Huntsvegas Poker

Mid-Term Elections And Poker

2010-11-21T14:14:00.002-06:00

This is a pretty good good article on what the Mid-Term Elections mean for online poker legalization.

I for one think there is a long road to hoe for this to ever get done if for no other reason than our country has a ton of other more meaningful problems...

Alabama Will Destroy You!

2010-10-05T19:26:00.005-05:00

Michael Williams #89 blowing up Florida LB

Alabama LB Dont'a Hightower blowing up Florida OT

November Nine 2010 is Set

2010-07-19T23:45:00.003-05:00

7,319 entries started this year's WSOP Main Event and it is now down to the November Nine. Pretty amazing one of these guys is going walk away with close to 9 million in cash.

The only guy I'm familiar with is Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.

Good luck! Maybe one day I'll get out there again. It's been 4 years now since my WSOP experience. Sigh...

Leaving Hosting With Blogger

2010-04-28T20:08:00.002-05:00

I have decided to simply leave my hosting with Blogger after seeing the issues that surround doing the Custom Domains thing with my hosting provider. Not one right now to cause any undue pain for myself as I have little time to mess with website technical issues I've decided to simply link to Blogger from my main page and let Blogger host it all.

So from now on you can find me at http://huntsvegaspoker.blogspot.com/

Thanks and stay tuned...

Blogger Ending SFTP Publishing

2010-02-21T11:22:00.003-06:00

Blogger will be ending SFTP Publishing on May 1. As such it gives me the opportunity to make a clean break from using Blogger's services for my poker blog and all corresponding Huntsvegas Poker League blogs.

Please stay tuned because I am going to leave this blog as is and simply migrate to a new blog format soon. I've been wanting to do this for a while now so I don't have to depend on someone's service to update my pages.

I will most likely decide to leave things as is here and then have a blog archive link back from the new page to this one.

I haven't decided yet but that is what it looks like I am going to do.

Until next time...

Roll Tide Roll!

2010-01-20T21:00:00.001-06:00

HPL Musings And WBCOOP

2010-01-20T19:56:00.004-06:00

The home game is coming up on the end of the ninth season. We started the Huntsvegas Poker League back in the summer of 2004. Then we were playing in my garage and have since migrated to a buddy's house.

It's been a blast and I am looking forward to many more. I'd like to do something special for the tenth season but am running out of ideas. We've done a pure NLHE league a number of times (one with a WSOP Main Event format final), a mixed games league, a HORSE league, and mixed Omaha league.

For anyone out there paying attention. What do you think we should run for the tenth iteration of the Huntsvegas Poker League?

Bueller... Bueller...?

P.S. >> Looking forward to the WBCOOP that PokerStars is putting on soon. Big props to one of the best online poker rooms out there.

PokerStars WBCOOP 2010

2010-01-10T19:37:00.002-06:00

Pokerlicious

2009-12-06T20:10:00.004-06:00

The WSOP finally got exciting at the end and I enjoyed the coverage once it got to the final 27. Hated that Darvin Moon didn't pull it out. Would've been a great story.

Not a whole lot on the poker front with me. Been playing almost exclusively in home games with a few SNGs online but can't remember the last time I played online.

Looking forward to the big NLHE Christmas tournament that we run every year that sees about 50 or so people with about a $2500 prize pool.

Roll Tide!!!

ESPN WSOP Main Event Coverage

2009-09-07T08:19:00.003-05:00

Is anyone else finding the coverage that ESPN is doing of the WSOP Main Event is lacking in some form?

I can't put my finger on it but I find that I am not liking it that much for one reason or another.

It seems like they are only showing celebs and personal stories of players playing way too much instead of actual hands.

What do you think?

WSOP 2009 November Nine

2009-07-16T07:51:00.002-05:00

The WSOP 2009 Main Event November Nine is set.

Everyone, even the guy with 58 million chips, is very afraid except for Phil Ivey.

It's Been A While...

2009-04-19T18:48:00.003-05:00

The 3rd child has severely limited my online poker playing. This kind of stinks since BBT4 is running right now but I just don't have the energy or the time to get involved.

Hopefully sometime soon I can get back in to the swing of things but I have to be satisfied with the local home game right now which is going well from a local poker community standpoint.

I miss the little bit of fraternization I have with all of you online poker bloggers and hope it picks up sooner rather than later.

If you ever are around the North Alabama (Huntsville) parts drop me a line and come play with us.

Battle Of The Bloggers Starts Today

2009-03-01T14:59:00.003-06:00

I'm playing the Brit Blogger Game at 1500 CST and might do the Big Game Tonight. I hope things go well.

I would like to try to get back to Vegas for the WSOP.

BBT4 page is now up at FTP.

Thanks again to AlCantHang as well.

Be sure to come play but only if you donk your chips off to me.

WSOP Circuit Event Tunica Final Table Tournament Report

2009-02-03T08:12:00.002-06:00

Go over and check out Kathy McKay's tournament report on her final table performance at the Wednesday Night Basement Poker league's website.

I can't wait to play over at the WNBP again soon. Be sure to keep a regular eye on their events.

Congrats again to Kathy!

HPL Cashes Again At WSOP Tunica and Guest Post

2009-02-02T07:44:00.003-06:00

Hello all. David Mansfield cashed for a 2nd time last week at the WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica. I asked him to write up a tournament report so I could post it here. It is below. Congrats to David and Kathy McKay on their great showings in Tunica.

*************************

The 2008-2009 WSOP Circuit Event is at Harrah’s Tunica from 01/20/09 to 02/04/09. I think this is my fourth time to go to Tunica for a circuit event. I got there barely in time to enter Monday’s Event #7 which started at noon. It was a $230 buy-in with 621 entries.

I’m not very good at remembering specific hands, but I can tell you that I played an average or just above average stack most of the time. I do remember thinking that I played pretty well and couldn’t remember any major mistakes. That doesn’t mean I didn’t make any, just that I can’t remember them! Anyway, they paid 63 players. I finished 43rd. Exciting stuff!

It was pretty late, but I was too hyped to go to bed, so entered a $65 single table satellite. For those who don’t know, they run those constantly, so if you want to go but don’t have enough money to play in very many main events you can always play the single tables. Anyway, it got down to two of us and I was short stacked so the other guy said something to the effect that he’d offer to split if I had more chips, but since I didn’t, oh well. It really didn’t matter to me because I wasn’t thinking of a split anyway. Guess what his offer was when I pulled about even? You guessed it. He was a nice guy so I decided to split even though I knew I had him. How’d I know? He was a big talker; very friendly. He told me early on that he doesn’t go all in pre-flop! WAY too much info there buddy. Anyway, I agreed to split with him.

Funny thing is on the bus back to the hotel I sat down next to the dealer. The first thing he said was that I should have played it out. He agreed that I probably would have taken it all. Still, at the end of the first day I’d cashed in both tourneys I entered. Pretty exciting. Finishing 43rd out of 621 was definitely the best part of day one.

Here is a link to the Event #7 results. That’s me at #43.

Day two I entered Event #8, another noon event with the same buy-in. This time there were 470 entered. Again I played a good average stack game, never really getting enough chips to do much. Thankfully the best player at the table for most of my day, who had a huge stack when I was first moved there, was just to my right.

When it came to the end of level 18 at about 2:00 a.m. I was still sitting there! We didn’t get down to the final table; we had 11 remaining. So we had to come back the next day at 2:00 to play for the final table, which would then move upstairs. If you haven’t been to Harrah’s lately they moved the circuit event downstairs to the “theater” area. The main tournament area is on the floor but they have the final table on a platform.

Anyway, I started with $321,000 chips with antes at $4000 and blinds at $15,000 and $30,000. So I know I don’t have much room for error. But what else is new; that’s about how I had to play the whole way anyway. Our table had 6 players and I guess we were on the second or third hand and the guy under the gun limped. I thought that was pretty odd; it didn’t seem to fit with the way he’d been playing. I’m either the button or just right of the button (I don’t remember which) and look down at AK off suit. I had pretty much decided that with the antes, both blinds and the limper in I had just one move, so went all in.

Everybody folded to the limper and he called. When he turned over A9 of hearts I was feeling pretty good; I’m supposed to be about a 70% favorite at that point. Then the flop came 2 hearts and you guessed it; the river came another heart. The guy called off almost half his chips with A9 suited, which I think was a questionable decision. But I never say anything at the table. It’s funny how often the loser tries to “school” the winner, and I just always try to avoid that. So, I finished 11th. The only consolation there is that he used my chips to win the tournament.

Here’s a link to the Event #8 results. You’ll find me at a disappointed #11.

So after walking around and trying to cool down a little, I went to buy an entry into the 7:00 “Second Chance” tourney ($125 buy-in), which had about 160 entries. I didn’t get any cards when I needed them and went out about 90th. Both before and after that one I played several single table satellites at either a $65, $125 or $230 buy-in. I have an awful memory but think I cashed in three out of six or four out of seven. I do remember the three-way split at the only $230 table I played, so left with a little over $700 on that one. Every single-table game I cashed in decided on a 2-way split, except for the $230 which split three ways.

I would have gladly played any of them out, but the other guy always mentioned splitting the winnings and I don’t want to be a jerk. I guess I’m too nice to play poker.

I think I would have played a $550 single table if there was one. The winner there would have his entry into the Main Tournament!

So now it’s Thursday, the day I’m supposed to come home. But man I don’t want to. So I decided to enter one more noon tournament, this one with a $440 buy-in. I wish I could say I did well, but out of about 316 players I went out about 110. Just in time to drive home and get in before it got too late. I did see Chris Moneymaker that day. There was talk that most of the big names probably won’t be there on Monday for the Main Event, because they’ve been in Australia and will probably go to California for a big event out there.

So, that’s about it. I feel like I did pretty well but of course not as well as I’d hoped. I’m not disappointed in the way I played. I made a few tight folds pre-flop which in retrospect might have been questionable, but those decisions were almost always based on my position. I pretty much didn’t enter a pot unless I could raise it, unless I happened to be on a table where I knew there were good players who were also limping.

I raised WAY more pots than I limped. And I made one call of a $1400 raise into my $600 big blind with pocket 8s that I probably should have folded with only $10,000 in chips. I was hoping for a miracle which of course didn’t come, with 20% of my chips. And what made that decision even worse was my position. I deserve to lose playing that way.

I came away this year realizing more than ever that I have a lot to learn. I knew I was making a bad decision on that hand, before I made it, and still did it anyway. But watching the other good players made me realize, more this year than ever, how far I have to go to play competitively against that kind of competition.

Miscellaneous observations:

Be careful at the cash tables. I had about 90 minutes to kill before the conclusion of the Tuesday event on Wednesday. I went to the poker room (which is now downstairs on the left side of the building) and found out the only seat they had was at a 2-5 no limit table. So I buy $400 in chips and sit down. I look across the table at chips flying everywhere with what looked like at least $8,000 in $100 bills backing one guy and at least $3000 behind his buddy’s chips.

I was careful and got up a couple of hundred and then back down about $150. I sure was glad I had somewhere else to go! I relay this story to show that I don’t know what I’m doing plus to warn others. I should have definitely waited for a lower stakes table because I don’t have $5,000 that I’m o.k. with losing in just a few minutes. If I did though, I could have tripled up on one hand. I didn’t have the guts to call the guy who threw out every hundred he had except for one on the turn card, with me holding a J high flush draw. It really looked like it could have been $10,000. A guy with about $1000 called him though, with nothing but a pair of 4s and 3 over cards on the board! Neither showed at that point but the caller hit his 6 on the river.

He called with nothing but a 4-6!!! Wow. I don’t know what deep pockets had except for most of his money back because he didn’t show. He stayed upset for a pretty good while after that one. I would have hit my flush on the river, but woulda coulda shoulda doesn’t make a good poker player. I still made the right play though. All my chips on a Jack high flush draw?

Other things I noticed:

If you call for reservations make sure you find out which hotel you’re in. I assumed I’d be in the one they’ve put me in every time I’ve gone. So on the dinner break instead of eating I go to check in, only to find out I’m at the wrong hotel. So much for getting anything to eat that day.

But for $40 bucks per night on weekdays, it’s a pretty good deal.

They’ve changed the buffet area up and it is really nice. I thought just about everything I ate was very good. When you go to Paula Dean’s Buffet definitely do not miss the Hoe Cakes.

Don’t pay $11 for two aspirin. I went in the gift shop to get aspirin, which cost about $0.79 for a pack of two. She gives me change for a $10. I’m sure I gave her a $20, because I don’t think I had a ten dollar bill on me the whole week. She got irate right away, so I let it go. Next time I’ll hold the bill, make her yank it out of my hand, and ask if she agrees that it is a $20!

Every time I go I leave amazed at the number of people who seem to follow the circuit around full time. I wish I could do that!

Good providence at the tables!

David

Another HPL Member Cashes at 2009 WSOP Tunica

2009-01-28T16:39:00.002-06:00

Another HPL member has done well and cashed at the 2009 WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica.

David Mansfield finished 43rd out of 621 in Event #7 cashing for $663.

Congrats David! Please hit us with a report on the tournament when you get a chance. We'll post it here as soon as we can.

Still waiting for an HPL'er to take one of those down.

Good Luck at the tables all!!!

HPL Member Final Tables 2009 WSOP Tunica

2009-01-27T18:35:00.004-06:00

As mentioned previously the 2009 World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Tunica is in full swing. The Huntsvegas Poker League had a number of individuals that made the trip over to participate.

Congratulations to HPL member Kathy McKay who final tabled the Ladies No-Limit Hold'em event and finished in 9th place taking home $1554 in the process.

Hopefully we'll get more good news as the tournament progresses from other members and if we can get a write-up from Kathy on her experience I will post it here.

Good Luck!

WSOP Circuit Event Tunica

2009-01-25T09:32:00.002-06:00

The WSOP Circuit Events in Tunica are in full swing. Alas I will not be able to attend this year as I thought I would be able.

My newborn getting sick and things at work have overwhelmed my attempt so I will have to wait to attend a large tournament.

Maybe I get to try to make the WSOP in Las Vegas this year as a consolation prize.

Until then good luck at the tables unless you're taking flops against me.

2009 World Series Of Poker Circuit Event Tunica

2008-12-13T22:21:00.003-06:00

I plan on being at the 2009 World Series Of Poker at Harrah's Tunica from January 27th to January 29th. I am looking forward to playing PLO and HORSE.

Check out the full schedule of events!

Drop me a line if you are going...

PokerStars Rocks

2008-12-13T22:14:00.004-06:00

Doesn't get much better than this...

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code:

36-0

2008-11-30T10:21:00.002-06:00

Not Much Gets Better Than This.

Congrats to this Alabama team for going 12-0 in the regular season.

Roll Tide Roll!!!

LeTune = KaBoom

2008-10-17T08:09:00.003-05:00

Well it definitely wasn't a sequel to LeCheese for me. I ran 2nd nuts into 1st nuts and went home in 26th place out of 36.

My chips propelled pvanharibo into winning the thing. Congrats!

Thanks to Rakebrain for offering this freeroll and I look forward to playing it again soon.

Here It Is Again... This Time LeTune

2008-10-15T22:06:00.002-05:00

Big shout out again to Joe from Rakebrain for the invite to what was formerly known as LeCheese Challenge and what is now known as the LeTune Challenge.

I am so looking forward to getting to play against some of the finest poker bloggers in the world. Especially since I just don't get to see them across the virtual felt much anymore. A third kid will sometimes do that to you.

You just can't beat a $1000 freeroll and I get a chance to better my third place finish and will hopefully get to pad the roll for the 2009 WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah's Tunica in January.

See you all tomorrow.

Worth. Every. Penny.

2008-08-31T15:15:00.002-05:00

Unrelated to poker but I couldn't resist...

Preach it my man!!!!

Pay special attention from 2:20 to about 4:16. This is a classic!!!

Things Are Slooooow But Good

2008-08-24T12:16:00.005-05:00

Things have been going very slowly for me in terms of online poker. My wife is about to have our third. Work has gotten busier than it has ever been and I just can't stay up as late as I used to playing online poker due to the aforementioned reasons and quite a few others that I won't bore you with.

Never fear. I have been playing pretty consistently locally and have actually taken my game to a new level in my opinion. I have become more patient with a short stack. I have quit trying to outplay everyone in every single hand. Sometimes you just can't get that guy to lay down those aces.

Plugging these holes have helped me finish 1st 8 times, 2nd 5 times, and 3rd once over my last 18 tournaments. Before this I was on a horrible streak causing me to rethink my game and it feels like I have shored it up a bit.

My next big trip plan will be Tunica in early 2009 to compete at the WSOP circuit event that is going to be held there. This will be my 3rd trip out to one of these and hopefully the 3rd time will be the charm!

If you are interested in other stuff out in Tunica before then there is also the Mid-American Poker Classic going on in Tunica at the Horseshoe from Sept. 15 to Sept. 24th.

Mid-American Poker Classic Info (.pdf)

Until next time...

The Blogfather Cashed

2008-07-11T20:06:00.002-05:00

The Blogfather Iggy cashed at the 2008 Main Event in 'round abouts 400th place. Great Job Bro!!!

WSOP 2008 Final Table Delay

2008-07-08T22:47:00.003-05:00

Even after reading all of the "this is really cool for poker" posts out there am I the only one that still thinks THIS is stupid?

I mean really... until November??

Why not show the preliminary events AFTER the Main Event Final Table live "performance"?

Please someone try to convince me this is a good idea?

Anyways... It looks like the final tally for entries this year is actually up since last year which I thought wouldn't happen. 6,844 entries. I still wish I was there.

The Blogfather Makes Day 2

2008-07-06T11:41:00.008-05:00

Congrats to Iggy who has made day 2 at the WSOP.

I don't know anything other than that. Hopefully he he is healthy and will post something to his blog soon.

Stay tuned...

Update: He speaks...

The 2008 WSOP Main Event

2008-07-04T16:35:00.002-05:00

The 2008 WSOP Main Event has begun. Sigh...

Not there yet again...

One day maybe...

Pretty good updates can be had HERE!

ESPN 2008 WSOP TV Schedule

2008-06-21T09:20:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to post the ESPN 2008 WSOP TV Schedule for those that might be interested.

This is straight from the horse's mouth...

July 22 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 1: $10,000 pot-limit hold 'em

July 29 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 2: $1,500 no-limit hold 'em

Aug. 5 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 3: $1,500 pot-limit hold 'em
Event 4: $5,000 mixed hold 'em

Aug. 12 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 5: $1,000 no-limit hold 'em with rebuys

Aug. 19 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 45: $50,000 HORSE

Aug. 26 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 50: $10,000 pot-limit Omaha

Sept. 2 to Oct. 28 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 54: $10,000 no-limit hold 'em main event

Nov. 4 -- 8-10 p.m.
Event 54: WSOP main event final table preview show

Nov. 11 -- 9-11 p.m.
Event 54: WSOP main event final table

Bow Down To The Supreme Razz Donkey

2008-06-20T23:35:00.003-05:00

Stop, Gaze, and Wonder at my Razz Skill...

I am going to try to play some of these since it gives me the opportunity to take my King up to 7th and suck out on surflexus and pokerenthusiast.

Hope to play with you all soon...

Superbusy Days and Tired Nights...

2008-06-13T22:10:00.002-05:00

Tis been a while since anything of note that has happened on this here blog... but when you have a family of 4 soon to be a full basketball team that happens.

Our poker league is in the middle of a hiatus from our TOC but we start playing again next week which will help.

The WSOP is in full swing and hopefully you all are paying attention. Pretty exciting. I sure do wish I was there. Maybe next year when things are a bit calmer around here.

In between trying to sell a house, buy a house, take care of a five and four year old, and trying to coddle my pregnant wife in the middle of all that, poker has taken a bit of a back seat.

Never fear... Things will pick up...

Congrats to Daniel Negreanu who just picked up his fourth bracelet after a bit of a dry spell.

Are You Kidding Me???

2008-05-01T22:38:00.005-05:00

Does anyone else think this is crap? Seriously... 4 months later?

I could understand a few days or a week to setup a national type live broadcast but 4 months???

Does anyone else think this is stupid or am I not seeing the forest for the trees?

I think it's ridiculous.

It's A Boy

2008-04-27T10:21:00.003-05:00

We just found out that our 3rd baby will bring us our 2nd son. My wife says no more so I guess I am done. He is due October 12th.

The Proof

The Alien

One more donkey will soon walk amongst us!!!

I'll Take It...

2008-04-17T19:26:00.002-05:00

I Heart Freerolls. Especially $1k freerolls. Thanks RakeBrain.com!

Smallish cash but I will take $100 an hour playing poker any day of the week.

Freerollin' With RakeBrain

2008-04-17T15:17:00.002-05:00

RakeBrain.com is throwing a freeroll called the LeCheese Challenge II tonight for poker bloggers and as such I was invited to participate and am very honored to do so. It is going to be Half Pot Limit Holdem and Half Pot Limit Omaha which should be fun.

While a 1 in 27 shot at a $1000 prize pool is quite spectacular, I am also looking forward to getting to play poker again with TNSpaceman.

A big chest bump goes out to Joe at RakeBrain for hitting me with the invite and I look forward to playing with you all soon.

Be sure to come rail the donkeys...

Getting Old.

2008-04-07T21:58:00.005-05:00

I haven't had much to say since the last post and a good bit of that has to do with the fact that I just haven't been playing online much. Real life is kind of busy right now.

I have been playing live in the home game and things are going pretty good there (except for my last two outings).

I hope to play on the virtual felt again soon but I have been busy at work and tired at night so who knows...

I am definitely going to try the BBT3 again soon but just don't know when yet.

Stay tuned and I hope to play with everyone again soon...

Dead Last...

2008-03-02T21:29:00.003-06:00

Hopefully this isn't an omen but I got the Gigli award tonight in the 1st BBThree.

105 of 105. Yippeeee!!!

I got my JJ rivered by A9 and it was all downhill from there.

See you all tomorrow if I can get the upchuck taste out of my mouth.

I Must Be Dreaming...

2008-03-01T06:46:00.002-06:00

The bar has been set mighty high people. I am still scratching my eyes to see if I am dreaming...

If things go at least as good as BBTwo I will be pretty pumped!!!

See all you donkeys very soon!

Bodog Blogger Tournaments

2008-02-22T21:26:00.004-06:00

Do you want to win a seat at the WSOP for doing nothing more than playing well at low limit ($10 + $1) tournaments against other bloggers?

Head on over to the Bodog Poker Tournament today and get involved.

Unfortunately these things occur during my local games (Tuesday nights) but I might try to online/live multitable this thing since Bodog is being so generous with the prizes.

Gotta give a shout out to Bodog. I have never played their software before but I am looking to try it out soon.

Stay tuned for my thoughts...

This Donkey's For You

2008-02-05T18:35:00.001-06:00

...and I mean you Erik!

Thanks to Lucko for pointing this one out!

Not Much To Say

2008-01-28T22:39:00.001-06:00

I don't have that much to say other than my stomach still hurts when thinking about what happened in the BBTwo TOC.

It was good to hear that jeciimd had a great time Down Under though. I still owe him one!

Hopefully I will have something meaningful soon...

Good luck to everyone at the tables!

This. Hurts. Bad.

2007-12-21T00:39:00.000-06:00

Especially after playing so good... Thanks to all who cheered for me out there. You know who you are!!!! Good luck in Australia jeciimd!!

2nd is for losers!!!

3.7%

2007-12-19T19:57:00.001-06:00

3.7% is the chance a donkey has of winning the Battle of the Bloggers Aussie Millions package. You might be able to tick that up to 4% due to my "hee haw" prowess but not much more than that.

Hopefully this thing will work out for me and I can take my wife on a helluva trip!! Please come out tomorrow and root me on!!!

Someone out there in the know needs to put up odds on everyone. That should be funny. I know I am a long shot but you know what they say about long shots. I am definitely going to show up to take the thing down.

On a side note... I can remember coming home from school early in the 4th grade and putting on the radio until I was able to record the following song to tape where I then commenced to drive my parents insane by playing it over and over again. I ended up getting the actual album on tape for Christmas in 1982. I was 9. What a great song...still!

Unbelievable.

2007-12-05T00:35:00.000-06:00

Rest In Peace Chip...

Where To Get The Best Game

2007-12-05T00:30:00.000-06:00

One has a daunting task about deciding where to play poker online due to the myriad of online poker rooms out there on the net.

It would be easy to see how a prospective online poker player could become overwhelmed and decide to keep their money off the virtual felt.

Fortunately there are sites that offer poker room reviews to give poker players all the tools they need to make the most informed decision about where to play their online poker.

Full Tilt Poker and their generous poker bonus they offer got my vote.

Which room is going to get yours?

2008 WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica

2007-12-01T11:59:00.000-06:00

The World Series of Poker Circuit Event will be back in Tunica at the Grand Casino on January 3rd. If I do actually make it out this January hopefully it will be better than my last experience this past fall.

Let me know if you are planning on making it out.

2008 WSOP Circuit Event Grand Casino Tunica Event Schedule.

Don't Call Me Shorty

2007-11-22T00:13:00.000-06:00

I got lucky and final tabled the Mookie as the short stack last night. The game was fun, especially playing a pretty good while next to my bud surflexus. Unfortunately he wasn't able to final table it with me. I hope he eventually wins one of these things so we can both play in the TOC in December.

I ended up finishing 7th. Talk about a donkey. Earlier in the tournament on back to back hands I got all in bad against KK and QQ and ended up making straights. I also got all in bad on a total bluff against top pair and made a flush. The unlucky fellow was TripJax but at least he doesn't have to drive all the way down from North Carolina to wash my car anymore!!!

See you all next time...

Urban Myths In Poker

2007-11-20T18:00:00.000-06:00

An urban myth is a story that may have some basis in fact, but has usually been exaggerated to a status where it reaches the stuff of legend. Although the stories tend to be highly fictionalized, numerous people will attest that they are true and that they heard the story from a “reputable” source. Poker has its share of urban myths – especially regarding rigged Texas holdem sites – but some myths are older than that.

A Chip and a Chair

Any Texas holdem poker player getting close to the felt or anyone sympathizing with him will proudly announce, "Chip and a chair!" To indicate the fact that this is all you need to win a tournament (that and a tremendous amount of luck). This saying is said to have come from the fact that Jack “Treetop” Strauss, a legendary gambler, pushed his chips in during the 1982 World Series of Poker main event and lost. He got up to leave the table when he discovered one more chip under a napkin. Since he didn’t actually say “all-in,” the chip was in play and he was still alive. Strauss put the chip in and won the next hand and the hand after that. He kept on winning and by the end, found himself with all the chips as the champion of the WSOP.

This story is true. However, the chip and a chair expression originates from another miraculous Strauss event. Years earlier, Strauss was having a bad run and was one green chip away from being flat broke. He bet it on a hand of blackjack and won. He let it ride and won again. He kept going until he reached $400. He headed to the poker tables, sat down and promptly turned that $400 into $1,000, leaving before the odds could catch up with him. Now holding a small fortune, he figured he couldn’t just stop, eventually putting the chips back on blackjack. He promptly doubled up twice, headed back to poker and tripled his money again. He then went back to blackjack and continued his winning streak. By the time, he was done with blackjack, poker and even sports betting, Strauss’ chip and a chair had turned into $25,000 and new life.

This story makes me want to take a shot with my limited online Texas holdem bankroll, but maybe it’s just another myth.

Even A Donkey Like Me...

2007-11-04T21:20:00.000-06:00

...can play cards like these!

Just a few pics from some hands at the tables today. The last one was just so sick I had to post it.

You can't beat this pre-flop. Some might just call here but I don't like it. So many people overplay too many hands that AA has crippled here that re-raising is really the only option. I ended up making it 840 to go, he pushed, and showed AK.

Another easy spot. Raised off the button looks like a steal from the big stack and BB re-raises. I push as he was pot committed and he calls with QQ.

This was the sickest thing I have seen in awhile. Probably since this! I ended up dropping my hand after a bet up front and the re-raise. They didn't get their money all in until the turn though. I am normally AA in this spot. Just ball crushing sick.

Been A Long Time Coming...

2007-11-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight things came together (along with getting lucky in a few key spots) and I took down the Riverchasers Weekly Online Poker Tour which most importantly served as the 7th installment of the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 2.

I may post later about a couple of key hands during this tournament and I may not but right now I am tired for midnight makes for a very late night for me.

I am psyched not only about winning but also for getting a shot at the Aussie Millions Tournament Of Champions which will hopefully end with my wife and I (and probably the rascals) heading Down Under.

Some shout outs and thanks to those that deserve it:

- Surflexus for helping me out with finding a way to get some funds to Full Tilt since I always seem to donk off my money every month playing heads-up too high!

- TripJax for embezzling those funds.

- AlCantHang for getting BBTwo together.

- Katitude for a killer BBTwo webpage and all around lusciousness. I don't know what it is but whenever she comes to sit at my table I get the heebie-jeebies and start giggling like a little schoolgirl. Anyways...

- Full Tilt Poker for giving us what we need.

- Last but not least. Spoon. The music makes for great poker.

Thanks everyone who railed during the tournament. Especially you ROLL TIDE haters out there.

See you all next week.

Geaux Bama, Beat LSWHO!!!

Battle of the Bloggers Part Deux

2007-10-28T13:43:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Al Can't Hang for setting this all up. Must be a man after Iggy's own heart.

I hope to be playing some of these soon and winning a trip Down Under!!!

Million Dollar Bad Beat

2007-10-16T23:37:00.000-05:00

What would you say if you sat at the WSOP final table playing Texas Hold'em heads-up against a complete donkey, and after the dinner break, your opponent was replaced with a well-known tournament professional? You'd probably object to that, wouldn't you?

This actually happened in the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars.

THEV0id, a previously unknown online-poker nickname, played great poker, won the whole enchilada and received a first prize worth $1 million. But nobody knew who this player was. The name had never appeared in a large tournament before, and despite that, the player behind it managed to win the largest online poker tournament this year. Everything smelled a bit fishy to say the least.

But now we know how it all went down. THEV0id is actually the sister of a skilled poker player, who has been successful on the European Poker Tour. He participated in WCOOP Poker Stars tournament, but when he busted out, he took over his sister's seat. Unfortunately for the V0id family, PokerStars has now realized this and decided to disqualify the winner.

PokerStars says:
We have determined, based on the totality of evidence, that the tournament winner "TheV0id" was in breach of the PokerStars Terms of Service. In the interests of Game Integrity, "TheV0id" has been disqualified from first place.

Ooops… Nasty beat that one.

But what is cheating in online poker? Asking your friend for advice about poker hands over MSN, have someone next to you by the computer helping you with tricky decisions, using poker software to remember played hands… well, I surely don't know.

2007 World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2007-10-03T11:45:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3920731

The Challenge...

2007-09-03T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well... I have decided to embark on the Chris Ferguson Challenge on Full Tilt with the exception of one thing. I am going to start with $50 instead of zero.

I am however going to adhere to all of the other Chris Ferguson Challenge rules of engagement.

They are as follows:
1. Never buy-in to a cash game or SNG with more than 5% of my bankroll (with the only exception being that any cash game or SNG can be bought into at anytime at $2.50 and below).
2. Never buy-in to a MTT with more than 2% of my bankroll (with the only exception being that I can buy into any MTT that costs $1.)
3. If at any time during a cash game session the money on the table represents more than 10% of my total bankroll I will leave the game when the blinds reach me.

I am no where near the caliber of player of a Chris Ferguson but I believe one of the biggest holes in my game is discipline (which also has to do with bankroll management) and I am going to take him up on this challenge to see what I can do.

I will keep track of it with blog posts and with a link on the right side of this page.

Hope to see you across the felt soon...

No Change... Now On Life Support...

2007-08-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

Ran bad again today. Nothing else to say.

Event #1 ended badly for me early in the 3rd level (blinds are 100/200) when I raised preflop UTG with AK and was called by the cutoff. Flop came AKx bet, raise, reraise, reraise allin, call. I thought the dude had AJ or AQ. But he shows KK to me instead. Ugghgggh...

This has been typical for me this trip. Unless surflexus can "talk me down from the roof" I am probably done for this trip.

It has been rough!!! Thanks to everyone for rooting me on. Maybe next time...

Tunica Arrival... I Am Now Bleeding... Badly...

2007-08-29T21:19:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Tunica today at around noon and the bloodbath quickly began.

I have never experienced anything like it and boy it hurt bad.

Without going into gory details I got my teeth kicked in today at everything I played.

I played 2 $45 SNGs, 3 $65 SNGs, 1 $125 SNG with nary a sniff at a cash or a tournament chip. I finished 3rd twice, 4th 3 times, and 8th once when I re-re-raised AIPF with Rockets against K9s and K9x comes on flop and I say #@#$!%!.

I later gave up SNGs to try my hand at a cash game and dropped $200 at 1/3 NLHE. And no 1/3 is not a typo. The Grand has started doing 1/3 NLHE for a reason I haven't figured out yet.

So I am -$610 today and am pretty shocked about it because I feel good about my play. I just ran 2nd best hand into big hand all day and night long.

I have never had so many people hit open ended straight draws, flush draws, flop sets, make quads, hit boats on me.

So I leave my biggest single day loss in my career behind and hope for good things tomorrow...

Hopefully surflexus can bring some with him when he gets here tomorrow night.

I ended the night by buying into the first event tomorrow which is the $300 + 30 that starts at noon. I just didn't feel like standing in that line that is going to start forming at 8am.

Wish me luck... I apparently need it BAD!!!

Donkey Hitler

2007-08-14T18:51:00.000-05:00

I can't stop laughing...

Thanks to Erik.

2007-08 WSOP Circuit Event Schedule

2007-08-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

The 2007-08 WSOP Circuit Event Schedule follows.

I plan on attending the WSOP Circuit Event at the Grand Casino Tunica coming up at the end of this month.

Drop me a line if you are going to be there as well.

Grand Casino Tunica Aug. 29-Sept. 13, 2007
Caesars Indiana Oct. 17-Nov. 2, 2007
Harvey's Tahoe Nov. 3-13, 2007
Harrah's New Orleans Nov. 26-Dec. 5, 2007
Harrah's Atlantic City Dec. 8-18, 2007
Grand Casino Tunica Jan. 3-22, 2008
Harrah's Rincon San Diego Jan. 27-Feb. 7, 2008
Horseshoe Council Bluffs Feb. 18-27, 2008
Caesars Atlantic City Mar. 5-15, 2008
Caesars Indiana Apr. 2-16, 2008
Caesars Palace Las Vegas Apr. 20-May 1, 2008
Harrah's New Orleans May 9-21, 2008

WPT & WSOP invade Mississippi

2007-08-02T19:36:00.000-05:00

The WPT and WSOP will be invading Mississippi later this month with the WPT Gulf Coast Poker Championship being held at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, MS from August 29th through September 9th and the WSOP Circuit Event being held at the Grand Casino Tunica from August 29th through September 13th.

Information about both events can be had at the links below. I will be at the WSOP Circuit Event and staying at the Grand from Wed, August 29th to Sun, September 2nd so if you are going to be around on those dates drop me a line.

WPT Gulf Coast Poker Championship Info (.pdf download)

WSOP Circuit Event Info (.pdf download)

Before They Change Their Minds...

2007-07-24T21:48:00.000-05:00

...You Better Get In There And Get Your Money Out Quick!!!

1 out of 6,358

2007-07-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

The 2007 WSOP Main Event field is now official at 6,358 entrants.

I sure wish I was there with the opportunity of a 1 in 6,358 shot at $8,250,000.

Good luck to all you donkeys out there!!!

Neteller Plea Deal

2007-07-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

Don't Come Round Here No More...

Oh and by the way... Where's my money????

2007 World Series Of Poker Main Event Begins

2007-07-08T10:52:00.000-05:00

The 2007 WSOP Main Event began this past Friday. Initially a decision was made to make it a 3 day opening round of 3000 players apiece after the Rio's poker playing area was increased from last year's max capacity of 2000 or so. The powers that be decided on making it a 4 day opening round of 3000 believing there may be a large enough turnout to justify it. Boy were they wrong...

Day 1A only saw 1,287 players and Day 1B saw 1,545 players, far from the 3,000 cap.

They are now estimating around 6,000 entrants total for this year which is the first drop from one year to the next (there were 8,872 last year) in a WSOP main event field in as far back as I can remember. This is almost certainly due to the online gambling legislation that was passed within the last year.

Good luck to all those that made it out there to play this year and hopefully you will see me out there next year.

***************************

Go check out Poker Letter's Blog and their Full Tilt Poker Review and Titan Poker Review.

Top Of The Mountain

2007-06-18T22:03:00.001-05:00

Phil Hellmuth made history last week by winning his 11th bracelet at Event #15 ($1500 NLHE) at this year's WSOP.

He then follows that up by cashing for the 60th time which is also a record at the WSOP.

I know some people have a hard time liking the "Poker Brat" but he is definitely one of the greatest tournament poker players ever.

I only have 11 bracelets and 59 more cashes to catch him. sigh...

Poker Players Start Your Engines...

2007-06-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

The 2007 World Series of Poker began today. Don't forget to check out all the blogs out there covering the action.

Stranger things have happened but I don't think I will be making it out there this year. I sure do wish that wasn't the case because I had such a good time out there last year.

Good luck to all of those that will get to see some action.

Maybe you all will see me at the 2008 WSOP!

Poker Drama and More Blogger Bracelets

2007-05-05T12:03:00.000-05:00

Head on over to Up For Poker and more specifically to this interesting post from the great Otis when you get a chance.

These events happened recently over at a charity tournament at the Playboy Mansion.

I applaud Terrence for not throwing down right there on everyone in the room. If it would've been me they would've seen a grown man throw himself in the floor like a toddler in the middle of all the silicon bunnies. At least Annie Duke later apologized.

********************

I will be on vacation with the family for the next blogger bracelet event at Full Tilt but I did want to provide some pimpage for it below. Good luck to everyone involved and be sure to sign up so we can send another blogger to the 2007 WSOP.

The last blogger event was a bust for me as I got overzealous with a pocket overpair to a rag board and got busted by a bigger pocket pair. I believe it was Gracie who provided the fireworks in that hand.

WSOP Blogger Bracelet Race

2007-04-27T20:05:00.000-05:00

On Sunday night I am going to try to defend my win in last year's WSOP WPBT Satellite Tournament that was held on PokerStars and put on by the Blogfather himself, Iggy.

I ended up collecting $1500 along with lucko21 and then played in Event #27 at the 2006 WSOP where I luckboxed my way through 2000 some odd people and cashed.

Hope to see you there and maybe I will get a chance to try for my 2nd WSOP cash. Stay out of my pots!!!

*****************

Check out this new poker blog site when you get a chance which includes info on a Trump poker tour.

WSOP 2007 Will Be Super Sized

2007-03-25T16:06:00.000-05:00

I just read an interesting article over at Poker News.

Apparently they are doubling the starting chip stacks across all 55 events at this year's WSOP. The double stacks should actually aid the better players and it seems this is an unspoken attempt to try to equalize the online "fish factor" at the WSOP. I don't know but I know I like it.

I am most likely going to miss the WSOP this year. After my cash last year in Event 27, I was hoping to make it out there again for an attempt at bigger and better things but the whole U.S. Online Poker Ban/Neteller fiasco has thrown a wrench in things and as such my bankroll has suffered.

However, spontaneity is something that does rear its ugly head with me every now and then and since the satellites out there are so, so juicy I may end up talking myself into it.

We'll see...

Poker Where Have Ye Gone?

2007-03-24T13:46:00.000-05:00

I haven't been playing much poker lately much to my chagrin and as such haven't blogged in quite a while. There are many reasons that have caused my hiatus.

The main one is due to not being able to get any money into my accounts since I had just cleaned them out to head to Tunica to play in the WSOP circuit event. I ended up not going due to an emergency work trip popping up and never got my money back in (thank goodness) due to the Neteller fiasco. It wasn't all that much but at least I have my money and it hasn't been kidnapped.

My Full Tilt affiliation gets me some cash deposited every month but I donk that off pretty quick. Online SNGs have been rough on me the last several months.

I have also recently changed jobs and the Huntsvegas Poker League is in between seasons.

All of these things have created my poker vacuum but never fear, the home poker league is about to kick back up and we are going to be playing mixed games!!!

Don't lose faith and please stay tuned...

The WSOP Conspiracy Theory Part Deux

2007-02-17T21:39:00.000-06:00

Back in September I blogged about an outstanding article that I thought was an extremely good read about the 2 million chips that came up missing at the end of the WSOP.

Huge kudos to Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli for providing further insight with this new article on the subject.

Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you missed out previously! You won't regret it.

Thanks to Pauly for pointing out the new article!

Poker Source Online

2007-02-15T12:13:00.000-06:00

If you play online poker, you probably know about affiliates. These are the guys who get paid to bring players to the different online poker rooms. And you may already know about Poker Source Online, the home of the original poker promotion. The folks at PSO were the first ones to pay players back for signing up through them by rewarding them with free gifts. PSO is also the biggest and best when it comes to free money promotions, and is a well-respected rakeback site, as well.

But that’s all obvious. What people forget sometimes is that Poker Source Online is a true poker community. The PSO poker forum is about to hit 50,000, making it one of the largest poker message boards on the internet. Here, you can reach the PSO staff if you need help with your promotion, ask others their thoughts on the different promotions before you signup, talk poker strategy, or just discuss what’s on your mind. In true community fashion, even if a PSO staff member is not immediately available, oftentimes a fellow PSO’er will be there to lend a helping hand. Many regulars have been with PSO from its infancy, and have contributed hundreds and thousands of posts. Brand new customers find out every day how friendly a place PSO can be and often become full-fledged diehards in a short period of time. In fact, a few loyal PSO’ers rose from the ranks and eventually joined the PSO team!

Everyone in the PSO community is eligible for the site’s freeroll tournaments, usually held at least once per month. They cost nothing to enter (hence the word “freeroll”), but PSO puts up thousands of dollars in prize money, just to give back to its customers. A few special freerolls have seen winners walk away with free cruises…one player even won a $10,000 seat at the U.S. Poker Championships!

One thing that has recently become very popular is the PSO poker league. It’s not quite free, but it’s cheap, and the prizes are huge. The buy-in is typically around $5 per tournament, and the payout structures are standard, but PSO has always added a boatload of money and prizes for the top finishers in both the individual events and in the final standings. On top of the regular prizes, there are often bounties announced on some players’ heads, making the competition even more fun, and more intense. Of course, what’s a little spirited competition without the ability to trash talk? PSO has an IRC chat room just for that, too.

So when you head on over to Poker Source Online to get your free goodies just for playing online poker, don’t forget that there is a whole poker community there for you, too. Take a spin around the site. You’ll like what you’ll see.

The preceding was a sponsored post for Poker Source Online.

More Neteller Shenanigans...

2007-02-11T09:53:00.000-06:00

Will anyone ever get their funds that have been frozen by Neteller pulling out of the US market??

Who knows... You can also read more about it here!

I did happen to hit a royal flush and actually lucked up and had no money in Neteller when the freeze occurred. Good luck to those that were less fortunate.

In the meantime it looks like Full Tilt Poker (one of the largest online pokerrooms still handling US players) have begun using a new method of funding called MyWebATM.

It looks to me like it works like an ATM card that you fund from your checking account. I don't know much about it yet or how it is working out so I am going to play wait and see with this one.

It looks like my online playing days are in severe jeopardy. One good thing is that I am a much better player live than I am online. I tend to get distracted online and am much more focused and attentive during live play.

Hope to see you across the felt again soon...

Shakedown

2007-01-22T14:15:00.000-06:00

Neteller founders were busted last week by the U.S. which in turn caused THIS!!

The whole environment of online poker for U.S. based players has now been drastically changed. I can't even begin to imagine how this one is going to play out.

Looks like the home game is going to start getting some extra workouts and that my trips to Tunica are going to become more frequent.

Look out for larger crowds at the WPT and WSOP events going on around the nation.

Smoke'em if you got'em...

Tunica has to wait...

2007-01-06T20:55:00.000-06:00

It is just my luck... The WSOP Circuit Event and WPT World Poker Open are going to be in Tunica at the same time in January and it looks like I won't get to play at all.

Work has sprung a fast one on me and I have to go out of town which has stopped me from being able to partake in the festivities that will be going down at The Grand Casino and Gold Strike Casino in Tunica.

Good luck to all of those that are heading over there without me!!!

Merry Christmas...

2006-12-22T15:13:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas and God Bless Our Troops!!!

And I leave you with an Engineer's view of Christmas which I kind of got a kick out of...

No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.

Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household, a total trip of 71.604 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy per second each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

I am writing a sitcom....

2006-12-16T23:35:00.000-06:00

It is going to be a spinoff of "Everybody Hates Chris" and will be called "Full Tilt Hates Me". Seriously... it's getting ridiculous.

Electronic Poker Tables...

2006-12-16T14:25:00.000-06:00

About a year or two ago my buddy mentioned something he said he wanted to patent and later develop. I actually checked up on it and a patent already existed.

Anyways, it was essentially a computerized poker table that needed no dealer, no cards, and no chips. It would have flat touch panel monitors around a table where people would insert money and they would be able to play poker the same as they would regularly but without the dealer, cards, or chips. He said it would be the next big thing since poker had exploded and casinos would be looking for ways to maximize their profits.

I thought if developed that this might become a novelty and wondered if it would last in the long run. There is just something about handling real cards and chips for me that makes me believe that it might not take off.

Well it looks like my buddy was right and we are going to find out what kind of longevity these things might have.

Pokertek seems to be the first to market and have developed what looks to be a very functional offering. Go check it out at their website. According to their site they will feature tables that will do Hold'em and ones that will do Omaha. Why the table couldn't do both with a bit of software programming is beyond me but that is probably the way it will eventually work. Looks like mutiple tables will even be able to support tournament play.

I have already heard some prototypes of these are starting to pop-up in Vegas. I look forward to checking these things out the next time I get out there. Hopefully Tunica won't be lagging too far behind.

The product in their line that actually interests me the most is the heads-up table they are developing. Now that thing is cool. It looks like dealers might need to start learning some new tricks.

As soon as I can sit down at one of these things and play I will let you know what I think. Stay tuned...

*******

If you are going to be in and around the North Alabama area on the night of December 22nd and want to get your poker fix on drop me a line. I am going to be running a Christmas NLHE Tournament on that Friday night. Should be a lot of fun and hopefully some good poker buds will be able to make it!!! Seating is limited so contact me as soon as you can for a seat.

*******

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Heads-Up Heartbreak...

2006-12-07T12:24:00.000-06:00

I have been playing a ton of heads-up matches over the last several months. I bet 80% of my poker play has become heads-up sng matches. I normally like to play the turbos in the 11 to 33 range on Full Tilt.

I feel I have +EV in the majority of these matches and my historical performance in these things has shown this until recently when a bad run ending with me playing too high a limit and TILTING have vanquished my efforts over the last year. I wasn't distraught until the dreaded one outer bad beat stuck two forks in my eyes and made me vomit in my mouth. It is the type of hand that hurts down deep and makes you question whether you even want to go to Tunica in January to play in the WSOP circuit events.

I'll have to save up to send you all a dollar for listening to this. I know bad beat stories suck but I have to get this one off my chest.

The other night I had been stewing since I got all my money in 3 times earlier in the night with the best of it only to lose all 3. One was in a HU SNG where I had the guy dead in the water and he came back on me to win. I shouldn't have been playing at the limit I was playing at but after 10 hands I knew I could outplay the guy. Anyways...

I sit down with the last bit of money I have in a HU SNG after removing most of my roll to get ready to go to Tunica in January.

First hand comes and I get dealt the AhKh. I am the button and I pot bet and get a quick call from my opponent. I immediately feel like I am ahead and when the flop comes Jh10h8h I know I am ahead.

I bet the pot again and get a reasonably quick call.

The turn card comes the 7d. I am hoping the guy has turned a big hand with this card. His play to me is smelling like he was playing a draw so I bet the pot again.

Here I am screaming to this guy that he is dead in the water and he takes a few seconds longer to call my 3rd pot bet in as many rounds.

The river comes the 9h. I check hoping the guy bets into me. He jams and I call.

He shows me the As7h and I get felted by a one outer.

He was 23% preflop. 4% on the flop. 2% on the turn.

Ouch!!!

Tunica Explodes in January

2006-11-30T08:22:00.000-06:00

Beginning January 3rd, those in the South will be able to consume as much poker goodness as their pocketbooks, intestinal fortitude, and their families will allow. Tunica will see the invasion of both the WPT World Poker Open at the Gold Strike Casino and the WSOP circuit event at the Grand Casino.

I have included links to the information on both of these events below. I plan on being there early on Sunday, January 7th to partake in some of the activities so if you are going to be around drop me a line.

2007 WSOP Tunica Circuit Event Schedule

2007 WPT World Poker Open Schedule

Good Luck!

My Second Mookie

2006-11-08T22:29:00.000-06:00

I played in my second Mookie last night. I was a bit disappointed to see that we only had 36 players but I signed up anyway. I like larger fields and tend to steer clear of anything less than 50 when it comes to MTTs. But this is the Mookie and I had some time so I plunked down my $11 and off I went.

I ended up getting to the final table again with the 2nd largest stack and after a couple of brutal back to back beats (I got my money in preflop ahead both times and both times they made straights with only one card in their hand) I got felted in 4th which was still good for $43.

Those beats were payback for earlier when the below hand happened. We got our money all in on the flop so you can see how it ended up. This might be the worst beat I have ever seen and I handed it out.

Congrats to WillWonka for taking it down. I feel pretty good about my play in these. There are some good if not great players that play these things and I have played 2 and final tabled 2. HEE HAW!!!!

Check out The Mookie for all details.

My First Mookie

2006-10-19T08:55:00.000-05:00

I played in my first Mookie last night. We started off with 60 participants. Most of the usual blogger suspects were there which meant some fierce competition and alot of "smack" talk.

I ended up final tabling the thing along with beating out the bubble boy to cash in 7th for 24 whole dollars. I got felted when my two pair ran into a set. Hee Haw!!!

Anyways... I enjoyed it quite a bit and even though it will be a bit hard to make every week I will try and make it a regular thing. Come play with us if you dare!

Check out The Mookie for all details.

Book Smarts

2006-10-16T13:12:00.000-05:00

I am approaching this book post from the point of view that I have about poker. I have played cards in one way or another my whole life. As I am sure many can say the same, my first card game was Go Fish. I don't remember much about the game except for that I hated losing. This moved to War which in turn gave way to Uno where I cut my teeth on basic card strategy when I was but a wee lad.

This continued on with my early high school peer group. We began playing poker based home games such as Man or Mouse, 7.5/21.5, Little/Big Mac, Screw Your Buddy, Pass the Queen, etc. with some 5 card draw mixed in. Most weren't true poker games but bastardized poker variants.

I remember playing my first true No Limit Hold'em game (right around 2000) and I was hooked. I wasn't addict scratch your eyes out hooked yet but I never passed up an opportunity at a game. This led into me wanting to get better and better, not just win some of the time but win all the time. I know this isn't realistic in poker but I can honestly tell you I go into any game I play wanting to crush everyone at the table.

I always think it's funny hearing someone at the table saying "Sorry about that" when handing out a bad beat or scooping a huge pot and busting someone because you will never hear me say that at the table because I am not sorry and you shouldn't be sorry when you bust me. You might catch "Tough Luck" from me but never "Sorry!".

Anyways... My point to this is that after the initial Moneymaker WSOP induced poker frenzy began (and one might argue the beginning might've been with Varkonyi) I wanted to delve deeper into poker thought and find my own way and teach myself the fundamentals and basics of poker. Not only want to win but give myself the necessary tools to do it consistently and then mold my game in order to excel.

I am not a great poker player but I strive to be and I think that is what eventually makes great players. Below I outline the books that have truly helped me on my way and I also list some that I haven't read but are on my want list to continue my poker travels.

If you want to be a consistently good player you will have to work at it. These books have/are helping me and I have all the confidence in the world they will you too. You will notice the list is geared more toward NLHE and tournament play. This is not by accident. I am a better NLHE tournament player than cash game player (for a myriad of reasons) and as such spend most of my poker play at the tournament tables. I have read some good helpful books on cash game play but tournaments interest me more and as such I find the most value in the books I will mention below.

Note: The order of this list is NOT meaningful in anyway. I simply listed them in the order with which they entered my mind. It should not be considered a ranking at all.

Theory of Poker By: David Sklansky
Do not read this book until you feel comfortable with all general concepts of poker. The Fundamental Theorem of Poker took the way I thought about poker to another level. This is one I go back to often and I can't tell you how many times I have worked through it. You won't always agree with David but this is great mind fodder for people that enjoy thinking about their game.

Tournament Poker For Advanced Players By: David Sklansky
This is another Sklansky classic. Great way to begin looking at tournament play.

Improve Your Poker By: Bob Ciaffone
This book was the most helpful book of any I have ever read. It is a book that is aimed at the player that fully understands the ins and outs of poker play and wants to dissect their play and take it to a new level. The parts about firing a 2nd and 3rd bullet really changed the way I looked at post flop betting. Great stuff from a great guy. I met him in Tunica a couple of years ago. We chatted a bit and I could tell he really cares about the game.

Harrington On Hold'em Expert Strategy For No Limit Tournaments
By: Dan Harrington
Volume 1: Strategic Play
Volume 2: Endgame
Volume 3: Workbook
These are the Bibles of Tournament Poker. No one has presented this type of outstanding tournament play information in such a readable and well thought out way. These are must reads for anyone that wants to try to take down MTTs.

Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em By: Phil Gordon
This book has done me very similar to the way the Improve Your Poker book did me when I read it. Outstanding material. I really love anything that can make you think about your game in different ways.

Ace On The River By: Barry Greenstein
This book is more geared toward the lifestyle of poker professionals and how to make it work than a strategy guide. It is unique and a wonderful read from one of poker's finest.

My Want List:
Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em By: Phil Gordon

Inside the Poker Mind: Essays on Hold 'em and General Poker Concepts By: John Feeney and David Sklansky

No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice By: David Sklansky and Ed Miller

Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy By: Daniel Negreanu

Sundown Tunica

2006-09-30T20:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates but my Tunica trip was kind of a bust plus I had no free internet access.

I got to Tunica on Sunday with my buddy Zack and met up with fellow blogger George and his buddy John. Congrats to both for their good showings in the Tuesday $500 and I look forward to seeing and playing with you guys again soon. Go check out George's blog for more specifics.

Anyways... I played several $45 satellites on the Sunday before the $300 Monday WSOP 1st circuit event that I played in and ended up chopping a couple and finishing first in one. Zack and I had 50% of each other so I ended up getting into the $300 for about $140 or so instead of winning a seat flat out.

I ran pretty well in the first two hours or so getting up to about 2625 at the end of the first break after starting out with 1500 in chips. My goal was to slowly accumulate chips in the early stages and only play small pots unless someone pushed into a monster I held.

By the 2nd break I had gotten up to about 4800. I then went card dead for the next 3 levels and ended up getting all my 2700 chips in at the 200/400/Ante50 level with TT only to run into AA. Bad thing about the hand is that the guy I pushed on called a UTG raise and hadn't played a hand since I had been at his table (around an hour) and I instapushed when I saw the tens and before he called my subconscious had already told me the bad news.

I went to the lady running the computer and recording the bust outs and asked her about what place she thought I finished in since they really don't keep up until closer to the money and she told me around 300 or so. Not bad out of 834 but really bad if you go in thinking anything worse than a final table is sheeeeeet.

Anyways... I will be back in January taking another shot when the next WSOP circuit event comes back to the Grand in Tunica. Hope to see you across the felt real soon.

P.S. If it's online it looks like it will have to be REAL soon!!!!! This sucks!

Stay Tuned

2006-09-23T21:17:00.000-05:00

I will be doing my best on posting Tunica updates while I am there over the next several days. I am definitely playing the Monday $300 and the Tuesday $500 so wish me luck and stay tuned to this space for updates...

Target: Tunica

2006-09-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

The WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica is approaching quickly. It will be the 2nd 2007 WSOP Circuit Event so far and I will be heading over there and staying at the Grand Casino beginning on Sunday, September 24th. I hope I can continue my live MTT play from Event 27 in Vegas.

I plan on playing the Monday, Sept. 25th and Wednesday, Sept. 27th $300+40 NLHE event and Tuesday, Sept. 26th $500+50 NLHE event.

Information including blind levels for the $300+40 NLHE on Monday, Sept. 25th and Wednesday, Sept. 27th.

Information including blind levels for the $500+50 NLHE on Tuesday, Sept. 26th.

Information on all the 2007 WSOP Circuit Events can be found HERE!

Wish me luck and I promise my book post is coming...

The WSOP Conspiracy Theory

2006-09-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

Check out this outstanding article on the most likely explanation/reason 2 million extra chips showed up on the felt at the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Great read!!!

Tunica On The Horizon...

2006-09-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Don't despair. I have been on blog hiatus now for too long. Still getting over my Vegas experience. I have never posted about the poker books that have helped my game so I think that will be my next post.

I will be in Tunica for the World Series Of Poker Circuit Event beginning on September 24th. If you are going to be there drop me a line. I think I am going to play the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (if that's possible) NLHE events. I need your cheering me on again like I got from you in Vegas at the WSOP!

Stay tuned...

My First WSOP Cash...

2006-07-27T09:17:00.002-05:00

I really don't know where to begin. I had a surreal day during event #27 at the WSOP. I easily played the best day of poker in my life and I realized that I have alot to still learn on the felt.

Monday night I was in my room and in bed at around 11 wanting to get a good night's sleep for the next day's marathon. I slept like a baby and after a quick good luck chat with the wife in the morning on Tuesday, I headed over to the Rio. I stayed across the street at the Gold Coast so it only took me about 10 minutes to get there.

I was early enough to be able to sit in a $175 satellite just to get things kicked off. I end up chopping heads-up with the chip leader (he had about 70% of the chips in play) for 1 $500 chip and $120 cash. I sold my $500 chip and I was up about $450 for the day. During my stay I played $125s and $175s and while I didn't much care for the 1000 chips you start out with, the tables were pretty soft. I never finished worse than 5th and only did that once. Anyways...

The satellite got over about an hour before the WSOP Event started and I headed over to pick up some goodies from the various poker room areas where they offer tournament players snacks and drinks. My favorite one by far has been Full Tilt where they run happy hour every day for 4 hours or so. Want a drink?? Head to the Full Tilt room.

The tournament started fairly promptly at noon and I can't describe to you what it looked like in there. It was kind of eerie seeing about 210 dealers all across the room with empty seats and hard to imagine at the end of the day there would only be about 120 some odd people remaining from a field of 2126.

Once they announced players could enter the area I found Table 133, Seat 1 and got settled in for the start. We started with 1500 chips and 60 minute levels. Blinds began at 25/25. Breaks occurred every 2 levels with dinner break after level 6.

1500 starting stack

Things got kicked off and started horribly for me. First hand in middle position I get AsKs and raise to 100. The big blind calls and we see a flop of 478 rainbow. He checks and I bet 100. He calls. Turn comes A and he checks to me again. Now I feel like he has hit the 7 or the 8 and I now have top pair top kicker I just throw another small bet of 100 out there since this is the first hand. He calls again.

Now I feel certain my read of a 7 or 8 is correct because he would've already reraised me with something bigger, right?? The river comes a Q and he checks again. Since I still am wondering what he has I feel content checking to see his hand instead of betting and him possibly mucking. I want to gain some info here and he shows the best hand with AQ. He played it funny and I really think he could've extracted more from me here. I vomit in my mouth when I see his cards and look down at my stack which is now a piddly 1200 after the first hand. I just lost 20% of my stack.

I regroup and tell myself over and over again that it doesn't matter and to just play how I know to play. After angling and angling for the next 2 hours I make it to the end of level 2 and 25/50 play back to my original starting stack. We go on break and I am content with my stack at my table since the largest stack looks to be about 3000 or so.

1500 stack at the end of level 2, 25/50

Level 3 starts at 50/100 and I continue to be card dead and have to shuck and jive and angle and dodge and such to keep my stack above water. I have to admit that psychologically for me it was daunting. I began feeling unsure of myself and worrying about taking this trip and it being for naught.

There was a part of me that didn't want to come to Las Vegas and play in this event. I had all of these things in my head as to how it looked me leaving the family to go and play poker. The $1500 that I won in the blogger's tournament is a significant amount of money to me and since my family is a single income one (wife works her @$$ off at home with 2 toddlers ages 3 1/2 and 2) that money can be used for more important things. You understand if you have a wife and kids at home and especially if you are the only bread winner. Needless to say I felt a little bit selfish and a little bit irresponsible and alot guilty leaving my wife by herself with those two jihadist toddlers of mine.

Obviously, I did decide to make the trip considering the fact that I really enjoy playing and that I believe my wife has confidence in my abilities and actually supported my going. I just knew I would regret it so off I went. I began having a good feeling about this right after I jumped off the cliff and wired my money to the Rio about 2 weeks before the event. Sorry for the tangent. Back to poker...

I fight through my thoughts and my tablemates and survive levels 3 and 4 and make it to the 2nd break without any cards. I caught a couple nice hands but got no callers both times. I have now been playing for 4 hours. Suprisingly I don't feel tired and have become focused and determined and have overcome the psychological setback I was having earlier. I really think I know when this moment occurred.

Halfway through level 3 Erick Lindgren comes and sits across from me in seat 5. He has an average stack and is probably about 5th in chips at my table. I don't know but I told myself to buckle down and quit being a baby as everyone else proceeded to give their chips to Erick. I think him sitting just really fired me up to play well for some reason.

The only bad thing about this was that by the end of level 4 our table had donked off enough chips to Erick to make him the table chip leader. I couldn't do anything mind you since I got absolutely nothing to play. If I caught aces and kings as many times as I caught 47o and 58o I would've been chip leader and have made it to the final table. So now the strongest player at the table has the biggest stack. It did make me alot more focused however and this is a good thing. I am heading into level 5 at 100/200 with the antes kicking in at 25 with 2400 in chips.

2400 stack at the end of level 4, 100/200

Erick's stack at the end of level 4. Table leader.

Level 5 starts and I start getting some hands and playing them aggressively. I reraised a few times preflop with good hands and won some chips. Levels 5 and 6 is where I started doing well. I had a good tight aggressive table image and even Erick was showing a brother respect. I played exactly one hand with him the whole time he was at my table and he folded to my postflop continuation bet after calling my UTG raise. Erick busted out against a perceived blind stealer when his 77 got busted by 66 when a 6 came on the flop.

I make it through levels 5 and 6 and am still shortstacked but I am building it slowly and I have a great table image. If you can outplay a table with a shortstack I was doing it and I am not known for being very adept with one. I tend to get a bit too antsy and impatient with no chips and push with subpar hands.

4250 stack at the end of level 6, 150/300 Antes 25

Level 7 began and unbeknownst to me at the time Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy came and sat in seat 6 sometime during this level. I don't remember. He was shortstacked like me and I actually had the pleasure of doubling him up when his K7 held up against my AK halfway through level 8 once I had a mound of chips. He is one of the strongest NLHE online tournament players and obviously all around as well. He was a genuine nice guy who was fun to play with.

During level 7 and throughout level 8 I caught on fire. My good hands were holding up, I was making great reads, even greater laydowns, and great calls. I had been playing the last 2 levels against some of the best in the game and they were respecting my play which did wonders for my confidence. I rode this until the end of level 8 where I had accumulated to around 30k which at the time was probably top 20 or 30.

My chips during the $25 chip buy off

After the $25 buy off and the beginning of level 9

At the end of level 8 when they raced off the 25 chips our table broke which ended up being my downfall. I got moved to a table with who I believe was the chip leader at the time. Some young internet supposed phenom. I can't remember his name but let me tell you he is one of the things that is wrong with poker in my opinion. He was brash, disrespectful to both players and dealer alike with not only his actions but his mouth.

Anyways, I started getting no cards again and had little to no information about the table. I was probably the 3rd largest stack at the table and I was just folding, folding, folding, looking for spots but finding none. Everytime I saw a hand I might try a steal with it would get raised up in front and sometimes raise, reraised. I ended up realizing this was a very active table where I could get into trouble.

The couple of times that I did get a big hand I only won blinds and antes. Things had simply just slowed down for me but I was content with that and looking forward to bagging the chips for the day and get buckled down for the next day when the hand which can nevermore be spoken of occurred.

I was in the big blind and it folded around to the small blind who had me covered in chips probably 2:1 and he limps. I look down and find KsQs and decided to see a flop with him. Pot is 4400 because we are in level 10 which is 600/1200 with antes of 200. The flop comes Kc6s9s giving me top pair with a good kicker and 2nd nut flush draw.

Small blind checks and I bet out 2400 feeling like I have a strangle hold on the hand and he quickly calls. The turn brought the Kd. I almost jump out of my seat. I have trips with a 2nd nut flush draw AND I have a redraw to make quads or a full. He checks again. I bet out about half the pot again with 5000. He calls. I still feel like I am way ahead and wouldn't mind getting all the chips in the pot. River comes 2s which makes my 2nd nut flush hand but this time small blind bets out 16000. HUH?????

I go into the tank wondering if I have been snookered but I just didn't think so. I think he is representing the flush seeing as I believe he probably thinks I might have a K and can lay trips down with a flush on the board. I thought he might've even made his flush. His actions reeked of a drawing hand. I figure if I win this hand I would easily be top 20 or 15. I call and he shows 66 for the full house to take the pot. He played the hand sneaky and got paid off. It could've really been disatrous for him though but he was fortunate the K fell on the turn to give me a monster hand and a monster redraw as well. He simply was fortunate I didn't turn Kings full on him.

I was crippled and eventually got all my chips in with KJ only to have the small blind wake up with AK and since no J fell, I was out in 144.

I had a spectacular time not only in the tournament but playing satellites as well and am really looking forward to more of these soon. There is nothing like live MTTs. Online doesn't even come close. I am alot more focused, determined, and observant in live play and I really feel like this tournament showed that.

I will be heading out to the WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica this Sept/Oct so drop me a line if you are going to be there.

Thanks for all of those that rooted me on and I hope I can do even better for you next time.

WSOP Grand Tunica Circuit Event

2006-07-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

I can't find this information online anywhere as of right now so I thought I would go ahead and post it. This is the schedule for the WSOP Circuit Event that is taking place at the Grand Tunica beginning on September 24th and culminating with the $5000 main event on October 4th. Hope to see you there...

Sun, Sept. 24th Satellites and Live Action begins

Mon, Sept. 25th NLHE $300+40

Tue, Sept. 26th NLHE $500+40

Wed, Sept. 27th NLHE $300+40

Thur, Sept. 28th LHE $500+50

Thur, Sept. 28th PLO w/rebuys $500+50

Fri, Sept. 29th NLHE $1000+60

Sat, Sept. 30th NLHE $1500+70

Sun, Oct. 1st Mega Satellite Day ($500=50(noon), $300+30(4pm), $500+50(7pm))

Sun, Oct. 1st Ladies NLHE $200+30

Mon, Oct. 2nd Main Event NLHE $5000+150

Tue, Oct. 3rd Day 2 Main Event

Wed, Oct. 4th Final Table Main Event

Mega Satellites daily $300+30 @3pm and $500+50 @7pm beginning Sept. 25th.
2nd chance tournaments daily $175+25 Sept. 25th to Oct. 3rd.

Registration opens Sept. 24th, 2006 from 9am to 8pm daily.

Stay tuned for a small recap of my day during the WSOP Event #27

WSOP Event #27 Update 4...

2006-07-19T04:02:00.001-05:00

Well I am out. I played the best poker of my life only to have it dashed by one hand. I will go into all of the ups and downs later.

The good news is I outlasted 2000 some odd people (field was 2126) to finish 144 and cash for $2902. Woohoo, Phil Hellmuth here I come. 1 WSOP event, 1 cash. Only 47 cashes more to go before I catch him.

I will post more later. Thanks for rooting me on!!

WSOP Event #27 Update 3...

2006-07-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

I made it to the dinner break and past level 6 (150/300 Ante 25). I still have a short stack (4250, avg is about 8000) but I am somehow outplaying my table with it. I feel good about my play right now and feel like I have a good table image. I am still at Table 133, Seat 1 and haven't been moved all day.

There is roughly 350 to 400 players remaining. I am about 150 to 200 spots away from cashing. Even though I am short stacked I feel good about my reads and plays.

Keep your fingers crossed for me...

WSOP Event #27 Update 2...

2006-07-18T18:29:00.000-05:00

I survived levels 3 and 4 somehow. I am card dead. I got AKo and KK which I raised up UTG but unfortunately got no callers. Level 5 will begin 100/200 with 25 antes. I need a miracle this next round. Do or die time for me seeing as I only have 2400 chips which I know is lower than average.

Wish me luck!!!

WSOP Event #27 Update 1...

2006-07-18T16:19:00.000-05:00

We are on our first break. We have played 2 hours at levels 25/25 and 25/50. 50/100 is up next. I have 1500 chips which is exactly what I started with. Best hand I have seen is A9o so I am actually doing okay for being card dead.

Stay tuned, hopefully the next post will be at the next break and not a bust out.

Wish me luck, I gotta get back to the table.

Her Name Is Rio And She Dances On The Sand

2006-07-17T10:14:00.000-05:00

I got into Las Vegas successfully yesterday around 3pm. I caught a shuttle from the airport to my hotel (Gold Coast). I got settled in and since the first class service from DFW to LAS was only a snack (and I didn't eat breakfast) I was quite hungry. I had heard you get a $10 food voucher with your buyin to the WSOP so I made my way over to the Rio to get checked in and pick it up so I could eat.

I saw so many people that I am only used to seeing on TV that it was amazing. Everywhere I looked there was a poker pro here or there. Now I am not awed by celebrity but I have to admit that it was kind of neat to see people that you watch playing poker on TV in real life.

I got checked in and wanted to go check out the tournament area and I walk in and this is what I see.

I was pretty blown away at the size of the tournament area. Big isn't the word. Vast better suits it I think. I knew Jason was likely on the scene and I happened to spot him covering the $2000 NLHE final table for Bluff. I walked over and we chatted for a bit and I decided to then go take a shot at a single table satellite to get reacquainted with live casino poker (I haven't played live in a casino setting in about a year). This leads into the first interesting thing to happen to me on my trip.

I get seated with 9 others and sit in seat 2. Seat 1 is a lady that I know I have seen before but just can't quite place her. Uneventful play proceeds for about 20 minutes and she catches some mighty fine cards to bust 2 people out and has now become the big stack at the satellite. I have been in fold mode getting no better than A5o UTG which of course I folded.

Then I am in a hand and I hear a man walk up over my right shoulder and is chatting it up with seat 1. "Honey, how are you doing"??, etc., etc. At the end of the hand I just glance up and notice that the man is none other than the 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and that this lady is his wife Cheryl Raymer destroying our SNG. I shake hands with Greg and congratulate him on his continued success. I believe he has already cashed a few times at the WSOP this year.

Greg goes back to playing badugi cash game and I tell Cheryl I now know why Greg is so good. She is the shark! She tells me that this is her 2nd time to ever play NLHE. This information really doesn't bode well for me I don't think. I tend to sort of believe her but I definitely picked up on that she wasn't a true newb at this.

Anyways... she kills the table (busts me with KK vs 33 and I go out in 3rd) and wins the SNG. I congratulate her and Greg comes over and they hug and kiss and you can tell he is so happy that she had taken it down. I have to say that Greg and Cheryl are both class acts to no end. I wish them and their daughter the best.

Anyways I ended up playing one more $125 SNG and chopped it 3 ways and my take was 310 so I am up about $60 as of right now after 2 $125 SNGs. These $125s are pretty soft (save running into Fossilman's wife) and I am going to go play some more today and start getting siked up about the tournament tomorrow. I am also going to play in the $1/2$ NLHE at the Gold Coast if they ever get it up and going. I hear it is pretty soft.

Stay tuned and below is my ticket into Event 27. I will be at Table 133, Seat 1.

24 hours to go

2006-07-15T14:29:00.001-05:00

I will be touching down in Las Vegas approximately 24 hours from now. I hope to get extremely focused and play the best poker of my life on Tuesday in Event #27 because that is what it will take for me to do well.

I am going to attempt to post as many updates as time/internet resources allow me during the event.

Stay tuned and wish me luck!!!

Condolences...

2006-07-07T14:37:00.000-05:00

I have never had the pleasure to speak/chat/converse with Obie but being a father myself I can only imagine how hopeless he must feel right now. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family...

Blogger Cash & The 2006 WSOP Event #27...

2006-07-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

Well my $1500 in blogger cash flew threw the electronic netherworld via wire transfer and landed in the Bank of America this past Friday. The blogger cash was from my win in one of the WPBT WSOP satellites.

I will be playing Event #27 amd I am quite excited and anxious about the whole thing. I will be getting out to Vegas on July 16th and staying through July 21st. If you happen to be out there drop me a line. I will have internet access and be checking email regularly. huntsvegas@gmail.com

I also have a room (at the Gold Coast) if anyone is interested in splitting it with me.

I am going to make every attempt to post during my stay but it all depends on what is going on out there.

Update: Just received this email confirmation... There's no looking back now!!!

Congratulations!! The World Series of Poker is the most prestigious Poker event in the world. This is a receipt for your payment of the Tournament Entry Fee of $1500 which reserves you a seat in WSOP Event #27 on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 12 noon.

Upon arrival at the RIO, to finalize your Registration and to receive your table and seat assignment, please visit our Registration Center, located in the WSOP Tournament Area. You must complete your Tournament Registration at least one hour prior to your event. Please be prepared to provide proof of identity via a Drivers License, Passport or Military I.D.

This year’s WSOP will no doubt be the largest and most exciting gaming event in history. Harrahs continues to lead the industry in creating an innovative gaming experience for valued guests. Harrahs and the Tournament Staff sincerely wish you, “GOOD LUCK!!”

TripJax Question & Answer...

2006-05-25T10:59:00.000-05:00

I am jumping on the boat as if anyone cares... Here goes!

1. What is the biggest mistake people make at a NL table?
I think that people tend overvaluate TP way too much. I have found this to be more true in cash games than tournaments for some reason or another.

2. What is the biggest mistake people make at a Limit table?
I don't play a whole lot of limit games but I would have to take a stab with calling too much with mediocre hands.

3. Why do you play poker?
I love the competition and a hobby where you can make money is always a plus.

4. If you weren't playing poker, what would you be doing?
On a typical poker playing night (I don't play every night) if I wasn't online playing I would be massaging my wife's back. As such my wife hates poker!

5. What is your favorite poker book and why?
Absolutely, positively no question... The Harrington on Hold'em Volumes. Be on the lookout for Volume III which is due out on May 30th. Honorable Mention goes to Bob Ciaffone's Improve Your Poker.

6. Who is your favorite poker player and why?
Daniel Negreanu because he seems like a genuine happy go lucky type of guy. Honorable mentions go out to Barry Greenstein and Marcel Luske.

7. Which poker player do you dislike the most and why?
I don't really care for Josh Arieh. I totally believe this stems from the way that he was portrayed by ESPN at the 2003 WSOP. Arrogance is just so unbecoming and I just can't help but think he does exhibit too much of this characteristic.

8. Do your coworkers know about your blog?
The ones do that I consider my friends outside of work.

9. What is the most you have won in a cash game or MTT (both live and online)?
I won several hundred dollars (never over a thousand) in Tunica a number of times. Online my largest cash ever was the most recently played Blogger WSOP satellite where I won a seat.

10. What is the most you have lost in a cash game or in one day total (both live and online)?
I dropped $300 once in Tunica. Online I tend to not have a whole lot of money in my bankroll (because I get scared I will tilt and lose it) and my losses there have never been substantial. My largest loss in a day was probably around $200.

11. Who was your first poker blog read?
Poker Prof

12. What satisfies you more, your aces holding up for a big pot or a bluff working for a big pot?
Showing them the hammer, baby!!!!

13. Why do you blog?
I blog for the community. I am not a good writer and as such much prefer reading them.

14. Do you read blogs from an RSS reader like bloglines or do you visit each blog?
I visit each blog. I know Bloglines would be easier but I just prefer it that way.

15. Would you rather play poker for a living than do what you currently do for a living?
Absolutely not. I don't have the personality to withstand the rollercoaster ride of being a poker professional.

16. Do you wear a tin foil hat on occasion?
I have one on right now!

17. If you had to pin it down to one specific trait, what does a great poker player have (or do) that separates them from an average player?
Concentration (which goes hand in hand with observation at the table as well).

18. Is Drizz the coolest person on the planet for naming his baby Vegas?
Quite possibly.

19. What is your primary poker goal and are you close to accomplishing it?
Other than the obligatory "I want to make it to the Main Event", I would like to make a large cash. I know large is relative so I will justify that by saying a large cash to me would be $10k plus. This would actually allow me to comfortably play at a higher level than I presently do. Right now I run the roll up to $1k and pull out $500. Run it up to $1k and pull out $500 and so on and so forth. DoubleAs tells me that I'm a sissy and you know what??? He's right!

20. What is your primary online site and why?
FullTilt because they give me free money and the interface IMHO can't be beat. I do play at Pokerstars a good bit as well.

21. What site do you dislike and why?
I can't stand Party Poker for some reason or another. This is probably because I started out primarily as a tournament only player and Party Poker's SNG formats were absolutely pathetic. I need to go back there though and check it out because I hear they have gotten better.

It doesn't get any better than this...

2006-05-24T10:10:00.000-05:00

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476