GOOOOOOOOOOOOALS (2008)

I am just going to type these up as I go. These are poker goals, not personal goals (of which there are many and would not interest anyone, not that my poker goals should interest anyone either, but oh well):

1) Win more than one blogament.
2) Make a deep run in the BBTrey (if it happens).
3) Do well in KOD's Skill Series.
4) Win a massive MTT (let's say over 500 players).
5) Make it to a poker blogger gathering (this is a long shot unless we're talking another APBT event).
6) Try to play (and win) more live (homegames and casinos).
7) Build my bankroll to 5 figures (not including the two figures after the decimal point. Come on, be serious for a second).
8) Improve my game.

8 Goals for 2008.

So as far as the last one, I have two ways to do that. I can teach myself (more books, sign up with a site, post on forums, etc.) or I can look for a poker mentor. Or do both. I finally finished all three Harringtons and will probably re-read them at some point. I actually scored 458 in the HonH3 quiz which was very surprising to me because I don't agree with a lot of what he says. I am also very close to signing up with Real Poker Training today for several reasons:

1) They have a great offer that expires tonight and I can fund it from a site transfer.
2) They throw in a year subscription to Bluff Magazine.
3) They are more MTT focused.
4) They are not as popular as the other sites.
5) They have DiabloVT, lilholdem954 and BodogAri videos.

And on the mentor front:

Calling all great poker players! If you want to take me on as your protege, please leave me a comment. I don't need to be staked, I just want to learn. I need someone to discuss hands, situations, plays and moves with. I would love to be able to look over your shoulder (virtually, of course) and learn from you. Nothing binding, nothing formal. I will not pester you or drag you down. If you think I am getting in the way, just let me know.

Have a Happy and Lucky New Year!

Adios 2007

Well, it's finally over. 2007 was a roller-coaster year for me personally and a pretty good year for my poker game. Here are some highlights:

1) Won a freeroll on Duplicate Poker to the PokerNews Cup Main Event in Australia. Didn't get to go. Instead, managed to get JL514 to take my spot, as he was already down there and he went on to final table the sucker and take 6th place. Yeah, that was really nice. Thanks again Jordan!

2) Won the MATH during the BBT2 series. I had been playing well up until then and everything just came together. I got incredibly lucky at key points and got terrific starting hands throughout the tourney. What makes it even more baffling is that it was a 6-max which is certainly not my forte.

3) I took a 2nd place finish in a $10 MTT on FTP for a nice cash.

4) I finished the BBT2 in second place on the leaderboard. It didn't mean anything, but I was pretty proud of myself. I had been pretty consistent throughout the whole series and managed to get myself into both the TOC (18th) and Freeroll (7th). I truly enjoyed the BBT2 series, but I have not had the energy to play seriously after it ended.

5) I final tabled about a of tournaments during the year, both regular MTTs and Blogaments. I had a string of 3rd place finishes that were very frustrating but still showed that I had improved my game over the course of the year.

6) I won a bunch of homegames. Not as many as I would have liked to, but one important "Big Game" that gave me a bankroll boost of $600. And I also won the big KO tourney that I ran for another decent score.

7) I managed to get myself on the "Hoy Haters" top-5 list. I did a root cause analysis on that while preparing this post and think I found the reason and where it all started. Turns out he called me down with A4o, pre-flop, flop, turn and river and managed to squeak out a chop against my ATo. Some flaming comments later and there I am on the list. Bygones.

So there you have it. Top 7 for 2007. Overall I would say my game has improved but I still have a lot to learn. I will put up a 2008 goals post soon as well as a traffic report for this here brog.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Poker Training

I need some advice from you smart people. I was thinking as part of my poker education to sign up with one of the poker training sites but have no idea which one is the best. The ones I am more familiar with are:

1) PokerXFactor - Probably the best, but kind of expensive.
2) Real Poker Training - Good end of year discount right now. Not sure about quality.
3) StoxPoker - Wrote some books, seem to be good players. Not sure though.
4) CardRunners - sbrugby's site.

Any comments, coupons, remarks, other sites would be great.

Thanks!

This is too funny not to pass along

I did one of these idiotic quizzes that never gave an answer and instead sent me to a dating site. I was about to close the browser window when something caught my eye:



It should read:__________________ (post your take in the comments).

Good job Andrew. You're a true champ!

For Waffles

Full Tilt Poker Game #4670670015: Table Mayfield (6 max) - $0.05/$0.10 - $3 Cap No Limit Hold'em - 22:27:41 ET - 2007/12/29
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan ($5.40)
Seat 2: Attitude 1000 ($8.10)
Seat 4: hothotpenny ($1.40)
Seat 5: robenick ($6.40)
Seat 6: Kajagugu ($23.60)
Kajagugu posts the small blind of $0.05
SirFWALGMan posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Kajagugu [Ad 3d]
Attitude 1000 folds
hothotpenny folds
robenick calls $0.10
Kajagugu calls $0.05 - sure, why not?
SirFWALGMan checks
*** FLOP *** [5c 4c 2d] - OMG WTFlop?
Kajagugu checks - Slow and steady....
SirFWALGMan bets $0.40 - Coolio!
robenick folds
Kajagugu calls $0.40 - I'm on a flush draw! I'm on a flush draw!
*** TURN *** [5c 4c 2d] [Kc] - Zomg!!!
Kajagugu checks
SirFWALGMan checks
*** RIVER *** [5c 4c 2d Kc] [3c] - Crapola!
Kajagugu bets $1.10 - Hey, it's Waffles, why not?
SirFWALGMan: @$& - LOLOLOLOL
SirFWALGMan folds - Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Uncalled bet of $1.10 returned to Kajagugu
Kajagugu mucks
Kajagugu wins the pot ($1)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1.10 | Rake $0.10
Board: [5c 4c 2d Kc 3c]
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: Attitude 1000 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: hothotpenny didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: robenick (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Kajagugu (small blind) collected ($1), mucked

Wow! Just Wow! (Ode to Hoy)

I am shocked and dismayed. I don't usually get called a hater, but when I do I just have to look back and see what it was that I did. I am still scratching my head trying to figure this one out.

CK once said I need to take a reading comprehension class. I think one of us also mentioned I need to take a writing comprehension class. And I have a few ideas of how to incorporate tone, inflexion, sarcasm and innuendo into plain text posts.

So here goes:

Ode to Hoy

Here is where I was going to try to type up some brilliant rewrite of Ode to Joy but it was getting so ghey I had to stop after: Hoy, thou source of light immortal, God of Poker Strategy!

So instead I say: Puh-lease! You take my comments as revenge-hatred? Try some jealousy-hatred, if anything. You get to play daily, have a poker-supportive spouse and usually do very well when you play. You say that when I ask for comments on hands I post I take offense to your comments? I seriously can't remember any of that. I actually look forward to see what you and the other playahs think about my donk-foolery.

Let me break it down for you. I don't play much. I don't play in optimal conditions. Even when I do play it is not with 100% concentration and dedication because I have other issues on my mind. I am a total self-professed blog addict and if I found an easy way to comment from my BlackBerry would leave alls of yous more gems.

Hoy is one of the better players I have come across. He is a selfless player/blogger who shares his thoughts and ideas with us haters on a daily (and lengthy) basis. I absolutely look forward to his posts/rants/strategy guides. And when he does leave a comment I feel kind of privileged. I am by no means a great poker player. I am just trying to find my way to learn and play. And reading the likes of Hoy's blogs has helped me a great deal.

I assumed (and this is probably my fault) that since Hoy sometimes criticizes other players in his honest and open manner, he will be able to take some honest criticism himself. And when I do leave a critical comment on his blog it is usually not to piss him off or rub it in, but to try to point out a different way to look at the situation. I guess I come across as a Hoy-Hater, but that is definitely not my intention.

If you take the last comment I left about his bust-out hand in this week's Mookie you might see what I mean. I guess it's all right for Hoy to claim he was set up by that hand, when in reality he played a multi-limped-pot with A4o, hit bottom pair on the flop and called a huge overbet to someone's (flopped set and) turned boat. Seriously? You call that a setup? I'm sorry, but I call it a bad play. And I will call you out on it if I think that's what it is. You can disagree and that's fine, but I still think that was just a bad play and was actually looking forward to understanding why you made the moves you made. Oh, well.

Anyway, back on track. I think Hoy is a great player with a lot of tournament and cash success. I think he is a brilliant student of the game and has pretty much seen it all. I am glad to have the opportunity to read his posts and learn from his good and bad moves. And I wish him all the luck. I used to rail him in some of the big tourneys he played just to try to see how he does and learn from his plays. I actually felt a little awkward wishing him luck, so I stopped doing that. But I do wish him luck.

And so, I am left at this strange position. A hater.

Those of you who have met me personally (hopefully) know this is absolutely not what I am about. I am pretty much the most tolerant human being I know. On any level and in any dimension. I am of the "live and let live" school and unless you do something to harm me or my family, there is very little chance I will get in your face.

So if I have offended you in any way (not just Hoy, anyone), I am truly sorry. And just so we're clear in the future, if you feel like I made an out of place remark or said something that was out of line, please let me know. It was probably not my intention. I blame it all on the emotionless nature of plain text commenting.

There's a reason Hoy is on the right side-bar of this blog. There are very few blogs up there on that list.

Bubbled Hoy & SlingBox & Cash

I love how selective Hoy's memory is sometimes. But I love him anyway. I jumped into the MATH this week and did a double-rebuy. After the first half hour I was surprised to see that there was no add-on, so I decided to tighten up. Just then Fuel55, who had been going nutso pretty much the entire time, decided to jam his whole stack with KJ into my KK. From that point on I was pretty much chip leader. At the end of the first hour when the add-on did show up it was worth 2BB but all of us did it except for cheapo Bayne. He said he didn't need it although it would have added 50% more to his stack. He did manage to double up but was soon eliminated.

I made two crucial mistakes. One was when I raised with KQs and then called a jam which was pretty much a min-raise from a shortie. Turns out he had KK. I still had plenty of chips. Then I donked it up against Hoy. He raised 3xBB UTG and I decided to try to play it tricky with AQs in the BB and just smooth called. The flop was KQx and I bet pot, he shoved and at this point I guess I should have folded, but instead I called and saw him show KJo to take down a monster pot and take the lead. I doubled up twice from there but eventually jammed A9o on the button into Hoy's TT and bubbled like a true donk.

When they got heads-up Hoy at one point had 36K to cemfredmd's 3K. That's right folks, a 12-to-1 advantage. With these giant blinds I wasn't sure why he wouldn't just put him all-in every hand. Then in three hands it was over. Hoy slow-played QQ and ran into cem's AA. Then cem rivered a diamond flush on the next hand and then there was one more hand and it was over. cemfred took it down. Well done.

This brings me to a little discussion about poker and luck. After the BBT2 ended I heard a lot of grumbling about how lucky people were, are and will always be while others always get the coolers (I guess the new term is "set-up hand" or something), the 2-outers and the runner-runner suckouts. It's poker. It happens. Over and over and over again. And it will keep happening. So if you don't like it, then don't play. Or adjust against the players who suck. And sometimes even then you will get dealt that one-outer against you. So just get used to it.

And one more thing. If you take the top tier players, the ones that have all the moves and all the reads and you put them at a table together, won't the skill portion of poker dissolve, leaving only the luck of the draw? If you take all the math geniuses and professors who know all the odds, wouldn't it all be about luck in the end? That's the reason you need to find the soft spots. That, to me, is a big part of the game. And you will still lose to these dingbats. What can you do?



FullTiltPoker Game #4643102768: Table Dolphin Landing - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 15:31:19 ET - 2007/12/27
Seat 1: Nickle Midnight ($23.15)
Seat 2: Ready2Rummmble ($40.95)
Seat 3: MaddieLamb ($47.45)
Seat 4: Kajagugu ($24.65)
Seat 5: ericnr1 ($23.85)
Seat 6: mansbestfriend ($27.50), is sitting out
Seat 7: Cdn Chris ($25)
Seat 8: OBReb ($4.55)
Seat 9: KAULDIMA ($29.55)
ericnr1 posts the small blind of $0.10
Cdn Chris has 5 seconds left to act
Cdn Chris posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Kajagugu [4s 4d]
OBReb folds
KAULDIMA folds
Nickle Midnight folds
Ready2Rummmble calls $0.25
MaddieLamb raises to $1.05 - I had this guy pegged as a total donk who overplays his hands.
Kajagugu calls $1.05 - So I called in position to set mine his ass.
ericnr1 folds
Cdn Chris folds
Ready2Rummmble folds
*** FLOP *** [Ks 3c 4c] - I hit my set! I hit my set!
MaddieLamb bets $1.75
Kajagugu calls $1.75 - I wanted to float one and let him think I was drawing to puppy toes flush.
*** TURN *** [Ks 3c 4c] [6h]
MaddieLamb bets $4.50
Kajagugu raises to $21.85, and is all in - Enough is enough!
MaddieLamb calls $17.35 - I hope he doesn't have Kings.
Kajagugu shows [4s 4d]
MaddieLamb shows [As Ad] - Phew!
*** RIVER *** [Ks 3c 4c 6h] [Ah] - Fawk!
Kajagugu shows three of a kind, Fours
MaddieLamb shows three of a kind, Aces
MaddieLamb wins the pot ($47.45) with three of a kind, Aces
Kajagugu is sitting out



So there you have it.

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

Moving right along.

I got the best gift for X-mas. I got a SlingBox and it is awesome!!! We though about it when we were on vacation and there was nothing to watch on TV. How cool would it be to be able to see everything on your Tivo anywhere on the planet? Well, all you need is a broadband connection and it works like magic. Pure magic I tell you. Go get one. Go now!

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

So I've been playing cash as you might have noticed up there somewhere. And doing quite nicely. I get paid off a lot by the idiots who play low limits. I don't have the bankroll to go higher yet, but if I keep at it I am pretty sure I will do just fine.

Once again just for Fuel55:




Notice how pretty my stack is with $55 when I get dealt 55. And then flop a set.

I have plenty of other hands to go through, but I will have to weed through them and find the interesting ones.

BBTrey (tm)

I was watching Kotter make fun of Benza on HSP for having no clue what hands and cards are actually called in poker, especially every time he said "pair of twos". So I have officially decided to name the next BBT series BBTrey (tm) instead of BBThree (sorry TripJax) and you can all line up to kiss my big white ass.

Thanks you very much, moves along now.

Tough Night

No, not poker-wise. Kid-wise. Let me get you all up to speed.

KajaKid is almost three. She is a real ball of energy and has basically dropped her mid-day nap. For those of you with no kids, think how you would feel after an all-nighter when you had to sit at work the following day and basically pounded red-bulls to stay sane. For those of you who have kids, you already might know what I am talking about.

Anyway, she's pretty much nap-less these days. We don't mind it that much anymore because it means that other than the whirling dervish that we get to see in the late afternoons, it's pretty much a guarantee that she will drop like a rock before 8pm.

So what do smart parents do to mess up a good thing? Decide it's time for a big-girl bed. I mean, she deserves to get out of the crib. And she can climb out whenever she wants anyway (she's so freaking smart - she throws down her blanket to soften the blow in case she doesn't stick the landing). But she really is a big girl and so two days ago while she was out and about with her Mee-Maw (that's maternal grandmother to you northerners/foreigners/heathens) I took apart the crib and put the new bed together.

And she loved it. She was so proud that she's a big girl and her room looked amazing. So obviously the first night was a bit of a challenge and she didn't fall asleep until about 10pm. But last night was much better and she was so tired that she literally collapsed on top of her sheets after about 2 minutes of screaming her head off.

Now there's another part to this story. We were invited to a little gingerbread house decorating party for the kids in the afternoon. And instead of decorating the house, KajaKid stuffed her face with any candy she could get her little hands on. I was sure the sugar would either keep her up for the next week or she would encounter a full blown sugar coma and pass out.

So she passed out, like I said, after about 2 minutes of screaming. But then she kept whining every hour or so, while inching her way back to the top of the bed in her sleep. At 1am I decided to take one final peek at the video monitor we have and saw the following scene. She had made it all the way to the top of the bed. But now she was sitting up on her knees and whining.

And then she threw up all over everything - her bed, her bears, her self. A lot. I hope nobody was reading this during lunch break or something. Sorry, I should have warned you earlier. Too bad. I didn't get any warning either.

I leaped out of bed and alerted KajaWife to the situation. I am very happy to report that we handled it like pros. Took the jammies off, got all the bedspreads wiped clean and into the washer. Got the kid bathed quickly and tucked her in bed with us.

It wasn't easy sleeping like that because she kept waking up and either wanted to go burp (throw up) or sit on the pottie (and not go). I would say we got about 3 hours of sleep total. Fun times.

She's feeling better this morning. But it's going to be a relaxing day of Disney movies and cuddling on the sofa. I love these days. She never lets us cuddle with her anymore. She's such a big girl.

Anyway, once again, Merry Christmas!

'Tis and 'Twas

'Tis the season, for sure. 'Tis also freaking cold in Georgia. I'm not sure why 'tis so cold right now when 'twasn't this bad about a week ago. Oh, well, I guess 'tis what 'tis.

I have stuff from all over to post. I was finally able to take a pic of the street named after a poker player and blogger from Brooklyn. I promised you I will do it Dawn, so here 'tis. I also kind of think 'tis funny that the cross street has the word 'hoochee' in't. Muahah-lol-hahaha:



I know Dawn doesn't come round these parts often (or at all perhaps) so if some of you would let her in on't, that would be much appreciated. Also, don't go to www.ihadouts.com by mistake, because that would be a shame. I said don't go there, don't do't. Sheesh, what do I have to do to make you people listen?

I didn't play in the blogger luck game. I was watching something on TV with KajaWife. I did see that 'ttook all of 22 minutes to get through that thing and that 3 people were eliminated on the first hand. I bet that was some happy donk-shit.

So what was more important than the luck game? Well, there was a terrific documentary on CBS called "In God's Name" that featured a day in the lives of 12 religious leaders from around the world. Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Lutheran, etc. 'Twas done by the two French brothers who filmed the unbelievable documentary about the NYC firefighters on the day 9/11 happened. They were there by sheer coincidence and got to capture everything on film including one of the brothers filming inside one of the towers as 'tcollapsed. This got them asking themselves questions about faith and religion that they set out to answer with this film. 'Twas 2 hours of very interesting views and opinions. Nothing too earth shattering, but still very impressive. I especially liked Amma (Hindu), Dalai Lama (Buddhist) and Luthern guy. Baptist dude kind of freaked me out a bit and Anglican almost made me feel like he was Dumbeldor (man, those are some freaky eyebrows). The cinematography and production quality were outstanding. Not sure if they will re-run this but set your Tivos just in case.

So being an original MOT this always cracks me up:



And just for good measure, this one always makes a little pee come out:



Merry Christmas Everybody!

TOC and Freeroll recap

Can anyone teach me how to play Aces? Anyone?

In the freeroll I got Aces 3 times:

First time was in the 40/80 level I am third to act and raise to 260 and take the blinds.

Second time was UTG in the 50/100 level and I raised to 310 and BB called 210 more. Flop was AsJhKh and we both checked. So obviously the turn is Tc making broadway even more possible so when BB checks I bet 410 and take it. Basically no action again.

Third time in the 80/160 level I get them on the button and try to raise pot (560) to look like I am stealing but get the blinds to fold.

I finished the Freeroll in 7th when I made a bonehead call against lucko:



He raised pre and I flat called with presto thinking I was someone else. When the all spade board came out I made a smallish bet and he shoved and I called. Dumb!

Anyway, back to more Aces. In the TOC I got Aces 3 times:

First time in the first level 15/30 and i raised UTG+1 to 105. jjok called from the SB. BB folded. Flopped a set with 2 clubs but decided to try and trap and check behind jjok's check. Checked to me on the turn and I bet 230 into 240 pot and jjok calls. Puppy toe on the river and jjok leads for 350 which I have to call and he has 65 puppy toes and made his flush. I guess I could have played this stronger on the flop but I doubt I get jjok to fold there.

Second time I'm in the BB at the 30/60 level and UTG+1 raises to 180 and gets two caller before it gets to me. I type in "limpin fools" and jam 2K in there and get jjok to call with, what else? JJ. Ace on the flop and I double up nicely.

Third time UTG in the 40/80 level I raise UTG to 190 and it folds around.

So I got 6 Aces in the first hour and only got paid off once. I have to adjust the way I play these to get more value out of them. I am starting to think about limping them more in EP and flat calling in LP against a single raise. I already do that sometimes, but it was just very frustrating.

In the TOC I eventually got jjok to shove his pair of 8s into my flopepd set of 6s and he caught another 8 on the river. Then when short I raise in EP with KJ and get one caller. Flop is Jack high and obviously he has pocket Jacks. So the only card that can bust me shows up.

I need a break.

Congratulation again to jeciimd for taking it down. I guess there a sense of justice when the leaderboard winner, top money earner and winner of two seats actually wins the whole thing. He better start posting again or there will be hell to pay.

Good job jecii and good luck. Make some history for us all will 'ya?

Taint(ed) Love

Yes, yes, I will get to last night's events soon enough. I know you are all on the edge of your seats yearning for the details on why I am not going down under. But speaking of down under (ar-hem, clears throat) I just saw the funniest post just a second ago.

It's on one of my many parenting blogs that I read. This mom is a little nutso but so much fun. Here post is titles:

OMG, What Happened To My Taint!??

Enjoy!

Oh and just for fun, here's a little video about trading in your baby for a car. True story:

Sunday Luck Game

Soldiers

Another day, another day trip. This time to Dallas. I hear they have a football team. Are they any good? I think their QB is screwing Jessica Simpson. Must be doing pretty well, then.

So I get to ATL and get in my elite priority security line. But for some reason it snakes far into the lobby, which is kind of a new experience for me. The regular security folks who weed out the commoners are nowhere to be found and they have infested my short line. Damn commoners, get back in your 2 hour line. I had to fly around the world 4 times this year to be able to stand here. Oh, well.

The fun part for me is that there are Army soldiers who have infiltrated my line. It's the first time I've seen this and when I pass the sign next to my line I see that they've added 'Military' to it. It gives me a warm and fuzzy.

See, I love the military. And not in a ghey way like "see all these hot guys in uniform" kind of love. I just think there is no better way to teach someone about what they can do. Add discipline, crazy hours, adrenaline and guns and you have a recipe for strong personalities and personal growth.

I spent over four year in uniform when I turned 18. While many people I know where trying everything in college, I also tried everything, from flight school, to subs, tanks, infantry and eventually artillery. Nothing can prepare you better in life than the experiences I went through. 72 hour huddled in ambush stakeouts deep in enemy territory, rolling artillery support strikes, chopper evacuations under fire, handling boring routine or angry and armed mob crowd control in refugee camps. I have seen and done it all. And I pretty much loved every second of it. Even those long all nighters spent under a mobile cannon crawling in grease and powdered dirt.

And that's why seeing the entire airport filled with green and grey uniforms of the men and women who put their lives on the line so that I can even stand in my stupid elite priority line made my day. I even saw that Delta had set up a military hospitality suite for these fine folks. Very nice.

There were so many of them today that I just had to ask. And I was extremely relieved to hear they were on their way home for a 2 week vacation. I shook a bunch of hands and gave a few pats on the back. I wish them all safety and happiness. I also wish they didn't have to go back in 2 weeks. That right there is a serious bad beat.

God bless you all, mighty soldiers. Please stay safe and come back quickly.

BBT2 is over *sigh*

Yes, the BBT2 is done. Thanks again to Al for setting this thing up. I don't know about the rest of you but it has been a thrill ride for me. And it has helped improve my game tremendously. Almost 40K in prize money was awarded and over 300 players participated in the shenanigans.

Congratulations to jeciimd who won a second TOC seat in the re-run of the RiverChasers last night and secured his top spot on the leaderboard. If I am not mistaken he took a lot of crap in the first BBT for playing tight enough to only make the points. Well, he sure showed everyone this time around.

I have one regret, though. I regret not being able to play all the tournaments. I only played in 19 of the 27 and some of them under awful conditions. Like, playing The Mookie from Germany at 5am. Or playing a couple of tourneys while in the dark, on mute, on vacation.

I don't lead an ideal life for poker playing. But I love my life as it is and would not change a thing. So what if I have to make compromises to make sure I can make time for my "hobby" (cough, cough)? At least I think I know that if I did have unlimited amounts of time and no distractions, I could be a much better player. That's third level thinking for you right there. I mean how many people have to fold laundry, do dishes or play in the dark and still keep it together?

OK, enough of the whining. What I want to do now is congratulate myself on coming in 2nd place in the BBT2. In the first one I didn't even make the freeroll! It was all due to an awesome week I had when I won the MATH. It was my first bloggament win, ever and I was very excited about it. I am also shocked that I managed to make 6 final tables in 19 events. Everybody else in the top 12 played more than 20 events, so I definitely held my own:



So I am super-psyched for Thursday night when we all meet again for the freeroll and the TOC. It will probably be the toughest field I've ever played and since it is a winner take all event I expect people to play differently than they usually would. Some will play looser early or late, some will play tight. It's going to be interesting to say the least.

Also congrats to Fuel55 and Goat for taking down the two write-in spots.

So thanks again to Al (and Riggs), Hoy and Mook for hosting this great series. I think even the haters have come around to love it :-)

Worst Fight Scene..... EVER!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, CineManiac. This is probably the worst fight scene ever created:

Cash is Good

My SNG challenge is going down the drain. I just can't get these donkeys to fold their awful draws and I keep getting my fun 2 and 3 outers. I will need to re-evaluate this challenge. I tried switching to 4 tables instead of 6, but that didn't seem to do the trick. I may need to leave turbo-land. Or switch to 6-max or something. Not sure.

So I decided to grind some limit hold'em and that wasn't much better. The brutality of low stakes limit hold'em is mind boggling.

After the APBT2 bustout last Friday we started a cash game. It was just a .25/.50 with a $20 buy-in, but I walked away with $80 bucks. Four buy-ins is a nice return. I would have stayed longer but it was late and we had a long drive home. BrainMc who drove us out there was not playing and looked like he was getting tired. He has been killing my neighborhood monthly home games, by the way. Killing it!!!

So I thought to myself, self, why don't you play some NLHE cash with the FTP donks. And so that's what I did. I started out playing nitty tight. So I folded my SB like a fool and saw this:



I vowed to loosen up a little and then this happened:



Boy was he mad. He was a weak limping calling station and when the second Ace showed up on the turn and he bet it I just jammed and stacked him with my luckboxery. But the best part of it was the table chat after. Enjoy:

Dealer: ronyrrr shows [Kh Ad]
Dealer: Kajagugu shows [As Js]
Dealer: ronyrrr shows three of a kind, Aces
Dealer: Kajagugu shows a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Dealer: Kajagugu wins the pot ($78.05) with a full house, Aces
full of Jacks
ronyrrr: OMG
ronyrrr: WTF
Kajagugu: sorry man
pokerandpong: outplayed
Kajagugu: lol
ronyrrr: OUTPLAYED MY A.SS
ronyrrr: DONK'D OUT
Kajagugu: i think he meant me
pokerandpong: nah i meant him
Kajagugu: lol
ronyrrr: i had the hand the entire way you fu.cking idiot
pokerandpong: he got outplayed for 78$
ronyrrr: he got lucky
pokerandpong: im pretty sure you got outplayed.
ronyrrr: that's not out playing...fuc.king moron
pokerandpong: nah you got outplayed
trapperjeff: cry baby
ronyrrr: alright dude
pokerandpong: LOL IM OBV $!$@ing with you calm down rofl

Dealer: Kajagugu shows [As Ac]
Dealer: weisse_hai shows [Qd Qh]
Dealer: JohnnyKeftedes shows [8d 8c]
Dealer: Kajagugu shows a pair of Aces
Dealer: JohnnyKeftedes shows a pair of Eights
Dealer: Kajagugu wins the side pot ($77.50) with a pair of Aces
Dealer: weisse_hai shows a pair of Queens
Dealer: Kajagugu wins the main pot ($29) with a pair of Aces

pokerandpong: obv im @%$!ing with you calm down lol
Kajagugu: i should play more cash
pokerandpong: yeah i guess you dont run like a god in
tournaments?
Kajagugu: not lately
ronyrrr: it's not nice to fu.ck with someone after they got
sucked out and a bad beat
pokerandpong: thats the perfect time to fk with someone
pokerandpong: lol
Kajagugu: i didn't
Kajagugu: i said sorry
ronyrrr: not you Daj
ronyrrr: Kaj
pokerandpong: thats why its funny
Kajagugu: ok
pokerandpong: i can make someone flip @!%! by saying one
word

Dealer: trapperjeff shows [As 3d]
Dealer: bike1231 shows [Jh Ah]
Dealer: trapperjeff shows three of a kind, Threes
Dealer: bike1231 shows a flush, Ace high
Dealer: bike1231 wins the pot ($18.05) with a flush, Ace high

bike1231: sowwy
pokerandpong: outplayed
MA_Dunadan_PS: that should be way harder to swallow
trapperjeff: sucked out on again
ronyrrr: that sh.it is not funny pokerandpong
pokerandpong: go e-mail them
pokerandpong: tell them im typing outplayed
ronyrrr: i hope you have bad karma mother ru.cker
pokerandpong: man you must feel so mature typing fu.cker
over and over again
ronyrrr: more mature than talking sh.it to players after they had
a bad beat
pokerandpong: i didnt talk anything
pokerandpong: i said outplayed
pokerandpong: thats just a general comment not directed at
any player
ronyrrr: yeah, that's talking sh.it idiot
ronyrrr: you weren't in the hand
pokerandpong: why dont you stop talking and get outplayed for
78$ some more
ronyrrr: i can't wait til you lose a bunch of money
pokerandpong: its actually a fact that ive never lost money
playing poker ever
pokerandpong: not even the blind
ronyrrr: i'm sooo impressed
pokerandpong: yay i impressed a 15 year old
pokerandpong: just because youre bitter that you got
outplayed for 78$ doesnt mean you should take it out on me
ronyrrr: i'm not bitter because i lost
pokerandpong: i know youre bitter because you got outplayed
ronyrrr: i'm bitter that a person not in the hand is making
comments

So that shit was absolutely hilarious and I didn't need to do anything other than instigate it with a suckout. Awesome. Oh, here's the three way all-in that I scooped in the middle. I can't believe it held. Queens to my left was buying in for $10 at a time. So when I raised he jammed and the 88 guy just called. I jammed and he called. Who the hell calls two jams with 88 when you're playing for your whole stack? Check it out:



Then I managed to give away some on another table chasing like a fool. I had 15 outs on the river but puppy toes were not good this time. They usually are. He was short so it wasn't a big deal:



I actually won this hand and will have to ask you people how you would play it another time. I bet 3/4 pot on the flop and bet pot on the turn and he finally went away:



So up about 3 buy-ins in less than 15 minutes. I guess I need to play more cash? We'll see how fast I go busto this time. Me and my bright ideas....

Big Game Bounty - Blunder

Knock twoblackaces out of the Big Game tonight outside of the top 6 (actually 7) and I will ship you $20.

Update: Well, it worked. TBA was eliminated in 28th place. But that is not going to help me win the overall leaderboard. Right after the Big Game started I jumped into all the tables and set the bounty. Right after I finished doing that, Al announced that the voided RiverChasers was going to be played out for the TOC seat and points.

So although TBA will not win the overall leaderboard, which was my intention, I am pretty sure jeciimd will. Why? Because he took 4th in the Big Game. That was not enough to overtake me, but since he is in the final 13 in the chasers, he now has enough.

And believe it or not, I actually had to chase down the bounty winner. pebble78 was not responding to observer chat and since I could not verify that he actually did the KO, I almost gave up.

So, boooooooo, me!

I was thinking about putting a bounty on jecii, but at the time he needed an outright win to take the lead. I thought about it and decided that if he won the Big Game (again!) he deserves the top spot.

Anyway, this is all a moot point because it doesn't look like there are any leaderboard prizes this time around. My only intention was to try to make sure that someone who actually has a blog sit at the top. Oh, well.

Congratulation to jeciimd for his excellent play throughout the series. And thanks to everyone who put this thing together.

Congratulations to Astin for taking down the Big Game and for Chad taking down his "Skill" Game while play so drunk that he blacked out for a big portion of the final table.

I want to second Astin's suggestion to give an organizer's exception to AlCantHang into the TOC. Well deserved I think.

APBT2 Gigli+1

Ugh!

As 23skidoo predicted ChapelHillNC (Tripjax's brother) was Gigli. I followed right behind. He ran his QQ into a flopped set of 4s. After his rebuy he called a raise in position and called all-in on a low flop with Aces. Same guy as before (Doug) showed pocket 9s, turned an OESD and made his set on the river.

We played two 6-handed tables for a $25 buy-in with one rebuy or add-on. I chipped up nicely during the first two levels and was playing a lot of hands. Eventually Gnome got tired of all my raises and jammed his shortish stack in the SB into my KK on the button. I quickly called and his Asian Jew met another Ace at the door.

So far we had Aces, Kings and Queens cracked. Good times.

Then I got AK UTG and made a nice raise. Got called by Doug and we saw a Jack high flop. I saw Doug c-bet every time it was checked to him, so I knew that when I had the chance to do it I was going to check-raise. He bet 1k and I jammed an extra 1.7k on top. He thought for a long time and called with KJ. Blah!

I did my rebuy and lost two pots to Dave, who played any Ace-rag and called down a lot. One hand he made a boat with A6o. Another time I missed the board with AQ and he called my bets with A2 after he paired his duck on the flop.

So after the break I am down to 1300 chips with our table five handed and the blinds at 100/200. I have to fold my crap 95o BB to a min-bet. But then I get AKo in the SB and pray for some action. Dave min-raises to 400 from the button and I shove for 700 more. He calls with QQ. The flop gives me the nut straight but him a set so I have to fade 7 outs on the turn and 10 on the river. So obviously I lose to quad Queens.

At least in the .25/.50 cash game I ended up with 4 buy-ins.

Funny thing happened when we started the tourney. I used my Princess Leia card protector only to find out Gnome had a Darth Vader head to cap his cards with.

Not "funny" funny, but geek funny.

Thanks 23skidoo, for hosting. It was a blast.

Cheaper than hotels

Let's try this again. If you are going to be in Europe anytime soon, go check out Cheaper Than Hotels. I kid you not. You may have read here that I have been to Europe several times this year. While all those trips were paid for by my employer, Europe is increasingly expensive since the USD is almost good enough to wipe your bottom with these days.

When I first checked out this site I thought it was just another site with hotel prices, yadda, yadda. But when I dug deeper I found some amazing deals:

1) I did a quick search for 5 star hotels in London on the first Friday of 2008 and found deals at about 1/3 regular price.

2) You can also look at Last Minute Deals, where you can look at prices for the next 21 days.

3) Not traveling in the next 21 days? Try out the Year Round Deals page.

It's a very well organized site with lots of ways to get to the information you need. I also found some destination guides and pricing for their top 20 countries.

I suggest you go check out Cheaper Than Hotels if you need an alternative way to finding a place to stay while on the road.

No Chasers

Off to a company holiday party (boooo-ring) and so I will miss the RiverChasers tonight. Good luck to everyone and as there are only two TOC spots left make sure you take it down!

I had a good time playing the Mookie last night. Made it to 18th place out of 93 runners. Two hands showed me the way out. First I jam my shortish stack with TT into A3o, lose that one to the lovely three outer. Then I am really short and looking for a hand to jam and finally find some hidden jews and jam them straight into hidden aces in one of the blinds. Standard.

I did get very lucky early on with some coinflips. AKs was gold for me twice against Queens.

Still leading the leaderboard. Not sure what that means. Big Game on Sunday might determine the overall leader, though.

OK, good luck and bon appetite.

One for Fuel55 and one for fun

Fule55 would be really proud of me here:

FullTiltPoker Game #4478493985: $6 + $0.50 Sit & Go (Turbo) (33945866), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em
tykerr has returned
Seat 1: benmaassen (2,660)
Seat 2: Smokin Aces_05 (780)
Seat 3: spikeme73 (1,820)
Seat 4: walkersrr (1,335)
Seat 5: tykerr (3,120), is sitting out
Seat 6: sleepertom (1,455)
Seat 7: Kaiser0013 (1,170)
Seat 8: Kajagugu (1,160)
Kajagugu posts the small blind of 30
benmaassen posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Kajagugu [5c 5d] - PRESTO!!!
Smokin Aces_05 folds
spikeme73 folds
walkersrr calls 60 - limp 1
tykerr folds
sleepertom calls 60 - limp 2
Kaiser0013 calls 60 - limp 3
Kajagugu calls 30 - I was thinking about raising, but decided to play it safe.
benmaassen checks - 5 to the flop, weeeeeeeeeeeee!
*** FLOP *** [Ks Ac 8s] - not a nice flop
Kajagugu checks
benmaassen checks
walkersrr checks
sleepertom checks
Kaiser0013 checks
*** TURN *** [Ks Ac 8s] [4d]
Kajagugu checks
benmaassen checks
walkersrr checks
sleepertom checks
Kaiser0013 checks
*** RIVER *** [Ks Ac 8s 4d] [3c] - nobody wants it?
Kajagugu has 15 seconds left to act - a little pause to throw them off. I love how it says I have time left to act. Act, get it?
Kajagugu bets 200 - I wasn't sure how much to bet here. I figured 2/3 pot would look like I am hoping to get a call.
benmaassen folds - nope
walkersrr folds - nope
sleepertom folds - nope
Kaiser0013 folds - nope
Uncalled bet of 200 returned to Kajagugu
Kajagugu mucks
Kajagugu wins the pot (300) - PRESTO IS GOLD!!!
The blinds are now 40/80
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 300 | Rake 0
Board: [Ks Ac 8s 4d 3c]
Seat 1: benmaassen (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: Smokin Aces_05 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: spikeme73 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: walkersrr folded on the River
Seat 5: tykerr didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: sleepertom folded on the River
Seat 7: Kaiser0013 (button) folded on the River
Seat 8: Kajagugu (small blind) collected (300), mucked



Earlier today I saw a demo of some product and almost peed myself when I saw who they used as an example:



I'm sure these guys could really use those free movie passes!

Momma said knock you out! WWYD?

I played a little $10 KO on FTP the other day and had an interesting situation. This is pretty early on with blinds only 40/80. I pick up AJo in EP and since I have not played a single hand so far I decided to see what happens when I raise. Yeah good idea raising to 250 with AJo, but that is not the point. One guy shoves for 745, next guy calls, next guy calls, and the SB calls all in for 730. It's back to me. Pot is 3,295 and it costs me 495 to call as well. What would you do (1)?



Does anyone fold here? I couldn't find the fold button and we saw the flop 5 handed with 2 all-ins. It got checked around and the turn gives me this:



As you can see I just shoved thinking I had 12 outs (9 hearts and 3 more tens). I am not sure it was the best move here. What would you do (2)?

I know I was shoving into a dry side pot but in my mind the implied odds of hitting my hand meant I would have a monster stack and possibly collect two bounties. I did manage to get rid of one guy but then Pontius called:



So I was out and Pontius collected three bounties and all the chips. I ran this through PokerStove and saw that when I jammed I was a 2-to-1 dog. Not good enough. If you are Pontius and you see the flush on the board with all this action do you still make the call? You might be drawing dead against a flush. I guess that was my other thought. If I jam on the flushed board does that signal that I made my flush or does it signal weakness?

Thoughts?

Screw Poker

If you want to get desensitized to poker all you have to do is multi-table turbo SNGs. The beats are spectacular (in all these I went in ahead on whatever street):












There - Now I feel a lot better.

Getting my drink on

I have been hearing her squeaky nasal voice all day long and it feels like a dentist is drilling through my skull on both temples. Enough is enough. Now I have to sit through a client dinner at a "trendy" spot which is so loud that I am already hoarse.

So I ordered a Grey Goose and Tonic. And since this is a company tab I am going to have as many as I can down in the next couple of hours. I am sitting across from the squeaker and typing this. I crack myself up sometimes.

Then I will go to my room and play drunken poker. And since I ate some cauliflower curry soup for lunch, the room will be nice and warm.

Bartender!!!

Curry Farts

Toronto is fucking freezing. And I got here about three and a half hours before my meeting. My numbnuts sales chick forgot to tell me she had another meeting earlier so I am now taking a second cab to go meet up with her. Think 40+ dumb blonde from Texas. Good times.

Anyway, my Indian (or Pakistani) cabbie sneezes and immediately opens all the windows. Seriously. It's 24 degrees outside and we are driving around with all the windows rolled down.

I would probably prefer the warm stench of a curry fart than a frost bitten nose tip. What a low blow that was. A curry scented sub zero sneeze fart. Classy.

Priorities

I just drove past a coin laundry and saw a Segway parked outside. Thought it was a cop or something like that but seems like just some guy with his priorities screwed up.

I'm running erands and making latkes for 70 people who are coming to KajaKid's school Hanukah party today. Instead of playing the Winter Classic in Vegas. I got my priorities straight.

Right?

Zombies

Two days. Two flights. Two zombie movies.

On the way out I watched 28 Weeks Later which is AWESOME. Fast paced, gory and scary as hell. I loved the original and thought the sequel was just as good. Maybe even better. I have no idea how they filmed this thing. The scenes with a deserted London were astonishing. This is a must see.

On the way back I watched The Invasion. Less zombie and more, well, alien invasion movie, this one was also pretty good. The pace was also very fast although they could have done a better job with the build up to the realization that something is wrong. Also the solution was kind of CSI matter-of-fact. Oh, it must be so and so. Duh. Nicole Kidman did a great job as did Daniel Craig. I enjoyed it very much.

Now I will probably end up having some fun dreams. I guess that's the price I have to pay.

No Mook Tonight

I was debating whether to sign up for The Mookie tonight or not. I will be landing back home a few minutes before it starts, but there is very little I can do to actually play. I mean, I can show up late and log on with my aircard and play while I drive home, but then when I get home I have a list of chores that would not really permit me to play. I can play while hanging lights on the house because my wireless network would reach the front porch, but it would not be comfortable and probably be pretty cold.

So I am not playing. It's going to be a smaller field for sure. I am saddest about missing Buddy's show. I hear he will be with LJ, Chad and Don at Chad's place and I bet it will be a lot of fun. How are all four of them going to play if they are all sitting together in the same house? Interesting....

Only 6 spots remain in the TOC. If you don't have your seat you better take advantage of the smaller fields tonight and tomorrow night.

Good luck to everyone!

Addicted to Blogs?

84%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

83%LUSH

I SCORED A 71%

$4875.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

41%

50% Geek

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2,516,640How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?



21

I am 35% Addicted to Coffee

I obviously have too much time on my hands.

Turbo Stars?

So I noticed something strange last night on PokerStars. All the middle of the night tourneys were turbos:



Is this normal? Are they going into "give-me-your-rake-and-get-the-fuck-out" mode?

Back in Black(hawk)

So while all of you tarded lemurs are on your merry way to Las Vegas to gather, ass grab, junk grab and junk kick, I have to settle for the live poker offerings of Blackhawk, Colorado. Blech! I am so damn jealous that I am on the verge of buying a ticket just to say I was there and then turn around and head back home. Whatever.

So I high-tail it out to the Poker Parlor at the Mardi Gras casino and sign up for the tourney. $100 buy-in, 10$ of that juice, 33 runners (yes we played 11 handed, huh?), 10K chips, stupid blinds going up every 20 minutes. Here's the table setup (only interesting characters):

Seat 1: Weird Woman
Seat 2: Old Fart McSpeechy
Seat 3: Lemon Drop (blond hair, sunglasses, ridiculous beaded necklace with lemon slices on it, flaming mo)
Seat 4: Calling Station 1
Seat 5: Dumb Fool
Seat 6: Random Asian Donk #1
Seat 7: FTP PushDonkey
Seat 8: Talkative Donk
Seat 9: Ruskie Calling Station (Where are you from? New York - LOL)
Seat 10: Moi
Seat 11: Asian Fool

So we start with the first hand at 100/100 blinds and Limit Hold'em. We play a couple more hands and on the 3rd hand of the tournament Dumb Fool limps UTG and Asian Fool raises in the CO to 300. Lemon Drop is in the SB and calls, BB folds and Dumb Fool calls. The flop is A34 with two spades and it gets checked around to Dumb Fools who bets like 1200 into 1000 pot. Lemon Drop slams his chips in the middle announcing All-In and before Dumb Fool can do anything, Asian Fool calls out of turn. So then Dumb Fool calls as well. 3rd hand, deep stacks, 3-way all-in? What could this idiots have?

Guesses?

Lemon Drop has 43o for two pair and the two fools called his all-in with AQo. He tripled up and we lost two players. And created a monster stack. Great.

I ran a bad bluff from UTG against the Ruskie in the BB and he called all three bullets with an OESD which he hit on the river and then just check-called. That took a big chunk of my stack away. I got very short on chips with all the aggression going on and eventually started to get some chips. I rebuilt back to 5K chips and then we got to the 5th level which was 400/800. I look down at Aces in the SB and the table folds around. Damn. I decided to try to trap the Weird Woman who folds to any kind of pressure unless she has a hand. So I just call and bet 900 on the KJx flop. She folds.

Then something strange happens. We are still playing the 400/800 level and the dealer calls the TD over and whispers something in her ear. She then announces that we need to put in antes of 100 in this level and that she was supposed to announce it but was not used to it starting at this level. Usually antes start at the 500/1000 level. I even asked the previous dealer about it and he said it was the next level. So what this means is that with antes I might have gotten some action for my Aces and even if we didn't I would have scooped another 1000 in chips. 20% of my stack. Minor Tilt sets in.

Not long after, still at the 400/800/100 level I get pocket Queens in LP and since Lemon Drop calls every raise I decided to pop it to 3000. He does his usual "why so much?" shtick and calls. Flop is Jack high and he announces all-in and I call. He shows the powerful KJ donkey hand and I already know I am doomed and get up. Third spade on the turn gives him a higher flush draw and obviously a King comes on the river. Yay me!

Any other way to play this? I don't think so. My chips were all going in here somehow. At least I went in ahead and gave myself a chance to double up.

I donked around with the locals who play the strange 2-5 limit and quickly got bored out of my skull. The suckouts were brutal and I eventually played a few hands blind and my all powerful 53o (standard hand for the night) was no match for Q4o and I was out.

I drove back to the city and got online. I was obviously on a great streak so I felt compelled to continue to play. I played on Stars a little and lost every hand where I got Kings all-in pre-flop to Ace-rag. Every damn time. Ghey Cowboys. Fawk!

Then I played a bit on FTP and the ridiculousness had been transferred over there as well. I decided to move up in levels and play the $69 buy-in 18K guarantee and got it all-in with QQ on a 799 board with two hearts. I bet the pot on that flop and got check-raised by the UTG limp-caller. I could not put him on a 9 and was hoping he had Tens or Jacks. But no, he had K4s in hearts and obviously goes turn 4, river 4 to make a full house. Yes, higher levels have much better players.

Not sure what other sick beats came my way, but it was a bloodbath. But I kept plugging along, not giving up.

I played well in the $5KO with 579 runners. I sucked out on an idiot min-raiser who called me a monkey. Yeah whatever, idiot. Stop min-raising Queens and calling off your stack on scary boards.

I made it in 7th into the money (54 paid) and was cruising along nicely when RNG found me in my little corner and decided to kick my junk again. Some fool decided that my first raise in 25 hands meant he could shove AT and get me to fold my AJ. I called and he of course hits his 3-outer in the door. Then just to make it a complete disaster I jam the next hand holding 7s and he calls with AK and makes a full house:




34th of 579 is not bad, but damnit!

I shut it down, yes? Yes!

Good luck to all of you in Vegas. Hopefully, you will post and keep us all in the loop on the bedlam that is about to ensue.