Double Shootout = Super Token?!!

Well, I played and finished 1st in a Double Shootout (DS or Supertoken from now on) which is a $215 entry to the Sunday Million. I won't be able to play that so I unregistered and they put $215 tourney dollars into my account. Never played against such timid people... stealing blinds was easy to do consistently and led to my big chip stack.

Such a shame that Hoyazo didn't go further in the WSOP ... he will get em next year... hopefully I will be there as well to join in on the fun.

First Two Bounties Awarded

Managed to get the first two bounties out of the way. I don't have a screen shot of Mowenumdown beating JJ with his KQo all in preflop action. I do however have a screenshot of Jk87 taking me out:

On this flop I bet 1/2 pot and get reraised so I go over the top and push hoping to get someone to draw to an inside straight or overplay an overpair like JJ. Didn't expect a call from 2nd pair top kicker!



So I managed to get my money in good and after the turn things were looking good....

And then Riverstars did the rest... this left Mookie, Shadowtwin, Smokkee, and Surflexus feeling a bit left out. Luckily I will arrange to have more bounties in the upcoming weeks.

Jk87 to claim your prize just make a post on your blog and open a myCitadel ewallet. Give it a few days to receive the cash as we are still working out the system to pay the bounties.

myCitadel - A new ewallet to try out

Guys I am going to have a bounty put on my head for future blogger events. If you are interested in claiming that prize, you will have to make a post showing the winning hand (screenshot works), and posting a link back to the myCitadel site (I am working on a getting a small clickable banner). All prizes are paid directly into your myCitadel ewallet (signup for one if you don't have one!).

This is a very progressive company that is working hard to address the needs of the ewallet market. They charge much lower fees (currently zero) to load your ewallet from your bank account versus 8.9% for instacash from Neteller. They are also working to allow you to hold multiple currencies within the ewallet so you can convert when you want (good for those people playing sites with Euros, USD, British pounds, etc.). The SecureSwipe product is also interesting as it will allow people in the US to load the ewallet with a credit card.

They are also working on getting on to more of the poker sites that we use but that is going to take some time. Give them a shot (partially funded by rivering me again slb and shadowtwin!) and I believe you will like it.

In the future they have mentioned that they may fund my entrance to a live poker event to be an ambassador for their products. If you have anything else you want from an ewallet please let me know and I can discuss it with the product development group.

20k Guarantee on FT

Played the 20k Guarantee on FT yesterday and today with great results yesterday and not so great today! Managed to finish 86th while Surflexus finished 11th and showed me what my game is lacking on large MTTs. Super amounts of patience but I can say that I am more patient today than 6 months ago so I am progressing. Just read Hoy's post on goals for the year and I probably should try to come up with a few good ones for the 2nd half of 2006.

The first one is to be more patient and not to worry about getting to be slightly below average stack. MTT's are long but the big cash is top end loaded. Finished 7th out of 421 on Saturday night in a $5 MTT and got $68. I also cashed in the 9k with a top 50 finish but these didn't finish until 4-5 am so I was a bit tired the next day. I was happy with the first final table for me in a large MTT so soon after setting that goal. Surf really inspired me with his play the prior night.

Of course to balance things out I donked off about $60-70 last night while doing some corporate taxes. All things considered that was a small expense compared to the cut the government wants.

DADI IGH Early

Played like a donk for the first part of the tournament but managed to hang around to just after the first break. I then used that loose image to get my money in quite good.




NewinNov min raises and I reraise with a hoy and somehow he calls with AJo. Now most players know that you are so happy that he is chasing a 3 outer but then he did pay to see five cards.

I did ask him if he thought he was ahead when I reraised and he said no. Grrr... get 'em next time I guess.

Jackpot during Live Action

Played live last night and just missed the Mookie by 15 mins because the cash game was really hot. Won $300 with 35s in the BB and flop is 46As and it checks around. Turn is the miracle 7s and it checks around again. I lead out with $5 on the river hoping that the Ks will show up and reraise me. Luckily I get a caller with 10s because if you don't show down on river you don't win the jackpot money. So a bit risky but it helped put me in that crazy category.

Only other hand of interest is when I get AA in CO. One loose player limps to my right and I raise it to $15, (1/2 NL) and it folds to the BB who calls along with the guy to my right. Flop is KQ8 rainbow and it checks to me and I bet $25. The BB is an action junkie (asian dude with a ponytail) and he min raises me to $50 and I hope that loose guy calls and then I can get HU and give him the action he desires. Instead, loose guy pushes all in and I know that AA is not good any longer. So I fold and pony tail shows J10o and loose guy has KQ. Turn is a 9 for a nice suckout since I have two of his outs and the straight holds up. Nice to see bad players get paid off for mistakes like that. I did see a guy buy in for $60 and go all in with 6's on his first hand (he stole the blinds) and then called an all in with AQo (I told him he was dead) for his second hand and the other guy turns over AK. He left right after that. Cash games with guys pushing with AK is awesome!

Looking forward to next week when Kat and Jules come out to play live in Toronto.

In other news I am working to get a company to put a bounty on my head during blogger events... I want it to be $36.66 to keep in line with my penGuin like attitude. If a player with a bounty on them wins the tournament does that mean it would be rolled over or go to me? Hmm... something else to think about.

Couple tokens make up for quick exit

Was feeling a little tired last night so figured I would push the edges a little bit harder and see how that went. The only thing I figured out is that if you push back at Kat a couple times she will call you down with the goods! So out early in the WWdn: Not The which left me feeling a little unsatisfied. Prior to playing in that event I was on FT and won a token playing against a bunch of donks.

After the WWdN I figured I might as well go for another one of those tokens so I can sit down and play in the 17k guaranteed along with a sat to a 200k guaranteed tourney. Smokkee was in that one as well but he ran his JJ into KK early and that was the last I saw of him. I ran TPTK into two pair and that hurt me but managed to double up and steal my way to the final table. I find the turbo ones are great once you get a bit of a stack because you just start taking a bit of time each turn to act. This increases the blinds and you can really use that to your advantage. In the end managed to get the second token of the day (Hoy would say Paris Hilton tokens for page rank but I am not seeking Google fame yet!).

On Wednesday night there was supposed to be a good $30 MTT live tournament in Toronto. Sad thing was that a fire inspector was inspecting the building and then the landlord found out that a poker club is being run out of that building. How stupid can people be when showing up to do something illegal but to mention to any random person that they are looking for the poker club?!?! Idiots. So I will give it a week and if the club is still there then all is good in the world.

So instead of trying to rush home for the Mookie we decided to go to another club that is a short cab ride into a bad part of town. To compare the two clubs is like night and day. The usual place is spacious and has five tables, nice looking ladies with good attitudes working there and horrible poker players. The other place is cramped with only two tables and no ladies and tough poker players! But I wanted to play poker so off to the 2nd club we went. Bought into the 1/2 game for $150 and my buddy buys in for $80 (he is good at tournaments but his cash game is suspect).

The full table has a great assortment of characters. To my left I have asian guy (tight, will use small raises to trap), my buddy J (loose, likes to mix it up), bald guy (tight, shuffles chips like a pro but doesn't watch table = not a pro), fat guy wearing isreal army hat (loose aggressive, likes to tap on the glass), asian guy (tight, looks like he is scared money), big head euro guy (maniac, called fat guys $150 reraise with J10o - I want to play against him), asian guy (solid player, cbets a bit too often but has shown goods enough to give him respect), red haired guy (loose, likes to raise small amounts - reraise him with air and he will fold), young college kid (super tight, respect raises cuz he will have the goods).

When I am buying in fat guy is yelling at big head about his horrible call with J10o cracking his AA. Big head goes on to double up red haired guy and then he really goes maniac on the table. Preflop raises are to $35, with three callers!!! Wow action table now give me a playable hand dealer! It sort of looks like a $1 turbo SNG with everyone fighting to get chips to the middle first. Big head loses his cash and rebuys for $100 and then over the next orbit manages to quad up his stack. I have still yet to even have a hand worth considering putting money in the middle with yet. Big head decides he has had enough and leaves the table which is a big shame. This settles the table down a lot. My buddy J ends up getting stacked and borrows $70 off of me. An orbit later with me on the button I look down at 33 and limp in (should have raised but didn't). SB completes and BB raises to 10 and we both call. Flop is Ks 10x 3s. Here is how pokerstove breaks down this hand.

Board: Ks Tc 3s
Dead:
equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 78.0865 % 78.10% 00.00% { 3c3d }
Hand 2: 04.0952 % 03.98% 00.11% { KcQd }
Hand 3: 17.8184 % 17.71% 00.11% { KdTs }

It goes check, check and I bet $15 into the $30 pot knowing that these guys might want to draw to the flush. SB reraises to $40, BB pushes all in to $58, so I reraise to $135. SB thinks for a while where he shows the table his hand before calling about a minute later. I am pleased because my read was right ... no way they are slowplaying KK or 10 10 from the blinds. Turn and river were blanks and I take down a nice pot. Lost a bit of it later on but still ended up a little over $100. Not bad but would have been more fun if Kat was in on the action.

WWdN: Another 2nd place finish

Tonight was a night where the results miss how lucky I was earlier in the evening. Final table first hand for me UTG, and I push all-in hoping to steal the blinds. Instead, a smooth call right behind me, and then the button pushes all-in. Flop was 632, so I ask Pokerstars for a 5, and the site delivers. More than triple up and that is what got me to the final two players.

Shadowtwin thanks for the chips tonight but sorry I couldn't take the chiplead all the way. Hoy's bro Aquaverse played like a superstar from what I thought was the toughest seat at the final table. Kat did her usual, kicking butt and finding solid hands until I got lucky with a set vs. her two pair. She will probably make me pay for that tomorrow evening in our live tournament. But I tip my hat to the guy I called to win it with 6 left: ABVidale. I don't think I saw a mistake out of him at the final table. When it was heads up, I had the chip lead until I ran 88 into 1010. From there I managed to double up twice to regain my former stack size. Then my two pair ran into his set of Q's that he slowplayed. It was all over the next hand when I reraised all in with 5's and he called with KQo. He hits two pair and it is all over. Fun time and some of the fun came from the wife joining in and watching me play. She had to play my hands for the first 20 minutes while I was eating and managed to double me up.

It doesn't look like my sponsor can get things setup for the WSOP but hopefully we will find a suitable tourament to send me to represent them later in the year. The good thing is that I can focus on improving my play to hopefully win a seat to one of the events. It has been a while since there was a poker goal to achieve but planning on playing a large tournament should inspire me.

Ullrich All the Way!

Well Jan Ullrich just won the Tour de Suisse and hopefully he can show up in the form for the Tour de France. Without Lance being around he should win it all.

I was trying to get to the July weekend in vegas with all the bloggers but it looks like my sponsor might want me to play the main event instead. Lets just say that I am not arguing too much about that development. Ever since I watched Rounders and heard of this tournament I wanted to sit down and play against the "best and worst" poker players in the world. I suggested that they offer a piece of my winnings (if any) to anyone who signs up to use their services between now and the start of the tournament. Hopefully, the blogger community will turn out and support me on this cause when I get more details.

Played in the Hoy tourney last night and finished 7th. Chipped up early when slb couldn't river me (in my mind I could see the A falling on the river) with his AK vs. my QQ all in on the flop. That lead lasted until near to the final table. My computer has been acting up on me recently so close to the end of the hockey game I put it on sitting out mode. Then I get KK and try to click the I'm Back button but missed it. At this point the computer is starting to freeze up but I only need another 5 minutes. I look down to see that I have KK again and click the button and no luck at all. Two players ended up all in on a K high flop and that is where I think I lost the tournament. Edmonton loses the game so I can finally continue playing poker.

Now in the scuffle of getting my laptop down to the basement (where it is nice and cold) and rebooting the computer I don't recall who I knocked out on the final table bubble. In MP with 55 and the aggressive player with shorter stack to my right raises. I drop the hoy and get pushed all in. AKs vs. 55 and the flop hits me so hard 533! To the final table we go and I was just card dead the entire time. Was chipleader at the final table for a short period but overplayed some hands and didn't maximize value when I could have. It is hard not to give too much respect to guys like cc and hoy who are top notch players. Iakaris was my nemesis last night and it will not be forgotten soon. Overall, happy with my play until my computer died and then I was like a novice playing poker. Funny how easy it is to get out of the groove of playing your game.

Gave it my all!

Sat down tonight when I got home and said I would try to play solid poker tonight for a change. So I joined a $1 MTT on Party to get warmed up and start taking guys out. Then the 17k on FT started and I managed to chip up early there as well. Funny thing is that you can play solid for about 1 hour with no problems and then you start to get cocky. Stealing blinds when it is 25/50? I can be such an idiot sometimes. So that steal cost me 1200 but he knows I am serious now!

Going to test uploading another image and hopefully you can click on them to see more detail... if someone could tell me what I am doing wrong that would be helpful.



Anyways... I did a good job tonight of chipping up early but failed to turn it into cash due to a couple suckouts against me. I did make some really good laydowns and only saw one person bluff me off of a pot. Dropped the hammer once with Duggle at the table which got one guy to reraise all in with A5s vs. my KK on the button. Funny comment from the big stack at the table in that is what I get when I show 72o. Umm... I think I will take the reraises from those type of hands all night long... at least when I have KK.

Long time since I have posted

Been busy lately with work and when I finally get home, playing poker, or posting have been low on my list.

Had a blast playing live with Kat last week... she took third and makes many more reads of people live than I make. I find I still focus on betting patterns to tell me if someone is full of it or not. There are times where you can see the super tight player trying to bluff live that allows me to go over the top with air but that doesn't happen often enough. The guy I liked playing against finished in second that night. Three of us in the hand with a flop of 9h 4x 4h. I look down and see I am playing Q9o in the BB. Small bet leads out from the small blind and I call. The superstar behind me calls as well. Turn is a 9x giving me a boat and it checks around. Now I am calling for a heart to put the flush out there because these idiots wouldn't be able to lay it down. 7h on the river is just beautiful. SB leads out and I push all in. Superstar says "you really want to do that?" (He usually tries to play the no emotion or talking type of player = no fun) and I know he has quads. The SB had K9 and called the all in and both of us were taken out by his quads... but his final comment was the dumbest comment that could be expected "That is why I don't drink while playing poker." I tell him I will bust everytime against quads with my hand and that has nothing to do with drinking. Anyone else play a hand like that differently?

Good news from a company that they want to send me to a poker tournament as their ambassador. If I can swing it I would love to head to vegas for the July 7th weekend with all the bloggers around. I don't think I can take the time off right now to do the main event as the market is quite choppy.

Played in a token event on FT with Upforpoker last night and got my token with a 1st place finish. UFP didn't have my luckbox skills last night but it was cool to have another blogger present. I might take a run at the 17k event tonight to work on the MTT part of the game. I really needed a reason to play well and a big live event should get me in the mood to work on the game.

First WWdN: Not The and first WWdN - a 1-2 Punch

Last Thursday I played in my first WWdN: Not The event. Great time trying to out hoy everyone including Hoyazo himself. It had to be a tournament where I sucked out more than should be humanly possible but I will take the win.

Tonight was my first WWdN event on this festive 06/06/06 day. This is an event where I got a good chiplead and just watched it grow as I won a few races against small stacks. All except shadowtwin who I managed to double up at least three times (I think I deserve a bit of your prize money!).

So I start to get a big stack but not doing too much stealing but raising or folding to keep up the pressure on the table. Then I get the perfect hand in the BB with raising and calling ahead of me. I pushed here because if shadowtwin had AQ or AJ I want him to call here because Peacecorn probably has a similar type of hand.

An orbit later I had the opportunity to do what all bloggers love .... raise UTG with the hammer and take it down.

So now I am a big stack and stealing blinds a bit more as we approach the final table... we get there looking like this:

Let me just say that everyone played great but heffmike was the guy I expected to see heads up. We didn't contest many hands because most often it was decided preflop. Great player who put lots of pressure on everyone regardless of stack size. He folded one hand against me where he raised from EP to 4k and I reraised another 20k to put him all in and he folded. Later he raised from EP again and I had 1010 and I reraised him again and he called.

Eventually I finished second as we only got one hand of heads up ... darn since I have been reading a bit about it in Harrington vol 2. Great read Kaellinn as that couldn't have been an easy call with 2nd pair! That was 4 races in a row that you won against me which is probably the leak in my game that I have to fix. Time to chat online to see what the optimal play is in those situations of having K8 or K9 4-handed on the button. Live and learn... but it was a blast. Forgot to mention that I played in that HORSE event and just donated my money since I don't know how to play any of the other poker games! Razz looks interesting to me.

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