2 Sides to every story

I realize that I'm not doing something on Full Tilt that I have been doing at PokerStars...winning STT's! WTF! I swear...the stats should be the same but they are disturbing to me anyway. My money is on Full Tilt....I may have to send some to PokerStars for STT's only. I'll stick to blogger tourneys and MTT's on Full Tilt and STT's on PokerStars....and that's that.

I'm back from vacation! I couldn't relax all too much because I am still on real estate tilt...but I'm back nonetheless. I had a great week at Salisbury beach (parents gave me and the fam a week for free at their cottage)and I interrupted it with poker only two nights! One was Tuesday night...I high-jacked the neighbors phone line (actually Margaret was nice enough to loan me her phone line...she understands as she has been recently addicted to online Mah Jong....and she is just a nice old lady that rents the other side of my parents duplex-cottage for the whole summer)and entered as many MTT's as I could fit in 6 hours on Full Tilt and PokerStars. I cashed in none and got my masochistic fill with bad beats galore. I was satiated only by getting Aces cracked and Full boat losses to bigger full boats. The other Pokerinterruptus(or abortion) was Wednesday nights BBT freeroll. I saw 'Freezeroll' Beer City Poker: BBT Freezeroll on Beer City Poker which was an apropos description. I did remain Fat, Drunk, and Stupid during the rest of my vacation. I also added sunburned and bug bitten to that mix. I can't wait to get back to the bar league on Thursday night. I think I'm in first place even though I missed two of the four weeks. That is something to look forward to for poker this week. As you can see the way this post started....I have depleted my online bankroll at Full Tilt to a pittance....I do have enough to play a couple of the low buy-in tourneys and STT's. Back to the grind......

Bought a new house....

Still haven't sold the one I am currently in. I'll need to get that done before August 31st. Selling my NH condo. in NH. Will be moving into said bought house in Wakefield at the end of summer. My summer is going just swell...how about yours? That is the stress that has surrounded me the last month. I was actually glad the BBT didn't last any longer than it did....I needed my life back! Hopefully I can relax this coming week....I will do my best to remain drunk, fat and stupid during it. I can't forget about the BBT free roll though.....It will be guns a blazin! I really porked myself in the Mookie this week. My final table play definitely needs work....it has been pointed out before. I do realize I need work on my end game....that much is true. I seem to have no problem when playing live with my final table play.......but it is so much easier to make a bad play online. I need to get my hands off the mouse....and think....for more than a Milli-second. Make a good decision and stick with it. No calls....either raise or fold. Simple. Effective. Yet hard for me to execute at a final table online. It can mean a win, a higher cash, or a bubble finish like I did in this weeks Mookie.
My final thoughts on the BBT echo that sentiment. Some people did play for points....I played for cash and came out a whopping 35.00 and change ahead for the whole thing. It was a great idea and opened my eyes to a lot of different playing styles. It opened up my game (aggression, raising and betting)and exposed the worst part or parts (final table play, calling raises out of position)of it. The end game....it needs a lot of work. The first month was a lot of bad play by me...not a lot of patience. I got a lot more patient in the second month and made quite a few final tables. The third month brought out some play that I am not proud of but that is part of the growing process. I have to say that I made the final table in both Big Games I played in. If not for a bad suck out in the first one...I could have cashed for a whole lot more....but those are just sour grapes. After 3 years of sporadic play in tourneys live and online.....I realize just how much there is to learn. I don't know if I will be able to do something like that after I move into my new house though. It's gonna stretch the budget a bit. I think that the next BBT if there is one....should take place during the late winter-early spring. You know...when its cold and crappy outside and everybody is just itchin' to play online. People are busy and on vacation most often in the summer so...a lot of tourneys were missed from prior commitments. So final kudos to Al, Hoyazo, and Mookie for getting the whole thing going. Also to MiamiDon for putting the biggest prize pools out there for bloggers to scratch and claw over.

Last night I went back to 'Slickey's'(name changed to protect innocent) and the bar league NLHE tournaments that have a great structure for 40 bucks. I was in first place after two weeks and I missed the first week! I chopped for first prize last week. This week I was rolling right along building my chip stack and not losing any big pots. There were about 15 people left and I am on the button. The blinds were at 800-1200 and I raised the twice the BB......I had about T6500 in chips and the raise committed me because I had As-Ad! The SB goes all-in immediately and has me covered (because he previously went all-in with an ace of spades and four flushed to get about T8,000 in chips). The BB folds....and I obviously call the rest of chips with my Aces. The luck box flops a fucking Q and I am done. I was about to make a huge run to my second final table and first place standing in the league and my luck box friend flops his two outer....Damn that stings. I've been playing great lately but that one hurt. I came home all charged up and fired up the PC. I opened Full Tilt and PokerStars and looked at a couple of tourneys including the midnight madness tourney....I decided to shut it down and go to sleep. It was the best decision I made all week.

Don't forget about Kat's Donkathon rebuy tonight!
Fridays:
Blogger Donkament
Full Tilt, 9:00 PM EST
Password: donkarama
$1 + $1, rebuy + addon, NLHE
I came in second last week...there were over 150 rebuys...LOL. The battle between myself, Mike_Maloney and Mookie went on for an hour....sick and twisted!

The 3-10 10-3 conundrum.....

Sometimes I get weirded out by the dumbest things.....well there it is.....
I got knocked out of the 28K guar. earlier....I had Kx-Kx...some guy went all-in with 10x-10x...and another called with Ax-Ax...the Aces actually held up and I went out in the first 10 minutes....that really sucks....

Playing the Mookie tonight...I racked some chips with a straight flush.....

11:35.....A Royal fucking flush.......yes a Royal fucking flush....Ad-Kd flopped a flush...Qd-Jd.Xd....get my chips in...turn is another Xd....bet pot....river is a 3x....all-in....A Royal fucking Flush.....first ever online....

11:47...Still in 4th doubling up with a straight flush and a royal flush.....

12:12...I'm in 10th....see what happens here...

12:42.....Final Table....I'm short stack....for a while....

12:45....bubble bitch....I suck....I had Ax-10x..under the gun...got taken out by pocket J's.....FUCK.....

Real Estate Tilt......

I am currently on Real Estate tilt....anybody who has bought and sold properties can surely sympathize. I thinks I may try some Poker tonight....haven't played a lot last weekend or the beginning of this week due to Real Estate tilt. I may be real broke soon and in the near future....surely my online days will have to be substantially cut. That means that something substantial and financially rewarding will have to happen before the summer is over....a bit of foreshadowing may help....I needs me some FTOPS or WCOOP cashola.

Friday the 13th was my lucky day......

I went to 'Slickey's' the and played in the NLHE bar league. The league started last week and I missed it due to those familial commitments we all have. I usually do pretty well at these tourneys....and usually cash when I make the final table. It's a good structure for local tourneys...start with T2500 for 40.00 buy-in and the blinds start at 25-50. They increase every 25 minutes or so...and there are levels that you just don't see at other local tourneys...like 50-75 and so forth. I started off with a bang....my favorite hand Kd-Kh in early position. I raised and got a caller because I was in early position. 2x-Ks-5c on the flop...BOOM. I bet T200 and the guy called me...I'm thinking draw maybe? an Ac falls on the river. I bet T500...the guy calls...I'm thinking club draw....straight draw? We checked at the end and I rake the pot. He had Ax-Kx....the only other king in the deck and top two-pair. That's the shit I need to get to the final table I thought. I sat on about T4000 in chips for quite a while. We went from about 39 players to probably 25 and I still had T4000 after some Blinds and small pots came my way. After the break there were probably 20 left and I started to get a few more small pots. After folding for a while the final table bubble was going to pop soon. There is one kid that is there and 'always' makes the final table when I do. I've had some pretty good battles with the kid...he's good. He makes some good reads and usually goes with them...but I doubled though him later on. I labeled him KOJ (King Of Junk) because he doubles up with junk hands every time I see him play. He thought that was kind of funny and I just sort of knew he was going to the final table to battle me...again.
At the final table (11 players...5-paid) I had a guy next to me that plays all the time...he has a game to respect and told us about the WSOP 1,500.00 tourney he was in. That was the 11th bracelet win for Phil Hellmuth. The kid next to him was the internet-KOJ kid. The guy next to him was aggressive...but was able to lay down some hands...someone I could bluff. The guy next to him would call with some mediocre hands so I would have to wait for a decent hand to go through him.
The kid next to him was...friend of KOJ and busted out first. Next to him was the guy that I eventually ended up heads-up with. He is an odd-quirky sort of dude who seems to be able to calculate the right move every time. Next to him was a younger internet kind of kid. He had a big stack to start the final table. The guy next to him runs a social club in my town...he had a big stack and would call all sorts of hands. The guy next to him makes the final table pretty often...good with the short stack...when he goes all-in he always has the right kind of hand. The guy next to him was a big Mexican dude...he's usually pretty good. Then there was me...short stacked and ready to push on any decent hand.
I still had T4000 to start and dwindled down to T2000...not good with only two other people knocked out. Down to 9 and I am on the button. I had Jx-Qx....I push....and was called by a guy that had Jx-10x...I got a Qx on the turn and doubled-up. A couple of orbits later I had utter crap and was looking for another double-up. I had the vaunted Kx-3xo....I push on the button again....guy who was in the WSOP tourney that Phil hellmuth thinks for a second and calls...Ax-Qx....crushed....or so I thought. I was dealing and dealt myself a Kx on the flop...then a 3x on the turn...I double through again although a little sheepishly. So I had T8000 at that point and was in pretty good shape. Big mexican dude got all-in with the social club guy and doubled-through with QUAD Q's. I got a couple of walks on the blinds and was at about T9200. I think the blinds were at 400-800. I raised a couple of late position blind steals and chipped up to about T12,500. The was the hand that gave me a big stack.....I was dealt Ax-Kx and raised in late position. KOJ called my T6000 bet....??? WTF is he holding...I thought. The flop was a beautiful Ax-10x-Xx....I went all in with T6500 left. He goes into tank is just agonizing over this. He kept talking about me not having an ace and I actually had one this time! He's made some great calls on me in the past and at this point I knew he was calling. He called with pocket J's....blanks fell on the turn and river and I was at something like T28,000. A couple more people go out. There were 6 people left and 5 get paid. I was one of the big stacks now. Later on I had Ax-5x and wanted to steal....I raised it probably twice the BB which was 1500. One of the guys to my right goes all in...the quirky dude. I said "I can't call that....I think you have AK" and sure enough he had AK when he showed. We got down to 3 people and there were two big stacks. Me and the quirky dude had the big stacks and other guy had a small stack of about T15000. I pushed on the button with Kh-Jh...quirky guy thinks about it and calls!...He had Kx-Qx..ugh. The flop was Ax-Ax-8x...turn 10x....river 10x....chop it! That was a relief and the second time I got lucky at the final table. It was getting close to 1:00AM at this point...we have to end and get out of there because the bar closes at 1:00. The guy with the short stack got knocked out after a couple of hands and at 1:00AM we chopped with about 27,000-28,000 in chips apiece....I took home 387.00....minus the 40 enty fee and 30 tip for the TD for a total profit of 317.00. I just may have to go through a full season in the bar league again. Friday the 13th is lucky after all.........

WTF!

Mingle² - Online Dating

(I am very happily married and I am not using this website for online dating as advertised but for a cool blog rating....or so I thought!) What the fuck is up with that muthafuckingshit muthafuckahs!?

And who the fuck would hack Iggy and the blog that started it all for a lot of us?

Also....how is it that Lucko didn't rip that guys throat out?.....J-8o>K-K?....the guy must be a regular from one of those LA casinos...

I am going to the local establishment tonight for some beers and for some live NLHE tournament action....Slickey's (fake name to protect the innocent) is the name of the bar and No Fold em Hold'em is the game......

If only.....

Normally I don't believe in the stuff.....I still don't but it would be nice......

Vegas local on serious TILT

Don't know if it's the heat or just some serious tilt....but somebody lost a lot of cash!! Maybe Pauly dropped the hammah on him!

Foxwoods quickie session

Went to Foxwoods on the 3rd. It was a quickly planned trip...my wife's mother offered to babysit and it took like 2 seconds for us to take her offer. Her house is on the way (and she plays the slots there so frequently that we get a free room in the Pequot tower-BOOM)! I left work early and we were off at about 5:00PM. We got there at about 7:30...just in time for 8:00PM reservations at the Cedar's steak house. I swear every time I go there the price goes up for the entrees. I saw some for over 60.00...ridiculous. I didn't feel like getting a huge meal....but the wife was distraught at the fact that I wasn't really hungry. (All I could think about at that point was playing some live poker)I ordered a single-cut prime rib. Just enough to fill me up and not enough to make me fall asleep...which I can do occasionally after a big meal. After the meal we took a walk into the casino and started to play some slots...I do this for a bit until the wife is settled in on the One-armed bandits (she gets some serious wampum points and that is a good thing when you can pay half the bill a Cedar's Steak house on wampum points). I couldn't find any video poker and that was actually my ploy to get to the poker room...so I lost a few bucks then headed out.

I saw some games that I might try in the future on the way to the poker room. One of them was Hold'em bonus...I think Sklansky had a hand in inventing that one. Anyway, it was packed and so were all the 15.00 blackjack tables...not that I play BlackJack much anymore. I go to the poker room and as soon as I walk in somebody asks if I want the new poker room/wampum card. Who am I to say no? The guy came back with the new card in like 10 minutes...not bad. I put in for a 1-2 NL table and was seated within 5 minutes. The table wasn't quite full but was pretty loose at first. To my right was a slightly angry 50-something lady. She told some divorce joke at one point and she also said she imported flowers and distributed them in Chicago for a living. She was pretty good. To her right was 21-22 year old Internet kid. He had a stack of chips and wasn't really playing any hands...he was busy talking to his 21 year-old buddy who looked as if he was 12 (he also had a stack of about 3000 in green and black chips)and on Ritalin. They were conversing about the WSOP and stuff like that. To his left was a 60-something year old guy that was pretty loose and aggressive. To his right was a 40-something year old Chinese guy....very loose...very aggressive and later got stacked by another LAGgy dude. To his right was some chick 30-ish(half Scottish and half Italian...as she said during some point). She played pretty well for a while but got stacked later. The divorced 50-something lady to my right said "Never trust anybody with freckles" as she jokingly said out loud and was involved with a 3-way pot with the Scottaliano-freckled chick. To her right was this guy maybe 35-40...he had a red face and was pretty buzzed...he was also a jokester and the table. He always tipped off his big hands by getting talkative and making jokes (so as not to alarm anybody...or so he thought). To his right was a 45-50 year old guy that hardly said a word...anytime he bet or was involved in a pot he had a pretty big hand. To his right was the crazy loose Asian dude. He was involved in almost every hand for the first hour or two. He left later on after he lost half his stack to the lady to his right....who was the 60-ish drunk lady. She had bright orange hair and tons of makeup on. She looked sort of like a female Ronald McDonald (I took a massive pot from her-130.00 which was a big pot for this table). to her right and my left was a pretty blond chick 30-ish...who was best friends with the Scottalian chick across the table as I found out later. She was stacked...and got repeatedly stacked and kept taking out cash.....cha-ching! So I played with most of these people for about 4 hours or so starting at 10:30. I took down a couple of big pots (for a 1-2 NL table at foxwoods 50-100.00 is a huge pot). The biggest was at least 130.00 give or take a little. I was involved in a pot with the female Ronald McDonald. I got Ax-Kx under the gun and raised it to 12 (standard for the night). She called and a couple of other people called for a total of about 48-50.00 The flop was Ax-Ax-7x. I bet 20....FRMcD called now the pot is about 70 after the blinds folded. 8x on the turn and she bets 10. I checked of course and she bet 10? I call and the pot is about 90. a 2x falls on river and I bet 20 and she called....with two pair 7's and 8's. The pot was 130.00...I probably should have gone all in and she probably would have called for another 80...oh well. There was the possibility of her having pocket 7's, 8's, or 2,s anyway. I left the table at 3:00AM....tired as hell but up about 165.00. There were people sleeping in all sorts of weird places. I noticed this on the way out of the poker room. I just can't stay awake all night anymore....it's probably good for me to keep the Foxwoods poker sessions shorter anyway. A Short session is about 4 to 5 hours long and plenty of time to do your thing. I would love to try some of there 100+ buy-in tourneys/satellites....I'm just never there when they start. I tried to get there for a 10:00AM weekday tourney and the one time I get there in time...they decided to cancel it. That was last fall. The next day while waiting to check out I decided to play some slots....I won another 155.00...no shit. One was a dollar slot that I put 40.00 into by mistake. I was pulling the lever for 5-10 bucks a spin....ooops. I hit some sevens on a lucky sevens and ran it up to 110.00. I cashed that out and went to a 'Wheel of Fortune' slot machine. I hit the wheel a bunch of times and once for 75 credits...on a 25 cent machine. I cashed out after I lost some back for another 45.00. That made for a total of +330.00 for 7 hours of gambling give or take. Face it...anytime you leave a tourist trap like that with more cash than you went with it's great thing. That is probably the last time I go to Foxwoods for a while...now that I'm in the process of trying to move. I have two properties to sell and one to buy that is contingent on my selling my current home.....sigh...
See ya on the virtual felt....
I may go to a local joint tonight though (wife is on summer break from teaching/admin. job at local high school)....the bar (Slickey's) to protect the innocent where I've played in a NL Hold'em league last year. These tourneys are fantastic for 40.00 entry fee and cash games afterwards for those who are knocked out. I've made some serious cash by just crashing these in the middle of a league season. Foxwoods maybe not but Slickey's....definitely....

Big Game

Thatwas the starting table.....fun times.....

9:51....not much happening....Waffles is playing loose....

9:53....He is now gone with Ad-Qd...with a diamond and straight draw...against Julius KK.....

10:00...Julius_Goat has a flopped flush after calling the raise from iam23skidoo...he had J's and flopped a set...the rest is history......

I bought in...because I didn't have the time to play for a token this week...fuck it...

A bunch of good players are gone already.....deep stack tourneys like this are not slowing down anybody...

10:11....Julius_Goat is bullying the table and winning all pots....

10:25....I take a pot from Julius...thought he would call...I had two pair....he's still far and away the chip leader....

10:31....breaktime....32 out of 45 left I am in 24th after losing a pot to Mike_Maloney.....

10:40...break is over and I just got Ac-10c...I'll raise....take the blinds....

30 left....I'm in 24th...I need chips!!!

28 left I'm in 21st.....I need chips......

Nice tunes on Buddy's request page......I requested MegaDeth and Grateful Dead...

10:48....I had Ad-Qd...I raised pot and Julius woke up with a pocket pair...he called and then bet huge on the flop....the flop was Ax-Ax-Xx.....I go all-in he called and I double up....nice....

I went from 21st to 10 on that one...

10:51...I just cracked another Bud Light....one of many....

Mike Hargrove resigned as Seattle Mariners manager....that guy was the most annoying hitter in the history of baseball...he makes Nomar Garciaparra look like he is rushing the pitcher.....

10:59...not much happening....Julius_Goat loses a big pot.....

11:04...I just took a big pot with Ad-7d....an ace on the flop and Julius bet out...I went all in with a A-rag......

11:07.....23 left....I am in 12th.....

11:15...I knocked out Buddy Dank with K's against his Ad-Qd......

20 left....I am in 10th place....

11:19.....just took a huge pot from NewinNov...I had 5s-8s and flopped a flush....he bet out to scare me but I went all-in.....

11:26...Another crazy ass table.....



11:35...Cautious play is dominating the table....

11:36....15 left...I just lost a pot to IslandBum1......

11:37....got my chips back with 9c-10c...and bet the raggy flop....RecessRampage didn't raise....going on break soon.....

15 left and I am in 9th....I needs me some cash!

11:43...back from break....TripJax has some serious chips after knocking out Julius_Goat....AA vs. JJ....

11:44...DaBag knocks out NewinNov with Kh-Qh...vs...4's....flop has Kx-Kx-Xx.....

11:46 Pick up J's....go all-in vs. the BB and take pot....

11:47....pick up Ax-Jx...go all-in....take the blinds....

11:48....13 left...I am in 9th....

11:49...Hoy takes out DonkeyPuchcher with 10-Ko.....

11:51....Tripjax is running away with it....knocked out IslandBum1...with an ace..

10 left...I'm in 8th...final table soon?

11:58...final table....I have 8th place and take first pot with 8's.....

12:08...my A's win big against kajagugu's K's....huge hand at the final table....huge!!!!

8 left and I'm in 6th out of 8.....5 people get paid.....big stacks everywhere...

5th of 8 now.....picked up a good flop to bluff on Hoy.....

12:14...mixing up some nice hands and bets....I just raised with A-Jo...no callers...

12:17...I go into first place with a flopped straight I had Ax-Kx..againsst Kaja's A-Jo....T26,752

12:21...Kagagugu is knocked out by DaBag when his ace doesn't hit....down to 7....

12:25...back in first...stealing some blinds...

12:27...I think I made a good laydown on an Hoy bet...not too sure....

12:30....Jeciimd...gets taken out by Tripjax...well..Trip J's.....

12:34...I just took a pot from hoy...was hoping for a call to my two pair....to no avail...

12:39...Smokkee...goes out on the bubble.....against TripJax the Chip leader....

12:49...I took out DaBag with 5s-3s..and flopped a flush draw....he had Ac-Kc...which is a curse hand from my last Big Game....

12:51....I'm taking some pots now...with 4's....4 left....damn...just lost 8k with A-Jo

12:54..now I'm in last place...still have 20k though....

12:55...Just took a massive pot with A-9o...against Rake Feeder's A-3o.....

12:57....Justlost a couple of pots to Rake Feeder.....pain in the ass....

1:00.....Massive suckout with Kh-Jh...against Rake's A-Jo...I got a straight...

2nd out of 4 now.....

1:03...big all-in by Rake...with Ad-Jd..against Hoy's A-jo....split pot....

1:04...Hoy takes a huge pot from me with 10's and 9's....

1:07....I go all-in with Kx-Xx..of clubs...Hoy called with Ax-Xx...and gets an ace....after I did get a K on the flop.....c'est la vie.....

1:12....Not a bad score for a buy-in.....76.00 and get a 372.00 score...not too bad a way to end the BBT....

1:22....3 left....IGTB now.....lucky fuckers....