop came 10, 8, x all diamonds. I CB 1/2 pot, he called. The turn brought the A(d). I fired again and Snuffy asked how big my diamond was and I said big enough, he folded.

I floated around 8k in chips for a long time. I got a stack, then reraised Chippy McStacks in late position with KK. He pushed his stacked in and I called, he had (I think) KJ with one diamond. He rivers a flush. I was back to 6K in chips. I make it to the FT with 15K in chips. After folding several marginal hands and am dealt AA after the break. The CL bets pot and I repot all-in. He calls and has JJ?. I double up, but end up finishing a respectable fifth. So two skillz MTTs and two final tables. Beginners Luck.

Live poker anyone?

For the last month or so I think someone has flipped my FTP doomswitch. I just can't seem to get any traction in any game I chose to play. If you couple this with the fact that over the last three weeks my poker time has been quiet limited ( I don't think I've played more the 12 hours which as the wife can attest to isn't very much), it doesn't make for the greatest state of mind. I usually like to play my way out of my slumps but that's not really an option right now. Until Mr. frantic eating random screaming child get's his schedule down (which is getting very close actually) I want to be able to keep the wonderful wife that is allowing me to go to vegas as happy as possible which means taking sed screaming child when her nerves look like they may explode.

In adding these factors together it makes me go from 0 to monkey tilt in 3.8 seconds every time I play. Which means I'm not having fun. Which means I make bad decisions. Then the inevitable bad beat happens. Which leads to more monkey tilt.

What does this mean? It means that I have very little desire to play before Vegas. I will try to play PS Tour on Sunday and Chimps next Tuesday. Maybe the donkament on Friday since I tend to do well there but I think that's about it. I'm looking forward to playing live (it's been longer then my normal stretch between AC trips for obvious reasons) and the thought of the Vegas poker bender makes online even less fun. All that being said, I'll probably still post more the Zooks. Just sayin.

The Plan for Vegas

Before I get to that I will do a quick recap of my last live session. I played a quick 90 minute 1/2 cash session the other day. I decided to play a little tighter than normal. I flopped sets twice, jacks and 9's, by limping in pre. With the jacks I check called a flop bet and check raised the turn. I shoved on the fiver for about 1/2 the pot and the other player folded. I was in position for the 9's and called the flop. The other player shoved the turn when he hit an underset. There were two other mildly interesting hands, once with QQ and once with 1010 where I was able to lose the minimum. I ended the session up $69.

Now the Vegas plans. I am getting in June 6th late in the afternoon, too late to play any tournaments that day. The bloggers are planning on playing mixed games that night at the MGM. I may stop by and do that but I definitely want to get in a single table sat or so over at the Rio. I am planning on playing in a tournament a day. At least that's the plan. If I am running good in other things such as cash games or single table sats I may change it up. Here is the plan though:

6/7 - Binions $150 NLHE Shootout
6/8 - Binions $150 PLO
6/9 - WSOP $1500 NLHE Shootout or Caesars $225 NLHE
6/10 - Binions $200 NLHE or Caesars $225 O8B
6/11 - Binions $150 Razz
6/12 - Some NLHE Event (Caesars, Binions, Golded Nugget or Venetian)
6/13 - WSOP $1500 Razz or some NLHE Event

Also sprinkled in one or two of those night I am going to play a mega satellite or two for the main event depending on how long I last in the tournaments. The megas start at 9pm each night. 2/5 NL will probably be non-existent for me when I am there this year. I will be sticking to the 1/2 games around town.

Double BOOM (continued)

Riverchasers was going on at the same time as AIPS so I played that one as well. I final tabled and finished this one in 7th two weeks ago. There were 88 runners and only the final table got paid. On the very first hand I limp UTG with A,K. It folds to the CO who raises to 155 and its folded back to me and I shove and he folds. OK I have a great image now cause the next hand in the BB I get a walk, woot! I also won the 3rd hand hitting top pair.

The deck continued to hit me hard for the first hour. I flopped a set, flopped trips and had A,A all in the first 15 minutes of the tournament. I already had my stack up to 5000. The last 45 minutes before the break were "uneventful" as I only flopped a set of kings, a set of jacks and hit trip jacks on the river. At the first break I had 6600.

At the 80/160 level a MP player open shoves for 3600 and I am in the CO with K,K. I called and he showed AKdd. The board didn't improve him and now I was up to 9500. At the 100/200 level I was on the button with A10cc and limped to see a 4-way flop of 10,6,2 rainbow. The BB shoved for 1900 and I called. He had 10,7 and I hung on to win the pot and increase the stack to 12k.

About a dozen hands later I flop the nut flush vs the nut straight to won some more chips:


After that hand I fold for about the next 15 minuted until I get A,A UTG and raise to 800 when playing 150/300. A short stack shoves 1800 with J,J and I accumulate some more chips when the board bricks.

Leading up to the final table I don't get involved in anything too interesting and the starting stacks were as follows:

Seat 1: NumbBono (10,075)
Seat 2: SirFWALGMan (13,294)
Seat 3: scottc25 (23,309)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (49,872)
Seat 5: dwal78 (74,710)
Seat 6: NCDeaton (20,550)
Seat 7: Astin (21,984)
Seat 8: PirateLawyer (38,425)
Seat 9: lightning36 (11,781)

Final table play was pretty standard. Raise and a 3-bet shove were the norm. We were down to 7 people before i played a significant pot. At 600/1200 I raised to 4000 with K,K. I was put all-in and called. He had 9,9 and I got the double up to 46,000, Here were the stacks:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6526903538: Riverchasers Online Tour (49262698), Table 8 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:54:20 ET - 2008/05/22
Astin: gg - Oh he said this way too early. Down to 600 at 600/1200.
Seat 1: NumbBono (9,600)
Seat 3: scottc25 (46,468)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (46,409)
Seat 5: dwal78 (106,348)
Seat 6: NCDeaton (18,050)
Seat 7: Astin (600)
Seat 8: PirateLawyer (36,525)

The next 50 hands or so it went raise and take it and I stayed pretty even in chips. Astin made one hell of a comeback and was the chip leader with 4 people left when this sick hand goes down:



Wow I just walked into a top 2 after that hand. Heads-up here were the chip counts:

Seat 3: scottc25 (63,336)
Seat 7: Astin (200,664)

We played fairly small in the beginning of heads-up seeing a lot of flops. About 15 hands into heads-up I got the double-up hand:



From there it was downhill for me. The very next hand I lost around 13k when I had to dump A,K on the river. I lost a big pot with I flopped 2nd pair and thought it was good when the board paired on the turn. Nope, he had trips and I lost 40k in that pot which set-up the final pot of the tourney:



2nd Was good for $170 something .I really would have liked to get that freeroll seat. I could have picked a better spot to shove at the end though. At least wait till I am holding top pair to make that play. Oh well, live and learn.

With only 5 more events left in BBT3 I am going to have to play all of them to have a shot at the May leaderboard. I am in 27th and way behind. I would pretty much have to FT all of them. GG me. Just try and get a win in the remaining events for the TOC.

Double BOOM (Almost)

Last night I played in AIPS and Riverchasers. Both events started at the same time and it ended up being a very late night, which is a great thing.

AIPS was a $2 rebuy event. I did my part to pump up the prize pool. I kept shoving with connectors and middle aces only to see my opponent having A,A K,K and A,K repeatedly. On my 10th rebuy I was finally able to get the long awaited double-up when I had 76hh and limped in late position. It was checked to the river when I hit the flush. The BB lead for a pot-sized bet and I shoved for 1600. The flush was good and now I can stop playing like a complete mook (sorta). At the break I did the add-on so I was in for a total of $25. With 12th place paying $25.05 I need to hit that park to break even.

At the 80/160 level I pucked up A8cc and raised to 400. The CL at the table called and we saw a A,J,9 flop. I checked and he bet 800. I raised half my stack to 2000 still leaving me an out of he shoves. He folded and I was now up to 6200 and i really good shape. Blinded down to 5k at the 100/200 level I pick up 98cc from the sb and call a shorter stacks raise to 500. Flop comes 10 high all clubs and i lead for 1k. The short stack shoves for 2800 and I call. He has 77 and is drawing virtually dead. After that hand I was up to 8500 and was well on my way to a deep placing.

With 9k in chips and 200/400 I took my one bad beat of the tourney. A player with 3500 raises to 1100 in LP and I put him all-in with J,J. He turns over A,4 and winds up with the flush. A sputter along for a long time and the blinds get to 600/1200 when I get 9,9. There is a raise to 3600 and I shove. He calls and shows Q,4 and I get the double up to over 20k in chips. Five hands later I get 9,9 again and call a pot sized raise. Flop comes K,9,X and I shove over a 1/2 pot bet and pick-up a nice pot.

The bubble took quite a while and I pretty much hung around. By this time it was getting late in Riverchasers and my concentration was sitting over there. When we made the final table I had 35k in chips with the blinds at 1500/3000. Before I knew it we were down to 7 handed and I was the short stack by quite a bit. We lost one more player and after a dozen hands here were the stacks:

Seat 1: Rant2112 (161,183)
Seat 2: spinn1 (41,746)
Seat 3: scottc25 (19,338)
Seat 5: LV_Crapsman (128,263)
Seat 7: Zerkaboid (70,794)
Seat 8: rascony (196,676)

Yep I'm pretty much in deep shit here. I was able to get a double-up when I have 4,4 in the BB and call a 3x raise from the SB. Flop comes J64ccc. I shove and he calls with the FD and I survive. About a dozen hands later my bustout hand comes up:

Seat 1: Rant2112 (139,383)
Seat 2: spinn1 (34,954)
Seat 3: scottc25 (42,876)
Seat 5: LV_Crapsman (92,917)
Seat 7: Zerkaboid (83,794)
Seat 8: rascony (224,076)
Rant2112 antes 600
spinn1 antes 600
scottc25 antes 600
LV_Crapsman antes 600
Zerkaboid antes 600
rascony antes 600
rascony posts the small blind of 2,500
Rant2112 posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to scottc25 [Jd Qd]
spinn1 folds
scottc25 raises to 15,000
LV_Crapsman folds
Zerkaboid folds
rascony folds
Rant2112 calls 10,000
*** FLOP *** [7s 9s Js]
Rant2112 checks
scottc25 bets 27,276, and is all in
Rant2112 calls 27,276
scottc25 shows [Jd Qd]
Rant2112 shows [Tc As]
*** TURN *** [7s 9s Js] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [7s 9s Js 4s] [Ac]
scottc25 shows a pair of Jacks
Rant2112 shows a flush, Ace high
Rant2112 wins the pot (90,652) with a flush, Ace high
scottc25 stands up

Out in 6th for $63 and change. After a costly start I was able to work a relatively deep stack late into the tourney and get a final table out of it. I'll take it.

Since this post is getting pretty long I will go into Riverchasers in the next post. Better result but a lot more disappointing.

Thats Not How Its Supposed To Go

I took Thursday afternoon off and decided to get another live tournament in. Here was the structure:

$60 buy-in for t2000
$5 dealer toke for t1000
$20 re-buy (if under t2000) for t2000
$20 add-on for t3000

In the early going I tried to see some flops for free and whiffed every time. About the beginning of level 3 I had to do a re-buy. A couple hands later I limped with presto for 200 and one player raised to 800. I called to see a 10,5,2 flop. I called his shove and my hand held vs his J,J. I didn't play any more hands before the break and with the add-on I was up to 11k at the break.

First hand back from the break at 200/400/25 I limped from EP with 65hh. Only the big blind was left who raised to 1200 and I called. Flop comes K,10,6. Check check and the turn was a 5. Check Check. The river was a 9. He checked and I bet 1500. He called and showed the A,10. Down to 8k. The next hand I get 65cc and raise it up to 1300. I get 5 CALLERS to see the flop of J65ss. I lead for 3500. Next to act who has me covered shoves. Next player shoves with 4800 and the next with 4500 shoves. No way I can lay this down and I call. Big stack has AJss. Next player has QJ and the last one has 5,5. oh fuck me. Turn is a Q and the river a blank. Four all-ins and nobody is eliminated. After the hand I am sitting on 4200.

In the 300/600/50 level I shove my 5x stack from the SB and win the blinds. Next hand I get A,J. One limper, I shove, one of the blinds shoves and the limper calls. Blind has K,10 and the other has A,9. Flop K,9,x and I am done. Not the way its supposed to work.

Riverchasers and AIPS coming up next. Give me a few....

Full Tilt Poker Mini-Series

How kewl is this!?!?!?

Binion's started doing something similar last year in Vegas. Snuffy, Snarf and I plan to play at least one Binion's event when we are out there in two weeks.

I'm going to try to play some of these as well:

1 May 30th 15:20 $100 + $9 PL Hold’em $20,000
2 May 31th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $15,000
3 June 2nd 15:20 $15 + $1.50 PL Hold’em $4,000
4 June 2nd 20:20 $50 + $5 Mixed Hold’em $10,000
5 June 3rd 15:20 $10 + $1 NL Hold 'em Rebuy $8,000
6 June 3rd 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Omaha Hi/Lo $3,000
7 June 4th 15:20 $20 + $2 NL Hold 'em $10,000
8 June 4th 20:20 $100 + $9 Mixed Hold’em $20,000
9 June 5th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em 6max $7,500
10 June 5th 20:20 $25 + $2.50 OE $2,500
11 June 6th 15:30 $50 + $5 NL Hold 'em Shootout $25,000
12 June 6th 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Limit Hold 'em $3,000
13 June 7th 15:20 $25 + $2.50 NL Hold 'em $10,000
14 June 7th 20:20 $100 + $9 Stud $10,000
15 June 8th 15:20 $10 + $1 NL Hold 'em $5,000
16 June 8th 20:20 $20 + $2 Omaha Hi/Lo $4,000
17 June 9th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em Shootout $7,500
18 June 9th 20:20 $50 + $5 Razz $5,000
19 June 10th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha $3,000
20 June 10th 20:20 $20 + $2 Limit Hold 'em $4,000
21 June 11th 15:30 $50 + $5 NL Hold 'em $25,000
22 June 11th 20:20 $30 + $3 HORSE $5,000
23 June 12th 15:20 $20 + $2 NL Hold 'em $7,500
24 June 12th 20:20 $25 + $2.50 HA $3,000
25 June 13th 15:20 $100 + $9 NL Hold 'em Heads-Up $10,000
26 June 13th 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Razz $2,000
27 June 14th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $7,500
28 June 14th 20:20 $50 + $5 PL Omaha Rebuy $15,000
29 June 15th 15:20 $30 + $3 NL Hold 'em $15,000
30 June 15th 20:20 $100 + $9 Limit Hold 'em $15,000
31 June 16th 15:20 $25 + $2.50 NL Hold 'em 6max $10,000
32 June 17th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $6,000
33 June 17th 20:20 $50 + $5 Stud Hi/Lo $5,000
34 June 18th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha Rebuy $5,000
35 June 18th 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Stud $2,000
36 June 19th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $7,500
37 June 19th 20:20 $100 + $9 Omaha Hi/Lo $15,000
38 June 20th 15:20 $20 + $2 PL Hold’em $5,000
39 June 21st 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $7,500
40 June 22nd 21:30 $500 + $35 HORSE $50,000
41 June 22nd 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Mixed Hold’em $5,000
42 June 23rd 15:20 $10 + $1 NL Hold 'em $3,000
43 June 24th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 PL Omaha/8 $3,000
44 June 25th 15:20 $10 + $1 NL Hold 'em Rebuy $5,000
45 June 25th 20:20 $25 + $2.50 Razz $3,000
46 June 26th 15:30 $50 + $5 NL Hold 'em 6max $25,000
47 June 26th 20:20 $15 + $1.50 Stud/8 $2,000
48 June 27th 15:20 $20 + $2 NL Hold 'em $6,000
49 June 28th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $5,000
50 June 29th 15:20 $100 + $9 PL Omaha $20,000
51 June 29th 20:20 $15 + $1.50 HORSE $3,000
52 June 30th 15:20 $15 + $1.50 NL Hold 'em $5,000
53 July 1st 15:20 $15 + $1.50 Limit Shootout $3,000
54 July 5th 18:00 $100 + $9 NL Hold 'em $250,000

Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2nd in Riverchasers
6th in AIPS

I so wanted that freeroll seat. Details in the morning.

Two Weeks and Counting

Two weeks till Vegaspalooza. I am so ready for this trip. My one chance to play poker for a week straight. I am going into it with confidence. I haven't been playing this good in quite some time, possibly ever. Lets hope that continues for another few weeks or longer. My online satellite play has been pretty good so maybe that will lead me to the megas and a main event seat.

With all of the good poker I am officially in the worst shape of my life. I weighed in last weekend at 203.6. OMG WTF am I doing!!!! The diet starts today. When Vegas comes around we shall see how I do. I am bringing running clothes to at least make an attempt to work out when I'm there.

In CHIMPS on Tuesday night we had a pathetic turnout of 11 people. I ended up finishing 2nd and moved up to 2nd overall early on in season three. With around 7-8 people left i got the double-up when i had K,K,7,6 and called a pot sized bet. Flop comes 6,6,4. I call a decent sized bet and it all get in on the turn. My opponent turns over A,A,6,x. Uh oh. The 5 saved me on the river. Heads up I was dealt a cooler when on the turn I had flush and straight draws. I hit the 2nd nut straight on the river only to see SmBoatDrinks turn over the nuts. That one hurt.

I am taking this afternoon off to go play another tournament. I need some more live tournament play before the trip out west. AIPS and Riverchasers tonight as well. Should be a poker filled day.

What Have I Learned Today

When the Opie and Anthony radio show was still on the free airwaves they used to close the last 10 minutes of each show taking calls for "What I learned today". I figure that this is an appropriate way to make my first post after a brief hiatus. So after 2 weeks off from work for the Mrs and I to make our virgin attempt at child rearing, here's what I've learned.

1) Desire to play poker and deal with online monkeys is directly proportional to the amount if sleep achieved on a given night. When she was still in the hospital the first week and I slept at home the first 2 nights, I used the hospital's free internet to play while her and the chitlin slept. The second week when we were all home, I could give a fuck and I don't think I even turned on the laptop for 3 days.

2) Having a sleeping child on your chest makes it harder to go on super monkey tilt. Notice I did say not impossible, cause it can still happen, but it is harder and you dare not move when it happens. Which may lead to a heart attack for me by internalizing this anger but we'll see. It is, however, near impossible to throw remotes, pillows or anything else in the danger zone in this condition.

3) Bad beat takes a new meaning when you play and SNG and get peed on at the same time. Then when you bubble, you feel alot worse. The caveat here is that when you miss hands to change the diaper and the outfit, sometimes it benefits you. Other times you fold KK before you can react. Catch 22 there.

4) After poker breaks you and you are on super monkey tilt, a happy child can chase that away. Just don't make the mistake of going back to poker, cause you'll be miserable again in 2.3 seconds. It's usually then that sed child will start screaming for no reason thereby doubling the cumulative effect of the poker bad beat.


I did play a little last night with Zooks. Some of her favorite PLHE. Ended up down a little on the night, but took some terrible beats on the river. Sans those beats I could have been up a coupla buyins. Tonight is AIPS that I am registered to play so I will probably play Riverchasers as well since it is at the same time. We'll see how that goes.

PLHE

Yeah, I'm going to talk about Pot Limit Hold'em.

Get back here damnit you silly NLHE snob!

I don't know about you guys but when I play $25NLHE I find myself at the most absurdly tight tables ever. Obviously these people are not interested in gamboling. I'm sure a lot of this is a product of the site I play (Full Tilt Poker, home of the tightest, most proficient low limit grinders on the internet), the limit I play (mostly .10/.25) as well as the UIGEA (worst piece of legislation ever dreamed up by some bible thumping, uptight, asswipe of a Republican ever).

We all know a lot of the fish went away when it became much more difficult to get money online. But, apparently, that hasn't dissuaded some people because somebody is literally making $$ playing online poker. Somebody =/= to most of the people you or I know but the rumor has it that there's $$$$$ to made playing online poker. Rumor. Conjecture.

I noticed one of the semi-pro players from Full Tilt Forum playing at a PLHE table the other day and I was amused. These guys are usually all about the NLHE.

Last night I fired up a .25/.50 PLHE mostly because I'm not terribly comforable playing NLHE at that level even though I have the bankroll for it and because I noticed the table stats were quite juicy.

Every PLHE table listed had a VPIP of 30% or more and the average pot size was reasonable in contrast to most of the $25NL tables where you can't find a table over 30% unless it's the FTF table and somebody is donking it up huge. I'm starting to think that players are lulled by the Pot Limit part thinking that they aren't likely to go broke like they will at a NLHE table. They play a lot more speculative hands as well as some horrible hands.

I noticed these tables have more of the LAGs that we all love. I had two tables open with at least 3 players over 40% VPIP and sometimes even as high as 70% VPIP. I definitely liked these tables. I left up a buy-in with little or no effort at all. I haven't had an experience like that at a NLHE tables since the Party Poker days.

Surprisingly, a lot of these players bought in short. That made it even easier to get them pot committed with the rags they were prone to play. Little do they realize that it's even easier to get all their chips in the pot when they buy in short at a table with a 40% VPIP.

I may never play $25NL again.

If you, too, are finding yourself at table after table of TAGs or Rocks you might try out the PLHE tables. I think you'll find the gambolers have taken up residence there.

Back to my Old Ways???

I was able to play the $40 tournament at the track. Same as before you get 3000 to start with an optional re-buy/add-on for $40 and another 3000. I decided to not take the immediate re-buy and see what happened. Actually nobody at my table took the re-buy right away. There were a total of 40 people in the tournament and the top 5 would get paid.

On the very first hand I picked up A,K and raised to 200 and won the blinds. About five hand later I picked-up A,A and raised it up and got no callers. On to the second level I had around 3500 in chips I got A,A again and raised after two limpers. Three people called to a Q,J,7 flop. I put out a 3/4 sized pot bet and took it down. Three hands later what do I get? You guessed it A,A. I raised to 400 and received one caller and took down the pot with a c-bet. At the end of the 3rd level and the first break I had 11k in chips. I decided to take the add-on to get to 14k. If I don't then I am sitting with a slightly above average stack. I think it was clearly the right move.

Coming back from the break there were around 35 people left. The very first hand at the 200/400/25 level I get A,A on the button and raise to 1300 winning the blinds and antes. Four times in 1+ hours. At this point I was playing a lot of pots. Mixing in raises with limps and taking down a number of pots. In levels 4-6 I think I eliminated 4-5 people. By the end of the 7th level I had the stack up to 30k and there were 14 people left with the average stack being around 15k. With the blinds going to 500/1000/100 and then 1000/2000/200 and 2000/4000/500 I still needed to accumulate some chips.


At the start of level 8 I limped for 1k with 86hh and a short stack shoves for 2200. One player from the blind calls and I call. The player in the blind I soon find out is an idiot. The flop comes 10,8,4. Check Check. The turn is a 3 and the blind bets out 1k. Slow playing a big pair or just hit a set???? I called. The river is a J. He bets 2500. I said "You better fuckin have it". Something still didn't feel right and I called. He tabled A,K for jack shit and the SS had A,3 and I won the pot. What a tard. It was obvious he didn't know how to play tournament poker. What should I expect for an $80 tournament though.

In the same level I had a short stack double through be when AK < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">UTG and raised to 3200 and he was the lone caller. The flop comes 10 high. He leads for 5400 and I fold showing the A,K. He tables the same hand. Nice bet. Here is the start of the downfall. I lost some chips to the tard at the table (read Mr. Dry Side Pot bluffer) when the key hand happens. I have 10,6hh in the BB (1k/2k/200) and the tard limps. I check and see a flop of 6,5,4. Check check. Turn is an Ace. I lead for 5k and he shoves for 12k more. I really think mu 6 is good here. Considering how he played I really should dump this hand here and leave myself with around 18k in chips and find a better spot. Well, I didn't and made the hero call when he tables the 8,7 for the nuts and I'm drawing dead.

No with 6k left I am in shove mode. Two hands later on the button I shove J9cc after a cutoff limper and everyone folds. Next hand there is 2 limpers (including tard) and I ship it in with A,J. One person shoves and tard calls. Tard turns over K,10 and the other player has A,5. Flop comes 10,5,x and BOOM I'm out the door in 11th place.

This is how I used to play these damn things. Build a decent stack early. Let some short stacks double through and then get caught a couple times. Then the one hand cripples me and I never win a hand after that. Shot, if I win that last hand I am around 25k again and in fine shape headed to the final table. Instead I bust and have to bitch about it on the interwebs.

Before the tourney i did sit down at a 2/4 game with a bunch of blue hairs. Seriously, EVERYONE at the table was at least 30 years older than I was. I was taking their Social Security money. This is the only way I'm gonna get paid Social Security money in my lifetime. Thanks Dubya. /rant. I ended up winning two pots with trips and left up $41. At least it paid for half of my buy-in.

My tournament game is feeling pretty strong leading up to Vegas. Hopefully I can get deep in an event or two when I'm there and try and win some serious cash instead of a possible 3 figure score here at home. Yep, 1st place in that tourney was only $900.

Cash Play

I got two sessions on Wednesday. Both were 1/2 200 max tables. In the first session I won a total of one pot in three hours. Thats right, one fuckin' pot. When I was down to $100 I re-bought for another hundy. I found all new ways to lose with A,K (suited and off) I shoved, I raised, I limped. In total I had A,K around 10 times on the day and won with it a total of two times. Down to my last $37 I shoved with it and received 3 callers. I ended up with the four flush and got the quadruple-up. Those chips were short lived and I ended the first session down around $300 after 4 1/2 hours.

I decided to go over to Canada and play the 5/5 NL game at Fallsview. One unfortunate thing is that my co-worker was not allowed into Canada. After we were standing there for five minutes I knew that his DUI thing was going to come up. We had to go over to another building where we sat for another 20 minutes before he got called up. Five minutes later we were walking back to the US. I could have went on but fuck it, I will play back at Seneca.

After dinner I sat down for another 5 hour session. This was one hell of a rollercoaster session. 200 to 350 to 150 to 350 to 100 to 250 to zero. I was constantly making big hands followed by massive coolers. I have to admit that I really did not play well. Why I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was lack of sleep the night before, I don't know. In total on the day I lost $500.

One good side note is that when I lost the $200 it was 1am and the game was about to break so I didn't re-buy. To blow off some steam I played in the casino. Playing 4 card poker I ran $120 into $725 in less than an hour and actually had a profitable trip. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHIMPS and Blogger Skills

Tuesday night was the start of CHIMPS. We had a disappointing turnout of only 14 people (yes I will get the standings updated soon). I kinda had a feeling that the attendance would be down. We took two weeks off and counting the low turnout for the championship event that makes 4 weeks between events for most of the people. If the attendance stays down this year I will probably kill the series at the end of season three.

With a double stack of 3000 chips I picked-up A,K suited on the first and and 3-bet from the blinds. The board bricked out and I was down to 2300 right off the bat. I treaded water for the next hour or so never getting higher than the starting stack. Down to the final table I had it as high as 3200 at one point. With around 10x the BB I was in pushbot mode. With 7 left I finally got and K,J ran into A,10 and I was out.

At the same time as CHIMPS the Blogger Skill Series event was HOE. Perfect. There were 67 runners so you had to make the final two tables to get points. I increased steadily early and eventually the blinds caught up and I was a short stack. I would tread water in Holdem and Omaha8 and the clean up in Stud8. Someone commented on my Stud8 skills during the final few tables. Damn it, how do they know that. I was short with 24 people left and shipped it in during Omaha8 and was busted in 24th.

I stayed up and raised Snarf and wvapoker who were still alive. Snarf ended up bowing out in 12th place. He was a short stack for a long time and with 3 tables left was able to get a key double-up or two to make it deep. wva with around 40 people left won a couple huge pots including eliminating two people in one hand was had the chip lead. He held on to the chips and made it to the final table before being eliminated in 7th place. Congrats on the finish in his first blogger tournament. Hopefully look for him to put up a guest post the next few days.

Cash games yesterday were a disaster but I ended up breaking even for the day. Look for that post plus a border crossing story tomorrow.

Ring Games

I haven't been playing ring for quite a while now.

I honestly can't recall why I started playing it again but I did. Maybe it was all those little smilies faces that FTP is using for their Happy Hour tables. Nothing like getting double player points to get the players to the tables.

Now, if it's been ages since I played any ring it's been since the dark ages that I've played any NLHE. Something made me drag all my friends to the $25 NLHE tables the other night. Maybe it was because it was a Sunday Night, maybe it was a full moon, or just maybe I flew under the Doomswitch Radar but I actually left up over more than a buyin. Woooooooot!

Bolstered by my success at the NL tables I fired up my usual 1/2 limit tables. I think I broke even for the night. Not a bad result but certainly not a good one. I'm trying to prepare myself for some live limit poker in Vegas but I know in the back of my mind that $3/6 and $4/8 live limit poker are only related to online $1/2 in that the game played is poker. The resemblance ends there. I supposed I should really be playing at the 25/50¢ tables if I really want to get practice for Vegas.

Happy Hour was on again this afternoon and I think I've finally defeated the Windows gremlins that had been plaguing my laptop so I fired up the 1/2 LHE again when this hand came up. Nothing like hitting runner runner to tilt your opponent.

NeverBluffs: lucky sob
gadzooks64: yeah that was gross
gadzooks64: thank ftp

Reader Viewers click through for hand replayer.

I'm sure he'll get over it in time. Either that or hunt me down for eternity or until he wins it back and then some.

All I can say is, "Nanner nanner, glwt! Kiss my A$$ RNG! :P"

Niagara Falls Again

I flew in yesterday morning for a couple days of work and am staying at the Seneca Niagara Casino. I got to the tables at around 7:30 last night playing some $1/$2 $200 max. It was a new table and I sat on my hands watching the play for the first two laps before I finally got a playable hand. I had A,K on the button and raised it to $12 after 4 limpers. Two of them called and we saw a flop of 10,6,3 rainbow. It was checked to me and I bet $15 and got one caller. The turn was a 9 and it went check check. River 8 check check and I have the winner. The other player had 4,2 off. Nice hand maam.

I literally didn't pick-up a hand or play many hands for the next two hours. I bled all the way down to $85 and re-bought for another $100. I killed that down to $98 before I won my 2nd hand of the night when I called a pre-flop raise of $12 with 7c6c. 3 handed to the flop of 6,3,2 the pre-flop raiser c-bets to $40. I ship it in and it goes fold fold and I win.

Not much else happens till about 2 laps before I leave. I get Ad,Qc in late position and call a pre-flop raise of $12. Four handed to the flop of Ac,Jc,4h the raiser makes it $25 to go and I call. The turn is the 10c. The raiser open shoves having me covered (I have around $125 left). Soooo many outs, what to do. I end up calling and the raiser had A,10 for the turned two pair. I hit the King in the river to win the pot and two laps later cash out for $343 good for a $43 profit after 3 hours.

The game was an interesting one. The standard raise was to $12. There was a good mix of loose players and nits. No chance to play tonight because of CHIMPS and the Blogger Skill Series. I should get an extended session in tomorrow though.

Home Game and Race for the Hundy

Before the monthly home game on Saturday we had the Race for the Hundy. One of the co-hosts and a part time host competed in a 1 mile match race for $100. I shot the video. A lot of the comments received back so far are "Glad there was music put in, otherwise I would have fallen asleep." Can't agree more. Congrats to Cosenza for winning and to Fasso for competing even knowing that he was going to lose. Buy out next time!

No a whole lot of excitement in the home game. We played the usual 2/4 and NL or PL games were .25/.25 (some capped, some not). I built up a little in the early going as high as $140 from my original $100. Most of that was from a couple 2-7 hands. When 3:00 rolled around I was still up around 20 and I multi-tabled online at the same time . I was playing a couple of freerolls for my neighbor. I busted out early from one but lasted bast the break in the other. The latter was for a WSOP seat and I ended up finishing 400 something out of 1300.

After that lack of concentration I was down around $40 for the day. I made a rally late and posted a whopping profit of $6 on the day, not even enough to cover the pizza we ordered. There was really only one interesting hand on the day that I can remember. We were playing 5 card stud (zzzzzzzzzz) when I had the (J)Q. Fasso completed with the A showing and I was the only caller. On 3rd street I caught a K and Fasso a low card (7 maybe). I bet out, he raised and I 3-bet and he called. 4th gave me a 10 (j,q,k,10) and Fasso caught another baby. I bet and he called. 5th street I hit an 8 (read: nothing) and Fasso caught another unpaired card. I bet. Fasso thought for a second and folded. I showed the bluff and raked a decent pot. In order for this play to work the first ingredient is to pull it on a person that is capable of folding. Fasso is capable of making the fold so I thought it was a good spot. Probably won't get away with that one again though.

Catching Up - More Live Play

After work on Friday I took the two mile drive over to Tampa Bay Downs to get in some live poker. I really need to play some more tournaments before Vegas comes up. I played in their $85 tournament ($40 buy-in,$40 add-on,$5 dealer bonus) and you start with 6k in chips. In the first hour (3 levels) I think I won two pots. One was with 5,3 from the blinds when I rivered a straight when the board was checked down till the end when I made a smallish bet and got called. The other hand was from the blinds again and I won a 4-way pot with king high. Woot! At the first break I had around 4k in chips.

In the second hour I won a total of one pot where I had to bluff at it with air. That was the extent of my pots won. I was knocked out in the 6th level (400/800/50) when I had 2600 in chips left. First card I saw in middle position was an ace and I shoved. The SB called with 3,3. My other card happened to be a 7. I bricked out and was bounced.

After that fun I hopped into a 1/2 NL game. The gave was uber loose passive. In the first 45 minutes I think I saw 3 pre-flop raises with tow of them being to $5. That's it. I was BS'ing with the guy to my right when I told him I was raising hte next hand no matter what I had from the SB. As usual 4 limpers to me and i have the A,7 and raise to $11, one of the EP limpers calls and everyone else folds. Flop comes A,J,8hh. I lead for $15 and get called fairly quickly. I put him on a flush draw. The turn is an off-suit 4. I go for the check raise and he bets $15. I have $52 behind and raise it to $45 leaving just $7 behind. He thinks and calls. I bet the rest dark when the off-suit 7 hits giving me two pair. He calls and table A,Q. Wow. How bad did he play this hand pre-flop and on the flop? He limps with A,Q in EP and then flat calls a raise with 3 other people to act behind him. HE then hits his flop and doesn't raise me. IF he pops me on the flop I think it is an easy fold for me. I gave him a bad beat story to tell at least.

I ended up leaving the table up $90 because my name was called for a $65 SNG. I wanted to play one of these cause I need to get back in the habit of playing them to be prepared for the STT's at the WSOP. You get 2000 in chips and 10 minute levels when you give the dealer a $5 bonus (instead of 1500). Great racket for the dealers. I played pretty standard and worked my stack up to 4k with 5 left. There was one person with a higher stack than me at that point. I knocked out 5th when a SS shoved into my BB when I had K,K and now me an the other guy were getting close in chips with two other short stacks. One of the SS guys tripled up. When we knocked out the bubble boy the stacks were fairly close (9k, 7k me and 4k) After a couple hands we were all close in chips and decided to chop it up 3 ways. I had the lead and was by far the best player at the table but I had to get out of there and pick my son up.

All told I ended up winning a little over $100.

Back At It

T minus 28 days until Vegas. Please let the hot streak continue.

I played a bit online last night. First time playing since Sunday. I started off playing two WSOP Step 1's out of boredom. I busted out of one of them in short order when my draw didn't come home. In the other one in the second level I flopped a flush draw with a gutter. Good enough to go with in these turbos. I hit the fluhs on the turn and was up to 3000 right away. I was able to coast down to 4 players and picked off some short stacks to get the advance to step 2. I played the step 2 and with the blinds at 75/150 and still 8 people left I lost a coin flip and was done.

I played in the BBT3 Challenge last night which was the $10+$1 Riverchasers Online Poker Tour NLHE double stack. In the early going I picked-up Q,Q. There was a raise and a re-raise ahead of me. They way these things play a 3-bet doesn't mean a whole lot. There are a ton of these plays happening. I decided to 4-bet it. The original raiser folded and the 3-bet called. The flop comes 10 high and the other player shoves. I just can't fold in this spot. I called and the other player shows J,J and I get the double-up and in great shape early.

After that hand I bounced between 4k and 6k until the first break. In the second hour when the blinds got up there I decided to run a bluff against the chip leader at the table and lost about 2k on the hand dropping me to 5k. With the blinds around 125/250 and Zooks at my table to my immediate right she shoved from the button for 3k. I had J,J in the SB and called. Zooks had A,2 and didn't catch up and I now had 8k and was in the top 10 with 45 people left (out of 85 runners).

Towards the end of the second hour and the third hour we are working down to the last two tables. I didn't get anything remotely playable. If I 3-bet any hand I am pretty much committed. Down to 22 players I pick-up back to back hands and win the blinds and antes. Two hands later I get Q,Q and shoved over a big stack raise who called showing A,10. I was up to 29k and was all the way up to 2nd in chips just like that. Down to two tables and with only the FT getting paid I picked-up nothing and pretty much folded to the final table. I had to make a couple shoves when I had 10 bb's but wasn't called. Down to the final table I was sitting 5th in chips.

We lost two of the short stacks fairly quickly. Down to 7 there was someone all-in for less than the BB UTG. 5 handed to the flop someone bet and everyone folded. The short stack had 3,3 and turned the two outer to stay alive. I am sitting on 20k and the blinds at 1k/2k was in push-fold mode. This goes on for around 10 minutes when I am sitting on 21k and the blinds at 1500/3000. An EP player who has me covered raises to 7k. Its folded to me and I shove the mortal nuts of A,J. The other player who has me covered by around 15k calls with the Ac3c. The flop brings a 3 and I am out the door in 7th.

Small pay day ($31) but I really needed some points for the overall standings. I was 0-6 coming into this one.

FTW

Slut tour victory last night in limit hold-em. After having two hours of sleep the night before I actually fell asleep during the tournament in the first hour. I think I woke up the next hand though so its not like I missed a lot. I may have to start doing this more often. That put me in the lead for the season. Hmm...

1) CHIMPS Season Champ
2) Slut Tour Champ?
3) Bracelet?

Natural progression, right?


BTW, congrats Snarf on the baby boy. Could have picked a better first name though.

WSOP Mega Satellites

The WSOP has announced the structure for all of their mega satellites into the Main Event. They are having daily $300 (Mon-Thu) and $500 (Fri-Sun) megas at 3pm. At 9pm the have the $1000 nightly megas. The structure is as follows:

$300 - 2k in chips - 1 seat for every 34.4 players
$500 - 4k in chips - 1 seat for every 20.7 players
$1000 - 6k in chips - 1 seat for every 10.4 players

The structure is the same in all of them (30 minute rounds)
25/50
50/100
100/200
100/200/25
200/400/50
300/600/75
400/800/100
and so on

It can also be seen by clicking here.


The structures look pretty standard. If they do not have enough people they give all of the money to 1st place. I highly doubt they will give away any seats during the $300 megas. I am guessing that by the end of the first week they will switch all of them to $500's.

I am planning on setting aside between $1000 and $1500 to play one table satellites and trying to get into 2-3 of the $1k megas. I think if I can get into three of them I have a decent shot at taking one of em down for a seat. Now I just have to remember how I did back in '06 and improve just a little bit. I wouldn't even mind bubbling and getting some cash, as long at its over $5k.

A Good Night

Take down 2+ buyins at PLO - Check

Earn my ironman points for the month - Check

Feel cool like a dork for being an ironman - Check

Avoid heart failure watching my hockey team - Check

Play Wii Karts and forget to play Mookie thereby acheiving a decent night's sleep - Check

All positives as far as I can see.

Home Game Report

I played at Fasso's home game last night. We had 5 people (Chris, Scott, Gambit, Fasso and myself). I was even for the first couple of games called and the I called 2-7. On one of the first hands I was in the SB and it was folded to me. I had 9,9,9,A,J and decided to snow from the beginning. I raised and stood pat. I lead the whole way and was raised after the 3rd draw and had to bail.

After that it was a slow drain. I didn't win many hands and the ones I did were small pots. One in particular was vs Gambit when I rivered two pair and he rivered the set. That one hurt a bit. The other big hand was in NL when I had A,Q. I decided to limp and only the blinds played. The flop came Q,x,x. Fasso lead for $0.75 and I called. The turn brought the A bringing a second spade. HE lead for 3 and I flat called again. The river was a 3rd spade. Fasso lead for $10 and I raised to $30. HE thought for quite a while and called with the Qs4s. That's what I get for slow playing pre-flop. on the flop, and on the turn. I really didn't think a flush was in his range there since he lead the betting on the flop.

I think I was stuck as deep as $160 before I made a small comeback. Limit hold-em was called by Scott and the dog and pony show ensued between the two of us like it did last time. Two and three betting all the time. One time on I had 7,6 off in the BB and Scott raised UTG. Chris called and I called. Flop comes K,8,4. I check, Scott bets, Chris folds and I decide to peel saying "I'm gonna run you down." Well, I did. I hit the gutter ball on the turn and was able to put in a check raise which Scott called. The river was another K. I lead and Scott just called with the trip kings. Lucky peel by me.

In the last rotation on the night Omaha 8 was called. I picked-up hand after hand in this one and raised a good number of them. A,A,3,3 single suited. A,A,2,K double suited. You name it, I had it. The last hand of the night I have Ac,2d,3c,6d and I tow bet it and Gambit called. Heads up the flop comes Q,8,2cc. Gambit leads and I raise with my solid two way draw. The turn is the Kc and I have the nuts. Gambit check calls my bet. The river comes a 3 and its check, bet, call. I have nut nut and Gambit actually flopped top set. I think maybe a 3-bet would have been a better line for him on the flop in a heads-up pot but its hard to do that with no redraws (at least I don't remember him having one) except for the boat. After the turn card I think the hand plays pretty standard.

My late rally left me down $51 on the night. Not terrible considering how stuck I was.