Aggggggg

I have a horrible cold that's really making me very uncomfortable.

It sucks!

Far Too Late

It's far too late for me to blog about poker in New York. I had a great time, but have been occupied since and simply have not had the chance to write about it. I won 32 BBs, though. Hey, eight dollars in profit almost paid for, like, one fourth of the cab!

Not only has there been quite a bit of work going on, I also got a Nintendo Wii. It pretty much rules. Even my wife is having some fun with it -- she's really good at tennis.

We're snowed in pretty well here today. Took me an hour to get my car deiced and to the office. I'm basically the only attorney here. Yay.

Crackhouse for ME

I am pleased to report that the fine folks at I Had Outs have agreed to let this humble poker blogger into the Crackhouse for a special Monday game!

I look forward to the opportunity to pit J3 against Kx suited, 72o, and J2.

I may not be a full-fledged part of the poker blogger community (due to my infrequency of play and posting), but I relish this chance to meet some people whose writing I admire and enjoy.

Foxwoods Trip Report (And Tourney Win Report)

I look forward to this trip because it feels like a milestone. First, of course, it's my last trip for a while. The babies leave me Pittsburgh-bound until probably the fall.

Second, however, I have been playing poker seriously for about two years. When I played Friday night, however, I felt like I was really able to put everything together. I was playing my game and really reading players pretty well. Therefore, I expect that things will go well for me, and I hope I will be demonstrating I actually have learned something on this journey.

January 25, 2007.

I like that quote more now.

I have said that while I am by no means a great poker player, I believe I have two things that work well for me when I am focused and well-rested: 1) I can read players well and have a good idea of where I stand in any given situation and 2) I can usually wait as long as I need to for a hand in a live poker game, particularly a tournament.

I am pleased to report that everything came together in one incredible weekend. As posted below, I booked a very positive net win in a 72-player tournament at Foxwoods on Saturday. The stack of high society is now safely deposited, and it's neat to have a real poker bankroll. Makes the hard work feel justified -- I have accomplished a big goal.

But first, on to the trip report -- with a series of bad beat stories!

 I get stuck at the office until midnight Thursday (meeting my friends Bob and Don at 5:30am for our flights)
 Bob's flight gets cancelled and rerouted.
 Our flight has "unspecified maintenance" and computer issues that result in the entire plane being rebooted. Seriously.
 Wind on the highway has me trying to keep a rented Magnum on the road. Don't worry, I kept it under 80 for safety.
 FINALLY we arrive, just in time to eat lunch with our friend Screech and for the 2:00 tourney. I last 50 minutes.

Start with 5000, I get down to 2350 after losing a race, missing a draw, and generally playing merely "OK" poker. However, I had not shown down any awful hands, and had just shown Aces two hands prior.

Last hand: Blinds 100/200, no antes. Middle position (7s) makes it 800 -- middle-aged woman who's made some questionable calls, and likes to go to war with one pair. 10s pushes for about 1600 or 1700. He just lost a good bit with top two versus a set, and seems to be a good player. I am in the 1s and find two Kings. As I suspect every else sitting on 11.5 BBs here would do, I put it all in. I try not to burn the felt.

7s hems and haws, asks if it is 2350 total, I nod, she says "of course you're nodding, you have Aces again." She calls.

She tables two tens, 1s says "Do you have Kings, Hulk?" I say "Yes sir," he tables Queens. I love that he has Queens and that he called me Hulk. Nearly 7k pot.

Guess how many players in this hand hit sets?

Not all 3 anyway.

I go back to the room and take a nap. Then we wander down to the poker room and try to set up a 2/4 HORSE game. Time to donk it up. I play 4/8 O8 for a while, but get really sick of the nits and hope the HORSE game starts…it does finally.

The table consists of 7 friends, 2 nits, and some younger guy who obviously plays on the Internet and is sure he has the edge. He doesn't. The best part against him was raising in middle position with J3 sooted, flopping bottom pair on a monochrome board, turning, tens and threes, and rivering a boat only to have him show me a flopped flush he was getting cute with. He made a lot of these stellar plays.

I believe in the power of J3. Forget the hammer, it's nothing.

We get to bed by 2 and determine sleeping in is the right play. We get up around 10:30 and I decide after my fairly unpainful Friday I will take the shot at the bigger tourney. Mostly because of the 30 minute levels and the 10,000 in starting chips at 25/50. Although you know the results, let me share some highlights.

I swap 5% with the only other DB to play (love you Moe).

7 people to every flop because of the large chipstacks, and I bleed down to about 6000 by the first break. I have gotten no hands and am just not feeling it. Moe is at 13k or so.

By the second break I have been able to chip up a bit, and double up to 15 or 16k with an all-in with Queens. In an internet or typical tournament, I would be all-in all the time, as I usually follow the 10BB danger rule. However, this tournament has two factors that make me decide to play a slightly more patient game: 1) the players to my left are maniacs/calling stations and are more likely to call if I push and 2) I just felt like my reads were good enough to wait for better hands because the level of play was poorer than I would expect form the $500s I have played in before (Borgata, etc.). As a result, I let myself slip a bit lower than I usually would and just keep waiting for hands.

With about 30 left, I double up to 40K or so with Kings versus KQ on a Q10x board. We get it all in on the flop, he hits a Jack on the turn and I vomit on the felt, river blanks and I survive. I get rags for a while, and other than the occasional steal I am maintaining at about 10BBs.

Next thing I know, we're down to about 16. I am still pretty short, but I note two shorter stacks on the other table and decide that patience is still a good thing. While I usually don't have any interest limping into the money, bottom cash is significant enough and the play is weak enough that I decide I can cash and then get things working with the final 10.

As we reach 11, I get that "OMG I WILL BUBBLE" lump in my throat. Nevertheless, I push through and make some good decisions. I raise once with 3s and fold to the push based on a read (and the fact I had 3s). I push once with AK and get no callers, to the delight of the 30 railbirds I now have. They're loud and actually get chastised by the floor. They head up to dinner once the bubble is burst by a guy who called an all-in with Kings to be shown A10 on a J1010 board, and imploded 2 hands later despite being very healthy. I love that guy.

So I arrive at the final 10 table with less than 10BBs and the blinds at 2000/4000. Naturally, now I start getting aggressive. I open push a few times and get no callers, I get it in with a big pair and survive, and chip my way up to almost 100k with no real danger. In the meantime, folks are beginning to drop. I wish I had more detail and had written more down, because I think the play was interesting. You had pretty much every prototype tournament player left in the game. To my immediate left, an old guy who played solid and kept his mouth shut. To my right, a mouthy old nit. To his right, an IPod-wearing 24 y.o who refused any and all deals. To his right, Mr. LAG himself, who had a lot of chips mostly because he pushed over a raise and a smooth call with 58d to get heads up with tens, and rivered a straight against mouthy old nit. Mouthy Old Nit bounced right after that. Far end of the table, bad player who got here by reraising like he sees on TV, with a mountain of chips. I made a point of staying out of his way.

As we approach the next break and nearly 8 hours of poker, I am at around 75k with 5 left. Blinds are at 4/8 or 5/10 at this point, I push with AK and am called by LAG with nines. A on the river gets me to $175k, chipleader or right there with 5 left. That was the first and only time I had all my chips in behind, and it was a coin flip. AWESOME. Now I can play my game. Nice old guy pushes, I wake up with Kings, he has AQ. He spikes an Ace, but I river a set to knock him out 4th. I forget how LAG bounced.

So it's 3-handed with 720,000 in chips in play, and I have about 230,000. Internet kid got under 100k due to a couple of bad flops against lucky to be here guy, and limps on the button (6/12/2k or 8/16 at this point I think). I find 79d in the SB, look at lucky to be here, and limp because he's not raising. He knocks, flop comes 77x, 2 hearts. I have not slowplayed once all tournament, especially at the FT, so I check, lucky to be here checks, internet pushes for 100k. I beat him into the pot and he shows KQh, no pair heart draw. He misses, and I have slightly over half the chips in play headsup despite never having to tangle with lucky to be here too much.

At this point I would usually offer some sort of deal despite what I perceive to be an edge, because I am a nice guy and I like to reduce variance with that much money in play. I am about to open my mouth to offer said deal, when lucky to be here throws his blind in and says "Hey, good luck!" I decided to take that as a no deal policy and posted my blind.

Heads up lasted about 4 or so hands. I called his raise in position with A2, flopped an Ace, and bet him off the hand. I lost a couple of small pots. The last hand has me at about 380k to his 340k, blinds at 8/16 with a 2k ante). I find AQ suited in the small blind. I raise to 60k, he hems and haws and reraises. I know the best he has based on his play all day is a small pair. He would have instapushed otherwise. I push, he calls. With K4. Ace high scoops it. He asks me at the cage if I think he overplayed his King in that spot. I of course told him no.

After my win, I go get paid to discover nearly all of the DBs have come down to see me from dinner just a little too late. But they heartily congratulate me and it's great to have a rail, even after the tourney. I go upstairs, hide the money in my room, and call my wife. I go back downstairs, buy a round, and play blackjack. Why not. In bed by 3.

Up at EIGHT to get ready for the big tourney. I actually need sunglasses because I am so tired.

Nothing real remarkable about the tourney. You can read about a million trip reports at DBPoker. I chip up early by raising, mostly with trash, and hitting a few flops. I also knock out a player with AJ v. Queens. I priced myself in with a late position raise and hit my 3-outer. Then I lost all of my stack in two hands. Not sure about my play, but there it is. First hand, I am in the small blind of 150, and MP makes it 900. I call with AQ. Flop comes AJx, I bet out the size of the pot, I am raised less. I call and see AK, I don't catch. Just like that, I am down to 975. Two hand later, I reraise 75 chips more allin with AJ to find AQ. And that ends my run in about the middle of the field.

13 of us grab some lunch at Hard Rock. After we settle up, we find we overpaid by $40. The decision is made to put it all on black. We do so, win, press, win, take $120 off and win again to chop up $200 among the lunchgoers. Always bet on black.

Heather (Devil) wins the tourney. We all grab naps/dinner and head back down to the poker room. We get a 2/4 HORSE game going again, and the same young donkey, convinced he'll beat us THIS time, comes along for the ride.

That was a mistake. First, I have 10K, so I decide we're going to play HORSE a bit differently. I buy into a 2/4 game with 400 in $2 chips and 500 behind in bills. I also raise every hand in HE and O8 blind, and cap when given the opportunity. Despite this, I only lose $30. Second, of course, the kid who thought he had an edge is in fact playing against a table with hundreds of thousands of poker and tens of thousands of HORSE hands under their belt. He loses a rack and a half.

Next morning, I play the 10AM tourney. Out in less than an hour after chipping up through Bob when I flopped two pair to his overpair. People who pay $80 to play in a tournament cannot fold top pair, and they kept catching/I kept missing. We spent the rest of the day playing table games, and I of course won due to residual luckboxing.

We drive back to Boston, and I get an urgent e-mail. Apparently I am needed in PHILLY in 12 hours. I have no suit and no case materials, so I am forced to go back to Pittsburgh. I get home by 11, in bed by 1, up for my next flight at 3. What a day.


Thanks for reading this far. It was a remarkable weekend and a great validation. I'm going to go buy something for my wife.