Big Game

I wasn't going to play in the Big Game on Sunday. I wasn't excited about poker so I figured I shouldn't do it. But then I had a couple of free hours today and this happened:



It happened mostly because this happened:



Can you believe he missed all those outs? Neither could I or anyone at the table. The game was super quick and before I knew it we got our tokens. So probably now this will happen:



I have a good track record in these. I came in second both times I played, losing first to Lucko and then to The Don himself. We'll see if I get to play or not. But you should!

iPhone vs MicroPhone

This is just too funny not to share. iPhones go on sale in about an hour but this morning some idiot tried to snatch one during a live on air interview with one of the 4 guys who got one to review. But wait, he grabs the reporter's microphone instead? I think this guy just hates Fox News and decided to mess with them. I can't believe he was so dumb as to actually mistake the mic with the phone. You be the judge:



UPDATE: This is just priceless:

KajaPoker

The project is complete. This is what the setup looks like as of a few minutes ago when I finished assembling the chairs:




2x94" tables (one shown, I installed folding legs on the second to make it portable).
2xCopag cards (red/blue and green/burgundy).
1000x14g chips.
8xLeather chairs.

Here is the list of vendors who are all highly reccomended:
Poker Outlet.com - Tables, Chips.
Poker Gaming Products.com - Copag cards.
Bar Essentials.com - Chairs.

I want to once again give props to all these vendors. PokerOutlet sent me a second table top and a second set of cup holders because the first set didn't fit. The didn't ask to send the first table back or anything. So essentially I got two tables for the price of one. Unheard of. Poker Gaming Product sent the Copag cards next day with no shipping fees. And Bar Essentials messed up our chair order, apologized and offered to upgrade to a more expensive chair at the same price with expedited shipping at their cost.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths to which some business owners would go to to make sure their customers are happy. Not everyone does that and these three should be commended for their effort.

Now, I've been thinking about the structure for my next game, to be held next Friday. This is what I am thinking of doing. 20 minute blinds and 1,500 starting stack. Blinds:

Level 1: 25/50
Level 2: 50/100
Level 3: 75/150
Level 4: 100/200
Level 5: 150/300
Level 6: 250/500
Level 7: 400/800
Level 8: 600/1200
Level 9: 900/1800

This shows a 3 hour tournament but I doubt we get that far in. It does give a lot of play in the first 3 levels or the first hour. It's still a fast structure and after 40 minutes a player who stays at the starting stack will have 10BB, after 80 minutes only 5BB. If we have 20 players this will get 30K chips meaning that after 4 levels we only have a total of 100BB for the field. I hope this works. I might bump up the starting stacks to 1,800.

What do you think?

Random

Got my Copags! Awesome cards. Red/Blue and Green/Burgundy. I wasn't sure if to go with KEMs or these.

While thinking about it I got a bizarre flashback. I was about 30+ years hanging out with my grandfather (he's been gone for about 27 years now). My gramps was the quiet type. He came from a dirt poor family and never had any money his whole life. He was a tailor and had a tiny store where he fixed hems and cuffs for folks in the neighborhood. He had one of those sewing machines that you manually worked with your foot on a big pedal. I bet not a lot of people have seen those. They also had one at the house where my grandma would help out with additional work sometimes. We used to pedal the crap out of it to see how fast we could get it to go. I'm sure we broke it a few times.

Although monetarily poor his whole life, my grandfather has created an incredibly successful and wealthy family. His three sons (one of which is my father) are all educated, brilliant men (engineer, accountant and lawyer) who started their own families of educated successful children. And this didn't all happen in the land of opportunity but rather in an eternal war torn part of this planet.

So back to the flashback. As a young child I used to love watching my grandfather play cards and chess. He taught me the basic chess moves and we would play over and over again. Sometimes he would just relax with a simple game of solitaire. Sometimes we played War. Sometimes Gin. When I saw the KEM logo, I immediately thought of him. I wish I had more time with him. He was a really good man.

**********************

Next up, some golf. Last weekend I got to play again. Second weekend in a row, can you believe it? We had to go out in the boonies to attend a wedding shower for one of KajaWife's friends and decided to make a romantic weekend out of it. Did the whole golf & spa the next day and had a blast.

I shot an 89 (whaaaaaa????) on a course that has lots of water hazards, lakes and creeks. I didn't start out well, losing a bunch of balls in the water and thick foliage around the creeks. But I got it together and crushed it to break 90 once again. Damn impressive for not playing for so long or at an consistent rate.

The best part was that since I was a single player I was sure they would pair me up with someone. but when I checked in they said I was all alone. Now playing alone is not a problem for me but I didn't feel like running into groups ahead of me and having to either wait or apologize for playing through. So i asked who was right behind me and they told me there was a twosome scheduled. I figured I could just hang back one tee time and join them.

So up to the first tee I go, after a short practice session, and wait for my new playing partners. A cart comes up the path and I see a mom and her teenage son - so cute. I ask to join them and they have no problem with that. They head off to the white tees and I decide to join them. They hit two dreadful tee shots and I move back to the green tees and hit my shot. All goes well till we get to the green.

Once we all get on the green and start lining up our putts the mom head over to get the flag out of the hole. The son goes over and takes the flag from her as he says "I'll get it, babe". OMG WTF?!?!?! What kind of family is this? Who calls his mother babe? And in front of strangers?!? Needless to say I was on Incestuous Golf Player Tilt (IGPT) and missed my par putt. Did I hear that right? Was the heat getting to me already?

But then came more evidence. there were more babes, hons and sweeties and I was slowly figuring out that this was a rare couple. She must have been mid 40's and he could not be a day over 25. I don't think he even shaves. And he was immature and dumb. He treated her great, but I guess you have to treat your sugar-momma like that or you don't get your allowance. And this was not a one time thing either. They travel together and live together.

When I got back to my room and told KajaWife, her first reaction was "Well, good for her". I never looked at it from that perspective. I guess it's true. Good for her.

The Big (Home) Game

While we usually hold a monthly neighborhood game and play a $20 buy-in turbo-donkament, we decided to mix it up a bit. BR sent an e-mail stating the wife and kid were gone and he was ready to party. He was going to have a bigger buy-in and slower blind structure. We ended up with 20 (!!!) players each buying in for $60 for a total prize pool of $1,200:

1st - $660
2nd - $300
3rd - $180
4th - $60

We continued the tradition of paying 4 spots when we had 2 tables and basically giving the buy-in back to last place. But we have never been in the area of $660 for a first place. Not even close.

I brought my folding table over and we unpacked the brand new Copag cards he bought. I tried to inquire about the blinds structure and was pretty disappointed to find out that all he did was bump up the starting stack from 1800 to 2500 and gave 30 minutes to the first 3 blind levels before going to 20 minutes.

I need to take a break here for a moment and exaplain my thought. I really don't like a structure where the blinds double every level. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. With 20 players at T2500 you basically have 50K in chips in play. If the blinds are 25/50, 50/100, 100/200 and so on, by the time the 5th level comes around you only have a total of 62.5BB to play with - for the entire field. So just a little over 2 hours into the game (which was supposed to be deep stacked and slow structured) everyone is short stacked.

I bitched about it a bit but eventually let it go. I said I will just have to ammas a huge stack so that the blinds won't affect me. And that's just what I did. Plus I got hit hard by the deck. I got 4 (yes, four) pocket Aces during the tournament. And I made only one mistake. We'll get to that.

There were a lot of players I had not had the privilege of playing with before. So I decided that since the first three levels were slow I was just going to play tight and get aggressive with my big hands. One the first hand, I am in the CO and I see 88. It folds to me and I make a 3xBB raise. Button folds, as does the SB (who had not yet arrived). BB is a guy I have never seen before and he looks big and mean. He calls. The flop is AA5. BB checks and I make a decent c-bet to see where I am. Since there are two hearts on the board I am pretty sure that if he calls I am done with the hand. A third heart hits the turn and it goes check-check. Then a 4th heart on the river. Great start. We check it down and neither of us has a heart. BB called my raise OOP with Q5o. Perfect. From this point on I would never again go below the starting stack size.

A few hands later I make a nice bluff in position and take a pretty big pot. One hand later I get two black Aces in the CO. But it is folded to me and I make the same play I have made every time so far with a 3xBB raise. I am just hoping to get some action but only the BB calls. We see the flop and it has two spades so I bet out and he folds. I am pretty disappointed that I didn't make any money with my Aces and I am pretty sure it was a wasted hand and I will not see another in a while. A few hands later I get AK and the player to my right, raises 3xBB. He is a pretty good player and so I decide that with my bigger stack I want to show some strength here. I raise it to 5xBB and it folds around to him and he calls. The flop is King high and after he makes a c-bet I re-raise him and he folds AJ face up.

Not much happens for a while and then I stare down at two red Aces in the CO again! This time we are probably in level three and some people at the table are starting to get low and desperate. By the time it gets to the player to my right I have 4 limpers. Mean guy in the BB doesn't have a lot of chips left and I think I can get him to commit if I put in a big enough raise. I raise to 1200 (blinds are 100/200) which is totally out of character for me so everyone looks at me long and hard. One by one they fold until the guy to my right makes the call. He only has 250 left after that so before the flop is dealt I announce that no matter what he does I am betting 250 on the flop in the dark. The flop is Ace high and he puts in his last 250 with AQ and is out.

I nurse my stack for a while and then we have to start moving players between the tables as players are being eliminated faster with the blind increases. I move to the other table to find one of my favorite calling stations to my right with a pretty big stack. There are a couple of shorties and I bust them both quickly. I got lucky once when I rivered a 2 with A2 vs A7 in a blind battle. But he was short and it was the right play. When I bust the second guy we merge the final table.

At the final table I am the chip leader but because of the stupid structure I don't have much wiggle room. I think I was had about 12K in chips and the blinds were 400/800 so I had an M of 10. I tried to calm myself down but I was going on Sever Bad Structure Tilt (SBST). One by one the other players were busting out and we were down to the bubble five. Guy to my right had been limping almost every hand and it was driving me crazy. Then I see another pair of Aces in the BB. The button min-raises to 1600 and the SB folds. I think about it and raise to 3200. He counts his chips and before he even finishes saying "all-in" I table my Aces and call. He has KdTd and I bust him on the bubble.

This is where things started to get crazy. CS, the lucky calling station and MS, a pretty tough player are both very short. But MS knows he can move up in the money if he plays it right and lets CS bust first, even though she had a much bigger stack. Then, every time he's all-in the drunk limper (DL) on my right pushes me out of the pot with a raise post-flop. I check in the dark to clue him in and he even admits that it's the wrong play, but "there are so many chips in the pot" that he "has" to try to take them. Eventually this gets me really steaming. MS is cracking up since we can't seem to eliminate him. At one point when MS has maybe one SB left DL raises pre-flop. I look at him in astonishment, and MS just sits there with his last 2 chips and waits to see what happens. I move all-in! MS folds and hopes to move up one spot if I bust. DL calls with some really crap hand and I double through.

On the very next hand I pick up KTs and once again I only call because MS is finally all-in. This time DL checks it down to the river. The board is AQ35 and when the river Jack comes he moves all-in, again!!! This is where I made my only mistake. I saw MS walking away and so I muck without even looking at my cards again. "Why would you do that?", I asked him. He said he made a straight so he had to. Only then did I realize that I threw away a straight as well. I was upset. But I told myself that the pot was small so even if I gave up some chips it wasn't that bad.

I was going to take this sucker out. But first, I offered a chop. He refused it. I let him know that was going to bite him in the butt. I doubled up on the next hand. I was still behind, probably 3-to-2 or a little less. I offered the chop again. He refused. I warned him again. I folded a couple of hands when he went all-in pre-flop. He figured there was no way he can play me heads-up post flop, so he was in push or fold mode. I offered the chop one more time and he refused. So obviously I get Aces on the next hand and limp, he shoves and I call and say "no more chop offers" as I slam down my Aces. Now I am way in the lead. Next hand I get 98s and catch a 9 on the flop to take. it. down!!!

I was so excited! I wanted this win so much. I overcame a lot to win it. I really had to battle my anger over the structure and I managed to do it.

Another funny thing was that I never had a drawing hand the entire game. Not one, flopped OESD or flush draw or anything that would make me spew chips on a draw that missed. Isn't that strange? And four pocket Aces? Isn't that crazy?

So I took it down and quickly went out of the second game that started shortly after with only 9 remaining players. I was exhausted from a long day and went home to sleep.

So in the past month I've managed to win about $1,500 online and live. Let's hope I can keep going.

Not sure I will play in Don's Big Game this Sunday. If I can't win a freaking token I probably don't deserve to play. Although, I have done very well both times I played in the past, coming in second twice. We'll see. I keep running hands like AKs into KQs that makes the nut flush.

Oh, and speaking of beats. Check out poor SNG Machine who sat to my right in the 26K and lost to a one outer:



Funny thing is he even lost the small side pot to the donk who made two pair with KQ. He would have also lost to my two pair had I played. I guess you have to run out of KOD luck at some point, right? How many mines can you dodge? I have been kicked in the junk so many times tonight that I basically wanted to finish my games so I can go to bed.

I played the 50/50 and had Hoyazo at my first table. I limp with A2s in EP and get one more limper behind. The flop is A25 so I check-raise the guy to my left all-in. I have him covered and he really takes a long time, including running down his time clock. He eventually calls with JackAce and hits his 3 outer Jack on the turn.

It's a shame that tonight went so poorly. I don't have many free nights to play. I usually have marathon nights when I am traveling because I have a hard time falling asleep in hotel rooms.

Oh well, I still have $600 in my wallet from last Friday to cheer me up!

Moola!

What's the highest level that you've made it to on Moola?

Easy Money

Tier One Token. Tables merged right after we were dealt this hand so we were only 5-handed:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2738686925: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (20878640), Table 1 - 150/300 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:12:16 ET - 2007/06/22
Seat 2: Kajagugu (3,630)
Seat 3: panda423 (4,715)
Seat 5: stockdo (2,410)
Seat 6: borgata07 (2,160)
Seat 7: endoftime7T (4,790)
panda423 posts the small blind of 150
stockdo posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Kajagugu [4s 4d]
borgata07 folds
endoftime7T folds
Kajagugu raises to 900
panda423 calls 750
*** FLOP *** [8d 4c 8s]
panda423 checks
Kajagugu checks
*** TURN *** [8d 4c 8s] [3c]
panda423 checks
Kajagugu checks
*** RIVER *** [8d 4c 8s 3c] [5h]
panda423 checks
Kajagugu bets 2,100
panda423 calls 2,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Kajagugu shows [4s 4d] a full house, Fours full of Eights
panda423 mucks [Ts Ad] - a pair of Eights
Kajagugu wins the pot (6,300) with a full house, Fours full of Eights




He was gone two hands later when he shoved KJ vs AK.

Easy Money.

How to hack the FTP RNG

Now I know many people out there think online poker is rigged. It obviously is. And I have found the magic backdoor into the FTP RNG (Full Tilt Poker Random Number Generator). It's kind of a risky move since you need to get a massive suckout or an incredible cooler hand like KK vs AA in the blinds before you can use it. I am not sure I even want to share it with the rest of the world, but this information needs to be out there. Like the truth. So here goes. Pay attention.

Immediately after receiving the beat or the cooler you have to type into the chat window the following phrases exactly (note the spaces, CAPS and number of exclamation marks):

FU FTP RNG !!!
FU in the eye!

You then have to wait a couple of hands for the backdoor to actually register your chat commands and then all hell breaks loose.

Be warned, this is not for the faint of heart. First player at the table to open this backdoor is the one marked and nobody else at the table can repeat the process.

You might also run into some idiots who don't know what an RNG is and they think you are talking to them. You will have to calm them down and let them know what just happened and that it is not their fault, but rather the RNG's fault. That usually works.

So there. It's out there. I am hoping to start a trend. Enjoy.

MiamiDon > Kajagugu > Waffles

This pretty much sums it up:



But if you want some more details, then here goes.

KajaWife invited 15 of our neighbors/friends for a girly-shriek-filled game of Bunco last night. I set up my two poker tables so that the ladies can enjoy themselves, while I unplugged my crap laptop with its tiny screen and went upstairs to donk it up.

I got ass-raped on RiverStars (as usual) and decided to focus on Flush Tilt instead. I had too many screens going with various tournaments when it happened. My sound card crapped out. No sound. My only indication that it was my turn to act was the screen popping to the foreground. And when you have 4 tiny screens that becomes a bit of an issue.

Super No Volume Tilt (SNVT) ensued. That's got to be a new one for me. One by one I donked off my chips by playing like a complete idiot. I wanted to get it over with so that I could just turn the damn thing off and never see another card all night.

Instead, I ended up bullying my 26K table and accrued a ton of chips. This hand put me in 3rd place overall:



The guy bet the flop and the shoved after my re-raise. So that was nice.

The it all started to go downhill because of the evil powers of the Waffle Man. Out of nowhere he appears at my table and on the first hand shoves after I raised with Js9s. I don't usually raise with these hands but for whatever reason i did this time. It was only about 2600 to call and so I did:



I got an awesome flop, giving me 9 Spades, 3 Jacks, 3 Nines, 3 Queens and 3 Sevens = 21 outs twice!!! But the Waffle power made all the outs go away and I started spewing chips. I won't bore you with the rest of the details and my awful play.

It was funny to see that I ended up in 103rd place out of 1200, one before MiamiDon (who just took 10th place in the Venetian $540) and 3 better than Waffles. What be the odds of that? So that made me smile before I turned out the light and went to sleep.

Oh wait, I have more stuff.

Apparently I am not that good at heads-up tokens. Once again I managed to get to the final two and lost after making quads:



My opponent went ahead to flop quad sisters a few hands later. Funny how that works out, huh?



Then in an 18-handed token SNG I displayed tremendous restraint on the bubble with this hand. I checked it all the way to the river and still managed not to get my Aces cracked:



A similar situation to the Waffles incident happened earlier in the evening, where once again I missed 15 outs twice:



But this has to be the funniest thing that has happened in a long time:



No, I am not talking about dumb Daisy who went all-in on the flop after I raised pre and checked it to her. No, I am talking about the guy two to my right.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you: The Beriut Bomber.

When I saw this guy at my table I almost peed my pants. I was so hoping that he would actually chat and I got my wish:

Kajagugu: Where is Beriut?
Kajagugu: Beriut Lebanon?
Beriut Bomber: yes
Kajagugu: Was Beirut Bomber taken?
Kajagugu: or you just had a problem with the spelling?
Beriut Bomber: no no
Beriut Bomber: they wouldn't let me change it
Kajagugu: lol

Apparently this bomber was so enthusiastic about signing up that he typed it in wrong and now FTP won't let him change it. I continued to ask him questions about his chosen career and whether he was a Bomber from Beriut or someone who actually goes out to bomb Beriut. He answered that questions with "i am" which didn't really explain much. Turns out he is (probably) a Lebanese Christian and is sick of what the Muslims have done to his country. When I informed him that I only had a chance to bomb Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh, but never actually got the opportunity to bomb Beriut he stopped talking. Too bad. That was a fun chat.

And talking of chats, see my next post.

Time for some change

So, after a long time of having this dumb blog in place I got the urge to make some changes. It all started a few days ago when I tried to tinker with the name of the blog, which as you can see has come back full circle to what it has always been. Then I saw the amazing graphics work that HighOnPoker can crank out in no time at all and I knew I just had to get me a new banner.

So without further delay. Here it is. The most amazing, awesome, cool, creative banner a blog could wish for (you can obviously see it on the top as well, but I just had to put it in the post:



This took HoP no time at all to make. So once again, thank you, thank you and thank you!

Just to give you an idea what the previous version looked like I will add it here as well:



We went with the black background instead and tweaked the last card. It's the shizz, yo!

Once I started messing around with the template I just had to go ahead and upgrade to the new features blogger has to offer. So you can now see some updated links on the right to other poker blogs I read on a daily basis (I have more but these are probably the tops). There are other links to stuff that makes me laugh all day long as well. And a new archive list. Some new colors and fonts and voila - I love it!

Sites Crashing

Pokerati is on crutches. No RSS. No comments. No pages will load other than the main screen.

PokerNews stuck a lot of times. Slow to load. Times out often.

Yeah. Poker is dead.

Phil's Final

I guess this is a bit of a cheat, don't you think? Phil with 213K at a five handed table would have less chance to pick up a hand and make the 'real' final table of 9, right? I can't believe this favoritism is going un-noticed. Where's Annie Duke to bitch about equality when you need her, huh?

88 - For Real?

No, I didn't get to play golf again and shoot a great score. No this time I wanted to share what my screen looks like when I get pocket 88 on three different tables at the same time:

Tokens Tokens Everywhere

I've been amassing Tier1 tokens like they're going out of style. Usually I play the 18 seat $8 turbo that pays out 5 tokens. The players are sooooo bad on these. You are obviously going to be screwed by the perfect FTP RNG once in a while with a four flush against some asshat holding 86o who thinks it's the nuts, but that's just poker I guess. Here's an example of a three way all-in:



Today I jumped into my old nemesis, the $6 double shootout heads-up token SNG, where winner takes all. I usually manage to destroy my first opponent only to royally mess up in the second game and leave empty handed. I was determined to not do it this time. My opponent was putting up a strong aggressive fight, but eventually walked right into this:



He bet on all streets and eventually shoved on the river when he made a boat with A9s. Hey, last time I made quads in heads up I eventually lost, so this was not a good omen. I got Aces a few hands later and couldn't get any action. We played over 50 hands and he tried to slowplay Aces and let me catch my set on the river, ouch:



Result:



Hooray for me.

88

No, not another story of a great run at a massive MTT (thinking of calling these MMTT from now on).

No, Not another story about a pocket pair of 8s cracked by a donkey.

Not even the speed at which I was driving when I got pulled over.

No, this is me finally getting in a round of golf. Kind of a pre-father's day time to myself. And why? Because someone scheduled a 1-year-old birthday party on father's day. And I have to go. But I would have gone anyway, because anything I can do with KajaKid makes me happy. I am the happiest when I see her laugh and I don't want to miss a single occurrence of that magic. That's the real meaning of being a father. You dads out there know what I mean. I hope.

So I played The Frog today. Booked my single spot tee-time and joined a threesome. I haven't played in forever and I swear I would have broken 80 if I was able to make a damn putt. But breaking 90 is a huge achievement for me anyway and after starting the round with a front nine of 47 I regrouped and played the back in 41. Yes, 5 over on a freaking Fazio course playing from the gold tees (one before the tips) which I have never played from before.

When we got to the last hole (par 5, whacky green, approach over a creek) I was pretty exhausted. Playing in 90+ degree weather is tough on these old bones. There was a time when I could play 45 holes (walking the course) in a single day and have energy for more. But I have become a fatso and totally out of shape. Serves me right.

Anyway, I hit a pretty bad drive. It just skims the grass and lands in the left rough, in front of the fairway bunker. I can't go for the green in two because there is just no way I can get the ball that far and that high and with a significant draw. So I take an 8-iron in order to lay up and flub it. Now I am still in the left rough with about 200 yards to the flag, over said creek. This is not a good yardage for me and I take out my 4-iron hybrid which I usually don't play. I hit a beautiful low draw that lands on the front of the green, rolls up to the left, climbs on to the second tier of the 3-tiered green and then curls back to the right. The ball finally stops about 12-15 feet above the hole. My playing partners mess it up and I let them all hole out. I know this is going to break from right to left. I know it is going to slow down at the hole. I know where I need to aim. I take a practice swing and bomb the ball right in the middle of the cup.

Birdie. On 18. I break 90 after not swinging a golf club in forever.

I LOVE GOLF.

(but I love KajaKid way more).

Funniest Site Ever

You have to go there. It's. just. so. funny!

Example:

2 is kicking my ass

Yes, Angie is basically a lollipop head walking stick figure these days but I still think she's purty. And Jon is still the wittiest improv in TVland. That playdate remark was the awesome!

Name this blog

New Toys

By now some of you may have figured out that I am a total techno-geek and love my gadgets and toys. I have to admit that since I am now a father and husband my toy-time and level of addiction is totally time constrained by other obligations. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily, but sometimes I miss being the carefree early adopter that I was during my flush-with-cash earlier single days. I don't run out and buy the first game console or Blu-Ray disc system out there. I don't hunt down some hack to a brand new HD DVR. Hell, I don't even have HD yet!

So I got all my techno-geek-juices flowing again when I got my latest two toys:

1) Blackberry 8830 World Edition:

You can probably find lots of reviews about this new berry but here's my take. I like it a lot more than the old berry I had. First thing you notice is that it's very slim and has a cool metallic appearance. Next, I loved the fact I was back to a full QWERTY keyboard rather than they shared keys I had before. The main difference in my opinion is the nipple.

Let's talk about the nipple a little. The stupid side track-wheel is gone and instead we get a marvelous little glowing ball of light in the center of the berry right under the screen. At first I thought it would require a lot of pressure to operate but then found it only needed the lightest of brushes to actually get excited. And I get to play with a nipple all day long, whenever I want. i think that's the killer app right there.

As far as the size of the phone, it's not the smallest you can find, but since it has to house two different technologies (CDMA for the US and GSM for the rest of the world) I don't think there's any way to get it down to Pearl size. And there's no room for a camera either, which I would have loved to have on my phone since I always lament the lost opportunities at snapping pics during my day. Oh well.

Now for the bad news. This has nothing to do with the phone specifically but for the global condition of cellular networks. It's fucking awful!!! Echos, dropped calls, digitized voices - I can't stand talking on my phone or any other phone. For fuck's sake, CDMA has been around for over 25 years, right? And don't get me started on this crap they call data.

Good thing I don't talk much on this phone and use it mostly to read blogs while in the elevator, car, or on the crapper.

2) iPod Video 80GB Black:

As you may or may not remember I was thinking about getting this toy a while back. I eventually decided to take advantage of a Circuit City deal where I can get a discount on the MSRP and still only pay $20 a month until this thing is paid off. I am so grown up it just sickens me sometimes. 10 years ago I would have bought the damn thing the day it hit the market without flinching.

I LOVE IT.

I downloaded a bunch of podcasts, then deleted them all and only loaded "Beyond the Table" (Go Donkey Bomber!!!). I don't have any videos on it yet, but I did go through every video podcast of High Stakes Poker that I could get my hands on and the video quality is absolutely fantastic.

I've taken it on my recent trip to the UK and it passed the time wonderfully. On the plane, in the train, on the underground. I was jamming to my electro playlist and having a great time tuning out the world.

I have loaded 1827 songs on it so far which took up about 10% of it's capacity. There is no way in hell I will fill it up as I have gone through about 1/4 of my massive CD library. The only thing that is a bit of a pain in the ass is getting all the CD artwork correct when importing to iTunes. Not all the CDs have artwork, sometimes it's not the right one and usually I end up having to search CDNOW or other obscure sites or else I have to scan the cover myself. Then there's the matter of applying the cover to all the tracks which for some reason doesn't always work right. There's also an issue with some CDs with multiple artists not showing up as compilations and you end up with a massive mess on your hands.

Any tips out there? Any video tips on importing Divx or DVDs? Any comments?

Where to play?

A few of my buds who have lost their online poker homes (Party, Pacific, etc.) to the awful UIGEA have not been playing at all lately. And the main reason was that they weren't sure where they could play and whether it was legal or not. I did a little digging and found a great site that spells it out for everyone. Internet Poker Review has a comprehensive list of internet poker sites with a little logo next to each site where US online poker players are accepted. The main page has a top ten list that also shows how much bonus each sign is offering with bonus codes and links to poker room reviews. On the left hand side you can also find the list of deposit methods available to US based players. Very cool.

Now if you want to only focus on US poker sites accepting US players there a very convenient link that will lead you right there. Once there you get the bonus codes and reviews again. But at least now it's all condensed into an easy to use list. Not everyone is an idiot like me who has probably over 50 accounts across the hundreds out there, so I am sure everyone can find a site they can register on and grab a big 'ole bonus for a new deposit. The top rated site is Bodog, which I know a bunch of my friends use for sports betting as well.

If any of you have been reading for long enough you know my favorite site right now is Full Tilt Poker. Internet Poker Review has a very good summary review of Full Tilt complete with bonus codes, promotions and deposit methods. My own deposit method has been the pre-paid Visa 'Gift-2-Go' card that you can buy at Walgreens. Don't forget that you have to get at least the $50 card as that is the minimum deposit allowed. You might have to go through a few locations before you find one that stocks the higher value cards.

Well, what are you waiting for? Head over to Internet Poker Review and get back to playing poker.

The above was a paid review but I do think this is a great site and organized very well and I endorse it whole heartedly.

Making a Mockery of 'The Mookie'

Wanted to apologize to everyone I sat with at The Mookie last night for playing like a total ass.

That is all.

Who dealt it?

This just cracked me up today. Philip is second from the left, standing next to the queen. Did Philip just fart or what? Look at the queen's facial expression at the bottom. Priceless!

How can this be?

I checked my Google Analytics stats to see if my 4 loyal readers are still sticking around and saw something interesting. I have 62 referrals from Richard "The Lion" Brodie's blog but I have no idea where the link is. It is from this address http://brodietech.com/liontales/2007/04/lucky-me.html which I remember writing about, but I have searched every inch of that post and can't find a link. So my question to you tech-geeks out there is , how can this be?

Bubble pain

I played another $4 180SNG and bubbled the biatch. Hindsight is 20/20 and I now know my mistake. I tangled with the chip leader at my table when I had position and there was a flush draw on the flop. It's really easy now that I think about it.

We had been playing hand for hand for about 2-3 hands and it only took 2 hours to get to the money bubble. I was quite surprised because last time I checked we were still 30 players. I got a few playable hands and raised. Chip leader called my 4xBB raise when I had 10s and folded to my c-bet when he checked the flop of KQ4. The next hand I get KQ in the CO and raise 4xBB and he calls again from the BB. I have about 75% of his stack so I can do a lot of damage, but he still wants to tangle with me. Flop is King high with two hearts and he checks to me. Now what I should have done is check or even c-bet and see what happens. What I did instead is shove with my top pair. He called with Ah2h and hit his heart on the turn. I bust in 19th on the bubble. Damnit.

That was bad. I have to admit. Writing it down here makes it look even worse. These are some of the things I need to learn to do right if I want to win tournaments.

Oh no:
I just went into PT to replay the hand and saw that I have it all wrong. I was UTG with KQo and bet 4xBB and the chip leader called from the button. When the Kh7d4h flop came I bet out 2400 into a 3950 pot (antes were in play). he min-raised me to 4800 and I pushed. Checking the pot odds I see he made the right call. The pot was 23,230 and he only needed to call 9,680. He had over 19K and it was the right call if he had more than 7 outs. He really had 12 outs so I guess it was a good call. I was a 54/46 favorite but that is really a race I should not have entered.

I am still mad at my dumb play. Absolutely no reason for me to go broke with that hand. None. I'm glad I at least get to learn from these experiences and that I have the tools to sit and analyze these situations.

Now back to two fun hands that happened earlier. In the first hand which happened quite early I was in the SB and the button raised my blind for the umpteenth time. I re-raised with A9o (not my usual MO) and he shoved. I wanted to fold but there was too much money in the pot and I just figured it was either a move or a race. Poor guy:



Then a few hands later I got KK UTG+1 and I raise it 3xBB. MP player raises to 6xBB and BB calls. It's another 450 to me and there is no way they are getting off this cheap so I raise it another 2K. MP pushes and then BB pushes as well! I was sure one of them had Aces, but instead this happened:



That put me 3rd in chips out of about 100 remaining. Too bad I had to play like an idiot on the bubble and leave with nothing.

NSFW - But soooo funny

Perez Hilton cracks me up! Check out this NSFW link.

Characters

All sorts of characters at The Vic last night that I forgto to tell y'all about:

There were a couple of young kids at the table that seemed to know each other and how they play. They were both pretty aggressive and one of them made some very tough calls when he was ahead. I played a hand against him where I wasn’t sure if I was a head or not and decided to make a bet. He thought for a bit and re-raised. There were too many draws out there that could hit and sabotage my hand and I wasn’t even sure he had a made hand. I folded and his buddy said “your favorite hand”? He started laughing and said it was. So I asked what it was and he said “Jeanine”. I have never before heard of J9 referred to as Jeanine and it totally cracked me up. Oh yeah, Jeanine gave him two pair on the turn.

The young Asian guy to my right was the only one sitting at the table during the break. I sat down as well and struck up a conversation. Turns out this guy is a chef at Nobu London and specializes in the Chef’s Menu. If you have never been to Nobu you should definitely check it out. I’ve been to the ones in New York, Las Vegas and Malibu and they are all superb. Expensive as hell too. The Chef’s Menu in the US is about $95. Turn out that its 95GBP in London which is basically double! Who can afford this shit? We joked about it and he agreed that there is really no reason to eat there if you have a chance to try the other locations for the same food at half price. I asked him how he got such a gig and it turns out he used to work at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurants before he got this job. He said the “Hell’s Kitchen” chef only showed up about 5-6 times during the 8 months he worked there, but it was still hell. 16 hour days with lots of bad attitude and plate throwing and just a generally nasty working environment. He said that at least 20 people had quit during the time he spent there. But the food was exquisite.

Jabba the Hutt was the guy who knew all the rules at the table. Here are two things I learned:
1)A weirdo we will just call Nasty Nails was dealing the hand. I was UTG +1 and folded. Guy to my left called and everyone folded to the SB. This was one of the young agro-kids who used to only check his cards when the action was on him. He looks up and says he has three cards and turns them over. Everyone calls for a misdeal and throw their hands in the muck. Jabba said that was not the way to do it. Because the hand had already started and there was a call from UTG+2 the kid’s hand should have been declared dead and mucked. We didn’t come to an agreement at the table, but Jabba said that since everyone mucked we should just re-deal. Anyone know what the real rule is on that one?
2)A few hands later Nasty Nails raises and Jabba moves all-in. Action is folded back to Nasty Nails and he starts laughing saying he doesn’t know what to do. He goes on to show Michael the Cypriot his hand. Jabba immediately says his hand is dead. Nasty gets upset and says no way and calls for the TD to give a ruling. Everyone pretty much agrees that his hand is dead and so does the TD. Jabba scoops the pot and Nasty goes on extreme tilt including some verbal abuse. He’s now severely shortstacked and is out on the next hand.

Heavy the Lionhead was playing in this tournament as well but was at the cash tables within the first level. I guess someone trapped her and her massive overbets to kick her agro-ass to the curb. I tend to find that women who play tournaments are very aggressive. There was a young Indian (or Pakistani) girl at my table who seemed to make a lot of aggressive moves. She didn’t show a lot of hands down but the general consensus was that nobody knew if she was bluffing well or actually made her hands. There was another chick at my table that was moved when her table broke. I played with her both on Tuesday as well as the first time I played at The Vic and she made the final table. This time she was shortstacked and didn’t have much fighting room. She did try batting her eyes at me and smiling to try to get me not to raise her BB. It didn’t work.

Next time I’m in London I am definitely playing at The Vic again. I might try the Gutshot as well as I have heard from several players that it is alive and well and has great tournaments.

Crap Crap Crap

This pretty much says it all:




First hand at the final table I am dealt aces in the BB. UTG raises, MP shoves and I shove too. I have them covered, UTG folds and MP hits a 2-outer. Crap Crap Crap. I was pretty short and shoved two hands in a row after that. One from the SB with A2 that was uncalled. One from the button with A8 after a limp and a raise. Raiser called with QQ and IGH in 9th place. I probably should have waited for a better spot. I had a whole orbit to find a better spot.

Other than that last hand, I am ecstatic with my play. I just got coolered. No other way to play this. And I have made two MTT final tables in two days. Yesterday 4th/1262 and today 9th/414. I love it. Let's hope I can maintain this streak and expand on it.

So close....

Went to The Vic for one more tournament before I leave tomorrow morning. The buy-in was 50+5 and we had 56 entries this time. I was card dead for the entire tournament pretty much. I did not see any pocket pairs over 44 and had a total of three of those anyway. I managed to slowly blind myself down and when I decided to use my tight image and raise I got massive re-raises that I had to fold to.

We started with T2000 and 25 minute blinds and I was down to around 500 with the blinds at 50/100 (third level). I decided to push on in the CO with A3s and Michael the aggro-Cypriot in the BB insta-called with Queens. But I hit an Ace on the flop and doubled up. Then the Asian guy to my right min-raised in the CO and I re-raised him 500 more on the button with AQ. He hesitated and called. The flop was KT3 and he check called my last 500 and showed AJ. So if either of us hit our kicker the other would make a straight. But we both bricked and I doubled up again. I made the first break with 2500 which was just around the average after playing only a handful of hands.

I managed a wonderful suckout when I was all-in with KQ on the button and the SB (huge stack) called with AQ. I hit my king on the river to double up again. That allowed me to sail through until we were down to two tables. This big stack to my right had a horseshoe stuck deep up his ass as he was getting high pairs or high aces on almost every hand. He knocked out two players when his Aces in the BB held up against two players who had Kings and Eights.

When we got down to 11 players the action was insane. The blinds were now 800/1600 and nobody got a walk. My table had 5 players in it and the chips were just rotating around. Only 7 spots paid with the top taking down over 1000 pounds. I was down to an M of around 4 and pushed my K3s from the CO. I had not been taking part in the insanity so far and when I did fold hands I showed them. The table knew that I won't even play KJ to a push so I still had a tight image. But the Turkish lady in the SB thought for a bit and called with A9o. I previously almost knocked her out when she pushed UTG with AT as soon as she sat down at the table and I called with AQ. She flopped a 9, turned a 9 and rivered a boat. I was the final table bubble boy. It sucks.

I thought about my play as I walked back to my hotel. I could have easily folded and waited for a better hand. Not sure what made me push that crap. On the other hand even if I push Kings and she calls I lose so I guess it was just not meant to be. The guy to my right who looked like Jabba the Hutt said that I made it pretty far with the crap I was dealt and I have to agree.

I hurried back to my room and checked my status in the 5K FTP satellite that had started about 25 minutes ago. I was only down about 125 from my starting stack, but with only 3 players winning a seat out of over 400 it was going to be a huge crapshoot. I took a look at the hand history and saw that I had missed being dealt Aces twice!!! FAWK!

I quickly made up those chips though but fell to a limper's trap when he flopped two pair. I am probably going to play a couple of tourneys tonight but I can't do the Daily Double again. If I make it deep I will have to leave to go the airport early in the morning. I'm also pretty exhausted after not really sleeping the past two nights.

Side note: The Brits are worse than Americans when it comes to what they have on the news. For the the past 48 hours all they've had on were news about some chick on Big Brother using the N word and getting thrown off, Paris Hilton being released to house arrest, David Beckham playing great and some crap about not being able to listen in on encrypted VoIP calls. Seriosuly.

So if we're on the subject, can you believe Paris is out? Spending 40 days at her mansion instead of her tiny cell. I think it's brilliant to claim medical issues because confidentiality won't let them reveal that her Herpes has flared up and she can't even sit down anymore. I mean who thinks that's remotely close to being fair? Sheesh!

Hey, I just won another Tier One token. Hurray!

UPDATE: I just won another token in the frenzy and I am in the money in another $10+1 tourney in 11th/48 left. On Fire!

4/1262 - Big Cash & A Rare Win

The evening started pretty badly. After dinner I made the whole group go over to the new Empire Casino to try out the much heralded poker room that will host the WSOP Europe in a couple of months.

Well, they don't really have a poker room. They only run satellites to the WSOPE and instead of a functioning poker room we found a karaoke bar. Yes, folks. This is what "Vegas comes to London" means to the brits. Fucking Karaoke. Well, fuck you Empire Casino because you fucking suck.

The group started bar/club hoping and I decided to head back to my hotel room and log on. I wanted to play a little and go to bed as I didn't really sleep last night. I logged in a started playing the 180SNGs on PS and all kind of tournaments on FTP. I didn't really have a plan. I wanted to try to satellite into the 5K FTP that satellites into the 1K main event tournament that runs tonight. I also wanted to play The Mookie although it was going to start pretty late for me here - 3am GMT (ugh).

Not a lot was going right for me. I was continuing my luck of getting rivered in bad spots and not being able to win the few races I decided to participate in. The it came to me. I need my lucky card protector. The one I used last time when I went deep in the tourney at The Vic. The Odyssey Chip. I got it out of my bag and things started going my way immediately.

I donked out of The Mookie very quickly as I was not really into it and played like an idiot. But the main reason was that I couldn't concentrate on the action becasue I was going deep in three other tourneys.

I had tried my luck at the 120FTP 45 seater turbos before. I final tabled about 2 or three so far and was going deep again. I have to say that the level of insanity and donkey moves is pretty high in these and you have to avoid a lot of mines along the way. Here' and example that got me the early chip lead:



It's not as bad as the first stages of the the WSOP freerolls where people are all-in with any two cards in the early stages, but it's not too far from it.

We got the final table and I was able to chip up and hit some eliminations. This one got me to heads-up with about a 4-to-1 chip advantage:



I had him on the ropes several times and he even folded to my min-bet after the flop when I slow played Aces. He barely had 2 blinds but somehow managed to suck out and get back to almost even. But in the end I increased my lead again and got lucky to take it down:




Win number one. Felt really nice. Like something was coming together. I decided to hit the Daily Double. I haven't played those in a very long time, but felt that with some of the new discipline I have managed to find I might be able to make something happen. 'A' paid 180 spots and 'B' paid 153. I won a big race early on with set over set that arrived on the turn:



A couple of hand later I raised presto in late position bad had to fold to all the action when it got back to me. It was the smart thing to do but I missed on making quads and knocking out two players in the process:



I had to make a pretty tough call when this clown check raised me on the flop while holding the donkey. I wasn't even sure if I won until the hand ended and the chips were virtually shoved my way:



I busted out of event Daily Double B when I was close to the money bubble. I played a bad hand and got all-in with 44 vs 77 after a coordinated flop. He made his straight and I was out about 20 spots out of the money. I was pretty upset about that but decided to not think about it and not let it affect me. I then took my most severe bad beat in a long time:



I asked the Poker Gods to be kind to me and the FTP RNG to stop the shenanigans. It was getting stupid. We had 3 hands in a row where people were dealt pocket kings. In the third hand two players got dealt KK. Seriously, what are the odds?

The Poker Gods answered my prayers and I satred delivering my own brand of beats:




I managed to take the chip lead and wield my big stack lucko-style for some time:



When we got down to two tables I got hit with some sick suckouts and got severly shortstacked. We were 10 handed and about to burst the final table bubble. I had no choice but to push with A6 and got an awesome result:



Next up was another FT bubble hand where I managed to double up when my opponent thought my turn bet was a bluff and called:



When we made the final table I was about 4th in chips. I knew there was a lot of work to do. This was one of the most aggressive games I have ever been a part of. Nobody was getting walks. Every blind was stolen or re-stolen. It was tough. I eventually doubled through the chip leader again and took the lead:



Players were dropping out one by one and the money was getting pretty sweet. I eventually pushed a flop that I thought gave me a few outs only to find the at least two of my outs were held by my opponent who ended up knocking me out with a straight flush:



I finished 4th out of 1262 players for a nice cash:



I am extremely proud of the way I played except for a couple of hands here and there. My bust out hand was not played well and I could have let it go but I didn't.

Tonight, I will probably head back to The Vic for another go at one of their tournaments. They are running a 50+5 freezeout. If I bust early I will come back and play the 5K FTP into the main event satellite.

Wish me luck!

No Victory at The Vic

I was trying hard to come up with a wity title, but this is as good as I could do this time. And as it implies, I didn't win last night. Let me set the stage.

My hotel is 7.24 minutes away from The Vic, door to door. The reason I know that is that I actually went a little earlier in the day to buy-in and make sure I could still play if I was late. My work obligations ended at exactly the same time that registration ended and I wasn't sure what the rules were. Well, good and bad news. The tournament starts 15 minutes after registration ends. If I am late I am automatically withdrawn from the tourney, but I get my money back. So with zero chance of throwing away my entry fee, I took a brisk walk back and timed it. Not going to be an issue.

As the time to leave neared I made sure to time my conversations and customer schmoozing so that they will end at the exact right time that will allow me to pack up, head to my room, quickly change and head out. I got there with about 5 minutes to spare.

I won't go into too many details. I didn't last very long. There were only 63 runners this time with the top 6 paying. My starting table was full of characters as I have come to expect at this place. I recognized some players from the last tourney. One of them was an extremely lucky, aggressive and loose woman who apparently plays there every night. I figured her out very quickly. She would raise huge (8xBB) in position when she saw limpers in front. She would call it down with the nuts and let the bettors hang themselves. She did that with Q2 suited and flopped a set of 2s. She did it with a lot of other trash hands. I was going to stay out of her way unless I had a way to trap. We shall name her Heavy the Lionhead. Her long hair dropped down from both sides of her head on to her shoulders that connected two massive arms to her torso. When she leaned on the table it almost buckled under the weight and she looked like a Michelin man laying on it's side, like this - ()(.)(.)()

There was some Polish chick that had no idea how to deal the cards. She had bright red lipstick and would have passed as a mid-level hooker. She played very tight. The only hand I saw her play she won.

Next to these two sat one of the regulars who never plays tourneys. I guess he is a high-limit cash game player or something. He claims to have only played 4 tourneys and gotten 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd. Everyone joked around and said he's taking it down this time. I told him that all we know is that he won't be 63rd. The reason he couldn't be 63rd is that one guy at our table busted on the first hand. With the blinds at 25/25 the CO+1 raised to 100 and the CO called. I folded the button as did the SB. The BB did not hesitate and violently put his entire 1500 stack in the middle. CO+1 started laughing and applauded the move, but folded. CO quickly called with KK. What did the genius in the BB have? You guessed it, the donkey (KJ). He turned a straight draw didn't get there and was gone in one hand.

So cash game player was very entertaining. Mainly because I had no idea what the fuck he was saying. He was folding a lot and eating a sandwich with his back to the table. Heavy the Lionhead kept reminding him to post his blinds and let him know when the action was on him. I swear once while he was turned around with a mouthful he said "go on then" and I could swear he said "I'm all-in". I'm having a hard time explaining what he sounded like but just think of Brad Pitt's character in the excellent movie "Snatch" and you get close. He lost a race with his AK to QQ and complained that he never hit that hand. So everyone told him to just stop playing it. Fun times.

I didn't play many hands. I was determined to play tight and stay away from trouble. There was a lot of trouble at this table. We probably busted 4 players and as soon as someone got moved to the table he would suffer an awful beat and bust. Some steaming American guy was moved after his set was cracked by a guthost straight draw that hit on the river. The first hand at our table he was dealt KK and made a min-raise. He got called twice and raised by the LAG-asian sitting to my left. KK guy shoved and got called by AQ - Ace on the flop and there you have another bad beat. Heavy the Lionhead finished him off with Q6o on the very next hand. Sick. Sick. Sick.

I finally got AJ in a limped pot when I was in CO. I with 25/50 blinds I raised to 300 (standard raise at this table) to isolate and perhaps take down the pot right there. SB moved in for a total of 700, or 400 more to call. BB and limper folded and I had to make a tough decision. I had him covered and I guess I was just hoping for a race or even better, dominating his Ace-rag. I called and he had AK and got the King right in the door. I was down to 725 and our table broke.

Hand 1) What do you think of this call? I was calling 400 into an 1100 pot. The truth is I thought this guy was attempting a re-steal. Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts here.

So I sit down at my new table and have to wait two hands for the button to pass. I told everyone to hold on to their seats because me and my massive 725 stack were going to tear the table apart. Blinds just went up to 100/200 so I didn't have much room to play. About two hands into it I get dealt JJ in the CO. UTG raised to 300 and it folded to me. I pushed and he called with AQ and hit his Ace on the river. Bummer.

Hand 2) I initially thought I had no choice but to push. But then I started to think that perhaps a call and shove on the river would have been a better play. If he sees the K high flop and checks then I push and he would probably fold. What do you think about my play here?

I signed up for the .50/1 25 min-100 max NLHE game. We had enough players to fill two tables but no room to sit. Eventually we started a table after waiting for about a half hour. I knew right away I was going to play super-tight because these fools were playing any two cards in any position. Chasing flushes, gutshots, AK on all streets - nothing was out of the question and too expensive to draw at. The guy to my right had bought in 3 times within the first orbit. The Shrek looking oger to his right was calling every hand and folding the river.

I played well and started chipping up because my tight image was getting me some serious respect. The only time Shrek folded was when I raised. There was an angry aggro-Russian at the table who would make huge overbets in position on the turn and river. I lost some money to him when he chased a flush all the way and hit it. The fish to my right was on his 5th buy-in and was still bluffing and calling every hand. He called my raises with King-rag suited all the way to the river after I had raised with AQ, hit my Q on the flop, bet big, bet big on the turn and eventually called his all-in (small amount) when the K hit the river.

The following hand was the one that done me in. I saw TT in LP and decided to limp after almost the whole table limped. I knew my raise would have to be huge and I would still get called because these crazys where limping Aces in early position. The flop was 976 with two hearts. BB bet 6 into a 7 pot and Shrek called. I knew he was flushing and made a 15 re-raise. The BB folded and Shrek called. The turn was a 5c and Shrek checked. I made a 20 bet and he though about it for a minute or so, but called. The river was an 8h putting a straight on the board, giving me a 10 high straight, but completing a possible heart flush. Shrek bet out his last 27 and I had him covered. I knew he had the flush. I even told the table "I know you hit your flush and that's just sick". I called and he had the Suited Tourist (Ah7h). He offered a quiet "Sorry mate". I threw down my TT face up and grab what little left I had and walked away.

Enough rivers.

I went to my hotel rooms and played online. I didn't do much better there. I ran Aces into a pair of 3s played by a LAG-tard who was playing 80% of his hands. He called my re-re-re-raise and flopped a two-outer. Another idiot at a final table called my AQ BB shove with 63s and hit a 3 on the flop. It wasn't my night.

I might play some more tonight. Might check out the card room at the New Empire Casino. Wish me better luck.

Welcome to Online Poker

Sat down at a tier one turbo two table on FTP and wished the table luck:

Kajagugu: good luck peeps
yes sir sir: u 2 loser
Kajagugu: nice - i like you already

Some Stats

You might recall, gentle reader, that I have been trying my hand at micro limit NLHE lately. I have tossed my hat in the .10/.25 NLHE ring games on FTP and here is a preliminary report:

Hands played: 1,004 (yeah, I am burning the midnight oil playing, right?)
Amount won: $126.60
BB/100 hands: 25.22 (now that's pretty impressive)

There's more but here's a graph:



Yeah, I made all that money on the last 250 hands. That's just stupid.

Home Game Hero

I was in a foul mood. KajaWife had given me shit for dashing out and not helping out with getting the kid to bed. It's funny how the night before when she had to go to her social event she had no issue with me doing it all on my own.

So I started my evening on semi-relationship tilt. The best kind.

We started with two tables of 7 with one missing player at each table. I knew this was going to be pretty brutal. Before we dealt the first hand we got notice that one of the missing players was not going to make it. Within the first round we had lost two players. The first was CJ who plays every hand and called two all-ins with top pair crap kicker. She lost to a slow played flopped set. Next to go was BR who got slow rolled when he thought his set of jacks was good against two pair that turned out to be the nut boat. SO we quickly merged the two tables to play 10 handed and eliminated the other missing player.

I don't remember many hands. I wasn't getting any playable cards. The damn blinds were doubling every 20 minutes and I knew I had to get some chips quick. When we were down to about 5 or 6 I pushed with A9s and got called by CS (the ultimate calling station) in the BB. She had A3o (awful call) but as usual hit her 3 in the door and I was out.

We sat down to play a little cash game and I quickly lost $20 playing wild poker. I didn't care.

We got the second game going with 13 players and i was at the table with 7 starters. I was determined to take this down. I love the fact that most of these guys don't adjust to playing short handed early on.

My first memorable hand was the second or third of the tournament. I got KK in the CO and decided to limp in with another MP limper. 5 of us saw the flop and I was determined to fold if I saw an Ace. Of course and Ace shows up on the flop and it is checked to me. I decide against my initial game plan to go ahead and c-bet. The button calls and everyone else folds. The turn brings a third club to the board and gives me the nut flush draw. I decide to check and see what happens. JJ makes a smallish bet and I call. The river is another Ace and I am now thinking he doesn't have an Ace. I count out my stack and do some thinking and bet out 400 into a bpot that probably has about 800. JJ seems to be agonizing over this and I tell him that I will show him my hand if he calls. It takes the table a couple of seconds to figure this out and eventually everyone starts to crack up. JJ looks at me and says that this is the best possible card that he could see on the river but yet he doesn't know if he can call. I let him know that I will show him my hand either way and now he is completely confused. He eventually folds and shows me an A2o. I flip over my Kings and drag the pot. The table is stunned. JJ is a pretty consistent calling station. They can't believe I bluffed him of a set of Aces. I couldn't believe it either. Let's just say JJ is now steaming pretty bad.

A few hands later I get KQo in the SB and just complete after KS limps in LP. Three of us see the flop that has a King in it I check. JJ in the BB checks and KS bets big. I re-raise him all in and he thinks a bit and calls. He has K9 and I am about to eliminate a player and drag a big pot. But the turn pairs the board and the river is an Ace which gives us a chop. I am pretty upset, but this is just how it goes sometimes. I just consider it a chip loan. I will get them back later with interest.

When the BB gets back to me I check my option with J7o. Three of us see a flop of 776 and I know someone is going for it. I check and JJ goes all in for T625. EG in the CO calls and I shove. He looks like someone who just got hit in the head with a frying pan but goes ahead and calls - he has me covered for about 400 more. JJ shows KQ for just two overs. EG shows A6 for two pair and basically needs running Aces to win it. He is drawing dead on the turn and I scoop a huge pot and bust JJ who is still shocked that he didn't call the earlier hand.

We merge the tables and get some shorties to bust out real quick. I decide to play tight and attack weakness when I see it. CE comes over with a decent amount of chips and I know I need to stay out of his way because he would love nothing more than to play against me and make a move.

I don't remember what exactly went on but there was some seriously horrid play with people making awful calls and other not making the calls they needed to make. I was slowly adding to my stack and putting pressure on the other players. When we got to three handed I was chip leader and made some moves on the huge blinds to get to heads-up with CJ. She is that rare combination of luckbox and calling station that I think our group has a very hard time dealing with. But I think I figured her out and know when to push and when to slow play. We played about 10 hands heads-up and eventually got it all-in A7 vs KJ. I took it down.

Total buy-ins: $60
Total winnings: $160

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Next up: Live poker in London (again). I plan to plays two of the tournaments at The Vic. I also would love to see the new Empire Casino in Leicester Square. I can't seem to find any reviews or details about their poker room. It's supposed to put all the other London casinos to shame and opened on May 30th. Not sure I will get a chance though. The Vic is about a 1 minute walk from my hotel.

Damnit

I had some free time to play last night and while I enjoyed it, I am still pretty upset with my play.

1) 180SNG, first game: I won an early all-in with AA vs AK and had about double the average stack. I folded a lot because my table was full of loose pushmonkeys. I got AK in the BB and after about 4 people limped I bet pot to knock most of them out. The last player (getting the worst odds since nobody else called) actually called. The flop was KQ7 with one club. I bet 2/3 pot and he called. The turn was another club and I pushed. He thought about it a bit and called. He had me covered slightly. He had JTs in clubs and had 17 outs. He only needed one and I was out in 136th after only 25 minutes.

I am not sure if I have another way to play this. Comments?

2) I fired up another 180SNG and played solidly for a long time. Once again the crazys were out in force and I just waited for my chance to trap one of these nuts. I tripled up at one point with the nut straight with AK and then the very next hand I made another nut straight with AQ and got paid off. I was in the top 10 for the rest of the tourney. Down to 25 I was still in great shape in 7th place. And then I had a KajaBoom (new term for my all-too frequent implosions).

I had been moved to a table with some very big stacks. One guy was flopping sets every hand (at least four in a row in consecutive hands). I knew to stay away from him and when he folded I found 55 on the button. I raised it up and the BB called. The flop was AJ7 all clubs. I should have given up on the hand right there, but instead when he checked I bet out about 2/3 pot and he called. The turn was a 9 and I fired a second bullet and got called. When will I learn? The river was another 9 and he value bet and I shoved. He insta-called and had AKc for TPTK with the nut flush draw. I had nothing and had been drawing dead to 2 outs the whole time.

I am still upset with that hand.

3) I played the Riverchasers and bounced Al pretty early on. I raised with KQs LP and got a call and then a shove from Al on the button. It was only about 700 more to call into a pot that was already about 2K so I was getting 3-to-1. I was going to fold but then Al said in the chat "fold". So now I was confused and thought he was just messing around. I called and he showed QQ. I got two hearts on the flop and another on the turn to make my flush and knock him out. I was about to apologize for the beat but he called me an idiot and then the table broke.

I got moved to a new table and sat to the right of the Waffle Man. There were some other strong players at the table and a little later TripJax joined the fun. On one of his first hand Trip doubled up through me. I raised in LP with 55 (yes again) and he called from the BB. The flop was 442 and he bet out about 1/2 the pot 295. I raised to 600 and he called. The turn was an Ace and he bet about 700 and I shoved. I had him covered and thought he was bluffing but he turned over A3. I had 5 outs and missed and didn't get there. I am not sure I like his call on the flop with A3 but I should have let the hand go on the turn. My bad.

I played a few hands well and in a SB vs BB with Waffles I made a nice move when I made two pair on the turn and got paid. I also got paid by FishyMcDonk when he played the quited tourist (A7s) pretty badly and I made a set on the flop. He paid me off on every street and on the river as well.

My demise came at the hands of none other than the Waffle guy. I open-raised in LP with A9s in diamonds and he smooth called on the button. The flop was 42x with two diamonds. I bet out and I think he raised and I called. The turn was a 2 and I shoved drawing dead since he had a made boat with pocket 4s:



There ain't a better feeling than going all-in totally drawing dead. Very well played sir. Very well played, indeed. He then went on to take 3rd place, so I am glad to have been able to contribute to the bankroll re-building effort. He flopped a straight, jammed, got re-jammed and called only to lose to a runner runner flush. Sick.