Rock and Roll Over (everybody at the table)

4 Thursdays at the bar….3 final tables (cashed). I can only wish to cash 75% of my 40.00 buy-in tourneys online…..

This is a Tight-Aggressive players dream. The bar tournament league is just awesome. I’m riding a high in the local “live” tournaments lately. Last night I won the whole tournament and at 1:00AM was forced to chop the winnings with the other guy. I had more chips so I get 450.00…He gets 400.00.  He is actually the best player in the league….out front by a huge amount and qualifies for their 10 person STT for 1500.00 first prize. I guess the top ten in the league auto-qualify….if I played more than 4 out of the 12 weeks I would probably be there too! I just can’t commit to every Thursday night…BUT…there is anther league starting in two weeks and I am going to make a run. The bar “Slickeys” will probably be my saving grace if they “Legislators” decide to enforce a ban on online gambling. BTW…did everybody send in the pre-made forms to there Congressmen and Representatives? Do it now…there is power in numbers.  Although there is more important things in the world…this is a basic right that we should fight to keep.

I was playing very tight for the first two hours…limping into a pot here or there. Then I started to limp in with small to medium pairs. Three flopped ‘sets’ in a span of about one and a half orbits gave me the momentum. I started to accumulate some chips before the and after the first break. I soon started to steal the blinds and throw out a couple of pure bluffs….most all of them worked. Last tournament at about the same time frame I started to accumulate a stack. But last time I was lucky…this time I felt I could bluff someone off of a hand. I decided to go all-in when I was the SB (with A-6o) and the BB called me! He had me covered too!
Much to his chagrin I got my Ace on the turn and he lost 2/3rds of his chips with (K-Qo) I did the same thing to the same guy last tourney…he friggin’ hates me. He was also the table captain from the last tournament. We got close to the final table…I think there were 12-13 left and I look down at As-Ac. I limped in and another guy called…then a kid went all-in with his last 1400 (A-Jo). I decided to go all-in at this point to avoid ace-crackitis. This is something that happens just as often ‘live’ as it does online so….there you go. The guy that limps in between folded and I knocked another person out of the tourney. It got really tight right before the final table bubble but it didn’t stop everybody from bluffing relentlessly. Finally down to 10 and the final table is set to go after a quick break.

The final table starts and I am a card rack! I raised and took down some pots right away. Then I get A-Qo and raise again…some kid (Soon to be Phil Hellmuth-ian poker personality at the table) goes all-in with about 5000. I had 13,500 so I called…he had 9’s (coincidence with the Phil Hellmuth hand) and I didn’t improve. After that hit I went into final table hibernation mode. A couple of guys got knocked out and the blinds were getting bigger. I got into it for another pot and lost to the same guy. So now there are 7 people left and I’m down to T3500 all of the sudden. I’m saying to myself “not again…kicking ass at the start of the final table and all of the sudden I’m short-stacked again!” The blinds were up to 2k-4k and were making there way towards me at the table. I look down at 8c-5c and decide to push with my last 3500. I get called by the other short stack that I have covered and miraculously the blinds fold! He has 10-7o and wouldn’t you know it…an 8 on the river. Back in business! In the money With 6 left the Phil Hellmuth wannabe kid starts with his table talk. He is in the big blind with A-xo and the guy in the SB has Ks-7s. The Phil Hellmuth wannabe goes all-in and shows the SB his Ace! I was bullshit but everybody said (in a real condescending and whiny voice) “He has the right to show it”. The SB calls like a moron and gets knocked out in 5th place. Down to four….the tournament points leader…the mousy young black girl…and the Phil Hellmuth wannabe/soon to be asshole. The mousy black girl was funny…and she survived the whole tournament. For some reason she couldn’t read my obvious bluffs or make a right call when I raised. I knocked her out soon thereafter. Now the Phil Hellmuth wannabe really starts talking it up…he and the points leader are neck and neck in the points race. He starts in on me when I didn’t call with trash cards in order to knock out the Points leader. “Get out of my face…what do you think you are Phil Hellmuth?...I’m not doing this for you or for him…I’m doing this for me!” I said. He’s just ballistic at this point but I completely set him on tilt when I went all-in with a K-Jo in the SB when he was BB. He showed me his A and folded. I showed him my hand and I thought he was about to cry. I knocked him out with pocket Queens and he goes away…finally. It was about 1:00AM after the points leader and I traded pots. I had the bigger stack so we chopped. BTW I had about 12 Bud Lights during this whole thing and I’m starting to get tired at work now.

I’m going to Foxwoods on Saturday, June 24th so if you’re in the area you will find me at the 1-2 NL, 4-8 Limit, or ACT I, II or III tournament tables. It is a night away for out 3rd anniversary but my wife goes into a trance when she plays the slot machines. So we’ll probably do the romantic stuff during the day and then eat at a nice restaurant there. HOWEVER, I will be lurking in the poker room late-night so look for a slightly overweight 35 year old with graying hair….who’s also slightly intoxicated. Well, come to think of it I’ll probably blend in with most of the guys there. But, I’ll be listening.
Last but not least I watched the WPT at Foxwoods where Victor Ramdin won 1.3 mil. I have to say that all of the 25 year old and less players like Alex…whatever his name is…are completely fucking annoying to watch…with the exception of  Nick Schulman. He seems like a normal kind of guy. Alex dough-boy had a deer in the-fucking-headlights look and was deliberately slow on every decision. Here’s a tip…you aren’t Chris Ferguson. It sounds like I’m jealous…and admittedly I am about the money he made. But, stop the annoying act….and for that matter any other <25 year old “phenoms” stop acting like a bunch of ADHD/ADD punks.