Local tourney....WSOP Satellite

I've been missing a lot of local Charity tourneys lately. It's just easier to play online tourneys lately. I've been enjoying the WPBT tourneys and the POY race...That's me in the 12-spot. Iggy has set up a new WSOP 1500.00 prize buy-in.....Get over the PokerStars and enter. I forgot how loose those STT's are at PokerStars...I'm playing the low buy-in STT's but I'm also cashing in 75% of them. I can't get down to Foxwoods this year for the Poker Classic but I know someone who's trying to cash right now. I am however playing a NL MTT against a bunch of crusty old drunks at a local establishment. This "place" is a local bar that has poker tables right as you walk into the front door...I couldn't believe it. My brother-in-law told me about it and he says that the play is realllllly bad!! I guess I'll see how it goes. If you go all-in with say A's some old curmudgeon will say something like..."huh!...Aces...you young guys all think A's are a good hand...I see them get cracked all the time..I call!! My Jacks are a much better hand". As the guy loses all his chips he mutters more unintelligible insults. "Have you ever won a tourney here (I picture myself asking sarcastically) sir?" "Huh?...no I never seem to win...evertime I call I get knocked out!! If it wasn't for you meddling kids...ALLIN!...ALLIN!!! all the time!! I would have won one of these goddamn things"!!!....as he walks away to the bar I think to myself (Just like in one of those old Scooby-Doo episodes...the gang solves the crime and ol' man Winters gets cuffed and stuffed). This is the kind of bar that hasn't changed in fifty years! The furniture....or the regulars....most of them look like this.........

.......Believe it or not but this is Eddie Van Halen...at the local bar that I'm going to play a NL tourney at....for the love of all that is holy and good...what the fuck happened Eddie?!!!


Remember if you like Hockey....Harry Sinden and Jeremy Jacobs suck ass!!! They've somehow fleeced the local fans once again. First trading Joe Thornton...then firing Mike O'Connell (GM) for doing their dirty work..You guys truly suck. 30+ years of futility and counting. I can't wait to go to a Red Sox game this year...a real team...with real atmosphere at the park.
Adam Vinatieri...thanks for all the clutch kicks and the memories...It's not going to fun to see Adam beat the Pats in Foxboro but good for the Colts fans. The first clutch player they've ever seen will grace their turf.

Fat Stacks and Weird Rashes

The WPBT Fat Stacks NLHE tourney was a tough one....the toughest yet. I slacked behind the first hour and was able to somehow survive an all-in with Joanne1111. We both had Ax-9x...she was killing me and the whole table for a long time. I did manage to get a good sized stack when I went all-in with a Q-high Spade flush....also against Joanne1111. Then nearing the end of the second hour things got a little outta hand. Someone named Summer_Babe was next to me and they were a tricky-type player. Lo' and behold it was Iggy....with a chick avatar no less....tricky bastage!! There was another guy (Weird Rash) that cracked my aces and I think Iggy's in 2 or 3 hands. I was one of the short stacks...he went all-in for 565....I called with my aces....and then he flops two pair (9's and Q's). Now I'm really short-stacked. I beleive Joanne1111 called my all-in ( I had Qx-10xo) and I get flushed at 29th. It was fun but again....it was the toughest tourney I've played in a while. I guess there's going to be a stud tourney next month...should be fun. I'll have to add to my blogroll later when I get motivated....

Paradise Push-Monkeys and the WPBT

The Paradise Poker WPBT/WSOP Satellite went off last night with 69 entries…..huh-huh-huh…69….anyway. I had a lot of fun again and of course I was an unknown…..’DDon33’ for Biggestron’s WPBT updates. I guess I tangled with him on an open-ended straight draw that I bet out…I think we chopped the pot. I have some sort of problem with having the same name on poker sites. I think I have at least 6 different names on different websites. I guess it’s good in one way (preventing people from developing a history)….but mostly annoying to those who need to add up your WPBT standings. I guess ‘CatClock’ won…I donated a good portion of my stack with an ill-timed bluff/re-raise bluff attempt. She was not wavering though and re-raised my re-raise…I put my tail between my legs and fold my A-9o. I don’t know what she had but my guess is A-K….If she showed 2-7o I would have jumped out the window!! Hammers were falling everywhere…I think ‘UpForPoker’ dropped a thousand hammers or so it seemed. I made a big bluff with the “Hammah” but only when I had a big stack….I know what a pussy. I like to bluff with the ‘Jack Hammer’ more so than the “hammah-Hammer”. I was able to build a big-stack for most of the tourney with a couple of full boats. I called a three-bet raise early with Pocket Fives and flopped a set. It was a scary Ah-5h-4c flop but I bet big anyway…I forget who the other guy was but the next card to fall was a 4s to give me a 5’s full o 4’s boat. He bet big and I went all-in. The second full boat was an A-9-x on the flop…I had Ax-9x in the pocket. The other guy…I forget again…went all-in and I called. Another 9 fell on the river and my stack was beginning to reach top 3. I think I bluffed 1/3 of my stack to ‘CatClock’ near the third break. I guess she ended up putting them to good use!! After the third break we shuffled tables and I ended up at one of the last two. My last hand was a good one…but that’s not good enough to continue to the final table. I was the short-stack in the tourney and was being put all-in by everybody at the end. The last hand was a Ks-Qs and I thought “I’m gonna push here…there are fifteen left and I need chips”….much to my chagrin the guy to my right raises. I had the button so I pushed….he had Jx-10x…and all paints fall on the flop. I think the river gave him a straight and I was out at fifteen with the “Anna Kournikova”…pretty but never wins!!! See you at the next WPBT tourney at Full Tilt…..

On another subject…this is a great alternative for people looking for small buy-in tourneys in the MA/NH area…I got to talking to ‘Wonka’ and realized he was from MA also. I was trying to explain to him some of the local tourneys that I play but he got moved mid-sentence on one of the last two tables last night…anyway here is the link/site I was trying to tell you about …..they are run by CaponesPokertables.com

Also registered for this :

I am registered to play in the Online Poker Blogger Freeroll Win your share of $25,000 and a set of Nevada Jacks poker chips. Hosted By: Absolute Poker Sponsored By: Poker Source Online Registration Code: 66557520

Poker Books and processing info.

I have 5 of the most popular poker books available. One for each aspect of at least Texas Hold'em. Limit, NL, Championship strategy, Satellite strategy, Online strategy, Odds, Theory, Tells etc. I'm currently re-reading Super System for the 'other' card games. I'm almost through the '5-card draw' section by Caro. It is very interesting to re-learn a card game that you grew up playing by the basics. Even though the 5-card draw, lowball, and Hi/Lo sections may be outdated...They contain very valuable info. That one can transfer to other games. I've re-read most of the books that I have and try to gather more info. every time. Repitition is the only way for me to process all the info. that I see and read on a regular basis. I'm not the type that can read a book once and remember every word or concept. Super System requires a lot of info. to process. After I'm done reading Super System again I'll probably look for another book...thinking about Phil Gordon's 'Little Green Book' for my next purchase....I've heard a lot of good things about it. I may want to buy another book on Omaha/Omaha Hi/Lo/Stud/Stud Hi/Lo/Razz....Maybe something that combines these games....Anybody know of a good one?

I realize that one should never stop learning about any particular version of poker but you can also start to understand other card games better. I would like to eventually get good enough at some of the other games to comfortably buy-in at the casino. A well rounded poker player is much better than a specialist.....Any professional will tell you that. Whether it is Poker, Athletics, or Computer Programming. Anybody can buy-in a NL or limit game and feel somewhat comfortable after learning the game and practicing. I think a mix of on-line and live games are a good way to gain the experience you need. I've been playing different types of poker all my life but only in the last two years have I added the on-line variety and Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Hi/Lo etc. I've never tried Triple Draw or Pineapple but what the hell I'm up for learning a new card game any day. For some it only takes a couple of months to become proficient...For most it is probably a couple of years. I think that poker may never be as popular as it has been in recent years but it will never die....only the hipsters and wanna-be's will go broke or go away. This has been documented by Felicia Lee's trials and tribulations of trying to convince people that there is more to Poker than NL Texas Hold'em.

My main problem at the moment is maintaining a bankroll. A bankroll that would be sustainable enough to make a run at the WSOP and still be able to play at Foxwoods/On-line at the limits that I want too. The monthly bills allow a minimum deposit once in a while. I have been playing a lot better as of late. I made a deposit to a couple of sites at the beginning of the year and I am maintaining those balances by getting bonuses and cashing in tourneys here and there.

I've been having a lot of fun playing in the WPBT tourneys recently. I never would have tangled with the guys/girls that are regulars if I didn't think I knew what I was doing....or at least played for a couple of years. I placed 9th in the Pot Limit Omaha one even though it was my first PLO buy-in above those 1-3.00 buy-ins at PokerStars. Speaking of those....there seems to be a lack of people for tonight's WPBT WSOP Satellite by Iggy.....You can actually win in to a 1500 dollar WSOP tourney for 30 bucks!!! Get over there and buy-in at Paradise Poker...NOW!!!!!

Quad Aces can't earn crap....

Flopping quad aces is great unless you can't earn anything but .50 cents.................... 

Omahcidal Maniacs and the WPBT!!!

That was good time last night….I finished 9th with a bang. Technically I didn’t see the final table but ‘voodoopoker’ and I got knocked out at the same time so I must’ve had more chips. The chip leader ‘lucko21’ sat to my right and I had him beat after he called my all-in….(I had K-K-x-x)…that was until the river. I think he may have rivered me with an Omahammer. I forgot to get a screen shot of the carnage but it was late on the East Coast and I needed to get some sleep. Congrats to the final table folks…and kudos to ‘Biggestron’ or ‘Byron’ for setting up the whole thing. I was getting crushed by ‘Chops’ so I decided to stay away…he picked up on my bluffs and put me all-in. I made a couple of good laydowns that probably got me to the 9th place but I wasn’t exactly being timid. I went all-in with the best hand and the best draw as far as I could tell….twice near the bubble. I drew out a couple of big pots. I didn’t commit “Omahcide” even though I did put my chips at risk. It would have been cool to get onto the final table for more than a millisecond but I’ll take it. I’ve been reading Pokerlisting.com lately for some of their strategy articles and this one came in handy recently when I wanted to check into Pot-limit Omaha. I think I got the idea to check Pokerlistings.com from reading DoubleAs blog. Anyway I had a ton o fun and I am looking forward to the WPBT POY race.

Poker Information Overload!!

This article has been sorely needed. Earl Burton hits the proverbial nail on the head and then puts the Poker info. overload in perspective.....

Published on http://www.pokernews.com/news/2006/3/poker-information-overload.htm

March 09, 2006
Earl Burton

Around the midpoint of a poker tournament, I'm sitting in the cutoff position and, as Doyle Brunson dictates in "Super/System" (both of them, if you're wondering), I'm looking over the players acting ahead of me. The first three dutifully muck their hands and there's a raise from a middle position player. The player, who has been an active participant at the table, looks as though the raise is the last thing he wants to do however, which Mike Caro says is either screaming a huge hand or a truism that he is attempting to steal the pot. The rest of the table folds as I look at my cards for the first time.

I look down to find a measly suited J-10. My first instincts are to follow the others and chuck the cards into the muck when Erick Lindgren's thoughts race to my mind that early action can be helpful in building your chip stack. David Sklansky's kicking in my cranium, screaming that J-10 is the only hand that makes four nut straights. With position on the early raiser, I fire a re-raise into the pot.

The button folds down as does the small blind, but the short-stacked big blind (who had his stack devastated when his Aces were cracked when a 6-5 flopped trips) comes over the top for his tournament life. The early raiser takes an eternity to muck his hand and the action comes to me. Pot odds calculations race through my skull and the voices of other authors such as Mike Sexton, Dan Harrington (who's chiding me for even attempting such a move as I just did), T. J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy are clamoring for attention when, just as I go to make my decision, my head explodes across the table as if I was in the movie "Scanners".

OK, this didn't actually happen. But it does go to demonstrate the thoughts that can race through your head if you are actually working on your poker game. You can improve your performance in other physical sporting activities by simply hitting the weight room or consistently drilling on a segment of the game. In poker, however, you can't lift weights to give yourself a stronger game (but it can increase your endurance, as Gus Hansen has shown us). You might be able to perform dedicated drills, but they are faulty in that you set up the situations and don't have the ability to simulate the variety of plays that may come up against you. Thus, working with poker simulators, reading the various poker strategy manuals and books and viewing the DVD-documented thoughts of the greats in the game today are the way that many add extra spice to their game.

I once said I would never read a poker book; I felt that my game was strong enough on its own merits and that reading such material would only taint my game. This had a good news/bad news effect. While I was able to beat the games in my early youth around my university, into the military and for awhile afterwards, I rarely showed any success in the casinos. This bothered me somewhat, but I was able to counteract this with the bankroll built from my small pond away from the glittering lights of the open ocean of the casinos. With the advent of online poker and the development of the players in today's game, however, that early edge I carried was quickly whittled away. With that in mind, I broke that long-standing rule of never looking at a poker book and started reading. I haven't stopped since.

Since the plethora of poker books that have come onto the market, I have read probably in the neighborhood of 100 poker books (many of which you have seen my thoughts on here at PokerNews) and viewed DVDs. I have plotted situations with software and exercised tournament strategies ad nauseam. With this valuable information comes the potential effect that many might be having when they view some of the material out there today: what do you do when your brain goes into overload?

It is something that can easily happen to anyone. With the diversity of the information that is presented by many of the best players and greatest minds in the game today, a newcomer or even a longtime poker veteran can get conflicting ideas on approaching different situations that occur in the progress of a ring game or tournament. It is at this time that many players forget some basic tenets that they should always remember when it comes to the game of poker as a whole.

First off, a player has to be in charge of their game. While you can have access to poker books, simulators and sometimes even the players themselves, you have to be able to incorporate the wealth of data into the style of game that you play. Without the knowledge of your style and approach to poker, you cannot even attempt to implement a new play or strategy into it. A comprehension of your approach to the game allows you to have a solid base to work from before you attempt to tinker with it.

Secondly, just because you have the arrows in your quiver doesn't mean that they have to all be placed in the bow. Many players make the mistake of trying to attempt to put everything they have into that single setting at the table, whether in a ring game or a tournament. While it makes for a confusing table image, it can also backfire when you cross yourself up in the play of one or a multitude of hands. This can have a devastating effect when you haven't perfected the plays that come from outside your general playing style.

It is better to test these theories, thoughts and styles in a setting where it can't damage your bankroll or poker mentality severely, such as a small buy-in event, freeroll tournament or play chips online. Through these practice methods, you can successfully and objectively determine where these new thoughts can be exercised, in what situations they actually may work, and which ones you aren't comfortable with at all. Although the styles of players whose books you read may work well for them, it may be something you find uncomfortable putting into your arsenal.

Finally, if you find yourself in that cranium-busting situation that I discussed earlier, perhaps it is time to put some of the books aside. Too much information can be just as destructive to a psyche as not enough. Knowing when to slow the flow of information down to allow the brain to catch up could be one of the more critical things that you can do to take your game to the next level.

Overall, there is no better time to be a poker player than in today's world. A newcomer can capture the knowledge of the old-time "road gamblers" through the reading of select tomes and even the most knowledgeable players can pick up their games through exercising some of what they read or watch. It is a fine line between filling in the blanks in your game and overloading the computer that is your brain, however. Find the comfort zone that works for you in your poker reading and be sure to attempt to stick to it. With that, I'm off to read what Antonio Esfandiari and Lou Krieger think my next poker moves should be...

BTW ....what was up with the WPT Mirage tourney on the Travel Channel last night?

Seem like the WPT forgot how to produce an exciting live broadcast...I can't put my finger on it but it just didn't seem that exciting. Gavin Smith is one lucky dude.....

Casino in Tax-achusetts

Casino in Massachusetts? I doubt it…..

Doldrums and Doom-Switches...

Ever since I read Biggestron's post about the Poker netherworld or the Doldrums
I've suffered a similar fate. The Full-Tilt doomswitch has been sprung!! I've been suffering some awful beats lately and yes I have stitched up the gash. It could be a Karmic bitch-slap because of my posting a hand history that had me the recipient of a monster pot.

Total pot $65.25 Main pot $56.05. Side pot $9.20. | Rake $3
Board: [Jc 2d 9d Ad Kh]
Seat 1: DDionysus showed [6d Kd] and won ($62.25) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: polak_power didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: SoCooLBob (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: bramplay (small blind) mucked [Kc Jd] - two pair, Kings and Jacks
Seat 5: DonkeyDeck (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 6: jacht didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Mully folded on the Flop
Seat 8: DjBreeze81 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: BoatsOPlenty showed [Ks As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Kings

There I did it again...I'll reverse the curse by posting it again...Muwahahahahaaa!!