My oh my, what a donkfest that was last night. Sadly I spaced out the DADI, but I did decided to try out the new freeroll on PokerStars, the MoneyMaker Millions. There were over 9,500 people signed up to play so you know what a wild ride it would be. Before Level Two blinds were completed about 40% of the field had been eliminated.
At first I saw pretty much what I expected to see, the nimrod that would bet 300 with 10/20 blinds every time it got to him. It took all of four hands before he started to get called down and within two orbits had lost about 2/3 of his stack. He then settled down for bit and allowed a bit of more somewhat normal play to ensue, i.e. preflop raises 3x-5x BB, but typically there would still be four to six people calling it to see the flop.
Finally he got himself a marginal hand to play and he push, got two callers and by some miracle his hand held up. Having chips once again he resumed his previous play style and was with us for about two more orbits before his bottom pair with a shit kicker failed to hold.
I had not had the opportunity to play many hands as my cards were all garbage and it was nearly impossible to get a fold without going all-in, and there was at least a 40% chance of getting called if you did. By the time we got to Level 3 I was down to about 1,350 when I got an AJs in mid position, made a standard raise of 3x BB and got, you guessed it, five callers. Flop came down KTQ rainbow and there was a 200 bet into the 750 pot in front of me. That got one fold, I made it 750 to go, got one caller one more fold and the original raiser pushed (he had me well covered). I called as did the person who called my original 750. The guy who pushed was holding KTo, the other person had, get this, Q9o. Turn was a J, river a T, and my beautiful flopped straight went down to the boat on the river. The KT I can kind of understand, he probably put me on an A with my other card pairing the board so he probably figured he was ahead. But the Q9? Second pair with a gut shot calling two all-ins, well played sir.
In all, I outlasted about 60% of the field. That’s right, 60% gone before the first break. It was a truly unprecedented donkfest the likes of which I had never before seen. As for me, I can’t complain, had my hand held I would have been sitting fairly well, but the suck out on the river gave me an early night. I’ll have to try it again one day soon.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Bubbles and Senators
Well I managed to pull off yet another bubble. Actually surprised I made it as long as I did with all the crap I kept getting. Oh well, that’s the way this game goes. I felt pretty good about the hand I bust on. I was one of the short stacks, table was 5 handed and I was in the cut-off. Looked down at a KsQs and made a raise of 5k, making it 7k to go. The table folded around to the big blind, who also happened to be a new one here, and he thought and said, “I’ll put you all in.” I put in my remaining 10k and off we went, he flipped over JJ. A89 on the flop (all red), T on the turn and finally a Q on the river. For a split second I though I had it, till I saw his Q high straight. Why oh why couldn’t he make his set and give me the straight? So now that’s 5 bubbles in 7 games, I think I’m starting to lose my sanity.
Anyhow, don’t forget to write to your Senators and tell them that Sen. Frist is a putz and to vote against his proposed legislation to stop online betting. Give them an analogy they can relate to that will help them understand the skill/luck mix such as an analogy to the stock market. Remind them of all the books that can be studied, databases that can be used to track your performance that you can review to improve your game. Let them know that only a fraction of a percent fall into the “click your mouse, lose your house” category of addictive gamboooolers and find an analogy for them too—I used the day-traders. Let them know that state sanctioned gamboooooling, such as your lotteries, typically give you odds that only some numbnuts donkeyfish poker player would try to beat. And finally, say the magic “T” word. Let them know that they are missing out on potentially billions of taxable revenues and would be an easy new tax to pass. What are you waiting for, get busy and start writing!
Anyhow, don’t forget to write to your Senators and tell them that Sen. Frist is a putz and to vote against his proposed legislation to stop online betting. Give them an analogy they can relate to that will help them understand the skill/luck mix such as an analogy to the stock market. Remind them of all the books that can be studied, databases that can be used to track your performance that you can review to improve your game. Let them know that only a fraction of a percent fall into the “click your mouse, lose your house” category of addictive gamboooolers and find an analogy for them too—I used the day-traders. Let them know that state sanctioned gamboooooling, such as your lotteries, typically give you odds that only some numbnuts donkeyfish poker player would try to beat. And finally, say the magic “T” word. Let them know that they are missing out on potentially billions of taxable revenues and would be an easy new tax to pass. What are you waiting for, get busy and start writing!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
STFU
Well, it looks like I have been running all right as of late. In my past six tourneys I’ve made two final tables and four bubbles, but let me tell you, those bubbles sting. I think that I have just managed to squeak myself back into the top nine (we have 670 players in our little circuit here) and need to stay focused to keep myself there, I should not have taken so much time off—oh well.
Anyways, last night was just one of those nights. After the break I found myself at a table that had two new players and one girl who could just not shut the fuck up. At best we did two orbits per level, and let me tell you, those blinds were eating us up. It was a good thing I managed to at least double up at that table, maybe if we could have played some god dammed cards instead of listing to our girl have to chat for 5 min, then resume shuffle, chat for 5, resume shuffle, chat for 10 start to deal, a few more comments, then finish the deal (she could not talk and do anything with the cards at the same time and of course she always had to be told when it was her turn to act, and no, she was not one of the new ones), it may have been possible to get some more chips before our table got broken up and the blinds jumped to 500/1000.
During that level of blinds I just got slowly pecked away and due to the lack of play at the previous table, did not have a stack to make a play at any of the pots short of going all in, and sadly there was more than one that could make that call and not even notice a difference in their stack whether they won or lost. The thing that sucked the most was just as the big blind was on me and the cards were dealt, the cry “Final Table” was announced. I look down to a Q3o and mucked my cards and gave my blind to the big stack, knowing that I had at least until the big blind hit me at the final table to try to outlast one of the donkeys at the table.
As luck would have it, I was placed in seat 8 at the final table. As I had prognosticated, two people busted out before the big blind got to me. Needless to say, the cards did nothing for me, didn’t even bother to look at them till I had to flip them after the river and the other two finished their betting. 95o was no help on a board of A23 Q 2. So off I went in 7th place and home for a relatively early night.
Anyways, last night was just one of those nights. After the break I found myself at a table that had two new players and one girl who could just not shut the fuck up. At best we did two orbits per level, and let me tell you, those blinds were eating us up. It was a good thing I managed to at least double up at that table, maybe if we could have played some god dammed cards instead of listing to our girl have to chat for 5 min, then resume shuffle, chat for 5, resume shuffle, chat for 10 start to deal, a few more comments, then finish the deal (she could not talk and do anything with the cards at the same time and of course she always had to be told when it was her turn to act, and no, she was not one of the new ones), it may have been possible to get some more chips before our table got broken up and the blinds jumped to 500/1000.
During that level of blinds I just got slowly pecked away and due to the lack of play at the previous table, did not have a stack to make a play at any of the pots short of going all in, and sadly there was more than one that could make that call and not even notice a difference in their stack whether they won or lost. The thing that sucked the most was just as the big blind was on me and the cards were dealt, the cry “Final Table” was announced. I look down to a Q3o and mucked my cards and gave my blind to the big stack, knowing that I had at least until the big blind hit me at the final table to try to outlast one of the donkeys at the table.
As luck would have it, I was placed in seat 8 at the final table. As I had prognosticated, two people busted out before the big blind got to me. Needless to say, the cards did nothing for me, didn’t even bother to look at them till I had to flip them after the river and the other two finished their betting. 95o was no help on a board of A23 Q 2. So off I went in 7th place and home for a relatively early night.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Four to Seven
Not too bad last night, went out in seventh. While normally I would be a bit more upset with such a low finish on the final table, not this time. During a bit over five hours of play, I won a total of four hands and only had two fold to me. I was getting craptastic cards all night long, but on those few occasions that I hit, I managed to get paid off on them so it was all good.
Not sure if I’ll be heading out to the game tonight. I am tempted and I do need some more points to get myself back into the top nine, as I just recently slipped down to tenth. To be honest, I’m surprised I stayed up as long as I did as I took about five weeks off (well actually more like only once a week). Have about six weeks to get myself back up there so I can play in the “Best of the Best” game at the end of August. It’s a special game for the top nine players that they do once every six months, the winner from the last one has a nice little trip to Vegas that he leaves for today…
Not sure if I’ll be heading out to the game tonight. I am tempted and I do need some more points to get myself back into the top nine, as I just recently slipped down to tenth. To be honest, I’m surprised I stayed up as long as I did as I took about five weeks off (well actually more like only once a week). Have about six weeks to get myself back up there so I can play in the “Best of the Best” game at the end of August. It’s a special game for the top nine players that they do once every six months, the winner from the last one has a nice little trip to Vegas that he leaves for today…
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
That Was Fun
Was running a bit late to the WWdN last night, missed an orbit or two so I got to start just a bit short. Took me a bit to get going, won a few small pots and got myself back up over the starting amount. One hand that had two callers got to me in the SB so I completed figuring what the heck, they’re not great but for only 10 more…then Hoy makes it 100 to go. Buh-bye chips, I folded it as soon as it got to me. I limped one more time and Hoy did the same thing to me….at least he had a pattern.
Shortly before Level 2 I looked down at a KQs in the SB. Since it was just Hoy and me in the pot, I just limped and as expected Hoy made it 100. The flop had a K rags so I bet the pot and Hoy called. The Turn was a J so I bet again and he called and the River was yet another J. This time I checked and Hoy pulled a Hoy on me. I though about it for a minute and made the call. Hoy was playing A rag and was left with one chip, which was his all-in in the SB. Poor Hoy was out before Level 2 blinds. After that it seemed I was good in any pot that did not exceed 4x the BB, if it got over that amount it just seemed I was doomed to lose it. All in all, it was a fun game. I did have one too many by later on in the game and began playing my best drunken lemur game before eventually going out in 16th place.
After that, I naturally thought I just had to keep playing so I fired up a ring game, refreshed my drink and took about 10-15 minutes to donk off ½ my buy-in. Somehow I managed to realize that I had too much to drink to keep playing so I cut my loses and shut down the pc. Would have been better if I had shut down right after the tourney, but at least I did not lose my full buy-in.
Shortly before Level 2 I looked down at a KQs in the SB. Since it was just Hoy and me in the pot, I just limped and as expected Hoy made it 100. The flop had a K rags so I bet the pot and Hoy called. The Turn was a J so I bet again and he called and the River was yet another J. This time I checked and Hoy pulled a Hoy on me. I though about it for a minute and made the call. Hoy was playing A rag and was left with one chip, which was his all-in in the SB. Poor Hoy was out before Level 2 blinds. After that it seemed I was good in any pot that did not exceed 4x the BB, if it got over that amount it just seemed I was doomed to lose it. All in all, it was a fun game. I did have one too many by later on in the game and began playing my best drunken lemur game before eventually going out in 16th place.
After that, I naturally thought I just had to keep playing so I fired up a ring game, refreshed my drink and took about 10-15 minutes to donk off ½ my buy-in. Somehow I managed to realize that I had too much to drink to keep playing so I cut my loses and shut down the pc. Would have been better if I had shut down right after the tourney, but at least I did not lose my full buy-in.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Root Canal
Well it looks like I get to have a root canal done!! They did the preliminary work on it last week and they are getting the insurance authorization for the procedure. Guess I’ll be an indentured servant in a week or so, what fun!
Last night’s game was rather interesting. In the span of two and a half hours (the total amount of time I was in the game) by best hand was an ATo. I got only one pocket pair, 77, and they cost me several hundred chips. The lack of pocket pairs or any two decent overs was more than made up for by the seven times I was dealt Q9, four of which were sooooted. I was getting them so often I felt obligated to play them after awhile, of course they never hit. Oh, and that best hand I was dealt, you know that ATo, well that was also my last hand as I raised on the flop when an A appeared and it folded to the button who pushed and I called (by chance we had exactly the same amount of chips). He showed A6o and spiked a 6 on the river.
Don’t forget that the WWdN is tonight on PokerStars! Though a portion of our brethren is still in Vegas, a larger portion has returned so we should have a fairly decent turnout this week. Hope to see you there!
Last night’s game was rather interesting. In the span of two and a half hours (the total amount of time I was in the game) by best hand was an ATo. I got only one pocket pair, 77, and they cost me several hundred chips. The lack of pocket pairs or any two decent overs was more than made up for by the seven times I was dealt Q9, four of which were sooooted. I was getting them so often I felt obligated to play them after awhile, of course they never hit. Oh, and that best hand I was dealt, you know that ATo, well that was also my last hand as I raised on the flop when an A appeared and it folded to the button who pushed and I called (by chance we had exactly the same amount of chips). He showed A6o and spiked a 6 on the river.
Don’t forget that the WWdN is tonight on PokerStars! Though a portion of our brethren is still in Vegas, a larger portion has returned so we should have a fairly decent turnout this week. Hope to see you there!
Monday, July 10, 2006
What a Weekend
Saturday I got to play tech support. One of my coworkers needed help with her PC and get her VOIP set up. After getting everything together and finding a power strip it looked like we were good, with the exception of having no mouse. I was hoping I would be able to muddle my way through without it, but it seems that getting the PC running was not in the cards.
Turns out, Windows would not even boot, not even in safe mode! What’s a person to do? I had them find me the system disc’s that came with the PC. The restore CD’s were all packaged together in a plastic bag. That’s right, all of them just thrown together in a plastic bag. They were so scratched up that they were unreadable. It also turns out that they got rid of the CD from their broadband provider that had the drivers for their DSL modem. Someone had told them that all the stuff from Yahoo that was included with the drivers on the disc was full of spyware that would slow their system down so they just trashed it.
So next weekend the saga will continue as I track down a mouse, keyboard, and Windows XP and hopefully get that sucker up and running. I should have her get the drivers and burn them to a CD while at work so we can get their broadband up and running.
Sunday was yard work fest. It was way too hot and muggy if you ask me, but the weeds were getting out of hand. Spent way too many hours out there for my comfort level. It was probably a good thing that I set up the min collapsible pool last weekend. I think it’s about 10 feet in diameter and about 3 feet deep or so. It was nice to take a dunk in the pool, even had the company of Guinness in the pool. Guinness our Rottweiler, not the beer, though that would have been nice too!
Turns out, Windows would not even boot, not even in safe mode! What’s a person to do? I had them find me the system disc’s that came with the PC. The restore CD’s were all packaged together in a plastic bag. That’s right, all of them just thrown together in a plastic bag. They were so scratched up that they were unreadable. It also turns out that they got rid of the CD from their broadband provider that had the drivers for their DSL modem. Someone had told them that all the stuff from Yahoo that was included with the drivers on the disc was full of spyware that would slow their system down so they just trashed it.
So next weekend the saga will continue as I track down a mouse, keyboard, and Windows XP and hopefully get that sucker up and running. I should have her get the drivers and burn them to a CD while at work so we can get their broadband up and running.
Sunday was yard work fest. It was way too hot and muggy if you ask me, but the weeds were getting out of hand. Spent way too many hours out there for my comfort level. It was probably a good thing that I set up the min collapsible pool last weekend. I think it’s about 10 feet in diameter and about 3 feet deep or so. It was nice to take a dunk in the pool, even had the company of Guinness in the pool. Guinness our Rottweiler, not the beer, though that would have been nice too!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Bubbles
Don’t you just love being the bubble? That’s right, you guessed it, yours truly was last nights bubble boy. I was hoping to double up against the big stack again; he had been playing a lot of hands and making too many raises and all-in calls, though sometimes he did actually have it. Anyhow we were five handed and I was holding pocket nines. I led off with a standard raise and then he reraised me so I just pushed. He was holding Big Slick and with the A on the flop I knew I was done. So off to the bar I went and Nancy the bartender was kind enough to pour me a Bacardi and diet, on the house.
Looks like this weekend I’ll be playing tech support for a friend with massive computer issues so it looks like I will not be hitting any of the live games. I actually think it may be nice to have a weekend without wanting to pound my head through the wall after taking a bad beat or a major suck-out. Instead, I’ll get to approach stroke levels as I try to figure out why the hell the computer is not doing what it should be doing. Wish me luck!
Looks like this weekend I’ll be playing tech support for a friend with massive computer issues so it looks like I will not be hitting any of the live games. I actually think it may be nice to have a weekend without wanting to pound my head through the wall after taking a bad beat or a major suck-out. Instead, I’ll get to approach stroke levels as I try to figure out why the hell the computer is not doing what it should be doing. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
4th
Well I had a decent night on Monday, took 4th in the tourney. The follow up on Tuesday was not quite so good, got down to two tables but lost a huge pot pretty early on that crippled me. Oh well, das pokah. After busting out I sauntered over to the bar to finish my beer and catch the last 10 minutes of the World Cup. That first goal by the Italians in the last two minutes of the second over-time was just amazing. The next one that followed less than a minute later was not quite as impressive as the Italians had that poor German goal tender surrounded.
The fireworks were alright, the bar where we were playing had a direct line of site to the show, so that was cool. The TD gave us all a 20 min break to watch the show, but the blinds had to stay on the clock so we all faced the brutal 200/400 to 500/1000 jump in blinds when we got back. To help make up for it the TD announced that anyone who spent $10 at the bar during the next 30 min would get a bonus 1000 chip, not an easy task considering almost everything was on special for the 4th!! Everyone was fine with that, gotta keep the bar happy after all!
Gonna have to make another crack at a final table tonight, haven’t been playing in the live games as much over the past month, and when I have, I’ve been running cold. So here’s to turning on the heat and taking this one down tonight!
The fireworks were alright, the bar where we were playing had a direct line of site to the show, so that was cool. The TD gave us all a 20 min break to watch the show, but the blinds had to stay on the clock so we all faced the brutal 200/400 to 500/1000 jump in blinds when we got back. To help make up for it the TD announced that anyone who spent $10 at the bar during the next 30 min would get a bonus 1000 chip, not an easy task considering almost everything was on special for the 4th!! Everyone was fine with that, gotta keep the bar happy after all!
Gonna have to make another crack at a final table tonight, haven’t been playing in the live games as much over the past month, and when I have, I’ve been running cold. So here’s to turning on the heat and taking this one down tonight!
Monday, July 03, 2006
Quit Being Pissy
Another lousy weekend at the tables. Down a buy-in and two tourneys without a final table, ho-hum. Saturday was irritating because I made it down to the last two before going out in 12th when my KQs lost to pocket 4’s. Went to the bar until a spot opened at the cash table and the woman bitched at me for being pissy. At the cash table, I got my buy-in and there were a couple of stacks there, didn’t win a single pot. That’s right, not a one. Nothing but drawing hands and never made a pair. Any pot I was in had a stack that would call or raise simply because they could. Back to the bar and hear ‘quit being pissy’ again. I guess I was ruining her night sitting on the corner and being quiet rather than chatting it up with her and her friend.
Sunday was about the same. Just wasn’t getting the cards and the draws were missing and it was tough to induce a fold at the table I spent most of my night at. The blinds were up to 500/1000 and I was sitting on about 5500. When the BB got to me, the button min raised me. I figured he was trying to steal and I was holding a J9s, so I figured wtf, push. Turns out the button also had 5500 and he called. He was on a steal with Q7o, but since his raise was damn near ½ his chips he had to call. Blanks to the river and out I went.
As I head to the bar, there she is with her friend and I tell her I just busted out. ‘Quit being pissy.’ I was just going wtf. I just fucking busted out of the tourney less than 4.2 seconds ago!! Guess I should be doing cartwheels of joy the instant I bust out of a tourney.
‘You should just play to have fun, if it’s not fun quit.’
‘Everyone gets bad cards and loses so quit being pissy.’
‘I’m here to be social and have fun.’
Sorry, I play to win, and when I don’t I will be irritated, i.e. pissy, for a bit. The Sunday hand I busted out with I figured I was on a coin-flip at best. I was not upset by the play or the way it turned out, but I was still upset to lose.
Sadly, she is not there for the cards, she is there for the social aspect. It really sucks when she dumps one, two, or three buy-ins having fun. I for one am a bit better than breakeven at the cash games, but when you add on her fun, we are way the fuck behind.
She says she loves the game, so do I. Problem is, she loves the game as a vehicle and I love the game for the game. So I guess that means that once again tonight I’ll get bitched at for being pissy.
Sunday was about the same. Just wasn’t getting the cards and the draws were missing and it was tough to induce a fold at the table I spent most of my night at. The blinds were up to 500/1000 and I was sitting on about 5500. When the BB got to me, the button min raised me. I figured he was trying to steal and I was holding a J9s, so I figured wtf, push. Turns out the button also had 5500 and he called. He was on a steal with Q7o, but since his raise was damn near ½ his chips he had to call. Blanks to the river and out I went.
As I head to the bar, there she is with her friend and I tell her I just busted out. ‘Quit being pissy.’ I was just going wtf. I just fucking busted out of the tourney less than 4.2 seconds ago!! Guess I should be doing cartwheels of joy the instant I bust out of a tourney.
‘You should just play to have fun, if it’s not fun quit.’
‘Everyone gets bad cards and loses so quit being pissy.’
‘I’m here to be social and have fun.’
Sorry, I play to win, and when I don’t I will be irritated, i.e. pissy, for a bit. The Sunday hand I busted out with I figured I was on a coin-flip at best. I was not upset by the play or the way it turned out, but I was still upset to lose.
Sadly, she is not there for the cards, she is there for the social aspect. It really sucks when she dumps one, two, or three buy-ins having fun. I for one am a bit better than breakeven at the cash games, but when you add on her fun, we are way the fuck behind.
She says she loves the game, so do I. Problem is, she loves the game as a vehicle and I love the game for the game. So I guess that means that once again tonight I’ll get bitched at for being pissy.
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