Yestbay1's Poker Blog

My favorite poker-related Xmas gift of 2011

2011-12-24T20:54:00.000-06:00

We opened our gifts tonight due to plans we have for tomorrow, and I got an awesome T-shirt as one of my gifts. Behold:

I <3 this shirt so much, I will be taking extra-good care of it. But, yes, I will be wearing it at future poker gatherings, for closer inspection.

Try not to be too jealous.

WPBT 2011 Winter Classic report

2011-12-06T19:20:00.001-06:00

I have browsed around to some of the poker blogs that I know but I haven't yet seen a report about this year's WPBT Winter Classic weekend. Maybe there are some posts out there that I haven't seen yet. In any case, here is mine.

Wednesday night
Check into Imperial Palace around midnight. It's 2:00 AM Dallas time and my wife and I are dead tired. She makes a joke about just staying up all night instead of going to bed. Ha, I say, because we have to get up for...

Thursday morning
I take my wife to the airport so she can catch an early flight to spend the weekend with her sick dad. It would be nice if she could spend the weekend in Vegas with me as originally planned, but it will be better for her to spend some time with her dad and help him out.

Breakfast at McDonalds is followed by a short rest at the hotel before looking for a poker tournament to play. I choose the 10:00 AM $50 buy-in at Planet Hollywood. To kill time before it starts, I play some $0.25 video poker, Deuces Wild. Down to my last $3.00, I hit four deuces and cash out for $250.00. Nice start to the weekend, eh? I use $50 of my winnings to buy into the tourney. About two hours later, I finish third for another $150.00+ payout. I'm on a roll!

Back to the IP, where I see CK, Bam-Bam and Pebbles playing Let It Ride. I watch them play and can't figure out how the hell this game works. Bam-Bam says, "Sit down, I want to buy you in for one hand." After a few minutes of "No thank you"s and "Come on"s, I give in and sit down. First deal, I get some big hand (can't even remember what) and get paid double or triple my bets. Next hand, something just as good or better. I think I got three of a kind at least twice in the space of 30 minutes. After going up about $200, I tell Bam-Bam that I think we should quit while we are ahead. He insists on splitting the winnings with me, despite my offer to let him have it all since I didn't do anything more than sit there while the cards were dealt to me. I still owe him and Pebbles drinks, dinner, or something. My run good continues, but not for much longer.

Sherwood Forest bar, Excalibur: this year's blogger meeting spot. I drive to the Excal with lightning36 and meet up with lots of old friends and acquaintances. There is talk of heading to the Palms for the Thursday night Pokerati NLHE/PLO game, but very few actually leave the Excal and I am not among them. Eventually lightning and I play for a little while in the Excal poker room. I lose about $50 and decide I need some sleep. I drop lightning at Bally's and hit the sack.

Friday
Feels good to sleep in. After a fabulous breakfast at the Hash House A-Go-Go, I go for a walk. Antiquities, a memorabilia store in the Forum Shops at Caesars, has a sign announcing that Pete Rose will be appearing there that afternoon. I grew up in the Cincinnati area and have always been a fan of Pete's. I walk some more, come back after Pete's starting time, buy a book that he co-wrote, and get his autograph on it along with a few pictures.

Back to the IP again. I spend a little time in their poker room playing $2/4 Limit HE with what looks like a bunch of locals. When lightning calls to say he will be there soon for our trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame, I am about $20 ahead. PokahDave catches up with us too, and lightning drives us to the Pinball HOF. We use up just about all of the quarters that I had brought with me, leftovers from my previous visit there a couple of years ago. Fun times. After that, lightning wants to go visit the graves of Redd Foxx and Stu Ungar. Why not, Dave and I say, and off we go. A little searching and a query to one of the cemetery employees, and we find the graves. We pay our respects and head out.

Aria poker room. After a quick dinner, we walk to the Aria to join the bloggers for some poker. The mixed game table is full when we get there, but a $1/3 NLHE table is opened up and I sit in. A couple of hours later, I have dropped my buy-in after some loose calls and card dead streaks. A leisurely walk back to the IP and an early bedtime for me.

Saturday
Recommendation to anyone reading this: find somewhere else to eat breakfast besides the Emperor's Buffet at IP. Below-average food and selection for the same price as most other places. Harrah's and Flamingo are both easy walks from IP and the buffets are much better. Another leisurely walk to the Aria for the tournament at noon. Very early on, I call off about half my stack to MrsChako with AA vs her set of 5s. I should have known better, but instead got myself short on chips early. I stuck around longer than I thought I would, but eventually busted out in 52nd place to Dr. Pauly. He seemed pleased to get my bounty, a copy of the Yes CD "90125" - remastered edition with bonus tracks!!

More walking ensued, including a trip back to the IP, with stops at the Aria gift shop and Miracle Mile mall, with OhCaptain. Always a good traveling companion. Eventually we ended up back at the IP poker room, where a maniac was holding court with a table mostly full of bloggers who were intent on taking advantage of his wild and loose playing. There wasn't a seat open for me at first, and when I finally did get to join, I was on the maniac's right and did not get to play with him. The guy to my right eventually felted the maniac, much to the chagrin of the rest of the table. Then that guy left, taking most of the chips in play with him. By then I was running behind again and thinking that I had better turn in, having an early flight to catch Sunday.

Sunday
Flew home.

I had another great time at the Winter Classic. The poker and other activities were fun, but as always it was the people that made it special. My thanks to everyone I got to meet or spend time with. Extra thanks to April, the Aria poker room staff, and the others who worked to organize everything. I hope to see all of you again very soon.

Overdue update, including WPBT Winter Classic news

2011-11-05T10:19:00.001-05:00

Yes, it has been quite a while since I posted here. My poker activity has been sporadic since the WSOP, so there hasn't been much to talk about. Let's see what my memory banks can produce from the last few months.

As with so many other poker players, my playing has been reduced quite a bit since the Black Friday shutdown of the big online sites. I played in a few play-money tournaments on PokerStars with some other bloggers, but dropped out of that group when the host insulted me during one of the games. I didn't see any point in sticking around for that. I still have a few dollars on Bodog and play there for small change once in a while, but not much. I tried a free month on ClubWPT.com by mailing in a postcard, but the game offerings were sparse and I didn't care for the interface much., so I didn't send in any more cards to keep it going.

I played in a tourney at Riverwind in Norman OK when we moved our son up there in August. Didn't get very deep in that one. I did better when my wife and I went on another cruise to Alaska in September. I played in a one-table tourney in the ship's casino and chopped first place. I also helped organize a freeroll tourney for the Cruise Trek group that we sailed with, as I did on a previous cruise in 2006. I finished second in the freeroll, which won me a voucher for credit toward a future cruise. So that trip turned me a poker profit.

I play semi-regularly in a local bar league, and have finished in the points a couple of times recently. But I know that my game is rusty and I need to be more focused and brush up on my skills. That need is magnified because I will be playing some "serious" poker in four weeks.

That's right, I will once again be attending the WPBT Winter Classic in Las Vegas. I almost ended up not going this year, but decided that I do not want to miss out on the fun. My wife will be along for the trip again, and we will be doing some non-pokery stuff when I'm not playing. We will be staying at the Imperial Palace, arriving late Wednesday and leaving early Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of the poker blogger crowd the first weekend in December

On a non-poker note, I am thrilled that the Texas Rangers made it to the World Series for the second consecutive year, but (naturally) disappointed that they weren't able to get that last strike (twice!) to seal the deal. They had a great season and I expect them to continue to play great baseball for years to come.

See you in less than a month in Las Vegas!

2011 World Series of Poker report - Doyle Brunson liked my shirt

2011-06-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

I never said that I was prompt about posting trip reports. Better late than never, though, right?

My first ever World Series of Poker experience was, overall, fairly positive. I played in the Seniors Championship event, and although I didn't get very far in the tournament, I don't feel like I made any real boneheaded decisions that cost me a chance to go deep. I played a fair amount of poker outside the WSOP, and did some other touristy stuff; more about that shortly.

My adventure started when I flew into Las Vegas the morning of Thursday June 16, the day before the start of the Seniors event. I picked up my rental car and drove across town so I could register for said event. I'm glad I got there early in the day, because I only had to wait in the registration line at the Rio for about 15 minutes. By the time I finished, the line had grown out of the room and just got longer as the day wore on. I then wandered around the convention area of the Rio, where the WSOP events were being held, so I could figure our where everything was. I had never seen so many poker tables, or poker players, in the same place at once. I knew there would be a big field for the Seniors tournament, as well as hundreds of players for the other events. It didn't take long before I saw my first recognizable poker pro, Bertrand "ElkY" Grosspellier, walking through the Pavilion. Soon I was spotting pros every other minute, and I gave up trying to keep track of them all, so you won't see a list of them here.

Eventually I caught up with one of my blogger pals, AlCan'tHang, and chatted with him for a few minutes. Later I would meet up with Dr. Pauly, Special K, F-Train, CKBwoP, and other friends and acquaintances. I didn't do much more than soak up the atmosphere around the WSOP area at the Rio that afternoon.

After a brief trip downtown, I ended up at the Palms to play in the Pokerati mixed NLHE/PLO game Thursday evening. I wasn't playing very much, just treading water, until an interesting hand came up. In middle position, I called a straddle bet of $5 with T9 of clubs. The button, pro Matt Stout who was sitting in for some fun and games, raised to $15. I called the raise to see what might develop, and we were heads up. The flop was TKT, giving me trips. I bet $15, and Matt called. The turn was a 9, filling me up. I thought about checking but decided to see if Matt would call me again like he did on the previous street. I bet $25, which he called fairly quickly. The river was an Ace. I announced all-in, which Matt snap-called. I showed my boat; he turned over QJ for the straight. After that nice pot, I played for a short while longer and decided to call it a night, having been up since about 4:15 AM Dallas time.

The next morning, I attended an interview session with Phil Gordon and Doyle Brunson which was sponsored by BadBeatonCancer.org, which had a booth at the WSOP asking players to donate 1% of their winnings to cancer research. Phil interviewed Doyle about his life in the poker world and about Doyle's own survival of cancer. After the interview, Doyle took questions from the audience. I got in line and asked Doyle how he liked playing in the cash game shows made for TV like The Big Game and High Stakes Poker. He said he loves playing in those games and isn't bothered by the televised nature of them. You may be wondering, where did the title of this post come from? Well, I wore my red Texas Rangers T-shirt that day, with "TEXAS" in big letters on the front. As he finished answering my question, Doyle, a Texas native himself, said, "I like your shirt, by the way."

The Seniors tourney started at 12:00 noon, or actually several minutes later, after the introduction by Oklahoma Johnny Hale and general ceremonial stuff. I had no pros or celebrities at my starting table, but those who were there were nice enough people. A couple of people got annoyed by this or that, but by and large things were pretty friendly. I played tight to start, as did everyone else. I took a few small pots, mostly playing position, but didn't build my chip stack. I made it to the first break with a few more chips than the 3,000 that everyone started with. I knew I was going to need to step things up a bit when we got back, but the cards weren't coming and my opponents had pretty much the same idea as I did, so I found it hard to play back at anyone. As my stack started to shrink, I was looking for a chance to double up while doing so would still gain me a decent stack. I found it when I got AK in late position and reraised all-in the UTG player's 3XBB opening raise. He called, showed QQ, and busted me when the A on the flop had a Q right next to it. I suppose I could have folded preflop, but really, how could I do that? And if I had just called, the chips would have ended up in the middle when the A hit the flop. I don't regret that move, or really anything else I did in the tournament. It just wasn't meant to be, for me, and I'm fine with that.

After I busted, I tracked down Special K, who busted ahead of me on a bad beat. He suggested that we play some cash at Caesars Palace, to check on that action and to get more information about a Super Seniors tourney they were hosting the next day (which turned out to be too pricey for us). We hopped the shuttle bus from the Gold Coast, where we were both staying, to the Strip and walked over to CP. We ended up seated at separate tables, and I think I got the luckier draw. On my immediate left was a gent who was in nearly every hand, making weird bets, calling down with very weak hands, and more or less giving his chips away. I managed to get some of them myself and doubled my buy-in before fatigue got the best of me. I would have loved to stay longer and try to get some more of his donations, but I really felt the need to crash, and to catch the shuttle back to the Gold Coast before it stopped running.

Saturday, I went back to the Rio, thinking about entering the daily $230 deepstack WSOP side tourney. I played some cash at the Rio's regular poker room early in the day, losing a little of my profit from the previous days. By the time I went to check on the deepstack tourney, it was full. I decided to take a break and see what shows were on that might be fun. I had seen an ad for "Recycled Percussion" at the Tropicana, which sounded a lot like Stomp! where the performers bang on all manner of household objects as percussion instruments. That sounded good, so I went to a discount ticket booth on the Strip and bought a ticket for that night's performance. I got a text from Special K, who wanted to play some poker at the MGM Grand. I told him I would meet him after the show.

"Recycled Percussion" was fabulous. A high-energy show with lots of audience participation: everyone coming into the theater was given a drumstick and asked to grab an item out of one of four bins of pots, pans, buckets, and other stuff to hit. It was almost certainly the loudest Vegas show I have ever attended. Go see it if you get the chance.

My session at the MGM Grand was not so fabulous. Just a few minutes after I sat down, I got involved in two big hands. In the first, I started with AA, raised and got one caller. Flop was J rag rag. I bet about half the pot and got called. Turn is another J. I bet half pot again and got smooth called. Figuring that my opponent called me with top pair on the flop and just turned trips, I checked the rag that fell on the river. Opponent bet, I thought for a few minutes and folded. A few hands later, I got AKo in the cutoff. I raised to $12 and got reraised by the button to $25, which I called. Heads up, the flop was KQx. I bet $25 with top pair; button raised all in and had me covered. If I had thought this through, I would have figured out that the three most likely hands where he would push like that, AA, KK and QQ, all had me crushed. My best hope was that he had AQ (I'm ahead) or AK (we probably chop). But, I didn't think it through, called him, and he showed AA. I didn't suck out, and decided to call it a night.

Sunday morning, I walked over to the Rio to sign up for their 10:00 AM daily (non-WSOP) tourney. Only $60+5 to enter. The structure was pretty fast but that didn't bother me for such a small buy-in. I got aggressive early, caught some hands and built my stack and put some pressure on the table. We only ended up with 24 entrants because of a shortage of dealers. After making it to the final table, the cards cooled off for me. I hung in and was the beneficiary of a four-way all-in that busted all three players who were shorter stacked than the winner of the hand. That took us down to four, with three places being paid. We all agreed on a save for the bubble of $20 each so the bubble would get (most of) the buy-in back. I was one of the shorter stacks but another player busted ahead of me, so I made the money. My short stack would not last long, though, and I finished in third place. That payout made up for the buy-in that I lost at the MGM Grand the night before.

I decided to take another tourist break and drive out to Red Rock Canyon Sunday afternoon. It was hot and dry out there, but the scenery was great and I was glad to get out and stretch my legs. I also picked up some nice souvenirs for my wife and son in their gift shop. Much better than the tacky crap in all the casino gift shops. On my way out of the park, I got a text from lightning36, who had just arrived in town for his WSOP trip. We met at the Harrah's buffet for dinner and had a great time catching up.

The trip turned out to be a lot of fun, and I'm glad I went. Not counting the Seniors event buy-in, I came home with more poker money than I started with, and that is always a nice feeling. Will I play in the WSOP again next year? A lot can happen between now and then, so I will make no commitments nor predictions now. What I will say is, I won't rule it out.

The WSOP competition just got easier - for now

2011-06-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

By now you have probably heard that Phil Ivey has declared that he will not be playing in the World Series of Poker this year, and is suing Tiltware, which I believe is the software arm of FullTilt where he has been an icon for several years. The full statement, which was posted May 30, can be found here. While his absence from the WSOP is not likely to benefit me, since my only event will be the Seniors tourney, I suppose there are others who are glad that they won't have to worry about facing him across the table.

His statement, though, brings up a whole host of questions. Some of these points have been discussed all over the web and undoubtedly there will be much more analysis and speculation about what it all means. Here are a few thoughts that have crossed my mind.

One sentence of the statement says, "I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot." This appears to imply that Ivey is sympathetic to the players whose funds are stuck on FullTilt and who cannot cash out the money they intended to use to buy into various WSOP events. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. One would think that a top-notch player like Ivey would be happy to have less competition and smaller fields to contend with. How many players will be shut out of the WSOP because of their unavailable funds is unknown (to me, anyway) and may never be known precisely, so maybe it isn't a big number. But how a boycott of the WSOP by Ivey will benefit the stuck players is beyond me. Maybe he is trying to pressure the FullTilt honchos to step on the gas in their efforts to pay out to US players, and if they miraculously succeed, he will rescind his boycott and play in events later in the Series (with FullTilt patch in place). Plus, if his action appears to have had some success in getting players their money, he will gain a lot more positive press and fan appreciation. It still seems to me, though, that the losers in this boycott are Caesars and the WSOP organization, who stand to lose some players who will join the boycott or decide not to show up if they think won't get a chance to interact with Ivey in or around the Series.

The last sentence of the statement says, at the end, "I will, as I have for the last six weeks, dedicate the entirety of my time and efforts to finding a solution for those who have been wronged by the painfully slow process of repayment." My question is, what can Phil Ivey do to "find a solution" to this issue? If he was part of the FullTilt group in charge of handling the player funds, which I seriously doubt, what can he do that he hasn't done already? If he is not part of that group, which I expect is the case, what influence can he have or what can he do about the payouts to the US (and other) players? Does he have enough money in his bank accounts to pay the players what they are owed? If he does, why would he do that? I just haven't figured out why he would say this except as a way to say to the players, "I'm on your side."

I have read a response to Ivey's statement from Tiltware (Pauly quotes it on his site here) which is very unflattering to Ivey and calls his motives into question. It will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out over the next few weeks. Will Ivey and Tiltware kiss and make up? Will a lot of dirty laundry see the light of day? Will FullTilt US members ever see their money? We are in for some entertaining and potentially enlightening exchanges in the near future, methinks.

Meanwhile, two weeks from today I will arrive in Las Vegas to prepare for WSOP Event # 30, the Seniors Texas Hold'Em Championship (No-Limit) which begins at 12:00 noon June 17. I've been doing a lot of reading of my poker books and playing when I have had a chance in the local bar league tournaments. As I type this, I am playing on line in a tournament on the new RISE Poker site, a freeroll with a $1,000 prize pool. My game plan for the WSOP tourney is to play my usual tight-aggressive game and avoid marginal situations to the best of my ability. I fully expect to be outclassed by most of the competition in this tournament, and will be praying for the poker gods and the Card Fairy to smile on me during my participation. I will be sending updates from my plain old dumb cell phone to Twitter, so look for me there as @yestbay if you want to find out how I am doing.

Cashed out of PokerStars, and booked for WSOP

2011-05-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

The good news: PokerStars has opened up their cashier and is processing cashouts for us US players that can't play with our real money on their site any more. I requested my money, and it was deposited in my bank account within a few days. I guess the next time I want to play for actual dollars on PokerStars, it will be when such play has been legalized and making a deposit is no big deal.

The disappointing news: FullTilt has not yet started offering their (former) US players the ability to cash out. I received an e-mail Friday from them saying that they will have a further update this coming week. Why it should take FT so much longer to come up with a means to send US players their money than it took PokerStars, I have no idea. For the sake of all of us who have funds stuck there, especially those who have large amounts coming to them, I hope it isn't too drawn out a process.

Other good news, for me anyway: I have booked my trip to Las Vegas for the 2011 World Series of Poker Seniors event. I arrive Thursday June 16 and fly home Monday the 20th. I will be staying at the Gold Coast, so I will be able to walk to the Rio for the WSOP event, and be just a shuttle ride or car drive away from the Strip if I bust out early and want to hit the town. I saw in a recent comment that Special K is planning to be there for the same event; it will be nice to have a fellow blogger there to meet up with and cheer on, at least until we both get to the final table. Anyone else who will be in Las Vegas during that time, leave me a comment or e-mail me at david dot westbay at verizon dot net if you want to get together.

I have read a couple of interesting articles on line recently which I recommend you check out:

A legal analysis regarding the "Black Friday" indictments, titled US Attorney's Office on Tilt

One about why outlawing online poker is a dumb idea, one titled Can Poker Save the World?

And one on a similar theme from the L.A. Times titled Federal crackdown on Internet poker looks like a relic from the past

I found all three articles through my friend Linda Geenen from PokerWorks.

Anyhow, I'll be playing in as many free bar league tourneys as I can manage between now and the WSOP trip, to get in whatever practice I can. If I can get up to Oklahoma to play some real poker over the next few weeks, I might try to do that too.

Meanwhile, I have signed up for Heffmike's PokerStars play money Home Game club and plan to play in his inaugural tourney tonight. Go to his blog for details on joining the club.

Random thoughts, and WSOP plans update

2011-04-17T21:13:00.000-05:00

If you are reading this blog, then I expect that you have heard the news about the US Department of Justice charging PokerStars, FullTilt, and Cereus Network (parent of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet) with a host of crimes including fraud, money laundering, operating an illegal gambling enterprise, and I'm not sure what else. You can read the actual indictment here and the civil suit here (links copied from Pokerati). Lots of bloggers have posted their thoughts on what is going on and may be to come. CK writes a very readable summary of the legal aspects as well as her reactions; Pokerati has a lot of good information or links to it; and there are plenty of others out there for you to search for. Here are a few random comments, observations, and questions from me.

*I have active accounts at three poker sites: PokerStars, FullTilt, and Bodog.

Right now, I can log into PokerStars but I cannot join any cash ring game or register for any tournament which has a "real money" prize or is a satellite to such a tournament. The only thing that appears to be available to me there is play money games. I can't register for an FPP tourney or even a freeroll if it ends up with some sort of tangible prize.

I can't log into FullTilt at all. When I try, I get a message that a software update is available. When I try to accept the update, I get a message that the update could not be retrieved and I should try again later. (I have been getting this message since yesterday, so I don't know how soon I will be able to log into FT, if ever.)

I have no trouble logging into Bodog. They aren't included in the current indictment, and they appear to be operating as usual. Interesting side note: Bodog's website has no mention of the recent developments. I can't say I'm totally surprised; what are they going to say? No doubt they don't want to call undue attention to themselves, so I suppose ignoring it for now is as good a strategy as any.

*Although the dot.com domains for PokerStars, FullTilt and Ultimate Bet have been seized and redirected to a DOJ information page, the dot.net domains for those companies are still available. I have to wonder if the DOJ really wants to shut these companies out of the US market completely if they are leaving the dot.net domains alone (at least for now). Perhaps they concede that they can't legally seize a website if it says all over it that it only offers play money games and no real money play.

*Will this change increase the player base of the online subscription poker sites like ClubWPT.com which appear to be legal in the US? That would seem to make some sense, since the serious online players are going to want to have someplace to ply their trade. I don't have any plans to pay $19.95 a month to join ClubWPT; I don't play often enough in my spare time to make it worth that kind of expense. There is a way to get around the monthly subscription fee, by sending a post card every month; I don't know whether I will go to that trouble or not at this point, but I may try it once to see how it goes.

*Will televised poker shrink due to loss of advertising by the major sites? Probably so, especially in the near term. But the TV producers can always try to find new sponsors for the shows. They will just have to sign up other companies that want to reach the poker-viewing audience. PokerStars' show The Big Game seems likely to take a big hit since the whole premise is to bring an online qualifier onto the show to play against the pros. With no US players eligible to play for the spot, where will the contestants come from? Canada, maybe?

*Without the hundreds of online qualifiers to fill seats, the World Series of Poker could very well see significantly lower turnouts this year and in future years, depending on how everything shakes out. Besides the US players who would have won packages to the WSOP from the major online sites, there are almost certainly players who would have used money from their online bankrolls to pay their way to the big dance. The bright side for the people who do play in the Series is that they won't have fields as large to contend with.

As a small stakes recreational player, this ruling doesn't have a huge effect on my life. I certainly have enjoyed the ability to log on and play whenever I wanted, and will miss it to some degree. I feel for those whose livelihoods have been disrupted by this development. I don't have the faintest clue how all of this will evolve, but it is obvious that things have changed greatly, and most likely permanently, for online poker players in the US.

Meanwhile, my plans to play in the Seniors event in this year's WSOP have not changed to speak of. For quite a while it looked like I was going to abandon the idea, due to some upcoming family stuff. But in looking at the big picture again, it still appears that getting my first WSOP experience under my belt this year is going to work out better than waiting for some future time. I've looked again at airfare, hotel rates, etc. and will probably firm up my plans soon. Once it is all set, I will post more info in hopes that I can meet up with any fellow bloggers or friends that might be in Las Vegas while I am there.

More coming soon....

WSOP plans, WBCOOP, PokerStars Home Games

2011-01-28T15:43:00.000-06:00

This year has not got off to an auspicious start for me as far as poker goes. I made some bone-headed plays in the bar league that I play in, I have min-cashed in exactly two online tournaments so far, and I have felt off my game for pretty much the entire month.

So, naturally, I am making plans to play in the World Series of Poker this summer in Las Vegas. Why, you may ask? A reasonable question, and one that my wife asked when I told her what I am thinking. The bottom line answer is, because I can. Right now, I have the means to enter a (relatively) low buy-in tourney and can afford the travel costs to do it. I have wanted to participate in the WSOP experience for several years now but haven't taken the steps to make it happen. In a few more years, my wife and I are hoping that I can retire early from my current job, following in my wife's footsteps who volunteered to be laid off from her job last fall. I figure that now is a good time for me to fulfill this "dream" of playing in the WSOP, while I have a steady income and don't need to worry about whether the money I might spend playing poker should be used to pay the electric bill instead.

I can't go nuts and jump into the Main Event or anything like that. I feel like I can handle a bottom-tier buy-in event, preferably over a weekend so I don't have to take too many days off work. After examining the recently released event schedule, I have found what I believe is probably the best fit for me: the Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship, which starts Friday June 17 at 12:00 noon and has a buy-in of $1,000. Don't be too surprised that I actually qualify for this 50-or-older event, despite my youthful good looks. I know that the majority of my poker blogger friends aren't quite at that milestone in their chronology yet, so I don't expect to see many of them in the event with me. But I am hoping that some will be in Las Vegas during that time, and that I will get to say hello to them in between sessions or before or after the events that everyone enters.

I know that the competition in the Seniors event will be tough. I have no doubt that there will be plenty of long-time players in it with decades more experience than I have. But, at least I won't have to face the ultra-aggressive Internet punks who are barely older than my son. I do plan to study more, and play more, between now and June, to try to find and plug (or at least slow) some of the leaks in my game. If I will have one thing going for me in the event, it's that the chances of any of my opponents having played me before or knowing how I play are infinitesimal.

Besides the preparation for the tournament, I also will need to take care of some logistical stuff. Where to stay? When to arrive in Las Vegas, and when to leave? How to get around while in town? Right now, I will probably fly in the Wednesday night or Thursday morning before the event, giving myself the day on Thursday to relax and maybe meet up with any friends who are available. The Seniors tourney is a three-day event, so I will most likely book a flight home on Monday. If I bust out early, I will have whatever remains of the weekend to hang out, play some cash games, and generally soak up the atmosphere of the WSOP.

I am not sure about where to stay. The Rio itself has rates right now for that weekend that aren't as expensive as I thought they would be, but are a little more than I would like to spend. I could stay on the Strip for less, perhaps in a Caesars property and ride their shuttle to the Rio. But I don't like the idea of depending on their shuttle, nor having to drive a rental car from a Strip property to the Rio every day that I am in the event. The Gold Coast, right next to the Rio, has very good rates and is looking like a definite possibility. I may or may not want to have a rental car. It would give me more freedom, especially if I bust early and want to get around town for the rest of my stay. I'll probably get one, if only to avoid having to deal with cabs and shuttle buses.

I would really like to get some feedback from anyone who has tips for a first-timer at the WSOP, whether it be about playing in the Series, dealing with travel stuff, or whatever. I would also love to hear from anyone who will be in Las Vegas that weekend (June 16 - 19), either visiting or living there, in case we have a chance to meet up. Please leave me a comment or e-mail me at david dot westbay at verizon dot net.

In a short while, I will be playing in today's PokerStars WBCOOP 8-Game tournament. In my previous two attempts in this year's WBCOOP, I have come up short of any prizes. I would like to get some sort of ticket to another event, if nothing else. Although I can afford to pay my own way to the WSOP this summer, winning some money online that I could use towards those expenses would certainly be nice.

On a different note, some of you have probably heard about the PokerStars Home Games that they are now offering. I haven't looked into it too closely yet, but it struck me as a way for poker-playing friends to play together for fun without having to request private tournaments from the poker sites. I will be happy to set up a "club" (as Stars calls them) for any of my blogger pals or other friends who want to play occasionally (or regularly). If you are interested, leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail and I will send you an invitation when I get things going.

I hope to hear from some of you, about the WSOP or about the home game or both, soon!

PokerStars WBCOOP 2011 - I'm registered; are you?

2011-01-17T11:30:00.000-06:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 157829

Belated WPBT Winter Classic 2010 trip report

2010-12-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

Yes, I have been back from Las Vegas for almost two weeks. I will use the "busy holiday season" excuse for not posting my report sooner. If you want to read into that the "too lazy to get around to it" excuse, I won't say that you are too far wrong.

One big difference about this year's trip compared to previous years is that my wife Pat came along for the first time. That changed my activity schedule somewhat, but I still participated in a fair amount of poker blogger fun. Another change this year is that I didn't arrive until Friday, so I missed the usual introductory get-together at the Geisha Bar at Imperial Palace. I think I will try to make it out on Thursday next time, partly to join the gang at the Geisha Bar and partly so I will have the early half of Friday available for additional tourist time.

Friday evening, after checking in at Bally's and grabbing some dinner, my wife and I went to MGM Grand so I could play in the traditional blogger mixed games. Pat went off to look around the casino and hotel, while I sat down with a blogger all-star group that included CJ, Snuffy, Poker Grump, Special K, Very Josie, and 23skidoo. I know there were a couple of others there whom I either did not know or have forgotten (sorry). We played HORSE, and I went up early during the Hold'em and Omaha 8 rounds, but then went card dead during the Razz, Stud and Stud 8 rounds. I walked away a whole $7 in the black, but had fun playing with the group, which is the main thing. There was a very interesting Razz hand involving Josie and skidoo, which you can read about at Josie's blog here or at Grump's blog here. Hilarity always ensues when bloggers play mixed games. I also finally met my last longer teammate BrainMc in person.

Saturday was the day of the big blogger tourney at Aria. Pat and I decided to get over there early to look around the City Center complex a bit since neither of us had seen it before. Beautiful place, with very weird but attractive architecture. I got to the poker room early and hung out with several bloggers while we waited for the starting time to arrive. After a blogger group photo, which I have not seen yet and don't know whether it has been posted anywhere, the tourney began. The Hammers started flying fast and furiously, from players trying to pick up the $50 bounties offered up by PokerStars for the first ten players to win a hand post-flop while playing 7-2 offsuit. I got one early on, raised pre-flop, but took the blinds when no one called. Later, I called a PF raise from Vinnay with 66, whiffed the flop and folded to his C-bet. He showed the Hammer and took one of the last available Hammer bounties before they were all claimed.

I got AA and KK a few times in the early levels, but got no action for them and was unable to build a chip stack. I lasted to about 51st place, when my KT was bested by F-Train's A-rag and another blogger's KJ (sorry that I didn't catch her name). I didn't make my goal of lasting longer than last year's finish of 29th, but I feel like I made mostly good decisions, which is about all you can do anyway. By the end of the night, Miami Don had taken the trophy and first place, in a six-way chop with the other finishers. Congrats to Don! Unfortunately, TAG Team did not finish in the money in the Last Longer Challenge. BrainMc went pretty deep, about 16th I think, but Mike and I didn't hold up as long. Maybe next year.

After I busted out, I called my wife, who had met a friend who lives in the area for lunch and then gone shopping at the Fashion Show Mall. We chilled at the mall for a bit and then headed to the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood for dinner. We have been to this buffet a few times before and it is a definite favorite. The line to get in was monstrous, but at least we weren't starving when we got in it. The food did not disappoint when we eventually were seated. We bought a 24-hour buffet pass there, which is good at the buffets at all of the Caesars' (formerly Harrah's before the recent corporate name change) properties. After dinner, we went back to Bally's and I played $1/2 NLHE in their poker room for about an hour. I finished up $50, which capped off the night nicely.

We used the buffet pass again the next morning for breakfast at the Flamingo and then dinner at the Rio Sunday evening. In between, we drove down to Hoover Dam to check out the new bridge. The view of the dam from the new bridge is very cool. We then drove back to the Strip, gawked at a few of the casino hotels, and waited in the long line at the Rio for their buffet. One side note about that buffet's queuing system: they had one line for people using coupons, comps, discounts, or other promo-type things, and three or four lines for people paying with cash or credit card. About 95% of the people in line were using something that required them to stand in the promo line, including us with our buffet pass. They would move people along much better if they had more lines for promo customers.

We then drove downtown to check out Glitter Gulch and the Fremont Street Experience, which we had not seen for many years. It was packed with people, which made for a festive atmosphere. There were lots of costumed performers there, including some dressed as rock stars, cartoon and movie characters, and Vegas showgirls. I wish now that I had taken more photos there. I went into Binion's and the Golden Nugget to look at (but not play in this time) their poker rooms. On a future visit, I would like to go back down there and play a few hands, and look around some more.

We drove back to Ballys and hit the sack to get some rest before the flight home on Monday. It was another enjoyable gathering with the poker blogger group, and I look forward to the next one. Many thanks to April, CK, CJ, Al, PokerStars, and everyone else that had a hand in making this event another success.

Big Game - high and dry, plus WPBT updates

2010-11-23T12:41:00.000-06:00

The bad news: my video for the PokerStars Big Game TV show was not chosen as a winner, so I won't be appearing on the show in the near future. I have played in a couple more qualifying tournaments but have not progressed to the final round again (yet). I have some ideas for a new video but will keep them under wraps until I get to the point where I need to make one.

The good news: in case you haven't been marking off the days on your calendar, the 2010 WPBT Winter Classic gathering is only 16 days away. This year, my wife will be along on the trip for the first time, and it will be interesting to see her reactions to the motley group that is the poker bloggers. We arrive Friday afternoon and depart Monday.

If you will be in Las Vegas for the fun that weekend but haven't yet signed up to play in the WPBT tournament, contact Texas April ASAP, via Facebook or her blog, to get on the list.

In other WPBT news, I am pleased to announce that I have joined a team for this year's Last Longer Challenge.

Presenting, TAG Team:

BrainMc
Mike G. (friend of BrainMc)
Yours truly

Opponents, get ready to be smacked down.

Poker Stars Big Game update - in the pool

2010-11-06T21:16:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I qualified to play in the second round tournament towards the PokerStars Big Game TV show. So, I played in the second round tournament, finished in the top 1,000, and won an entry into one of the third and final round tournaments. I played in the final round tournament, and just squeaked into the top 200 to make it into the contestant pool. I almost let myself be blinded out of the final round, but woke up to the fact that my chips were disappearing faster than I thought just in time to survive.

Having made it to the contestant pool, I was waiting for the e-mail from PokerStars telling me what I needed to do next. I knew that it involved making a video telling them why I should be the next "Loose Cannon" on the show. However, several days went by and I didn't hear from them. I finally e-mailed PokerStars support asking when I should expect to get the e-mail. The reply said they were sorry I hadn't received it, and gave me the instructions, which are:

• Make a video of yourself explaining why you should be chosen to go on the show to play with $100,000 of PokerStars’ money!
• The video must be a digital movie not larger than 32MB in any of the following formats: .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .h264 • The video must be no more than two minutes in length.
• Audition videos must be submitted within ten days of the satellite in which you placed in the top 200. (They let me off the hook for this one.)

After tossing around some ideas in my head, I decided that I wanted to keep it simple, but do something to make it at least mildly interesting visually without jumping through a lot of technical hoops. You can see the results at the website where the contestant videos have been uploaded:

http://memelabs.com/pokerstars/

At the site, look for the Search box below the main viewing window, type in yestbay1 (my PStars ID) and press Enter, and it should bring up the thumbnail for my video. Click on the thumbnail to select it and then click the play button on the main screen.

It took me several tries to get the video the way I wanted it, and I still would have liked it to turn out better in some respects, but I think it came out OK, and definitely better than some of the others that have been submitted. I do wish that I didn't sound like I have a mouthful of mush. Nevertheless, it's hard to tell what the producers are looking for in these vids, so I will just have to cross my fingers and hope they see something they like in mine. If the long shot comes through and they pick me, you can bet that I will be blogging about it here.

EDIT: I didn't realize it before, but you can vote for the contestant videos by clicking on the "Vote" button in the upper right hand corner of the viewing screen. I don't know if the number of votes has any effect on who gets chosen, but I encourage you to vote for my video, just in case.

In other news, I won a bar league tourney recently for a whopping $50 first prize, and I finished ahead $20 playing $3/$6 LHE up at the Riverwind in Oklahoma on a recent visit with my son up there. I'm on a roll; maybe I should start up those plans to turn pro. Or not.

I'm also counting the days (38 as of today) until I fly to Las Vegas for the WPBT Winter Classic. I have one teammate for the Last Longer Challenge, BrainMc, and we may be looking for a third. Let me know if you are interested in joining us.

PokerStars Big Game - tourney hand analysis

2010-10-09T13:37:00.000-05:00

As many of you probably know, PokerStars presents a TV show called “The Big Game” in which amateurs who qualified in freeroll tournaments on PokerStars get staked $100,000 to play in a high-stakes cash game with professional poker players. I have watched the show and found it rather entertaining and educational. I will have more to say about the Big Game in another post that I am formulating. But this post is about a hand that I played in one of their qualifying tournaments. After it was over, the player who came out on the losing end had some comments about the way I played the hand. I am certainly willing to learn from my mistakes, so I thought it would be worth looking more closely at this hand to see what mistakes I may have made, and what I could have done better.

A little background: in the Round 1 freerolls like this one, the top 300 finishers move on to the next round. Each of the nine players at the table starts with $10,000 in chips. The blinds start at $200/$400 with a $100 ante. So, before any cards are dealt, each player has an M of about 7. This has two effects: (1) you have to start accumulating chips early, and (2) just about every pot is worth contesting. Another thing that happens is that there is a lot of limping, because everyone wants to hit a draw and take down a big pot.

So, here is the hand in question, with my comments added along the way.

*********** # 109 **************
PokerStars Game #50429242296: Tournament #308745183, Freeroll Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (1200/2400) - 2010/09/30 22:30:29 CT [2010/09/30 23:30:29 ET]
Table '308745183 11' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: Rivit36 (19050 in chips)
Seat 2: iam99930301 (105650 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 3: ResinSystems (77700 in chips)
Seat 4: bunny'sTiger (48450 in chips)
Seat 5: Alley Cat 7 (210175 in chips)
Seat 6: BAPMAN55 (138500 in chips)
Seat 7: yestbay1 (203600 in chips)

I am second in chips at my table, and in the cutoff seat. My M is around 23, so I am in decent shape and have some room to maneuver.

Seat 8: kowalabear69 (106050 in chips)
Seat 9: Framkie B (87250 in chips)
Rivit36: posts the ante 600
iam99930301: posts the ante 600
ResinSystems: posts the ante 600
bunny'sTiger: posts the ante 600
Alley Cat 7: posts the ante 600
BAPMAN55: posts the ante 600
yestbay1: posts the ante 600
kowalabear69: posts the ante 600
Framkie B: posts the ante 600
Framkie B: posts small blind 1200
Rivit36: posts big blind 2400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Qd Ad]

A nice hand to play, especially in late position.

iam99930301: folds
ResinSystems: calls 2400
bunny'sTiger: calls 2400
Alley Cat 7: calls 2400
BAPMAN55: folds
yestbay1: calls 2400

Three limpers, so a nice pot is building. If I can hit a big hand, I can add a nice chunk to my stack, so I decide to limp along. I can stand to call a raise, but I don’t expect to see one.

kowalabear69: calls 2400
Framkie B: calls 1200
Rivit36 is disconnected
Rivit36 is connected
Rivit36 has timed out
Rivit36: checks

Pot is now 25,800. I would love to take this one, even on the flop.

*** FLOP *** [6c 4d Kc]

That doesn’t help me at all, but did it hit anyone else? I am ready to fold to a decent-sized bet.

Framkie B: checks
Rivit36: checks
ResinSystems: checks
bunny'sTiger: checks
Alley Cat 7: bets 4800

A bet of less than 1/5 the pot? Hard to tell what kind of hand Alley Cat would bet that amount with. My best guess would be a flush draw, because one or two pair or a set should bet larger to discourage others from drawing. I can certainly afford a call, and might catch an Ace and/or Queen or running cards that could win this pot. Of course, I don’t want to see a club. If someone behind me raises, I am done, with minimal damage to my stack.

yestbay1: calls 4800
kowalabear69: calls 4800
Framkie B: calls 4800
Rivit36 is disconnected
Rivit36 has timed out while disconnected
Rivit36: folds
Rivit36 is sitting out
ResinSystems: folds
bunny'sTiger: folds

Two more callers, so the pot is definitely getting fat; now up to 45K.

*** TURN *** [6c 4d Kc] [Jd]

I love that card, giving me straight and flush draws. I would probably fold to a big bet, though, to guard my stack. I don’t have to finish first, just 300^th or better.

Framkie B: checks
Rivit36 is connected
Rivit36 has returned
Alley Cat 7: bets 9600

OK, what is this cat up to? This time it’s just a little more than 1/5 the pot, giving me the odds to draw, especially since Alley Cat has a big stack for me to aim at. Even if someone has a set and would fill up on the river if the board pairs, I still have 7 diamonds as outs (discounting the 6d and Kd) plus 3 Tens for a straight (discounting the Tc which might give someone a crub frush). That’s ten outs, and the Rule of Two says that gives me about a 20% chance of catching a winning card. With the bet of slightly more than 1/5 the pot, I’m getting pretty much the right pot odds up front to call, especially if the players behind me call, plus some implied odds if I can get paid off. I can’t see much reason to fold here, and also no reason to raise since I haven’t made a hand yet.

yestbay1: calls 9600
kowalabear69: calls 9600
Framkie B: calls 9600

And yet more chasers, sweetening the pot even more: 83,400.

*** RIVER *** [6c 4d Kc Jd] [8d]

Gin! How do I get some chips out of these suckers, er, worthy opponents? I hope someone has a lower flush and bets into me…

Framkie B: checks
Alley Cat 7: checks

Well, looks like Alley Cat either missed his draw or got scared by the diamond. Might as well bet a decent amount which I hope can be called by at least one person. How about roughly half the pot?

yestbay1: bets 42400
kowalabear69: folds
Framkie B: folds
Alley Cat 7: calls 42400

Suckered in one, anyway.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
yestbay1: shows [Qd Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
Alley Cat 7: shows [Kh Kd] (three of a kind, Kings)
yestbay1 collected 164600 from pot

Whaddya know. Alley Cat flopped a set of Kings and played them so slow that they got away from him (or her; I will guess “him” for simplicity’s sake). Then comes the commentary….

Alley Cat 7 said, "great very bad playing"

Normally I don’t respond to derogatory chat comments, but I thought I would toss one back.

yestbay1 said, "if you say so"
Alley Cat 7 said, " u had nothing and got really lucky for runner runner"
Alley Cat 7 said, "i say so i guess"

In the interests of poker education, I decided to let out a little secret of my playing strategy.

yestbay1 said, "you gave me the pot odds"

Which got me the snappy rejoinder:

Alley Cat 7 said, "yeah sure greg"

I have no clue who Greg is. In any event, I have to wonder if Alley Cat realized that he could have prevented getting drawn out on, just by betting more to deny me (or others who were drawing) the right odds to keep trying to get there. Maybe he will learn a lesson from this hand. I did, and it is: don’t slowplay your flopped sets in multi-way pots when there are draws on the board. Then again, I think I learned that lesson a while ago. Nevertheless, an occasional reminder is always a good thing.

Epilogue: I did finish in the top 300 and went on to the next round. More about that in a future post….

WPBT Luckbox Last Longer Challenge III (plus bonuses!)

2010-09-10T17:09:00.000-05:00

As you may recall, the Luckbox organized a last longer challenge for last year's WPBT Winter Classic tournament. For 2010, the challenge has expanded to new heights of awesomeness. All the details are here, but below are some highlights.

The Luckbox Last Longer Challenge III, or L-Cubed-Cubed, just starts where last year's contest left off. PokerStars is once again adding to the contest prize pool, this year to the tune of $3,000. They are also sponsoring two new add-ons to the fun: $100 bounties on ten players from the original WPBT tournament in 2004, and a $500 prize pool for the first ten (post-flop) winning Hammers dropped in the tourney.

Be sure to read the whole post at www.upforpoker.com to get the nitty-gritty. Once you have done that, come on back, and leave me a comment if you would like to join me on a team for the L-Cubed-Cubed, or e-mail me at david [dot] westbay [at] verizon [dot] net. I look forward to going deep in the tournament with two of my fellow bloggers and taking down the big prize.

And if you haven't made plans to attend the Classic this year, what are you waiting for? If you are on Facebook, sign up to attend the tourney at this page; if you aren't on FB, read more about it and leave a comment at This Is Not a Poker Blog.

Many thanks to the fine folks at PokerStars for the very generous bonus prizes for this event, and to the Luckbox for putting it together! And to April, of course, for organizing the tourney.

Who will be on the winning team with me?? Get your name in fast - first come, first served. Once our team is formed, we will discuss our team name. It should be intimidating and awesome. Put your thinking caps on.

See you there!

Success story

2010-08-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

As I predicted in my last post, I dropped in at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK, this past weekend to play some poker. In fact, my son Ben and I played in their Saturday morning bounty tournament, where the buy-in was $50 + $10, + $25 towards the bounty. I had never played in this tourney before so I didn't know what to expect in terms of number of players, structure, skill levels of my opponents, or much of anything else. Actually, I hadn't played in more than a handful of live, cash buy-in tournaments up to that one; the great majority of my playing is online. But this one went fairly well for me.

There were 71 entrants; 8 places paid. Everyone started with $2000 in chips, and blinds started at $25/$25, with levels lasting 20 minutes. I played my usual tight game at the beginning, and most of the other players did the same. In fact, there was plenty of limping and a lot of multi-way pots. I didn't get much going early on, but I took a few pots to keep from being blinded off too fast. My stack started shrinking, though, and it took a couple of decent-sized pots to stay afloat. I won a bounty when I called a shortie's all-in with A-J and caught a Jack to beat his 99. After that, I stole a few times and won a few others, holding my head above water but never threatening to take the chip lead.

I wish I remembered more details about specific hands, but there weren't many that stuck in my mind. I do feel like I didn't make any bone-headed mistakes or decisions that stand out in my memory. Suffice it to say, I made the final table and finished 7th, for my first live cash tournament payout. I won a second bounty along the way, so my total cash-out was $210.00. Less my $85 buy-in, I gained $125.00 net, which will cover my buy-in to the blogger tournament at the Winter Classic in December. I know that this is no big deal to almost anyone who might read this, but I feel good about the fact that I finally made the money in a "real" tournament, as I always thought I could. Hopefully this will be the first of many live cashes as time goes on. Finishing well in the aforementioned blogger tourney in December is definitely a goal this year.

Oh - my son busted early on. It was his first live tournament and he was a bit intimidated. I told him not to worry about it and that more experience will make him feel more comfortable.

I think I will leave it at that for now. I may have to try the same tournament when I am in Norman again to visit Ben later in the school year. With a little luck, I will do as well as this time, if not better.

WPBT Winter Classic, "Lost Vegas," and other random updates

2010-07-26T20:52:00.003-05:00

Can it only be five months away, give or take a few days? Yes, the 2010 WPBT Winter Classic is closer than you think, and many have already made their plans to join in the insanity, including yours truly. Texas April has arranged the blogger tournament at the shiny new Aria Hotel and Casino on Saturday December 11. Of course, the other usual shenanigans are bound to ensue such as the Friday night mixed games at MGM Grand, the annual Thursday night introductory gathering at the Geisha Bar (which I will miss this year, but you should try to attend anyway), and other unpredictable hijinks and debauchery.

If you aren't already on the "I wouldn't miss it" list, you can RSVP via the Facebook event page or at the post on April's blog. See you there!

Next item: I recently ordered my copy of Dr. Pauly's long-awaited new book, "Lost Vegas," and you should get it too. If you are a fan of his poker blog, and who isn't, this book is bound to be a must-read.

As for my poker activities of late, well, it hasn't been pretty. Since May 18, I have cashed in exactly two tournaments out of 25 played. I am also slightly in the red in cash games over that period. I am looking forward to this run-bad streak ending, and soon. I also expect to get a little bit of live poker in next month when we move our son back up to Norman, OK for his sophomore year at OU. I plan to drop in at the Riverwind Casino up there and take another shot at their poker room.

Meanwhile, I'll be watching the ESPN coverage of this year's WSOP, and also watching the Texas Rangers as they do their best to hold onto first place in the AL West and win that division title. I want to go to another playoff game, and this time see the Rangers win it and go deep.

Yet another post about the WSOP Ladies Event

2010-06-21T11:30:00.002-05:00

There have been many articles and blog posts about the World Series of Poker Ladies Event and whether or not it should be continued. Let me direct you here for a well-written post about this particular blogger's thoughts on the subject, which also includes links to other sites and posts on the subject. I don't fully agree with the position stated in this blogger's post, but it has a lot of merit.

I would like to hear what the people who actually *played* in the WSOP Ladies Event, this year and in past years, have to say. Those people are the ones most likely to be affected by any change in the status of the event, so I am very curious to hear what they think. I would like to see a poll or survey taken of these players, with questions including, but not limited to, the following:

*Did you play in only the Ladies Event at the WSOP, or did you play in any other events?
*If you played only in the Ladies Event, why did you make that choice?
- Scheduling
- Buy-in amount
- Preferred playing with ladies instead of men
- Thought the field would be softer
- Wanted to socialize with friends also entered in the event
- Someone recommended this event
- Other
*If you played in other events, which ones?
*If the WSOP eliminated the Ladies Event, would you play in other WSOP events instead? If so, which ones would you be most likely to play?
*If the Ladies Event were changed to a non-bracelet event, would you still play in it?
*Do you think that the WSOP Ladies Event has a positive, negative, or neutral effect on the participation of females in poker?
*If you could recommend one or two changes, however small or large, to the WSOP Ladies Event, what would they be?

Since the Ladies Event has a reasonable turn-out each year, it makes financial sense for Harrah's to continue offering it. If it is going to continue, then I think it makes sense for the participants to have input into how (or whether) it is offered.

I am not convinced that deleting the Ladies Event from the WSOP will have a positive effect on women's standing or participation in poker or in the WSOP in particular. Many seem to think that the women players should only be playing in open events, because there is no reason for them to feel that they can't compete on a level playing field with men. I think that a survey like the one I propose would give us at least some information about whether the Ladies Event is full of women who only play that event, or who play other events, or who would not play at all if that event weren't offered, along with a glimpse of why they feel the way they do.

If such a survey has been conducted, please leave a comment with a link where one might find the results.

WPBT Gives Back tourney reminder

2010-06-13T16:18:00.003-05:00

Just a reminder that this Wednesday is the charity tourney on FullTilt to raise some money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. They are a great group and deserve your support. I am registered for the tournament, and you should be too.

The details again:
Date: Wednesday June 16
Time: 9PM CDT (Same time as Mookie)
It will actually be running in place of the Mookie. BDR will be broadcasting it.
Charity: Ronald McDonald House
$5 + $5 (Tournament, charity)
Password= vegas1
Tournament#= 164273435

Ronald McDonald and his friends, including your intrepid tournament organizer OhCaptain, thank you. See you at the tables.

My warning was heeded, but... and charity tourney pimpage

2010-06-06T20:55:00.002-05:00

Update: I was right about my streak of bad cards finally coming to an end. In the Blogger Battle Royale this afternoon, I got AA, KK, and even QQ, a few times. However, I was unable to get any action when I had those hands, and therefore got no traction in the tourney. My best moment was when I flopped two pair and doubled through SmBoatDrinks when he tried to push me off the hand. After that, I slowly blinded off until my AQ < Smokkee's 44. Congrats to actyper for taking it down.

I'm feeling a bit pokered out at the moment, so I may take a break from playing this week. But I am signed up for the Ronald McDonald House charity tourney set up by OhCaptain:

Date: June 16
Time: 9PM CDT (Same time as Mookie)
It will actually be running in place of the Mookie. BDR will be broadcasting it.
Charity: Ronald McDonald House
$5 + $5 (Tournament, charity)
Password= vegas1
Tournament#= 164273435

Be there.

Fair warning

2010-06-06T13:29:00.002-05:00

I have had at least a week's worth of card death leading up to today. So, I must be due to get some strong hands. If you are playing in the Blogger Battle Royale this afternoon, be advised that I feel good about my chances of getting some cards that will take me deep into this tourney.

Play back at me at your peril.

That is all.

Blogger Battle Royale, and other updates

2010-05-31T16:55:00.002-05:00

I have been away for about ten days so I am doing some catching up. Let me first say congratulations to the WSOP Main Event seat winners of the BBT5 Tournament of Champions: jjok, NYRambler, and Adam27X. Good luck in the big show!

On June 6, the final BBT event of the year will be held, the Blogger Battle Royale freeroll. To get an entry, the Official BBT Badge is to be displayed on one's blog, so here you go:

Play Online Poker with poker's top bloggers

Brought to you by online poker room Full Tilt Poker

Although I only ended up playing in one BBT event this year, I have been trying to follow along to see how my fellow bloggers have been doing. I look forward to playing in the freeroll on Sunday and winning myself a birthday gift of the $2,000 WSOP package.

My absence has been due to a cruise that my wife, son, mother, and I took to Alaska. We had a great time and enjoyed unusually nice weather for mid-May, at least according to the residents of the cities we visited. No rain, and warm temperatures the whole time.

The cruise ship had a poker table, where they spread $1-2 NLHE when the casino was open, and also had a few tournaments. I never got into any of the tournaments; they weren't well publicized and I either didn't hear about them until after they had finished, or I signed up too late and the tourney was full. However, I did get a fair amount of cash play in. Most of the players fell into one of two categories: tight-passive or inexperienced. There was one older gent who was rather aggressive and tended to overbet to protect his hand. When I picked up on his pattern (which took about three hands), I looked for a chance to take advantage of it. That chance came late in the cruise.

I joined the game with a nearly full table and sat in the seat directly to Older Gent's left. A few hands in, he shoved in early position for about $45. I looked down at two red Kings and called. I had him covered. Everyone else folded. He turned up AQ of hearts. A King came on the flop, which was a big help to me since the turn and river were A-Q. There was no flush or straight, and I took a nice pot, my biggest of the trip. At the end of the vacation, I came home ahead, which was a nice feeling.

Now, it's back to the daily grind of the day job and the occasional online and bar league poker play. See you at the virtual tables.

BBT5 update, and is it time to cash out?

2010-05-04T16:51:00.004-05:00

I played in the first Mookie tournament of the BBT5 a couple of weeks ago. I cashed, but only high enough to get my buy-in back plus $1.10. Nevertheless, it felt good to go deep in a tourney with some stiff competition.

Speaking of which, it also felt good to play in the same game as people who know what they are doing. I have played in so many donkfests lately that it was a welcome surprise to see players actually fold to a raise instead of calling to the river with junk hands that anyone who has a clue would have mucked preflop. I also enjoyed seeing some familiar names at my table. It reminded me of the good old days when we all played together because it was fun, and not because there were high-dollar prizes at stake. (Not that I have anything against high-dollar prizes, mind you.)

All that said, I'm not sure how many more BBT5 tourneys I will end up playing, if any. The start times for the non-invitational games are on the late side for me because of my early work start time. I also don't have a large enough bankroll to play in them regularly. I got into a couple of FPP token-prize tourneys to try to win a token towards the Monday night BBT game, but those didn't work out. I will keep plugging away in various tournaments and ring games and perhaps I will win enough to feel comfortable buying into another BBT event or two in the next couple of weeks.

But this leads to my next topic of discussion: with the UIGEA supposedly taking effect as of June 1, how hard will it be to withdraw any money that I have on the poker sites? Suppose I score a big win and want to get some or all of the cash instead of leaving it in my online poker site account? I will admit that I haven't thoroughly searched the Net for a lot of detail on what is expected to happen. Maybe withdrawals will be no more difficult than they are today, although I hear that they can be a hassle at some sites. I have the feeling that making deposits will be much harder, maybe nearly impossible, once the UIGEA starts being enforced. But do I want to leave my money on line, knowing that I may have a hell of a time getting it back some day? Do I want to bother putting in the time and effort to win a big tournament, not knowing if I will ever get to benefit from it? I would love to hear others' thoughts on this subject. Have you changed the way you play, or where you play, or cashed out some or all of your online stakes?

I don't have any life-changing or bill-paying money tied up in poker sites. Maybe I will just keep playing with it as a form of entertainment, knowing that I may never see a profit from it. But I might want to get some of it out, if only so I can set it aside for use at a live, legal cardroom somewhere.

Your comments are welcome.

Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 5

2010-04-17T12:14:00.007-05:00

Yes, it is true. The wild and crazy folks at FullTilt are presenting the fifth edition of the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments. As usual, they are putting up a gold mine of prizes including WSOP Main Event and preliminary event packages. Lots more details here.

I actually plan to play in this year's series. I have had a couple of tournament cashes recently which have boosted my FT bankroll to the point where I feel like I can afford to spend a couple of buy-ins in the BBT. I won't be able to play very often, unless I score a few more cashes, but I am looking forward to playing with some of my fellow bloggers in a few games.

Unfortunately, I can't play in the BBT championship tourney on May 27, because I will be on a cruise ship somewhere in the Inside Passage between Ketchikan, Alaska and Victoria, BC. So, if I get to the final table of a BBT tourney and I am in a position to possibly win a seat in that game, I will be looking to make a deal with my opponents to trade my shot at the seat for a little extra from the prize pool. I will, however, be available for the Blogger Battle Royale freeroll on June 6, which also happens to be my birthday. I plan to give myself a birthday gift by taking that one down and winning the $2K WSOP Bracelet Race package.

Special ackowledgement must, of course, go to the illustrious AlCan'tHang, who has been the major force behind the BBT over these past years.

I look forward to playing with everyone somewhere along the way during the BBT5.

Rush Poker revisited

2010-03-22T20:28:00.002-05:00

To kill some time a few weeks ago, I decided to give Rush Poker at FullTilt another try. I figured it would be a quick way to get in a bunch of hands, and maybe I could get lucky and hit and run for a few cents.

I logged into the $0.02-0.05 NLHE game late on a Friday night. An hour later, I quit up by $11.20. A profit of 224 big blinds! I folded a lot but still probably played more hands than I should have. What happened? I caught AA and KK a few times, and got paid off big on a couple of them by second-best hands. I was amazed that my opponents were willing to go broke with the hands they played. Yeah, it's only $0.02-0.05, but surely you have to give the other players some credit when they don't back down.

The very next night I thought I would try again to see if variance would catch up with me. Same stakes; played for about an hour again. Result: profit of $15.26 or over 300 BBs. Again, premium hands got paid off. Wow, I'm thinking, this is the easiest money anywhere. So, I squeezed in short Rush sessions wherever I could: lunch breaks, after work, before bedtime, etc. I have not yet had winning sessions as large as the two above, but I have made a profit more times than not. I also earned enough FTPs to clear a small bonus (which paid for my entry into Bloody P's charity tourney).

Mainly, I am just folding almost everything and only playing premium hands or stealing the occasional pot with position. Having that Quick Fold button makes it a lot easier to throw away marginal starting cards that I might talk myself into playing if I had time to think about it before my turn to act. I think the next thing I need to do is make some basic notes about the other players. I see the same names flash by all the time, so I should be at least noting whether they fold most of the time or play more hands than the average Rusher. If someone is a habitual folder, then seeing them get into a pot should be a sign that they pr0bably have something and I'd better watch out.

So, I suppose that I will play some more Rush Poker. I don't expect to get rich from it, especially since I plan to stay at the micro limits, but if I can keep quitting ahead more often than behind, it could help build my bankroll a bit.

Rush Poker, WBCOOP, "Cowboys Full," etc.

2010-02-15T17:10:00.002-06:00

I have been meaning to write a post or five about various things on my mind, but keep putting it off. Now, I don't feel like writing an Iggy-style uber-post, so this will be a condensed version of what I might have put up otherwise.

Rush Poker - I don't like it much. It doesn't suit my more thoughtful (read: snail's pace) style.

WBCOOP - no tickets for me. Couldn't gain any traction in the tourneys that I played.

"Cowboys Full - The Story of Poker," by James McManus - A good read, some interesting insight into how poker developed, mostly in the US but a tidbit here and there about other countries. But for my taste there was a little too much straight US history flavored with an occasional remark about how the historical figures were poker players or how their actions might have been influenced by poker. I would have preferred more info about how the game itself evolved and grew over the years, with perhaps some asides about the variations on poker that have become popular.

My poker year has not got off to a great start. A couple of bad cash game sessions, only a few minor tourney cashes. I've made some good decisions along the way, and some whoppingly poor ones. Although I need to work on my game more, that will have to wait for a few weeks. I will be acting in a community theater play in March, and rehearsals have already started. The rehearsals will eat up most of my free time until opening night, so poker will take a back seat for now. I may squeeze in a few hands now and then, but it won't be much. Meanwhile, if you will have any reason to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area over the weekends of March 12 through 28, come see our production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" at the Runway Theatre in Grapevine. It promises to be a very good show.

It's time again! 2010 PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2010-01-08T16:29:00.002-06:00

WPBT trip report 2009

2009-12-17T21:44:00.002-06:00

I went to the poker blogger confab last weekend in Las Vegas. I have a poker blog. It follows that a trip report must be posted, yes? Well, here it comes.

This was my third trip out west to get together with this bunch of ~~degenerates~~ ~~wackos~~ fellow poker players. I still don’t feel like a card-carrying member of the community, but the integration process seems to be continuing, if slowly. I met a few new (to me) people this year; saw a lot of people that I had met before, many of whom actually remembered me; missed a lot of folks that either couldn’t make it this time or were there but I didn’t get to talk to; and actually had a couple of chances to spend a bit of “quality time” (read: more than two consecutive minutes) with a handful of them. As so many have pointed out, these gatherings are as much about the people you get to see as it is about playing poker or visiting Vegas. And despite the stories you may hear about drunken foolishness, -EV game playing, ejections from bars or casinos, and other unsavory behavior, this group is actually quite a decent crowd, who will welcome just about anybody who wants to join in the fun. Considering that I don’t drink, don’t play in the regular blogger games on line, and don’t post on my blog all that often, I appreciate the acceptance that the rest of the gang offers me.

But, let me get to some specifics about this year’s trip. First, I will readily admit to being a genuine lightweight in some respects. I arrived at the Geisha Bar Thursday evening around 11:30 PM, caught up with some of my old friends and acquaintances, and then left to get some sleep by 1:15 AM. I know that some were up until dawn or later the next morning, but my biological timer shuts down well before that and I end up pooping out comparatively early. I’m fine with that, and it made it easier for me to get up in time to try the Harrah’s breakfast buffet Friday morning with OhCaptain, who also got up around the time that some were just crashing. It was nice to just sit, eat, and chat over regular stuff. After we ate, we drove down to the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum at their new location. I had heard that the PHOF was a big hit with several bloggers last year, and as a big fan of pinball from my younger days I wanted to check it out this year. I had a blast playing a bunch of old classic machines, many of which I recognized from those good old days, while OhCaptain mostly took photos. Before we left, we walked across the parking lot to the Gamblers’ Book Shop, which neither of us knew was so close until we saw it as we drove up. It’s a small, unassuming place but has an enormous selection of books on all forms of gambling, many of which you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. We were there one day too late for the Doyle Brunson book signing which happened Thursday. Fortunately, they still had some books left that Texas Dolly had signed, and we each bought one – I got SuperSystem 2, the New Edition, and I’m glad to have it.

Pretty soon we needed to leave to get to the Neon Boneyard for the 2:00 PM tour. We texted Special K and Kat and picked them up, along with Betty Underground, and headed to the tour. It was fascinating, and many pictures were taken. I want to go back when the museum that they are planning is finished and some of the signs have been restored. Lots of history in those old hunks of metal and glass.

A few hours later, it was time to hit the Hard Rock Casino poker room for the Pokerati weekly PLO/NLHE game. I decided to play in this game as my first live session at either of those poker variants. I had only played either of them in a ring game setting on line for microstakes. I was a bit anxious when I sat down, but decided that I would start off slow and cautious and see how things developed. I got comfortable before too long, and ended up cashing out about $50 ahead thanks to a couple of decent pots. So, my cherry having been popped, I now feel like I can handle some NLHE cash (and in fact played a little more before the trip was over). Things didn’t go as well after that at the MGM Grand mixed games. I played HORSE with a table of bloggers for a couple of hours, but couldn’t catch any hands against the super-aggressive bunch at my table, and lost almost my entire buy-in. Maybe I should have joined the group that went to see Steel Panther, although I heard that some of them still had ringing in their ears the next day thanks to the volume being cranked up to 11.

Saturday was the big tournament, and I was looking forward to that. My first goal was to go deeper than I did the previous two years, and I achieved that. I feel like I played pretty well, and didn’t make a lot of big mistakes. I probably played tighter than some would consider optimal, but I didn’t get a lot to work with in the way of cards, and I had Dr. Chako on my immediate right for most of the time. He was, of course, raising most hands and I wasn’t getting much with which to play back at him. Still, I made it to about 30^th place out of 86, and I’m not totally unhappy with that result. Congratulations to Astin for taking it down. Next year, I plan and expect to last even longer, with the final table in my crosshairs. Unfortunately, my team in the Luckbox Last Longer Challenge didn't make the money in that prop bet. But I still thank The Luckbox for organizing it, and Otis and PokerStars for making it even more worth shooting for with the prize pool sweetener.

After I busted out, I hung around Caesar’s for a while to see how the tourney played out, but decided after a bit that I was too hungry to wait until it ended. I made my way to MGM Grand to use a buffet coupon that I had. Who should I see there but Falstaff and Mrs. Falstaff, who invited me to join them for dinner. I had a nice visit with them both, despite the food at the buffet being only average if not worse. It was worth it, though, to have one of those bits of quality time with the two of them.

Falstaff told me about the 11:00 PM cheap buy-in tourney at the Sahara and said he was planning to play in it and drag some others along, and suggested that I join in. I thought that sounded good, so we went to the MGM poker room to kill some time. First I slipped over to the new Hard Rock Café on the Strip to buy some souvenirs for my family, and then came back to MGM and sat down at a $1/2 NLHE table. When it got to be time to leave for the Sahara, I looked for Falstaff but he had already left his table. I ran down and hopped on the Monorail to ride up to the Sahara, but when I got there, Falstaff was nowhere to be found and he never did make it. I played in the tourney anyway but busted out shortly after the first break. That pretty much ended my night and I headed back to Harrah’s to crash.

Sunday morning, I stopped in at Lagasse’s Stadium at the Palazzo, site of the WPBT Sports Book Luxury Suite party organized by The Luckbox. Beautiful room, plenty of big TVs, a pool table, and a slightly frazzled waitress who tried her best to keep up with us and apparently everyone else in the whole sportsbar. I stayed for a while and then headed for the airport and home.

I had a good time, even if there were periods where I felt like I didn’t quite fit in completely. That feeling may always be there, but the fun parts outweigh the awkward parts, so the odds are good that I will be back in future years, as long as this group decides to do this. What better excuse could there be to get away from the real world for a weekend and live the debauched life that others only dream about? And to share that short interval of craziness with a gaggle of like-minded ~~nutjobs~~ ~~freaks~~ friends? Next year, barring apocalypse or Armageddon, I’m (all) in.

Some last minute thoughts before Las Vegas

2009-12-08T20:56:00.002-06:00

A few things to mention before my trip to Sin City this weekend:

A new episode of Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Go check it out.

My plans for the weekend include the Mixed Games at MGM Friday night and the big tournament Saturday, and possibly the Steel Panther show late Friday night. I also will be checking out the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, probably Friday midday, and I'm considering catching one of the Mac King afternoon shows at Harrah's on Friday too. I have heard that Katitude might be working on a tour of the Neon Graveyard and that sounds like something I'd like to get in on. Of course, I will be stopping in at the Geisha Bar on Thursday night after my flight arrives around 10:00 PM. I also want to just wander around town a bit and look at the sights as time allows, and overeat at a buffet or two. I expect to rage solo most of the time, but will welcome anyone who wants to hang out for an hour or three. My flight leaves Sunday afternoon, so it will probably be brunch for me late that morning and then head to the airport.

As I was typing this, I was also playing in a $3.30 90-player SNG on FullTilt. I have been running poorly in these lately, but figured the tide had to turn eventually. Tonight it finally did. I think I played reasonably well, although I know of a few plays that I probably should have made but chickened out on, and a few others that I should have done differently. The main factor in my going deep in this one is that the cards came for me when I needed them. I came from behind at least three times when I was at risk of busting, twice when my pocket pair was lower than my opponent's and I flopped a set each time to double up. When I got to the final table, I mostly laid back and let the others beat each other up, and folded my way to heads-up. After starting with about a 3 to 1 chip deficit, I fought my way to the chip lead, which then changed hands a couple of times until I overvalued top pair weak kicker and shoved my 87off into Q7off. I should have slowed down when he didn't, and I could have lasted longer and possibly taken it down. Still, the $40 boost to my puny FT bankroll is quite welcome. I'm hoping that my good run in this tourney will carry over to Vegas.

Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be there this weekend! For those who can't make it, you will be missed.

Gambling Tales podcast, WPBT Last Longer Challenge, etc.

2009-11-29T09:22:00.003-06:00

I have some catching up to do on some news, so here goes.

I am very late posting this info, but you can still check out the first two podcasts and watch for the future ones:

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

“Press release” from bloggers Falstaff and Special K

Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Join Falstaff (John Hartness) and Special K (Curtis Krumel) as we take you through the best in lies and legends about gambling today and through the ages. . Show #001 with Badblood and the origins of gambling is available immediately. New shows are scheduled to appear every two weeks. Guests scheduled to appear in future shows include Dr. Pauly, Lee Jones, Dr. David Schwartz (UNLV – Roll the Bones)

The podcast is available at http://www.gtpodcast.com

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamblingTalesPodcast

Available on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=339814710.

It will be searchable on iTunes by the weekend.

Email address for Questions, Comments, and Suggestions: gtpodcast@live.com

Subscribe today!

Bloggers: Become a friend of the podcast (FOP) by posting this information on your blog. Drop us an email with a link to your post and we’ll link to you on the Friends of the Podcast list. See you in Vegas Dec. 10-14!

***********************************************************
Next is the latest development for the WPBT Winter Classic Dec. 10-14 in Las Vegas mentioned just above (how's that for a segue?):

CJ the Luckbox over at Up for Poker proposed a last-longer prop bet for the Winter Classic tournament (Facebook page). Not long after, the extra-good folks at PokerStars added a very sweet $2,000 to the prize pool for what is now titled the Luckbox Last Longer Challenge, or L-cubed. Check out this post for all the details. I have put out some feelers to find potential team members for the Challenge, but if you want to join me or add me to your team, please leave me a comment or contact me at david DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net.

I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing everyone who will be there.

More pimpage: don't forget the PokerWorks bi-weekly tournament on PokerStars. The next game is tonight, Nov. 29; the time has changed to 22:30 ET (19:30 PT). Buy-in is still just $5 + 0.50 and the game will once again be HORSE. I have a commitment tonight and don't know if I will be back in time to play, but don't let that stop you from joining the fun!

I'm sure there is more stuff for me to post about, but I will have to hope that I can remember it for a future entry.

Poker baptism

2009-11-17T21:35:00.003-06:00

This past weekend, my wife and I drove up to Norman, OK , to visit our son Ben who is in his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma (OU for short - don't ask me why they reversed the initials for their nickname). We had a lot of fun spending time with Ben and enjoying some of the Campus Activity Council's Family Weekend activities. We also did a few things on our own, chief among them (for the purposes of this blog) Ben's first time playing poker in a casino.

Norman is the home of the Riverwind, a very nice full-fledged casino run by the Chickasaw Nation. They have a large poker room, with 23 tables spreading Hold 'Em and Omaha at various stakes. Since you only have to be 18 to play casino games in Oklahoma, Ben had been interested in trying out the poker room since he moved up there for school. We finally had the chance to do that Saturday evening. Ben had only played No-Limit HE in home games at $0.10/0.20 stakes with his high school friends, and I didn't think it would be good to throw him into a $1/2 NL game for his first cardroom experience. So, I told him that I would buy him into the $4/8 Limit HE game, and I gave him some quick tips on how Limit is different from NL. I then put his and my name on the waiting list for the 4/8 game. Soon enough, a new table was opened and we were seated.

I would like to say that I set a good example for him to follow, but (1) I made a few bad plays, and (2) I got lousy cards most of the time which only gave Ben lessons in how to fold. However, Ben held his own just fine. He played pretty tight, as I recommended, caught a few hands and took down a few decent pots. By the time I busted out, about two hours after we started, Ben was hanging in there and cashed out only $5 down from his buy-in. For someone who had never played limit Hold'Em, I thought he did just fine. Afterwards, he told me he enjoyed it and actually liked some aspects of it better than no-limit, such as having fewer swings in his chip stack and not having to think about how much to bet on each round. I don't expect that he will be down at the Riverwind every weekend now, but he will probably feel more comfortable the next time he does drop in there, now that he has got his feet wet. I'm glad his experience went well for him. I plan to give him my copy of Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold'Em" so he can get the great advice in that book to use at his next sessions.

In other poker news, I made it about half way through the Bad Beat Challenge tournament. I won the Sunday night PokerWorks HORSE tourney a couple of nights ago on PokerStars (you should all play in that, it's every other Sunday and only a $5.50 buy-in). Tonight, I finished tenth in the local Amateur Poker League monthly venue championship tournament. Up and down, as my poker ride tends to go.

I'm practically counting the days to the WPBT Winter Classic. Now that I have played a little live poker again, the itch is getting stronger and I'm excited about being back in Las Vegas. I'm still planning to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, probably some time on Friday. If there will be a group of poker bloggers going there, or if anyone wants to join forces to storm the place, count me in.

Bad Beat on Cancer charity tourney Nov. 12

2009-11-05T21:00:00.003-06:00

By way of Pokerati and PokerNews, I heard about a charity tournament on PokerStars that is coming up next week. On November 12 at 9:00 PM ET, Stars will host the Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Challenge, with proceeds going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Entry fee is $10, with $10 rebuys available through the first two levels. As posted on (and stolen from) PokerNews, there are a lot of great prizes:
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...the top 50 finishers each will take something home. Players can find plenty of value for their donations including a VIP trip to the set of the "PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge;" a lifetime subscription to Deucescracked.com; a WSOP Academy seat; coaching from several of the game's top players, including the "Two Months, Two Million" cast, Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Gold, Matt Glantz, Vanessa Rousso, Tom Schneider and Tom McEvoy; as well as a number of special prizes that enable winners to get up-close-and personal with the likes of Phil Gordon and PokerRoad's Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith. Other top prizes include a Borgata Triple Play tournament package, Poker Players International tournament voucher, and Bluff Magazine adventure, which takes the winner on a personal tour of the world's leading sports television network, ESPN.

All prizes are transferable; a winner can use them or give them to a loved one or friend. The password for the tournament is BadBeatChallenge and the tournament can be found in the Private Tournament section at PokerStars.com.
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Edit: the tourney is now listed at PokerStars. Tournament number is 210990483. I have registered to play and I hope you will too.

Deflecting, or reflecting, tilt, and other thoughts

2009-10-25T17:22:00.003-05:00

Let's get my updates out of the way first:

A few weeks ago, I finished second in a local Amateur Poker League tourney. I hadn't finished "in the points" (top 16) in quite a while, so it was nice to make the final table and finish as high as I did. As usual in these tournaments, I had to get lucky a few times to last as long as I did. They play like turbos, with blinds going up every 15 minutes and pretty much doubling every round, so it turns into a crap shoot fast. Still, I didn't make much in the way of mistakes. That might be a good way to describe the strategy for these things: make the best plays you can and wait for your opponents to screw up. Also, pray that the Card Fairy smiles on you now and then. Other than that one game, I haven't played a lot of poker since my last entry, and don't have anything of note to report.

I have been meaning to write about something that came to mind while I was reading this post from CK a few weeks ago. At the end of it, she describes how a player called the clock on her in a ring game, got fed up by this move, and left the game. When she told the clock-caller that she didn't need to put up with his shenanigans and was leaving, the player told her that that was what he was hoping would happen. As she put it, "That's when I knew that young guy's clock call was an angle-shoot to try to put me on tilt."

That got me to thinking. Let me say first that I play very little live poker, and most of my live play is the free bar league poker tourneys like I mentioned above. I have never seen anyone in those games deliberately try to put someone on tilt, although I'm sure it must happen from time to time. But if you play live poker for real money, I imagine that it must be something that you expect and maybe even prepare for. After all, we all want to be in control of our emotions when we play so we make the best possible decisions, right? I suppose that there are as many ways of dealing with tilt or potential tilt as there are poker players. Some probably put on their Vulcan tinfoil hats, suppressing all emotions and playing as mechanically as they can, shutting out all comments and distractions around them. Some may "use" the tilt as motivation to play better, trying to figure out what happened that got them upset or pushed them off their game. Some may just get up and walk away, as CK did in her example, to cool off and prevent the steaming from causing them to spew chips.

I am wondering if there are players, and I'm sure there must be, who take the opportunity in situations like CK's to try to "tilt the tilter." You would have to recognize that the other player is trying to get to you, of course, but once you pick up on what is going on, you would need to determine your anti-tilt strategy. Please understand that I am not criticizing CK's choice in that particular instance. I am only using it as an example of a circumstance where one might be able to deflect the other player's tactic back at them.

So, if a player calls the clock on me AND I suspect that the intent is to get under my skin, how should I react? What about something like this:

*I make sure that the clock-caller is serious about the request. Maybe he or she is just kidding around (not likely, but asking adds to the stalling time that I am creating).
*I ask the dealer or floor person how much time I get once the clock has been called, when the clock starts, and maybe even ask that the time remaining be announced when it gets to ten seconds or something.
*I would then take all of the time on the clock, whether I need it to make my decision or not. If my decision is to fold, I would do so before the clock ran out rather than let my hand be folded for me.

This may (or may not) upset the clock-caller to a certain degree. It might be even more likely to upset the other players at the table. One hopes that those other players recognize that it is the clock-caller's fault that the game was held up (assuming that you haven't taken a lot of time to act on previous hands or had the clock called on you before).

Later, if the clock-caller is still in the game with me, I might pointedly check my watch any time he or she is taking a while to make a decision about a hand. If I'm feeling really contrary, I might even call the clock myself, after a reasonable amount of time has passed. I would think it less effective if calling the clock myself came across as a tilting response instead of a simple "let's all play by the same rules" action.

I am not by nature a confrontational person. In most cases, I believe that promoting or building a conflict is counterproductive. However, there are times when one must stand one's ground and even give one's antagonists a taste of their own medicine. In poker, I think it is a good idea to show your opponents that you can't be thrown off your game too easily and, in fact, are able to push back when necessary. It may gain you some respect or, occasionally, throw them off their game and give you the advantage that they were after.

2009 WPBT Winter Classic - I'm in

2009-09-16T20:56:00.002-05:00

I found that reasonable airfare that I was looking for, so I am now booked for this year's Winter Classic in Las Vegas. I don't even have to change planes or connect in Atlanta or Minneapolis; wheee. I have reserved a "Luxury" room at Harrah's, which supposedly will have a view of the Strip, for $200.00 for three nights. There were cheaper deals available, but I like Harrah's location (though I have not stayed there before) and I have never had a room with a Strip view, so I figured I would treat myself.

I'm not sure what all I will be doing in Vegas outside of the big tournament at Caesar's on Saturday and probably the mixed games at MGM on Friday night. I would like to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame; I heard that several of the bloggers had a good time there last year. Maybe I will take in an afternoon show somewhere. I also would like to splurge once and eat at the Bellagio buffet. I'm sure I will come up with some ideas of things to do, but I'm open to suggestions too.

In other news, I finished 4th in another 90-player $3.30 SNG on FullTilt, to put a bit back in my roll there. That's been about it on the plus side; I haven't played much lately. I suppose I should get some more hands in, to practice up before Las Vegas.

Non-poker: I'm listening to the Texas Rangers get their asses kicked by the Oakland A's once again. They are about to be swept by the last place team in their division. They picked a really bad time to go into a big slump. I have tickets to see them play the Angels here this Friday, but it's getting to the point where I'm not sure I even want to go to the game. I can't see them making the playoffs this year, but I hope they can at least put up a good fight over what's left of the season.

WCOOP blogger freeroll and other updates

2009-08-29T16:51:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow (Sunday August 30) I will be playing in a freeroll on PokerStars for participants in the 2008 World Blogger Championship of Online Poker. Apparently PokerStars e-mailed everyone who played in last year's WBCOOP events and gave them a ticket to this freeroll. The prize for this freeroll is a $109 entry in the 2009 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for the top 18 finishers. Unfortunately, the prize cannot be converted to cash, tournament dollars, or other tourney entries. But, it's a freeroll, and I will be home anyway, so I figured that I might as well give it a try. If you got an invitation and decide to play, maybe I will see you there. I also saw something about news coming soon for this year's WBCOOP. I hope it is a better deal for the players than last year's.

I didn't plan to go over a month without posting here, but lack of motivation to write something got the best of me. I guess I will start with how things have been going for me at the tables.

Cash games on line - down about $11, which is bad for me since I only play the nickel and dime games. Had a couple of big losing sessions; my notes for them say that either my draws didn't come through, or my opponents' draws did.

Tournaments - up about $8 overall, thanks to a second place finish in a 90-player $3.30 SNG on FullTilt but no thanks to a $10 + 1 rebuy on Bodog where I rebought twice but didn't cash.

I have not played live again yet since Okie-Vegas, but hope to do so soon at either Winstar or Riverwind in Oklahoma. Then there is the 2009 WPBT Winter Classic (Facebook page) in Las Vegas in December, where I hope to be if I can just find a decent airfare. I've been watching and hope to come across a good deal soon. Hotel bargains are plentiful and I may make a reservation soon just to be sure that I have one. I can cancel or change that later if need be. Where is everyone staying?

As I sometimes do these days, I have been thinking lately about whether poker is something I should continue to play. I tend to have long losing streaks, with an occasional decent cash that brings me close to even again. I have to wonder if my play is just good enough to be a break-even player, and if I am satisfied with that.

I only consider myself a recreational player, and have no aspirations of going pro or anything like that. Still, I would like to be good enough to *build* my bankroll instead of just barely keeping enough in it to tread water. I would also like to earn or win a chance at a large-scale tournament, such as a WSOP event, and have the skills to make a reasonable showing in such an event.

I know that I need to do at least two things to accomplish the improvements I am seeking: put in the effort to study and apply good playing techniques, and put in the time to play and practice what I have (hopefully) learned. The question is, can I motivate myself sufficiently to do these things? What kind of goals can or should I set for myself that will get me where I would like to be? If anyone out there has gone through this and has any tips or suggestions, please leave me a comment.

Non-poker content:

Our son has finished his first week of college at OU. He says he is enjoying it so far, but can already tell that calculus is going to be hard. It's weird not having him here at home.

The Texas Rangers are still in the playoff hunt, although I am a bit worried. They need to step it up a notch if they hope to catch Boston in the wild-card race, or the Angels in the Western Division. I hope they put things together and play well consistently over the next month. I would not want to see them get into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth and then get clobbered as has happened in their previous post-season appearances.

That's all I got for now.

Okie-Vegas 2009 memories

2009-07-18T11:50:00.002-05:00

I won't ramble on too much here, but I wanted to post a few thoughts about my second trip to Okie-Vegas. I enjoyed myself the first time I went, so I was glad that it worked out for me to attend again this year.

Our hosts, the fabulous Mr. and Mrs. GCox, put together a relaxed and fun weekend. Although there was plenty of poker involved, there was also a generous amount of goofing off at the lake, sitting around gabbing about everything and anything, telling hilarious if occasionally "inappropriate" jokes, eating tasty goodies, and drinking the beverage of your choice. Many Keystone Lights, along with several other varieties of adult thirst-quenchers, sacrificed themselves to the attendees of this event. They did not give themselves up in vain.

I did not arrive until Friday evening, after a longer-than-expected drive from Grapevine TX. I drove directly to the Cox lake house, which I had not visited before. It is way out in the boonies, which makes for a nice, quiet setting (when we weren't whooping it up ourselves). When I got there, the Mr. and Mrs. were already on site. Kat, OOSSUUU, Greg, and Special K were still at one of the local casinos, trying to take a few dollars from the locals at the poker room. Instant Tragedy and his intended were driving up from Lubbock TX later that evening. After I settled in a bit and caught up with the Coxes, the poker players pulled up. Before long, we decided to play a small SNG. $20 buy-in, NLHE, six players. I played my usual tight game and did OK at first. Then (warning: bad beat story ahead), I ran the nut flush into quad nines to take a big chunk out of my stack. I hung in long enough to place third; two places paid. After we all had some excellent cold fried chicken from a legendary local spot, a mixed cash game broke out: NLHE and PLO, blinds of $0.50 / $1.00. I bought in for the max of $100, which may or may not have been a good idea. After a slow start, I picked up J-T-T-x in Omaha. (Warning: here comes another one.) With almost everyone limping in, the flop came T-6-6. Top boat; doesn't start off much better than that. OOSSUUU and I got heads up, and after rags on the turn and river (no overcards to my tens), OOSSUUU pushed. I had him covered. I thought about what he could have to bet like that, but I couldn't put him on a better hand, so I called. Of course, he showed the nuts when he turned over the other two sixes. I'm pretty sure that is the first time I have run into quads twice in the same day.

Saturday was the day of the Okie-Vegas Main Event. The buy-in and player pool was a tad smaller than the WSOP Main Event going on at the same time, but as far as I'm concerned, we had more fun. OOSSUUU bought himself and his girlfriend in, presumably hoping to double his chances at a win. Things didn't quite work out that way, though; both of them busted on the early side. I kept my game tight-aggressive and won a few pots to build my chip stack. I thought at one point that Kat and I might end up heads-up, like we did in my only other Okie-Vegas appearance, but she busted in third place when my 99 held up to her 88. Greg and I were the last two standing. I went into heads-up with about a 2 to 1 chip lead, and I got some cards to keep the pressure on. At one point, though, I had a "aw fukkit" moment and called Greg's all-in with T8s. His 44 held up and my stack took a big hit. Eventually, I lost a race and finished second. I was happy to make back my tourney buy-in and my loss from the cash game the night before. I finished the weekend ahead $11 for poker, but ahead an immeasurable amount in fun times.

During a break in the tourney, I went out near my car to call home, and discovered that my car had a flat tire. I had picked up a nail along the way, and had to put on my emergency spare. Gary helped me with the tire change and gave me directions to the Wal-Mart in Chickasha where they would be able to fix the tire Sunday morning on my way home. Oh well, could have been worse: my air conditioner could have gone out.

After staying up way too late Saturday night swapping stories and checking the score of the Rangers game, I hit the sack. I was up before everyone else the next morning, so I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone except a mostly asleep OOSSUUU who waved at me as I snuck out the door. After a brief stop to get the tire repaired, I hit the highway and headed home.

I look forward to future Okie-Vegas events and encourage you to come to one if you can. You will have a great time, no doubt about it.

Slow times, and an obvious observation

2009-06-14T06:20:00.003-05:00

I haven't played a whole lot of poker over the last month or so. A few cash game sessions, and a handful of tournaments and SNGs. I played the PokerWorks Family 8-Game tourney on PokerStars both times in May; won the first one, busted 8th of 9 in the second. I cashed in a SNG on Full Tilt for the first time in almost two months, so that was nice, although it wasn't even close to a big enough payout to offset my losses there. Now I will be away from the virtual tables for a couple of weeks on vacation. I'll be back, though.

Congratulations to CK for her cash in the $2,500 WSOP Omaha 8/Stud 8 Event! That is awesome.

The poker bill in the Texas legislature didn't make it through, but its sponsor said he plans to bring it up again next session. Let's hope they can take it all the way next time.

Here's a bit of information that my mind came up with regarding the skill vs. luck debate about poker, which I can't recall having read or heard elsewhere yet. I would think it must have appeared somewhere because it is so obvious, but I certainly haven't read EVERYTHING written about poker, so I'm sure I just missed it.

Poker has an element of luck about it; no one disputes that. The people who think that poker is just a gambling exercise in which skill does not play an important role are, I suspect, forgetting an extremely important fact about the game that sets it apart from so many other games.

In poker, there are two ways to win a hand or a pot:

1. To have the best hand at showdown
2. To be the last active player after everyone else has folded

#1 is more dependent on luck; if you don't get good cards dealt to you, you are less likely to have the best hand of those that go to showdown. But, skill still counts: if you know what the odds are of having a better hand, or of drawing to a better hand, than your opponents, then you can play your hands in such a way as to increase your chances of winning more, or of losing less.

#2 is where skill is even more important. If you can play in such a way that you get all of your opponents to fold in a given hand, then you win the pot without needing to show the best hand. Luck plays a much smaller role in this part of the game. (Yes, if your opponents are all dealt crap hands, you may not need to use much skill to get them to fold.)

This is way oversimplified, but the fact remains that it is the two-fold nature of winning in poker that, as I see it, makes it predominantly a game of skill compared to other gambling games. I hope that those who oppose poker thinking that it is all up to luck will realize this and allow poker its place as a legitimate game of skill that should not be lumped in with strictly-chance games.

Another month already?

2009-05-09T17:21:00.003-05:00

Time once again for my monthly (give or take a few days) update. So how have things been going for this sporadic micro-limit donkey since my last post? Let's take a look...

Bodog - 3 tourneys and 2 SNGs; 2 first place finishes; small profits in cash and in T$.

PokerStars - only one tournament, the PokerWorks Family 8-Game tourney last Sunday, where I finished 9th out of 10 runners. Stellar.

FullTilt - 9 SNGs plus last night's Friday Night Donkament. Didn't cash in a single one.

Cash games, various sites - a few sessions of different games, for a modest loss.

Over the past several months, I have done most of my playing at FullTilt in the hopes of building my roll there, and using my winnings to play in the some of the BBT4 events. Unfortunately, my run there has gone in the opposite direction, and my FT bankroll is now under $100, making playing in any BBT tourneys an exercise in bad money management. So why do I keep playing there, I ask myself? I haven't come up with a good answer yet. Because I don't play in the BBT, I very seldom play with the bloggers that I know. I do enjoy some of the games FT offers, notably the $3 + 0.30 Deep Stack KO turbo SNGs. But I haven't had any real success in them lately, so either my game is worse than usual or I'm on a bad streak which should eventually end.

I suppose I should play more at Stars and Bodog. Stars offers plenty of games, so selection shouldn't be a problem. Bodog doesn't have as many tourneys, and the SNGs can take a long time to fill up. But I have a healthy roll at Bodog, and I probably should take advantage of that. I'm in decent shape at PokerStars as well, so maybe I will give them some more of my action.

I bought Harrington on Cash Games, Vol. 1, a while back and have been reading that a bit here and there. Some of the concepts I had read before, some I had picked up here and there, but the book has plenty of useful information that I plan to study and put to use, because my NLHE skills are sorely lacking. I think there are others like me who prefer no-limit for tournaments and limit for cash games, but I know that improving my NLHE game will do me a world of good. In the few micro-stakes NLHE cash games that I have played lately, I have seen some plays that look, even to me, like big mistakes, and I want to be better equipped to take advantage of those mistakes. I don't want to look around the table only to find that I can't spot the sucker until I get back to myself.

Over at Pokerati.com, I have been following the news about the progress, or lack of it, of the poker legalization bill here in Texas. Although things don't look so good at the moment, apparently it isn't dead, so I will hold out some hope that it has a chance to pass. If it doesn't get through, the poker rooms in Oklahoma and Louisiana will be happy to take the money of Texas poker players. It's a shame that we can't have card rooms for Texas Hold 'Em in Texas, but that's politics for you. I sent e-mails via the Poker Players Alliance to my state reps; I hope it helps in some small way.

Non-poker content: I saw the new Star Trek movie Thursday night. Go see it, right now. It is spectacular, funny, thrilling, and a great ride, whether or not you are a Trek fan.

My son graduates from high school in four weeks. He starts college at the University of Oklahoma in 3.5 months. It is quite a time in our lives.

In June, my wife, son and I will go to Italy and Greece for a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean. It is partly a graduation celebration, but mostly a vacation that all of us have wanted to go on for some time. We are all excited about the trip. And yes, the casino on the cruise ship should have Hold 'Em available. I will probably play a few hands when we aren't enjoying the sights.

Maybe I will post again before another month goes by. I do plan to write something before the big trip. I hope it will be about a big win or some other good news. Wish me luck.

You win some, you wish you won some....

2009-04-05T07:54:00.005-05:00

I have had some modest successes since my last post. Two weeks ago, I played in the PokerWorks Family HORSE tournament again, and won it again. It was a small field, but the competition was tough, so I feel like I accomplished something by taking it down. Linda and I had a pretty good heads-up match at the end, but the cards came my way when I needed them. I think it would be great if this tournament could get a bigger turn-out. Here is the info; mark it on your calendars and sign up to play.

PokerWorks Family HORSE tournament
PokerStars
Sundays at 9:00 PM ET, every two weeks
Buy-in: $5 + 0.50
Password: donkeys

The game is on tonight. I may not make it due to a family commitment, but don't let that stop you from registering.

Two nights ago, I played in Katitude's Friday Night Donkarama on FullTilt for the first time in ages. I find it hard to get into the push-with-ATC spirit of this game, mainly because my bankroll isn't deep enough to handle pitching dollar after dollar for the rebuys. I donated more than I had planned, and ended up quitting before the break so I wouldn't bleed off any more. Because I busted early, I decided to try to win some back by registering for a $3 + 0.30 deep stack turbo KO tourney. I had to get lucky several times to hang in, but I made the final table. I was the shorty, but got lucky again and doubled up to get within striking distance of the rest of the pack. On the next hand, I made a stupid mistake.

Full Tilt Poker Game #11495044495: $3 + $0.30 KO Sit & Go (86320637), Table 10 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:27:55 ET - 2009/04/03
Seat 1: Barbie19 (34,417)
Seat 2: Mas Malo (72,355)
Seat 4: yestbay1 (24,660)
Seat 6: JHearn (26,225)
Seat 7: Assman08 (40,900)
Seat 8: Don7768 (33,998)
Seat 9: xriex (37,445)

Although I am still the short stack, I am not far behind several of the others. I could have waited for a better opportunity to pick up more chips.

Barbie19 antes 400
Mas Malo antes 400
yestbay1 antes 400
JHearn antes 400
Assman08 antes 400
Don7768 antes 400
xriex antes 400
Don7768 posts the small blind of 1,500
xriex posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Kc Jc]

A nice hand, and one I'm ready to play. A little too ready.

Barbie19 raises to 9,000

UTG raises, which should make me pause. Barbie hasn't been all that loose, although I have seen her make some iffy plays. I should have expected her to have a stronger hand than my sooooted KJ with a raise in early position. But, flush with my success on the hand just before, I try to keep the momentum going.

Mas Malo folds
yestbay1 raises to 24,260, and is all in
JHearn folds
Assman08 folds
Don7768 folds
xriex folds
Barbie19 calls 15,260
yestbay1 shows [Kc Jc]
Barbie19 shows [Ac Qh]

Now, another player in Barbie's situation might think, "Hmmm, this guy re-raised me after I raised in early position. Would he do that with something other than a premium hand? Maybe he has AA or KK or QQ. Do I want to call off most of my stack with AQ offsuit? Maybe I should fold." But, maybe she thought I was pushing with a weaker Ace and she had me dominated. In any case, she was ahead, but I still had live cards. Unfortunately, none came through.

*** FLOP *** [Qc 6s 7d]
*** TURN *** [Qc 6s 7d] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 6s 7d 8d] [4s]
yestbay1 shows King Queen high
Barbie19 shows a pair of Queens
Barbie19 wins the pot (55,820) with a pair of Queens
yestbay1 stands up

I feel like I should have been more patient there. If it had folded to me, I was probably shoving with that hand, but with the raise in front of me, I should have waited for a chance to get my money in first. 7th place is OK but I expect I could have finished higher if I had been smarter and less impulsive.

In another of these $3 + 0.30 tourneys a few days earlier, I finished 8th, once again making some bone-headed plays to screw up my shot at a bigger cash. It is frustrating to feel like I am not learning from my mistakes. More frustrating than just about any bad beat. All I can do is keep trying, and hope that some of it sinks in, however slowly.

Book review, and taking a dip

2009-03-15T20:28:00.002-05:00

I am going to take a slight detour from the ostensible poker theme of this blog to write a short review of a book that I recently read. There is a poker connection involved, and I'll keep the review brief for those of you whose minds wander if "pot odds" and "cracked Aces" aren't mentioned in every other sentence.

The book is Sunken Treasure by Wil Wheaton, whom some of you know, or at least know of, as an actor, writer, award-winning blogger, and poker player. Sunken Treasure is a "sampler" collection of Wil's writings from his blog, his previously published books, and a couple of things that have not appeared anywhere else. I have enjoyed Wil's candor, humor, and willingness to tell it as he sees it in all his writings, and this book is no exception. Each entry is filled with Wil's engaging insights on a variety of aspects of life and its ups and downs. Whether he is writing about his relationships with his sons and wife, or about acting, or about memories of video game arcades, he always offers the reader an entertaining, informing, and often touching account of his experiences. Go order Sunken Treasure now at lulu.com; you'll be glad you did. And don't forget his other books, which you should also have in your library: Dancing Barefoot, Just a Geek, and The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

The poker connection I mentioned? Well, besides the fact that Wil is an avid player (when he has time between writing and acting projects) and once was a member of Team PokerStars, he includes in Sunken Treasure a sketch about a poker game that he wrote for ACME Comedy Theatre, a group Wil worked with a couple of years ago in Los Angeles. The sketch, titled "William's Tell," is fall-down hilarious, and especially so for poker players. It is worth the price of the book on its own, IMO. Get it, already.

So, on to poker news. Variance (and some less than stellar play) have led to a couple of losing cash game sessions of late. I also played in my first BBT4 event, the Brit Blogger Game earlier today. I finished a lowly 36th out of 61, mostly because I got very little to play with. I'll still be plugging away in the micro-stakes games at PokerStars and FullTilt, and I hope to get in some time on Bodog as well. Balancing my family time with poker time is, as many of you know, a trick of its own, but I have managed to keep things agreeable at home so far. Let's hope it continues that way.

BBT4 and other updates

2009-02-24T17:39:00.002-06:00

Another month has gone by since my last post. Dang. Time for me to put something up here for all two of you readers (assuming you are still checking in once in a blue moon).

First, some pimpage. The Battle of the Bloggers Tournament Series, Vol. 4, starts up again on March 1 and runs through May 31. Your wandering poker blogger AlCan'tHang has done it again, with a few tweaks to keep things fresh. All the details are on Al's blog, but the gist is, there will be seven WSOP seats awarded, 2 for the Main Event and 5 for prelims. The tourney series, which as usual is on FullTilt, will consist of the following:

The weekly events:

Tournament: Brit Blogger Game
When: Sundays at 16:00ET
Game: NLHE
Buyin: $5 + $0.50
Password: donkament

Tournament: Riverchasers
When: Mondays at 22:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $24 + $2 (or $26 token)
Password: riverchasers

Tournament: Blogger Skillz Game
When: Tuesdays at 21:30ET
Game: Rotation of non-NLHE games
Buyin: $10 + $1
Password: skillz

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesdays at 22:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $10 + $1
Password: vegas1

In addition to the weekly events, Miami Don will be hosting the Big Game on the following dates at 21:30 ET (Password: donkey):

March 1, 2009: NLHE Super Stack ($69 + $6 or $75 token)
April 19, 2009: NLHE Rebuy ($24 + $2, with one $24 rebuy and one $24 add-on)
May 31, 2009: NLHE Super Stack ($69 + $6 or $75 token)

The above copied and pasted shamelessly from B.W.o.P.'s blog, because I'm too lazy to retype it all.

If I play in any of these events, it will be early on, with the hope of cashing in at least one tourney so I can have enough in my bankroll to play more events later. As my roll stands now, I would go broke if I played in a couple of weeks worth of tourneys and didn't cash in any of them (a likely outcome). The Brit Blogger game looks good because of the $5.50 buy-in; maybe I can do a few of those.

Al is also the host of the Poker from the Rail blog at FullTilt, and there are a couple of guest posts there that I want to recommend. As a dedicated micro-stakes player, I very much appreciated and enjoyed the two articles there by my friends Gracie and GCox. Good stuff and well worth reading and remembering.

As for my poker adventures, things have been going pretty well over the past month. I've had a streak of winning sessions at the very low stakes LHE cash games, and a couple of cashes in tournaments, including my biggest in a while: a third place finish in a $4.40 180-person SNG on PokerStars for a $80.00+ profit. That is a welcome boost to my Stars roll, basically doubling what I had there when I entered the tournament. Now I am hoping to catch another nice cash like that on FT to give me some more breathing room there.

There has been more news here in Texas about proposed legislature for legalizing poker, slot machines at race tracks, or full-fledged resort casinos. Whether any of the proposals will make any progress is anybody's guess, but I think poker on its own probably has a better shot than the gambling stuff. At least the case is being made in several locations that poker is a game of skill, and that should work in its favor in the minds of the lawmakers. Or so we can hope.

Front page poker news, and PokerWorks HORSE tourney

2009-01-25T09:45:00.005-06:00

I was pleasantly surprised to open my Sunday morning Dallas Morning News and find, on the top left side of the front page, an article about the bill that has been introduced in the Texas legislature by Rep. Jose Menendez to regulate poker in Texas.

The fact that the article made the front page is certainly encouraging; maybe it will bring the issue some attention. What doesn't thrill me, though, is that the article concentrates more or less entirely on the illegal poker scene in the Dallas area, and how the bill is meant to eliminate that. There isn't a single mention in the article about one of the most important reasons why it makes sense for the state to legalize and regulate poker: the thousands, if not millions, of dollars that Texans take across state lines to gamble legally in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Granted, poker revenues may only make up a small fraction of that gambling money, but it exists nonetheless, and Texas is losing out on it. Still, I am hopeful that the article will bring some attention to the poker bill and help to persuade some of our lawmakers to eventually pass it. By the way, check out Pokerati, where they talk about the article and are keeping tabs on the Texas poker bill. They also have a link so you can write to the new Speaker of the Texas House, Joe Straus, to state your support for legal poker rooms in Texas.

Meanwhile, I played in the PokerWorks bi-weekly HORSE tournament Sunday night on PokerStars. I had played in this tourney a couple of times before, with nothing to show for it but spending some fun time with some nice people. Last night, though, things definitely went my way. Through most of the game, I was catching cards like Michael Young catches ground balls. It seemed like I couldn't miss.

I almost never play Limit tournaments, but I made an exception for this one so I could play with the PokerWorks folks. Because I am so accustomed to playing in no-limit tourneys, I had to think harder about my strategy. The game started off fairly easy for me, because I was getting a lot of junk hands that were easy folds. My first big hand was when I picked up Ad 8d in MP and limped in. With three other limpers besides me, Glenda in the SB raised, Linda in the BB folded, and all of us limpers called. The flop came 5s 7d Kd. Sweet; nut flush draw in a nice pot. Glenda bet; three callers and one fold. Turn: Jd. Glenda led out again; one fold, I called, but Alexe55 right behind me raised, and Glenda called. I didn't want to give away my hand, so I just called the raise, hoping to represent a single diamond in my hand and still drawing. River: 7s. Not what I was hoping for, a card that paired the board. Either Glenda or Alexe55 could have had a set which just filled up. But, I wasn't going to back down now. Glenda bet, I raised. Alexe55 and Glenda both called. I found out from the hand history that Glenda had AA, and Alexe55 had the Qd 9d for the second nut flush.

That seems to have been the preview hand of my rush. When we switched to Omaha 8, I went through a dry streak where I didn't get a playable hand for what seemed like the entire round. After folding my way through that, we moved on to Razz, everyone's favorite headache-inducing game. I stayed pretty quiet through that round too, conserving chips and tossing crappy hands.

When it was time for Stud High, the cards started coming for me. I picked up another flush. Then yet another flush. Then (you guessed it) still another flush. I felt like a toilet repairman. Soon it was time for Stud 8. I went back into fold mode until the end of that round, when I scooped a pot with an 8-6 low and, for the high hand, can you possibly guess? Yep, I pulled the toilet handle again.

After the break, we came back to Hold 'Em, with blinds at 200/400. I had the chip lead, but Linda wasn't too far behind. First hand, I get Ah Kc in the BB. Clearspine, who organizes this tournament and had been the victim of my last flush, raised UTG. Linda reraised. It folded to me. I had a good sized stack, and clearspine was on fumes, so I called 400, hoping to catch a flop and knock him out. Clearspine capped the betting, and Linda and I both called.

The flop was 2d 4h 9s. Talk about a whiff for me. I checked; clearspine bet 200. Linda raised to 400. With all that money in the pot, I couldn't throw away AK, so I called. Clearspine bet his last 118 chips. Linda and I, again, both called.

The turn was the 7h. Still nothing for me, so I hoped Linda would check it down. I checked, but she bet. I knew I was beat and folded. Linda took the side pot, and showed her Th Td, while clearspine showed As Ac and took the main pot.

As the blinds continued to rise, I started putting some pressure on where I could, and picked up some pots. Eventually I busted cmacc85 when my As Js caught runner-runner-runner Jacks for quads. That hand put me way out in the chip lead, which I would never relinquish.

From there, it was Omaha 8 again. I caught a straight to bust Greg P and pad my stack. After splitting a couple of pots, I flopped a wheel against Linda to bust her. On the next hand, I turned the nut low and rivered a boat to bust clearspine and win the tourney. Although I had some stretches where I threw away a lot of hands, it seemed like the majority of the hands I played either held up or caught cards to win. Frankly, I think I would prefer to finish a game with the feeling that I succeeded due to good plays on my part, rather than mainly a lucky run of cards. But I'm not going to complain too loudly. Some extra money in the bankroll is always welcome, however it gets there.

I encourage everyone to play in the PokerWorks HORSE tournament. It is held every other Sunday at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT on PokerStars, so the next one should be on February 8. Password is "donkeys." I hope to be there, and I hope to see lots of you there too.

New Year, new post

2009-01-17T13:04:00.004-06:00

Wow, it's been just about a month since my last post here. I'll use the usual excuses of holidays and getting back to work afterwards for why I haven't written anything. But then, not much has been going on in terms of poker for me.

Oh sure, I have played some poker on line here and there. Not much in the way of tournaments; a few SNGs, with a couple of cashes, one try at Kat's Friday Night Donkament which didn't go so well, and some microlimit ring games with a (very) small profit there. I noticed on AlCan'tHang's blog that the Battle of the Bloggers Tournament Series # 4 is coming soon. No details on that yet that I have seen, but I am sure we will hear more before long. I don't know if I will play in any of those tourneys, unless I can score a decent cash on FullTilt to pad the bankroll there. I'd like to join in with my fellow bloggers again, so we will see how things go. I am hoping that the Bodog Blogger Series comes back from hiatus soon, as I have enjoyed those games a lot.

I might play in the local Amateur Poker League tourneys again once in a while, to work on improving my live play, mostly in terms of picking up tells. Since I don't get to play any live poker around here, my face to face game tends to be weaker than I want it to be on those occasions that I do get to play live, such as at the Vegas gathering last month. Yes, I know that Winstar's poker room is just over an hour from here, and I suppose that I could find a home game if I tried, but I haven't felt the need to make the drive or the effort to get some hands in.

I do have an unofficial, ongoing goal to improve my play in the coming year - don't we all? I've been reading Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book, which I got for Christmas, and that has been educational and entertaining. I have been just slightly surprised at how often I have come up with the same strategy as Phil proposes in some of the hands in the book. That tells me that maybe my grasp of the game is, in fact, improving.

I'll be playing on line in the coming weeks and months, and I hope to see some of you across the virtual felt soon.

Vegas report

2008-12-18T20:03:00.004-06:00

Another World Poker Blogger Tour Winter Classic has come and gone. I know I had fun because the time flew by so fast. Renewing acquaintances from last year's bash, making new ones, playing poker, and generally enjoying the Las Vegas experience - is there a better way to spend a weekend?

I chose to stay at the Imperial Palace this year, partly because that seemed to be Blogger HQ last year, partly because I found a very good rate on a room there, and partly because the hotel has one of the best locations on the Strip. My room was acceptable, and a good value for what I paid, although it showed signs of age and wear. Still, everything worked and I didn't have to complain to the hotel staff about anything, which is always a bonus.

When I arrived at the IP on Thursday night, there was already a big contingent of poker bloggers in and around the Geisha Bar. It would take a while to name everyone that I met there, again or for the first time, but one person I was especially happy to finally meet was Joanada. I first got acquainted with Jo when she wrote for the late, lamented Card Squad blog with my old pal Wil Wheaton. I posted a few comments and questions on Card Squad, and she and I played in Wil's tournaments on PokerStars many times. I still remember the time in one of those tourneys when she cracked my QQ with the Hammer when she caught a four-straight. Recently, I busted her in the NumbBono ten-cent rebuy tourney on FullTilt and won a bounty that she had placed on herself. It's the "Bob and Doug McKenzie Two-Four Anniversary" Special on DVD. She brought it to Vegas for me, and I'm really looking forward to watching it (yeah, I'm behind on that).

I hung out for a while on Thursday night and then crashed early (compared to everyone else, anyway). Friday morning, I met Maudie and Kat for brunch at the Wynn Buffet (good but not fantastic, IMO). Not long after that, it was off to the Hard Rock for the Poker Jingle charity tournament. Lots of poker pros showed up, plus a non-poker celebrity or two like former Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser. In the tourney, I sat just to the right of pro Brad Booth. He was easy-going and friendly with all of us at our table, and donated several rebuys to the cause. I didn't get much going in the game, and busted out not long after the first break. I had a good time, though, and I'm glad I got to play. Garthmeister was at my starting table, and went on to finish fourth in the tourney! He won an assortment of prizes but none of the really big ones. Some photos from the tourney are here.

Maybe the best part of the stop at the Hard Rock was getting to spend a few minutes playing blackjack with Gracie and Pablo there. One downside to these gatherings can be too many people and not enough chances to spend quality time with any of them, so I am very pleased that I got to hang with the happy couple for a little while.

Soon, it was off to the MGM Grand for the traditional blogger mixed games. As usual, it was a blend of donkery and confusion, among the players and the dealers, with a good time being had by all. I quit about $60 behind after 4 hours or so, which I look on as a success considering my lack of skill at most of the games we played.

Saturday it was time to try another buffet for breakfast, this time at Harrah's. Perfectly fine, and the $5 coupon I got at the IP made it even better. I drove downtown to meet up with the wedding party for the big ceremony, and on my way I stopped to get my contribution to the festivities. I had asked Gracie a while ago if they would have wedding cake, and she said she hadn't thought about it. I decided that it wouldn't be a real wedding without cake, but how to do it? I knew things were being done on the inexpensive and expedient side, so I stayed with that theme. I went to the supermarket and found just what the circumstances called for: Fancy Cakes, by Little Debbie. A few boxes of those and I was ready. After getting downtown before the rest of the gang, who arrived by shuttle bus (!!! Nobody told me there was bus service!), we marched down to the court building where the judge performs the marriages. The troop of well-wishers was quite a throng, and we couldn't all fit in the tiny room where the ceremonies usually are held. The judge invited us out into the lobby so we could all gather around for the exchange of vows and rings and such. The Rev. AlCan'tHang said some beautiful words, the judge did her thing, the bride and groom said their "I do"s, and several people cried. Afterwards, I passed out the Fancy Cakes, much to the surprise (and occasional dismay) of the guests. Gracie and Pablo seemed genuinely touched by my silly gesture, to which I can only say, it was my great pleasure to do such a small thing for such a wonderful occasion. You can read another nice report on the wedding at Linda's PokerWorks blog.

Shortly after that, it was time to make our way to the Venetian for the blogger tournament. Thanks go again to Falstaff for organizing the tourney and to the Venetian for hosting. I lasted longer than last year, which was my first goal, but didn't go deep. I made a few mistakes, including not paying attention and calling a raise when I thought I was just limping in the small blind. But I also was getting very little in the way of cards to play, so I ended up busting shortly after the second break. Next time, my first goal will be to make it to the third break. One benefit to sitting where I did was getting to know Bacon Bikini Mary a little better. She was directly to my right, and I found out that she is a prog rock fan like me. I discovered this when I told her what my bounty was: a Yes Greatest Hits CD. Dawn Summers won the bounty when her KK busted my JJ. Mary was glad to hear this, hoping that it might improve the music that Dawn plays when the NY group goes driving together.

I played some $4-8 Limit HE at the Venetian after busting out of the tourney. At one point, I was ahead by almost the amount of my tourney buy-in. I should have quit then, but I hoped to build my profit past that amount, and I didn't get there. Instead, the loose players who were giving their chips away left the table and my card rush dried up. I did leave with $20 more than I bought in for, so that was a plus.

Sunday included breakfast at the Flamingo buffet (my favorite of the three on this trip), hanging out in the IP sportsbook for a bit, taking a walk on the Strip just to look around and get some exercise, and railing some of the bloggers playing $1-2 NLHE at the IP. Then off to McCarran and my flight home.

I still don't feel like a full member of the poker blogger group, at least not yet, but this year was a little better than last year when I only knew a handful of people that I had met at Okie-Vegas. Assuming that I go to more of these events, I may feel like I fit in more each time. I'm not a drinker or all-night partier, but I do enjoy some of the same things as several of the other bloggers, such as a nice meal, sightseeing, and some card playing. I don't expect to attend a Summer 2009 bash because of other plans around the time of the WSOP, but I might come back next winter. To all of you that I saw this year, thanks for the good times, and forgive me for not calling you all out here by name. To those I missed in Vegas, and those who couldn't make it, I hope to catch up with you soon.

Blowing the (Bo)donkey

2008-12-10T20:24:00.002-06:00

Last night in the Bodonkey, I got off to a slow start, picked up steam (and chips), and then ran right off the rail on a poor call of way too many of my chips.

I don't have the hand history, but what it came down to was, I had over 10K in chips, MiamiDon on my right had between 5K and 6K, and the player to my left whose screen name was Nate-something, I think, had some number of chips in between. Blinds were around 200/400. I picked up QQ. MiamiDon raised to 1,150, I reraised him to 3,000 trying to get heads up with him. Nate re-popped it; I think he shoved. Don also pushed all his chips in; I had them both covered and it cost me just over 3,000 to call. The pot was big, so I suppose I could be considered pot committed at that point and had favorable pot odds, and my call might be justified for that reason. But if I had been thinking things through, I could have reasoned, "What could Nate have called a raise and reraise with?" A couple of obvious answers are Aces and Kings, both of which are beating the crap out of my Hilton Sisters. Plus, Don probably had at least an Ace and good kicker, or better, if he called Nate's shove. Considering that calling them both would cost me over half my remaining stack, I should have folded my queens and let those two fight it out. But I didn't think it through, I made the call, and saw that my QQ was up against not one but two pair of pocket rockets. Yes, AA vs AA vs QQ. No two-outer suckout for me, and they chopped the pot while I got crippled. I busted a few hands later, in tenth place, when I called a raise all in with KQ and ran into AK. Although I was very short at the time, I should have waited for a chance to be first into the pot instead of calling a raise with a marginal hand like KQ.

So now I am pretty much out of the running for the Bodonkey TOC next Thursday, unless I can earn a seat in the Last Chance game on Wednesday. I can't play tomorrow because I am on my way to Vegas, and I can't play Tuesday due to family commitments. Oh well, I still have fun in these tourneys and I hope there will be another blogger series. I will definitely play if it comes back.

I'll be seeing some of you in Sin City starting tomorrow night!

More updates on the Winter Classic and Bodonkey

2008-12-07T16:12:00.002-06:00

More bounties are being offered in the Bodonkey tournaments this week. On Tuesday, Iggy himself will be playing in his first Bodog Blogger tourney, and whoever busts him will win a T$109 bounty. The same prize goes to the player who knocks out Smokkee in Thursday night's game. I'll be there on Tuesday with my sights on Iggy, and on a high finish to earn some leaderboard points so I can qualify for the TOC on December 18. I have a lot of ground to make up, so I'm aiming for a win.

On Thursday, I will miss the Bodonkey because I will be on a plane headed to Las Vegas for the WPBT Winter Classic blogger blowout. As of now, the big items on my agenda for the weekend are the Poker Jingle charity tournament on Friday at the Hard Rock, which I have registered for already, and the blogger private tourney at the Venetian on Saturday. If you are coming to Vegas this weekend, I encourage you to sign up for one or both of these games. I am sure I will do some other fun stuff; what that turns out to be will depend partly on how long I last in each tournament. Hopefully I will go deep enough to make it worth skipping some of the other things I have in mind.

I played in two of the PokerStars Double or Nothing SNGs today and cashed in both, which was nice. I'm getting the hang of the strategy that works for these games, which is mostly to conserve chips and let the looser people knock each other out. Maybe I can add a few bucks to my Stars bankroll with these games, because I haven't had much success in MTTs or cash games.

For those of you going to Vegas this coming weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing you there!

PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2008-12-03T18:39:00.000-06:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

All bloggers can play in this exclusive online poker tournament.

Registration code: 585205

Updates: Bodonkey and Winter Classic

2008-12-01T21:23:00.003-06:00

I played in both Bodonkey tourneys last week. Didn't get far on Tuesday; made it to third place (again) on Thursday. More cash, more T$, more leaderboard points: I'll take them. I also played the Mookie on Wednesday, since I didn't have an early wake-up on Thursday. Only made it to 19th, but it was fun to play in that one again for the first time in ages.

More Bodog blogger action is coming up this week, so be sure to register. I expect to play Tuesday but will probably miss Thursday.

I saw something today that looked very interesting for anyone who will be in Las Vegas for the Winter Classic. PokerWorks has an article about a charity tournament being held at the Hard Rock Poker Lounge on Friday December 12. The tourney, called the Poker Jingle, is to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Southern Nevada in honor of avid poker player Mindy Trinidad. Tom McEvoy is the host, and a long list of poker pros and celebrities are mentioned as planning to attend. Perhaps the most enticing aspect of this tourney is that the buy-in is only $200 + $30.

I will be in town that weekend for the blogger gathering, and I am signed up to play in Saturday's blogger tournament at the Venetian. I expected to spend at least part of Friday playing some poker, most likely mixed games with other bloggers Friday evening. But this charity tournament looks like a very nice option for several reasons:

*The buy-in is not high at all, comparatively speaking and the juice is quite reasonable - even better than what we are being charged by the Venetian for our private tourney.

*This could be one of the cheapest chances I could have to play in the same tourney, maybe at the same table, with some name pros. What the hell, maybe I can tilt Phil Hellmuth with a well-timed donkey play.

*There ought to be a fair amount of dead money in this game, coming from people (who, me?) that would like to rub shoulders with some famous players without having to lay out a grand or two.

I am going to give this some serious thought, and spread the word among the rest of the poker blogger community to see if there might be others interested in playing too.

What do you think? Should the bloggers storm the Hard Rock and represent at this tourney for a good cause? I'm game.

2009 Poker Bill in Texas Legislature?

2008-11-22T11:02:00.003-06:00

You may recall from last year that Texas state representative Jose Menendez introduced a bill to legalize poker in Texas, but the bill died without being discussed or voted on.

It appears that he has revived the bill, now called the "Poker Gaming Act of 2009," with which he hopes to create safeguards for poker players and revenue for the state.

A few articles about the new bill can be found here and here. No doubt, more news will be coming soon. I expect our friends at Pokerati will be keeping a close eye on it as they did the previous bill. Be sure to check in there for updates.

In other news, I played some poker last week myself. I was invited to the Monthly Venue Championship tournament at my local Amateur Poker League venue, since I earned enough points with my second place finish in an October tourney to qualify. Things did not go my way in the MVC, though, and I busted in 15th place. I also played the Bodonkey on Thursday, but only made it to 13th. Not sure how much I will play this week but I'm sure I will get in some time at the virtual tables.

Just three weeks until the Vegas gathering; I'm very much looking forward to that. Don't forget to contact Falstaff if you are going to be there and want to get in on the private tourney.

2008 WPBT Winter Classic tournament info

2008-11-13T13:50:00.002-06:00

Great news for those of us headed for the WPBT Winter Classic gathering in Las Vegas next month: Falstaff has set up another private tournament at the Venetian for poker bloggers and their friends, fans and stalkers. Here is the info, shamelessly copied from his blog post:
-----------------------------------
Here's the deal -

Private Blogger Tournament
Venetian Poker Room
Saturday, December 13th
3PM
$135 ($100 buy-in, $25 juice, $10 toke)

Please email me [Falstaff, not me] your real name and blogger name if you want in. I need to let Tim at the Venetian know by a week beforehand. If you have FOBs (friends of bloggers) who want in, let me know how many.

You have to have a Venetian Player's Card to play, so if you don't have one, get there early.

Bring knockout bounties, that's the coolest part of a blogger gathering.
-----------------------------------
Hopefully you have Falstaff's e-mail address; if not, I guess you should leave a comment on his blog. I'm not one to post other people's e-mail addresses on my blog without knowing for sure that they are OK with it.

I hope to see you in Vegas and give you a shot at my bounty! Hint: it will be something related to my screen name, yestbay1.

Some small successes, and a short break

2008-11-10T21:34:00.003-06:00

Last week was a pretty good one for me on the poker front. I made a 50 BB profit playing some cash NLHE, and finished third in the Thursday night Bodonkey game. The cash game was only $0.01/0.02, so my 50 BB gain only came to a buck. But I play so little NLHE ring game that it feels good to know I can outdonk the other microlimit donkeys once in a while.

The Bodog games have been hit and (mostly) miss so far for me, but I hung tight on Thursday and survived a couple of my own misplays to win $50 cash and T$50, for a nice profit in the series so far. Not to mention some leaderboard points towards the TOC in December.

I will miss both Bodog Blogger games this week due to activities with my son's high school marching band. We are going to Indianapolis this weekend for the Bands of America Grand Nationals championship competition. It should be an exciting trip.

See you next week!

Coming up short

2008-11-02T15:23:00.003-06:00

The Bodog Blogger tourneys last week were not shining moments for me. I played in both, and made the final table on Tuesday, but I was a very short stack and busted out shortly after the final table was set. I missed the T$11 rebate by one spot. Thursday wasn't even that close, with a 16th place finish out of 26. I don't expect to play in every tournament in the series, but I hope to perform well enough to have a shot at the Tournament of Champions in December.

I have also played a few of the Double-or-Nothing SNGs on PokerStars. I "won" the first one I played, i.e. I finished in the top five and won double my buy-in. "These are easy," I thought afterwards. Yeah, right. I played two more and didn't finish in the money in either one. I made a ridiculous play in the second one I lost, when I called all-in with JJ against another short stack who barely had me covered and there were bigger stacks behind me yet to act. When the whole point is to survive to the final five, and not to accumulate all the chips, there is no reason to call all-in with a hand like JJ. I should have let the bigger stack take out the other shortie and waited for someone else to bust, or for a much better hand to play.

I expect to play in at least one of the Bodonkey games this week, possibly both. Other than that, I will try a few very low buy-in tourneys on PokerStars to make up my losses in the Double -or-Nothing games. Falstaff has posted a question for anyone going to the Winter Classic in December, about who would play in a private tourney if one were organized. Head over there to post your response.

Bodonkey Redux reminder

2008-10-27T17:42:00.003-05:00

Don't forget, the Bodog Blogger Tournament series revs up again starting tomorrow night. If I play, I won't be able to be there at the start due to a meeting at my son's school. I may have to skip the game completely. But I do plan to be there Thursday night. Here is more info....

You are invited to play in, post or forward this information.

Don't Miss Tuesday's Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament!
Start Time 9:05 pm ET.

Think you have what it takes to bust out a poker pro?

On Tuesday October 28th, 2008 professional poker player and author, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, will compete in the Bodog Blogger Tournament Series.

There will be a $75 bounty on Eric's head and the poker blogger who takes Eric's last chips in this tournament will receive a $75 credit to their Bodog member player account. This blogger will also receive a signed copy of Eric's book, Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time. If Eric wins this tournament, he will give the $75 credit to the poker blogger that places 1st runner up. That player will then receive the credit of $75 to his or her account.

This blogger tournament series is open to poker bloggers world wide and runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 9:05 pm ET.

More details available at the official blogger series site at http://www.bodogbloggertournament.com

If you are new to Bodog, please sign up at http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/

So what are you waiting for?

Register today and may the best poker blogger take the bulls eye on Eric "Rizen" Lynch!

Nadia Alterio
The Bodog Poker Blogger
nalterio@fivermedia.com
Yahoo ID: bodogdirectory

Tune into Buddy Dank Radio for live tournament recaps and updates while you play at http://www.buddydankradio.com

The NumbBlowMe marathon

2008-10-24T11:11:00.002-05:00

This will be short because I am writing this on my lunch break at work and hope to take a power nap after I post.

I played in the NumbBlowMe ten-cent rebuy tourney last night. After about 5.5 hours of roller coaster donkery, I finished in second place. More results and info can be found here.

How did I do it, you ask? Besides rigging the RNG, you mean. I can sum up my strategy for success in this tournament in one word:

Patience.

As you might expect, when you are playing in a tourney where rebuys are only a dime, there is a bargeload of maniacal play and ATC pushing. I chose to wait for opportunities to get my chips in with reasonable hands, and not shove against bigger stacks unless I had what looked like a better than average chance to take the pot. I double or tripled or quadrupled up a few times during the rebuy period using this method. Getting good cards was a big part of it, because they held up a lot of times. By the break, I was well above average in chips, although I took the 1,500 chip add on anyway (it was only $0.10, after all). I only rebought for $0.20 during the first hour; there were a total of 4,417 rebuys in this tourney. What does that tell you about how wild things were during the rebuy period?

I won't say that I played championship level poker, but I feel like my decisions were pretty good most of the time. Still,I was racking cards like crazy all night. I had starting cards of AA, KK, QQ or JJ more times than anyone would expect, even over the course of 5 hours, and they didn't get cracked as often as you would expect either. One particularly painful hand (for my opponent) was late in the game when I had JJ and flopped quads against Joanada who, on the short stack, pushed to my check on the flop. Although I took a couple of nasty beats myself, it seemed like I was dishing out more than I was getting.

I almost didn't play this tourney, but I'm glad I did, for the experience and for the bankroll boost (but not for the lack of sleep). And I'm really looking forward to the bounty I am supposed to get for busting Joanne. Beauty, eh?

Bodog Blogger Tournament Series - The Sequel

2008-10-18T13:14:00.002-05:00

My favorite blogger tournament series from earlier this year is getting into the starting blocks, and the gun goes off October 28.

Yes, the Bodog Blogger Tournament Series is back, with some new features. Among other things, the tourney will run twice a week this time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the tournament structure will match what Bodog uses in their 100K Guarantee game. The prizes for the Tournament of Champions at the end of the series aren't quite as sweet as the WSOP seat that they had for the previous series, but aren't anything to sneeze at either, including a grand prize of T$2,000 plus $100 Bodog casino credit. More details and the registration page can be found here. I have already registered for the series, and you should too. If you don't have an account at Bodog yet, go here to get more info and sign up. You can also check Smokkee's blog for updates and info about the series, since he is the Bodonkey host and chief pimp.

In other news, my recent poker sessions have been decidedly mixed. I played in the local Amateur Poker League weekly tournament this past Tuesday, and finished second. That got me a T-shirt from the venue, and what should be enough leaderboard points to enter me in the monthly venue championship for October. I also played in a few online tournaments over the past couple of weeks. Out of five SNGs at PokerStars since my last post, I cashed in one, but it was a first place finish which made up for the losses in the other four. I also played the Riverchasers tourney at FullTilt on Thursday for the first time in many months. Only five people showed up, and I finished fourth. My play was quite poor and disappointing. I guess I'd better play a few more of the lower buy-in SNGs there before I buy in to any more blogger games.

I am still curious about who all is going to the Winter Classic blogger gathering in December. I'm picking up mentions from people who are talking about it here and there, and making note of them. Maybe someone will be (or already is) putting together a list of attendees. Whoever is going, I look forward to seeing you there.

Choosing where I play on line

2008-10-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

I have realized something about my playing patterns that might be a bit surprising to some, but it isn't to me now that I think about it. It concerns how I decide which poker site to play on when I feel like sitting down for a session.

It used to be that I would first find out whether any tournaments were scheduled that were hosted by the poker bloggers that I am acquainted with, or that I knew some of them would be playing in. I haven't been doing that very much recently, in large part because most of those games were played on FullTilt, and my bankroll there had dwindled to the point where it would take most of my balance just to buy in. Since I wasn't playing in those games, I would look for tourneys with buy-ins small enough for me to handle and have a decent chance to build up my roll.

I chose to play those micro games on FullTilt so I could try to win enough money to allow me to play in the blogger games again. Then, as mentioned in my last post, I did win a tourney that more than doubled my bankroll there. Still, it would take about one tenth of my balance to buy into a typical blogger tourney. So, I looked at my balances on other sites. I'm doing fine at Bodog, thanks to the cash and T$ that I won during the Blogger Series earlier this year. I have more money there than at any other site. PokerStars is another story. I haven't had a lot of success there over the course of 2008 so far, and my roll has fallen well below $100.00.

So where do I play most often these days? Why, at PokerStars, of course. Since I am comfortable at Bodog and no longer on life support at FullTilt, I feel the need to work on building up my stake where it is the smallest. I've done pretty well there over the past few weeks, playing in eight low buy-in SNGs since the middle of September and cashing in three of them. I barely eked out a $2.30 profit over that period, but I consider it a positive sign that I have done at least that well. I'm hoping that the trend continues or even improves so that I can pump things up at Stars. Wil Wheaton has said that he is thinking about hosting tournaments again, and I assume that they will be on PokerStars. I would like to be able to play in them, which means I need to have some funds in my account there. As big a hassle as depositing can be, I would certainly rather win to increase my roll rather than have to try to deposit. Who knows, I may try to deposit anyway, to give myself a cushion sooner than later, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, looking ahead to some live poker playing in the future, I am all booked for the WPBT Winter Classic in Las Vegas the weekend of December 12 - 14. American Airlines changed my original flight booking so that now I am scheduled to fly home on Monday morning at 6:00 AM instead of on the red-eye about five hours earlier. That sucks, because I did not book a hotel room for Sunday night, but I also didn't plan to stay up the entire night like I may have to now. I will need to look into seeing if there is any other option to fly home, that won't cost me big bucks in change fees.

I have not yet seen or heard much about what is planned for the Winter Classic, nor a list of people who are planning to go. If anyone out there is compiling such a list and wouldn't mind directing me to it, or letting me sign up for it, please leave me a comment or e-mail me. I'm looking forward to seeing many of my blogger pals in just a few months!

Still bouncing...

2008-09-05T20:49:00.003-05:00

Let's see, how have things been going for me at the poker tables since my last post....

PokerStars:
$5.50 HORSE tourney with some of the PokerWorks gang - only 11 players, I finished 9th. I didn't play all that well; I haven't played enough HORSE to have a good feel for it.

$3.40 1-table NLHE SNG - finished 3rd for a big profit of $2.00. Hey, I cashed, which has been really rare for me at Stars lately.

FullTilt:
Another $3.30 Deep Stack Turbo Knockout 10-table SNG, my favorite kind of tourney these days. Not that I have had a ton of success with them lately, mind you, but they can be fun. I was actually playing in this one while I was writing my last blog entry. Although things started slowly for me, they picked up later and I ended up winning it. Yeah, baby, took it down and fattened my bankroll by more than I had when I bought into the game. Gee but it's nice to have some breathing room in the old roll again. I'm still too short (under $150) to feel comfortable entering any of the regular blogger tourneys, but another couple of decent cashes like that and I ought to be able to join in again.

Friday Night Donkament, $1 + 1 rebuy - I hadn't played in this one in quite a while, and I was glad to be able to jump in again. Only 12 runners, and I had to sit through the usual maniacal play that happens during the rebuy period. That part of the game is my least favorite, because I don't like to throw my money away like so many of the people who enter this tourney, and there is very little actual poker playing going on. I only rebought for $4, and lasted to 5th place. I made at least one bad call which probably cost me a shot at a higher placement.

One more $3.30 DSTKO - only got as far as 13th. I tried to turn up the aggression in a couple of spots but it didn't do me much good this time.

I played a couple of short sessions of nickel - dime - quarter cash games at Stars and Bodog, for a profit of under a buck. Wheee.

Since I am booked for the WPBT Winter Classic gathering in Las Vegas in December, I feel like I should play regularly to make sure I don't get too rusty and embarrass myself more than usual. If I could actually learn to play better, maybe I could garner a modicum of respect from my fellow bloggers. After all, I'm not much of a writer, and I know I'm only a fringe member of this poker blogging group. I suppose if I posted more often, and made an effort to write quality posts, it could conceivably enhance my standing from Z-lister to Y-lister. But that isn't why I should try to write better. It should be for my own growth or to get stuff off my chest or out of my system. If others read it and get something out of it, great.

I'll cough something up here periodically. If you are stopping by to check things out, thanks, and have a great day.

A little bounce back

2008-08-24T16:02:00.003-05:00

I haven't had a great year so far in 2008, except for my decent successes on Bodog during their Blogger Series during the first half of the year. The cards have not seemed to come my way this summer. However, the month of August hasn't been too bad. I have cashed in three SNGs on FullTilt, including one first-place finish. They were only $3.30 and $2.25 tourneys, so the bankroll hasn't exactly ballooned as a result, but at least I haven't gotten closer to busting.

I find myself trying to play a bit smarter, since I think I have been too loose in recent weeks. That will probably sound very strange to anyone who has seen my usual weak-tight style of play, but I know that I have played too many marginal hands lately and that is bound to be a big leak. At the same time, I am (mostly) trying to turn up the aggression at the right time, especially when I manage to get a decent stack and I have position. Yeah, I know, this is Poker 101 stuff, and I should know all this by now. Sometimes I just need to remind myself of what works instead of straying from the tried and true. Since I play at such low stakes, there isn't much point in trying to outthink my opponents, many of whom barely think beyond their cards. That isn't to say that there aren't some fair players at the micro level, but part of what I am working on is picking up on which ones have a clue what they are doing, and which are just donking around. It would be nice if these skills would sink in faster for me, and if I could remember to apply them consistently, but I won't claim to be the quickest learner around. I'll just have to keep at it and put a little more effort into improving.

Tao of Poker 5th Anniversary tourney, August 5

2008-07-24T21:27:00.004-05:00

Everyone's favorite poker blogger, Dr. Pauly, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his outstanding blog, Tao of Poker, by hosting a tournament at PokerStars on August 5 at 9:00 PM ET. Entry fee is $5 + 0.50, the game is NLHE. Besides the usual prize pool from the entry fees, the first place finisher also gets two nights at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City and the $5,000 buy-in for the Borgata Poker Open tourney on September 12. Is that sweet, or what?

More info can be found at Tao of Poker, so check it out and register for the tournament. I will be playing, which means another $5 in dead money for the taking.

See you there!

Random update including WPBT Winter Classic info

2008-07-22T17:13:00.002-05:00

I have been wrapped up in the play that I am in, so I haven't played much poker lately. One thing I have done, though, is make my hotel reservations for the WPBT Winter Classic over the weekend of Dec. 12 - 14. I will be staying at the Imperial Palace this time, the unofficial WPBT headquarters. I found a very good rate on rooms for that weekend, and I recommend that you take a look if you are planning on partaking in the debauchery. I still need to buy my air tickets, and will probably do that very soon.

The play closes this weekend, so I should soon be able to start playing poker a bit more regularly. One thing I plan to try again is playing in my local Amateur Poker League tourneys. I had dropped out because the venue closest to me gets very smoky, and their tourneys are held on Tuesday nights when the Bodog Blogger game was going on. Now that the Bodonkey is on hiatus, I think I will give the APL game another try.

I'll be back at the online tables soon, to see if I can build my bankroll on the sites where I have some money. I hope I haven't got too rusty.

WPBT Winter Classic 2008 info and other updates

2008-06-25T11:21:00.002-05:00

Quick update....

My wife and I spent last week on a vacation in Scotland, as chaperones with my son's high school band. Everyone had a fantastic time. I did not have an opportunity to play any poker.

I am fully immersed in rehearsals for "Laughing Stock" at the Runway Theatre here in Grapevine. With rehearsals every evening so far this week, I have had no chance yet to play any poker since I got back from Scotland. Maybe I can squeeze in an online game this weekend. Maybe. Rehearsals are going well and I think we are going to have a side-splittingly funny show.

According to a post from The Rooster, the 2008 WPBT Winter Classic gathering will be in Las Vegas the weekend of December 12 - 14. I have no idea yet whether I might be going, but I plan to keep the possibility open.

That's all for now.

Bodonkey TOC results

2008-06-11T17:28:00.003-05:00

It's a well known saying, if not cold hard fact, that you have to win a race or two if you want to go deep in a tournament.

In the Bodog Blogger Tournament of Champions last night, I lost two coin flips that, had I won them, could have kept me going longer than I did.

The first was this hand:

Blinds are 50/100. Players and chips:

JD Schellnutt - 1,350
ScottMc - 7,075
cbags - 5,385
JL514 - 1,505
Drizztdj - 1,880 - SB
smokkee - 4,265 - BB
yestbay1 - 5,180
emptyman - 3,275

UTG, I pick up 9h 9d. I raise to 500. It folds to JL514, who shoves his 1,505 in the middle. Drizz and smokkee fold.

I have more than 3 times as many chips as JL514, and since it only costs me 1,005 to call to win the 2,150 in the pot and knock out someone, I call. JL shows Ad Kc. We're off to the races.

Flop: 2s 7d Ac
Turn: Kh
River: 3s

That knocked me down to 3,675, but with an M of over 20, I was still in good shape.

Unfortunately, the cards didn't come my way after that. Just about everything I got was an auto-fold due to crappy cards or bad position. Eventually, with blinds up to 125/250 and my stack reduced to 2,700, I push from UTG+1 with Ac Jh. ScottMc in the SB with 13,515 in chips calls me with 7h 7c. He catches a 7 on the flop, I can't catch runner-runner, and I'm out.

I feel like the great majority of my decisions were good. I may have played tighter/weaker than some people, and probably folded some marginal hands that others would have played. Unless my call of the shorty with 99 was poor, I think I did OK with what I was dealt.

I really enjoyed the Bodog Blogger series and my thanks go once again to $mokkee and Nadia for putting it all together and making it the success that it was. Congratulations to GoldenHammer who won first prize and the $12K WSOP ME package. Complete TOC results are here.

I will be away from the tables for a few weeks, because I am going on vacation next week and then rehearsing a play which will perform in July. I hope to squeeze in a game now and then, but my Tuesday nights are going to be otherwise occupied for the next several weeks. But when my schedule loosens up, I'll be back for more Bodog Blogger tourney fun.

Limping into the Bodonkey TOC

2008-06-04T20:19:00.002-05:00

I played in the Bodog Blogger Tourney last night, the final game in the series with the grand prize of a WSOP Main Event package. I was very card dead the whole time I was in; I got KK once with no action, and that was about as good as it got. I misplayed one hand with 77 where I should have folded to Ingoal's bet after I missed the flop. Other than that, my decisions were easy because I barely even got any marginal hands that could have got me in trouble. I busted in 32nd place, well out of the points which I hoped to earn to make sure I stayed in the top 18. Incredibly, even with everybody gunning for him due to the T$270 bounty on his head, $mokkee finished first last night. GG, sir.

Fortunately, only a couple of people behind me in the standings picked up enough points to jump over me on the leaderboard. I got bumped from 14th to 16th in the rankings, but that is still good enough to move on to the Tournament of Champions next Tuesday night. The list of finalists is here. I congratulate everyone who made it to the grand finale, and I wish them all good luck, but not as good as mine. The competition will be tough, and the person who wins the WSOP package will certainly need to earn it. I'd love to take it all down, and a 1 in 18 chance is better odds than I may ever see again. I'll be studying and practicing as much as I have time for between now and Tuesday to maximize this opportunity.

I know that the Bodog interface is flaky sometimes, but I must say that I have enjoyed playing in this series. The players have generally been friendly and not quite as prone (although not immune) to the trash-talking and whining that has plagued some of the other blogger tourneys. The overlays have been enormous, which has been a great incentive to play in these games. After the TOC, I will be taking a forced break from the Tuesday night game for a few weeks due to other commitments. But I plan to use the T$ and cash that I have won to play in other tourneys and ring games on Bodog and see if I can build my bankroll there.

I am also entered in the BBT3 banner freeroll on Sunday, so I have that shot at a $2K WSOP prize. That tourney will be a mine field of craziness, so I will just hope to get lucky in that one.

Last note: I will be driving up to Tulsa, OK this weekend to geek out at the Trek Expo convention. While I am up there, I plan to play my first live poker since the WPBT Winter Classic, at the Cherokee Casino. I hear they have a very nice poker room; I'll try to remember to post a report about it when I get back.

Bodog Blogger Tournament series - one more chance!

2008-05-28T17:23:00.002-05:00

The Bodog Blogger Tournament series that has as its grand prize a WSOP Main Event package will hold its final qualifying tourney next Tuesday, June 3, at 9:05 PM ET. At the moment I am in 14th place on the leaderboard, and only the top 18 finishers will qualify for the Tournament of Champions to be held Tuesday June 10. Anyone who has earned even a few points in the series so far could conceivably jump into the top 18 with a win or high finish next week. I hope we have a big turnout and an exciting conclusion to the qualifying series.

I played in last night's game in hopes of earning some points to cement my place in the TOC. I had to join late because of an important meeting at my son's school, and by the time I took my seat I had already lost 200 of my 3,000 starting chips to the blinds. Still, 2,800 is plenty to work with and I felt comfortable coming in with that amount.

Unfortunately, the cards didn't cooperate and I dumped off a fair amount of chips within a few orbits of starting out. The few playable hands that I got, I ended up folding most of the time to raises or bets when I missed the flop. The blinds kept gnawing at my stack, and I busted in 18th place when my TT ran into BuddyDank's QQ. Now I have one remaining shot next week at making sure I move on to the TOC.

As far as I know, the Tuesday night Bodog blogger game will continue after the WSOP series is over. This series seems to have been a success, so it won't surprise me if Bodog puts up some more incentives in the future to make it even more worth our while to play every week. Of course, the Tuesday night game is only one of a truckload of tourneys and cash games that Bodog offers every day. Many of the tourneys, especially the guarantees, have fabulous overlays. I have been concentrating most of my Bodog time on the Tuesday game, but I plan to branch out and play more of the other tourneys. There is a lot of soft play out there and I intend to take advantage of it.

Before I finish this post, I must once again give props to Smokkee for selling the Bodog folks on hosting the Tuesday blogger tourney. Thanks to him, we have had these great games and fantastic prizes to shoot for, and even some Bodog pros sitting in with us, and he deserves many kudos for his efforts. Thanks, man.

See you next week for the final chapter in the Bodog Blogger qualifying series, and hopefully the following week in the TOC!

A Matter of Trust

2008-05-19T19:52:00.003-05:00

CJ over at Up for Poker asks a pertinent question: Given the scandal at Absolute Poker and other shady activities at various poker sites, why do you play where you play, and are you worried about cheating?

In answer to the first question, I currently play at three sites: PokerStars, FullTilt, and Bodog. In the past I have also played at Party Poker and the old Doyle's Room.

I play at PS, FT and Bodog because I happen to have funds on all three sites. If I were to go bust on any of them, there is a good chance that I would stop playing there rather than try to add money, unless the UIGEA goes away and it gets easier to do so. I try to practice good bankroll management and hope that I never do get so low that I can't play anything but freerolls and play money.

Does the reputation of any of these sites influence whether I chose to start playing there, or to continue to play there? So far, that hasn't been a major factor. I never had an account on Absolute Poker so their stupid actions have had no effect on me. I have not heard of anything questionable on the sites I frequent now that has made me think about giving up any of them. I do feel pretty comfortable with the integrity of all three, at least to this point. If I heard of a scandal at one of these sites along the lines of the superuser foolishness at Absolute, I would immediately stop playing there and get ready to withdraw my money if it became clear that the site wasn't taking strong, decisive steps to rectify the problem.

CJ posts a quote from Bill Rini where Bill says that cheating will always happen in poker. I have no doubt of the truth of that statement. What is important to me is how the parties in charge react when it occurs, and what those parties do to try to prevent such problems. As long as PokerStars, FullTilt and Bodog, do their level best to maintain the highest standards of integrity and honesty, I will be happy to give them my business.

Movin' on up, a bit

2008-05-14T19:39:00.002-05:00

I made the final table in the Bodonkey last night, and busted in eighth place when 55 < AA. But I earned some much needed leaderboard points, which pushed me to ninth in the standings going into next week. I have been second-guessing my decision to push with 55 and an M of about 5, thinking maybe I should have folded that and hoped for something better. Just my bad luck to run into rockets with Presto.

I can't play in next week's tourney due to family obligations, so I have to hope that those just below me in the standings don't all make the points and pass me up. I should be back for the last two tourneys, although I may be late for the one on May 27.

Not much poker playing for me otherwise. I played in back-to-back $2.25 two-table SNGs recently and didn't cash in either one. I think I will try another FT $3.30 DSTKO tonight while my son does homework.

Good news, bad news

2008-05-05T20:32:00.002-05:00

Good news: last week in the Bodonkey, I made a good laydown of two pair on a flushy board.

Bad news: I didn't make the laydown of my KQ when the board came A-K-x and Instant Tragedy went all in, with me only covering him by a few chips. His A beat me and I was short stacked.

Good news: I'm still in the top 18 on the Bodog Blogger Leaderboard.

Bad news: I haven't earned any points in a few weeks and could be in danger of dropping out of TOC contention if I don't pick up some points between now and the end of the series.

Good news: I am a few cents ahead in the micro-stakes cash games that I have played over the past couple of months.

Bad news: I haven't cashed in a SNG or tourney in over a month (except $0.35 that I won in a $1.25 single-table Razz SNG).

Things could be better, could be worse. At least I'm not on a big losing streak. I'm hoping that the Bodonkey tomorrow will go well for me.

A not-so-gentle reminder to myself...

2008-04-23T19:58:00.002-05:00

...Don't call off virtually all of your chips to an all-in reraise when all you have is AK soooted and you aren't in the orange or red zone.

Yes, I donked out of the Bodonkey last night committing just such a move, against 23skidoo. One of these days I will learn. I hope.

I have fallen to 12th on the leaderboard. Sure, I'm in better position than a lot of people, but with six more tourneys to play in the series, it wouldn't be hard for several players further down the list to catch up and pass me. I would really like to play in the TOC, not because I feel like I would have a snowball's chance of actually winning it, but just for the feeling of accomplishment for getting to that point. If I could place high enough to win some of the T$ they are awarding to the top finishers, that would be very sweet. But I know that I will need to earn some points over the next few weeks to solidify my spot in the standings.

Another strategy, I suppose, would be to root for everyone who is above me on the leaderboard now to win the points. As long as those lower than me don't move up, I should stay in the running for the final tourney.

In any case, I'd better bone up and work harder on playing better in these things (and in general).

Cooler victim

2008-04-16T20:28:00.002-05:00

Last night in the Bodonkey, I was running pretty hot most of the night. I got AA at least three times but only made any money with them once, when Instant Tragedy pushed his 33 into them and I busted him. But I also got TT three or four times and they mostly held up, including one hand where I rivered a straight with them to bust Bayne_S.

I had built my stack up near the lead, although I wasn't far ahead of the rest of the pack. Then this hand came along:

Blinds were 150/300/25. My stack was 12,660, so I was comfortable compared to the blinds and the others at my table. We were down to three tables, so the bubble was a ways off. In the BB, I woke up with KK. It folded to Sed the Icon in the SB with a total of 7,370 in chips, which he shoved into the pot. At least, I thought he had pushed, but it turned out he had 85 chips behind after his raise. Nevertheless, I instacalled.

Flop: Ad 2c 5h

Sed threw in his last 85 chips and of course I called again. He showed As 6h.

Turn: 8c. River: Ah.

I was knocked down to 5,030.

Now, I suppose I could have folded my KK to his push. But I only truly feared AA, and was expecting something more along the lines of what Sed had, which I was ahead of. With a chance to take out another player and add a nice chunk of chips to my stack, I couldn't see folding the second-best starting hand at that point. If anyone is reading this and has any feedback on this play, please leave a comment for me.

The very next hand, I was put to another decision. I got Ac Kc in the SB. With only 4,780 left after posting my blind, I was ready to shove with this hand if it folded around to me, or with a limper or two in the pot.

But Mondogarage in the hi-jack seat pushed his short stack of 3,975. Sed the Icon also went all-in with his now big stack of 15,360.

I would have called Mondogarage in a heartbeat. But with another player in the pot, I didn't like just AK suited. I decided to wait for another spot and folded. Mondo had AQ, and Sed had.... AK. The board came 5-3-5-K-8 rainbow and Sed took the pot, busting Mondo. Sed and I would have split the pot and I would have added half of Mondo's chips to my pile. Maybe I should have called and taken my chances, but I prefer to play AK heads up. Any thoughts on calling vs. folding here?

Just a few hands later, I got unlucky again.

Blinds 200/400/50. I had 4,630 and had to make a move. In MP I found Ad Qh. I thought about pushing but decided to try just a standard-sized raise to 1,400, to represent a stronger hand than just a push-and-pray, in hopes that the others would think twice about staying in with me. I was ready to deal with a caller. But GoldenHammer reraised me with all 4,095 of his chips. I didn't have him covered by much, and knew that folding would leave me with very little to work with. I hoped that GH had a marginal hand and was looking for me to fold, and I called. I got what I hoped for: GH had Ah Th and I dominated him.

Flop: Kc Ks Kh

That looked good to me. This didn't:

Turn: Tc

River: 6d

Boom - crippled to 285 chips. I busted two hands later.

I should have shoved the AQ instead of trying the 3.5XBB raise. GH might have folded his AT, but then again he might not. But he would have had more motivation to fold to my push than to my smaller raise.

I was really hoping for a higher finish so I could add to my leaderboard point total and maintain my spot in the top 5, giving me a better shot at the TOC. But other than the AK and AQ plays above, which could be argued either way IMO, I think I played pretty well last night. I'm currently in 8th place, so I feel like I still have a decent chance at the TOC. I certainly can't coast there, so I will have to bring my A-game in the coming weeks and do my best to earn more points.

I haven't played much poker otherwise, just a couple of the FullTilt $3.30 DSTKO SNGs, in which I did not cash. Not sure how much play I will get in between now and next Tuesday; we'll see. PokerStars is running a bunch of freeroll satellites for the WSOP, and I played in one of those tonight, busting early. I might jump into some of those if the timing works out, to see if I can luck into a ticket to the next round.

I'm forever blowing (it on the) bubble(s)

2008-04-02T19:54:00.003-05:00

My lack of endgame experience and/or skill showed itself in two recent tournaments. In the Bodog $30 + 3 $4K Guarantee this past Saturday, I made it to the final three tables but as one of the short stacks. With 21 players left, and blinds at 200/400/50, I had 2,821 left, for an M of about 3. The top 18 places paid, so I was close to cashing. I knew I had to push and pray if I were to make any kind of comeback.

However, there were two stacks smaller than mine at my table, and at least one other stack about as small on another table. I was aware of this situation at the time, but didn't give it as much weight as I should have.

In MP I picked up Ah 8c. It was folded to me. Normally this is an easy push for me, with an Ace and a kicker above 7, and a low M, so I shoved all my chips in.

The problem, though, is that four players behind me had plenty of chips and could call me without too much risk. I had to hope that everyone would fold, but my stack wasn't enough to scare everyone away.

The chip leader at my table, with a stack of over 17,000 and sitting on the button, reraised, doubling my bet. The blinds folded, and the button turned over Ad 9d. I did not improve and busted out in 21st place.

Although in most cases I wouldn't give this play a second thought, I realized later that I could have held on for a few more hands, even with my low M, to see if any of the other short stacks would take a stab and bust out, moving me closer to the money. I might also have got lucky and picked up a better hand and some chips, or I could have considered pushing with a hand less likely to be dominated if called. Perhaps if we were right on the bubble, instead of two or three players away, I would have been more conscious of it and more patient. I still might not have made it to the money, but I feel like I didn't give myself the chance that I should have.

I did it again in the Bodonkey last night. At the final table, I had built up a nice stack but saw it get whittled away on a few hands. The crippling hand went like this:

I'm on the button with 18,333 in chips. Six players; top five get paid cash and T$109 each. Blinds are 800/1,600/150; my M is just under 6.

My hole cards come Ad Td. If it folds to me, I'm shoving.

Drizz folds UTG. Donkette pushes her last 16,050 chips in. RecessRampage2, the short stack, folds.

Donkette had gone all-in several times in the last few orbits, so I put her on a fairly wide range of hands, although not any two cards. But if she had an Ace, there were several hands she could have that would dominate me, and of course any pair was ahead. If I had been smart, I would have let her have the blinds and antes, or let someone else challenge her. But I called, everyone else folded, and she showed As Jd. Sure enough, I was dominated. The board brought no help for me, and I was crippled. I busted just a few hands later.

Once again, I could have waited for a better hand or better situation since I was right on the bubble and had chips left. I called with an easily dominated hand and paid for it. The consolation is, I got my T$11 entry fee back for finishing sixth, and I got some leaderboard points to move back up to fourth place (from fifth last week, but down from third the week before).

Hopefully going through this bubble crap in two tourneys within days of each other will make me think harder when I have a similar decision to make in the future.

Side note: I cashed in another FullTilt $3.30 DSTKO SNG the other day, and then blew those winnings (all $6) in the special Martini rebuy game hosted by Katitude on Monday night. I suffered a couple of ugly beats early on, which I won't recount here, and decided to save my FT funds for another day. But I will be back for more of those $3.30 games to try my luck again.

Fumbling the Hammer against Josh Arieh

2008-03-26T19:33:00.002-05:00

Last night, poker pro and Team Bodog member Josh Arieh played in the Bodog Blogger Tournament, and I drew his table at the start of the game. This was scary and thrilling at the same time. Bodog had put a $100 bounty up for the person who would bust Arieh, which meant I had a shot at that. It also meant that I would be playing against a known aggressive pro, and I wasn't sure how that would affect my play (not for the better, most likely).

Josh actually played fairly tight to start. Probably sizing us all up. Not too long into the game, I picked up 2c 7s UTG. Blinds were 10/20. Of course, I raised with it, to 80. Josh was in the cutoff, and called me, as did GCox25 on the button and odets in the BB. Pot was $330.

Flop: 3d 4c 2s

odets checked. I bet $160 with my pair of ducks; Josh called. GCox and odets folded. I should have bet bigger to reduce the calling odds.

Turn: 8d

Having missed the turn, I checked. Mistake # 2. I should not have given Josh a free card; I should have continued my bluff and represented the strength I started with. Josh checked also.

River: 5s

Great, a straight card. If Josh has an Ace or a 6, I'm dead. I check, and he checks behind. He shows 7d 5d and his fives beat my deuces. He flopped an OESD and I can certainly understand his call of my half-pot bet.

Right after that, Josh asked in the chat box, "You raised with 27?"

A brief explanation of the blogger tradition of the Hammer followed. Josh's comment: "Whatever it is, I LIKE!"

Not too long after that, GCox got everyone to fold to the Hammer preflop, and later, emptyman beat Josh with the Hammer when his 7 paired the board and Josh bluffed into him with air. He didn't like the Hammer much there.

Josh was friendly in the chat, and seemed to have a good time. He busted out on the early side to Abby17 when his 77 ran into AQ that flopped an A and rivered a Q to rub it in.

I didn't last a lot longer than he did. I had bled away some chips trying to pick up some draws and missing. I did catch quads on an early hand but didn't get much action. Eventually I made a donkey call with TT against emptyman's AA to bust in lowly 46th place. No leaderboard points for me this time, unless I picked up a couple just for playing. I have now slipped to fifth place in the standings, which means I had better step things up in the coming weeks so I don't lose my shot at the TOC.

On the other hand, I did finally cash in one of the FullTilt $3.30 Deep Stack Turbo KO (damn, that's a mouthful) SNGs on Sunday. After falling behind early, I caught some much needed cards and doubled up about midway through, then went on a tear. I had not scored a single knockout in the previous KO tourneys I had played; in this one, I racked up eight of them. At $0.50 each, I made back my buy-in and then some just by busting my opponents. I made it to the final table, and eventually heads up, with a comfortable chip lead for a good part of the time. But HU I made at least one iffy play which cost me my lead, and I ended up finishing second. Still, that one cash, and the $4.00 in bounties, wiped out all my tournament losses on FT so far in 2008. That is a very good feeling. I am sure I will be playing in more of these cheap DSTKO SNGs.

No more BBT3 for me

2008-03-14T11:24:00.002-05:00

After my pathetic performance in the Riverchasers tourney last night, I am officially swearing off the BBT3. Sorry to anyone who was looking forward to any dead money I might have contributed. I don't feel like bleeding off what I have left in my FT account in games where I will just embarrass myself in front of other poker bloggers.

I have not cashed in a single tournament or SNG on FullTilt so far in 2008. I don't blame FT for that; I've just run poorly there. My FT bankroll is such that I can play the $3 and under tourneys for a while longer, but if I don't cash soon, I will be busto on that site. Not a goal I am aiming for.

I will continue to play in the Tuesday night Bodonkey, where I have somehow built up a nice roll of both cash and T$, and even leaderboard points. We'll see if I can make that last.

Double-stack turbo?? Yes, Virginia, they exist

2008-03-09T21:22:00.002-05:00

In looking for a way to add to my roll on FullTilt without jeopardizing too much of what little I have left there, I found some 90-player $3 + 0.30 SNGs that I hadn't paid attention to before. These odd little NLHE tourneys are like Frankenstein monsters, with all the extra features added on:

*3,000 chip starting stacks
*Turbo blinds
*Knockout bounties

At first I didn't realize the double-stack and turbo nature of these things. When I registered for my first one, I saw the large stack and thought, "Hell, this is going to take longer than I planned to play." After a while, I noticed that the blinds were going up awfully fast, and figured out that it was a turbo. Normally I don't like turbos, as I prefer to have some time to get a feel for my table and such. But, I realized, a deep stack tourney that was also a turbo might not take as long as I feared. That was a good thing, since my poker playing time is limited.

I was right. Things moved along fast. People were making really baffling plays, like calling off all their chips with middle or bottom pair or crap like K6. It was almost like they thought *they* would get the 50 cent bounty if they got knocked out, instead of the person who busted them. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't in a position to benefit from the donkery I witnessed. I got lousy hands and had to fold and watch the fireworks around me.

I played in two of these games over the last few days, and didn't cash in either one. I might well try them again, because they don't seem to take much longer than a regular two or five-table SNG, and the prize pool is bigger because of the higher number of entrants. If I can make a decent score in one or more of these, I ought to be able to play in some of the BBT3 events. I might take a stab at a Mookie or Riverchasers anyway, since a cash in one of those would set me up for some future play too. But I have to be careful about my bankroll on FT, or I'll be stuck doing the freerolls just to try win enough to get back into the $1.25 SNGs.

Still running strong in the Bodonkey

2008-03-05T19:34:00.003-06:00

I finished fifth in the Bodog Blogger Tourney last night, maintaining my record of finishing in decent position more times than not. I even stayed in third place on the leaderboard, which is quite a feat for me. Now, if I can just keep the streak going and earn more leaderboard points in the weeks to come, I might actually have a shot at the TOC in June. And if a donkey like me can do this well, everyone should take a crack at this thing.

I stood a good chance at finishing even higher last night, but I made what I think was a bad play that decimated my stack at the final table. It went like this:

Blinds: 1,000/2,000/200
Five players
I was on the button and picked up Ac Kh. My stack was 33,776.
UTG folded.
23skidoo, with 32,061 in his stack, raised to 8,000.

I knew I was going to play this hand, but how? Our stacks were virtually even. His raise of 4XBB could mean almost anything - A-X, medium to high pair, the Hammer. Rather than push preflop, I thought I would just double his bet, to try to get him to think that I had a very strong hand and wanted a call, thus causing him to fold. I raised to 16,000. The blinds folded, but Brian called.

The flop came 3c Jh 2c.

No pair for me, and only a vague backdoor straight or flush draw. If Brian had AJ, A2 or A3, he just caught two pair. If he had a pair of anything else, he was still ahead of me. Even if he had the Hammer, he just paired his deuce and took the lead.

Brian pushed. I felt like I was behind, although he could have missed the flop like I did and was just hoping to push me off the hand or race me for the pot. But I felt like I could come back with the chips I would have left, so I folded.

Looking back, I feel like I should have just pushed over the top preflop and taken my chances with my AK. He might have folded, and if he called I would have got to see all five board cards.

I welcome any feedback on this hand. I do feel like I am developing a better feel for the game, but still have a long way to go in many areas.

A few hands later, I picked up JJ but ran it into emptyman's AT which ended up Aces full of Tens. Congrats to Drizztdj for winning it all last night.

See you Tuesday at the next Bodonkey!

BBT3 looking less likely for me

2008-03-02T16:48:00.005-06:00

I tried to add to my FullTilt bankroll today by playing in a two-table $5.50 SNG. I was doing OK at first, sitting back and watching people knock each other out and swap chips around on loose plays. I was crippled when I made a bad call of a raise on a three-flush flop with only top pair. My FT roll is down below $75, which means I can only play a few Mookie or Riverchasers tourneys before going bust, unless I manage to cash in one of them. That isn't an easy task for me. I expect that I will try again to build up in more micro buy-in tourneys before risking my stake in the BBT games.

On a more entertaining note, I got this lucky hand in a Bodog ring game a couple of weeks ago:

I didn't make a lot of money on this hand, but I had one player in with me to the river who ended up turning a ten-high straight. Too bad it was limit, or I might have profited a bit more.

I should be in the Tuesday Bodog Blogger Tourney this week; I've got a nice roll there now, and they are offering a WSOP ME package to their TOC winner. Maybe I will have a chance at that.

Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 3

2008-02-28T20:14:00.004-06:00

Although I don't know how many BBT3 events I will get to play in, I want to pimp this series as a tip of the hat to Sir Al Can't Hang, who has worked his cheeks off to set these things up. I hope to score some wins soon on FullTilt so I will have the necessary bankroll to play often enough to qualify for the ridiculously fabulous prizes being offered. Check out either of the links above for more info on this fantastic opportunity.

Riding the Bodonkey roller coaster, all the way to the end

2008-02-27T21:36:00.004-06:00

I think the wild ride started when I folded AA preflop.

In the Bodonkey last night, things went slowly for me early on. Not many hands worth playing, not many pots won when I had something. I stayed tight and didn't try to make any tricky or fancy plays. "Keep it simple" was my motto, and I stuck to it.

My stack dwindled down but I hung in. When we were down to about three tables, I picked up AA in late position. One player raised to 1,550, it folded to me, I min-raised to 2,500, hoping for a reraise all-in so I could call. On cue, the raiser pushed. I reached for my mouse to click the "Call" button, but my finger clicked the left button as the cursor was crossing the "Fold" button, and my bullets vanished. I nearly jumped out of my chair. I couldn't believe that I had screwed up my chance at what might have been an easy double up. Lucky for me, I still had a barely decent stack of chips left, but I was sure that my doom was sealed. I have been telling myself ever since that the Aces probably would have been cracked.

Then again, maybe not. Not long after that hand, just about everything started going my way. I picked up some strong starting cards. I bet them, and either picked up the blinds or won the hands on later streets. If someone pushed, I had a strong enough hand to call, and it held up. I still played extra tight, folding hands like AJ and 88 when I was out of position or sensed strength in my opponents. It got to the point where, by the final table, I could do no wrong. Mostly, I got my chips in ahead and came out ahead. I remember one suckout where I got all my chips in with 99 against Columbo's A-x. He flopped an A, but I turned a 9 to cripple him. A few hands later, Columbo doubled through me when he came from behind on one hand. But my rush would hold out and I started knocking players out one after another.

The end of the final table went so fast that I was able to pull these from Bodog's hand histories without much trouble:
Columbo pushes with JK; I call with 66. A Jack flops, but the turn is a 6, and I bust him.
Three hands later:
Kurokitty pushes with 44. I call with 88 and bust him.
Next hand:
Newinnov pushes with 99; I call with TT and bust him.
Two hands later, blinds $1K/2K/200:
I raise to 3K from the SB with J4; TFG in the BB calls.
Flop: 3h 4c 5c
I bet $6K; TFG raises to 12K; I call.
Turn: 6c
I check. TFG pushes for 8,856. I have over 116K so I call. TFG shows Ad 2d for the flopped straight, which has become a 6-high straight on the turn.
River: 2s
We play the board and chop the pot. TFG goes on tilt.
Four hands later:
I have Ac Jc on the button and open raise to 9K.
TFG in the SB pushes for 20,356. Pokerpeaker folds. I have over 120K so I call. TFG shows Ah Th. Board comes Q-3-J-6-J rainbow and I bust him.
Very next hand, heads up:
Pokerpeaker in the SB/button pushes for his last 8,684. I have 4d 3c but I have $150K so I have to call. Peaker shows Kc 6d.
Board comes 3s 5s Ad 5c 9s. My pair of 3s busts him.

Come on, say it with me - sick, sick, sick.

Stop the presses - I won my first ever blogger tournament. My previous best finishes in any blogger tourney were one second place, and two third places. But I'm not fooling myself by thinking that I won last night by my mad skillz. The Card Fairy dumped a boatload of good luck dust on me, and I know it. Now I plan to use the bankroll boost and T$ to play a few extra games and practice so I can improve my play. I don't want to depend on the good graces of the poker gods every time I sit down at the felt. But if they choose to smile on me again like they did in this week's Bodonkey, I will take any favors they are willing to bestow on me.

Poker hara-kiri & break time

2008-02-18T19:48:00.003-06:00

Last Tuesday in the Bodog Blogger Tournament, I performed the poker equivalent of throwing myself in front of a moving train, even though I saw it bearing down on me, and knew that the chances of it stopping without running me down were slim to none.

You see, I had been dealt KK in MP, raised 3XBB PF, got reraised by a LP player. The flop came with an Ace. I bet big for information and got raised. Gee, do you think he has an Ace in his hand? I called anyway. The turn was not a King, but I pushed. Of course he called, of course he had AQ, and of course I was out. 54th of 56. I would be hard pressed to think of a more foolish move to make.

I did not play poker for the rest of the week; I needed some breathing room after such utter donkery. I spent my spare time reading, watching a little TV, and hanging out with my family. I enjoyed it, and found that I didn't miss playing. But I wasn't giving up poker for Lent; just for a few days.

I broke my poker fast Sunday. I had (and still have now) the vestiges of a cold and wasn't feeling like running errands with my wife and son, so I stayed home and looked for a tournament to get into. I found a 180-player $4.40 SNG on PokerStars. Busted out in 83rd place after a long stretch of getting few hands to play and having to fold the ones worth playing. Then I decided to look at the guaranteed tourneys on Bodog because they so often have big overlays. I found a $4k guarantee with a $30 + 3 buy-in that only had about 40 people signed up. Normally I wouldn't play at that level, but with the $T that I had won in earlier Bodog Blogger games, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to get into a tourney that could really pad my account if I could cash in it. By the time the tourney started, the guarantee had been exceeded, so there was no overlay. But, what the hell, I thought, might as well see how the mid-level play is. I didn't find it to be much different from what I am used to in the blogger games. I did OK for a while, and lucked out a few times to stay alive. I eventually finished 46th out of 140 runners. I know I could have played better on a few hands and possibly gone deeper, but I wasn't altogether unsatisfied with the decisions I made overall.

Once I busted out of the $4K, I felt like playing one more, so I jumped into a single table $2.20 SNG on Bodog. I very rarely play one-table SNGs because the payouts are negligible, especially at the micro-stakes where I play. But I figured it wouldn't take too long and I could scratch my poker itch one last time for the day. I ended up taking that one down for a $6 win (= a whopping $3.80 profit). I had to suck out a couple of times while on the short stack, but once again I felt like most of my decisions were good, or at least reasonable.

So far in 2008, I am roughly at the break-even point, bankroll-wise. I still have a nice cushion in $T on Bodog, so I can play the Tuesday night blogger tourneys for several more weeks without touching my cash there. I may not be able to make it regularly on Tuesdays, though, if I get cast in the play that I auditioned for Sunday evening. We'll see how that cuts into my poker playing time, if at all. If I am out of the Tuesday night games for a few weeks, I may have to seek out some of those other Bodog tourneys and maybe catch one where the overlay is in effect when the game starts.

Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series begins February 4

2008-02-02T08:19:00.000-06:00

The official announcement is out, and Bodog is pumping up their Tuesday night poker blogger tournament series. Here is the scoop, straight from the Bodog's mouth:

Bodog Introduces Poker Blogger Tournament Series

Bodog is proud to host the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series opened to any Online Poker Blogger. Join up and challenge other Poker Bloggers each week in our Bodog Poker Room and live to tell about it. Earn points and work your way up the Tournament Leader Board for a spot in the final tournament for your chance to win a $12,000 World Series of Poker* prize package and be a part of Team Bodog 2008.

How it Works
The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of a series of 18 qualifying tournaments that run weekly beginning Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 to Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament will earn points based on their finish. These points will be used to rank players over 4 months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 with the first place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP* prize package!

Prizes
Weekly Tournaments
Buy-in: $10 + $1
Prize Pool will be distributed as per Bodog's standard multi-table payout table. In addition, the top 5 players each week will also win T$109 to be used to buy-in to the $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament held every Sunday at 4:00 PM ET. The top 5 bubble players each week will win a free buy-in to next week's Weekly Tournament. (T$11 will be credited to these players' Bodog account within 24 hours after the completion of the tournament)

Final Tournament
Buy-in: $0 + $0 (must finish in the Top 18 on the TLB to be invited)
Grand Prize: $12,000 WSOP* Prize Package with Team Bodog
2nd place: T$540 to be used to buy-in to (2) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
3rd place: T$379 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal and (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament
4th: T$270 to be used to buy-in to (1) World Series or Players Choice Semifinal
5th: T$109 to be used to buy-in to (1) $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament

Bodog Blogger Tournament Leader Board
The Tournament Leader Board will be available at http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/
throughout the course of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series. It will provide the point totals for every player that has played in the qualifying tournaments. The top 30% of players in each tournament will receive points according to finish which at the end of the qualifying tournaments will ultimately determine who will move on to the Final Event. The top 18 players on the TLB at the end of the qualifiers will earn their way to the Final Event.

How To Register
To register for the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, poker bloggers must first go to http://www.bodoglife.com/promotions/poker/blogger-tournament/ and sign in with their Bodog account information in the upper right hand corner. Once this is completed, they then must click on "REGISTER NOW" to register themselves into the tournament series. Bloggers will each have to do this once in order to play in the series. Once this is done, they then need to find the "Online Poker Blogger Tournament" in the software and register as they normally would each and every week.

Bodog Blogger Tournament Host Site
Bodogbloggertournament.com will host this tournament series and will provide poker bloggers with weekly updates on:

* tournament results for winners and losers
* announcements for special promotions or guest players
* the latest in Bodog Poker Room news and gossip
* tips on how to succeed at Bodog Poker

----------------------------
Follow any of the links above to get more info. Props must again go out to $mokkee for hosting the Tuesday night games and working with the Bodog folks to sponsor this weekly tournament and now up the ante to make it even more attractive for bloggers to enter.

See you there!

Fifth is the new first

2008-01-30T20:43:00.000-06:00

For the second week in a row, I somehow managed to finish in fifth place in the Tuesday night Bodog Blogger Tournament, hosted by $mokkee. It took even more lucksackery for me this week than last; there were at least two hands where I pushed with small pairs, got called by bigger pairs or overcards, and flopped a set to double up. Thanks once again to Bodog's generous overlay, I had $T109 added to my tournament credit balance, to go along with the real cash for my fifth place finish. I think I'll be playing more at Bodog, as I understand that they often have a nice overlay in many of their other tourneys too.

Pokerpeaker was the other luckbox in the game last night. He was down to 65 chips at the final table, made an astounding comeback, and took second place. Go read his blog for the gory details. Lightning36 came out on top at the end, for his fourth (!!!) Bodonkey tourney win.

Starting next Tuesday, the Bodog Blogger Tourney will become a series of 18 weekly tournaments which will include leaderboard points and a Tournament of Champions at the end of the series, with a "sick" prize (sez $mokkee) to be awarded to the champ, plus other prizes for the rest of the top finishers. The announcement of what the prizes will be is scheduled for Friday Feb. 1, so stay tuned to $mokkee's blog for the dirt on that. I'll be playing and hoping to keep my rush going.

What's a donkey to do?

2008-01-27T16:28:00.004-06:00

Has it really been three weeks since I posted here? Feels like longer. Occasionally I'll get an idea that seems like it might be worth posting, but that feeling usually passes quickly. But, if for no other reason than to pretend that I am still a poker blogger, I figure I'll throw something up here.

Let's get the trivial things like results out of the way first.

Cash games since last post = in the red
Tourneys since last post = in the black*

*The asterisk is because my "profit" has come from the tournament credits I won in the Bodog Blogger Game last Tuesday. I folded and luckboxed my way to fifth in that tourney, which got me $29.60 in real US money, but also $T109 in my Bodog account thanks to their generous bonus program for these tourneys. If not for that, I would still be well into the red for tournaments so far this calendar year. I plan to use the $T to play in the Tuesday night games as regularly as I can, and possibly to check out some of their other tournaments.

Because I am a consistent loser at tourneys these days, I am trying to play in more ring games to see if I can perform with some semblance of success. I stick to the micro-limits, to make my bankroll last as long as possible. I have no desire to jump through the hoops or pay the fees to fund my accounts at the poker sites, so I'd like to milk my meager stakes in the three sites where I am funded for as long as possible.

A problem with that is, playing for nickels and dimes means that any wins I bank don't amount to much, so my roll doesn't grow with any speed. That isn't to say that I am impatient; I can fold hand after hand with the tightest of them. In fact, I am doing that as I type this, in a $0.02 - 0.04 Limit O8 game on PokerStars. I have had a bunch 0f hands with middle cards, and very few Aces, so my Fold button is getting a real workout. What I need is a run of decent hands so I can win some pots from the any-four-cards playing fish in these games. Maybe I need to switch back to Stud 8, which I did OK at for a while last year.

I'm playing strictly Limit poker in the ring games, mostly because I feel more comfortable playing Limit outside of tournaments. I have not, however, played in any Limit tourneys yet, because they generally take way too long.

I'm in my usual quandary about what to do about poker. Am I enjoying it enough to tolerate the steady diminishing of my bankroll? Will it do me any good to read more poker books, or have I reached a saturation point with those? Should I find something better to do with the time that I spend on poker now?

Here's one I'm wondering about: Should I take a bigger risk, play at slightly higher levels where I can use what little I have learned about how to play correctly against other players who might actually fold their crap hands to my bets and raises? I have resisted this temptation for a long time, partly because I am a wuss and don't like to get in over my head, and partly because I know that variance could easily cripple me with a few losing rounds as well as give me a nice cushion if I were to have a few winning sessions.

I expect that I will just plod along as I have been. I'll play in the Bodog Tuesday night game as long as my credits and bankroll there hold out, and try to slowly build my roll on PokerStars and FullTilt as I get the chance.

And now, a word from one of our sponsors:

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Okie-Vegas 2008 - be there!

2008-01-06T21:29:00.000-06:00

GCox has posted the announcement that everyone (who is anyone) has been waiting for:

Okie-Vegas 3 is go for launch this summer! Go check his site for the lowdown. I'll be there, good Lord willin' and the crick don't rise, so don't miss your chance to take my money, hang out with some wild and crazy poker bloggers, and have a whooping-hollering-yeehaw-good time.

And if you are wondering what Okie-Vegas 2 was like, check my report here, which also has links to other folks' accounts of the festivities.

See you there!

Looking behind, looking ahead

2008-01-06T19:54:00.000-06:00

A new year has begun , so it's probably time to review how I fared in 2007, and what I plan to do in 2008.

I keep records of my play, so I have a pretty good idea of my results for online play for the past year. (I have left live play out of this review because I played so little live poker.) Here are some figures that I have to chew on:

Tournaments played (SNG and scheduled): 107
Tournaments cashed: 21
Tournaments won (finished first): 3
Cash game sessions: 88
Cash game sessions where I quit with a profit: 42

I don't even know what constitutes a "good" record for cashes per tourneys played or anything like that, but I definitely lost a chunk of change, compared to the stakes I play, in tournaments in 2007. I came out just a few dollars behind for the year in cash games, but I didn't spend nearly as much time at ring games as in tourneys, so I don't think I have a good sample to know if I am better suited for ring game play than tourneys.

Here are some more telling stats:
Tournaments played with buy-in of $11.00: 22 (of the 107 total above)
Tournaments cashed with buy-in of $11.00: 4

These $11.00 games were all blogger tourneys, and my performance in them was pretty poor. Other than one charity tourney where I put in $40.00, these blogger tourneys were the highest buy-in games that I played, and therefore put the biggest dents in my bankroll. Although my cashing percentage in lower buy-in tourneys isn't much higher than for the blogger tourneys, they also don't drain my roll as much when I finish out of the money.

What does this tell me about how I am doing as a poker player, and about what I should do in the coming year?

First, I have to look at my roll. I have funds on three sites at the moment: FullTilt, PokerStars, and Bodog. I only have money on Bodog because they offered to stake me in exchange for the link on this blog; the other two sites have been funded for a while, although I needed some help to get more money onto FullTilt when that account got low. As of now, PokerStars has the most and FullTilt has the least. One significant equation that I have looked at is this:

FT is where almost all the blogger tourneys are.
Blogger tourneys cost $11.00 or more to enter.
I have less than $100 on FT now.
I don't do well in blogger tourneys.

All of these factors add up to:
I won't be playing in any blogger games on FT until I build my roll there.

I don't want to deposit any more funds on any sites right now; I would rather add to my accounts the old fashioned way: by EARNING (read: winning) it.

I have less than $100 on Bodog too, so I will have to see if I can build that up through smaller-stakes tourneys and such so I can play in their Tuesday night blogger game more often.

I have a somewhat bigger roll on PokerStars, although it is still under $200, so I might be able to play in a few mid-level games there if I do so intelligently. Unfortunately, the blogger group that I know best doesn't seem to play much over there, or at least doesn't have regularly scheduled tourneys or games, so it isn't quite as much fun.

So, I know I won't be playing in the blogger games any time real soon. But what is on my list of things to *do* rather than *not do*?

1. Read and study more to improve my game. I know that I need to refresh my mind and memory on the proper techniques so I can make better decisions, which should help my bottom line results in the long run.
2. Work on playing my opponents more and my cards less. I really need to develop these skills a lot further if I hope to succeed at all.
3. Play more ring games and see how I do there. I want to be a well-rounded player and not narrow my focus too much onto tournaments.
4. Learn more about, and play more often in, several varieties of poker. I don't want to spread myself too thin and try to become an expert in everything, but I do want to have a decent working knowledge of multiple games and of poker in general.
5. Be more focused and in the game, and not allow myself to be distracted while playing. If I can improve at this, I'm sure it will help me perform better and, again, make better decisions.
6. Take more notes on my opponents, and use them to my advantage. I've done very little of this, although I know that it could be a huge help to me, so I need to be more disciplined about it.

How are those for New Year's resolutions? I'll bet they match those of some of the rest of the poker players in the world, and maybe some of you who read this. I wish us all luck in keeping up with them, and in becoming better poker players in 2008.

WPBT Winter Classic 2007 trip report

2007-12-15T14:41:00.000-06:00

I've been home from the WPBT Winter Classic for five days now and, like the procrastinator that I am, I'm just now writing my recollections from the trip. Some of the memories are starting to fade from my aging brain already, so I'd better commit them to my blog before they vanish completely.

Overall, I had a great time and I'm very glad I went. The best part was meeting lots of people that I had only chatted with or heard of on line. Although I am probably going to leave some out, the roll call of new faces that I got to put with names includes Dr. Pauly, Iggy, Change100, Columbo and the Mrs., Instant Tragedy, Pokerpeaker, Falstaff, Derek, Otis, AlCan'tHang, Mean Gene, Weak Player, Penner, Blinders, Zeem, The Rooster, Mr. Subliminal, CarmenSinCity, Joe Speaker, Irish Jim, BadBlood, Bacon Bikini Mary, Mattazuma, ScottMc, Maigrey, Garthmeister, Texas April, StB, Biggestron, TraumaPoker, Waffles, Linda Geenen, CC, Johnny Hughes, CK aka B.w.o.P, and undoubtedly more whom I can't remember at the moment. Please leave me a comment if I left you out (or got your link wrong) and I will update this post. I also renewed my acquaintance with the Okie-Vegas crew that I met this summer: GCox and Carrie, Maudie, Gracie, Jordan, TripJax (and ChickJax for the first time), Katitude, and F-Train. Some of the people above, I got to spend a bit of time with; others, I managed an introduction and a handshake and that was it. But it was a pleasure meeting everyone, and I'm sorry that I didn't get to meet even more people who were there but I just plain missed.

As for the reason for the whole thing in the first place: Poker. My performance was, in a word, variable. I played the mixed games at MGM Friday night; went up for a bit, then donked off enough chips to finish my night down about half my buy-in. It was fun playing a variety of games, with a variety of players. At my table during the course of the evening I had Falstaff, Trauma, Mary, the Rooster, Linda, Jordan, and a few others. Everyone was there to have a good time and the play was fairly loose, even by a tighty like me which may well account for me finishing down as much as I did. We played Crazy Pineapple, Omaha 8, Razz, maybe Stud 8, and strangely enough, one orbit of good old fashioned Hold 'Em. All $3 - $6 Limit, thank goodness, or I think I would have had to bail out early or skip it altogether.

The Main Event tourney on Saturday at the Venetian. I decided going in that I was going to stay tight and not take any foolish chances. The structure arranged by Falstaff and the Venetian poker room allowed for being conservative and sticking around for a while. Too bad I couldn't follow my own game plan. The hand that essentially finished me went down something like this (like I said, my memory is getting worse by the hour).

The table had been playing fairly tight. Blinds were 50/100, I still had maybe 5000 of my starting stack of 6000. I was in EP and got AJ (may have both been diamonds). I raised to 400 in hopes of representing a strong hand and getting heads-up or taking the blinds. Carol (whose screen name I don't recall), two seats to my left and almost even with me in chips, called; everyone else folded. Flop had A 9 5, all hearts. I felt like I had to bet my top pair to see where I stood, so I put in around 500. I think Carol raised to about 2000. At this point, I didn't put her on the flush, as I would expect her just to call. I thought she might have another A with possibly a lower kicker than mine and she was trying to get me to fold. I called, leaving me with roughly 3000 or a little less. The turn was a J, not a heart. I caught my second pair, so I bet out. Carol went all in. I thought about it, thinking she was still trying to push me off the hand, and made the call. She turned over 99 for the flopped set. I didn't see that coming, but I should have, as her bets made sense for that holding. I just didn't run through the entire range of hands she might have had. Also, even worse, it was still early enough in the tournament that I could have folded on the turn and had plenty of chips to keep playing. That mistake is what bothers me the most about this hand. Anyhow, I didn't catch an A or J on the river. I had Carol covered by 75 chips, but I lost those a few hands later when my Kd Jd ran into Linda's AK which flopped two more Aces. So, I busted out before the second level was done. I felt really stupid after that and swore, for about the 77th time in my life, that I was done with poker, forever. That lasted about 20 minutes, until I decided to play some low-stakes Limit. I got into a $4 - 8 game which turned out to be pretty soft. I caught a few hands and won a few pots, and then Maudie joined my table after she busted out of the tourney. She did better than I did, catching some monster hands and raking some very nice pots. I only wish I could have made back my tourney buy-in, but that would have taken more time than I had. I wanted to see Second City at the Flamingo that night, so I headed down there and got a ticket to the 10:00 PM show. To kill time before that started, I played some $2-4 Limit for about an hour and a half and finished about $20 ahead. Oh yeah, Second City was great.

Sunday, I played in the noon $60 tourney at the Imperial Palace, after visiting with the blogger gang in the sports bar for a while in the morning. I didn't last long in that one either, but I feel like I just got unlucky this time. I picked up AK in MP, pushed for about 2000, and got called by the BB who showed AA. No help for me and I was out. After going back to the sports bar to watch the Cowboys come from behind to beat Detroit, I went back to the IP poker room and played some $2-4 Limit. This game was softer than the Venetian $4-8, and thanks to a few sets and other good hands that held up, I finished that long session having more than doubled my $60 buy-in. My results for the trip were in the minus column, but I found that I still know how to play poker, at least some of the time.

When I wasn't at the poker tables, I didn't spend a lot of time with the other bloggers. I hung out with the group Thursday night at the Pai Gow tables and even played a little, finishing $20 ahead for the night. Friday, I spent at the Las Vegas Hilton treating myself to an afternoon at the Star Trek Experience, going on both rides and the Backstage Tour. That really was fun for a long-time Trek fan like me. But the rest of the time, I still felt mostly like the new kid at school, not really knowing everyone else who had already been through last semester together and had their friends to hang out with. That isn't to say that anyone was aloof or unfriendly to me; the opposite is true. But I think it is not uncommon for someone who is just meeting a group of people for the first time not to integrate into that group right away. I figure that if I go to another WPBT gathering, I won't be the rookie any more and I'll fit in a little better. Still, my style doesn't match that of a lot of this group, so the hard-drinking and party-till-dawn crowd probably won't be counting me among their number, at least not for the whole weekend.

Since I got home, I have played in the Riverchasers on Thursday and the Donkament on Friday. I didn't do very well in either of them, so my FT bankroll is getting punier all the time. It looks like I will be taking a break from the regular blogger tourneys and playing smaller games to build my roll back up. (I still have some $$$ on Bodog so I will probably play in their Tuesday night blogger tourney at least some of the time.) Meanwhile, I'll be reading my favorite poker blogs to keep up with what's going on in our little corner of the world.

To anyone reading this who was in Vegas last weekend: Thanks for the great time! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did, or more. See you at another one soon!

Tuesday night blogger tourney at Bodog

2007-12-11T11:55:00.007-06:00

I will have a report about my trip to Las Vegas for the WPBT Winter Classic soon. In the meanwhile, check this out:

I have heard about a blogger tournament on Bodog which is held every Tuesday night, and I may be joining in soon. Here are some details....

Play Bodog’s Online Poker Blogger Tournament Tuesday Nights!

Bodog invites Poker Bloggers to play in its Online Poker Blogger Tournament with a total of $600 in bonus money.

If you are 1 of the 5 money bubblers, you’ll have your $11 buy-in refunded and if you finish in the top 5 you will win an entry for Bodog’s Sunday $100K Guaranteed tournament.

This tournament runs weekly on Tuesday evenings and requires a password for entry.

Tournament Details

Day of week: Tuesday Nights
Start time: 8:35pm ET
Tournament Name: “Online Poker Blogger Tournament” at Bodog
Entry Password: bodogblogger
Buy-in + fee: $10 + $1
Starting Chips: 3000 (Double Stack)
Payout: Standard Bodog payout structure
Bonuses:
- T$109 bonus paid to the top 5 finishers.
- T$11 bonus paid to the 5 players that are eliminated prior to payouts.
  - These bonuses will be awarded within 24hrs of the tournament completion.
  - T$ = Tournament Credits. These can be used as a buy in to almost all scheduled tournaments at Bodog and have a ratio to cash of 1:1.
  - T$ can also be combined with cash to buy in to tournaments.

If you haven’t played at the Bodog Poker Room before, please download and install the FREE software client at: http://poker.bodoglife.com/how-to-play/download-poker.html. It only takes minutes!

If you’re not yet a Bodog member, sign up for your FREE account by clicking the “Join Now” button in the Poker Room client.

Getting Started At The Bodog Online Poker Room
http://poker.bodoglife.com/how-to-play/getting-started.html

If you need assistance with signing up for the tournament or with starting a Bodog Account please call or email:
Bodog Poker Customer Service Number: 1-866-909-2237
Bodog Poker Customer Service Email: poker@bodoglife.com

Bodog Poker - New Design, New Look!
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Bodog Poker – A Name You Can Trust!
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BoDonkey Poker Blogger Tournament Banner
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/1801232650_1ecf43fb1f.jpg
Featuring the Bodacious Bodog Girl Izabella.

Read daily tournament updates at tournament host site http://www.smokkee.com/
Latest update: “Bodog has record turn out for online poker blogger tournament!”

Bodog will continue to run this tournament on Tuesday nights into the New Year and increase prizes as well as turn this into a poker league with an ongoing leader board.

Cheers and may the best online poker blogger win!

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Countdown to the Winter Classic

2007-11-28T20:21:00.000-06:00

First up, what's been happening in my poker world lately?

Not much. Since my last entry, I played in the Mookie twice (75th out of 112, and 45th out of 90, ugh) and a few 2-table SNGs where I had some success: 3 tourneys, 2 cashes (1 second place, 1 third place). I also played some micro NLHE cash games. I came out behind in both sessions, but that didn't surprise me because my NL cash game sucks. I thought I should try to shake the rust off because I expect that a lot of the bloggers will want to play some NLHE next weekend, and I'd like to join in and not donate all my chips in the first orbit. But if there is any low stakes Limit playing going on, I'll be taking some of that action. Oh, last night I played in the APL weekly tourney at my nearby venue. 11th out of about 24, good for a handful of points in their system. I wanted to get some live action in before the trip, even if it wasn't for real money.

I've been saving up some dough and should be able to bring enough to allow me to play a few rounds of poker, buy a nice meal or two, see a few attractions and generally have a good time without worrying about whether I will be able to fill up my gas tank when I get home. I'm still open to anyone who wants to join me for some non-gambling diversions, so let me know in comments or e-mail if you want to do some of that stuff.

I've been thinking about what I want to project in the way of an "image" when I go to the Winter Classic. I have only met a few of the people that will be there, when I went to Okie-Vegas in July, so most of the folks I will be meeting only know me from playing with me on line, if they have even heard of me at all. I will probably just be myself and play my usual game. But I am toying with the idea of putting on a front for the games with the (other) tourists, just to see how I like it and if it makes any difference in how things go. I might take on the role of the good-ol'-boy from Texas, being everybody's friend and acting like poker is just a lark, while in reality playing the best I know how. That ought to be fun, for me and maybe for the others at the table. Besides that, I know that, as long as I don't forget it, I plan to bring something that I hope will get a chuckle or two from my blogger friends. Especially the geekier ones.

See you all in eight days!

No Exit, and Las Vegas side trips

2007-11-13T20:51:00.000-06:00

Here is another example of one of those hands where you are doomed from the start.

Final table of a 2-table, $2 +0.25 SNG at FullTilt. Blinds are 300/600, no ante.

Seat 4: bro72997 (14,995)
Seat 6: yestbay1 (8,470)
Seat 8: Skimmer133 (3,535)
Skimmer133 posts the small blind of 300
bro72997 posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Ks Kc]

Naturally, I want to get as many chips in the middle as I can without scaring anyone away, so I min-raise to 1,200.

Skimmer133 thinks about it, then raises to 1,800. Then, faster than you can say, "I've got a hand":

bro72997 raises to 14,995, and is all in
yestbay1 calls 7,270, and is all in
Skimmer133 calls 1,735, and is all in

Skimmer133 shows Qs Qh
bro72997 shows As Kd

My cowboys are ahead, but.....

*** FLOP *** [Ad 8c Ah]
*** TURN *** [Ad 8c Ah] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Ad 8c Ah 5s] [Jh]

So I finish second for a $10.80 payoff. Damn, but I hate getting my KK cracked with only three players left. But what are you going to do? About the only thing I would have expected to see different is for the QQ to push right away instead of min-re-raising me. No doubt he was trying to suck his opponents in the way I was. Such is poker.

On a different note, while I am in Las Vegas for the WPBT Winter Classic next month, I plan to get away from the poker tables for at least a little while (heresy, I know) and do some touristy, geeky stuff while I am there. I would be glad for some fellow travelers to join me on some of my non-gambling adventures. Here is a list of some of the diversions I am considering spending my money on before I donk it all away:

Star Trek: The Experience, at the Las Vegas Hilton (yeah, I'm a Trek geek, so?)
Stratosphere Tower (I'm staying at the hotel so this is almost a sure thing)
Eiffel Tower, Paris (haven't been up in it yet, will this be the trip that I do it?)
Manhattan Express roller coaster, New York New York (done this before, ready to go again)
Second City show, Flamingo (I've wanted to see them for a while, maybe Sat. night?)
T.I. pirate battle, Fremont St. Experience, whatever else strikes my fancy if there is time

I think Falstaff is planning a drive out to the Valley of Fire on Sunday, and there is a good chance I will join in on that. I will have a rental car and should be able to take a few passengers, for those interested.

If you will be in Vegas for the Classic and have any interest in doing any of this stuff, or have ideas of your own to share, leave me a comment or e-mail me at david DOT westbay AT verizon DOT net. We'll work out the details either before the big weekend, or when we get there. I am registered on Falstaff's sign-up sheet, so you can find my cell phone number there if you are on it too. If you aren't, go here to get the skinny.

Oh, I played in the Riverchasers tourney again last week. Finished 57th out of 96. I was very card dead the entire game and couldn't gain any traction. But I had a good time and will be playing again in the weeks to come as my schedule and bankroll allow. See you there or maybe in the Mookie!

Wednesdays

Thursdays

Frustration sets in

2007-10-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

I played quite a bit over the past several days. I have been trying to win a $26 token on FullTilt to get me into either the Mookie or Mondays at the Hoy. Out of four tries, one $6 + 0.50 token frenzy and three $8 + 0.70 2-table SNGs, I have exactly zero tokens to show for my efforts. I know of at least one completely moronic play that cost me dearly in one of the SNGs (pushing with 99 to a reraise on a K-high flop), and another play that was almost as bad (calling a BB reraise preflop with A8 in the SB; he had 77). If I had played well and just not caught the cards I needed, it wouldn't be as frustrating, but knowing that I blew it all by myself makes it a bit harder to take.

I did play in the Riverchasers game last Thursday, though, and actually made it to the money! For my $10 + 1 investment, I finished in 18th place out of 104 and took home a whopping $10.40. Hey, at least I got almost my whole buy-in back. Who comes up with these payout amounts, anyway?

Now that I have run through almost 1/3 of my recent bankroll boost, it is time to go back to the micro SNGs and try to score some cashes there to build my roll back up. I still may play in the Riverchasers since the buy-in is only $10 + 1 and I was able to add another deposit through a swap. But I have decided that I don't want to buy my way into the $24 + 2 tourneys; it will eat up my stake too fast. I'm sure that I can score some tokens with smarter play, so I will be trying those again, hopefully before too long. I would like to score some more points in the Battle of the Bloggers series, even if my chances of winning the Aussie Millions prize are about as good as getting dealt a royal flush in my first five cards ten hands in a row.

Starting up again at FullTilt

2007-10-23T20:33:00.000-05:00

With the help of a friend, I got some money into FullTilt. I didn't deposit a lot; just enough to let me play some low buy-in tourneys including some token tourneys or SNGs in hopes of winning a token or two that I would use to enter some of the blogger tourneys.

So far, I'm not making much progress. Since making my deposit, I have entered two $2 + 0.25 two-table SNGs, and one $6 + 0.50 token frenzy. I finished 8th and 6th in the SNGs and 95th out of 189 in the token frenzy. I feel like my play was not bad in these tourneys, but the cards weren't running in my favor much. In the SNG tonight, I sucked out once and avoided a suckout on another hand to stay alive as long as I did.

I am going to continue to play the small stakes games to work on building up my bankroll and trying again in the token tourneys. I may play in one of the $10 + 1 blogger games, but that will put a dent in my roll if I don't cash, and I don't want to run through this deposit too fast. I am playing my usual tight game, being selectively aggressive where it counts. It is possible that I am playing a bit scared, but I'd rather tighten up a little extra than take crazy risks in hopes of scoring big.

Give and Take

2007-10-17T20:15:00.000-05:00

Some of my poker adventures of recent note:

I played in an APL tourney last week for the first time in a while; finished fifth. Mostly played tight while everyone else donked it up. On my last hand, I had Q7o in the BB, blinds were 2,000/4,000 and I had 8,000 left after posting my blind. UTG calls, the other players fold, I check. Flop comes Q - A - x. Although I didn't like the A, I knew I had to push with my pair of queens. Of course the villain had an Ace, and I didn't improve. C'est la poker.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker (WBCOOP) on PokerStars - I was one of the 1,337 entrants in this tourney, and I had a good time playing. I got a lot of good starting hands early, but they didn't always get me many chips. I had AK several times, including one of the weirdest hands I have ever played:

Blinds are 50/100. I have 8,275 of my original 10,000 chips. UTG, I pick up Ah Ks and raise it to 400. Next 3 players fold. NeillyAA, with 6,275 chips, calls me, everyone else folds.

Flop: Kd 9d Qh. With TPTK, I bet 700, NeillyAA raises 950. Could he have JT for the made straight? Not out of the question, but I don't want to throw away top pair on that unlikely possibility. He could have two pair or a set, so I could easily have been behind at this point. So what do I do? I call. Perhaps not the smartest play I could have made if I had thought it through. In hindsight, I probably should have bet the pot instead of 700, because of the straight and flush draws on that flop. But that might not have prevented the raise anyway.

Turn: Kc. I bet 1300 on my trips, NeillyAA shoves with his last 4225 chips. I have him covered, and I just don't feel like I am beat here although there were lots of ways I could have been, such as if he had 99 or QQ or the aforementioned JT. So, not giving him credit for his possible winning hands, I call.

He turns up 6s 4s. I haven't seen a bluff more stone cold than that. The river is the 2h and I take the pot of 12,700.

Considering that I wasn't showing any signs of giving up my hand, I can't figure out why he would think that he could bluff me out on the turn. The next best explanation I can come up with is that he wanted to get out of the game and go do something else.

I went on to finish 383rd in the tourney. Not even close to my 26th place finish last year, and nowhere near the prizes, but I enjoyed playing, and railbirding some of my fellow bloggers who were in. Surflexus and BadBlood both made it deep and won 160 GB iPods, which is quite an upgrade from the 4 GB one that I won last year. Congrats to them both!

I also entered the Monkey Tourney last night. Out of 11 runners, I finished all the way up in 7th place. I did OK most of the way, managing to build up my stack and make a few decent plays. The fateful hand went something like this:

Seven players, blinds 75/150. I have 2235 before I post the SB. I wake up with Ah Kh. It's folded to me, and I raise to 450. Surflexus, with 3037, calls in the BB.

Flop: 2c Qh Th. I have the royal flush draw, which looks mighty pretty, but nothing else yet. Worth a bet, though, eh? I put out 550; surf raises to 1100. Even if he has paired one of the board cards, any A, K, J or heart could be an out for me, so I call.

Turn: Ad. Now I have top pair, top kicker, plus my draws. I only have 685 left, so I push, and surf instacalls. He shows Ks Js for the turned straight. Turns out the Aces weren't outs for me after all. A Jack would split the pot, a heart would win it for me.

River: Qc. None of my outs comes through, and I bust. A bit of a stunner, but I've had much worse beats laid on me. I'm not sure how I could have played it any differently; I was probably doomed from the start of the hand, unless I raise even more preflop and surf folds then.

I'm considering having a friend help me add some money at FullTilt, so I can play in some of the blogger games there. Except for the Monkey Tourney, all of the blogger tourneys seem to be on FT, and I don't get to hang out with everyone since I don't have enough on FT for the buy-ins. Plus the Battle of the Bloggers Tournament 2 is starting up over there, which should make the various tourneys that count towards it even more fun. See AlCan'tHang's blog for more info on the BBT2.

Just call me the "new" Luckbox

2007-10-03T20:18:00.000-05:00

Last night in the Monkey Tourney on PokerStars, I had more suckouts than I have ever seen in one session of online poker. It was incredible what the PokerStars RNG was dealing me, and I rode the streak of luck to second place, my best finish ever in a Monkey Tourney or WWdN tourney.

A couple of examples:

PokerStars Game #12403376911: Tournament #62929419, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/10/02 - 20:48:02 (ET)
Table '62929419 2' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: 65 pony boy (1040 in chips)
Seat 2: ISS Spock (3300 in chips)
Seat 3: yestbay1 (1335 in chips)
Seat 4: FishyMcDonK (2795 in chips)
Seat 5: ricoM (1940 in chips)
Seat 6: tree4twenty (2035 in chips)
Seat 7: JOHN-E-FLUSH (3120 in chips)
Seat 8: ringo6624 (1335 in chips)
Seat 9: 32midnight (1100 in chips)
JOHN-E-FLUSH: posts small blind 15
ringo6624: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Kh Qs]
32midnight: folds
65 pony boy: folds
ISS Spock: calls 30
yestbay1: raises 90 to 120
FishyMcDonK: folds
ricoM: raises 90 to 210
tree4twenty: folds
JOHN-E-FLUSH: folds
ringo6624: folds
ISS Spock: folds
yestbay1: calls 90
*** FLOP *** [Ks 3h Td]
yestbay1: bets 360 (gotta bet TP here, right?)
ricoM: raises 360 to 720 (should have smelled a rat here)
yestbay1: raises 360 to 1080 (in case he is trying to push me off the hand)
ricoM: raises 360 to 1440 (well, I'm committed now)
yestbay1: calls 45 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Ks 3h Td] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Ks 3h Td 2s] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yestbay1: shows [Kh Qs] (two pair, Kings and Queens)
ricoM: shows [As Ac] (a pair of Aces)
yestbay1 collected 2745 from pot
ricoM said, "nh"

I didn't stop to think that ricoM might have Aces there; a recurring fault of mine, not putting my opponent on a hand based on their betting patterns. I should have considered folding to his reraise, or just calling, or at least I should have given it a lot more thought than I did. Instead, it took a river suckout to keep me alive.

Next, another questionable call by me:

PokerStars Game #12404271698: Tournament #62929419, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/10/02 - 21:36:22 (ET)
Table '62929419 2' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: 65 pony boy (2505 in chips)
Seat 2: ISS Spock (1250 in chips)
Seat 3: yestbay1 (2327 in chips)
Seat 4: FishyMcDonK (4135 in chips)
Seat 5: ricoM (4643 in chips)
Seat 6: tree4twenty (3140 in chips)
ISS Spock: posts small blind 75
yestbay1: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Ah Jd]
FishyMcDonK: folds
ricoM: folds
tree4twenty: folds
65 pony boy: folds
ISS Spock: raises 250 to 400
yestbay1: calls 250 (hoping to hit the flop)
*** FLOP *** [Jc Kh 2s] (second pair, not bad but there's an overcard, watch out!)
ISS Spock: bets 850 and is all-in
(I have him covered, but if he has a K, I'm hurting. So what do I do?)
yestbay1: calls 850
*** TURN *** [Jc Kh 2s] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Kh 2s 5s] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ISS Spock: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)
yestbay1: shows [Ah Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
yestbay1 said, "oh man"
yestbay1 collected 2500 from pot
ISS Spock [observer] said, "..."

Once again, I can't get away from a second-best hand, which lucks into a winner on the river.

On this one, I think my play was good, but I still had to catch perfect to take the hand, and, well.....

PokerStars Game #12404606266: Tournament #62929419, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/10/02 - 21:54:08 (ET)
Table '62929419 2' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: 65 pony boy (11096 in chips)
Seat 3: yestbay1 (6904 in chips)
yestbay1: posts small blind 100
65 pony boy: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Ks 5s]
yestbay1: raises 400 to 600
65 pony boy: raises 400 to 1000
yestbay1: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ts 5h] (hot damn, two pair, heads up, I'm gold)
65 pony boy: checks
yestbay1: bets 1200 (don't overdo it, hope for the call)
65 pony boy: raises 2200 to 3400 (he probably has a K with a good kicker)
yestbay1: raises 2504 to 5904 and is all-in
65 pony boy: calls 2504 (and shows Kc Tc, for top two vs. my top & bottom)
*** TURN *** [Kh Ts 5h] [5d] (Yahtzee!)
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ts 5h 5d] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
65 pony boy: shows [Tc Kc] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
yestbay1: shows [Ks 5s] (a full house, Fives full of Kings)
65 pony boy said, "wow"
yestbay1 said, "good god"
yestbay1 collected 13808 from pot
65 pony boy said, "awesome"

My next chat comments were:
yestbay1 said, "this sucks"
yestbay1 said, "it means I'm using up all my luck in one night"

A few hands later, the tables were turned:

PokerStars Game #12404650696: Tournament #62929419, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2007/10/02 - 21:56:31 (ET)
Table '62929419 2' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: 65 pony boy (3992 in chips)
Seat 3: yestbay1 (14008 in chips)
yestbay1: posts small blind 100
65 pony boy: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [3c Kc]
yestbay1: raises 400 to 600
65 pony boy: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [3s 5d 2d]
65 pony boy: checks
yestbay1: bets 1200
65 pony boy: raises 2192 to 3392 and is all-in (he shows As 6s for the gutshot draw)
yestbay1: calls 2192
*** TURN *** [3s 5d 2d] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [3s 5d 2d 2c] [Ah] (the river hits my opponent for a change)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
65 pony boy: shows [6s As] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
yestbay1: shows [3c Kc] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
65 pony boy collected 7984 from pot
yestbay1 said, "that's better"

We traded chips for a while, then I fell into a couple of traps and called off most of my chips to his big hands. Eventually I pushed with 6d 7d but 65 pony boy had a pair of 8s, and the 6 on the flop wasn't enough to save me.

Although I'm not sorry to finish as high as I did, I am not particularly pleased with how I played a lot of these hands. I have to do better because the cards are not going to fall my way as often as they did in this tourney.

I will, however, take my luckbox hands when I get them. I wouldn't mind having a few in the Blogger tournament mentioned in my last post. I managed to win an iPod in the 2006 Blogger tourney; can I match or beat that this year? Come play in this year's game and see how far you can go! Or cheer me on, if you are so inclined. I hope to see you there.

2007 PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2007-10-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1872371

What a donkey - or was I?

2007-09-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

I played in the Friday Night Donkament last night for the first time in many weeks. I have very little money left on FullTilt, so I was glad to be available to play in this low buy-in game.

My play was variable in the tourney, probably tighter than it should have been in some spots, and I lucked out a couple of times to stay alive to make the final table. I got there as one of the shorter stacks; with blinds at 250/500/50 ante, I knew I would have to make a move before long if I was going to have any chips with which to fight to the money places.

On my very first hand at the final table, with 7,556 in chips, I picked up KQo in the SB. From MP, Katitude raised to 1,500. She could have had a monster hand, or just a good hand. Her stack was 31,540, virtually tied for the chip lead, so she could have just been trying to bully the rest of us with a hand of medium strength. With my M just over 5, I chose to push, thinking that just calling would leave me with too little if I had to fold on the flop, and hoping that I could get Kat to fold. Perhaps I should have just folded there, but I took my chances. Unfortunately, cyberkat in the BB called all-in for her last 5,176. Although Katitude stopped and thought about it, she called my raise; too many chips in the pot for her to fold, I expect. Kat showed 99, cyberkat showed KK. I was in trouble, but the flop brought a Q and I won the side pot with Kat while cyberkat took the main pot.

The bad news was, that only gave me 3,660 to play with. I had the button on the next hand, but my M was now below 3 and I was the shortest stack at the table. I decided that any decent hand meant all my chips were going in the middle.

It didn't take long. That very next hand, I got Qd Jd. It was folded to MiamiDon two seats to my right, with just over 10,000 in his stack. He raised to 1,650, bayne_s folded, and I shoved my last 3,610 in. I knew there was a chance that I was behind, and the blinds behind me could get in the pot too, but I couldn't see the point of throwing away suited connecting face cards when I was so far behind the rest of the table in chips. Even if MiamiDon called, which I expected he would, I could be in a race or not too far behind.

The blinds folded, and the hands were turned up: MiamiDon had 9s Jh against my Qd Jd. I guess he was on a steal, and it turned out that I had him dominated.

The flop: 8d 4d 5d. A miracle board for me. The pair of deuces on the turn and river didn't help Don, and I took the pot.

Don proceed to comment in the chat box,
"QJ,"
"unreal"
"what a donkey"

I made light of it by typing, "but they were sooooted," but his reply was, "whatever."

Now, I will be the first to admit that I am no expert at poker. I make plenty of donkey plays, and made some earlier in this game (possibly including my push against Kat above). But I didn't think this move against Don was that bad. On the other hand, if it was, I'm more than willing to learn from it. Should I have folded my suited QJ to Don's raise here, as he seems to think I should have done? Since I was on the button, I didn't face the blinds again for a whole orbit, so I had the option of waiting for something better to come along. But what are the chances of that, with the antes sucking away at my stack while I wait for the blinds to come around? QJs looked really good right then. Frankly, I'm not sure what would have made me fold this hand considering my M and my position as smallest chip stack. I could have called Don's raise instead of pushing, but that would have taken about half my stack, and if I folded on the flop I would have had about 2,000 chips, which would have put me in a ridiculous position.

I can't say I had much of a read on Don, but I had a bit of a feel that he was on the aggressive side and might have a fairly wide range of raising hands. And although I am terrible at computing pot odds on the fly, I think I was in a decent spot here:

Small Blind: 250
Big Blind: 500
Antes: 450
Don's raise: 1,650
Pot: 3,050

My reraise: 3610
Don's call, if he makes it: 1,960
Total pot: 8,420

So it cost me 3,610 to try to win 5,010, for odds of about 1.4 to 1. Marginal, but is QJs above or below the margin that would call for a fold here? Since I didn't figure out the odds at the time, I had to go with my gut, and my gut told me it was above that line. If I had lost on that hand, I would not have felt cheated at all, knowing that my hand would not be that hard to beat. Instead, it turned out that Don raised with an arguably more marginal hand than mine, and was unable to catch up.

Did Don calling me a donkey bother me? Sure, a little. But as I said, I want to learn more about the right way to play. If Don is right and my still-developing poker instincts are off base, I want to know how to improve. But I don't want to assume that someone calling me a donkey means it is true, and change the instincts that I have been working on just because of one remark.

If you are reading this, I would love to hear your honest comments. I am not looking for confirmation that I was right unless you truly feel that way. Constructive suggestions are always welcome. If you want to tell me how I could have played that hand better, that would be much appreciated. If you just want to say, "Hee haw! What were you thinking, dumbass?" then kindly keep that to yourself.

By the way, I busted out a few minutes later when my AQ ran into bayne_s's AK. I suppose I should have folded that one, when bayne raised, I reraised, and he popped me again to put me all-in. Oh well, I can't say I am a good enough player yet to fold AQ there; maybe someday.

Until then, I will wear the donkey ears when they fit, while trying to make those occasions less and less frequent.

WPBT Winter Classic 2007 - I'm (all) in

2007-09-19T21:23:00.000-05:00

Although I didn't think I would get out there this time, I have decided to make the trek to Las Vegas for this year's winter poker blogger gathering, December 6 to 9. You only live once, right? Plus, I had so much fun at Okie-Vegas this summer, I just couldn't pass up the chance to see some of my new not-so-invisible Internet friends again and meet some of the still-invisible ones for the first time.

I should be arriving in Sin City either Thursday evening or Friday morning, and leaving early Monday morning. Besides the poker playing and general debauchery, I plan to be a tourist and see some sights and maybe a show while I am there. If anyone who will be there can tear themselves away from the tables and machines long enough, you are welcome to join me for gawking at the (other) tourists and soaking up the scenery.

Some other info about the Winter Classic can be found at Falstaff's blog. I'm sure it will be a ton of fun and I am very much looking forward to it.

See you there!

Cruising, Vegas, and other poker adventures

2007-09-10T13:57:00.000-05:00

I have played some poker since my last entry over a month ago, with varying results. Not that I am results-focused, mind you, but I do keep track and these past few weeks have been up and down, on the win/loss side as well as the did-I-play-that-right side. It has also been a period of playing in a variety of settings, which has made it a bit more interesting for me.

My first report is actually from before Okie-Vegas. My wife and son and I went on a cruise to Alaska at the end of June and beginning of July. The ship had a casino, and a poker table where they dealt $3/6 limit Hold 'Em and held a couple of one-table tournaments. I played a few times during the course of the 7-day cruise, and although I didn't come out ahead, I played reasonably well. The tournaments were oddly structured: only eight players could register, and it was winner take all, i.e. no payout for any place other than first. I played anyway, since the buy-in was only $30+3 and I thought I could use the experience. I finished fourth in both tourneys. I should have played more aggressively, knowing that I would have to get lucky to have a shot at the prize.

After returning from Okie-Vegas, I have played in some cash games and SNGs on line. I cashed in one 45-player $1.25 SNG, finishing third; the others didn't turn out so well. I have more or less broken even in the cash games. Nothing very exciting to speak of in my on-line play lately.

I also paid a visit to the real Las Vegas in early August. The main point of the trip was to attend the huge Star Trek convention at the LV Hilton, but an important part of the plan was to play poker with Wil Wheaton, who was one of the guests at the convention. Wil had posted on his blog that he intended to organize a semi-private game at the Hilton poker room, and I told him that I would be there for it. The game was held on the Friday night of the convention weekend, and we had a full table for our mixed limit game. We alternated between Hold 'Em and a few other games including Omaha 8, an orbit of Razz, and even some Crazy Pineapple. Some other friends of Wil's were there, and some fans from the convention, and everyone had a fun time. I scored the best hand of my poker career so far during a hand of Omaha 8. I was dealt As Ks Qc Jc. Normally I would throw that away in high-low split since it can only go one way, but I hadn't played many hands and I wanted to get in on some action, so I limped in. The flop was Ac-Kc-blank (maybe a 9, not a club). With top two pair and a straight flush draw, I bet or called, don't remember which now, and got heads up with Sharon, one of Wil's friends from PokerStars. The turn was another blank, I bet, Sharon called. The river was the Tc. I bet, Sharon said, "OK, I'll pay you off," and I turned up my cards and said, "I have a Royal Flush." Everyone was quite surprised, except maybe the dealer, who didn't seem to be fazed by it. Maybe he sees those once a month or so. The unfortunate thing was, if we had been playing Hold 'Em when I got the Royal, I would have won a nice jackpot of a few hundred dollars. The jackpot did not apply while we played Omaha, so I wasn't eligible. Still, it was quite a thrill and I won't soon forget that moment when the ten came up on the river.

I finished the Hilton game down about 1/4 of my buy-in, but the entertainment of sitting at the table with that group of people was well worth the cost.

The other big game I played in recently was the Amateur Poker League Semi-Annual Regional Championship, which I had qualified for earlier this year by winning one of the monthly venue championships. I lasted past the first break, but the cards didn't come my way and the hands I got didn't hold up. I thought I made good decisions pretty much the whole time, so I don't feel bad about not making it deeper into the tourney.

No big plans for me concerning poker in the coming weeks. I'm not playing regularly in the APL tourneys at the nearby venue because of the cigarette smoke problem. I haven't been playing on line much, although I just busted out of a 20-table $4.40 SNG as I type this (QQ ran into flopped set of tens). I won't be going to the WPBT Winter Classic, for financial and scheduling reasons, but I hope to be there next summer. I will be playing here and there, so don't be surprised if you see me in the next seat at some PokerStars or Full Tilt table, as long as you are playing the micro-stakes.

Top Ten Best Things about Okie-Vegas 2007 - for me, anyway

2007-07-22T21:29:00.000-05:00

I went to my first face-to-face poker blogger gathering on July 21, at GCox25's place in Oklahoma City. I had one helluva lot of fun, and packed a lot of good times into one day and evening. Here are my top ten favorite things about my trip to Okie-Vegas:

10. Learning Chinese Poker for the very first time, and not sucking at it. Beginner's luck was mine.

9. Watching the Coxes' midget Yorkie-Shih Tzu dog run up and down the furniture and beg for attention. That little furball can leap, lemme tell you.

8. Chowing down on tasty Oklahoma barbecue from Van's Pig Stand and homemade sausage balls, deviled eggs, and endless other munchies courtesy of the fabulous cook, hostess, photographer with everyone's cameras, and all around good sport Mrs. GCox.

7. Participating with the other bloggers in my first dial-a-shots; some live, as with AlCan'tHang, and some on voice mails of bloggers who had some flimsy excuse for not attending in person AND didn't even answer their damn phones.

6. Watching and hearing 23skidoo, surflexus, Jordan, GCox, F-Train, Katitude, and Maudie get up and sing some karaoke. Video was recorded (not by me); hopefully highlights (or lowlights) will be posted somewhere soon. If TripJax sang any karaoke, I missed it, dammit.

5. Singing a bit of karaoke myself, to that number one hit by Yes, Owner of a Lonely Heart. Jon Anderson does not need to worry about losing his singing job to me. I also played some air guitar and drums on a song or two, which I am much better at than singing.

4. Listening to Mrs. GCox sing along with the karaoke machine. She is actually a wonderful singer and put the rest of us to shame.

3. Doing the Time Warp with most of the bloggers as our grand group karaoke finale (at least before I left). Photographic and video evidence of this performance exists, but that is all I can say for now.

2. Playing in my first "live and in person" poker blogger tournament. I used my "unconventional play" strategy (also known as playing like a moron) to donk off all but 2 big blinds worth of chips, then staged an amazing comeback (also known as turning into a card rack and suckout artist) to finish in second place, right behind the deserving Katitude who took down first prize.

1. And the number one best thing about my first Okie-Vegas experience..... meeting the gracious, friendly, welcoming, funny, crazy poker bloggers and their friends and family members. I think it was Gracie who said that our group of poker bloggers consists of some of the best people around. I couldn't agree more, at least based on my experience this weekend. I hope to get together with these folks again soon, and to meet more of the folks who didn't make it to this party and were missed by all.

Thanks must go first and foremost to Gary and Carrie Cox, our host and hostess, who went out of their way to make everyone feel at home, whether they had ever met us before or not. I also have to thank everyone who played at my tourney table for putting up with my newbie-ish play. I have played very few live tourneys for real money, and it showed. But eventually I settled down and the poker gods looked favorably on me in the second half of the game, especially when I caught a runner-runner boat over boat to triple up and stay alive. Of course, I was very glad to meet everyone there, and I feel like I have some real, live, not-invisible Internet friends now.

I can't wait to read everyone else's reports on Okie-Vegas 2007. I'm pretty sure everyone had fun, and might possibly have a story or two to tell.

Weak-tight = -EV

2007-06-16T08:21:00.000-05:00

Things have been on a downturn for me lately. I played another 5 table $1.25 SNG this morning. Finished higher than I have in quite a while: seventh. Places paid: six. I sucked out a couple of times to stay alive when I probably should have busted because I made poor plays. But the biggest problem I detected was that I played too weak most of the time. I tried pulling a few positional bets and steals, and what do you know - they worked. Maybe my table image was so tight that my raises got some respect. But I need to take more advantage of that. I also need to be ready to put my chips on the line when my stack starts getting short, and not try to fold my way up the ladder so much.

My bankroll on FullTilt is now down to $5.26. I'm sure I am playing scared because I don't want to go through the hassles of trying to make a deposit. But if I don't take some more risks, I will just bleed away my last few pennies more slowly. If I go to zero on FT, it shouldn't be such a great loss to me. I still have over $150 on PokerStars, and I can make that last for a while considering the micro-stakes at which I play. Of course, I could bleed that stack away too with weak-tight play, so I should practice my aggression over there as well.

I did finish fourth in the APL tourney this past Tuesday. I got very lucky on a hand about midway through that I should have been busted on, when I called an all-in from a player who had me covered. I had AJo with which I had called a preflop raise from UTG. Flop was 2-3-4 rainbow. UTG and I both checked. Turn was a J. UTG pushed. I thought he might have been playing a J with a smaller kicker, so I called. I was half right: he had a J, but his kicker was the other J. The river was a 5, filling my gutshot straight and giving me the nice sized pot. Those chips kept me around and gave me something to work with.

I played some Limit HE last night for the first time in quite a while. My wife and son and I are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks, and there is a good chance the ship's casino will have a limit HE table, so I thought I should get some hands in before we go. There were so many donkeys at my $0.10 - 0.20 table, I couldn't believe it. People would play all kinds of crap - any paint, any A, any two suited cards - and chase to the river. Of course, you know what that means - suckouts galore. I didn't get many cards worth playing, and when I did, they ended up second best more often than not, so I lost most of my buy-in. Frustrating as all get-out.

I know I have holes, and I hope I can plug them. I also hope that the cards fall my way just a little more often; wouldn't that be nice?

Get back on the horse that threw you?

2007-06-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

I played in another 45-player $1.25 SNG on FullTilt last night. I hadn't played in one for a few weeks so I had to get back into the mindset. I started out slow, but caught a couple of very nice hands, such as a flopped nut flush that I milked for a decent pot. I built a healthy stack and was playing fairly well as I tend to do when I get some chips to work with.

Yes, here comes the "but" part of the story. I don't have the hand history so I will recount the carnage as best I can from memory.

I have about 5600 in chips. Blinds are 120/240, and I'm in the BB. I get Q7o, and it's folded to the SB who completes, and I check. Flop is K-Q-x of mixed suits. SB checks, I small-bet my second pair, SB calls. Turn is an 8. SB bets small. Thinking he doesn't have a K, I raise 960. He reraises me double. I now have about 4400 left.

So, I got on the horse on this hand and I spurred him on with my raise. But when the villain reraised me, I should have put him on a hand that could beat me (K-x, two pair, something) and reined in my steed so we could run again later. Instead, I kicked him even harder, right toward the brick wall straight ahead, with a re-reraise all in with nothing more than middle pair. The villain instacalled and showed Q8. His two pair held up and I crashed into the unyielding barricade of my donkery, busting in 10th place.

I could not believe that I committed such blatant poker hara-kiri. I told myself recently that I was going to play smarter and not be afraid of folding to wait for another hand when the signs were there that I was probably beat. And I had plenty of chips to work with, even if I had folded to his reraise. There was plenty of fishy play in this tourney and I should have been able to go much deeper.

I was so disgusted with myself after that hand that I told my wife, quite seriously, that I had just played my last hand of poker. Ever. I felt like I didn't deserve to play, that if I could throw my chips away like that I shouldn't be allowed near a table, virtual or actual felt. I gathered up almost all of my poker how-to books and put them in a shopping bag to take to Half Price Books to sell off. (I saved a couple books for sentimental reasons.) The bag sits on the floor about two feet from me now, ready to go.

My wife scoffed at my declaration that I was quitting. I've done it before, and so far I have always gone back on my pronouncements. She told me, quite wisely, that everybody makes stupid plays sometime, and I shouldn't quit playing because I was a donkey in this tourney, if poker is something I enjoy. My answer was that I wasn't sure I was enjoying poker as much as I used to, that I felt like my game was standing still while the players around me were getting better. It isn't fun when you look around the table and decide that maybe you really are the sucker.

After my wife calmed me down, I told her that I would have to give my poker future some careful thought. I considered changing my tactic from quitting forever to just taking the month of June off from poker completely. No playing, no reading poker books or blogs, no watching poker on TV, nothing. Now, having slept on it, I am not on mega-tilt like I was last night. After all, even if I run the horse full speed over a cliff, of my own volition, that doesn't mean I should never get on one again. What would that teach me? That I definitely am a loser and a quitter. I don't want to be that. I may never be a super-skilled poker shark, but I can strive to learn from my mistakes and not allow them to beat all of my self-respect out of me.

That doesn't mean that I am jumping back into more tourneys with guns blazing, bound to show myself and all those donkeys out there that I am a fearless, badass mofo. I will, instead, be sensible and prudent, find my leaks and try to plug them (if I can find patches big enough), and work towards a steady improvement of my game. I may even put a few of those books back on the shelf, so I can use them in my improvement plan.

Many of you have probably heard about Chris Ferguson's quest to start from a zero online bankroll and build it to $10,000 or more. He talks about it in an interview on Pokerworks. I think that is an admirable project, and maybe I can try to accomplish something similar. He has a good headstart on me, so I expect he will reach his goal sooner than I could, but I figure it's worth pursuing. Perhaps the quest will give me an incentive to write regularly in this blog, to provide reports on my progress and my experiences along the way.

I don't know if I will get any playing in this weekend, but we will see what develops in the coming weeks. Stand by for my next announcement that I am done with poker for good, for keeps, for eternity. Or at least until I come off tilt.

The Ocean's 13 Suckout Special

2007-05-27T17:39:00.000-05:00

I played in the Ocean's 13 Darfur Charity tournament today. I had a good time and contributed three buy-ins and an add-on to the cause. For a good length of time, I played at the same table as Team PokerStars member Bill Chen. He pushed a lot preflop during the re-buy period, but then tightened up considerably after that.

I didn't get a lot of cards to play, and didn't play the ones I got all that well. Still, I managed to stay alive for quite a long while, outlasting some other blogger luminaries who no doubt played better than I did but got unlucky. I saw Dr. Pauly get busted out when his all-in with A6 got called by A2, and his opponent rivered a deuce to send him to the rail. Brutal.

Here is the hand that kept me alive much longer than I should have survived:

PokerStars Game #10134981363: Tournament #49933520, $10+$0 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2007/05/27 - 17:50:30 (ET)
Table '49933520 82' 9-max
Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: yestbay1 (8770 in chips)
Seat 2: mar22 (12000 in chips)
Seat 3: MrCitnatra (45485 in chips)
Seat 4: guelo (21780 in chips)
Seat 5: Garthmeister (36043 in chips)
Seat 6: The Dad (19160 in chips)
Seat 7: Peppe10 (23835 in chips)
Seat 8: Rooney23 (23540 in chips)
Seat 9: skyhawk42 (1110 in chips)
yestbay1: posts the ante 50
mar22: posts the ante 50
MrCitnatra: posts the ante 50
guelo: posts the ante 50
Garthmeister: posts the ante 50
The Dad: posts the ante 50
Peppe10: posts the ante 50
Rooney23: posts the ante 50
skyhawk42: posts the ante 50
yestbay1: posts small blind 300
mar22: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to yestbay1 [Ks Kh]
MrCitnatra: folds
guelo: folds
Garthmeister: folds
The Dad: folds
Peppe10: folds
Rooney23: raises 600 to 1200
skyhawk42: folds
yestbay1: raises 1800 to 3000
mar22: folds
Rooney23: raises 1800 to 4800
goleafsgo96 [observer] said, "lets go burlington"
yestbay1: raises 1800 to 6600
Rooney23: raises 16890 to 23490 and is all-in
yestbay1: calls 2120 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Th Ts 9d]
Garthmeister said, "Erk"
*** TURN *** [Th Ts 9d] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Th Ts 9d Kd] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
yestbay1: shows [Ks Kh] (a full house, Kings full of Tens)
Rooney23: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
HermWarfare [observer] said, "wow"
change1OO [observer] said, "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
yestbay1 collected 18490 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 18490 Rake 0
Board [Th Ts 9d Kd 7d]
Seat 1: yestbay1 (small blind) showed [Ks Kh] and won (18490) with a full house, Kings full of Tens
Seat 2: mar22 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: MrCitnatra folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: guelo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Garthmeister folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: The Dad folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Peppe10 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Rooney23 showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 9: skyhawk42 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
......
yestbay1 said, "yippee"
......
AlCantHang [observer] said, "score"

I almost pushed right away when the preflop bet came to me, but I wanted to keep someone in the pot with me (hopefully only one person). Of course, I was ready to put all my chips in and actually thought I was doing that on my second raise. I should have smelled the AA when he didn't raise me all-in immediately, but it wouldn't have mattered; I could not fold that hand with an M as low as mine at the time.

My thanks to the railbirds for their cheers. I only wish I could have made those chips stand up, but even taking that pot I was way below average and wasn't getting much in the way of hands to play with. I busted about 30 minutes later when I pushed with 55 only to be called by KK. No suckout for me on that one, and I finished in 111th place. Still, not bad out of 744 runners. I would have had to make it to 18th to win one of the prizes, but I still feel pretty good about where I ended up.

I know I am playing weak-tighter than is optimal, and it's a tough habit that I need to work on breaking. I do one hell of a lot better when I get a decent chip stack and can make moves with less fear (don't we all?), but I need to do better when my stack is shorter.

As I type this, Garthmeister is 12th in chips with 45 still playing. I hope he hangs in there and takes it all down!

Ocean's 13 Darfur Charity Tournament

2007-05-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

Dr. Pauly sent a note to poker bloggers everywhere to ask that they publicize this important charity tournament, and I am pleased to help out. Here is the info:

PokerStars is teaming up with the cast of Ocean's Thirteen to help stop the suffering in the war-torn region of Darfur in the Sudan. If you have not been paying attention, over 400,000 people have already been killed. They launched Not On Our Watch. Their mission is to..."focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. Drawing on the powerful voice of citizen artists, activists, and cultural leaders, our mission is to generate lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for the vulnerable, marginalized, and displaced."

PokerStars is donating $1 million and you can help out by playing in two different charity events. [One was held last Sunday, May 13.] You have a shot to win a ticket to the Ocean's Thirteen premiere in Los Angeles. See below for specific details.

Overview of the Ocean's Thirteen Darfur Charity Tournament:

These tournaments are special re-buy tournaments - the entire prize pool will be matched by PokerStars and donated to the Darfur relief efforts. At the conclusion of the event the prize pool, which will be temporarily awarded to the 1st place finisher, will be removed from the 1st place finisher's account. The amount will then be matched by PokerStars and sent forward to the Darfur charity. Thank you for participating — go re-buy crazy! — it's for a good cause. Good luck!

Date: May 27th 2007, 15:30 ET
Buy-in: $10 plus rebuys.
Prizes: Top 4 receive tickets to June 5th premiere in Los Angeles plus 2 nights hotel and $2k for travel/spending. Top 18 receive autographed copy of "Oceans 13" DVD. Total prize pool will go to charity. PokerStars will match the donation. The tournament is open to all players. Good luck!

Dr. Pauly will be playing, and I hope to be there myself next Sunday. I encourage anyone reading this post to register and play too. As Pauly put it, "Online poker players are painted by the mainstream press as degenerate criminals. Here's a chance to show the world that we can do some good with online poker."

Looks like I'm "it"

2007-05-19T08:32:00.000-05:00

I have been tagged by BrainMc. Now I need to think of seven semi-interesting things about me to post.

Thinking.....

Thinking.....

OK, here we go.

1. I have lived in five different states in the US: Kentucky, where I was born; Ohio; Washington; California; and Texas, where I live now. I have visited, or at least passed through, a total of 39 states out of 50. I hope to get to the rest before too much longer.

2. I have won some nice prizes playing poker, but they have all been from freeroll tournaments. I won a trip to Las Vegas in an Amateur Poker League tourney, and an iPod in a PokerStars blogger tourney. I have not won any cash prize of $100 or more in any tournament. Yet.

3. My name appears in the "Special Thanks" liner notes of several CDs by a major musical artist. If you have ever heard of the rock bands Yes or the Moody Blues, it is possible that you have heard of a guy who played with both bands: Patrick Moraz, keyboard player extraordinaire. Back in 1995, Patrick announced that he wanted to do a concert tour and book it directly with his fans. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do that, so I got together with a couple of other fans and put on a small show. Patrick and I hit it off, I hosted another show with him later that year, and we have kept in touch off and on since then. I started two Yahoo Groups for Patrick's fans (MorazNews and MorazFans, sign up now!), and as a token of appreciation Patrick included my name in his liner notes of his latest new CD, "ESP," as well as the recent remastered versions of his back catalog. Patrick is a great guy and one of the best keyboard players I have ever heard, period.

4. I once traveled from Texas to Honolulu expressly for the purpose of going to a Yes concert. (No, Patrick was not playing with them at the time.) I have actually been to several cities, all over the country, to see Yes shows. When I had my job that gave me flight benefits on American Airlines, I used them frequently to fly to Yes shows when they were on tour. My wife and son enjoyed seeing different cities, and I got to see my favorite band, and meet with lots of other Yes fans that I had become acquainted with on line.

5. Although I have been an actor since high school, have performed in lots of plays, and lived in L.A. for 14 years, my claim to TV "fame" is not for acting, but for being a game show contestant. I appeared on four shows, all in the '80s or early '90s: Crosswits (you've probably never heard of it); Super Password; The $100,000 Pyramid; and the Wheel of Fortune (daytime version). I won a car on Wheel; some cash and prizes on the others, and of course several "lovely parting gifts." I had fun on all of them and hope to do another some day.

6. I have earned black belts in hapkido and tae kwon do. Unfortunately, a bad knee has forced me to give up martial arts lately. I would love to go back to it someday but don't know if my body will let me.

7. I have never been drunk, stoned, or high. I have tried alcohol but never liked anything I tasted. I never had any desire to smoke pot or try anything harder. I don't expect that I will ever deliberately put myself in an altered state of mind, unless it is from prescription medication that my doctor instructs me to take.

I can't think of anyone else to tag that hasn't already had the honor, but if I do think of someone, I will post an update here.

Thanks for the tag, BrainMc!