Mook.... out in 25th

Had a ton of fun in the largest Mookie event ever! 48 players and I did a good job of chipping up early even though AK was treating me poorly. First two times I had it I pushed and got a caller and both times couldn't hit at all. So I mention in the chat window that "I am tilted" as I see another AK with me in the SB. The button raises and I push and the BB calls and so does the button. This hand put AK vs, QQ and 1010. The K on the turn chipped me up very nicely and those were the chips that lasted until the first break. Trying to copy Hoy a bit and put in a pic of the table right before the break.

It didn't take long after the break to put a couple moves out there. Tried to stay aggressive to build the stack. So I raise from EP with 4's and the BB calls. Flop is a nasty one but I decide to put a reverse hoy down and see if I can convince him that I have AK.

It was right after this that things started to go terribly wrong. Get min raised and I call with Q10s. Flop is bad but I can't put him on the flush so I have to think that my two pair are good. Since I showed the hand above I decide to drop the hoy 2 hands in a row (a double hoy perhaps?!?) and I check the turn but am forced to call the last chip and then the Riverstars river arrives and puts the flush on the board.

I don't have the image of slothwear's AsJx but I can understand why he would call my bet since he had a ton of outs. I will have to run that one on pokerstove and see what shape I was in. A couple hands later slothwear is at it again and raises to 3x bb and I push with A9o. I figured that to get back into the game I had to risk that this was a weaker hand and he was bullying with the big stack. The read is correct and he turns over KQo. Here is the flop:

The turn is a 9 and I get rivered again by a K. Mookie is over for me this week but I am happy that my play is improving and I am mixing it up a bit more.... playing less but thinking lots.

DADI 6: Pot Limit

Finished 7th but gave away lots of chips on a very bad read at the final table. Live and learn and discuss with Hoy on optimal table play near bubble. I have been reading my Harrington but not studying it.... big difference. I think I almost need to go to a library and spend a few hours going over the material like a course in university.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 2616981

The Crew - Hammering the Final Table

Had a friend get in town from Vancover who wanted to go out last night, so I suggested some live poker action (one day Kat is going to join us). Got joined by a couple other guys who I have known since highschool and a buddy who I know through work. I spend about 10 minutes making sure that they don't string bet or min raise with too few chips which would show inexperience. The poker room isn't legal so anyone searching it out has played a few hands prior to the event.

Well the results were fantastic with only top 3 spots getting paid we took down all the cash! I did feed some chips to my buddies when my hammer hand (more on that in a moment) gave me a huge chip lead with 4 of us left. Also my other buddies who busted out managed to kick ass in the cash game and won more money than if they won the tournament. One action junkie at that table rebought for $200 on 5 occasions before we left! Hard to lose 5 buyins playing 1/2 live but he would call all ins with 2nd pair small kicker hoping to hit 2 pair on the river.

So we are at the final table with 5 people left and the blinds are 500/1000. I am in the SB with 72o which gives me the tingles since the BB is very tight / weak. He was still alive because he survived with QQ vs. KK when he caught a Q on the river. It folds around to me and I raise 3x BB which was normal for me (I was also playing tight and had not shown a weak hand yet to the table). He calls so I put him on two paint cards or a weak suited Ax. Flop is 9d 5d 2h giving me bottom pair and even more confidence to push what is probably a small edge. I bet 3k again and he calls. Now I figure he has the flush draw and the turn is a 8h. Now with two flush draws out there I believe now is the time to end the hand or put the pressure on, so I push. Even if he has a 5 or an 8 I don't think he can call this raise. He thinks for about two minutes and says "Easy come, easy go!" and calls. He turns over QJd for the inside straight draw and flush draw. River is a 9c and I take down a player and a huge pot with bottom pair.

Have to love it when the hammer doesn't get sucked out on and it helps you get all your buddies into the cash!

Ouch! Another night of getting beat up...

Down 100 last night on full tilt when I was tricky and raised with 68s and flopped the nut straight vs. an aggressive player. I bet pot and was reraised on flop... smooth call from me even with the flush draw out there. Turn is a blank so I bet 1/4 pot hoping to get reraised so I can push. He calls and then the river pairs the board and puts a flush down. I check and he bets 1/2 pot and I pay off his flush.... when I am playing well I would have bet pot on the turn to charge him to draw to that type of flush. Results in less suckouts and often smaller wins but gets rid of these types of losses on the river... I had him on an overpair for the entire hand which is probably too narrow.

I did place 2nd in a $5 2-table SNG over at UB for $22 profit and I also won $25 for betting on the Oilers to beat Anaheim. I hope Buffalo wins so I can get down there for the finals and watch a couple games.... never thought I would be an Oiler fan but what the hell!

Does anyone else find that playing in tournaments messes with their ring game abilities? I seem to take a good loss of a buyin to just get adjusted.

WBPT 1st event for me

It was a Gemini event that Biggestron setup to play two tourneys at once. I pulled off one big suckout with my AQ vs. AK but also lost a KK all in preflop to 1010 so even on the karma for the night.

Finished in 22nd place overall and got 56 POY points. Looking forward to playing in more of these events in the future. Tough crowd and few unraised pots made for a tougher time to get chips. I was suffering from a stomach flu for the first 45 minutes so was sitting out part of the time... actually I was running to the bathroom and pulling off a pure ballet move to make it just in time!!

V and Waffles entertained all evening with a heads up duel that was over before it started! Lots of talk of spanking and being hot or getting hot that I wanted to watch! Got to practice my heads up before I take on the Poision.

Rough night

Played the live $60 buy in event... didn't do too well but it was sort of a tough tournament to do well with unless you hit a hand. Bet and you hear call, call, call. Bet pot again and you hear call, call, call! Damn pot committed with A high. Push and you get one fold and two callers.

So needless to say but I ended up out just before the final table and did that with no cards at all. It was good to see how much the average player bets differently depending on what they hold. Used that to my advantage to get a guy to fold a couple hands my way that I shouldn't have won.

Ended up at Brant House (trendy sort of nightclub) in the VIP section drinking champange until the place closed at 2 am. Then moved to China town for a little food and some cold tea (beer) which wasn't necessary. Got home at 4:30 and woke up at 7 am... so I am tired again.

This weekend I have the folks over for a bit of bday cheer for my little Guin (she is 2 years old and still likes to call penguins "mungos" all the time) . Should be a good time all around but next week I am going to try to take it easy and play one night live and other than that be home to play online.

Sleepy Sleepy!

Had planned on playing in the Mookie event last night but slept right through till this morning. Was out the prior night until 2 am and found it difficult to get through the day yesterday. So I go home to take a bit of a nap and wake up at 2 am hungry as hell. Proceed to find some food and watch a replay of the Canadian's in the World Hockey Championship. Crosby is just amazing and he is going to be much better than Ovechkin in the long run.

My call for the Sharks to take the Cup didn't work out but at least a Canadian team is still in the running. If Edmonton can continue to play with this level of heart they could go all the way. Just have to stop Teemu... and he is playing with a ton of heart so he won't be easy to stop. After playing a 7 game series you almost think that the first game is a definate loss for Edmonton.

Good news is that after all that sleep last night I am playing in a live $60 event tonight and Kat might join me. I hope we finish 1-2 in the event! And if not these brokers better buy us some food and drink.... the topic should come up since we are playing in a restaurant that is closing to host our event. Should be fun.

Haven't been playing much

Sorry Hoyazo... you got to let me know your IM handle on yahoo or google talk so we can hook up and take down some Full Tilt action.

The stock market has been a bitch lately and it has caused me some stress ... not to mention that the wife wants a new car... going to invest a bunch of cash to hopefully pay for the darn thing... that should keep the wife happy for the next while I hope.

Also I have to resign up for this blogger freeroll... if you haven't done so yet please do so my 1st place prize is bigger!

I am registered to play in the Online Poker Blogger Freeroll Win your share of $25,000 and a set of Nevada Jacks poker chips. Hosted By: Absolute Poker Sponsored By: Poker Source Online Registration Code: 51952546

Bounty Hunter

Played the Mookie last night and took him out! Totally got lucky with my A7 in rough shape against AJ but flopped the 7 and never looked back. Very next hand I get 88 UTG and raise and 23skidoo in the BB with the short stack went all in with the hammer. I sucked out again and made the cash.

The eventual winner was Surflexus and he was pushing everyone around. A couple orbits earlier I reraised all in when he raised and I was in the BB. He folded that hand and he played K high hands strong against Sox earlier. So the fateful hand had me with A9s in the BB and Surflexus raises and it folds to me.... I think that I want to go for the win and not trying to move up one place in the rankings so I push. He has AQ and I couldn't suck out a third time to stay alive... Great game Surflexus, Smokkee, and Chilldyl2002 (you owned me all night!)

Taking out Mookie meant that I took down the bounty on his head. Overall, one great evening of poker where I played as well as I could and got lucky when I needed to.

More Live Play

This new poker club is great... was able to play a $30 tourney with 14 people and a great setup. 3k starting chips and 20 min blinds starting at 25-50. This allowed everyone to get to play some poker and it took a long time to turn into a push fest.

I still got shortstacked when my AQ missed a flop and I led out took away 20% of my stack. Next hand was 99 from MP. I raise and a nice AK4 flop and a big bet drives me out of that pot. Finally ended up blinded down and on the SB with A9s and another shortstack at the final table pushes. I call and I am against KJo and he hits trips and I finish in 9th place. Not great but didn't catch many cards but I made a couple great laydowns.

One of these days Kat is going to show up and show these guys what a real poker player looks like. Hopefully, she doesn't take much of my cash in the process!

Funny Funny

the Idiot Savant (42% dark, 57% spontaneous, 47% vulgar)

your humor style: VULGAR SPONTANEOUS LIGHT You like things silly, immediate, and, above all, outrageous. Ixne on the subtle word play, more testicles on fire, please. People like you are the most likely to RECEIVE internet forwards--and also the most likely to save them in a special folder entitled 'HOLY SHIT'. Because it's so easily appreciated, and often wacky and physical, your sense of humor never ceases to amuse your friends. Most realize that there's a sly intelligence and a knowing wink to your tastes. Your sense of humor could be called 'anti-pretentious'--but paradoxically enough, that indicates you're smarter than most. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Johnny Knoxville - Jimmy Kimmel

Computer issues

Tried to play a bit last night but had a ton of trouble with the computer. I managed to win a Titan Rio event but that was the only highlight of the night.

Lost a Full Tilt token event when my J10s flopped a full house. Got the AJ all in after someone else took a big stab at the pot and the A spiked on the turn to put me out instead of putting me into the chip lead early! Those things happen so no problem...

Then I tried to move over to PokerStars for a $4 180 person MTT. I was in 16th place with 80 to go when my computer kept locking up. Reboot, and the internet works for 15 seconds and then I time out again. It was a rough evening but I think the computer just wanted the evening off! Lets hope it isn't a persistent problem. The good thing is that I am playing good poker and getting chips early (I can act like a maniac when necessary!).

Ended up watching the San Jose Sharks beat Edmonton which looks to be a good series. I think San Jose could win the Cup... Boston fans would be quite pissed watching Thornton hold up the Cup! Then I ended up watching a National Geographic show on the Gospel of Judas. I love how all this history continues to surface which shows how current beliefs were shaped over time.

Fun Live Play

Managed to get to a new underground poker club in Toronto last night. Usual assortment of players such as the university kids to the Asian gamblers. In these live events people only remember the crazy stuff you do while playing NL 1/2. So in my third hand, I have QsJx and limp in. Now, online I try to not play for my stack in an unraised pot, but live has less hands so sometimes you have to push edges harder.

So flop is Kx 10s 5s which gives me the oesd but flush draw on board. Pot is $8 and buddy bets $10 which I take to be a TPGK type of bet with these types of players. I call since I think I can get him to fold on the turn if a scare card hits or slowplay him if I hit.

Turn is a 4s and he bets $15 into the $28 pot. He has about $70 behind him and I figure that my flush draw with the oesd is enough to push him off of top pair. So I push all in... he calls immediately.

He doesn't have the flush but top two pair including the Ks. Here is how bad of shape I am in according to Poker Stove:


Board: Kc Ts 5s 4s
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 86.3668 % 86.38% 00.00% { KsTh }
Hand 2: 13.6332 % 13.63% 00.00% { QsJc }

Lucky for me the 9d showed on the river and I made a mental note to push against that player when I hit my flush next time!

My big hand of the night was when I was in the BB with J6o. I get to see the flop for free and I couldn't believe my eyes J J 6! Nice... since I was aggressive my check must have looked like weakness. The button player couldn't help himself and bet $8 into the 4 player pot which the other 3 of us called. Turn was a 4 and I bet $15 as I was worried that a high card would come out and give someone a better boat. River is a nice 4 and the SB bets $16. I raise to $40 and then MP reraises all in to $75.... button and small blind fold and I win a big hand as he had J10s.

Overall it was a plus $240 night and I put myself in a situation where I didn't have many tough decisions. The pressure wasn't always applied in the correct spot, but it sure was applied!

It is a different feeling when you bust someone and you hear them say on the way out that they probably won't play again for a long time. Then again I think that they are at least smart enough to realize that they were the fish in the game.

Rio good time...

Have felt like playing a bunch of tournaments lately but finding it tough to be patient. Still enjoying the SNG's at Titan but mostly breaking even... I am currently sitting with a win in a rio and also a win at the Dirty Dozen level. The small $2 SNGs only need 4 wins to get 2k instead of the 6 wins with the only negative being the field is twice the size.

Thanks for the feedback on my live play hand. Hoyazo mentioned that he thought it was a bad play because any Ax who calls has me in bad shape. I did not mention that blinds were going to go to 150/300 in a few minutes lowering my M from the current 9+ down to 6. So with me being so close to entering the red zone I figured I might as well push now while people still had to respect my raises.

Really lacking sleep right now is not leaving me with much energy so tonight I will get to bed early.