Poker Pub Poker Blog

2006/08/09

WSOP Final Table Chip Count, Studying

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

WSOP Chip Count (in millions)

Courtesy of Cardplayer Magazine…
1. Jamie Gold - 25.65 - Seat 8
2. Allen Cunningham 17.77 - Seat 5
3. Richard Lee 11.82 - Seat 1
4. Eric Friberg 9.605 - Seat 2
5. Paul Wasicka 7.97 - Seat 3
6. Doug Kim 6.77 - Seat 7
7. Rhett Butler 4.815 - Seat 9
8. Michael Binger 3.14 - Seat 6
9. Dan Nassif 2.6 - Seat 4

Final table was formed when Fred Goldberg made a move from the cutoff position with Q3, only to run into Richard Lee’s KK in the SB. Goldberg is rewarded for his 10th place finish with $1,154,527. Wow.

David Einhorn, the player I mentioned yesterday who was donating all his winnings to charity, took down $659,730 finishing 18th place. He was eliminated by Jamie Gold. Blinds T30,000/T60,000 with a T10,000 ante.

David raised to T250,000 from the middle position with Kqoffsuit, and he’s four handed when the flop comes Qdh, Jd, 6c. David bets T1 million (about ½ pot), Jamie Gold raises to T3 million. David Einhorn reraise to allin. Gold calls and shows Q6 suited to David Einhorn’s KQ offsuit. Turn is the three of clubs and the river is the 8 of hearts. No help there as David Einhorn is eliminated in 18th place and Jamie Gold moves up to over 22 million in chips at this time.

It sounds as if Jamie Gold is playing very aggressive and correctly using his chip stack.

CheckRayz Update

Speaking of using one’s chip stack, way to go Bob in taking down the DonkFest, our CheckRayz money added rebuy at Noble Poker last night. If we take a quick look at the Leaderboard, we see that someone needs to be knocked off ~~their high horse~~ the top of the Leaderboard. That dude has an ego, from what I hear and can get real obnoxious from the lead.

The CheckRayz Clash of the Titans is booked. Well, the date is set. Next Tuesday at 10pm EDT, our first quarter champion Clayshooter, fresh off his return from Disney Land will take on our second quarter champion ReelCrazy. A fifty dollar credit is on the line, whether it’s for pokertracker or at the Beer Guy’s Five Star Deal Store. Lot’s of neat stuff at 5 star deal…Poker Chips, Casino Items, Poker Supplies, and Other items.

Do you Study?

Over the weekend, I finished David Sklansky’s NLHE book. Yea yea, I know… I started that thing like seemingly a million months ago, right? Sounds like I do not “study” often. Actually, to believe that, you not could be more incorrect. I am constantly studying to improve my game. I have the drive and the desire to improve constantly. Even if I “made it” and was playing the big circuits and the bigger cash games, I’d still continue to study as one cannot improve or evolve “enough” if they’re striving to be the best. I spend roughly 15 minutes to one hour reviewing my own hand history. Additionally, I spend another hour reviewing the hand history of other players. All of that is done, of course, after I spend an hour or so reading. My attention span is a bit different than most. I’m not disciplined enough with respect to said attention span to read a book several times over. Typically, I am good for a once over. Maybe… maybe I will be good for a second read, but there’s no guarantees. Consequently, I try to read the first time for mastery level. I’m not ever sure if I can pay attention the second time through, as I begin assuming I can complete David’s sentences and roll my eyes in the back of my head while reading the second time around. I’d do this with any book, not just David’s. For that reason, I crawl through at a pace that a snail would snicker over, uttering under his breath “and they think a snail’s pace is slow?”

Anyway, slowly but surely, I move on to Harrington on Hold’em vol III: The Workbook.
I suspect the way this book is written, in problem… question and answer format, keeping score as we go along, I will be able to read this book much quicker. Additionally, I’d be able to go back through and re-read it with no problems. Dan takes several hands, both live and online, and puts them out there offering play by play and awarding points for making decisions. I’m answering the questions as I would be inclined to play, given the online time restraints - not having much time, needing to instantaneously make decisions.

The next time around, I plan to think the answers over. I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress, which reminds me… my point. Ah, my point! Yes, in order to improve, one must study and practice. I spend 1-2 hours a day studying, because I believe that amount of time will get me where I wish to go. How much you study is entirely up to you. There’s no magic formula to this, but one will not improve/evolve in their understanding and mastery of the poker game without incorporating a study routine into their practice.

Off my soapbox. More tomorrow.

Be sure to stop by and check out the live wsop main event coverage here on the poker pub, brought to you by CheckRayz.

Mike

2006/08/08

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CheckRayz-Noble Poker tourney tonight

Quick Reminder for those not paying attention

All content written in the Poker Pub, http://imjusthere4thebeer.blogspot.com is under copyright. Said copyright is displayed on the left bar. Details of such copyright is available in easy to understand language by clicking on the Creative Commons link.

Noble Poker

Tonight CheckRayz will be playing out a money added poker tournament at Noble Poker. Buy-in for this event is $2+.20. $25 is added to the prize pool. For those of you who need to do so, feel free to use this link to download the Noble Poker Poker Room Software. As always, CheckRayz Tournament Leaderboard Points will be on the line.

CheckRayz is hosting a Tuesday night tournament every week in August. Each week, both the buy-in and the money added will increase. Next Tuesday, the CheckRayz Noble Poker tournament will be $3+.30 with $50 added to the prize pool. Following that will be a $4+.40 with $75 added to the prize pool. Finally, we’ll hold a $5+.50 with $100 added to the prize pool.

Depending on how well the Tuesday time slot works, this may be our regular thing at Noble Poker. I’m liking how well the regular BBB Thursdays work with the Shark Poker Tour, and it sounds as if the Vet’s Series is also catching on. For that reason, I’d like to maintain some consistency with our CheckRayz events. As always, feedback is welcome.

Courtesy of Cardplayer Magazine…

WSOP Chip Count - 27 remain

1. Jamie Gold 13 mil
2. Erik Friberg 7.735 mil
3. David Einhorn 6.905 mil
4. Rhett Butler 6.4 mil
5. Dan Nassif 5.43 mil
6. Richard Lee 5.275 mil
6. Michael Binger 5.275 mil
8. William Thorsson 3.765 mil
9. Jeffrey Lisandro 3.75 mil
10. Kevin Aaronson 3.67 mil
11. Doug Kim 3.595 mil
12. John Magill 3.275 mil
13. Allen Cunningham 2.65 mil
14. Leif Force 2.265 mil
15. Kevin O’Donnell 2.13 mil
16. Prahlad Friedman 1.85 mil
17. Eric Lynch 1.785 mil
18. Lee Kort 1.7 mil
19. Rob Roseman 1.685 mil
20. Fred Goldberg 1.611 mil
21. Dustin Hokmes 1.21 mil
22. Sirous Jamshidi 1.19 mil
23. Luke Chung 1.1 mil
24. Paul Wasicka 700K
25. Siddharth Jain 675K
26. Mark Garner 635K
27. Richard Wyrick 570K

I’m familiar with none of the remaining players beyond what I have read. I do have to now say that I am pulling for David Einhorn to win the WSOP Main event. He’s substantially in the money. Knowing this, he still announces a decision that he’s donating his entire winnings to a charity, specifically the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease. I’m not knocking anyone who “gives” or “pledges” money, however, it’s one thing for someone to go in there thinking “if I win, I’ll donate x,” and the event’s not even begun - one not knowing if they‘re going to cash, for that matter. It’s another entirely different creature for one to pledge the entire amount KNOWING they’re getting paid. I am Tippin my mug to ya David!

Mike

2006/08/07

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45 remain at the WSOP Main Event

2006/08/06

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WSOP Update - 135 players remain...

2006/08/05

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Day 3 WSOP Update and Dropping the Hammer

481 People remain at the close of Day 3 of the WSOP. This also suggests the bubble has burst and we’re in the money in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Daniel Negreanu is the player who was on the roller coaster ride today dropping down to nearly 20,000 chips and back over 100K.

Notable WSOP Chip counts

1. David Chiu 650.000
2. Kyle Bowler 600,000
99. Joe Hachem 180,000
109. Hoyt Corkins 163,000
113. Annie Duke 156,000
127. Ted Forrest 138,000
135. Daniel Negreanu 104,000
145. Tom McEvoy 80,000
161. Cyndy Violette 45,000

Dropping the Hammer…

The Promotional CheckRayz-Celeb $500 freeroll is in the record books. The monstrosity of a poker player screen named reelcrazy11 took down the tourney. In case anyone is keeping score, this marks four months straight now that reel has won every CheckRayz event he’s entered. Said another way, the guy’s not losing in CheckRayz events. He went four for four in Q2, went on to take down the Shootout and capture the Q2 crown, and then the $500 freeroll. Wow.

Your’s truly was last in chips. Norman limps UTG, I peak down and see “it“… I know what I must do. Bam, I raise all-in. Reel folds. To my surprise, Norm calls (for some reason I have this belief that my all-in bluff moves never will get called for some reason). Norman turns over pocket threes. I am struggling to get to my paint program to screenshot my busting out with the hammer, when a seven decides to show up on the turn. I forget that I am looking for the paint program as I am both laughing at my luck and feeling bad for Norman who was actually playing while I was being a clown.

Dropping the hammer is an art form though. We’ll take a look at some historical hammer dropping. As you can see, it’s no easy task:

Hammer being dropped in the WSOP Main Event by a poker blogger while April is covering it (this is money),

The 2005 Hammer Photo Challenge run by Bill Rini at Bill’s Poker blog,

Another Bill Hammer Photo.

OK, enough obsession with the hammer.

Norman went on to take third place, and of course, I took second. Sweet cashes for all of us in a really tough field. Reel and I kept joking about the min raise. Occasionally, he’d taunt me with this min raise. Other times, I would throw one in on his BB. Additionally, I’d make it a point to fold and announce I respected his raise when he would do a more “standard” raise, such as 3x.

Overall, great tournament, lots of CheckRayz Tournament Leaderboard points and your’s truly is 2/3 in making a “final table” this quarter, only missing out at the 32 red freeroll, which I was the chip leader for quite some time.

That reminds me, I forgot where I was… and no Buddha , I was not referring to “well, this is Prima” either. Not saying what I am referring to, however, I will say that I forgot for a second that one “may” in fact be likely to play a hand such as queen eight to a seemingly substantial pre-flop raise. I refer to Buddha, because he had suggested that Gary was a transparent player and easy to read. Additionally, cited that Gary’s over betting was going to get him into trouble. I believe it was Gary who eliminated Buddha, however. And I look forward to seeing them show it down later on at a “not prima” tournament site.

Well, that’s enough for now. If I am not mistaking, I’ve written every day this past week. This would be a recent record. That should continue to be the case. I am seemingly over my writer’s block, and back “donking” it up on the virtual felt. I’m trying to teach myself PLO8. It’s a challenge, as I am not a fast learner, I have no respect for my teacher, and honestly, I’m just a horrible student! But, I think I’ll be ready to advance to PLO8 for second graders here in a few short days, where the title of the second grade course is “they really pay a low hand?”

Mike

Poker News
Poker Tournaments
CheckRayz Announcements

2006/08/04

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Is There Proper Use of the Min Raise in Poker

Yes, you read correctly… It seems that I’ve implied that there is a proper use of the min-raise in poker, despite all my min-raise bashing. If I come through, we’re going to discuss this. But first, a CheckRayz reminder or two:

1. The Promotional CelebPoker $500 freeroll poker tournament is tonight. Registration is open. 50 raked hands at .50/1 or higher between June 1 and now is how one earns their entry. Of course, this also assumes you've downloaded through me. Hope to see everyone there.

2. I think we're going to begin running private "seat added" qualifiers to the $100K Guaranteed Sunday Shootouts at River Belle Poker in the very near future. Stay tuned to the Poker Pub for details.

3. Also in the coming soon department is the "BeerGuy's Poker Room of the Month" promotion, which is in the works. Again, stay tuned to the Poker Pub for more information.

"And now it's time for our featured presentation..." (voice in the background chimes in over and over again...: please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... please keep small children quiet and turn your cell phone's off... ).

When raising, we need to consider several things when sizing our raise… and yes, the size of one’s raise is of extreme importance. (When we're discussing min raises or raising in general for the purposes of this article, we're specifically referring to preflop raising, unless otherwise specified). Some of the things to consider when sizing a raise is the nature of the players at your table (are they gonna stomp all over a min raise, do I need to raise to define my hand in order to get two to three handed, are they going to view a min raise as an actual raise or just look at it as a kill pot), the size of your opposition’s stacks relative to yours (are they deep, shallow, a mixture), your table image (am I a monster or a donk, am I tricky or transparent, have I been raising, have I shown down recently), and what kind of hand you’re holding are a few of the many things to consider when sizing out a raise.

Additionally, as a rule of thumb, we typically want to raise to either define our hands, or to build a pot. We are not doing well to both build a pot and define our hands, or more specifically, alerting our opposition we have a hand and also giving them correct odds to play along when we can in fact be outdrawn. It becomes a huge, catastrophic mistake to tell an opponent what we have, and then set the price so that it is correct for them to come kick our asses.

So if we have to take all of that into consideration, when is it appropriate to put in a min raise? Well, the only reason I can come up with to condone the min raise is when you’re simply wanting to play this one hand as if the blinds have gone up one level. Most players will correctly treat the min raise as a limp. So, if blinds are 50/100, you’re simply wishing to play that hand as if it were 100/200. This really does little to drive players out of the hand. A player with aces will still consider re-raising. A tricky player in position may even re-raise with nothing, knowing you’ve invested very little and could get away from your hand with great ease. This is essentially nothing more than an over-pronounced slow play. As we well know, slow plays are rarely correct, especially when there’s a chance of being beat by a draw or redraw.

Bottom line: min-raising, just like slow playing is a tricky concept to correctly master and is rarely “correct.” You’re suggesting you may have a hand and giving players the correct odds to crack it. Min raises may sometimes be ok, but do you know when that is?

Mike

2006/08/03

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WSOP Chip Count, CheckRayz Stuff, News and A Quick Strategy Lead-in

Notable WSOP Chip Counts

1. Dmitri Nobles 553,000
2. Daniel Peletier 335,000
3. Daniel Negreanu 331,000
30. Joe Hachem 142,200
40. Ted Forrest 125,000
60. Cyndy Violette 85,000
78. Tom McEvoy 60,000
82. Freddy Deeb 58,000

CheckRayz Stuff

Decent showing last night at the 32 Red Freeroll Poker Tournament. I forgot where I was sometime throughout the tournament. I was setting the pace on the lead lap for the majority of the first three rounds, and dealt Ace - nine of hearts on the button. Early position min. raises. Of course, with position I reraise. She calls cleanly.

The flop comes eight of hearts, six of hearts, three of hearts, giving me the nut flush on the flop. Player min bets, I raise, she calls. Turn comes a queen. Player checks, I bet 1/3 of the pot, she calls. River comes queen of hearts. Player bets, I reraise putting her allin, because while she “could“ be holding a queen, I don‘t think she is. I have her on a pocket pair, but I don’t think she set. She calls and shows me how totally wrong I was. She didn’t have a pocket pair. She definitely didn’t have a flush either. She was holding queen - eight not suited. I forgot this was a freeroll and in freerolls we typically raise and chase with any one face card, any suited, and any pair regardless of the board, and thus I had no valid read. Next time, someone remind me!

I think I like the feel of the 32 Red Software, which means if I like them, we’re likely to keep them. Don’t be surprised to see another poker tournament, probably a money added buyin sometime early next month. I’m also looking to do a PL Omaha Hi/Lo tournament sometime this summer and perhaps a deep stack tourney.

Poker4ever Update

Yesterday, I was working on the Poker4ever story, as there were rumours circulating over their payouts, originally started by the login message that reads as follows:

“Due to the current legal initiatives, payments from and to the USA related to gaming activities cannot be guaranteed. We have therefore decided not to accept US mailing addresses for payment purposes - or payments to and from US bank accounts.”

I wanted to clarify that they would still “allow” Neteller transactions, and other transactions of the sort. They responded to my query with the following:

“Due to the current legal situation in the United States surrounding the operation of online poker casinos, we are unfortunately unable to process bank wire transfers between POKER4EVER and bank accounts located in the United States at this time. Should you wish to make a deposit or cash out, Neteller remains as a viable option to bank wire.

We must inform you, however, that once a player has initiated a cashout from his/her POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is not responsible for those funds reaching the player once that player's Neteller account has been credited by POKER4EVER.Similarly, should a player wish to make a deposit in to their POKER4EVER Player Account via Neteller, POKER4EVER is responsible for those funds when they have been deposited into that player's POKER4EVER Account by Neteller, and not before.

If you have any additional questions, please to not hesitate to contact us: support@poker4ever.com “

I nearly accepted that answer until I actually submitted a withdrawal request of my own. This is something I have done before. I’ve deposited there, I’ve withdrawn money… all through Neteller, not a big deal. Well, I was shocked when I got an email requesting identification to be placed on file. So, once again, I contacted poker4ever’s customer support to find out why they would now want my identification. Their response:

“Thank you for your email. It is a new requirement from the LGA (Gaming commission) due to the legal issues in the USA. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us 24/7.”

…The only thing is, there are no current legal issues in the US. Now, p4e support could be, perhaps, preparing for such legal issues, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no current legal issues in the United States that would cause them to only now need my identification or anyone else’s. I guess I could understand if they wanted it from the start, but I have a hard time taking them seriously now that they want it after about six months of my playing there. I guess I rank them up there with the bar that suddenly wants to start carding my group and I when we’ve been going there for months on end and they’ve never once cared to see our ID’s. I’ll comply, but I’m not really happy about it and moreso suspicious if anything. I’ve got a funny feeling about this, but not sure I can determine why conclusively yet. I will continue to follow and research this issue. I do advise though that one does not keep a significant portion of their bankroll at a smaller poker room.

Strategy Articly Lead In

Barring any happenings, tomorrow is going to be a total strategy day. I’ll have the chip counts as well, but it’s going to be mostly strategy. I even have the topic picked out. I’m not tipping my hand here, but it’s a topic Judith is rather fond of. And that will be tomorrow on the Poker Pub.

Mike

Poker News
Poker Tournaments

2006/08/02

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update on poker4ever

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poker4ever login message...

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CheckRayz News and Day 2B Chip counts

2006/08/01

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1D Highlights

This is the last day I’ll be doing highlights (I think). I will, however, have a list of links to get coverage… not that what I was doing is coverage or anything… but, I’m going to get back to “writing” one way or the other… If you’ve stayed with me this far, keep reading, or scroll down as there is CheckRayz news included.

Erik Seidel is sent to the rail early, when his aces get cracked by queens.

Joe Seebok and Gavin Smith showed up around 6.30pm with Joe dressed as Wonder Woman.

Fast forward to the clock striking midnight, and Chris Moneymaker hits the rail when he loses on the river. An hour later, Scott Fischman is railed, as is Isabelle Mercier - went out AK v AJ and a jack fell to the board.

Johnny Chan follows suit and is also eliminated.

Freddy Deeb is on fire, sitting at 56K and playing some phenomenal poker, it would seem. Same would apply to Joe Hachem, who is also sitting around 56K.

Notable Chip Counts

1. Peter Tran 142,000
2. Alex Balandin 120,000
24. Freddy Deeb 57,000
27. Joe Hachem 56,500
52. Huck Seed 29,000
71. Cyndy Violette 21,000

Railed

Isabelle Mercier
Chris Moneymaker
Chip Reese
Erick Lindgren
Vince Van Patten
Lennox Lewis
Erik Seidel
Scott Fischman
Johnny Chan

CheckRayz News

Well, it looks like between Shark’s schedule and the CheckRayz schedule, we are going to be keeping everyone busy. Roughly, I counted about 30 freeroll poker tournaments, satellites poker tourneys, and money added poker tournaments between CheckRayz Poker, OnlineShark Poker, and the Shark Poker Tour. This leaves a lot of time on the virtual felt of the poker tables. Please suggest to your friends that they sign up for our poker tours to help us grow.

There’s a lot of value added to these tournaments, some of which is not visible. Obviously, each tournament we hold has an overlay in the prize pool, with either free prizes or money added and low buyins. Sit back sometime and watch the play, experience the atmosphere at the final tables. To me, that is something one cannot buy. The people associated with the respective tours are great… wonderful even, and they know their stuff, generally speaking. Playing poker with this group can help one learn a lot. Don’t be afraid to discuss a hand with someone on our tours, asking how they played something or why they played it the way they did.

That being said, tomorrow we have the introductory freeroll at 32 Red Poker. This marks the first time CheckRayz have been to 32 Red. Download their 32 Red poker room here. Additionally, the $500 Promo Freeroll at Celeb Poker replays on Friday. Feel free to qualify for it now if you did not qualify for it the first time around. Simply download through me, deposit and play 50 raked hands at .50/1 or above and you’re in!

Next week, we take a trip back to Noble Poker with our first weekly money added buy-in. Noble Poker has been great to us, let’s show them and all our other poker rooms who add value to the prize pools some love!

More tourneys are still in the work, don’t forget the Shark Vet Series on Sundays and Thursdays at AP with Born!

Mike

2006/07/31

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Day 1c Highlights…

Thanks once again to cardplayer.com for keeping me updated on the play throughout the day.

Day 3 kicks off with “the Unabomber”, Jennifer Harman, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha and company.

Sammy is ousted from play a bit more… just a bit more than an hour into the tournament. On a heart filled board of 9-6-4, Sammy bets into action. The turn brings another six. River delivers a ten. Sammy moves allin and reveals a full house 9’s over sixes. His opposition shows pocket sixes for the quad sixes. Sammy Farha is eliminated.

Jennifer Tilly folds into a reraise, dropping her chip count to 5,200.

Speaking of 5,200, Greg Raymer goes from 5,200 to 11,100 in chips in the first hour. Two hours later, he’d be at 5,400 chips.

Joe Sebok arrives dressed as Spiderman.

Negreanu, fresh off his donk-fest at the rebuy event, begins working his table showing down 10 high and jack high after taking down the last two hands. He has a chip count of 23,000 4 hours.

Onto the Jennifers. Jennifer Harman sits with 1375 chips on the brink of elimination while Jennifer Tilly gets eliminated AJ v A6 (A6 two paired). Harman joins her on the rail shortly after.

Greg Raymer makes a push and brings his count to 15,200.

The Mouth also makes it busto on day 1c, as his set of sevens gets slapped around by a flush that comes on the river.

Back to Daniel Negreanu, as he takes down a 21K pot when he catches his flush on the table. It seems that his opposition allowed him to set the price of the flop and the turn, thus making him a cheap date to catch either his flush or his straight draws. He now sits at 41.5K.

Raymer back down to 7000 after the dinner break. A bit later he finds himself sitting around 16,000. Then 19K. Then down to 6500 when the clock is put on him. He calls and is beat. Today’s play seems to have been quite the roller coaster ride for Greg, which we find Greg sitting at 50K a bit before the end of the day’s play.

Speaking of roller coasters, Mark Seif dipped down to 4500 chips then chipped up a few hands later to 13K when his twos boated on the flop of 3-3-2.

Negreanu continues to be an opening day monster, when he flips over the nut straight vs. a lower straight, chipping him up to 54K, then 78.5K. It sounds as if his donk-fest has rejuvenated him and he’s playing phenomenal poker.

And at 3am PDT, play for Day 1C comes to an end.

Notable Chip Counts at the end of Day 1C

1. Adam Jones 123,000
2. William Thorsson 115,000
14. Daniel Negreanu 78,500
25. Paul Sexton 63,000
35. Greg Raymer 48,900
56. Tom McEvoy 32,000

Eliminated on Day 1

T.J. Cloutier
Phil Gordon
Mike “the mouth” Matusow
Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Tilly
Sam Farha
Phil Laak

As for our CheckRayz poker tournaments, the calendar of events is beginning to take form for August. As you can clearly see, we're back and have a full schedule of freeroll and money added poker tournaments. It should be noted, I'm not done building out the calendar, so keep checking back!

Mike

2006/07/30

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2006/07/29

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WSOP Day 1A recap...

2006/07/28

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highlights from the CheckRayz-Celeb $500 free poker tourney

2006/07/27

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Donk on the poker table...

2006/07/26

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Registration now open for the $500 Celeb Poker Freeroll...

2006/07/25

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Hey Mike… how bout a blog post some time this year?

OK OK…

So after some time off from blogging and away from the poker table, by popular demand I’m back. Not sure “how” back, but I am in fact back. Got a lil table action in this weekend, first at my bud’s bachelor party, where I took down the ten person tourney just in time to come home to play in the CheckRayz Championships. Way to go Reel, our second quarter champion. It should be noted, Reel is undefeated in CheckRayz tourneys for the second quarter. We’ll see if he can maintain his perfect run when he goes one on one in the steel cage vs. Clayshooter in the title vs. title match. Details to come soon.

Speaking of details, Thursday is the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll at Celeb Poker. Download CelebPoker through me, deposit, rake fifty hands at .50/1 or higher, and earn a chance to compete for $500 in a small field. Don’t wait until the last minute to meet the requirements. Get started now!

In other news, I managed to finish a strong 8th in a $3 Noble Poker rebuy tourney yesterday. I was really happy with my play and my reads, in addition to the cash. This follows up my fourth place finish in my “weekly” game. I’m beginning to believe the time away from the tables allowed me to re-focus. That being said, look out at the “monthly” tournament this weekend. Could it be a three-peat for the Beer Guy? Well, not exactly a three-peat, as Mitch ~~stole one~~ won a tournament in between my two wins. In any event, I look to become the first three time winner of the “monthly” game. Only “the shirt” and I have won the tournament twice. Speaking of “the shirt,” he had a strong second place finish in the “weekly” game. Way to go!

My favorite hand from the “weekly” game, I had chipped up as the blinds increased, action folds to me. I look at the hole cards and see the ever so powerful 4-5 suited (to spades) lookin back at me. I think for a second, and throw in a 4x blinds raise. The small blind calls cleanly and the big blind folds. Flow comes 4 clubs -10 spades, eight of spades. The small blind bets out ¾ of the pot, leaving about half the pot behind his bet at best. Obviously this is one of those “moments” where I either move all-in or I fold, for if I call this bet, he’s all-in on the turn no matter what falls. Of course, I have to talk this through out loud. I need all the help I can get making live reads, especially considering I have more time to think it through live than online.

My read on my opposition is one of the following:

Ace of spades - x unsuited, with X being a card lower than nine, 40% likely

King-Queen not suited through king eight not suited, with the king being of spades 25% likely

King-ten suited, King Jack suited, with neither of which being spades 25% likely

Pocket twos (don’t ask) or ace-x suited or king jack suited to spades 10% likely.

If he has a pocket pair higher than twos, he reraises. If he’s playing Ace big suited, once again, he reraises. More than likely if on a flush draw he moves all-in.

So, let’s count up my outs if I am currently behind.

If in fact I am behind, my fives are probably good, giving me three outs clean. My remaining fours are probably clean as well, so we’ll call that two. I’m “probably” good on the flush draw, but we’ll call it eight outs, because it’s very well likely he has either the ace or king of spades. So, we’re looking at roughly 13 outs if I am behind or on a redraw. Additionally, there’s a runner-runner miracle straight on the board. If I am wrong and he’s suited to spades and we flush, I have five outs but still have him covered and have barely enough chips to survive. Although, my M remains between six and ten whether I fold now, or move all-in and lose… Hmmm.

Of course, my opposition interrupts me and says something along the lines of “is this all math to you?” His posture sooooo suggests he wants me to fold. He’s not wanting me to call, nor is he wanting me to move. This really convinces me that I am ahead. He might be on a draw, but I’m ahead. So, I raise to all-in. He gets irritated and calls, and flips over King-Jack of spades to my four five of spades. A five hit’s the turn, giving me two pair and a ten of diamonds hits the board, missing the both of us. I get the old “good game, you prick,” and he’s ousted from the tournament. It should be noted, I don’t think anyone at that tournament, let alone that table could have put me on four-five of spades.

Well, that’s it for now… Who knows, maybe I can put forth a second blog post tomorrow and make it two posts in a row?

Until then…

Mike

2006/07/24

[+/-]

Refocus...

So, this past weekend has been dedicated to refocusing on poker. As stated before, I somehow lost focus and found myself unable to make accurate reads, and doing other donk-like things. I stated I believed this was due to both "off table baggage" that needed emptied and maybe too much repitition. Time away from the table would surely be beneficial to both bankroll and state of mind.

So, here I am, making my return to the felt; recommitted, focused, dedicated. Gone are the days of playing to merely pass time. Doing so is -EV. I'm not going to play with the boys unless I plan to win. Again, -EV. I'm not going to open a table, knowing in 20 minutes I have somewhere to be or a call to take. Still, -EV. When it's time for cards, it's time for cards, period. If I can't or won't give it my all, then I won't give at all.

Enter the weekly live card game. I sat focused, let chips fly around me as two of the biggest LAG's in the weekly tournaments were at my table and slinging chips all around. I sat back and let that happen, carefully picking my spots. It would have been fun to get caught up in a pot between them, but it's not my style... and not +EV unless I'm going in with a quality hand and in position. As a result of this discipline, I did not enter a pot with them before they both busted out. I did, however, manage to chip up a time or two before our table broke down.

12 players remaining, blinds increase, action folds to me on the button. Looking down, I see the four-five of spades looking up at me. I throw out a standard 4x blinds raise, thinking total steal. A somewhat short-stacked small blind makes "the call." Big blind folds up shop. The flop comes 4c-10s-8s. Acting first, the SB pushes forth a 3/4 pot sized bet, which leaves him about 1/2 the pot left in his stack. Obviously, my decision is call or fold.

Going through my reps, he thinks I have overcards, I think he has overcards (40% likely in my mind) or an overcard (60% likely) - probably not suited (60% likely). He'd not have just called with a large pocket pair. He's not the type of player to call with a small PP either, though I imagine he "could" do so with twos, but I find it unlikely he'd fire with twos, unless he thought the board didn't help me, which is quite possible. He "could" have King, King-ten, King-Jack, or King Queen. Maybe even queen jack-queen ten, though less likely, unless suited. Maybe "the ace" and a ten? Nah... I don't think he'd call with "the ace" and a big card.

Let's see what I have, relative to the board. Here I sit, bottom pair, shit kicker, and flush draw. IF I am behind, which I do not think I am... I theoretically have outs for redraw with my two remaining fours, and three fives. There's five outs with great certainty. Miracle runner runner
straight is a possibility, but I wouldn't even count that as an out. I do have the luxery of 9 outs, maybe eight for a flush.

There's my 13-14 outs I need... If I am behind or redrawing, that is. I think I am confidently ahead though. Thus, I call. There was good news and bad news to this call, before the turn and river came. The good news is that I was in fact ahead... slightly. The bad news is that he did have overcards, two of them to be exact... King Jack Suited. They were suited to spades though. I knew he was not happy with my calling, based on his commentary while I was talking through my math problem. So, I sit ahead, he has the outs. My hand holds, as the board misses him but gives me two pair (5 on the turn). He ponders assult, as I rake my chips in.

I end up taking fourth place in this tournament, not a bad showing. I managed to maintain interest in the game the entire time. I paid attention to hands I was not in. I made quality laydowns when I read behind. I feel the focus to my game returning. Maybe a break was all I needed.

Mike

2006/07/23

[+/-]

Champion Crowned...

Well, the second quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour is now in the record books. Reelcrazy has been crowned the second quarter champion. As an interesteing side note, Reel has won every CheckRayz tourney he has entered this past quarter. Absolutely amazing. Great job! While I was not there for the ending of the tournament, I hear it was exciting with lots of back and forth action.

A key hand while I was there had me limping utg with an M of about ten, six players remaining, and roughly the average stack. Action folded around reel, our chip leader, who puts in a small raise, roughly twice the pot. When limping, this was EXACTLY what I had hoped for. I didn't wish to be heads up with a short stack. Honestly I wouldn't have minded having a shortstack in between, but I wanted our chip leader in the big blind to raise, which he was doing when he seemingly had a hand. So, getting my wish, I re-raise all-in. He's pretty sure he's facing one of four hands (if he counted the hammer in his four), but makes the call, considering he is also in the range. With all my chips in the center of the table and in my most preferred of situations, I watch an ace hit the flop giving him a pair of aces with a king kicker to my pocket pair of kings. Dream situation, variance dictated it wasn't happening tonight.

As a reminder, we have the $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament at Celeb Poker this week. Download Celeb Poker through me, open an account, deposit, and play 50 raked hands at .50/$1 or higher between June 1 and the tourney start date to be eligable for play.

Finally, my "monthly" game is coming up in one week. I have to admit, mentally I am still not "ready for prime time." My reads are getting better, but my head's just not in the game as of late, as I had previously mentioned. This week though, I'll be going through the Hulk Hogan training routine by ~~bleaching my hair, dying my skin, and throwing baby oil all over myself~~ saying my prayers, taking my vitamins, and working hard. I just have to clear my mind and focus. This week, I'll get back into the game.

Good luck to everyone participating in the Shark Vet Series. I'm unable to participate due to my Sunday afternoon committments to my weekly local live games I run.

Mike

2006/07/20

[+/-]

change in plans for the shootout...

[+/-]

CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout...

2006/07/16

[+/-]

Steppin' Back...

As I had mentioned previously, I've been having "issues" recently with my poker game, whereas I had a mental block of sorts preventing me from thinking beyond my own hand. For this reason, I've suspended almost all cash games participation for myself until I overcome this block.

One cannot be a successful ring game player while thinking no further than level zero. Typically, I think on my own hand, I think on my opposition's hand, I ponder what he thinks I have, and I ponder what he thinks I think he has. Far cry from the "I have top pair and a decent kicker, thus bet" approach I cannot seem to get beyond recently.

So, because of this deficiency, I've taken a step back from playing poker. I'm still reading on poker, as it's imperative for me to continue learning, but other than select tournaments, I'm not playing.

I am, however, playing a few random casino games here and there, specifically three card poker. My bankroll and I are enjoying the mindless pleasure of clicking and getting paid without much thought what so ever. No longer am I sitting in front of my monitor requiring myself to be so cereberal. Now, I am George Jetson on the job. A quality control rep. Either the Spaceley Sprocket is good (Q-6-4 or better) and I send it to the assembly line, or it's not (Q-6-4 or worse), and thus I reject the sprocket. It's that simple for me.

Did I mention the kickass deposit bonuses some of these casinos have as well? Via the Shark Forum, I came across two that immediately kicked up to $200 in as bonus. One of the casinos allowed me to deposit $35 to begin playing through the $200, the other required $50. Both of those casinos, if I recall correctly, required 10 times play-through, meaning I had to wager the $200 ten times over before I was able to withdraw the bonus amount. I didn't stop there either. I ran down the Kiwi Casino and completed the first leg of their bonus (total of $300 bonus available via Kiwi) in the same manner. I'll be looking to finish up the second leg of that bonus early in the week.

I'm still a poker/hold'em man at heart here. But, these mindless games are hitting the spot, given my present issues. Nothing like remaining just as, if not more productive while struggling with something of this nature, right?

Oh, in case I forgot to mention, Sharky is coming out with a Vegas Strip website very soon. He'll have some of the best casino bonuses on the net available to everyone through the Vegas Strip. Me, I'll dabble in casino promoting via the blog and CheckRayz site. I don't yet foresee a strictly casino site in my near future. In fact, if you're interested, I've started a casino section on the blog. Feel free to click one of the links on the right if it catches your eye. I'll be adding more as I deem it appropriate.

On the agenda today is the weekly game, a bit more 3-cardin'... maybe looking to knock through 2 bonuses by lunchtime, perhaps? And then finally cappin' it off with the second leg of the MSOP. I believe stud is the game of choice tonight.

Mike

2006/07/14

[+/-]

third quarter of CheckRayz Leaderboard Tour Begins Tonight...

2006/07/12

[+/-]

more on H.R. 4411

(reprint of email received from poker player's alliance this morning)

On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, American poker players were dealt a bad hand by the U.S. House of Representatives. In a 317 to 93 vote the U.S. House passed H.R. 4411, sponsored by Jim Leach, R-Iowa, which would prohibit banks and credit card companies from processing payments for online gambling bets. It also includes the major provisions of another bill HR 4777 by Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., that would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access or disable hyperlinks to Web sites that offer online gambling.

Inexplicably, this legislation provides exemptions for online horse betting, Internet lotteries and certain fantasy sports, yet poker and other online games are swept into this prohibition bill.
The Poker Players Alliance has worked tirelessly on your behalf to keep this bill from passing the U.S. House. While our efforts have fallen short today, we have had tremendous success in delivering our message to lawmakers and the media. This fight is far from over and we hope that you will continue to stand with the Poker Players Alliance as we continue to fight to ensure that this misguided legislation does not become law.

Each day our organization is growing in both numbers and influence. I ask that you help us in that effort by encouraging all your friends and family to join the Poker Players Alliance. Whether someone plays poker or not, all Americans who value individual liberty and personal responsibility should be part of our campaign.

Now is not the time to waver, our voices must be heard loud and clear. Members of the U.S. House who voted for this bill should know that you oppose their position and similarly, those who voted against it should be applauded for their courageous stand. A list of the recorded vote is available by going to http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll363.xml. Please see how your Representative voted then call or write to let he or she know how you feel.

Again, we are grateful for your dedication to our cause and we share your love for this game.

Sincerely,

Michael Bolcerek

Poker Players Alliance Responds to House Vote Banning Online Poker

Washington, D.C.(July 11, 2006) — Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would prohibit Americans from playing poker on the Internet.

"We are disappointed that the House of Representatives would assail the rights of Americans to enjoy the great game of poker on the Internet. It is unconscionable that a skill game like poker gets swept into the net of prohibition, while online horse betting and Internet lotteries get free passes," said Mr. Bolcerek.

"The United States should follow the lead of the United Kingdom by regulating and taxing online poker, not banning it. An economic analysis just released by our organization shows that U.S. regulation of online poker has the potential to raise more than $3.3 billion in annual revenue for the federal government, in addition to another $1 billion for state coffers. We hope that this analysis will give a fresh perspective for U.S. Senators about the benefits of regulation.
"The Poker Players Alliance is undeterred in its mission to promote and protect the game of poker and we will continue to advance the cause on behalf of poker players in the United States."

A copy of the Poker Players Alliance economic analysis can be found at www.pokerplayersalliance.org.

2006/07/11

[+/-]

H.R. 4411 clears the house...

2006/07/10

[+/-]

Celeb Poker $500 freeroll Update / CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout news...

As you all may know, we've had affiliate side issues with celeb poker over the last few weeks. Players were downloading, but not tracking to me. Additionally, the scheduled tournaments were not visible to our players. We have resolved these issues and are ready to proceed with the CheckRayz $500 Promotional Freeroll at Celeb Poker. Because there were issues, Celeb and I have decided to reschedule the event to the end of the month.

The $500 freeroll will now be held on 7/27 at 10pm EDT. Additionally, we'll have the first event of the third quarter CheckRayz Leaderboard tour on 7/14 at 10pm, which will be the heads up challenge. Anyone who is interested first needs to ensure they've downloaded through me. 1. If you've yet to download Celeb's poker room, you may do so using this link to Celeb Poker.

2. To verify you're properly tracking through me, open the Celeb Poker software, and scroll down. If you can see a tournament on 7/14 and another on 7/27 (both 10pm EDT, which is GMT-4), then you're one of mine. People who do not download through me are unable to see these tournaments. It should be noted that Celeb's default timezone is GMT, so do the math and adjust accordingly.

3. To qualify for this promotional freeroll, one must rake 50 hands.

4. Registration for this event will be open 24 hours prior to tournament start.

5. I will be available by email, instant messenger, and telephone on the day before and day of to assist players in regestering in the event there are issues, however, I caution anyone on waiting until the last minute to rake their hands. 6. I'll be available via email for anyone wishing to verify their raked hands count. I will need the six digit pin number in order to verify your hands. I reccommend not posting your pin on the forum however. Recap : $500 freeroll, on and rescheduled. 50 raked hands gets you "on the bus." $50 heads up kicking off the quarter.

In other news...

On wednesday, I expect to have information confirming the CheckRayz Leaderboard Shootout for the second quarter. The things I can confirm presently:

1. Despite not being top ten, Clayshooter will be eligable to defend his crown.

2. Should he choose to do so, there will be a launch bonus on him of some sort.

3. In making a command decision, I'm making it a top 15 tournament, plus I am awarding one guest spot as a token of appreciation. This decision is based on numerous factors.

Time, date, amount and location, I expect to announce on Wednesday...

Stay tuned,

Mike

CheckRayz Announcements

2006/07/09

[+/-]

emotionally in check...

Speaking from personal experience, I believe that in order for one to be successful on the poker tables, one must have his or her emotions in check. I play a tight aggressive game, for the most part. I have a disciplined starting hand selection, and I'm not afraid to use it. Having discipline preflop, however, is not going to win you massive chips in the cash games, nor is it going to win tourney after tourney. One must rely on post-flop playing skills, which include reading your opposition in order to deepen the bankrolls and take down tourneys.

Generally speaking, I am great at reading people. Whether it be in life or on the felt, I generally make great reads very quickly. While this is "usually" the case, there are definitely times when I do not make great reads... Times when I am prone to mis-reading, mis-playing everything. I find that when I am meeting people (in life, on the table), and I'm carrying "unresolved baggage," I make poor reads. This is of course if I'm even able to make a read.

I find that when I'm going through "shit" so to speak, I can't make a read at all. I shut myself down. I won't emotionally engage. I lack the ability to see into one's soul, to look another in the eye. And getting on the poker table when in such an unresolved state is a disaster in the making for me.

I begin pushing my hands, bullying the table, taking out my frustrations on the table. This isn't necessarily different from the norm, well, other than the motivation is different than when I normally push peeps around on the table.

For starters, when "irritated" I seem to forget what the hell position is. This ends up burning me, as I'm just playing hands. Additionally, I lack the ability to figure out if I am behind or not. I don't even think about making reads. I resort to just simply knowing how strong my hand is. I become one of those players who I swear have no clue that the opposition even has cards. I make no reads, I seemingly care less as to whether or not I'm behind. In fact, it seems that I'm just looking to get chips into the center of the table win or lose.

As one could imagine, this eventually comes back to bite me in the ass. While it's not "totally" true that I don't think about reads, I begin playing with fire. I think to myself "there's NO WAY he has a three in his hand" when the flop comes 5-3-3 and he's just come over top of me. Or when someone is on an apparant blind steal at a rather insignificant blind level in a tournament I think "they are just messing with me," and I all-in with nothing, because they "can't possibly" have anything strong.

My point, don't make the mistake of playing through a bad week... nuff said. Back to normal writing tommorrow.

Mike

2006/07/07

[+/-]

Sleepless nights, a day late and well over “three-fitty” short…

So much for the “I’ll begin regular writing either the next day or the day after.” I did really have all intentions of beginning the writing again on July 5. We went from my modem blowing over the weekend to my creative side blowing a gasket. Unfortunately one nearly sleepless night after another produces on hell of a case of writer’s block.

Additionally, in efforts to combat insomnia and/or writer’s block, I do not recommend either of the following activities:

1. Trying to play yourself to sleep. Correction, if you do, play freerolls or very low limit sit n gos. Do not play your regular level cash games (I am stuck about three-fitty from trying “play myself to sleep.”

2. Trying to “play through the writer’s block.” You will not be inspired to write. Additionally, with no sleep you are not very creative. The only thing you will end up with is a set of pocket tens and the conviction that “they can’t possibly have played exactly King Queen or exactly 8-7 that way. My set has to be good and he has to have aces or kings, and the other guy has either ace big or an under pair,” which then turns into what your sleepless mind believes is a “bad beat story” even though you believe there’s no such thing as a “bad beat” only a bad play or a bad read.

3. Getting ballsy with a sub-par hand near the bubble when the button and cutoff just know you’re in the mood to come out of the BB swinging, especially when said cutoff and buttons are Sharky and Born respectively.

4. Believing for one second that you can either read a book for mastery of context or proofread something suitable for print.

5. Give someone directions as to how to get to your house. It is just not going to happen.
Anyways, next time I do not sleep for two to three days straight, I will better know what not to do.

As a reminder, I'll be moving the CheckRayz server this weekend and into next week. Once we get moved and verify we're up and running, we'll resume our tournament play. Additionally, look for a mid-day update on the CheckRayz $500 promotional freeroll poker tournament both here and in the shark forum later today. Next week, we'll discuss the second quarter tour championship, confirming a date, time and location.

Mike

2006/07/04

[+/-]

quick update...

2006/06/30

[+/-]

WSOP Underway…

2006/06/29

[+/-]

too beautiful for words...

2006/06/28

[+/-]

calling the home run ball... (or "talking smack")

2006/06/26

[+/-]

2 am ugly… errr…. The monthly poker game recap

The “Monthly Game” for June is in the history books. I drew the “table of champions.” More specifically, everyone who ever won this monthly game drew the same table, thus the table of champions. Last month’s champion Mitch was seated here, fully equipped with his money (dollar sign) necklace, which was his good luck charm, specifically purchased to counteract the luck of “The shirt.” Yes, “The Shirt” was there, seated at our table. He brought his nephew, who we’ll refer to as “The Telephone,” as he was often spotted talking on the phone during the breaks (yea right). And of course, yours truly was at the table, sporting his lucky poker.com bracelet, to counteract the luck of the necklace, which was counteracting the luck of the shirt. Additionally, we had “The actor,” “Son of Fred (Sanford),” Roger, SuperDonk, “OMG, you killed Kenny,” and “T” at our table.

I think I caught the card flu, as the first hour and a half, I saw two hands, exactly two hands that did not contain 2’s. Surprisingly, I did not catch the hammer once during said timeframe, and only saw pocket twos once. The times I didn’t have twos, I had Ace Jack, and pocket sixes. But seriously, 2-3o, 2-6o, 2-5o, 2-Js, 2-8s, 2-10o… you get the point… The actor took a “not nice feeling beat” during my period of “carddeaddom.” He had his aces cracked by Roger’s two pair from the flop (QJ). Roger pushed out a 500-chip bet, which the actor called. Roger thought it put him all-in, so he flipped over his cards. However, the actor had about 95 chips or so left, but betting was pretty much dead; the actor does not improve, and is left with 95. He folds next hand, and then moves all-in. Taking down three callers, he shows his pocket aces (second time in three hands) and quadruples up.

I continued my run of horrible cards, and then it happened. Blinds at 25/50, stack around 370 or so and in the cutoff, with “OMG, you killed Kenny” having min raised UTG, I peak down and see my cards. I knew exactly what to do, so I push it all-in. Button and blinds fold her up. Kenny thinks for a while, looks up and says, “I know you have a great hand, I respect your bet, I fold.” Little does he know, my hand indeed was the most powerful hand in poker, and I felt it important to show. I proudly turn over… the hammer! 2-7 “not suited” sitting there in its glory mid table as I am raking in chips. Pulling off this move is the equivalent of Hogan “hulking up” during a match. I just knew that despite my low chip count and lack of starting hands, I was winning this tournament.

Players begin eliminating themselves, blinds are 25-50 ante of five, we‘re now five seated. Other table has six, so next one out makes the final table. Mitch, being first or second to act and short stacked, pushes all-in preflop with ace nine. Peeking down I see pocket tens, so I reraise to all-in (I have 55 chips more than Mitch). SuperDonk, sitting in the blind, had roughly thirty-five more than Mitch did. He too calls with ace five. The flop accommodates Mitch with a nine, but misses us every other way. My tens hold up, I mow down last month’s champion and SuperDonk with one “plus EV” move.

Final table forms with me, “The telephone,” “The Realtor” (a girl who is new to the monthly game, but rest assured, a total monster on the table - great player who makes some phenomenal reads). Roger is also present on the final table, as is Fred Sanford’s baby boy, the host, “OMG, u killed Kenny,” and “The shirt.”

I kinda minded my business for the most part on the final table, pretty much either stealing preflop or terminating the hand on the flop. I entered the final table with an M of roughly nine, and had the average stack. My goal for this final table was to maintain average stack until the bubble. I accomplished exactly that.

Down to five players and on the bubble, the telephone, the host and I are in a UTG-SB-BB classic battle. The pot was not raised preflop. The flop comes down two, King, Queen (K and Q both of spades). Check from the host, check from yours truly, and the telephone min bets. Host calls, as do I for some unknown reason (I am not going to even publish what hand I had here). On the turn, a ten of spades falls. At the same time, the blind clock buzzes. I laugh, look at the host and say to him “I know what that means” as I prepare to muck my cards. The host loves to make moves at the buzzer when blinds are this high. I feel bad now, as I surely jinxed him. He moves at the pot, the tele does what he does best and calls. Out of harm’s way, another spade hits the board. The host bets a lil bit, the telephone says “I’ll put you all in.” The host quickly calls, displaying the Jack of spades (he had jack ten, not suited). The telephone shows his ace of spades, conveniently matched up with his seven of hearts from under the gun. The host bubbles as a result of this phone call gone bad.

I felt dirty having made it into the money. Card dead for nearly two hours, calling the buzzer… Oh, forgot to add, I made an all-in push on the final table. I was asked how much was there. I do not ever answer that question. I took the liberty of pointing out my chips are neatly stacked in logical piles, feel free to count. I said it with quite the dick tone. I was joking of course, but I am not sure it came off that way. My whole not smoking gig sometimes makes me feel as if I come off differently than intended (read: cranky, sounding like a prick).

Play continues bubble behind us; “The Telephone” is in the chip lead. Sitting to his left is “the Realtor.” I sit between the telephone (left) and Roger (right). The Transylvanian Terror is seated right behind me, as he and I had been sweating one another from afar early on in the tournament. It sounded as if he was nearly as card dead as I was during the early portion of the tournament. Roughly 50-60% of the chips were sitting with the telephone, while I had almost 20%. The remaining 20% sat with Roger and the Realtor. I still maintained I was winning the tournament. Even told peeps I would call them back after I won. I was slightly more timid on this final table than normal. I raised my “Calling standards” when the pot was opened. To me, if roger limped, or the realtor limped, (even if they raised) hands such as ace nine lost their value at this particular table. Roger would move first, doubling through the Realtor, knocking her out of the match. I cannot remember the exact hand, though she was the only player who remained that I was not 100% confident I could outplay.

Action down to three peeps, I am now last in chips. I could tell the telephone was getting frustrated, as he was often being run over when he was trying to just see a flop. I push all in with the Fillmaff (King Jack “not suited”). He calls from his UTG limp with Jack three, also not suited. 3 hits the flop, king on the turn, river blank. I double through him, but still in third place. Roger made his move a few hands prior and was a convincing second.

Chip counts now roughly 25% to me 40% to Roger 35% to the telephone. I make a couple of steal moves, boost my stack, and Roger eliminates the Telephone, when his pocket pair holds up vs. the telephone’s ace-X.

Roger and I are heads up and he has a 3:1 lead. We color up. As we do, I try to “do Roger a favor” (Read: I am being a dick yet again). I tell Roger that being behind 3:1, and in an obvious position of power, I am willing to split the money with him 50/50 and “let” him assume the spot of champion. He tells me to “get lost” (read: go “F” yourself Mike). He does kindly counter though with taking a bit more and still getting the picture. I act insulted and pull a Happy Gilmore and say, “No, I think I’ll beat you now.” We start heads up play. I am dealt pocket sixes, and I raise 1.25 the blinds, as I am rather confident that he will call that no matter what. Additionally, it is such a small raise that I am also rather confident that with one over card, he will push all-in, two over cards he will simply re-raise me. He push all-in. King five suited vs. 6-6. I double through him.

Again, I offer a deal. This time, 50-50 with the photo shoot now going to me. He is tilting, because he “was beat with f’ing sixes.” Given the tilt, he does not split. I push out a steal raise with 7-9 not suited. He moves all in. I have him covered pretty well at this point. If I lose, we are back to three-one. If I fold, we are 50-50. I can recover from 3:1. Additionally, I had folded two hands earlier to a re-raise, though when I did, I only raised 1.25 the blinds. He could have been “making a move.” I call. He has Ace ten “not suited,” I flip over seven-nine “not suited.” Flop comes 8-8-6. Turn delivers a blank, though there are now three cards to the flush, of which my nine is suited to. So now, going into the river, any card to complete my straight on either side works, as does any seven, any nine, and now additionally, any diamond. River is a five, however, and I complete my straight and take down the second “monthly game” in three months.

Final scorecard reads “Necklace trumps shirt, bracelet trumps shirt, bracelet trumps necklace, hammer trumps all.” As always, thanks to the host and hostess for putting on the event. The time and effort that goes into the monthly game are always appreciated here at the Poker Pub.

Mike

2006/06/25

[+/-]

"monthly game" today...

The "Monthly Game" is today... As usual, I'm pumped for the game. Mitch will be defending his title (most likely as aggressively as the "Blind Defender" "protects" his blinds). It should be noted that "the shirt" is the only two time champion.

I think I left my card protector at the weekly game last week, which brings me to this unofficial game of "one upsmanship" we have going on.

"The shirt" has his lucky poker shirt (a hawaiian style shirt with different poker hands and sayings on it). Mitch has countered the luck of the shirt with his "money necklace." I'll be bringing my "poker" braclet to counteract both the shirt and the necklace. I considered bringing a "SuperDonk" stuffed animal, but the stuffed animal is a horse, not a donkey, so that won't work too well.

Sidenote... Good thing I am paying attention to the things I should be paying attention to, as I almost called a rather large raise with a poor hand, thinking I was calling. Though that would solve my problem of not getting action at this particular table (30/9/-18.27/22/40 table stats, in case anyone is keeping score). I'd have left the table long ago, however the seat to my right is a constant tilt magnet (last three peeps have sat to my right, had pocket aces, and got bigtime sucked out on by someone at the table, which led to a constant whining and complaining --- almost as if it was the same guy every time).

Second sidenote, the "River Belle Incident" is being worked on. For those who didn't know, we had a private poker tourney scheduled for Friday night. River Belle modified their poker software and the private mtt folder disappeared, as did our tournament. I tried to get the tourney to reappear, but it didn't happen. Thus, the tourney got deleted. Unfortunately, anyone who entered found that the money they paid to enter disappeared right along with the tourney and the folder.

I've been in constant contact with support, and will be most likely releasing the support details here on the Poker Pub. I will say that River Belle have assured me that on Monday, all players who were affected by this will be reimbursed.

While I am extremely confident that we'll all be taken care of, I am not comfortable setting up a "rainout day" tournament until it is confirmed that we've all been taken care of. So, hang in there, more news to come...

Mike

2006/06/23

[+/-]

Rescheduling River Belle...

2006/06/22

[+/-]

Instant replay for Judith

Here are some hands of note from last night’s CheckRayz Poker tournament at Noble Poker. As a side note, I need to mention that I am undefeated from a prize pool standpoint (winning either top prize - satellite seats, or first place) when on the phone with someone I’ve not spoken to in ages. Specifically, someone very special to me tracked me down after twelve years. We were conversing for the duration of the tournament. It stood to reason, with that track record, I’d be in the money.

Hand number 1

Blinds 10/20

Bob limps UTG, Judith raises 8x blinds to 160, I call cleanly, blinds fold, as does Bob. Judith should, at this point, be thinking pocket pair and/or ace king. I’m thinking mid to high pocket pair and/or ace king for Judith.

The flop comes 4-4-6. I check the flop, Judith bets 400 into the roughly 400 chip pot. This leaves her very little money to bet the turn and river, and I know it. She’d have been better off betting either half the pot, or pushing all-in here. I help “correct” things by raising all-in, as I don’t have her on quad fours, A4, or A6. She “could” have 4’s though, just as she could have set her sixes. I have most of the logical hand range beat, so easy play for me. She calls, flipping over her pocket eights, to my pocket kings. My hand holds up.

Very Next Hand...

With 185 chips remaining, blinds still 10/20, Judith is dealt ace king UTG. She pushes all-in, which is a move I like given the chip stack and the fact it’s a reload tourney. She’s called by 88, fails to improve and reloads.

Later in the tournament...

Judith put in her infamous “min raise” with AK offsuit in the SB, allowing Bob in the big blind sufficient odds to call with ace eight off. The hand is checked down, and Bob takes it down with the pair of eights. A larger raise, to include an all in bet would have been best here, as a steal at these levels (blinds 100/200) would have worked out fine.
Judith’s last hurrah comes with pushing all in with pocket fives for $200 above the BB. Easy call all around. Dan takes it down from the small blind with his king four off.

No Judith, I’m not picking on you, just throwing the replay up there for conversation later in the day. And by the way, by all means, keep the hands and the questions and the debates coming!

Talk to you soon!

Mike

2006/06/21

[+/-]

Who was slow playing whom?

I have two poker stories from last night. One of which is an actual poker story, the other is an “it’s not about poker, but really, it is all about poker” story.

I played in a weekly event at one of the local taverns last night. For reasons unrelated to this post and story, I will not be playing there for quite a long time due to the piss-pour way the event is run. Nuff said there. That’s not to say that the play was not interesting. One hand in particular was a “double slow play” of sorts.

I am sitting on the button, action folds to me and I see queens. Blinds are T500/1000 at this time. The small blind has my roughly 8500 chips covered, and the big blind has 2500 on top of his posted big blind. I limp, hoping for a raise from the BB, that doesn‘t come. Flop comes J-10-3. Small blind checks, big blind pushes all-in. I think for a while, going through the motions of counting my outs, hoping that the older gentleman would reraise me when I weakly called, as he was an aggressive player. He calls cleanly. Turn gives me my set of queens. He checks, I bet slightly, as I want to drag him into the pot. He comes over top of me pushing all-in. I’m smelling a semi-bluff, as I found it possible, but unlikely he was holding a straight, specifically ace king, he could be holding 9-8, maybe K-10, but more than likely he is playing either a pair or two pair, though he could be “betting the ace.” Either way, I am calling, and have chance to redraw on the river IF I am behind.

He proudly flips over AK suited from the small blind. And such a brilliant slow play it was. I too flip over my slow play attempt, showing QQ. He laughs and tells me I am drawing dead. I remind him the queen of hearts has not been seen yet, and I have three outs each with jacks, tens and threes, so I am not dead, nor as bad off as he may believe, but I am in fact behind significantly (77%-22%, underdog to be exact). My three hits on the river. I was dead but not buried. We laugh about slow playing each other and found it rather amusing.

That was amusing to me, but not nearly as amusing as the events that unfolded later in the evening. I head to the “local” watering hole (read: stumbling distance from my house). I was not ready to call it an evening, so I walk literally a block to said establishment. Its there I run into “bartender” who is doing what his Poker Pub nickname suggests.

“Bartender” points me to a gentleman at the other end of the bar, who he says will make a great addition to our weekly game. He suggests we go over there and he gives me an introduction. So, I go over and say hello. We “talk shop” for a little bit, regarding this weekly tournament when this rather intoxicated older gentleman “seems” to interrupt. I say, “Seemed” because things were not exactly how they appeared to be.

This older guy was immediately “familiar” to me. The minute he opened his mouth, I knew who he “was.” I did not know his name, though I did not really care to know it either. But I do recall the name I “gave” him once upon a time when last our paths crossed.

Official Poker Pub Flashback:

“I see what he's doing. He comes here thinking he can buy it. I don't think he realizes that the reason IIIIIIII play limit is so that I CAN'T be bluffed out of pots." He re-raises, we end up capped seven deep. Flop (A-5-7) cap, turn cap (2), river (K comes) cap. My AQ loses out to K2 --- shit you not. Despite my showing the AQ down, with top pair mind ya, he tells the entire table, "I told ya this bum was trying to steal. He's not gonna steal shit from me." - “Waldorf” tells the entire table when proudly showing down his King two, which he runner runnered against my “bluffing” hand of ace queen.

I now also recall the man seated on the other side of the dealer from him, which was directly across from me (during the poker pub flashback). I was introduced by “bartender” to this person initially. As I said, things were not how they seemed.

“Waldorf” comes up to me, and “interrupts,” calling me “shit talker” (apparently in reference to my invite I extended to his friend to what I believe will be the biggest and best tournament in my town). He continues, asking me if I want to “gamble.” I tell Waldorf I have no interest in gambling. He throws two dollar bills on the table and tells me he will bet me $200 that the serial numbers on his right hand beat the ones on his left hand. I politely decline. He makes some racist remarks to me, attempting to challenge my ego. No dice. The person I am talking to suggests to him that he mind his own business and “go back to where he came from.” The guy is trying to act as if he is on my side.

Twenty ego-insulting attempts later, Waldorf challenges me, telling me that he is sure that he’s gambled more money in the last year than I have in my entire lifetime. I tell him that I am sure he has, and asks him if he saved his receipts from his losses for his accountant. He makes some more attempts at insulting my ego and me (still I do not think he remembers me from the casino), and tries to get me to bet with him. Of course, I carry little if any cash on me, so even if I wanted to gamble, I would not be able to.

Waldorf goes on to inform me of how a man is defined by how much cash he carries. The other person starts in asking me how much I have in the bank. I’m still not giving a straight answer, and doing the little pamper Waldorf’s ego trick while at the same time slapping him in the back of the head with the same commentary. He goes totally nuts when he tells me the conversation is over once I said that I carry no cash. It is obvious that he is a gambler and I am not. I inform him that I could never “out gamble” a man of his status and that even an idiot with a stated bankroll similar to his could very easily become fortunate over an apparently broke, “non gambler” such as myself. Then I shut my mouth, because according to him, the conversation was over when I stated I was “cash broke.”

He went absolutely nuts. I knew he would though. He needed for everyone in that bar to know he was “a gambler.” He had the uncontrollable urge to show ME he was. I did not feel I needed to show him anything. I was and perhaps still am slow playing the hell out of him though.
Turns out, he is one of the bigger homebuilders in my town. He built my parent’s home, as a matter of fact. He is a “whale” from a bankroll standpoint. Combined with his need to show people “who he is “ it stands to reason he probably did lose more money last year gambling than I’ve played for in my lifetime. That was a bet however; that I was not confident he would be able to prove one way or the other anyways. Besides, it did not really matter to me anyways how much he has won or lost for his career.

What does matter is that this person may make it down to our weekly game. Eventually, he and I will end up going to the casino at the same time, because he will not be able to resist. And what will matter at that time is how much money he loses to me then. He will not have any of his buddies helping him on that table when the time comes. He has a far deeper bankroll than I do, and money means less to him than it does to me. The difference is though, my ego is not the least bit engaged. I do not need to prove anything to anyone. He does…

Mike

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