Bad Karma Part 5 - Presto, not so gold...

So, it appears that I got rid of my bad karma for the month of May earlier this month... things were going fairly well this weekend and I was up a few hundred dollars over the course of the weekend when this happened...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2473180285: Table Courage - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:16:26 ET - 2007/05/20
Seat 1: ChildBride ($396)
Seat 2: happythoughts ($562.30)
Seat 3: smalltalkdan ($395.20)
Seat 4: Cadi_007 ($51.80)
Seat 5: RecessRampage ($497.30)
Seat 6: sakurababa ($786)
Seat 7: Shimiwaza ($468.70)
Seat 8: chinzo ($117.20)
Seat 9: AC98 ($167.10)
ChildBride posts the small blind of $2
happythoughts posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [5h 5d]
smalltalkdan folds
Cadi_007 folds
RecessRampage raises to $14 (raising with gold, standard here)
sakurababa folds
Shimiwaza folds
chinzo folds
AC98 calls $14
ChildBride folds
happythoughts calls $10
*** FLOP *** [6c Kd 5s]
happythoughts bets $32 <--- very active and plays tptk like gold
RecessRampage calls $32 <--- figured, I'll let him hang himself
AC98 folds
*** TURN *** [6c Kd 5s] [Qh]
happythoughts bets $64 <--- he's definitely got a king, even better if KQ
RecessRampage raises to $150 <--- let's build this pot!
happythoughts raises to $236 <--- hmmm.... if it were anyone else, I would hit the brakes here...
sakurababa: YEAH <--- so easy to be a third party here
RecessRampage raises to $451.30, and is all in <--- I'm not going anywhere with this hand so let's see what happens
sakurababa: YEAH
happythoughts calls $215.30 <--- uh oh... he's either got KQ or...

Damn...



RecessRampage shows [5h 5d]
happythoughts shows [6d 6h]
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [6c Kd 5s Qh] [8h]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Fives
happythoughts shows three of a kind, Sixes
happythoughts wins the pot ($1,007.60) with three of a kind, Sixes
RecessRampage: nh
RecessRampage is sitting out

Painful...

Missed the Mookie!

I'm personally not a planner. It's not that I'm totally unorganized but unless it's something big (like a vacation, long trip, etc), I don't feel the need to plan. One thing about me is that I'm adaptable to most situations. So I think on my feet very quickly and as such, "shoulda planned for it" concept is one that I don't really embrace. And I'm laid back enough that if something doesn't go my way, I'll find another way to wing it.

Well, there are few things that I do plan on. Recently, it's been these blogger tournaments. They start at 10pm (my time) which is an hour later than the perfect start time for me but better hour later than hour before. Anyways, so MATH and the Mookie are two events that I actually plan for. And you know what??? PLANNING SUCKS! Because when you plan sh*t, you expect everything to go right! Ok, it's one thing if something tragic happened or something crazy happens. But it's another when you lose something that you always assume is there... power. As in ELECTRICITY. Last night, I came home from work around 5:30pm and noticed that my microwave and my oven both showed flashing zeroes to indicate that the clock has been reset cuz they lost power. Ok, no big deal. It rained a little so maybe something happened. (No storm, no crazy winds... just rain). I go to the grocery store, pick up some meat, milk, grapefruit juice, frozen vegetables... come home and the garage door doesn't open. Sure enough, we lost power again. Fortunately, I was lazy so at the grocery store grill, I got myself a chicken stirfry so I'm sitting in the semi dark kitchen with my Treo in hand lighting up the food I'm eating. Well, now I'm starting to be a little worried. It's 8pm, I had visions of spending some quality time looking over my hand history from the FTOPS tournament I played in a few days ago, play a few cash games and obviously, sign up for the Mookie... but my laptop battery is dead, wireless is obviously not working (and even if it did work, what good is it with a dead laptop???)... Well, I'm laid back and I can think on my feet right? Yeah and yeah, but that's all good when I don't plan because "no plan" is part of the plan. When I do plan and sh*t doesn't go my way, it irks me. Anyways, so I decided that I'll hit the local starbucks since they have wireless connection...

So, off I go to the evil empire of coffee makers and I nurse my grande Cafe Americano (for noncoffee afficionados, that's espresso with hot water - much better taste than regular coffee, IMO) while I debate whether I should purchase this one hour plan for $6 to play online. Well, I think I would have, except by the time this was happening, it's close to 9... the shop closes at 10... Mookie starts at 10... so, basically, I end up playing video games on my computer till around 9:45, hoping that maybe the power is restored, and as I enter my neighborhood, I realize that our neighborhood is still dark (and our neighborhood is the ONLY ONE that is dark). Around 10, I had no choice but to accept this cruel joke that someone was playing on me. I brushed my teeth in the dark and decided that I'll just go to sleep. And around this time, I convinced myself that this will be good. I've been up late the past few nights so going to bed a little early will do me well.

Well, around 2:30am, I came to. I kinda rolled over, and noticed that my wife's alarm clock now is beaming it's green light (I swear, that thing is so bright it's like the light on top of Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas). So, I think to myself, oh the power is back on... after 5.5 hrs of my fresh groceries sitting in the fridge that was probably not much cooler than the room itself... And then there was another problem... I couldn't go back to sleep... I toss and turn, and 30 minutes later, I'm wide awake. So, I do what every video game junkie does... I knew I wasn't in the right frame of mind to play poker but that didn't stop me from booting up the laptop and playing video games on it. I ended up being up till 4am when I finally started getting tired again and I went back to sleep...

As such, I'm exhausted this morning... and yet I didn't even get to play any poker last night.

Always a good time at Park Ave Poker Tour

Finally... things are starting to slow down at work which means more time for me to do things outside of work... which mainly boils down to two things these days... poker and blogging, esp since Mrs Recess is out of town all week this week. I actually want to recap my play from FTOPS since I think it will reflect very accurately how much of a tourney donk I am/give me an opportunity to study and improve my play. And "eel man", thanks for the tip on MTT. I think I see what you are saying and some of your posts really illustrate what you are saying so I appreciate the pointers. And Surf, really, you're too kind but thanks for the comment.

Anyways, so I come home from work and since I don't have to leave for the PAPT until around 7:30, I decided to watch last night's episode of Heroes. Btw, is this site for real? Can you watch these episodes for free? If so, I feel retarded for downloading an episode (actually the very first one) on itunes... Cost me a whopping $1.99.... When I first saw commercials for this show, I thought it might be interesting but since it's rare that I watch tv, I didn't think I would get into it as much as I have... well, I accidentally caught the second episode and from then on, I've been hooked which brings us to second from the last episode on Heroes. The best part about the show wasn't even the show... it was the fact that I was able to laugh at myself for being so dense... I didn't put two and two together until it happened. Since Claire's dad was trying to find the "locator device" in NY, I kept thinking that it would be this big machine... lmao... scene cuts over to the little girl with the special ability to locate anyone and she's proving to Dr Suresh that her ability is back... and then... wait, wait, wait... ooooooh, I get it... locator device... she can locate anyone... aaaaah. :) I'm so clueless sometimes...

Ok, for those of you interested in PAPT (which makes like maybe 3 of us), it was a weird night. First of all (uh oh, this is gonna sound like an excuse), I wasn't in my serious tourney mode... I was more in a splash the pot around a few times mode... and when that happens, I'm really not paying attention to what's going on. Folding the best hand twice on a board that I actually would normally be more aggressive with and then ultimately donking out with A-10 (though I still maintain that wasn't a bad play... I can't help it if someone else wakes up with pocket 10s). But what was interesting was this... I get there, just to find out that we're only gonna have 5 guys playing. The host is out because his dog just ran away... :( Very sad and I offered to help look for her but apparently, that's what they've been doing all afternoon so he decline my offer but wasn't going to play. Understandable. Well, our fifth guy gets rear ended by someone on his way so he is bleeding out the blinds (I think he didn't get there till 3-6 and considering there were only 5 guys, well, 4 until he showed up, that's a fair amount). Then mid way through 4-8, there's a loud knock on the door. We open the door and in walks the lady with the dog!!! The dog is fine, she's spunky and happy like nothing happened. And this is where it gets funny. She proceeds to start yelling at Seth (the host's roommate/the victim of my 2-4 soooted crackin aces) about how he let her run around in the backyard (fenced) unsupervised and how someone could have taken the poor dog away etc etc... Well, so she stole the dog to teach them a lesson... She was like "it could have been someone else!!! You were lucky it was me!" Ummm... how bout if you didn't steal her, the dog wouldn't have gone away? "If you had a 1 yr old child and you leave her unsupervised, she could disappear on you!" Seth took it well... for a while until he finally couldn't take it and said "I don't need to be f*ckin yelled at by you!" Needless to say, that added another 5 minutes of her yelling at him... what a crazy lady. I mean the point was well taken and I think I don't know the whole story but it appears that Seth was at fault. At least he was in charge so he definitely manned up to that and admitted that he was sorry. But for a strange neighbor to be giving him hell??? That's crazy. Nonetheless, Seth, Ramel, I'm glad your dog (I can't remember her name!) was fine and she made it home ok.

Ok, and back to poker... well, kinda uneventful. 5 players, yours truly out in 4th place with the A-10 jam getting called by JT's pocket tens. JT recently became a dad so he hasn't played in a while but it was good to see him back at the tables. And this just in, he won, beating Seth heads up. Well played guys. Tyke, our points leader was out in 3rd place when his A-10 was brutally slaughtered by JT's A2... but they were sooted... aaaah, the famous last words. All in preflop, 2 hits the flop and Tyke's 3 outer didn't come through for him. Doesn't really affect the point standings. Tune into next week for another exciting showdown at the PAPT!!!

Donks do what donks do best - FTOPS IV Event 4

First off, if you haven't looked, this is not a victory speech or a "this is how I won more money in a tournament ever" blog...

Having said that, I want to thank surflexus for railing me till I donked off my chips with J-10... that was kinda embarrassing but I thought my image was tight enough and I was desperate enough that my early position raise would be respected... I guess not. When the villain pushed, I had no choice but to call, considering the stack size, blinds, level of play, etc hoping I had two live cards, which I did. I have to admit... the level of play overall in this tournament was definitely above me. When you can "feel" several players at the table making a play on you and yet you do nothing about it, it's not good. I tight donked my way to 215th out of 908 runners. Surf, thanks again for the support. You helped a lot more than you know.

I also want to thank InstantTragedy and Astin for the priceless entertainment they provided at the MATH "discussing" today's episode of Heroes which I obviously didn't watch because of the FTOPS tournament. It's DVR'ed so I will certainly catch it, hopefully at lunch tomorrow but if not, on Wednesday for sure (as of now, I intend to play at the PAPT tomorrow night). Seriously though, you guys were cracking me up which definitely helped because early in the FTOPS tourney, I was a nervous wreck. The dollar amount of the buy-in should not affect my tourney play considering I originally put up $26 for it... but it did. You guys helped calm my nerves... too bad I needed a lot more than just calm nerves to make anything happen.

A quick recap of how I went down... Really, I think my starting table said it all... I got nervous (read intimidated) from the beginning when I saw my starting table...



Bonaparte9 (past FTOPS winner) to my left, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow and his railing posse at the table, I was pretty intimidated... And I played like a donk early... very donkish. There were two hands that I felt I was ahead but wasn't sure... so instead of being aggressive with it, I acted passive, and then folded to a bet which was surely induced by my show of weakness... fortunately, I was able to come back from that after a while but again, I couldn't really get anything going. And I was relatively card dead when the blinds got high... I mean there were times I was willing to push with anything that was coordinated... Ax, any two face cards, any pair, any connector, any suited one gapper or better... and all I kept getting were 8-3, J-2, 9-4, etc... I mean I've heard the ATC but I guess I'm just not loose enough...

I just wish that I chose a better hand to go down with but given that I made the initial mistake by raising from EP with J-10off, after that, I don't think calling the push that would put me all in was a mistake. Folding would have left me with a M of less than 4 and I was going to be either UTG+1 or UTG next hand so the blinds were right there... that was the spot that I was gonna have to get lucky... again, after the blunder that was raising with JToff... I honestly thought I would get away with it though because I've been playing tight all tourney and I know I was giving off that image... oh well. You live you learn I guess.

Again, thanks to all who railed me, entertained me, and wished me gl. I know all the thanking sounds like a victory speech... too bad it's not. Good night now!

Quick nonpoker post... Damn you AM910!

So, in Richmond, we have a sports station AM910 which airs the Jim Rome show from noon to 3pm EST. Well, most of the time... for some reason, they sometimes air the Richmond Braves (that's AAA baseball of obviously, A-Braves) games... well, today was one of those days. Rome comes back from a week of vacation (translate, a week long withdrawal from quality sports radio) and I only get to hear the first 30 minutes before they cut over to AAA baseball!?

Anyways, what does this have to do with anything? Well, it really doesn't. But, apparently, Vick from No Cal emailed the show explaining why he didn't (or couldn't) call in. Something along the lines of how his call didn't initially get through and that he didn't have time to sit on the phone for 3 hrs because of work, blah blah blah. Considering I've been hyping him up and everything, it was so disappointing. And like Rome said, I'm not saying I don't believe the guy. It's probably all true. But dude, it's the smack off. Once a year event, you hyped yourself up, how can you not show? Unbelievable... So in case anyone is wondering where Vick from No Cal was on Friday during the smack off, he was working... nice one.

$1,060 buy-in tournament? I'M IN!!!

There was some serious donkage going on tonight in the $216 buy-in satellite that I qaulified for with a $75 token (which I won, with a $24+2 buy in). Towards the end, with about 18 players to the tournament entry, everyone was taking all 15 seconds to fold. Nonetheless, when it was all said and done, I survived long enough to get in to the FTOPS IV Event #4 which is a $1,000 + 60 buy-in.



This is what event 4 is looking like as of 30 minutes before start time...



That's a solid prize pool... Let's see if I can do some damage.

Poker is such an easy game...

When you catch cards... My best outing ever on a 2-4NL table online. Started with a full buy-in of $400... ended with this!



It was pretty ridiculous. Starting off with set over set where I flop pocket 9's vs an opponent's pocket 6s, I quickly double up. Then, shortly there after, I flop quads with my pocket 3's. Slowplay it until the flush gets there and empties the guy who had more than a buy-in who also held AKh.



Then to top it off, I raise from the CO with pocket jacks and get called by a fairly loose player on the button who also had a little more than a full buy-in. At this point, I wasn't willing to play a big pot with marginal holdings until the flop comes A-J-9, rainbow. I bet $35 into a $46 pot to make it look like a standard continuation bet and he calls. Now, at this point, I put him on an ace. Now, I'm willing to play a big pot because there's only one holding that he can have that can beat mine (obviously, pocket aces). So, I bet $85 into the pot that is now $116 because I felt that he's loose enough to make that call. What happened next was even better. He raised it to $200, leaving $216 behind. I reraise him all in at which point he thinks about it for a while but eventually calls... with A-10... that's a donkish call. There weren't too many hands that he could be beating. The river is a harmless 10, giving him two pair against my trips. Another $951 pot.

So there is justice afterall... after the bad karma series early in the month, this was a ridiculous heater... Thank you poker gods.

I can't believe I'm partaking in this...

Back to back posts in triple digits... Generally, I don't really partake in this kinda stuff but admittedly, I was kinda excited that others are checking out my blog so I guess I kinda owe it to my limited audience. So, for that, Schaubs, thanks for tagging me. Based on what I've seen on other sites (which I've only seen this on Fuel and Schaub's sites but then again, I don't visit too many blog sites), I guess I have to list 7 little known facts about me and tag 7 other people. I'm not even sure I know 7 bloggers that read my posts so I may just tag a couple... but here goes... (wow, I feel like I'm a teenage kid... hell, more like a teenage girl...hell, make that an ugly teenage girl who tries so hard to fit in...)

1. I have 4 cats. That's right, 4. My allergist rolls his eyes when I complain about my sniffling nose. Before you leave this post based solely on that statement (which I won't blame you if you did), hear me out. I used to date/live with this girl who always complained that I traveled a lot and I was never home (my previous job required me to travel pretty extensively). So, in my attempt to shut her up, I got her a cat cuz she always wanted one. Personally, I hated cats... until you get one. The cats are so misunderstood. I've lived with a dog before and after having the cat, I'm definitely more of a cat lover... mainly cuz they're not all up in my face all the time. Anyways, so I got one. Then she said he needed a buddy so we got another one. By this time, I was clearly a cat lover (any comments questioning my manhood WILL be deleted). So we have two. Then her coworker was going to euthanize these two cats because her fiance was allergic to cats so we took those two cats in. We also found one cat that was always hanging out in our front porch and eventually we adopted him as well. (that's 5 if you're counting). Well, her and I broke up and I met Mrs Recess. She had two cats. I had two of the previously mentioned 5 cats. So, when we merged, we ended up with 4 cats. I love them all. Call me what you want.

2. I lived with the aforementioned cat loving girlfriend for over a year after we broke up... financially, it was great (the house was mine so she was just paying me half my mortgage and bills) but emotionally, it was a disaster. It didn't even feel like a disaster until she moved out and then I realized how bad the situation was. I have Mrs Recess to thank for that.

3. I cried at my own wedding. During the exchange of vows. I broke down before Mrs did...

4. I'm a ridiculously drastic (almost childish... actually, nothing almost about it... absolutely childish) overreactor when it comes to things I believe in... here's an example. On ESPN.com, there was an editorial written that was pretty much bashing poker about how it should be banned and that the UIGEA bill was good because poker is evil, it's gambling, etc etc... a very narrowminded article (even Tim Hardaway and his thoughts about gay people think that's narrowminded). So, ever since then, I declared to my friends that I will never visit espn.com. And I haven't. I never will. I have never watched Seinfeld after Michael Richard's blunder. And I probably never will.

5. Each week, there are only 3 nonpoker shows that I watch regularly (or DVR'd) - Heroes, Friday Night Lights, and Criminal Minds.

6. Most things in my life can pretty much be defined by words "love" and "hate". I'm always one or the other. I LOVE Friday Night Lights. I HATE espn.com. I LOVE poker. I HATE Bill Frist. You get the point. Mrs Recess HATES that I'm a hater.

7. I'm Japanese but I recently got my greencard. I speak fluent English with little to no accent, I'm a CPA, worked my way up to being a manager in a regional accounting firm for several years, own a house, now work for a very reputable company as a reporting manager, pay my taxes and still... after 12 years of being in this country legally and trying to legally obtain a greencard, I ended up getting one through marriage and not through work (even though the application has been in the works for over 5 years). Is it just me or does it not make sense that it's a lot harder to be in this country legally than illegally?

Wow, the 7 things about me turned into more of a rant than an actual "little tidbits" about me. Oh well. The following may or may not even read my blog but if you happen to stumble upon here, you're up!

lucko

Blinders

oossuuu754

WillWonka

AnguilA

Support online poker!!!!

I am a proud contributing member of the Poker Players Alliance which is a lobbying group to legalize online poker which has unfairly been lumped in with other games of random chance (like blackjack, craps, roulette, etc). Nevermind that lottery and horse racing are still legal. I mean if there's skill involved in scratching that lottery ticket or using that ridiculously short pencil at 7-eleven to fill in the dots next to the number you want, well, then I'm obviously unaware. Well, that said, this is the letter I received two days ago. Please, for the very few that stop by this blog to read what I have to say and play online poker, read on and make your voice be heard! Oh and this happens to be post #100! I can't believe I've written so many posts pretty much since the first of the year. Good stuff.

Dear Fellow PPA Member:

I have wonderful news to report! On Thursday, April 26, Rep. Barney Frank introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007. HR 2046 will lift the prohibition on playing poker online. Your efforts are making a difference!

Representative Frank is the Chairman of the important House Financial Services Committee. And he understands the injustice that we have suffered. When he introduced the bill, he told reporters that “The existing legislation is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans and this interference should be undone”.

But he can’t do this job alone. Now, we need to help Congressman Frank build support for his bill.

You can regain your right to enjoy safe, secure online poker – but only if you stand up for your rights. And PPA is here to help you do just that.

This is a landmark day for freedom. But it is only the first step of the process. Join me in celebrating this milestone – and take action to build support for HR 2046.

Click here or below to make your voice heard in our nation’s Capitol.

Sincerely,
Michael Bolcerek
President
Poker Players Alliance

2.5hrs - My take on MTT strategy

Survival vs accumulation - I think this topic has been discussed in many different forums regarding multitable tournaments (MTTs). Just to briefly rehash, the debate is on whether to play tight so that you can survive into the later parts of the tournament vs taking big risks early to accumulate chips so that you can enter the later stages of the tournament with a big chip advantage. In today's tournament structure where the top finishers get rewarded heavily, the chip accumulation strategy makes sense. However, the question here is how do you accumulate chips quicker? In other words, how do you make something out of nothing?

That is a question I've been struggling with for a long time which is why I always refer to myself as a tournament donk. I think I just don't get it. Whenever I tell Mrs Recess that I am in a tournament, she always asks what time it started because she knows that almost every time, I'm out of the tournament in 2.5 hrs... Sometimes, it stings. Other times, I just kinda laugh it off. But when I sit down and think about it, it's definitely more of a symptom than a coincidence. In other words, if Mrs Recess who pays no attention to my poker playing (or this blog) also realizes that I'm out of tourneys in 2.5hrs, then I must always be out of tourneys in 2.5hrs. So then the next question was why?

And the inevitable truth comes out. I play too tight and so I end up playing survival instead of chip accumulation. But if I don't get it, I just don't get it, right? In other words, I can't just say "oh, I'm playing survival poker. I need to switch to chip accumulation poker." And then switch it like that. If it were that easy, I'd like to think I'd have done that by now. So, first off, as I read the forums and other blogs, I noticed one trend which is pushing the marginal edge early on. In other words, a lot of people seem to go into the race situation early. Now, I'm not going to repeat Hoy's post regarding this but I'm personally not a big fan of getting into a coinflip situation early. And here's my take on why that is.

For aggressive chip accumulation, let's say that you push in order to double up, every time you sense there's a race situation. Well, if you do that, then let's say you have a 50/50 shot at winning that race. You win one and that's great, you just doubled your stackc. Of course, if you lose, you're out. But let's say in a tournament with 150 players, what good is doubling your chip stack at that point? Ok, let me rephrase the question. What good is doubling your chip stack at the risk of being out of the tournament so quickly? Now, I also understand the argument of if you have more chips, you can take bigger risks early on to add to your stack. But one thing about the race situation is that you are taking the skill factor out of poker and just letting it ride on luck. And in these tournaments, there are always donks out there who you should be able to outplay. But by pushing and making the donks have to make only one decision (call all-in or fold), you're in effect negating your own skills, no? Where as you may be able to outplay a donk on the flop or the turn, you're letting the cards do all the talking if you just push for a coin flip.

Having said all that, there must be something. Today, I qualified for Event #1 of FTOPS IV. As usual, I played tight early on, very slowly accumulating chips. After the second break, the antes kicked in and so I was going to open up my game a little more but the cards didn't cooperate. Until I picked up pocket jacks at the cutoff position... which I raised, got called by a big stack in the big blind, flop comes 9-9-10, he checks, I jam, he calls with pocket aces and I end up 851 out of 2,573 runners. Now, that's definitely just unlucky that that happened but when I saw that my bust out time was approx 2.5 hrs after the tournament started, I knew. I just knew something needs to be done with my game here. In other words, my game was so tight that my raises would have only been called with premieum hands. So it was inevitable that at some point, someone was going to have better cards because if they narrowed my raising range to any pocket pair and AQ+, though I'm not that tight, they won't be too far off. So in other words, if they tighten their calling range to that, then it won't be too often that I am ahead.

So, for those of you that play a lot of tournaments, what's your style/strategy? Where do you choose to open up? Do you try to double up early or do you wait till the pots are worth stealing, ie bigger blinds or blinds with antes? This is certainly an area I would like to improve in and so I'm gonna go do some homework myself.

The Mookie and the Daily Double

Last night, like I do every Wednesdays, I played in the Mookie and coming off a solid showing last week where I ended up in second place, I was hoping to do well again this week. I'm certainly not a great tournament player or anything but I feel that my feel for the tournaments is coming back. When I first started playing, tournaments (mainly sit n go's) are all I played. Now, it's mainly cash games but I'm enjoying playing in tournaments as well. Because I'm not a great tournament player, I still feel that tournaments take forever and you could play for hours and not win any money vs in a cash game, if you play solid for the same amount of time, more often than not, I would make money. Having said that, I really want to take one of these MTT's down so I am starting to play in more tournaments (my more tournaments equate to maybe like 4 MTTs each week, including the two blogger tourneys - MATH and Mookie).

So, at 9pm, I fired up Part B of the Daily Double (I meant to sign up for both Part A and Part B but apparently, I missed the registration for Part A) which was a $10+2 entry. Basically, my strategy here was to play tight the first hour and let the donks kill each other while accumulating chips where I can but not getting in a gamble situation (a better side of the coin flip is still considered a gamble situation, in my mind). With 893 runners, I just didn't see the value in doubling my stack that early in the tournament. I know chip accumulation is important but how much value is there in tripling your stack in the first hour vs risking going busto 3 times during that time? Maybe I'm too tight and maybe that's why I'm not a great tourney player but that was going to be my strategy.

At 10pm, the Mookie started and there, I wanted to make sure I played relatively tight but stay aggressive because in these blogger tourneys, aggression is almost the name of the game. I actually played fairly well in both. On the daily double, around the 3rd or the 4th hour, I finally busted, coming out 46th out of 893 runners for a total of a whopping $26.40... barely doubling my buy-in...

In the Mookie, I played fairly well, making decent lay downs (some would probably consider it too tight) and again, not looking to get into a total race situation unless circumstances called for such. Before I knew it, we entered final table play and then this interesting hand came up. I was in the big bling with a relatively short stack and another short stack (we had about the same) goes all in from UTG +1. Now at this point, I figured he'd be pushing with any ace so I was willing to call with my pocket 8's... until this happened...



Another player goes all in... now what do I do? Well, it was a pretty easy fold for me... turns out I had the best hand preflop... but then this happened...



Quads. Wow. I don't know if that was a situation (ignoring the results) where I should have called... scratch that. I don't know if that's a situation where others might think I should have called but in my mind, it was a clear fold. Two all ins? No way my 88 is ahead. And even if it was the best hand preflop, no way it would hold up against two players. So I opted to fold.

Well, eventually, I couldn't make anything of my stack and I was done in 7th place when I jammed my pocket deuces and got called by pocket 7s...



Well, I was relatively happy with my performance considering I made back to back final tables at the Mookie and considering that I'm a self proclaimed tournament donk, that's not too bad at all.

PAPT - It's been a looooong time

The Park Ave Poker Tour that I wrote about early in the year has been M.I.A. on my blogs... mainly because I have been absent from the PAPT. Between work and few other things getting in the way of a good Tuesday night poker, I haven't been there in almost 2 months. During that time, a lot of new players were added, some old regulars left, and through it all, Tyke (last year's 2nd place PAPT POY finisher) kept his solid showing and continued to rack up points to take a dominating early lead in the Player of the Year Race. Well, finally, I was able to make it tonight even though work tried to get in the way once again.

Early on, I wanted to play tight and not spill off too many chips early. The way this tournament is structured, there's a lot of play early on since the blinds increase very slowly but after the first hour and a half, blinds start escalating in a hurry (after 5-10, it's 7-14, 8-16, then 10-20 and T$5 increments thereafter... starting chips of 175ish). So, as long as you have about T$100 chips, you're really not out and as long as you catch cards towards the end, it really doesn't matter how you do in the beginning. Having said that, it helps to build your chip stack so that you're not in a one and done situation either. So, to recap...

I started off getting pretty crappy cards when this hand came up... Seth limped from UTG (blinds at T$2/T$4) and Brent raised to T$8 from the button. The small blind called and I was in the big blind so I called another $4 with 2-4 of spades and Seth smooth calls. Now, at this point, I've never played with the small blind or Seth so I didn't know what to expect from them. Well, the flop comes J-2-4, giving me bottom two. The small blind comes out betting T$15 and since he just called the minimum raise from the button, I didn't put him on a big hand. I figured he may have hit the J with like a 10 or a 9 kicker... maybe QJ at best was what I figured. I was afraid that I would push him away if I raised so I decided to smooth call here. Then, Seth, the UTG limper/raise caller doubles it to T$30. Button folds and the small blind quickly calls so it's T$15 more to me in a pot where there is approx T$107 so, I was willing to take this pot down right now and I pushed all in. Seth calls and the small blind is agonizing... which made me think maybe he had a decent kicker to go with his J... well, he eventually folded and Seth turns over a very poorly played AA. Turn and the river didn't help him out as he was the first victim of this house of bad beats tonight. But I say it was poorly played on his part because he limped UTG which is fine but then when the button doubled the bet and both blinds called, he should have reraised at that point to narrow the field. Instead, he elected to call and going with AA four handed is just asking to get killed. Not having aces cracked in that instance should be considered lucky.

That clearly propelled me to the chip lead and I played fairly tight aggressive to build/maintain my stack. And then a few key hands came up. It was down to 5 players (started with 7) and there was one guy who was relatively short stacked with approx T$50 in chips. I knew that he was going to start pushing with a fairly wide range since the blinds were climbing up so when the blinds were T$5/10, I limped UTG with AK of hearts. It was folded to the shorty who pushed all in as expected. I called in a heartbeat, thinking if he has Ax, I'm way ahead. Worst case scenario was that he would have a pocket pair so I was feeling pretty good... Unfortunately, I lost the race against his pocket tens so he doubled up. Good news was, with my early lead, that barely put a dent into my stack... until this came up...

The aforementioned small blind (Shaun) was sitting in cut off this time when he raised it to T$30 (blinds still at 5/10). I am on the button with pocket 9's and since he was relatively short (I had about T$300+ at this point and he had like $90 total) I reraised to T$100. Folded back around to him, he thinks about it and calls with AJ. I can't remember which one but he hit his hand on the flop so he doubles up through me. Now that did put a dent to my stack. These are supposed to be coinflips I thought... wasn't I supposed to win at least one of these?

Well, in the end, the lost race with my pocket 9s comes back to haunt me when Shaun and I end up going heads up and he picked off my, what I thought was a well timed bluff. Next hand, he flops 2 pair, slow plays until I catch a pair on the turn, push my short stack in and that was it for me. A bitter 2nd place finish but it was good to be back.

Oh Tyke? He ended up in 5th place when he reraised all in with KQ suited and was called by A-10. Ace on the flop sealed his fate. Very marginal call by A-10 but they were both relatively short (relative to the blinds, that is) so that makes sense even though I'm not sure I would have been able to make that call with A-10 since it was a raise, reraise, reraise back all in... Certainly worked out though... and knocking off the points leader is always a good time! Where am I on the points leaderboard? I have a total of 6 pts baby! Only 26 points behind the points leader (that's only 4 1st place finishes and 2 2nd place finishes away, assuming Tyke doesn't place in any of those times). ha ha ha ha ha ha

A quick hand analysis from last night

Yesterday, or rather, this morning, I posted a hand where I had QQ and the board showed J-T-4 with two clubs on the board. Just as a recap, this was the hand in a summarized format:

FullTiltPoker Game #2366702250: Table John D'Agostino - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:11:17 ET - 2007/05/06

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qd Qc]
2 players limp in for $4
RecessRampage raises to $22 from the cutoff
1st limper folds
Stockzilla calls $18
*** FLOP *** [Jc Th 4c] (pot $51)
Stockzilla checks
RecessRampage bets $42
Stockzilla calls $42
*** TURN *** [Jc Th 4c] [3d]
Stockzilla checks
RecessRampage bets $120
Stockzilla raises to $336, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $206, and is all in
Stockzilla shows [Jd Jh]
RecessRampage shows [Qd Qc]
Uncalled bet of $10 returned to Stockzilla
*** RIVER *** [Jc Th 4c 3d] [Ts]
Stockzilla shows a full house, Jacks full of Tens
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Tens
Stockzilla wins the pot ($787) with a full house, Jacks full of Tens

Now, when I called the all in, I had no information on this guy since this happened like in the first 5 hands I got dealt. When you have an overpair on a hand like this, I feel like there's a lot of danger here. I kinda felt like it was a bad call but I wasn't sure. Based on this analysis though, it appears it was a bad call. First off, here's how it looks when I include a pretty wide range of holdings, some of which may not make much sense based on the preflop betting...



Oops, and I just noticed that I didn't include J-10 as one of his holdings. When I do, and I recompute it, now my equity is down to 47.86% so, in fact, this confirms that it was a bad call by me. Now granted, I really didn't expect a hand as good as JJ since I figured he would have raised preflop with JJ and even TT. But even if I took those two hands out from the equation, my QQ is only at 51.11%... in other words, this was a very very slim/marginal edge that I was pushing and one that is most likely a bad call by me.

For me, I figured it was relatively a close call but I didn't think it was this close/almost bad for my hand. Interesting... nothing like a little poker geek moment.

Monday morning blues...

I hate Mondays.

No, I really do. I know, a lot of you probably feel the same way. It's the beginning of the work week. After an all too short weekend, the dreaded Monday is here upon us, with the alarm clock rudely waking you up to confirm the dreaded fact... it's Monday and you have to get ready for work. I feel like on Mondays, it takes me extra long to get ready for work. It takes me longer to get out of bed. After a weekend of no shaving (and sometimes no shower - hey, haven't you heard of "no shower sundays"??? Mrs Recess hates it), that's just another chore that I have to take care of.

As I sit here at work, trying to motivate myself to get some work done, I notice that I've already made 3 trips to the "kitchen" for coffee. I noticed I'm checking out the other blogs, hoping that they've been updated (some have, some haven't). And now, here I am, posting something only because I want to delay the inevitable... work.

I wish I had more to talk about in terms of a weekend recap but this weekend was not so poker heavy. Aside from the live cash game I played, not much online poker was played. Sure a couple of hours both Sat and Sun but nothing too crazy. I guess I can discuss some of the hands that went down during the live cash game but I don't recall anything outrageous... oh, except this one quote. "If someone goes all in for that much money (ie like $40), I'd think about it even if I had pocket aces." WHAT!? Mind you, this is a preflop discussion we're having... well, this was the same guy that thought for like 3-4 minutes before calling my all in (late in a tournament) with KK... I mean, isn't that an insta-call? His reasoning for thinking? Cuz his girlfriend told him he needs to tighten up. Um, ok. To each their own, I suppose.

Alright, I've already posted several nonpoker related material so I need to get this blog back on track and get back to poker. So, here's a big hand that I was in last night while playing online. I guess the main question would be, would you be able to fold an overpair on a relatively safe looking board???

Full Tilt Poker Game #2366702250: Table John D'Agostino - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:11:17 ET - 2007/05/06
Seat 1: Brencoto ($170.80)
Seat 2: fjtfro ($759.40)
Seat 3: PoorNapoleon ($535.60)
Seat 4: Juhulius ($195.10)
Seat 6: Stockzilla ($400)
Seat 7: Bunkbeds ($400)
Seat 8: RecessRampage ($390)
Seat 9: spiderman1962 ($183.80)
Brencoto posts the small blind of $2
fjtfro posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qd Qc]
PoorNapoleon folds
Juhulius calls $4
Stockzilla calls $4
Bunkbeds folds
RecessRampage raises to $22
spiderman1962 folds
Brencoto folds
fjtfro folds
Juhulius folds
Stockzilla calls $18
*** FLOP *** [Jc Th 4c]
Stockzilla checks
RecessRampage bets $42
Stockzilla calls $42
*** TURN *** [Jc Th 4c] [3d]
Stockzilla checks
RecessRampage bets $120
Stockzilla raises to $336, and is all in
RecessRampage calls $206, and is all in
Stockzilla shows [Jd Jh]
RecessRampage shows [Qd Qc]
Uncalled bet of $10 returned to Stockzilla
*** RIVER *** [Jc Th 4c 3d] [Ts]
Stockzilla shows a full house, Jacks full of Tens
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Tens
Stockzilla wins the pot ($787) with a full house, Jacks full of Tens

Should I have folded here? In terms of his holdings when he pushed on the turn, the only hand that seemed to have made sense was pocket 4s or 10-J for two pair. I also thought maybe he was making this play with KQ or 8-9 of clubs. AJ is also a possibility. I considered folding here but I thought maybe that's a little too tight and that I'm giving this player's hand a little too much credit. Any thoughts?

Tonight is Mondays at the Hoy (password hammer)at 10pm EST. I hope to have another strong showing here to continue my personally surprising run at this leaderboard.

Alright... I guess I need to start working at some point so now is as shitty time as any to start. I'm out!

The Fight! and live cash game

As I still try to recover from the disappointing no show by Vick from No Cal on the Smack Off '07, my next dilemma was to decide what to do for the big fight between the "Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Personally, I'm not all that into boxing. It was just one sport I never got into and considering you pretty much have to pay in order to watch it, I just never got into it. I mean if you think about it, if you're not interested, then why would you ever pay to watch a fight? And if you've never seen it, how can you be interested in it? Well, until now when there was so much hype surrounding this fight that I felt like I had to see it. So, all Saturday, I was debating whether I should get it or not until I got a text message from my friend, saying they were playing poker that night and that they were also going to watch the fight. Perfect.
As such, I ended up going over to none other than the site of Park Ave Poker Tour with several regulars of the PAPT already there. The fight was actually surprisingly entertaining. I say surprisingly, only because when there is so much hype, it sometimes becomes anticlimactic. I mean it was like the fight of the century and how could any fight live up to that??? Now this may not have ended up as the fight of the century but all 12 rounds were very exciting. And watching it on a 46" (or is it 42"?) LCD was nice! Too bad De La Hoya didn't win but it was not one-sided like a lot of the experts predicted.
On the poker front, I didn't do so well. $.25/.50 blinds NL and somehow I got stuck $60... at one point, I was back to even and then a string of second best hands really hurt me. A lot of boats last night too... none of which I had... well, nonetheless, it was a good time. It's been quite a while since I mixed it up with the PAPT crew so that was nice. I can't wait to start going back out there on Tuesday nights. I hate it when work gets in the way of my personal life. Oh well, relatively short post here. No significant poker updates as of now but I might post some interesting hands over the weekend later.

Trying something new... Smack Off '07!

EDIT: If you don't listen to the Jim Rome show on a regular basis, you may not understand the humor or might even be offended (doubtful but possible). Just wanted to drop that quick disclaimer...

If I have time to do this, things at work must be slowing down... I figured maybe I'll try live blogging my takes on the Smack Off... ok, not so live since it's already 12:30pm EST so we're 30 minutes into the show... But here goes (all times shown EST):

12:31pm - Currently, Jeff in Vancouver is talking smack, following Jeff in Richmond (2002 smack off champ) who just completed one of his best efforts.

12:32pm - Jeff in Vancouver finished his line with "I'm oooot". Like Rome is saying, this his first ever smack off appearance and a very solid one at that!

12:33pm - commercial break - Jeff (on a car phone) in Phoenix opened up the Smack off 07 with a very weak take, cracking on other clones but just generally bad. But is it just me or do all opening callers always suck? Last year, Jeff in Richmond did it and I thought it was awful. Well, at least Jeff in Richmond stepped it up this year. Of the three callers, I think right now, he's at the top of the list.

12:38pm - back from commercial break. Rome's going over emails. One emailer "It's oooover, it's ooooover! Crown is going to Jeff in Vancouver!" LOL - hilarious

12:44pm - Rachel in Houston just got run!!!!! First caller to get run! WOW. And I thought it was a very good effort from her. It definitely had its moments. But Jim said it best... This is the smack off. If you're gonna take up that much time, you better have unbelievable material. I still think she's the best "alleged" female caller.

12:48pm - Emailers crackin on Rachel being a guy... This is always my favorite.

12:50pm - Greg from Vegas calling. Best caller to never win the smack off.

12:52pm - Greg from Vegas... weak effort. This might be the worst call of the day... and that's saying a lot cuz Jeff (on a car phone) in Phoenix wasn't all that great.

12:55pm - Mike in Wichita coming up!

12:57pm - Just busted out laughing when Mike goes "Angelina Jolie begging world hunger to end? She doesn't look like she consumed a full meal in years herself." And then the segment ends so his time ran out.... Weak.

At the end of first hour, my personal top 2 are Jeff in Richmond and Jeff in Vancouver.

1:10pm - Terrence from Sierra Madre (another "best caller" never to win the smack off) is up. THAT WAS THE FUNNIEST CALL. "A tie is like kissing your sister... unless you're from Arkansas, then it's a win!" This was freakin hilarious. This might almost be good enough to win!

1:20pm - Joe in the OC after all the emailers giving props to Terrence.

Wow... Joe just ripped Jay Mohr, talking about how does he have time with "Last Comic Standing, More Sports, and his marriage being cancelled." Ouch!

1:25pm - Quick transition... Joe from the OC finishes his strong smack and Lear in Annapolis is up next!

Um... is it just me who can't understand this guy? He's talking so fast, if they run this call through that slow down machine, then maybe we can all understand. That's like having a 10 minute speech and finishing it in like a minute...

Rome said he can't drive as fast as Lear can talk.

All I want to know is where is Vick in No Cal? Where is Caublinasian?

1:36pm - Here it is!! 4 time champ. The Caublinasian! Sean, the Caublinasian!

HOLY SHIT! That was a hilarious opening. Following up on his last year's winning smack off take (where he said he'll buy a dog, name it Carbone (who gave Sean some beef before), he started off with a dog barking in a background and tells him "Hey, Carbone! Hey Carbone! Sit! Down! Down! Good girl!" LOLOLOLOLOLOL that was awesome!

Oh now, I can't wait till Vick comes on cuz the Caublinasian is ripping on Vick. He was RIPPING on Vick. That was awesome. A good shot at the one for his thumb.

1:57pm - Carbone now comes in, just ended his call and it was a very good one. Lots of solid smack... too bad I didn't get a chance to jot down any of it.

At the end of hour #2, here are my top 3
1. Terrence from Sierra madre
2. Sean the Caublinasian
3. Stevie Carbone

admittedly, 2 and 3 are very close. But I think this might be the year for Terrence!

2:08pm - Iafrate calls in. This was ok.

2:14pm - Silk comes in strong. Admittedly, these guys have strong takes but are now fading behind the strong strong showing from Terrence, Sean, and Carbone. That's my top 3... apparently, the emailers are also giving a lot of love to Greg in Vegas... unreal.

2:26pm - Jay Mohr punching back hard!!! Calling out Joe in the OC! Nice. "Joe in the OC. I know you. You're an overweight out-of-job car salesman who thinks he's funny which makes you perfect for the radio show caller but can't do anything else." NICE!

2:38pm - Urin in Denver (ok, it's actually Orrin) calling in! Let's see if he flames out like he usually does.

2:44pm - Orrin actually came through pretty strong. This leaves one segment and no sign of Vick from No Cal... Disappointing. I was pretty much looking forward to this show, only to see what he was gonna drop... dropping attendance was one thing I didn't expect.

2:52pm - Sean the Caublinasian, once again takes it down!! That dog barking in the background (calling him carbone) never gets old. And his closing "I'll be on my cell." Nice!

Friday at last... nonpoker content

EDIT: Because I'm a user friendly blogger, in case you want to know more about the Smack off I mention at the bottom, click HERE.

I can't believe it's about to be a whole week before I say anything about my take on the NFL draft. Personally, I'm a huge NFL junky. I love college football too but I certainly don't get into it the way I do with the NFL... plus it doesn't help that I don't have a particular team that I root for (that's the beauty of going to a I-AA school though we do have a couple of currently active NFL players). The best thing about the draft was the fact that Brady Quinn fell all the way down to 22... the only thing that sucks about that is the fact that he'll be playing for the Browns. I never bought into the Quinn hype since he didn't do anything in any of the nationally televised games that I watched but for some reason, those ass kissing wenches over at ESPN.com seem to like him. So, if he's really good as advertised or is supposed to be a good NFL QB, I'd hate to see him in Cleveland since my beloved Steelers have to play them. Well, either way, it won't be for a few more years that we need to worry about that so I guess it doesn't matter. I have nothing to add in terms of the Steelers draft choice. Every year, I'm not wowed by any of their picks and yet they seem to do a very good job drafting each year so I'll just trust their judgment and eagerly await the opening of the NFL season...

Which takes me to probably my second favorite topic after poker... fantasy football. Some thinks it's too early to be talking about fantasy football... but I really can't wait. In one of the leagues that I'm in, we recently established the draft pick picking order. No, that's not a typo. We get to pick our draft pick position based on the number that you were picked. So in other words, I'm #5 in the lottery order (out of 10 teams) so the first 4 guys get to pick where they want to draft and I have six slots remaining to choose from. Sounds like somewhat of a nonsense? Well, it depends. Since our league is a keeper league, if you have LaDainian Tomlinson (a stud, STUD RB, in case you don't know) in the first round, you might want to choose to go last and make him your keeper. Then, in essence, your #10 pick in the first round is LT AND since it's a snake draft, you get to go 1st in the 2nd round (11th overall pick). Pretty interesting idea by our commish, IMO. Now, the 4 clowns in front of me need to decide which slot they want to draft in so that I could make my pick as well. Yeah, I know, I'm probably 2-3 months too early in the whole excitement process, what can I say.

Speaking of exciting, for those of you that tune into the Jim Rome show, today should be a good show. Today is the 2007 Smack Off. Don't know what that is? Well, today is one day out of the whole year where the show is entirely made of callers to run a good smack on each other, athletes, celebrities and Canada (or the US, if the caller is Canadian). The way they ensure that these are good callers is that this is invite only. So, if you called in during the year with solid takes and good smack, Jim Rome makes the decision to put you in the smack off. This should be a good one. Sean the Cablinasian who is a 4 time winner in this 13 yr run of the smack off always brings great smack (last year's was a classic... And his closing of "I just need clones to be clones and athletes to be stupid and I can just do my thing which is to talk great smack. BOOM goes the dynamite! I'll talk to you in an hour Jim!") was great. This year, there's a first time contestant who the listeners of the show should be pretty psyched about. Vick from No Cal has been running fantastic smack since December (which is when he first called in). When I first heard him on his very first call in December, I was shocked to hear how good a first time caller could be... and ever since then, the legend has been growing. We'll see how he fares in his first ever smack off.

9am PST/12pm EST today! If you want to try it out, you can listen to the show for free through streaming media here.

Bad Karma Part 4... and what does Fuel say about Presto???

It's official! This is officially my "series". Now, personally, I'm not one to bitch and moan about bad beats. I understand it's part of the game and so I'm not REALLY angry. And no, I'm not in denial even though the more I try to say I'm not, the more it seems like I am so I'll stop here.

I've never cared for bad beat stories in general. We've all been there. We've all been sucked out on. We've all sucked out on others. And if you think you're the victim of unusual bad luck or if you think online poker is rigged, well, that's your way of justifying and we all have our own coping mechanisms so I won't judge you. So, having said that, I don't know if anyone is interested in this "Bad Karma" Series but I've discovered something about myself during this process. I must have some serious masochist side to me because I actually enjoy reading about my own bad beats. I just kinda find it comical. I guess that's better than letting these things put me on tilt because literally, I can easily play on. So, without further ado, here's Part 4 of my newly created self masochism series.

Oh and as the title suggests, this one has a little interesting twist too. At least I thought so.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2339682598: Table Brooks - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:05:12 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 1: mobeck ($199.20)
Seat 2: RecessRampage ($562.20) <--- started with $400, been playing well
Seat 3: pokerspade ($199.60)
Seat 4: pokerRN72 ($405.50)
Seat 5: Shimiwaza ($160), is sitting out
Seat 6: Stylistic ($779)
Seat 7: nsewell4 ($919.10)
Seat 8: gus hansen 75o ($411.10)
Seat 9: Metr ($85.20)
mobeck posts the small blind of $2
RecessRampage posts the big blind of $4
Shimiwaza has returned
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [3h 3s] <--- I actually love getting pocket pairs in the blinds
pokerspade folds
pokerRN72 folds
Stylistic raises to $14
nsewell4 folds
Shimiwaza stands up
gus hansen 75o folds
Metr folds
mobeck folds
torrent adds $400
RecessRampage calls $10
*** FLOP *** [6h 3c 5c] <--- booyah!
RecessRampage bets $30 <--- I'll never slow play trips, esp against an aggressive player
Stylistic raises to $95 <--- just as I expected. He generally sees me as a weak/tightish player so this was expected. He'd do this with AK, maybe AQs, any pocket pair...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act <--- trying to figure out how much to raise
RecessRampage raises to $315
Stylistic raises to $765, and is all in <--- uh oh... he's aggressive but not stupid... he either has AA, KK, or this could be the "KARMA"
RecessRampage calls $233.20, and is all in
Stylistic shows [5d 5s] <--- Damn... you know what they say about presto... yep, it's gold
RecessRampage shows [3h 3s]
Uncalled bet of $216.80 returned to Stylistic
RecessRampage: nh
*** TURN *** [6h 3c 5c] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [6h 3c 5c Qs] [Ad]
Stylistic shows three of a kind, Fives
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Threes
Stylistic wins the pot ($1,123.40) with three of a kind, Fives
RecessRampage is sitting out

This was obviously not a bad beat story. I was beat from the beginning to the end. My bad karma series isn't gonna focus on how I got sucked out on... just the brutal side of poker that occasionally pops up here and there. Stylistic (who is a regular at these tables) quickly noted how bad of a cooler it was for me. So, I mentioned that the only thing that sucked about this was the fact that he was only 1 of 2 guys at the table that had me covered. Why couldn't it be a shorty? Then I wouldn't have lost so much money. Went from +$150 to -$400 in a hurry. But like I said, one thing I'm good at is that it takes a lot for me to tilt. So, after sitting out one hand to collect my thoughts and to make sure I was ok, I got back in to the game. (Plus, even though I had a set, with a 5 out there, I should have just folded) :)

7 minutes later...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2339682598: Table Brooks - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:12:11 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 1: mobeck ($212.30)
Seat 2: RecessRampage ($392)
Seat 3: pokerspade ($201.60)
Seat 4: pokerRN72 ($427.50)
Seat 5: torrent ($406)
Seat 6: Stylistic ($1,336.20)
Seat 7: nsewell4 ($919.10), is sitting out
Seat 8: gus hansen 75o ($401.10)
Seat 9: Metr ($91.20)
pokerspade posts the small blind of $2
pokerRN72 posts the big blind of $4
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [5h 5s] <--- GOLD
torrent folds
Stylistic folds
gus hansen 75o folds
Metr folds
mobeck folds
RecessRampage raises to $14 <--- until today's post by Fuel, I didn't even know you were allowed to limp with presto... as such, a standard raise here.
pokerspade folds
pokerRN72 calls $10 <--- another one who will play strong to defend his blinds
*** FLOP *** [5c 6c 6d] <--- BOOM!
pokerRN72 checks
RecessRampage bets $25 <--- never slow down.
pokerRN72 raises to $72 <--- NICE! Overpair?
RecessRampage calls $47 <--- since I'm in position, I'm not gonna get into a raising war just yet... esp if he's on a draw, let him get there.
*** TURN *** [5c 6c 6d] [3h]
pokerRN72 checks
RecessRampage checks <--- show weakness. He'll definitely walk right into this one
*** RIVER *** [5c 6c 6d 3h] [4c]
pokerRN72 bets $56 <--- told ya!
RecessRampage raises to $140 <--- I really hope you have clubs...
pokerRN72 calls $84
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [5h 5s] (a full house, Fives full of Sixes)
pokerRN72 mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($451) with a full house, Fives full of Sixes <--- BOOM!

Ok, so this doesn't quite belong in a Bad Karma posting but I thought it was funny that within 10 minutes, I got crushed by pocket 5s and then won a good sized pot (alas not enough to make up for the earlier but still) with the same hand. Villain had pocket 7s with one club, btw. The masochist side of me did think (as I raised to $140) that it would make for a great blog post if he had 78 of clubs for a straight flush.

Mookie - Soooooo close!

EDIT: It was late at night (close to 2am EST) so here's some unfinished business. I'll post a recap of some of my suckouts later. Also, Schaubs, thanks for the support at the final table! I hope you guys all had fun last night. Also, Mookie, thanks for hosting the tournament!

EDIT Part 2: Forget my recap. Go check out the live blog of the tournament. Very entertaining. Mclarich did a fantastic job with the live blog. Some parts are actually hilarious. And the bubble time was crazy... I thought we would never get to the final table... Pushing with the worse hand was key...

Let me start off by saying this... I got uberlucky in this tournament. I'm not gonna lie. Towards the end, I was able to make a few key bluffs to stay alive but to get there, I had to catch a few 4 outers, maybe some 3 outers and definitely one 2 outer to get there. Now some may say you have to win the races to get to the final table or to win... Hell, I had to win some dominated races to get there... but, I got there. And once I got to the final table, I was fortunate enough to make the best of it and this is how it ended.



A win would have been sweet but I'm actually pleased with how well I've done in these tournaments. Well, another late night for me... I'm gonna be hurting at work tomorrow...

Bad Karma... Part 2... and Part 3

I am hopeful that this won't become like the "presto is gold" series... but I guess for a short while, it could be entertaining... for the readers... and for the sick bastards that like to see me lose...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2333000287: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:18:23 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 1: dnh83 ($205.15)
Seat 2: 1sc-shark ($81.95)
Seat 3: RecessRampage ($152.90)
Seat 4: Jarnix ($130.10)
Seat 5: czplaya ($298.65)
Seat 6: HAMMER_JB ($103.25), is sitting out
Jarnix posts the small blind of $1
czplaya posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [7s 6s]
dnh83 folds
1sc-shark calls $2
RecessRampage raises to $9
Jarnix calls $8
czplaya folds
1sc-shark calls $7
*** FLOP *** [6d Ad 6c]
Jarnix checks
1sc-shark checks
RecessRampage bets $22 <--- slowplaying flopped trips on this board is death
Jarnix calls $22 <--- sweet, he must have an ace
1sc-shark raises to $72.95, and is all in <--- sweet, AK?
RecessRampage raises to $143.90, and is all in <--- alright, let's all get our money in!
Jarnix folds <--- bummer
RecessRampage shows [7s 6s]
1sc-shark shows [4d 7d] <--- what the... isn't this exactly the type of hand I raised preflop to get rid of?
Uncalled bet of $70.95 returned to RecessRampage
*** TURN *** [6d Ad 6c] [Jd] <--- hello bad karma, it's good to see you tonight, again...
*** RIVER *** [6d Ad 6c Jd] [2s]
RecessRampage shows three of a kind, Sixes
1sc-shark shows a flush, Ace high
1sc-shark wins the pot ($193.90) with a flush, Ace high

3 minutes later...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2333026033: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:21:53 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 1: dnh83 ($212.20)
Seat 2: 1sc-shark ($182.90)
Seat 3: RecessRampage ($134.90)
Seat 4: Jarnix ($28.15), is sitting out
Seat 5: czplaya ($269.65)
Seat 6: livnitup818 ($80)
czplaya posts the small blind of $1
livnitup818 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kh As]
dnh83 folds
1sc-shark folds
RecessRampage raises to $7
czplaya folds
livnitup818 calls $5
*** FLOP *** [Kc 5s 6s]
livnitup818 bets $8 <--- betting into me? I got TPTK bro
RecessRampage raises to $32
livnitup818 raises to $73, and is all in <--- what a donk. he probably has like K-9
RecessRampage calls $41
livnitup818 shows [9s 6d] <--- LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
RecessRampage shows [Kh As]
*** TURN *** [Kc 5s 6s] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 5s 6s 2h] [6h] <--- hello bad karma, you're officially a bitch
livnitup818 shows three of a kind, Sixes
RecessRampage shows two pair, Kings and Sixes
livnitup818 wins the pot ($158) with three of a kind, Sixes
RecessRampage: wow <--- what else can I say? In a span of 3 minutes, I lost close to $200...

Note: Same table, 3 minutes later... and this is not a bad beat. This was just poor play cause by the above two beats and me being tentative... but at this point, my demise at this table was starting to become comical... At this point, bad karma was toying with me...

Full Tilt Poker Game #2333047651: Table Padbury (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:24:50 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 1: dnh83 ($209.20)
Seat 2: 1sc-shark ($175.20)
Seat 3: RecessRampage ($46.90)
Seat 4: Jarnix ($28.15), is sitting out
Seat 5: czplaya ($266.65)
Seat 6: livnitup818 ($175.80)
czplaya posts the small blind of $1
livnitup818 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [8c 8d]
dnh83 folds
dnh83 is sitting out
1sc-shark calls $2
RecessRampage calls $2 <--- what a donk... generally I'd be raising this, obviously
Jarnix has returned
czplaya calls $1
livnitup818 checks
*** FLOP *** [5s Ks 5d]
czplaya checks
livnitup818 checks
1sc-shark checks
RecessRampage checks
*** TURN *** [5s Ks 5d] [4h]
czplaya checks
livnitup818 checks
1sc-shark checks
RecessRampage bets $8 <--- everyone checks to me on such a dangerous looking board if you had K made me think that no one had a K...
czplaya folds
livnitup818 folds
1sc-shark calls $8
*** RIVER *** [5s Ks 5d 4h] [3h]
1sc-shark checks
RecessRampage checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [8c 8d] (two pair, Eights and Fives)
1sc-shark shows [5c 4c] (a full house, Fives full of Fours)
1sc-shark wins the pot ($22.80) with a full house, Fives full of Fours <--- not sure why he didn't bet... thank god for that but man... how typical...

This is the Part 3 portion of this post. (yeah, the above 3 hands were just Bad Kharma Part 2). I was trying real hard not to tilt... obviously the pocket 8s hand above, I was tilting but I was passively tilting... not uber aggressive tilting. Thanks god for that.

And the only reason the one below is Part 3 is because since it happened at a different table, surely it qualifies as part 3.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2333165901: Table La Villa (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:41:41 ET - 2007/05/02
Seat 2: RecessRampage ($154.80)
Seat 3: JDUBYAM25 ($62.50)
Seat 4: Rayman776 ($201)
Seat 5: MAMSBM ($473.25)
Seat 6: trident80b ($197)
Rayman776 posts the small blind of $1
MAMSBM posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qh Qs]
trident80b folds
NicelyDone sits down
NicelyDone adds $80
RecessRampage raises to $7
JDUBYAM25 calls $7
Rayman776 folds
MAMSBM calls $5
*** FLOP *** [9d 4d 8c]
MAMSBM bets $12 <--- this guy has been pretty aggressive and had a monster stack to be able to afford some plays like this
RecessRampage raises to $36 <--- dangerous looking board so I need to protect my pocket pair
JDUBYAM25 folds
MAMSBM raises to $100 <--- are you kidding??? What does he have, a set?
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $147.80, and is all in <--- I'll comment on this below...
MAMSBM calls $47.80
RecessRampage shows [Qh Qs]
MAMSBM shows [5d 8d]
*** TURN *** [9d 4d 8c] [Td] <--- of course... karma, you're here at this table too...
*** RIVER *** [9d 4d 8c Td] [Ks]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Queens
MAMSBM shows a flush, Ten high
MAMSBM wins the pot ($314.60) with a flush, Ten high
RecessRampage is sitting out

Alright, before any of you write me about how I misplayed the hand, etc, I don't want to hear it unless you have something constructive to say. To say that I should have just called the raise on the flop to see what happened on the river would be fine but I don't agree. Folding on the flop is out of question against a guy I pegged as uberaggressive. I mean if you're folding QQ in that situation against that opponent, then that's your style but that's ridiculous. He would have done that with A9, J-10, 6-7... I've seen him do that on numerous occasions. So, I had to push. What about calling and seeing what the turn brings? If I call, I have less than $50 behind me. At that point, I'm pot committed. What am I folding my QQ cuz I don't want to throw my last $50 into a $250 pot? That's just a very weakish play. I'd rather put all my money in with the best of it. In the past, I probably would have just called the flop and played a small pot. But I'm experimenting with being aggressive myself and these are instances where I believe in putting all my money in the middle. Admittedly, he had a lot more cards he was drawing to than I expected so it so I'm not saying that that was a total bad beat... but typical of how my night was going.

All told, last night, I lost like $300... so gross. All at 1-2NL 6 max. Funny thing is, that's like actually damage control. At one point, I was down like $500. But the same uberaggressive villain above who after that hand had around $650 by the end of the night (or by the time I left the table at 2am) was down to $150. I got some of my portion back.

I hope this series ends here... if not, you can all look forward to another edition of Bad Karma series...

Do you believe in bad karma???

Bad Karma's a bitch... So, I guess I better fix this in a hurry.

Dear Poker gods, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to make money by putting ridiculous donkeys like this one... and then royally f*cking me in the ass to see if I really enjoy bad beats (I never said I enjoyed them... I just said to put a positive spin on them)...

FullTiltPoker Game #2324814832: Table Russell (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:27:19 ET - 2007/04/30
Seat 1: Checkmate824 ($253)
Seat 2: RecessRampage ($258.05)
Seat 3: tonvas ($55.40)
Seat 4: austin30 ($74.65)
Seat 5: Tobekewl ($198)
Seat 6: Tha Big O ($58.35)
Tobekewl posts the small blind of $1
Tha Big O posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Kh]
Checkmate824 folds
RecessRampage raises to $7
tonvas folds
austin30 raises to $12 <--- small reraise by a shorty
Tobekewl adds $2
Tobekewl folds
Tha Big O folds
Tobekewl adds $1
RecessRampage raises to $258.05, and is all in <--- I don't care if I take a big pot or not. I wanted to send a message to not f*ck with my raises, esp since I've been playing uber loose
austin30 calls $62.65, and is all in <--- well, he must have a hand...
RecessRampage shows [Ks Kh]
austin30 shows [Qd Kc] <--- HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Uncalled bet of $183.40 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [Td 5c Ah]
*** TURN *** [Td 5c Ah] [Jd] <--- WTF!? Poker gods, that's fucked up...
*** RIVER *** [Td 5c Ah Jd] [8d]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Kings
austin30 shows a straight, Ace high
austin30 wins the pot ($149.30) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $152.30 | Rake $3
Board: [Td 5c Ah Jd 8d]
Seat 1: Checkmate824 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: RecessRampage showed [Ks Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: tonvas didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: austin30 (button) showed [Qd Kc] and won ($149.30) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 5: Tobekewl (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: Tha Big O (big blind) folded before the Flop

Wow, calling all in with KQ... not even suited. What a loser... Oh and even better, a suckout artist turned hit & run artist. Thanks for getting uberlucky and then running immediately after the hand. Good thing you did cuz that's the only way you can hold on to my money, you loser.

FullTiltPoker Game #2325485860: Table Russell (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:45:34 ET - 2007/04/30
Seat 1: Mixed716 ($179)
Seat 2: RecessRampage ($198)
Seat 3: GrandmAces ($238.20)
Seat 4: realpokerpusher ($128.95)
Seat 5: Tobekewl ($317.75)
Seat 6: ETuk ($78.80)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of $1
GrandmAces posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [8d 7d]
realpokerpusher has 15 seconds left to act
realpokerpusher folds
Tobekewl folds
ETuk calls $2
Mixed716 folds
RecessRampage calls $1
GrandmAces has 15 seconds left to act
GrandmAces checks
*** FLOP *** [8s 5d 7h]
RecessRampage bets $6 <--- top two pair on a dangerous drawing board
GrandmAces folds
ETuk raises to $16 <--- really? I have top 2 dude...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $40 <--- how much do you like your hand now?
ETuk calls $24
*** TURN *** [8s 5d 7h] [9h] <--- not a good card
RecessRampage bets $40 <--- since the moron is shortstacked, if I check and he pushes, I call so I did the betting for him
ETuk calls $36.80, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [8d 7d]
ETuk shows [9c 9d] <--- oh, so gross...
Uncalled bet of $3.20 returned to RecessRampage
*** RIVER *** [8s 5d 7h 9h] [As]
RecessRampage: so gross
RecessRampage shows two pair, Eights and Sevens
ETuk shows three of a kind, Nines
ETuk wins the pot ($156.60) with three of a kind, Nines
RecessRampage: nh

And not even a "ty"... I mean I gave him the obligatory "nh" to the 5 outer he hit and not a word... and even worse, hit & run artist #2... What's with all these losers that get lucky and immediately leaves? Morons. Well, maybe they're smart. Otherwise, I would take my money back with interest from these clowns.

Well, I will say though that my overall impression of 6 max tables at 1-2NL is donkalicious (I feel like someone else coined this term before but seems very appropriate right now)... The plays are awful, players are generally weak, and that generally equates to more money for the taking. I decided to drop down to 1-2NL as I try to get used to the 6 max table game as opposed to the full ring games I've been playing at 2-4NL. The action's definitely faster and more enjoyable but I think I might be playing a little too loose. I was raising with 30%+ of my hands. Even donks eventually figure out that I don't have a hand. I just need to tighten up a little but talk about a beatable game... here it is... now if the poker gods would stop fuckin with me, I'd be ok...

What a crappy way to end April... I barely eked out a 4 figure profit. That's so weak... I don't play poker to eke out wins like that... Good news is, despite my week from hell last week in terms of work, I played enough to qualify for the ironman freeroll (the ironman level) so hopefully, there's some more free money coming my way.

Alright, I'm out!

Bad beats are good!

First off, before I start my rants, let me congratulate Lucko for winning the seat to the WSOP Main Event this year. Surely, it was just a matter of time but nonetheless, very impressive.

So recently, due to work, I haven't really had a chance to post anything worthwhile or even play much online poker. I played a decent amount on Saturday but even then, not quite as much as I wanted to. Locked in some winnings and it looks like April will just be another typical month where I won some money but no record shattering numbers to report.

So, I figured this might be a good time for me to talk about something I've been thinking about recently... a lot. This stems from the discussions I've seen on other blogs as well as conversations I've had with other players and so I wanted to actually write this down. Bad beats are good. Don't get me wrong. It sucks. But it's good. Let me explain.

I mean, how can bad beats be good? You make a perfect read, you put all your money in the middle with the best of it, only to be royally screwed by your clueless opponent who had no business throwing money in there only to hit their 4 outer... or calling with an open ended straight draw when he was clearly priced out... Puts you in a foul mood, all the profits you had from a very good session of focus and good reads evaporate in one nasty hand... but if you look past that, bad beats are good. Let's take a step back and evaluate the situation. Let's say that a following situation comes up. You've been playing tight for over an hour and you find pocket kings from the button. A clear donkey who's gotten lucky a few times raised from middle position and you reraise him preflop. He calls and the flop comes 6-6-4. He checks and you bet the pot size. He calls. Turn comes a J. He checks. You bet the pot again which pretty much puts him all in and so he pushes and you call the extra few dollars... only to find he has AK... and the river comes the dreaded ace... In instances like this, I've seen tons of people berate the caller asking "what the hell are you calling with? What the hell did you think I have?" But let me ask you this. If the opponent flipped over his cards and asked you on the turn if you want him to call or fold, what's your answer? Your answer better be "please call me." Because you want that call right? He's nearly drawing dead (3 outs = 7%) on the turn so there are only 3 cards that can beat you. He's willing to call another pot sized bet to draw to his 7%? Of course you want that call.

So why are bad beats good? Bad beats alone aren't necessarily great and I'm not going to go into the whole argument of how it keeps bringing the donkeys back because that's just obvious. If poker didn't involve luck, then how would the rest of us make money? I mean there would only be a handful of top players and then there's everyone else right? But even more so, if you think that you are experiencing a lot of bad beats, then that's good... because that means you are a very good player.

Think about it. For something to be a bad beat, there has to be one consistent factor. That is, you always have to be putting the money in the middle with the best hand. Because if you needed to improve and you didn't, that's not a bad beat right? It's a bad beat if you are a clear favorite and you lose. And if you are experiencing a lot of bad beats, don't let it get to your head. Take a positive spin and look at it this way. The fact that you are experiencing a lot of bad beats means you are playing rock solid poker. You are getting the money in there with the best of it. What more can you ask for (better luck, sure but I meant realistically, what can you ask for)? I've heard players complain that they experience so many more bad beats dealt to them than they deal to their opponents. That only means that they are better players than the opponents because that means that they are putting the money in when they have the better hand. And the more times you are ahead, the more chances of bad beats there are and there's nothing you can do about that.

So, next time you think you are starting to tilt because all these idiots call and get lucky on you, just know that in time, you will be the one scalping them of their undeserving money as long as you keep playing your game.

End in sight of a brutal week!

*** Nonpoker content ***

What a brutal week. This is the first time all week that I feel like I could take a breath. After my solid run at the MATH on Monday, all hell broke loose at work. I am currently working in the financial reporting department of a large corporation and as such, we have a fairly large quarterly filing due 30 days after the quarter end. And so this week was the last big push to get things done. Because of things that I won't go into detail (partly because I probably shouldn't divulge secrets but mainly because it will lose whatever few audience I have on this blog), I've had to work past midnight for 2 nights in a row. Nothing like leaving the office and 6-7 hrs later, coming back... certainly not what I had thought I signed up for. Even more upsetting is the fact that because of this, I've had time to play very little poker.

If you're wondering "very little poker? If you worked till midnight and had to be back at work by 7, when did you play???" Well, let's see... the degenerate that I am, Tuesday night, I didn't. I got home around 12:30am and was back at the office at 6:45am on Wednesday. Wednesday, I worked till midnight again (that's a 17+hr day if you are counting) but when I got home I decided that I couldn't just go to bed. So, I fired up my laptop and squeezed in an 1.5hr session at the tables where I played some 1-2NL 6 max just to switch it up and also to start gaining some 6 max experience. I went to sleep around 2am and found myself back at the office around 7:30am on Thursday. Fortunately, things started to finally hit the wrap up stages and so I was able to leave work around 6:30pm on Thursday. After much debate and battle with fatigue, I decided that going to play basketball around 8pm was a good idea to work off the stress so I do. Turns out it was an excellent idea because I hadn't done anything all weak in terms of physical activity. I get home around 11:00pm, shower and put in another 1.5 hr session on the virtual felt, playing 2-4NL and 1-2NL 6 max.

One discovery I made this week after being so busy at work was this... I love this network that is the blog. I haven't had any time to post anything all week since the MATH but I definitely found time to read other people's blogs. Sometimes it helps your poker game. Sometimes, it's just entertaining. Other times, it puts your life in to perspective. But whatever is the case, it gives me a break from what ended up being a very hectic week.

*** Brief poker content ***

Another discovery that I made is how soft the 1-2NL 6 max tables are. OMG... that is just people begging to have their money taken. The plays or the lack there of at those tables are atrocious. Ridiculous. I doubled my buy-in at the 6 max table while I was grinding out a little profit at the 2-4NL. I was down $400 early in the session when a guy in EP pushed all in for another $300 into an $80 pot when I had trip jacks... he had a flush draw, catches it on the turn and no paired board screws me out of $400... and he gets up and leaves right after that hand. Thanks for the hit and run asshole. Fortunately, I didn't lose my cool and just kept playing my game. By the end of the session, I had a little over $800 at that table pretty much breaking even there and so I went to bed pretty happy with my $200+ profit of the night from the 1-2 table.

Hopefully, I'll get to make up for some lost time this weekend and play.

Also, this weekend marks the first anniversary of Mr & Mrs Recess. We don't have anything planned for it which is funny because we tossed around quite a few ideas. We ended up deciding that we didn't want to do something just to do it so we'll probably play it fairly low key but something that the two of us could enjoy. Maybe we'll take a trip out to Vegas sometime soon. Vegas with the wife is an entirely different experience from Vegas with the boys. A lot less cards and dice and a lot more good food and shows. Which is good too. It's just a different Vegas experience. I also need to schedule a trip out to Vegas by myself for some much needed live poker games. I really want to go out when the WSOP is going on...

Cashed at the MATH!

Even though my poker playing hours have been fairly low this month, I still try to make it to some of the blogger tourneys because it's fun and it forces me to play more tourneys rather than cash games. Having said that, I discovered what would be otherwise very obvious... playing cash games while playing in a blogger tourney is definitely -EV. I was too busy chatting and playing the tournament that I was literally just playing cards at the 2-4NL table I had open... and since I wasn't catching them, I just gave away money at the cash tables. Lucky for everyone else at that table I suppose.

On a more positive note, however, I finally cashed in one of these blogger tourneys! Considering that I truly consider myself a tournament donk (unlike some others who claim they suck as they continue to final table big MTTs), outlasting the other bloggers to come in 5th overall (out of 52 runners) at the MATH was certainly an accomplishment and quite a proud one at that. I, unfortunately, don't have a screen shot of the tournament lobby but here's the link to the results. The only thing I'm upset about is that I really didn't give myself a chance to win. Towards the end, I wanted to cash more than I wanted to win and I truly believe that Astin was stealing my big blind from MP every time. I KNEW it. And yet, I did nothing about it because I did not want to bubble out of the money. But it was literally a situation where lucko has described in his post here. That's where I learned the term "ATC" (any two cards) which is very frequently used by the bloggers (aka the hammer). The presence of the low stack (islandbum1) who eventually lasted to the money made me not want to bubble and as such, I tightened up... at the same time, went relatively card dead (there were marginal hands that I could have played back with but again, I was too scared to bubble). So, needless to say, I let him steal most of my blinds... by the time the bubble burst and we were all in the money, I didn't really have a chance to win. The only chance was maybe if I can finish 4th instead of 5th, etc but unless I got crazy cards, I was no longer a threat to anyone and as such, I pushed with J4 soooooooted, only to be called by the eventual winner with KJ and I'm out in 5th place. Astin, in case you read this blog, since I let you steal my blinds, I stole your screen shot. Thanks! Yours truly in 5th place. Next up, the Mookie!