Interesting bit of Friday news....

Found this on the wires today...Merry Christmas to us online degenerates?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration appears to have softened a U.S. ban on Internet gambling.

In a legal opinion posted Friday, the Justice Department said online betting unrelated to sporting events falls outside the reach of federal law.

The U.S. government has long considered such gambling illegal when it crosses state lines.

The gambling industry is worth billions worldwide but many operators are based overseas. Washington has cracked down on some of them, and a 2006 law forbade financial institutions from processing funds for most online wagering.

Because of the difficulty in enforcing age and other requirements, the issue has divided lawmakers and the industry. But several states have been studying plans for web betting within states.

The opinion letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

A sick week of poker - punctuated by a wild finish to it

Played 6 games of World Tavern this week at 4 venues - solid week all around:

4th and 2nd at Buckshots
2nd at Clancy's
2nd at Hatchy's
1st and 18th (first out) at Airway Lanes.

Last night at Airway, I think I may have had my finest final table performance in a long time. Not so much because I won, but because it seemed like every read and decision I was making was the correct one...it was kind of a sick zone I got into. Too many hands for me to talk about today...maybe another time.

Greg Raymer said it best, this game is about information, and making the best decisions based on the information. If you make the correct read and play, and get drawn out on...nothing you can do about that. That pretty much describes how I went out in the second game so quickly...

Near the end of the first level, and UTG+1 I see A-K, which I raise (100/200) to 700. I get 2 call from players on my left, then Lois (a loose player) 3-bets me to 3200. After staring her down for a few seconds, I just couldn't buy any of her story, so I shoved the rest of my 6,000 starting stack into the middle. After Lois went into the tank for a minute and said that has too many chips already in to fold, I *knew* I was in great shape...and after she called I immediately flipped over my cards, which got a disgusted look from Lois as A-2(!?! - but soooooooooted) was flipped over.

Flop of A-4-4 rainbow was great for me, but then runner-runner diamonds hit turn and river to cripple me. Lois apologized for the sick beat, and I think I took it pretty well...although I did make a "Hee Haw!" sound at her when I told her "Nice hit". Busted out the next hand, which was fine - if I'm busting out of a game in World Tavern early, make it the second game so I can get home earlier.

4 Top 2s in a row - pretty solid, by any standard!

The Legend of A-9

Some people have their favorite trash hands they like to play...within reason, of course. Harry Dixson loves him some of that 6-4 action, I've been partial to 9-7, and I know everyone has their personal favorites they like to mess around with from time to time. On the other hand, I also have a particular "least favorite" hand, and it's not one that immediately come to mind.

If anyone reading this has played at World Tavern with me over at Buckshots or at Overtyme (or even Clancy's, Hatchy's, or Airway this past week) over the last month or so, you may have noticed a recurring bit/inside joke with me regarding the hand Ace-9, and it's been interesting watching this bit evolve and spread to other WTP venues I've played at over the last few weeks.

It started innocently enough a month ago or so over at Buckshots, when Anna Kelly and I starting talking about hands that look good, but more often than not just end up getting you in trouble. Anna brought up A-Q, but I focused more on A-9 (at least from my view) as the hand that often looks good, but many times just gets you in trouble. This observation was based mainly because that was a hand that busted me out of my last 3 tournaments, but it was something I had really been picking up on recently with many other players in games, as well.

Where the discussion turned into a running gag happened during the course of play soon after that discussion started, as both Anna and I were either shoving or having to make a decision to call an all-in with A-9 in four of the next ten hands. Each time, A-9 was either folded face up, or shown by the winner of the hand after the table had folded...each time to a little more laughter as happened.

What did I get out of this? I realized pretty quickly that overplaying A-9 was (emphasis on "was") a major leak in my game. And it's pretty easy to get in trouble in these types of hands, when you think about it. For example, call someone's PFR out of position, then you flop an ace...what do you do? You can check it, but then when your initial raiser bets out, where do you stand? Do you really want to go into passive/calling station mode against someone who could have a higher kicker? Check-calling a lot of your chips away with top pair-weak kicker tends to leave bad tastes in my mouth, but that's just me.

Or, same scenario, except this time you get a 9-high rainbow flop...worth a bet, but then you see another player (let's say he's a fairly tight player) come over the top with a large (relative to the pot) raise. Could this player have limped in with a hand, like, 10-10 or another over pair, and gotten his dream flop?

Obviously, I'm not advocating open-folding this hand without thinking...I'm just arguing that calling PFR raises (especially when out of position) with this hand is going to be -EV in the long-term. Of course, any 2 cards can be playable, and before acting out a hand you have to consider your chip stack relative to the blinds, your position on the table, your position in a tournament, and the players at your table. This is an auto open-raise from the cutoff or the button, but not so much from the UTG position on a full table. Short-stacked, and open-folded to me, I'm also more than willing to shove my chips in the middle with this hand - but have to think a long time before calling off a sizable portion of my stack with it.

As the weeks have gone on, I've noticed that my A-9 hands are not costing me as many chips, and most of the time the correct decision is being made by me with this hand...but hey, none of us around these parts are perfect. If I am folding this face-up to somebody's large raise or all-in shove, I usually give a derivative of the "This hand looks really good, but is going to get me in trouble" speech before folding. I've noticed a few more players giving similar comments, which I'd like to think I had a small part in doing - it's good to see some real thinking going at the tables, rather than the "I have ace-rag, but it's suited - let's gambul!!" attitude we've all seen at WTP and charity poker rooms across the state.

Hot run continues

Went to my every-other-Tuesday night outing at Overtyme (they actually run every Tuesday, I just go every other week) yesterday, and was determined to have a good week - mainly because I will now have a tavern ranking after getting my minimum number of games in for the season. Had another solid day, so let's get on to it!

First game saw me do what I've doing consistently the last few weeks - building up a decent stack early, and by the end of the first level my stack went from 10K to 26K, without having to show down any hands...great start! Because of this, I was able to play a more LAG game for a couple of levels...and while my chip stack started to yo-yo a little bit, I managed to get to the break (end of 4th level) with 36K in chips.

Went on a little run to start the level right after the break, as I not only doubled-up eliminated 2 players, but I eliminated 4 players...all in a matter of 5 hands. Went to the final table with about 70K in chips, and navigated my way to a truly great final 3...well, 2 out of 3, anyways, since the top 2 ranked players in the state were also remaining. Back and forth among the three of us, until I eliminated Dave in 3rd place, and heads-up we go. Bob, I think, outplayed me for the 20 hands or so we played HU, but I did hit my straight on the turn to double up for a big chip-lead, and then won a race by spiking a king on the river to end it. Win #3 on the season, and the first at Overtyme.

2nd game was a strange game, seeing how loose a couple of players were. Just played a patient game, methodically chipped up, and somehow took 4th - but if not for a horrible river, probably cruise to another HU match. As it stands, I'll be #1 ranked at both Overtyme and Buckshots for the season once this week's games are updated into the system by Debbie (Tournament Director). 5 TOCs in 8 games at Overtyme - a ridiculous run for those fields!

Here's a hand showing what Douchebag Poker is really about

I only remember seeing a hand like the one I was involved in last night only once before in live poker (when I was at the Dino's game), so it's noteworthy enough for me to post here.

Blinds at 100-200, last hand of the level. UTG Loose-passive chaser raises to 1400, 2 folds to me, who looks down at Q-Q. I 3-bet to 3300, Loose-agressive player on button shoves all-in (has me covered), and small blind shoves for his last 7,000 or so. UTG original raiser just chuckles and mucks her cards, and with 11K back I have a decision to make here...on to the thought process:

First instinct is to muck my cards, since I am pretty sure I am behind...but to who? I initially discount the button, because I remember him 4-betting me off J-J with A-Q earlier this season. I have a pretty good idea I am behind the SB here, but with him having the shortest stack at risk, I am not too worried about that...since as long as I can beat the button I will basically stay even in chips. As I go a little more in the tank, I had a sense that I was really up against it here, and even said so at one time...something like, "Fukkkk, why do I think I have the 3rd best hand here?".

So, having the gut telling me how crushed I am, I look at the time, figure that if I go out here I can get home early and watch the football game from my couch, and I make the call. Yup, what do I see turned up: Button has A-A, SB has K-K...great, just as I suspected, yet I still made the call. Douchebag!

Flop of A-rag-rag puts the button seemingly way ahead, but with 3 spades on the board and me the only one holding one, I perk up here. Blank on turn is followed by a spade on the river for a monster suckout - and I let out a loud "WHOOOOOOOOOO!" after this. If you've played with me more than a couple of times, you know that I usually don't get terribly excited one way or another after these hands, so this was unusual, indeed.

Dave, the state champion in our league, didn't where any of us made any missteps here...but I kept saying that it really was a stupid call on my part, seeing how bad of shape I knew I was in. I explained the whole concept of "douchebag poker" - when you call knowing you are way behind, and you aren't getting the proper odds, and yet you call bets, anyways...and eventually suckout and win a hand you have no business being in. To the button's credit, he took the loss in as classy a manner as you could hope for - thanks, James, for not going off on me last night!

I did crack that, with 12 people left in the tourney, I hoped I finished better than 7th or something...and I guess you could say that I did. Chipped up my big stack consistently, until I got to heads-up...and after falling behind about 2-1, adjusted my game against the loose calling station I was against, and roared back to claim my second win in 10 games this season at Buckshots. One lucky hand, but solid play all-around.

Who said you can't play for money online anymore?

In the United States, there's just not as many sites with solid traffic, so I'll take the occasional action where I can get it. Screw around on the low-limit SnGs and MTTs over at 5Dimes.com (I can't even tell you what network that site is on, sorry) on occasion when I'm not betting on gridiron action, and after cashing in 4 SnGs in a row, decided to enter the $5 buy-in, $150 guaranteed (LOL) tourney.

Surprising, 63 people entered, so made for a nice little pot for 12 of us to split up. 20% payouts? What is this, a PokerStars micro tourney? Anyways, played some very good poker, got fortunate when I needed to, and then this happened:



Always feels great to get a win, no matter how big the stakes are. Even better when you can say that you earned it!

I love bar poker...

...because of the different types of players that you play with on a weekly basis. You also get some interesting hands to discuss with people, like the one I'm about to relay here. After this hand was over, 3 people really thought I did a stupid play, but at least 2 others (besides me) thought it was a great play. How would you play this?

Very early in the 500/1000 level in 2nd game at World Tavern this past Tuesday, and we have a MP player all in for his last 600 chips (just got crippled the hand before). Have a friendly, family pot of 7,600 going, because every player limped into this hand...and then it reaches me in the big blind. I look down and see A-J, and after taking a few seconds to think about my move, I shove my remaining 9,600 chips into the middle.

Everyone folds, I find out I am up against 9-7, and after my Jack hits on the flop, I get both a knockout and a decent pot. It was right after this that Mike, a player immediately on my right, told me that it was a pretty stupid shove on my part...and that I was lucky to not only have nobody call me, but that I also got the knockout. "Classic isolation play - kinda ballsy, but well played" was what Timmy, one of the better players in the game, said in response. After I explained my thinking in the hand, one of original players who thought it was a dumb raised his eyebrows, then nodded as if they understood the logic of it...but not everyone bought my logic. Oh well.

Here is was: No one had shown any particular strength in the hand, and with a pot of $7,600, a standard 3-4x BB raise was not gonna be enough here. On top of that, any raise almost surely pot-commits me here, since we're already at 10.6 BBs, or an M of 7 (if you prefer Harrington), and I really don't want to have any callers in this spot. Of course, if I'm called and stil have the best hand or am in a coin-flip, I won't be upset about that, either.

Also, with $2,800 of chips out there unavailable to the all-in, I would be freerolling against the all-in. Speaking of him, this guy's range is very wide, and I'm ahead of him most of the time. So not only do I gain 2,800 chips automatically, I'm also a favorite to take down the other $5,600 - this is definitely a +EV play here on my part! And if the shorty wins, so what - we're still at 15 players, he's still short-stacked, and I've increased my stack from 10.7K to 13.5K - 25% increase. This, in turn, increases fold equity here for any pushes I may do in this or the next level.

Good players understand the theory involved in this...bad or mediocre players do not understand it.

Running hot lately...it doesn't suck.

Not going to get too much into tournament details, but over the last ten days in World Tavern, we have a solid set of results:

1 1st, 3 2nds, 2 3rds out of 8 events - all in 17-30 man fields.

A tale of 2 seconds last night at Overtyme. First game, survived as a short-stack for entire final table (including flopping a boat with 1.5 BBs left, heh), and watched the big stacks take each other out. Actually got a small chip-lead heads-up, lost a huge pot in a flush over flush hand, and lost to a deserving winner.

Second game, a set of 9s was good enough to give me a commanding chip lead with 4-5 players to go, but 3 separate river beats doubled up short stacks, and then one hand I believe I played correctly, yet still kicked myself over, happened:

3-handed, on button I raise (5K/10K blinds) with A-6. Andy (from Dino's league) shoves out of the small blind, and BB shoved over Andy. I have both covered, but a big decision for over 2/3 of my remaining stack...and one I really wish I could have made with only one player involved in the hand, because that would be an easier decision for me to make.

I figure out my scenarios here, because I really wanted to call here, but I still had to talk myself into it:

1) Up against 2 pocket pairs - but my ace is good for 3 outs
2) Up against 1 pocket pair higher than my 6, but dominated by other hand with an A-10 through A-K holding - This is the worst scenario.
3) Up against 2 face cards (K-J, K-Q, Q-J, etc), and a small pair...now my 6 may be live, as well.

Stewed for a minute, then ultimately folded face-up - both players flipped over pocket 10s. Of course, an ace hits on the door card, which would have ended things right there...but oh well, I still think I made the proper play in that situation, but results-oriented thinking sometimes takes over the mind. Congrats, Andy on winning in your return to Overtyme!

4 TOC finishes in 2 weeks at Overtyme, and 2 in 2 weeks at Buckshots...enjoying the run while I can!

Unfamiliar territory - nothing to be uncomfortable about!

After two deep runs a couple of weekends ago at Four Aces, decided to play again last Friday in the same tournament. 71 players this time - usual cast of misfits and donkeys, as well.

First table starts out pretty slow for me, as in "see lots of flops cheaply, hit nothing, get out" for a couple of levels. 3-bet a player with A-K at start of 3rd level, but am forced to fold after being check-raised on the turn when a Queen hit...the bells and whistles were going off in my head on this bet, and player obliged me by showing me A-Q (with the nut flush draw, to boot). Down to 14.5K in chips.

First hand of 200/400 level, am fortunate to pick up A-A in the big blind, and with 5 other players limped into the pot, a raise to 2,600 seems appropriate. 2 players oblige, then fold like bubkus after a post-flop bet on a 10-high flop. Nice to increase the stack by more than 50% without showing down.

Get moved shortly after to another table, and chip my way up to about 38K before the break. Figured out that I'd be able to pound hands against 3 calling stations, including one lady on my immediate right who will call any PFR with suited cards...even shit such as 8-4. Love it!

Win a couple solid pots to start the first level after the break to get to 45K in chips, then get a huge double-up with K-K against lady on my right after my turned full house gives her a flush draw...whoops! Nice to get these hands against idiots and get paid off...but let's review the action here:

MP player open-raises (1000/2000 blinds) to 8K - 4x BB is this player's standard raise...and knowing this guy, raising with small/middle pair or an A-10 type hand. 2 players (including lady on right in SB) call. I 3-bet my Kings out of BB to 24K - a bit more than I wanted to, but want this hand heads-up. This bet also has the effect of pot-committing me here. Lady calls 3-bet out of position (OOP). Flop of K-6-2 rainbow brings a check, then a smallish bet of 12K (half my remaining stack)...SB calls. Turn is a 2, putting 2 spades on board. Lady puts in 50K, more than enough to have me covered, and I insta-call with the boat. Lady reveals 9-8 of spades. Blank on the river, and a monster pot for me at this point, bringing me to over 100K early in the tourney.

Knock out another player (player who spiked 3-outer on me earlier) soon after to get to 150K in chips, when my A-Q on a A-A-6 board against opponents A-9 see all the chips in the middle post-flop. With 30 players left, I have at least 3x the chip average in the room, and am in unfamiliar territory here. I'm used to being over chip average, maybe double, but more often a shorter stack, in these things. I know I can be more liberal in my opening raises here, but as the blinds quickly escalate, I can be crippled in short order, as well. I tell myself to play patiently and solid like I've been doing all night, and I'll be fine.

Move to new table, and we start the 2K/4K level. Go about an orbit without seeing much and/or being forced to fold hands I'd open-raise with, based on action at the table. Finally pick-up pocket jacks in middle position, and 3-bet an EP raiser from his bet of 12K to 26K...which is followed by a four-bet of 80K total all-in. What to do, what to do...time to think this out here.

I count out the chips I need to call (dealer tells me 54K or so), and after thinking about it for a minute and figuring out I was against an A-Q/A-K type hand, put the chips in the middle, turn over my jacks...and see that I am against A-K. Biggest pot of the night, I'm guessing. 7-high flop helps no one, but hit a set of Jacks on the turn to end the hand, and we're back on the wagon here.

Very next hand, almost throw my hand in thinking I had 6-5, then double-check and see 6-6, so it was good enough in EP to limp in. Hit another set on the flop, and after SB check-raises all-in after my initial bet, we have another elimination when his pair of queens doesn't improve on the turn. Up to 290K in chips, and we break down to 2 tables. At this time, 4x the chip average...but with the blinds going up to 5K/10K soon, a lot of chances to quickly lose this stack before we get to a final table.

Take a couple of pots pre-flop, then lose 40K at end of level, when BB 3-bets me with Q-3...soooooted. My A-K is ahead, but a queen flops, I don't catch up, and we go to break with about 270K in chips. Early on after break, lose 100K in chips holding Q-Q against J-J and A-K (last 2 all-in) - Jack on the flop dooms me, and now the dynamic of my tournament changes. Tread water at around 200K mark, then knock out short-stack player to force us to final 10.

Once at final 10, cruise my way pretty easily to the final 4, but by this time the blinds have gone up to 30K/60K, and with about 1.4 million chips in play, much less skill involved here. Open-shove A-J UTG, but am met by A-K in the BB, and after losing this hand I am crippled at 65K, but in the BB the next hand...lose 390K on this hand (6.5 BBs).

Last hand, button limps, but is put all-in by SB...at least I get a shot to win a 190K pot here in the dark with 9-8. Flop a 9, but SB's K-Q hits a jack on the river to get a straight, and I'm in out in 4th for about $220 or so.

Another solid run - 3 consecutive top-5 finishes in a tournament this size is pretty cool, indeed!

Going for back-to-back deep runs...

...is tough to do at the same place with the same players, but embolded by my 5th place finish last Friday, decided to give it another shot the next night in my favorite MTT over at Four Aces.

Going to advance over to level 7, since it's been pretty much a boring, yet steady, run so far to get up to 35K in chips...75% more than starting stack at the break. Double-up against big stack at the table after getting the standard "Flop a set, get paid off by guy holding pair of aces and either top kicker or 2nd pair" that you see a lot, then promptly lose 50K when my A-K call of an all-in vs A-Q loses to a queen on the turn.

Blinds up to 2K/4K, and at 14K I open-shove with K-Q UTG, get 2 callers. Queen on the flop holds up, and feeling really lucky after no one has a club on a four-flush board, and we merge down to 2 tables with 45K in chips. Card-dead for remainder of this and next level, and at second we're looking pretty anemic at 35K - with 5K/10K blinds, doh!

Tell a player I talk with a lot during the break that I'm lucky in that I'm on the button to start, so I have a few hands before I absolutely have to shove. 4 hands into the next level, J-J works for me to steal the blinds. The next hand, A-10 is good for a 50K shove, and the blinds fold again...great, almost double up without showing a card. 2 hands later in the BB, the SB shoves for 50K, and K-Q looks good...and in fact, is good when SB shows K-8. No one pairs up or improves, and I get a knockout. Guess you could say the plan worked.

On the button 2 hands later, the biggest hand of the night takes place. UTG open-shoves for 65K, and after folded around to me, I look down to see A-Q. Figuring that I'm probably in a great spot here, and in a coin-flip, at worst, I shove my last 110K in the middle. BB goes in tank for a bit, then calls for most of his chips. UTG shows 9-9, BB shows 10-10, so I'm, in effect, in a coin-flip for 275K here...even if I lose this hand and go out, a great spot to be in here...and I do something I rarely do - get out of my seat and stand up.

Ace on the flop brings an audible "YES!" out of me, and I clap the hands a few times as blanks come on the turn and river, and all of a sudden I'm factor in this damn thing. We lose 2 players in the next 2 hands, and off to a final table we go!

Paying 7 - no chop, again, for the short-stacks (doesn't make me upset), and we get down to that 7 in short-order. Blinded down to about 210K or so, and make (arguably) first major mistake of the night - 3-bet all-in with A-10 after UTG (loose player) raised to 50K - when UTG snap-calls with A-J. No help to me, and down to 60K...ugh!

Time to grind some more, and find a spot with K-10 to shove (BB in 2 hands - blinds just up to 15K/30K). 10-5 in BB attempts to donate...and King on flop looks great, but the runner-runner straight makes a chopped-pot. Better to be alive than not, I guess. 8-8 looks great UTG the next hand, and when it's folded around, more chips to me.

Linger around a bit more - and get a bustout with K-4 vs 2-2, of all hands. Next hand, bustout another player with my 9-9 holds up against A-J, and down to 4 players. At this point, all 4 of us have between 300K and 400K in chips, and another player proposes a 4-way chop of 340 each. While I'm amenable to a chop, I proposed everyone giving up $15 and playing it out with the $60 going to the winner. The other 3 like that idea, and off we go to get down to one winner.

One player and I end up taking small pot after small pot, before busting out the other players to get heads up. Blinds at 30K/60K now, and each of us sits with fairly even stacks. First hand of HU, I smooth-call a PFR with Q-Q, then watch my opponent open-shove after a Jack-high flop hits. Pretty much snap-call, and watch him turn over K-J - dodge a jack and a king, and leaves my opponent with 50K in chips...and in BB next hand.

The vaunted monster of 7-5 is good enough for a call, and (HA!) is dominating my opponent's 7-3. 5 on the flop is good enough, and an actual outright win is mine!

Don't get me wrong, chopping for first place money is always a good thing...but being the last man standing is even sweeter!

A Chip, a chair, and a couple of prayers...

...answered, that best sums up my Friday night at Four Aces Charity Poker Room last weekend.

79 players in my normal $35 buy-in, 20K "deep-stack" event. Not much eventful, on my end, for the first hour and a half, yet chipped up to 35K at the break after busting a shorty in a set over set confrontation. There was one hand that was really interesting on many aspects, and I'll detail it best I can here.

UTG young punk open-raises to 1200 in middle of 50/100 level, and gets the 2 players to my immediate right to call. Almost call with Q-J here, but figure that even if I hit here, I'm probably in a lot of trouble...so I dutifully fold.

Flop of 7-4-2, all hearts, hits the board, and our action just picks up. UTG raiser bets out 2500, and Teri (solid player who I've played with at World Tavern before) min-raises to 5K. Player on left smooth-calls the raise, and while UTG player goes into the tank, I stand up and talk to the dude sitting on my left...who had already gotten up from his chair to watch the action.

"What do you think they have?" is asked of me, and I tell him, "Not sure who has what, but I'm guessing that (UTG) and the lady have a set and an overpair between the 2 of them...and other dude has a non-nut flush or the nut draw".

Once in a while, I get these things right - UTG shoves all in for 18K, Teri take a minute before calling, and other dude insta-calls for less. UTG has KK (with one heart), Teri has a set of 7s, and other guy has A-hearts for the nut draw. Board runs out black and low, and a set of 7s wins a monster pot early in the tourney. Difficult laydown there if UTG makes it - and from playing with him before, surprised he didn't make it. Tough to go very far when you get your money in with only one out, though.

Lose a couple of pots, get moved to another table, and a crippling hand hits me. Correctly read an early raiser for a K-Q/Ace-rag hand, and 3-bet all-in with 8-8. Small blind calls me, but am unfortunate to run into BBs 9-9. Board runs out 7-7-7-4-9, and I'm down to 4.5K, with blinds going up to 1.5K/3K the next hand...gulp!

A couple of hands later, I see A-9, and shove in from EP - 10-10 and K-J end up all-in and have me covered, but an Ace on the river saves my tournament, and more than triples me up. Take down a couple of pots afterwards, and get moved to another table, sitting at 34K.

Shove with 8-8, again, after 2 early position limp-ins at start of 2K/4K level, only to run into the SB's K-K. Board runs out, but the prayer is answered when I spike an 8 on the river to steal the pot, and run my stack up to 80K. A little justice is served later, on another hand that merits some debate.

Guy I sucked out on previously open shoves for his last 25K after shorty UTG shoves for her last 10K. Player on my right smooth-calls, and I look down to see A-K. Hmmmm...this is where reading the player sometimes is more important than what I'm holding. I know player on my right is a real loose player, and is likely to be holding something like A-10, A-rag, K-Q, or even a hand like 3-3 in this spot. I also know that he believes me to only raise with a monster in this situation - and will probably fold hands like A-Q, A-J, and pairs like 2-2 through 9-9 if I shove. Sensing a chance to play for an 85K pot here, I shove all-in, and after a minute or so in the tank, the other caller folds his hand. He tells me it was A-Q, but I'm thinking it was some kind of pair there, based on his reaction when the cards were turned over. Anyways, 2nd all-in player gets his revenge on me, when he flops a set of 4s to take the pot down, and eliminate a player. Soon after, down to 2 tables.

Merge to 2 tables, and steadily chip up until we finally merge to final table (5K/10K blinds) - sitting at about chip average of 150K. No great hands one way or another, but with the blinds rapidly moving up, at 30K/60K level I am forced to shove for last 200K from SB with K-Q - A-2 (big-stack) insta-calls me, and when neither of us improve, am eliminated in 5th place...for about $155. Not a bad few hours of work.

Then again, that was nothing compared to the next night....

Finding a leak...and doing something about it.

Played in the Tavern Championship last week, and started off in very solid fashion. Flopped a set of 6s after an UTG-raise, and got paid off 2 streets in value the entire way by A-rag and a missed straight draw...good donkeys! Proceeded to tread water at about 22K (10K starting stack), then one hand where afterwards I immediately wanted back took place between me and Dan Park (World Tavern National Champion, in case I haven't already mentioned this numerous times) that led to my ultimate demise.

UTG raise with 10-9 soooooooted (5-handed table - next player out brings upon a merge to final table of 8), smooth-called by Dan. Dan plays a lot of hands, both raising and in the blinds, so it's tough to put him on hands early. Flop of J-7-6 rainbow hits, and Dan (small blind) checks. As am I want to do on pre-flop raises (PFR), I bet out a 60% or so pot-sized bet, which is followed by a rather quick check-raise to put me all-in. I Hollywood things a bit, then fold...dealer rabbits out an 8 next card, which would have been gin for me, and worth a huge pot due to Dan holding A-J here.

Results aside, I can think of a few instances recently where my PFRs have been check-raised in instances where I could have taken free cards and better figure out where I am in hands, and that's a problem I need to work on. Well, at least be aware of it more - utilized to great effect this weekend at the charity poker rooms...but that's another post, altogether.

Sweet!

Get me a little hardware later tonight, and pretty damn proud of it. After checking things out on the league website, it's official - I managed to hold on to 1st place for the season, despite not playing 2 out of the past 3 weeks at Hatchey's (or anywhere else, for that matter). That plaque/coin, or whatever the hell I get, will look good collecting dust on some shelf somewhere, I'm guessing.

Seriously, in some ways it almost doesn't matter how I do in the Tavern Championship, since I think long-term results are more gratifying than the results of one tournament. That being said, I want to get another piece of hardware tonight - we'll see how that works.

A long break from the blog is over...

...so a post or 3 is in order for this blog. Enjoyed my first full week off of work in almost 5 years right before Labor Day, and have gotten to play a lot of poker since then. Let's first recap the month of August for me here:

- Min-cashed in charity poker room tourney...went out 10th (9th & 10th got buy-in back in chop once final table reached) out of 83 players.

- Two wins, two seconds in last 3 weeks at World Tavern Poker at Hatchy's.

- Two top-4 finishes (29 & 26 player fields) over at WTP at Overtyme this week.

- Two top-15 finishes out of 50+ man fields at WTP at Bullfrog's this week.

- 2 home game cashes out of final 3 games in Dino's game - game permanently ended until a new home is found.

Relatively small stakes, but a very solid month, ROI-wise. September also turned out to be a solid month - 2 more wins, 3 more seconds in September for me, another home game win at my place (thanks to the Dinos crew for a hell of a fun night!)...just not as much play as I would have liked.

Strange hand from a game at Overtyme, and a lesson in why you never show your cards to anyone at the table if you're staying in the hand. We're on the 4th or 5th hand of the 2nd tournament, and UTG I look at AK...raise it up to 600 (100/200 blinds). Old guy next to me (who I played against the night before at Bullfrogs in Ortonville) pops it up to 1,200, and folded around to me. In way I am seated at the table, I see the old guy show the player to his left what he has, and in putting them back (slowly) on the table, I am able to see that he holds A-10...interesting.

There's a good argument to be made about making any play here (except for folding, of course), but I chose to 4-bet him to 2,400...believing that he won't fold for that cheap a reraise, and I want to get more of his chips in the center. After a few seconds of thought, I believe he puts me on a JJ or QQ hand, and 5-bets it back to 5K. Pause for a few seconds, then 6-bet shove my chips in the middle...which unbelievably gets a snap call from my opponent! Board runs out A-K-8-Q-Q, and I claim an early knockout of my opponent. Can't remember the last time I've been in a hand where a 5-bet was going on, much less a 6-bet...but, obviously, when you KNOW what your opponent actually has (as opposed to "what you put him on"), much easier to play him.

I could get used to that time off...but don't ever want to do it under the 99 Weeks of Obama-goodness plan (otherwise known as "unemployment").

Trying to figure out how to add a 2nd night to my schedule...and I pretty much have approval from the Mrs to do so. Thinking either Sunday night at Buckshots in Clarkston, or Tuesday nights at Overtyme in Waterford...but we'll see.

Anyways, have my Hatchey's Tavern Championship this week, then Hatchey's Tournament of Champions next week - looking to finish one of my most consistent seasons in any league out in style.

Let's see here...

...you're down to heads-up, lady who only min-raises with an A-K or big pair (10s or higher) type hand min-raises you (mind you, both of us only have about 6 BBs at the end of this tourney), and you have A-8, a great hand at this stage. You know you are crushed, but you still decide to see a flop.

Flop comes A-9-5 rainbow, and even though you know your 8 kicker is no good, you still shove in...knowing damn well the lady is going to call you with the better Ace in her hand, although you're really pushing and praying that she has K-K. Of course, she calls, and you see that her A-J is ahead, and you don't catch up...and are crippled. WTG, Donkey!!!

Actually, if it wasn't for the stack sizes, that's a hand I can easily get away from...just one of those things heads-up where blinds get so high that it's less about skill, and more about cards at that point. Guess that's my only complaint about playing in World Tavern Poker - blind levels increase too much too soon, negating the skill factor and making it little more than a game of showdown. Hopefully, in a week and a half at Regionals (Overtyme in Waterford, August 7), the skill factor will be allowed to be greater than the shovefest factor.

3 top 3's in 2 weeks is a nice start to my TOC stack in about 3 months - won't complain too much about that, at all. Nor will I complain about tripling up in the cash game (errrrrr, "side game") at Dino's on Monday, thanks mainly to 2 hands...hopefully I'm playing both next week.

Little update here

Been a few weeks since I did real post, time to update on the last month of play here:

- Finished 2nd in a tough battle at WTP Tavern Championship. Got down to 8 as short stack, and grinded my way up to HU. Lost a coin flip at end that crippled me...congrats, Greg! Took 3rd in Tavern TOC, despite having less than half chips of top 2 pointgetters (chip stacks based on number of top 3 finishes).

- Took down 3 out of 12 90+ people MTT satellites over at Felt Stars (Merge Network), including 2 in one night...a sick run, no matter how you look at it. Basically, the tournament is a freeroll to a $1 tourney, and you have late registration of 60 minutes. Get in about 30 minutes late, and attack the aggro-donks...and hope you get a bit lucky once you get down to final 10 players. One of these Sundays when the weather is not sunny out, I'll play in the tourney...hell, I may even deposit there once fall starts.

- First 3 weeks of new WTP season, and already 4 top 3 finishes. Not that hard when you have 8-10 players every game, but there is a level of consistency that is pretty solid to bank on. Now if I can just win an all-in against Dale when I'm a 4-1 favorite...

- Playing in WTP Regionals over at Overtyme on the 7th of next month. Top 10% qualify for National Open in Vegas (I think...that, or Atlantic City) in a few months. Unsure if I will go if I qualify this time, but we'll see.

Played one charity poker tournament in last month, and found the idiocy at one of my tables to be eye-opening. Here's the situation: 3rd hand after the first break, and we're at 500/1000, UTG player goes all-in for his last 3500...gets two callers in front of me, and in BB I see A-10 (sooooooooooooooted!). Sitting with 32K chips, I think of isolating, but decide not to press matters, and just call (given pot odds and all). 10 on flop gives me top pair, and after it's checked around, the turn is a low card that gives me the nut flush draw. Trying to give myself the best chance to win the hand, I bet out 1/2 the pot, and see the 2 callers fold...and I'm HU with all-in player. Players spikes a queen to win the hand, and the fun begins.

One of the young DBs at the end of the table starts bitching that he would have won the hand had I not bet the turn, and that I should have checked it down...this got a response from me along the lines of "Hey, I was just trying to improve my equity in the hand...and it worked, except he (pointing to UTG player next to me) drew out on me.". A couple of players who have a brain just nodded their heads in agreement, but it was the DB's response after that floored me.

"You can talk about pot odds, implied odds, equity, and all that math stuff, but it's just all a bunch of bullshit!" Silence for a moment or 2, just to take in the whole idiocy of that statement, until I retorted back, "Ahhh, I get it, you're pissed of at me because *I* didn't let *you* win that pot...you do realize what a dumbass you sound like now, right?". Unfortunately for me, that last comment was heard by the poker room manager, and since that was considered "berating a player", I had to serve a 2-hand penalty...damn.

Look, I have no problem checking down hands when players are all-in, but there has to be certain conditions in play here:

- Dry side pot...but as we've seen already, if you have a hand, don't be afraid to bet into it. Bluffing into a dry side pot isn't usually a great idea, but there are valid reasons for doing so.
- Have to be already in the money, where the elimination of a player moves us up on the pay scale more than a nominal amount, or
- Have to be close to the money bubble, or near the end of a flat-payout structured satellite.
- Most importantly, it has to benefit ME! I am all for checking it down if it means that my shitty hands have a chance to improve and become the winning hand, after all!

I think I found someone that I want to play with more in the future, heh!

Full Tilt Insolvent!

http://www.gamblingcontrol.org/userfiles/file/Media%20Statement%20-%20FTP%20suspension%20290611.pdf

Looks like Faldo and I are vindicated...makes Dutch Boyd look like an amateur, if you ask me.

Poker stuff in May

- Want to know why I've always had the opinion that PokerStars was the best site out there? Submitted my cashout request last Friday, and today my money is in my account. A couple of SCOOP tickets were converted to cash on a dollar for dollar basis, as well. Great job, Poker Stars - if you ever get back into the U.S. market, I'll be happy to redeposit and play on your site again!

- Had some success at World Tavern and Renegade Poker (formerly Dino's Poker) the last couple of weeks (the only way I define success at these places is "making a few bucks"), and am now fully qualified for Tavern Championship - 3 weeks can't come quick enough!

- Had a 14th out of 84 players at charity poker last weekend. Didn't feel particularly happy about my game, overall, but there were a couple of big reads that I absolutely nailed...and allowed me to make another deep run in my favorite tourney. Maybe, just maybe, I'll take another crack at it this weekend.

- Faldo looks to be absolutely right and ahead of the curve with his "Full Tilt is insolvent" post from a couple of months ago. Ahhh, brings back memories of Pokerspot, doesn't it?

- Finally, We've had a cool story around our office regarding this week's WPT Championship - the lady on the other side of my cubicle is the sister of Tony Gargano, who made the final table. Gotta root for the Michigan kid here on Friday...good luck, Tony!

Black Friday pretty much does it for me with online poker...

...because all dead money is at the charity rooms these days, anyways.

So I was telling one of my co-workers about this annoying fat guy I had to sit next to last Saturday at the poker room, and it got me to thinking about the most annoying things and/or people you see at the poker tables. Your pet peeves may differ!

In no particular order:

- Stinky people at the table. Seriously, you're paying $30-$50 to play in some of these live tournaments...don't tell me you can't spend a couple of bucks on a bar of soap and some deodorant, ok?

- Ginormously (is that a word?) fat people at the table. Look, no shame is having a few extra pounds on you, but when you're winded merely from walking over 2 tables to your new seat, it's time to reassess yourself.

- People who complain all night about "not getting any cards". Yeah, it sucks to go an hour with nothing but rags during a tournament, but sometimes you have to loosen up and make chicken salad out of chicken shit. And guess what? The more you complain, the less you'll get paid off when you finally do enter a hand or 2.

- Reminding people that they're in the blinds...more than once in a couple of levels.

- People not in the hand who do a "oooh!" and make comments when they're not in the hand. I'm sure the 2 of us in the hand saw that board throw a 3rd ace out there, or put a full house on the board - we don't need you to draw our attention to it.

- People who will justify any bad call with "I had pot odds!", even though they really didn't. You can tell easy when you ask them what their percentages were...the replies are usually priceless.

- My biggest one: People who wear headphones at the tables, and have the music so loud that every action they do besides an insta-fold requires them to stop their music, take their headphones out, and ask questions like, "Who bet?" and "How much is the bet?". It is no coincidence that these people almost never make a final table, and are usually out early. Once you hit the rail, jam that rap music all you want in your car on your way home, but don't do it at the tables!

Good weekend of charity poker

Actually found myself with a couple of nights off (well, if you consider "out by 8pm" to be a night off) this weekend, and took advantage of that to catch up on some charity poker over at Four Aces this weekend. Made two final tables (4th and 8th) out of 82 and 78 players, respectively, and making a $300 profit for the weekend didn't suck. A couple of hands from early on in the tournament took place that I think merit discussion, only this time I'm going to go from what I believe to be the perspective of my opponent in each hand...with me being the "villain" in each hand. Why do it from this perspective? Because I think ultimately both players had no business busting out at this stage of the tournament, because they made the mistake of not controlling the pot size, in each instance. That, and not even considering the possible holdings of their opponent.

Most players I've seen at the charity events will try to play long-ball early on, going for the quick double-up or knockout, when the structure of the tourneys (400 BBs to start) that I'm playing in allow you to actually play for a good 2+ hours before it becomes "shove or fold" time. I generally like to play a more "small-ball" approach - avoiding big pots with coin-flips until absolutely necessary. I won't argue that this is always the proper approach, but I've found that I can usually accumulate chips in the first few levels with relative ease to leave me pretty healthy after a couple of hours.

First hand in question takes place on Hand #5 on Friday night. Let's say that you're UTG, with blinds at 25/50, and you look down and see J-J...a tough hand to play from early position this early in the tournament, and you're content to keep pot small for now, so you decide to limp in and play the hand post-flop. 3 limpers until you get to the button, who decides to raise to 350. Folds around to you, where you decide to reraise to 1,000....folded around to the button, who thinks about things for a few seconds, then makes the call. Flop of 9-6-9 rainbow hits, and you like your Jacks, so you quickly lead out for 1,200 to see if you can chase a hand with 2 big cards out. Button pauses for a few seconds, re-pops you back up to 3,500, and you make the quick call with no hesitation.

4 on the turn doesn't seem to help anyone, and no apparant draws out there...sure seems like your Jacks are good, so it's time to bet out 5K, which you do without much hesitation. Button thinks about things while riffling his chips for a few seconds, but just smooth calls you. River is another 4, and once again you're sure the 4 didn't help out or fill a boat for him...you take a couple of seconds to look at the player staring you down, and shove your remaining 11K or so chips into the middle. You think you're good when the player takes his time to make a decision, but then the player starts talking the hand out, which worries you. "No way you have 9-9...and you've been betting too much to have had A-A the whole way...and that you probably have J-J or Q-Q....", followed by the words, "I call!" while simultaneously flipping over his K-K, and you're out of the tournament early.

Biggest mistake this player, IMO, made was the quick betting and decisions, and never really considered what the opponent could be holding at really any time during the hand. I'm not saying that she wasn't losing a lot of her chips here on that board, but there's no reason to blow through 400 BBs so early in the tournament, either.

Second hand takes place on Hand #6 Saturday night. UTG+1 makes what is his standard opening raise of 2.5x BB, and sitting in MP you look down at K-K and merely smooth call, hoping to trap if an ace doesn't hit the board, but willing to get out for minimal if no ace hits the board. A player who you've played with a few times, who generally plays pretty solid cards and uses position well, raises you from the button (again) to 550 to thin the field. Original raiser flat calls, and you quick call.

Flop of J-4-7 rainbow is great for you, and after the original raiser checks, you bet out 1K - the button smooth calls, and UTG+1 thinks for a minute, chuckles, and folds. Turn of a 2 hits, putting no apparant draws out for you, and lead out a big bet of 4K to see if you can trap here, which you think you've set when your opponent in the hand min-raises you to 8K. Ahhhh, A-J, you think, so you shove your remaining chips into the middle with visions of a double-up in your head, only to hear a snap-call from your opponent, who says if you have a set, that's the only way he's beat.

You flip over your K-K, but have that sick feeling about your when you do it, and are shocked to see your opponent flip over A-A for the cooler. River is a blank, and you're sent to the rail in quick fashion...but not before bitching about being slow-rolled. Your opponent dismissing your complaint with "Whatever...I called you, so you show your cards first" doesn't make you any less pissed off, however.

Original raiser in hand (who eventually went on to get a 2-way chop for first) says he knew he was beat, but wanted to try to hit a set of 10s after the flop, but he didn't realize that 2 people had him beat. This may be one of those hands that just play itself out no matter how it's played (though I'd argue at this stage of the tournament, it doesn't necessarly do so), but I thought the way K-K was played was odd. It's ok to limp in with big pairs at times (even if you intend to reraise if someone raises the pot), but to merely call a raise and then smooth-call a reraise was a little too passive, but that's just me.

Couple of weeks off from charity poker, then hopefully back on that train when the craziness at works ends.

Tourney results update - 4 weeks worth

Main job and home business have been kicking my ass the last month, so not a lot of poker action to report on...but there is some good words to pass on:

4 games at World Tavern Poker over at Hatchey's in Utica netted a 1st, 2nd, 3rd (yup, in that order) to start out (5th in other game). Not quite the replacement for the Monday Dino's game that I am really looking for, but this will suffice for the time being. Dan (or "SAG - Some Asian Guy" from old posts) plays in this game - your National champion represents this bar, so good company to play against, indeed.

Did a home game of sorts with some of the folks from Dino's a couple of Mondays ago - good to get back together with a few of the guys (and gals), and enjoy some cheap hijinks and hilarity. If WTP wasn't around, easy weekly game to go to.

Charity Poker at 4 Aces last night was worth $216 for a $35 buy-in after taking 4th place out of 83 players. Was one of short-stacks at final table when it started, but grinded out until I shoved A-2 out of SB into big stack holding A-Q...won't complain about the night, other than I needed sleep at that point!

Thinking that Faldo's group (from Nik's Poker Palace) over in Howell is a possibility over the next couple of months - we'll see if we can make it happen. All I know is that I am definitely going to play more charity poker tourneys, now that online poker is in hiatus for me at this point.

Guess I need to update more often...

Seems I already mentioned my Taylor Lanes experience in post prior to yesterday's ramblings - whoops! Anyways, 2 weeks ago Dino's had it's season finale, and it turns out it could be an historic, so let's get right to it.

Once I got a look at the table layout and positioning, I quickly decided that for a while I was going to pound on the blinds of Slow Joe, Mike M, and Volcano Ron with any 2 reasonable cards, and build my stack that way...and it worked out even better than I could hope for, as I was getting calls and quick folds post-flop from continuation betting. Good way to gain a few grand with little work.

Dan was first one out of the tourney when the short-stacked WTP National champion had his K-10 run into Slow Joe's K-Q. A couple of hands later, I nearly took out Mike M after my 7-6 flopped two pair, but after all his money got in with A-7, turn and river were matching kings, and my 6's were counterfeited, so a nice little 2500 chip hit to me. Luckily, I was able to get those chips back in separate hands versus both Patrick and Volcano Ron. Sharon busted Bernie when she boated on the river, to make his river-bluff easy to snap-call. Soon after, I broke the 10K mark when I busted out a short-stacked Andy with my K-K versus Q-J or some connecting hand like that.

Volcano Ron and Sharon busted out a short while later after this, and then we were down to five. My chipstack at this time was going up and down, and the only one who was going up was Slow Joe's, who was employing his usual "gross overbet of the pot" strategy that works only when your opponents have nothing to call you with...and which is exactly what was happening.

Donkey Call of the tournament that ended up working for me was a button raise 5-handed with K-8, followed by an immediate shove by Mike M, who's a fairly tight player. Considering that I would be down to 4 BB if I lose, tough call for me here, but after a minute or 2 in the tank, I say "Let's gamble!", and make the call against Mike's 9-9. Flop a King to take the lead, and it holds, and Mike is out in 5th.

Big hand of the tourney turned out to be Donald getting 6-6 in versus Slow Joe's A-9 after Donald 5-bet all-in. 8-8-7 flop, 2 turn, and 7 river meant Slow Joe's ace-high takes down the massive pot, and Slow Joe has a massive chip lead. A few hands later, I raise on button (blinds 500/1000) with K-9, flop my 9, but see Slow Joe bet 14K into a 7K pot on a board of 3 low diamonds (of which I had none)...think about it for a minute, tell Joe his flush is good, fold my 9 face-up, and Joe flips over a made flush. I chuckle and tell him, "Nice value bet", and because Joe isn't bright enough to know that I am being sarcastic here (that, and he has no concept of what a value bet is) says, "Thank you", in total seriousness. Patrick and Cheryl, our tournament director, just roll their eyes and shake their heads at the idiot.

I go out a few hands later when I try to shove a flopped pair of nines into his pair of jacks, and so long me in 3rd. A couple of hands later, Patrick busts out, and Slow Joe wins our tourney.

Sadly, the historic part of it all is because most likely we have played our last game at Dino's...for sure, we'll be off for a couple of months. Conflicting stories out there, but this much we know:

The next day, Slow Joe posted a message on Facebook, and linked to the bar's page. In this post, he mentioned the gift cards being handed out as prizes, which is a no-no according the Michigan Liquor Commission...and ghey as that sounds. Dino says that, allegedly, Ferndale police made a call about this...a couple of people I have talked to in the days after said that never happened. Either way, Dino was pisssssed about the Slow Joe post, and since there was talk he wanted to end the poker nights, he had a great excuse to do so.

Irony of ironies, in that Slow Joe probably a grand total of ZERO dollars in this establishment in the year or so he played here...way to support the bar, yo! But in a matter of sweet justice, turns out that the waitress goofed when ringing up Slow Joe's new gift card, and had to void the transaction...and when she went to get a new card, Slow Joe was gone! So for those who can't keep score, our league that has been running for 4 years is probably over due to mention of a gift card that doesn't really exist. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

In the meantime, I'm looking (especially when April and year-end at work are over) at some World Tavern Poker events around here...just too bad there are none within 20 minutes of me.

First of a few updates

WOW, lots of updating to do here, so let's get right to it.

Had the chance to play the Friday night deep-stack over at Taylor Lanes two weekends ago, and just missed the final table of 9 when I finished 12th out of just under 60 players. 100K chips to start, which is 500 BB, and the structure allows a good 3 hours of play til it becomes push or fold mode for most players. Mostly an older crowd, with a few drinking younger donkeys mixed in. At 3rd hand of 500/1000 level (after first break an hour in), this hand happened:

Sitting at 150K or so here, and was easily the most active player at the table, which lended itself to some serious ups and downs the first hour, and look at pocket 3s in the big blind. With 4 limpers in, decided to bump up to 4K and narrow the field - which I managed to get 1 person out.

Flop was a beautiful 3-3-A rainbow for quads - remembering my flopped full house fiasco from earlier in the week, I led out with a small bet of 6K, which got 3 callers. Turn put an 8 (second heart) on board, so next bet was 16K (about 1/3 of pot), which got 2 callers. River was a 4, and also put a flush board out there - with 93K in the pot, what to bet....a bet of 50K seemed like a good value, and was proven to be correct when I got called down by both players with A-J and K-Q hearts - a huge nearly 1/4 million pot at this stage of the tourney! Both idiots were left with under 30K, and busted within the next 2 levels.

Guy on opposite side of table with A-J tries telling me what a horrible play I made on all streets, even though he (and whole table) didn't come close to putting me on quads (4th limper who got out after turn thought I boated with 8-8)...then shut up when I dropped the "I'm sorry, I was too busy stacking your chips" line on him. Well, of course it was a shitty play getting paid off by 2 players or more on every street :-\

Went a spectactular 0 fer 5 in races in the last 3 levels I played to fall short of the final table and ultimate the last 6 spots that paid the money, but was very happy with my play...live poker is so much easier to read than online, I tell ya.

It's finale time!!!

So last week I play at Dino's, and with a field of over 25 (first time in months it's been that high), had a solid 4th place finish to finish up at 2nd place overall in the point standings. Donald, with 5 2nd-place finishes (but no wins, ha!) managed to take the season points lead by 5 points...well done, Donald!

This week it's one of our league season finales, with a final 10 of:

Me, Donald, Sharon, Andy, Mike M, Volcano Ron, Dan, Bernie, Slow Joe...and I have no idea who the other person is. Could make for an interesting final table - not the most aggressive one (I'll be the 3rd most aggressive player at this table, eeeeesh!), so I expect a lot of cheap flops, a few semi-bluffs, and a couple outright attempts at grand larceny here.

Played Friday night at a new poker room (for me), Taylor Lanes, in their Friday night MegaStack event. $50 buy-in, but register 90 minutes prior to start and get $10 off. 100K chips to start, and that's worth 500BB. 50-something people started, finished 11th - but was really on my game (just an unlucky 0 for 5 in coin-flips in last 1/2 hour of tourney), so while I can piss and moan about getting some bad luck at the end, can't be upset with my play. I'll play at that place again in the near future, no doubt.

Bah!

Finally got back into live action over the weekend. Called my friend, Sharon (who also plays in the Dino's game with me), and met her up at Four Aces for another $35/20K chip tourney. Sharon busted out before the first break, while I chipped up to 35K at the break...and getting up to 50K before the end of the 500/1000 level.

Moved to new table, and a combination of ill-timed bluffs and card-deadedness had me grinding away with 14 players to go...all to make the final table of 10 (82 started). Survived a couple of times when Q-high and 9-high all-in shoves were good enough to win the hand, and was very happy to make it to the final table as the short-stack (95K) when down to 10.

Standard chop for 9th and 10th were made, so I was guaranteed my money back...if I get lucky one hand, can get to at least 8th ($45), and win more $$$ for each spot, up to over $700 for first place this time (after chops). First hand I see A-6 in the cutoff, shove my 95K in the middle, and merely hope to take down the 10K/20K blinds. Lady in BB looks at her 400K, decides to call with 10-5 off, and we're lookin' golden on an A-Q-2 flop.

King on turn leaves me 3 outs to dodge to double up...but this time the gods smile upon my opponent, when a Jack hits the river, to give her a straight, and your hero is out in 10th.

Tonight is last regular season tourney in Dino's season before next week's season finale...haven't decided if I am going to play maniac poker tonight, or play my normal game...we'll see what the 2nd beer says to me before I decide.

Monday Night Madness - 2/14/11

It's Valentine's Day, and what spells "LOVE" more than taking your wife out to the bar for dinner, then staying at the same bar to play some poker? Anyways, it was nice of Kelley to join me for dinner last night, although it would have been better if she stuck around a little longer. But hey, she's not a poker player, so I don't blame her.

First 3 levels or so I pick up a small pot here and there, and lose a few more pots here and there, but just plodding along quietly with just-below starting stack of 2100 chips. Take you to down to 13 players (started with 20), when my night officially picks up. 100/200 level, and a family-pot is a brewin, until I look down and see A-K in the big blind. Gotta think my hand is best here, and with 1400 in the pot, the only move is to shove...if I take the pot there, I'm fine with it. I'm happier when Cheryl calls me out of the SB with A-2, and I hit a king on the turn to double up.

Promptly decide to donk 1200 away to Kid Dave, but on the next hand I get my first knockout of the night. 2 limpers, and Cheryl raises to 800. Her non-standard raises usually indicate A-rag or small pair. I eyeball her remaining stack, see about 1000 left, then look down and see A-Q on the button. Shuffle the chips a few times, glance to see Cheryl giving me the big staredown, figure that I'm ahead, and reraise to 2K - Volcano Ron instafolds A-Q (so he says), Cheryl turns over A-9, and when no 9 hits, Cheryl hits the rail, and I'm sitting at about 7K now.

Merge down to 9 for final table, and A-10 is good for a chopped pot with WendyDonk, followed by a knockout of Rachel when my K-K held against her 10-10. Take down a couple more pots post-flop to get to 11K, and we're rolling...which means it's time for a Brian implosion to take place.

Yup, implosion happens in the form of K-9 donking off 70% of my stack to Darren, new guy to the game (and friend of 2009 WSOP champ Joe Cada)...well played A-A, sir! At 6-handed, I grind away the next couple of orbits to hang around, then I get a fortuitous run at 300/600 level.

Down to 5 now, and after watching Kid Dave and Bernie trade chips with each other for an orbit, I look for anything to push with 3 BBs left...and when Dave and Bernie fold around, I blind-shove from the button for 1650. Dave, with 15K, folds K-7 for only 1K more to my Q-8. Hmmmmmmm

I steal another set of blinds a couple of hands later, than knock Volcano Ron out when my blind-shoved A-4 holds off his Q-J - lose that hand, and I'm crippled, but now I have 6100 or so to play with.

Kid Dave min-raises UTG on the next hand, and I look and see A-10, and with blinds now at 400/800, time to push again. Dave goes into the tank for a minute, calls, and lets out a huge sigh of relief when he sees my A-10 matches his A-10.

Win about 6K on the next hand in a 3-way pot, then the #2 hand of the night for me takes place. K-6 in BB (4-handed now), and in a 3-way pot a K-5-3 (2 spades) flops. Bet gets Bernie out, Dave sticks around. An 8 on the turn gives me a flush draw (king), and by this time I am feeling confident my hand is best. Dave surprises me by shoving all-in, and it's decision time. after a few seconds of deliberation, I say taht his "low pair - flush draw" is behind, and confidently flip my hand over, and see his A (spades) with a paired 5...dodge the outs, and a 25K+ pot is mine.

Soon after, Dave exits, and after Bernies loses most of his stack to my set of 4s, Richard takes him out, and we get to heads-up with a 3-1 chip lead. Andy tells me that I shouldn't take offenseHU took about 30 minutes to go through, and was an up and down grindfest for - although I never relinquished the chiplead. #1 hand of the night, was winning a large pot on a bluff after the river put straight and flush potentials out there...only way to win the hand was to bet a ton to get Richard off his pair, and even then he reluctantly let his hand go.

A couple of hands later, my trip 8s beat his pair of 9s, and win #16 is mine, bitches!!!

Another solid 24 hours or so of poker

The last 2 days have been solid for me, both in micro cash games and tourney play. Doubled buy-ins in separate sessions of NLHE and HORSE, but the highlights of the night were clearly last night's tourney action. Warmed up by finishing in the top 65 in the Facebook poker league dime tourney last night (meh, only 45 cents, though) out of 2200-plus, but followed it up with another deep run in the nightly HORSE tourney:

You finished the tournament in 3rd place. A USD 20.46 award has been credited to your Real Money account (20 times my buy-in).

2 HORSE MTTs, and 2 top-4 finishes in a row. Getting closer to that victory in that tourney!

Dino's the last couple of weeks has seen a couple of quick exits, though the side game action was lucrative enough to pay my dinner tab...gotta love it.

Another solid night on the Net

Solid showing last night for me in limited multi-table play - 2nd in SnG while simultaneously playing the $1 Stud H/L and HORSE MTTs. Was in top 10 for much of the Stud H/L tourney, then ran into a couple of coolers to cripple me before ultimately busting out a couple of tables prior to the bubble.

HORSE, however, went much different - as in a much deeper run:

PokerStars Tournament #355552327, HORSE
Buy-In: $1.00/$0.10 USD
143 players
Total Prize Pool: $143.00 USD

Dear BKrywko1,
You finished the tournament in 4th place. A USD 12.87 award has been credited to
your Real Money account.

3 straight HORSE tourneys making it to final 2 tables, with my deepest run yet - I will win this tourney one day this year!

Some hand histories posted later...

Good night of poker last night

So I went to Dino's on Monday night - bubbled the final table when my A-J outflopped Donald's A-Q...but then saw Donald go runner-runner clubs to make his flush and send me packing. I'm guessing this portends a deep run next week, as has been happening after an early exit the last few months.

Played in Nik's Poker Palace league game again last night, and had a much better showing than the previous week. Nursed a relatively short stack all the way to the final table, then got a quick double up and 2 knockouts....ultimately busted out 5th when A-10 couldn't improve over 6-6. As I've said before, great group of guys to play with, which ultimately makes for a great league.

While playing the Tuesday league game, played in my WBCOOP satellite, and managed to qualify for the main event on Sunday for finishing in the Top 200. For getting 153rd and higher (138th, I think), I also got a $11 SCOOP ticket to use later on this year. I may take a second crack in the PLO H/L tourney at 10pm tonight - otherwise my ticket goes to waste. Let the Euro donkfest commence!

For some reason my HH option on Stars did not have the box checked to save my HHs to my hard drive, so no real hands to post here. I'll try to rundown as best I can how it went. 1st hour saw me double my chips playing basic ABC poker...ho hum. Got to the 2nd hour and realized that I was "outside the number" as far as positioning goes...wanted to at least make main event, and get $11 SCOOP ticket, so I treated this as nothing more than a satellite from here on out.

Down to 203, laid down Q-Q in the BB when 2 big stacks immediately before me tangled with each other. If we were down to 199, I insta-call here, but knowing the within 2 hands the "sit-outs" would be gone, I put this hand down. Of course, you know what flops out: 9-Q-9...with K-J ultimately pwing 7-7 (?) when a J hit on the river, eliminating a player. Ummmm, yeah - satellite action, it's FAAAAAAAAAANTASTIC - I love this game!

Cleared the bubble about 45 minutes later for the $11 SCOOP tickets - time to donk it up and try to get some chips if I want to get a $16.50 or higher SCOOP ticket. Shove in SB with A-2 against shorty in BB...who instacalls with A-J, oops. Next hand, on the button, put my last 1700 into the middle with 5-4, BB (at 500/1000) calls me solely for flyswatting reasons with 6-4 (@#%@!~), and his turned 6 ends my tourney. Did the minimum of what I wanted, so good work there.

Played a couple of Fifty50 SnGs at micro-levels and cashed in them...seems simpler than the double-or-nothing tourneys, with more potential payout. If you haven't seen them, you get your buy-in back when half the players are gone, but then the other half of the prize pool is paid out proportionate to the chips you have remaining. Big stacks, obviously, get more coin than short stacks...but I found you don't have to be uber-aggressive to make some coin in these games. I think I found a new game to play for a while here.

Monday Night Madness at Dino's

MLK Day was meant to be a busy day at work, but somehow I was able to get out of the office in time to make my weekly poker game at Dino's the other night. Looking sharp, as always, this time in my orange shirt, black and orange tie...always good for a few compliments from the ladies there.

We had 20-22 players this week, including Jeanette (friend/acquaintance of Andy from World Tavern Poker), who's quite the talkative one at the tables...but a welcome addition to the game.

Opening table was (left to right) me, Jim (Wayne-O's brother), Harry (in a rare appearance due to having night off due to government holiday), Jeanette, and Volcano Ron. Picked up a couple of pots early to go from 2400 to 3000 by end of 25/50 level, including outflopping Harry's big ace with 8-7 (2 pair)...I believe that hand led to me getting my first knockout of the night soon after the 50/100 level started.

Harry limped under the gun, and folded to me in SB and looking at QQ. I did my standard raise of 3BB to 300, and I think Harry was just frustrated with me pushing the table around, and felt he was card-dead...so he reraised to 1000. I figured at worst that I was in a coin-flip when we got it in the middle, I min-raised him all-in, which got a call with....A-9....what? Knowing that Harry usually plays pretty solid, this surprised me. Hit my set on the flop, avoided the runner-runner suckout for the straight, and I'm up to 5500 chips early on.

Pretty much held steady with my chip threw his chips at me after I showed trips, pissed at the suckout...this is why you don't let me get free cards, yo! At some level all of this amused me, but at a bigger level it was annoying...remember, win with class, lose with class!

Got to final table, and I'm sitting at a comfortable 7500 chips - didn't need to get involved in too many hands requiring thought until I was 4-handed...where I decided to call off half my chips to Dan with my pair 3s to his flush, thanks to another stellar read by me . Some days your reads are right, some days, errrr, not so much...and today was one of them.

Shove K-Q into Cheryl's A-Q and hit my king on the flop to double up....then after losing a couple of blinds I doubled through Dan when my 8's flopped a set, then boated on the turn. Soon after, I took Cheryl out when my suited Brunson flopped a flush...which made for an easy call when Cheryl shoved with bottom-pair and a flush draw that was, alas, only a 9-high draw. 9-high flush draws are usually useless when someone already holds a 10-high made flush, heh.

Dan and I finally got Jovan-Donk to "see the light" after about 20 minutes of discussion re: betting into dry side pots - I maintain there are times when it's advantageous to bet into it as a semi-bluff or even a bluff...but usually it's a dumb idea to do it unless you have a big hand. Soon after the light was seen, Jovan's night was done when my K-high took him out one hand after Dan crippled him.

Dan's arguably the best player in this game, so I knew it was going to be tough beating him. Unfortunately, I didn't help myself by making a couple bad calls/plays when he had big hands...I think Dan mentioning I had a couple of tells threw me off a lot there, but that would be making excuses for his good play/my bad play.

Final hand ended as a result of a brain-fart. Dan flopped a boat (10s over 6's), and played it beautifully. I called Dan's shove on the river thinking that I had made a flush...until I realized that, OOOOOOPS, there's only 3 clubs out there, not 4 like I had thought. Obviously, even if I have the flush I am done here - but if I realized that I had, what, only 2 pair, I can get away from the hand.

Without telling me exactly what my main tell is, Dan pretty much told me afterwards what my tell is (Thanks, sir!) - something to work on in future weeks here. I'll gladly take 2nd and another bottle of wine that I won't drink - let's bring on the final, already!

Good impluse move...Friday madness at charity poker

Been working a ton of hours at main job the last couple of weeks (last day off was January 2 - next day off is next Friday, the 21st), so the poker playing has been lacking. The limited time I am playing online, still on the bad side of variance in SnGs, although cash games are going alright...me thinks there is a trend there.

Worked my basic 11-12 hours on Friday, then at 8 headed home, but was trying to decide if I wanted to play in Four Aces 9pm $35 tourney...after hemming and hawing the entire 30 minutes from downtown Detroit to Roseville, I decided to play.

Felt very comfortable at this table from the get-go (58 players), as I was able to see a lot of flops for cheap - whether or not I was hitting on them wasn't necessarily important, because I was able to gather some reads/tells on a few players that would come in handy later on.

Lost about 1/4 of 20K starting stack, much of it when a lady UTG with A-3 limp-called my 3-bet of K-K, and flopped an ace...then told her husband, who wasn't playing, what a great call she made, heh. That's poker...annoying, but part of the game. I took a couple of blinds, then got a loose-passive calling station to pay my A-Q off with her Q-3 when we both flopped a queen, and I get over 24K after this hand.

My big hand that helped set me for a good run happened late at the 100/200 level. Popped to 800 with 9-9 in MP, and got 4 callers. After a flop of K-2-2, checked around to me - feeler bet of 2,200 got 1 caller, and at this point I am about 95% certain I am beat. Luckily, the other player in the hand game me a chance to take a free card when he checked the turn, and the money card of 9 hits the river to give me my boat. With about 8.5K in the pot, and me knowing my opponent paired his King, I am almost certain any bet is going to be called, so I bet out 8K, which gets the attention of a few players at the table. After hemming and hawing for a minute, player makes the crying call and turns over K-10...and is shocked (along with rest of the table) to see me turn over 9-9. Huge pot gets me to 40K, and looking good when the break comes in 20 minutes.

The next round is rags, and the right before the break the craziness ensues. I raise in late position (300/600) to 2.2K with A-J...just really hoping to take down the blinds, but get 4 callers. Flop is 9-2-J (2 hearts), and after it's checked around to me I bet out 5K - this gets 2 people to put the rest of their chips in the middle, then a raise of 1.3K from SB comes. The BB asks he can raise, or if he can only call...based on rule BB and I can only call. I am pretty sure I am ahead, and 2 people are drawing to flush/straight, and the others have flush draws...so I don't like my chances.

Luckily for me, BB and I end up checking it down, and I feel lucky to get out cheap when BB rolls over his flush that he made on the turn, and eliminates 3 players...2nd best hand for me, and I miss out on a huge pot.

After the break the player I hit my boat on was outside bitching to his buddies about the hand...I like being on this end of the "bad beat" story, that's for sure. Mike (BB from previous) hand were talking shop, so to speak, and after he asked why I bet so much with a boat on the river, the conversation went like this:

"Because I knew I'd get a call"
"That's it? You didn't think he'd fold for that much?"
"Do you think that dude can fold 2 pair there?"

I got a laugh and shake of the head that said, "But of course, duh!" Mike stayed away from me at the tables the rest of night - gotta love a little respect once in a while.

Get back from the break, and just played pretty steady poker with the rather crappy cards I was dealing with, and got my one knockout of the night when my A-Q took out a shorty, and won a nice side-pot when a loose-passive player limp-called my pre-flop 3-bet with A-2 and folded after my flop bet. Sitting at about 60K in chips here.

Watch some craziness happen before the 2nd break, watch us get down to 15 players...and then make 2 pretty good laydowns considering the stage of the tournament we were at. Laid down 7-7 and A-K facing early-position all-ins from tight players, and was feeling good seeing 9-9 and A-A flipped up as other players doubled these players up. The problem with me calling here was that I was at risk of busting out, and figuring that I was behind, decided to wait for other opportunities.

Started playing the final table bubble with more aggression, and chipped up to 105K - just under the chip average. With blinds at 10K/20K in a couple of hands, time to look for a double-up. We did a mini-chip so 6th-10th would get their $35 back, and action was on. Before I was required to play a hand, watched 3 players bust out. First 2 hands in the blinds were winners after taking them down post-flop, and soon I was sitting at 165K. After 2 players busted to get us past the original money bubble, the chip leader (with almost 500K) wanted to get out of them, and proposed a 5-way even chop.

I am not the biggest fan of chops, but I am not a big opponent of them - and quickly decided (well, at least after the other 4 players were for the chop) that guaranteed me the equivalent of 2nd place money was good enough for me. $240 for a $35 buy-in is a process I'm happy to repeat again and again.

Not often that I get to go an entire tournament without ever being at risk of elimination at any time during the tournament...whatever my problems are in my online game, they're not there in my live game, for sure.

It's that time again!

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

Registration code: XXXXXX 495920