Forward to the weekend

RC was a bust last night, and i leaked more money all over the cash tables at FT so I'll have to reload some loot to play the final Big Game on Sunday. Pokerstars was another story, I watched Waffles own 1/2 Stud Hi, so after I busted out of a $15 75 token frenzy I took a seat at another 1/2 table. A few hours later im up to $130 from $50, and I still have a $50 bonus on the way too. Not bad.

Lost as Hoy put it was kind of a downer. I think its really just because there was no REALLY big cliffhanger last year when we got our first "flash-foward". It was new and different and gave us a look at the future. This episode was juat another one of those neccesities. I personally think Lost are fans are going to dwindle over the final 2 years because a majority of these episodes are going to be filler with few actual blockbuster episodes (Desmond's episode) than in the past. Just remember folks only one more season ending cliffhanger left before the series finale in 2010.

Tonight is a monthly poker game at an AIPS player house. Usually I go with Unimpressed, but because he got back from a biz meeting in WI yesterday, hes opting out for the fam tonight, good call. I'm 2 for 2 in tourneys at this guy's house, plus money from cash games. Any profit from here is going right to full tilt.

Have a good weekend everyone, see you on Monday.

How to lose the Riverchasers Event in 26 minutes or less!

Full Tilt Poker Game #6616974305: Riverchasers Online Tour (50041517), Table 2 - 15/30 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 21:08:46 ET - 2008/05/29
Seat 1: drome (3,352)
Seat 2: thebmorekid (2,058)
Seat 3: scottc25 (3,023)
Seat 4: Drizztdj (2,955), is sitting out
Seat 5: noollab (4,347)
Seat 6: lightning36 (2,520)
Seat 7: PokerBrian322 (2,775)
Seat 8: RNallin (2,970)
lightning36 posts the small blind of 15
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PokerBrian322 [Qd Kh 5s Th]
RNallin has 15 seconds left to act
RNallin folds
drome folds
thebmorekid folds
scottc25 calls 30
Drizztdj folds
noollab calls 30
lightning36 calls 15
PokerBrian322 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qh Kd 3s]
lightning36 checks
PokerBrian322 bets 120
scottc25 folds
noollab calls 120
lightning36 folds
*** TURN *** [Qh Kd 3s] [Kc]
PokerBrian322 bets 360
noollab calls 360
*** RIVER *** [Qh Kd 3s Kc] [Ac]
PokerBrian322 bets 1,080
noollab raises to 2,160
PokerBrian322 calls 1,080
*** SHOW DOWN ***
noollab shows [6d Ks Ad 9d] a full house, Kings full of Aces, for high
PokerBrian322 mucks
noollab wins the pot (5,400) with a full house, Kings full of Aces
No low hand qualified

Late Afternoon Thoughts

Overall BBT3 Leaderboard

Player: PokerBrian322
Place: 40th
Wins: Zippo
Final Tables: 6
In the Points: 9
In the Money: 6
Events Played: 30
Points: 700.2
Money Earned: $755.55
Average Pts: 23.34

Not so bad considering I didnt start playing the tourneys till 2nd week of April (April 8th to be exact) For the May leaderboard im actually 8th overall, so close yet so far. I dont even think if I finagled a win in the RC tonight would I bump to 1st in points for the month....I really needed that Mookie last night.

Full Lost finale review tomorrow!

"And So It Goes" - Billy Joel

It was a bad call, theres just no other way to justify it. My gut said he wasn't as good as he was representing, but I just couldn't fold.

So I was bounced in 9th place last night at the Mook, ending what was turning out to be a dream run at a possible shot for the TOC seat. The hand in question played out like this:

Blinds 1200/600 125 ante (i think thats right).
Villian in late EP raises to 4200. Folds around to me in the BB where I have 8-8. I could have played this soft and just called the raise, but I hate being OOP and having no idea how strong someone else's hand is. So I pop it back up to 16k. I think so far everything I did was ok, but then he pushed.... I'm not pot committed by any means, hes shown agression twice which would be a good indicator of at worst A-K, A-Qs. In fact, my only chance is that he has an unpaired Ace. So why did I call? Is it because I play to win? Calling off my stack here in front of such aggression is a horrible play, but my gut keeps saying "call, call". So I did, and the Villian flips up A-10o... It didnt matter really, He could have A-2o and he still gets that A on the flop. The 10 on the River didnt help anything either.

And so my awesome Mookie run came to an end, and most likely my shot at a seat. Tonight is PLO which I suck at, and Sunday is the big game that I cant afford due to my recent cash game luck. So gl to all of you that are in, and put those WSOP prizes to good use!

While the Mook was going on last night, Buddy Dank and IT were celebrating 1 year of Poker Radio. Buddy got drunk with a box o wine and we all watched hilariously on hsi web cam as he ravished the box. At one point I was paying more attention to this than the actual Mookie (maybe Karma?) until the J-J hand then I turned the radio off and focused. That was the funniest stuff I have seen in a long time, but the shout box made the night. I will admit to being the following people: High School Girls, Germany, Buddy's Mic, Franzia (the original!), Rick Astley and many more that I can't remember. Thanks for the funny stuff guys, and I hope someone youtubes his guitar performance.

Non-poker schtuff. As of Friday night Alissa and I will be officially moved out of our Condo and liveing with her rents until the house we bought is ready. We decided to hit the road a little sooner than we planned due to receiving a letter from the condo association that they "Received several complaints of our dogs barking". Now thats what dogs do, they bark. And this only occurs during the weekdays during the day, not late at night, not early in the morning, during the day when most normal people are at work. Since the association is stupid and obviously forgot we are on the way out and they send a pointless letter about how we can get fined $25 for each occurance, we decided to pack it up early. Needless to say I'm glad to be getting the hell out of there.

Lost 2 hour season finale tonight, and the RC. Be there or be rectangular in nature.

hand of the night so far, ill fix this later

Full Tilt Poker Game #6606250169: The Mookie (49938093), Table 2 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:59:58 ET - 2008/05/28
Seat 1: GCox25 (3,980)
Seat 2: Tom Jefferson (13,090)
Seat 3: riggstad (9,760)
Seat 4: Breeze81 (4,970)
Seat 5: wwonka69 (5,195)
Seat 6: anguila (5,010)
Seat 8: Astin (3,509)
Seat 9: PokerBrian322 (11,080)
GCox25 antes 50
Tom Jefferson antes 50
riggstad antes 50
Breeze81 antes 50
wwonka69 antes 50
anguila antes 50
Astin antes 50
PokerBrian322 antes 50
Astin posts the small blind of 200
PokerBrian322 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PokerBrian322 [Jh Jc]
riggstad: QQ
GCox25 folds
Tom Jefferson folds
riggstad folds
Breeze81 folds
wwonka69 raises to 1,800
anguila raises to 4,960, and is all in
Astin folds
PokerBrian322 has 15 seconds left to act
PokerBrian322 calls 4,560
wwonka69 has 15 seconds left to act
wwonka69 has requested TIME
Tom Jefferson: no ace then. runner runner broadway against your floppe set
Tom Jefferson: that's how i like it
wwonka69 raises to 5,145, and is all in
riggstad: better
PokerBrian322 calls 185
wwonka69 shows [7c 7d]
anguila shows [7s 7h]
PokerBrian322 shows [Jh Jc]
riggstad: or 4 flush
*** FLOP *** [6c 3c Kh]
PokerBrian322: yesssss
*** TURN *** [6c 3c Kh] [Ac]
PirateLawyer (Observer): wow
*** RIVER *** [6c 3c Kh Ac] [Ah]
wwonka69 shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
PokerBrian322 shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
PokerBrian322 wins the side pot (370) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
anguila shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
PokerBrian322 wins the main pot (15,480) with two pair, Aces and Jacks
PirateLawyer (Observer): rigged
anguila stands up
wwonka69 stands up
GCox25 stands up
Tom Jefferson stands up
riggstad stands up
Breeze81 stands up
Astin stands up
PokerBrian322 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 15,850 Main pot 15,480. Side pot 370. | Rake 0
Board: [6c 3c Kh Ac Ah]
Seat 1: GCox25 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Tom Jefferson folded before the Flop
Seat 3: riggstad folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Breeze81 folded before the Flop
Seat 5: wwonka69 showed [7c 7d] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 6: anguila (button) showed [7s 7h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 8: Astin (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: PokerBrian322 (big blind) showed [Jh Jc] and won (15,850) with two pair, Aces and Jacks

Mid-day musings

I know I answered it in the comments, but here ya go Riggs.

I was born and raised in Bethlehem, until I was 22 when I moved to Texas for a year, then I came to CT where I ended up. Man its been over 5 years now since I came here.

For all the PA boys: I went to UPITT and majored in Theatre with a minor in Philosophy, that lasted a year until they uh couldnt get me housing and by the time they told me this it was like July so all the apartments were booked solid.

I took a semester off and went to East Stroudsburg University where I majored in Radio Broadcasting (which I loved!) that lasted a semester before I moved to TX.

My favorite bar that I havent been in to in years is Rookies in Allentown, off of Tilghman street. Starting when I was 16 I went there every Tuesday for all you can eat wings and NTN trivia. Still have the best wings I have ever tasted if you get a chance to stop by there, it is owned by Pat Toomey a former PA rep (no idea if he is still in office).

And what Bethlehem is known for most (besides being "The Christmas City") is Musikfest, I havent been there since...'01? I use to volunteer at that thing every year. Nothing like legal public drunkiness!

I stop back now and then to visit my parents, bro, or my sis and my niece.

"Dominic the Christmas Donkey" - Some Italian Guy

Whats weird is back in Bethlehem, PA where I was born and raised (on the playgrounds is where I spent most of days...)I use to listen to the all-day Christmas songs played on B104 and I never ever heard the Dominc song. Then I move to CT, AKA little Italy, and its like some famous song fron the 50s or whatever.

Anyway thanks to Julius Goat for the new FT avatar the guy is a master at his craft, and special thanks to Bayne who helped him think of the site.

So I've been replaying last nights exit in my head, and I feel I gave up. I don't know why, I was not even close to being out of it, but I threw it away anyway.

Since FT has not been kind to my cash playing the last few weeks, I headed over to pokerstars and did a 6.50 HORSE tourney. I took that puppy down, for $24 in first. Need to play more HORSE tourneys...

Mookster tonight, and I promise to have my head back on straight and play smart. Its weird that the Hoy has been my best tourney the whole BBT, I never thought Id be good at 6 Max.

3 Chances left to get that coveted TOC seat...back against the wall, 9th inning 2 outs, down by 1...

First (and probably only attempt) at live blogging

Ok so the skillz starts in 27 minutes, and I wanted to try live blogging to see how well it goes.

So far tonight, I've burned another 50 at 1/2 Stud 8, lost boat over boat,numerous two pair on the river, and my personal fav 2-3-5-6 all clubs in my first 4 cards to snag 9,Q,J none of them clubs of course.

Limit holdem didnt do squat, no limit .15/.25 didnt do squat, and now im in a 1800 FTP...no wait I just got knocked out when I trip up on the flop, push all-in but the caller has pocket 4s for 4s full of 10s. AWESOME! Does the turn or river give me a queen or pair? Nope. Well at least FT is consistent at being a bastage. After my extreme card-deadness last night I'm not too confident that the Skillz will be anything different, its pot limit hold em tonight.

22 minutes to go, maybe ill try pokerstars and see if they are as nice as FT has been.

Lol my pic went through on PS, Ron Burgandy always makes me laugh. Now he can make me laugh as I lose money! But seriously, i thought i was playing stud 8, and it was Hi. Not happy when I realized my low wasnt really a good low...

9:19
Maybe I should post the times so you can see im actually updating in real-time, much better than guessing!

9:25
5 minutes till skill, down 10 at PS. Maybe I should just give cash game up, they arent my thing. New Goal. To only be down the 15 i was up by 9:30.

9:30
OK skillz is starting. Listen to this weak sauce of a table: Loretta8, GCox25, MiamiDon, Julkeus, jimdniacc, Elsnarfgrande, shipfaced12 and blank. Good news for one of them, at least one person from my starting table has gone on to the final table. So congrats to that person.

9:34
First hand I won! As-Qs. Raised to 100, Julkeus re-raised to 250, I called. Flop was A-J-x. Julk bets 350, I pot, he folds. 3765 atm!

9:35
Commercial during the Yanks/O's game talks about some chick's husband has a gambling problem. All I can say is, thank goodness I'm addicted. Also first funny thing I attempted fell flat. GCOX bets 67, and I fold saying ha pot bet is too much. Crickets chirp...

9:46
Second winning hand. 5-5 PRESTO! 1/2 pot bet, 2 callers MD and L8. Flop 7-6-7
Half pot bet. L8 Folds. MD calls. Turn: Q Half pot bet, MD folds.

9:49
Moved dwal to our table where blank use to be. dwal is 3rd in chips atm.

10:01
First questionable hand. 7-7 UTG. limp. Folds to dwal in the BB. He pots. I call. Flop is J-10-2
He bets 300, I half pot, he pots. I dont think hes THAT strong, but i cant call here. Fold. Down to 2893 chips.

10:08
Out. Don's A-K beats my 10s. Fuck me.

Mid-Day musings

1) Put too many "weirds" in the first post, annoying

2)Misspellings and words missing from sentances: I blame this on the college booze, too much boozing in such a short time has affected my typing skills. I use to crack 88 words a minute in my heyday, now im lucky to get 20 right without some error.

3) I forgot to mention the AJ vs QQ hand I had against PirateLawyer. I was SB, short stack, and card-dead. I get the mystical of all mysticalness jackace (both an adjective and a hand in holdem)I raise pot, PL raises back, I push (its 6 hand max, I figure he could push back with a wide range of cards). He has Q-Q, I spike an A on the flop. Luck pure luck.

4) Rant about movies at the movie theater:

Friday afternoon at 4:40 I went with the gf to see Indy. I'll get to my review in second (spoiler-free!) I want to talk about the audience for a moment.

We get there 20 mins early (fyi in CT there was a bill proposed to have theaters post the actual start time of the movie, not the proposed time with commercials and promos) there are exactly 2 people in the theater, 2 older ladies about 50ish. We sit a row in front and of to their right.
You probably have the same thought about going to the movies that I do "pick times where there are not going to be a lot of kids." Well let me tell you these 2 ladies (i call them that grudingly) were worse than any teen ive ever encountered. They literally did not shut up for the greater part of the whole movie. There was a 5 minute lull in the middle, but the only thing I could think of is what they were going to say. Basically they were talking about what was happening RIGHT NOW, and commenting on everything that was said or done. Or you know those thoughts you think to yourself as you intently watch a movie but never say out loud because it doesnt NEED to be stated? Yup they commented, almost like a horrible horrible version of MST3K without the funniness.
Although I blame myself, when they yakked through the commercials and previews about what they liked and disliked I should have immediately relocated.

Thankfully someone pelted one of them with a peanut M&M, but they STILL did not get the hint....

5) Spoiler-free review of Indy.
Things I liked: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett as a naughty Rusky.
Things I disliked: Plot, Lucasfilm CGI, Shia Labeowulf as a biker kid.

The things I took away from this movie were:
a) Lucas is retarded when it comes to CGI, it started with Episode 1 and extends to everything he touches. YOUR CGI DOES NOT LOOK REAL, PLEASE FIX KTHX.

b) CGI prarie dogs and CGI monkeys are battling to be the new Ewoks.

c) The Plot. You know sometimes you play the "1-up" game where someone says something outlandish, for example "You know what would be awesome? Indy finds a turtle poop that is gold in origin but it contains the key to atlantis, they have to venture to the bermuda triangle where they meet Trition king of the mermaids, who he fights to the death, and the Nazis are somehow involved and get sucked into the big trench in the Atlantic Ocean!" THEN your friend steps up, and says "no wait, I can beat that.." Well what he says to you is the actual plot for this movie.

Dudes in a cave that rip peoples hearts out and an ark that steals sould, I can believe. This plot I cannot, sorry.

And its the Skillz tonight, not RC. Oops. Grats to BoneDaddy who took down the Hoy last night.

"Hurricane" - Bob Dylan

Such an up and down weekend. I went and blew most of my money in cash games on FT, so much so that after I signed up for all the tourneys this final week of the BBT, I had 24 bucks left in my account. I had $1,500 almost a year ago...

I hit up Foxwoods on Sunday, poker room was dead around 10am. 2nd hand after I sit down I get K-K. Someone raised to 12, I re-raise to $25. I get 5 callers....5??? I knew this table was gonna be a hoot. Flop is all low, so I bet 50 into a $125 pot and get one caller. Turn is a 6. Board is now double sooted, and if someone had a weird straight draw they just made it. Since it was head's up I figure he can't be holding some weird cards to fill a gutshot. So I push for my last $215. Dude is sitting there thinking, mumbling to himself. He asks me if I have Jacks. Don't know that would matter? I mean any overpair I want to bet for value and make him fold any kinda weird draws. He finally folds but tells me he had outs (good for you sir) and I show him the K-K. He just nods in afirmation. I'm figuring he must have had A-10 sooted? Hes figuring the spades were an out and maybe a 7 for a straight? Either way I was way ahead here.

The table was weak and silly, no one raised because when you raised you get 5-6 callers anyway. It was so bad, the same guy would limp A-A, K-K, and Q-Q and lost everytime. Of course he made a spectacle about how "he couldnt beliebe how unlucky he is" and basically calling people donks without saying so. One instance. Limped pot of 6 people. Flop is 3-3-4 Check round. Turn x. SB bets. Bad beat guy calls. River x. SB bets pot size. BBG calls. SB shows 3-4, BBG flips up K-K then wonders aloud how anyone can play 3-4. Yeah it was that kind of day.
The most puzzling hand of the day was when I got 4-4 in the cutoff. I limp, button limps, BB raises, both of us call. Flop is 2-3-5.
BB bets out $20, I call. Button raises to $50. BB calls, I reluctantly cally. Turn is a 10, we check to the button. He bets $100. We both fold. A few hands later the BB asks if he had A-4, and he looks like he cant remember but says yeah. Hmm. A few hands later, similar sitaution but he doesnt realize one person is all-in when he does his raise on a weird flop. Unfortunately we have to see his cards now because of the all-in and he had absolutely nothing on the flop. He packed up shop and left not too much later.

At my highest I was up to $200, and I slowly blinded and called off $50, so I left half because the table was garbage, half because I had a splitting headache.
So Foxwoods was a plus again, thats 3 straight weeks up. If I was keeping my poker stash like I was last year, id be over $1.2k. That looks so much nicer than $1200.

Online I got killed. Between $2/4 Stud 8 and stud hi, my best hands could not win. So of course I keep playing till I get sucked dry.

And then last night happened:

Back against the wall, chip and a chair left, I play the Hoy. I get sat at a strong table of Lucko, Rake feeder, Shabazz, and Mattazuma. Oh and Hoy, but he wasnt there at all or it would have been a lot worse. So 2/3rds of the table have TOC seats. First hour of the tourney I played great. Not bragging, but I did. Aggressive, but smart. I get rake feeder to push all in on a draw when I had A-A, doesnt get any better than that. The mo turned a bit when I called Shabazz's Q-Q with 10-10. When I saw my 10-10 I figured I would raise and he would push, I was planning on it, COUNTING on it even. I just didnt expect him to wake up with Q-Q.

I got back up to where I was, then I donked off some more chips to Shabazz. After that point it was survival baby. If there was ever a record for card-deadness I set it last night. Stats in a second. So with about 14 left I get placed at a table with Lucko, MiamiDon, LJ, PirateLawyer and Julkeus. Was there a more scary semi-final table ever? Im low stack of course, but a few spot placement suckouts vs PL and lucko. Kept me in contention. My best hand through this 30-45 minute period was A-J (and I sucked out on Lucko who had A-Q) After MD got bad beat by Lucko (on a sick turn card) I made the final table....short stacked again. Heres where the card-deadness really shines through. Out of 35 hands I played at the final table before being bounced in 5th, I had A-J once, K-J twice, and the rest were various High card low cards offsuit. Thats it, thats all I had. I must have looked like a complete tool folding all the time, but I really really had nothing to even take a stand with. A-7 off on a hunce snagged me a few chips. And after A10 was bounced in 6th, with 1 minute before break left. I pushed with 89 of spades and lucko called with A-7o, I had a gutshot on the flop but closed when an A fell on the turn.

5th place goot for $120. Now I have some cash in the account again. I dont know who won last night, but I gotta give props to Jeciimd. Dude was nearly out and came back with a vengeance.

RC tonight, 4 chances left at that TOC seat...

"The World I know" - Collective Soul

David Cook reigns supreme, my pre-season favorite. Damn I shoulda bet that hard...Congrats to him (who just happens to be a KC Chiefs, like your gracious author) and may you have loads of success.

Got a little tipsy self-medicating for the second night in a row and Im pretty sure it lead me to do silly things in the Mookie last night. Before I knew it the field went from 94 to 38, and im under average.

Big hands to examin from last night were a raise on the button with 8-8 which looked like a steal attempt, and the BB pushed all in with a short stack. I figured he read me for a steal and had a wide of range of cards he could have pushed with so I called. He flips over A-10o and turns an A. Crippled but still in, I push with 5-5 and catch a 5 on the flop to double up. After that I went card dead and was hoping to at least fold to points but with 27 peeps left and me sitting 27th, I finally got A-Jo from EP and pushed with not too many chips. One caller and before she even flipped up her cards I called A-Q, which she did have. Me to the rail.

As for the dookey my mind nor heart was in it and I just tried to play the best I could, ended up bouncing somewhere in the teens out of 22.

Got in this morning and read this post from Hoy, I know what hes saying. If you go through life thinking you are the best at what you do (see American Idol rejects) you are not getting any better. You have to constantly train and test and critique yourself to get better.

As a young poker pup (and exclusively limit player) I had read SS1, and other various books before I ventured out to the casino. I knew about position, I knew about pot odds, and I knew that bluffing is a neccesity but not any every time thing. The difference between now and then is I actually believe in this stuff now. Its kind of hard to believe in pot odds when you play limit and you can justify almost any call with pot odds. And I must have done something right (read: got extremely lucky) to be so successful at poker without understanding the concepts as well as I do now. But even understanding this concepts now doesnt mean Im a perfect or even "good" player. No poker player is perfect all the time, not even pros. I think what makes a good poker player is one who can analyze what they do wrong (especially during a slump) and come back even stronger. If you just sit there while you get your ass handed to you every time you play and you think "i dont understand, im doing everything right" then you will never improve.

Maybe I'll never win the WSOP ME, but man like I said in an earlier post. Just to have some people acknowledge what you are doing is good means a lot more to me. Anyone can be the next Gold or Yang....

Is this for real?

From Auto trader.com:

2002 BMW M3 Coupe, 6-speed manual, Rare Laguna Seca blue, Gruppe M intake, Remus exhaust, Fully adjustable coilover suspension, AC Schnitzer rear spoiler, AC Schnitzer roof spoiler, AC Schnitzer clear corners, LED tail lights with smoke colored lenses, 50k service (big one including valve adjustment) done at 65k miles, New brakes, Maintenance records available, New 18" wheels and tires, Harman Kardon premium sound system, Ice cold A/C, Looks & runs great, Non-smoker, Power everything, Very clean interior, Well maintained, 100k BMW engine warranty. Private Seller (no sales tax). This car has gotten me laid so much it is ridiculous. I would like pull up to a pimp club in Scottsdale and the valet would crap his pants, but I wouldn't let him park it. I just leave it up front and make sure all the ladies saw me get out. I'm also totally ripped so that helps too. I inject myself with pure bull shark testosterone and lift 4 hours a day. My diet also consists of 24 egg whites a day. I've got a killer 6 pack and some delts that you would not believe. I only hook up with 9s and 10s. Never less because I'm a winner! I'm not saying this car will do the same for you but it's a start. If you're interested in taking the first step to becoming a true Jedi Pimp email me at conner.john2@gmail.com. I'll probably be working out so I'll get back to you as soon as I finish my protein shake (and probably hooking up with a hot chick).

"Omaha" - Counting Crows

"Omaha, somewhere in middle America...."

Wow NL Omaha 8, what a trip. I won a big pot (but had to check the last hand to see exactly why) and I lost basically on 2 hands where i had straight and flush draws both times. Guess it doesnt help when im self-medicating while playing either...

I can definately say that is not my game. With the BBT winding down I really have to what IS my game and find it fast.

Mook tomorrow, lets follow up last weeks final table with another one plz!

"Donkey Butt" - 12 Gauge

Can a leak be stupid calls late in MTTs? How does one explain at one time being a chip-leader with almost 20k in chips while 2nd has 9k, and out of 60 people end up finishing 10th?

What happens is everytime I think im being sneaky and slow-playing a possible monster i get crushed.

The hand I busted on was As-Ks. Actyper raised to 3x BB, and I re-raised him 3.5 times more. He was the chip leader at 39k, and i had 26k at the start (good for like 3rd or 4th).

Flop is Js-Kx-5s. I figure this is my dream flop, top pair, top kicker, with the nut flush draw. So I promised myself next time I had a monster, I would play it just like I missed the flop completely. I bet 2k into 1 10k pot. Act called.

Turn 5x. I figure I have to be good now if hes just calling me. So I check (just like I had done previously when I missed. He checks along with me.

River 10x

Last time we got to this spot with A-Q I rivered an Ace, bet 2k again, he raised to 8k and I called. We both had A-Q. This time I didnt put him on A-Q. With a raise from him pre-flop as the chip leader I couldnt say A-J was out of the ordinary, and he was calling along hoping I was bluffing. So anyway, I bet out 2k again, thinking id just get a call. He thinks about it for a long time then re-raises all-in for 31k. Fishy fishy fishy. You dont raise all-in like that as a chip leader unless you think im really gonna call (if you have a made hand)or you have Air and are trying to get me off my hand.

The thing is, I thought about this call a while, I checked th eleader board and my chip stack. If I fold I have 18k in chips good enough still for 5th place. Its costing me basically 18k into a 34k pot. If I win I have 52k in chips and a better than avergae shot to win this thing. So after a few more seconds of thought I end up calling figureing it has to be a bluff of some kind. Quad 5s.

Kicking myself the rest of the night for doing that. I could have just folded to the gd money as it was only 2 spots away.

Well at least I got some points...whoop dee doo.

So I headed off to the 2/4 h/l stud tables and made my Hoy buy-in back and went to bed.

Skillz tonight, Omaha H/L nl? Should be interesting.

New Table and Avatar

if you get a free second, check out my first attempt at sprucing up full tilt here

and

here

"Remember Me" - Silk

Another good and profitable weekend. Hit up F-woods Friday night and I sat down at 1-2 NL. In the last 2 weeks I have had the fortune of being seated at a new table that opens up. Both times, the inital table seated was so weak even I had no problem reading exactly what was going on.

2nd hand of the table I pick up Q-Q. Raise to 12 (my standard raise unless its a deep stack table already) and I get 2 callers. Flop is 10 high rainbow. I bet 20. One caller. I just know this dude has A-10. Turn is another low card. I bet 40. Fold. As he mucks he turns to his right and tells the guy he had A-10.

This put me up to start, and that is always good.

After about 1 1/2 hours im up over 100, the table has turned over a few times, some better players sat down and I pick up A-A. Now this is a bad beat story, but I will not whine, just posting it to show the sickness of this suckout.

I raise to 12. Loose Canadian guy who has been telling the table he flys planes, has lost 2k over 4 days, and that money is nothing to him raises to 35. He has bled chips like a sieve, he has less than $100 total so I put him all-in. When I say he didnt even wait for my to finish saying "all-in" before he shoved his money in the pot I would be under-exaggerating, thats how much he didnt care or how good he thought he hand was.

The hands were: Ah-As vs Ad-Jh

Flop: Qh-6h-3h

Villian: Put a heart out there!

Turn 10s

Villan: Come on heart!

River: Kd

Sick, brutal. He was a super dawg on the flop, only 3 outs on the turn and he hit the freaking right color, wrong suit K for the straight. Yes it was a horrible horrible bad beat, but I was still up almost 50 bucks even after this beat so it made it a little more bearable.

The rest of the night I played pretty well. Big hand that I won on was I called with Jh-10h in late position. Flop was a nice K-10-9r, check round.
Q on the turn.
No raises pre-flop so I thought I was good here. Bet out 25. 1 caller. A very loose-aggressive player who I had been chatting with. He looks at me and says, "Man I should have bet that flop." and calls me.
River is an A, no 3 suits. I bet out 50. LA guy raises to 100. I know I got the nuts here and I figure he has a J too so I just call. He yells out "nuts!" as he flips up Kh-10h which puzzles the hell out of me as I flip up my J-10 for Broadway. He immediately realizes he thought there were 3 hearts on the board instead of 2 and a diamond. And I take down a huge pot. I guess the lesson I learned here is, if you know you got the nuts and even if you think you are chopping, bet it all.

All-in-all at the end I ended up another $380, to bring my 2 week total to over $800. Not bad.

Online was a different story as I had a bad day on Saturday at 2/4 Stud 8, but made some of it back on Sunday.

Tonight is da Hoy, Im sitting in 15th place for May so I am still within striking distance of that 2k monthly prize.

Last Night's TV and weekend plans

Lost was good again last night, but you could tell it was one of those informational filler episodes right before the big finale that I know Im going to absolutely love. Every now and then Lost has an episode that you know could be comprised in a 10 minute fast forward mini-episode. Spoilers below.

Locke, Ben, and Hurley try to find the Orchid station to "move" the island, Sayid arrives to ferry peeps to the freighter but finds out Jack has set off to find those asshat army guys that want to terminate the island. So our buddy the Oxford professor takes charge of that. Ben ends up surrendering himself to the mercs to give Hurley and Locke a chance to get to the real Orchid station since the mercs have arrived before them.

The flash forward was of the oceanic six on the plane that will start their journey homw. They have all agreed on a story they will tell and answer reporters questions. They also show a welcome home party Hurley's parents throw for him. His mom has the line of the night when as Hurley is ready to strike an intruder with a Jesus statue she says "Jesus Christ is not a weapon." Mr Eko are you listening from the grave?
Then Hurley's dad (Cheech Marin) tries to give Hurley a present, Hurley's old car which he has fixed up nice for him. He is all excited and gets in when he notices on the dask, the odometer has those bloddy numbers again, and he refuses to drive it.

Thats pretty much it, in 2 weeks we get the 2 hour finale.

Foxwoods again tonight, I'll probably follow the same routine, 1/2 NL until I win a little bit, then hit a few 120 SnGs, see if I can't expand on my bankroll.

"Sweet Caroline" - Neil Diamond

Well as expected I didn't win the karoke contest, some 50 something who sang Turn the Beat Around, some other dude I dont know, and this really funny kid who sang Sweet Caroline ended up taking the top 3 prizes. Bunch of donks!! I kid.

So last night I actually did well at 2/4 Stud 8, Made 100 bones, so I was feeling going into the OE Riverchasers. Started off en fuego as I quickly amassed enough chips to shoot into 1st by a decent early margin. Then Stud 8 came. I can absolutely play winning Stud 8 for cash, apparently not so winning in tourneys. Same old, I'd start with A-2-4-5 in my first 4 cards, then end up with all sorts of garbage, just enough to miss both the high and low. This happened quite a few times. Then Omaha came back around, and I hit a set on the flop, but Wonka draws out a flush on the river. The last hand I played I was on frustration tilt. I did have Q-Q-x-x double sooted, flop was 7-3-7 and I know Im beat dead, but just in case I catch that miracle Q i keep re-raising till im all-in. No Q comes and wonka knocks me out with a boat of 3s.

After that I joined the 28k guaranteed since it was still early in the evening (10:30?) and I started off great again:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6432351539: $28,000 Guarantee (48821381), Table 23 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:30:01 ET - 2008/05/15

Seat 1: DBlue07 (1,685)

Seat 2: action44 (2,045)

Seat 3: calyboarder (1,590)

Seat 4: PokerBrian322 (4,755)

Seat 5: cdreilly (3,530)

Seat 6: RobClay (3,165), is sitting out

Seat 7: CPo26 (3,595)

Seat 8: Frozencanuck (3,575)

Seat 9: Virtuoso80 (3,060)

DBlue07 posts the small blind of 25

action44 posts the big blind of 50

The button is in seat #9

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to PokerBrian322 [3h 3c]



calyboarder folds

PokerBrian322 calls 50

cdreilly raises to 100

RobClay folds

CPo26 calls 100

Frozencanuck has 15 seconds left to act

Frozencanuck folds

Virtuoso80 folds

DBlue07 has 15 seconds left to act

DBlue07 calls 75

action44 folds

PokerBrian322 calls 50

*** FLOP *** [Kh Qd 3s] <---- Boom

DBlue07 has 15 seconds left to act

DBlue07 checks

PokerBrian322 checks

cdreilly bets 200

CPo26 folds

DBlue07 has 15 seconds left to act

DBlue07 folds

PokerBrian322 calls 200 <--- Such a stinker

*** TURN *** [Kh Qd 3s] [4c]

PokerBrian322 checks <--- I have him firmly on A-K and I dont think hes going anywhere

cdreilly bets 425

PokerBrian322 has 15 seconds left to act <--- And the award for best performance in a poker game goes to....

PokerBrian322 calls 425

*** RIVER *** [Kh Qd 3s 4c] [Ks]

PokerBrian322 checks <---- I know this dude is giving me all his chips. He could be on K-Q but I am so sure he is on A-K with his min raise and his bets.

cdreilly has 15 seconds left to act

cdreilly bets 900

PokerBrian322 raises to 1,800 <--- Uh oh!

cdreilly raises to 2,805, and is all in <-----Come to papa

PokerBrian322 calls 1,005

*** SHOW DOWN ***

cdreilly shows [Td Kc] three of a kind, Kings

PokerBrian322 shows [3h 3c] a full house, Threes full of Kings

PokerBrian322 wins the pot (7,310) with a full house, Threes full of Kings

cdreilly stands up

And then as always is the case in donk-fests. In the following two hands we see how your common donk thinks (or doesnt think) about making plays.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6432499213: $28,000 Guarantee (48821381), Table 23 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:41:47 ET - 2008/05/15

Seat 1: s-town kid (3,891)

Seat 2: 17700JT (3,050)

Seat 3: calyboarder (5,260), is sitting out

Seat 4: PokerBrian322 (8,015)

Seat 5: geetee222 (3,119)

Seat 6: RobClay (3,075), is sitting out

Seat 7: CPo26 (3,705)

Seat 8: Frozencanuck (3,485)

Seat 9: Virtuoso80 (3,150)

PokerBrian322 posts the small blind of 40

geetee222 posts the big blind of 80

The button is in seat #3

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to PokerBrian322 [Th Ts]

RobClay folds

CPo26 folds

Frozencanuck folds

Virtuoso80 folds

s-town kid calls 80

17700JT has 15 seconds left to act

17700JT calls 80

calyboarder folds

PokerBrian322 raises to 310

geetee222 calls 230 <- no hesitation it was an immediate call

s-town kid has 15 seconds left to act

s-town kid is sitting out

s-town kid has timed out

s-town kid folds

17700JT calls 230

*** FLOP *** [9d 4s 2d]

PokerBrian322 bets 550 <--- with an overpair I figure someone has a flush draw and some has A-x, so I come out betting.

geetee222 calls 550 <---- again no hesitation

17700JT folds <--- Theres your A-x fold
*** TURN *** [9d 4s 2d] [2c]

PokerBrian322 bets 2,259 <---- I know the other dude is on a flush draw, it might be an Ace but this guy just came to the table and I know nothing about him, so I put him to the decision for all his chips

geetee222 calls 2,259, and is all in <--- 3rd time, not even a slight hesitation

PokerBrian322 shows [Th Ts]

geetee222 shows [Kd Td] <---- Oh man Full tilt dont let me down

*** RIVER *** [9d 4s 2d 2c] [5d] <--- Full Tilt: Rewarding Donk play since 2004

PokerBrian322 shows two pair, Tens and Twos

geetee222 shows a flush, King high

geetee222 wins the pot (6,628) with a flush, King high

But it wasn't just me this d-bag was putting on a show for, exhibit B:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6432667456: $28,000 Guarantee (48821381), Table 23 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:55:06 ET - 2008/05/15

Seat 1: Agnieshka (2,055)

Seat 2: 17700JT (3,850)

Seat 3: calyboarder (5,460)

Seat 4: PokerBrian322 (1,161)

Seat 5: geetee222 (9,159)

Seat 6: RobClay (2,855), is sitting out

Seat 7: CPo26 (6,850)

Seat 8: Frozencanuck (2,985)

Seat 9: Virtuoso80 (4,430)

RobClay posts the small blind of 50

CPo26 posts the big blind of 100

The button is in seat #5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to PokerBrian322 [3s 2d]

Frozencanuck folds

Virtuoso80 folds

Agnieshka folds

17700JT folds

calyboarder folds

PokerBrian322 folds

geetee222 calls 100

RobClay folds

CPo26 checks

*** FLOP *** [5c Jd 9d]

CPo26 checks

geetee222 checks

*** TURN *** [5c Jd 9d] [6s]

CPo26 checks

geetee222 bets 250

CPo26 has 15 seconds left to act

CPo26 raises to 750

geetee222 has 15 seconds left to act

geetee222 calls 500

*** RIVER *** [5c Jd 9d 6s] [7h]

CPo26 bets 700

geetee222 has 15 seconds left to act

geetee222 raises to 3,850

CPo26 calls 3,150

*** SHOW DOWN ***

geetee222 shows [6c 8s] a straight, Nine high

CPo26 mucks three of a kind 9s

geetee222 wins the pot (9,450) with a straight, Nine high


So its easy to see that CPo didnt raise his 9s, slow-played the flop and didn't value bet his set on the turn enough to get this donk out of the hand.

Mid-Day thoughts on TV shows

First thought: American Idol

Alright first off, if Liss was not into it as much as she is I probably not know a single darn thing about it, but I do. Usually how every season goes is like this: During auditions Liss finds a cute but talented(her words)guy and girl to rally behind. For example Constantine, Ace, Daughtry, Carrie. You get the picture. I usually pick someone who has a good voice and makes it to Hollywood, but doesnt make it past there. Probably my most famous pick was some Sinatra singing guy with the era hat singing "There I go".

Now this year. Im playing poker or something on my laptop, Liss heads off to the rest room, and this dude starts singing. Curious I take a peek, and see his name "David Cook". She comes back as he is getting judged and asks me how he did. I tell her thats hes winning this thing, and she comes back with "oh you only like him because hes from Kansas City" (home to my favorite football team) I did not see where he was from , in fact, I wasn't paying a single lick of attention to the show till I heard him sing. This year she rallied around Brook and Castro, and I unwavered with Cook. So last night when he finally makes the final 2, I triumphnatly say, "Finally I have picked someone in the audition round that has a decent shot at winning the compettion!" She retorts the KC line again. I know shes jealous because her picks always flame out, I just wanted to put it in writing to make myself feel good about that. Oh and if you believe in the accuracy of Dialidol.com, that last 4 weeks Cook has been crushing Archuleta in vote totals.


Second Thought: Lost

Funny how I got hooked on this show, Liss was in love with Dominic Monaghan (sp?) and ABC started advertising this show with him in it. Boom, I love the show and she hates it because shes confused.

So far even this shortened season 4 has been by far the best, with the least amount of those episodes that are a chore to watch but you need to because you get pertinent info. Desmond Episode was the best hands down, the only episode that could have spun off into its own tv show I think. Anyway, my inkling is, and I told Tusca John this last week at Riverchasers, I think what Hurley said while theey were playing Risk a few episodes back "Australia is the key" is very important to solving the whole Lost mystery imo. I also was putting forward some theory that the only way to get to the Australia area in Risk is through Siam. Did Whitmore not plant the fake Oceanic 815 near Siam? I cant remember. Anywhoo tonight should be anohter great episode.

Thought Number 3: The Office

The Office is hilarious, I wish I would have watched the show from the beginning but alas the first one I caught was the season 2 Halloween Episode Dwight: "I'm a Sith Lord!"
I don't know how I feel about the Pam/Jim thing, drama is the basis of a great comedy. I think Jim with Karen was great for the show, and Roy always wanting to knock Jim out created some classic moments. I mean I know tonight there will be some twist probably where Pam makes out with Michael (thats a guess not a spoiler, just in case it happens) and it throws the engagment into arrears. I think Kevin Malone is one of the funnier co-stars, here's his poker Bio:
In "Casino Night", he reveals that he won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2002 $2500 NL deuce to seven draw tournament.

"Hello" - Lionel Richie

Alright first thing, a non-poker tip I have learned when selling real estate. If you have a crappy real estate agent like I do, certain things might happen. "Like what", you may be asking. Well friends, I was literally in my boxers, playing some 2/4 limit Stud 8 watching Cloverfield and eating dinner with the gf, when the doorbell rings. DUN DUN DUN!!!! This is extremely odd because we rarely have visitors unannounced, so I peek out the peephole and I think its my portly next door neightbor. I throw some bball shorts on with my nice white tshirt (total white trash class!) and I open the door to find not my neighbor, but some other portly woman and a skinny blonde to her right. I say, "Hello?" And the portly woman pipes up that hi shes here for a 7pm showing. I know my face had to be one giant ??? because 1) Our agent never said anything about a showing 2) We signed paperwork the night previous selling our condo to someone else.
She asked me questions like "didnt your agent tell you wee were coming?" Ah no. "Oh well I called her 2 days ago and she didnt call me back". Maybe thats a clue, if she didnt call you back that you weren't approved? "Can we just come in?" Well the house is dirty. My gf chimes in "We have 2 little dogs in here." Apparently none of this was phasing in on the fat ass agent outside my door because she says. "Well we came all the way from Farmington to see it." Farmington, CT is like 15 minutes tops from my house, at least tell me a lie like you came from Greenich, or Norwich, something! So since she wasn't backing down and we had agreed with our agent to leave it in show status until the deal was final, we asked for 15 minutes to clean up and get out of dodge. Which we did. She did say the dumbest thing I've ever heard before we closed the door. "You want to let us in because you could be missing out on something big here!" No im not, the house is sold already, plus I know for a fact you aren't going to put in an offer anyway, you are just a bitch.

Long story short, im furious at our agent (she has been nothing but incompetent the whole time), but Liss talks to her and says that she was never confirmed to show the house and is asking why we didnt just slam the door in her face (which I gladly would have done) and she is apologizing profusely.

So after all that I did the Mookie and Dookie. Ended up taking down the Dookie for $65 first place, and I was doing well in the Mookie until they switch JD Schelnut to my left instead of right and he re-raised me all in with every move I made. I was at 9k chips, and I tried to snag the blinds with a sooted hammer, but he raised me all-in again. At this point half my stack is in the pot, if I win somehow id be up to 20kish in chips. So I call, he flips up A-10s (MY BANE IN BOTH LIVE AND ONLINE POKER!) no one makes a pair so I get busted in 7th. Not too bad, would have loved to finally take a Mookie down.

Riverchasers is tonight, I think this is the only tourney left where I have yet to grab some points.

"Back In the USSR" -Beatles

Bad bad night all around. Played 2/4 Stud 8 and got hammered. If I had 3 to a low 4th street would be a 10 thru K. If I had 3 high cards it get a 4. That kinda thing. I'd raise with pocket pairs and some doosh would draw to a flush when he had no biz calling in the first place.

Then I played the Skillz tourney, got sat at an awesome table with RR, Donkette, Astin and others. Its always nice to get stuck at a table with people who can laugh and joke during a tourney, the early stages anyway. I started off pretty good getting up to 5500 chips before first break. But I kept running into hands where id start off with A-2-4-5 in my first 4 cards, then id get 9,k,k to finish it off. I even picked up a 4 flush on 5th street and didnt hit that either.

Just one of those nights.

Mookie tonight. Havent been fairing to well in this one lately, and I still believe if Im going to win a TOC seat it will probably be in the Skillz event, but i will be there just the same donating funds to the pot.


On the non-poker front, our condo has finally sold and we have offically purchased a home. We have to be out of our condo by 06/13/08, and we wont move into the house until August, so thats a month and half living in my gf's parents basement! Its not too bad, at least we'll save on mortgage and utilities for a month.

Rant about Respect

So ironically after I posted yesterday about how I'm looking to garner some respect from other established players, last night happened.

In the Hoy I get sat at a short, short table with 5 people. Those 5 people happened to be Blinders, MiamiDon, Joanne, and her buddy UponPoker?

Not a fun table to be started off on. So things are going on as normal, and Poker said he was going to be afk for a bit. So I immediately start noticing that every time it folds around to MD on the button, he raises, I fold my SB and Poker auto-folds. This happened at least 4-5 times, I was keeping track but not committing it to memory. So finally he raises his normal raise and I call with Q-7 to see if I can out flop him. Flop comes down A-7-4. I think I'm probably good here because he could be raising with anything as his play on the button had been loose. I bet it out, thinking I can get him to fold right here. He raises something like 3 times my bet. It still feels like I'm good here and he could be raising me with any two cards, so pop it back at him 3 times his raise thinking he is done, and almost putting myself all-in during the process. He thinks about it then pushes, by this point I half at least 2/3rds of my stack in there, and if happen to have an A then it was my bad luck, so I call. MD flips over the open ended and I flip my 7s, he doesnt improve and is bounced. Questionable? Maybe. I played my 7s very agressive while he must have known since I just smoothed called his raise I didn't have an Ace? So he says GG, i say gg. Done, right? Nope, he throws in a "gl playing that way".

Now I am happy to admit that I have toned it down a lot from going tilt when a busted player says some snarky comment, I take it in stride when I know I made a stupid play and win, but when I feel I did everything I could to represent the best hand and win, it bothers me. It bothers me even more because I absolutely respect the hell out of MD. He doesn't need to prove to anyone thats hes a great poker player, his bankroll and accomplishments speak for themselves, and like I said I respect that even if he doesnt respect me or my play.

So in the heat of the moment, and half thinking he logged out which is what i do when im steaming, I said "I hate that I get crucified for making a stand after he raised my SB 5 times." Nothing too inflammatory, but Blinders and Poker thought I was talking to them, I apologized to both of them. MD hadnt left and said he was cool, then he tossed another insult I guess that "You take stand like LJ does." Not sure who exactly who LJ is, and im not sure is was a slam or in jest, but either way it just put me in a foul mood.

I think the bottom line is that while yes, not all my decisions are rational because I do play some still on gut feeling, but all in all over the lifetime of my poker playing I have a positive ROI. Some of my greatest accomplishments are:

1) Taking the free $15 from The Gaming Club Poker room and turning that into $1400. Actual check I received when I cashed out. I know it small potatos compared to the big guys, but when you are 23 cashing out 1400 from something you put $0 into, thats a big deal.

2) The first tourney I ever won was the GCPR nightly freeroll at 1am, when the first prize $660.

3) First live MTT i did was the Act 3 at Foxwoods, on my 2nd try I won the act 1, and act 2. I met Mike Sexton, the year before WPT started, talked to him and shook his hand. Still the only pro i have actually met and spoke with. And then I finsished 17 out of 95, 7 spots away from money or a 10k ticket. Still not bad for a 23 year old.

4) Coming in 4th out of 1700 peeps in 28k guaranteed on FT. Biggest cash in a tourney so far at $1325

So yes, I may not be the best poker player, but I am overall a winning poker player. And in the end, thats all I really ask for.

"R.E.S.P.E.C.T." -Aretha Franklin

So I had a great weekend, but let me get ot something happening in less than 2 hours. The company I work for has an annual karaoke competition, for which the 2 years it has been running I've been involved with it. So this year I have chosen to sing "Message In A Bottle". Now that I've typed all that, I have no idea what the point was to typing that...

Anywhoo, after a fun chatty night at the Riverchasers on Thursday (LOST was awesome!), I bounced in 27th after I started leaking chips all over the place.

What has been on my mind contantly lately is that I would like to gain some respect as a poker player. Winning stuff is fine, but if I constantly luck out to get to the end of tourneys (or suck out with A-5o against K-K, sorry PokahDave) then I will never get anyone to see me for a quality player vs some luckdonk. I've been reading Hoy's previous posts on middle pairs and theories, very good stuff. I started reading it last Wednesday, and I would say its already improved my play. So even if he doesn't read this, thanks a bunch Hoy.

Friday night I hit up good ole Foxwoods again. I was undecided what I should play as my allowance was only $300 this time, and I began debating between Stud and NL. Finally settled on NL and away we went. New table opened up and I could tell there were at least 6 "first-timers", good for me. The third hand after the table opened almost saw a fistfight over the silliest damn thing.

A guy Ill call Brooklyn Dude raises to 15 or whatever, and he gets one caller who I will call Boston Guy. The flop is all rags and he bets out, caller calls again. Turn is another rag, but starting to build a wheel draw. Check, check. River is a four, no flush possibilities. BD bets outs and BG goes into the tank. And he tanked for a good 5 minutes.....I'm pretty sure every at the table knew that BD had an A for the wheel (I had put him on A-K myself) He finally calls and shows 2 pair 3s and 4s. BD Shows A-Q for the wheel. BG goes on Mega Tilt, slamming chairs cussing BD out and finally pushing his chair as he walks by BD. This turns into a battle of cuss words with BD slowly rising from his seat and starting to step towards BG who is oblivious and walks off. Weird shit.

So after about 30 minutes I'm up at least 100, after a couple good plays with PPs that tripped up, and I bluffed BD out of a low pot with A-Q, as he folded he showed me A-Q and I turned my soooooted A-Q up, and got a nod from him.
The big hand turned out to be when I grabbed K-K in MP, it folds to me and I raise to 12. Guy directly to my left pumps it to 25, button calls. Not wanting to see a flop on this big a pot, I pump to $75. Guy to me left goes-in for 50ish more. Button calls all-in. So it gets around to me, 55 to call and 300ish in the pot. Not wanting to pass up 6-1 odds even if I am dominated by A-A I call and immediately ask which one has the A-A (though im thinking its the guy to my left more so than the button obviously). So check this: Guy to my left turns up Q-Q, button J-J. I'm excited. Flop has an A but all the rest were low. I take down the pot.

At this point im up at least 300, and I decide its SnG time. First SnG I joined was a wacky one. 1 guy eliminated first hand when he decides to not raise with J-J and lets an opponent run a straight on him with garbage. First hand I played was 9-9, raise 3.5x and everyone folds. Next hand I get 10-10. Raise again to the same amount, this time the button pushes all in. So here we go again, my "favorite situation", I raised to 400, and someone comes over the top for 2500, putting me all-in. This is where Hoy's posts dont venture, be aggressive with middle pocket pairs but if someone overbets you, do you just rely on your read of the player? This smells like J-J, A-K, A-Q, or a lesser pp. A-A in live poker would hardly raise all-in here, and I Figure K-K might do the same. Q-Q would probably be just a call to see how the comes. So figuring all the hands I could put him on, the only one where im in serious trouble is J-J. So I call. I almost laughed/cried when he turned up: A-10o?????

I stood up knowing this guy was gonna catch an A at some point to rail me. Well he didnt catch an A, but after a flop of Q-3-3, he catches a J on the turn, and a K on the River for the runner runner straight. Sometimes the correct call, isn't the best call. I could have folded here losing only 400 and stayed in the tourney.

Would love to know if I played that wrong, the whole thing just read as weak from his mannerisms, to his push. If I folded (which apparently what he wanted in this situation) he gets 700 chips. So simple math here folks. Lay 2500 to win 550? I had only played 2 hands and I had raised both, does he really think I'm bluffing with my raise? I just dont get his thought process there. Maybe Im good at acting really weak?

So I join another SnG right away, nothing to report there except I thought I was ahead with J-10 on a limped J high flop. I wasn't, guy had J-7 for twopair on the flop, boated up on the turn with another 7.

After that I wanted to play another SnG but I was 1st on a list of 10. So I had some time to kill. I sat on a couch and read the poker news talking about new legislature introduce to kill the UGIEA, good Im glad. I took this time to refocus, and get my head straight. Dont make stupid plays!

I ended up winning the next SnG, but again not too much report than the normal stuff. The turning point came when I flopped a set of 4s and a guy called because he had an Ace pair on the flop. The, in essence, winning move came when I pushed with A-6 with 3 peeps left and a guy called with Q-x and the A held up. It left him with 50 chips which he ended up turning into a second place finish, he was a good player I was happy for him. I always like to see deserving people get paid. Of course I love winning to.

The rest of the night was a mix of Stud 1-3 and Omaha 4-8. I kept thinking Omaha was 2-4 for some stupid reason and I had to reminded to bet the right amounts (NOOB!). I ended up cashing out up from Omaha and stud, although boating up and quadding (new word?) up definitely helps in Omaha.

FT was even nice this weekend, my new favorite cash game 2/4 Stud 8, allowed me to win $125 to push my FT bankroll past $600 again.

Tonight is the Hoy, and so far the best runs Ive had this entire BBT have been there, so hopefully that will continue.

"Everything Falls Apart" - Dog's Eye View

So on the non-poker tip yesterday at the dentist I found out that I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth laying horizontally encased in my jaw. So in order to get those puppies out they have to cut a tooth sized hole in my jaw, then layer the back with some fake jaw thing so the tissue and bone when they grow back, dont leave a valley in the back of my mouth, yum!

All in all the total cost for this comes to $5324. Apparently this sent my gf over the edge and now we will not be buying the house we made an offer on. So much for that...

So anyway I got home from the dentists' office and i mess around in some cheap sattellites, before I donked out. I then laid my eyes on a $9.5 guaranteed knockout tourney.

I was doing very in this tourney (with 20 peeps left I was 12th when 499 started) and I was at about average chip stack (40k approx) when I pick up J-8s in Middle position. It folded around to me, and I thought about raising to switch up my tight play, so I did raise to 3.5x the BB which I think was at 2k by this point. Folded around to the BB who thought about it, and right before time ran out decide to just call.

Now before I go on let me give you some background on this guy. His name was Smartypants43 (dont quote me on the number) and he had previously a few hands before called everyone at the table a donkey because they all had a negative ROI. One guy piped up that he didnt to which SMP43 said "oh yeah you dont". Just for the sake of curiosity I checked him up and he had a 4% positive ROI on with an average investment of $4...

So anywho he calls. Flop is the motherload of all motherloads. 10-9-7. Flopped a well hidden nut straight. So since I had been reading Hoy's articles about extracting ALL of my opponents money I pondered what should I do here to look like I'm afraid this flop missed me bad? Soooo I bet the pot. Like 15-20kish. SMP43 re-raises. At this point I am hoping to goodness he is raising with an A-x or J-J, something that I know he will stack off to me on. I push for th 5k or so I would have left if I just called his raise. He turns over 7-7. In the span of however long FT takes to deal a turn after an all-in call, a 10 on the turn eliminates me in 20th place...
There is no justice in the poker world! So after I'm out but before I leave he says in the chat "horrible raise". Now I've gotten a lot better with going on tilt after makes an obviously assinine comment like that. But I did say something about how lucky his 4% roi on $4 avg buy-ins must have helped him win the hand. Yes I know, I'm horrible at smack talk.

So 20th snags me 50ish bucks, but I feel super disappointed that I couldnt finish off another tourney.

Mookie was just one big "?" last night. RR was at my initial table and you had to see some of the plays people were making. I pushed all in with one chaser to a flush (with 9,6 spades no less) and then next I read a guy for weakness on a Q high flop where I paird my Q, he called with Kh-6h and there was no K, no 6, and only 1 heart on the flop. Before I knew it I was in the lead with 5500 chips. I stayed around that amount for most of the night until once again I donked off my chips to finish 27th out of 101.

Tonight is Riverchasers, so I'm prepared to see if I can keep the cashing streak up, I NEED MORE BBT POINTS!

"I Second That Emotion" - The Miracles

Alright so the day after:

First off congrats to Bdidee, heck of a heads up match, and for him heck of a comeback.

I think the thing he did well was pick his spots. I played just super duper aggressive, he took some chances with my raises, and when he finally did hit he was right in there.

3 hands that stood out as being my proverbial nail in coffin are:

1st Hand: K-Qo. At this point im leading 153k to 28k. I want to end this. I push and he calls with 7-7, no improvement for me.

2nd Hand: I know this hand confused Alan, so I wanted to go through my thought process and maybe he can comment.

I have Kc-5c. I raise. B calls. Flop: Ac-Kh-Qc Nut flush draw with middle pair.

B bets out. B had been playing VERY tight so when he bets out at a flop like this I gotta be thinking Small Ace. I call the flop, which I still think was a good call.
Turn: blank. He bets out again. I'm thinking about folding but with 9 flush cards, 2 kings, and 3 5's, I know I have a chance to bust him if I hit
River: blank I missed it all, and for the 3rd straight time he bets out. No way I can call here with middle pair, so I fold. It looked bad I know, but I just couldnt make a 3rd big call with middle pair.

3rd hand and obviously my most controversial: 2h-3h

I think I did not raise this hand, just called.

Flop: 4-4-5

Heres the dilemma. I'm first to act, if I check he could bet out with whatever and I'd prolly fold. So I decide to push here. 1) I had not pushed all heads up on the flop, last time I pushed was pre-flop with K-Q. I'm hoping to represent a low pair, like 6s, or 2 overs and make him think twice about calling with anything less than a 4 in his hand. He called with A-5, apparently assuming that since im playing so aggressive theres no way I could have hit, i dont know thats a "would you make this call?" question. I dont improve on my open-ended and im crippled.

So thank you to Alan and Donkette for the rail-cheers, and even Buddy for the rail-jeers ;-) and sorry Alan to keep you up so late just to donk off all my chips.

"Blinded By Rainbows" - Rolling Stones

2nd in the Hoy, needless to say very disappointed in myself as I went to take a 5 to 1 chip lead in heads up play, only to donk it all off and lose....i tasted that TOC chair...

More about it later, time for bed

Sick & tired: for realz!

Missed my first BBT event since April 7th, when I came home sick and went to bed from 7pm not to be woken until 7am this morn. If you know me, you know thats blatantly unheard of for me to do.

Probably for the best as I have been running non-stop events and getting no where, with a new month upon me, I can revitalize and make a run for the 2k seat if anything.
I've thought about it and if I were to win a 2k seat, I'd probably do a tourney other than NLHE, like Stud, Omaha or Razz.

Its a darn shame that Foxwoods doesnt really have mixed games (minus some expensive HA)or a Stud 8 game, Im really into Stud 8 as a cash game. Just something about it that gives it more appeal then NL cash. Itd be really sumpthin if I could eventually get into the 50k HORSE event at WSOP someday...

So I see on ESPN yesterday that in order to spice things up, the WSOP will be holding the NL ME final table in November instead of directly after the actual tournament. Apparently this has been talked about for the past few months because Joe gave me the "oh yeah you dont follow poker news" line when I told him.

So tonight I trek to Foxwoods again, unsure of what I'll play, maybe some Stud 1-3.