18k up for grabs...Congrats Doc!

Here is the final list... let's see how I got there.

----------------------------------

For those that are new to the poker blogger world, like myself, but more specifically to those that are even newer to my blog, welcome aboard.

I have qualified for 1 of 27 seats in an Aussie Millions Tournament... an 18k package with all the frills... and the action starts..... NOW (with now being 10pm est).

It couldn't have started sooner. I didn't really think about it until I was hosting an RPT Tournament on Tuesday night and someone mentioned it to me. I pulled up the FTP lobby and saw my name at the top of the list (typical for a screen name that starts with a hyphen). I got my first set of butterflies in a long time. The last time I really had that feeling was sitting down at The Borgata for my first ever cash tournament inside a casino.

With only 27 players registered for this tournament, it feels good to know that I played less than half of the qualifiers and I finished 19th in points overall... but points mean nothing here. The points got me into a $1000 freeroll which started at 9pm and really meant as much to me as my last good dump. Not that I'm downing it in any way shape or form. It's just that 1st place out of 50 players in the freeroll gets $290 big smackers... and 1st place in a 27 person freeroll gets an $18,000 package to go to Australia for 10 days and play against some of the worlds best... and the worlds best gets to play against the winner of this tourney.

Best of luck to everyone, I won't be regularly updating, but I will post some interesting situations if they arise.

BeepBeep.

----------------------------------

A hand you probably won't hear about.... All in at the flop from Lucko... Summer_babe clocks a little bit to decide if AK is good... . it is, but a 3 outter swings the pendulum.

Now... a hand you might hear about...

Battle of the Bloggers Final - Table 2 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:53:15 ET - 2007/12/20
Seat 1: actyper (5,295)
Seat 2: -o-LuckTruck-o- (3,990) I have played about 4 hands total to this point, none to a showdown.
Seat 3: Mike_Maloney (4,380)
Seat 4: Budohorseman (2,540)
Seat 5: lucko21 (5,260)
Seat 8: emptyman (2,945) couldn't miss a flop in the early stages of the 1k BBT2 Freeroll
Seat 9: dnasty13 (1,220)
Budohorseman posts the small blind of 40
lucko21 posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to -o-LuckTruck-o- [9h 9s]
emptyman raises to 240
-o-LuckTruck-o- calls 240
lucko21 calls 160 in the BB
*** FLOP *** [Ts 8s 7s]
lucko21 checks
emptyman checks
-o-LuckTruck-o- bets 500 in last position, so this could just look like a standard bet because both players have checked to me, but I got PP with oe Str8 flush draw... not really thinking about the draw... as I actually think my 99 is good and won't get a call.
lucko21 raises to 1,250 first reacion is that this is a steal with As or Ks with possible pair.. he is perfectly capable of pushing my weaktight ass all around this table.
emptyman folds
-o-LuckTruck-o- raises to 3,750, and is all in put the pressure on him hoping my read was right
lucko21 calls 2,500
-o-LuckTruck-o- shows [9h 9s]
lucko21 shows [Ks Qs] K hi flush. Super. So I say...
-o-LuckTruck-o-: nh
*** TURN *** [Ts 8s 7s] [9d] woot... what was that? A card that can help me? Me? no.. never...
*** RIVER *** [Ts 8s 7s 9d] [8d] 12 outter. Beep Beep.
-o-LuckTruck-o- shows a full house, Nines full of Eights
lucko21 shows a flush, King high
-o-LuckTruck-o- wins the pot (8,260) with a full house, Nines full of Eights


So, it comes down to this, I was behind and got lucky. Not the first time, not the last, but very rare that I am in that position. As you can read from most of my blogs.. this is a badbeat world and 99% of the time I am it's bitch slapping post.

------------------------

Final Table at Midnite.... 8th of 9 right now... I have been pushed off of some decent hands, and got no action with real hands... just trying to reverse that progress... still got a lot of action left ... blinds are only 150/300/25

Short tabling is my game so lets see if I can get my cards in and win... regardless if they are good or not...

-------------------------

No love for the lucktruck. I tried hiding the fact that I was carddead for 214 of the 218 hands I saw. If I see another Q-rag this week I'm going to go berserk.

Q8-Q2 showed up 29 times in 218 hands... 13% of my hands...
I had 10 pocket pairs that were 99 or less
1 AA
0 AK
1 KK
2 QQ
0 JJ

Alas... it wasn't meant to be. I tried to fight back by making some standard raises with mediocre hands or low pp's, but it felt like it was push or fold by everyone at the time I started getting low stacked. I was reraised pretty much every time. Maybe it's just my style, but putting all my money in with 44 or A9 preflop isn't the way I play. If I wanted to gamble, I'd throw dice at Harrah's.

The only shocking thing that I really have to say was that when I standard raised with mid level cards, I was reraised 9/10 times. When I standard raised with my AA, KK, and one of my QQ's, I got no action. I had Loretta8 set up 3 to my left and it was the perfect set up. I raised twice into him and he reraised me each time and I layed down.. AJ and 55... yet the times I had AA and KK vs him, I get no reraise.

It just felt that nothing I did throughout went the way I envisioned. I won only one big hand, and you read how that happened. Alas...

Beep Beep and best of luck to Jeciimd in Australia... do us proud!

Another typical day in the life of the Truck...

$20 knockout tourney, $5 for the knockout...

about halfway thru, i'm on the little with a small stack, but not short stack. UTG limps in, yes.. the UTG limps in (HINT, REMEMBER THIS PLAY)..

A few limps all around to me, I peek at KQ off, limp in myself. BB checks.

Flop KJ4 rainbow. I go all in for 1650. Blinds were 120/240 I think, with 5 total limpers, pot was around 1200 before my push...

BB folds, UTG flat calls (with about 1300 behind after the 1700 call) the rest fold.

I turn over, he turns over J8. Another player immediately says "I folded J8"...

Turn brick, river Jack.

Super.

A limp UTG with J8 and then a call for more than half your stack with mid pair no kicker...

what could he possibly have me on and thought he was ahead? Hell... forget being ahead.. what could he possibly have me on and think the money was right?

f'idiots.

Happy Christmas to All!

Friendly snowball fight amongst cartoon us's.

Why do I fold?

Folded at the flop.. it's a Horse freeroll, this was Hi/Lo....I'm in bottom right corner





This one was great... here are my stats for this one... I represented the best the whole way, he found a way to win..

Scoop: 77.50%
Hi: 85.00%
Lo: 37.50%
EE: 0.812

New movie releases

Is a new Rambo really the answer to the horrid selection of new releases coming out in theaters this coming year? I mean... what ever happened to taking the bad sequels and B movies straight to video... or, in an updated technological world, straight to dvd?

Let's run down the list of trailers that seem grossly uninteresting on Apple.com and hope to find some hay in a needlestack.

P2. Here's a good one - A chick is stuck in a parking garage fighting for her life from a deadbeat that can't get a date..... for the whole movie. Sounds promising. *cough* Bullshit *cough*. Expectations- 0, yes, zero. (0-11 scale based on nothing but my slanted views, and yes, this one goes to 11) Originality - 1, Laughs - 0, Action - 4= E0, O1, L0, A4

Wristcutters. Interesting idea. Anyone who commits suicide goes to the same after-life, where everything just kinda sucks. Some dude that offs himself is now looking for his recently self-offed girlfriend in this new after-life. A twist on Beetlejuice, but a love story. E3, O7, L7, A1

National Treasure 2. How can this be any different than the first? Historical cross-globe treasure hunt with more people this time. I'd rather be subjected to 4 hours of the Pants-Off Dance-Off on Fuse with nothing but BBW's. E3, O2, L5, A9

Untraceable. The story of computer geek cops who can't outwit a bigger computer geek villian. Seems just like a filler movie for someone who needed to make their quota on script writing assignments before they lost their job. E3, O4, L1, A5

Cloverfield. First one that peaked my interest. Of course, I like sci-fi action movies, but they have to be done well... Terminator2, Aliens, Empire Strikes back, The Matrix. From the preview, it looks like Godzilla but it very well might be a robot Godzilla going ballistic on the town like the asteroids in Armageddon or the tidal wave in The Day After Tomorrow. I hope they hide the monster to the very end and it turns out to be a giant robot Britney Spears from her schoolgirl outfit days... this might be the only thing that could resurrect her career. E5, O5, L3, A9

Purple Violets. Edward Burns... that Ben Affleck lookalike... does it again. Makes a movie and puts himself as a main character. There are 2 girls that buck-buck-buck-bagawk about relationships and you got a chickflick with no possible watchable value. Standard movie. E1, O1, L3, A0.

Harold and Kumar 2. If you can't laugh at multi-racial drug comedy, then you ain't livin'. This time, they go overseas and are accused of being terrorists. Another cameo by the "snortin' blow off of whore's dirty ass" Doogie. Anyone see the comic irony in him being gay in real life? E7, O6, L10, A3.

Finally (cuz i'm tired and going to bed)

Jumper. A kid figures out he can teleport anywhere in the world. Woohoo, mutant powers, should have been a comic book first... wait.. .was it? Anyway, he's not the only one who can do it and there are people out there hunting his kind down. Of course, he has to save the girl. Graphics look top notch, hopefully the acting won't pull down the hi-res overload like most cgi driven flicks. E8, O7, L3, A10.

Let's see how far off I am.

Beepbeep.

Winter Scotch Tasting

About 2 weeks ago I was sitting at one of my local sipping joints (The Drafting Room) and the few of us that were there came across an advert for a Scotch tasting. Now, for those that haven't been brought up to speed, or haven't noticed the headline here, I'm starting to get into the enjoyment of some of the finer drinks behind the bar that don't fit into a pitcher. Yes, I know that Jack-and-Cokes fit into a pitcher, and that is the way I like them... but that's not what I'm talking about.

After our vacation to Scotland a few of us have been looking for some good places with good bartenders that know their Scotch's and just don't buy them and put them on the shelves. Well, today we sat down for what I thought was going to be a 5 Scotch, 4 appetizer tasting. Boy, was I wrong. The 4 appetizers were scratched from the menu and a 5 course meal was put in its place.

Let me say that again... 5 single malts... 5 course meal... $33. (w/o grat, as expected).

Let me put it in poker speak... NUTS!!!!!!

First Course: Grilled Buffalo on toasted Foccaccia with Micro greens & Herb Ricotta.

Scotch: Clynelish 14yr.

Talk about starting off impressively. The buffalo was cooked medium-rare with the toasted Foccaccia as a base. This was my first ever venture into buffalo, and I must admit it was tender and very tasty. The light amount of sauce was a perfect addition as I probably would have drowned out the flavor with too much sauce. The Clynelish was a good start to the list. It was neither overwhelming in the nose nor the finish. A smooth drink with a hint of fruit. A solid start, I must say.

Second Course: Duck Confit over a Mache Salad with Seasoned Sunflower Seeds with a Sweet Onion Marmalade.

Scotch: Craggenmore 12yr.

The duck was incredible but the Marmalade made this dish. I sampled the duck first w/o the marmalade as I knew what was going to happen once it was introduced. The duck was soft and pulled apart instantly. As sweet and juicy as the duck/marmalade combo was, the Craggenmore was the polar opposite. Dry and spicy with an abundance of pepper. After my first nose of the scotch, I knew to enjoy it after the dish. Personally, I think because of the weight of this drink, it could have been put later on the list as you should be going from the lightest to heaviest throughout the meal. So be it.

Third Course: Seared Scallops, Green Peppercorn & Tarragon Butter, Peruvian Purple Puree.

Scotch: Talisker 10yr.

Yes. Peruvian - Purple - Puree. It's a purple mashed potato that was as tasty as it was exotic. I could have gone through a whole bowl of it. The scallop was a nice size but with the amount of sauce I would have liked 2 of them to enjoy it all. I ended up just forking the rest of the sauce because it was so good. The Talisker is a well known popular scotch. It didn't fail being paired with this dish. A strong smokey/petey nose that finished with a smooth salt/pepper taste. If you are looking for something strong, head on over to the Talisker.

Main Course: Grilled Lamb Chop, Bacon Braised Beluga Lentils, Scotch Infused Roasted Shallot & Tomato Sauce with Garlic Green Beans.

Scotch: Ardbeg 10yr.

At this point I just wanted to grab the chops and dig in. The plate smelled incredible and I was ready to throw out table manners and scarf it down. Alas, visions of Grandma coming across the table and slapping me kept me in check. I wasn't a big fan of the tomato sauce mixture, but the pile of bacon lentils hiding under the chops were gone before the 8 strips of green beans. The chops were slightly seared on one side as a quick cut showed the half medium side and the half rare side. Both sides were just as enjoyable. The Ardbeg, got bless its imaginary soul, was the one drink I was looking forward to. The Ardbeg, for those that don't know, has become a very rare commodity. The distillary was bought back in 1997 as the were about 10 minutes from being bulldozed. So now, 10 years later, we are getting the first runnings of their new 10yr single malt. The straw colored necture is thick and oily. It doesn't look like your typical golden scotch, but close your eyes and breath and any scotch fan will be getting after this one.

Dessert: Butterscotch Brownie w/ Vanilla Chantilly over a Peanut Butter Cashew Brittle.

Scotch: Caol Ila 12yr

A great finish to the whole experience. The brownie was gone instantly but the brittle took some work. Using my hands would have been key, but instead I chose to shoot a few pieces of broken brittle off the table to never be seen again. I waited for dessert to be finished before I dove into the Caol Ila. Another great scotch and highly recommended for those of you just starting out and who might be looking for something not so common. It is smokey all the way through and would have been great in a full glass to cap off the night.

After some conversation with George, our host, I was able to walk out of there with a handful of Johnnie Walker rocks glasses and one of the Craggenmore tasting glasses.

Total tab was $46 with tax/tip

5 glasses that probably retail for $40 +/-

5 course meal, assume $35 +/-

5 scotch samplings, approx $10

You do the math...

Merry Holidays to all! Mine has started off very filling.

If you got all the way to the bottom... check out one funny video... i'm still in tears.

All too familiar

Just got back from the Borgata Ultimate Super Satellite where Riverchasers backed 8 players... more on that later.





Back to the all too familiar... railing ccrobyn in the final table of a 2-table token tourney... this just makes me wanna jump off the Ben Franklin...

All in at the flop....

Freerollin' into the 750K on FTP

6:00pm

Started out with a bang!

All the money in at the flop...

Yay... down to 240... no where to go but up!

So, why not... it's HAMMER TIME!!!

This was moments later... how do I not go broke here? We checked it all the way to the river... i bet minimum of 50, he min raises, and I just call.

Ah well... on we go... shortstacked with a mountain ahead of me...
8:55pm

Out. about 3400 in chips. I was up to a little over 4100 after I doubled through the donkey Dabop sitting to my left who slit my throat and left me for dead early on.

BB vs SB coin flip... I had the PP... he had the Ace. No love for the PP.

I wasn't going to sit around with blinds and antes = 1050 per orbit. If I was going to give myself a chance to make any real money I had to get close to 10k so I could start playing again. This win would have put me around 8k and on my way... but... no love... I called Heads (you always call heads)... it came Tails.

gg me.

beepbeep.

Best of luck to Mike_Maloney who was sitting 75th in chips with 24k when I busted. He's the last BBT2 Weekly champ standing... go get some!

from the Devil to the Hammer to BeepBeep

Just sickening sometimes...

Late night Thanksgiving Thursday home game is played every year with about 20 people. This year only 5 showed up... not sure what happened but it doesn't matter.

We play a $20 sng tourney to just get our fix in and head home... 75/25 1st/2nd. fun fun

I know all the players, so as long as I don't get sucked into a decent hand against an aggressive player and get unlucky, I can cash out with enough to cover gas money, hopefully more.

Needless to say, I am the unluckiest person I know.

2500 chips to start, I'm up to 3200 early and just watch the fireworks around me. I flop 2 flushes and get paid about 400 on each because of the aggressive players pushing the flop, but they weren't strong flushes, so I raised the turn each time and they went away from their hands.

I sit back and watch 2 players bust pretty quick. We are 3 handed and one player is big stack, the other is short stack. I get heads up in a hand with the big stack as he limps into my big blind. I have 3c4c and the flop comes 3s3h9c. check check. Turn brings Qh. check check. River is Kh. Big stach bets the minimum of 200. I look at the board, any 2 hearts, J10, and pretty much any 3 beats me. I have a terrible feeling and I just flat call.

He turns over KK. Fuck me.

Talk about losing the bare minimum. I asked that if I pushed any bet, what would he do... he said it was a check-raise after any bet I made. No matter what happens, I lose this hand. Thankfully I only lost an extra big blind and don't bust out in 3rd and get no money. Short stack still has 900 to my 2400, to the big stack's 9200.

2 hands later.

I am button with KQ offsuit... little blind has 550 left and I want him in the hand... I'll play my KQ for another 300 for an all in to try and knock him out. He ends up limping, BB bigstack checks.

Flop KJ10.

short stack checks, big stack bets 300, ... i can't imagine any terrible card that will slow me down on the turn, so I call with the hopes that my call entices short stack to get in.

I'm right. He thinks then pushes his 450 all in, big stack calls, I call just hoping to not see a Q on the turn.

Turn is 7. Big stack checks, I push all in to go heads up against the small stack. Big stack calls.

I turn over my KQ. Big stack has J7 (fuck me again and his 5 outter).

I still feel OK because if the big stack takes it all down, I take 2nd still...

Short stack shows 6 9. So, he has no pair, and is double gutted for the straight (Q or 8), but I have one of his queens. 7 outter.

BOOOOOOM!!!! 8Ball on the river and I leave the table just laughing.

Can someone calculate those for me.... 2 outter, 5 outter, 7 outter all in 2 hands in a row I play.

I am too smart for my own good. If I didn't want to get paid, I push all in at the flop and take it down, but only get 2 big blinds for my best hand.

What's an idiot to do.

unbeepbeep

I think I just sat on a teste...

... is probably not the best way to start a post... but guys... come on... you know what I'm talking about. Ladies... be glad you don't have that problem.

Got some sleep today after my almost all-niter at the Borgata. It's the Wednesday before Turkey Day... biggest bar night of the year... I'm 29 yrs old and staying home... by choice. Some friends are coming over and we're going to throw back some booze here and watch some tv. Plus it gives us a chance to get the kids together to play so we don't really have to watch them. They can go lock themselves in their room and play with all the new toys that the lil one got for her bday last week.

WTF???

Watching the movie "The Zodiac" right now... I thought this was the movie with Jake Gyllenhall (lead actor from Jarhead)... I was wrong... that was the movie "Zodiac" (2007). This is "THE Zodiac" (2005) with one of the Dr's from "Grey's Anatomy". WTF?? Did someone see THE zodiac and say... "HEY... I GOT A GREAT IDEA ABOUT A MOVIE!!"

Back to Back Omaha Hi Hands

Happening immediately on my other table in back to back Texas Hold'em hands...

Nothing spectacular, but interesting RNG...

This one was fun...

Nothing like Flopping the rocks... and then drowing to runner runner.

Time to keep cleaning the house, almost time to forget tonite!

beepbeep

The Borgata 11:30pm tourney

Let me introduce you to the "Rugger".

$60+15 weeknight at The Borgata with Riggstad and gang in tow. Tourney is a 10k starting stack with 15 min levels. They have been getting around 80-100 players on any given night with an approx payout of $2k for first place.

I get the call from Riggs the day before that they are making a day trip out of it but other obligations kept me from going down during the day and getting a few hours of playtime in. I get on the road around 8pm and get a call from Riggs that they had just arrived. I'm about an hour + away at this point.

Arrive around 9:30 but can't get a seat until around 10:15. I was searching for their new 5-10 limit table but I was 6th on the list... the Borgata got rid of the 6-12 a few months ago and I was all for it. Making change every two hands was not all that time consuming... but it was a hastle. If it wasn't for the damn NJGC I would be vying for the 5-10 KillPot, but the story is in AC you can't play Kill pots with hold'em... BAH.

While I'm waiting for 5-10 a seat opens up at 1-2 NL.... now... I didn't bring enough loot down to get sucked out on in one hand for all my money playing NL and miss my opportunity to play in the tourney, so I sat at the 1-2 NL probably as tight as I was ever going to play. My simple goal was to make the $75 tourney entry fee and freeroll for the rest of the night.

As soon as I walk up to the table, the kid (and will be referred to as kid until the end of the story) 2 seats to my left says, "I'm going to play every hand...". He wasn't joking. He limped, raised, check-raised every pot and his 200 stack was down to 125 in the matter of 15 minutes.

I paid my blinds and just sat until I was in MP with 1010. Kid raises up to 12, I flat call with the hopes to flop the trips and set the trap and take his money and run. Player #3 on the button goes all in for $160. ???? $27 in the pot and you make it $160???

As long as kid goes away I make the call because #3 has to have 88 or 99. Any higher and he would want the action, so all-in wouldn't be the way to go. Any less and he should have thought about laying it down long before he re-checked his hand.

Well... kid says... "I'm all in", and I quickly fold.

#3 has 77 and kid has JackAce off. I threw away the best hand... weeeeeee!!!!!!

Flop 7 5 2. I'm a genius. A river 5 gives #3 the boat and I woulda lost 80% of my stack to his underpair. But alas, this just gave me the right motivation I needed to check the list again for 5-10 limit.

I was second on the list and in about 5 seconds I was called for my seat. I sit down, post up and look down at AK off in MP. No slowplaying as I raise up, get about 5 callers, and flop Ah-10s-5s
. I bet and get reraised immediately by player on my left. Another caller on the end and now I'm assuming that A10 is the nuts vs my AK. The turn brings a brick, I check, player bets, another call on the end, and I call hoping no spade hits the river. Another 10 hits the board as I check again, player bets again, another caller, and I can't assume my AK is good, but 1 bigbet to win 14... I call.

A3 vs ?? vs my AK... winner winner. In my first hand I just won my buy in for the tourney and actually debated walking away. But I still had about 45 min to kill b4 the tourney, so I stayed.

Paid my blinds, got some sweetened iced-t's (mmmm good tea), and cashed out 45 min later with my $75 buy in in hand.

YAY FREEROLL'IN!!!!

It's like Tokening into the Blogger Big Game from a $5 tourney.

Tourney kicks off and I win a few of the first hands and I'm up to 13.5k. I can't imagine that for the next 2 hours I would sit and fold and pay my blinds. At one point, no joke, no lie, no embelishment... I saw 3 face cards in 45 hands. One Ace, one King, and One queen. None at the same time. In a tourney that only lasts about 4.5 hours... not playing for half that stretch wasn't going to get my very far.

At the same time I was getting 8 hi... old man winter was in the 10 seat and had woken up to 8 PP's 10 or better.... 1x10, 3xQ, 3xK, 1xA... and they all WON. It was something out of a tv show. The best part about it is that after all that was said and done, he was at 11k, and I was at 10k.

I was down to my original stack when the blinds were 600/1200 with 200 ante. A full table of 10 puts 3800 in the pot preflop w/o any action. So, in MP after folding for pretty much 2 hours in a row I figured I had earned myself some respect and a move was in order. 2nd to act limps in for 1200 (he limped/folded a lot of hands), I push 9800 in the pot all-in. Someone even says... "Oh, you are here." Pointing out the fact that I haven't done anything in forever.

All folds to the small blind who makes no hesitation in putting his 14k all-in over the top and the rest fold around to me. With his instant action I can only put him on Jacks or better. Nope... AQ offsuit.

Now let me introduce you to "the Rugger". Named after one of my employees who just loved the hand. A monster 10-7. Well... at least I was live. Haha.

Flop 339. I'm a 25% favorite.
Turn 8. I'm a 31% favorite...woohoo it got better!!!
river 7. I'm a 100% favorite... woohooo... I'm a genius.

I'm up to 25k and can now fold for another hour with j7 and j6 for about 7 hands in a row. I wanted to get in the action as there was a lot of blinds and antes to be won, but we were down to 3 tables at this point and with basic math I figured I'd need about 60k to get to the final table and not be the low stack.

I win a round of antes and blinds with an uncontested all-in. I'm up to around 30k. I dust off 9k with a preflop raise (blinds 1k/2k) when the BB big stack calls me. Flop comes KJ4 and he leads out with 10k and I only have 20k left... I have to go away with my 5c6c.

Top 9 get paid... I have a lot of luck to do.

We get down to 2 tables and at this point it is all in or fold for half the players. I am one of them. Again, I couldn't get in the action even with 3 limpers ahead of me. 7-3 just isnt' gonna cut it when there are still 3 ppl (2 short stacked) behind me to act and I know at least one is going all in for another 7 or 8 k. I was right, and it was the right fold. I saved my bets for when I thought I could get in the pot and win uncontested or at least call another all-in with a premium hand (if it was ever going to come).

We get down to 13 players and I got my money all in with the chance to triple up with QJ. Not strong, but couldn't wait any long with my severe short-stack. I got 2 callers and the flop comes Kc8c3h. One player pushes all in and pushes the other away so I assume that he has the K and I'm drawing pretty much dead. He turns over 9c3c. Bottom pair with flush draw. I'm still thin, but a lil thicker than I thought.

Turn brings the Q of spades and the table gets loud, but i don't even blink. The River is the Jack of clubs... I runner runner 2 pair, but the club gives him the 9 high flush.

If I didn't dust off that 9k 20 minutes earlier, the 9c3c couldn't have called my all in. I was all in for 11k and he was a BB of 6k. So it was only 5k more to call with so much in antes/blinds/bets. No fault of his, but again, if I had 21K, he can lay it down and I go heads up and win vs the other player who had A7 and was coming for all his chips regardless.

So, I bust out 13th/90 players. Again, top 9 got paid but there was nothing I could do except win an all in when we got to the final two tables... and no love.

Rigg's didnt' fare well as his KK got cracked by ragrag suited. I lasted the longest as the other gang members peeled off in the middle rounds somewhere. In the end, we all got the same prize, I just got to goof off a lil longer in my freeroll.

I sat down at 3-6limit before I left (no 5-10 at 3:30am) and I won $30 bucks to cover my gas/tolls/parking/drinks.

A long day of poker and a break even day. I think I fared the best of the group, but some phone calls after Turkey Day will figure that all out.

As I was walking out the door, Chang was sitting at the same 3-6 that I was and was in a gambooling mood. He gets the suited HAMMER in mid position and gets in the action with a limp and then a call of a raise when 6 other people call the raise. Flop 774... Yahtzee!!! 3 players get to the turn after a raise/call. A 3 hits the turn giving one player the straight to the 7 with his 56. 3 players again get to the river after a raise/call. The river brings the case 7 and stone cold nuts for Chang. YAHTZEE once again!!

The player with the straight checks. Chang CHECKS. Player 3 bets, the straight calls, Chang raises, player 3 calls and the straight folds.

Chang shows his quads and Player 3 shows pocket 1010.

beepbeep Hammer.

Punch it Short-round!

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Big Game live blogging

This is my first attempt at live blogging... at it's going to be extra difficult as I am hosting a live Riverchasers Poker Tour tournament right now.

What a great start... 4 hands into the tournament I get a great SB hand... QQ. (unsuited).

TwoBlackAces does a pot raise in MP to 105. I reraise up to 320 with just the hope that the hand gets over with. The last Big Game I played I ran my KK into AA and couldn't let it go and busted pretty early. TBA reraises me to 1k total and I debate just letting it go and seeing the next hand. My devil on my shoulder tells me to call and the board is 10 hi. I check, TBA bets 1750 into the 2200 pot and I lay down... weeeee... didn't go broke. As long as TBA wasn't pushing the hammer, it was a good laydown.

Not too long after, I pick up a nut flush draw and make some strategic bets. Cmitch smooth calls on top pair and I get to my ace... but I really wish the spade came because Peacecorn woulda made the 2nd nuts and I double up. Alas... no spade, but it's a win.





At the break I'm barely ahead of my starting stack... thanks to RPT for not letting me bluff off my stack so far and keeping me busy running the tournament here. I am sitting ok and the chip leader is only holding 12K... so a dbl up and I'm in the top 5.

So much for my PP's in this event again. I get a crowd around me trying to watch me play and I can't let this one go. I figured it was 99 or 66 after the call on the turn. But can I slow down on the river... NOOOOOO.... .... ... I'm an idiot.

NH there cmitch... I couldn't throw out a reraise with the 2 callers to your UTG raise. I guess I should have in this instance.

So, I go back to work. At least my shift covers my buy-in for the night and prior to the event I was able to win my token for the MATH tomorrow... if I decide to play.

With a few minutes left before the 2nd break, 3 tables left, 3 of the top 4 players (cmitch, OtisDart, and HighOnPoker) are all sitting at the same table within 4 seats of eachother.

Otis takes out XxMagicianxX with a big AK vs AQ, all in preflop and moves into 2nd in chips behind Cmitch.

We get to the next break and Otis had pulled slightly ahead of cmitch, but well ahead the rest of the field at this point. There are 25 players left and the top 6 get paid



At the start, this is what the tables looked like.

TwoBlackAces gets a big double up at the final two tables.

Three hands later the AK comes up big again for TBA against our host MiamiDon

Riggstad makes his exit pretty quietly with his 101o vs A10. That'll teach him to play his PP vs one over card. This puts OtisDart in the chiplead by a pretty large stretch.

Smizmiatch gets some live cards against VinNay's big slick and doubles up to aprox 20k.

Smizmiatch gets another huge hand against Lucko21. Lucko was probably making a move that only QQ or better could call... unfortunately, that was the case. gg lucko.

In an interesting turn, Otis was bumped over to smizmiatch's table, putting chipleader 1 and 2 at the same table again. YAY randomness on FTP.

Beep Beep comes around as Zeem rips through Otis's pocketrockets. Big hand for Zeem as on the other table NewinNov busted on the final table bubble.

The final table players start busting out at an incredible speed. At 12:32am, this was the scene

At 12:35am, this was the scene.


twoblackaces pushed AK against VinNay's QQ and Vin hit the Q on the flop.
Zeem's AQ couldn't pull out a miracle vs emptymans AK.
The next hand, TheCloserX5 had Ah3h vs the 44 of VinNay which held the whole way.
Cmitch pushed A7 against Vin's KK and never caught up and busted out 6th.

Sadly, I have to leave the bar as it's closing up. My tourney is over here and I gotta head home... I would love to finish this up, but I'm sure our host will have the wrapup. Best of luck to everyone still in!

BeepBeep.

--UPDATE - Final standings - GG VinNay

My Immaturity Knows No Bounds...

Had to share this story with everyone... well... everyone who reads my Blog... so for the 4 of you out there... here's a non-fictitious tale...

I went to Target today to pick up a new showerhead because..well.. the old one dripped water instead of..well... doing what it should be doing.

So I grab that and shoot up the road where there is an unending road of fast-food joints and restaurants. I wasn't in the mood to sit down anywhere as I wanted to get my showerhead installed before running my 5pm errands. Also, I knew it was going to be a short night out because I have to be at the mountain (Volunteer Ski Patroller I am) at 8am tomorrow for our pre-season refresher and practice lift-evacuation. Man I hope it's not windy... at one point tomorrow I will be sitting on a chair lift for about 45 minutes in whatever weather Mother Nature lays upon us... not fun.

I decide on the quickest fastfood drivethru in the business... Wendy's. They got a decent spicy chicken sandwich that rivals any non-fast food chicken sandwich in the industry. I drive up and there are already 3 cars in line. I take a peak inside and there is no one inside in line, so... F' it. I'm not lazy.

I park and head inside and see what looks to be the manager talking with 2 other patrons/friends in the lobby area near the register. As I walk up, he ushers his friends in front of me to place an order. So be it. Nothing wrong with that. They order two combo meals and the total comes up to something like $1.13. So be it. Nothing wrong with that either. I used to hook up my friends at Subway (yes... I was a Sandwich Artist) when I was 15, but nothing to THAT extreme.

So I take a step back while they prepare their order and I take a peak around the restaurant and the only other ppl in there are 3 younger kids (2 girls, 1 guy) dressed in their Private School getup's. Probably 16 or 17 yrs old considering they probably drove to Wendy's after school or something. Nothing else to look at in the 5 seconds I had to scan the place.

I step up and place my order, and the 2 guys didn't seem to want to get out of the way of the register. So I kinda squeeze between the portly fellas and notice a nice hint of body odor on one of them... ah.. so be it... to be 45 yrs old and smell funny.. could have been a long day at work.

So I place my order, pay, and step back to get some fresh air and a little personal space. I notice that one of the girls from the table has walked up behind one of the other guys and is waiting behind him because she thinks he's in line. She kinda takes a peak around but he doesn't see her back there and just stands in her way.

And then.... ppffffrrrtttt.

He lets one rip right in front of her, ignorant to the fact that she is standing less than a foot behind him.

I lose it. I immediately start cracking up in the middle of everyone. Tears start running down my face as I can't stop laughing and as I look behind the guy I can see tears welling up in the girls face... probably not from laughter though. I think the odor had rushed it's way right up between the two of them and permeated every square inch around her. She is not covering her face with her hand inside of her long sleeve sweater.

Now a good minute has probably gone by as I still can't stop chuckling. My order comes up before theirs does and as I step up to grab my bag the guy steps back and it forces the girl to step back as well. He hears her behind him at this point and gets this look of shock on his face with the..."Oh... I think I get the excessive laughter now," look on his face.

I walk away to grab a straw and napkins from the service counter as she places her order for a yogurt or ice cream or something like that. By the time I load up my bag I turn around and she is looking in my direction (really... looking away from the 2 guys on the other side of her) and is fighting back the laughter. I start cracking up again as I walk by her and I say, "Happy Holidays, it probably can't get any worse than that."

And I was out the door.

Beepbeep.

New South Park = New Mookie

Got my new flatscreen Plasma TV staring me at the face with nothing but the best programming for it. Brand new South Park is on tonite... after last weeks episode of "Guitar Queer-O" ...I was a little unsatisfied. It had so much potential but fell short.

Glad I missed the first hand, it would have cost me a few chips as the hammer would have hurt a little.

Started off hot out of the gates. 4th hand of the tourney I am second to act with AQ off... obviously not strong in my position, but it's early in the tourney and I can get away with losing a few chips if I miss. I come in with a standard 3x and make it 90, Kajagugu sits to my left and makes it 210. All folds to me and I think about before making the call. It's either AK or PP... I elect to see the flop and go from there... again... it's early.

Quote of South Park, Cartman: "Come on Kenny, girls don't wanna eat poptarts for dinner every night."

Flop comes KT5, all spades... i'm holding the A of spades. If Kajagugu had a PP, he may let it go unless it's QQ or JJ with a spade. I lead out the betting with about 3/4 pot bet. Kaja flat calls. Turn brings the A of diamonds. Now I'm only hoping it was the PP because if it was AK, i'm not drawing to the spade. I lead out 700 into about a 1K pot and Kaja just calls again. Now I have to think he has a big hand and is just waiting for the river to make a push. Problem is that the Q of spades hits the river. I got 2nd nuts to the J9 straight flush... but I can't put him on calling off all those chips with just a gutshot str8 flush draw. I put in another 700 hoping for a reraise with anything strong, but he flat calls with AK and I take it down.

I had Kaja's number again in a small blind vs big blind hand. I flop a boat. Check. Turn Quads. Check. The river brings an Ace and I just put out 150 into a 100 chip pot hoping he comes over the top. He just flat calls with the Ace and saves himself a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.

I got very aggressive on a drawing hand and it never came. Roguejo flopped a set and didn't think twice about calling the all in at the river when the diamond flush came. Man... I wish I was pushing diamonds and not hearts.

I didn't feel like going broke with no kicker into this pot. Buttom limped, small blind limped, I check. I bet the pot at the flop and oakman42 immediately pushes all in. He could have had anything... AK, AA, 23... it didn't matter... I wasn't risking everything on top pair no kicker. I get my money back next hand with AK in the small with an all in preflop and no callers.

I get to the break very low on the food chain.... nothing spectacular to blog. Only notable mark for me is that the chip leader is still less than 10k... so no one is pulling away with this one. Hopefully I can double up and fight for some player points.

I got a case of the pushies to get some blinds back... I take down 2 in a row and then look down at AsQs UTG.... and I fold.... ?? I had a bad feeling. There was a raise behind me and a call... flop comes with an ace... there's a bet and a reraise. I'm thinking if I played I would be drawing to a Queen... whether someone had AK or 2 pair... I had a bad feeling nonetheless and walked away.

At this point I'm just hoping to have a winning all-in... cards are almost meaningless. I have 1800 and the blinds are 80/160. less than 10 orbits... I get AcQc and peacecorn raises up again preflop sitting 3 to my right... I am on the small and push all in... peace tanks and lays it down again. I have a feeling if I push against him again, I am going to get a call with any mediocre hand.

Blinds have bumped, 100/200 and I'm only sitting on 2200. It's about that time. Other players have gotten the pushies as well... Worst hand turn over for an all in was AQ though... so I have to be picky if I want to go in late position.. early position really doesn't matter...because at least they have to make the decision to play.

88 was the hand... Jestocost limped in for 200 in midposition and I'm on the button with 1900. 500 in the pot already and I'm ok with just taking down the blinds, maybe racing for a double up. I push, folds around to Jesto who makes the call with Dueces. OK! Double me up!

I come over the top of Jesto again... he raises up to 720 in MP again, I'm on the button with AJ. Not a hand I'd be proud to go out on... but I push all in hoping that our last hand is still fresh in his mind. He clocks and lays it down.

We are more than halfway through the field at this point. I'm shocked to see i'm in the 30's with more than 50 players left. I haven't really played any hands post flop since my miss with the flush draw.

I pass around a few hands and get 77 in MP. Alas... I put in a 5x raise up to 1500. Peacecorn comes over the top all in from the blinds and I'm just hoping to be in a race to two overs. I was. The 77 holds.

Tourney is moving along pretty fast... we are down to 43 already and I'm 28th with 6100. Jestocost is getting aggressive with his 3x raises preflop to everyone elses tight play. I wouldn't mind getting into another hand with him, but 10 hi each time around isn't gonna do it.

We come back from the break and I'm at a new table. I got "doc" (jeciimd) to my right and snakster across the table. Doc pushes all in on the lil blind against me and I lay down. I have a feeling this may go on each time around but the very next hand doc gets into it with ScottMc. Unlucky there doc.

I am sitting with 44oo, 30/32. Blinds are 250/500 with an ante of 50. 1150 in the pot before any action... which means it's push or go away time. I lay down the hammer when Scott raises half my stack.

My only saving grace is that I have players in position 29/31/32 sitting to my immediate right and left. Which means as long as I don't get coolered, I have a chance at doubling up thru one of the other small stacks. So far, no love. All the action was raised preflop and 7 hi isnt' gonna do it.

I get Kd9d in mp and decide to press my luck. I press and get lucky.

I get AK UTG and bet 4x with no callers. I show.

I get AK again in the cutoff. I raise to 22o0 and Julkeus pushes all in for 2500. I insta-call. He shows 1010 and I lose the race. Not too painful.

I get AA a few hands later UTG again... I make a 3x raise preflop and get no callers.... damn position.

We get into the points and i'm sitting 20/28. Just truckin' along.

Blinds are 300/600 with 75 ante. 1575 in the pot preflop... looking very attractive. I have 8500, so one or two pot steals and I get into the top 50% in chips... hopefully to grind out some more points and look for a double up/steal spot.

I think my rush was over... AK, AK, and AA. Guess I have to play now. Joy Joy.

Blinds up to 400/800 with 100 chip ante. 2k in the pot preflop... that's 25% of my stack. Only one player over 15k so I'm assuming there's 1 theory at the table. Every hand could be an all in.

I didn't even realize that we were getting close to the money. I get JJ in mp and just push. I take it down preflop to win 2k. I'll take it.

I hesitate too long on a suited A4. I should have laid it down when I started debating it.

BuddyDank was to my left and I gave him a walk when he was down to 3500 or so. I only had J8 suited, but I didn't feel like limping and having to fold to his all in, and I wasn't going to risk being greedy with J hi. It was a mistake. He takes down that walk, then takes down the next hand and is almost dead even in chips to me. I get the A4 of spades and I tank a push. I make the wrong decision and push and Buddy sits on AJ. I had chop possibilities after the turn, but no love. No beepbeep.

My aggression was misplaced this tourney, no doubt about that. I get into the BB with no chips left and am in a showdown with the lil blind. Even a win just buys me a few more hands so I would be all in over the next few hands pretty much regardless.

Not sure if I'll be around to defend my title at the RPT tomorrow night (#30641953). We'll see how the schedule shakes out.

Gotta start working on another strong showing next week. Gotta keep up the points.

BeepBeep.