Another One Bites The Dust

PokerStars' reload bonus is now safely added to my account after an hour of playing break-even poker. It wouldn't have been break-even poker and I would have been up except for a couple of Riverstars specials. I won't tell you about flopping two pair with AK vs. 99, and I won't tell you about the opponent hitting his two outer on the river. Nay. I'm better then that. I also will refrain from whinning about having a decent low draw and full house in a Omaha 8 SnG only to have the opponent hit a higher full house and not make my low draw on the river. I'm stronger than that. I need a drink to stop with these stupid beat stories. If I start telling one in Vegas, kindly shove a shot or some bOObs (not mOObs) in my general direction.

Much appreciated.

I had about as much fun as a person can have playing break-even poker. The 3rd place in a $20 SnG paid for the $15 Pot Limit Omaha SnG that finished rather quickly due to unfortunate events. I wanted to hit up Noble Poker last night to see if the traffic continues to bustle there as it did on Tuesday night. But instead I went home to Full Tilt (BONUS CODE: Drizz99) to continue scraping out points towards the big WSOP freeroll. If you don't know about this already, Full Tilt is giving away 10 seats to the main event in a tournament for those who earn 10,000 "Full Tilt points" between now and June 18th (I believe). Go down and sign up! I did manage a small win on the .25/.50 and .50/1 NLHE tables (yes I was four tabling two different sites again). Nothing too exciting except I found myself to be more disciplined when calling big river bets.

For example: AKo on a board of K Q Q 7 T, one caller to my pre-flop raise, I led out a 5XBB bet on the flop, he smooth called. Checked the turn (weak/tight?), he checks. I check the river (weak/tight?) he bets 15XBB, and I fold. Way too many hands had me beat, and not enough hands that I could bet except Kx (not pairing the x card). Normally, I'd pay him off not pay attention to the various hands that could have me beat, and there were several KK, Q(anything), 77, TT, AJ, J9, KT. And this guy was capable of playing all of those hands.

I saw Evelyn Ng playing the $100/$200 hold em' table at Stars and chatting it up about checking out Wynn's new place or clubbing. Way too much action at that table for this railbird. Ace high won 3 hands out of the 15 that I watched, once capped pre-flop, all 15 went to showdown also. Very different game being played by the pros compared to the nickle and dimes that I'm used to playing for.

I will be heading up North to Grand Casino Hinckley this weekend (and its brand new card room)... actually going to my cabin, but I'm sure there will be a little side trip on the way :D Not sure if I'll be back in time for the next WSOP WPBT satellite (Sunday @ Stars, check Iggy's website for details), but I'll at least join the rails to root on the next blogger to join Otis and Bob "Pimpin' Aerostars" Respert at the Rio for some low stakes 52 card pickup.

Thanks for dropping by, now go do something more productive like playing Everquest for the next 12 hours.

BG Makes It Big!

Tony "I-Need-A-Nickname" Nardi goes nationwide. Excellent job BG!!!

Knocking Em' Down for the WPBT

Mindless poker is abound lately. Why? Because I'm trying to clear all these pending bonuses so I can safely play $1 Craps, eat $.99 shrimp cocktails, and get a lap dance or four in downtown Vegas during the WPBT.

I found myself five tabling again last night. Unadvisable is a good word to use for that. I managed to piss away my earnings at Full Tilt from Monday last night. One $20 SnG, one bluff gone wrong, one Drizz going out in 6th. Then I tried a $3/$6 LIMIT Hold Em' table. Was running smooth for an hour then a river suckout plus a AQ vs AK flopping an ace cost me 15 BB. Maybe it was better that I was playing limit at the time. I'm only 8,300 points short of that WSOP freeroll they are putting on. I'm determined to reach that point total to be able to participate. But, determination does not equal results, just like Lucas would probably never get a college football scholarship despite the hazing he went thru to make the team (old 80's movie reference, I'm 99.9% sure people who read this blog know the movie, if you don't you're retarded, go google it...).

PartyPoker released my bonus plus making back everything I'd lost at the $2/$4 Bad Beat Bingo tables. I pulled up my stats for the month on Pokertracker, seeing I lost $244 at those tables. Ouch. But, the Omaha 8 and $50NLHE tables provided where the Bad Beat Jackpot bingo halls (minus the blue haired beauties) took away.

Ok... one bonus down, lets see where the rest is at.

$150 to clear at Absolute (still dislike the client with a passion, but they have great bonus deals, and a very generous VIP program.

$200 to clear at UltimateBet - If I'm in the mood for self-punishment I'll four table this bad boy, at least you can play decent tourneys, many different poker variations, and heckle Phil about his choice in dental instraments

$440 to clear at NoblePoker - This one clears at a decent rate and I have the most money there at the moment. The games are extremely soft making for good profits, and the client while slow, is very appealing for multi-tabling.

$150 at PokerStars - Only need 3-4 $20 SnGs and I can clear this one. And after losing 1/2 of my original deposit rather quickly, I'll consider breaking-even on this one a win (which I will if I make the money just once).

$100 at Full Tilt - This bonus, I'm not really trying to clear. Love the client, love the games, love the variety. I've made this site the place to play when I'm not busy bonus whoring and I will be leaving my money in this site even after I've cleared the bonus.

I won't mention the Crypto sites since I can't clear them this month. Something about going up to the cabin and playing golf all weekend seems more appealing. That and since my good friends Burnsie and E are going to be up there, I'm sure we'll be checking out the new poker room at Hinckley's Grand Casino (another chance for me to blow my Vegas stash before even getting there).

I just looked the calendar and saw we have less then 40 days to Vegas. Anyone have one of those nifty countdown clocks that we could stare at like watching a stripper stradling a pole while sliding down from the ceiling? I'm sure with all the computer geeks out there someone knows how to set it up. :)

Funny, I Don't Feel Different

So why have I been winning the last two nights? I haven't played that differently, with the exception of being more cautious (but not weak) with an overpair on a ragged board and someone betting into me.

I continued to win back everything I lost over my two week losing plunge and now I'm getting Back in Black (start guitar intro by AC/DC here). My Party account is showing four figures again while I have almost cleared the most recent offering there (bonus code: BONUSAPR for 20% up to $100).

At Full Tilt (bonus code: Drizz99) I went 1 for 2 at the $20 SnGs including a come from waaaaaaaaay behind victory, finally catching some cards when it mattered the most. I saw Erik Seidel sitting at a $20 O8 SnG waiting to draw the flies into his web. In the past I would have signed up without even taking the time into consideration. But, it was a work night and getting up at 4am the next morning gets tough as I remember from my gaming days while playing Dark Age of Camelot....

I look back at those days and I'm amazed as to how long and how much time I put into playing. 5-6 hours a night was not uncommon during the week, and on the weekend if I wasn't playing in a softball tournament you could bank on me fighting Beserkers, Healers, Infils, and Wizards for beloved realm points. I would play with the same group of guys usually and every once in a while I still get the urge to boot up the game and start playing. But, after the toil it took on my marriage and real life friendships, I knew I needed a clean break from gaming. I took it too seriously. So, a very good friend helped put my character up on Ebay so I could start a new addiction. Poker.

I had won and lost several hundred at Pacific Poker and still had a hundred left after playing games way over my bankroll at the time, the $300 I got from the sale of my Dark Age of Camelot character gave me the small stash needed to adventure into the bonus whoring waters of online poker. Is Poker going to control my life like MMORPGs (massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing-game) did? No. I am able to quit and control when I quit for each session without worrying about disappointing others. DAoC is a group game, you need a group to accomplish tasks and compete in Player vs. Player combat, poker is a solo game. As stated, I was part of a group, without a part of the group being on it weaked the chances of being successful. No, I wasn't guilted into playing each night, I enjoyed chatting with my "guild" or group members on a nightly basis, but I felt guilty when I needed to leave as the group wouldn't function the same way without me. But the game (not the people) grew stale for me, and I saw what it was doing to my personal life. Being the addictive person I am, I needed a new hobby. I'm not artsy as doing a calculus problem is easier then cutting a straight line on a piece of paper for me. I'm really not an outdoors type person (minus playing sports of course, which I love). So, I mixed my love of cards with my love of gambOOOOling and came up with online poker.

SirWaffleMan had asked question as to why you want to be a part of the blogging community? I do it for a reasons I stated above, and the blogging community is my new "guild". I love the fact that should I ever need help with this hobby/addiction I can trust a few writers and drunks to steer me in the right direction as most of them have little ones and spouses also. I just hope that my hack writing style gets my point across one in a dozen posts.

Ok, I'm misty this morning for unknown reasons, maybe my wife left the Lifetime channel on last night while I was sleeping. Good luck at the tables everyone :)

Twice Confirmed Huge Junk? Indeed.

Bob won. He won big. Huge you might even say.

The $1,500 WSOP qualifer at PokerStars was the best $33 I've spent online since getting that subscription to Lindsay Lohan's private web cam. One can dream can't they?

All the usual suspects were out. Plus a couple of us from the great state of Minnesota.

I faired well early on, not really catching cards but grinding out some blind steals and making a couple of pot size bets after the flop to stay above the average chip count thru the first break. After the break I found a certain bodybuilder who proceeded to bat me around like a tetherball. I blame Little Drizz for not staying awake long enough, when he was up I was aggressive and playing to win. After he went to bed, I crawled to a little cave and pleaded with the card gods to shine a little light in my direction. I did manage to double up twice with AA and QQ to make it back to the average chip count during level 6 or 7. But, I never had that same aggression I did in the early rounds.

Then the bustout came. I was dealt 77 in early position and led out my usual odd numbered bet of 777, yes, I telegraph my bet sometimes.... but only sometimes ;) Folded around to HDouble who promptly re-raised enough to pretty much put me all-in. I figured him for AQs - AKs range and since he'd already hit quads twice tonight I should have thought better then to go into a coin flip with him. Raymer won out though when the Ace hit the flop, and I was left to railbird in 24th place out of 78. Not a horrible showing by any means, in fact besides jumping into the coin flip, I thought I played some good poker last night.

The chat room and railbirds while cheering on Bob to victory was surreal. This online tournament just seemed to be a teaser for the WPBT Aladdin and WSOP event in June. It was like that first nacho at a ball game before you get to that 40 oz. flat beer and malt cup. A great first taste of good things to come. Congratulations again Bob!

I don't know what happened to my cash game play, besides getting lucky, but I won back a good chunk of my losses for the past two weeks on Saturday and Sunday night. Spiking a set on the river twice when I was behind (overplayed QQ vs. AA once and KK vs. 33 when he flopped the set). Lucky? Of course. Happy? Not really, I got outplayed which hurt more then winning the money. Even thought my virtual wallet feels better, it was a wake-up call to re-evaluate my play. I tend to get too excited post-flop when I have an overpair but late Saturday night I started playing more patient by not pushing so much, and trying to value bet rather then play virtual bingo with two cards to come.

I also saw the power of game selection (thanks Felicia), I picked a game at Stars while the WPBT tournament was going on (yes I have ADD when it comes to online poker) and waited for a seat in a NL game with a lot of loose players, rather then my usual take-the-first-seat-available approach. Wow. I netted a nice buy-in and half win at this $.50/$1 table simply playing ABC poker and throwing some bait into the fishy waters when my monsters hit. I know variance on these games, and the tilt-inducing suckouts potental are higher then the usual tight no limit games. But, its worth it to see that your kicker comes into play, or people will try to bluff their busted flush/straight draws. I still haven't utilized the teachings in the Pokertracker guide like I should. But, bonus whoring has gotten the best of me once again as I currently have cash spread out over 5 different sites and still haven't cleared the Crypto bonuses yet.

I didn't ground myself to the computer all weekend. Saturday morning we packed up Little Drizz and headed out to a softball tourney where I was filling in for a friend of mine. I came. I played. I hurt the next day. Currently I'm at my desk begging that I don't have to move one iota. Even an extended soak in the hot tub didn't relax my old body. I didn't do horrible while playing my first tourney in three years, went 6 for 9 at the plate with a couple of home runs and kept some baserunners in check with my massive cannon in left field. I don't have twice confirmed huge junk, but I can still throw out people from the outfield off my back foot. The team lost all three games in convincing manner, but it was fun to play again and that's what counts.

Thanks for dropping by, now go read Bob's victory dance, he earned it.

My WSOP moment

My un-creative writing for Badblood's creative writing request.


After taking the flop blind, I looked down to see my favorite hand of two red nines. The flop brought out 9 A 9 knew this was it, my fifteen minutes of fame were coming and I thought back on how I got to the final table in the WSOP's first event.....

It was 1am central standard time, my feet freezing from the cold basement and the space heater I used was smashed into a jillion piece from Iggy bluffing me earlier for half my chips at the final table with 34o. I silently scolded myself for playing not to lose instead of playing to win. The Yahoo chat group and railbirds were in full out gossiping mode as the final two, myself and Iggy, were squaring off for the free ride to the Rio for the first event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. Knowing I was outclassed by the diminutive online poker pro, I had to pick a spot and get lucky.

And lucky came in the form of two red nines.

I had a slight chip lead over the blogfather as he led out for over half of his chips, tired of getting pushed around I shoved my virtual chips to the middle and he insta-called, sigh. I turned over my Gretzky while Iggy showed... THE HAMMER! Seeing that I was a 72 to 1 underdog, I cursed the poker gods for tempting me to stay up this late (knowing I'd only get 3 hours of sleep till work the next day) and losing ever so close to completing a life long dream.

Flop came out 7 7 2

Turn 2

Before the river card came down I remembered where we were playing and managed a snister Dr. Evil laugh as a lovely 9 turned over. Elated from winning I woke up the wife to tell her the good news. She promptly wished me death and threatened to make me walk to work. Thanks hon.

Fast forward to June.

After a night of pressing reverse-implied-tilt odds upon the local rocks on the $2/$4 tables with the ACHE and several shots of SoCo for him (rum and coke for this lush). I floated to my seat in the spacious Rio the next day. My wife, not happy with my drunken actions last night before coming to bed stated she would not be viewing my demise but rather going to the Forum Shop to spend the rest of my $200 of gambling money that I'd brought.

I sat down to look up at 9 players all wearing PartyPoker shirts. Iggy slinked back to the rail after seeing that my table already had invoked the power of BONUS CODE IGGY, and further shilling was not necessary. Seeing that my table was a glorified bingo hall I'd decided to gambOOOl with them with hopes of making it big fast.

And I did.

The hammer crushed my opponent's JTs and 77 all-ins pre-flop with an A 2 2 flop. With a steady stream of chips coming my way it was announced that I was the chip leader for day 1 of the event. The lovely chick from ESPN's Cold Pizza tapped me on the shoulder and asked for quick interview.

I obliged.

She first asked about the rowdy following I seemed to have on the rail. "Rowdy?" I replied "wait until Al gets on his 4th bottle of SoCo, then rowdiness will occur". She then went on to ask about my twice confirmed huge junk, I calmly explain she should talk to the guy with the huge guns with a 72 offsuit on his shirt.

Pointing towards towards Badblood arm wrestling Gus Hansen, "you mean him?" she inquired.

No, no, the other one wearing the same shirt as I pointed out Bob who was holding a half empty 40oz. Colt 45.

"Hmmmmm" she purred as she forgot about the rest of the interview and lustfully made her way to Bob.

The next day I showed up at the Rio to finished what I started. But instead of busting out in record time, my hands actually held up!

Down to the final table and me with a commanding lead over Daniel N. and the lovely Evy Ng, I held my temper down when Daniel hits a runner runner royal flush to beat my flopped quads. Immediately I asked about the bad beat jackpot, Norman Chad makes a snide comment about how PartyPoker players should just stay home and play for nickle and dimes.

Daniel uses my chips to eliminate Evy, and we're heads up for the title. I offer a chop to Daniel but with me getting the bracelet. Daniel almost passes out laughing. Sigh.

I peeked my hole cards 9 and.... another 9. Knowing this is the best hand in hold em (as seen on PartyPoker many times), I smooth called Daniel's 4XBB raise. Flop comes out 9 A 9. Shit. I'm only slight favorite to AK that I've put Daniel on. Correctly he pushed all-in. I get up and start pacing like an expectant father in a hospital delivery room. After two minutes and 4 rum and cokes. I call.

Daniel gives me the stink eye for taking so long to call with quads, but I explained my luck with having the flop favorite. Just as I finished explaining, the dealer dealt an Ace.

Sigh.

I curled up into the fetal position waiting for the proverbial kick to my twice confirmed huge junk.... and a King was laid on the table. And suddenly the mob of bloggers flood the table like rabid North Carolina basketball fans taking the floor after defeating Duke.

Still numb from winning, I hear my wife yelling in the background.

She was yelling because she just hit the bonus game on her penny slot she had been playing the whole time and I was watching Otis at the real final table.

WOW! That Was Quicker Then Sex!

Maybe I lasted just a few seconds longer in the Full Tilt Pot Limit Omaha bracelet race.... but not by much. Second hand, flop a nut boat, all-in heads-up, he fills a higher boat on the river. $26 well spent!

Not a good night last night on the cash tables as a runner-runner flush draw KO'd most of my profits and I managed to spam the fold button enough to forget what game I was playing. Eh, it will turn around sometime.

I even tried a $20 SnG on Full Tilt (BONUS CODE: DRIZZ99) but that was more of the same fold-a-thon. I couldn't even get a paint card to attempt to steal blinds with. Ended up going all-in with 5 remaining with KQo and getting called in two places. Sigh. AQs and AKs, good job Drizz. And no my perfect KQ did not come on the board.

Since I left my glasses at work and had to wear my prescription sunglasses (yes, I played online poker with sunglass on, call me Bill Fillmaff) at home it made the monitor rather difficult to watch so I had a good excuse to cut my session short last night before I tilted away anymore money. Even a straight flush for a $40 pot didn't lift my spirits. Maybe spirits are what I need :) For now, its grinding away and the cards will turn in my favor soon. I just hope soon would come sooner then later because the cat is getting snarly at me after shipping him air mail after a beat (keep your PETA cards in your wallets, I wouldn't hurt the kitty.... much).

Since cards weren't in my favor despite my uber shades and hat set-up, I decided to relax and watch the pros play for more then pocket change on the WPT Belliago 5 Diamonds event. Danny N. took it down once again, but it was the appearance of Jennifer Harman that made it worth watching. She looks much like my high school girlfriend, only taller, prettier, and more alive (maybe a story to tell when I'm really feeling shitty). I'm still amazed how these pros are so calm and collected after such a harsh beat. Harman's AQ vs. Amateur's QQ, an ace flops. Nam Le's KQ vs. Vinny's KJ and a Jack flops. Yuck! But, that's why they are pros playing at the Belliago and I'm playing $.50/$1 NL in my basement with a small space heater and pretzel rods to eat.

Ugh, aren't I basket of negativity. Hopefully, there will be something more positive to write about tomorrow. At the moment I feel like I'm spirialing towards that numbness of losing that was described in an article by Lou Kreiger I read on someone's blog... (can't remember who's at the moment, excellent article). Go check out the article at Cardplayer.com

I promise to focus on sunshine and roses tomorrow and will have something more positive to report, even if its cooking dinner without burning it :)

Holy Blogger Sightings Batman!

I pulled out the poker room utility belt last night as there seemed to be no end to the amount of bloggers tossing chips onto the virtual felt last night. Amazingly they not only write about poker, drinking, and strippers (these three vices were not put in any order of importance) but they play too!

I was content with settling down to grind out more of my huge deposit bonus over at Noble Poker. But when my choices in NLHE games were $.05/$.10 and $5/$10 I erred on the side of caution and decided not to tangle with the 4 to 5 digit stacks. $1,500 check-raises would make my balls shrink up like a juiced up designated hitter in major league baseball. I love the software over at Noble but the lack of traffic makes it tough to jump on a get a game that you are looking for. I was seeing $40 starting stacks at the $2/$4 NLHE game. Now what the fuck are you going to do when someone puts in a standard 3-4x big blind raise and you're holding decent cards but not AA or KK? Not the brightest bulbs on the poker planet, but then again those players will sit at the $1/$2 game with the same amounts making them easy pickings.

Ixnay on the bonus whoring at Noble, I decided to hit up Full Tilt (BONUS CODE: DRIZZ99). I was hoping to try out another bracelet race tourney but signed on 2 minutes too late. The WSOP will have to wait for one more day it seems (heavy on the sarcasm there). Poker Nerd was in the tourney, remembering my Halverson Cooler Effect I said my good luck to leave him alone and fired up a couple of $.50/$1 NLHE tables. Promptly went up $80 then bled away my profits with second best flushes and two pairs over the course of two hours. Glyphic showed up mid-way through my session to join one of my tables (I didn't notice him there till he IM'd me, 5 tabling will do that....). I tried a couple of hammer and pocket Aces bluffs, got called with the hammer, won the blinds with Aces. Yes, I have the timing of an ex-boyfriend running up to the altar to beg for forgiveness on my ex-girfriend's wedding day. Go me. I am pleased to report that I am 9,000 points away from that nifty WSOP freeroll Full Tilt is sponsoring in two months. According to my caveman math, I need to average 152 points a day until it starts on June 18th. Not out of the question, but I hope I don't run out of money chasing it. At the end of the session Glyphic mentioned an actress from the Sooner state happened to be leading an SnG heads-up. True to fashion as I sweated her from the rail as she ran into Aces and Big Slick. Yes, I'm about as lucky to other bloggers as a Powerball Lottery winner who dies in a car crash while going to claim the money. Sorry Maudie :(

Not content with just playing four tables (I was on UB also chipping at the bonus stash there playing Omaha 8 or better) I fired up Party to see if the Bad Beat Jackpot had been stolen from me yet. Nope. Currently at $380K, well then, how about I throw another buy-in at this glorified bingo card! Happily losing on my own I see Donkeypuncher plop down in the seat to my left as I know he loves these tables, especially when the jackpot $$$ get high enough. Then THG sits down in the 8 seat. Hmmm... I'm beginning to wonder if I'd clicked on the .50/1 limit table by mistake. DP had Aces dominated with KK and won a decent pot, silly rabbit thinking Aces are a good hand. Then Suzanne Somer's roommate showed up to steal my precious 1BB profit I managed to scrap together. Luckily his mind was on Icelandic strippers and only stole my blinds every other orbit :D I hit a nice pot with AKs when JJ and AQ came along for the calling station ride, turning an Ace after it was capped pre-flop. Question: on a board of 8 9 T A 4, no flush possible (as I held the nut flush draw to the river when two my suit flopped), do you value bet the river if you're the last to act? I checked it down when the blank fell just in case Moe or Curly had QJ or a flopped set. Or did I go limp like after viewing Rosie O' Donnell naked?

Leaving the table with a 5BB profit put a bounce in my step as my first winning session on these tables in a week.

Thanks for dropping by today, I'll be on Full Tilt tonight going after that PLO8 bracelet tonight. I pray I don't draw any pros this time at my table.

I Wish I Was Excited

But, alas I flunked out on yet another WSOP attempt last night on Full Tilt (BONUS CODE: DRIZZ99). I hoped to make at least a decent showing at the Stud 8 tourney but the cards weren't in my favor last night. Early on I caught a nice King high flush to go with a 6 low for a decent scoop. But, tournaments are not won at level two. After the first break, I played three hands, all three with excellent draws, and all three bricked up like a high school freshman basketball player making his first start off the bench. 2 - 3 - A (doorcard) all suited, next card 4, brick, brick, brick. And a couple of others that received similar fates. Rafe Furst was at my table the entire night doing an excellent job of pushing draws and being aggressive. He caught several scoops with low straights, I hope he continued to do well after I got bounced around 70th.

I was hoping to compete in the Omaha 8 bracelet tournament that started two hours prior to the Stud 8, but a big dinner at my parent's place prevented that. Breaded pork chops, twice baked potatoes, and cream cheese pie for dessert. Yumm-e. Little Drizz decided to go outside and collect some more bruises by falling off a slide and a big wheel looking thing. Right now he looks like he took on a rabid cat and lost.

After my unceremonial departing in the Stud 8 tourney, I fired up PartyPoker to see their bad beat jackpot was over $300K again. Playing those tables is much like play video poker, mindless and you're either going to win or lose a lot. Well, I lost a lot. -17BB at the $2/$4 table. Was one board away from having a jackpot hand last night as I held 99 on a board of 2 Q Q 6, the villian had quads on that board and the very next hand 9 Q Q 9 came up. I think a certain Hilton Sister stalker had something to do with this flurry of feminine royalty. While feeling the sting of another losing session on the bingo tables I checked out my buddy list to see if anyone was on for some comic relief. Lo and behold, a blogger table at the ol' .50/1 limit hold em' tables. Doc's promises of stripper relief this morning was the release I needed after yet another losing session. SirWaffleMan and Geek showed up, I was expecting some barbs to be thrown but poker has a way washing away beat stories and renewing friendships... I hope.

Not being able to add to the bankroll lately is hurting my plans to go to Vegas with enough cash to survive a night with the AlCantHang Experience. I guess there's always penny slots and 99 cent shrimp cocktails :) I won't be that bad off, but it would have been nice to take a decent stash to Vegas and maybe bump up the limits I usually play at, maybe even take a shot at a 2/5 NL table. We shall see what May brings, since April has been the Ryan Leaf of poker months.

Thanks for reading, now go get your triple-latte-mocha-caramel-whatever and read something worth while.

Man Did I Sound Pissy

Jez, I don't even remember writing that short whine post there, sorry about that, must find happy place again. Ah, lets see what's been going on...... (writing late today since work and blogger didn't seem to like each other this morning).

Softball season!

The beer bust was a success as we managed to raise enough cash to pay for the beer! No, actually we were able to pay off our registration fees and enjoy knocking down as many beers as possible within two hours for $5. Afterwards we headed back to my place for a couple of Cap'n Cokes and a little poker. Could Drizz break his home game slump? Of course not. I lost going all in off two pair on the flop vs. an open ended straight draw that hit on the turn. Buy in was a whole dollar so it won't cause me to Ebay my 1985 Topps Baseball set to replenish my bankroll.

We had practice this weekend with the co-ed team, and I was the king of corn. I think I woke up some storm clouds with all the high fly balls I was hitting. But the sun was out and Little Drizz was having fun getting into the mud left behind from the morning's downpours. Can't complain as spring softball practice means its time to get outside and shake off the cabin fever that gets stored up during the 11 month winters we have in Minnesota.

Poker Content!

I played late into the night almost every night while clearing a quick bonus on Will Hill, I had my first profitable bonus whoring expedition this month. Wheeeeeeeeeeee. Still its been trying this month weathering all the beats and depletion in the bankroll. The cash games don't seem to hurt as bad when the beats come but those two/three outers during tournament play really tests my patience. Grinding out steals, stop-and-gos, etc... only to have some paint chip eating yahoo suckout on your first made hand in two hours must... not... throw.... monitor...

Full Tilt and Party provided some frustration including finally busting out of the WSOP steps SnG after 22 straight freerolls. As Doubleas stated.... its good for practice, not so much for profitablity.

Sometimes I'll try to go to a happy place ala Happy Gilmore. Pitchers of beer, chick in white lace, and Lando Calrissian banging out "We've Only Just Begun" on the Steinway. My happy place is a little different but just as satisifying :)

Thanks for dropping by, I'll have a quick tournament recap of my most recent WSOP satellite attempt tomorrow morning.

River Stars once again

$11 rebuy bingo bonaza. KK vs. KJ all in pre-flop an hour after the first break. Q 9 2 flop, take a guess at the river. Fuck this game sometimes.

WSOP must wait once again....

Bubbled out on my $75 token satellite tourney at a Full Tilt tourney. 4 to a flush on the board, I have the J and I was getting short-stacked.... got called by someone with K. Sigh.

I gave it a good shot, had to do a ton of stealing. Had no cards at the final table to double up with.

I fought AA and won

Yeah, I was supposed to finally get some sleep last night but what is an addict supposed to do when he's running bad? Play more!

My plan was to hit up Noble Poker and continue to assault that big deposit bonus (100% up to $500, see Sound of a Suckout for details). It is a smaller site with light traffic, but the bonus is too much to ignore, plus there have been good reviews. Granted the cards have not been in my favor there (minus the cash in the tourney last week), but the single screen/multi-tabling set up is great.

I cracked AA with QJ while in the BB on a $1/$2 NL and the aces only min-raised, flopped a queen (pot bet, he called), turned a J (pot bet, he called), rivered a Q for the nuts (value bet for 3/4 of the pot, and he called again). A nice $200+ pot to bring me back to even from last night's sorry attempts to play limit poker. I know I'm playing a little above my bankroll on this site, but the bonus clears faster at the higher limits. Plus, this is a perfect opportunity to get out of my comfortable shell and take some shots at the higher limits. Last night the play was very passive, minus one other player who was aggressive in his steals and value betting.

I hopped on Full Tilt to chip away at the 10,000 point requirement for the World Series of Poker freeroll. I was up $10, but ended up down $6 on my second to last hand when AK didn't catch anything and after a pot-size flop bet was called, I had to give it up on the river. I spied in on a heads-up match between Mike "The Mouth" and Paul Wolfe. Both with big stacks, Mike with $20K and Wolfe with $6K. They had a pot that was almost as big as my entire bankroll on one hand! If you haven't signed up yet, this site is definitely going places with tons of action, railbirding the pros (or in some cases playing with them), and many different WSOP/WPT promotions. Click on the banner above to check them out.

After I shut down Full Tilt, I made a boo-boo by firing up PartyPoker. Sigh. Shoulda, woulda, coulda went to bed but something nagged at me to earn some points towards getting rated Silver there so I could turn my points into cash during the next rating period. They have a new promotional tables with a high hand requirement. Any straight flush or above on these tables and you receive 70% of the jackpot (which was locked at $1000 last night), the rest of the table splits the other 30%. Yes, these tables proved to be just as loose as the Bad Beat Jackpot tables but that didn't help my TPTK and Aces too much. I finished down 15BBs in a hour GO TO BED NEXT TIME DAVE!

The Poker Geek was crusing along in the $25K guarentee tourney at Party, but had a bit of a dilemma. Two players stalled continuously to "make it into the money" when they weren't very close to it. It appeared to be borderline collusion, and the one guy spouting "let's make it a team effort" in chat wasn't helping. His table had all the excitement of a Chris Elliot movie. Blinds were esclating and although the Geek was the chip leader at the table, his table had 4X LESS chips then any other table. And the chip leaders at the other tables were around T25K range (Geek had about T7000 when I left). Play for 3 hours to make the $6 minimum doesn't seem worth it, especially when you're putting up $22 to play the tournament in the first place. The question he posted "is it cheating?". My thoughts were when staller #1 typed in "lets make it a group effort", this is where he crossed the line in efforts to collude together to "make the money". I'm sure more experienced players like Felicia and Iggy would know the rule book on this.

Watched a little of the WPT Foxwoods. Gotta feel bad for the Minnesota-born Bradley Berman, KK vs. AK and the Ace spikes on the river. Unreal. Especially after playing that long to go out 4th place on a three outer. I didn't get to see the rest of it, but damn that kid was catching everything. CALLING an all-in bet from JC Tran with 66? Granted it turned out that Tran only had pocket 3s, but the way he called I think he WANTED the coin-flip. With the chip lead he had, why go after coin-flips instead of waiting for a better spot to bust the table? Maybe its the reason why I play for $20 buy-ins instead of $10,000 :D

Definitely some poker tournaments will be on tap tonight, if any bloggers know of an Omaha 8 or better tourney or a decent WSOP qualifier IM me tonight. Good luck everyone!!

Trends that continue

Rob and Amber could not have been too happy about "finishing" the leg of The Amazing Race first last night only to be handed a clue by the host. They've dominated the competition and even have the two gay guys trying to scheme their way into finishing higher (which backfired on them). The POW and Queen are still not getting along, not that I'd blame them. Me and the wife agreed by now one of us would have knocked the other unconscious and left them in Nevergonnagethome, India or something. Its amazing to see how positive the older couple is despite finishing last or close to last place nearly every leg.

Despite staying up for reality TV, I also played a little poker last night. The tournament results good, cash games bad, trend continued yet again last night. My first stop was at Noble Poker to knock down the big deposit bonus I have there. Since it clears faster at higher stakes and no $2/$4 game was going I adventured into $3/$6 and was sorry I did. The players were horrible at best but it didn't prevent a -$100 night. AA twice, first time cracked by Q9o who cold called, PLUS cold called a bet after a T - 3 - 2 rainbow flop, of course Q and 9 came on the turn and river. AK knocked down by K3o when a board of A - K - 2 - 4 - 5 came up despite my raising him every street, except the river. It would have been worse had my second AA not caught a pair on the river to bet someone else's two pair. After the fourth beat in a row I was steamming and spouted off with my tinfoil cap on. Sigh. I gotta keep repeating those words of wisdom that Felicia IMd me a few weeks ago:

"Poker is gambling, we're not playing chess here"

Well stated, each card that comes off the deck represents a potential winner or loser. All you can do is play the percentages to your advantage. Yes, there's room for fancy play like check-raising, stop-and-gos, and re-raising on a bluff. But, should the cards come to a showdown all you are doing is gambling that your hand is of a higher rank then your opponent's. Thanks again Felicia :)

If I did poorly at the cash game, I must have done something right playing tourneys right? At Full Tilt I hopped on a $5 Omaha SnG and finished 2nd, 1st place made a small flush on the river despite me having two pair, an open ended straight draw, and nut flush draw. Oh well, the people playing were fun to chat with and thought originally that we were playing Omaha 8 or better (I admitted that on an early hand I had the nut low, bet the pot on the river and everyone folded despite having nothing but a pair of sevens ). I wanted to rack up some FT points while playing in the SnG but the .50/1 NL tables were all full. This is a good thing to see, more and more people coming to this wonderful site (use bonus code: Drizz99 if you're ready to play!).

Since I wasn't playing any ring games, it dawned on me to try yet another WSOP Steps SnG at PartyPoker. 14 tries, 14 freerolls. Sigh. It did not start out very well, but I found myself in the top 5 once again despite having T350 in chips and the blinds at 100/200. Then, I got lucky. Doubled up with Q3 vs. J9, double up again with 99 vs KT, stole the blinds with Q8s, double up again with AQ vs. A8 (seeing a trend here?). Lost 1/2 of my stack calling a river bet (stupid!) on a board with two aces and no bets with a player who slowplayed everything. I was outchipped 4 to 1 at most points. But at the point where I took a 3 to 2 lead, the card gods were smiling when I pushed Q7o to beat 54o with a board of Q 5 2 diamonds (I didn't have one, he did), blanks fell on the turn and river.... and CONGRATULATIONS YOU DON'T HAVE TO PLAY ANOTHER FRICKIN STEP 1 SNG!

Now I have a Step 2 "token" at Party and a $75 WSOP token at Full Tilt. I know its a long shot, but everyone needs to dream. I just hope my dream doesn't knock me back down to the Step 1 basement of hell.

Razz me!

I broke a rule of mine that I set several months ago: Never play in a tournament that you don't feel like finishing 2 to 3 hours from now.

I entered the Razz $5 tournament on Full Tilt without thoughts to the time as it was getting late and I needed whatever sleep I could grab. Being sapped from allergies for the past 2 weeks has made the 6am-4pm grind at work seem even longer.

I finished a dreadful 63rd out of 90ish players. I pushed in level 4 with 3 - 4 - and doorcard A. It seemed like a great idea at the time with 4th street bringing a 2 making 4 cards to a wheel. But, this is Razz, and Razz was invented to cause high blood pressure, hypertension, and suicidal tendencies. My opponent flipped over four cards to a ten low. He never improved. "That's a good thing" you might say. True, I had 20 outs, all live (according to doorcards that were folded). 4 - 4 - 3 were dealt my way. Cool! A full house! Sigh. Unfortunately that hand took all my chips and Andy Bloch who was in the tournament never got to feel my wrath. Maybe next time :P

I cleared the Empire reload bonus last night, but early on it felt like I was going to go even further in the hole (already stuck $200 for a $150 bonus, great job!). First hand in Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better (PLO8), I catch an open ended straight flush draw on the flop, no possible low. The turn completes my flush, and the river is blank but.... why... are... the chips not.... oh he had the ace high flush. Rebuy! Luckily, after an hour of playing weak-tight, I managed to extract some chips with A - 2 - 3 - K double suited by taking the high with a straight, and 1/3 of the low when two others pushed all their chips in with no high hand and just A2 for the low. While playing at Empire I saw many familiar names pop up on my screen, I guess I was playing like a fish this weekend and made a few buddy lists. Even after the carnage this weekend, I managed to clear the bonus with a $17 profit. Maybe I can use the money to hunt down some Nude Lindsay Lohan pictures (oh come on everyone else is doing it! :D).

The WSOP steps at Party. Poker Nerd and DoubleAs have both discussed these bile-riddened tournaments. My count is now 15 Step 1 freerolls. Hey, at least I'm earning wonderful frequent player points! Sigh. At least it wasn't a suck-out loss this time as I was short-stacked with two all-ins ahead of me in the BB with 97s. Getting a little over 3 to 1 on my money and no difference between 2nd and 4th, and blinds at 150/300 with only T900 left, it made sense to push and hope for the best. The best didn't come and YOU'VE WON A STEP 1 WSOP STEPS FREEROLL CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Its starting to feel like Bill Murrary in Groundhog's Day, maybe if I try to off myself by pushing all-in with any two cards Andie MacDowell will finally push me over the edge and into a Step 2 tourney.

Did anyone catch the Miss USA pagent last night? I found Fear Factor to usually be more exciting (Miss New York wowowowowowowowow).

Tonight I may adventure into Noble Poker for some bonus whoring but for now its work/play with Little Drizz/eat/Amazing Race/bed. Yes, another exciting day in the life of a suburban dad.

Weekend Update

Sorry no Dennis Miller or Opera Man here just Drizz trying to figure out why his cash game has gone in the toilet lately. My tournament results have been promising, I earned a $75 tournament token for a WSOP qualifier at Full Tilt and will probably take my shot at that this weekend. They have a WSOP freeroll contest going on at the moment, earn 10,000 Full Tilt points and get a free shot at a main event seat (not to mention the free Full Tilt gear and travel expenses). Oh, and should you outlast the 15 million other people playing the main event and take first? Full Tilt will shove $10 million your way if your part of their team. That might be enough to cover my gas bill this month.

While bonus whoring at Empire I managed to drop a couple of buy-ins with some mindless (a.k.a. 5-tabling) play. AA (unsuited) back-to-back, first time get four callers, take it with a pot size bet on the flop. Second time, I overbet the pot with two callers and one of them wakes up with a set of sixes. A month ago the same thing happened and I lost a sizable stake at that time as well. I think its time to head back to church to defeat satan on the virtual felt. I doubled up on another table only to hit trip queens on the turn with AQs... but it filled up someone else in the process, I don't know if I could have gotten away from that one.

Noble Poker took back some cash with some wild play its $2/$4 table. I threw down a hammer bluff in middle position one caller, rag flop, rag turn, rag river, no straights, no flushes possible and the calling station had 95s to win with nine high. Sigh. Assorted beats left me down $60, almost giving back what I earned at the tournament on Saturday.

I know tournaments are supposed to be glorified lottery tickets and take a lot of time to play, but for the past month they have been much more profitable for me then cash games. Instead of dropping a $50 or $100 buy-in via suck-out or getting trapped in a cash game, I could take a shot at a nice pay day in a higher stakes tournament. After clearing the bonuses at Empire, Noble, the Crypto sites, and whenever PartyPoker decides to give their bonus this month... then its tourney time for me.

Shout out to Benneh who earned himself T$215 at Stars during the nightly $3 re-buy-a-thon satellite by placing in the top 27. Nice job man! Saw some brutal suckouts by the bubble people KK vs 99, 9 on the flop. QT vs. 75... Q on the flop, runner-runner straight to go home with nothing but a bad beat story. Ouch.

And Al who outlasted a big field to finish in the money at a limit O8 tourney on Stars. Nice to see Al and his party hat walk away with some cash :)

Congrats to Tiger Woods who outlasted Chris "I Have Worst Luck Then Phil Helmuth" DiMarco to win the Masters for the fourth time. Tiger gave him every chance to win it, and Chris played him shot-for-shot but it was Tiger who prevailed in the end with a nice 15-20 birdie putt on the first playoff hole. That chip on 16 by Tiger will replayed on Sportscenter more times then you can say Steroids in Major League Baseball.

I don't know if I had mentioned this before but... if you happen to be in Minnesota and close to Maple Grove....we have our beer bust this coming Saturday, April 16th @ J.Cousineau's in Maple Grove from 2-4. It's $5.00 & you get all the beer you can drink and chili you can eat. Soco shots not included but they do have darts and Big Buck Hunter! Come on down and you might even get to meet Little Drizz as well!

Almost hit one of my goals for the year...

3rd place at a $20 + $2 MTT at Noble. Won $150, not bad. Lost a coin flip at the end 66 vs KT.

Sigh.

But I did manage to hit my second Royal Flush :)

I'll post more hopefully on Sunday. I'm heading to my cabin tomorrow to help my friend with his place.

Have a good weekend folks :)

Vegas Day Four: Final Table Time Baby!

My whole mindset on this trip to Vegas was to play poker, poker, and more poker. I did manage to play quite a bit but those damn slots are so fun! Fun and highly -EV which my wallet noticed after losing more then half of what I brought to those cool little bonus games. Damn you Pat Sajak and Vanna White with promises of spinning the wheel!!

The weather was tolerable in the morning as my wife was planning another day at the pool with her $15 drinks. I can see where Vegas gets its money back on booze now. While I was going back to Imperial Palace to check out their morning tournament. After seeing how soft the competition was yesterday I figured I'd have a decent chance of not finishing last.... but it almost happened. 50 people maxed out the competition with T1500 and we were underway!

Second hand I look down at the Hilton Sisters, and watch 3-4 limpers ahead of me, none showing too much strength, so I pull a Hoyt Corkins and set em all-in. This was a one-time rebuy tournament so I figured I'd get called by a lesser hand and give myself a chance to double up early (and if I lost, well I could re-buy which I hate doing). Folded to an old guy in the BB who called immediately (WHOOPS!), the limpers wanted none of the action and it was heads-up. I thought for sure he'd flip over K..... AJo? Eh? Wow, AJo, and I was in better shape then I thought until the flop came out K Q T to flop him a nut straight but gave me a set. Not worried in the least because a T on the turn filled me up and more the doubled me up.

I did a lot of folding after that since the table started getting very loose with several dominated hands hitting their horrible kickers for two pair. And soon I was back to par with T1500 and blinds up to 200/400 after the first break and looked down at A5s in the BB. Folded around (which was very rare) the kid next to me pushed, seeing I only had under three BBs left I said "I'm probably dominated but you need to get lucky somewhere" and called to see his JTo. Surprised once again! The board didn't improve either one of us and I had some chips again! People started dropping left and right and soon we were consolidated to two tables. Blinds started getting high again for me as I was only able to steal once with A3o. Then I got lucky.

Kd7s in the BB and 2 people limped in and the SB completed. I checked with T2000 left and blinds at 500/1000. Board 5 6 8 of diamonds. Whoa. I figured if there was a good as spot as any to draw this was as good as it gets barring the Ace of Diamonds being out there. SB checked, I pushed my two yellow chips in, the limpers folded while the SB thought long but he was second in chips with plenty to cover my meager bet. He called with 99 (I can't lose to my favorite hand!) I figured I was ahead or slightly behind.

Resulthttp://twodimes.net/h/?z=873862
pokenum -h kd 7s - 9h 9s -- 5d 6d 8d
Holdem Hi: 990 enumerated boards containing 8d 6d 5d
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
7s Kd 549 55.45 437 44.14 4 0.40 0.557
9s 9h 437 44.14 549 55.45 4 0.40 0.443

The turn was a lovely Jack of Diamonds, and Drizz was back in action!

We got down to 13 people and after another orbit of folding I caught JTo in the BB. One limper, SB completed, I checked to see a board of 2 8 9 rainbow. Check, check, check (wasn't sure about pushing here but I figured if I'm gonna get a free draw, why not take it?). Again my luck prevail when the 7 rained down on the turn completing the rainbow and giving me the nut straight. The limper checked again and the SB woke up with a min bet. I quietly announced all in with my remaining T4000 in chips. He thought for awhile, called to flip over Q8o. My nut straight got so oooohhhhh and ahhhhhhhhs from the rail. Now I was sitting much prettier. Since the other table had an all-in every hand for 4 hands in a row till two people busted there and one person busted on our table to make up the final table!!

I'd like to say I played well, but all the aggression that I showed at the Aladdin and here went out the window (or maybe its because I stopped drinking during level 3...). A5o with the blinds at 2K/4K and me holding T8000? Nope, and would have flopped two pair and tripled up. Sigh. 53sOOOOOOted? Would have flopped a boat. GAH! I finally settled on pushing with K9o in the BB when a 9 flopped on a 9 high board. I was called by a guy who was chipping up then losing every other hand. He turned over ATs with two flush cards on the board. The turn completed his flush and IGHN.... but wait he had 7K in chips which left me with.... a chip and a chair. Next hand he pushed out the BB and I was all-in vs. the lucky bastard again. He flipped up 4s on a cordinated board of 9 8 K with two diamonds. Strange bet, but worked. I flip over deuce of diamonds and whoa! the ace of diamonds. But, my flush didn't come and I was out 8th for a $100 payday.

The wife was playing slots the whole time and wasn't too pleased since the weather turned windy and cool leaving her to spend most of the time in the casino. But, I treated her to a nicely comped chicken strip basket, and I snarfed down a bacon cheeseburger with fries. And all was right in the universe again.

Later that night we dined at Kahunaville at Treasure Island. They have bartenders slinging drinks and bottles every 30-45 minutes, and a mini water/light show similar to the Belliago but on a much smaller scale. After all the greasiness and 10 gallons of rum and cokes I'd consume, I settled on a nice ceasear salad with chicken (of course I had a rum runner with it).

Dinner was filling as we took our seats to view Mystere. Since we always get our seats to shows when we get our airline tickets (3 months in advance) we got second row seats dead middle. The show was like nothing I'd ever seen before. There was so much going on: Acrobats, a funny composer looking guy making jokes with the audience, people climbing on the walls. If the other Cirque Du Soleil shows are similar, count me in for them on all our future trips. Very highly recommended and worth the $100 ticket cost.

After all that action I finally crashed hard in getting my first sleep over 3 hours since we'd arrived on Sunday.

Next Post: Vegas Day 5, The Last Day of Summer Vacation... sigh

Shameless Pic Of Final Table Payout

O8 Strategy and Oh Canada! (but not without a passport)

Follow this link to a GREAT guide on how to beat those small to medium buy in Limit O8 tourneys: Tom Bayes Omaha Tournament Guide

Great work Tom!

And today's WTF award goes out to the US government.

Going to Canada? Have your passport ready! Sigh.

Vegas Day 3: The Search For Imperial Palace's Poker Room

I started the day refreshed from a whole two hours of sleep or maybe it was that morning rum and coke while throwing away yet more money to the stupid slots. In any regards I surprised the wife with some delicious Krispy Kreme donuts (The Official Vegas Breakfast of Champions). She goes for the bismarks while I like the plain original or if I'm feeling frisky one with chocolate and sprinkles. A question: why don't the gift shops carry milk even though you can get just about any other type of liquid? Sigh.

After opening the blinds and seeing that the wind finally died down, and there was a lot less cloud coverage she decided to go to the pool while I was going to check out Imperial Palace's morning poker tournament per Poker Prof's tourney schedule. The walk over to IP was beautiful with the morning joggers running by, porn slappers gearing up to hand out information on young ladies looking for companionship, and the group of guys with those oversized Bud Light cans and Nascar hats looking like they showered sometime last month. I took a couple of moments while crossing the bridge to the Venetian just to take it all in. Vegas has an energy of its own just viewing it.

I arrived at IP approximately 30 minutes prior to the tourney's start (later then suggested, I'd suggest at least an hour because these things fill up fast). Since I have never been to IPs poker room I wandered the casino floor (NOT PLAYING SLOTS) in search of the poker tables. After making a loop around the entire 1st floor, I determined that it was not there and sought directions like a family going to a gas station while on a road trip. First stop was the gift shop. The lady kindly told me to go up the esclators and that would take me to the room. Great! Except one problem, the esclators brought me to a restaurant and only a restaurant. Go down, this time lets try a bartender! I get pointed towards the escalator again, so thinking that I was Ray Charles and missed a turn up there I try again. Sure enough, only a restaurant as the nice cashier stated. Unfortunately she couldn't help me since she didn't know there was a poker room (that's not good news). Now I've been in the casino for 20 minutes looking like a flustered tourist who lost his wallet, and decide on asking the best looking waitress I could find (hey its Vegas I'm allowed to look, right?). A petite asian drink server with sultry voice that could seduce a gay guy into going hetero politely points me towards the Geisha Bar and the SECOND escalator which goes to the poker room. SCORE!

I raced up the long escalator (actually the stairs since the escalator was kaput), turned left and found the poker room at long last. The room isn't really a "room" its roped off next to the smallish Keno bar and a small bank of slots. Fairly clean with approximately 10 tables which had 2 running tables of $2/$4 limit going (I believe they spread $3/$6 as well). I was handed a sheet with the new daily tournaments available, there was one at 7pm but I was planing on spending the evening with the missus, but there was one tomorrow at 10am.

After buying in for two racks of chips (yes I overbuy a bit because the towers look pretty) I was informed about a player's club which you earn comps for each hour of play. I wasn't planning on staying long but $3/hour sounds good to me! They also provided some cookies (quite good), coffee, and water, but I was more interested in the drink service. Slow at first, but its amazing how the lovely waitresses remember you and your drink after a few tips :P The dealers were very friendly, with the exception of a grouchy dealer who didn't like my assistance in passing the button along (every other dealer didn't mind). The players were an assortment of drunk tourists (I guess I'd qualify, but I'd like to think I can play poker somewhat), rockish locals, two very good players (one even from Minnesota!), and two kids who looked like teenagers but had the super-cool poker glasses on. I left 15BBs up, a couple of suckouts went my way (trip jacks vs. my trip jacks lower kicker but I filled up on the river), others didn't (AA vs. 83o and runner-runner straight). After four hours it was time to go back to see if the wife got the sunburn/tan she wanted.

After grabbing a light dinner of chicken strips (wowowowowow) at the Treasure Island's deli we headed down to the Sportsbook with our big $10 bets on Minnesota to win their NCAA Women's B-ball game. Drink service once again was awesome (tips definitely work in this town!), hell I'm only paying $1-$2 for a drink its worth it. Some college aged kids were dancing after the close of the Maverick's game, it wasn't until I saw the cashier grab a brick of 100s to see why they were dancing. Feeling rather limp with my $10 bet, I decide to go wild and bet $2 on some ponies. I'm no BG in any sense, I pick strickly on numbers, name, and odds in that order. After a nice $7.80 exact box win we watched the lady Gophers advance in the NCAA tourney (where they lost to eventual to the eventual champs Baylor).

The wife was tired and retired back to the room while I was still wired for more poker goodness, so I headed over to the Mirage again. After viewing a craps game for 5-10 minutes with a Jewish guy who had all numbers covered for $5K and assorted hardway bets (he "won" $20-$25K while I was watching), I decided to take my low-rolling self to play poker.

I tilted hard.

After two hours of decent play I was 5BBs up and find the Hilton Sisters in my lap. One limper ahead of me, I raise, both blinds and the limper call.

Board Q 5 9 rainbow

Limper checks, I bet, all call.

Turn 4

Limper checks, I bet, SB folds, BB calls, limper folds.

River 2

BB wakes up like someone lit a stick of dynamite under his seat and pushes out a bet. I was 99% sure I was beat and the Hulk-like anger started to swell up inside me. I called, and sure enough he turns over A3o for the perfect runner-runner straight. I blame my lack of live play for my actions next. I flung my cards into the muck, unfortunately one of them skipped like a smooth rock off water and hit the dealer. I immediately apologized and told him it was not his fault but the damage was done, I felt like the biggest asshole in the world. After throwing a toke to the dealer and another apology, I left in a huff. Poker was not fun at that point. Looking back, yeah I should have handled it better, but you need to make mistakes before you can learn from them. And I learned a big one right there. Because I tilted off money at the slots going back to TI. I spent the next 1-2 hours wandering between the various card games just watching which to me is sometimes more exciting than actually playing.

Next up Vegas Day 4: Final Table Time Baby!

Are You On Full Tilt? (if not you should be!)

As I was playing some $.50/$1 NLHE on Full Tilt last night I kept a close eye on the UNC score. When I saw the halftime score and UNC with a commanding lead I directed my full attention back to playing and started the dreams of actually winning TWO NCAA pools! Everyone ahead of me picked Illinois vs. UNC but.... they all picked Illinois to win it all. SUCKERS! Yes, Roy Williams and the gaggle of future NBA players managed to flop a 15 point lead and almost get rivered at the end but a missed 3-pointer and a rebound put some nice cash into my pocket this morning. And after spending $5,000 to get our roof re-shingled yesterday, I need it.

I saw the BBJ at Party getting rather bloated again so I tried unsuccessfully to tap it, but there were 3 different times a jackpot board was up and one person had either the quads or the straight flush. CMON PEOPLE PLAY 67s TO THE RIVER!!! I also checked out a new WSOP sub-qualifier. Good lord these players were wackier then a bus full soccer moms hopped up on triple mocha lattes from Starbucks. All-in first hand pre-flop.... K9s, A4s, 77. I actually played three hands before pushing my starting-sized stack with ATs in position to get CALLED by someone else with a similar stack with... K9s. The nine hit the turn and I'll have to wait longer now before I can kid with Johnny Fuckin Chan about his orange.

Full Tilt provided my first winning session in a week with a couple of really bad plays and a thought provoking one.... let me know HOW WOULD YOU PLAY IT?

(.50/1 NLHE ) 84s in the BB, 2 limpers, SB completes, I check... flop comes A 7 6 one of my suit. SB checks, I check, 2 limpers check, check check check check. The turn a 5 of my suit. I now have a straight and a re-draw to a straight flush. SB checks, I check (I normally don't slow-play, and this was probably a bad place to do it...), one limper wakes up for a $3 bet, next limper folds, the SB wakes up also and pops it to $10. We all have similar stacks ~$80 at this point. I pushed seeing the bet and raise thinking someone caught a set and even though he'd be drawing live, I was well ahead with one card coming and he'd call my bet. The original bettor folded (he said he had top two, so did I miss some bets there?). The SB calls turns over PRESTO! The river was a blank and I won my first stack in a week. I was ok with my push since I was 90% sure the SB would call, but did I miss bets with shutting out the original bettor? I'll let those who play this game better then I answer that one.

I thank the gambling gods for shining a little light on me yesterday, my wallet thanks you.

More then likely no poker tonight since mom is having me, my brother, and sister over for dinner tonight. I'll put up my Vegas Trip part drei tomorrow, today I'm a little swimmy in the head and I can't think straight as my writting probably shows.

Oh, if there's anyone out there that could help with the design of the webpage, please please let me know. I'd really like to improve the look of it since it looks like crap with links all over the place and everything looks like it got stuffed into a girdle. Thank you kindly, and have a good Tuesday!!

Little Drizz speaks...

 

Little Drizz wanted to say....  2 MORE MONTH TO WPBT IN VEGAS!!!

Get your cowbell ready!

Anyone up for yard work?

Those are all filled with leaves.  Over 70, 39 Gallon bags full.

Please Don't Feed The Monkey

Its been a bad two weeks for me. Many stacks lost. Stupid "tricky" plays backfiring horribly. Not getting away from 2nd best hands. Grinding away at tourneys only to get hit with the ass end of variance.

4th out 94 BoDog WPT Qualifier (Top 3 get a seat): AQ vs. A6 rivered a 6, I get $0

4th out 18 Stars $10+$1 SnG: AQ vs A7 rivered a 7, I get $18 after being the chip leader most of the time

13th out of 157 Stars $20+$2 Limit O8: AAK6 vs 2569: He calls two bets cold and outflops me, I couldn't stop myself, I get $36.78 for 3 hours of play

45th out of 108 WPBT $20+$2 NLHE: AK vs AT: Take a guess at the turn card, I get $0

17th out of 120 $10+ $1 Empire $1,000 NLHE: 88 vs. A8, (listen for sounds of a sailing monitor...), I get $12 for 3 hours of play thanks to hand-for-hand starting 10 from the money, and my Leeann Chin's seasame chicken was getting cold.

Whine, whine, whine. At this point its becoming commonplace for me to assume that nasty 2 outer is going to hit. I've lost at least 5 stacks or 6-7BBs in the last two week due to a mix of calling when I know I'm beat or the villian hitting his 2-3 outer. I can't remember the last time I hit a hand and got paid off. Its getting tougher and tougher not to tilt away what I've built up over the past year. I guess that's why playing poker over the long-term is not for everybody. Dealing with variance is hard. So how does one deal with running bad at the tables? Walking away was great suggestion from a certain beer swilling dwarf (sorry for all the beat stories Iggy, I promise more shine less whine next time I make rhyme, sound fine?).

Yes, walking away was good unless you were going to the casino the next day. Bowling tourney at Black Bear Casino (actually the bowling alley is in town then everyone goes the casino afterwards). They decided the lanes were "too easy" last year so this year they decided to slick up the alleys and make them faster then the greens at Augusta. This doesn't mean shit to someone who throws a straight ball, but when the oil literally splashes while trying to throw a hook? I think I would have fared better bowling on ice.

After the dismal failure of a Pete Weber impersonation, I tried playing blackjack for the first time in a while. I've done fairly well with computer blackjack so what's the difference? The difference is the dealer taking my $100 in 7 hands. Hell, the beer I ordered didn't even get to the table before I was done. I think I had one hand over 18 which got smacked by a 6 card 21. Like I said, I'm running bad at the moment. As for poker I hit up the $3-$6 table at Black Bear and came out -3BBs. I played weak-tight for some reason for the first two hours then opened up a bit and found my raises and bets getting a lot of respect. I won't go into the gory details of the two beats that left me in the minus because I'd like to write about other things then how flopped sets lose to runner-runner straights and such.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood yesterday so much of it was spent outside doing yard work after we got home from the casino. We can finally see underneath the 4 inch-thick pile of leaves. I'll take a picture of it tonight and you can decide if it looks like spring cleaning or the trash pile after a Bash At the Boathouse party.

I closed out the night after an IM from a beautiful, young poker player saying there was a HORSE tourney at Full Tilt (BONUS CODE: Drizz99). It was short but fun once again. I broke the cardinal rule of poker by trying to run off a calling station, leaving myself out of tourney 27th out of 45. I played like a guy on tilt when I called off those chips. I think I'm going to take the next few days off and really delve into the Pokertracker guide and try to find where I'm calling off my chips in situations that I CAN control rather then mope about the lucky cards that I can't control.

Good luck and root for UNC tonight (I'm actually in the running to win two different brackets since no one else picked them to win!!!!). Go Tar Heels!!

A case of the shoulda, woulda, coulda, woulda

I suck.

Maybe next time when its not 3am I'll play better closer to the final table.

Edit: Just finished a MTT on Empire 120 people down to 17.... lost 88 vs A8. I'm hating variance at the moment. Carry on. Oh, I earned a whole dollar for the 3 hour tournament thanks to hand for hand starting with 30 left.