Say WTF is this? Bloggers rule.

Yes I know what it is. Blogger was down for awhile and I tried to email post this, but it didn't work.

Anyone found folding the hammer will be stoned.

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

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 9023582

Gamblin' Grandma

I first met the Gamblin’ Grandma in 1993. You see I had been dating her granddaughter for about a year so it was only proper that I go to her house for dinner. After dinner we sat in the living room and talked for a few minutes. Martha, Gamblin’ Grandma’s real name, got up a started to the kitchen.

“Who wants to play cards?” she more ordered than asked.

My future bride got a smile on her face as she stood and started to the kitchen. Martha’s husband Paul told me to go to the fridge on the porch and get us both a beer. When I returned to the kitchen the cards were out as was the Gamblin’ Grandma’s homegame bankroll, a small purse full of every denomination of coin. Paul was pouring her a drink, bourbon and coke I believe.

She looked at me and asked if I had any money. “Uh, yeah, I’ve got money”, I said. Apparently I was not going to be on a freeroll tonight. As I reached into my wallet and pulled out some cash she started stacking coins in piles of $1 for me. She changed out $5 for me and slid a pile over to her granddaughter. She WAS on a freeroll.

Blood is thicker than water I guessed.

We sat and played for quite a while. 7-stud deuces wild, Black Mariah, 5-stud, and 5 card draw were the typical games sprinkled in were baseball and between the sheets. Always dealer’s choice, of course. After a while I called Omaha. Gamblin’ Grandma played along, took a beat and politely informed me she didn’t like that game too much. I took that to mean “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop calling games I don’t know.” I stuck to 7-stud for quite a while.

As the night wore on we started hearing great poker stories. First was from Denise. She told me about how she used to sit on her Grandpa’s lap and help him play cards before she was old enough to really play herself. She then told me about her first Royal Flush. She was about 10. As the cards were being dealt she went to the restroom. When she came back she looked at her cards and she had been dealt a royal. Today the wife is quite certain that the deck had been stacked for her by Gamblin’ Grandma, but back then, what a thrill.

Then I started to hear the tales of the Gamblin’ Grandma going to Vegas, Tunica and the Alton Belle (a riverboat in Illinois). She said she couldn’t remember a trip to Vegas without hitting a royal on the video poker machine. I suspect this has more to do with the sheer number of hours she played than luck. She talked about this club or that bank that sponsored trips to Alton or weekends in Tunica. She had a trip lined up for next month etc. etc.

Needless to say I walked out of my first Gamblin’ Grandma homegame down a buy-in. We played several times over the next 10 years, always with a smile and good story being told. And always with a beer or a bourbon and coke.

*****************************************
Two or three years ago three generations of women stormed Las Vegas. They appropriately stayed downtown at the Four Queens. That was my wife’s first trip to Vegas and Gamblin’ Grandma’s last. I think it was the best for both of them. Denise, her mom and grandma spent a lifetime together, but I think that trip will always hold a special spot in their hearts.
*****************************************

Martha Cox, the “Gamblin’ Grandma”, folded her last hand yesterday. She was 86 years old. Her family takes comfort knowing she is somewhere playing video poker or running a low stakes homegame.

Online Poker IS Rigged....

This guy told me so.......

So I was playing a little poker this weekend. I ran into an “Online Poker is Rigged” doofus. How this hand set him off I don’t know. Maybe it was his cold call of 2 bets with AJ off that made him upset. Or perhaps it was his continued calling with 2 overs that never hit that pissed him off. Maybe it was the $8.50 he contributed to the pot that got him all bothered.

Oh, there it is. He is upset because online poker is rigged. I just couldn’t let it pass this time. See below for hand history and the conversation that followed. To follow along “BgShoes2F” is the “loser who cried rigged” and I am the hero “Good”.

FBomb2 posts small blind [$1].
gyp posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Good [ 9s 7h ]
cuz_c raises [$4].
BS4 folds.
Good folds.
jooky_do folds.
okr folds.
NightPla folds.
BgShoes2F calls [$4].
ACGIRL folds.
FBomb2 folds.
gyp calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 9h, 5c ]
gyp checks.
cuz_c bets [$2].
BgShoes2F calls [$2].
gyp calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
gyp checks.
cuz_c is all-In [$2.50]
BgShoes2F calls [$2.50].
gypson ca [$2.50].
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
gyp checks.
BgShoes2F checks.
gyp shows [ Qh, Ks ] high card king.
cuz_c shows [ Ad, 9c ] a pair of nines.
BgShoes2F shows [ Jc, Ah ] high card ace.
cuz_c wins $25 from the main pot with a pair of nines.

BgShoes2F: got to be shting me
BgShoes2F: oh yeah i know, its the party poker reload special, keep the blinds moving
BgShoes2F: cant have anyone going "absolutely" broke
BgShoes2F: more blinds=more continuous rake
BgShoes2F: when u first sit down after depo you get cards
BgShoes2F: notice how every aq aj ak qk has flopped junk for me
BgShoes2F: and not one pocket pair

BgShoes2F: thats the system here and it IS a system that is unbeatable
Good: online poker is soooo rigged
jake3: why play then?
FBomb2: then why are you losers playing
Good: I have a tin foil hat on right now
BgShoes2F: well no more winners on this thing for awhile, dont give party poker pornographers TOO much of your hard earned money, cause they WILL take it all and put you on reload wagon permanently
FBomb2: I consistently win - have for over 2 years now.
FBomb2: you losers crack me up you lose because you play bad
Good: no its the doom switch
Good: but my tin foil hat protects me
jake3: so why play
Good: sarcasm
FBomb2: You I like Good

Trust me Party is fishy. FISHY!

For Immediate Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Louis man makes plans for Vegas Vacation

St. Louis, MO -- A St. Louis man known only as Chilly has buckled under the unbearable peer pressure and will be abandoning his wife and child for a weekend romp in Las Vegas, NV. It is expected that "Chilly" will be forced to use all accumulated marital brownie point to pull of said feat.

Chilly was quoted as saying "Hey WTF, the wife is going in April for a bachelorette party so I thought I should go in December. Besides, I'm no douchebag." Joining Chilly on his Vegas adventure are long time gambling buddies TooloftheMan, BMac and Dimebag.

When asked about the itinerary Chilly said "Hey, there's these shit stirrers down in South Cacalacky that I have to put the beat down on. Then there's all these gamblin places too. Besides that, I heard a bunch of cool mofo's were going so again I said WTF."

About Chilly: Chilly is a degenerate gambler and father of one. He is fat and likes to booze. His wife is probably going to drop him like its hot, ut e pushes on anyway.

About South Cacalacky: South Cacalacky is home to G-Vegas, which is home to a trio of superbloggers and their loyal readers.


Contact: Chilly
Email: Idsn72-Vegas (at) yahooooooooo!.com
Web: idsn.blogspot.com

STL Poker is taking over the World

St. Louis Man Dominates Poker Action at Borgata
Saturday September 17, 4:06 pm ET

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ--(MARKET WIRE)--Sep 17, 2005 -- Another day down, another champion rises to the challenge at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. Event five of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open came to a conclusion late in the evening on the second day of the $1,000 buy-in tournament with St. Louis, Mo.'s Jess Yawitz capturing his first Borgata bracelet and a first prize of $121,210.

Having started playing a little over a year ago, some might be surprised by Yawitz's success, but he proved his win earlier this year at the World Poker Open in Tunica, Ms. was no fluke with this stellar victory.

Yawitz's game was in top form as he outplayed York, Pa.'s John Lakatosh for the title. Lakatosh, who calls Borgata his "home away from home," played the best he could with the cards he was dealt, but simply couldn't withstand Yawitz's strong run of cards at the end of the night.
For Yawitz, his favorite part of the game was the key reason for his success. "I've always had an interest in probability, so I like to gamble and play the odds. I'm sure people have read books and all, but for me, this game is so simple and yet so complex. At some level, this is appealing to me. Where else can you explain a game to someone in fifteen seconds and still have to spend a long time teaching them how complex the game really is?"

Lakatosh, who collected $66,470 for his efforts, cited his experiences in sales as the reason for his success. "A career in sales is possibly the best training for poker. I've been in sales for the last thirteen years, meeting thousands of people and learning to read their facial expressions. When you talk to them, determining whether they're going to buy something or not is almost the exact same thing as playing poker."

The tournament's third place finisher, Warrington Pa.'s Michael Candido collected $33,235 and was possibly the most intriguing story of the event. Candido won his entry into the $1,000 buy-in by winning a $100 satellite the day before. This professed home-game hero explained that his work in real estate gives him an edge over other players. "It's an action thing. I think that's the correlation for me. It's all about risk. There is such an adrenalin rush and plus, you're working for yourself. There are big risks, but there are big rewards if you hit."

Action is only going to heat up as more and more pros arrive for the higher buy-in events, which culminate on Monday, September 19 with the World Poker Tour-hosted main event. With a host of celebrities, professionals and future Cinderella stories in the making, this looks to be one of the most heated battles of the year.

Tulips

When I was about 7 years old my mom and dad put me in the car. I asked where we were going and they had some story that I don't remember. We pulled in the driveway of a typical urban split level house. I remember that the house was yellow and was on a hill. The driveway was somewhat steep. Around the house to the left was a gate that led to the back yard.

There is where I saw a dog and her pups. We were getting a dog. This was both exciting and troublesome at the same time. Gigi, our poodle had committed suicide beneath the wheels of a car just a couple of years before. Max, our Brittany Spaniel had become old and grumpy due to hip displacia and bit a neighbor kid that jumped the fence to retrive a ball or something. Max "ran away" soon after that incident.

So here I was, seven years old and looking at an 0-2 count in the dog department. The pups were half Elkhound and half Siberian Husky. I think my dad may have already picked out the one we were getting. I remember getting in the back seat. I was soooo excited. We drove over to my grandparents house to show off the new dog. She was black and silver and even at the early age she tried to curl her tail up over her back.

After a brief interlude inside with grandma and grandpa I was questioned as to the name of the dog. What? They were going to let me name the dog? Wow, I had never named anything in my ife that wasn't a stuffed animal. So I though about it for a while and came up blank. My dad suggested we take the nameless pup outside to potty. It was then that she provided us with a name.

The pup proceded to eat every one of my grandmother's tulip blooms. Tulip was a fine name for a dog.

Tulip grew up quickly. She turned out to be a great hunting dog, much to my dad's pleasent surprise. She would point and flush and on occasion retrieve. More importantly she save my dad's ass from a raccoon once. My dad was climbing an enbankment out of a ravine. Just as he got to the top and was about to put his hand down, suddenly Tulip went bolting past
him. He was about to grab a raccoon. Tulip was all of 45 pounds. Not a big dog. She battled with that raccoon and finally took him to the river and drowned him.

Tulip out lasted Daisy, our first pure-bred Siberian Husky that we got a short while later. Daisy was the product of a puppy mill of sorts and was born with mal-formed kidneys. She died after about 2 years. In 1984 we bought Shula, named for Don Shula. He was a big Siberian
Husky. Tulip an Shula were immediate best friends. Although Shula couldn't hunt, they did everything else together.

These were the days of kids and backyards. My friends and I were outside every night after school. We'd play kickball, wiffle ball, 500 and hide and seek. Tulip and her best buddy Shula were always there. Tulip was more than willing to engage in a game of tug-o-war. She would fetch and she really loved to have her belly rubbed. A very athletic dog she could jump and clear our chain link fence whenever she wanted. That was rarely. Most escapes were due to me leaving the gate open.

My favorite times with the dogs, especially Tulip were when my parents let them come in the house. Tulip loved to come in and watch T.V., get her belly rubbed and eat the automatic treats that come with being inside.

Fast forward to highschool. I am home less often as my afterschool activities include band, football and soccer. I have homework to do and girls to chase. But whenever I wanted, there was Tulip always ready to play. At this point Tulip had started to slow down. She was 10-11 years old after all. Iowa winters were to be spent inside on the cold nights. Soon every night was spent inside. This was both sad and a special treat.

Tulip would spend her days outside with Shula but come inside at night and sleep under the kitchen table. I was sad to see her not running and playing as much, but so happy when I came home after games or dates and she would be standing at the door waiting for me. I would usually get on the floor and pet her, of course rubbing the belly.

One night my junior year I came home from a date and Tulip wasn't at the door. She had been getting weaker over the past few weeks. I feared the worst, but I soon heard her stirring under the table. I told her not to bother. I pulled the chairs out and got under the table to greet her for a change.

Tulip climbed up in my lap and licked my face. She laid her head down and snuggled in to say hello.

Then she died, right there, in my lap.

I was my dogs best friend.

What Poker has Learned Me

I call October 1st my poker anniversary. As that day
approches I like to reflect on the things I have
learned about poker and my poker cohorts over the past
year.

-Playing a three handed SNG with no Aces in the deck
is fun. Just ask the two guys I beat.

-Betting into a dry sidepot with only a draw is a
mistake, as well as bad mojo.

-Poker Bloggers are no friends of their livers.

-Poker is easy, as long as you're the best player at
the table.

-Poker players age 19-25 fall into two categories. 1.)
Asshole Fish 2.) Asshole Sharks.

-Iggy's blogger profile photo is a Patrick Swayze
headshot from 1989.

-Bad beats happen to good people.

-I suck out on people more than I'd like to admit.

-You need more balls than math to be good at no-limit.

-You need math than balls to be good at limit.

-I have more math than balls.

-TooloftheMan, BMac and Dimebag are good guys,
especially for taking all my shit.

-AJo is the most powerfull hand in BMac and Dimebags
arsenal.

-Cool people play poker and blog about it. Blogs ARE
gay.

-I love hand history posts. Especially mine. I read
them over and over again. No, really, I do.

-Poker bloggers like to drink <gasp> alcohol.

-Any group of people brought together under a common
interest will eventually have spats and tiffs. An
ideological split is inevitable. The 2-7 off is the
hammer. The 2-7 suited is not.

-Playing Ax suited is the biggest leak in my limit
game, that and cold calling 2 bets with second pair.

-I am better at ring games than SNG's. But I am still
okay at SNG's. I suck at MTT's. A year ago I was
best at SNG's, and sucked at ring games. I had not
played a MTT.

-PokerGeek has more of my money than any other poker
blogger. Iowa Pride.

-Dr. Pauly sold his soul to a poker room manager in
Chinatown in exchange for a "good run". Pauly thought
that ment he would never get the hiltons cracked
again. Instead he gets to bust hot movie stars, go to
Amsterdam and such.

-I like playing bad beat tables. People there gamble
way too much. I also play powerball. Go figure.

-I still don't know how to shoot craps. But I nod
knowingly when someone says "hard eight" assuming they
have seen my junk.

-Old men in the casino are either good poker players
or degenerate gamblers. The gamblers smell funny.

-Kids cut into your poker time.

-Spending time with kid > playing poker.

-My wife puts up with a lot of shit for my poker
habit. But she still rocks.

-To be a winning part time player it is critical that
you play one level below where you think you should
play.

-People have a lot of money they are willing to
through away to poker.

-Fish take great joy in handing out brutal beats.

-I take great joy in relieving assholes of their
stacks.

-I take no joy in bad beating a nice guy.

-Cracking AA with the hammer puts people on tilt. In
fact, cracking any hand with the hammer puts people on
tilt. Bluffing and showing the hammer is an invitation
to getting your ass kicked.

-I flop a set much less than everyone else.

-I never hit an OESD.

-The river is rigged.

-If I quit my job and played 8 hours a day I could be
a very good player. But I don't know if I could afford
the divorce.

-My dad is a fish.

-My brother in law is a 20 year old poker player. He
almost got punched by one of my friends.

-Frolf is dumb. Why don't you just play golf? or Holf,
thats where you throw the ball instead of hitting it
with a club.

-Badblood's guns are large. I wanted a ticket to the
gun show, but it was sold out.

-G-Rob is proof of liberal media bias. That and he has
big hair.

-If I wasn't married I'd be broke from playing poker.

-It is -EV to not raise with the nuts on the end.

Thinking

I had a lot of time to think about why I wrote that last post. I went into the post as uber-bored and found myself scrolling down the blog roll and reading what everyone else was doing. I saw what I was doing and where it fit in and why I was doing it how it was going etc. etc. I started to become disillusioned with the blogging experience. The first part of the post was fun, the second was a complete stream of consciousness that truly reflected my feelings at that moment in time.

Believe it or not I censor myself on this blog. At times I find it therapeutic, at other times I find it to be a bit of a chore.

Like I said I had time to think, like 12 hours in the car this weekend. Here's what that was like:

"Self, what would you different if you were to restart the blog?"
"Well self, I think I would be a bit more anon."
"But self, you already disguise your name and try hard to disguise the identities of those you blog about."
"Right, but most of my readers have met me."
"Hmmm. I see your point."
"..and Chilly really isn't anonymous since everyone I know that I'm not related to has called me that."
"Yeah, that's true."
" I want to be free, but.."
"But what?"
"But I don't want to give up what I have here."
"what's that?"
"You know, friends and shit, come on self, you really think I'm going to get mushy or emotional here? Fuuuuuch that.
"Yeah, you emotionally closeted fuck, no way you'd ever tell anybody what you really thought or felt."
"Right on."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well I think I will keep this thing intact, and start a new blog with a truly new identity."
"WTF? You already waste all of your free non-poker time on this damned thing and your solution is to start a second?"
"Third, really."
"Oh yeah I forgot about that abandoned attempt to write about your grandpa."
"Yeah, great stories, but not my bag really."
"I agree. You have no patience."
"I put up with you don't I?"
"Soooo, anyway what is going to be here and there?"
"Here will be the same stuff. I'll break my friends balls, I'll write about my boy and my poker experiences. I'll comment on the shit the rest of the WPBT people are droning about."
"and there?"
"I'll talk about the shit and the people that set me off, like all those great work stories, I'll bitch about my family and friends as appropriate, I'll lament the shitty choices I've made and occasionally celebrate the correct ones."
"Why there and not here?"
"I guess I just want to put my my thoughts out there without anyone knowing who I am."
"Okay, but why do you care?"
"Part of it is that whole don't let your blog bite you on the ass thing. The other part is that I really care about the people in my life but sometimes they piss me off and I need an outlet for that. In addition I really am kinda fucked in the head sometimes and that is better left undiscovered by most people."
"But what about your friends that read this, won't they go searching for your new piece of real estate?"
"Yeah so. If they find it they better have their lead knickers on, cause I won't be pulling any punches. I'll also try to be brutally honest with myself."
"Dude you're a pansy."
"Fuck off."

As I sit here blogging....

Pauly is working playing.
Iggy is swinging.
G-Rob, CJ and Otis are tri-cloping.
TooloftheMan is shopping (for a ring).
Badblood is recovering.
Felicia is mis-directing.
Bill is planning.
BG is venting.
Drizz is picking.
Daddy is shitting.
Shelly is Trumping.
Chad is rebuilding
CaptFreeman is posting?
Dimebag is leaking.
Brian is pondering.
Geek is fishing.
Al is drinking.
April is sleeping.
Glenn is geeking.
Maudie is skating.
HDouble is quoting.
Linda is dealing.
Grubby is dreaming.
TenMile is googling.
Bob is remembering.
Joe is leaving.
Joanne is winning.
April is worrying.
Mr. Subliminal is losing.
Chris is celebrating.
Prof is reporting.
Chilly is boring.

Some people blog. Others write and publish it to a blog. Still others, like me just post shit to a website that has no interest to anyone outside of them and the people mentioned. The new offering from CJ, GRob and Otis proves that there are people who blog better than you. Pauly and Otis prove there are people who write better than you. Iggy shows the light that there are those more popular than you. BG and Daddy indicate that some are more honest than you.

So why in the hell do I spend so much time on this thing? Originally it was to get to play more poker. Then it was to track the actions of my kid. Then it was to learn more about poker through reflection. Then it was to bust people's balls for the entire world to see. I think it has ended up as the ultimate excercise in ego chasing.

Why do I play poker? Thats easy. I am hyper competitive and I'm too fat to beat people in real competitions anymore. I love to win and hate to lose. I am smart and a better player than the average donk. I think that carries over to the blog. I don't stack chips, instead I count comments, linkbacks, emails and referals. I am behind, way behind. Why, because much like poker, others are much better. Unfortunatly there is no 2-4 table for blogging. Everyone is in the same game.

So, much like a bad night at the tables I must look to the external benefits to keep going. I have met some cool people. That's it, but its a pretty good score.

A few of you are dicks, but most of you are cool. You know the difference and who you are. I can't say that any of you have been dicks to me, but you're dicks none the less. For the majority of you that are cool, thanks. For those that can't stand my sarcasm or over long comments but were nice enough not to flame me, thanks.

A special note to G-Rob. Thanks for being my non-homo-erotic-man-muse and punching bag and only inflicting minimal pain back this way. I know that I could have been crushed by the mighty weight of your pen. I hope to buy you a beer and take back my money someday soon. For those douchebags out there that still think I hate G-Vegas, fuck off. I really hate you.

A second note to Iggy. Thanks for the introuction to Party and for being Iggy. Next time you're in the 'Lou ToolMan and I will get you in a really shitty homegame that you'll crush while getting drunk and then go to the boats. I have some guys fish I'd like to unleash you upon at Harrah's.

A third note to TooloftheMan and Brian. Fuck you for getting me addicted to this blogging shit. I was just fine taking your money and keeping it all to myself. Now all of this shit gets discussed. You might as well have given me a heroin needle.

Methadone indeed.

Blame and Poker

So Mike Brown was a scapegoat. See this story. You want to know why the Dems can't get it together in the blame game? They don't get their facts right. They ASSUME that someone is at fault and then run with it. If you put the blame on Chertoff instead of Brown then you take down a cabinet member. Bush can survive a department head resigning over a major f#ck up, but not his guru of HOMELAND SECURITY. The story has worn thin and our attention and taste for blood has been satisfied with the vilification of Brown. Chertoff is safe.

Well played liberals. You held the nuts and overbet the pot. Your opponent folded and lives to fight another day. BTW, don't forget to blame the mayor, the gov'na and the congressional delegates. And please don't forget all those people outside of Nawlins and Louisiana that had their lives destroyed.
End Rant.
___________________________________________

I played on Party last night as the wife had a late night at work and the boy had an early date with his crib. I sat down and found a tourney I wanted to play in. Instead of registering I decided to play some ring games to win my entry fee. Okay, how about 16 big bets in 45 minutes? Yeah, that will cover my entry. Of course I have figured out at this point (3 MTTS later) that I really suck at MTT's. I don't steal enough, I don't reraise enough and I call off my chips (everytime) to lose. Last night I had a nut flush draw and two overcards to the board. I bet and got put all in by my opponent. I should have moved in. I had a lot of outs but the best out is giving your opponent the opportunity to fold. That's right, I slowplayed a draw and called of my chips with it. I told you I suck at these things.

Funny thing is I thing that I am a pretty good SNG player. I have also brought my limit ring game up a couple of notches lately. So what the difference? A lot. Good thing is that I know what I am doing wrong, bad thing is I keep doing it. I think that is the definition of neurosis.

So I busted out in the middle of the pack and found Dimebag and Bmac online. Dimebag was playing the .50/1 table. I convinced him to move to the 2-4. Sorry about that. He didn't catch any cards and lost a bunch of his stack. One hand to me, he flopped a set of T's and I flopped Top pair A's with nut flush draw. That pot got pumped with at least one other in there. I rivered the flush to win. I called it a night soon after, up 27 BB's. It doesn't hurt that I had AA 3x's and it only got cracked once.

Then I decided to donk around at the 25NL tables. Man do those guys suck. I was card dead and still managed to hold my own. Here's a tell dumbass. I know everytime you overbet the pot you have sqaut. Everyone else knows too, were just waiting for a hand. Unfortunately for me I was too late. He got cleaned out before I could get to him.

A couple of hands of note. I dropped the hammer! Oh yeah! I raised it preflop, hit a pair of twos and played it fast. Guy folded on the river when and A hit. Can you say tilt? While I'm on the subject...When someone plays 8-2o by cold calling 3 bets and then beats you QUIT CUSSING THEM OUT! I want to keep that person at my table! I want to take all their money. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Type N1 or nh or wow! and get them next time. If you berate them they will 1.) leave 2.) actually learn something. I don't want them to do either. Its called fish variance. Its long term good for your (my) bankroll.

This one shows how my game has improved. I identified a good player who was very tight. I am UTG with AK and raise. He re-raises me which in my mind puts him on AA-KK-QQ maybe AK or JJ. I smooth call. Flop comes down AJ5. I check call. Turn is another 5. I check call again. Why? Not because I am scared of AA or JJ, more because I am trying to look scared. Represent the J or a draw. I think that if I lead out and then call his raise it will kill the action. River is a 6. I check raise and he re-raises. Now I am a little worried so I just call. (Mistake? ) He shows KK. No way I would have made that much two weeks ago. I would have played the A fast and moved this guy off his hand. He was tight and good enough to let it go. Instead I got 5 BB's out of him.

Did I play this correctly? I know it felt good. I completely disguised my hand and took a nice pot off a solid player, the type I usually try to avoid in this game.

This guy is a friend of a friend

This guy I know through some other guys opened a bar. Its going to be on the Food Network tonight.


Recipe for Success


Boxer Restuarant-
A young boxing promoter decides to throw all the punches to open a retro diner in St. Louis. He sells his house and convinces his parents to throw their retirement savings into the ring. Will the restaurant go down or become a knock out success?

AIR TIMES:
September 13, 2005 9:30 PM ET/PT
September 14, 2005 1:30 AM ET/PT

1701 miles short, Green Shirts and Poker

Bill Rini is organizing the next WPBT event. Go check out his site for the details.

Who is going? Well I am sure G-Vegas will send a paltry contigent. I am also sure that St. Louis will represent. I am a mere "Yes Dear" from being able to go. Lets face it. I have a lot of work to do before I get permission. I know STL will represent with at least 4. We might even pull off 8. This of course includes Little Willie (player to be named later in that Otis trade that blew up in our faces), TooloftheMan, Dimebag, BMac, Me, Rebuy and maybe a few others.

I am a mere 1,701 frequent flyer miles short of a free AA flight to Vegas. How many drinks is it gonna' take?
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So me and TooloftheMan and two of our buddies took this bus trip to the Mizzou-New Mexico game on Saturday. Game suck as the tigers lost, but I won a quarter in the sqaures pool, so that part was good. BTW for those of you who havn't been on a major college campus in a few years, fyi the jean skirt is back. Not just any jean skirt, but the really short ones with stratigically located "wear" holes. I of course refered to it as a green shirt, not that I was drunk or anything.

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I played the 40k on PP on Sunday. I have a goal of winning a MTT and I am starting in these deep pools. I have played twice, both times making donk plays to bust. I think I'll back up and play smaller events for a while. LSS, I flopped TP jacks with KJs. He slow played Aces and I managed to get all my money in on a 3 bet. I put him on a move and he put me on stupid. He won. Wouldn't piss me off, its just that I would prefer a bad beat to being an idiot.
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You ever let poker make you feel like this?

Play Poker w/ Kevin Smith

As a charity event you can bid on a BBQ and it looks like poker game at movie director Kevin Smith's place. Sounds like a blast to me. Wish I had the dough.

Arrgh. Blogger ate my Moday post that was a weekend wrap up. I hold this guy responsible.

I will work it up again and post it later.

Oh yeah and check out this guy, living off of Iggy's drunken typos.

Dealer's Choice Homegame and NFL

Last night was a night of two firsts. TooloftheMan, Rebuy, Dimebag and myself played a four handed dealers choice homegame. Thats right, four handed. And the NFL season got underway. I hate the Pats btw, but it was a good game. And no thats not a Rams thing, I am a Dolphins fan.

Here were the games: 7 Stud, 5 card draw, Limit Omaha, Limit holdem and Crazy Pineapple. SDOHP? SHOPD? PHODS? DOPHS? We kept this game going for a long time. We played 4 hands of each game and then moved on to the next one. I think we made the circuit twice, so that would be 40 hands of poker. (ToM said my math was wrong, but whatever.) Then the beer set in and someone's talent for rebuy's became apparent.

We made it true dealers choice. We kept many of the games before but....5 card stud came in. Then Black Mariah (7 stud, low spade in the hole splits the pot, Q spades up mucks the hand for a re-deal). Then 7 Stud deuces wild and I think 5 card draw deuces wild.

Can you say -EV? I can't. I was the only one to walk away up. Thanks to multiple rebuys from an unlikely place. Oh yeah, the multiple suckouts and bad beats I laid on people in Omaha and Pineapple didn't hurt either. One hand of Note, I started a Pineapple (crazy) hand with AcKcKd. Nice. I also started one with 222, I saw the flop, just because.

We drank beer, watched a little football on Rebuys GINOURMOUS HDTV. Holy Schl!tz is the only thing I can say to describe that beast. Big props go to Mrs. Rebuy for letting us run over her house for the night. She hung out but didn't want to play. Something about knowing less about poker than her husband (doubtful).

We got some delivery pizza, we drank really old beer. Last October/September old. Seriously, beer was older than my kid. But it was free. Someone rebuy knows works for A-B and they had a big seasonal/collector's pack of beer. A-B stuff I never even heard of. I'll probably have the trots all day.

Tomorrow is a bus trip to the Mizzou football game. $65: all the beer you can drink, catered tailgate, game ticket and ride to and from game. Puking on co-eds? Priceless.

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Update:

TooloftheMan walked into a wall and split his head open last night upon his return home. This was after we sat in the White Castle Drive Thru and watched the hookers (read crack ho's) soliciting business from the cars in line. I had to role up and lock the windows so some drunk ass wouldn't call one over and get her hooker stank on my car.

We drank 24 beers. Dimebag had 1 or two. I had 6. That means that ToolMan and Rebuy has 16 to 17 between them. I'd guess that based on the spliting your head open story that at least 9 of those went to Tool.

Intestinal distress from old beer is problematic. Chimichanga I ate for lunch will surely calm that down.

SnailTrax.blogspot.com

SnailTrax,132, passed from this life on Tuesday, September 6, 2005 at his home at Snailtrax.blogspot.com. Funeral services will be held in shithole bars accross the country and possibly around the world. Burial will follow in the dumpster out back or the second stall in the mens room.

SnailTrax was born on May 26th, 2004 to Daddy, a sick fuck with a talent to spin a twisted tale (tail). For 15 months SnailTrax, powered by Daddy, kept us abreast of homegames, casino and intimate action. His tales of Dr. Pauly puking, abusing donkeys and having sex with farm animals were favorites for all. Upon his retirement, Daddy is expected to play the guitar and go on the road with Nelson because "They sure are pretty." SnailTrax was known throughout the PokerBlogger community as a place to let go, it will be surely missed.

SnailTrax's life revolved around the community of bloggers. He devoted much of his time to making peolple laugh and throw up, usually at the same time.

He is survived and lovingly remembered by Iggy, BadBlood, Dr. Pauly, CJ, BG,DoubleA's, Mr. Subliminal, teamscottsmith, April, Derek McG, Sir AlCantHang, Fat Dan, Otis, laceratedsky, The Rooster and Chilly.

Visitation will not be be held after today as all expect Daddy and SnailTrax to drop off the face of the earth.

Memorial contributions may be made to the SnailTrax Memorial Fund, or at a Donkey near you.

2-4 Monster

You ever wonder what would happen if pocket JJ-QQ-KK-AA were all in a hand together?

Lucky for me I held the AA and no one drew out on me.

Thanks to BMac for sweating me last night. He will attest that I caught HUGE cards. Made up for previous donking. BTW some lucky SOB hit the PP bad beat that was over 350K. I am sure Iggy will have details at some point.

Total number of players : 10
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Good_43 [ As Ad ]
Poker folds.
bluedolph raises [$4].
dankness1 folds.
parro calls [$4].
TheBoyFr folds.
PIPOGESTI raises [$6].
Good_43 raises [$8].
B_So folds.
AT folds.
bluedolph calls [$4].
parro calls [$4].
PIPOGESTI calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 7s, 3h ]
bluedolph bets [$2].
parrot55 calls [$2].
PIPOGESTI raises [$4].
Good_43 raises [$6].
bluedolph raises [$6].
parrotcalls [$6].
PIPOGESTI calls [$4].
Good_43 calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
bluedolph bets [$4].
parro calls [$4].
PIPOGESTI calls [$4].
Good_43 raises [$8].
bluedolph calls [$4].
parro calls [$4].
PIPOGESTI calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
bluedolph checks.
parro checks.
PIPOGESTI checks.
Good_43 bets [$4].
bluedolphi calls [$4].
parrot calls [$4].
PIPOGESTI calls [$4].
Good_43 shows [ As, Ad ] two pairs, aces and threes.
bluedolph shows [ Qs, Qc ] two pairs, queens and threes.
parrot shows [ Ks, Kh ] two pairs, kings and threes.
PIPOGESTI doesn't show [ Js, Jc ] two pairs, jacks and threes.
Good_43 wins

Poker is not a Sport: I Disagree With G-Rob

I have this feeling that if G-Rob and I were to ever spend more time than the hour we spent together in Vegas that we would get along famously. Mostly because we are both blowhards that love to antagonize our friends. We both love to play poker. Most importantly we disagree on a great many things, leading to what would be many, many drunken conversations arguments.

The latest is on a topic that I touched on this past July. Is poker a sport? No, I am sorry, dear G-Rob, I know that you want to elevate yourself to a two sport athlete, you'll have to take up golf to go with your frolf habit. Poker is not a sport. Poker is a game. There is a difference.

There is place we agree- the exhibition competitions. If you need an unbiased 3rd party to rate the performance and tell you who won, its not a sport. Sports have winners and losers and can be self-governed without the Russian judge. Wiffle Ball is a sport.

Read G-Rob's analysis here. Then read a re-cap of it here. Thanks to Derrick for pimping the wrong side of the issue.

Then if you managed to bypass the links above, read my proof that poker is not a sport here.

Then consider that the Blogfather agrees with me.

Poker, Sumo, Wiffle Ball and BBQ

The wifey had a friend over on Saturday night. They watched a movie and I fired up the 2-4 bad beat table on Party. Maniacs, all of them. Up 75 BB's later I went to bed. It was a combination of very tight, very aggressive play, a benefactor (350 in buyins at least) and the deck hitting me square in the face. I won't recap hands, but trust this poker sage, the players are bad, really bad. I won't recap any hands other than to say continuation bets only got called when I held monsters and were folded to when I missed completely. Everytime.

Okay, I'll recap one hand, a blow-out that burnt me. I'm in the BB with 6-8 off. UTG raises and gets something like 5 callers before me. Now I have 6-1 on my money. I think I'll go ahead and play. Flop brings K79. UTG bets, I raise and we get it capped four ways. Turn is a lovely 4. No flush out there! We get it capped again, this time just 2 or 3 ways. River is a 7. I know I am sunk. I know the UTG, a very tight player raised with KK. I check call and see my demise. That pot was over 25 BB's.

Sunday brought the Japanese Festival and Sumo to our little city. I am sure TooloftheMan will have a better recap. After, we went to Tool's house for beer, brats, dogs, more sumo and so on. The wife and I took the boy home and put him home and watched a movie. No poker.

Monday brought wiffle ball at 9 am. We played until 1:00. That's right, I am a grown man that plays wiffle ball on occasion. After the match I went home to find the wife and boy eating lunch and complaining that the dishwasher won't drain. Oh boy. DO I get paid double time and a half to do plumbing on a holiday? I first try the plunger in the sink, thinking the drain from the DW to the garbage disposal might be clogged. No dice. I then remove the full lower dish rack. I pull the cover off the drain outlet and reach my hand in to find the following: hair, plastic from sealing a baby food jar, pieces of plastic grocery bag and substances that can only be described as schmutz. Once removed the drain worked fine.

Then I went and finished mowing the lawn that I had started on Saturday whilst grilling for the wife and friend. I made steaks, veggie burgers, corn on the cob and tomato mozzarella salad, btw.

At four o'clock on yesterday we headed to a friend for another BBQ.

Last night a 9:18 I signed on for the Party 40k NL event. I outlasted about 1700 people to go out in 655. But I did FLOP QUAD ACES and managed to get a guy to give me his whole stack when he turned a Q for a pair. Is there any way to play Quad Aces other than slow?

Then the downswing ensued, most of it from screwing around, the rest for being and idiot. I busted out of the 40k on a donk play. Needless to say I got all my money in with K high and it didn't hold up. My combatant had A high, so I made a good read, he just made one too.

I moved to the bad beat 2-4 and immediately went up 14 BB's. Whoo hoo! I then remember reading Iggy writing about 4 tabling the 2-4. So I figure I can 2 table it. Nope. I can't do it. I can't multitable, I dropped 15 BB's on the second table and held steady at the first. Enough of that. I closed the second table. I then proceeded to drop 30 BB's at the first table. I try to follow a rule I heard, I think from Howard Lederer, that is don't drop more than 30 BB's in a session. I discounted the 2 table fiasco, mistake.


The tally:
Friday at boat = -100
Saturday at PP = +300
40K buy in 20+2 (3?) = -22
Experiment at 2 tables Monday= -60
Donking like a moron Monday = -120
Total = -2

I suck. My biggest leak is not walking away when I am down. My second biggest leak is thinking that I can make it all back. I can, just not right now. To make it back I loosen up and end up giving it back faster. The voice is in my head telling what I'm doing, but I don't quit. Idiot. If I play my game I win. If I stray from it I lose, yet somehow I think I'll get lucky or some crap and score it big.

Oh well. -2 for a lot of poker this weekend, could have been much worse. Hopefully I am smarter for it. Hopefully some of the lessons will sink in and I'll start booking and keeping the wins. Learning a lesson, that's a win too, right?

Quad Aces

Playing the 40k at PP.


***** Hand History for Game 2661717321 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:15486140 Level:5 Blinds (50/100) - Monday, September 05, 23:28:56 EDT 2005
Table $40,000 Guaranteed(448932) Table #103
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: mattr ( $1675 )
Seat 2: Dave32 ( $1050 )
Seat 3: Good_43 ( $1525 )
Seat 4: theturtl ( $775 )
Seat 5: sa ( $4850 )
Seat 8: cajun ( $5515 )
Seat 9: attackp ( $2279 )
Seat 10: Sammy ( $1608 )
Seat 6: tribe ( $2100 )
Seat 7: dumbamer ( $2020 )
Trny:15486140 Level:5
Blinds (50/100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Good_43 [ As Ad ]
Good_43 raises [300].
theturtle folds.
sa folds.
tribe folds.
dumbamer folds.
cajun folds.
attackp folds.
Sammy folds.
mattr folds.
Dave32 calls [200].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ac, Ah, 6c ]
Dave32 checks.
Good_43 checks.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qh ]
Dave32 bets [425].
Good_43 calls [425].
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
Dave32 is all-In [325]
Good_43 calls [325].
Dave32 shows [ Qc, Tc ] two pairs, aces and queens.
Good_43 shows [ As, Ad ] four of a kind, aces.
Good_43 wins 2150 chips from the main pot with four of a kind, aces.
Player Dave32 finished in 1074 place
Dave32 has left the table.

Lessons from an Afternoon at the Boat

So I went to play 3-6 at Harrahs yesterday afternoon. Results were much less than I had hoped for, and no where near this. I dropped my buy in of 100. It sucked.

The first flop I see is with AA. It held up and I had 3 callers on the turn and one on the river. That hand was worth about 40 in profit. I ended up winning a few (four, I think) more hands and bled most of the rest of it.

Hands that sucked and a little TILT. I didn't really get bad beat. I just was a little unlucky and a little stupid.

I was in a blind with 88. I called a raise from EP good player. Flop comes 8-T-Q 2 clubs, I hit my set. I check raise the ep raiser. He calls. Turn is a blank and he calls my bet. River is a J. I bet and he raises. It all is crystal clear to me know. He raised in ep with AK clubs and flopped a draw to Broadway and the nut flush. He had soooo many outs. "I can't believe I'm paying of your AK." I said as I threw in another big bet.

I was pissed, but pissed at only myself. I was blind. It has been sooo long since I flopped a set into a big hand/raiser that I was just on autopilot free fire. I was the idiot playing level 1. Then, even when I made it to level 2 I didn't have the discipline to save myself a bet.

A few hands later I find AKo. I raise it up and get 2 callers to the flop. Flop is 8-10-x. I bet and get it heads up. The caller is relatively knew, but I think he's a calling station from the few hands I've seen him play. What is it that you don't do to a Level 1 calling station? Bluff. Now I have 2 overs and a backdoor shot to broadway. I fire, fire, fire and finally check the river. I am beat but the flopped pair of T's. I realize I am on tilt.

I proceed to play uber tight to combat my tilt.

The next orbit almost kills me.

I am in the BB and find T-3o. Its raised in front of me and I muck, flop is TTx. Next hand I am dealt Tx in the SB and I muck. Flop is TTy. Next hand I am on the button with 95o. I muck and flop is 95x. Next hand, I am delt the nerf hammer 7s2s. I muck it. Can you say hammer power? I can't. But the river would have delivered a flush.

Its only sad because its true.

I win one more hand. An Asian lady takes the 1 seat. She is a major calling station. I find TT and raise it up. 3 callers to the flop of 655 with 2 hearts. I get a raise in and only keep the Calling Station. Turn is another 5. River is a heart. She calls all the way down. I am positive she made a flush on the river.

What are my leaks? Well if you refer back to this post it is quite easy to identify them.
1.) I played big pots with the big stack L3 player and did so with an L1 mentality.
2.) I tried to bluff an L1 calling station
3.) I played too loose. After seeing a bunch of "missed miracles" I loosened up and was seeing way too many flops. 2 flops per orbit with "junk" is $6-$9 in wasted bets. 5 orbits and you're likely down $35 on a $100 buy-in.

Oh well. Lessons learned. Until next time.

Harrahs bad beat jackpot is $289k. Quads beat to qualify. Only the 3-6 table pays out. Both cards in your hand have to play.

Harrahs has implemented mini bad beat jackpots. Starting at 8 am every day. The first 5 AA cracked get $100. First Full house beat gets $200. Quads beat that doesn't qualify for the big jackpot get $300. Its pretty cool, however no one in the room knows how many have been handed out. You ask the dealers, the cage, the floor and you get different answers from all of them. They need a tote to track it or something. At a minimum they need to make a big announcement for each one won.

I almost saw the bad beat get hit. The table next to mine had a player flop quads and another flop OESFD. The Quads held.

College football - out.

Ipod ARRRRRRHG!!

My ipod froze and I can't get it restarted. How in the hell am I supposed to get any work done blog if I don't have my tunes? I have gone to the support site, followed all the instructions and still nada. What am I to do?

Guess I'll leave work early and hit the poker room at Harrahs. Have a happy, safe holiday weekend all!