In the Heart of the Evil Empire!

  

This was my view at the RedSox-Yankees game on Saturday the 16th. It was supposed to be an important game with playoff implications but.... They won anyway and Ching-Ming Wang is their bitch. I had a great time and it was a great gift from my wife for a future birthday present. I am much more thankful for the Patriots this year than any other. More on NYC later when other photos are developed...

The NL bar league finally ended and although I didn't reach the top ten I did finish +195.00 after the 15 tourneys at 40.00 per. I cashed in 5 of 15 and went to the final table in 6 of 15...so not too bad overall. The top ten get some big prizes in a final STT. I'll have to try it again sometime but not on Thursday nights...my wife is going back to school for the fall. I could however do the Monday night league at the same bar...something for me to think about. I actually have a choice of card rooms to go to now in my area. Before this year there was Online poker and Foxwoods. Now I have the choice of joining a private club (there are so many that I never new about) or I can go to a Dog track or Horse Track in New Hampshire. There is also the local bar that I go to that I cannot name. So many choices...so little bankroll!!
I already have a 100.00 buy-in to the Sons of Italy NL tournament on Friday night...if I win that one I will take 535.00 and enter the Foxwoods World Poker Finals for at least one event. Top prize could be 4K.

I played in the WPBT NL tourney on Sunday after a long weekend in NYC. there were only 21 entries. I was short stacked at the final table and had K's but got knocked out by Someone who thought I was stealing the blinds...he had A-K and caught the A. I think I went out 9th....got a couple of points for the WPBT race. I'm looking forward to the other upcoming tourneys like Omaha and Razz.

I have been playing and winning a lot of cash on those 4.40 180-player Sit'n'gos on PokerStars in the past month. The problem is that I can't play them on a weeknight because the running time goes 3+ hours when you get deep. In the six that I entered in Mid-Aug. to Mid-Sept. I spent 26.40 (4.40X6) and cashed a whopping +477.60. One first place and two second place finishes.

Shemp has an illegitimate son/grandson?

Is it just me...or does Mihn Ly remind anyone else of Shemp from the 'Three Stooges'??
I was watching a repeat of the Doyle Brunson championship and all I could think of was Shemp....I wonder if Dan Harrington was thinking the same as he was losing. Maybe he was thinking "Friggin Shemp...goes to Vietnam for a sex/drugs tour in the 50's and now I'm getting bad beat at the Bellagio!!!...Friggin Stooge!!"

Internet rights...Fight for them!

Just when I think I'm coming into my own on PokerStars the internet gaming legislation/threat looms....Do something!

Michael Bolcerek, president of the PPA, sent out a letter to all members asking them to take part. CardPlayer.com also encourages its readers to also take part. The letter reads:

Dear PPA Member:

Your urgent action is needed! On September 12, the Poker Players Alliance with the support of leading poker blogs and forums and others are organizing a “Phone March” on Capitol Hill. From 9 a.m. Eastern Time until 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 12, we are asking all PPA members and anyone interested in defending poker to call this toll-free number, 800-289-1136, and be patched through to one of your two U.S. Senators in Washington D.C. When you call the 800 number you will hear a recording from fellow PPA member Greg “Fossilman” Raymer and then you will be prompted to enter your five digit zip code so you can be directed, free of charge, to your Senator’s office.

Note: The 800 number will be active only between 9 a.m. EST and 5:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, September 12.

Key points you should make:

* I am voter in your state.
* I strongly oppose any legislation that would prohibit online poker, and urge the Senator to vote against such legislation.
* Poker is a skill game enjoyed by 70 million Americans.
* The Senator should seek to regulate online poker much as the government regulates other forms of gaming, like lotteries.
* Prohibitions donÂ’t work. Any legislation that tries to ban online poker will only drive those players underground.
* Again, I urge the Senator to oppose any attempts to prohibit me from playing the great American game of poker on the Internet.

The threat to poker is real. Please forward this information to everyone you know who cares about poker and an AmericanÂ’s freedom to use the Internet. We need everyone possible to make their voice heard on September 12!

Sincerely,

Michael Bolcerek

President

Poker Players Alliance

Never Forget

9-11-01 Never forget....and Never again!!!

Trials&Tribulations

Things didn’t go as planned at the bar league tourney last night. I know its 40 bucks a week but it still hurts not being in the top ten for the final STT. I’ll have to really kick ass in the final week. I think I’m in 13th or 14th. Last nights tourney was going well until I got moved to a different table. I bled some of my chip stack on a bad bluff. I raised 2.5 the BB and some guy with Ax-9x went all-in…I should have seen it coming but there were about 20 left at this point. I decided to save it for a play later. I also wasn’t paying attention and threw my cards into the muck while I was in the BB…stupid…stupid…mistake. I had about T2500 left and decided now that there were 17 left that I would make an all-in bluff to force the limper and blinds out…with Ac-3s (what…A-3o?). It worked for the blinds but not the limper-dummy. He called my all-in with A-6o…hey what the hell he’s got nothing to lose right? I’ve knocked him out of the tourney one week….and I think he got me on another week. WTF are you doing calling all-in with A-6o? So he spikes a 6 and takes away half of my T2500. Two hands later I have 6x-6x in the third spot from the BB and went all-in again….BB calls with 7-8o and spikes an 8 to end my night. I had to get aggressive exactly when I did to make the final table but it didn’t work last night. I could have folded my way to the final table but that’s the pussy way out.

Things are going well for me on PokerStars…who says you can’t build a bankroll on tournaments alone? I’ve been playing a lot of STT’s again and the results are great. I recently moved to a new Compaq Presario so I’ll have to figure out how to move my PokerTracker database to the new PC. I’m having a tough time keeping both laptop PC’s attached to my wireless router at home. It seems like I can only have one at a time. I’ve been through the configuration a couple of times and everything is correct. It still won’t accept both wireless laptops at the same time. I’m sick of fucking around with it though. The old HP Omnibook that I have has served me well…but it’s time to put that one to rest. The new Compaq has 1 GB of RAM among other things that I ordered. I can play an MTT now without worrying about my HP crashing. It developed this problem where the power cuts out and it freezes. I figured it out when I jostled the power connection on the back and the power lit back up again. It crashed a couple of months ago when I was 14th in chips in a PokerStars 6.00 buy-in MTT. It wasn’t a big deal that I was involved in a small buy-in tourney but I was 14th in chips at the time it crashed and there were over 1,000 players. By the time I got it back up and running I was blinded out in 10th place. I missed my first 1,000+ person final table because my fucking PC crashed. Well, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Poker Tournaments

I've been playing a lot of tourneys on PokerStars lately and the results have been really good. I took second in one of those 180 Sit'n'gos last night...after 4.5 hours I got a nice little 144.00 for a 4.40 buy-in....good stuff. The heads-up battle at the end lasted something like an hour. I lost on a draw to a flush with my 2h-4h and two hearts on the board. Too bad the pokerDB doesn't show Sit'n'Go results. I think my ROI is ridiculous on the 4.40 tourneys since I entered 4 and got a first and a second place finish out of them.

The bar league tourneys haven't been going too well as of late though. I did at least get some good points this past week but I have only two weeks left to crack the top ten. I think I'm probably in 13th or 14th right now. This past week I was short-stacked under the gun..I had Jd-10d and had to go all-in. The Blinds were at 200-400 so I was in need of getting one caller and then getting lucky. I had the one caller and two diamonds fell but not my flush. Oh well...my progress so far is 6 of 13 final tables and 5 of 13 cashes.

The RedSox have shit the bed officially. Too bad they had to be that way this year...I'm going to NY City/Yankee Stadium for a weekend trip. I think I'll be there for the 1:00 PM game on Sept. 16th. They'll have to play the role of spoiler this year I guess. The Patriots are going to have to save my sports year.

This Sept. is going to be a busy one. I finish the bar league. I play a 100.00 buy-in at the Sons of Italy on Sept. 23rd. I think I still have a 2.5 Million PokerStars freeroll (second round) next Sat. Among other poker things. I'm going to enjoy the NYC atmosphere from Sept. 15th to the 17th. End of Summer isn't so bad afterall!

Good Clean Fun

I better slow down, I don't wanna move too soon,I'm so confused, I don't know what to do.Please don't think I am movin' in for the kill,But if you don't want to love me somebody else will.I better slow down, I don't wanna move to soon,I'm so confused, I don't know what to do.Please don't think I am moving out for the kill,If you don't want to love me somebody else will.There's no harm done, I know you're the one.You don't got to worry, no hurryThe night is still young,I'm just looking for some good clean fun.Some good clean fun...ohh, baby.Just looking for some good clean fun...........

by Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Johnny Neel

The Allman Brothers concert was amazing last Saturday. My buddy got tickets in the 20th row for three of us. He gets them right before the show…Monday to be exact…and then picks them up at the box office before we go in. This saves a ton on shipping charges and all the other charges they slap on concert tickets.  Some funny stuff happened at the concert before and during the show. We saw this guy in the parking lot try to use stilts. The guy must have got them from a friend that plasters or does some sort of construction. Speaking of plastered…the guy pulls circus act and tries to launch himself up on stilts from the trunk of a car. Everybody in the parking lot is watching while Tail-Gaiting, grilling, and drinking. He falls almost flat on his face…then he gets on his hands and knees and starts to crawl. This is too hard to explain how funny this looked especially since he still had the stilts on as he tried to crawl away. Fucking Hilarious!  Before the concert we made a bet on what song is going to be played first. I pulled one out that they may or may not even play…”I pick ‘Where it all Begins’….my buddy Joe picks “Southbound…they play it all the time”…..not this time! My other buddy who went with us picks next…”I pick Statesboro Blues!” he says triumphantly…he never goes to Allman Bros concerts. He thinks that KISS is the best band ever….REALLY! I mean I like KISS but I’m all set after seeing them 5 times in my life (in case your wondering why has Dave seen KISS 5 times…well…my buddy would always get free tickets so I decided to go…he would usually drive so I could get plastered and have a good time). Well anyway, the opening jam takes place and the house starts to rock….then the first song breaks in…it’s ‘Statesboro Blues’. Dumb luck I say…Dumb luck. Good call J-Man. During the concert a funny thing happened. We where jumping around and dancing (whatever you want to call it….drunk grooving is probably more like it) and this lady behind us starts sort of grooving with us…she wants to get in on the fun that we’re having. She had a friend with here who was sort of in disbelief….that’s what it looked like to me anyway. So this chick/lady is having a great time….and I have to say was a very good looking lady. She starts hitting on us. Asking all sorts of questions like “how old are you”…etc. Come to find out she has three kids! Then she sort of announces…”Hey I just got a divorce!” Nothing happened….but why didn’t stuff like this happen ten years ago? It could have been the premise for a porn movie. Anyway, after the concert ends and the lights go on it was awkward to say the least. We had a good time…she had a good time…and that’s all. Move over SoaP!(Snakes on a Plane)…..the new idea/script for a movie is here…..HobaM! (Hit on by a MILF! (You know what that acronym stands for!)). The band was on top it's game as usual...i've never seen a bad Allman Bros. show but they are just the best touring band around. They seriously need to get Derek Trucks into the studio to create some new/classic slide guitar for their songs. Who knows...maybe even a classic LP or double-CD worth of Allman jammy-goodness.


I played the WWdN : The Hunting Fish Invitational   last night and got sucked out on to go out 20th. I was making my move to push for the final table. I get Qx-Qx in early position. I raised 4XBB (seems to have been the going rate) to commit myself to the hand…there was a guy ‘bloser2’ who went all-in over the top also in early position right after me. Everybody folded and I called all-in. He has 9x-9x and is in deep trouble right? No PokerStars turns into RiverStars and he gets his third nine to make a full house with two fours on the board. Yay…I miss the bad beats! I’ve been laying some bad beats on some other players in tourneys lately so my bad-beat karma caught up with me…but I’ll take that kind of play any day.  I also got careless on Party Poker…careless with their 40.00 bonus. I was bored after playing 150 hands or so. I caught an ace on the board when I had Ax-Qx for a hand. I went all-in and was called by mister Kx-Kx…with a K on the board. Goodbye bonus! Bad play by me. There is also a 15.00 dollar bonus on Empire Poker of all places…let’s see if I can run that one up and cash out. Just stay away from questionable hands and I’ll be fine. I just don’t know if I have the patience for the NL ring games. I seem to have patience in abundance when I’m playing a tournament though. I’ll have to re-evaluate my play on NL25 tables. I also tried a HORSE sit’n’go on Stars last night. I busted out 9th of 18 but I have to admit…it was fun. It was very low cost so I’ll stick to those while I try to get better at those types of games. Once in a great while I’ll try a 10-24.00 Stud or Omaha tourney but not often. I’m going to have to really buckle down on my Thursday night bar league. There’s 3 weeks to go and I think I may have been knocked out of contention for the final Top-Ten tourney….unless I start to really kick ass. Just lookin’ for some good clean fun.

Bubble-boy

sigh,

PokerStars Tournament #30264827, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00
820 players
Total Prize Pool: $8200.00
Tournament started - 2006/08/25 - 22:05:00 (ET)

Dear DoubleDave,

You finished the tournament in 11th place.
A $82.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 173.61 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html

bubbleboy again....I had pocket tens for my last hand and some guy called my all-in with Qx-Xx....got the Q on the flop....


RedSox look like toast now....bad loss in Seattle last night. I just hope they get it together when I go to Yankee Stadium in Sept.

My Thursday night poker league at the bar didn't go well...I was knocked out third....I was WAY to aggressive and ran into some pocket J's with Ad-10d...I was in position but the guy loved his damn J's.

I'm going to the Gov't Mule/Allman Bros. concert tonight...my annual trip...here is a report from the last one...there is some humorous stuff that relates to concerts from the past...Poker and Miscellaneous Stuff: Concert recap Part II
Poker and Miscellaneous Stuff: Allman Bros. concert....

Have a great end-of-summer!!

Vacation hangover

Here I am in the office hungover from Vacation at the beach. I've had so much grilled food/seafood/beer/alcohol/sun/sand that It's going to take a week to get normal. The good thing is that I get to go to the beach whenever I want. My parents inherited a great place....and it's only a 40-minute drive from the house. My daughter is going to grow up with constant entertainment....'StoryLand' across the street from my condo in NH and Salisbury beach 40 minutes away from the house.

I had a great win (for me) on PokerStars the night before I went on vacation...did I mention that the 4.40 buy-in (180 NL MTT) was just barely covered with my 4.90 that was in my acount? A nice addition of 212.00 to the PokerStars account.

Anyway, since the beach cottage was only 40 mins. away from the house I was able to get to my Thursday night NL bar league. It was a good thing....I place 5th for a nice little 101.00 payday and vaulted myself into the top ten. 5 of 11 cashes....6 of 11 to the final table. A couple of hands of note (I got lucky): I was in the BB with pocket J's (I hate J's)and one limper called under-the-gun. I had T975 left of the T2500 to start with. The blinds were increasing fast at 100-200 and this was the last hand before the first break. I wanted a call and I didn't want a call....so I went all-in. I get called by the under the gun limper with K-10o. A flop of Jx-Qx-9x gives him the flopped straight...I'm done right? NOT!! The fourth J falls on the freakin' river....I wanted to scream "Them's Quads Beeeetches!!!" but I just let out a victorious "YEAHHHHH". The second hand was at the last two tables...I had T700 left and the blinds were at 300-600. I went all-in with A-4o under the gun because I had to. The small blind tried to force out the chipleader in the BB with a rather large bet....he called. Time to triple up. I got the miracle straight on the river. Flop was Qx-10x-4x....turn was Kx and the river was a Jx. I make the final table and the big stacks go to war. I think the overall chipleader to my right again had 6x-9x. Some guy with Ax-Qx bets big and the chipleader called. The flop of 5x-6x-8x was scary but the second chipstack went all-in. The Chipleader debates the call with himself...he ends up calling and rivers a straight for good measure. I'm not sure why the second chip stack went all in but the chipleader has a reputation for calling with marginal hands. 5 were left and I had to make a move with anything...I think I had T4500 and the blinds were at 1000-2000 so I went all-in with As-5s under the gun again...(been pretty lucky with that hand lately)...chipleader calls with K-8o and flops Kx-8x-Xx...I'm out. That tournament has to put me in the top ten. Time to ratchet up the aggression this week.

I played an MTT last night on Stars but was a little impatient after a long day....knocked out with the best hand at the time. The guy that knocked me out rivered a flush. I also got knocked out of a 45 player NL MTT with Kx-Kx. The guy called my all-in with a Qx-10x-7x flop. He had Qx-Jx and of course a Jx fell on the turn. Back to Bad Beats....man do I miss them! It's good to be back. I wanted to end up plus for the year so I cashed out half of my tourney winnings before vacation. It does put me ahead quite a bit because I'm doing really well in the 'live' tournaments.

*****This just in....friend gets tickets to annual Allman Bros. concert for this Saturday at the 'TweeterCenter'.*******

The RedSox bandwagon lost half of its passengers this past weekend. I will never be accused of being a fair-weather fan....I will be with the Sox to the bitter end. Always remember 2004....never forget the most incredible comeback in Sports history! I had a lifelong Yankees fan staying next door to me on my vacation. He's from Yonkers, NY and was enjoying the Boston Massacre this weekend. I reminded him of 2004..."What have you done for me lately?". He responded with the typical Yankees credo "The Yankees have how many championships?'"....I said "Two-Thousand and Four?"....he just threw his hands up in the air and walked away.

Not a bad way to start vacation......

Not a bad way to begin the vacation huh? My last 4.00 bucks on PokerStars!

Where my head will be at starting on Saturday

The song "Shanty" is such a great beach song...it actually reminds me of being on Cape Cod back in the 70's. I used to sit and watch people throw huge bonfire parties on the beach. I noticed a lot as a little kid. I noticed how people were passing what looked like a cigarette and thinking....why do they keep passing it to each other..why don't they get their own? These parties would last long into the night and I also noticed all the alcohol that was consumed. I couldn't wait until I got old enough to be at that party...everybody seemed so happy. I was a big proponent of the beach bonfire later on as I got older and I always will be. Beach parties from the Cape up to Hampton Beach would become standards for the summer....that is until they banned bonfires on most of the beaches. I heard the following song on the radio yesterday and it immediately transported me from the last two stress/traffic filled weeks to that last late 80's bonfire beach-party on the Cape Cod beach.....

Gonna sit down in the kitchen
And fix me something good to eat
And make my head a little high
And make this whole day complete
Cuz we gonna lay around the shanty, mama
And put a good buzz on

Well pass it to me baby
Pass it to me slow
We'll take time out to smile a little
Before we let it go
Cuz we gonna lay around the shanty, mama
And put a good buzz on

Well there ain't nothin' to do
And there's always room for more
Fill it, light it, shut up
And close the door
Cuz we gonna lay around the shanty, mama
And put a good buzz on

We gonna sit around the kitchen
Fix us somethin' good to eat
And make ourselves a little high
And make the whole day complete
Cuz we gonna lay around the shanty, mama
And put a good buzz on
Cuz we gonna lay around the shanty, mama
And put a good buzz on

-Jonathan Edwards.........SHANTY

I made it to the last two tables last night in the bar league. I had T1500 in chips left and the blinds (SB300-BB600)were making their way to me. I went all-in with Ac-5c...I got lucky earlier with As-5s and I needed chips so yes I was trying to steal. Guy to my left goes all-in over top of me with pocket Q's. No help...I got knocked out.....but still got some valuable leaderboard points. I have about 5 weeks to do some serious damage.....gotta get to the top ten. I'm also going to have to call a little more often...I'm seeing most of the bad play being rewarded. 4 of 11 cashes and 5 of 11 final tables. There is a huge tourney developing on Sept. 22nd. at the Italian-American club near my house. I have my 100.00 buy-in already since I came in 5th place at the last one. There may be 150 people there....big prize pool.
I'm going to incommunicado for a week starting on Saturday.....no online poker bad-beat bitch stories...no fantasy sports....no emails...no blogs....no work...
nothing. I know all two readers of my blog will miss my witty cynicisms and eloquent bad-beat elaborations.....

How about that Jamie Gold! 12 million stinkin' bitch-slappin' freakin' mutha-chuckin' dollahs! I can't believe that the character "Ari" in 'Entourage' is supposedly based on him! That's fucking hilarious.....

See ya'll in a week or so....

Hindsight (and handhistories) is/are 20-20

Well....Look at how upset I was the other night in my post immediately after getting knocked out of the rebuy tourney. I look at the hand history and I screwed myself out of a huge pot. Not to mention let myself get knocked out of the rebuy tourney on Stars. I flopped the nut flush holding Ad-Kd. Flop was Jd-10d-4d. I decide in my drunken wisdom to slowplay and drag a huge amount of chips from my unsuspecting victim. Apparently he had 9d-8d....see where this is going? The turn of 7d gave hime the mortal nuts! There was also a 10 on the river that could have given him a boat but I was significantly invested after raising and calling his re-raise. He also went all-in after the river.....so I called like a moron. With that pot I would have vaulted into the top 20 but I slowplayed myself out of the tourney. I guess I'll have to look forward to 'live' poker tonight at the bar and next week at the Seabrook Greyhound park. I'm on vacation next week.....back to the beach bitches!!!

This just in........

Some fucking cunt just knocked me out of the 5.50 + rebuys on PokerStars...he caught a straight flush on the turn to beat my nut A-Kd flush.

At least it's Friday

I couldn't get anything done in the Poker league last night. Come to think of it I haven't had a pair higher than 9's in the past two weeks! The only hand worth repeating is my last....I was in early position with A-9o and I had T600 left (100SB-200BB). I obviously needed chips so I went all-in in second position. The only guy to call was the guy in the BB....but he was the chip-leader. Well, I did get everybody to fold except one person....1 goal accomplished He called without looking at his cards...2 goals accomplished. He turns over a pocket pair...6's. I didn't improve and his 6's were good. I needed him to call and I needed an A or a 9 to double up+Blinds. Oh well, 4 of 10 cashes...5 of 10 to the final table. Still a great ratio.

Looking forward to the weekend...then one more week of work next week....then I go on a week of vacation. Back to the beach.

Miscellany

Mikes Hard Lemonade beats the heat! It's true! I sat in front of my new programmable AC unit and had a few *cough* while playing some STT's on PokerStars.

The Red Sox are settling in for a long battle with the Yanks....again. We all knew they couldn't just go and win the division....that wouldn't be any fun would it? It's just bound to be a race for the ages again. I can only hope for a special game when I go to Yankee Stadium on Sept. 15th.

The Bar league is tonight...I need to final table to make contend for the final tourney. If I just play the exact opposite way I played last week I should be fine...

The WSOP final event is progressing along without most of the favorites...IMO...12 fucking million dollars to the winner....can you imagine the final display of the money....un-fucking-believable.

Looking forward to drafting my fantasy football leagues soon....should be playing for some cash....I cleaned up in 2004. I won two leagues (ESPN, yahoo) and played the championship game in another ESPN league...but lost by a few points.

Massachusetts politics have to be the laughing stock of the United States....I mean the 'Big Dig' is bad enough but we also have liberal center of the universe. I work in the center of the center of the liberal universe....Cambridge. Lucky me. You have to be politically connected to get anything done around this city and state....it's exasperating. I would lose it if I had to pay a toll to get to work everyday....at least I have that going for me. Just a thought but this city (Boston) is going to die if everybody from the age of 20-35 moves out of state.....but they (politicians) don't care. As long as they, their relatives, their close friends are sucking off the public dole the city and state will continue to sink into an abyss of taxes and hackery.

Is it me or is public FM radio pushing everybody to satellite radio on purpose? Every fucking station has some dipshit comedy team or talk-wannabe on the dial. If I wanted to listen to political commentary I would listen to talk-radio on the AM side of the dial. FM radio is done. Between the commercials and the talk they play the same list of songs over and over....it sucks. I spend a lot of time listening to talk-radio now because I don't want to hear the fucking Foo-Farters twenty times during my commute. Done ranting for the day....stay cool.