So over the course of the years, I've met most of the bloggers that I've wanted to meet. There are still a few out there that I haven't but they are getting fewer and fewer... one of the guys that I've "known" the longest who I actually never met was cmitch. He never came to the winter gatherings that I've been to and I have not gone to any blogger gatherings that happen during the summer (during WSOP which I think cmitch goes to). Well, now that I've moved to Tampa and he lives in Orlando, I figured it was a matter of time till we met, especially considering there's a casino in Tampa. Recently, FL passed a law that no longer caps the buy in at the poker tables so all the more reason for degens to get together right?
Well, so Thurs, I get a text from Cmitch telling me he's gonna go to Hard Rock Casino (here in Tampa) on Fri. Since i live 10 minutes away, I told him that he can just text me when he gets there and I can go meet him. Now the last time I was in this casino was back in December... during my apartment hunting trip. And sure enough, the games were shitty and but so was the rake/service so I decided that I see no point in coming to this casino... So despite living 10 minutes away (like 6-7 miles away), I never bothered to go... until tonight... and boy did I underestimate the power of degeneracy...
Friday evening, the Hard Rock Casino exit is packed... I mean there's a line on I-4 to get off the exit. I patiently wait and eventually, I enter the parking garage where I proceed to text cmitch (who was already waiting for me at the bar) that I am now in the parking garage... This begins the 30 minutes of trying every level of the parking garage looking for a spot! Eventually, I got tired of being stuck behind a long line of cars doing the same thing I'm doing so I drove to a nearby neighborhood, parked my car in there and just walked to the casino.
Cmitch and I had some drinks together to get acquainted and then we hit the tables. He quickly got to his 2-5NL table and I was seated at a 1-2NL table shortly thereafter. I also signed up for the 1-3NL table but since 1-2 was starting a new table, I figured I'd go sit there. With the law no longer capping the buy in, I show up with $200 stack when the dealer quickly tells me that for 1-2nl, the cap is a $100. WTF!? And then I see a bunch of people buying in for like $40 or $50 bucks... 3rd hand in, I don't even remember what I had but I stack this other guy and yet I'm only up like $50... WTF!?
Fortunately, I hear my name being called for the 1-3NL where the minimum buy in is $100 and max is $300. While there will still plenty of guys buying in at the minimum, at least it was a $100. The table was fairly nitty but there were two juicy calling stations who kept buying in $100 at a time (one of them bought like 5 times while I was there) and then there were some other donkeys that would spew for a while and leave empty handed. I was one of the lucky recipients of such donkeys when my AA > JT on a J high flop. T9 was also a great hand for me tonight as I hit two pair twice, both times getting me a decent pot. Some more wins and spews here and there netted me +$253 for the night. Considering the stack sizes, not a bad night.
I called it quits around 1:30am when my table started getting short.... cmitch didn't quite seem ready to go home yet but I saw on twitter that he left about an hr after I did with a profit of $200... follow him on twitter or go check out the blog (linked above) for his trip report (assuming he posts something).
Overall, it was pretty fun... the players were pretty terrible and it was an enjoyable activity... having said that, I doubt that I would go there more than once a month. Let me put it this way... It ain't no Vegas...
Showing posts with label Meet the Bloggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meet the Bloggers. Show all posts
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Bash trip report - Part 2
"It's a marathon, not a sprint."
What the fuck does that mean anyways?
I ran track in college but my events were 400m and 4x400m relay, with a mix of 200m dash (more for warm up/loosening up - I did NOT have the speed to compete in collegiate level 200m). So, I was always a sprinter. And that's just my personality. Even at work, I either go all out and work really hard... or I do nothing... like not a damn thing. I've spent a full day reading blogs and doing absolutely nothing productive in the past... but in a crunch time, believe me, I'm good to have in the work force. That's just how I roll. So, when it comes to drinking, most of my friends could attest to the fact that when it comes to drinking I am balls to the wall as well... so, on Saturday, after I completed my Part 1 of the Bash trip report in the cafe, I headed back to the room to shower and get ready for what I figured to be an unbelievable drunken haze.
I got ready and sauntered over to this fine establishment where I would end up spending the next 10+ hrs drinking.
Now, the funny thing about me drinking is that I keep thinking I remember everything... until someone points out something that I don't remember... at which point I realize how drunk I was. But I will say this. I was pretty hammered at certain points but not to the point where I was plastered like I would be when I am with my friends here. I think it was all because I started to listen to the mantra.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon."
Once I got to the bar a little before 2pm on Saturday, I decided to kick things off with a beer... and a soco shot with none other than Al. Well, that's when I discovered that the shots you get here are twice as big as the ones I'm used to. Apparently, that's the "Al shot." But hey, whatever. A shot is a shot. I'm not gonna lie though. I was a little disappointed when I downed my shot in one gulp and noticed that Al was just taking a little sip here and there. But that's when he told me that this was not a sprint. And boy, was he right.
During the pub olympics, numerous prop bets were made (Buddy, I fuckin crushed you in pinball! And Evy, great game on the air hockey... I was so close to pwning you). I even played shuffleboard for the first time, which was a blast. CK does a much better job describing what went down but we had numerous pairings... first one being the jew vs non-jew.
(The cross is misleading since I'm not Christian but minor details)
Then, after CK and I noticed that Jordan and Astin (Jew and non-Jew, respectively) were bringing us down, we decided to go the round-eye vs slant-eye round... where we totally pwned them... When CK got a 9 pointer!!! Who says we can't see????
After that is where it gets kinda blurry for me but I don't think I was ever really hammered. I was drunk for sure, but not like falling apart drunk. I know we went to eat pizza across the street or something... wait, no, it was a sub... or a burger... yeah, it was a burger... where Riggs and I were utterly shocked at all the college football scores they were showing with upsets left and right...
And then we went back to the bar and the band was starting to set up... I don't remember the early goings but I do know that towards the end, we had a blast because the band was a good cover band... however, I pulled a lame one and decided to call it a night around 1am or so. It was getting to the point where I was somewhat sobering up and then feeling the fatigue and then realizing I would have to drive home the next day... blah blah blah... god, I feel like such a pussy just writing this. Oh hell. It is what it is.
I had a great time meeting everyone/seeing everyone once again. Getting to spend more time talking to the people I met back in December was definitely good too. I can't wait to see all of you (and those that didn't make it to the bash) in December.
Here are some pictures of Phoenixville:
The breakfast joint right next to the hotel:
Inside the coffee shop I blogged from:
And outside the coffee shop:
What the fuck does that mean anyways?
I ran track in college but my events were 400m and 4x400m relay, with a mix of 200m dash (more for warm up/loosening up - I did NOT have the speed to compete in collegiate level 200m). So, I was always a sprinter. And that's just my personality. Even at work, I either go all out and work really hard... or I do nothing... like not a damn thing. I've spent a full day reading blogs and doing absolutely nothing productive in the past... but in a crunch time, believe me, I'm good to have in the work force. That's just how I roll. So, when it comes to drinking, most of my friends could attest to the fact that when it comes to drinking I am balls to the wall as well... so, on Saturday, after I completed my Part 1 of the Bash trip report in the cafe, I headed back to the room to shower and get ready for what I figured to be an unbelievable drunken haze.
I got ready and sauntered over to this fine establishment where I would end up spending the next 10+ hrs drinking.
Now, the funny thing about me drinking is that I keep thinking I remember everything... until someone points out something that I don't remember... at which point I realize how drunk I was. But I will say this. I was pretty hammered at certain points but not to the point where I was plastered like I would be when I am with my friends here. I think it was all because I started to listen to the mantra.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon."
Once I got to the bar a little before 2pm on Saturday, I decided to kick things off with a beer... and a soco shot with none other than Al. Well, that's when I discovered that the shots you get here are twice as big as the ones I'm used to. Apparently, that's the "Al shot." But hey, whatever. A shot is a shot. I'm not gonna lie though. I was a little disappointed when I downed my shot in one gulp and noticed that Al was just taking a little sip here and there. But that's when he told me that this was not a sprint. And boy, was he right.
During the pub olympics, numerous prop bets were made (Buddy, I fuckin crushed you in pinball! And Evy, great game on the air hockey... I was so close to pwning you). I even played shuffleboard for the first time, which was a blast. CK does a much better job describing what went down but we had numerous pairings... first one being the jew vs non-jew.
(The cross is misleading since I'm not Christian but minor details)
Then, after CK and I noticed that Jordan and Astin (Jew and non-Jew, respectively) were bringing us down, we decided to go the round-eye vs slant-eye round... where we totally pwned them... When CK got a 9 pointer!!! Who says we can't see????
After that is where it gets kinda blurry for me but I don't think I was ever really hammered. I was drunk for sure, but not like falling apart drunk. I know we went to eat pizza across the street or something... wait, no, it was a sub... or a burger... yeah, it was a burger... where Riggs and I were utterly shocked at all the college football scores they were showing with upsets left and right...
And then we went back to the bar and the band was starting to set up... I don't remember the early goings but I do know that towards the end, we had a blast because the band was a good cover band... however, I pulled a lame one and decided to call it a night around 1am or so. It was getting to the point where I was somewhat sobering up and then feeling the fatigue and then realizing I would have to drive home the next day... blah blah blah... god, I feel like such a pussy just writing this. Oh hell. It is what it is.
I had a great time meeting everyone/seeing everyone once again. Getting to spend more time talking to the people I met back in December was definitely good too. I can't wait to see all of you (and those that didn't make it to the bash) in December.
Here are some pictures of Phoenixville:
The breakfast joint right next to the hotel:
Inside the coffee shop I blogged from:
And outside the coffee shop:
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The Bash trip report - Part 1
So here I am doing a quick trip update... I am sitting in this fine cafe in Phoenixville, PA after a great breakfast (pictures to come later) because even though my hotel claims to have an internet connection, the wireless signal is so weak that my laptop just doesn't pick it up. After a great breakfast at Irish Joe's Cafe, I decided to sit here with a cup of coffee and set my fantasy football line up, check the news, and of course... blog. (BaconMary and Alceste just walked in... man, do I feel like a dork). At least I'm not playing online poker right now... though I did seriously consider it...
So, yesterday, I left Richmond around 3:30pm, hoping to make it to Phoenixville, PA, the site of the Bash by like 7:30pm... of course, stupid google maps direction made me take I-95 to I-395... where I got totally lost in the DC area... man, the roads there get so confusing, as does the directions... Anyways, I eventually find my way back on track and when I get to PA, I am thoroughly confused. Now, the directions were surprisingly awesome but the roads here are weird in the sense that a lot of street signs are really hard to see and there would be like two right hand turns (one sharper than the other) so when the directions say to turn right, it's really hard to tell which "right" I'm supposed to go to... having said that, I eventually found my way to the MainStay Inn in Phoenixville, PA where I was staying.
Earlier in the day, my friends, who were trying to decide what to do on a Friday night, were giving me a hard time (good naturedly) about going to a bloggers gathering. One guy asked if we were just gonna stay in our hotel rooms and IM each other with the awesome internet acronyms... LOL, LMAO, WTF, All in, Bad beat!, FU! I thought it was funny.
Well, once I checked in to the hotel, I realized it was way past the time the poker tournament was supposed to start. The poker tournament was at a place that was about 15 minutes away so I was contemplating catching a cab so that I could drink there and not worry about driving back... when I ran into the legendary Bobby Bracelet. We didn't know each other but he heard the lady at the front desk referring to the poker tournament so he asked me if I were here for Al's gathering. Kindly enough, he offered me a ride there which I gratefully accepted.
Once I got to the banquet hall, the tournament was well under way but they still said that I could buy in if I wanted to... strangely enough, even though I am at a poker blogger's gathering, I wasn't in the mood to play in a tournament... actually, I wasn't in much of a mood to play poker. I might be the total opposite of Jordan... live poker is just ok for me... I feel like the game is too slow, it's not like I can get a better read on the players from the way they twitch or anything... I mean the only reads I have on a player always comes from the betting pattern, the size of their bets, etc... which is probably a trait that I have developed over the several hundred thousand hands I've played online. So, in that sense, live poker is too slow for me. Don't get me wrong. There are aspects of live poker I enjoy but it just wasn't high on my list. So, I just bounced from table to table, greeting old friends, putting more faces to the familiar screennames (like Riggs and Vinnay), etc.
I was also giving Jordan a hard time as he was talking into his phone to recap a hand history... saying that you know it's a poker blogger's gathering when someone is trying to recap a hand by either taking notes on the phone or leaving verbal notes on to the phone. It's all in fun though. I do hope to come up with a list of "You know it's a blogger's gathering when..."
It was great to see a lot of people that I've met in the winter gathering. I'm not gonna lie. It's a bit of a bummer that some of the other bloggers that I talk to/drunk text more often (you know who you are) couldn't be here. Whether it's some gay ass birthday trip to San Francisco to meet up with the #1 waffles fan or you just opened a new business or you live in Hawaii, the excuses are rampant. I guess I will just have to wait 2.5 months until the winter gathering. At that point, I am hoping to meet couple of other guys who I talk to/comment on their blog that I haven't met. You also know you who you are.
Oh and one more thing... Despite what Schaubs or Fuel tries to tell you, I am not Ken. I'm kicking both of your asses next time I see you.
Alright I'm out. Drinking commences in less than an hour.
So, yesterday, I left Richmond around 3:30pm, hoping to make it to Phoenixville, PA, the site of the Bash by like 7:30pm... of course, stupid google maps direction made me take I-95 to I-395... where I got totally lost in the DC area... man, the roads there get so confusing, as does the directions... Anyways, I eventually find my way back on track and when I get to PA, I am thoroughly confused. Now, the directions were surprisingly awesome but the roads here are weird in the sense that a lot of street signs are really hard to see and there would be like two right hand turns (one sharper than the other) so when the directions say to turn right, it's really hard to tell which "right" I'm supposed to go to... having said that, I eventually found my way to the MainStay Inn in Phoenixville, PA where I was staying.
Earlier in the day, my friends, who were trying to decide what to do on a Friday night, were giving me a hard time (good naturedly) about going to a bloggers gathering. One guy asked if we were just gonna stay in our hotel rooms and IM each other with the awesome internet acronyms... LOL, LMAO, WTF, All in, Bad beat!, FU! I thought it was funny.
Well, once I checked in to the hotel, I realized it was way past the time the poker tournament was supposed to start. The poker tournament was at a place that was about 15 minutes away so I was contemplating catching a cab so that I could drink there and not worry about driving back... when I ran into the legendary Bobby Bracelet. We didn't know each other but he heard the lady at the front desk referring to the poker tournament so he asked me if I were here for Al's gathering. Kindly enough, he offered me a ride there which I gratefully accepted.
Once I got to the banquet hall, the tournament was well under way but they still said that I could buy in if I wanted to... strangely enough, even though I am at a poker blogger's gathering, I wasn't in the mood to play in a tournament... actually, I wasn't in much of a mood to play poker. I might be the total opposite of Jordan... live poker is just ok for me... I feel like the game is too slow, it's not like I can get a better read on the players from the way they twitch or anything... I mean the only reads I have on a player always comes from the betting pattern, the size of their bets, etc... which is probably a trait that I have developed over the several hundred thousand hands I've played online. So, in that sense, live poker is too slow for me. Don't get me wrong. There are aspects of live poker I enjoy but it just wasn't high on my list. So, I just bounced from table to table, greeting old friends, putting more faces to the familiar screennames (like Riggs and Vinnay), etc.
I was also giving Jordan a hard time as he was talking into his phone to recap a hand history... saying that you know it's a poker blogger's gathering when someone is trying to recap a hand by either taking notes on the phone or leaving verbal notes on to the phone. It's all in fun though. I do hope to come up with a list of "You know it's a blogger's gathering when..."
It was great to see a lot of people that I've met in the winter gathering. I'm not gonna lie. It's a bit of a bummer that some of the other bloggers that I talk to/drunk text more often (you know who you are) couldn't be here. Whether it's some gay ass birthday trip to San Francisco to meet up with the #1 waffles fan or you just opened a new business or you live in Hawaii, the excuses are rampant. I guess I will just have to wait 2.5 months until the winter gathering. At that point, I am hoping to meet couple of other guys who I talk to/comment on their blog that I haven't met. You also know you who you are.
Oh and one more thing... Despite what Schaubs or Fuel tries to tell you, I am not Ken. I'm kicking both of your asses next time I see you.
Alright I'm out. Drinking commences in less than an hour.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
WPBT (Final trip report)
I will probably post about some hands at a different time. However, I wanted to at least bring my trip report to a closure so here's my recap of the brief time I spent in the bloggers' tournament on Saturday at the Venetian. First of all, Falstaff did a great job organizing this whole thing so thanks again for that. To be able to secure the whole back section of the Venetian poker room had to be a result of a lot of hard work and it was great. Thanks to Venetian also for housing 110+ degenerates to play in the tournament. It was a blast to say the least.
I'm sure a lot of you have read the numerous trip reports that are now out there so if you have, you know that this started off with a cool twist. While we were signing up for the tournament, InstantTragedy brought the guitar that was going to be sent to Dr Chaco who is currently serving in Iraq. If you've never seen his blog (and up until recently, I never had), he's got some very cool pictures from Iraq. Well, Sean (IT) told me about this several weeks ago and when he told me, I begged him to let me help in any way I can. In the end, the only thing I could do was send Sean some money for the purchase of the guitar - which as we all know led to my good karma Mookie win. Well, it was very cool to actually see the guitar in person. Sean's idea was that we were going to have all the bloggers sign the guitar to wish Dr Chaco well. I've had some random nonbloggers come up and ask us what we were doing... so I said "well, bunch of us are friends and we have a buddy over in Iraq so we're all signing this guitar and sending it to him." A lot of people thought that was awesome. I agreed.
Once everyone signed the guitar, we presented the guitar to "The Wife" of Dr Chaco who also showed us the U.S. flag that was to be presented to the winner along with the certificate that read "You're the great American I fight for." Now I'm no American but that was touching. Also, this prize was being announced through the mic by Sean... which could be heard through the entire poker room. When he was done, everyone, including nonbloggers were applauding. What a nice start to the tournament. "The Wife" topped it off with the "Shuffle up and deal!" and we were on our way.
Here's a pic of Tragedy and "The Wife" with the signed guitar. Crap, I signed it upside down!
The structure of this tournament was surprisingly good so I decided to play fairly tight early. But admittedly, the greatest part about this whole tournament is that I got to sit next to Pauly. As most of you who met him know, he's such a down to earth guy. I love reading his posts and it's a rare occasion for me to talk to a guy who does poker reports for a living. It's interesting to read the "behind the scenes" stories that he has in poker tournaments and I can also sympathize with how much of a grind it can be to cover poker tournaments, even if at first it seems like such a cool gig. Well, I was playing fairly well and I chipped up to about 5k in chips (I think we started with 2,500 or 3k) when an interesting hand happened.
What was funny about this hand is that right before this hand occurred, Weakplayer came over to the table and decided to share with us a bad beat story about how his big pair got cracked by some rag hand like 4-7 or something like that. Well, I look down and what do I see? A beautiful sooooted 6-3. With a few limpers already in the hand, I choose to limp also (there was an UTG limper and those are always tricky so I decided to see a flop here). Little did I know that this would be the hand that would basically determine my fate in the tournament. Flop comes out 4-5-6, giving me top pair and an open ended straight draw. It's checked around to Pauly who bets out 700 (blinds were 75-150 so I think that was like 80% of the pot size. I thought about my options here. I could raise and try to take the pot away. Or I could call and wait for another card on the turn. I didn't want to get into a raising war with a mere top pair and 3 kicker plus I wanted to give the impression that I hit this board hard. So, I chose to call. I think the question I asked myself was "what would I do if I held 7-8 here?" Turn comes a 9d, now putting two diamonds on the board. Pauly bets out approximately T$1,000. I try to agonize over the bet here because weak = strong, right (though in this case, weak = weak)? I then raised a suspicious T$2,000 more, leaving me a little more than T$2,000 behind. I thought this looked like a monster hand. I mean if not, why wouldn't I shove? Right? Well, Pauly calls which at this point makes me very suspicious. The river is another 4 and Pauly puts me all in. I agonize for a while and then eventually fold. It was clear that this was a rag vs rag hand and it was a lot of fun trying to put Pauly on a hand and him outplaying me. The problem was, as I thought more and more about the hand, it was very poorly played by me. Fuel put it best when he said why did you play such a big pot, only to fold on the river? If you're gonna build a pot like that, you have to be willing to go to the felt with that. Very true. Also, the other thought was, why would Pauly put me all in if he had a monster hand. I think I made it obvious that I liked my hand (even though I didn't) so all indications were that if he checks, I would shove the river (I wouldn't have but he doesn't know that). So, if he had a hand, he would be stringing me along instead of trying to push me off the pot. Well, thinking that 24 hrs later didn't help in the tournament and I lose a big pot and I'm down to approx T$2k in chips.
Next time, I was in the SB, everyone folded to me so I jam with 3-4. Tragedy, who was in the BB ponders a call but eventually folds (thank god). Few hands later, I find KQ. I raise it up to 3x BB, Tragedy calls and we see a flop of 8-9-10. I jam with two overs and a gut shot straight draw, Tragedy thinks for a while and eventually calls T$1,600 more with pocket sixes. (Sick call, Sean!) To his defense, he put me on two high cards and thought I was trying to buy the pot (I was). The turn came a 7, giving him a straight but adding 9 more outs for me to a flush. No jack, no club and I was out of the tournament. I only made it to the second hour but I have to admit, the tournament was a blast. Live tournaments are certainly a lot more fun than online tourneys.
After that, we went back to playing more poker, had dinner at the Mirage, played some craps later (where I earned the reputation of Iceman cuz I cooled down the table in a hurry) and just had some fun.
This whole trip was a blast but by Monday, I was ready to leave. The sleep deprivation finally caught up with me and I was all kinds of messed up. However, I can honestly say that I can't wait for the next bloggers gathering. This trip ranks very high up amongst all the Vegas trips I've made. Like everyone else had said on their blogs, there are so many of us and some of us are very different from one another. And even within this group, there are plenty of drama, disputes, and maybe even some hatred. But most of the time, people are very open, very welcoming, and most importantly, we all have at least one thing in common. We love playing poker and after all, what more do you need if you're in Vegas?
I'm sure a lot of you have read the numerous trip reports that are now out there so if you have, you know that this started off with a cool twist. While we were signing up for the tournament, InstantTragedy brought the guitar that was going to be sent to Dr Chaco who is currently serving in Iraq. If you've never seen his blog (and up until recently, I never had), he's got some very cool pictures from Iraq. Well, Sean (IT) told me about this several weeks ago and when he told me, I begged him to let me help in any way I can. In the end, the only thing I could do was send Sean some money for the purchase of the guitar - which as we all know led to my good karma Mookie win. Well, it was very cool to actually see the guitar in person. Sean's idea was that we were going to have all the bloggers sign the guitar to wish Dr Chaco well. I've had some random nonbloggers come up and ask us what we were doing... so I said "well, bunch of us are friends and we have a buddy over in Iraq so we're all signing this guitar and sending it to him." A lot of people thought that was awesome. I agreed.
Once everyone signed the guitar, we presented the guitar to "The Wife" of Dr Chaco who also showed us the U.S. flag that was to be presented to the winner along with the certificate that read "You're the great American I fight for." Now I'm no American but that was touching. Also, this prize was being announced through the mic by Sean... which could be heard through the entire poker room. When he was done, everyone, including nonbloggers were applauding. What a nice start to the tournament. "The Wife" topped it off with the "Shuffle up and deal!" and we were on our way.
Here's a pic of Tragedy and "The Wife" with the signed guitar. Crap, I signed it upside down!
The structure of this tournament was surprisingly good so I decided to play fairly tight early. But admittedly, the greatest part about this whole tournament is that I got to sit next to Pauly. As most of you who met him know, he's such a down to earth guy. I love reading his posts and it's a rare occasion for me to talk to a guy who does poker reports for a living. It's interesting to read the "behind the scenes" stories that he has in poker tournaments and I can also sympathize with how much of a grind it can be to cover poker tournaments, even if at first it seems like such a cool gig. Well, I was playing fairly well and I chipped up to about 5k in chips (I think we started with 2,500 or 3k) when an interesting hand happened.
What was funny about this hand is that right before this hand occurred, Weakplayer came over to the table and decided to share with us a bad beat story about how his big pair got cracked by some rag hand like 4-7 or something like that. Well, I look down and what do I see? A beautiful sooooted 6-3. With a few limpers already in the hand, I choose to limp also (there was an UTG limper and those are always tricky so I decided to see a flop here). Little did I know that this would be the hand that would basically determine my fate in the tournament. Flop comes out 4-5-6, giving me top pair and an open ended straight draw. It's checked around to Pauly who bets out 700 (blinds were 75-150 so I think that was like 80% of the pot size. I thought about my options here. I could raise and try to take the pot away. Or I could call and wait for another card on the turn. I didn't want to get into a raising war with a mere top pair and 3 kicker plus I wanted to give the impression that I hit this board hard. So, I chose to call. I think the question I asked myself was "what would I do if I held 7-8 here?" Turn comes a 9d, now putting two diamonds on the board. Pauly bets out approximately T$1,000. I try to agonize over the bet here because weak = strong, right (though in this case, weak = weak)? I then raised a suspicious T$2,000 more, leaving me a little more than T$2,000 behind. I thought this looked like a monster hand. I mean if not, why wouldn't I shove? Right? Well, Pauly calls which at this point makes me very suspicious. The river is another 4 and Pauly puts me all in. I agonize for a while and then eventually fold. It was clear that this was a rag vs rag hand and it was a lot of fun trying to put Pauly on a hand and him outplaying me. The problem was, as I thought more and more about the hand, it was very poorly played by me. Fuel put it best when he said why did you play such a big pot, only to fold on the river? If you're gonna build a pot like that, you have to be willing to go to the felt with that. Very true. Also, the other thought was, why would Pauly put me all in if he had a monster hand. I think I made it obvious that I liked my hand (even though I didn't) so all indications were that if he checks, I would shove the river (I wouldn't have but he doesn't know that). So, if he had a hand, he would be stringing me along instead of trying to push me off the pot. Well, thinking that 24 hrs later didn't help in the tournament and I lose a big pot and I'm down to approx T$2k in chips.
Next time, I was in the SB, everyone folded to me so I jam with 3-4. Tragedy, who was in the BB ponders a call but eventually folds (thank god). Few hands later, I find KQ. I raise it up to 3x BB, Tragedy calls and we see a flop of 8-9-10. I jam with two overs and a gut shot straight draw, Tragedy thinks for a while and eventually calls T$1,600 more with pocket sixes. (Sick call, Sean!) To his defense, he put me on two high cards and thought I was trying to buy the pot (I was). The turn came a 7, giving him a straight but adding 9 more outs for me to a flush. No jack, no club and I was out of the tournament. I only made it to the second hour but I have to admit, the tournament was a blast. Live tournaments are certainly a lot more fun than online tourneys.
After that, we went back to playing more poker, had dinner at the Mirage, played some craps later (where I earned the reputation of Iceman cuz I cooled down the table in a hurry) and just had some fun.
This whole trip was a blast but by Monday, I was ready to leave. The sleep deprivation finally caught up with me and I was all kinds of messed up. However, I can honestly say that I can't wait for the next bloggers gathering. This trip ranks very high up amongst all the Vegas trips I've made. Like everyone else had said on their blogs, there are so many of us and some of us are very different from one another. And even within this group, there are plenty of drama, disputes, and maybe even some hatred. But most of the time, people are very open, very welcoming, and most importantly, we all have at least one thing in common. We love playing poker and after all, what more do you need if you're in Vegas?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
From blogger buddies to friends
So I'm sure that those of you that read blogs eventually start gravitating towards certain bloggers. In other words, even within this blogger community, you either gchat or AIM or YahooIM more frequently with some more so than others. Based on that, you naturally would have an inclination to want to meet these people even more. For me, they included Fuel55, LJ (Pvanharibo), Schaubs, InstantTragedy, Miamidon, Bayne, and Chad (cracknaces). Don't get me wrong. I was super psyched to meet the legendary bloggers like Al, Iggy (I met Iggy three times cause he didn't remember me the first two times), and Pauly. There were also bloggers that I met whose blogs I never read or didn't know about. But anyways, as you talk more online, you eventually get to know their personality and I think you tend to gravitate towards people who are similar or maybe in the similar age range.
And that's perfectly normal. I mean think about it. There were like 90+ bloggers at this gathering. There was no way you were going to spend a lot of time with each bloggers. Instead, you end up hanging out with a few bloggers all the time. And naturally, the few bloggers that I ended up spending the most time with were LJ, Fuel, and Schaubs. I was (and still am) fairly disappointed that I didn't get to spend as much time with Don since he and I would really get along, I think, based on our personalities. Same goes for Tragedy. I wanted to spend more time with him but you really can't spend all the time with everyone. You just pick your spots I guess.
So, what ended up happening is that on Friday, we had a big meal planned over at the Bellagio (Prime Steakhouse) where it was myself, Fuel, Schaubs, LJ, Surlypokergnome, Kurokitty, and CC. It was hilarious watching Fuel pouring over the what seemed like a very extensive wine list and listening to him grilling the wine steward about the year of the wine - "you don't have '03? Because if I recall correctly, '03 is much better than '04." Seriously... hilarious stuff but you just had to be there.
I will say though... the wine choices made by Fuel were fantastic. I mean I sure hope so considering the bottles were like $120 a piece. But honestly, it was really worth it. At that dinner, I also learned that some of the sickos like to "high card for the meal." Surlypokergnome pulls out a deck of cards (who does that!? it made me laugh...) at the end of the meal and whoever wanted to join in would high card for their portion. So, the dinner was like $220/person. If you choose to join in, you would pick a card out of the deck. The person who picks out the lowest card will have to pay for everyone else. I couldn't risk $880 to win $220 (cuz there were 3 of them that was willing to high card... Schaubs, LJ and I backed out), even with the whole deck of cards thing... but it was entertaining to watch.
We didn't do any major dinner on Saturday night (if I recall correctly - my memory is starting to blur a little) but on Sunday night, once again, LJ, Fuel, Schaubs, and I did a nice dinner over at Caesars... actually, now that I think about it, Saturday night, the same crew (the 4 of us) + Bayne did dinner at the Mirage at a place called Japonais. Noticing the trend? The four of us were definitely spending a lot more time together and it was really nice. It's like during this trip, we went from being blogger buddies to being actual friends. We've shared pieces of our personal lives (for all my nonpoker playing buddies, I did tell them about my doggy-style bad beat story... you know... the one that made me fake it as well as the Tony's pants incident at the Rhino). It was just a lot of fun to really get to know them as people and not just a blogger or a poker player.
I honestly can't even begin to tell you how fun that was for me and how great it was to get to spend quality time together. It wasn't just playing poker together or losing money at craps together (Bayne, I'm due for a monster roll). Again, it's unfortunate that I didn't get to spend time with others but because so much is crammed into such a short period of time, it is what it is.
Funny thing though is that during the day, we'd play poker and we'd all be at different tables. Once in a while, some of us will play at the same table but even that was very rare unless we make an effort to sit at the same table (like WeakPlayer and I sat at few tables together). The only problem with bloggers sitting at the same table is that other nonbloggers will eventually figure out that we're online players... I mean I felt awkward when Weak was introducing me to another blogger in front of everyone else at the table (who were nonbloggers) as Alan aka RecessRampage. But I can't deny who I am I guess.
Next up - Blogger tournament at the Venetian
And that's perfectly normal. I mean think about it. There were like 90+ bloggers at this gathering. There was no way you were going to spend a lot of time with each bloggers. Instead, you end up hanging out with a few bloggers all the time. And naturally, the few bloggers that I ended up spending the most time with were LJ, Fuel, and Schaubs. I was (and still am) fairly disappointed that I didn't get to spend as much time with Don since he and I would really get along, I think, based on our personalities. Same goes for Tragedy. I wanted to spend more time with him but you really can't spend all the time with everyone. You just pick your spots I guess.
So, what ended up happening is that on Friday, we had a big meal planned over at the Bellagio (Prime Steakhouse) where it was myself, Fuel, Schaubs, LJ, Surlypokergnome, Kurokitty, and CC. It was hilarious watching Fuel pouring over the what seemed like a very extensive wine list and listening to him grilling the wine steward about the year of the wine - "you don't have '03? Because if I recall correctly, '03 is much better than '04." Seriously... hilarious stuff but you just had to be there.
I will say though... the wine choices made by Fuel were fantastic. I mean I sure hope so considering the bottles were like $120 a piece. But honestly, it was really worth it. At that dinner, I also learned that some of the sickos like to "high card for the meal." Surlypokergnome pulls out a deck of cards (who does that!? it made me laugh...) at the end of the meal and whoever wanted to join in would high card for their portion. So, the dinner was like $220/person. If you choose to join in, you would pick a card out of the deck. The person who picks out the lowest card will have to pay for everyone else. I couldn't risk $880 to win $220 (cuz there were 3 of them that was willing to high card... Schaubs, LJ and I backed out), even with the whole deck of cards thing... but it was entertaining to watch.
We didn't do any major dinner on Saturday night (if I recall correctly - my memory is starting to blur a little) but on Sunday night, once again, LJ, Fuel, Schaubs, and I did a nice dinner over at Caesars... actually, now that I think about it, Saturday night, the same crew (the 4 of us) + Bayne did dinner at the Mirage at a place called Japonais. Noticing the trend? The four of us were definitely spending a lot more time together and it was really nice. It's like during this trip, we went from being blogger buddies to being actual friends. We've shared pieces of our personal lives (for all my nonpoker playing buddies, I did tell them about my doggy-style bad beat story... you know... the one that made me fake it as well as the Tony's pants incident at the Rhino). It was just a lot of fun to really get to know them as people and not just a blogger or a poker player.
I honestly can't even begin to tell you how fun that was for me and how great it was to get to spend quality time together. It wasn't just playing poker together or losing money at craps together (Bayne, I'm due for a monster roll). Again, it's unfortunate that I didn't get to spend time with others but because so much is crammed into such a short period of time, it is what it is.
Funny thing though is that during the day, we'd play poker and we'd all be at different tables. Once in a while, some of us will play at the same table but even that was very rare unless we make an effort to sit at the same table (like WeakPlayer and I sat at few tables together). The only problem with bloggers sitting at the same table is that other nonbloggers will eventually figure out that we're online players... I mean I felt awkward when Weak was introducing me to another blogger in front of everyone else at the table (who were nonbloggers) as Alan aka RecessRampage. But I can't deny who I am I guess.
Next up - Blogger tournament at the Venetian
Vegas trip report (Part 2)
I don't even know where to start. Here I am, sitting at the Las Vegas Airport (McCarran Int'l), I discovered that they have free wi-fi! That's always a nice perk, in my opinion.
Well, honestly speaking, right now, I feel exhausted. Staying up till wee hours of the night or more like morning really does a number on my body and I am feeling the effects today. But, there's also so much I want to write so I figured, while I wait to board, I'll start typing up some stuff.
I've been debating how to do this. I wasn't sure if I should break it up into a report with each day I spent in Vegas being a separate post or if I should just lump them all into one uber long post. I have no idea so I'm just gonna start typing and see where I end up.
Last time I posted was a Tuesday, I believe. So much has happened after that. Of course, more poker was played and I'm gonna go into the whole poker thing later because I have so much to say about that as well. Well, on Wednesday, LJ arrived to Vegas so we decided to grab a few drinks before I got the official invite to go over to Chad's. Chad actually has a decent write up about that so you can go over to his blog and read that as well. Long story short, we had a blast. LJ and I took a cab and when we got to Chad's, Buddy and Don were already there. We exchanged greetings, started setting up for the BDR radio and got our laptops ready. I'll post some pics but it was very funny to be in this one room where Chad has a kickass setup with two big monitors (that's the secret to 16 tabling, apparently) and we're all sitting on the floor with our laptops playing the Mookie.
As most of you heard on the radio, we were having a great time. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Don got really trashed... we don't even really know how it happened. But he was on fire with all the trash talking... now some of the things did get personal but we were all too hammered to care, I think... I know Don paid the price next day recovering from what had to be a massive hangover.
Well, LJ, Buddy and I decided to go back to the strip after it was all over (and congrats to PirateLawyer for taking it down btw) to meet up with CK who arrived later that evening. This was the beginning of me meeting a few of the bloggers.
Well, Thursday arrived and this was certainly a much anticipated day for me. As a blogger gathering virgin, I was very excited to see what this whole thing was going to be like. Also, I was really excited to meet in person, the people that I talk to a lot online like Fuel55, Schaubs, InstantTragedy, Bayne, etc. And I have to say... for those of you that have never been... it's a very interesting thing.
So, basically, as you talk to people and see their avatars on FullTilt, you start forming an image of what these people look like right? Well, some of them look nothing like you would imagine. The biggest shocker to me was Astin... for some reason, even though I knew he was like our age, I just had this image of him being older looking. Instead, he looks like he just walked out of a Abercrombie catalog or something (Astin, that's a compliment, FYI). And the same must go for the way I look... since apparently, Fuel and Schaubs had a prop bet with how much I weighed... Fuel apparently suggested something like 130lbs... (maybe he has no concept of lbs? Shoulda gone with kilograms, Fuel). Schaubs gave him extra 10 lbs but I weigh like 165 lbs... so I cost Fuel $5. Apparently, I was a lot taller than they expected (I'm 6'0, 165 lbs). All goes to show just how funny it is that the image you have of people and what they look like are totally different.
Anyhow, it was a blast meeting all these people and it certainly was a very interesting experience. Hopefully, many of you who have yet to come out to these gathering will one day experience this as well.
I'm noticing that this post is starting to get really long so I guess I will break it up into pieces.
Next up - from blogger buddies to friends.
Well, honestly speaking, right now, I feel exhausted. Staying up till wee hours of the night or more like morning really does a number on my body and I am feeling the effects today. But, there's also so much I want to write so I figured, while I wait to board, I'll start typing up some stuff.
I've been debating how to do this. I wasn't sure if I should break it up into a report with each day I spent in Vegas being a separate post or if I should just lump them all into one uber long post. I have no idea so I'm just gonna start typing and see where I end up.
Last time I posted was a Tuesday, I believe. So much has happened after that. Of course, more poker was played and I'm gonna go into the whole poker thing later because I have so much to say about that as well. Well, on Wednesday, LJ arrived to Vegas so we decided to grab a few drinks before I got the official invite to go over to Chad's. Chad actually has a decent write up about that so you can go over to his blog and read that as well. Long story short, we had a blast. LJ and I took a cab and when we got to Chad's, Buddy and Don were already there. We exchanged greetings, started setting up for the BDR radio and got our laptops ready. I'll post some pics but it was very funny to be in this one room where Chad has a kickass setup with two big monitors (that's the secret to 16 tabling, apparently) and we're all sitting on the floor with our laptops playing the Mookie.
As most of you heard on the radio, we were having a great time. Somehow though, somewhere along the way, Don got really trashed... we don't even really know how it happened. But he was on fire with all the trash talking... now some of the things did get personal but we were all too hammered to care, I think... I know Don paid the price next day recovering from what had to be a massive hangover.
Well, LJ, Buddy and I decided to go back to the strip after it was all over (and congrats to PirateLawyer for taking it down btw) to meet up with CK who arrived later that evening. This was the beginning of me meeting a few of the bloggers.
Well, Thursday arrived and this was certainly a much anticipated day for me. As a blogger gathering virgin, I was very excited to see what this whole thing was going to be like. Also, I was really excited to meet in person, the people that I talk to a lot online like Fuel55, Schaubs, InstantTragedy, Bayne, etc. And I have to say... for those of you that have never been... it's a very interesting thing.
So, basically, as you talk to people and see their avatars on FullTilt, you start forming an image of what these people look like right? Well, some of them look nothing like you would imagine. The biggest shocker to me was Astin... for some reason, even though I knew he was like our age, I just had this image of him being older looking. Instead, he looks like he just walked out of a Abercrombie catalog or something (Astin, that's a compliment, FYI). And the same must go for the way I look... since apparently, Fuel and Schaubs had a prop bet with how much I weighed... Fuel apparently suggested something like 130lbs... (maybe he has no concept of lbs? Shoulda gone with kilograms, Fuel). Schaubs gave him extra 10 lbs but I weigh like 165 lbs... so I cost Fuel $5. Apparently, I was a lot taller than they expected (I'm 6'0, 165 lbs). All goes to show just how funny it is that the image you have of people and what they look like are totally different.
Anyhow, it was a blast meeting all these people and it certainly was a very interesting experience. Hopefully, many of you who have yet to come out to these gathering will one day experience this as well.
I'm noticing that this post is starting to get really long so I guess I will break it up into pieces.
Next up - from blogger buddies to friends.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thoughts appreciated
Ok, so I'm either clueless about what goes on or I'm not paying attention or I'm still not in the loop. Whatever is the case, I discovered last night that the next blogger gathering is tentatively scheduled (?) for 12/6-12/9 in Vegas. Barring any major setbacks (like I'm paralyzed from the neck down, all flights are cancelled for the entire month of December, Vegas implodes before December, etc), I'll be there. Usually, my friends and I schedule an annual trip out there and yet this year, we have yet to go. Between bunch of us getting married or having kids and stuff, it appears that those annual gatherings are getting harder and harder... which is ok with me. I know that generally, when we do have these "annual gatherings", I tend to go out a few days earlier so I can play poker. My friends don't play poker. They like to donate via blackjack, craps and roulette. I'm personally not into blackjack or roulette. I mean a game of chance? Who likes that??? :) But craps, I love. Hey, that's no game of chance. I mean after all, YOU are throwing the dice. ALL SKILL BABY!!!! just like poker... (hopefully, my HEAVY sarcasm is conveyed).
Well, last night, I played in the MATH, $75 token frenzy, tier 2 token sng, and a cash game... all at the same time. Not to make excuses (and you know that when a sentence starts with that, excuses are coming), but I really couldn't focus on MATH at all. I wanted to. But aside from this weird chat going on between ScottMc and WhatSarahSaid (basically, wishing death, rape, and all other hatred on each other), I really couldn't put forth my effort into MATH and so I donked out very soon after the tournament started. Don't get me wrong. Even if I focused on it, I'm not saying it would've been any different. But of the 4 tables open, I was focusing the least on MATH, namely because I was doing well in the other 3 tables and I'm not quite a 4 tabler... So, during that time, I did take down the tier 2 token SNG and I was up about quarter of a buy-in at 2-4NL when this hand came up in the token frenzy.
NewinNov and Smokkee were at my table... well, New was at my table, don't know what happened... maybe he got moved? Told you, I had 4 tables up. But anyways, I was doing well in this thing. I was making good reads and my hands were holding up in situations where I sensed I was ahead and made moderately tough calls.
Anyways, I was in 8th with 53 remaining and top 21 winning the token when this hand came up. Initially, I thought, I would love to get everyone's thoughts but now, the thought is clear for me at least. This was a clear fold situation, only because this was a token frenzy (where coming in 21st is no different than winning the whole thing).
Full Tilt Poker Game #3107378826: $75 Token Frenzy (23212487), Table 3 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:00 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: RecessRampage (5,775)
Seat 2: SashaPup (2,585)
Seat 3: Donkeyfish33 (8,295)
Seat 4: yeahok (4,295)
Seat 5: mooreparty (3,005)
Seat 6: macthespoon (4,100)
Seat 7: b_lotheafguy (950)
Seat 8: iamthematador (1,030)
Seat 9: smokkee (4,030)
yeahok posts the small blind of 100
mooreparty posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ad Kc]
macthespoon raises to 700
b_lotheafguy folds
iamthematador folds
smokkee folds
RecessRampage calls 700
SashaPup folds
Donkeyfish33 raises to 8,295, and is all in
yeahok folds
mooreparty folds
macthespoon folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
What would you do? One can argue reraising, etc but please, that's kinda not the point here. I think I reraise if I were shorter but I'm ok with calling in position here with AK. So, aside from that point, when the big stack on the button shoves, what are your thoughts?
Following is my thought process:
a) He's pulling a squeeze resteal - I mean is this not an ideal spot to do so? Two players with decent stack sizes are in the hand, the only guy who can bust them comes in for all his chips, basically, you can't call unless you had a monster holding like a high pocket pair, right? And if I had a high pocket pair, I would reraise more often than not, right?
b) He's got a middle pair and trying to protect it.
c) He's accumulated a decent stack so he must be an action player capable of moves like this (he moved fairly recently so I haven't seen him do much though it's possible I missed it)
d) If he's going for a resteal, worst case scenario for me is that I'm on a bad side of a flip. I could be up against AQ, AJ, or maybe even KQ. If I win, I can pretty much fold to the token.
e) But I'm currently 8th in chips. If I fold, I'm still top 15 for sure.
After weighing these thoughts, but not carefully enough, this is what I did.
RecessRampage calls 5,075, and is all in
Donkeyfish33 shows [Ah As] <--- doh!!!
RecessRampage shows [Ad Kc]
Uncalled bet of 2,520 returned to Donkeyfish33
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5h 6c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 5h 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5h 6c 4c] [Kd]
RecessRampage: damn
Donkeyfish33 shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage shows a pair of Kings
Donkeyfish33 wins the pot (12,550) with a pair of Aces
RecessRampage: nh
smokkee: ouch
RecessRampage: gg
RecessRampage stands up
I think the key here was that I was still healthy in chips so I shoulda folded and waited for a better spot. I think I kinda rushed to accumulate a big chip stack which really doesn't matter since you're not really going for the win. Can you say resteal paranoia??? :) Nonetheless, any thoughts you might have are appreciated!
Well, last night, I played in the MATH, $75 token frenzy, tier 2 token sng, and a cash game... all at the same time. Not to make excuses (and you know that when a sentence starts with that, excuses are coming), but I really couldn't focus on MATH at all. I wanted to. But aside from this weird chat going on between ScottMc and WhatSarahSaid (basically, wishing death, rape, and all other hatred on each other), I really couldn't put forth my effort into MATH and so I donked out very soon after the tournament started. Don't get me wrong. Even if I focused on it, I'm not saying it would've been any different. But of the 4 tables open, I was focusing the least on MATH, namely because I was doing well in the other 3 tables and I'm not quite a 4 tabler... So, during that time, I did take down the tier 2 token SNG and I was up about quarter of a buy-in at 2-4NL when this hand came up in the token frenzy.
NewinNov and Smokkee were at my table... well, New was at my table, don't know what happened... maybe he got moved? Told you, I had 4 tables up. But anyways, I was doing well in this thing. I was making good reads and my hands were holding up in situations where I sensed I was ahead and made moderately tough calls.
Anyways, I was in 8th with 53 remaining and top 21 winning the token when this hand came up. Initially, I thought, I would love to get everyone's thoughts but now, the thought is clear for me at least. This was a clear fold situation, only because this was a token frenzy (where coming in 21st is no different than winning the whole thing).
Full Tilt Poker Game #3107378826: $75 Token Frenzy (23212487), Table 3 - 100/200 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:28:00 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: RecessRampage (5,775)
Seat 2: SashaPup (2,585)
Seat 3: Donkeyfish33 (8,295)
Seat 4: yeahok (4,295)
Seat 5: mooreparty (3,005)
Seat 6: macthespoon (4,100)
Seat 7: b_lotheafguy (950)
Seat 8: iamthematador (1,030)
Seat 9: smokkee (4,030)
yeahok posts the small blind of 100
mooreparty posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ad Kc]
macthespoon raises to 700
b_lotheafguy folds
iamthematador folds
smokkee folds
RecessRampage calls 700
SashaPup folds
Donkeyfish33 raises to 8,295, and is all in
yeahok folds
mooreparty folds
macthespoon folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
What would you do? One can argue reraising, etc but please, that's kinda not the point here. I think I reraise if I were shorter but I'm ok with calling in position here with AK. So, aside from that point, when the big stack on the button shoves, what are your thoughts?
Following is my thought process:
a) He's pulling a squeeze resteal - I mean is this not an ideal spot to do so? Two players with decent stack sizes are in the hand, the only guy who can bust them comes in for all his chips, basically, you can't call unless you had a monster holding like a high pocket pair, right? And if I had a high pocket pair, I would reraise more often than not, right?
b) He's got a middle pair and trying to protect it.
c) He's accumulated a decent stack so he must be an action player capable of moves like this (he moved fairly recently so I haven't seen him do much though it's possible I missed it)
d) If he's going for a resteal, worst case scenario for me is that I'm on a bad side of a flip. I could be up against AQ, AJ, or maybe even KQ. If I win, I can pretty much fold to the token.
e) But I'm currently 8th in chips. If I fold, I'm still top 15 for sure.
After weighing these thoughts, but not carefully enough, this is what I did.
RecessRampage calls 5,075, and is all in
Donkeyfish33 shows [Ah As] <--- doh!!!
RecessRampage shows [Ad Kc]
Uncalled bet of 2,520 returned to Donkeyfish33
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5h 6c]
*** TURN *** [Jc 5h 6c] [4c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5h 6c 4c] [Kd]
RecessRampage: damn
Donkeyfish33 shows a pair of Aces
RecessRampage shows a pair of Kings
Donkeyfish33 wins the pot (12,550) with a pair of Aces
RecessRampage: nh
smokkee: ouch
RecessRampage: gg
RecessRampage stands up
I think the key here was that I was still healthy in chips so I shoulda folded and waited for a better spot. I think I kinda rushed to accumulate a big chip stack which really doesn't matter since you're not really going for the win. Can you say resteal paranoia??? :) Nonetheless, any thoughts you might have are appreciated!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Mookie, Bloggers Gathering, and a little Poker in the Big Apple
Wow... so much to write... and so little time. Well in the interest of time (and the readers), I'll try to keep this short. After my missed bluff opportunity on Monday against jeciimd, I woke up still pissed with myself on Tuesday... Sadly, I had to wake up super early since I was flying up to NY for a business trip. Going into the Mookie, I was determined to play well and make up for my weak play on Monday... well, I guess I overdid it... I held pocket tens and raised to 140 from MP (blinds at 20-40). When Pushmonkey72 reraised me to 480, instead of calling (his reraising range is larger than an average person... maybe right on par for a blogger), I decided to push. He called with AK and everything was looking good... of course, until the river ace... so rigged. :) I'm out in 48th place out of 51. Maybe I should be folding to the points...
However, even better was BuddyDank's live radio feed of the Mookie. Nothing like having good music with an occasional commentary during the bloggers tourney. Apparently, InstantTragedy was supposed to be the special guest but unfortunately, he never made it (where were ya Sean???). Anyways, in case you haven't seen, InstantTragedy's got the full report of at least Day 1 (at this time) of his trip to Maui so go check it out. Very nice! Seriously though, that live feed was very cool. I really enjoyed it... too bad my tournament life was cut waaaaaaay too short.
So in addition to these two blogger tourneys that I really didn't do anything in, some of the bloggers are heading out to Vegas in the next couple of days. At first, I contemplated going but since I didn't really know anyone or really talk to anyone for that matter (at the time), I thought that maybe it wasn't worth going... (Ok, aside from the obvious question of "when is Vegas not worth going!?!?" I just wasn't sure about how this whole thing was going to go). But in the past few weeks as my blog has gotten more and more visitors and I've started to talk to more people, I started thinking that this could really be fun. And then I read up on a lot of other bloggers who are going and it appears that many of us don't know or have never met the others who are going (it's almost like a blind date for poker degenerates... and mostly men). So, in other words, it wouldn't have mattered, it would include a lot of drinking and playing cards... wtf was I thinking???? So, I'm kinda upset that I'm not going to Vegas this weekend. For those of you who are going out there, have fun!!! Maybe next time, I will join you guys. Scratch that. Next time, I will be there.
However, I did have a blogger encounter. So, I'm in NY and since I have heard of live poker clubs, I reached out to pvanharibo to see if she can hook me up. Well, she came through big time. She told me about some of the clubs and she told me that she will meet me at one of them. So, sure enough, I go out there and I'm at the door negotiating with the dude who says he's never heard my name and that he can't let me in. Until I find out that I'm at the wrong club... So, I had to go over to the other club and eventually, I met her and she let me in. Now, I'm an "official member." We didn't get to sit at the same table but it appears that she did real well. Me? Well, I did fairly well. I couldn't believe how soft the competition was. I don't know why but I always think that players who play live must be better. And every time, I'm shocked as to how bad the players are. Example? This one guy flopped two pair with J8 on a Q-J-8 board. There are two or three players and a round of betting. Turn is a blank. Another round of betting and one of them folds so two to the river. River is a Q. Check, the guy bets, call. The guy that check called had AJ. The other guy proudly flips over J8 and goes "I got two pair." And looks very confused when the dealer ships it to the guy with AJ. Dude, your two pair got counterfeited... how do you not see that? Nice "value bet".
So, I didn't really get any cards but the one big hand that I was involved in was relatively early in the night. Bunch of limpers and I find AQs on the button. I raise it to $15. (Sorry, this is 1-2NL) I get one caller and then a short stack reraises all in for another $21. I thought it was shady for her to limp call but I called without hesitation for two reasons. 1) She was shortstacked. 2) This is gonna sound super sexist but a middle aged female poker player is generally a donkey. Ok, ok. So it's wrong to stereotype... but if you just get to the table, you go by impressions and my impression is that they suck. So I call. Well, to my dismay, the other guy who also had a very big stack calls. So, three people are in and the pot already has $120+ (did I say this was 1-2NL) and we haven't even seen the flop. Well, flop sucks. It comes J-7-5 rainbow. Very raggy. I was willing to check it down... except the big stack decides to bet into the dry side pot. He bets $50. Now it was early in the night and I didn't know anything about him aside from the fact that he accumulated a big stack but one other thing I knew was how soft this table was (so you didn't have to be all that great to win a lot) and how it was common for EVERYONE to limp so he may have just gotten lucky. Couple that with the fact that I sensed weakness, I decided to call. That's $120 main pot, $100 in the side pot if you're keeping score. Turn is another blank and he checks. Now, at this point, there is enough in the side pot that I really wanted to take it down. I figured if the all in lady is going to win the main pot, I need to at least snag this side pot that's grown. So, I was trying to figure out a good bet but since we could only buy in for $300max, at this point, I had about $200 behind. So, at first I counted out a $100 but there's no point in leaving a $100 behind so I said "I'm all in." The guy thinks about it, looks over to the guy next to him, shakes his head and reluctantly folds. So, the side pot is mine. Now, I had to turn over my bluffy AQs and the guy is like "unbelievable!" Well, you know what was even more unbelievable? The all in lady who I stereotyped as a donkey? She had A3 of diamonds. Another blank on the river and the main pot was mine too! A3 of diamonds!? Nice limp reraise all in, ma'am. You're not helping the stereotype. You are a donkey. Thanks for your money. But aside from that, I take a few stabs here and there but nothing exciting. After an hour and a half, I'm up $160 and I call it a night. Again, pvanharibo, thanks so much for letting me into the club and have fun in Vegas!
However, even better was BuddyDank's live radio feed of the Mookie. Nothing like having good music with an occasional commentary during the bloggers tourney. Apparently, InstantTragedy was supposed to be the special guest but unfortunately, he never made it (where were ya Sean???). Anyways, in case you haven't seen, InstantTragedy's got the full report of at least Day 1 (at this time) of his trip to Maui so go check it out. Very nice! Seriously though, that live feed was very cool. I really enjoyed it... too bad my tournament life was cut waaaaaaay too short.
So in addition to these two blogger tourneys that I really didn't do anything in, some of the bloggers are heading out to Vegas in the next couple of days. At first, I contemplated going but since I didn't really know anyone or really talk to anyone for that matter (at the time), I thought that maybe it wasn't worth going... (Ok, aside from the obvious question of "when is Vegas not worth going!?!?" I just wasn't sure about how this whole thing was going to go). But in the past few weeks as my blog has gotten more and more visitors and I've started to talk to more people, I started thinking that this could really be fun. And then I read up on a lot of other bloggers who are going and it appears that many of us don't know or have never met the others who are going (it's almost like a blind date for poker degenerates... and mostly men). So, in other words, it wouldn't have mattered, it would include a lot of drinking and playing cards... wtf was I thinking???? So, I'm kinda upset that I'm not going to Vegas this weekend. For those of you who are going out there, have fun!!! Maybe next time, I will join you guys. Scratch that. Next time, I will be there.
However, I did have a blogger encounter. So, I'm in NY and since I have heard of live poker clubs, I reached out to pvanharibo to see if she can hook me up. Well, she came through big time. She told me about some of the clubs and she told me that she will meet me at one of them. So, sure enough, I go out there and I'm at the door negotiating with the dude who says he's never heard my name and that he can't let me in. Until I find out that I'm at the wrong club... So, I had to go over to the other club and eventually, I met her and she let me in. Now, I'm an "official member." We didn't get to sit at the same table but it appears that she did real well. Me? Well, I did fairly well. I couldn't believe how soft the competition was. I don't know why but I always think that players who play live must be better. And every time, I'm shocked as to how bad the players are. Example? This one guy flopped two pair with J8 on a Q-J-8 board. There are two or three players and a round of betting. Turn is a blank. Another round of betting and one of them folds so two to the river. River is a Q. Check, the guy bets, call. The guy that check called had AJ. The other guy proudly flips over J8 and goes "I got two pair." And looks very confused when the dealer ships it to the guy with AJ. Dude, your two pair got counterfeited... how do you not see that? Nice "value bet".
So, I didn't really get any cards but the one big hand that I was involved in was relatively early in the night. Bunch of limpers and I find AQs on the button. I raise it to $15. (Sorry, this is 1-2NL) I get one caller and then a short stack reraises all in for another $21. I thought it was shady for her to limp call but I called without hesitation for two reasons. 1) She was shortstacked. 2) This is gonna sound super sexist but a middle aged female poker player is generally a donkey. Ok, ok. So it's wrong to stereotype... but if you just get to the table, you go by impressions and my impression is that they suck. So I call. Well, to my dismay, the other guy who also had a very big stack calls. So, three people are in and the pot already has $120+ (did I say this was 1-2NL) and we haven't even seen the flop. Well, flop sucks. It comes J-7-5 rainbow. Very raggy. I was willing to check it down... except the big stack decides to bet into the dry side pot. He bets $50. Now it was early in the night and I didn't know anything about him aside from the fact that he accumulated a big stack but one other thing I knew was how soft this table was (so you didn't have to be all that great to win a lot) and how it was common for EVERYONE to limp so he may have just gotten lucky. Couple that with the fact that I sensed weakness, I decided to call. That's $120 main pot, $100 in the side pot if you're keeping score. Turn is another blank and he checks. Now, at this point, there is enough in the side pot that I really wanted to take it down. I figured if the all in lady is going to win the main pot, I need to at least snag this side pot that's grown. So, I was trying to figure out a good bet but since we could only buy in for $300max, at this point, I had about $200 behind. So, at first I counted out a $100 but there's no point in leaving a $100 behind so I said "I'm all in." The guy thinks about it, looks over to the guy next to him, shakes his head and reluctantly folds. So, the side pot is mine. Now, I had to turn over my bluffy AQs and the guy is like "unbelievable!" Well, you know what was even more unbelievable? The all in lady who I stereotyped as a donkey? She had A3 of diamonds. Another blank on the river and the main pot was mine too! A3 of diamonds!? Nice limp reraise all in, ma'am. You're not helping the stereotype. You are a donkey. Thanks for your money. But aside from that, I take a few stabs here and there but nothing exciting. After an hour and a half, I'm up $160 and I call it a night. Again, pvanharibo, thanks so much for letting me into the club and have fun in Vegas!
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