Update from Florida

Damn it. Drewsmum just called me for the second time. First time was to tell me she made it safely. Very cool. This time, she called to tell me that the place they are staying rocks, that it is 85 degrees and perfectly sunny with the palm trees swaying, and that at 1:30 she will be...

...playing poker by the pool. They have some adult poker tourney or something going on. WTF?? Sipping pina coladas by the pool while playing poker in perfect weather. Good for you honey, good for you.

Gonna be quite a weekend?

I got home last night to find a package from Tripjax. We made a little bet on BC vs the Tar Heels during the ACC tourney so he was paying up. Thanks man, let me know when you want to get even.

I played poker for about an hour last night on Paradise. Since I had deposited $35 to cover the WSOP Satellite a couple weeks ago, I had $5 left and I wanted to see what I could do with it. After I got bounced on the night of that tourney, I played a little NL and was up to $12 going in last night.

I sat in at a $10 max NL HE table. The software that Paradise uses sucks, but the action is usually pretty good from what I have seen. This table was pretty loose. After about 5 minutes, I get dealt KK on the button. The blinds are only 5c/10c at the $10 tables and a MP dude raised it up to 40c. There was one caller before me and I re-raised to $1.50, both called.

The flop came out 3h Jd 4h. The original raiser bet $1 and after the other guy called, I pushed with the pot at $6.50. The original raiser typed in “ffs” and folded, while the other guy thought for a minute, then called. He had AJo, and my cowboys held up for the stacking. I had no clue what “ffs” meant, but I knew it wasn’t good. As soon as he saw my hand, he gave me the “nh” and I replied with a nice “whatever dude”. I stayed at the table for another few minutes, then left with my $20.

I wanted to try to sit in at a table that I could clear some raked hands. You get a point for a raked hand of 25c, so I sat at a 50c/1.00 limit table. I only had about 15 raked so far and you need 100 for each $10.00 of bonus. I figured I would just play very tight and hope that each hand was raked.

It turned that just about each hand was raked. Plus, I got some good cards and even better luck with the looseness of the table. After about 45 minutes, I had about $45. I have this tendency to start off well at limit, and then give it all back and then some. I think I loosen up too much or get overconfident. Not sure exactly. Luckily, for some reason, my Paradise connection got cut just as my wife was getting home from the store. That ensured I wouldn’t give it back as I logged off for the night. All in all, my $12 turned into about $47 I think. Not a bad deal. That gives me some breathing room to multi table the $10 NL tables to clear the hands over the weekend.

My wife was out getting the last few items she needed for her weekend trip to Florida with her girlfriends. We were up at 4:30am this morning and out by 5:15am to pick up her friends. I dropped them off at the airport by 7:00am and into the office by 7:15am. It is dead here, which is cool.

I will be out of here by 2:00pm this afternoon to relieve the mother in law of kid duty. My wife gets back on Monday night, so it is just me and the 3 boys until then.

With that in mind, I have come up with a top 10 list. The following is a list of the top 10 questions most likely to be asked during the weekend. You can try and guy who will be asking the questions ok?

Top 10 Questions that will be asked in the Drewspop, Drewsmumless household this weekend:

1. When is Mommy coming home again?
2. You guys want to watch a movie?
3. What? I can't understand you, you are slurring too much, yes, I love you too
4. How come you are the lizard guy?
5. I have poopies, will you change me?
6. Donuts for breakfast again?
7. You guys want to play video games?
8. Happy meals for lunch again?
9. Frozen pizza for dinner again?
10. When is Mommy coming home again?

Have a good weekend. See you on the virtual felt, once the kiddos are asleep.

Honey, have I mentioned my Blog?

I am very happy with my new banner, and last night, while sitting on the couch with drewsmum, I showed it to her. Much to my surprise, she was shocked that I even had the site in the first place.

Over the last few months, there have been occasions where I had the laptop and feverishly typing away. She had asked me what I was up to and I remember telling her that I was writing about poker, etc. Apparently, I never really came right out and explained the whole blog thing directly. I never intentionally hid it, but maybe subconsciously, knowing that blogging was ghey, I was embarrassed about her reaction to it.

She knew I was meeting people online, chatting, and talking through Yahoo while playing poker. She just made (makes)fun of me about my “fake friends” and ignored it for the most part. She might look over at me with my dorky headset and laugh every once in a while, but no big deal.

After I showed her the banner, she was very interested immediately. “What the heck is that?” “You have your own page?” “Who is Katitude and why is she so spectacular!?” Pretty funny that the day I show her the thing, my last post is titled “Katitude Rocks” huh? After I quickly explained how Kat rocked and how I really had just met her, etc., she was cool.

She then read that post and my WWdN post. She looked like she was almost embarrassed for me. That’s how good my blog is, haha. She also had a million questions. What is WWdN? What is A6o? Why does Katitiude rock again? Why are you writing personal stuff on this thing? Can’t people find you?

After I relieved her fears about our house being robbed by bloggers and me not having a blogger affair, she kept reading. When she got to the Tryout post about our son, she was in tears. I think she thought, although the poker crap was totally boring, that it was kinda cool that I was putting some of this stuff down. Not sure about that, but I think so at least.

After letting her read for a while, I pointed her to CC’s posts about Poker and Relationships that everyone has been talking about lately. It is very timely stuff for us and she was enthralled. She even paused Lost while she kept reading. She kept saying, hey that sounds like, hey that sounds like you. Hmm, that’s not good. I think she was kidding, although she did say she was going to send him email. Uh-oh.

As far as poker goes, I almost jumped into Mookie’s tourney that started at 10pm. It looked like a fun crowd and I almost signed up during the late registration time. Ultimately, I decided it was best to resist the urge and actually accompany why wife to bed and get a full night sleep. I had been up until 2am the night before after the WWdN so I needed the sleep. Congrats to Kat for taking it down. I think it had everything to do with the good karma she pulled by designing my new banner.

Drewsmum is off to Florida tomorrow with 3 girlfriends and staying until Monday. Once the kids are in bed, it will be a poker filled weekend. See you at the tables.

Katitude Rocks

Chicks dig guys that make the final table of the WWdN. At least that is the only reason I can think of that the super cool, truly spectacular Katitude would hook me up with the new banner you see proudly displayed above. After the tourney last night, I was thanking everyone for cheering me on and mentioned to Kat that I was hoping to get her bounty from Sir Waffle’s Birthday Bash Tourney. She had offered to design a banner as a bounty. As is normally the case, I was out way before she was on that day so no bounty for me.

She very graciously offered to hook me up anyway (because, like I said before, chicks dig guys that make the final table). She couldn’t sleep, and although I did offer her a remedy for sleep, reading my blog, she said she would hook me up right then.

I don’t want to appear ungrateful to Dugglebogey for the banner he hooked me up with, but how could I not lust after the designs of the Kat? Make sure to go over to Katitude Does Poker and check out her new design. It looks great.

WWdN

It is late and I should be sleeping but I got finished with the WWdN and couldn't sleep right away.

Ok, I am not going to whine. I keep telling myself, I am not going to whine. If you have read any of my past posts about the WWdN, you know that I have low expectations going in. I play this, and other blogger events to meet new people and have some fun.

I got home at 8:25 tonight after picking up my son at baseball after work. I ended up registering with about 2 minutes to spare and basically folded through the first couple levels while I ate a quick dinner.

I then started picking up some cards and my stack was growing. My goal of reaching the final table was in sight if I just played ok and didn’t do anything too stupid. I ended up picking up some read good hands and busting out a few people. When I got to the final table, I had a slight lead over Jaxia, but the table was full of great players. I knew it was going to be a struggle for me, but the smaller stacks just started to knock each other around while I was able to grab some blinds and keep my stack healthy.

I started getting some really nice cards when we were down to about 5 left and I ended up knocked out a couple more. I couldn’t believe that I had made the final table, let alone having the big stack, and keeping it as it got down to the final 2. I was heads up against heffmike (anyone have his blog?, sorry) but a 3-1 lead in chips.

I don’t remember all the details but I put in a few marginal raises and let heffmike chip away at my stack with some well placed re-raises back at me. He played very well with the short stack.

Finally, we were only separated by about 900 in chips and I had A6o. I raised it and he re-raised me. He had done it a few times when I couldn’t push, but took a shot at it this time. I was up against K10o so I looked ok. If I win the hand, the thing is basically over and I win. If I lose, I am out and come in second, squandering my huge lead.

The flop comes down and I hit top pair with my Ace. I think I actually raised my arms overhead feeling pretty good. I mean, he needed to go runner runner to take me out. Umm…guess what. The turn and river were both freaking 10’s and I lose. WTF!!!

Ok, my hand now hurts from the wall I just punched. Anyway, it was a coinflip to start, and I shouldn’t have been in that position anyway. I did suck that I had him dead but that’s the game. Not much you can do. Heffmike played a great game and I congratulate him on the win.

I was very happy with the way I played too. Like I said, I never have high expectations going in to these things, so for me to grab second was great.

I appreciate all the support from KJ, George, Jordan, Kat, Hoyazo, Dave, Matt, and anyone else who offered me their support. It was a lot of fun.

Weekend Rambling Update

Ok, lots to say but work have been really busy. This will be a meandering brain dump.

First, the boss gave his notice on Friday, which wasn’t a complete shock, but it does change the work landscape a bit. This guy had basically bribed me to come back to this job about a year ago to help him get a handle on the product I work on. He hasn’t been able to share where he is going yet, but if it’s local, and he wants to bribe me again, I’m here to listen.

I gave the update on my son’s tryout from Saturday already. Saturday night, I had my home tourney. It ended up being only 34 guys this time. Lot of people couldn’t make it but it was still a good time. The top 6 made the money with first place taking $650. I went out in 10th this time. This is my third tourney and I have yet to cash. I took a big hit to my stack when I got it all in pre-flop with KK against AQ but two biatches hit the damn flop. I was still alive though and was able to chip up a bit, but not enough to scare anyone away with steals. The big stack at my table had been bullying big time with marginal cards, but his stack was so big that no one could call him. With blinds at 500/1000, he raised it to 4000 3 pots in a row and continued to show KQo, 55, etc.

Finally, when the blinds were at 1000/2000, and I had 5000 left, he bumped it again and I pushed with A2o. I figured I might have a shot. The BB ended up also pushing for some reason, with 10d4d. The bully actually had pocket Jacks.

The flop came 7 4 4 so the BB pulled ahead. The turn was an A. I had outs but the river brought the third Jack for the bully and I and the BB were out and the final table was set.

The greatest hand that I saw in the main tourney was when were at about 14 players left. The blinds were 1000/2000 and the BB to my right had 2500 left, including his blind. There was a MP raise and then the bully called. The action came to the BB and he had 37o, with only 500 left. He was ready to muck when I said he might as well throw it in, since there was a good pot already. You already know the ended. His hit a 7 on the flop, it held up, and on the next hand the doubled up again with pocket 7s. He went on to win the whole damn thing.

We ended up playing until 4am. My Sunday was spent on the couch with a big head and the kids. My wife is getting ready to go to Florida this weekend with her girlfriends and she needed to shop so I fired up the laptop while the kids watched the Inspector Gadget movie. Shortly after I logged on, Veneno shot me a yahoo hello. We chatting for a bit and she honored me by inviting me to a heads up match with her. After I got unceremoniously trounced by AussieDave in the HUC3, we had chatted about possibly playing, and this ended up being a good time for both of us.

I got some nice cards, including a nice hammer raise and ended up avoiding the Poison that so many others have submitted to. Thanks for the game V and it was great talking to you too. The rematch can be scheduled at your leisure.

I unfortunately I had to go to a couple wakes this weekend and Sunday night’s was terrible. Not that nay wakes are fun, but I went to one after work on Friday for a friend who’s father passed away from a battle with cancer. He had been suffering as of late, so it was for the best. He had been pretty active in the community as a member of some of the men’s clubs and the local golf course. The atmosphere was like a freakin party.

The wake I went to on Sunday was just the opposite. It was for a guy that I had worked with at my last job. He was only 51 and had no health problems at all. He was at the hockey rink with his 11 year old son and had a heart attack. For whatever reason, he didn’t get CPR until the EMT’s arrived, which was about 10 minutes after his heart stopped. They were able to revive him but he was especially brain dead by then. While in the coma, he got pneumonia and passed away within 2 weeks. It is such a sad thing. Steve was a great family guy with 2 young children. It took about an hour and a half to get through the line at the wake. It was very somber of course and a reminder to keep the priorities straight and enjoy your life while you can.

I played at the bar last night and did ok. It started with about 50 people I think and I made the final table. Unfortunately, I took a huge hit just before getting there and went out 8th. I had stolen blinds twice to increase my stack nicely when, down to 5 at our table, I looked down at pocket 6’s UTG. I pushed since we were on the bubble at the time and the woman to my right had just finished telling me that she had never made the final table and how excited she would be if she got there. Bad info to share. With her in the BB and me having her covered by 8k, I pushed with my pocket 6s. The problem was that she woke with pocket aces! Doh. I didn’t improve and limped into the final table and got bounced in the first hand.

Best hand of the night though was when were down to 12 players. It folded to the big stack who was on the button. He put in a raise of double the BB, which was 8K total. The SB only had 9K left and pushed. The BB folded and the big stack says,”oops, bad move” but obviously had to call the additional 1k. The SB flips over pocket Kings and the button flips over…the HAMMER.

I say, you are all set man, you got the hammer. The rest of the table laughs at me, of course. The flop comes with a 7 and 2 diamonds. The turn is another diamond. Yeah, the button had a diamond. The 2 of diamonds. The SB didn’t have a diamond. The river? Uh-huh, another diamond and the SB almost punched the dude. It was a riot. I tried to tell him that he almost cracked the hammer, but he wasn’t listening.

Ok, sorry for the ramble but this is the last thing. This was a real kick to the junk. Our state lottery is part of the Mega Millions. When the jackpot gets up there, I play a few quick picks. Why not I figure? I mean, I know the lottery is a tax on people that are bad at math, but WTF? Anyway, when I check the number, I do the same thing each time. I dream about how I would spend the money as I turn on the laptop. When I get to the site, I look at the jackpot to see if it has gone up. If it has, I know I didn’t win. Saturday morning, it had gone up. No surprise, I didn’t win. The next thing I check is the “mega ball”. If you hit that, you at least get something. I checked it and I didn’t have it. One of the 3 quick picks I had, had the number 20, and the mega ball was 19, but that was as close as I got. Close is no goot unless you are talking horseshoes or hand grenades. With that, I check the numbers to see how pathetic my 3 were. There are 5 regular numbers that you have to match and with the mega ball, you win the jackpot. Well, I hit 4 numbers out of 5! I was all excited, figuring, that must get me something pretty good right? I checked the “how to play” page and saw that, all 5 without the mega ball pays $250K. 4 out of 5 with the mega ball pays $10k. 4 out of 5 without the mega ball pays…$150. Huh? Are you freaking kidding me?

I cashed it at the general store where I get my coffee everyday. The Indian dude there has called me “the loser” the last 3 days straight.

BTW, how would you spend $86 million?

Tryout Update

Feeling a bit duntish today, but wanted to jot down a quick update on my son’s tryout..

First, my son had his Little League tryout yesterday. I think we were both a little nervous as we went to the field at 7:30am yesterday to give him a little warm-up for the tryout. Since it was only about 38 degrees outside, he needed it, plus I wanted to get him some swings in before going to the tryout.

It was pretty ugly. He did great catching his pop-ups and ground balls, but his hitting was terrible. He has been going to the indoor hitting clinic for the last month and has been doing great so when he was absolutely NOTHING in the morning, he was getting upset and frustrated. That made me get frustrated with him and the clash of attitudes was on. I knew he was much better than that so I kept trying to encourage him, but he just kept saying how bad he was going to do. That just got me mad, snowball, etc…

Have you seen that commercial for Nike or Reebok where the football coach is talking in the background about being a winner? The commercial shows a football team going through a practice and at the end the coach says, “The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right. Which one are you son? Which one are you?” I love that commercial, and made sure my son watched it while he was playing football this past fall for the first time. Anyway, as we were leaving the practice field to go to the tryout field, I reminded him out it, and told him to have a positive attitude.

Regardless, I was nervous that he wouldn’t do well after the morning that we had. We got to the field and got his number, which put him in the third group for the tryout. That meant we had to wait in the windy, upper 30’s temps for about an hour or more. He ran off with his friends and stayed warm while I huddles with some of the other parents and bitched about the weather. Typical New Englander crap by the end of March.

Anyway, his group was finally called and he had the first number of the group so that meant he would take his pop-ups, grounders and hit first as they went through the tryout.

My wife had showed up by then with my 2 younger sons and we held our breath as he caught each of the 3 pop-ups that they hit to him and made pretty good throws in to 2nd. Phew. Next were the grounders. He fielded each of the three hit to him, but his throws were a little short. They had the kids pretty deep at short fielding the grounders so no biggy. Again, he looked fine. Better than most in his group.

The last part of the tryout was the batting. The way they do the hitting is 5 swings, then dig it out to first, regardless if they hit it on the 5th one. The first pitch came in and he wiffed at it. I saw that the coach was really throwing it in softly and I wanted to yell out to him to make sure to wait on it, but I resisted the urge, not wanted to be that tool parent. Just let the kid do it himself, he’ll be fine.

Glad I resisted too because the next 2 he cracked up the middle and into the outfield. It was great! The fourth one he fouled hard down the first base line, then the last one, hit another nice one to the outfield. I swear, he hadn’t hit 4 that hard the whole half hour we practiced in the morning. It was great. He best part was when, after he hit the second pitch, he actually looked over to where we were to make sure we saw it. It is so funny when they are at the age where they can do so much on their own, yet they still really want to make you proud.

I was very proud of him. Like I told my wife, I was glad that he showed them what he could do. Even if he doesn’t make it, it doesn’t matter. He did the best he could, and that was all that mattered. He felt good about himself, did as well as he could have, and knew how proud of him we were.

Now, all we have to do is wait and see if he gets picked. The draft is this Thursday, so we’ll see. We should know by April 3rd they said. Either way, I think he will feel good about it. I think he has a great chance, since one of the coaches asked me after if his football coach was already taking him (his football coach loves him and is also coaching one of the teams here) or if he was “up for grabs”. Sounds pretty good.

Big Weekend Plans

First, a quick update on last night. After getting thoroughly outplayed in the HUC3, I decided to get back on the horse and play a 45 SNG toward the challenge. I ended up playing in that one with Surflexus. I was getting pretty short stacked and was able to double up at one point but ended up going out in 14th, out of the money, out of the points.

At that point it was about 11:30pm so I decided that I better play in Turbo if I was going to get any sleep at all. I am with GCox in that I would rather play the normal game, over the turbo, but it had to do. I did ok but took a few chances late when I was getting short stacked and was the smallest at the table. My big slick was once again nothing more than Anna Kournikova, looks good but never wins, and I was out in 12th. Again, out of the money, out of the points. I only have 3 more chances to get some more points. I really need some because Matt is right on my heals, as well as Poker Champ. Also, Gracie and Garth still have a bunch to play. It’s not looking too good, but we’ll see. I won’t be playing any this weekend so I will see how some of the others do come Monday.

As I posted yesterday, my oldest son has Little League tryouts in the morning. He is hoping that his football coach picks him for his team. I just hope he does as well as he can. He is a big kid for 9 years old and has really improved since he started going to Frozen Ropes, an indoor training facility here in town. My high school coach is one of the owners of the facility and it has been great for the kids since he opened it a couple years ago.

Tomorrow night is my big home tourney. This is the third one that I have had since December. I really like putting these things together because everyone seems to have a great time. Each of the first 2, I met some new people who share the love of poker like me. Friends of friends that I had no idea even played. The group is a good mix of dead money and more serious players. We start at 7 and the main tourney is usually getting done around 11 or so. In the meantime, side games are popping up everywhere. The night didn’t end until 3am the last 2 times I held these so I am looking forward to another long night. I inevitably end up smashed on JD after bubbling out of the main tourney and playing 4 side games. It’s all a good time. If any bloggers are in the area, I still have some room. I have about 38 right now and room for 48. You won’t be disappointed and would love to meet you all. The buy-in is $55 and everyone starts with 3500 in chips. By the end, this could be you.

Sunday will be a day of rest and watching basketball. Hopefully BC will take out ‘Nova tonight and be battling for a spot in the final four. WTF happened to Duke and Gonzaga last night? The Zags pitifully gave the game away at the end. Tough way for Morrison to go out. Redick too. Terrible game for him.

Have a good weekend all. Hopefully I will have a good home tourney report for you over the weekend.

I got smoked!

AussieDave just beat my ass but good in the HUC3. I think it only lasted about 15 minutes. I was already down to about 900 chips when my laptop got the blue screen of death. When I finally got back, I was down to 600.

Anyway, I called a raise with my 9d8d and the flop was 9 10 J, he bet 200 and I pushed the rest in. His Q 10 had me at that point and when the river brought another one, it was just another good swift kick in the junk.

Ok, gotta get back on the horse and play a 45 SNG.

Train Post

Look out squirrels, here I come.

Just went out for a few pints of Harpoon. One of the kids that works with
us is moving to Washington state so this was his going away. I am now on
the 7:30pm train and heading home for some rompin stompin heads up action.

As I finish off my last fry from my chicken mcnugget meal, and re-read the
last couple chapters of HOH 2, it is all becoming crystal clear.

Fellow squirrels, guard your nuts!

It's on.

(P.S. Just email your address to me after you knock me out so I can get
the bounty right out to you)

Good luck Drew

Well, he’s not going to the mansion like all the cool people, but he is trying out for Little League this Saturday. It is still pretty much cold as balls up here, although Saturday looks like it could be in the upper 40’s. Woohoo, heatwave.

He is 4 years older than this picture now and a little nervous. Wish him luck.

To show or not to show?

This will be short and sweet, but I am looking for comments here. I was talking to surflexus during my 45 SNG last night about how much he shows his cards when winning a pot uncontested. I’ve noticed lately that I have a tendency to show them more often than others do.

My question is, with what frequency do you show your cards, and what is your reasoning behind that frequency? I know that is pretty open ended, but I think you get what I mean. I am talking when winning a hand uncontested by the others folds, or when losing a hand at showdown. I don’t know if I am giving something up or not. I don’t think so, but want to hear thoughts.

Good luck to all others in the HUC3 tonight. Once I get bounced, I will be in the lounge no doubt. Have a good one.

Rambling Updates

It has been crazy busy at work lately so I haven't had a chance to post much. I played a little last night on Absolute. I played in an 18 person SNG and busted out around 9th or 10th. Nothing special at all there.

Played again tonight (must...reread...Tripjax SSOFT post...again) with Matt and Gary in a 45 SNG. Gary had completed his 15 tournies earlier in the night so his results in this one didn't count toward the challenge. Lucky for us that are in it. After his win last night, he was in second place, just 1 point behind the leader, who miraculously enough is me. He would have vaulted into the lead if this one had counted for him. He finished 2nd.

I sucked out at one point, about midway through, to survive and went on from there to finish 6th.

PokerStars Tournament #21782444, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $225.00
Tournament started - 2006/03/22 - 21:25:54 (ET)

Dear drewspop,

You finished the tournament in 6th place.
A $13.50 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

I got a little too frisky with my pocket 9s when it was folded to me in the CO. Being only 6 handed, I pushed and prayed but the BB woke up with AK and hit the K to put me on the rail. If our stacks were more equal, it would have been an ok play but he had me about 3-1 in chips, so a no brainer for him to call me. Not sure how many points 6th is toward the challenge, but I will take it. I have played in 10, and cashed in 4 so far. 5 more to go for me. Plenty of people still have a lot more to play so there is a lot still left to this challenge, but I am happy so far.

Matt had a rough start to the night with some terrible beats. I saw him go out in the this one when he pushed with KQ suited, only to be called by Q10 suited and got bounced when the donk hit his 10. In the 3rd one of the night though, he made the final table with a huge chip lead and finished 2nd. It was a real battle when it got down to 3 handed. With his 2nd place in that one, he moves one point behind me in the standings. It is going to be a fight to finish in the SNG Challenge.

Tomorrow night is the first night of the Head Up Challenge 3. Veneno has done a phenomenal job arranging everything for 32 players. We will be on Full Tilt tomorrow night. The first round is a 4 handed game with the winner of each moving on to the second round. I drew a tough table with Tripjax, Fairnbalncd, and AussieDave. Check out the HUC3 blog for all the details. Veneno even set up some extra tables for railbirds and others to join in for the night. Come over to Full Tilt and rail the action. MOre importantly, wish me luck. It should be a good time.

Bad Beat or No?

Ok, just got home from my Monday night free poker tourney at the bar. Tonight was the monthly venue championship and I barely qualified for it by getting points in the State Championship last month.

Anyway, a quick bad beat story. I will try to whine as little as possible but this was a tough way to go out. One of my buddies tried to tell me it wasn't a bad beat but I disagree. What do you think? This is the situation.

The tourney is down to 6 people at the final table. I am in MP with 30K in chips. The BB is all in with 10K, which is exactly the amount of the BB (yeah, the structure sucks to the point where, when you get to the final table, most people have an M less than 5). The first 2 fold to me and I look at KdKs and push to take down the 5K from the SB and put myself heads up against the all in BB.

The guy to my left folds and the SB, who has 40k left, thinks for about a minute and decides to call with As9h. Short handed so not a terrible hand, although with the chip lead (barely), I am not sure I would have done the same. Nonetheless, I can't blame him thinking I might be on a straight steal. Anyway, the BB then turns over AdAc! Mind you, I have him covered so I can still actually make 10K on this deal, even if I don't crack the bullets.

The flop comes down 10h Kh 4c and my buddies give out a nice hoot. The turn is the 8h. Uh-huh, the river brings the Ah, which the BB thought gave him the hand, but actually gave the other dude a frickin flush with his 9h.

So, although I put my chips in behind at the beginning, that was only to the BB. I said it was a bad beat since I got the runner runner flush junk boot. Again, don't mean to whine, nor does it matter, since I was on the rail, but it was a bad way to go out in 5th place. That the game though.

Switching gears, what an ass kickin Gracie put on last night. I played in the WSOP Satellite that Iggy pulled together on Paradise. The strangest thing about playing on Paradise was the fact that a lot of screennames were not ones people recognized. I had no idea, hours after I was knocked out in 49th, out of 69 total, that I was watching Gracie battle it out for the WSOP seat. I watched the end of the game when she called the Poker Gnome all in preflop with KQ vs pocket 9s (I think it was 9s anyway). She hit her Q for a pot of close to 100K that switched her from being down 2-1 to being up 2-1. It was over shortly after that. They both played great though. Someday, it will be me I hope. I actually started at her table but then was moves to a table with Drizztdj, Double As, Otis, Garth, Ephro, shafers, craigny, claire danes, and kubota. I was overmatched here, I'll admit. Sorry, don't know everyones blog. Just shout at me if I should and I will update it. Anyway, I went out with a wimper when I pushed with about 1100 left with pockets biatches. Double As called me with Axo and hit the A to put me out. He was nice enough to say sorry, but no need, it was a good play. My stack was too wimpy for him to worry about at the time I think.

Speaking of being out hours before the end of a tourney, I have started to come back down to earth in the 45 SNG Challenge. I have bombed out in the last 3. I was out in literally 10 minutes in a $10 one that I jumped in with mow and surf before the satellite last night. It was bloody. I went out 40th. After the tourney, I ended up playing another one, this time a $6 turbo, since it was getting late. I ended up going out 10th, which sucked. Couldn't really get anything going and the pressure of the blinds got me. Oh well, I am going to take a couple days off from the 45 SNGs I think and try and clear some bonus on Full Tilt and finish off my bonus on Stars. I need the bonus for my bankroll there as it is reaching pathetic stages. I have been getting out of my element in playing the $10 SNGs lately. I need to stick to my $1 and $5 tourneys where I had success before. Guess that is just my speed at this point.

I might not make the WWdN tomorrow night. My son's indoor baseball training class doesn't get out until 8pm tomorrow night and that makes it real close for me to get home in time. If I don't, I will be hitting the ring games. As long as I can stay away from those new $4 180 SNGs on Stars. So many choices to lose my money.

New Banner Part 2

So, not only did Dugglebogey have to create the banner above, he also saved me countless hours of frustration by sending me a perfect explanation on how to get it added into the template.

Thanks a lot Dugglebogey. From a Sox fan to a Yankee fan, it is much appreciated!

Now, you should visit Go Be Rude right now and sign up for one of his affilate sites! I said now! Stop reading this crap and GO!

Friday Afternoon Productivity Killers

Played a little poker last night after my wife went to bed, while watching the basketball games. The free money Absolute had given me a couple weeks ago is going to expire soon so I figured I would play a WSOP entry level satellite and a $2 Freeze out. Bubbled in the satellite, which got my money back, and came in like 90th out of 370 or so in the MTT. Top 63 got paid. Was doing fine then went out in flames. Nothing special really.

I am planning on trying to figure out how to load my new banner and make some other changes to my template. I figured out last night how technically stoopid I am so we'll see what happens. Where the hell do you upload the image to so that you can reference it in the banner code? Shows how long it has been since I dabbled in this stuff. Sad really.

Anyway, if scoreboard watching isn't taking all of your time away from work this afternoon, check this out. Yes, it is ok to open at work. Have a good weekend.

Thanks DuggleBogey!

Once I saw Klopzi's new banner from DuggleBogey, I new I had to have one. I shamelessly IM'd Duggle and he turned this around in about a half hour to me



Pretty kewl huh? Now I just have to figure out how the hell I put it into the banner. Something for the weekend.

Thanks again DuggleBogey.

Bracket was almost busted already...

I think Tripjax may have put a hex on my BC Eagles. They just BARELY survived their first round game against Pacific in double OT, 88-76. They totally dominated the second OT. Hopefully they now catch fire. I have them winning it all, so my donation to the blogger bracket on mow's site would have been quick and painless. At this point, I am still alive.

I did end up playing in one 45 person SNG last night. My wife went to bed early so I was able to join GCox25 in a $5 tourney toward our challenge. We also had mowenumdown, highonpoker, surflexus, and tripjax in various SNGs at the same time.

The short story is, although I was pretty shortstacked for most of the tourney, I got cards at the right times and built a big enough stack late to get in the money. Gary and I were at the same table most of the tourney and it was great that we both made the cash. I finished 2nd, which brought me a payday of almost $50, and put a pulse back into my paltry bankroll on Stars.

That's it for today. No poker tonight. Just bball.

WWdN and 45 SNG Challenge Night

After picking up my son at his weekly indoor baseball clinic last night, I ended up getting home around 8:20. Since it was Tuesday (one of my rationed poker nights), and my wife was watching Idol, I decided to jump into the WWdN. Although this tourney is always –ev for me, as I have said before, I enjoy it.

I had just logged in and onto yahoo IM and KJ from mowenumdown shot me a hello. He said he was in a 45 SNG and did I want to join him. I asked him about the WWdN, and with about 4 minutes to spare, we both jumped in. He thanked me for telling him and then proceeded to kick some ass. He ended up finishing second in the WWdN while I…umm…didn’t. Nothing at all memorable to report. Just out somewhere just after the break.

Not to worry though, with Jordan on now also, we all decided to jump into a SNG. I still had 13 to play for the challenge and with my 2 night a week ration, I decided to take in a few last night. I also was pretty happy with my 2nd place the night before and was looking forward to playing with some of the other bloggers in the challenge. We decided to play in a $10 one first. Although this was really more than I usually play, I was hoping to catch a hot streak like the one that Klopzi has been on.

With Jordan, KJ and I in that one, others started logging in also. With Gracie, Bigslicknut, Tripjax, GCox25, and Matt logged in at various times, I knew there was going to be a bunch of 45s being played.

While KJ was on his roll in the WWdN, he also was rolling along in the SNG. It was his night. He ended up cashing in this one too while I…umm…didn’t. Again, nothing memorable in that one either. I threw away a bunch of my stack on big slick that didn’t materialize and by the turn, I was beat and had to lay it down. This was in the 3rd or 4th level so the blinds were getting up at that point. I just donked it up a bit and never saw any nice cards.

With that beating behind me, I jumped into a $6 turbo with Jordan and we ended up getting seated at the same table. Again, I was card dead. We both sat back patiently as people fell. I don’t remember what got me short stacked. I think I was playing middle pairs aggressively only to be played back and having to fold like a wussbag. In any event, I ended up pushing with 5’s and ended up with 3 callers. I knew I would have callers because my stack wasn’t scary, but 3? When the cards were shown, I was actually at least a coin flip since I was up against 3 hands of 2 big cards each. I thought it was pretty funny because these guys had gone over the top on each other to get into the hand, even though I was all in already.

Anyway, everyone missed the flop and the turn. I was all ready to do the happy dance and bunker down when an Ace came on the river and wiped 3 of us out. Now I didn’t actually expect to win the hand but was hoping. Until the river, I was looking good to hold up. The thing that pissed me off was the biatch who rivered everyone decided to add insult to injury by typing in a simple “bye” in the chat, unprovoked.

Now wtf is up with that? I decided to drop my F bombs in the blogger yahoo chat, rather than in the table chat. I just calmly typed back “classy” and stewed to myself. Luckily, Jordan ended up storming to the final table after I left and had a couple donkeys knock themselves out for him so that he could place 5th. Well played, sir.

It was about 11:15 or so at that point and I decided to jump into one last one. I thought about doing another $1 tourney, since that was the level that I cashed in the night before. The only thing was, I was behind a nice amount for the night with the WWdN, the first 2 SNGs, and my $10 that I transfer, like you are going to do too, for the NCAA pool. With my second place in the $1, that netted me a whopping $10. I decided to do another $6 turbo. Since I really haven’t seen any difference in the players at all, I figured if I was going to cash, I might as well make some moolah.

I ended up playing uber tight yet still getting short stacked. Again, not a lot of details remembered but I ended up finishing in 4th for a $30 hit that basically got me back to even for poker related activities for the night. I tripled up on a hand when I was short stacked but the blinds were high enough to get 2 callers to my push. The next hand after my triple up, I doubled up again and when I got to the final table, I was second in chips. I do remember one hand though, that I was pissed at myself about.

Did I play this one wrong in this situation? We had just gotten to the final table I think and I had about 10K in chips. I was in MP with AKo and it was folded to me. The Blinds were at 1K/2K. I raised it to 5K to go but the big stack, who was in the SB with about 17K in chips called and the BB folded.

I missed the flop and didn’t want to put anymore of my chips in and risk being in the dead zone. I waited a minute and checked, hoping he would think I was trapping so I would get a free card. He bet out 5K and I had to fold. I have no idea what he had but in hindsight, I guess I could have just called. At least if I got a raise…actually, I don’t know what I would have done. I was on the bubble with 9 left so I didn’t want to go out with big slick (looks good never wins).

Was I too aggressive or too wimpy?

In any event, I was happy to get some more points in the 45 SNG Challenge and I had a bunch of fun chatting with and railing the other bloggers.

No poker tonight or tomorrow but the wifey is out with the girls on Friday night so I will be at it again.

Good luck all.

NCAA Pool

Looking for yet another NCAA Pool to enter? Check out mowenumdown and get signed up now dammit. It's only $10 and you get to laugh at my picks at they go down in flames over the next couple weekends.

While you are there, check out the night Kelly had at the WWdN AND a few SNGs.

Quick post looking for info

I found out that the National Championship tourney that I qualified for in the APL is going to be April 29th in St. Louis. I wasn't expecting St. Louis to be the place. I don't know anything about it. All I know is that the tourney is at a place called Maryland Yards in St. Charles. I need to find out more about the area, the casinos (poker friendly), where to stay, alternative airports, etc. Any info anyone can provide would be great. Comments or emails welcome. Thanks.

Disappointment...and Relief

Well, I entered the DADI Shorthanded tourney last night without very high expectations. With the extent of my shorthanded play being at various stages of SNGs, I didn’t have a lot of experience. Regardless, I knew I would have fun and hoped for the best. Once again, being in a blogger tourney meant meeting some new people. I joined up with mowenumdown, gcox25, surflexus, and many others in a yahoo conference thanks to an invite from Tripjax. Nice to meet you all and thanks for the welcome. BTW, if you are looking for an NCAA pool to enter, I think I found one.

As far as the tourney, I started off with SteelerJosh, Jhartness, HCR100 (?), and Boobielover. I think that was the lineup anyway. I was happy to be up a little bit after the first level after playing few hands and catching a couple cards along the way. I ended up holding my own for a while and then Sir Waffles entered the scene. I think my affiliation sign up with him brought me some good vibes as I got lucky a couple times while he was at the table at first.

I went on a roll at one point where I was catching cards and people were betting into me. They were falling fast. I ended up taking out quite a few people with good cards. I was getting the cards and fat with chips. Hoff and others were railing, and I was feeling good. The tourney had started with 57 people, and with 20 left, I had over 10K in chips and was in first position overall.

At the first break, most of the people in the 45 SNG Challenge were jumping into a $5 tourney. Not wanting to miss the first one, especially with a bunch of bloggers entered, I stupidly distracted myself by joining them. That wasn’t smart. I am not good enough to multi table while I am leading a tourney. I will make a long story short. I busted out of the 45 SNG around 20th place (after putting Trip out when I hit a set of 5s vs his bullets, sorry dude).

As I was donking it up in the SNG, my luck started to change quickly in the DADI tourney also. I have to go through the hand histories to see exactly what happened, but let’s just say, I SUCK! After, what I remember as 3 or 4 coin flip hands (not my last push which was 8s vs As), I was OUT IN 15th! I probably made some really bad calls, especially with the chip lead. Once I lost the first big one, I may have panicked and got a little too aggressive. Not sure, Sir, any idea what the hell happened there? As Sir Waffles so nicely typed, after I lost the 3rd or 4th hand in a row that I played, “First to worst”. Well said, sir. Once I have a chance to look at the histories, I will try and figure out the carnage. The bottom line was, I was in a great position to make my first blogger tourney final table and I blew it.

So that was the disappointment section of our broadcast. Now onto the relief portion. As I said before, the 45 SNG Challenge started last night, albeit inauspiciously for me. After betting bounced so forcefully from the DADI, I decided to take another shot at a 45. Most of the others had already, smartly, retired for the evening, as it was about 11 or so I think. Since noone else was playing one, I decided to conserve my bankroll and play a $1 45 and hope for the best.

I don’t remember a lot of the details of this one, but I came in 2nd. A couple things that I do remember though. When I got a lot of chips, I sat back and let the others beat the crap out of each other. I was an opportunistic stealing machine. When it got to the final table, I was the chip leader by a very slim margin over another dude.

Funny side note here. When I got moved to the final table, one of the players was TBrady 2 SB’s. Being a New Englandah myself, I hovered over his avatar and was surprised to see that he was from my town. We talked a little bit as he repeatedly raised my blinds on steals. He was a younger kid but it turns out he lived real close to me. Anyway, I waiting him out and put him in at the right time.

Once he was gone, I think we were down to 3. I made one bad call to get the short stack back into it, but other than that, played patient and aggressive. The other big stack was playing well but tried to steal one too many times against the smallest stack. It was a rough call but the smaller stack crippled him, and he was gone a few hands later.

Heads up, it didn’t last long, as I was down about 3-1 in chips and I pushed with A4o. He called with KQ and hit the flop. I didn’t improve and was done in 2nd.

Although I was hoping to win it, I was just relieved that I had a high finish. Actually, I was just happy to get some points toward the challenge and not get shut out through the thing. I had played about 5 or 6 of these prior to the challenge starting and didn’t get closer than 16th in any of the tune-ups. Good luck all. I will be on the 45 SNG tables tonight.

Is this what they call variance?

I have been reading a lot about variance in lots of blogs over the past couple weeks. Seems to be when you feel like you are playing well, but the cards bend you over in a cruel way regardless.

If you take a look at these hands histories, is that what happened to me yesterday? Or was i just too aggressive?

Sorry, I know hand histories can suck, but I lost a buy-in on Stars in less than an hour and it stung. Worse still, I lost a buy-in on Full Tilt last night too. I had jacks. To make a long story short, I ended up betting, raising calling about $10 into a pot, then finally, after the turn, laying it down to a $13 all in after one had already called. I knew I was beat. Of course, my Jack fell on the river and I would have scooped a $50 pot. Wish I were more of a fish I guess. I was beat by KK who was just calling down bets and a set of 3s on the turn. The board was Q high so that was what got me out of the hand unfortunately. Like I said, if I hung in, I would have hit my 2 outer suckout. Over the last few times on there, many people have said that they have noticed that happening a lot. Inferior hands sucking out with miracles. Someone tried to say it started happening after the big crash they had last Sunday. I don't believe the conspiracy theories but I have seen some brutal beats.

Anyway, here are the beatings I took on Stars. Notice the chat after the first hand. Just ugly. I had to type the obligatory "nh" so I wouldn't kick the dog instead, but what the hell were the other clowns thinking?

PokerStars Game #4268755579: Hold'em Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/03/12
- 21:48:38 (ET)
Table 'Pickeringia' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: XxLordIconxX ($42 in chips)
Seat 2: drewspop ($29.15 in chips)
Seat 3: buddi ($15.95 in chips)
Seat 4: CaptnCarlG ($8.55 in chips)
Seat 5: word999 ($7.60 in chips)
Seat 6: vince227 ($18.20 in chips)
Seat 7: icemansixx ($16.80 in chips)
Seat 8: Jackson35 ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 9: cndneh76 ($24.75 in chips)
drewspop: posts small blind $0.10
buddi: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drewspop [3h 3c]
CaptnCarlG: folds
word999: calls $0.25
vince227: calls $0.25
icemansixx: folds
Jackson35: folds
cndneh76: folds
XxLordIconxX: raises $0.75 to $1
drewspop: calls $0.90
buddi: folds
word999: calls $0.75
vince227: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [As 3d 5s]
drewspop: bets $1
word999: folds
vince227: raises $2 to $3
XxLordIconxX: folds
drewspop: raises $2 to $5
vince227: raises $12.20 to $17.20 and is all-in
drewspop: calls $12.20
*** TURN *** [As 3d 5s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [As 3d 5s 7s] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
drewspop: shows [3h 3c] (three of a kind, Threes)
vince227: shows [4c 2c] (a straight, Three to Seven)
vince227 collected $36.75 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $38.65 | Rake $1.90
Board [As 3d 5s 7s 6h]
Seat 1: XxLordIconxX (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: drewspop (small blind) showed [3h 3c] and lost with three of a
kind, Threes
Seat 3: buddi (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: CaptnCarlG folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: word999 folded on the Flop
Seat 6: vince227 showed [4c 2c] and won ($36.75) with a straight, Three to Seven
Seat 7: icemansixx folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Jackson35 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: cndneh76 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
icemansixx said, "vn"
vince227 said, "i know"
drewspop said, "nh"
Jackson35 said, "nh"
vince227 said, "horrible starting cards"
vince227 said, "i'be been waiting to hit a flop"
drewspop said, "lol, you hit one"
vince227 said, "lmao"

PokerStars Game #4268864963: Hold'em Pot Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/03/12
- 21:56:54 (ET)
Table 'Pickeringia' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: XxLordIconxX ($40.10 in chips)
Seat 2: drewspop ($12.20 in chips)
Seat 3: buddi ($18 in chips)
Seat 4: CaptnCarlG ($8.20 in chips)
Seat 5: silver0201 ($25 in chips)
Seat 6: vince227 ($35.90 in chips)
Seat 7: icemansixx ($14.45 in chips)
Seat 8: Jackson35 ($18.65 in chips)
Seat 9: cndneh76 ($23.75 in chips)
cndneh76: posts small blind $0.10
XxLordIconxX: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drewspop [Kc Kh]
drewspop: raises $0.50 to $0.75
buddi: folds
buddi leaves the table
CaptnCarlG: folds
silver0201: raises $0.50 to $1.25
vince227: folds
icemansixx: folds
Jackson35: folds
cndneh76: folds
XxLordIconxX: calls $1
El Horno joins the table at seat #3
drewspop: raises $3.85 to $5.10
silver0201: raises $3.85 to $8.95
El Horno is sitting out
El Horno said, "brb"
XxLordIconxX: folds
drewspop: calls $3.85
*** FLOP *** [2h Tc 6s]
drewspop: checks
silver0201: bets $3.50
drewspop: calls $3.25 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [2h Tc 6s] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [2h Tc 6s 6h] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
drewspop: shows [Kc Kh] (a full house, Sixes full of Kings)
silver0201: shows [Ad As] (a full house, Sixes full of Aces)
silver0201 collected $24.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $25.75 | Rake $1.20
Board [2h Tc 6s 6h 6c]
Seat 1: XxLordIconxX (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: drewspop showed [Kc Kh] and lost with a full house, Sixes full of
Kings
Seat 3: buddi folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: CaptnCarlG folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: silver0201 showed [Ad As] and won ($24.55) with a full house, Sixes
full of Aces
Seat 6: vince227 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: icemansixx folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Jackson35 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: cndneh76 (small blind) folded before Flop

Semi Live Blogging My Home Game

Ok, having about 8 guys over for a home game. They should be here any time. I will blog as I get bounced each game. We'll see how it goes.

7:25pm Chips in the bowl. Salsa in the bowl. Jack on the rocks. Beer in the fridge.

7:30pm Table is ready, just waiting now.

8:02pm 6 people total, first game is ready to begin, cards are in the air

8:22pm Buddy has quad As, makes next to nothing with it though, almost induced the all in when another dude had a boat

9:24pm I am second out. I push with A4o short stacked. The BB calls with Q8h and hit the flush on the river. Thought he was calling 600 on top of the 400 blind but it was really 1050. Oh well, I suck.

9:28pm I am drunk

9:45pm Down to 2, another Jack on the rocks please

9:49pm They split, time to shuffle up and deal again, woohoo

9:53pm First hand, first guy goes down with a flush vs a boat

9:59pm Fourth hand, second guy goes down, ouch, looks like my SNG last night

10:43pm I just lost. Stupid move with K8o, I raised to steal and got re-raised, pushed (since I am drunk), hmmm, he has rockets, lovely, down to 3 handed

10:50pm Wife gets home with her girlfriend from movies (Brokeback Mountain, insert joke here), says she wants to play the next game, cool

11:15pm Still heads up, still drinking, ouch, morning is gonna come fast, kids up at 6am

11:20pm Just made a prop bet with Tripjax-BC Eagles vs Tar Heels tomorrow, my custom 10,000 poker chip to his card coaster something or other

11:35pm Game 3 is on, chicks involved (no offense) cards are in the air

1:57am Wow, long game. The short story is, wifey and I ran the table over. I thought she was meat on one hand when there was AKQJ on the board and she called the all in. Had her on 2 pair but she had the straight to chop that one. She played great! After the last non-us got bounced, we agreed to split (hahaha).

1:58am Wifey informs me that I will be the one getting up with the kids at 6am. Oh joy.

1:59am I down 2 glasses of water and a couple Excedrin to prepare for my wakeup call.

That's all folks. Go Eagles!!!!

Apparently, this is hand history night...

After I busted out of a $6 turbo 45 player SNG in 16th, I decided to gather some FPPs at Stars. When I made my deposit for the 45 SNG Challenge, I got a 20% deposit bonus so I figured I would play some $25 NLHE ring to work it off.

I did well. I basically doubled my buy-in on 2 hands. Here they are:

On this one, I played with perfection, er, I totally sucked out. But, it was his fault. He slow played me and got smoked.

PokerStars Game #4235463424: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/03/10 -
00:10:34 (ET)
Table 'Arethusa II' Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: carn001 ($4.50 in chips)
Seat 2: coop66 ($9.25 in chips)
Seat 3: BigGizz ($15.55 in chips)
Seat 4: stildontcare ($8.90 in chips)
Seat 5: Bertuzi44 ($65.10 in chips)
Seat 6: wiredbullet ($20.40 in chips)
Seat 7: MuckFizzou22 ($6.95 in chips)
Seat 8: drewspop ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 9: renohiker ($46.50 in chips)
Bertuzi44: posts small blind $0.10
wiredbullet: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drewspop [Jd Jc]
MuckFizzou22: folds
drewspop: raises $0.50 to $0.75
renohiker: folds
carn001: calls $0.75
coop66: folds
BigGizz: calls $0.75
stildontcare: folds
Bertuzi44: folds
wiredbullet: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs 7d 5s]
drewspop: bets $1
carn001: calls $1
BigGizz: calls $1
*** TURN *** [Qs 7d 5s] [Qh]
drewspop: bets $2
carn001: folds
BigGizz: calls $2
*** RIVER *** [Qs 7d 5s Qh] [Jh]
drewspop: bets $5
BigGizz: raises $6.80 to $11.80 and is all-in
drewspop: calls $6.80
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BigGizz: shows [Ts Qc] (three of a kind, Queens)
drewspop: shows [Jd Jc] (a full house, Jacks full of Queens)
drewspop collected $31.60 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $33.20 | Rake $1.60
Board [Qs 7d 5s Qh Jh]
Seat 1: carn001 folded on the Turn
Seat 2: coop66 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: BigGizz showed [Ts Qc] and lost with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 4: stildontcare (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Bertuzi44 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: wiredbullet (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: MuckFizzou22 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: drewspop showed [Jd Jc] and won ($31.60) with a full house, Jacks full
of Queens
Seat 9: renohiker folded before Flop (didn't bet)


On this one, the other big stack had been playing tight but I had to call his pre-flop raise and see what happened. From there, I only tested him after the flop with the raise. From there, I thought I was ahead but didn't want to get too aggressive with TPTK. I guess I could have taken more.

PokerStars Game #4235672101: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/03/10 -
00:30:06 (ET)
Table 'Arethusa II' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Jack D Chan ($12.60 in chips)
Seat 2: coop66 ($17.95 in chips)
Seat 3: pokerhitlist ($3.25 in chips)
Seat 4: stildontcare ($14.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Bertuzi44 ($61.80 in chips)
Seat 6: wiredbullet ($22.70 in chips)
Seat 7: Oatty ($14.15 in chips)
Seat 8: drewspop ($39.10 in chips)
Seat 9: jrad00 ($17 in chips)
jrad00: posts small blind $0.10
Jack D Chan: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drewspop [Kh As]
coop66: calls $0.25
pokerhitlist: folds
stildontcare: folds
Bertuzi44: raises $0.60 to $0.85
wiredbullet: folds
Oatty: calls $0.85
drewspop: calls $0.85
jrad00: folds
Jack D Chan: folds
coop66: calls $0.60
*** FLOP *** [7s 6d Ks]
coop66: checks
Bertuzi44: bets $1.75
Oatty: folds
drewspop: raises $1.75 to $3.50
coop66: folds
Bertuzi44: calls $1.75
*** TURN *** [7s 6d Ks] [6c]
Bertuzi44: bets $2.55
drewspop: calls $2.55
*** RIVER *** [7s 6d Ks 6c] [5c]
Bertuzi44: bets $3
drewspop: calls $3
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Bertuzi44: shows [Qs Kd] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
drewspop: shows [Kh As] (two pair, Kings and Sixes - Ace kicker)
drewspop collected $20.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21.85 | Rake $1.05
Board [7s 6d Ks 6c 5c]
Seat 1: Jack D Chan (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: coop66 folded on the Flop
Seat 3: pokerhitlist folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: stildontcare folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Bertuzi44 showed [Qs Kd] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes
Seat 6: wiredbullet folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Oatty folded on the Flop
Seat 8: drewspop (button) showed [Kh As] and won ($20.80) with two pair, Kings
and Sixes
Seat 9: jrad00 (small blind) folded before Flop


Soooooo, I had a good session for me. I only gathered like 6 FPPs but I made back my entry fee for the 45 SNG Challenge, which is good because I don't have a chance in that one.

Playing a little tonight

Played a little tonight because my wife went to bed a little early. She wasn't feeling that well. I decided to give one of the 45 player SNGs on Stars to get ready for the challenge starting on Monday.

At the beginning, the action was crazy. I played in the $1 tourney so maybe that was why, not really sure, but what do you see funny about this picture?

Anyway, I played it tight and when the blinds started to matter, I took some blinds and kept my stack barely big enough to go on without having to push too often. I was cruising along and with 14 left, I sat in 8th, just outside the money. Than, this fricken hand happened.

PokerStars Game #4234676812: Tournament #21046821, Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/03/09 - 23:08:08 (ET)
Table '21046821 4' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: Ricebrner (2850 in chips)
Seat 3: PJ4544 (4110 in chips)
Seat 4: drewspop (2735 in chips)
Seat 5: laurent 1951 (6795 in chips)
Seat 6: nikki314 (1945 in chips)
Seat 8: MCGUY2 (2617 in chips)
Seat 9: Muji4 (9173 in chips)
Ricebrner: posts the ante 25
PJ4544: posts the ante 25
drewspop: posts the ante 25
laurent 1951: posts the ante 25
nikki314: posts the ante 25
MCGUY2: posts the ante 25
Muji4: posts the ante 25
PJ4544: posts small blind 100
drewspop: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to drewspop [Jh 7s]
laurent 1951: folds
nikki314: folds
MCGUY2: calls 200
Muji4: calls 200
Ricebrner: calls 200
PJ4544: folds
drewspop: checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8h 4c]
drewspop: checks
MCGUY2: checks
Muji4: checks
Ricebrner: checks
*** TURN *** [Tc 8h 4c] [9s]
drewspop: bets 2510 and is all-in
MCGUY2: folds
Muji4: calls 2510
Ricebrner: folds
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8h 4c 9s] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
drewspop: shows [Jh 7s] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Muji4: shows [8s 8d] (a full house, Eights full of Fours)
Muji4 collected 6095 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6095 | Rake 0
Board [Tc 8h 4c 9s 4d]
Seat 2: Ricebrner (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: PJ4544 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: drewspop (big blind) showed [Jh 7s] and lost with a straight, Seven to Jack
Seat 5: laurent 1951 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: nikki314 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: MCGUY2 folded on the Turn
Seat 9: Muji4 showed [8s 8d] and won (6095) with a full house, Eights full of Fours

Should I have played it differently? I didn't really want a caller but had a powerful hand regardless. If I bet less, he still stays in of course, so I love either way.

After reading Jordan's post today on High on Poker, I was in agreement. I try to keep myself from letting luck affect me too much too. Then this kind of shit happens and I know there is no way to avoid getting kicked in the junk every once in a while.

Hopefully, my unluck will be avoidable when the challenge starts for real. Yeah, right.

Live Games Anyone?

No poker for me last night. Cutting down to 2 nights online and 1 night in person has been tough, but better for my SSOFT.

The extra time has also allowed me to plan my next home tourney. I have it set for March 25th if anyone out there can make it to America’s hometown. I have space for 48 and expect it to fill up this time. For the first 2, there were 42 and 43 people respectively. It should be a good time, so if you are in the area, shoot me an email or a comment and I will send you the details.

Since I live about 2 hours from Foxwoods, I don’t get down there too often. I am going to try and make a trip down there over the next couple of weeks though, to play a SNG satellite for the WPT that is held there at the beginning of April. This might be common knowledge but there are 3 satellite levels offered live at Foxwoods.

In the first level, it costs you $60. $45 goes in the prize pool and $15 goes to the house (what a boning). With the $450 in the prize pool, the top 3 finishers of the SNG get a ticket to level 2. Level 2’s buy-in is obviously $150 with $135 going to the prize pool and $15 going to the house. Level 2 is also a single table SNG where first place gets a ticket to level 3, while 2nd and 3rd get another level 2 ticket. Level 3’s buy-in is $1050 with $1000 going to the prize pool and $50 going to the house. Level 3 is a MTT with 1 ticket being awarded for every 10 players to the Foxwoods Poker Classic Championship tourney. The odd numbers in the prize pool are distributed to the next finishers with another ticket to level 3. If there are 12 players, the prizes break down as: 1 ticket to the FPC tourney, 1 ticket to level 3, and one cash award of $950 with the left over cash.

I was going to give level 1 a try. Based on my MTT experience last month down there, top 3 isn’t out of the question. I was also toying with the idea of getting a bunch of my poker playing derelict friends to basically do level 1 at my house instead so that we could basically buy an additional seat directly into level 2 if we all coughed up the original $60. Without the house cut, there would be 4 tickets to level 2 if we had 10 people to do it. Anyone interested?

Have a good day and don’t forget about the DADI IV on Monday night. I haven’t been able to play in either of the first 2, but I am going to give this one a shot. What the hell right? I know it is a Monday, but I think I can sneak it by the goalie if I skip my live game that night and play this instead. Plus, right after the DADI, I want to get started on the 45 SNG Challenge with some of the others. Later.

Hump Day Quickey

Only have a few minutes. Work is getting in my way again. I actually just spent the hour long train ride updating the resume. If you know of anyone that needs a business analyst/manager with client interaction, in a warmer climate and good schools, let me know ok?

I read Klopzi’s post yesterday about poker apathy. I don’t think I have that, but I have had a few sessions lately where I can feel it creeping in. Usually during a SNG or something.

Last night I played in the WWdN and did a little bit better than I have in the last few. I finished 28th I think, out of 85. Nothing too memorable other than my crappy cards once the ante’s hit. My stack got too low to push and steal with nothing so with about 800 left and I got a cowboy, I have to push. No dice. Oh, well, next week.

I did get to sit with Sir Waffle’s and a few others who were at his b-day bash tourney, SteelerJosh and Mookie99. My biggest wuss hand was when I had A10o in the BB and Steeler, who was on my left raised it to 4xBB (2nd level, not a big amount) and he got a caller in middle position. With the bad position I folded and started worrying as soon as I saw the KQ come on the flop. They both checked (so I would have had the free card) and when the J hit the turn, all the money went in as Steeler hit his set of Js vs the other guy’s top pair (I think). I would have most likely tripled up. Would shoulda coulda. I can’t believe I am even posting that whine, so enough.

With the playing nights down to 2 (Sunday and Tuesday) for the most part, it has been hard to decide what and where to play. I have had some good luck at Titan with my free $50. I have played 3 $10+1 SNGs there and cashed in all three with 2 thirds and my last one, a second. I am up to about $70 there. I donked some of my money on Ultimate but still have enough for a couple SNGs or one ring NL table, so I may play with that Sunday, we’ll see.

This is rambling on and very boring so I will get to work.

The last thing though, is the 45 SNG Challenge that Jordan from Highonpoker is putting together. I am going to give it a shot, although I realize that I am dead money in that one. I need to practice my MTT skills anyway and this is a pretty cheap way to do it. I may start out with a couple of the $6 turbos and if I don’t cash, drop to the $1 variety. Either way, I hope to get better as I know that more people will see my results as they get posted on 45sngc.blogspot.com. It should help me concentrate more on the results. It should…

The End of an Era

Ok, most people wouldn’t classify the Boardwalk hotel and casino in Vegas, an era. Unfortunately:

The Boardwalk Hotel and Casino has closed as of January 9, 2006 to make way for Project CityCenter.
We want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of Las Vegas history.
From all the employees at the Boardwalk:
“We wish you all the best!”
Signed,
Boardwalk Hotel and Casino Staff
Please click here to find rates at other fine Las Vegas resorts.

*sniff*sniff*

Ok, I guess I am over it, but I loved that crappy little place. My first visit to Vegas, 3 years ago, I was staying at the San Remo (only the best for me). I got to Vegas at about 9pm and went to bed at 6am the next morning. Just as the sun was rising, I called my wife to tell her I was going to bed. About 3 hours later, I woke up and left like I was missing something by staying in bed.

My 2 buddies were still asleep so I decided to wander a bit and see what I could find. I stumbled into the Boardwalk and stopped at their signature short craps tables. I had always tried to watch craps, because of all the excitement when the tables were hot, but without someone to teach you, it can take a long time to figure out what the hell is going on.

There were a couple people playing as I watched for about 10 minutes. There was a guy playing that seemed to know what he was doing, and since it was early and pretty slow, I started asking him a few questions. After about 3 hours of playing at that table, I was up about $50 and I was hooked. I loved craps.

I have been back to Vegas twice since that trip and both times, made a point of visiting the Boardwalk to play craps. I have had great luck there most of the time. The trip in January of 2005 (January 17th archive) for my buddies bachelor party, I turned $100 into over $500 on the same table. In October of 2005, my last trip, I turned $100 into about $150.

Craps at the Boardwalk was fun for me. The limits were low, the clientele was lowbrow, and I had good luck. It is sad to see it go.

Lastly, and probably more importantly, the crappy little food stand in the Boardwalk was one of my favorites. Shrimp cocktail for $1.99. Can’t beat it like a hurt dink. Heaping plate of fried chicken fingers and fries for like $5.00. Ditto. The 3 mini-burger plate and fries. I’ll miss you.

I talked to my buddy who I have been with on each of my Vegas trips about this today. I went on and on about how disappointing it was to see the Boardwalk closing to build another megaresort blah blah blah.

Apparently, he was less enthralled with the casino and my favorite fast food stand:

Drewspop: did you know that the boardwalk closed
Buddy: yeah
Drewspop: bummer
Drewspop: end of an era, and no more cheap fried food
Buddy: or nasty shits

Goodbye Boardwalk Hotel and Casino. I guess I will have to visit the San Remo (which just happened to be remodeled and recently opened as the new Hooter’s Hotel and Casino) again for old times sake.

Quick Monday Post

Quick post for a Monday morning. The soul sucking job will take it’s toll today as I need to tell my team what their bonuses are going to be. Some may be interesting discussions. Anyway…

Another blogger tourney that I play the role of dead money in. I played in Sir Waffles b-day bash last night. It got moved to Poker Stars after Full Tilt crashed for a few hours.

I quickly crashed myself. I donked it up good when basically, on three hands, I held 2 pair and they were beat. Highonpoker’s Jordan took me out when my big slick (I think that was it anyway) hit the second pair on the turn and I was short stacked enough to push into his made straight. My whole tourney was basically those 3 hands. I did catch cowboys but my raise got no takers preflop and all I got was the blinds.

Again, these are fun tournies to play because the competition is so good. I will get better, I hope, over time. I get too caught up in watching others bluffing at each other. When I aggressively bet my 2 pair hands, I always feel like I have a good chance, then bam. I don’t think I was really overvaluing them either. Just the way they went. If you were watching or playing, let me know what you thought. I was hoping to bust Kat for her bounty, a custom banner for this boring space, but that was a pipedream for me.

Louddwnunder took a third of my stack, Highonpoker took my last third, and I can’t remember who took my middle third. Either way, it was ugly. I think I finished 22nd out of 26 total bloggers. No bueno. Hopefully the WWdN tomorrow night will be kinder.

After I busted out of there and watched the final 5 agree to a deal, I decided to play some tournies on Titan. I had the free $50 that I received through poker source online. I had enter a small SNG to get used to the interface. It was a satellite SNG for a bigger WTP Foxwoods tourney. It would be sweet to get into a Foxwoods tourney, for me, because it is pretty close to home. Anyway, I busted out early. No details remembered.

With about $45 left in the account, I decided to play in the $5 MTT that was just starting up. I didn’t realize, until after I signed up that it was a rebuy/addon tourney. I was gonna bail but then saw it was also a turbo so the rebuy period was only 30 minutes. Since it was free money, only about 180 people and it was Sunday night (one of two days I can play now, haha), I decided to give it a try.

Not the best move. It was crazy so I just tightened up. I swear, I saw this one guy rebuy 5 times, at least. I got cowboys after about 20 minutes and pushed and got like 3 callers. An ace came on the board and I was re-buying. I did the add-on at the break, so I was into this for about $20 now. I hung around for a bit, but flamed out on an unmemorable hand.

Down to about $25 in the account, I took a shot at a $10 single table SNG. I took 3rd to get me to $35 so I did another one. Same result of a 3rd place finish. Basically, I broke even for the night on Titan. Not sure how to use that money now. It will be either MTTs or maybe some NL games to build it up first. No more rebuys for me.

First shot at Full Tilt

Although I am on limited play mode after "the talk", my wife is out this morning getting her hair done and the kids wanted to watch a movie so....

I wanted to test out the FT ring games. I sat at a couple $25 NL HE tables as a test and to see how quickly the bonus points add up.

I only played for about an hour and ended up about $6. No big deal, but I was already able to tag a couple fishies for a later meal. For those of you that follow any of my play, I am not so good but holy crap, this one guys really sucked. I have to give you the hand history pic and the chat. Tell me what you think.

Basically, the dude had been playing junk since I was at the table. I raised up 4xBB preflop. I bet half the pot after the flop as a strong probe. He flat called both so on the turn, I check raised him and got the rest of his money in. As you can see, he hit.

This was the chat:

Dealer: Hand #477246526

Dealer: drewspop shows two pair, Aces and Kings

Dealer: ConorMcG shows a full house, Kings full of TensDealer:

ConorMcG wins the pot ($25.55) with a full house, Kings full of Tens

Dealer: Hand #477247808

drewspop: lol

ConorMcG: are you really laughing out loud or are you just annoyed?

drewspop: laughing

drewspop: obviously annoyed too that you get rewarded for that but thats the game

ConorMcG: i just wonder how often people realy laugh out loud when they say they are

drewspop: yeah, you probably see that alot

SisterSara: well damn I've never thought of that roflllllllllllllllll

ConorMcG: ok

I couldn't follow my own advice and just keep quiet. I should have. I hate whiners. Did I at least play it right?

Not much poker lately

Drewsmum and I had "the talk" last night. Feeling like a poker widow, etc, etc. Looks like I might have to put some limits on myself. I think I will be playing Tuesday and Sunday nights for the most part, with time after she slumbers off here and there. I was getting a little overboard. I didn't mind of course, but apparently she was thinking that it wouldn't have mattered if she was there or not every night. Hmm, not good. Even if I got Tripjax setup (Fed up with your setup, Feb 24), it wouldn't suffice, since I zone out on her and into the game I am playing.

With that said, no pokah for me last night. I did sneak onto Ultimate Bet to process my withdrawal though. I took $100 out and left the $29 in profit that I made the other night.

I then deposited $200 into Full Tilt. It being my initial deposit, I got a 100% match so that is what I will be working on for a while. Sir Waffles, although I already had the software installed, I hadn't ever made a real money deposit so I uninstalled and then went through your affiliate link. Hopefully you get the credit for it.

I also received my free instant bankroll on Titan that I went through Dugglebogey for. I have $50 there now and need to work off about a million hands to get another free $25. I may just try and practice my MTT tourney skills instead with that free $50 and do 9 $5 MTTs. Still thinking about that.

Lastly, I got an email from Absolute saying they put $10 in my account. This is the second time they have done this. I might use it to enter the Poker Source Online Poker League tourney Sunday night. If I do ok, it will make me play 5 others, since you need to play at least 6 or something. More on that later.

So...I think my roll looks something like this now:

Absolute $10.69 drewspop
Ultimate $29.00 drewspop
Interpoker $76.50 drewspop
Full Tilt $200.00 drewspop
Poker Stars $24.00 drewspop
Titan $50.00 jackspop

Going to the Celtics game with Drewsmum and my oldest for his b-day tonight. Probably won't be playing anywhere until Sunday night most likely. Waffle's bday bash. Be there.

It's Andrew's Birthday

No, my son doesn’t read my blog, but, for my own sake really, I wanted to say:

Happy Birthday Andrew. It is really possible that you turn 9 years old today?

It seems like only yesterday when your mother and I were nervously sitting and walking around the hospital during 30 hours of labor. Like most new parents, we went to the hospital way too early and waited anxiously for your arrival. Two days later, the nurse was whisking you away from us to put you under the lights because of some test they took. We were so scared and thought something terrible was happening. A day and a half later, we busted you out of there and spent 3 nights on the couch at home, while you wore a weightbelt with ultraviolet lights for your jaundice. We didn’t even sleep in our own bed because we thought if we moved you, it might slow down the process. The immediate love you feel for your kids is indescribable and, sometimes, unsettling. Even though that initial “test” in life was actually very insignificant (as we found out later), there will be greater tests and challenges for you as the years go on.

We have stood by and watched you learn to walk, talk, become an athlete, become a great big brother, a well liked friend, and a great student. The sky is the limit for you.

You have grown into a great kid. I refuse to call you a young man yet. My only hope, as it is for your brothers, is that you continue to grow to be a caring, thoughtful, respectful, and most of all happy person. I hope that you will pursue your dreams and make the most out of any opportunities that are within your reach. We will always be here to support you in whatever challenges you face in life.

Ramblings

Played a little on Ultimate last night and ended down about $5 after an hour or so. I was actually down about $30 at one point, playing like a total donkey at PLO. I had some great starting hands and was lured into some bad calls by the players from the night before. Yes, since they were bad, I was calling bets with top 2 pair in an obvious straight situation. Dumbass moves.

Anyway, I was down to about $3.50 at one table when I flopped a FH and got paid off. Mostly because I was playing like such a donkey to that point I assume. Anyway, ended up going on a nice run and got back to within $5 of what I started with…I think.

The reason I don’t KNOW is that UB is a piece of crap these days. At least this week, they have had some serious software issues. This was one of the reasons I pulled my cash out last month also. The SNGs were always having issues getting started. Last night, not only were the SNGs not working, but the “My Account” page was also not available to anyone.

I think it is time to give up on UB for a while and start something new. Maybe finally Full Tilt. I would like to play in Waffles b-day bash tourney anyway, especially since he is now donating the proceeds to charity. I know how to donate, that is for sure. I downloaded FT a while ago but have never made a first deposit. I assume I can still help someone by using their name as a referral somehow. Let me know how and I will.

I also just got my instant bankroll email from PSO regarding Titan, signed up for through Dugglebogey. I just haven’t been home within their calling hours yet this week so I haven’t done my lie detector test to receive the $50. It is my oldest son’s 9th b-day tomorrow and drewsmom and I are taking him to the Celtics (ugh, terrible, but he loves b-ball) so tonight is the family b-day dinner. I will be home early enough to make the call so Titan players can start taking my free money this weekend probably.

Just saw Fat Dan’s new template that Tripjax put together for him. Looks good and reminds me how crappy mine is (sorry to all you that use it Hoff, Huma, etc.). I might try to mess with something this weekend, which could mean nothing to read for a while when I screw it up. Haha, that means I actually think someone reads this crap.

Anyway, have a good one.

Non-poker sick, twisted post

Not sure why I am sharing this. Not really funny at all but this was an instant messaging chat I had this afternoon...

Mybuddythecop: yo
Drewspop: yo
Mybuddythecop: do you remember a (name deleted) from HS?
Drewspop: sounds familiar
Drewspop: you arrest him?
Mybuddythecop: naw, better
Drewspop: dead
Mybuddythecop: he was driving the gravel truck that overturned in town
Mybuddythecop: we had to do notification to his mother
Mybuddythecop: rt 3 is closed
Drewspop: i didn't hear about it
Drewspop: ugh, and he is dead?
Mybuddythecop: oh ya, mucho deado
Drewspop: lol, not funny but i just laughed out loud
Drewspop: still chuckling actually
Drewspop: that's bad
Mybuddythecop: hehe
Drewspop: was he your age?
Mybuddythecop: yours
Mybuddythecop: may have graduated with you
Drewspop: Name rings a bell but I can't place the face
Mybuddythecop: its all over rt 3 south by exit 11 if you want to see it
Drewspop: knew you were going to say something like that
Drewspop: sick sick person
Mybuddythecop: hehe
Mybuddythecop: I take that as a compliment

No wonder I lurk in the online poker world as much as possible.

Poker Stars and WWdN

As I said in my update post, I deposited $35 into Poker Stars last month. Even though I am bonus whoring as much as possible, and Stars does not fit that bill at all, Poker Stars is my experimental ground.

Basically, I like playing in the WWdN tourney each Tuesday. Actually, I have only played 3 times so far including last night, which I was bounced out in 58th place out of 91 players.

One of the reasons I first starting typing here was because of all the fun it sounded like people were having in the blogging community. I was a daily reader of Mean Gene, Donkeypuncher, Tripjax, and others and what appealed to me was the people, with such varied backgrounds, were having a lot of fun doing something that I liked to do, which was play poker. More importantly, they were sharing their stories with each other, and ripping each other to shreds (in a good way) at the same time. After reading about the blogger trip to Vegas, I wanted in. People from all walks of life came together and had a blast.

Once I starting writing here, I guess I started to play a lot more poker to give me more content. I think that has made me a better player, definitely made me aware of some of my leaks, and of the fact that I was basically just bleeding money online. Reading everyone else’s exploits made me realize that there are many of us in the same situation and it is nice to have encouragement from others.

I have read more and played more than ever over the past few months and have improved, but not a whole lot. The reason I like to play in the WWdN though, is to meet new people and put my game to the test. Also, to try new things and see how they work. You won’t ever get berated for sucking out in this tourney (not that I really give 2 shits when I do get berated), actually, it is celebrated. It is also fun to go down in flames trying to wield the hammer, as I did last week. I got a gg from everyone in the room, and had a couple new people view my spot after that tourney.

I have been reading more about aggression and how you need to use it to be a long term winning player. I am not there yet. I am normally pretty weak, where I will fold to almost any heat without a great hand. Way too tight and passive. In this tourney, I have no expectations because the players are so good. Bloggers talk about how good or bad they are each day, but really, this is a tough tourney and I have no delusions about winning. Someday maybe.

Last night, I decided to be more aggressive. In some spots, it won me chips. In other times, I bled off chips terribly. My final hand, I had QJh and the blinds were at 50/100 and it was raised by 1 person to 400. I called with position and the flop came down J high. I only had 950 left after the call and the bettor, 123skidoo, who was the big stack at the table, bet out 600 into the pot of 950. I pushed and he flipped over AJ to put me out. Two things I have read plenty of times should have warned me to save my aggression for later. One is the first in vigorish that Harrington talks about. Even though the big stack might have been on a steal, you have to respect the raise. Second, his bet after the flop wasn’t a probe, it was about ¾ of the pot. I really didn’t even think, I just pushed and paid.

Anyway, by playing in this tourney each week I can:

Keep learning from good players
Try new things with low expectations
Meet new people, pick up new readers
Have fun without worrying about the bankroll

To me, that is worth my $11 each week. Have a good day all.

Bankroll Update

I see a lot of people are providing an end of the month update, so here goes.

I you remember, I have tried a few times this month to settle into some sort of coherent pattern of play. Whether it was SNGs or low limit NL ring games, the goal that I stated at the beginning of the month was to build up the bank roll. Whoring seemed to help do the trick.

I had about $100 in Ultimate Bet at the beginning of the month and that was it. After a few small losing sessions and a couple small winning sessions on UB, I decided to move the $100 that I had out. I wasn't clearing any bonus in the games that I was playing and the SNGs on UB got annoying because they kept having problems with the software.

I decided to submit to Klopzi's pimpage and deposited the $100 into Interpoker using his affiliate code, to much adoration and acclaim. The only other cash that I deposited this month was $35 dollars to Poker Stars which I will explain more on later.

I ended up having a roller coaster ride on Interpoker. The population there wasn't that big, but the games could be juicy so I hung in there. I ended up learning some PL Omaha Hi/Lo and by playing that and some $25 NL HE, I was able to clear my 500 raked hands and receive my bonus this past weekend.

When I cleared the bonus, I had $76 dollars left from my original $100. That gave me $176 in Interpoker. I withdrew my original $100 to redeploy somewhere else for more bonus. The good thing about Interpoker, though, is the fact that each month, as soon as you clear 200 raked hands, they will give you a $40 bonus, with no deposits required. I left the $76 (which is now $75 because they charge a buck for a withdrawal, grrrr) so that I could hopefully clear the March bonus with it.

With the newfound rake generating game of PL Omaha, and my new experience with NL HE, which I was terrible at before, I decided to deposit my $100 back into Ultimate Bet, since I had a bonus of about $140 still to clear from my deposit and referral from January.

After busting out of the WWdN tourney on Stars last night, I ducked into UB to make the deposit, which grabbed me another $25 bonus on top of the prior bonus, and play a little PLO8.

It was juicy and a great way to finish out my month. I ended up winning about $35 in an hour and then hitting the sack before I got too tired. Overall, here are the numbers:

Interpoker-$75.24
Poker Stars-$3.38 (more on this in a later post)
Ultimate Bet-$135.99

Total- $214.61
Deposits- ($35.00)
Starting- ($100.00)
Profit- $79.61

So, the bottomline is, the Interpoker pimpin bonus was helpful and worth it. I also, have $50 coming to me today from Titan Poker, since I signed up through Poker Source Online, due to DuggleBogey's pimpage. That is completely free money, no deposit required, hopefully I will make it grow.