Showing posts with label WBCOOP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBCOOP. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Change starts with getting out of bed

Thundercats, thundercats, thundercats, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Let's see we brought back Transformers and "found" Megan Fox, who will profit and become the lust of males once Cheetara makes it to the big screen?

The WBCOOP kicked off with a PLO on Monday afternoon which like most hard working cubical-bound workers I was not able to attend.  Last night, I was bound to my headless chicken schedule that had me going from a 10 hour day at the office and exiting the new Maple Grove library at closing time with a fictional tax return done for Bob and Amy Booth who will be receiving $1,337 Sklansky Bucks in the mail from the IRS or Mason Malmuth thanks to me finding an extra deduction for washing Amy's nursing uniform.  Tax deductions?  I jump on it.  Still hoping to play the PLO8 tourney tonight (nope, skating classes for the kids), and definitely the Thursday night round when my textbooks are shoved aside to let my inner degen before my body gets crippled into something resembling responsibility *shudder*

I see Michelle Bachman once again spouts the evils of ObamaCare (see third or fourth video) last night and continues her waffling ways of demeaning BIG government while continuing to tell gamblers they should not be allowed to spend their money the way they want to while fighting the repel of the UIGEA.  America is not Burger King Ms. Bachman, you can't have it your way and expect the country to run.  As I learned yesterday as I spoke with a co-worker about religion (I know, shouldn't do that) that according to her Muslims will be continuing their blood-thirsty war until all other's are wiped from the earth.  And using my face reading skills, she was dead serious.  The uninformed people of the US, and there are many, are the greatest threat to this country.  Even I regret to know nor understand the inner-workings of our government and politics in general but I do understand that neither "party" is working for that middle ground and that goes for the State of the Union speaker last night as well.

To expect everyone to wake up educated on what is going on is a practice in futilely.  Much like trying to teach Waffles tilt-control or bankroll management, the majority of this country is lower-middle income God-fearing people who believe what they see on the TV, and do not research the vast amount to information available on the internet to see if a story is true.  If their pastor, rabbi, other person-of-the-cloth says its true and dangummit it MUST BE!  The hypocrisy of things like holding a state lottery and not allowing gambling, or politicians like Michelle Bachman who slam big government (rightfully so) but offer no solutions (maybe she does but in all the videos I have seen of her its nothing but finger-pointing versus a platform). 

Nothing will change here until someone steps up to solve the problem.  My wheels have been spinning career wise much like Ferris Bueller's Ferrari when him and Cam tried reversing the mileage so I did something about it.  The bachelor's degree doesn't guarantee me a job, far from it, but at least there is no glass ceiling from the position I want "Supreme Overlord Galxicia King of the Spreadsheet" if you must know or "Staff Accountant".  Instead of sitting in my current position waiting for a hand out, waiting for divine intervention, I got active.  Most people in this country think a higher title, more money, is being "active" or "winning".  Absolutely wrong.  It's feeling good about where you are, and where you are going.  Two years ago I probably would break down from my schedule, weeping how bad I have it.  Instead, I look at how lucky I am to have a house that stands and keeps people warm, I have two kids who are disease-free, I have a wife who is trying to fit into a bikini again because she wants to feel better about herself (she still has a great ass), and me, finally breaking free of the martyr mindset and enjoying my long nights stiffing thru Latin names for the muscles of the body and seeing just how lucky I am to be learning, advancing, and best of all working towards being a better person.

Ok, sappy shit aside, people are not going to change much like my co-workers who are set in their ways, but that doesn't mean you have to blindly follow their road into perpetual apathy.  As a long-lost blogger who recently came back to pen some feelings about his journey and I feel exactly the same:

"So here I am, 7 years after I wrote the above lines, ready to start again. I have changed. My voice has changed, my style has changed. I still think about poker a lot, although I am not as immersed in it as I once was. I will be writing about life here. Hopefully you’ll join me for the ride."  - HDouble




Thursday, January 20, 2011

Earning my yearly poker blog cred

With an added $325 from Full Tilt and PokerStars all thanks to the WPBT Luckbox last longer and added money by Poker From the Rail.  I hear some extremely talented writers drop by that site and write about poker, I think you should check out this post:  Aftermath of Winning for such an example of awesomeness.

Or lameness.

Because Al is downing hurricanes and stripper's g-strings while I'm hoping my car doesn't break down in the ass cold sub-human temps we are set to receive with zero lube for the next few days.  Actually the lube would turn into an icicle with painful results, so keep the Astroglide indoors for safe use with your 16 gear rabbit vibrator.

Many semi-busy bloggers *points at self* have the fancy graphic of PokerStars' World Blogger Championship of Online Poker blinking on their dusty online journals ready for the battle to see who's got game behind the swirl of horrible puns and barely readable metaphors.  Maybe a few of you can write, and some knock it out of the park with the funny (see:  Wolves by Hyperbole and a half and always tip your babysitter even they managed to not steal anything).

Pot Limit Omaha January 24     14:00 ET     Tournament ID 339187689 

No Limit Hold’em  January 25     19:00 ET    Tournament ID 339187690

PL Omaha H/L    January 26     22:00 ET    Tournament ID 339187691

No Limit Hold’em    January 27     14:00 ET    Tournament ID 339187692

8-Game Mix         January 28     17:00 ET    Tournament ID 339187695

No Limit Hold’em     January 29     15:00 ET    Tournament ID 339187696

There's your line up kids, fear not as I have zero chance of playing the first tourney because I am the lame and responsible type who will be pecking away at spreadsheets instead of winning a free trip to SCOOP.

It will be tempting to stay up for the Wednesday tourney of course because who needs sleep when a split game tourney is guaranteed to go at least 6 hours which is exactly when my alarm would ring my ass up for work. 

Saturday, January 15, 2011

WBCOOP at PokerStars

Online PokerI have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 640181



Home blogger team gotta defend their turf yo!  See you at the PLO8 tourney at least.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Flight Options Taken

Playing poker is tough enough with the swings, the beat, the grind, the math but add in antsy kids and a wife who had a tough day at the office and well playing poker gets put in the back seat with the groceries.

It came at an inopportune time last night for all three of them to express their displeasure of having to wait for the degenerate to continue a quest towards a World Blogger Championship of Online Poker final table so they could go to the restaurant they were promised once dear old dad busted out. Hour one could have happened early but I managed to make a few hands. Hour two I caught some hands. But, the thermometer reached a high and poker thinking was shut down and yes I could have just sit out and probably made the SCOOP cash, but instead I just pushed the chips away while powering down the laptop.

Dumb? Poker wise, yes. Family wise, easy decision. Anti-climatic from doing a live blog for over two hours? Grrrrrrr.

Thus the conundrum of a middling poker player having to balance Dr. Seuss stories with razor sharp total concentration (example below) just doesn't happen. At any point during a rush that phone call has to be answered, that cry for help on subtraction problems needs to be heard, and frankly it's a no-brainer for me to leave the felt and work out the removal of digits from my son's homework.



There's the 8-Game tourney later in the week that I'm eyeing as the main event is slated right in the middle of the three tourneys I'm covering and definitely is out. I did manage to carve out a little me-time as the green light was lit for a G-Vegas visit in March and barring life-threatening issues, my focus will be on one thing:

Being with good friends with good drinks and adding yet more memories with these people that went from fonted letter with various blinking icons to certified friends that I'd chat about anything with. Including the signing of Jim Thome by the Twinkies yesterday. Meh.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

WBCOOP Event #2 Live Blog

6:19pm -- and OUT. Flop bad end of the straight versus the nut straight, just didn't believe him and I fall short of the money in 199th place. Could have saved the river but decided he was pushing a set. Until next time guys! GG!

6:17pm -- By far the worse part of a tournament, the stalling has begun by the smaller stacks. Thankfully at my table nearly everyone has over T10K chips.

6:14pm -- Home stretch for the first set of SCOOP bucks is coming up as I slip under par for the first time since my double double back in the first hour. Still healthy at T13,875 but an angry wife may change my ability to sit on the laptop any longer.

6:09pm -- Ok trying to do the blogger exacta of Twittering while live blogging is making this tough but manageable. Still hoping the wife offers steak or some wine soon. T13,875 with 220 left

6:07pm -- The last of the dead stacks are finally having their corpse being peeled away from the their chairs as the money bubble fast approaches. Holding at T14,175 with blinds up to 150/300



6:02pm -- Raise on the second hand back from the break and get the table to fold around T14,325

5:58pm -- Adult beverage #2 is consumed as we have 269 players remaining and 153 of us will take away at least $11 in SCOOP cash

5:53pm -- Flop a wrap straight draw with [Kc] [Td] [9s] [5d] and it gets there on the turn but one the big stacks does not pay off my value bet on the river. Regardless the 4,000 chip pot gets me to T14,000 as the break is here to give me time to hug the kids.

5:47pm -- With par at ~9,300 my stack of T12,000 is looking good and Granite City's yummy hops and barley will have to wait for another time until I enter the land of bad decisions against the two big stacks. Blinds at 125/250 with 319 players remaining.

5:41pm -- Big blind special hit a set of deuces, turn the underboat while calling a scary pot bet from the big stack and my deuces full of aces turns out to be good as we jump into five digit territory T11,060 and blinds moving up to 100/200 with about 400 players remaining.

5:35pm -- Not sure if my sudden ability to fold some middling connector hands is the way to the promise land of the final table and those juicy $215 SCOOP buy-ins but so far its working as I haven't moved up or moved back but rather just doing the electric slide with my chips T6,005. What the electric slide looks like shown below:



5:31pm -- for those with 20,000 FPPs sitting around you may want to check out today's VIP special from PokerStars' January store special. $285 bonus is 20% off today.

5:28pm -- another club flush, this time flopped from the small blind and we'll take another minor chip up to T6,005 with blinds at 75/150 and 639 players remaining.

5:25pm -- Well lookie here, its a club flush! Ok, just a minor chip up but I'll take it T5,375 with blinds moving up shortly.

5:20pm -- Pressure from the big stacks is coming out as TomDowd and John_Galt are imposing their stacks on the table and with my crappy position I'm left in passive mode again. Hope and wait are not two things I do well. T4,775 blinds at 60/120

5:15pm -- Snag some blind vs. blind action and get to T5,495 but whiff against the chip leader with [As][6s][Jc][Tc] and go back to Go and do not collect $200. T5,195 blinds up to 60/120.

5:07pm -- Flop top set and bet into two limpers? They fold. Try to bluff? Get called by third pair. T5,645 blinds move up to 50/100. Get [7s] [As] [Ac] [3c] on the button and raise getting one of the big stacks to call. Flop [6d] [7h] [Qd] bet 700 and get check-raised, had to let it go fearing the uber-draw. T5,195

5:03pm -- After playing about six straight hands, the fold button finally came back into play as two big stacks will need to contend with each other and hopefully leave me alone to fold in peace, until I have the nuts of course. T5,945 blinds at 40/80

5:00pm -- Only $20?!?! Just grabbed a frequent player mailing from the local Treasure Island casino and they're offering 20 bucks for me to lavish their slot machines with my hard(ly) earned poker bucks. It's getting recycled.

4:53pm -- More good luck from the land of positions. A super stack of T23,000 just plopped down on the button. Lock down mode looks to be the play. Down to T6,185 as we head to the first break.

4:47pm -- Table change and once again the big stack is on my left holding nearly T10,000 chips after showing down a couple of strong hands and winning at showdown. May need to revert to tighter play as the blinds move up once again to 40/80.

4:40pm -- DOUBLE UP!! and DOUBLE UP!! first hand [Jd] [9d] [Ks] [Qd] caught a jack on the flop, a gutter ball straight draw on the turn, and hit the nut straight on the river against a bluffer's caught ass-end of the straight and T3,455 was shipped my way. Five hands later get a very strong [Ad] [Ah] [Qh] [Ks] raise with one caller. Flop comes out [Kh] [2h] [6d] 150 chips is called, [Js] on the turn and we both shove, he caught two pair and an open-ender with [2s] [Qs] [Jh] [Th], but the [Qc] on the river gives me the higher two pair and we're solvent again at T6,315 with 30/60 blinds.

4:35pm -- Need to revert to level one thinking, too many bluffs at tight boards is killing my stack and that dinner at the restaurant is looking more feasible than a SCOOP ticket at this point. T1,865 with blinds at 25/50

4:30pm -- Ugh, this guy is really pinning me down. No chances to bluff as I'm unable to call his re-raises after I bluff at a [9d] [Th] [8c] board. Down to T2,040

4:27pm -- Chip leader at the table is turning very aggressive and unfortunately is on my immediate left down to T2,500 after whiffing on a connector hand and can't call his/her POT POT POT POT bets.

4:24pm -- Folding [Ah][6h][2d][4c] my PLO8 heart weeps a little inside, no really big pots at the new table yet.

4:18pm -- Limp in with [Td] [Jh] [Ad] [8d] and the flop is very nice [Ks] [9h] [7c]. Bet of 90 is called in two places whiff on the [3d] turn and fold to a pot bet when the [Kd] hits the river. Booooo for missed wrap draws! T2,800

4:14pm -- I feel should have something to drink, as its been 15 whole minutes and I still have not busted! I think the Captain is calling. T3,120




4:10pm -- Miss out a huge hand when AAXX goes up against AAXX all-in preflop and my decent connecting [9s] [Qd] [8c] [Jd] would have nailed quads. Folding = bad

4:05pm -- First big hand [7s] [As] [Qd] [Ac] flop a flush draw, slowly increasing bets on the turn and river the flush but it also pairs the board. A 300 chip "value" bet is called and the flush is good. Up to 3,140

4:03pm -- While I certainly play more Omaha than Hold Em' (yes a rare breed, stop starring) Omaha Hi is something I've only recently dipped a toe into.

4:00pm -- And.... we're off. By folding I set the tone for many more aggressive folds.




3:53pm -- Even if I do bust early, I still win by going to me second favorite restaurant Granite City for some microbrew and a peppercorn cheeseburger the size of my three year old daughter.

3:45pm -- 1,563 bloggers in this event gonna need some good music...



Oh, this is Omaha HI? Well hopefully the bicycle straight will be good. Note to self: do not chase low draws



3:35pm -- Fox Sports will not be announcing today's World Blogger Championship of Online Poker but I am! Well, as long as I'm in the running and not throwing my laptop from that flush draw getting there. I'll be back at 4:00pm (this is in Central Time) to give this first person live blogging a shot.


3:30pm --




Howie: Honestly there's no one that can touch Drizztdj today?!?! His skillz and toughness will bring himself either the title or a humiliating early defeat

Jimmy: How does my hair look today?

Terry: I LIKE THE WAY THIS GUY THROWS THE FOOTBALL! We're talking about Brett Favre right?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Splitting the Turn and River

Is there any poker downtime anymore?

The start of Tennis' Australian Open means the Aussie Million should be kicking off... yep. Good luck to those covering and playing.

And we bloggers have our own free attempt to become high rollers once SCOOP at PokerStars rolls around. As the WBCOOP kicks off next week with a series of freerolls to enter players into the Spring Championship of Online Poker with a chance of fancy watches and bundles of cash (not to mention the probability of a dashing poker blogger writing about your exploits).

The Borgata had the single reason Southern Comfort turns a profit every year in a line that rivaled any DisneyWorld ride to enter their 2010 Winter Open. Check out his live-ish Tweet-fest from donkey-land here.

We'll stop this poker reporting for a breaking development. Ever wonder what lady bobsledders are wearing while you watch the Winter Olympics come up soon? Wonder no more:



Much better than Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction by far.

Tonight a return to the virtual felt for me as a warm-up for next week as I'd like to be a part of SCOOP in a writer/player capacity much like Pete Rose being a player/manager/gambler for the Phillies. Except without the asshole holier-than-thou attitude and busty sidekicks while signing autographs at a Vegas sports memorabilia store. Instead I'll surround myself with two kids that have no off button, a handle of Captain, and a signature worth less than Tiger Woods' current endorsement deals.