The Bad Beat BBQ

Offline Poker

2011-04-22T17:04:00.013-04:00

It's been a long week for us and we have nothing but questions. Since it's been a few weeks since I posted it seemed like the perfect occasion. As it turns out, the crackdown, as bad as it seems.....turned out to be positive EV. I hadn't been to the home game in nearly a year and I got a text from my cousin saying that there was a big game going down last Friday night that was 6x the usual buy in with no rebuys. I figured that since I rarely rebuy because I usually make the final table. Well, i did just that. Then lost with KK vs AA preflop. Made up for it at the losers table.

Party Poker

Long time gone. Jan is still good news.

2010-01-31T20:30:00.004-05:00

Maybe it's not how much you play but the quality. I've got a few poker experiences to share real soon. I just wanted to get a post out before the end of Jan or I'd feel like a failure. I wanna tell you all about Blackhawk Colorado and the friday night game too. So sorry for the lame post, but I'll be back real soon.

Pauly follows poker

Big fan of Jan and the Leather Ass Award

2009-02-06T10:04:00.006-05:00

What a year it's been! I'm ready to skip the next 11 months and ring in the new year again. Why ?? you ask. Well, it's because January is my all time best month of the year for poker play and this one topped them all. I don't know what it is about the month that produces the effect but at this point I have stopped wondering and started taking advantage. But let's take a look anyhow. What could it be? Perhaps it's just as simple as the fresh perspective that a new year allows you to view the world from. There are few distractions other than the cold and my job is at its slowest in Jan so that might be part of it. Maybe it's the cold, cloudless nights that January brings so we may again watch Orion the Hunter on his quest to slay all the beasts in the sky. I've made it a custom to look up at the stars on the way to a poker game as a way to ground myself, focus and ready my mind for battle on the felt. Maybe it's just the cold. I think the cold slows me down so I can play patient poker and pay attention to the others at the table. In the summer you have a thousand things to do and the heat in these parts can play tricks with your head. The heat makes you anxious and aggressive like a New Yorker in the Summer of 77'. While aggression at the poker table is a plus, it must be tempered with restraint or you may run the risk of a meltdown.

Going back to the days of ordering drinks on Paradise Poker back in 2004 I can recall that January depositing $50 and playing the lowest penny stakes cash NL Holdem tables. I ran that up to over $500 that month and so began the January run that continues to this day. Just last year I drove to Atlantic City and crashed in on the room of my cousin who goes each year in Jan for some kind of conference. Can you say "free room"? Well I cashed a $150 check from Full Tilt Poker at the bank right beside the Tropicana and then I walked in and sat down at a 1-2 NL table around 9pm. Space and time both dissolved like Alka Seltzer into the free flowing Vodka Red Bull as the night brought new players, dealers and waitresses. I emerged from the haze when my friends showed up beside the poker table with my suitcase and belongings. We had been kicked out of our room they said. I asked my cousin what had happened and they all laughed. "It's 2pm and we had to be out of the room at 11am", chided cousin Curtis. WTF trampled across my frontal lobe as I came to the realization that I had not so much as left my seat to use the bathroom in 15 hours. Casinos are evil constructions in so many ways. The friends gazed upon my chipstack with looks of incredulity as I counted off my winnings for the first time like Kenny Rogers tells you to.....when the dealn's done (1min 32sec). I had managed to parlay that $150 into well over $1200 during the course of the night.

I got the leather ass award that day and it stands as my longest and most profitable cash game session to date. On a side note...I saw a drunk guy fall down the escalator and his coat got caught in the teeth at the bottom and it was squeezing him so hard he started crying. The whole place fell silent under the cloud of confusion and chaos took over momentarily but I never left my seat even for that.

That brings us to this January. Our new Friday night poker venue is only a mile away and I've taken to riding my Go-Ped Scooter. I've now taken to riding it right up the ramp and into the storage building where we play while blasting Amy Winehouse( Rehab)on my mini Ipod speakers. It's a small game and we rarely have more than 6 people playing any given night but we have some interesting rules that guarantee a healthy prize pool. First off, there's the unlimited rebuys for the first three hours which guarantees that you won't be winning it all anytime soon. You can lose all your chips and then sit out as long as you like and then get back in right before the rebuys end. I've often taken a break from the game in just such a situation to regroup or grab a bite. So far we have only played winner take all and that makes sure that the winner gets a healthy reward. I came away from the month with two outright wins and one split where I came back from a 3.5 - 1 chip disadvantage to pull even and force Jack "the pigeon" to offer me a split. Even on that night after accepting the split I demanded that we sit aside $100 to play for heads up to determine a real winner and I took that match down in three hands. So i guess you could say I won three times. Cousin BJ "the freight train" took down the week where I was unable to attend and he came into last weeks game with an air of confidence. The first hand I was dealt pocket sevens and almost got it all in preflop against pocket eights and AQ but I folded only to see a 7 hit the turn and a 1st hand triple up was missed. Still, I felt good knowing that I had made the correct play preflop as I put "the pigeon"'s brother on a bigger pocket pair which he indeed had. I was the only one who didn't rebuy all night and despite Tonys best efforts and multiple rebuys he was unable to thwart "the steamroller" and I closed out January at 3am on the 31st with my biggest tournament win ever. Viva January!

It was a warm ride home on the scooter in 27 degree weather that night. Tonight the game is back on but it's Feb now so I look to be handing over the cash starting right away. Come n get it.

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Hide your poker money in a hollow book...........

Free Hollow Books

Weak Play makes me sick

2008-12-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I did it. I played my favorite/lucky hand out of position against a bigger stack that I was certain had a big pair in the hole and when I hit my second pair on the river I failed to shove. I called. I won. But it was a weak weak play in a spot where I should have accumulated a ton of chips and coasted to a win. Instead I ended up second that night and it was all due to a lack of aggression. You really can't play a five man holdem tourney and play it like a MTT online. When you find a spot like Q8 sooted on a board of Q 9 5 2 8 and you really think the guy has a big pair and maybe even aces then you should take advantage. I failed. I'm reminding myself of it with this post so it does not happen again. Turns out that Douggy indeed had those aces and he remarked how he would have certainly called if I pushed. Live and learn and rebuy while you can.

Maybe I'd do better if I were reading more Otis

It took one rebuy and the UIEGA had no bearing

2008-11-15T09:36:00.007-05:00

We had the best turnout so far for out new Friday homegame location just last night. Two uncles and a cousin. Wesley is a bull riding beach volleyball star. One hardened big time gambler named Jack. Two cops and yours truly. There was a yummy spread of pepperoni, cheese, crackers and Pony Miller.

The night started off with just me and my uncle Tony who owns the place getting in a few hands heads up before the rest of the crew decided to show up. Since he is an action junkie poker pigeon I figured it'd be a good spot to pick up some extra chips if I could pounce on one of his frequent bluffs. I won three or four straight pots and then Tony decided to bluff at a big pot on the river with a large overbet. He knows me as a guy who will lay down a hand to a big bet but in this case I had made Kings up. I just decided to call him down because there was a possible straight made on the river but I felt my two pair were the nuts. Tony proudly turned over his King for an actual real hand, but it was a loser. I shoulda raised.

The rest of the crew arrived and got seated late because the Bull Riders gal totaled her car only minutes before the scheduled shuffle up. He told her to ice her head and take some Tylenol and then proceeded to the game with a clear conscious. I admire his true dedication to the game and her understanding.

Gamblin Big Time Jack sat on my left to try and punish me all night but I stayed away from him and let him bust players for me while I picked up small pots and check called my way through the minefield. I made one all-in bet to wake everyone up when I picked up AKs in the BB and shoved against a table full of limpers and picked up enough dead money for a half hour of blinds. Pocket tens doubled me up against K10 on a flop of 2 7 10. I was check calling til the river then I pushed and got called by one of the uncles. I had the big stack early on and I ran into cousin BJs trip deuces. I felt like he was leading me down the primrose path the whole hand but two pair is a seductive mistress sometimes. Turns out my two pair consisted of my King, one on the board and two deuces on the board. Unfortunately, he had pockets deuces and he had rivered quads. Ouch. Not broke, but hurt bad. I never could recover from this blow and in 30 minutes I was broke and rebuying. Speaking of rebuys, Tony said his shoulder was sore from reaching into his back pocket. BJ suggested him moving his wallet to his front pockets for easy access. Turns out it would have been a good move b/c the rebuy bee stung him like Lionel Ritchie. All night long.

It wasn't long before the cops showed up..........bought in........and sat down. I love this country. Cops can't play card for shit you know and winning their money is a sweet joy. Just as quickly as the game got filled, it started to thin out. Finally the cops bring some good luck. I pick up Aces in the BB and it is limped around to me so I throw in a 3.5x BB raise and it folds around to Tony who calls and then Uncle Bil who re-raises. A great spot to be in for sure, but who wants two people drawing against your aces? Well, Tony never folds and Bill didn't have to call much more so it was three way action. Tony had Tens and Bill had Jacks and I had the winner when the board came all babies and a queen. Whoo hoo. I'm back in the saddle again. BJs chips had been dwindling since he was cursed with quads. Wesley, the Bull Rider had been up and down. You have to watch Wes cause he will call your ass with the ace high if he thinks its good.

This post is taking too long to finish and I have not had a comment on this site in nearly two years so I wonder if it's just sitting out here dying. How bad can it be if you are linked to Paulys site? Anyhow.... Bill did not recover and ended up getting busted by me with top two vs his top pair. BJ slowly died and disappeared. It wasn't long before the men in blue were deep in the red. I think Wesley open folded 5-6 hands during the evening so you can guess where he ended up. Jack the Big Time Hollywood gambler had busted twice already and was given directions to the Food Lion so he could get a pack of gum with his debit card and get cash back. That's an ATM here in the country we say. Hard to blame him though b/c the kitty had grown into a Lion with three hours of rebuys, booze and smoke. With a healthy double buyin price of $40 we had pumped it up to nearly 8 Hundy by Midnight.

Jack came back and started pounding away recklessly and soon had taken over the chip lead with some real power poker play. I had built back up to second place and about now Jack started asking me if I wanted to split it is it came down to us. He was offering $200 for me to go away. I had $80 invested and I turned him down countless times over the next hour. And then there were two. Jack and I have been heads up before and I think I have the advantage against him. At a full table he has the ability to pick up chips and avoid trouble but heads up I have his number and I kept telling him so. "$200 is an insult and I'm going to get all your chips and take the whole thing!"

WHAM! BAM! and a few hands later we played a big one and I won a pot equivalent to 5 buyins. After I raked in these chips it looked like my stack had taken over the lead and along came the request to split it 50-50. I felt like I was dialed in and was going to win if we kept playing but it was after 1am and everyone else had left so I agreed to the split with one exception. I wanted to take $100 and sit it aside for us to play for so we could have a real winner. We each got 10 chips and played a turbo SNG for the $100. The first hand Jack limped in and I pushed with K3 and he folded. Next hand I had A3 and pushed again on the button after calling and he folded again. Now I had 14 chips to his 6 and on the third hand I got the rest with one little pair. Giggidty.
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If you are bored this week, why not go out and watch the Space Station fly over with the Space Shuttle in tow? You can see it with your naked eyes even if you have clothes on.

Maybe you actually like Poker? Then go read from Grubby a bit.

thanks for reading

Winter means two things, firewood and poker

2008-11-10T14:17:00.005-05:00

Winter brings us the dreary darkness that hits you when you open the office door at 5pm to see dusk approaching. The though of getting home in the dark and making dinner and doing the kids homework and cleaning up and its already dark already. What gives with that anyways? I say Kill Daylight Savings Time There. It's not natural and people hate it. I took a scientific poll today and the mail carrier agrees. It sucks. But with the darkness comes the inevitable onslaught of cabin feverized wallet spillage to the felt. Let's just say that Fridays nights are heating up in more ways than one. Hunting and Football can only sustain a mans attention to a degree. And for those reading here, perhaps you are the same as I and could gladly do without both. Give me some chips and the tallest chair with a 12pk of bottles and it's cards in the air. But if you want to have a poker game with a broad spectrum of guests you can anticipate 40% of them are still smokers so what do you do? Hey, if you smoke in your house then it probably already stinks to high heaven so let the boys have at it. But that's not good for anyone I know. Therefore some take to the garage or the basement even. Others have ungodly sized storage buildings rivaling most single family homes with two dance floors and a bar. But whether you have 50sq ft or 1000, I'd says that it's the year of the wood fired winter. Energy prices are up and the enconomy is in the shitter. I say fight back with free firewood and supplement your income with some tight aggressive play in the months to come.

I've never cut so many trees or chopped so much wood or stacked so much of it so high before in my life. It's great exercise and I'm sore from it. Have you ever split logs wearing crocs? Well, then you're an idiot. My old man is supposed to be designing and building me a small wood stove from some sorta pipe so I can keep my workshop warm this winter. He's a kickass welder and im sure it will be one of a kind and innovative. I'll post pics if it ever gets built. But I was thinking of having a poker game of my own in the workshop a time or two this season if I can swing enough willing attendees. I need to clean out a ton of junk too, but I digress.

That's a post. Bout time. Thanks for sticking with me folks.

The WSOP final two have been determined. Are you going to be following Pauly on twitter?

Tao Poker on Twitter

Well, it's kinda like poker...

2008-08-24T17:56:00.005-04:00

Turns out I'm better at poker than race pools. After a weekend at the Bristol NASCAR race I'm out $50 in various race pools and money laundering scams designed by drunken sunburned Bud Light drinkers. Give me $10........Hey, gimmie $5. I quit asking what the money was for. My tickets were free and I had a place to stay so I felt like I was ahead on the deal. I even quit asking what the money was for. I never won and didnt even get a chance to get excited about the though of winning because nobody bothered to tell me what drivers I even had. About 3 hrs sleep in 2 1/2 days ain't much. Good to be home enjoying a dust and exhaust free environment.

Looks like my old poker game is falling apart. The old regulars are still going every Friday but I have not been there in months and months. 37 miles is a long way to drive back from at 2 or 3am anyhow. Were putting together a game for the winter right up the street at my uncles house. Only one mile away. We have some nice felt topped tables being fabd up now and we have only to wait for the sun to start tracking a bit lower and for some leaves to fall. Did I mention that the yellow bus will start hauling off all the children each weekday starting this Tuesday? I just got excited.

UB Scandal

2008-06-18T21:56:00.005-04:00

Full Tilt Poker for being such a great non-cheater filled website like Ultimate Bet and their poster bad boy apologist Phil Helmuth. But I digress.

Since the last time, I've won the homegame twice playing PL Omaha. Drove to Atlantic City in Jan and hit it big.

And what's with all these people on podcasts saying shit like...." let's get right into it". A hackneyed turn that only reminds me of their lack of fervor for the project. At least fake it.

btw some of my favs........ www.bol.cnet.com www.fivehundybymidnight.com www.noagenda.mevio.com www.tech5.com www.tikibar.tv.com

(the New King of Omaha)

2007-11-10T10:24:00.002-05:00

Toby asked me last night at the old Pink Sky Poker Club...."What happened to the Blog man?". We were at the final table sitting side by side and it was down to 5 players. My personal best finish at Omaha since bringing the game to the basement 2 years ago was my non-cashing 4th place finish last week. I guess that finish was good enough for 1 point on the leader board but not much else. Seeing as how I was already invested x3 buy ins and had somehow survived the typical omaha outdraws and suckouts I felt pretty lucky to still have a chair at 10pm with a chance to get back some of that hard earned dough. I promised Toby 3 paragraphs if I was to win. Well......

Last week I had my best Omaha finish and I felt like I played poorly. I laid down trips twice when I felt they might have been good and I promised myself that no matter what, I was not folding trips all night, even if they were deuces no matter how scary the board looked or how much they bet. Perhaps not a sound rational strategy, but a strategy nonetheless. I was sticking to it and it was working. I made a few boats that got me some chips to play with after nursing the short stack all night. I even got those trip deuces at about 10:45, sat on them quietly, and I called down a bet and a raise and fat lipped the top two pair on an innocuous board of A K 9 7 2. That hand gave me some elbow room to see a few flops. I made some small bets into medium sized pots that nobody took interest in and soon enough I was in 2nd chip position behind the Omaha King Toby himself. It was down to me, Toby, Jimmy, Eddie, Ronnie and Johnny. Seeing how I was the only one without a name ending in the (E) sound I was sure to be a shoe in for at least a cash finish.

Ronnie was short and got all in with the Hilton Sisters after I bet the pot with pocket aces on the button and he was gone to the cash game table. Eddie fell victim to runner runner and saw his own set of trips pummeled by the Omaha demons. I had Aces again in early position but raised them big hoping the fear of my big stack might push out some weak hands but Johhny decided to play and my aces were not good enough, but the lowly Q7 I had forgotten about on the other side of my hand made me two pair that beat his two pair and Johhny Buzz was pushing back his chair and gathering his shit. Last weeks winner vanquished. Toby was the next in line for an ass whoopin and he took it like a man. I don't even remember what I had but it was good enough. The final two. Jimmy was nearly out before and Johnny both when he called I put him all in preflop with two suited Kings and he made a luckbox boat with a 7 and a 4. He tripled up that hand but still, as we began heads up he made me an offer to split the pot which I never even considered. I was guaranteed 2nd place money but with a 31/2 - 1 chip lead I wanted to see a few hands. I folded, he folded. Then Jimmy got impatient and tried to move all in preflop in the dark but I made him drag some chips back because the pot wasn't big enough for him to push since we were playing Pot Limit. I looked down at two JJQ10 and almost put him all in anyhow but I was content to call and see a flop, hoping agaist hope for a bunch of little cards. I got my wish. Jimmy still hadn't looked at his hand. The board was something like 33 7 and I checked, he pushed and I Phil Helmuth instacalled showing the two Jakes. They held up and I won. The new King has been crowned. I think that's three.

Award Winning Salsa Recipe

2007-10-11T22:33:00.000-04:00

Super Secret Salsa

1 box Pomi chopped tomatoes. Tomatoes in a box.

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3-4 fresh red tomatoes.

Any variety you like as long as they are ripe. Cut them into slices and then section them down to pinky finger tip sized bits. Save the juice ! Remove any white icky hard parts from near the core.
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Loads of Jalepeno Peppers

(I add a habanera too if I feel spicy). I cut mine up into small pieces half the size of a pencil eraser. I wear a latex/rubber glove on the hand that hold the peppers. I have waken up many night rubbing my eyes in my sleep only to wake up in agony and blindness.
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1 half bunch of fresh cilantro

(remove most of stems) chop well, but don't liquify it with the knife. Chop it up semi fine and leave it at that.
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2 yummy garlic cloves

crushed and chopped extra fine. Or use a garlic press if you have one and want your hands to stay stinky free. Me, I love the smell on my hands. I feel like that chick on SNL that smells her fingers all the time.
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then salt and pepper to taste. Lots of salt. Lots and lots. Salt is so plentiful and easy to mine, why not papmer yourself.

I use fresh cracked black pepper too and I'm not shy with it.
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just a few splashes of vinegar. I use white, or what ever I have. Don't matter.
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1 Tablespoon cumin. Q-min. I actually use like alot of this.

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1-2 Teaspoons of paprika or maybe a little more.

If you don't have paprika, you can substitute ground up cloves but it will taste totally weird.
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Mix it all up as you go and add the salt a pepper all along the process. Chill overnite for best taste.
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Other things I like to throw into the salsa now and then include.

* Black beans ( strained and rinsed )
* Crushed red pepper seed ( xtra heat )
* MSG

Mix up a batch and take to your poker game.

The Singularity Podcast

2007-06-12T00:33:00.004-04:00

Do you have a Physics or Sceience question? What is a black hole? Can we travel back in time? What's a space elevator? How the hell did the Professor make a radio with coconuts and seashells? This guy will answer your emailed questions about anything. It's a great little podcast that explains some of the everyday questions about the world around you and changes the way you think about it. He's answered a few questions for me on the show and it's great experience to hear him think it through for you in an easily digestible manner. Face it, you're an idiot. This guy is smart. Let him do the talking then you can go around and tell all the people you work with how they didn't do diddly squat all day The SInGulariTy PoDcaSt

Let Craig explain it to you.

The Singularity Podcast
or don't even listen. Just email him some stupid question and I'll tell you when he answers it on the show. singularitypodcast@gmail.com

+++++++++UPDATE++++++++++

Hey, I edited this post just to let you know that Craig has let the show fall of the face of the earth. It sits dead on my ipod but were pals on Twitter if you wanna eavesdrop.

Bust his balls a a bit and maybe he'll push out a new episode just for you.

Here's the RSS Feed for you tech gurus.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SingularityPodcast

Jason Headley don't play poker

2007-01-11T14:30:00.002-05:00

Jason Headley.com.

He's an author from WV living in SF. I mean.....does that have your attention?

Read his books and subscribe to his newsletter. Tell him you found him here and thanks for the beers.

Bringin Sexy Back to the poker table

2006-11-12T11:04:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile kiddies, but I'm back. Did you miss me? Blogging is hard work. Just ask Iggy. People I know have been asking me what happened to the blog? Why don't you write anymore? I don't know. Why don't you start a blog I ask them. Then they lose interest in the subject. But hey, enough about that, let's talk poker.

Lately,I have not been playing in the Friday game as regularly as I used to. It started a few months back when we made a switch to No limit 7-Card Stud. Have you ever heard of such an idiotic game? It was horrific on so many levels and I just quit going to the game until they got done with it. You see, there's always a bigger tournament running alongside the weekly tournament. We pull a small portion of the weekly prize pool out and set it aside to be given to the overall points leader at the end of the big tournament. Here's how it works.

1st place = 4 pts 2nd place = 3 pts 3rd place = 2 pts 4th place = 1 pt

The points leader after 10 weeks takes it all.

The switch back to NL Holdem happened well over a month ago and since then I have made it to play three times. My first week back was interesting. My uncle and my cousin were there and we all three ended up at the final table. Since it was weeks and weeks ago I can't recall any of the hands for you, but suffice to say I was a juggernaut. I was knocking people out left and right all night and the final table was no different. My uncle was out in 4th and my cousin left in 3rd. The one non-family member was FNG Tony who was quite short-stacked when we started heads up. I think it took two hands heads up for my AQs to take out his lowly 83o. My first tourney win in over 10 months. It felt good.

But that ain't the end of the story. The very next week I showed up again to defend my title and pay for the pizza for everybody like the winner has traditionally done since the game began. It's $20 but some folks like Jack are just tightwads who only show up for the money in the first place and have no interest in parting with so much as a dime. The pizza was good but I donked off all my chips after starting off hot and building a decent stack. I had called ole Johhny Buzz earlier in the week to gloat over my win and he didn't seem to care that too much. Johnny used to be cool, but lately he has turned sour and grumpy. Turns out, I never should have let him borrow my copy of TJ Cloutiers Championship NL and PL Holdem book last year and he'd still be languishing at the losers table every week. Johhny waltzed in and won the tourney out of spite. Touche. That makes two wins for Johnny since the Holdem started back up again. As a side note, he never had to sit at the same table as me and that allowed him to play more aggressively. But maybe is I wasn't such a donk, I'd have seen him at the final table.

The following week I didn't play, instead opting for some family fun, but the poker brought me back to the table this past Friday and the sparks were flying from early on. The field was a bit on the short side this week and we only had 9 players all sitting at one table when I arrived my usual 20 minutes late(it's 30 miles each way from my house). Bosey pulled into the driveway a few minutes after me giving us 11 players. Eleven was enough to break into two shorthanded tables and that made me happy. I think that I have an edge with less players at the table because I read people well and I play aggressively. Most of the players like to limp alot so I can steal alot of blinds and antes in good position with marginal hands.

My table consisted of Jack "The Pigeon", Bosey, Toby, Food Lion and FNG Tony.
Unfortunately, I had T.J. aka "Food Lion" on my left and he likes to reraise me from that seat,trying to steal because he knows I will lay down alot of hands if I think I'm behind and out of position.

T.J. started with that bullshit right off the bat. Raising, stealing and mucking. I laid down QJ twice and KQ once to big overbet style raises and reraises but when I picked up A6 one off T.Js button I decided I was going to make a statement. I limped in following the lead of two other limpers, fully expecting T.J. to raise it. When he made it 4x the big blind and everyone else folded to me I pushed all in. He called quickly and showed JJ. I failed to improve and was left with just 180 chips. I know it was a bad move so early in a tournament but heck, I sent a message to the table that I couldn't be pushed around. Maybe I sent two messages, the other one being that I was a jackass who would go broke with no pair. I still had chips, but I went over to the other table and handed over my money for more chips because I anticipated going all in on the next hand so I could rebuy. Funny thing, I sat back down to play and the first hand I saw was the Brunson, Ten Deuce, but I mucked it in hopes of something slightly better before the blinds hit me.

The very next hand I got dealt KJs and I pushed in. There were two limpers before me and everyone behind me including the blinds folded. I got called by Tony who showed Q9d. King high won the pot and I tripled up. I now was back to nearly 600 in chips and I could afford to sit a few rounds and wait on a hand. I went back to Ronnie and got my rebuy $ back. Three or four hands later I got dealt my first pair of the night and it was a big one. Cowboys. But how to play them ? Slowly, I decided. Ok, playing slowly still means raising it preflop because not doing so would be asking for trouble. I raised 3.5x BB and hoped for a few callers. I got a few and then got a great flop. Q 3 8 three suited was about the best flop you could ask for. I was in early position, it was checked to me and I put in a 1/4 the pot bet and got two callers. The turn was a 5 and I felt confident enought about my overpair at this point to slow down and see where the power was. My check induced the button to take a stab at the pot and I flat called the bet which left only the two of us in the pot. The river paired the previous 5 and I led into the pot with a 1/2 pot sized bet and the button called quickly and turned over KQ. I showed down the Kings and took a big pot. Time to sit on my stack I thought.

I was catching lots of hell from the guys because I had brought an acrylic vegas style chip rack with me this night in anticipation of filling it with black chips. Everyone thought it was funny and that I was asking for bad luck just by merely bringing it. Now it was filled with chips and towers of blue chips surrounded it like night watchmen. The chip rack made for very efficient intimidation bets where you needed to cut off $5000 in a hurry for nasty check-raise or some bold-bluff-bravado.

Final Table

By the time we whittled ourselves down to the final table we had lost fan favorites such as Ed, Eddie, Jimmy, TJ, and alas....Johnny. I did my best to avoid confrontations at the beginning and caught a lucky break when the blinds jumped from $100 - $200 to $200 - $400 just as the button came to me. This blind level always induces panic and action but I had too much to lose so I waited. I folded hands like Q9 and K10 that I like to play but when I looked down and KJ offsuit I decided to play it for a limp. Bosey was on the button and he limped in too. A good flop came down... Kc 8d 3d. I made a 1/2 pot sized bet and the only caller I got was Bosey. He then turned over the Ace of Diamonds and I looked over at Boseys dwindling stack and put him all in. He called kinda fast and showed me A3 for two pair. Since he was dealing and didn't fancy any drama, Bosey turned the river card without delay. It was the Jack of Diamonds !! I spiked two pair on the river and thought I had won. I shouted out.........YES !!!! Then....... Oh shit !!! When I realized that my two pair didnt beat his two pair. But then Bosey exclaimed......."You lucky Mfer!!!" and I was confused. Apparently I didn't notice that I had the nut flush draw on the turn, but I hit it regardless. Dumb luck perhaps but I'll take any luck I can get. So long Bosey.

That was the hand that really iced it for me. If I hadn't drawn out I still would have had plenty of chips to mount a comeback but it would have been rough going. As it turns out, I cruised to the victory taking Tommy out heads up in two hands after he called off 2/3 of his chips chasing a flush that never came on hand one. Hand Two I just pushed all in with 55 and he called with A4 and didn't improve. I'm tied for 2nd in the points standing with two wins and a 4th for 9 points.

Rack Me ! Out.

I'm dedicating my win and this post to my Grandma whom I love dearly.

GUS HANSEN
watch this

Anyone for Backgammon ?

2006-09-13T22:19:00.001-04:00

I don't have anything Pokery to write about these days. I don't play much online and my Friday night game has switched to PL 7 Card stud which I think is the most horrible idea ever. Nobody folds and I don't either so I quit going til they switch the game. I'd like to play Omaha HI/LO but I think I'd rather go swimming with Steve Irwin than watch Jimmy try to deal a hand of O8b and work out a 4 way 50% 25% 25% chop pot. Besides, I'd probably end up in a fist fight with a guy holding A2 on a board of A 2 3 7 8 because he thinks his A2 is the nut low. Trust me, I'll wait for Holdem to start again.

Check out this stuff til I find some cool stuff to write about. Not that anyone is reading this anyhow. You are probably reading Iggy .

I'd tell you to read Strange Cartoons but you wouldn't.

Vegas every Monday or so. Five Hundy By Midnight

Guba has free videos

Kids Game

2006-08-04T10:14:00.001-04:00

My sister-in-law asked me to teach her 11 year old son to play poker last weekend. We were in the mountains of WV for a bit of R and R and she had bought a $5 poker set from Tar-Jay with the intention of me teaching him how to play. She figured it would be good for his math skills and he had been bugging her incessantly about it for weeks on end.

Saturday night came and we broke open the poker set and I cracked the fresh deck of cards and spent 15 minutes explaining the hand rankings to him. Apparently hand rankings are boring. But I made him pay attention and I quizzed him before I'd even deal the first hand. Once he had a decent grasp of what beats what I dealt a hand of 5 card draw and took him down like Phil Ivey with Ace High. I dealt a few more hands and he was getting confused but having fun. He kept looking at the metal box with the poker chips in it. "When do we get chips ?", he asked. "Not yet!" I exclaimed. 5 more hands and then I pulled out some chips. 10 for each of us. We each anted one chip and we played limit with 3 raises. it took about 4 hands for him to go broke but he wanted to keep playing.

We got some big stacks of the cheap feeling plastic chips and I proceeded to explain Texas Holdem to the boy. At first he didn't understand the flop, turn and river at all. The idea of betting on each street was lost on him entirely. I wasn't even looking at my cards, just his face. I could tell if he had a crap hand and I'd wait til the river and bet. He'd fold. At least he was smart enough to know he was beat. I had almost 75% of the chips and the women were calling us to dinner so we hurried. I went all in preflop with the J 10 of spades on the next hand and he called (pushing his chips into the center like Phil H.) with Q 8 of hearts (my dads lucky hand). When I saw the sooted Q8 I knew I was dead. For sure. The little bugger flopped a flush and now he didn't want to stop playing because he had chips now.

We played a few more hands with not much action. The kid was tightening up on me. He had changed gears. He's been playing poker for 30 minutes and already he has more patience than me. Dinner was getting cold because we were in the mountains of WV and it was 25 degrees cooler than back home. I wanted to end this poker lesson. I looked down at Kc 2c and decided it was favored of one other random hand and I pushed. The kid did the same Helmuth chip push and called showing two red Kings. So much for that. That was fun. I needed a The Demon Drink.

Say goodbye to Card Club

Get Iggy with it

Pauly's at the WSOP and you ain't

Typical Bust Out Last Week

2006-07-20T20:30:00.001-04:00

I raise. Johnny Calls.

The End

Toby is a lucky ass

2006-06-20T16:44:00.002-04:00

Last Friday was a mixed bag. I was out of the Holdem Tourney before the final table because I suck at tournament poker apparently. My KK,66,33,88 and 1010 made me nothing and the KK actually lost me a big pot when Tommy flopped two pair on me and nearly broke me. Bosey finished me off when I was short stacked and It was losers table time :)

There were five of us playing dealers choice which means 7-27 when Jimmy deals, Follow the Unelected Queen when I deal, PL Omaha When Ronnie Deals and a you never know whats coming when Jason F. or Big Mike has the deck in front of them. I only lost one $20 buyin in the Holdem Tourney so I still had a nice chunk of change for the sidegame and I bought in for $60 to start. Jimmy started us off with 7-27 as usual and he dealt himself a 7 which seems to happen all too often, but I won the high hand with 27 so I didn't mind so much. Stack now over $80.

I stayed out of trouble and avoided big pots for awhile until we played some PL Holdem dealt by a new addition to the table, Jack F. my former poker nemesis. I got dealt the ugliest hand I could imagine, J 7 offsuit in middle position. There were only antes and no blinds so I saw a free flop with it and what a flop it was. 7 7 7, the slot machine. It is checked to me and I check it of course. Jimmy makes a bet on my left and everyone calls back to me and I raise it. Were only playing dollar bets this hand so I can't do too much damage or so I thought. Jimmy raises me back, "bump it" he says and everyone calls back to me and I just call this time. The turn is a great card, the ace of Hearts, putting a flush draw on the board for any idiot that wants to chase it and a losing FH for some other unlucky soul. It gets checked to me and I check it to Jimmy. Jimmy bets and everyone drops out of the hand except for Ronnie who calls. I see my chance to win a big pot and I raise it back to Jimmy again and he re-raises me yet again. Ronnie calls it quits and folds. I push Jimmy back for another dollar and he caps the bets for one more. The river was some awful card like a 5 or 6 (don't recall) and I make a bet into Jimmy and we end up capping the betting again. Jimmy turns over AA for Aces full of Sevens and I slow roll the quads with joy and a warm bubbling in my chest. That's what happens when you don't raise preflop with aces.

There were two other blog worthy hands that night. One was PL Omaha with Big Mike dealing three seats to my right. I got dealt 7c 8c Kh 8h. The flop was Ah 10h 6c giving me the nut flush draw, an open ended straight draw, a backdoor club flush draw and even a runner runner straight flush draw. Bets Bets folds folds calls calls later. The turn is another club and the river gives me the but flush when the 3h hits the felt. Ronnie bets $5 in a desperate steal attempt of a $40 pot and Chris raises it $10 more. I have the nuts so I am wondering just how much I can make with the hand. I lean over to Ronnie while peering at the board and ask him what the nuts were. He says if you got the Kh and another heart, you're golden. Ronnie folded his hand out of turn and that only left Chris in the pot so I asked Chris how much I'd have to bet to make him fold. He said, "whatever you want" beacuse he was calling. I thought..........COOL. I grabbed two twenty Dollar bills and tossed them in the pot. He called immediately and showed the 5h 6h for a weak flush and I felt bad about betting so much. Guess I'm too nice for poker.

It wouldn't be the Bad Beat BBQ without a hard luck story I guess so here goes. It's PL Omaha again and I get dealt Ad 9d Jc Qc. Of course all five players see the flop which looks good to me. A gutshot Royal Flush draw, back door club flush draw and an open ended straight draw to boot. Kd Jd 10c but I check it because I'm only on a draw. I was totally content to call the $5 opening bet when it came my turn and three others did as well. (pot $25). The turn was the Kc giving me the nuts with a broadway straight to the ace. It's checked to me and I take the oppoptunity to push a few players out, hoping to get just one caller. I toss out a half pot sized bet of $12 and Big Mike and Ronnie both call. The river is an awful card, the 10d, giving me the nut flush but pairing the board for anyone holding trips for a FH. I make a $15 feeler bet into the pot of $51 and Mike instantly raises me another $20. I only saw $5 in front of him and we were playing Table stakes poker so I wondered where the $20 bet idea came from. He pointed to his wallet which lay to the side of his few chips and a couple of dollar bills. I was a bit miffed because he had not pulled money from it until now and all of a sudden he wanted to go leather diving. With everyone else folded in disgust I got no backing whatsoever for my complaint. I called of course and he flips JJ for JJJ1010 FH and I went on minor tilit. I pulled $250 from my own wallet and spread the bills out for everyone to see. Next hand, who's deal is it ? NH btw Mikey, you suck ass :)

I gathered myself up and played tight for the next 2 hours and rebuilt my stack to where I took home $160 or so and I felt accomplished. No poker for a few weeks, the BBQ is moving and we got boxes to pack. I'll be whitewater rafting this weekend in WV so all you folks that pray, pray for me. All you that don't pray, send The Demon Drink $. It's gonna be a rockin good time yall. Anyone seen this movie Deliverance ? I can hear the twang coming from over that hilltop. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! You sure got a purdy mouth boy.

Back to Holdem

2006-06-06T21:19:00.001-04:00

First off, Congrats to Johnny Buzz on taking down the tourney last week with a dominating performance. Johnny was busting people with any two cards he got dealt and there was no stopping him once he had 30,000 chips. I showed up knowing I was going to win it all because my wife predicted it but alas, I could not overcome the roll Johnny was on. I wound up with a deserving second. I played very well and avoided a few traps on the way but I only had 6500 chips heads up against Johnnys 30,000 + and it didn t take long for me to lose with the first good ace I was dealt. The blinds were up to $500 and $1000 and I took my shot and lost.

I am so glad to be back to Holdem again. I busted Tobys ass three times and watch him buy back in. By the third time I busted him out, he had finally shut up about being the Omaha King and busting me out last week early at the final table. So nice to let you play do the talking once in a while. I have begun to take the Friday game with a different approach. Less joking around and more focus. I sit stonefaced for long periods and the guys keep asking me if I am feeling ok. They can't get a read on me. I make the same size raises with whatever I hold and I'm not making huge overbets to discourage chasers. I am making strong bets in good position and hoping they chase me. I'm off this week but I'll be back on the 16th for some more action.

Listen to "The Circuit" Poker Podcast

Live Poker at the Bicycle Casino

Omaha Fatigue

2006-05-21T20:44:00.001-04:00

I talked the guys at my homegame into switching to Omaha from Holdem for this last 10 weeks and boy am I sorry. I thought that it might give me some kind of edge having played thousands of hands online and knowing better than to call with weak hands and chase non nut draws. Someone forgot to tell everyone else how the game is played though. I have been getting killed by a table full of chasers and catchers for weeks on end. I think I'm ready to go back to Holdem or even No Limit Iron Cross like we played this past Friday at the losers table (talk about swings).

I did manage to clean up over $100 in the sidegames on Friday so it wasn't a total loss.

I hope the river is kind.

- (copyright Cincy Sean)

Charity Poker

2006-05-07T21:18:00.001-04:00

$125 entry. Tax deductible. I flop top two pair my first hand after limping in one off the button and announce a raise when it comes to me with no action. The guy to my left says he's all in before I announce my raise ammount. I call over the tournament director to ask for a ruling. He says I can't punch the old guy and tells me I can just make the min raise. I do so. The guy then goes all in of course. Another guy calls across the table. I fold. The old guy had trips as I suspected. The caller had a flush draw and the old guy with trips wins it. I scowl at him and question his upbringing.

The very next hand I get deal Kings on the button and raise 3xbb. I get 2 callers including the deadman on my left. I flop my set and nobody bet til it comes to me. The board read K 9 5 rainbow. I bet half the pot and the old guy with the bad manners calls fromt he small blind. What did he call with preflop I wonder? The other guy folds. The turn is a deuce. Smelly old guy checks. I bet half the pot again. Half my chips are in the pot now. He calls. The turn is a 6. He checks. I go all in and he calls. He shows 7 8 of hearts. 56789. BBQd. I did not take it very well. But it was for charity right ?

anyhow. my best friend came in 5th out of 67 and won 4 rounds of golf at a swanky big city course with all the trimmings and snazzy GPS enabled carts. I better be invited.

Jacks or Better, Trips to Win

2006-04-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

Ever play this game ? Jacks or Better, Trips to Win

Well I played a hand that blew me away. Usually this game can last a half hour or more waiting on someone to get the trips necessary to take down the pot. Not this time. Playing with a few friends one night last weekend I was dealt an amazing hand for this game. I scouped up my cards and fanned them out to reveal AAA99. The nut full house was in my hand. I had the jacks or better and I put in a raise before the flop since I could open. I was stunned to be reraised by Mr. Jason Fisher who shot me a curious glance. The other fella, Chris just called, but then I capped the raising and everyone was still in. I had already put Jason on a set of some kind and I was counting my money. Chris took three cards and then I stunned them both when I stood pat.

Then it started, Jason bet, Chris called, I raised, Jason reraised, Chris folded, I re-raised and Jason re-reraised. I knew he had the set and maybe he had made sme lucky FH and I was going to get paid off bigtime. I asked Jason at this pint if he wanted to make a sidebet for all the chips we had in front of us and he said he sure did. That was bigger than the pot. I dropped down my aces full of nines with pride and Jason smiled. I knew that smile. Guess what, someone hit thier one outer on my ass. His 666 became 6666 and I was blown away.

Talk about bad beats. This one BBQ'd your boy. It's not that I've never lost with a FH to quads before, but it the fact that I was dealt aces full n this game of all games where it takes forever for someone to even make trips to win and I get killed being dealt a cinch. Brutal.

Oh, I forgot to mention, when I fanned out the cards at the beginning, they were in perfect order as I spread them out. A........A.......A.......9..........9. That just made it all the more sickening.

I hope the river is more kind to you.

Saturday night special

2006-03-19T16:57:00.001-05:00

Saturday night we played a big buyin tourney to cap off the NL Holdem we've been playing for a year now. Starting next week we are switching to PL Omaha for a ten week tournament and it can't come soon enough. NL Holdem is a suckers game designed to lower the skill level so that a monkey with a football can win buy pushing all in and getting lucky. Such was the case last night yet again. Let me set the scene.

Since the buying for this tourney was more than twice the usual ammount and it fell on a Saturday instead of the regular Friday night, we had a much smaller turnout. Only 9 poker players were in the room and we all crammed into one table for the night. We got 1500 chips instead of the normal 1000 and the blinds started at 20-40 with one hour levels. I pulled the queen of spades from the mound of cards and got to deal first. There was lots and lots of limping going on early and nobody wanted to get too involved becasue there were NO REBUYS in this event. I started building my stack with bold aggressive plays in good position and showed down a few nice hands in the process. I flopped trip sixes and took down a $1200 pot vs two other players who had both flopped top pair. I was rolling.

I had the big stack after the first hour but we had stil not lost any players just yet. On the button I dealt myself 6 8 offsuit and with three other players in the hand I turned and flopped 2 4 5. BJ was in the small blind and he put in a 1/2 pot bet and got two callers including me with my double gutshot straight draw. The turn came a 9 which left me with the same hand. BJ made a smallish bet and I put him on two unmatched high cards. I called. The river was the jackpot. A beautiful seven with no flush possiblities that gave me the rock solid nuts. BJ made yet another smallish bet and I took a moment and the raised the pot by about 1/2. Eventually BJ made a crying call and I showed down the nuts and took a nice pot of nearly $2ooo. I was now the monster chip leader and feeling pretty good about my chances. The stacks around the table were shrinking with the exception of Jimmy who was only playing good hands and avoiding trouble. Meanwhile, Jackie Fisher, the suckout king/queen who has been my longstanding poker nemesis had made some horrible plays and his stack was suffering to the tune of about $375. I was in the driver's seat.

I was dealing again and gave myself some ugly cards. 10c 3c. In the pot were Jack, Ronnie and myself. Everyone limped in and we saw a flop. Kc 8c 5h. Jack pushed on the flop for his last $275 and Ronnie called. I called too and planned to check it down, just hoping to make a flush and knock Jack out. I had no plans to put anymore $ in the pot and I put my head down and kept saying "check" "check". When the river still showed no club, Ronnie made a jackass play by betting $100 into an empty sidepot and I folded while chastising him for the horrible tournament poker play he had made. Jacks 9 9 held and he was back over $1000 chips again. Not good.

I am still the monster chip leader with nearly 6000 in chips. I took out cousin BJ with pocket aces and then sent Ronnie packing with top two pair. Uncle Bill was gone and Johnny Buzz ended his amazing final table run with a mediocre finish. We got down to three handed between Jack, Jimmy and myself. We were paying the lions share to 1st and the buyin was returned to second place while third got nothing. I was getting bad cards fromt he start and I was conserving my chips. Jack started pushing all in and making stupid size raises to steal pots right away. I was folding and waiting. See, here's the thing, I know what Jack is going to do. He senses weakness and he trys to take any pot that nobody else wants to bet at. The past few weeks I've had him against the ropes with dominating hands and all the money in the pot only to see him catch up on the river and knock me out. I don't know why it keeps happening. Everyone else at the table seems to be afraid of him when he bets but when I punch him in the mouth someone hands his ass a gun at the last minute.

The blinds are now at 100-200 and the hands are coming out faster. A few steals later, Jack has a little over $2000, I've still got nearly $6000 and Jimmy is sitting quietly with around $4500. I'm dealt 56 offsuit in the Big Blind. When the flop comes 3 3 4 and nobody bets I make a min bet with my open ender. Jack pushes all in from the button in a hurry. Jimmy folds and I instantly call but not without thinking a lifetime in that split second. Here's why. I knew I was behind with my 6 hi of course but I saw a chance to maybe get lucky when I had some chips and get rid of him. I know that he wouldn't stop the bullying and raising because he felt he had nothing to lose. I knew that if I had flopped quad aces that theres a 99% chance he'd suckout a Royal Flush and whack me. So I called, and crossed my fingers. It didn't work. He had A 3 offsuit and his trips held on. Now he has the chip lead but I still like my chances.

Two hands later I'm dealt Q5 offsuit on the button and I limp in for $200. Jack calls from the Small Blind and Jimmy checks. FLOP !!! 5 5 9. How lovely. Jack bets $400 and Jimmy folds. I do my best Meryl Streep imitaion as I glance back at my cards in confusion. I decide to make a teaser raise just equal to his. $400 + $400. Jack calls. The turn is a total brick and I check to him, knowing with 100% certainty that he is going to move all of his chips in the pot and give them to me. I know this with all my heart. I played the hand so well it was scary. Sure enough he does it. "All in" he says and I immediately call and show my trip fives. For a moment I see it in his eyes and he knows he was outplayed. He turns over JJ for an overpair to the board. He is drawing dead to one of the two remaining Jacks in the deck.

Here's the odds for you from Two Dimes.net

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1614597
jh js /vs/ qs 5c -Board reads- 5h 5s 9h 4d

Js Jh winning cards in the deck 2 win% 4.55
Qs 5c winning cards in the deck 42 win% 95.45

And the Jack hits on the river. That's all folks. I don't even call that lucky. I call that alot of other bad words that I won't write here because the internet saves everything. You tell me how this can keep happening. That's 3 river suckouts by this fella in a row vs me. I even told him after wards that I consider him a very good card player despite his sucking out ways. I'm telling you all right now however, that I am much better, just unlucky. He and Jimmy split the prize money and I went on to kill the sidegame for the next two hours.

Next week ? Omaha. Where the luckbox factor is dimished and skill prevails.

Hopefully......
Stay tuned.

Have a Drink on me

Poker Diagram Listener Tourney extravaganza

2006-03-12T23:26:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite podcasts comes from a couple of fellas from London who fancy a game of online poker and a drink or two. Henry and Zog from thePoker Diagram Live Poker Podcast do a show every week or so where one of them (usually Zog) will play a short online poker tournament while the other (usually Henry) chats it up and fills us in on the table happenings. For those of us with Poker on the brain, it's a good source for a poker fix on the go. Every once in a while they put together a tournament where all the listeners are invited to come together and have a go at one another. Today was such a day.

36 players plopped down $10 for a chance at poker immortality and instant podcasting fame. I was at a table with a few listeners I had seen before. Tiltaholic, LucienJ, and LenBuddha all were familiar to me from past listener tournies but I only had notes on Mr. Tilt. I had remarked that he was a solid player and I should have a hand if he was raising me and I chose to play back. From the get go, Tilty was telling everyone he was card dead so I was happy to steal from him until he fought back. Early on I got the Hilton Sisters and made a standard raise and I got just one caller. Of course and ace flops out there and I am in the classic quandry. Im last to act but the caller decides to bet out at the pot and forces me to a decision. He makes a smallish bet of about 1/3 the pot and I have to think. The ace is scary, but wouldn't they have reraised with a big ace preflop? I decide to make a stand with my ladies and I put in a sizeable raise of 3/4 of the now juicy pot. The caller takes only a few seconds to fold and I lurk back into the shadows with my booty.

A few players have now been ousted from the tourney and some new blood comes to our table. I have the big stack now, but not by much. I get dealt AQ offsuit in the small blind and everyone folds to me. I don't like playing pots out of position in NL Holdem so I decide to take the pot right now and I make a 3 1/2 BB bet into the Big Blind and wait for him to fold. No such luck. The BB raises back into me and I don't even hesitate to put him all in. His name was TableImage so maybe I should have taken that into account beforehand but too late now. He calls without much delay and I am sickened to see that he has me dominated with AK suited in clubs. My horror turns to elation when a lovely queen comes to town on the flop with all spades. No juctice for TableImage on the turn or river and I boost my stack up to over 4x the starting stack making me chip leader in the tourney for now.

With the blinds now at $25 and $50 WVU_Mtneers and profProfet fill the empty seats at our table and soon thereafter I am dealt ACES in the small blind. Everyone folds to me and I decide to make a silly move and I just limp with the most powerful starting hand hoping for a reraise. The BB wisely checks and we take a flop. 6 5 2 with two clubs. No a great flop for me but not horrible. I bet $50 into the $100 pot and the BB, profprofet, makes the call. When the turn comes a 4d I am really kicking myself for limping out of position with this beautiful hand. I suck it up and make a $100 1/2 pot sized bet. Profprofet comes over the top f me for $300 more and I seriously consider cutting my losses and chalking this hand up to experience. I have the big stack and I want to protect it. Nobody knows what a jackass I am with my pocket aces and I could just fold them and move on. The timer counts down... tick tock, tick tock. I let Pokerroom fold the hand for me and I take another drink and sit back. Wiser.

Starbelly78, nmonkey and profprofet are now goners and we are 7 handed at my table for the time being. I get dealt ACES again in the Big Blind and make a standard raise. One limper folds and one person calls. I win the hand with a probing bet on the flop and don't get to show down my bullets. WVU_Mtneers now has the chip lead on my direct left but I am a close 2nd. The tables swirl around and I am at a table with Tiltaholic again along with godard_7, matthawaii and LucienJ who has had his AWAY sign up since the tourney started. Blinds are now at 75-150 and I have over $5500 in the small blind with the midlife crisis hand, 4 4. Matthawaii limps into the pot in middle position and I make a slightly larger than average raise since I'm out of position. Matthawaii goes all in for his last $650 or so and I call. He shows me a pair of ducks(22) and I'm a 4-1 favorite going into the flop. And then............. he hits his 2 outer and flops a set of deuces. Great. I am chanting four.,,,,,four.......four in my head and then it hits, on the river. I make a set of fours to trump his set of deuces. I think it's only fair that a 4-1 fav wins now and then don't you ? Aloha Matt.

The blinds move up to $100 - $200 and I am dealt ACES for the third time in early position. LucienJ who has returned from his self imposed exile has $200 of his remaining $225 in the big blind and I decide to go fishing with my ACES. I push all in for $7300 and pray for a caller with AK or a pair of jacks. Anything. Nobody calls but LucienJ with his Q2 offsuit. Oh, the poker gods are cruel. The final board reads 4 5 6 7 8 and we split the pot as we both have the same straight. Boooooooo !!! The very next hand LucienJ pushes all in with crap and ScottG takes him down, in effect, stealing my $225 :).

Blinds still $100 - $200. We're now six handed at my table and I am dealt pocket nines in the small blind. Godard_7, who diagnosed me with Poker Rage in my Feb 12th post comments, is in the cutoff and he makes a bigger than average raise. I like my nines but not enough to make a big over the top move right here. My wife comes in the room and sees my cards and I tell her I am going to play it cool and just call and hope to flop trips. Then Lenbuddha makes it even more interesting when he decides to call as well out of the Big Blind. FLOP !!! 4 9 A with two hearts. The perfect flop for me because one of the other two has to have an ace in my mind. Hopefuly they both have aces and want to go to war I'm thinking. I make the minimum bet into the pot and wait for the fireworks to start. Lenbuddha likes the Ace I suppose because he raises it up by 3/4 of the pot. Godard_7 folds (obviosly he was on the steal). So I have my man where I want him, no time to worry about those two hearts on the board and I cut off a stack of raising chips. The pot is already over $2000 and I settle on a $2000 raise. Lenbuddha wastes no time and pushes all in for his last $4000 or so and I call. The poor chap was unlucky enough to flop two pair, Aces and Fours. He did not improve his hand and I took the down the biggest pot of the tournament to that point, over $11,000.

FINAL TABLE action !!! We're down to 10 players and the blinds have jumped to $150 - $300. I have the big stack with $11,755. 2nd is WVU_Mtneers with $6,600 and then Webthing with $6.400.

The rest....
GMC325 - $5185
HoldThePhone - $4905
godard_7 - $4310
Scott-G - $3950
bonak_shed - $3793
kasilof - $2823
DJQuad - $2510

The action heats up and I kinda lose track of what happened but I broke two people in one hand with a pair of sixes. We were all in preflop and I had the only pair. I think the other hands were something like KJ and AJ. The board had two queens and a bunch of low cards and I doubled my stack to a whopping $25,000. We are now down to six handed and the blinds are $300 - $600. Godard_7 is in 2nd with $7700 and DJQuad, kasilof and Scott-G both have about $4600. Webthing is the shorty with $3600. But Webthing doubles up at the expense of Scott-G when his A8d takes down the I'll timed assault of Scotts Q5 offsuit. Just like Henry always says, when you have A8 the 8 always comes and it did. The ace high would have won it, but the 8 made a nice insurance policy.

Blinds $500 - $1000. The final three came down to godard_7, kasilof and myself. The hands come so fast at this point that the details get a bit fuzzy. One hand lead to another and godards river finally ran dry leaving only kasilof between me and the title. It wasn't long after that hand when I got dealt AQh out of position. I made a small raise and kasilof saw his chance to push me back. Well, with AQ suited heads up I had to feel pretty good. I had over a 2-1 chip lead and felt it was time to end the tournament. I made a huge overbet and put kasilof all in. He called me with K5 offsuit. The first card off the deck was the 5c giving him the best hand with a pair of fives. His lead was quickly erased however when the third card off the deck was the sultry Qc. The turn was a 7 and then the river gave me an unnecessary ace for two pair and the win.

Zog will say that I only survived because I never had to sit at the same table as him and for that I am thankful. It's really not fair having to play against him ad Henry at the same time anyhow. Besides, I was the one that knocked Zoggy out of the last listener tournament before exiting myself, stage left. It was a fun time and I was thrilled to win out over such a tough field. I had it all. Some good cards. Some good luck. And for a change, some real poker dexterity. Thanks for putting on a great tourney fellas. See you next time for sure.

Card Clubs.net Forums discuss the tourney with other PokerDiagram listeners.

Jack is now the suckout queen

2006-03-11T10:44:00.001-05:00

Some folks I guess, you just can't beat. I got it all in last night with my pair of queens vs Jack's nines. Why the Poker Gods deem it necessary to punish my brilliant play, I'll never know, but Jack sucked out trips on the river to win again and he thought it wa s a brilliant call because he had an underpair and a 5 hi flush draw with one card to come.

I can't wait til we start playing Omaha instead of Holdem because there's a whole lot less luck in Omaha and I think I'll be handing everyone their asses. Bold talk from a donkey that's tired of being punched in the head.

At the losers table I took control of the mixed game format and picked off everyone at the table.
Bosey locked up the championship in the 2nd 10 week Holdem Tourney so now it's on to Omaha. 10 weeks of explaining the rules to drunks and people trying to see the score of the Heels game.

What's wild ???????

Donkey Puncher

Congrats to Johhny

2006-03-04T11:17:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time coming but there no doubt tonight.Johnny wiped the floor with anyone who stood in his way. He built a massive chip lead by knocking out Ronnie 3 times and laying waste to all others one by one. There was a 3 hour break in the game when a CAT dozer was called in to move his chips from table two to the final table. Once there it was a tour de force display of power poker. Johhny took down the single biggest prize in the history of our game. Pizza for all !

As for me, not quite the same result. I'm really sick of NL Holdem Tournaments. Fed up. I got a decent stack early on but handed half my chips to Sammy on my right and the other half to BJ on my left. I was gone. I nestled into a comfy spot at the losers table where a bloody game of 7 - 27 was going on. In this game the goal is to make a hand as close as possible to either 7 or 27. A round of betting occurs after each card is dealt out one at a time. Once nobody takes another card, the game is over. Closest to 7 gets half and closest to 27 gets the other half. Face cards count for half a point, aces are either 1 or 11 and others are face value. The secret is simple, get a 7 in your first card and start raising. Get dealt a face card right off the bat for 1/2 a point and fold. That's all I did. I hate that game. Crazy old Jimmy who some of you might remember was killing everyone with 7 after 7.

When it came my turn to deal however, the game changed to Omaha Hi/Lo and I had to give a 1 minute rules seminar beforehand. These goofy holdem players have no idea what it takes to put together a solid omaha hand and I felt I had the advantage having played thousands upon thousands of Omaha hands online. I took down the first hand with the nut straight an no qualifying low hand. Nice pot with all the chasers. The next hand it was Big Mikes turn to deal and he settled on 7-27 again. I got dealt a queen of diamonds and folded immediately. As it worked back around the table for me to deal again the Pigeon Jackie Fisher was busted from the final table in 6th position or so and he wanted to join our game. He sat down on my right. I announced Omaha Hi was the game and deftly filled each players hand with 4 Copag, Poker Sized, indestructible playing cards. The official card of the Pink Sky Poker Club.
and watched the players try to organize their hands into winners. I looked down at a pretty first two cards, the Jack and Nine of hearts. I exclaimed that I only looked at two cards and that they were enough to raise with from the button. Nobody else had raised so I popped it up. Everyone called. (I can't wait til we switch over our tournaments to Omaha next month) I put out a flop for all to see. 10h Ac 8d. Now I look down at my other two cards to find I'm holding Jh 9h 9c Qh giving me an open ended straight and a backdoor gutshot straight flush draw.
Evrone check around to me again and I pop it up. Evryone calls. Did I tell you I can't wait til we are playing Omaha every Friday? I burn and turn the beautiful 7s giving me the nuts with no flush draw on the board. This time, Tommy puts in a bet from early position and a few people finally drop out. Jack calls on my right and I reraise with the nuts. There are four of us in the hand at this point and I burn and turn another ace on the river making a possible FH now and shrinking my nuts. Tommy puts in his bet again from UTG and Jack decides to put in a raise of his own. I'm sitting there on the button with the nut straight and I just don't think anyone had trips before this from the betting. I reraise back into Jack and everyone calls. Jack flips his hand saying "trips" as if he had rivered me yet again on one of his "felt it comin" hands and I show the straight and take down the monster pot. I think Tommy was in lala land with his two pair.

We ended up playing 5-6 hands of Omaha between all the 7-27, 7-Stud and Follow the Unelected Queen games and I won every single hand of Omaha. Once hand I took down when my horrid hand of 88 K 2 made a full house on the turn and I took all of Ronnie's chips after he flopped trip kings with only one in his hand. I'm not going to give these guys any lessons on the dangers of 1 card trips in Omaha anytime soon.

Oddly enough I took down the last Omaha hand of the night with just such a hand. I was dealing and I wound up with AA K 8. I hated that 8 dangler but the aces made me warm inside just like the Miller Lite had been doing for hours. When my cousin BJ sat down on my right and raised the pot for me. I reraised with my aces of course and I think everyone called again. We had doubled the stakes at this point since it was late and we were about to quit for the night. The flop was King high rag rag. Everyone checks to me and I bet. Everyone calls. Turn is another blank with no flush, straight or fh possible. I bet my aces again and everybody calls to see the river which is another King. I was prepared to check it down when it came to me unraised thinking that someone might hand a King and now my Aces were foiled. As I lifted my cards to turn them I realized that it was me who had the King for trips. I was so fucused on the Aces that the King had slipped my mind. Instead of checking I put in te final big bet and got just a few callers with time but it was Mo $ ! Nobody had even the aces themselves beat. For not winning the big one, it was still a fun and profitable night.

I sold my double deck set of Copag cards to the club tonight and I'm ordering a new set of 4 color ones. I play so much online that when I see the red diamonds on the cards instead of the blue diamonds I have grown accustomed to, I get all blurry eyed. Check them out and never buy another deck of cards. I thrown these into a bowl of hot soapy water and clean them once a month and they are as fresh as when they were new. I can't play with anything else now.

Time Killers online

You Tube, search for any kind of video, it's totally cool

Old Cartoons direct to your Video Ipod

Card Club, Poker Podcasting from a guy in his dads basement

Poker ain't all bad

2006-02-23T23:42:00.001-05:00

I just played a $5+.50 30 man Turbo SNG on UB with my poker pal from Colorado and I took it down. I played loose early on and got some chips to sit on. I got aces twice and gutted people with them. The last hand of the tourney I had like 41000 chips vs a guy with 4k. Blinds were 800 1600 and I got aces on the button. I only called and he went all in with Q4 offsuit. How lovely.

I took my pal out when he went all in whort stacked with A6 and I went over the top all in for $6000 mpre and got called by a guy with the smae hand as me. We both had JJ and we split the pot. Maybe this bodes well for my live play tomorrow. I still hate UB though.

gnite.

It's all the poker rage.

2006-02-23T19:58:00.001-05:00

a comment was made on my last post that has diagnosed me with poker rage. It seems I have been inviting the bad beats and poor calls that keep plaguing my homegame play. I have been so determined to prove that my skills at reading people and situations that it is working against me. So how should I start playing ? If I have top pair with a good kicker and I put my opponents on draws and smaller pairs, am I wrong to force the action by making big bets in these spots and begging people to call while behind ? I thought that was poker ? Maybe I'm lucky at love and unlucky at poker ?

Heck, I've been known to display some road rage now and then. So maybe poker rage is a logical metamorphosis of that rage. Who knew ? For now, I am going to continue punching the donkey until it kicks my face in. Poker tomorrow and time will tell if I'm a bad player or just in an unlucky stretch.

My boy gets some airtime Feb 23rd

the FEED for this blog

Jack is the suckout king.

2006-02-12T19:38:00.001-05:00

I'd play him for $5000 dollars if there was no river cards. And I'd win. Hands down.

You can only river trips to suckout vs an overpair so many times before it makes your opponent go mad. It's too late for me. I'm over the edge. I'm taking two weeks off. I'm going to try skiing for the 2nd time. It's been 11 years since my first and last attempt. Pray that I don't pull A Bono.

Headed to poker night in 30 minutes !

2006-02-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

I'm going to win. If I don't get sucked out on or make a move against a guy with aces. I might run into a cold deck though. But maybe I'll end up buying in 6 times and going on total tilt then I'll start up a losers table playing Acey Duecy and lose my whole poker bankroll.

Well, I won't take my whole bankroll first off, because I'd need those guys with shotguns from Binions to protect me as I transport it.

Nah, I'm gonna win. Stay tuned.

	Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players
	Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players
	Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players

Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players

Pink Sky Poker hiatus

2006-02-07T09:17:00.001-05:00

After all the hot and heavy poker action last year nearly every friday night for months I have been taking it a little easy on the playing schedule. I have been going about every other week or so and not taking it too seriously. Losing the points championship on the final night of the 14 week tournament wa sa real pisser. Especially since the guy who came back and beat me when I was in the lead for the last several weeks wasn't supposed to even have a shot. Ole Jack slipped in and rebought after the rebuy period ended in week 13 and shouldn't have been within striking distance to begin with. After going card dead in week 14 and watching him suckout and catch monster hands all night I was sick and pissed about losing. I quit blogging. I left my wife and moved into a van down by the river. It's been rough, but I occasionally park the van outside a local Starbucks and pilfer the free wirelss hotspot bandwidth to play a few hands on UB with the other poker addicts.

I just turned 33 (my lucky number) and my son gave me some personalized Pink Sky Poker Club playng cards. Totally cool.

I have been encourage by a fan of the blog to take it back up again. It's hard to write when you think nobody's reading. But I am going to try and blog once a week again. We'll see how long it lasts.

Meanwhile, here's what you should be reading and listening to.

Card Club Podcast
Five Hundy by Midnight, The Origianl Las Vegas Podcast
Pokerdiagram Live Poker Podcast
A real Bellagio dealer dishes dirt on the Pros

BJ Wins

2006-01-12T14:49:00.001-05:00

Congrats.

open ended against Jimmy

2005-12-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

his 10 10 vs my 89

flop 67 J

I moved all in on turn with nothing. he called a said he was beat. showed 10 10 ..

river 5.

Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players

Sometimes I wonder why I even play poker.

2005-12-10T12:41:00.001-05:00

Well, another Friday has arrived and the Pink Sky Poker Club was aglow with the smell of a wood fire, stale cigarettes and banana bread. We have a 3 way tie atop the tournament points leaderboard.

Jimbo
Tommy
Myself

The three of us have 11 points going into tonight. Here's the points structure -
1st (4pts) 2nd (3pts) 3rd (2pts) 4th (1pts)

We were missing alot of players tonight for some reason. No B.J., no Bill, No Pigeon Jack Fisher, No Jason Fisher, No Sammy, No Tonys. It is as cold as polar bear balls outside and the poker room is toasty. They can't be hunting.......can they ? Maybe the game warden paid another visit and tossed a few of them in the hoosegow for their numerous indiscretions with the local wildlife. Less people in my mind = less suckouts and chasers : )

Jimmy Smith came to the table with dreams of bluffing every pot and started raising all in every other hand. Rebuy after Rebuy he refused to slow down. Everyone took a turn busting him and then my opportunity knocked. I was in late position with the Qc 9c and I was wishing it was the magical Q8 instead but nevertheless I tossed in the $40 to call the big blind and prayed for a cheap flop. Almost everyone had limped in and nobody raised so here comes the flop. 4c 5c 8c. Bingo Bango Bongo ! The chances of flopping a flush are 0.84 percent or about one out of 121 hands. Problem is, how do you get paid off when it happens ? Answer...... bet into Jimmy Smith. The table checks around to me and I make a small feeler bet of $60 into the pot of about $200. Jimmy Calls. Everyone else folds. TURN card is 7s, making a very likely straight. I bet $100 this time and Jimmy does not delay in calling. RIVER card comes a helpless 2h and now I just have to decide how much I can bet and still get called. I settle on $200 and then it happens. Jimmy riases me "all in". I call and toss over my flush for all to see and start raking the pot. Jimmy flips over his hammer (2,7) for two pair and has to be told that he lost several times. He arranges the cards as I gather my chips, trying desperatly to conjure a winning hand. Alas, the rebuys have now ended and Jimmy is sent to the rail. I get a much needed double up.

With Jimmy gone, the action settles down and the pot sizes shrink for awhile. The other table loses Johnny when he flops a Unelected Queen high club flush at the same time that Eddie (fresh off heart bypass surgery only weeks ago) flops the nut flush and sends him packing. Tough beat. Tommy finally goes out after having been short stacked for an hour. He battled from $160 chips back to $900 but his luck ran out. Great news for me since he was tied for the points lead. Time to combine tables now that we are down to 8 players!

The final table gets underway and I find myself folding and watching alot. I am waiting on quality hands because I want to make the top 4 and atleast get some points and pull ahead in the championship stretch. Sitting to my left is my father, Jimbo, who is always dangerous and aggressive. Jimbo also has a knack for pushing me around in big pots so maybe I shouldn't have moved over and allowed him to sit on my left. You want strong player on your right so they won't come over the top of you all night and force you off you hands. Mistake #1. About 20 minutes into the final table I am on the button and I look down at my first pair of the night. Pocket 8's. Snowmen. The double scoups. When the action gets to me I make a small raise of $200 into a pot of about $400. I've got about $3000 in chips. Jimbo, in the small blind makes a re-raise of $400 and I think I have a read on him. I am figuring him for AK or AQ suited. The table folds back to me and I go into the tank for 2 minutes. This is my first pair of the night, I'm on the button and I decide to make a stand. Everyone is talking, saying they know I'm going to fold but I know I'm going to raise. I want to make a raise big enough that says I'm serious, but also one that I can get away from if Dad decides to push all in. Maybe my read is wrong, maybe he has a big pair afterall. I settle on $800 more, stack it up and slide it foreward confidently. The pot is now over $2000. Jimbo quickly moves towards his stack and shoves them all into the center. I know in my heart that I am beaten. I pick up my cards and turn them face up for the table to see and shout something rude in dad's direction as I do it. I fold. Kindly, as a good father should, he flashes his Cowboys at me and my spirit is lifted. I am still alive and I left myself with $1700 chips to start my comeback.

Soon after that hand the blinds go up. Ronnies has grown weary of the 1:30am final table battles and has instituted an Ultra Turbo policy. The blinds now go up every 1/2 hour and the action gets hot fast. The blinds are $200 - $400 and it's not even 10pm yet. We are down to 6 players after Ronnie falls out and I think it's time to start stealing blinds. I catch a run of small pocket pairs and start pushing people around using my position and perceived desperate situation. All In. All In. I had 66, 77 and knew I had the best hand but everyone folding was just fine. I built my stack back up to around $3000 in no time.

The button comes back to me and I deal myself another pocket pair. Deuces. There are 3 limpers in the pot and I make the same move again. All in!!! Everyone folds but Bosey, who seems pissed. "All in ?", he says. "Are you sure?" At this point I know I want him to fold. He asks me what kind of a hand I have and I tell him immediately that I have a pair. "How Big ?", he asks. I stare down at the felt and hear him light a cigarette. 2 minutes go by and he is still torturing me. Now I think he might have a small pair like 66, 77 or 88. Finally, he stands up, syas he is going to call me and starts to walk away from the table. He flips over AK offsuit and I am just happy he doesn't have a pair. As he heads away towards the bathroom I burn and turn the flop. 8 DEUCE 9. Boy, let me tell you something, nothing in this world make a poker player feel as warm and fuzzy inside as trips do. Bosey is still nowhere to be seen and I have yet to reveal my hand to the remaining players at the table but now I just have to, I can't contain myself. OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH they say !!! I burn and turn the last two, knowing that I am better than a 4.5 -1 favorite now and the even though the river brings an ace, Bosey is gone. I have him covered by a mere $80 in chips. When he comes back to the table he can't believe it. He sees the ace but has to be told about the trips that had crushed them. "Told you I had a pair". He goes on and on about how I sucked out on him as he gathers up his stuff to head to the loseres table.

The final 4 are left. Myself, TJ, Eddie and Jimbo. At this point Eddie has the big stack. We have colored up nearly all the chips to all black $100s.

Eddie starts playing every pot by limping in and I start making raises and taking them away from him before the flop. I take over $1000 off him in this manner and then he finally calls one of my raises and we see a flop. I have 6 8 offsuitand really wanted him to fold. The flop was something like 3 8 9 and it gave me a pair of 8s. I lead out at the pot with a minimum bet which Eddie smoothe called. The turn was another nice giving me two pair and I bet the minimum again. Eddie smoothe called. The river is a delicious 8 and now I have a Full House. I keep the same betting pace and motion but jack up the price to twice he minimum bet and pray for a raise of some sort. Eddie Smoothe calls and I show him my 6 8. He bows his head and scissors open his hand for me to see his pockets tens. Tough break, but he says "nice hand".

The blinds shoot up to $500 - $1000. I don't remember the hand that Eddie went out on but his stack had been slowly chisled down and he went out with a sputter. The final three are set. I am the chip leader now and I start to bully the table like you are supposed to. I was limping in and raising the flop when the other two seemed uninterested in it. I got pocket sixes on the button and raised all in. TJ and dad both folded in disgust and I showed the sixes to them. $1500 scouped without a fight. Im in the big blind now and I quickly squeeze out a pair of black tens before the other have seen their hole cards. TJ looks at his cards and I already know he's going to fold. Jimbo however has had enough of the bullying and moves all in. I can't call any faster than I did, showing the tens with pride :) Dad sheepishly turns over K 8 and starts calling for the King. It doesn't come however and BarbiesBoyToy is out in 3rd place, with two points and nothing else for his efforts.

Here we are again. James G /vs/ Food Lion. I think this is the 4th or 5th time that he have been heads up at either the big game or the losers table. Once we played an epic 1 1/2 hour session and TJ came out the victor when he called my big bluff with a monster hand. Other than that, I think I have won all the other matches. The funniest part is, TJ and I had emailed each other earlier in the week and we were discussing the events of last week and our bad luck and bad beats.
___________________________________________________
Here's the email......

----- Original Message -----
From: James G.
To: TJP
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

> I just hope I have better luck this Friday. The
> whole night was a disaster.
__________________________________________________
From: TJ P
To: James G.
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

I know the feeling all last month was a disaster.
Fri i was all in with KJ called with j9 and k10, J
came on flop so k 10 was out, river was a 9 bozie hit
the damn 3 outer. last week i had A2 flop 3 4 5, BJ
went all-in i called of course, he showed 5 7 he
needed runner-runner, turn 2, river was a 6. the week
nathan won he took me out i had KQ against K7. I'm
gonna start playing real loose and bad.

From: James G.
To: TJP
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

Friday I'll play tight. We'll be heads up.
_________________________________________________

Talk about predictions. Here we go. Jimbo has refused to leave the table and is still here complaining about losing to my pocket tens. He asked TJ if he wanted to play heads up for $200 after we finished and TJ laughed at him. I have almost a 2 - 1 chip lead at the beginning of heads up play. TJ and I take turns dealing to one another and the blinds are still at $500 - $1000. If one of us limped from the button, the other one raised all in. The longer this went on , the more mad Jimbo got. He called us pussies. Blah Blah, don't you hate railbirds ? He asked if he could deal and I told him no. More pissed. LOL.

So far, the raiser was taking every pot and we had not seen very many flops. TJ had stolen a few more than me and actually managed to take the chip lead away from me. Then I find myself in the big blind with 3 5 offsuit and TJ makes a raise of $2000 from the button. He had either been moving all in on me or folding so I decided to make a play at this pot. I pushed back at him with my whole stack and he mucked. I showed him my 3 5 to try and push him over the edge a bit. Back and forth we went for a few more hands. It's been almost a half hour and the blinds are going up to $1000 - $2000 in a few hands. I had taken away his ability to read me by pulling my ball cap down low, looking at my cards and betting without looking up at him. He never called one bet I made in this fashion and he said I was cheating. Actually, he wanted his own hat he said.

I look down and see pocket nines in the big blind with my now patented hat move. When i heard TJ announce all in I called and turned over my hand. I knew he had an ace, but I was just hoping it was a weak one. Sure enough, he had A 4 and I was a big favorite. FLOP TURN RIVER.........no ace. He got a pair of fours on the turn but that was it. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I took down the first prize and the coveted 4 championship points. I've got 15 and Jimbo has 13. I've got three wins and a 2nd. Two weeks left to go and only 2 guys have a shot at me. Stay tuned.

Sorry about the misleading title, I just didn't want to give anything away. Nice bluff huh ?

Last week

2005-12-05T16:10:00.001-05:00

Was suckout city. KK lost to a rivered third six. AK all in preflop loses to A9. The only bad move I made was calling Bills all in on a K high flop when I had AK. He had AA. I couldnt buy a hand. At least I dodnt lose the points lead. However, my dad tied me, so its a three way at the top with 11 points. I ran through so much of many bad luck hands and bad beats that they better watch the hell out for me next week that's all I can say.

Vegas Recap

2005-11-06T10:39:00.001-05:00

First off. Screw Microsoft. I had three fine paragraphs of this post ready to save and when I clicked the save button, Internet Explorer stuck it in me again. I am using the Mozilla Firefox browser now exclusively. I've had the same thing happen 2 or 3 times before and I'm sick of it. Update this, patch this hole, critical update that. This has been a public service message.
______________________________________________________________________________
Vegas Trip Recap

My lovely wife and I stayed at the Luxor for 5 days. The room was ok. Rather small if you ask me. About the size of a big Marriott Courtyard room with a nicer bathroom. The shampoo soap and other toiletries were decent. I liked the soap, but the shampoo was runny and you had to use it twice to do the job. The conditioner was horrid and unusable. The never used shower cap comes in a nifty little pyramid shaped box. But enough about that.

After checking in, I hopped in a cab and got slowly carried to the Fashion Show Mall to meet a friend from Minnesota that does a weekly podcast all about LAs Vegas. I met Tim and his wife Michelle. Five Hundy By Midnight. It took like 45 minutes of pacing the mall back and forth before I found the Apple store. They don't have a sign! They have only an Apple logo on the wall outside and I walked by it 3 times at least. I must have been jet lagged. I strolled in and headed straight to the display of cases in the back of the store. I had just received my new 60gb Ipod with Video and I was anxious to get a case for it before I had the screen totally ruined. The only case I had for it was an old silicone one that was initially bought for my 3g that I had cut up to make it fit. I also had a cool cling wrap cover that was given to me. Graphic Cling As it turns out, they didn't have any cases yet. Apple sucks. Soon thereafter, the FHBM couple showed up and gave a little talk about podcasting to a sold out crowd. It was standing room only. A fake Sigfried even showed up briefly to have a listen. I think Tim was starstruck.

I hit the strip again, fired up my Ipod and started jamming down the sidewalk again towards the Luxor. I'm not giving my dough to these cabbies all week.

I sat at the Luxor poker room the first night for some NL Holdem action and was sickened to find that they have a ridiculous blind structure of $1 -$1 - $2. Who ever heard of three blinds in a poker game ? I should have taken that as a clue to leave but I didn't. I commenced to lose $150 in three $50 chunks. I think I'll try another poker room. I got up and cabbed my way to Emeril's Delmonico restaurant at the Venetian for dinner. They burned my steak but the cheesecake rocked !

Sunday Oct. 23rd
I woke up in the mood to gamble. I strolled over to the MGM Grand about 11am and took a peek into the georgeous Sportsbook filled with frothing NFL fans. I saw that they had a $1 $2 NL game with a minimum $40 buyin. I got ont he list and was seated within 5 minutes. I bought in for $100 and prepared to fold. I played tight and soon had my stack built up to nearly $200. THe Red Bull and VOdka had already started to warm me up. IT has to be the best drink there is. Soothing and uplifting at once. I took a break from the table after an hour and walked into the sportsbook, leaving my chips at the table, so I could place some football bets. I looked over the big sheet with the lines for all the games and decided to make a smart play. I called my uncle Shawn in CHarlotte, NC to get some prefessional advice. We spoke for 10 minutes and decided on 3-4 games that looked good. I had to play all late games because I had slept through the 1st quarter of all the early games. We settled on these. $20 on a three teamer at 5-1 odds.

Tee under in the Dallas/Seattle game (in the rain in Seattle).
Seattle 13, Dallas 10

Arizona -4 against Tennessee.
Arizona 20, Tennessee 10

Oakland -5 over lowly Buffalo.
Oakland 38, Buffalo 17

easy money !!!!!!!!!!

Back at the poker table I killed 2 people with trip aces and won a nice $75 pot. I got up to around $275 in chips and was feeling good. I played tight and folded alot as I watched the NFL games unfold. The only scare I had was the Arizona game. It came down to the last few minutes and I was losing to the spread until.........
4TH QUARTER
TD Larry Fitzgerald, 34 Yd pass from Josh McCown (Neil Rackers kick is good), 5:20. Drive: 3 plays, 34 yards in 1:10. I picked up my chips and cashed out $265 with put me back in the black for the trip!! Then I went to the sportsbook and handed the winning ticket to the cashier as time expired in the Arizona game. CHa CHing !! $139.50 return on my $20 bet. I owe you dinner Uncle Shawn !

Monday I played some more poker at MGM and even got the nerve to plop down $100 on the craps table. I rolled the dice like a punk, but the table was hot and I made up for my own rolling deficiencies by parlaying the rolls of others into a $150 payday. So sweet. I won further $75 playing $1 $2 NL holdem for a few hours and I am now considering moving to LAs Vegas and becoming a pro gambler.

We ate at Joes Stone Crab in the Caesars Palace Forum Shoppes. It was the best meal of the trip by far. Giant Crab claws and Lobster. I had not eaten lobster in 20 years. What was I thinking ? As we sat with our drinks in the bar and waited on our table, in walked the Hedgehog
, Ron Jeremy. He's kinda hard to miss if your a 30 something male in the USA. He came right over when I gave him a low-key thumbs up. We shook hands and I told him it was cool to meet him. That was it. LEt me tell you, this guy can eat. The man came to take us to our table but I went to the mens room to wash my hands first : )

Teusday we went to the GhostBar at the Palms and had so overpriced drinks as we gazed upon the awesome view of the whole strip as helicopters zoomed by every 5 minutes.

Wednesday the 26th I take on the Bellagio
Pokerworks - Table Tango Linda is a dealer at the Bellagio and she maintains a kickass blog about the goings on at the Bellagio and the biggest stakes game in the world. She deals on and off in Bobby's Room. The high stakes corner where the likes of Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Barry Greenstein, and Ted Forrest choose to play for life changing ammounts of money every night. Above is the link to her entry from the very night I was playing there at the $1-$3 NL game til 6am.

As I walked into the Bellagio I was swollen with The Demon Drink from dinner so I headed straight for the mens room nearest the Poker Room. Just ahead of me, dressed like a midwestern tourist with no belt and horrid white tennis shoes was none other than Ted Forrest , world famous poker player and holder of several World Series bracelets. He was walking way too fast, like there was a fire in his ass, and he was yapping it up on his cell phone the whole time that he pissed, washed his hands and walked out again. He talked a million miles an hour all the way back to the poker room where he of course sat down in Bobby's room witht he likes of Chau Giang , David Benyamine, Paty Gallagher and Player of the Year Allen Cunningham. Chau walked out to the floor as Ted walked back in and I took my opportunity to shake his hand and tell him I thought he was brilliant. He was chewing his gum just like on TV and appeared to be waiting on someone.

I bought in for $200 but had to wait 10 minutes for a seat at the $1 - $2 NL game they had going. On my right was a big big guy named Nate who bet his big hands big and folded to big re-raises without the nuts. On my right was a middle aged Indian man named Unni who played very weak tight. Directly across the tabale was a loudmouth I called Dell, because he reminds me of a guy I used to work with. On Dells right was young kid with a Brooklyn accent that took me forever to come up with a nickname for. He was begging me for a nickname, as I had come up with one for nearly every other player at the table. When I eventually settled on one, I told him he wasn't going to like it. He took a few guesses as if he had been called these names before. (a young Richard Gere ? ARod ?) I laughed at those guesses and remarked, "you wish". When I tossed out the name Tony Danza his eyes rolled and the whole table exploded in laughter. One player and then the dealer exclaimed in turn that the choice was brilliant.

Big Hands ? Here you go.

I called a minimum raise with J 10 of spades from the Big Blind. Unni, on my right in the Small Blind was the only other player in the hand. The flop was 9s 7s 2c. Unni checked to me. I checked my gutshot straight flush draw. The turn was the georgeous 8 of hearts, giving me the nut straight. Wow. Unni decides to make a pot sized bet of $30. I have no idea what he might have, but with the nuts I want action so I just push him back for another $30 which he calls. The river is the perfect Ace of diamonds. Unni pauses only briefly before betting out $40 into the $120 pot. I only had about $65 left and I pushed it all in. He called the last $25 and showed AK of spades. He had the Top Pair Top Kicker and he had the Nut Flush Draw. Boy am I glad and spade didn't hit : ) Unless of course it was the 8. I doubled up.

I picked up a $60 pot against Dell with trip tens vs his top two pair. Then I took another $60 bite out of him with Aces vs his Jacks. I even made a few homegame plays at the Bellagio. I pretended to look at my cards and just bet out on the flop or reraised whoever bet and I picked up 2 or 3 hands like that. Once, I got called down, but I was happy to see that I had flopped two pair with my suited 3 5. All in all the Beallagio was great. The drinks came fast and the players were friendly. Unni even payed me a compliment after I laid down poocket Queens to a reraise before the flop and let him glance at my cards. When Tony Danza showed down his aces Unni turned to me and said that I was a good player. I felt like one.

I got up and left with $230 of their money at around 6:30am and I cashed out and walked back to the Luxor on a cloud.

Blah Blah Blah. It's Wednesday already and I am up over $600 to the good. It's been a great trip so far. My feet are holding up and more importanly, my bankroll is all swoll. I have seen everything that I planned to on this trip except one thing. I wanted to see the new Wynn hotel. I set out on foot with my Ipod blasting and watched the Wynn get larger and larger as I approached. I immediately felt under dressed as I walked through the doors. The Wynn is huge ! It dwarfs Treasure Island across the street. Very impressive. The interior is just another casino however, save the Ferrari dealership across from the poker room. The Poker Room is decent size and easy to find, with the cashier conviently located at the back. I strolled up and handed over $240 to get into the $1 - $3 NL game that had immediate seating available. I sat down at an innocent looking table with a mish mash of faces, ages and ethnic persuasions. I was sitting by a 20 somthing Johnny Chan look alike with a mountain of $5 and $1 chips that must have been $800 - $1000 easily.

I played a few small pots and stole a few hands for the first hour and waited patiently for a big hand. I don't even remember one hand that I played for that first hour, but I won't soon forget this one. I am in the Big Blind in an oddly unraised pot with 9 10 offsuit. There are 4 people in the hand including me and I watch the players faces as the flop comes down. I don't even look at the board until the Small Blind checks to me.

8 J Q Rainbow. Cool. I flopped the nuts. How nice.

The pot is only $12 so I bet $6. A 55- 60 year old stout Indian man announces a raise. He pops it up $30 more. The other limper and the Small Blind both fold. I glance back at my hand and announce my own raise. I casually make it $60 more on top of his $30. Making the pot $144. I wanted to give him some odds and I certainly did not want him to fold. Instead of calling, he announces another raise !!! He comes back at me for a measly $60. What could he have but his own 9 10 I'm thinking ? I go all in for my last $130 or so and he calls instantly but doesn't turn over his hand so neither do I. When the board pairs the Jack on the turn I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and he looks up from the table at me briefly. The river was a 5 and he then turns over his hand to reveal pocket Queens, giving him the nut Full House. I don't want to, but I show the table that I indeed flopped the nuts and had been outdrawn. The gaffaws from the table are heard at all the surrounding tables and people turn their heads. I got up and headed to the cashier with some travelers checks and buy back in for $240 again. I come back and start playing way too many hands. I commence to stare straight into the eyes of this Indian guy for 15 straight minutes like I can see his soul. I don't even care about my cards, the hands, the chips or the other players, I just want this guy to glance at me sideways so I can pounce across the table and choke him. I'll tell you right now, I'm not a scary looking guy by any stretch of the imagination but for those 15 minutes I was Genghis Kahn I wanted to squeeze the life out of him with my bare hands and I think he knew it. Indian guy does not play a single pot the whole 15 minutes I'm staring him down. Soon after ward he stands up, gathers his chips and heads to the $4 $8 table with my hard earned money. Oh yeah. I didn't win a single hand fromt hen on. It was a blur of bad bluffs and dumb calls. I hate the Wynn. I'll never ever go back.

I went back to the MGM on Wednsday night for my final shot at coming out ahead. I went card dead for most of the night but managed to lose only $7 in 6 hours of play. I went back to the LUxor disgusted and tired. I did however, get approached by two hookers inside the Excalibur casino on my way back to the my room at the Luxor. The short one looked me up and down like a steak popsicle and remarked "I see you lookin, baby....". : O Just thought I'd throw that in there. I said back in a voice just loud enough for them to hear across the hum of the slot machines, "No thanks, I already got screwed at the Wynn."

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

It all started back in when I walked into one of my favorite restaurants on a Free Shirt Tuesday wth my son and after announcing "Welcome To Moes !!!" I was handed an ugly ass tye-dye t-shirt with my meal. I got lucky I thought, so I wore it to poker on Friday at my new homegame and won for the first time. I'm a tad superstitous so I gave a small ammount of credit to the shirt. Only a month later I put the Moe's shirt back on again and commenced to win the losers table by taking down T.J heads up.

I hung the shirt back up and didn't wear it to poker again until last Friday. After rebuying once in the early going I built my stack up to become one of the chip leaders, even with Burl sitting on my left and calling every raise I made and then outflopping me. When the other table got short on players I was happy as hell to leave and join them. I took my chips over, sat down and started running the table. I raised each of the first five hands and took each one of them. Then I knocked out FNG Tony (who still has my Cincinati Kid DVD) and added a big chuck to my stack.

By the time we combined into one table I was the chip leader. My grandma (you heard me) made it to the final table with her 80 year old boyfriend Burl in tow. Burl tried to sit down on my left again my I said no way and moved over next to T.J so he couldn't. He then sat on my right and I took him out within 5 hands with A8d vs his K9d. I pushed all in on a 2 diamond flop and he called. The turn was a diamond and I sent him to the rail. My grandma Patty had picked up Aces on three occasions already and had a formidable chip stack almost equal to mine. Slowly, we both picked off the short stacks and it was down to 4. Myself / T.J. / Sammy / Granny.

We took TJ out first and he got one championship point for his efforts but no cash. Grany did the favor of expelling Sammy in a big hand and took over the chip lead from me going into heads up. Sammy was tickled to get 3rd and make his way onto the championship leader board fianlly.

Heads Up with Granny !

Not far into heads up, I made a reraise with A2 of clubs and took down about $1500 which put us in a virtual tie. I chopped out a few small pots with some solid raises and took the lead. It wasn't 15 minutes into the match when I reraised her all in with A8 (her favorite hand) and she called with K 10. The ace high won the pot and gave me the win and the all important 4 championship points which vaulted me into sole posssion of the lead with 11 points. Bub is now 2nd with 7 points and Johnny "Buzz" is in a close third with 6 points, thanks to his back to back second place finishes in the last month.

Poker night is tonight already. Should I wear the lucky shirt ?

Off to Vegas tomorrow !

2005-10-21T19:52:00.001-04:00

5 fun filled days of booze, bad calls and broken dreams. Maybe a show mixed in. I plan to play several tournies at various casinos. Here's some of the action going down while I'm in town. Staying at the big Pyramid. So long bankroll.................

Luxor

PHONE: 702.730.5510

WEEKLY POKER TOURNAMENTS
Time Format Buyin

Sun. 10 PM No Limit Hold'em $100

Tue. 12 PM No Limit Hold'em $25
8 PM No Limit Hold'em $100

Wed. 12 PM No Limit Hold'em $25
8 PM No Limit Hold'em $100

Fri. 12 PM No Limit Hold'em $25
8 PM No Limit Hold'em $100

Excalibur
702-597-7777

NOTES: Bad Beat jackpot for Aces-Full.
Room manager is Tony Green.

Seven Card Stud 1-5 Limit
Texas Hold'em 1-3 Limit
Texas Hold'em 2-6 Limit
Texas Hold'em No-Limit

Imperial Palace
(702)731.3311

Mon. 1 PM No Limit Hold'em $40

Tue. 7 PM No Limit Hold'em $50

Wed. 1 PM No Limit Hold'em $40
12 AM No Limit Hold'em $40

Thu. 7 PM No Limit Hold'em $50

Aladdin
PHONE: 702.785.5555

Mon. 9 AM No Limit Hold'em $35
1 PM No Limit Hold'em $50

Tue. 9 AM No Limit Hold'em $35
1 PM No Limit Hold'em $50

Wed. 9 AM No Limit Hold'em $35
1 PM No Limit Hold'em $50

Thu. 9 AM No Limit Hold'em $35
1 PM No Limit Hold'em $50RB40

Fri. 12 PM No Limit Hold'em $110

Laziness abounds

2005-10-15T11:05:00.001-04:00

As I mentally prep for my Vegas trip next weekend ( 22 - 27th ) I have let this blog go. I'm sorry. Anyone who blogs knows how much time it takes to keep up with these things.

I've still been going to poker every friday but I quit taking notes at the table of all the hands and what not. I have tried to focus on my game a little bit more each week. Last night I came home in second place. I lost heads up to a real Pigeon named Jason Fisher. I knocked Jason's dad and brother out of the tournament along with many others but the lure of the flush draw took me down. Heads up I flopped a straight / flush draw and another King high flush draw 2 handslater that sealed the deal. All my money in on a draw. I think I read somewhere about that being a bad idea. What can you do when you raise 4x the BB and you get called by a guy with 3 4 and he flops a straight and you flop a flush draw with two overcards ? I lost, that's what. Second got me my buyin back which sucks but I did get three points towards our club championship which cements me into a tie for the lead with 7 points. It's me Bub and Ronnie all knotted up. I'll miss next week because of the Vegas trip and likely the next Friday when I return so I probably won't be in the lead when I get back.

I did not get a pair of aces tonight after getting them three times last week. I never even had a pair bigger than tens and I had to lay them down to Eddies obvious trip kings in the 4th hand of the final table. I did run a few decent bluffs though. I took down a big pot early against Ronnie with no pair and no draw when I went all in on the river and got him to fold a pot I had been building to steal.

My best hand of the night was when I called Jackie's bluff though. We were the only two in the hand. I was in the Big Blind with QK of spades and he was in the small blind with X X. I made a healthy raise preflop and he called it as usual. The flop gave me nothing except one measley spade but I bet it anyhow. Half the pot. Jack called. The turn was another spade and that gave the the courage to bet again. Half the pot. Jack raised me all in with his last $600. ( wtf could he have? ). I called him in a shot as they say and slammed down my cards. He had 6 high with a gutshot straigt draw. LOL. What a call. My King high was in the lead. The river made my flush and Jack stood up and waved goodbye on his way out the door. It's been two weeks since Jack told me I have all sorts of tells and I have made it my mission to toss him out of the tournament every week. So far so good. That's two weeks in a row now that I have taken him out.

Pink Sky Poker CLub

SPAM

2005-10-14T08:17:00.001-04:00

Why is everyone spamming my comments ? Who started this trend ?

New Lucky Shirt

2005-09-26T17:04:00.001-04:00

THE Pink Sky Poker CLub Homepage

I came tonight in a great poker mood and with a solid gameplan and the lucky blue plaid shirt my wife had picked out for me. I asked her to find me a lucky one and she pulled this unflashy unasuming preppie shirt out of the closet and paid it ont he bed. I drove to the local Wine Warehouse superstore to get a 6 pack of microbrews to take with me. I picked out some Jamaican The Demon Drink,some German favorites and one interesting The Demon Drink I was going to save til the end of the night.

I already decided that I was going to stay out of pots with mediocre cards and play lots of positional poker. I made some bets with good hands early and got lots of folders. My stack was growing at a slow and steady pace and I was conserving it.

8:06pm Blinds Still $10 - $20 and Eddie Busts out Bosey and Sammy with Deuce Eight v/s 10 2 and AK. Two rebuys !!! (Eddie took me for $1 before we started the tourney, we played heads up Rummy and he killed me. I had forgotten how to play completely)

8:22 5 way pot. I had 6c 4c in the BB. No raisers. FLOP !!! 6 3 7 rainbow. I'm the first to act and I bet $40 into a pot of about $120. Everyone calls and the it gets to Jason Fisher on the button who raises $140 more. I fold. Bub
and FNG Tony both call. Then in the cutoff position beside his brother, Jack Fisher goes all in after having flat called my bet. I am delighted to lay down my top pair of sixes. They are no good and I know that. FNG Tony goes all in as well. Jason calls and turns over the nuts. 4s 5d , he had flopped a straight. Jack has 6 4 offsuit, the same hand I had laid down.

TURN !!! 10d. No help to anyone. RIVER !!! 5h. Giving Jack the same straight his brother had flopped. I don't remember Tony's hand but it was not very good. If I had stayed it would have been a 3 way chop pot. Oh well, I was thriled with my laydown and it gave ame a good read on both Jack and Jason. Tony is gonzo.

8:27 just two hands later I get Q5 on the button and decide to limp in for what will probably be the last hand at the starting blinds. There are about 4 people in the hand including Jack and Jason again. FLOP K 5 5. I had flopped trips : ) Jason bets $80 and I go all in. Jason calles before giving his brother a chance to act. I am stunned when Jack goes all in as well. Jason then calls and I think I might be rebuying. One had K J and the other had K 9. My trips held up easily and I tripled up. TADOW !

8:44 Jason goes all in with A4 in middle position and his brother Jack tells him that he might just call so he can bust him out. Then he does just that. Showing KJ he flops a King and Jason is sent rebuying. DING DING DING everyone chants as the $20 bill surfaces.

I took a big break from writing down hands and focused ont he game. Folding and watching the play and players. I had a nice sized stack and I was planning to sit on it. We pressed 9 people into the big round table because the blinds were eating our small table up and we complained.

About 15 hands into the final table I was faced with my biggest decision of the night with Kd Jd on a flop of K 6 7. Blinds were 200 - 400. Ant had a stack bigger than me and I had already bet bet $1000 on the flop. He went all in lickety split and I sat and thought for 3 minutes. People were getting pissy and I told them to eat it. This was the tournament in my mind. If I won this hand there was no way I was going to lose the tournament. I had shown my hand before the flop came out because he had just busted and still wanted to play. He knew I had a big decision and was looking at me like "Hell, I don't know".

Somewhat reluctantly, I called. Ant had K 9. Turn and river were nothings. Jack kicker wins. I doubled up and left the chip leader as the short stack with about $1200. I had about 9-10k at that point. We were paying out 4 places thanks to the rebuys. I was happy to be looking at a certain money finish but I wanted the win and the 4 points towards the new championship superjackpot we had established last week. We are awarding points to the money finishers and taking a minimum of $20 out of the prizepool each week to set up the jackpot to be paid out in December.

I watched Tommy takeout Bosey in 4th place and it was now down to three. I was the chipleader and Ronnie was in second. Tommy got busted on a hand I can't remember and took home 3rd and a point for the chapmionship. It was now down to Ronnie and I. I had about a 2 1/2 to 1 chiplead when we started and we took turns folding to each other for about 10 minutes.

12:37am On the button with blinds of $500 - $1000 I look down at a pair of snowmen. I decide to make a move and I announce a raise. I slide int he $500 to call and then ponder my raise for a few seconds. When I mutter "All In" semi-confidently, Ronnie calls rather fast. I flip over my fair of eights and Ronnie slams down sevens. They looked like Jacks for a minute but alas. I am a 4-1 favorite going to the flop but Ronnie is know for his draw outs recently. I am dealing so I deal them fast to avoid the pressure and wha-la. The snowmen hold up like they should. James G is your winner. Thank you, thank you very much ladies and germs.

I crack open the last The Demon Drink in my cooler and prepare to taste victory. Victory Lager that is. Boy was it ever sweet. 4points towards the championship and I am only one behind Ronnie for the lead.

PS> Thanks for the help with the shirt honey.

Here's the best I can do.

2005-09-21T13:38:00.001-04:00

Can't believe blogger wrecked my post.
I scanned the notes I took last week. You can read them if you want. No decoder ring, sorry.

NOTES 9-16-05
The final heads up hand was Jimbo against Bub.

Jimbo AK Bub 5 6 FLOP !!! 5 9 2
Jimbo went all in, Bub called and took it. Nice call.

Poker Homegame Mainpage
---------------------------------------------

As a sidenote, I played in a 3 way match with Carl and his brothers wife (she never played poker) and I scalded them for $10 each. I flopped a wheel on the 2nd hand and gutted her. Carl was helping her play and they called me down with Jack high. I think Carl was drunker that usual.

I also beat Uncle Tony Heads up for $20. Then he beat me. I think I broke even.

What's happenin' Bub?

2005-09-20T09:55:00.003-04:00

............................NOTICE.........................
...........We are playing on Saturday this week !..............

9/16/05 Another Friday, another Tourney.

You know if you read this blog frequently (have mercy on you if you do) that I don't like playing the first pot of the night. Well, last week I did and you see what happened. Bustville.
So when I am dealt K 10h on the first hand this week I just know I'm in for it. I'd rather bea dealt 94 offsuit. I never play 94. It never hits when I fold it and in my opinion it's the ugliest hand you can be dealt in Holdem. Anyhow, back to the K 10h. I'm UTG (under the gun, means first to act preflop for you newbies)

Screw it. I had the whole blog written and Blogger shit the bed me. Maybe I need to dump this 486. But I'm tired and I am not rewriting it.

Bub won. Yea Bub.

Google Blog Search

2005-09-14T18:41:00.001-04:00

New Google Blog Search

a Poker lesson or two

2005-09-12T20:09:00.001-04:00

Well, it's Friday again and that means it's poker night. I felt good going into the tourney this week and I had plans to loosen up a bit after last weeks bad fold debacle. I arrived with my dad about 15 minutes late because work has been hectic lately and Fridays are the worst. My chips are waiting however and I have yet to be blinded once so things are working out superbly. I drop the pile of crap that I bring every week, including my Onyx Cigars, official blogger notepad, bubblegum and my six pack assortment of microbrews from across the world. I'm positively itching as I grab up my first hand of the nite fresh from the dealers fingertips. AQ of diamonds. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm in the middle position with the starting blinds of $10 -$20 and I make it $60 to go. Of course, since this is the donkfest WSOP I got 5 callers and nearly lost my will to raise forever right off the bat.

When I announced my raise (a skill which Jimmy Smith has yet to master at the age of 58-65 ??? **see below**), Sammy remarked curiously that he was about to raise if I did not. I should have taken this announcemnt more seriously as you will soon see. Sammy instead chooses to just call.
FLOP !!! A 2 3 What more could I ask for ? To tell you the truth, that ace scared the pants off of me. It was at that moment that I knew what Sammy had. Well, I thought I did. I hoped he didn't but thought he might have AK. I was about to find out because he was in the small blind and he bet $200. Everyone folded to me and I pushed in my entire stack. I told Sammy to show me AK and he did. "Martha Farkn Stewart !!", I said. REBUY !!! Out on the first frickin hand. No way I was getting away from that.
-----------------------------------------
Let me tell you something. I'm 32 years old and I have been playing poker for 15 years in one form or another. I don't prefess to be an all knowing all seeing poker guru or anything but I know the basics. Call, check, raise, fold (<--- that one's still tough). I try to politely inform people of the correct proceedures when they make obvious mistakes and we have have several naggingly habitual bad habits that permeate the fabric of our game.I'm going to expound upon a few of them and mentionin the worst offenders by name.

1. Folding out of turn is very popular and about half the folks do it once or twice a night. Some are worse than others but Jimmy is by far the worst. Fellas, it only takes a few seconds to wait your turn and then gently toss your cards forwards so be patient. Friday noght only comes once a week so sit back and enjoy it. When you fold out of turn it destroys the action and affects everyone in the hand. It gives information to people on your right that their risk is lowered to enter the hand. Not to mention that it's incredubly rude and assholish.

2. Calling and then raising. As in........ "I call"...pause........."and I'll put you all in." This is bullshit. Pure and simple bullshit. Jimmy Smith is the worst for this but my old man is a close second. The proper way to do it is to say "RAISE". Saying the word raise is not in and of itself going to scare your opponents out of the hand if you have your monster. And saying the word raise is not some kind of tell that will give free information to the table and reveal the strength or weakness of your hand. The word raise is a declaration of the fact that you intend to do something other than Fold or Call. It's that simple. If you are folding then everyone understands that you have thrown your cards into the muck and that your hand is dead. No need to say the word Fold. If you want to then by all means go ahead. Nobody will mind and it might even keep people on the left of you awake. If you are calling, then just mumble "call" like everyone else and neatly slide or thwomp your chips if front of you. ( Just don't splash the pot ,Teddy, unless it's your club.)

Jimmy did this twice tonight and the second time it pissed me off royally. I had QKh and I made a 3x BB raise from the button with it. I get two callers and one of them is Jimmy across the table. When the flop came down Ac 8c 5c it's checked around to me. I make a bet the size of the pot and the Big Blind folds. Jimmy peers down at the board from behind his stubby unlit dimestore cigar for a moment and calls. The he says "And I put you all in". WTF do you do in this situation ? What would happen in a cardroom ? Is his hand dead ? Does he half to wait til the next card come up and then go all in ? I rememebr during the 25K WPT Chanpionship event that world renowned poker pro Hassan Habib mistakingly called and then tried to go all in in much the same manner. He was forced by the tournament officials to call and then see the turn card. Of course he flopped two pair and wasted no time in moving in on Tuan Lee the moment the turn hit the felt, but it could have cost him dearly if Tuan had tripped up. If I had my wits about me and my blood was not boiling I guess I could have forced him to let me see the turn card before calling or folding. I had a sneaking suspicion that my Kings were good but I was taken out of position which was rightfully mine by his jackass illegal move. I folded in utter dusgust with the veins in my nexh throbbing. I asked his son Toby if he and his dad were close. Toby replaied that they were very close but that he could handle himself. See you next week Jimmy.

(UPDATE) Direct from Robert's Rules of Poker

8. A verbal statement denotes your action and is binding. If in turn you verbally declare a fold, check, bet, call, or raise, you are forced to take that action.

9. Rapping the table with your hand is a pass .

10. Deliberately acting out of turn will not be tolerated. A player who checks out of turn may not bet or raise on the next turn to act. An action or verbal declaration out of turn may be ruled binding if there is no bet , call, or raise by an intervening player acting after the infraction has been committed.

9:46 I limp into an unraised pot in the hammer position and Uncle Tony raises it $20 more dollars to $40. Jimmy raises it to $400 and I fold. Tony calls. FLOP !!! A 2 9 Jimmy checks and Tony moves in for $4000. Jimmy stares at the board a minute and then calls showing 8 8. Tony had flopped a set of twos and he obliterates the old man. I'll give Jimmy credit for one thing, he's fearless. But he's also foolish and now he's busted.
(Hand of the Week ) Jimmy rebuys.

9:51 I hear gaffaws from the Ocatgonal table behind me and just then TJ walks by and tells me that Johnny Buzz had just tripled through both Ronnie and Uncle Bill when he made a flush with J3c. Ronnie and Bill both had pocket Kings and were stunned. Ronnie rebought and Bill lost 70% of his stack.

Just to add to my misery, Jimmy took me out of the game 20 minutes later when I got unlucky to catch top pair on the river in an unraised pot where he had turned trip fours with some weak ass hand like 10 4 offsuit. I moved over to the Octagonal table to deal for a little while. I left the Round table with my head down a bit as I peered back at the chipstacks. My Uncle Tony ( my dads youngest brother) finaly showed up to the game after months of poking & prodding and his ultra loose-aggressive style has earned him $4000 while Sammy's Ultra Weak-Tight play has him at about $3400 thank in part to my first hand donation.

Blah Blah Blah. People bust out. People suckout. People Fold. You know. Who really cares when your not playing anymore ?
------------------------------------------
11:10 Finally........ a losers table breaks out. $20 Buyin. Consisting of myself, my dad, Uncle Bill, Ronnie, and Bosey. After we had played 3-4 hands, Jackie (lasts weeks big game winner) busts out from the final table and wants to sit down with us. Fine by me and fine by the others. Prizepool now $120. So if I win I can erase my $40 loss and actually make $60. Well, soon after Jackie sat down I started to catch some cards. I flopped a straight with 7 10 suited and slowplayed it til the river, just calling the bets being made. I made a move at the pot on the river and everyone folded, but the pot was nice.

The action was quick so I am trying to recall some of the hands for you. None really seem to come to mind except for this one. I had A 10 on the button and made a 4x BB raise. Uncle Bill called from the SB and Ronnie Called from the BB. When the flop was ten high with two clubs I pushed all in. Bill considered folding and then called with Q5c. I told him when he dropped his hand to the felt that he was a 2-1 underdog to make that flush and he just nodded. Even if I lost I was hoping to stick a needle in his brain and the collective brains of the table that chasing flushes is a bad idea. Maybe I'm sick of the suckouts, or maybe I'm just showing off my TV Poker watching skills. When the turn was a brick, I pointed out that he was now a 4-1 underdog to make his flush. The river was another beautiful brick I sent Bill to the rail.

11:23 ish (Uncle Tony busts out from the final table thanks to the same Ultra Loose-Aggressive play that got him all those beautiful chips and he gathers his sutff to go home and sleep. He has and acre of lawn to mow tomorrow and I'm sure he'll sleep til noon if his wife and kids let him)

Oh yeah. I also picked up the Midlife Crisis hand (44) and reraised my dad all in. He called with AJ remarking that he hadn't won a race all night and didn't expect to now. He didn't : )

Now we get down to heads up. It's me against Ronnie. I think I had like a 2 1/2 - 1 chiplead. The third hand of heads up I get the mother of all hands. No, not Ace Ace. Better. Q 8 suited.
Q8 is always the nuts. I have a hard time folding Q8 these days. My old man has made a poker living with the hand for the last several months online as well as at our homegame ever since winning the final table with it back in July. I started noticing shortly thereafter that, everytime I got the hand and folded it (like a sane person) the the flop hit me in the balls and left me wondering why i folded if I had a feeling it was gonna hit ? So I started holding onto it for at least a look at the flop when it was cheap. As you can see at the top of this entry, I played it on Bodog last week and totally befuddled this guy who exclaimed following the hand..."How the %&$#@ can you play that trash ?" I answered honestly. It's my dad's favorite hand. He laughed and we became fast friends.

OK. So I pick up this monster Q8 suited and I announce "ALL IN". Ronnie's head pops up from the table like he's got KK in his hand and he calls almost instantly. I'm not even worried if he has KK. WHy ? Becasue Q8 is the nuts, that's why. When he shows J9d I'm feeling a bit funny, because I love J9 alomst as much as TJ Cloutier does. I yell over to Tj. (aka Food Lion) that I'm all in with my dads favorite hand. He says, "what ? Q8 ?". I yell back......"Yeah......suited!" He askes what Ronnie has and I tell him that he in fact has my favorite hand. TJ guesses that correctly too but he's in a hand and won't come watch.

FLOP !!! A 10 7 Unelected Queen high still in the lead. TURN !!! Jc Hey, that may look like a bad card for me, but it give me some outs. Any club for a flush or a Unelected Queen will do just fine. That's 15 outs right there. RIVER !!! 9s. Damnit. No club. No Unelected Queen. And Ronnie just made two pair. But all the cards look so close together. I shuffle them around until I can arrange them into a lovely srtaight. 8 9 10 J Q Ronnie stands up in disbelief. I was starting to feel unsure myself and wanted to gather up the cards before I realized I was mistaken. Bt there it was. The gutshot straight I wasn't even looking for. I told you Q8 is the nuts
(even if it's the 2nd nuts).

Final table recap. Four left. Sammy is holding on to his stack for a change and TJs tight aggressive play has him a nice stack too. Johnny Buzz is holding his own and the short stack is Toby. We are paying out 4 places tonight thanks to all the rebuys. I'm dealing again. Johnny makes a move back at TJ by reraising him all in. TJ doesn't seem to want to, but he calls and shows AQd. The very hand I busted out with at the beginning of the night. When Johnny shows Ace Ace he looks like a genius.

Ad Qd VS Ac As

Odds against TJ Winning
Ad Qd 11.92%
As Ac 86.84%

But when I turn the first card and it's a 4 of diamonds, I can smell the suckout. TJ would indeed catch two more diamonds and pull off the suckout of the night. So long Johnny. WTF are you gonna do with the beast dan hand you can get ?? Johnny takes it better than I ever could and walks away smiling. TJ bows his head in shame as he should.

I don't recall the hand but the Great Wall of Toby (for how he stacks his chips) gets breached and he collects his 3rd place prize. I waste no time in heckling him over it since I made more by winning the losers table : ) But Kevin Harvick won the race so he was happy.

The final hand between TJ and Sammy doesn't come for another half hour at least. These two are tighter than you high school blue jeans fresh out of the dryer. It came down to a a kicker as is usually does. Sammy's K3 is taken down by TJ's K7. Not a monster kicker, but effective.

Congrats TJ. Now go get a damn haricut : )
---------------------------------------------

Ronnie mentions an idea before we break up for the night. We are now considering taking out $20 from the prizepool each week to fund a championship tournament sometime in December. We need to fine tune it a bit but somehow we want to come up with a points system that will allow the money finishers each week to accumulate points towards and entry into the Pink Sky Poker Club Championship (I came up with that name due to the ceiling consisting of pink insulation in the basement we play in). We even talked about getting a cheap bracelet or something for the winner to sport. Any ideas on where to get something like that ? Let me know.

Be sure to stop by FiveHundy by Midnight "The original Las Vegas Podcast" and brush up on your Vegas acumen.
This week features a phone call by yours truly. Even Adam Curry's Daily Source Code is high on FHBM because he featured a promo for the show on his Monday episode.

When you're between hands flash over to Iggy's Party Poker Blog and sharpen your online poker skills.

Bad Fold BBQ

2005-09-05T22:31:00.000-04:00

8:56 I think I spotted Bosey's tell. When he has a monster hand his hands quivver like a whino who dropped his last bottle of ripple. Is that a tell ? He had AJ in his hand the flop was J 8 7. I think he liked it but he only bet $20 into an $80 pot. I had picked up a flush draw with my shitty 94d and called the bet. When the turn was a nine he bet another $20. I called. But when the river was anohter Jack (not a diamond) his hands could barely hold the chips as he put in a bet that was the size of the pot. I folded and he showed his AJ after someone else at the table asked him to show it.

9:13 In the hammer position I find myself with Q8 suited (my dads fav hand). I hardly even throw this hand away these days because it continues to prove itself lucky. I limp in with it since I'm just one off the button (that's what the hammer position is). Dad is on the button and raises it to $100. Cooter Carl calls "as usual" from the BB. It comes around to me and I remark that I'm folding this hand even thought I know it's going to hit. Bosey says "don't fold it then". FLOP !!! QQ5

9:34 Middle position with 10 4 offsuit. $20 - $40 blinds. I limp into an unraised pot. Jimmy Smith has showed up late and been allowed to buy into the game and the lucky bastard sits down on my left. I hate having his lucky silly ass on my left and he knows it. Jimmys very first hand of the night was the previous one where he got dealt pocket Kings and doubled up while nearly busting Carl. I told you he was lucky. Anyhow, so I limped in and Jimmy calls on my left from the button. The Big Blind is Action Tommy who raises a paltry $80. I call and Jimmy does as well. FLOP !!! 2c 3c 5d Everyone checks. TURN !!! 6h giving me a straight with my 4. Tommy checks and I check as well, trying to trap them. Jimmy does his usual crazy raise to $500 !!! Tommy folds. I reraise All in. Jimmy calls me showing 4 8. We both have the same straight. But when the river comes a filthy whore of a 7 he makes an eight high straight and it's all i can do to keep from shoving the old man out of his chair. Excuse me Lieutenant ........Major Tilt is on the phone.

9:54 With 89 offsuit in the BB I get to see a free flop. I couldn't ask for more when it comes out 7 10 J giving me the nut straight. Carl is the only one left in the hand with me. I check the flop and he checks. The turn is an Ace and I bet $100 hoping he has an ace. He folds. wow. great hand.

I decide to sit on the sidelines and fold fold folding to look for a good spot to get my money on the pot. I fold several hand over the next half hour that could have busted people. 9 7d would have turned a sneaky straight. K8c would have flopped trip eights at the same time that Dad would have flopped them with 89 offsuit. Perhaps I need to fold and watch the players instead of the board as it mocks me. I really think that if this were an online Party Poker Multi Table Tournament I would have made the final table. I was playing rock solid poker.

10:36 in the SmB I limp into the pot without looking at my cards. Dad folds in the BB like a jackass because he was babbling on about something and totally forgot where he was. Carl pushed all in on the flop for is last $170 so I decided to look down at my hand. I had 33. The flop had a three in it so I called. I made a FH when the turn and river were twos. Bo long Carl. I don't even remember what you had.

10:54 Final Table

I have eeked my way here through cautuious play and avoiding big pots. Unfortunatley I have never accumulated any chips either. My stack has never been above $1500. (we get $100 to start) so I am going to have to make something happen soon. The first hand I am UTG with 6c8c and I fold it. The flop comes 6 8 8 and I know the poker gods are taunting my ass.

11:27 I have not even played one single hand at the final table so far. The only face card I have been deal was a Jack that came with a deuce. I might play that hand on Bodog, but not here. So when I got Q5 in the Big Blind I was elated. I got to see a free flop with my last $800 and I couldn't get away from KKQ. I pushed. Johnny Buzz called me with his huge stack and trip kings. I was dead in the water. He even made a FH to shame me.

I left early and found out about 5 days later that Jackie had beatenUncle Bill heads up for the win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take a listen to Tim Dressen's podcast about Las Vegas at Five Hundy By Midnight. I made a call into the show and he played it this week. Great tips on where to stay, eat and play in Vegas.

Rhiannon

2005-08-29T00:27:00.000-04:00

Our weely update Home Game Page is here. We play a No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament every Friday night. 10 - 18 people on average. $20 buy in with unlimited rebuys for the first hour. This is the blind structure

8-26-2005 I slacked off and never updated this week, but I am offering a condensed version a week late for your approval.

8:29pm Jack craks my Aces

1 minute left in the rebuy period and I find myself with Aces and I am ready to double up. The blinds are still just 10 - 20 so I make a raise up to $80. I knock out all the limpers but two and one of them is Jack who is insane. FLOP !!! Qs 7s 4d. Check Check and on the button I make a pot sized bet with my overpair and the only caller this time is Jackie. TURN !!! As giving me the top set. I move all in to put a stop to all this calling nonsense. Unfortunately, Jack had been playing with a shitass hand as usual 7s 10s and had made his flush. It's tough to play against people like this I tell ya. The river serves me no poetic justice and it's rebuy time for me.

8:46 I try to slowplay Q 10 on a flop of A Q 7 against the BB (Ronnie) who got to see a free flop with A2. Down $300 fast.

9:13 and I've been hacked down to a measley $220. I wake up in the BB with AJ and put it all in the pot which was full of limpers as usual. 3 people called my all in but the best hand held up thanks to a flop of AA7 : ) I triple up and then some.

Final Table Me, FNG Tony, Johnny Buzz, Ronnie, Jack, "No Show" Brian, Food Lion, and Eddie.

9:18 I've had 55 (the speed limit) 3 times tonight and lost with it everytime so when I look down at it again, I figure it must be due for a big win. I'm in "the hammer" position, just one off the button and I make an insane raise of $500 because I am sick of the chasers and suckouts. Of course that does not stop Jack from calling me. As a matter of fact, Jack says "Turn em over" and briefly shows his cards not realizing that I still have $100 in front of me that I have not bet. Not everyone saw them but I even knew the suits of the two cards he held. Qh 10d if my eyes are correct. When I tell him that I am not all in and he sees his mistake, he turns his cards face down omn the felt and waits for the flop. FLOP !!! K J 4. Now I know he has an open ended straight draw and two overcards but I am the favorite with my fives so I toss in the last $100 and he calls. The turn is a blank and the river is a beautiful 5 giving me a set. DOUBLE UP ! Aces revenged.

T.J. (aka Food Lion) is busted out at this time and he sits and chats with me an I thumb through my Iopd. Johnny's phone rings and it is playing a song by Fleetwood Mac. I shuffle over to look at what Fleetwood Mac songs are on my Ipod and shw them to TJ. He notices a familiar name in the list and points one out. Rhiannon. I tell him that it is one of my favorite Mac songs and he informs me that his little sister is named after the song.
Cool.

10:26 Big 4 Way Hand for Johnny Buzz

Johnny Buzz takes down the biggest pot of the night with K9. He had flopped two pair and he more than tripled up up via Ronnie (two pair 9s and 5s), Sammy (Kings and 5s)and new guy Fast Freddie Felson (nut flush draw). Before the cards were turned over I told everyone that Johnny had K9 and that Freddie had the nut flush draw. The action was fast and furious and I didn't even know that Ronnie and Sammy were in the hand til it was over. I was reading people right all night, but the cards were falling on my head.

Every time I folded a trash hand it would hit the flop. I tossed 8c5c on the first hand of the fianl table only to see the flop come 885. It was that kinda night. I am certain that I played the best poker I ever have played at this place but I seemed to be destined for heartbreak.

10:40 Eddie puts me out when I make a move at a 5 way limped pot that had $400 in it. I pushed all in with AcJc and Eddie called me with 77.

12:15am It's heads up between Johnny Buzz Action Tommy
and . These are the two guys that I just let borrow two of my poker books. Neither one of them has ever finished in the money at this game as far as I can remember. Jonhhy is now reading my Harrington on Holdem Vol. 1
and Tommy has my copy of TJ Cloutier's book . After I read TJ's book I immediately won the next 4 NL holdem tournaments I entered. I got uninvited to tat particular game and have feared for my life the last several times I have driven through Asheboro. It was a very simple book that filled the holes in my game like silicon caulking. Tommy has had this book for a month and must be reading the shit out of it because he has 5-6 times the chips as Johnny has when heads up play started. Tommy wastes no time in crushing Johnny with his massive stack and takes home his first bracelet at Ronnie's Redneck WSOP. Congrats Tommy. Now bring me back my friggin book.

I didn't get to play this week but TJ took notes for you.

2005-08-22T22:27:00.001-04:00

(From TJ fingers to your eyes)
Lots of big hands and about 50 rebuys. I was out early and left early.
The final 4 were Jimbo, Jack, Bosey and Toby. Toby took Bosey down heads up.
There was quads 3 different times. Jack had quad A's (flop was A A A),
Jimbo had quad 9's and Jimmy Quad Q's.
I made to bad folds and went to final table with only 400 in chips. Went
all in with A 4 suited bill called with his favorite hand 2 2 and the
flop came K K 2 and i was done.

Congrats to Toby ! I'm sure if I was there I would have knocked you ass out.
-------------------------------------------

I'll have a proper post next week folks.

Meanwhile, go read Brent Stack's blog.

Stone Cold Locks and Rebuys

2005-08-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

Well another Friday night game has come and gone with one stone cold lock of certainty. Jimbo would not be winning this week no matter what. I promise. He went fishing in upstate NY and not for drunk tourists at some Indian casino either. He was after 30lb salmon for two days and two nights. That gives everyone else a chance to win for once.

Cards were in the air at 7:40pm and I made myself a promise to stay out of the first hand this time. When the cards came out ad I found myself with A5 it took all my strength to muck it. Two hands later I was UTG with pocket tens and I threw out a raise of 3xBB and go 4 nasty callers.

FLOP !!! 3 babies. I bet a strong $200 which was about the size of the pot. This time only Action Tommy calls me. Pot $600.
TURN !!! 7c. The board is a 4 suit rainbow now and I bet another $500. Tommy decides to fold for a change of pace. So far so good.

8:32pm Jimmy Smith
rebuys ! Toby wanted me to mention that.

8:40pm blinds $20 - $40. Bosey puts in a $100 raise with AJs and everyone folds to Uncle Bill who moves all in for his last $430 with 10 10. Bosey flops and aces and BILL REBUYS

8:43pm The Rebuys are ending at 8:45 so the action is fast and furious. I am in early position with QJ offsuit and I raise to $120. Of course Action Tommy calls and then Bill goes over the top of us both moving All In. I go all in over Bills raise and Tommy still decides to call. Tommy JJ. Bill A6. Me QJ. Bill takes the main pot when an ace hits. Tommy takes the sidepot consisting of $380 of my chips. Rats.

8:57pm Bosey is known for dealing the big big hands and tonight was no exception. I'm not in the hand this time, but Action Tommy on my left sure is. Tommy likes his cards and chooses to bet $200 preflop. He gets three callers including Uncle Bill and Toby on my right.

FLOP !!! A A K WOW. There's an action killing flop for ya.
At least you might think that. Toby and I remark to each other that Tommy seemed to take a shine to that flop. I announced to the room that Tommy had just moved ALL IN and that he was "shaking like a rabid dog". Bill decides to make the call. Toby folds.

Bill shows QK of spades and Tommy takes his time showing us the bullets. Perhaps savoring the moment just a tad but who can blame him. The man just flopped QUAD ACES. The look in his eye when Bill called was one of horror and delight. Tommy has come to expect to be outdrawn ever since I pulled runner runner Quad Jacks from the deck to crack his Aces over Jacks FH a few months back. Read about that in the BBQ archives.....Saturday, July 09, 2005 "If your gonna lose, then lose with Aces I guess" Bosey was dealing that hand as well.
But Tommy's aces hold on of course and BILL REBUYS for the second time.

9:06pm I am the shortstack with about $520 in chips when I find Q 10 suited in the BB. Cousin B.J is the only one in the hand with me.
FLOP !!! 9 Q J. I move all in for my last $400. BJ calls showing KJ. The river gives me two pair, Queens and Tens but BJ makes a straight and I am the first guy out after the rebuy period ends. With all the rebuys we are up to paying out 4 places for the first time ever and I am going to miss out on it.

LOSERS TABLE TIME

The only ones out of the game are myself Bosey and Ronnie. Bosey is broke. So Ronnie and I go heads up for $10. I should have made it $1000. I slowplayed every big hand I got and trapped him for all his money again and again. I finally took him out when I flopped an open ended straight flush draw and bet it hard. He called and I hit the straight on the turn and the flush on the river. For the night I'm down $10.

11:54pm The main event is heads up between BJ and his dad who is my Uncle Bill. BJ had A3 and Bill had what has turned out to be a popular hand at our game for ending headps up matches. The mighty ducks. 2 2. With a dream flop of A 2 9. Bill slowplays his trips and takes down his own son in cold blood. BJ jumps out of his chair and punches his father repeatedly. See the greusome aftermath in this disturbing photo. Black Eye and shattered cheekbone. Seriously.........don't beleieve that. Bil got hit with a 2x4 on the job a few days after his big win. Lucky at cards, unlucky at work. I bet it doesn't keep him off the lake or out of the boat. Congrats Bill. How many rebuys ? Was it 2 or 3 ?

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Friday night Poker on Tape....

2005-08-15T00:30:00.000-04:00

I took my handy Ipod to the poker game and used an el Cheapo $8 snap on voice recorder from eBay to get some live tableside comments for you folks. I want to be like Pauly. I just hope you can understand them.

Poker Commentary Soundclips

Listen for Action Tommy hitting Quad aces on the flop and sending Bill to his forst of several rebuys. Hear Toby berate my play and then commend me in his best Walter Konkrite impersonation.

I'll be doing the regualar post about the night in the next day or so.

in the mean time........ go read Gracie.
She Verb.....Poker For Chicks

I might try and turn this into a podcast sometime in the future if I can get help setting it up.

Let me know what you think.

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If only you knew the POWER of the 2 6 offsuit.

2005-08-11T13:46:00.000-04:00

What did you mother tell you about giving the Big Blind a Free Card ?

***** Hand History for Game 2516807794 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Thu Aug 11 XX:XX:XX EDT 2005
Table Table 36818 (Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: RASPOUTIINE ( $32.05)
Seat 2: rpcamus ( $42.32)
Seat 3: meatpartypok ( $15.43)
Seat 4: John_F_B ( $20.40)
Seat 5: Boiler131 ( $10.35)
Seat 6: F1veofakind ( $25.85)
Seat 7: ME ( $19.58) ( Me on Party Poker )
Seat 8: fore_man ( $23)
Seat 9: mecsek ( $5.75)
Seat 10: Leithal_Dose ( $13)
F1veofakind posts small blind (0.10)
ME posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to TuNinze [ 2s, 6h ]
fore_man folds.
mecsek folds.
Leithal_Dose calls (0.25)
RASPOUTIINE calls (0.25)
rpcamus folds.
meatpartypok calls (0.25)
John_F_B folds.
Boiler131 folds.
F1veofakind calls (0.15)
Me checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6c, 6d, 9c ]
F1veofakind bets (0.50)
Me raises (1) to 1
Leithal_Dose folds.
RASPOUTIINE folds.
meatpartypok folds.
F1veofakind calls (0.50)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3d ]
F1veofakind checks.
Me bets (2)
F1veofakind calls (2)
** Dealing River ** : [ 2c ]
F1veofakind bets (4)
Me raises (16.33) to 16.33
Me is all-In.
F1veofakind: damn
F1veofakind: i will lose
RASPOUTIINE: lol
F1veofakind calls (12.33)
Creating Main Pot with $37.96 with TuNinze
** Summary **
Main Pot: $37.96 Rake: $1.95
Board: [ 6c 6d 9c 3d 2c ]
RASPOUTIINE balance $31.80, lost $0.25 (folded)
rpcamus balance $42.32, didn't bet (folded)
meatpartypok balance $15.18, lost $0.25 (folded)
John_F_B balance $20.40, didn't bet (folded)
Boiler131 balance $10.35, didn't bet (folded)
F1veofakind balance $6.27, lost $19.58 [ 5c Qc ] [ a flush, queen high -- Qc,9c,6c,5c,2c ]
Me balance $37.96, bet $19.58, collected $37.96, net +$18.38 [ 2s 6h ] [ a full house, Sixes full of twos -- 6h,6c,6d,2s,2c ]
fore_man balance $23, didn't bet (folded)
mecsek balance $5.75, didn't bet (folded)
Leithal_Dose balance $12.75, lost $0.25 (folded)

this hand was sneaky.

this guy was so bad

I rarely get paid off with quads.

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The favorite listener of Poker Diagram .....Tourney Update Special!!!

2005-08-10T17:48:00.000-04:00

Here's a screen caps from the PokerDiagram Listener Tourney for you to follow along with. I think you guys need to start taking at least one capture photos at the beginning of each tourney so people can visualize the hands better. This week,I'll do it.

Listen to PokerRoom.com Download

here's a taste of my horrible play from the tourney.
You folks can swirl your Ipod to 45:30 in the podcast to hear what hand we are talking about.

No-limit Texas Hold'em $20+$2 (real money), hand #1,143,437,949
Newcastle Single Table Tournament, 6 Aug 2005 04:46 PM

Seat 2: chasenfold [10D,10S] ($4,955 in chips)
Seat 3: dgiannakop ($2,675 in chips)
Seat 4: bearbait5 ($3,445 in chips)
Seat 6: BulldogMafia ($1,095 in chips)
Seat 7: Bugatti57c ($1,390 in chips)
Seat 8: WillNIL8 ($1,015 in chips)
Seat 10: crookdimwit ($425 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
dgiannakop posts blind ($75), bearbait5 posts blind ($150).

PRE-FLOP
BulldogMafia folds, Bugatti57c bets $300, WillNIL8 folds, crookdimwit folds, chasenfold bets $1,250, dgiannakop folds, bearbait5 folds, Bugatti57c folds.

SHOWDOWN
chasenfold wins $1,775.

SUMMARY
Dealer: chasenfold
Pot: $1,775
chasenfold, bets $1,250, collects $1,775, net $525
dgiannakop, loses $75
bearbait5, loses $150
BulldogMafia, loses $0
Bugatti57c, loses $300
WillNIL8, loses $0
crookdimwit, loses $0

I posted even more hands and the time most occured during the podcast.
Here is my new Poker Diagram Episode#13 Page
Check them out ! Complete with Screen Caps of the Tournament !

Wednesday is Pimp day on the BBQ

2005-08-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

You have been listening to each of these Podcasts already so I won't mention them.

The Poker Wankers at Poker Diagram are up to show #13 !! Go listen to me run over the table at the most recent Listener Tourney. ( well, for 40 min or so anyhow ) Listen for my early KK suckout : ) Can't wait for the next flogging fellas.

Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio. A weekly podcast about poker.

Five Hundy By Midnight The original Las Vegas Podcast

and for you intellectuals out there. ( who must be lost )
Skepticality is my favorite non poker related podcast

I know you're already reading these blogs.... aren't you ?

Iggy's Groundbreaking Party Poker Blog

Poker Grub Home of "the Hammer"

Dr. Pauly's The Tao of Poker

The lovely Gracie, from SheVerb.com

Read the BBQ Archives and see where I'm coming from. Pun intended.

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$3 into $21 on PokerRoom

2005-08-09T13:24:00.000-04:00

The PokerDiagram guys robbed me again. After depositing $25 into PokerRoom so I could buy into their $20+$2 listener tourney and being unceremoniously drubbed like an unruly stepchild on my way to a 4th place bubble exit I was left with only $3. I went to Pokerroom today to try and lose it and ended up with $21. I didn't think you were allowed to win at Pokerroom. Maybe Mars really is getting too close to Earth.

Anyone else tired of Jimbo yet ?

2005-08-08T10:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the new home of the Bad Beat BBQ. Archives are available at my old blog. Please change your bookmarks (if you are lame enough to actually have one). I'll try to keep reminding you for a few weeks, but I'm terribly lazy and twice as forgetful.

Our detailed Home Game Page is here. We play a No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament every Friday night. 10 - 18 people on average. $20 buy in with unlimited rebuys for the first hour. This is the blind structure
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The BBQ collides with the fellas at the PokerDiagram podcast this week. Stay tuned to their site and listen to the next show because I'll be playing with the boys from London. I make a decent enough showing this go round considering I busted out the last time I played with them holding nothing but Ace Ace. Go now.
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This night was so bad it's hard to find the desire to write anything at all. I should have stayed home, lost money online and saved the gas money. I played bad. Bad Bad. Like I had a train to catch. I just wasn't in the mood to be patient. But at least for the lucky few who read this blurb every week, I managed to take really poor notes.

My best hand a all night was 10 10 which I had to give up. After reraising Ronnie on my right and having Johnny call with what turned out to be a pair of sixes that he really seemed to like, Carl "now dubbed hereafter as Cooter" found out he had been dealt only one card and failed to mention it until the betting had taken off. That put me on ever increasing tilt. Most of the hands I played were so weak and so poorly executed that I only wrote down one hand of my own to share with you.

8:42 With the blinds at just $20 and $40 I'm all in for my last $190 in the Big Blind with Q 10 suited. Ronnie is my only caller and when he shows 4c 7c I am tickled. The rebuy period is over at 9pm and I don't wanna come up out the pocket again for another $20. The board treats me like a rented mule. Ronnie pairs his 7 and I'm rebuying.

9:48 I'm busted out again. I went all in with QK against 9 10 and lost to Jimbo. I hand my lucky turtle to Jimmy and wait to see if it is just cursed. ( Jimmy bought in 3 times tonight by thw way)

9:55 TJ's trip 9s demolish two big hands. Johnny loses with KK and Carl gets knocked out for hte first time with Aces. Carl Rebuys.

10:08 I take back my turtle from Jimmy who has nearly doubled up in twenty minutes. Toby tells me to write it in the blog that I just stole his dad's luck. Jimmy went on to dump his entire stack over the the next hour. Sorry.

10:16 So long to our pal Johnny Buzz. Johhny flops trip fours and is well on his way to taking all of Toby's chips. When the turn and river come KK Johnny makes a FH but finds out that Toby had gotten very lucky to make a better one. Not a bad way to go out I guess.

-Eric Cartman

That's right. I'm getting the hell out of here. I know this will last til 1am and I'm not sticking around. Sorry folks.

Now you can read TJ's notes from after I headed home with minor editing....... ( btw, TJ showed up like an hour late and we graciously let him buy in )

First off, your dad (Jimbo) is no longer allowed to tell bad beat
stories. As he is now the suck out king after tonight.

This is the first big hand played after you left. Jimbo raised pre-flop. Ronnie calls.

FLOP !!! A A Q (rainbow) Jimbo checks, Ronnie bets, Jimbo check raises, Ronnie calls.
Turn !!! 10 Jimbo all-in, Ronnie calls.
Jimbo has (Q 10) Ronnie has (Q K).
RIVER !!! another 10.
Jimbos running 10's to win pot.
Editors Note...(This must be the hand that Jimbo told me about on Sunday, he said he'd never seen Ronnie so hot)

Here's how Cooter went out.
On a flop of Q J 8 w/2 spades.Jimbo put both me (TJ) and Carl all-in, I had an open ended staight draw and a flush draw, plus a king would be
good enough I thought. Both Carl and I call. Carl shows J 9 and Jimbo
has Q 10. I hit one of my 18 outs on the turn.
That knocked Carl out and almost tripled me up.

Now only Toby, Jimbo and myself were left. I was 2nd in chips but Jim
was the big chip leader and was bulling me and Toby. Then I had pocket Q's in the big blind Jimbo rasied. I then re-raised all-in. He thought for like 2 minutes I swear. Then
called he had k 9. Well, if you read my comments before you already know he catches his king and
I'm out. At least 3rd paid me back my entry fee thanks to all the rebuys.

1:23am Heads up. Toby manages to double up a couple of times and has the chip lead at one point. Jim takes the lead back again and soon after that Toby goes all-in w/ Q 10 and Jimbo calls with Q 8 and hits a str8 on the turn to win it.

Well, my dad's lucky hand has been Q8 for about 2 months now so the last hand where he made a silly call does not surprise me. As a matter of fact, I think he took me out with the same two cards a few weeks back. July 9th post to be exact. Q 8 cracks my Aces. I've not forgotten that pal. But I still love you man.

Jimbo is on a friggin tear as of late. He's won the big game like 3 out of the last 5. Why did I show him how to play holdem ? Now you teach me some patience old man. You owe me. By the way, if you wanna log on to UltimateBet and take on Jimbo, just search to barbiesboytoy and take him on. He said he awaits all challengers. Or if you prefer to tangle with me. Look for BadBEatBBQ ( what else ). I'd love some low limit shenanigans.

Back in a week. Or sooner.

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**** Places on the web for Poker Enthusiasts ****

I know you're already reading these blogs.... aren't you ?

Iggy's Groundbreaking Party Poker Blog

Poker Grub Home of "the Hammer"

Dr. Pauly's The Tao of Poker

The lovely Gracie, from SheVerb.com

You have been listening to both of these Podcasts so I won't mention them.

Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio. A weekly podcast about poker.

Five Hundy By Midnight The original Las Vegas Podcast

and for you intellectuals out there. ( who must be lost )
Skepticality is my favorite non poker related podcast.

Our new home !!! Welcome from Chasenfold.blogspot.com

2005-08-02T22:26:00.000-04:00

Gone is the name ChaseNFold. We are now the Bad BEat BBQ. Set your clocks everyone. Add this site to your favorites and scrap the old one. ( chasenfold.blogspot.com ) See you soon !