Gydyon Smash!

This Was Neat

2009-03-24T22:41:00.004-05:00

Two pictures of me fitting into my high school letter jacket and my college jacket. Ignore that number on the front, obviously a typo of some sort.

Random Musings

2009-03-24T15:46:00.002-05:00

It has been months since I last blogged. The highlights:

October 2008 gastric bypass surgery;

The kids have nearly hit two years of age and are talking up a storm;

My wife is as great as ever;

The economy has spiraled down the drain a bit; and

I finally entered 2007 by creating a Facebook page.

How exciting!

It's been a neat time in my life as I get smaller and smaller and my kids get bigger and bigger. Of course I was disappointed in myself for getting as big as I did, and by no means would I ever endorse bariatric surgery as anything but a last resort. However, it's simply awesome to watch myself reach weights I have not seen in years. By way of comparison, I now weigh about the same as I did in college my freshman year when I was injured and got heavier than I wanted to be. By the end of the summer, I should be at my sophomore year playing weight (August 2009 will likely equal August 1993 -- crazy!).

Assuming I get more active with weights as well as the cardio that I am already doing pretty well with, that may be about where I settle as a final weight. Increasing my muscle mass may also avoid additional "tummy tuck" type surgeries, which would be preferred as those aren't covered by insurance and I have two college funds to deal with ;).

The twins are great. It's very gratifying to have two little people who like me so much, except of course when I have to be the "bad guy."

I have also had the opportunity to expand my appellate practice at work, which is something I feel very suited to. Although I will still relish trial law, oral advocacy in front of a panel of judges is exhilarating as well. It also fills a need at my firm, which is never a bad thing.

Poker is poker. That being said, I am excited to play in a big tournament at Mountaineer this weekend. It should be a very enjoyable day or (here's hoping) two.

Ha!

2008-08-15T10:39:00.000-05:00

Now I have blogged more this week than my wife has.

I win! I win!

Couple More

2008-08-14T23:17:00.002-05:00

Pictures

2008-08-14T21:35:00.003-05:00

Since not everyone is constantly jazzed about satellite live blogging, let's go to baby pictures (or is it toddler pictures now?)

Also, I guest blogged (lol at me guest blogging when I barely me blog) over at one of my wife's places today. Yee haw.

"Live Blogging" a Satellite

2008-08-09T10:26:00.002-05:00

I played in a satellite last night for a big two-day tournament in West Virginia (well, my last two-day tournament only lasted one day, but we hope to do better this time).

The satellite paid 1 in 10, 33 people entered. 3 seats, 4th gets 1/5 of a buyin. Notes were taken on my Palm Centro -- I also have a little voice recorder but I left it in the car.

12k in chips after the optional $5 dealer buy. People just don't tip here, so dealer buys have become the norm. Supposed to start at 7, did not get rolling until 7:20 or so.

7:30 -- Got lucky 5-10 hands in (blinds 25/50, but this pot got bigger than I would have liked) -- controlled the betting with trips sure I had the best hand three ways and got it all in versus an underboat. I caught a better boat on the river. I put myself in a bit of a rough spot, but when the turn was a blank I thought I was good and the pot was too big to check fold, so I pushed. Yay river 7 outer.

Incidentally, my push on the turn was called not just by an underboat, but also by an old guy who actually said 'caught me bluffing' after calling. Whu?

Suddenly, I'm at 37 k in the second level (100k or so is enough to coast to a seat).

Nothing happened in the second or third levels.

Time for a brief note -- probably because it's live, probably because it's West Virginia, no one has any clue how to play a satellite. You've got tons of bluffing into side pots, tons of very frantic activity early (yes I recognize the humor of that statement given my first pot blogged) -- basically no patience or cognizance of basic satellite strategy.

I start to get a good read for my table, which is good because I stuck with them for about 3.5 hours. The funniest dude is Camo Guy, so named because he has a camouflaged hat. Also because he was as a calling station disguised as a table captain.

One rule became crucial throughout the night --

NEVER BLUFF CAMO GUY

8:30 I jump to 50k by calling a camo guy bluff in level 4 -- turns out he's a bluffing calling station, as his line made no sense unless he was betting his draw. He missed the draw on the river and my overpair to the board (nines) were good.

9:00 I blinded down to about 44k at the round 5 break. No one respected a raise at this table, which made stealing more precarious since the flop bet would inevitably be the right amount for a short stack to push over with any piece. Despite the fact that I had not played all that many hands (I was getting napkins after my early triple up), the table decided to call every raise so steals were hard.

Corn dogs are delicious.

9:20 -- Busted a shortie first hand back with tens -- back up to 49k.

9:40 -- up to 54k after hitting 2 pair with pair and OESD (86o in the big blind with a board of X6758-- was minraised on turn and beat the worst limped MP Kings ever. Check check on the river, guess I should have made a thin value bet.

The same guy who's Kings I busted showed his true colors -- the master of the hero call. Older gent with a straw hat and white beard. Nice guy, aggressive player, but would also get tricky in way the wrong spots (see above).

However, he is also my personal hero. We consolidated to two tables, and a guy who was sure he was the new sheriff shows up at the table. Before I can remind him that I have all the chips, he gets involved with bearded guy on a raggy flop. He pushes and gets snap called all in (more than pot-sized) with Ace high no draw -- which had his Jack 10 dominated.

9:50 Down to 45k after folding OESD getting 3-1 because I couldn't see the push as a bluff. He had 4 high and was bluffing with said 4 high into a dry sidepot. I either need to fold to the initial raise or call the flop push. Oh well, that pot would have ;let me coast, perhaps being on my toes is better.

10:00 -- up to 61k after same dry sidepot guy bluffs blind v blind into my trips (J9 on a 9 4 9 board, two spades). His Ace high (A5 with the Ace of spades) was not in good shape.

10:15 -- 56k halfway through level 8.

10:30 -- up to 63k with some steals (actually starting to work a bit as people are seeing me show down some big hands), 30BB at blinds of 1k/2k, 10 left 3 pay (4th gets a pittance).

Final tables are delicious.

10:35 -- Down to 20k with Aces, which of course are no good by the turn (he snap called my push on flop with KQ on a Q 7 2 board, and caught trips. Yes, it was Camo Guy, how did you guess?

10:40 -- Up to 49k after a double the next hand with Queens and taking the blinds the hands after that with AKS. Minirush, yay!

10:50 -- turned a boat with pocket nines after raising preflop with them and hitting a set on the flop -- got 2 streets of value out of them (old guy with hat called flop and turn bets) -- up to 80k.

Then another rush began. AK beats QJ, Kings in a blind versus blind, tens versus A10 -- knocked three short stacks out myself, and hit four handed with 40 percent of the chips, around 120-140k.

11:30 -- Stole/value bet some to stay at around 120-140K, then shortstack pushed A10 into QJ and 2 jacks on the flop, BOOM. Thanks Camo Guy for knocking out the last player, and for winning a seat. Hope you're at my table.

Thought about sticking around for cash, but there were no seats at my usual stake and I just got a little bored. Packed up for the 'Burgh at around 12:00.

Regular Posting is For Wusses

2008-06-29T20:31:00.003-05:00

I've been playing live about every other week, and online once a week or so (with the occasional quickie online cash game thrown in as well).

Results have been pretty good -- got short in the Million today and pushed an Ace into Kings -- still good for $650, but with first being $162K that feels like a loss. "Beating 4800" does not seem to work for me as a consolation ;)

Friday night I played my first live PLO in about a year. The play was terrible, and if I had caught anything I would have made a mint. As it was I made my losses from earlier in the night back.

Kids are doing great -- got to spend most of the day with them solo, and I felt like I was really beginning to find my daddy groove. Kris still is way better at managing things than I am, but she's a rock star so I am OK with that.

Wish I had some hands to discuss -- thinking about using some winnings to get a little digital recorder so I can keep some more contemporaneous notes (and look like a portly Gus Hansen).

Nothing But Pictures

2008-04-16T23:46:00.005-05:00

Oh, and By the Way

2008-04-15T22:45:00.003-05:00

They are ELEVEN months old today. Where did the time go.

Well, if the American Association of Pediatrics asks, they're 12 months old already.

I See An Upside

2008-04-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

As has become very clear to anyone paying attention, I have opened up my game quite a bit.

A "bit," you say? Sure, why not.

And while I have expressed justified concern that opening too much might result in my becoming too spewy, the change has resulted in some neat results in a place I had not frequented in a long time.

Online poker. Specifically, online poker satellites. I've won a sat to the Sunday million and the Sunday WSOP qualifier in the last week. I even tried my hand at one of the $30 rebuys to the Series (and if it hadn't been for a horrbly timed resteal push with jacks, I'd still be in it with about two tables left). That plus a nice NLHE two-tabling session tonight has resulted in a well-timed virtual bankroll boost.

The two wins in sats means I have enough money to take some shots, and also money I can sell for 95% of its value if I become cash poor. The nice NLHE session means I won't be cash poor for a while.

Am I going to the World Series? Probably not. But it's nice to have some ammo to give it a shot without having to transfer live winnings over.

Am I going to become a hoodie wearing, Internet savvy LAGtard? Definitely not.

Hoodies make me look even fatter.

Looking forward to giving the Mountaineer Saturday tournament another go. Last time I played it in January, I final tabled it and finished 8th. Got a bit short, and had to push A10 into KJ, and couldn't hold up, but if I had won that hand I would have been above par with 8 left and in great shape. I think I can win this thing. Structure is meh -- a bit worse than Foxwoods, better than a fire hall, but in the land of no options what they spread for you is king.

If only there was a local version of the Crackhouse. Ah well.

West Virginia -- Wild and Wonderful

2008-04-12T12:51:00.002-05:00

Had an interesting evening at Mountaineer Gaming last night.

I usually play locally, but Mountaineer was running a satellite for their big end-of-month tournament. I don't want to devote the resources to a big buy-in, so I decided to play in the sat and see what happens.

Usual crap. I lose a bit calling with a straight and flush draw, then bust when my AQ runs into a straight and flush draw of a guy with monster chips. He had to call my push, but he took FOREVER to do it and that sort of nonsense (in a quick tournament, no less) really annoyed me. Theatrics when a decision is trivial and the pot is head's up are a big waste of time and donkeyish.

I don't mind someone "mulling" over a decision with a big draw or acting pensive with a monster if it's multi-way -- sometimes those sort of theatrics will result in an overcall or overpush that can be very profitable. But this kind of "playing to the nonexistent cameras" nonsense is so common in poker these days -- TV has hurt the sportsmanship of the game as much as it has increased its popularity.

I move on to the cash games. I really want to play PLO, but nothing's running -- hold'em it is.

Mid-limit NLHE is an odd game sometimes. Not ten minutes in, I find myself pushing on the turn with top pair, top kicker (AK) and the nut flush draw (A-unconnected rags with three clubs) against a player I read as weak only to have him tank for five minutes and call all in with top pair no kicker. He hits his rag on the river after calling an entire buy-in's worth of betting with three outs.

I reload and have some work to do. Fortunately my new best friend does not vary his play despite his suckout. He bets out strong with middle pair. He raises on bluffs or with top pair with no draw. He just calls with draws -- never raises with them. He's fairly easy to read, but tough to play against unless you're willing to deal with the variance of going with your reads and him sucking out.

I get it all back later when he overplays top pair against my trips. I faced a tough call on the turn, but when he bet the same amount on the river the call felt fairly automatic (he also wasn't a "value bet" kind of guy).

Same thing later with another player -- I raise in late position with 79c. Flop is A 10 8, two spades. I bet about pot, OOP tanks and calls. A red 6 on the turn gives the nut straight, and OOP bets out. I raise him about pot. The OOP caller tanks and calls the raise. At this point, I think he has a big Ace. His play to that point didn't suggest any kind of a flush draw. The river completes the flush and pairs the board (10s). He checks. He has never checked when he hit his hand, ever, in four hours -- he's passive, but hasn't checkraised even once. I decide to make a thin value bet (yes, I thought it was a value bet and not a bluff)-- about half pot. He tanks, and tanks, and tanks, and finally calls. He mucks when he saw my straight -- I don't think he even saw it on the board.

It was that kind of table, but I am a bit too much of a "feel" player right now. My reads are pretty spot-on, but I don't want to become Pittsburgh's "Kenny Tran". Balance will suit me better in the long run, no matter how well I am reading betting patterns and tells.

Made my lost buyin back, the satellite entry back, and a little more. It will do.

Repetitive

2008-04-01T13:31:00.006-05:00

These are repetitive from my wife's blog (which is way better than mine and you should read every day!), but they're so darn cute!

Table Image and Luck

2008-03-31T15:47:00.006-05:00

I have taken lately to playing a bigger game on occasion because they play is simply terrible. My risk of ruin is a bit higher, but I've only had one losing session in the past couple of months and the play is just too bad to ignore.

Essentially, the trend is that these guys are playing with more money, but that just means they try to bluff bigger (so there is some variance inherent in the game because you may catch a bluff or a well-timed value bet). Knowledge of poker fundamentals is not necessarily any higher than the smaller games.

I am not 100% sure what my table image is at this game, but it must be pretty loose, as I can bet my big hands big and get paid off each and every time (that is also a function of players in this game being willing to "keep you honest" for larger sums as well). I can't bluff as much as a result (I can only semibluff), but it does allow me to engage in my favorite play style -- loose preflop, tight postflop.

And that is a style that a lot of players just don't get.

I remember when I was just starting to play, I believed that I was best served by playing my big hands big and just being angry at folks who played stupid hands to a raise and caught on me. Of course, here's the reality -- they had called a relatively small portion of their stack and my stack, and then allowed me to bet off the rest of my stack drawing very slim. I had read about implied odds, but I didn't really get it. Now that I have a better understanding, my preferred play style is to raise a lot of hands in position, call a lot of raises in position in multi-way pots, and be willing to gamble pre-flop against players who will give me their stacks by overplaying big pairs, AK, etc. Pretty basic strategy, but I'm just happy to have a strategy!

The other benefit of playing like this is that I play a few more hands, which protects me from my innate tendency to get bored -- it keeps me sharp. Unless I hit something, or see an opportunity to bluff, I am done with the hand. All you really need is a couple of players in the game who will overplay their big hands, and this is a profitable strategy.

When you combine that with a bit of luck, however, you get a 4 buy-in night like I had Friday night.

I had started at the smaller game and had played pretty well, but also getting lucky by having a few draws hit to get up a buyin plus (no real hands of note, just getting one pair to call a value bet on the river a few times and winning a race or two).

I was called for the big game, and could get nothing going for about an hour. When I raise I missed the flop, and when I called I missed the flop. I was down a bit, and just staying even with continuation bets.

Part of the problem was the 1 seat -- I hate that seat. I can never see the cards or the action like I would like, and it really messes with my rhythm. When I was able to move to the 5 seat, things vastly improved.

First, I made a semi-bluff raise on the turn in a large pot with the nut flush draw, and got called by a lesser flush draw. The result was me winning a side pot that was larger than the main, and kept me afloat. That was all luck, but I don't hate semi-bluffing the turn there. Based on betting and calling patterns, I was pretty sure that my opponent was on a draw, and I wanted to isolate my all-in opponent. Not sure that was brilliant, but it worked out -- luck is fine, and it fed the table image I was discussing earlier which paid off in two more huge hands.

When I had been playing at the smaller game, I saw a player named "Josh." He has a stylized hat on, and appeared to have a "crew" with him. Unfortunately, while he seemed to be a somewhat solid player, he was very tiltable and could not handle the type of loose that you see at a live cash game (as opposed to the Internet, where it seemed clear he had won some money).

My two biggest scores for the evening I owe to Josh.

Thanks Josh.

He followed me to the bigger game -- he had been ahead of me in the list, but had lost two buy ins and waited until he made some back. At the big game, he was doing pretty well for himself -- he started to make money by playing very aggressively on the flop and after -- he was only raising premium hands, and going crazy with them with bets going forward. And while that's not a bad play style, it became clear that he was not always sure where he was in hands, and became increasingly frustrated with the gunslinging style of the players around him. He actually commented that all of us "would play any two cards," in a very Hellmuthian fashion.

He was in the two seat, and raise 6x. I look down at pocket Aces one off the button. Normally this is an instant reraise for me, especially given my image -- but I was in late position, and I though that if I could get heads up with Josh I could beat him up given the right flop. I knew he had a good hand (99+, AQ+), and I hoped he would pay me off.

The flop is three rags, 6 high rainbow. He did not improve. He bet out pot anyway, so I was sure that he had nines or better. So I raised. He immediately pushed over the top (he had me covered), and I immediately called. His Tens did not improve.

Now I am advocate of not overplaying one pair, but I was very confident of my read. And now that I am reading better, and since I had been playing with this guy for hours to justify the read, I went with it and it paid off.

It also paid off because Josh went absolutely insane. He really went nuts -- he started overbetting preflop, pushing 60x preflop, and just melting down. The only reason he had chip was that when he was called he had the other player covered (like when he got 60x in with 45o against AK).

The result was not just that Josh was losing money, but also that he was working the other players into playing crazy. Which paid off great for me thanks to another bit of luck!

I raise in early/middle position to 6x with AKs, one caller in the SB. Josh reraises all of his chips (27x) out of the BB, and I call. SB, surprisingly, calls. Flop comes rags with two spades. I really want to play the rest of this hand against Josh and Josh alone, as I think he has a small pair or nothing based on his meltdown and his general demeanor. So I push with what I believe to be 15 outs twice (I have twice his remaining stack) -- he checked the flop and I read him for weak.

SB hems and haws, says "All in? Really? Well I 'm ready to go home. OK, I call."

I die a little inside. That kind of a speech must mean a monster, and I am going to have to catch my spade -- somehow I missed my read. BAD PUSH, BAD!!

I flip over AKs, he says "not what I wanted to see" and flips over 910s. What?

Josh indeed had nothing (J7h), and my Ace high takes a 360x pot.

Was I lucky all night? Heck yes. But I also feel like I am learning to play an image and trust my reads. My moves worked out, and I avoided suckouts when my reads were correct.

I will need to calm down with overplaying my big draws in the future -- these guys will remember that next week.....(HAAA -- I said almost the same thing back in August -- when will I learn!)

I sincerely hope I'll always have Josh. I love Josh. Not as much as his crew buddy who kept buying in short to the small game wearing a poker hat and sunglasses, but hey.

And, no, I don't know if I am posting on this thing regularly again. Vegas Year inspired me.

Pictures

2007-11-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sleeping

2007-10-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

My little boy hates to go to sleep for the night. Anyone have any wisdom?

Slump

2007-10-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

Facing a bit of a live poker slump. The last two Fridays, I have had losing sessions. Two weeks ago, most of my loss could be chalked up to a one-outer and resulting mild tilt.

Last week, I just couldn't hold onto a lead when I had one and misplayed one hand the put me down a bit more than a buyin. I thought I played much better though.

I am hoping to get into a writing frame of mind soon. I definitely have a lot to say, just need to clear my head to say it......

.

Poor Little Boy

2007-09-24T23:54:00.000-05:00

Can't sleep myself because much of the time I was to be working this evening was instead spent worrying about my boy.

He's teething, and boy he's suffering quite a bit. I had heard this was hard but I guess I had no idea. It breaks my heart sitting in my office right next door and hearing the poor little boy whimper. Oh how I wish there was something I could do for him that could make it easier.

Sorry for the absence over the past couple of weeks. Got busy at work and at home, and lost two weeks in a row (which always makes me less willing to write about the poker). Won Friday night again (+575). The difference between now and six months ago is even when I play unevenly, my best is so much better than it was that I can still win if my big hands hold up -- just need to work on my worst.....

More to say later.

And, yes the below is about as close to "peaking" as I'll get.

Patient Explanation

2007-09-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

This will indeed take time. For how are they to understand why, after two full days in the mountain air away from all technology, we would be watching a TiVo'd recording of a performance quite so terrible as a 33-3 drubbing at the hands of lowly Georgia Tech?

This is the lot of the long-suffering Irish fan. They'll learn.

(Yes, Dawn, that is my sad panda face at the end there)

Another Wild Ride

2007-09-01T02:47:00.000-05:00

Up a buy-in, down three, up one, down 2, and finally up 2 1/2 to finish the night with another winner.

It is clear to me that playing every week is really helping my game. Even when I play too swingy now, I am more able to contain my emotions when I know the next session is not all that far away. I still have some tiltable moments, but the severity is very lessened.

I have an exploitable tendency right now, however, that I must correct before my next session. I am continually reraising too much with draws and second-best hands -- the result is people calling me very light. I actually had someone call all in with top and bottom pair on a straightening and flushing board when I reraised representing the set. In fact I had bottom two and an openender, and I hit, but these light calls of my raises will continue, and I better have the nuts or stronger draws next week or I will get eaten alive.

I will ponder which hands are worth discussing. Big pots are unavoidable in this game, but I need to be less willing to play them so often.

I did get the third best player at the table to fold top two to my reraise with bottom set -- resulting in his boat coming against a straight draw and letting me win the pot with my underboat. He flashed us the cards by mistake (forgetting there was another player, which of course meant that I could push the turn with impunity.....

It's About the Story

2007-08-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

The beauty of the game I play in regularly is the mix of people and players it gets. Much like a casino, we have younger people who thought poker was like it would be on TV, older guys who had the younger guys, lawyers, doctors, professionals, college professors, carpenters, waiters. People buy in for the table minimum every time, or deliberately lose their first buyin so they can buy in for the real max. That makes it more fun in my mind, because there is a challenge to learning the nuances of each new player.

Sometimes you get it through their stories. I know the lawyer on the other end will gamble if he's stuck, and go into "lockdown" if he's booked a big win. I've observed it, but I also predicted it because he's a criminal defense lawyer, and that's just how one think – if you can't plead out, gamble when your client has nothing to lose, play it safe when you've got a great case.

These stories make this game my absolute favorite, even when there are the inevitable swings.

The gentleman two seats to my right was telling me quite a story, and in the end I profited from just listening to what he wanted to tell me.

First, he had a habit of speaking Italian to the man between us. They were friends. Second, he softplayed his friend and the gentleman to his right, his roommate. He would check it down with them once all the other players were out. He valued his friends more than he valued the money he might win from his friends.

I have often said I hate softplaying, even in circumstances like this, and it would have bothered me a lot more if it did not become passionately clear that he also valued the social aspects of poker and the thrill of the gambol over the money he might win as well.

He requested Omaha every time the button was on him. This despite the fact that he recognized he had no clue how to play it – but it resulted in enormous pots and you could just see him get a thrill out of the chance to drag a big one. And he dragged a few of them. Omaha is a variance-ridden game, but he redefined variance. Up 4 buyins, down to the felt, 5 buyins in front of him, and so on. He was the very rollercoaster I try to avoid in my own play.

We had two big hands together, the results of the first leading to how I played the second. But these two isolated hands were part of a much wider spectrum of crazy play. Pushing the pot with nothing but a weak draw or Ace high when his opponent showed strength. Bluffing calling stations. Overvaluing big pairs. This gent was the quintessential "gambler." And I had position on him, and I made almost every dime of my almost 12 buyins from him (I was in for 3 because of the Hulk thing if you're wondering why I said 7.5 won earlier). Yes, I won other pots, but my two big double-ups were a result of him and him alone.

First hand: small raise to me on the button, I call with a weak holding, but it's going to be at least 6-way action because no one folds in Omaha so I am willing to see a flop – these folks pay off sets even when they don't have a redraw. (Q 6 10 10). Flop is Q 6 6. Bingo. Our friend bets, I raise. Turn is a blank – makes no straights or flushes. Our friend checks, I bet, he flat calls. River is the case 6. I look at him, he instapushes (3 buyins) and naturally I call with the best hand ("Call. I have quads."). He shows me two Aces rag rag. Yum.

Second hand – I've now built my stack up to about 6 buyins – I've gambled a bit, but usually only against the smaller stacks. Our friend has gone on a heater of his own (since he plays every pot he made some money back quickly), and is developing a healthy stack again. I have most of the table well-covered.

I am dealt J 10 9 5 double suited. Early position (a very tight professor who knows the math well) limps, two callers, and our friend raises pot. I elect to call because I can get away from the hand unless I nail the flop against these two players – Professor is almost certainly not going to repop it preflop, preferring to see a flop even with a premium hand. I figure our friend has aces. Plus, this makes it a big pot preflop, and I don't have to put in too much to win a lot, so I call. I know, I know, the siren song of the person who's way ahead on the night, but nevertheless.

Flop is 5 5 6. Bang. Professor checks, our friend bets pot, I repot it. Yes, I repot it. I know he could have me beat already, but he also was betting and raising with one pair all night (and slowplaying his monsters), and I am proceeding with my read. Against a better Omaha player, I probably fold to the pot bet, but repotting seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He pushes, and it's less than my pot raise so I call. I am only behind 56, 66, and a 5 with a better kicker now, and while the repot of mine was probably ill-advised in retrospect, I really could not put him only on those three hands, especially since he would not have played 66 fast. Once I am in for that much, I am now facing a bet that is giving me more than 3-1 on my money, and except against 66 I have 9 outs twice. I decide I need to call – too big of a chance I have the best hand.

He did have the Aces. Unfortunately he also had 5-6, and his rags put him ahead in the pot against my rags (not as far ahead as you think – Professor had the other two Aces, so he has no Ace redraw, just the sixes). As I am saying "well, I have a lot of outs" the Jack hits. It's one of those suckouts where you had the odds to chase, but the player will remain convinced you're the bad guy because he had you beat and then you won. It's also one of those hands where I played my read, built a big pot because of my read, gave myself the odds to chase by over-raising, and got lucky that I hit my gin card on the turn and it held. I make the same amount of money if I smooth call the flop – he's not getting away from the hand. But he told me a story, and I listened.

Sometimes stories are a whole lot of fun. Even if maybe you misheard them.

Wow

2007-08-25T01:34:00.000-05:00

7.5 buyins in less than 6 hours. Nice night. Got it in once ahead and lost, once behind and won. Otherwise people were just paying me off. Quite a good feeling.

Unfortunately, my Hulk card cap was wagered and lost in a pot. So I feel alone and sad.

The Next Gen of Smashing

2007-08-22T16:40:00.001-05:00

Roller Coaster

2007-08-20T13:50:00.000-05:00

That's the only term to describe my Friday night. Long story short: I was in for 5 buy-ins before I cashed out for 6 and a half. Crazy night.

I was up and down so much the night seems like a blur. Consequently, it's a bit hard to learn from your mistakes if you're not sure where you made them, but let me give it a go. Yes, I believe Imade may mistakes given the swings I had. No game where you're in for 5 buy-ins and swing back to up on the night can possibly represent optimal play.

1. I called too much. Often I made the right read to call, but I needed to raise in some more spots, and fold in quite a few as well. There's just a few guys in this game I love to play pots in position with, and it bleeds over into other players I should be re-popping or folding against.

2. I tilted for a period. At one point I got it in way good in a couple of spot against the loosest player at the table, and he ran me down with maginal calls both times. I knew he was going to give me action, I just couldn't believe he caught up both times. As a result, there was at least one 45-minute period where I was playing angry. That's silly and needs to stop. I am getting better at absorbing beats, but this is one of the worst leaks in my game right now -- I need to keep striving.

3. I probably played a little too sociably. In a couple of spots, I "pulled up" because I was playing someone I knew and liked. While I don't mean I softplayed them, I probably raised more with the winner, because I had won enough of their money and didn't mind if they folded. I understand why I did this, but I'm not sure it's a very good idea (the people I like tend to be the better players).

At the end of the day, I played longer than I was accustomed. One of the usual producers hit the game big and cashed out early. That took a lot of money off the table, and I was not able to make a comeback because the worse players were extremely short. Finally, one of the best producers of them all came by late and I got involved in a huge hand with him.

To set things up, I had made about 2/3 of my money back, and flopped top two pair on a two-diamond board (PLO). Based on my read and past experience, I was convinced that I had the best hand, and the producer knows me to be a good player, so I thought I would represent my hand as stronger than it was. I bet pot, he raised, and I re-potted. He called. The third diamond came on the turn, gave me a better two pair, and I pushed representing the nut flush (knowing this plyer could not call without the Ace of diamonds in his had for the nut flush, but also know he would have called my flop raise with an inferior two pair, a crappy flush draw, and a straight draw). Unfortunately, he did have the nut flush draw (with nothing else with it, so my initial read was confirmed) and had hit it, so obviously he called. I rivered another King to win a massive pot. It was a misread on my part that paid off -- I took a shot and made a play, and got extremely lucky. The producer was pretty steamed, but I felt like I was striking a blow for all of us who had been sucked out on by this guy over the last couple of years......

Anyway, I cashed out about an hour later and headed home. While all the adrenaline was fun, I need to work on my game not being so swingy.

Is that a broken record I hear in the background? ;)

Just a Couple of Hours

2007-08-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

I played poker for a couple of hours Saturday night.

Here's the set-up: my family was in town two weeks ago, and I suffered the usual burnout that provides. I love my family, but as an introvert I need time to myself sometimes to recharge the batteries. With the whole weekend taken up with family events, that did not happen.

So, I sheepishly begged to go play poker Friday night, and my wife graciously agreed. She even proposed a new deal (described in )her blog) -- I can play on the weekend if I watch the kids for her to go do something she likes). She had no reason or need to do this, she's just that much of a rock star!

I look forward to playing my usual Friday game, and hoping to avenge the loss I took the last time I was there. However, as the week marched on, we got something in the Pittsburgh area we've avoided for a couple of years -- large scale flooding.

Some of you may recall the bad floods we got in 2004 in the areas known as Millvale and Sharpsburg. A lot of people lost homes and possessions, and it even made national headlines (especially when Teresa Heinz Kerry came down from her mansion not to give money, but to say "I'm not in a position to do anything much other than to find out...I want to find out"). Fortunately the flood wasn't as bad this time, but as my main game is in Sharpsburg they cancelled it because of issues with the roads and the air conditioning.

So, I went to my "backup game" -- it's in fact closer to my house, but no Omaha. It runs out of a closed restaurant at the bottom of the hill I live on. They spread a number of games. I started at the smaller game, and quickly got stuck a bit where I turned two pair and called two half-pot bets from a guy who slow-played his better two pair on the flop. Then they called the bigger game.

The reason I am willing to play a slightly bigger game at this place is because they don't spread Omaha, and therefore the pots actually stay much more manageable. Also, it's less likely that people will get much deeper stacks than I will have because of the lower amounts of "gambooling" that will go on without the pot limit and Omaha elements.

In any case, I topped off my stack and got to work. I did not play particularly long, and I also played pretty cautiously. The result was a steady grinding. I evaporated my loss at the smaller game and made a decent profit on the night (about half my buyin).

There weren't too many notable hands. I picked off what I thought to be a fairly obvious bluff on the river with Jacks on a King-high board. I flopped an Ace with AK against a short stack with Jacks who pushed preflop. I called a small river raise with two pair against a gentleman who hit runner runner second nut flush and checked it to me (huh?)

Nice night, ended early, and I made enough that Kris gets a pedicure. Fun.

Getting It in Good and Bad

2007-08-09T14:58:00.001-05:00

The goal, of course, is to get your money in good. Regardess of you ability to read and calculate, however, sometimes you get your money in good and still lose, get your money in with a great draw with odds but still miss, or get your money in bad. That's just the way poker is.

Nevertheless, it is ubelievably frustrating to have all of the bad happen collectively in one night, like two weeks ago.

The scene is the usual one: No-limit hold'em and pot-limit omaha, capped 100BB buyin (you can buy in double if you bust). Recently I have been playing well and running well. It's been fun.

I don't think I played terribly, but upon relfection I now think my reads were a bit off. I also was willing to play too many big pots, mostly because the hyper-agressive players were on my right instead of my left (meaning I was calling their raises instead of raising myself). Thats' the temptation of Omaha, of course -- it's so draw happy that you will often have odds (or convince youself you have odds) to run after your nut hands.

In any case, every time I got it in ahead, they caught up. Every time I got in behind (or with the worst hand that was a favorite with two cards to come), I missed. And every time I got it in with the second best hand in HE or PLO, I was shown the nuts. Very ugly.

Here's hoping next time goes better!

Quasi-wordless Wednesday II (To Borrow a Phrase)

2007-08-08T15:44:00.001-05:00

I will try a new post in the next few days. I got crushed the last time I played cards, and it merits some discussion, but let me try to have a good session first to get the taste out ;)

Wordless Wednesday (To Borrow a Phrase)

2007-08-01T14:42:00.001-05:00

My wife told me to post

2007-07-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

And she's right, I have not been putting my thoughts out there for a while.

I suppose it's because the pace of my life has picked up, or at least is flowing much differently than before. While certainly Krissy is much busier at home than I am, at work and at home there's always a little something to do these days. The twins are just getting so big, and now that they're playing more they simply demand more of our attention.

Further, I have not been playing much poker. I am playing about three times a month live (which is only because I have an amazing wife who lets me sneak out of the house), but I am playing even less than that online. Online poker just does not work for me with babies in the house -- I can't focus on poker when the twins are there and may need my attention (I had concentration issues already!). Therefore, I play bad and I've lost interest. Maybe when they are sleeping more soundly and can entertain themselves a bit more I will pick it back up, but until then nothing but games with a pause feature for me.

Live poker is a different story. That's probably because I am able to get out of the house to do it, and thus distractions are at a minimum. Since early April I have only had two losing sessions (of nine), and both were only for about a buy-in. Every other session has been a win (in two cases big wins), and I have been very pleased with my ability to play better poker. Hey, in the grand scheme of things this is ultra-low stakes, but if I can't beat this game I can't beat anything bigger, either.

There are two things in my life, however, that need some work. One is my health. I'll probably always be a big guy, but I need to get focused on being a healthier big guy. I am trying to watch what I eat, and Krissy encouraged me to ride my bike more often. Hopefully this will be the start of something good.

The other thing is relationships. The poker players I play with are generally good people, but they are not friends I can turn to in need or people to share deeply with. Several of my real friends have gotten tied up in their own lives, kids, etc. lately, and I need to push through that and make sure we're connecting more frequently. I also really owe my best friend a call.

Poker? What?

2007-06-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

I played poker Friday night. It was great. My wife is the greatest person ever.

I booked a 2 and a half buy-in win, putting me on quite a nice hot streak (up 7 buyins in the last three sessions played). Was great getting back into the swing of things. It helped that I couldn't miss -- literally flopped four straights, three flushes, and got a couple of people to push into me drawing dead.

And finally, more baby pictures!

Baby Shots!

2007-05-19T17:03:00.001-05:00

Some Pictures

They're Here

2007-05-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

And they're perfect. Will update with pictures, etc. soon.

On Their Way

2007-05-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

My children are being delivered tomorrow at noon. Please bless us with any thoughts and prayers you can spare.

This blog will likely return to active status this summer, as my game is improving a bit. Plus I will have pictures galore to share!

Be Nice Over There

2007-04-10T18:18:00.000-05:00

adventuresintwinparenting.blogspot.com

Hiatus

2007-03-31T01:16:00.000-05:00

This blog will be on a brief hiatus. After tonight's cash session, it has become apparent to me that I need to focus on improving my game, not talking about it. I lost several buyins, again, and it stings quite a bit.

I will post baby updates, of course, but I am going to lay low on poker content until I have a better grasp of where my leaks are coming from.

Soon They Shall Emerge and Destroy Tokyo

2007-03-27T12:59:00.000-05:00

My wife's most recent e-mail update about the little ones!

Hi All!

Jay and I are pleased to tell you that the twins are growing and thriving! Our ultrasound showed Faith weighing in at 4lbs, 14 oz., and Jonathan at 5lbs, 11oz.! Apparently in twin world we are having little giants! In fact, Jonathan was in the 90+ percentile!

They are both growing very well, have lots of fluid around them, and their heart rates are great. Unfortunately, Jonathan is now head up (breech) and may or may not turn around. If he remains in the breech position, there is a 100% chance that I will have a c-section.

They also did an internal ultrasound which revealed I am slightly dialated. I will go back next Tuesday for another internal ultrasound to see if there is any change. At which point they may give me the steroid beta-methazone (not sure about spelling) to increase the twins lung maturity.

Everything looked good on the non-stress test, and I will have another one next Tuesday as well.

Physically, I am doing pretty well. Lost two pounds this week which the doctor's say is due to the babies sucking up all the nutrients that I feed them! My blood pressure was 102/62, and I have minimal swelling. My abdomen is measuring 46 weeks! I have gained 37 lbs.

Typically, the doctor's do not intervine in twin pregnancies (via induction or scheduled c-section) until 39 weeks when they know the lungs are mature. But because the twins are so large, they don't think they would follow that guideline for me. They may want to do a double (two seperate sacks) amniocentisis at some point to determine lung maturity, but at the same time they may not -- it's risky and to be avoided if possible.

Today I am exactly 32 weeks. If I go into labor at 34 weeks or after, they will not try to stop labor. But it is always possible I could go 36 (my goal!) or more.

I am to take it easy and really restrict my lifting to about 10-15lbs. Good thing Monty only weighs 11.5! If I have more than 3 braxton-hicks contractions in an hour, or 3 an hour for several hours, then I will need to go to the hospital to be monitored. Needless to say, I am going to finish packing my hospital bag!

I think we are pretty much ready for the twins....car seats are in, cribs are ready, diapers and wipes are ready....it is getting much more real now. Exciting but scarey at the same time.

Please continue to pray for Faith and Jonathan. The best thing for them would be for them to stay inside for at least 3 more weeks-I really don't want to have them in the NICU at all.

New Feature

2007-03-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

Since I don't often have time to write articulate thoughts in this here blog, I have decided the cut and paste button can be my friend. I've been playing poker, after all, so why not let you see some of the things I have been doing? That way I provide content, and maybe some folks can comment.

I make no illusions that these are wholly indicative of my day. The first took place during my wife's baby shower, and the last two took place Saturday night (yay insomnia). All in all a very good day, almost a ful buy-in to the good. I had a bad night last Tuesday, and I have erased the two buy-in loss from set farmers and bad play. And yes, this time they are all winners and probably play themselves, but that won't always be the case.

So here they are.

Seat 2: Gydyon (204)
Seat 3: ohcowboy12go (157)
Seat 4: Dhanamjaya (250)
Seat 5: juicyjc (156)
Seat 6: alexmdm (52)
Seat 7: gmbenz5885 (80)
Seat 8: Jared Jon (96)
Seat 9: jhazen (142)
jhazen posts the small blind of 1
Gydyon posts the big blind of 2
gmbenz5885 posts 2
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Kh Kd]
ohcowboy12go calls 2
Dhanamjaya folds
WiredTwos sits down
juicyjc calls 2
WiredTwos adds 200
alexmdm calls 2
gmbenz5885 checks
Jared Jon folds
jhazen calls 1
Gydyon raises to 14
ohcowboy12go folds
juicyjc folds
alexmdm folds
gmbenz5885 folds
jhazen calls 12
*** FLOP *** [Qs 3h Qc]
jhazen checks
Gydyon bets 30
jhazen has 15 seconds left to act
jhazen raises to 128, and is all in
Gydyon calls 98
jhazen shows [9h 9s]
Gydyon shows [Kh Kd]
*** TURN *** [Qs 3h Qc] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 3h Qc 2s] [6c]
jhazen shows two pair, Queens and Nines
Gydyon shows two pair, Kings and Queens
Gydyon wins the pot with two pair, Kings and Queens
jhazen is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Board: [Qs 3h Qc 2s 6c]

Seat 1: billydeee (900 in chips)
Seat 2: sidelineskid (4090 in chips)
Seat 3: Gydyon (2255 in chips)
Seat 4: cardman61 (315 in chips)
Seat 6: beast5454 (1370 in chips)
Seat 9: scrubbyz (1570 in chips)
Gydyon: posts small blind 15
cardman61: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [5c 5d]
beast5454: folds
scrubbyz: raises 60 to 90
billydeee: calls 90
sidelineskid: folds
Gydyon: calls 75
cardman61: raises 225 to 315 and is all-in
scrubbyz: calls 225
billydeee: calls 225
Gydyon: calls 225
*** FLOP *** [5h 3s 5s]
Gydyon: checks
scrubbyz: bets 1255 and is all-in
billydeee: folds
Gydyon: calls 1255
*** TURN *** [5h 3s 5s] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [5h 3s 5s Tc] [7s]
beast5454 said, "wtf"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Gydyon: shows [5c 5d] (four of a kind, Fives)
scrubbyz: shows [8c 8s] (two pair, Eights and Fives)
Gydyon collected 2510 from side pot
cardman61: shows [Qs Kd] (a pair of Fives)
Gydyon collected 1260 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3770 Main pot 1260. Side pot 2510. | Rake 0

Seat 1: karl422 (1700 in chips)
Seat 2: statsman33 (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: JLGob (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: Lega (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: UnluckyPlyr (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: Gydyon (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Mongonian (1920 in chips)
Seat 8: RyGmoney (1360 in chips)
Seat 9: IDAHORAMS (1480 in chips)
Seat 10: allen393 (1040 in chips)
IDAHORAMS: posts small blind 10
allen393: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Gydyon [Th Td]
karl422: calls 20
statsman33: folds
JLGob: raises 40 to 60
Lega: folds
UnluckyPlyr: folds
Gydyon: calls 60
Mongonian: folds
RyGmoney: calls 60
IDAHORAMS: calls 50
allen393: calls 40
karl422: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [4h Ts 9d]
IDAHORAMS: checks
allen393: bets 140
karl422: calls 140
JLGob: raises 360 to 500
Gydyon: raises 940 to 1440 and is all-in
RyGmoney: folds
IDAHORAMS: folds
allen393: folds
karl422: folds
JLGob: calls 940 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [4h Ts 9d] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Ts 9d 2d] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JLGob: shows [Qd Qc] (two pair, Queens and Deuces)
Gydyon: shows [Th Td] (a full house, Tens full of Deuces)
Gydyon collected 3520 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3520 | Rake 0

Multiple Poker Personality Disorder

2007-03-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

/1

We're approaching a year on this humble poker blog, and I am unfortunately noticing that I seem to be blogging about the same leaks and issues in my game.

What's that they say about the definition of insanity?

Had a lot of fun at the game Friday night despite losing tons. There's more where the tons came from, but I can't sustain this loss rate in the long term. My post-babies poker break may be perfectly timed after all.

/2

I can't miss. I sat down for an hour and made a full buy-in. At .50/1 NL no less. Heck, if I had not lost to a set with Aces, I would have made much more!

And even when I miss, I still make money. Saturday I played for two hours, and despite totally overplaying a hand for my whole stack against a donkey who was dying to give his money away, I still made half a buy-in. Thank you, guy who tilted his whole stack in two hands.

/1

It's a matter of priorities. I spend a lot of time with my wife and our unborm twins and with family these days gearing up for fatherhood. That's awesome time, but when I get out into a different circle, I relish and enjoy the differeing social contact. I spend my time chatting and laughing and being social, instead of focusing on position, avoiding limping with bad hands, and reading faces and betting patterns.

The result is playing too many hands, playing out of position, and putting too much money in the pot when weak. It also is exploitable through bluffs at me when I am not certain of where I stand.

/2

I have some rigorous guidelines, because as it's been said it's like wiffle ball out there and much of the play is automatic.

I don't limp, with the occasional exception of suited connectors or small pairs. If I stay at a table long enough that people could pick up on that trend and exploit it, I stop doing it and raise with these hands if I decide to play them.

I play my position, but also demonstrate some patience to wait for good cards. I continuation bet strong, especially in position, and I fold if I am raised and I don't think a reraise will get them off the hand.

No set, no bet is not weak poker if you also mix up your play with other holdings.

/1

Sometimes as I fold I lament "what are those set odds again" as I muck my small pair out of position after calling a preflop raise on an Ace-high board. Other time I get caught overplaying Jacks because I am stuck or I am misreading my opponent.

Don't even ask why I'm playing those four cards in Omaha. Got a great nut low working in a non-split pot game though.....

/2

It will take a while because I can't do it as often as others, but playing is fun and I am not currently facing a mountain of variance. As I gain confidence, however, I will start playing a more aggressive style. As it is however, it's easy to play in position and cherry-pick.

Yes, those are both me right now. Personality 1 is my live game, 2 my online game. Why they are not the same is something I am struggling with.

Honestly, I think I may exude some tells in a live cash setting I don't throw off online (obviously) or in live tournaments. Of course, in tournaments, I have on an IPod, I am very rigid in my movements, and I know the structure and resulting strategy shifts intimately and have a system in place to ride the swings of tournament play. I've become adept at riding a short stack patiently until it's time to start moving.

I just can't get myself to hunker down that way when it's the same price every hand and I am enjoying myself with friends. Plus I like to straddle.

I have maybe three live games left. Next time I am going to set some overly strict rules for myself and see if it has an effect:

1. Polite chat, but no yammering on.
2. Do not look at my cards until action comes to me (I never violate this in a tourney, EVER, but I do in cash with people I know).
3. No limping under any circumstances. No exceptions.
4. Don't watch the flop, watch the opponent.
5. Continuation bet when checked to in position and when head's up. Otherwise watch the players before deciding.
6. Remember that percentages, pot size, pot odds and implied odds are relatively easy to calculate on the fly, and DO IT.
7. Play less Omaha and more Hold'Em.
8. Decide if this is a social outlet or a learning experience, and play that way.

Time to dust, I guess

2007-03-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

Wow. I have been bad at updating lately. I will do a quick update now and try to add some thoughts on the weekend.

1. Kids are doing great and growing. About 6 weeks to go.
2. Kris is managing the pain well. I am proud of her. She's doing everything an expectant mom should be doing -- not overworking, eating well, avoiding stress. She doesn't even ice cream binge!
3. I am doing fine. My cold went away, but a week later I got some sort of bronchitis-type crud that's just now dissapating.
4. I've been playing very little poker. I lost at my local game two Fridays ago by playing tired (I should read my rules again), and won online pretty consistently. I love those middle stakes NLHE games on FTP.
5. Probably going to play some more this weekend, if I finish the nursery up. Have a couple more small things to do in there.
6. Work is kind of frantic, as I am being pulled in a couple of different directions. Managing it OK though.

That's all for now. I will try to take notes when I play so I can make some interesting posts. Enough of this "once a week or less" crap ;), although this may become a parenting blog before too long haha.

Aggggggg

2007-02-22T10:32:00.000-05:00

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

It sucks!

Far Too Late

2007-02-14T12:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-04T21:50:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-02-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

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.

Shameless Brag Placeholder

2007-01-31T12:39:00.000-05:00

I won the Saturday Foxwoods tourney this weekend. I have so much to say, but I will wait to say it until I can think clearly again.

The Woods

2007-01-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I leave for Foxwoods in less than 24 hours. Very exciting. I will be there from Friday to Monday.

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 somethign on this journey.

Look forward to seeing my friends from DBPoker, and enjoying the largest casino in the world (at least until they finish development of Macau I would guess).

Fortunately, my wife is also spending some time away, so I feel a little less bad leaving her for four days. Her back has been hurting her as she pulled a muscle. We tried putting her in the recliner last night but it did not seem to help much.

Post over. Nothing below here.

I Was Right

2007-01-20T15:01:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I still lost about half a buy-in.

Played last night in a local cash game with some old friends. Great to see them again, and overall I think I played pretty well. However, I have noted a couple of issues with my game (I suspected these issues previously, hence the "I was right" above), I think in a timely fashion for a trip to Foxwoods....

1. I do better with 100 Big blinds than I do with 50. I should never buy in short, and I am glad my game increased its limits.

2. My game is well suited to playing in postion and calling preflop. It is also suited to making my raises on the turn, rather than on the flop.

3. I can't play for more than about 6 hours straight without needing a break.

I was in for 2 and a half buy ins, got back up to 3 buyins, cashed out for 2 buyins. If I had left after 6 hours, I would have had a decent profit despite getting drawn out on a few times.

4. As usual, if I deliver a beat, I go on a sick rush immediately thereafter.

I would have cashed out pretty good if one hand had turned out a bit better...

I am in the BB with 887J, two clubs. Flop gives me middle set, a straight draw, and backdoor clubs. Turn give me the club draw as well. The pot grows so that I am all in. Although I have a decent idea that I am behind to top set, I knew no one was in for runner runner clubs and the pot was so big that I decided it was worth the risk (I was being offered more than 3 to 1 with 9 clubs, three nines, and the 8, plus the chance that I was wrong about the top set and a board pair would also get me there). I was right about top set and I bricked on the river. I don't think I played the hand great, but overall once I got where I was I felt I had to call.

Not Sure I Understand

2007-01-18T00:14:00.000-05:00

I have apparently broken my short post setting in the translation to the new template. so I apologize that older posts now have links to nowhere......

What is the continued purpose of cracking down on online wagering? The Republicans who sought to crack down on that "evil" are out of power now, aren't they?

Nevertheless, for those in the fold who play mostly online poker, you likely have heard by now that the feds arrested the founders of Neteller this week, and this has resulted in Neteller pulling out of the US market earlier than expected.

I simply don't get it. Let me note a few salient points.....

I pay all my taxes. I vote every term. I give thousands of dollars to churches and charities. I donate my time to worthy causes. I do not smoke. I rarely drink, and just about never to excess. I have never cheated on my spouse. I don't steal office supplies. I've never visited a prostitute or done an illegal drug of any sort, ever.

I brush my own teeth. I wipe my own ass. I balance my checkbook and provide for my wife and upcoming kids. I visit the doctor when necessary, and look in on my family members. I do my own home repair and improvements.

Despite those facts, the United States Government is zeroing in on someone like me as a 1) criminal and 2) someone who cannot take care of himself or make his own decisions.

Why in the hell can poker sites be publicly traded, celebrated companies across the sea, but are the source of modern evil here? I understand some of the concerns over sports betting, but why is playing poker something the US Attorney thinks is worthy of so much time and energy?

I hate to sound like Nancy Pelosi, but we are fighting a war of vital national importance on three fronts, and yet we are using tax dollars to go after and restrict folks who throw fifty bucks on a poker site. How can that ever make sense?

No need to get into the legal particulars, as others have done better than me already. I simply expected more from my government, especially from a lame-duck law enforcement arm trying to cram square pegs into forty-year old round holes.

I certainly hope this wakes the PPA up.

And don't even get me started on Neteller itself. It shut down InstaCASH. Fine. But now to get money out you have to use a Neteller card. Which carries a sizeable fee per use. It's Firepay all over again. Disgusting.

I know I am just venting to vent now. Calling my Congressman will do little good -- he's been in office two weeks and it's the Justice Department taking these steps anyway.

It's stupid, stupid, stupid.

I got HOSEd

2007-01-17T12:17:00.000-05:00

My boy RJS at DBPoker decided to resurrect our private tournaments -- this promised to be lots of fun. So many "questionable" people had our passwords in the past, a fresh start should be good!

Last week was NLHE, and I bounced out right quick. This week's game was HOSE (UConn fears Razz), and I bubbled. I wish I had some brilliant insight for you, but there is none -- the private tourney structure for HOSE is so bad that at the first break no one had more than 6 big bets. The final table all arrived with about the same bumber. I hit a few sets and made it to 4th, where my straight draw lost to someone else's straight draw in stud.

Next week is Razz. Now that should be fun.

Brutal

2007-01-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

Oy.

Had just a brutal Sunday at the virtual tables. Could not get anything going. I played way too loose, especially against the bad players, which is of course the exact opposite of smart play for my style. I got too cute post-flop consistently. Glad that most of it was $T, not real cash. How I bounced out of the Sunday million with middle pair and the blinds at 200/400 is something I don't want to discuss....

Not exactly the outing I wanted before I geared up for Connecticut. I hope any time I get to play in the next couple of weeks goes much better.

My apologies for posting so infrequently these days. The babies plus a monstrous appellate brief have kept me mute and away from the tables for the most part.

KJGDSAKJKJSADGSKJAGJSKA BVDSNF

2007-01-07T01:20:00.000-05:00

Just bubbled in a horse tourney because some monkey decided calling a raise OOP on the bubble was a good idea with 10 9 sooooooted, and his no pair 5th flush draw was good enough to get it all in with.

I am so mad I could spit. What a night.

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

Went to Connecticut for four days and spent time with family. It was pretty awesome to spend time with my cousins (9 and 12). Makes it neat to anticipate that my own kids will be here relatively soon.

I am going to have a very busy week this week at work and at home. Once I make it through, however, we'll be in pretty good shape. I certainly intend to get at least a little poker in before I set out for Foxwoods. Can't believe that date is approaching so quickly.

The "Last Ride" for a while, will, I hope, be lots of fun.

I'll have more later. Hopefully I'll be able to post some interesting hands in the next couple of weeks. I''d love to get a chance to have some people critique my game for me.

2006 In Review

2006-12-27T14:34:00.000-05:00

I thought I would make a year-end post, because that's a cool thing to do these days. As I am not inspired by the muse much (and thus have little to write), let's try bullets.

-- My wife, as always, has been an angel. Thanks for all you put up with and loving me despite my flaws.
-- My kids -- can't wait to meet you!
-- My friends -- you've been too good to me.
-- My DBPoker buddies -- thanks for the good times in AC, CT, and elsewhere. Thanks for teaching me more about this game and having a great attitude.

This year has not been a great poker year win-wise, but I have learned so much and that is surely worth the lower returns than I would have hoped. Further, this year has been more about family than poker, and my focus has appropriately been drawn elsewhere. If I get more time, awesome, if not, may my time be devoted to my family.

May God bless my family in the coming year. May you all find what you are seeking, or what you need, whichever is better.

Babies at 19 Weeks

2006-12-26T23:34:00.000-05:00

It's a boy and a girl, both appear to be perfectly healthy!

Look inside!

Galapalooza Trip Report Part 2

2006-12-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

Bad Beat

2006-12-20T22:18:00.000-05:00

Tried to go with my office to a Christmas party in Philly today. Because there were 14 of us going, we got a limo bus. Awesome, right?

Wrong. Instead of getting to a party and having a nice evening, we wound up an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh on the Turnpike with two shredded tires, only to sit on the side of the road for three hours plus, and finally giving up and turning around.

Galapalooza Trip Report

2006-12-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

Warning to my non-DBPoker readers: there may be some content in here that will read like an inside joke to you and I may not be able to explain it all. Apologies.

Well, my 20 hours in Columbus was certainly a lot of fun. Here's my trip report, although the fine DBPoker folks have already covered most of the bases.

He won't acknowledge it, but Bob (my fellow Pittsburgh DB-er) talks so much that 4 hours in a car and a Ruby Tuesdays passes like nothing due to good conversation. Also, Bob is the dbtony of driving, as much like Tony bricking in Stud 8, every slow moving car on a freeway will pull in front of Bob.

We arrived at around 1:45, hung around the hotel for a while with MK in tow, and then headed off to dinner at Buca DiBeppo. The beer was flowing, as was some good food and loud chat. I'd hate to be anyone sitting near us....

I took lots of pictures which I will be putting up tonight most likely, and will probably add some to this post. Dinner was a great time, and it was nice to meet some new folks live.

Dinner attenders: Me, rjs162, PurposelessPlay, fishintimber, Maego, jjfunk, scottjf8, Leo1972, Galaxy500, mk, sage.

We then head over to Galaxy's house in a gated community. Very nice place, with a finished basement for the nights activities. Plenty of good beverages and a metric ton of Colonel Pops popcorn. Man that stuff is good.

We start the tourney 12-handed, as Chris is the only one of Gal's friends willing to put up for the tourney (several more would show to play cash later though).

2500 chips to start, 30 minute levels. I chip up early with Aces and turned quads against Kings. I then proceed to waffle between 4000 and 3000 chips for two hours because of card death plus Norm (PPlay) sitting to my left and loving him some reraise. Nevertheless, I make the final table with a decent stack.

Not much of note at the final table from me, I think I finished 6th or 7th. I had Jacks once and got some chips, and mostly I stole some blinds to keep alive depite not having much in the way of cards.

Finally, with blinds of 150/300 (I think), I get it in with sixes against Bob's QJ. A Jack on the flop cripples me, and I am forced to go with QJ a few hands later which is called by KQ. IGHN.

The eventual winner was Galaxy, and three handed play (top three paid) lasted about 8 hands, as the blinds went crazy near the end because the final 5 were playing no flop poker.

I set the camera to record the final table action and went over to the cash games. Loads of fun. A couple of Gal's friends are playing. They're real pleasant to talk to and willing to learn the game alongside some loud drunks. Play lasts about 3 hours while I am there, and besides losing to a 7-high flush draw on the first hand (thx mk), I chip up well. Norm's ruthless aggression gets him to about $500 from a $60 buyin. It was fun to win a little money, but it was even better to spend time with good people. Funk was particularly hilarious at the cash table, as he had an endless supply of beer and rebuys, and somehow was also in charge of the chips....."I'm not sure I have a pair" and "You're not going to make me look at my cards, are you" were common phrases.

We wrapped up about 3am, and a good time was had by all. Looking forward to editing the video of the event. I've been uploading the footage I got, and that plus the slew of pistures and the video taken by fish should result in a fun finished product.

Galaxy Home Game

2006-11-29T17:10:00.000-05:00

Looking forward to a trip to Columbus to play in Galaxy's Home Game. Not as many dbs will appear at this game as at our AC and Foxwoods misadventures, but it should be quite fun nevertheless.

Because I used my birthday Best Buy cards to get my video editing system up and running in anticipation of having lots of videos of my children in the near future, I have been charged with videotaping the event and editing a final product.

I will certainly do a trip report here.

Live Game Fun

2006-11-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

I have not played much poker lately, so I have not posted too much. My wife can feel the babies moving now, and that's awesome fun to know. I can't wait until I can.

Looking forward to spending some time with the DB Poker crew in early December -- we're invading a comrade's "home game" in Columbus. Should be a good time.

I played live on Friday and booked a pretty good night.

I played a warm-up SNG and busted early, then played another and got my money back. Then I played a third one (they started way late) and chopped it three ways. After paying for the survivor pool (a decent investment because 35 people sign up and it invariably gets chopped at around 5 so if you make last 4 tables or so you're getting some good cash) and the main event, I am stuck only a little on the night. That's fun. I went with Bob (rjs162) and rather than swap percentage, we do a "safety" (cash for more than twice the buy-in pays the other their buy-in back).

In an online tournament, other than a rebuy, I am looking to stay patient for the first 5-6 levels or so, and get my money in good because someone will inevitably pay me off with a shitty hand. I'll see cheap flops, but will only spend a certain portion of my starting stack speculating before I start hunkering down. This works well, and much of the time I will roll 1500 into 10k or so within the first two hours if I am not card dead. Then I have some chips to make reads and play power poker (whether I am doing that effectively is a question for another post)

I have a slightly different philosophy in these live "charity" tournaments, because of the structure. 5k in chips, 20 minutes levels live are like 5 or 10 minute levels online with 1k in chips. You don't have ANY time to wait for a good hand, so in these tournaments I think you have to go big or get to the cash game. So I will see a lot more flops, and go with my reads (wrong or right). If that means in the first hour people think I am a "donkey," all the better later. There are 178 runners, so getting paid off because of image could result in a big payday.

So that's how I find myself all in on about the fourth hand with nines on a 87710 board with two clubs. I had him on a flush draw (he overraised preflop which screams AK in these games and raised my flop bet in a way that shouted draw), and his turn push made me add maybe an overpair to the list of possible holdings, but the money in the pot was too attractive to turn down even if he showed me AA, because I had an OESD and may be ahead (this was not a pot odds calculation, but a determination that I had half my stack in at this point and I would rather go play the cash game than fold and nurse a short stack).

Bad read -- he had J7 and was blind stealing (at 25/50 level, blind stealing is stupid but nevertheless) then hit his gin flop. Instead of 10 outs to beat him I had 6. Thanks 9 on the river. Boy was he mad, and I don't blame him. I did not have time to explain my "go big or go home" philosophy to him nor would he have listened.

However, as is often the case, a suckout on my part leads to a ridiculous rush. I call an open push of 8BBs with A8 because I know the player would have not pushed with a big pair and it holds up against KQ. Queens hold up. Jacks hit a set. I call a shorties' all in with tens, the other player gets called for a string raise of his last 1800 (not by me, I will never call a string unless it's ridiculous) and has to wait for the flop, where I hit my ten against his Aces and the shorties' King, and on and on until I am at 35K before the first break.

Then this hand happened. I don't think it plays much differently, but I always appreciate thoughts. Blinds 400/800, I am in late position with Queens. 1 limper, it folds to me, I make it 3000. OOP limper calls. about 7200 in the pot. Flop comes 10 10 7 rainbow, check, I bet 6000, he calls. He has 8500 behind. Turn is a deuce, he checks, I put him all in. He calls with A10, and i don't hit my two outer. Down to 17k. I know I could play that differently, but don't we get to the same place? I don't see how I could fold in that spot given the stack sizes. It's not like his Ace hit -- then I might get away, but I would appreciate any thoughts.

We go on break, I put on my IPod and refocus for a couple of minutes. I grind for a while but am able to chip up to 30K without having to risk too much, and we chop the survivor pool in the meantime. However, the blinds are now at "go pay us some rake, dammit" level, which means that I approach and then dip below 10BBs. But I am able to steal for my survival for a while, and then double up a couple of times until a flush draw calls me all in with my pair (nines again lol) and hits.

I am crippled again (about 20k), but win a couple of 60/40s (one as the 60, one as the 40) and get it up to 90k. I have to fold on a flop to a BB special (I was 100% positive I was behind with my top pair and in retrospect should not have bet the flop), and make the final table of 11 (they paid 15) with 50k and the blinds at 5k/10k. Obviously I push my first decent hand A10, which runs into Queens and IGH in 11th for 200, 20 for the dealers. So, after paying Bob his safety and paying $10 for the sucker bet 50/50 raffle, I end up up on the night. As always, a piece goes to my wife for a massage.

It was fun to play again, and even more fun to play well (obviously I made mistakes, but I was reading well and not playing too crazy). The money was gravy.

Speaking of gravy, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thoughts

2006-11-03T10:11:00.000-05:00

1/2 is definitely the way to earn my bonuses, but I think I have been doing it at the wrong places.

When I am grinding, I get bored, so I tend to play the specialty games -- O8, HORSE, etc. However, I think that I need to get back to LHE. I sat down for a while last night, and if it weren't for soemone chasing a gutshot the whole way against my Aces, I would have doubled up in twenty minutes instead of cashing out for 1.5 buyins. It's like wiffle ball, as they say in Rounders.

Meanwhile, the HORSE games are now populated by three groups of people:
1. The solid regulars
2. The tilting whiners who think they are good
3. The fish.

The fish pool is shrinking and shrinking. Although you can make good money off the tilty whiners, it's not worth the headaches. LHE it is.

Looking forward to my anniversary trip this weekend. See you all next week.

Well, I Need to Start Posting Again

2006-11-01T20:48:00.000-05:00

But I have not had much to report. Cash games are going OK, and I keep getting close in tourneys but have not broken through in a few weeks.

I think my game is almost there. I still need to stop and think more, but my reads are improving a ton. I have been real happy with some of my calls and some of my raises in the past couple of weeks -- I've been picking off continuation bets and bluffs pretty well. That's a nice zone to be in.

We're going away this weekend, and it will be great. Krissy is 12 weeks along, and she could use some relaxation out of town. So far everything is great.

This was Fun

2006-10-19T23:12:00.001-05:00

PokerStars Game #6697539103: HOSE (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit, $1/$2) - 2006/10/19 - 23:42:22 (ET)
Table 'Canopus' 8-max
Seat 1: dtxray (29 in chips)
Seat 2: firstlassie (57 in chips)
Seat 3: DWDuck2 (51 in chips)
Seat 4: twistedspeed (24 in chips)
Seat 5: Jekka1000 (40 in chips)
Seat 6: drager13 (40 in chips)
Seat 7: Gydyon (39 in chips)
Seat 8: dorian0006 (11 in chips)
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to dtxray [Ts]
Dealt to firstlassie [Ac]
Dealt to DWDuck2 [5h]
Dealt to twistedspeed [2d]
Dealt to Jekka1000 [3d]
Dealt to drager13 [3s]
Dealt to Gydyon [7c 7s 7h]
Dealt to dorian0006 [Ks]
twistedspeed: brings-in low 0.50
Jekka1000: calls 0.50
drager13: calls 0.50
Gydyon: raises 0.50 to 1
dorian0006: folds
dtxray: calls 1
firstlassie: raises 1 to 2
DWDuck2: calls 2
twistedspeed: calls 1.50
Jekka1000: folds
drager13: calls 1.50
Gydyon: raises 1 to 3
dtxray: calls 2
firstlassie: raises 1 to 4
Betting is capped
DWDuck2: calls 2
twistedspeed: calls 2
drager13: calls 2
Gydyon: calls 1
dtxray: calls 1
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to dtxray [Ts] [4h]
Dealt to firstlassie [Ac] [Jc]
Dealt to DWDuck2 [5h] [9s]
Dealt to twistedspeed [2d] [Ah]
Dealt to drager13 [3s] [Js]
Dealt to Gydyon [7c 7s 7h] [2s]
firstlassie: bets 1
DWDuck2: calls 1
twistedspeed: calls 1
drager13: calls 1
Gydyon: raises 1 to 2
dtxray: calls 2
firstlassie: raises 1 to 3
DWDuck2: folds
twistedspeed: calls 2
drager13: calls 2
Gydyon: raises 1 to 4
Betting is capped
dtxray: calls 2
firstlassie: calls 1
twistedspeed: calls 1
drager13: calls 1
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to dtxray [Ts 4h] [Th]
Dealt to firstlassie [Ac Jc] [9c]
Dealt to twistedspeed [2d Ah] [6d]
Dealt to drager13 [3s Js] [5c]
Dealt to Gydyon [7c 7s 7h 2s] [7d]
dtxray: checks
firstlassie: bets 2
twistedspeed: calls 2
drager13: calls 2
Gydyon: raises 2 to 4
dtxray: calls 4
firstlassie: calls 2
twistedspeed: calls 2
drager13: folds
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to dtxray [Ts 4h Th] [Tc]
Dealt to firstlassie [Ac Jc 9c] [5s]
Dealt to twistedspeed [2d Ah 6d] [Qh]
Dealt to Gydyon [7c 7s 7h 2s 7d] [4c]
dtxray: bets 2
firstlassie: calls 2
twistedspeed: calls 2
Gydyon: raises 2 to 4
dtxray: raises 2 to 6
firstlassie: calls 4
twistedspeed: calls 4
Gydyon: raises 2 to 8
Betting is capped
dtxray: calls 2
firstlassie: calls 2
twistedspeed: calls 2
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to Gydyon [7c 7s 7h 2s 7d 4c] [Kd]
dtxray: bets 2
firstlassie: folds
twistedspeed: folds
Gydyon: raises 2 to 4
dtxray: raises 2 to 6
Gydyon: raises 2 to 8
Betting is capped
dtxray: calls 2
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Gydyon: shows [7c 7s 7h 2s 7d 4c Kd] (HI: four of a kind, Sevens)
dtxray: mucks hand
Jekka1000 said, "nh"
Gydyon collected 111 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Seat 1: dtxray mucked [6h 6c Ts 4h Th Tc 2c]
Seat 2: firstlassie folded on the River
Seat 3: DWDuck2 folded on the 4th Street
Seat 4: twistedspeed folded on the River
Seat 5: Jekka1000 folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 6: drager13 folded on the 5th Street
Seat 7: Gydyon showed [7c 7s 7h 2s 7d 4c Kd] and won with HI: four of a kind, Sevens
Seat 8: dorian0006 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

I've Been in Trial

2006-10-09T22:35:00.000-05:00

So, as a result, I have failed to announce that we're having twins! Woooo!

My life has been calming down this week. Home for a couple of weeks and loving it. Cashed in my first MTT in a while -- FTP 10K -- was in top 40 most of the day, then got short and pushed 9 BBs with AJ into queens. Just felt nice to go deep.

Nothing to Report

2006-09-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Not much to blog about. Sorry I'm boring, but I obviously have a lot going on. I would be surprised to see updates more than weekly in the next couple of months.

Amen

2006-09-12T12:41:00.000-05:00

After 18 long months of trying and seeking aid, my wife is pregnant. Thank you Lord, and thanks to all those who supported us through this rough (but wonderful) patch.

Swings

2006-09-04T15:28:00.000-05:00

I went out and played yesterday and lost a bit of money.

1. I cannot play the SNGs before the tourney ever again, except maybe one just as a warmup. They are -EV because the structure sucks. This is now a rule.

2. I thought I played well, if a bit tight, during the tournament. Then I got short (9BB) and raise with sevens, and I got reraised all in (he had me outchipped by about 1k). Of course that's what I wanted, but I was surprised to see him roll over KQo. JJ1010 by the river and IGHN.

3. I played poorly in the cash game initially, then managed to scrape back to almost even. I hate 50BB capped buyins, but there was no bigger game going. First table way too loose for the cards I was getting, second table just right for my comeback.

Trial Prep=No Poker

2006-08-31T07:26:00.000-05:00

Have not played since my cash game because I have been preparing for trial. Hope to play live or online this weekend, but not sure because I am awfully busy.

Bachelor Weekend Repost

2006-08-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

My wife drove up to see her mom this weekend and to help here with a yard sale.

As an introvert, I enjoy some me time now and then to recharge, and as a poker player I enjoy a couple days to play without sacrificing time with my wife, but still it's no fun having my best friend absent.

Especially since the last couple of days I've been feeling pretty down. Not sure why.

HORSE is still crazy good. I can play in a tournament or two and still finish up 15 BB or more playing 1 or 2 tables for a couple of hours. I am sure it will end soon, but while it lasts it feels good to have some positive poker cash flow again. Also it was absolutely fabulous for clearing the last of my bonus.

MINI TRIP REPORT

Friday at Bob's was fun. Watched the game, broke even in the tourneys (played 2 for $5, finished second for $10 in one). Bob's a good guy, and i enjoyed seeing his new place. Hope we can get a home game rolling soon.

Saturday I broke about even in the single tables (chopped a couple), bounced out of the tourney in record time (should not have joined the survivor pool), and booked a win in the NL game.

To be frank I was not playing particularly well (I allowed a bit of "scared money" tighten me up a bit more than the table warranted), but managed to survive a very aggressive table with some well-timed semi-bluffs and hitting some hands.

Also, however, I never had AK or a pair higher than Jacks all night and still booked a win. It was funny -- no one respected a raise or a continuation bet -- we had one guy who would call any PF raise, flop, and turn bets with paint boards with his eights, then finally believe on the river and fold to a quarter-pot bet.

If only I had had a premium hand all night -- I would have been sitting on much more instead. Crazy game. I look forward to playing it again, because I think there's money to be made there. It used to be a capped game, but now that they have increased the buy-in it plays a little better.

Bachelor Weekend

2006-08-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

My wife is driving up to see her mom this weekend and to help here with a yard sale. Bachelor weekend ahoy.

Broken Record

2006-08-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

I'm lacking tournament patience again. I have a good dose of aggression, but I can't seem to wait for cards in between my spurts of aggression.

Fortunately my HORSE play keeps me freerolling when I do play tournaments. SOFT

All Right!

2006-08-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well, looks like I may get back into the arena after all. I have been assigned to a trial in Philly starting with jury pick on September 7. Nice.

The binders to prep arrive tomorrow, and I could not be more excited.

I Know I Say Stuff Like This A Lot

2006-08-19T19:02:00.000-05:00

But holy crap get your ass to the HORSE tables at PS NOWWWWWWW

Or HOSE, they're sick soft too. Doubled my PS bankroll in two days at low stakes. Really.

I wonder....

2006-08-18T14:53:00.000-05:00

what kind of father I am going to make.

Some of you may know that my wife and I are trying to have a child. We've had a few hiccups on that front, but as I move towards fatherhood, I start to get nervous, even though no sticks have turned pink yet or anything.

I collect movie trailers on my IPod, and recently Pursuit of Happyness [sic] appeared. In it, Will Smith play a dad, whose kid says "you're a good papa." For whatever reason, that choked me up.

Poker is fun, law is rewarding, but I still wonder what fatherhood will do to my life, and how I will do.

I hope I will be someone my kids will look up to.

I hope I am someone they will be happy to continue in their lives after they grow up.

I hope I will be able to guide them into a good path for their life.

I hope that my flaws as a person won't reflect too poorly on them.

It's going to be cool. And scary. I can't wait.

Never Mind, Still in a Rut

2006-08-16T20:57:00.000-05:00

I still suck, and playing limit did not help.

Hope this will end soon!

WSOP Thoughts

2006-08-16T15:49:00.000-05:00

I wonder if it's true that Jamie Gold tipped a million dollars or more.

If true, I also wonder why on earth he would do that.

I am a pretty generous person. I used ot wait tables, and as a result you're getting 20% post-tax, unless you peed in my food or something. I feel the same way about dealers, and make sure they get at least a buck a pot, more with bigger pots, and I often tip them on the way off the table, too. When I cash in a tourney I tip even if I made the bottom cash. It's just what I do.

However, considering 1) the amount of abuse Harrah's heaped upon the players as a result of taking enormous juice for the stated purpose of toking the players and 2) the likelihood that this tip might not see its way in full to those dealers, I don't think I would be quite so generous.

Would I tip? Probably, although some of the pros say they never will anymore. But look at it this way: typical casino tournament directors will tell you 3 to 5% is fair. 5% is 600K. So that's my ceiling on a $12M purse.

I know some would state that the dealers got screwed this year, and therefore they need the tip money. Hey, from all reports Harrah's was greedy as hell and dishonest with their dealer staff, and they were screwed. But although a few grand per dealer might take some of that sting way, I GUARANTEE that Harrah's will use this generosity as an excuse not to treat the dealers any better next year.

The best way for the dealers to improve their position, if such improvement is warranted, is to walk out en masse. Pulling even more money out of the prize pool really isn't going to solve much.

In an attempt to facilitate discussion here, I have enabled anyone to comment now, with a word verification feature to avoid spam. I hope this will go smoothly. I will be moderating comments, so if you have a personal issue of any sort with me, send me an e-mail first.

Bad Rut, Bad Attitude

2006-08-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

I am not playing well the past couple of weeks when I get time to play. The best examples of this are the WPTFSOP events I have been speaking about the last few weeks.

In the PLHE tourney last night, I chipped up a bit early, but then decided to call off half my stack with one pair against a solid player. Not a good idea.

I then got short and pushed with K 2, only to have the other shorty (who knows it's chip up or fold there so I am not faulting his play) call with 10 8 and hit an 8.

I wish I could say I am running bad, but in fact I am not focused and I am not playing well. I hope the tailspin will end soon.

The result is me being very down on myself, even though I am ahead of the game in this series with my cashes. The fact that I surrendered the WPTFSOP lead to the S/8 specialist with only a few tourneys left to play has me bummed. I may have closed myself out of the prize pool unless I do REALLY well in the other remaining events, as the players right behind me are pretty good, too. I'll have to hope to taunt Tony into tilt since he has no chat ;), play much better than I have been, and get insanely lucky. OK, maybe not.

WSOP PPV Tilt

2006-08-11T12:01:00.000-05:00

So I pay $25 for the DirecTV PPV of the WSOP Final Table. Unfortunately I had to be in court this morning, so I TIVO'd it and went to bed. What I did see was loads of fun though. Gordon is made for this kind of work. Chad and Gordon next year?

Anyway, I get up this morning and verify everything taped, and in fact I get to hear the winner's acceptance speech as I am getting ready. After I cook breakfast and say bye to my girl, I go to turn the TV off and notice the TIVO is at 69% instead of 50%. The stupid thing erased my $25 show.

Now I verified that DirecTV allows recording of its PPV events, so that's not the issue. It just ate it (this has been happening on occasion, but I deliberately hit "Keep").

Fortunately DirecTV does a "in case you missed some" thing with its purchases, so my buy bought me the replay, too, but how annying would it be to pay $25 to watch an hour of the WSOP?

Insert Clever Title Here

2006-08-08T11:16:00.000-05:00

Did not play good stud last night and also caught second-best hands twice. Straight versus boat and straight versus flush. Other than that, rarely even had a good pair. It was ugly. And I kept calling too much.

I'm just not that good at stud games. I can survive in Razz and Stud 8 because I have some basic rules down, but I have no edge in them and I am a dog to the field in stud. Odd that I have improved my game in the Omaha-based games so that I do have an edge but can't get a handle on these games.

Oh well, we'll continue to work on it. It's a process of course.

DOH

2006-08-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

Got deep in the $8500 today, but could not get anything going after hitting an early chip lead. Made a bad call with tens versus jacks, and then had to push short with A9 and ran into tens and fives. Bubbles are fun.

My mid-game in big tournaments needs work. Maybe I get bored, but I just play badly after about an hour and a half in. Almost every time. I need to process how to do better in that stage. It's easily my biggest tournament weakness.

Meh

2006-08-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

Nothing much going on, still enjoying my break. My wife hadn't even noticed, but that's another story for another time.

Sad to discover most of my friends (and Mr. Raymer) are out of the Main Event. Happily Nordberg still has a good deal of chips. Good luck to him.

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things this evening. Yee haw.

Short Break

2006-07-31T12:16:00.000-05:00

After my win last Monday in the WPTFanSOP O8 tournament and a 2d in the HORSE event Wednesday, I have played absolutely no poker of any kind. It's been a nice break actually.

As to HORSE, I think I played well, but I was very aggressive with my draws at the end with a player who was going to call me no matter what he had. I had been pretty aggressive and he decided he was going to call me down. I should have slowed down. Nothing wrong in principle with someone who wants to "keep you honest," but I personally think you need to have a hand of your own for this strategy to actually work in the long run.

For example, check calling with Ace High after a completion and catching two pair on the end, and check calling after a completion until 6th with a pair of twos with no other draws, only to catch a third two on the river and running down two pair does not seem +EV, but it was limit.

If any of my draws hit or my big hands hold, I win the thing walking and have an early lock on the SOP prize pool. Heck, if I didn't get raised on the flop on the last hand by the underpair to the board that could make me broke (it gave me two pair on the turn and my opponent gets his set), I am doubled up and ready to try to book the win. I ran in to the one play style that could bust me if I bricked and I should have adjusted.

I went away to my in-laws camp in the mountains this weekend. Had a good, relaxing time. I started to read Take Me to the River and it is an AWESOME read so far -- I may have to buy some of Alson's other books.

Also went through the first 5 problems in Harrington 3 and I am surprised that my tourney style is so similar to Harrington's. I really disagree with his refusal to reraise Farha in one of his problems as Negreanu when he flops the nut straight and Farha is obviously betting until he gets it, but that's because I would not want Farha betting his flush draw and getting there, which is what ends up happening. In this case HSP is invaluable, because it reinforced my earlier belief that Farha will bet it until he gets it, and then you'll pay him off because you can't believe he was betting with THAT.

Other than that, having fun learning about the game and not playing for a few days. Feeling refreshed. My plan is to continue my slow BR rebuild, and now that everyone's WSOP push is over, I plan to possibly sat into the USPC or maybe just the big Sunday tourneys.

By the way, before I forget, good luck to Nordberg (Peter Feldman) and Slart (Derek Scott) today in Day 1D. Good luck to all the other DBs still in the thing, including my boy Chris Minery (Mineryc/Inigo Montoya) and some other great people. I'm so impressed, keep up the fight.

Don't Semi-Bluff a Calling Station

2006-07-26T22:54:00.000-05:00

don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station
don't semi-bluff a calling station

But I Hate Full Tilt!

2006-07-26T11:55:00.000-05:00

Man, I am getting almost Nord and Duque-esque in my blog update slowness.....

Truth is I have not had much to say. I have not played too much poker, but I did have a fun Monday that I was too tired to blog.

I try to be a nice guy at the table, and I tend to only razz those people that I think can take it. So sorry to anyone who does not realize that I rarely mean what I say -- if you could see my face you'd know I was joking.

This was the case in our biweekly WPTFanSOP tournament, Limit O8. When I play in a limit tournament, especially given the odd blind schedule of FTP and especially in games where others are not as familiar (like O8), my strategy is to play tight and only good starters, then get progressively more aggressive as the tournament progresses. So, naturally, I folded most of my hands in the first hour of O8. Only to see folks play some of the most atrocious hands, hands that were sometimes not even good high-only hands. So, in my usual spirit of talking like a fiend when playing with my friends I made fun of some of these hands. Sorry Steve, I target you sometimes because you're one of the best people I know and I figure you can take it.

However, I did manage to eke out some chips, and then my table broke and I went on a sick run. Ran myself up to 7K in chips playing aggressive and catching some cards. Made it to the final table, where I faced 1 big stack player who knows how to play every game, 2 or 3 players who had no clue but are good players in other games, 2 solid players with small stacks, and a couple others.

Fortunately I had a good run of cards to go with my aggressiveness (and one good read on a player I had position on), and I managed to get to heads up only slightly outchipped.

Then I went on a maniacal Gavin Smith-esque tear. I raised every time I had the opportunity to do so. Usually I had the cards or a draw to back it up, but even when I did not I raised anyway. This strategy worked out for me because I was playing a smart player who, even if he realized what I was doing, never had a hand to punch back with.

So, I am O8 king for a week or two. Bragging rights for five or ten minutes and some points towards the final prize pool. More importantly, I was happy to see I have a decent feel for a game I don't play that often. Still no expert by any means, but at least I am not studying the board to figure out if I won or why I lost....

The Grind

2006-07-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

Actually the current grind is work-related, not poker-related. GG job.

Played very little this week, but I have to say that low-limit PLO is a freaking gold mine. I am having a ball playing it on FTP -- really the only time I have been profitable on that site because I am not token chasing. I have run really well without really gettin gany amazing starters. Just bet your big hands and call small bets with your draws and it's automatic.

I have read that playing mixed games can improve your hold 'em game because it stimulates a good kind of creativity and keeps you focused on reads because board texture can matter so much more. I hope that's right.

Although the PLO has been fun, I must once again criticize FTP. Their structures for limit tournaments are preposterous. Perhaps it is simpler to use the same structure for all, but just because split pot tournaments can last forever does not mean that you should keep the structures for the other games so disgustingly fast. I lost two hands in Razz and was completely shortstacked. That's silly.

I am going to focus on cash games for a bit, I think. I have always known that they are a more solid money winner in the long run, but I enjoy tournaments more because they are suited to my game and because they can be exciting. However, I am not going to improve unless I play more cash games and different situations, so let's get to work. I will still satellite into the big tournaments and play small tourneys now and then, but I think it makes more sense to play cash.

Also, playing cash means I can sit out without consequence. Although we have been spending more time together lately, my wife may get a new job, and so our time together will be more precious. She's been pretty supportive over the past two years, and I don't want her to ever get the impression I would pick poker over her, because I never would.

OK, I hope everyone has a good weekend. I am spending a lot of time at parties and other stuff, so it should be fun.

Law and Poker COLLIDE

2006-07-19T15:42:00.000-05:00

Very interesting:

Seven Top Poker Players File Antitrust Lawsuit Against The World Poker Tour

Players Sue to Enjoin WPTE’s Illegal Business Practices and Seek Damages for WPTE’s Wrongful Conduct

Las Vegas, July 19, 2006 -- Today, seven of the world’s top poker players filed an antitrust Complaint against WPT Enterprises, Inc. (“WPTE”) in federal district court in Los Angeles. By this lawsuit, Plaintiffs Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Joseph Hachem, Howard Lederer, and Greg Raymer seek to enjoin – and seek treble and punitive damages for – WPTE’s continuing violations of federal and state antitrust laws.

WPTE operates the World Poker Tour (“WPT”), a series of televised, high stakes poker tournaments that are run by various casinos located throughout the United States and in parts of Canada and Europe.

The Complaint alleges that WPTE and the casinos have unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition for the services and intellectual property rights of top, high stakes professional poker players. In particular, the Complaint alleges that the casinos have agreed with WPTE that they will not host any non-WPT televised poker tournaments. The Complaint also alleges that WPTE and the casinos have conspired to fix the price and other terms and conditions under which Plaintiffs and other professional poker players are forced to give up their valuable services and intellectual property rights in order to participate in WPT tournaments.

Plaintiff Chris Ferguson stated as follows: “WPTE has stacked the deck against all poker players who wish to compete in its tournaments. They are using our names and images to sell their products without our prior consent and without any compensation. We cannot let these wrongful actions stand. We will prosecute this lawsuit for as long as it takes to change WPTE’s unlawful ways.”

Plaintiff Annie Duke stated that: “We are bringing this action to change the way WPTE treats players. Our goal is not just to win for ourselves, but to set a precedent so that all players can be dealt a fair hand.”

Plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Dewey Ballantine LLP, whose lead counsel, Jeffrey Kessler, has successfully represented NFL, NBA, and other players in similar antitrust suits. Mr. Kessler stated the following: “It is now well established that the antitrust laws protect professional athletes and other players when agreements are entered into that restrain competition for their services. This is as true for the business of professional poker tournaments as it is for professional football, basketball, and other sports. Professional poker players are entitled to a free market for their services, which will also benefit consumers since the result will be more and higher quality poker tournaments.”

Plaintiff Greg Raymer stated that: “Our success in this lawsuit will benefit all current and future poker players. I am proud to be part of it.”

Plaintiffs are seven of the most widely recognized and successful professional poker players in the world. Plaintiffs Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon, for example, are two poker superstars who have won three WPT tournaments between them. Plaintiff Chris Ferguson, perhaps the most widely recognized poker player in the world, and Plaintiffs Joseph Hachem and Greg Raymer, have each won the World Series of Poker (“WSOP”) Main Event. Plaintiff Annie Duke has also won a WSOP event, and is regarded as the best and most accomplished female professional poker player in the history of poker. Plaintiff Andrew Bloch has two WPT “Final Table” appearances.

I decided it was in my interest as a lawyer and a poker player to attend today's conference call rgearding the suit, which was publicly noticed on numerous websites. I did not identify myself or ask any questions because I did not want to step on the toes of any of the full media members present.

This is a very interesting development I am still mulling over, and may create some serious waves in the poker community.

I do not take issue with the filing of a suit against WPTE over their craptastic releases.

I have two issues right now, and once I read the complaint one may be less pressing.

First, I think any good lawyer should better prepare his clients for a national press conference. Annie Duke sounded like a moron, and bitched about blind structures and TV production values in the context of a major piece of civil litigation. It was stupid and Kessler should never have let her talk.

Second, I practice a bit of antitrust law (less now than previously, but still a significant portion of what I do), and the idea of an antitrust suit does not sit well with me intellectually. Antitrust suits generally center around anticompetitive actions taken in a defined relevant market. At this point, I don't see how the relevant market does not include the WSOP and other televised events, where most of these players have enjoyed enormous success. I don't see how the WPTE's actions, unfair as they are, can be anticompetitive in a relevant market given the wealth of other opportunities.

For example, Andy's recent finish in the HORSE event and everyone else's relatively unfettered success makes it unclear how they are being deprived of the ability to pursue their profession. Certainly they can or can't play WPT events, but there seems to be other avenues a plenty -- many of us complain about there being too much poker on TV, right?

Again, this seems more of an employment/contract issue to me, and it sucks and the WPT should be made to stop. However, under my current thought process, I can't conceive of it as an antitrust case. Admittedly I have not gotten my hands on the complaint yet and certainly the folks at Dewey Ballantine have been doing antitrust far longer than I have.

EDIT:

OK, I have now read the Complaint. First and foremost, they do have interference with contract and other contract-based claims in there, so that alleviates my concern that they weren't focusing on the contract issues. Nice hand folks.

Second, I have pored through the antitrust side, and they define the market in a way that I had not initially considered -- "elite professional poker players". If that definition could hold, I think they could make some headway with this. They also sued WPTE only, although they do refer to the member casinos as "Conspiring Casinos" throughout.

Given the fact that anyone can plunk down $10K and play, I wonder if that definition can hold up. I think a court may be swayed by an antitrust lawyer (and I know who I would hire if I was WPTE, but they may have someone else in mind) for the defense that the proper market is "participants in televised tournaments," which would restrict the antitrust claims considerably. However, I think the release issues still win the day here.

Congrats

2006-07-18T11:49:00.000-05:00

Many congratulations to my boy Derek(Slart) who won his ME seat on Sunday.

That makes about 10 people I post with or play with in the ME this year. Pretty awesome. Good luck to everyone!

WSOP Attempt Live Blog

2006-07-16T14:30:00.000-05:00

7:11 -- Out 2555th. 10 10 no good against A 10. Of course.

Well, I now know the play is just as atrocious here as it is everywhere else (including my own -- I don't have the game I think I do), and that I can't win a race or even a 70/30 when it counts. Far less satisfying than I hoped.

6:40 -- I survive my first all-in confrontation of many and have 3300 at the break.

Stack: largest 30490, smallest 90, average 5765
Your current position is 2264 out of 3199
Time bank balance is 180 seconds

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 135 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out of 15 times while in big blind (73%)
- 8 out of 15 times while in small blind (53%)
- 14 out of 105 times in other positions (13%)
- a total of 33 out of 135 (24%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 10 (60%)
Pots won without showdown - 11

TOO MUCH CALLING

6:30 -- I'm a moron. I CB into the limp-caller, who of course has a weak Ace and can re-pop me. Down to less than starting stack. I am a moron.

6:20 -- kind of boring right now. Everyone has decided to play back now. Steals are at 50%, and still no good cards. I could use a big pair to get some chips flowing my way. 4300.

5:46 -- CRAP. Just got milked in a hand I should not have been in. Again, I need to stop bluffing into idiots who "value bet" and "value call" with Ace high.

5:35 -- 5300 at the break. Still waiting for my first premium hand.

Stack: largest 17770, smallest 115, average 3087
Your current position is 539 out of 5974
Time bank balance is 180 seconds

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 62 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
- 6 out of 7 times while in small blind (85%)
- 9 out of 48 times in other positions (18%)
- a total of 21 out of 62 (33%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
Pots won without showdown - 8

I have one guy on my right who is relatively short but feels it is his civic duty to call with marginal hands on the river "just to see". I would figure Negraneu would have better things to do today, but maybe not.

5:22 -- 5600, had to fold a couple of flops.

5:08 -- 6100, I love my numbers so far.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 41 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
- 4 out of 4 times while in small blind (100%)
- 6 out of 32 times in other positions (18%)
- a total of 14 out of 41 (34%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

4:57 -- 5700 -- Flush over flush. Thank God he was a LAG so I could call the turn bet.

4:43 -- 3800 -- check the turn with top pair next time -- he's slowplaying you!

4:37 -- already at 4500. Gavin is right when he says you just need to flop the nuts.

4:33 -- TWO HUNDRED THIRTY FOUR SEATS. Up to 3200 already on what I thought was a river bluff but he may have had AK.

4:29 -- I should remember my two rules: 1. I can't win a race. Ever. 2. If shortstacked, my AK will run into AA. Always.

Out of the FTP sat in 35th. 18 pay. GL to all those playing in that one.

4:15 -- whoops, raised and pushed a flush draw on the flop into the guy who already had the flush. Fortunately I double up on the next hand -- 7500.

4:12 -- A4 pushes into my AQ -- 9k+, should be able to coast from here pretty well.

4:07 Two straight pushes over a small raise fail to get called. up to 5300.

4:03 -- PS might hit 7k seats. WOW.

3:54 -- doubled up in sat (Jacks versus AK) -- need two more doubleups to make it in. No overlay in this one either, good job to both sites.

3:45 -- I hate having a good read. In the FTP sat, I call a push from a shortie knowing he's just trying to get the limps and blinds. KQo>A7s. Still have chips, but the blinds are catching up. Push or fold.

3:30 -- Wow. Over 2k seats filled in 24 hours. No overlay here. 1 in 31.5 it is. Impressive how PS manages to get their stuff together and fill up. They may get to 200 seats in the next hour.

Also, my plan has changed slightly. I had a good run at PLO and am in a turbo to the FTP tourney as well. Let's see how we do.

Well, Tomorrow Has to Be Better

2006-07-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow's WSOP try has to go better than the rest of my weekend of poker.

Bounced early in Thursday's live tourney, and I wrote about the rest of that night.

Get stuck early in the cash game Friday night and the two winners leave just as I am starting to play great. I make some of my losses back but there's not enough on the table to get it all back.

Then Saturday I lose in the weekly tourney in less than an hour after my set of Jacks are no good against the mighty Ace Deuce Off. Sigh.

Seriously, that was a brutal few days.

My plan is to play the 150 Seat and only the 150 Seat from 4:30 on and live blog it. Not sure how many people read this frequently enough to tune in or who even cares all that much, but I will post here and on DBPoker.

I am a praying man much of the time, but would it be bad to pray about this? I just think it would be neat to get in. What an amazing experience it would be.

OK, that's all. My quest is over, good luck to those still trying to qualify.

Got tilt?

2006-07-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

SO ANGRY

First I get it all in in a PLO and get called all in by a donkey with 8 outs and no redraws. Of course he catches.

Then I am in the FTP 20K, and get myself to top 10 in chips with 250 left. I don't even make the bubble because of the following sequence of events:

I get limp-reraised (for 600 more than my raise) with KQ and he catches two pair on me (AK). Brilliant move soldier.

Getting whittled down a bit more, I pick up AJ in position, raise, and CB a raggy flop. The push over the top is less than my flop bet and I am pot-committed, so I call. He rolls over Kings.

Fine by me, but then he has the lack of class to type "ty" into the chat box in that smarmy way people do when they think you screwed up and donated to them (and no, no one had typed "nh" or anything like that, he was just being a jerk). Hey, good hand, way to go, you must be a genuis for smooth-calling in position against a guy who has you outchipped without being drawn out on. But show some class and respect. I was, again, less than charitable to this assbag, and he was too stupid to acknowledge his foolishness.

Then I got back up to 9K, called a push to my raise with AJ suited (getting 3 to 1 on the push), to run into Kings again. Meh. Down to 4k, I push with nines, and someone calls off 75% of his stack with QJo. And thinks he made a brilliant call "with two overs."

Poker players are dumb and I hate most of them. ;)

I guess I don't get it

2006-07-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

In case you're under a rock, the House just passed an Internet Gambling prohibition, which if enacted will serve to eliminate or at least severely curtail or eliminate online poker play in the United States.

How stupid are these people? My family has worked for public officials for decades, and I used to hope that at least some of them had a clue. Now I guess I know better, as my Congresswoman (and someone who was at my freaking rehearsal dinner party) voted to suppress my freedoms without a thought.

If this bill acted to regulate and tax Internet gambling, so be it. If this bill actually outlawed all internet gambling, fine by me -- I would disagree, but I understand that cometimes the "majority" rules.

Instead we get a mishmash of special interest pandering and privacy violations that makes the Patriot Act seem like a tame security measure.

Problems from the text of the bill itself, which people apparently have not read. Of course, how can you -- it's very tough to find the actual text of a bill as passed and be sure you're not reading a prior iteration. An open and accessible Congress, eh? Anyhow, my quick review (read Cardplayer for something much more in-depth):

1. The only stated basis for the Act is "Internet gambling is a growing cause of debt collection problems for insured depository institutions and the consumer credit industry." Later on they make vague accusations of possible money laundering. So the bill exists to assist big banks? Why do they need our help? I thought this was a great moral crusade!

2. Wager is defined as "the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of a contest of others, a sporting event, or a game subject to chance". Is poker subject to chance? Under this broad-ass definition, probably. Note the odd carve out for "contests":

`(viii) any participation in a fantasy or simulation sports game, an educational game, or a contest, that--

`(I) is not dependent solely on the outcome of any single sporting event or nonparticipant's singular individual performance in any single sporting event;

`(II) has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any nonparticipant's individual performances in such sporting events; and

`(III) offers a prize or award to a participant that is established in advance of the game or contest and is not determined by the number of participants or the amount of any fees paid by those participants.

3. Note that if you had enough money, you could get yourself out of this. Not sure why Harrah's didn't man up, since this will seriously affect their WSOP bottom line, but big swingers like lotteries and horse racing are specifically exempted. The only logical conclusion is that their lobbyists did a good job, as there is little difference I can note between those forms of wagering and others banned by the broad brush of this act.

4. Banks are authorized and in fact required to invade my privacy to determine where my EFTs are going to and coming from, without a warrant or any need for probable cause, and then are required to block my transactions to certain companies, again without warrant or other judicial intervention. Same thing for my ISP. So I can go to any porn site, hate group, or Nambla, but my ISP has the right (and legal duty) to block my access to gambling sites.

5. Violators can be sent to jail for 5 years and/or fined. Again though, seems like this punishes the businesses, not the players themselves.

6. This bill could conceivably result in millions in private sector mandated costs. This may trickle down into bank fees and the like.

Long story short, this is a fairly disgusting example of special interests and moral pandering of the worst political sort. Shame on you, Republicans, for pushing this through amd making it an agenda item. Shame on you, Democrats, for going along. Shame on you, Mr. President, for tacitly accepting this purposeless restriction of freedoms.

Step 1

2006-07-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

I won my seat to Sunday's World Series tournament on Stars. At this point, they need to qualify 4,000 more for it not to be an overlay, and then it's still 1 in 32. Blinds are the same as the weekly Million, and I have done pretty well in those when I've played. I hope most of the best players have their seats already, and there won't be too many people playing just for the cash this close to the Series.

Good luck to those still trying to qualify.

I need to play great poker, of course, but I think I can win this thing. I know I can play well enough on Sunday to make it happen.

In fact, I am going to give up part of my poker weekend to make sure I get enough sleep and make it happen.

I played in the WPTFan WSOP tonight and bubbled yet again. So far 5 hours played, two bubbles, no points. Sigh. I got to play with Matt Matros and Nordberg, though, which is always a pleasure. I have fun making fun of Yale of course, and Matt doesn't really know me so he has no idea why.....

I am the King of Free Money Tournaments

2006-07-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

Just make it a freeroll and I will dominate, baby....

Nine whole dollars in freeroll PROFIT thus far for doin well in the FTP Fantasy League.

Poker has been uneventful. I can't believe how slowly the FTP bonus clears. It's like a joke. I 2-table 1/2 Razz and work up about five bucks in bonus in two full hours of full table ring play. Ludicrous -- why bother offering a bonus like this? FTP is this close to being a good site, but they can't quite get it. The quick basics FTP misses:

1. Respond to customer needs quickly. Too many stories from friends waiting to hear from CS for forever.
2. Make unregistration possible -- I don't need tourney dollars per se, but at least the option to play the tourney I satellited into a week later.
3. Make the bonus at least feasible to obtain. If you insist on making it this hard, remove the date restriction like Poker Stars.

My wife is leaving town to see her niece Thursday. I will miss her a lot, and I hate when she leaves town. The only upside is I get a poker weekend. Have not decided what I am doing yet, but I do hope to qualify for the Stars 150 seat guarantee and give the WSOP one shot anyway. Of course, I may have to be in Reading Monday morning, so I may be doing it from a hotel room. We'll see.

De Nada

2006-07-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Nothing much going on. Lost a bit playing live Monday, lost a bit playing Razz Tuesday, finished 18th in the Fantasy Poker Freeroll. Yeehaw.

It's a Boy!

2006-06-29T09:15:00.000-05:00

Although technically I am already an uncle since my brother-in law and his wife have a little one, it does not feel the same as my sister being pregnant. Well, she had her ultrasound yesterday and it's a boy.

I can spoil the heck out of a boy, that's for darn sure. Can't wait for him to arrive!

My sis and her hubby are coming out tho visit this weekend, so probably not much poker to speak of. But hey, family will be awesome. My sister was my closest friend for a lot of years, and I miss her now that she's out in California.

Of course, the fact that my dad finally filed for divorce (pro se) last week without telling anybody including his wife added some drama to the mix. Suddenly we're one of those families with drama. What the heck is that about?

Oh well. I may try to sneak out for a tourney some time Monday or Tuesday, since I have two days off from the office. However, I will only do that if my girl and I get some quality time this weekend. She deserves the time!

Well, crap.

2006-06-27T16:16:00.000-05:00

My trials got put on hold indefinitely, so apparently I don't get to go to the Philly area for the next few weeks.

I was excited to get back into trial, and now I have to wait until at least September. Oh well. I also don't get to check out the Borgata poker room opening, but I'm sure I will get there eventually.....

What happened to the fun?

2006-06-27T10:54:00.000-05:00

I hesitated posting this, because I'd like to think I am a nice guy who does not stir the pot. However, this is supposed to be my "online diary," right? Well then, no intent to offend, but here's an issue I have been having lately.

I occasionally play in two private tournaments hosted by a member of one of the sites I post on regularly. It is my understanding that he put them together so that people from the site could test their skills against each other and have some good camaraderie. One was open to anyone who could find the password, the other had been more exclusive until recently. As they only cost $10, they are not high stakes and should not be a bankroll issue for anyone who plays in them, so everyone could focus on having fun together and playing good poker against good players. There were even leaderboards and other fun ways to measure ourselves against each other and for "bragging rights" at live events.

Unfortunately, the games have become more and more unpleasant, as certain elements have decided to play contrary to what I believe were the orginal goals.

One player admits he acts in a certain fashion in order to get a rise out of other players and to tilt them so he can capitalize on that. Others taunt, and not in our typical sarcastic fun fashion. Some players are easily tiltable and go insane when anyone dares disagree or say anything in jest or otherwise that might be interpreted as an "attack." All in all the experience has become increasingly unpleasant.

I actually watched a player call his table assholes last night because of something someone else posted hours earlier on a completely unrelated topic. Where's the fun in that?

I understand that some of this is just the vagaries of online play, but I've played with the folks who come to our live events and the vast majority aren't like this. In fact, some of the people who are acting in this fashion aren't really like this. Perhaps it is the act of placing fingers to keyboard that makes people forget decorum, but it's not fun anymore. There is not point in blocking half of the players' chat in order to tolerate a game -- I'll just post and IM with my friends and play in a satellite or something.

So, anyway, still love the sites, hate the private games. Good luck to all those who still play them, and I do hope they improve in character and tone. Maybe some day I can play them again, because I do enjoy playing with my friends.

Sweet Fancy Moses That Was Fun

2006-06-24T02:16:00.000-05:00

For once had a great night at a cash game and I feel like my game was as focused as it's ever been.

The game in question is NLHE and PLO, 50BB buyin (can double each time you bust). The key to a good play session if Omaha is being chosen a lot is either doubling up or busting so you can buy in double, because not enough behind to play with those blinds.

As per usual, ran through my first hundred quickly, missed a bunch of flops. Got my second buy-in up, but lost one big pot and had to drop a big Omaha draw on the turn. Seeing few good hands, and my cheap in position hands are missing.

Then at around midnight or so begins the kind of rush you dream about.

Hand that starts the late night rally -- AK10x double suited with diamonds, I call in LP a small raise from MP. Flop K83 two diamonds, we get it all in and he shows me bottom set. River diamond gets me back up to about 2 buy-ins.

Then I win a big pot against the drunk guy to my right who was spewing chips. I can't remember the hand too well but I think I had him the whole way and he kept calling.

Next hand AA109 single suited spades, smooth call preflop raise in SB to disguise my hand and because I don't like to overplay aces. Straddle is the ultra loose game runner and he calls as well. Flop 934, two spades, bet out, call fold. Turn 10, bet, call. River 7 of spades, smooth call (he says "I'll pay you off"), he turned the same two pair and hit the 10 high flush. That put me at about eight buy-ins.

Last notable hand -- QQ in SB, raise 6x (standard), BB smooth calls, limpers fold. Flop KQ4 rainbow. I check, BB bets half pot, I think he has a good King so I checkraise 3x, he smooth calls again. Turn offsuit 6, I bet half pot, he smooth calls again, I see no indication that I could possibly be behind. River 4, I bet the rest of my "working stack" as I was racking up to leave, he smooth calls again, he has AK and probably loses the minimum considering the way the hand played out. I finish at a bit over 11 buy-ins for the night, after being stuck two buy-ins.

Most importantly than the big score, however, I played tightly enough that I actually had a great table image, but my raises got respect (but not too much from the drunkies and because I did show down some "weak" hands when I could get to the river cheap), I tended to know exactly where I was, and I got out of the way unless I had a good hand in position, a great hand out of position, or could play cheap.

This is what all the work has been about, and I am pleased with my performance. I passed the test.

Boring

2006-06-22T09:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry, stuff has been boring. Ramping up for three trials in Delaware and I have not been feeling well -- means I am reading a lot and struggling to keep focused. My sleep apnea equipment finally arrives tomorrow so at least I can start getting some good sleep.

My condolences to fellow Pittsburgh blogger Mean Gene on his recent troubles. Keep your chin up, sir.

I will probably play in a crazy local cash game tomorrow night. I am trying to get excited for it, but I have gone a long time between winning sessions at this game. They play NL and PLO, though, so it's like crack. I think I am a better player than the last time I was there, so here's hoping I remember my rules.

1. Play tighter when they're loose.
2. Tight does not mean folding when you have a hand that can cripple if it nails the flop and can see said flop for cheap.
3. Play tighter when they're loose.
4. Think before you bet, try to keep pots small unless you are pricing out a draw.
5. Play tighter when they're loose.
6. It's OK to fold. If you're getting bored, play with your Hulk toy or make conversation. Hell, that's why you bought the damn IPod.
7. Play tighter when they're loose.
8. AJ and AQ are crap.

I don't think I missed anything. ;)

Now That's a Shame

2006-06-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

Call me crazy, but I had the notion that a blogger tournament would include good poker play.

Boy that was wrong. I suppose my new saying should be "those who can't do, blog," because the play in the Blogger championship was atrocious. Unfortunately I was fully unable to capitalize, because I only got a few playable hands in the first hour and a half. I was able to work my good hands a bit and doubled up through grinding and some steals with decent Aces. That put me about middle of the pack with 800 left.

It was a shame that I could not get anything going in the 215 early either. The good part of the sat system is I can play for cheap. The bad part is that others can play for cheap and play very, very crazy the first few levels. I had to make some laydown early and was at 1200 an hour in. Had to start pushing. So A2 v. 77 v. AK. Shocking, I lose -- too short to follow my "don't push with Ace rag" rule, and of course I run into a pair and a better Ace.

Back to the blogger tourney -- I sucked out twice in a row and got myself to $16k with 350 left. So sorry ToddCommish and obsoleet, I felt pot committed in both ;). Nice to meet a reader, though!

This hour saw me grind away and get up to $25K with one double up -- middle ace against underpair. Lost some, then got back up when my K7 in the big blind got bluffed all-in on the flop. He had a gutshot and I had top pair and I survived. Treaded water until the break.

And then I lost on the second hand after the break when some moron calls my push with Q10o and catches. People are idiots. Out 100 something of 2200, so I guess yay me.

OK, sorry about the can't do, blog thing. I know quite a few bloggers, especially the ones in the weekly tourneys, are good players, but boy several of the folks that made the tourney sucked. Maybe it is because several admitted to starting a blog just to try this tourney. However, in fact it seemed like people were willing to go to war with bad hands, middle pair, and any draw. I hope it was the effect of the freeness, because otherwise it's ridiculous.

Actually, I was Going to Post it as a Bad Beat but it's Really Rather Creepy

2006-06-17T23:19:00.000-05:00

Decide to play a bit of live tonight. Off I went down the hill to the local tournament (literally there is a tournament every Saturday half a mile down the hill from my house).

Played pretty well considering my cards. Got AK once, threes once, tens once, and that was it for about the first hour and a half. Finally I am forced to push in LP when short with A8, and the guy with A2h who calls anything calls out of the BB. My hand is good and I am up to 14k with blinds of 400/800.

I get A9, two callers. Flop A 9 4, two spades. Button donkey call my flop pot be. Turn 4, I bet pot again, he calls. River 2s. I decide he caught and check. He pushes, I fold after tanking, he shows a 9 so he probably bluffed. That's life, but I am down to 8k.

I get short again, and end up pushing a ragged flop with middle pair and two hearts. The SB calls. With bottom pair and a 5 high flush draw. Of course that hits and IGHN. Should have pushed preflop, oh well. Out 11th for nothing, but I win the 50/50 amd I am free rollin', baby! Don't ask, 50/50 tickets are my leak.

Speaking of leaks, I decide to play a little cash. Sit down in 1/2, get it up to 2 buy-ins or so when my Aces hold up against K8 (he had top pair and a flush draw, not sure why he called 16 preflop but hey I dodge his outs). Then it limps around to me in the BB two hands later and I have a suited jack. 6 players, I rap.

Flop K5J, two hearts. Middle pair and a flush draw. Checked to MP who bets 15, I call with another person. Turn is a black J. I bet out 40, fold, reluctant call. River brings my flush, I push, he instacalls with his limped Kings. So that's twice in three days I lose most of my stack with limped premium pairs from middle position. Creepy. I know the possible hands of Axh and KJ should have had me checking or betting smaller on the river, so don't feel like I don't know I played it badly, but why do my limps with Aces or Kings never work out that way?

Next hand in the SB I complete (with 25 total in my hand) with suited 45. Flop comes A36, two clubs, I push (double up or go home at this point, open ended good enough). One caller. He has 25 clubs. Gutshot and a 5 high flush draw. Club on the turn.

How does one lose to two five high flush draws in one night? Creepy.

One thing I learned is that I am much better at paying attention to body language in a tournament. Now that I reflect, Mr. limped Kings was oozing weak is strong tells and I missed them. I should have seized on the bad acting and slowed down. Oh well, money poorly spent, but I had some fun and listened to 80s music.

What a crappy night

2006-06-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

I play several DS's and bet my good hands strong only to lose each one on the turn or river.

I finally get HU in one, wrestle back the chiplead and get immediately disconnected for ten minutes, resulting in me getting short and deperate. I end up having to push with the Hammer which is way no good.

Then I get short in another sat (73+7) and of course the donkey's limped Aces work out great for him.

Just frustrating from start to finish. I did not play horribly, just aggressively, and every last donkey caught.