11.25.2004

Unreal

So I plop my turkey filled self down for some good ole fashioned poker at PP and decide to give the 10 NL Million Qualifier a run. For some reason the 360 participants are dropping rather quickly tonight. I think 5 were out in the first minute. I plan on folding until I can't see straight, but why do you guys let me slip into a pot with 2-2? Why? Why? Flop not a deuce in the bunch so, I go ahead and click the check/fold......holy hell a free card and bingo was his namo. A lovely, delicately shaped, mild mannered unthreatening 2 of hearts. Light Camera Action. Early position bets, 3xBB, middle position raises that 5x. OK breathe, read flop again, what the hell either one of the callers was slowplaying a monster or some poor schlub just stuck his foot in the triple deuce beartrap. I push all-in for near 1k only to get both caller to push all-in as well. Life is good, I'm against Kx and Kx, I love this country! El Zappo, thanks for playing, here please take these lovely parting gifts, and take your weak king no kicker playing buddy with you.
Now with ma in her kerchief and I in my cap I settle down for a long night of folding. Now we are only about 10 minutes into this thing and I have almost tripled up.

But that 13th minute is always a mother.....

So once again they let me slip into another pot in late position with A-8c. Hot damn I like this already the flop is 5c-As-7c it check around to me, and of course I drop a pot sized bet on the felt, fold, call (huh, a call, rut roh, this guy has busted out 2 other players and actually has me covered). In my head I think of two extremes 1) he's slowplaying A-A (ugh) or A-K (ugh) and the best part 2) he's chasing the club flush (please let it be #2 Alex).

Turn 9d. He checks and I drop another pot sized bet, only to get him to push all-in....Now I'm perplexed, hell if I get outkicked so be it, I call. only to see him flip over...
(at this point I would like you to remove all small children from the room, If you are faint of heart or do not have a tolerance for questionable content...please, please turn away now).
6-8 off, to add insult to injury the river is another A. Ugh. So here I sit bloated with turkey, staring blankly at the screen, as PP kindly reminds me that I have finished 323 out of 360.
Ugh.
Could you pass the cranberry sauce it's gonna be a long night....

save me a seat at the kids table


11.22.2004

Angry Poker

So yesterday I am 3 table-ing at PP, and get dealt at the same time AA, AA, AK. Only to get rocked on all three tables by set of 8's, set of K's and a Q high flush. From now on nothing but ANGRY POKER.

It's not revolutionary, it's not ground breaking, it's solid poker. No FPS, No free cards, no BS get a solid hand and punish the other players with it. Hammer the pot. Punish them like they just stole yer truck, with yer best hunting dog in the passenger seat, a full cooler of Coors in the bed, and as they drove off they insulted yer mamma and Hank Sr. in the same sentence. Punish them for every card. Hammer down Rubber Duck!

save me a seat at the final table

11.19.2004

Life is good...damn....damn

PS satellite tourney to the Sunday 350 tourney...
This guy to my right is a frickin ATM, he's rebought 4 times an decided to give me, yes me three of his rebuy stacks. Life is good. I'm sitting on easy street with about 13k and now I can play the grind game into one of the top 32 (well, there's a lot of players left but this makes folding marginal hands easy).

Ahh sweet AA, I raise a hundred only to get a guy to push all-in for about 4700 more. Sweet!
We flip AA vs 99.. he catches the river 9. Boo hoo for me.

later
I'm in the BB and get to see a flop with 5-8 off (power huh) it comes 5-8-Q, so of course I push all-in for 8500 only to get called by the same guy. He decided to slow-play his K-K.
The board pairs with a runner-runner and once again he doubles through me.

Now I'm crippled, with a re-buy & the add on I get to hang around for another hour and forty five minutes while folding the worst selection of junk you have every seen.

And now I get to spend time with you dear reader.

save me a seat at the final table (pulleeze)

11.14.2004

Tourney Update.....

I stink.

11.12.2004

Tourney Madness

It all started last night after sitting down for a nice relaxing SnG at PS. I played a few orbits and low and behold I am blessed with QQ (immediately thinking of every horror story retold by the good Dr. Pauly and his dealings with the Hilton Sisters) I realize this might not be a blessing. Nonetheless, I push out a slightly large bet only to be called at two spots.
(start sinking feeling now).
The flop is A-10-2 (rainbow) always seems like an overcard falls huh?

Check, Check, (hmm with these rabid dogs I have a real good shot of winning this with a bet)
So, I fire an equal to my raise bet back at the checkers. Fold, Call (rut roh, I could be sunk)
The Turn Q (well well well, it looks like it's gonna be a trifecta today)
Check, Check
The River 7 of nothing. Fire! Fire! Fire! I push all in with smile, only to have "Mr. I love to slow play A-A" call me in a flash. Thank you for playing please have these lovely parting gifts.

Some poker pro once said it perfect, Oh the humanity! and use bonus code IGGY damnit!

So now It's 11:30, I'm on full tilt, mad at myself for not having a good read on my opponent, what to do.... what to.... work tomm, should go to bed.
Oh, I know enter two tourneys at the same time. (5 & 10 SNG)

These were the s l o w e s t t w o t a b l e s i n t h e w o r l d ! At these levels the victims seem to fall pretty quickly, unless you are on tilt and have to go to work in the morning. Then they turn into 75-year-old-grey-haired-leather-assed-grind-you-into-tears-stone-cold-rocks.

After a few ups and downs, but mostly ups, I found myself head-to-head on both tables!
Wrapping up a win at both tables at 1:30am. Somehow the wins (however small) didn't make me that tired at work today, amazing what a couple of W's can do to your mindframe.

Fast forward to tonight......Riding the feelgood wave of last night, I decided to give the PS 10 NL Super Sat a whirl. It's a re-buy & add-on, which I hate, which I hate. I'd much rather eliminate the mad bomber element, and play poker but sometimes you just dance where you are pointed.

Top 25 qualify for the 350,000 tourney on Sunday at 4:30, 26th gets the 135 extra. Figuring I could fold into the money, much to my surprise the blinds rose just as my BB was called for.
Having the BB putting you all in (BB was 20k I had 14k left) and the bubble not yet decided, was well lets say torture, but per normal the stallers took the max time all the way around and God bless the small blind for folding. We found our bubble man/woman. Final tally of chips placed me 6th overall and a seat in the Sunday tourney.

So if your not busy and want to stop by for a chat, I'll be giving 'em hell at PS Sunday at 4:30.

save me a seat at the final table



11.08.2004

Older.. Wiser? But still older

yes I am a year older as of this past Saturday
yes I am starting to feel old
yes I always have change in my pocket (it does not jingle when I walk yet)
yes I have not been carded in a while
yes scorpios rule

and that's about it. Not really, started off the weekend by hitting the local casino, with my Pops. It's always nice to do a little damage to the bankroll at the beginning of the weekend.

We started out the evening with a little Video Poker (kind of like a warm up, sometimes its good to dip your toe into the water before jumping off the high dive screaming Cannonball coming!!)

Well typically video poker is a grind (especially with these 8/5 machines, not a 9/6 in the house!) With this crappy pay scale I'll only play a quarter machine, it's much like cutting your finger with a knife rather than a chainsaw. One beer later and 2, yes 2, 4 of a kinds later. I decide not two push my luck any further and cash out with a tidy profit.

Next stop roulette (a thinking mans game, ha ha ha) spray and pray. Lights out, I must have the mojo tonight, snapping off 35-1 shots left and right. Wait stop, lets cash out for a nice profit.

Meanwhile pops is getting murdered shh

Next stop craps, should stopped the train before here. But pops actually is making a comeback.
They get me for over half of my profits on the night, dem bones, dem bones......
It was one of those wonderful, choppy tables, (hit hit hit shit, hit hit shit, hit hit hit shit) give you just enough time to have 3-4 bets up and working before dropping the hammer.

What a nice segue, STOP..... HAMMER TIME (ut-owe ut-owe)
I typically will not play or for god sakes raise with the hammer but....after two marathon sessions this weekend, I felt the need for a little creativity.
One fine gent on PS (who will remain nameless) experienced my wrath with the hammer TWICE

Dealt to ME [7s 2s]
seat 1: calls 0.50
seat 2: folds
seat 3: folds
seat 4 folds
seat 5: calls 0.50
ME: calls 0.50
seat 8: calls 0.25
seat 9t: checks

*** FLOP *** [6s 8d 4c]
seat 8: bets 1.50
seat 9: folds
seat 1: folds
seat 5: folds
ME: calls 1.50

*** TURN *** [6s 8d 4c] [7d]
seat 8: bets 1
ME: calls 1

*** RIVER *** [6s 8d 4c 7d] [Ad]
seat 8: checks
ME: checks

*** SHOW DOWN ***
seat 8: shows [6h Jh] (a pair of Sixes)
ME: shows [7s 2s] (a pair of Sevens)
ME collected 7.15 from pot


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [2d 7s]

ME: calls 0.50
seat 7: calls 0.50
seat 8: raises 1 to 1.50
seat 9: folds
seat 1: folds
seat 2: folds
seat 3: folds
seat 4: calls 1.25
seat 5: calls 1
ME: calls 1
seat 7: calls 1

*** FLOP *** [2h 5h Ks]
seat 4: checks
seat 5: checks
ME: checks
seat 7: checks
seat 8: bets 1.50
seat 4: folds
seat 5: folds
ME: calls 1.50
seat 7: folds

*** TURN *** [2h 5h Ks] [5c]
ME: checks
seat 8: checks

*** RIVER *** [2h 5h Ks 5c] [5d]
ME: bets 0.50
seat 8: calls 0.50

*** SHOW DOWN ***
ME: shows [2d 7s] (a full house, Fives full of Deuces)
seat 8: mucks hand
ME collected 10.95 from pot

OK OK it's far from being wrath, but I must admit this guy played with both cards up. After sitting at the same table for a while, a blind, deaf pigmy, could put him on a hand. And besides my "calling station" like play in both of these hands, why not mix up your game a little?
This guy was either on a play or overplaying.... no creativity, no disguise in his game. Two speeds cruise (I'm weak and begging to be called) and warp (holy shit I've got the nuts), and
3/4ths of the table, could read him like a Headline.

yes I am the hammer
yes I'm still a student of the game
yes I'm going toward mid-thirty
yes my beloved Cowboys did get stomped (tears streaming down cheeks) by the Bengals
yes I was there to see it in person
yes I hated every minute of it
yes I lost money on the game (10 bucks to pops, he hates the Cowboys)
yes I will always be a cowboys fan

Damn I'm still a year older

save me a seat at the final table




11.04.2004

A WoW story

6 Minute-Old Online Gambler Wins $286,609

Damn, you could be walking around lucky and not even know it.

save me a seat at the final table

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