Posts forthcoming....
Freaking exhausted, and I went home early each night comparitively speaking. (4am, 6am, 4am)
The G-Rob, Otis, CJ express pulled one all-nighter which was just stupid sick. I cannot compete.
A small teaser: One G-Vegas veteran took a $3500 bat beat via a one-outer.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
Fool Proof
Well, color me dumb. Someone else went out and bought the furniture at its reduced price the day before my wife could get back there. Ooops. Best laid plans and all.
The countdown to Tunica is at 3 days right now. Based on my ability to make solid, fool-proof plans, here’s what I anticipate going down in Mississippi.
I will arrive in Memphis on Thursday wherein G-Rob and I will meet up with Otis and TheMark. Because those two booked later than us, they were able to fly though GSP less expensively than our flights were through Charlotte. We gambled on prices going up and lost. Still, their 40-minute wait time for us will allow them to rent a car for the drive to Tunica.
We will check in to the Grand and formulate the plan for Day 1. For me, Day 1 will include a trip to the Gold Strike Casino and their $1/$2 NL tables. I plan on easing into the trip rather than head right to $2/$5. Soon after sitting down, I will be dealt pocket Jacks and flop quads. My skill at slowplaying them will be rewarded with a bad beat against runner-runner straight flush. Oddly, that will have been my plan all along.
I will gaze up at the LED in the poker room to the sign that says: Bad Beat Jackpot - $80,000. I will receive my loser’s 40% share and collect my $32k. After which point, I will register for the WPT main event that is to start on Sunday, the day I’m supposed to leave.
I will re-book my flight home to coincide with my final table appearance. I will luckbox my way to a several hundred thousand dollar payoff by finishing 3rd.
Sounds pretty reasonable.
The countdown to Tunica is at 3 days right now. Based on my ability to make solid, fool-proof plans, here’s what I anticipate going down in Mississippi.
I will arrive in Memphis on Thursday wherein G-Rob and I will meet up with Otis and TheMark. Because those two booked later than us, they were able to fly though GSP less expensively than our flights were through Charlotte. We gambled on prices going up and lost. Still, their 40-minute wait time for us will allow them to rent a car for the drive to Tunica.
We will check in to the Grand and formulate the plan for Day 1. For me, Day 1 will include a trip to the Gold Strike Casino and their $1/$2 NL tables. I plan on easing into the trip rather than head right to $2/$5. Soon after sitting down, I will be dealt pocket Jacks and flop quads. My skill at slowplaying them will be rewarded with a bad beat against runner-runner straight flush. Oddly, that will have been my plan all along.
I will gaze up at the LED in the poker room to the sign that says: Bad Beat Jackpot - $80,000. I will receive my loser’s 40% share and collect my $32k. After which point, I will register for the WPT main event that is to start on Sunday, the day I’m supposed to leave.
I will re-book my flight home to coincide with my final table appearance. I will luckbox my way to a several hundred thousand dollar payoff by finishing 3rd.
Sounds pretty reasonable.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Negotiations
I’m easy. I really am. My wife, who’s known me for the past 12 1/2 years, can read me like a book. It’s so scary that I wonder that if she sat down and played poker with me for a decent amount of time, would she be able to figure out my two hole cards each time.
Here’s the situation: She wants new furniture. Not new-new, but new to us. It’s on consignment. It’s some Pier 1 furniture, and according to her it’s really good stuff. I have to trust her, just as she does me when I say plastic dice chips are “teh suck.”
Her first salvo was a phone call to me at work. She started talking about her income as a part-time teacher and how much of her paycheck was available for an additional purchase. The answer was easy, zero. We’re not exactly depositing any part of her check into savings or investments lately.
Undeterred, she still explained to me the details. An $1100 set of living room furniture had been dropped down to $900 and then $750. The woman at the store said, “At this price, it won’t be here long.” Inside, I knew that was a joke. The stuff wasn’t moving any time soon; but to my wife, those words had their exact desired effect.
I held firm. We’re still not finished paying for Christmas, so now is not the time to go buy any new furniture. Even though we were still on the phone, I could feel the puppy dog eyes of disappointment on the other end. We hung up, and I thought to have claimed a minor victory.
Until the next day that is.
I got home from work at my standard time, quite relaxed actually, which was far from the norm. She had this evil, knowing smile on her face so I knew immediately something was up. The gas grill on the porch was on and there was some nice steak marinating in a glass dish on the countertop.
Hmm…I really like steak. Where is this going?
“You know honey,” she began, “if you let me buy the furniture, I’ll give you a third night each week to go play live poker.”
Was she feverish? Wow, this was a desperation move. A Hail Mary if you will.
“I went back to the store and they dropped the price even more.”
Big surprise. Not.
She continued, “If I use the rest of my Christmas money from my grandmother, I only need $500 more to buy it.”
And then the crushing blow, the coup de grace.
“By the way, your poker chips came in the mail today.” (I had ordered more custom ceramics to round out my set.)
I buckled. I bent. I broke. She won. Steak, new chips, more live poker, lower price – she’s a master manipulator who just gets better with age. I am her sock puppet.
If she had right then and there pulled out G-Rob’s Staple’s Easy Button and pressed it, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Here’s the situation: She wants new furniture. Not new-new, but new to us. It’s on consignment. It’s some Pier 1 furniture, and according to her it’s really good stuff. I have to trust her, just as she does me when I say plastic dice chips are “teh suck.”
Her first salvo was a phone call to me at work. She started talking about her income as a part-time teacher and how much of her paycheck was available for an additional purchase. The answer was easy, zero. We’re not exactly depositing any part of her check into savings or investments lately.
Undeterred, she still explained to me the details. An $1100 set of living room furniture had been dropped down to $900 and then $750. The woman at the store said, “At this price, it won’t be here long.” Inside, I knew that was a joke. The stuff wasn’t moving any time soon; but to my wife, those words had their exact desired effect.
I held firm. We’re still not finished paying for Christmas, so now is not the time to go buy any new furniture. Even though we were still on the phone, I could feel the puppy dog eyes of disappointment on the other end. We hung up, and I thought to have claimed a minor victory.
Until the next day that is.
I got home from work at my standard time, quite relaxed actually, which was far from the norm. She had this evil, knowing smile on her face so I knew immediately something was up. The gas grill on the porch was on and there was some nice steak marinating in a glass dish on the countertop.
Hmm…I really like steak. Where is this going?
“You know honey,” she began, “if you let me buy the furniture, I’ll give you a third night each week to go play live poker.”
Was she feverish? Wow, this was a desperation move. A Hail Mary if you will.
“I went back to the store and they dropped the price even more.”
Big surprise. Not.
She continued, “If I use the rest of my Christmas money from my grandmother, I only need $500 more to buy it.”
And then the crushing blow, the coup de grace.
“By the way, your poker chips came in the mail today.” (I had ordered more custom ceramics to round out my set.)
I buckled. I bent. I broke. She won. Steak, new chips, more live poker, lower price – she’s a master manipulator who just gets better with age. I am her sock puppet.
If she had right then and there pulled out G-Rob’s Staple’s Easy Button and pressed it, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Try The Veal
Bear with me….
Long ago when the early settlers of what would become the Mississippi area convened in an as-yet-unnamed town, people grew anxious that their future home did not have a name.
One of the locals, a fisherman my trade, was oddly enough named Nicholas Albacore. He was highly regarded among the town’s elder statesmen, so it wasn’t without too much trepidation that they decided to name the town after Nicholas.
Unfortunately, Nicholas had a nickname. Few people liked to use all of those nasty syllables when referring to him, so he became Nick Tuna to his closest friends. More unfortunately still, Nick was a bit dyslexic.
When it came time for Nick to ceremoniously inscribe the newly created town’s name on its charter, he mistakenly wrote Tunica.
And that my friends, is how Tunica got its name.
Shhhh!!!! I can hear the groans from here.
I’ll be there one week from today.
Long ago when the early settlers of what would become the Mississippi area convened in an as-yet-unnamed town, people grew anxious that their future home did not have a name.
One of the locals, a fisherman my trade, was oddly enough named Nicholas Albacore. He was highly regarded among the town’s elder statesmen, so it wasn’t without too much trepidation that they decided to name the town after Nicholas.
Unfortunately, Nicholas had a nickname. Few people liked to use all of those nasty syllables when referring to him, so he became Nick Tuna to his closest friends. More unfortunately still, Nick was a bit dyslexic.
When it came time for Nick to ceremoniously inscribe the newly created town’s name on its charter, he mistakenly wrote Tunica.
And that my friends, is how Tunica got its name.
Shhhh!!!! I can hear the groans from here.
I’ll be there one week from today.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Fri-Sat-Sun
On Friday, I played my ritualistic 2nd live poker night of the week. Ritualistic because I’m granted two nights per week to play and dutifully convince the Mrs. each time that two is the perfect mix for my happiness and hers. The venue was TheMark’s, and while the table was certainly far from ideal, it was fun nonetheless. We played 6-handed most of the night. G-Rob, myself, TheMark, GucciRick, TightPassiveTim, and Dilemma Dave. Dave is a new character, as yet unintroduced to the outside world of non-G-Vegas-ites.
His moniker’s origin stems from his frequent tendency to struggle with decision making on each street he’s involved in. His tells are as true as they can get. When he’s got a tough choice to make, it’s written all over his mannerisms. However, one classic tell – the weak means strong one – drew some big laughs from everyone at the table.
It’s just Dilemma Dave and Gucci to the all club flop. Dave exhales deeply, his face showing consternation as he reluctantly checks. The four players out of the hand immediately know Dave’s just flopped the nut flush. For whatever reason, GucciRick didn’t take heed and bet out $50, roughly 80% of Dave’s remaining stack. Another deep exhale and a smooth call followed, as did more laughter. With only $16 left, Dave put it in on the turn. Rick had to call and as Dave flipped up A8c, we all did our best to stop laughing. Noticing someone’s tell is far different from letting that person know what his tell is.
****
Saturday morning, I took miniBlood to his first basketball game of the season. It’s a church league where they don’t keep score, but they do enforce the rules to a certain degree. When you’re six years old, I think the important message is having fun and making friends, not winning at all costs. From my perspective, it’s the ideal league for him.
I probably can’t express how proud I was when miniBlood drained his first of 8 baskets. That’s right, mini exploded for 16 points, effectively dominating the second half of the game. Just because the league doesn’t keep score doesn’t mean I can’t. The best part was that his shots weren’t gimme’s either. They were 10 to 12 footers that impressed everyone in the audience, including his own sister. Other parents were asking if that kid were mine, and I tried to remain humble by quelling my smile to a certain degree. But when you’re flat out busting with pride, it’s hard not to get excited.
The best part? When we arrived home, I told him what a great game he had and how proud I was. He simply responded, “Well Daddy, Coach said we should try our best, so I did.”
For next week’s game, I taught him the Sammy Sosa fist to the chest and two finger kiss routine.
****
Sunday, it rained all day. I woke up, shaved my head, and plopped my ass on the couch for some marathon NFL playoff football viewing. I watched the Pats play what will be their only home playoff game this year and take down the Mangenius-led J-E-T-S Jets. It was closer than the final score indicated, but I felt that as long as the Pats minimized their mistakes, they’d be able to win.
I wished Al luck for his Eagles game, which turned out well.
Played some online poker too.
His moniker’s origin stems from his frequent tendency to struggle with decision making on each street he’s involved in. His tells are as true as they can get. When he’s got a tough choice to make, it’s written all over his mannerisms. However, one classic tell – the weak means strong one – drew some big laughs from everyone at the table.
It’s just Dilemma Dave and Gucci to the all club flop. Dave exhales deeply, his face showing consternation as he reluctantly checks. The four players out of the hand immediately know Dave’s just flopped the nut flush. For whatever reason, GucciRick didn’t take heed and bet out $50, roughly 80% of Dave’s remaining stack. Another deep exhale and a smooth call followed, as did more laughter. With only $16 left, Dave put it in on the turn. Rick had to call and as Dave flipped up A8c, we all did our best to stop laughing. Noticing someone’s tell is far different from letting that person know what his tell is.
****
Saturday morning, I took miniBlood to his first basketball game of the season. It’s a church league where they don’t keep score, but they do enforce the rules to a certain degree. When you’re six years old, I think the important message is having fun and making friends, not winning at all costs. From my perspective, it’s the ideal league for him.
I probably can’t express how proud I was when miniBlood drained his first of 8 baskets. That’s right, mini exploded for 16 points, effectively dominating the second half of the game. Just because the league doesn’t keep score doesn’t mean I can’t. The best part was that his shots weren’t gimme’s either. They were 10 to 12 footers that impressed everyone in the audience, including his own sister. Other parents were asking if that kid were mine, and I tried to remain humble by quelling my smile to a certain degree. But when you’re flat out busting with pride, it’s hard not to get excited.
The best part? When we arrived home, I told him what a great game he had and how proud I was. He simply responded, “Well Daddy, Coach said we should try our best, so I did.”
For next week’s game, I taught him the Sammy Sosa fist to the chest and two finger kiss routine.
****
Sunday, it rained all day. I woke up, shaved my head, and plopped my ass on the couch for some marathon NFL playoff football viewing. I watched the Pats play what will be their only home playoff game this year and take down the Mangenius-led J-E-T-S Jets. It was closer than the final score indicated, but I felt that as long as the Pats minimized their mistakes, they’d be able to win.
I wished Al luck for his Eagles game, which turned out well.
Played some online poker too.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
From End to Beginning
Mellow. That's how I'd describe my New Year's Eve and Day. And I wouldn't have it any other way. On the evening of the 31st, I was honored to be invited to Mt. Otis to both spend time with good friends and give well wishes to Uncle Ted who's relocating to my old stomping grounds in Bahston. G-Rob made an appearance both pre and post newscast and proceeded to drink and smoke with a smile on his face indicative of someone who's just won some stupid wager with some stupid moron. Still, it was a great time and I was thankful to be included.
As has been recent tradition, I hosted the 3rd Annual New Year's Day tournament and simply hoped I'd stay off host's tilt as long as I could. We had some out of towners come by for the day, something for which I'm always honored. Whenever people make an hour-plus drive (even 3 hours) just to come sling cards at the house, I try to make their effort as worthwhile as possible.
This year, we had CJ, BigPirate, TripJax, Falstaff, and SpecialK make the long trek to G-Vegas for the event.
For this tourney, I was going to try something new with the structure. After reading Steve Zolotow's article in a recent CardPlayer magazine, I decided to make the level times longer once the final table was reached. His reasoning was that at many of today's higher buy-in tournaments, most of the true poker play in the first few levels is due to the large relative stack sizes to the blinds. At a WPT final table, where a large majority of the money is awarded, the structure dictates that much of the split between skill and luck is too heavily weighted on the luck side. You can alter that split by making the blinds stay smaller in relation to average stack size for a longer period of time.
So while we were at three and two tables respectively, the blind levels were 20 minutes in length. Once we were down to nine players, the level length increased to 30 minutes. I thought that we'd get to see more flops and avoid the push-fest that so often accompanies tournament end games. For the most part, I think this alteration was a success.
The results were posted yesterday, and I'm more amazed than anyone that I made the money. Originally we were to pay the top four: $600, $380, $250, $150. When we got down to the last five, we agreed on a fifth place save for the $60 buy-in. When I got headsup with TeamScottSmith, I had a 61k to 54k chip lead. We agreed to a deal giving each of us $450 and playing it out for the remaining $50.
Here are some hands of note wherein there were minor, boring, already-known-by-the-poker-world strategy considerations taking place.
Hand 1: We're down to two tables and my stack is around 3600 with blinds of 200/400. With my M at 6, I'm somewhat in push or fold mode. In the big blind, I see the table fold around to TripJax on the button. He's in steal position, and I know he knows all about stealing, so his 3x raise to 1200 is not surprising and could well mean anything. TeamScott smooth calls from the small blind and I look down to see AJo. Not great, but my thoughts are the following: This is classic Harrington squeeze play territory. A suspect raise in position and a smooth call not indicitave of any real strength. I decide to push. TripJax folds as I thought he would and TeamScott goes into the tank. Why? I have no idea. He had pocket Queens. My misread paid off in spades when the Ace hit the flop and TeamScott didn't re-suck. I now had some maneuvering room. Based on the information at hand, I'm fine with my play. Had TeamScott re-raised preflop, he'd have won a smaller pot and not lost a huge one. Still, the guy came in first so who am I to say how to play a hand? Oh yeah, I'm a poker blogger.
Hand 2: We're at the final table and UncleTed is very short stacked. His M is around two, so his open-push from middle position means a wide range of hands. The blinds were 500/1000 and it was folded back to me in the big blind. I needed to call 1900 into 4400 pot and all I had was 98o. Still, those cards were likely to be live and when you consider that my stack was over 15000, the call was rather easy. I rivered a 9 to eliminate UnlceTed in 9th place.
Hand 3: This is were I get crippled in headsup action. On a flop of Jxx with two spades, I raise TeamScott's flop bet then call his all-in re-raise with AsJc. TeamScott has the suited hammer, 27s. The turn brings the Js and I have trip Jacks and the nut flush draw to TeamScott's made flush. I miss the river and he takes a 107k to 8k chip lead. I can't make the comeback and finish second.
****
I really need to thank everyone who showed up and made it one of the best tourneys I've hosted in a long, long time. No drunken debauchery around the mini's and even Teddy Ballgame kept his own personal decibel level down.
Thanks to Daddy for the pre-tourney advice.
Thanks to Shep for bringing his extra table.
Thanks to Random101 for bringing his table top and chairs and for shuffling during the headsup play.
Thanks to Frank the Tank for dealing the entirety of the time after he was eliminated, which happened to be first.
Thanks to TheMark for bringing some chairs and his cash game chips.
Thanks to the denizens of the Spring Hotel, DealerTim and Sherrie for mingling the worlds of illegal raked games and no-juice G-Vegas tournaments.
Thanks to Otis for having me over the previous day.
Thanks to Falstaff for the schwag he brought the last home game.
I hope the New Year starts off just as well for everyone as it did for me.
As has been recent tradition, I hosted the 3rd Annual New Year's Day tournament and simply hoped I'd stay off host's tilt as long as I could. We had some out of towners come by for the day, something for which I'm always honored. Whenever people make an hour-plus drive (even 3 hours) just to come sling cards at the house, I try to make their effort as worthwhile as possible.
This year, we had CJ, BigPirate, TripJax, Falstaff, and SpecialK make the long trek to G-Vegas for the event.
For this tourney, I was going to try something new with the structure. After reading Steve Zolotow's article in a recent CardPlayer magazine, I decided to make the level times longer once the final table was reached. His reasoning was that at many of today's higher buy-in tournaments, most of the true poker play in the first few levels is due to the large relative stack sizes to the blinds. At a WPT final table, where a large majority of the money is awarded, the structure dictates that much of the split between skill and luck is too heavily weighted on the luck side. You can alter that split by making the blinds stay smaller in relation to average stack size for a longer period of time.
So while we were at three and two tables respectively, the blind levels were 20 minutes in length. Once we were down to nine players, the level length increased to 30 minutes. I thought that we'd get to see more flops and avoid the push-fest that so often accompanies tournament end games. For the most part, I think this alteration was a success.
The results were posted yesterday, and I'm more amazed than anyone that I made the money. Originally we were to pay the top four: $600, $380, $250, $150. When we got down to the last five, we agreed on a fifth place save for the $60 buy-in. When I got headsup with TeamScottSmith, I had a 61k to 54k chip lead. We agreed to a deal giving each of us $450 and playing it out for the remaining $50.
Here are some hands of note wherein there were minor, boring, already-known-by-the-poker-world strategy considerations taking place.
Hand 1: We're down to two tables and my stack is around 3600 with blinds of 200/400. With my M at 6, I'm somewhat in push or fold mode. In the big blind, I see the table fold around to TripJax on the button. He's in steal position, and I know he knows all about stealing, so his 3x raise to 1200 is not surprising and could well mean anything. TeamScott smooth calls from the small blind and I look down to see AJo. Not great, but my thoughts are the following: This is classic Harrington squeeze play territory. A suspect raise in position and a smooth call not indicitave of any real strength. I decide to push. TripJax folds as I thought he would and TeamScott goes into the tank. Why? I have no idea. He had pocket Queens. My misread paid off in spades when the Ace hit the flop and TeamScott didn't re-suck. I now had some maneuvering room. Based on the information at hand, I'm fine with my play. Had TeamScott re-raised preflop, he'd have won a smaller pot and not lost a huge one. Still, the guy came in first so who am I to say how to play a hand? Oh yeah, I'm a poker blogger.
Hand 2: We're at the final table and UncleTed is very short stacked. His M is around two, so his open-push from middle position means a wide range of hands. The blinds were 500/1000 and it was folded back to me in the big blind. I needed to call 1900 into 4400 pot and all I had was 98o. Still, those cards were likely to be live and when you consider that my stack was over 15000, the call was rather easy. I rivered a 9 to eliminate UnlceTed in 9th place.
Hand 3: This is were I get crippled in headsup action. On a flop of Jxx with two spades, I raise TeamScott's flop bet then call his all-in re-raise with AsJc. TeamScott has the suited hammer, 27s. The turn brings the Js and I have trip Jacks and the nut flush draw to TeamScott's made flush. I miss the river and he takes a 107k to 8k chip lead. I can't make the comeback and finish second.
****
I really need to thank everyone who showed up and made it one of the best tourneys I've hosted in a long, long time. No drunken debauchery around the mini's and even Teddy Ballgame kept his own personal decibel level down.
Thanks to Daddy for the pre-tourney advice.
Thanks to Shep for bringing his extra table.
Thanks to Random101 for bringing his table top and chairs and for shuffling during the headsup play.
Thanks to Frank the Tank for dealing the entirety of the time after he was eliminated, which happened to be first.
Thanks to TheMark for bringing some chairs and his cash game chips.
Thanks to the denizens of the Spring Hotel, DealerTim and Sherrie for mingling the worlds of illegal raked games and no-juice G-Vegas tournaments.
Thanks to Otis for having me over the previous day.
Thanks to Falstaff for the schwag he brought the last home game.
I hope the New Year starts off just as well for everyone as it did for me.
Monday, January 1, 2007
Third Annual New Year's Day Tourney Results
Details to follow:
1. TeamScottSmith
2. BadBlood (not a typo)
3. Mrs_All_In
4. Teddy Ballgame
5. Big Pirate
6. CJ
7. Sherrie
8. Random101
9. Uncle Ted
10. TripJax
11. Otis
12. The Rankster
13. Dealer Tim
14. Shep Tiltstein
15. Randall
16. Wolverine
17. Falstaff
18. Darin
19. TheMark
20. Stan the Man
21. Special K
22. Steve
23. Frank the Tank
1. TeamScottSmith
2. BadBlood (not a typo)
3. Mrs_All_In
4. Teddy Ballgame
5. Big Pirate
6. CJ
7. Sherrie
8. Random101
9. Uncle Ted
10. TripJax
11. Otis
12. The Rankster
13. Dealer Tim
14. Shep Tiltstein
15. Randall
16. Wolverine
17. Falstaff
18. Darin
19. TheMark
20. Stan the Man
21. Special K
22. Steve
23. Frank the Tank
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