fall 2005

madness

2009-03-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

New Blog

2006-01-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

I started a new blog for 2006. The URL is http://gnightmoon2006.blogspot.com. This blog and all Crewhater blogs can be accessed through www.observetheownage.com.

Ping Pong

2005-12-27T15:27:00.000-08:00

The other night I got involved in a marathon ping pong battle with Leo, Paul, and the Wolf. All three of them were in the zone and I got crushed repeatedly. Normally I play these guys pretty even but on this night I had no chance.

It got me thinking. I don't really get into "the zone." I tend to play solid and feed off the mistakes of others, be it in ping pong, frisbee golf, ultimate frisbee, or poker. It's very rare for me to play "above the rim" and beat people. My victories come when people beat themselves. I don't know anyone who has had more success playing frisbee golf and poker than I have, though I know friends who are more talented at these games. I tend to surpass them because I do not make as many mistakes as they do. If they play flawlessly, they should beat me almost every time.

It's important for me to stay patient. Sometimes when I am losing I press and force things a bit. When I think about my greatest successes in poker, they came when I was patient and gave myself the chance to get lucky. I lose when I try to outplay people and I make mistakes. If an opponent plays his best against me, he will usually win. But most people don't play anywhere near their best, no matter what the game.

Vacation/WHOTW

2005-12-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't seriously played poker in a week and it may be another two weeks before I do. I have a bold plan for when I do return - which I will reveal then - but until then all I want to do is hang out with friends, eat, drink, sleep, and exercise.

From the archives:

WHOTW

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Jd, Kd ]
KriyaYoga folds.
hotmark777 folds.
HotNikkels folds.
thorrun folds.
MrW0nderful9 folds.
lancealot1 folds.
kingdavid18 folds.
hustler813 calls (10)
GnightMoon raises (45) to 65
hustler813 calls (45)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6s, 5c, Kh ]
hustler813 checks.
GnightMoon bets (84)
hustler813 raises (492) to 492
hustler813 is all-In.
GnightMoon calls (408)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6d ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 9h ]
Creating Main Pot with $1111 with hustler813
** Summary **
hustler813 balance $0, lost $557 [ Jc 4h ] [ a pair of sixes -- Kh,Jc,9h,6s,6d ]

WHOTW/DDOTW

2005-12-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

WHOTW:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 4d, 6s ]
GnightMoon folds.
War_Eagle86 folds.
pokerisivut folds.
svizec24 folds.
OrvarKalle folds.
MrW0nderful9 raises (80) to 80
athorn10 folds.
likaden folds.
willc69 raises (280) to 300
MrW0nderful9 raises (1847) to 1927
MrW0nderful9 is all-In.
willc69 calls (1282)
willc69 is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $3171 with willc69
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7s, 2d, 7h ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3d ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 8s ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3171
willc69 balance $0, lost $1582 [ 3s 2s ] [ two pairs, sevens and threes -- 8s,7s,7h,3s,3d ]MrW0nderful9 balance $3516, bet $1927, collected $3516, net +$1589 [ Qd Qs ] [ two pairs, queens and sevens -- Qd,Qs,8s,7s,7h ]

DDOTW:

donutboy18 posts small blind (10)
Lucky168la is sitting out.
JackWould posts big blind (20)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GnightMoon [ 3s, 8d ]
RED__BIAN folds.
slothr0p folds.
cballs25 folds.
BadVoodoo folds.
GnightMoon folds.
ILUVTOLOSE folds.
l_D1d_Th1S raises (80) to 80
donutboy18 raises (1994) to 2004
donutboy18 is all-In.
JackWould calls (1980)
JackWould is all-In.
l_D1d_Th1S folds.
Creating Main Pot with $4077 with JackWould
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3d, Tc, Qh ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Jc ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 5h ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $4077
JackWould balance $4077, bet $2000, collected $4077, net +$2077 [ Qd Qc ] [ three of a kind, queens -- Qd,Qc,Qh,Jc,Tc ]
donutboy18 balance $4, bet $2004, collected $4, lost -$2000 [ Ac 7c ] [ high card ace -- Ac,Qh,Jc,Tc,7c ]

Poker is Hard

2005-12-14T00:12:00.000-08:00

It's easy when you have J9 against T8 and AhKh and it comes T87 with 2 hearts and your hand holds up. It's easy when you get aces against kings and ace-king. It's easy when you get aces against queens and it's easy when your opponents are folding ace-king to your button raise, as one fellow (actually a good player) did at Canterbury.

It's not so easy when you've got two Swedes and Layne Flack staring you down as you try to bluff with 8 high. It's not so easy to accumulate chips when you get continually reraised and you have nothing. And it's downright hard when you sabotage your own chances by playing afraid and making amateurish mistakes.

I didn't play my best today and I didn't get lucky. I did flop quads twice but there was little I could do to get much out of my opponents. I lost about 20k in the first level and then slowly gained ground back to around 54k when I was moved to a new table, no more Swedes. The new table did have my nemesis from yesterday, Rajj Kattamuri, Kenna James, Clonie Gowen with a big stack, and the legendary Sam Farha tilting off the remains of a once towering stack on my right. None of them really caused a problem for me though - it was this kind-looking older lady who plays a very mean game of poker who busted my ass.

Day Two Draw

2005-12-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

Table 11

Seat One: William Thorson, 112k
Seat Two: Me, 66k
Seat Three: Thomas Koral, 12k
Seat Four: Anh Van Nguyen, 28k
Seat Five: Jeff Rine, 59k
Seat Six: Bo Sehlstedt, 56k
Seat Seven: Francis Mariani, 27k
Seat Eight: Bradley Berman, 19k
Seat Nine: Christopher Eddy, 49k

My table looks a lot like yesterday. A lot of semi-well known players, but no real superstars. Several medium stacks and two desperate ones. It's probably good having the chip leader Thorson directly on my right. I have heard he is very aggressive so it may be hard for me to open many pots. The guys to my left are all good players and circuit regulars. It should be a challenging day.

Five Diamond Day One

2005-12-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

I have 65,900 chips after day one. We started with 30k. I lost 18k to Raja Kattamuri on the second to last hand of the day. He had the nut straight and I had middle pair and I called his 13k river bet. I analyzed the hand thorougly and concluded that he had the nuts or nothing. That one stings to end the day as it was one of only two real pots I lost all day. The other was with AK against Steve Dannenmann's slowplayed AA but luckily I didn't hit anything and escaped with a small loss.

It was a very smooth day. My chip stack went up every level as I continuously won medium sized pots and never lost a big one. My table was tight and no one was determined to win the tournament on day one. Raja was the most active player at the table, four to my left, with Steve Dannenmann to his left. I had Ron Stanley (4th place to Stu Ungar in 97 WSOP) to my right and Fred Sigur three to my left. I had good focus all day and I followed through on my plan to think about every play very thoroughly and methodically, making sure I gathered all the information and processed it before making a decision. It was a good day but this thing is only beginning. 2/3 of the field still remains and tomorrow I will likely be at a tougher table with bigger stacks.

At one point about halfway through the day I had just bluffed Raja out of a pot and I was talking to Dannemann. He plays very solid poker but doesn't make a lot of super sophisticated plays or incredible calldowns or anything. He said all he did was play premium hands the first six days of the WSOP and then got lucky a few times at the final table. Sitting there with the chip lead at the table I really started to feel like I could win this thing, and it made me nervous. I'm starting to really think I could make a final table in one of these events, and it doesn't just seem like a dream anymore.

Cowboy Up

2005-12-12T01:20:00.000-08:00

The rodeo is in town.

A major rodeo event ended today here in Las Vegas, and the Gold Coast is packed with cowboys, wannabe cowboys, and even a few cowgirls and cowboy groupies. Downstairs in the casino there are more than a hundred such folk right now, most partying happily. I didn't even know there were that many cowboys still around.

It is a far different scene at the Bellagio.

There is an intense excitement over there in the poker room. I saw at least ten recognizable pros when I went over to buy in for tomorrow's tournament, the championship event of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Everywhere there was chatter, excited voices celebrating satellite wins, hushed tones discussing misplayed hands, and angry, fatalistic cries after bad beats. They ran a supersatellite for the main event today and got 500 customers. Yesterday's had around 450. The winners sheet from the supersatellites read like randomly generated lists of the top 300 players from Cardplayer's Player of the Year rankings.

This event is a cut above the rest of the circuit. There are several elements that distinguish the 5 Diamond from the rest of the big events:

The buy-in. 15k. The only major open American event with a bigger pricetag is the 25k WPT Championship.
The structure. Unlike most WPT events which are four days long, this one is five. The levels are longer and the stacks deeper.
The tradition. Three years ago this was the inaugural event of the World Poker Tour. I believe that was the first final table ever filmed with hole card cameras in the United States. The champion of that event was Gus Hansen. Paul Phillips won in 2003 and Daniel Negreanu last year. John Juanda, Dewey Tomko, and Humberto Brenes have been the runners-up.
The venue. The Bellagio is the epicenter of poker in Las Vegas and hosts the biggest games in the world. Also, the Bellagio is generally considered the classiest place to play poker in the States.

I've been thinking about the Five Diamond for weeks. I'm more nervous and excited than I have been since the night before the WSOP main event. With the great structure and strong field of players, there is no way I will be able to make it to day four without playing the best poker of my life. But there is no reason to think I won't. I feel very prepared.

A Hard Day's Night

2005-12-10T01:18:00.000-08:00

I put my nose back to the grindstone today. I felt like I had gotten robbed yesterday and I was eager to put it behind me and book a win. Well, right off the bat this happened:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ As, Ac ]
SEXSEAPOKER folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
hsinpei folds.
hotmark777 folds.
BukakeSoup raises (40) to 40
sacar folds.
tigliger folds.
SonikBooooom folds.
KINEEKEEYS folds.
GnightMoon raises (180) to 200
BukakeSoup calls (160)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6d, 9h, Ts ]
GnightMoon checks.
BukakeSoup checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Jc ]
GnightMoon checks.
BukakeSoup bets (700)
GnightMoon raises (1750) to 1750
GnightMoon is all-In.
BukakeSoup calls (1050)
** Dealing River ** : [ Kh ]
Creating Main Pot with $3927 with GnightMoon
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3927 Rake: $3
Board: [ 6d 9h Ts Jc Kh ]
BukakeSoup balance $4310.50, bet $1950, collected $3927, net +$1977 [ Qs Ad ] [ a straight, ten to ace -- Ad,Kh,Qs,Jc,Ts ]

Just sickening. Once again I manipulate an idiot into putting in his whole stack as a 4:1 underdog and once again he catches the miracle. I struggled all afternoon. Every time I would get close to even for the session I would lose a big pot and get knocked back down. Then this masterpiece - maybe the greatest hand I have ever played:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 9s, 9h ]
GnightMoon calls (20)
jman5j23 calls (20)
hotmark777 calls (20)
josshouse folds.
Ozzy_87 calls (20)
davidliu calls (20)
B_Budddy calls (20)
KINEEKEEYS calls (10)
MrW0nderful9 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, Ts, Th ]
KINEEKEEYS checks.
MrW0nderful9 checks.
GnightMoon bets (108)
jman5j23 folds.
hotmark777 folds.
Ozzy_87 folds.
davidliu raises (216) to 216
B_Budddy folds.
KINEEKEEYS folds.
MrW0nderful9 calls (216)
GnightMoon raises (392) to 500
davidliu calls (284)
MrW0nderful9 raises (784) to 1000
GnightMoon folds.
davidliu calls (500)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8d ]
MrW0nderful9 checks.
davidliu checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ 6d ]
MrW0nderful9 bets (1400)
davidliu calls (1400)
** Summary **Main Pot: $5457 Rake: $3
Board: [ 9c Ts Th 8d 6d ]
davidliu balance $178.50, lost $2420 [ As Td ]
MrW0nderful9 balance $7084, bet $2420, collected $5457, net +$3037 [ 9d Tc ]

I was so pumped up after Wonderful's cards were shown. So few players could have gotten away from this. I deliberately made the reraise on the flop to find out what was going on. I read the situation just perfectly, knowing liu had a ten and Wonderful the nuts. I went upstairs and bragged about the laydown to about 8 people before going back to play. I thought I would immediately start crushing but I made a couple ill-timed bluffs and once again I was down around 3k for the session.

I won a huge pot with AK against 88 on a QJT9x board to get back near even again, and then this disaster:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Jh, Js ]
zspec32 folds.
Ozzy_87 folds.
Pierside1987 calls (20)
Hubris12 raises (60) to 60
mortalfrog folds.
slothr0p folds.
zubersurge calls (60)
sydschwartz folds.
GnightMoon calls (50)
Mitera folds.
Pierside1987 calls (40)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5c, Jd, 7c ]
GnightMoon checks.
Pierside1987 checks.
Hubris12 bets (200)
zubersurge folds.
GnightMoon raises (600) to 600
Pierside1987 folds.
Hubris12 calls (400)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2c ]
GnightMoon checks.
Hubris12 bets (500)
GnightMoon raises (1556) to 1556
GnightMoon is all-In.
Hubris12 calls (1056)
** Dealing River ** : [ Kh ]
Creating Main Pot with $4569 with GnightMoon
** Summary **Main Pot: $4569 Rake: $3
Board: [ 5c Jd 7c 2c Kh ]
Pierside1987 balance $2072, lost $60 (folded)
Hubris12 balance $5044, bet $2216, collected $4569, net +$2353 [ 6c Ac ] [ a flush, ace high -- Ac,7c,6c,5c,2c ]
GnightMoon balance $0, lost $2216 [ Jh Js ] [ three of a kind, jacks -- Kh,Jh,Js,Jd,7c ]

I give my opponent full credit on this one. He made a fantastic bet on the turn (though I probably would have paid off anything). His preflop raise made it less likely for him to have two clubs in his hand. I really thought he had a pair or a jack, and out of position I felt I had no choice but to play the hand like I did.

I was forced to work my way back, and once again I did just that, playing hands like this absolutely perfectly:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 8c, 8d ]
hotmark777 folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
Ozzy_87 raises (80) to 80
JC2O15 folds.
mortalfrog folds.
Blondebirch folds.
Razer1000 folds.
GnightMoon calls (60)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4h, Ts, 8s ]
GnightMoon checks.
Ozzy_87 bets (160)
GnightMoon calls (160)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6s ]
GnightMoon checks.
Ozzy_87 checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ Ad ]
GnightMoon checks.
Ozzy_87 bets (160)
GnightMoon raises (425) to 425
Ozzy_87 calls (265)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $1357
GnightMoon balance $8215, bet $665, collected $1357, net +$692 [ 8c 8d ] [ three of a kind, eights -- Ad,Ts,8c,8d,8s ]
Ozzy_87 balance $1335, lost $665 [ Jd Ac ]

I had built several decent-sized stacks at this point. At one of my tables I had 3k and so did the player to my left. I had watched him make a number of putrid plays and was excited at the chance to take his stack. I thought I was doing just that on this crucial hand:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 5h, 5c ]
hughesrandy folds.
CyberTheft folds.
jman5j23 raises (60) to 60
GnightMoon calls (60)
steve01218 raises (100) to 100
RlVERRAT folds.FeederFish folds.
jman5j23 calls (40)
GnightMoon calls (40)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5d, Ts, 4h ]
jman5j23 checks.
GnightMoon checks.
steve01218 bets (125)
jman5j23 calls (125)
GnightMoon raises (450) to 450
steve01218 calls (325)
jman5j23 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ad ]
GnightMoon checks.
steve01218 bets (250)
GnightMoon raises (900) to 900
steve01218 calls (650)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4d ]
GnightMoon bets (1645)
steve01218 calls (1645)
** Summary **Main Pot: $6442 Rake: $3 Board: [ 5d Ts 4h Ad 4d ]
steve01218 balance $6692, bet $3095, collected $6442, net +$3347 [ Ah Ac ] [ a full house, Aces full of fours -- Ah,Ac,Ad,4h,4d ]

I think my original intention was to check and call on the turn, as I had put him on pocket aces the entire hand. When I saw his weak bet though, a voice told me not to blow this opportunity to take his stack assuming he had AK. He called my bet so quickly on the turn that it did not look like a monster (as monsters often think before deciding to slowplay), and I fired huge again on the river. I was pretty deflated after losing this pot, knowing I would have gotten his whole stack if the ace did not hit. He was a very weak player and there is no way he would have been able to fold pocket aces on this (or any) board. So instead of fighting all day and then winning 3k to get into the black, I lost 3k on the hand and had hit a new low point for the day.

***

INTERMISSION/DONUTBOY DEBACLE OF THE WEEK

One of the regulars on the 2k Party tables is a player named donutboy18. Although he plays consistently, always buys in for the max, and plays in a tight-aggressive manner, he is an absolute disaster of a player. His modus operandi is to make huge overbets and ridiculous over-the-top raises. He can be a pain to play against but the truth is donutboy's style wins small pots but never wins big pots unless he is beat. He also likes to slowplay in the wrong situations, which leads to him making bets that can only be called by better hands:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 9d, Jd ]
slothr0p folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
ineedhelp calls (20)
Surfin_Dude raises (100) to 100
Jackal86 folds.
fedya21 folds.
penguiny folds.
donutboy18 calls (90)
fazz2 calls (80)
GnightMoon calls (80)
ineedhelp calls (80)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9h, 8c, 6d ]
donutboy18 checks.
fazz2 checks.
GnightMoon checks.
ineedhelp checks.
Surfin_Dude checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3d ]
donutboy18 checks.
fazz2 bets (600)
GnightMoon calls (600)
ineedhelp folds.
Surfin_Dude folds.
donutboy18 raises (1860) to 1860
donutboy18 is all-In.
fazz2 raises (4127.36) to 4727.36
fazz2 is all-In.
GnightMoon folds.
** Dealing River ** : [ 2c ]
Creating Main Pot with $4817 with donutboy18
Creating Side Pot 1 with $2867.36 with fazz2
** Summary **
Main Pot: $4817
donutboy18 balance $0, lost $1960 [ Kh Ks ] [ a pair of kings -- Kh,Ks,9h,8c,6d ]
fazz2 balance $7684.36, bet $4827.36, collected $7684.36, net +$2857 [ 6s 6h ] [ three of a kind, sixes -- 9h,8c,6s,6h,6d ]

***

I fought and scrapped, caught a little rush, and somehow carved out a small profit for the day. It wasn't so much getting lucky as it was not getting unlucky. These idiots will pay you off every time if they have anything. For the last week my luck has been so bad that I had been starting to forget what it was like to have a hand hold up. I've never run as badly as I did this week and I'm proud of not losing more than I did the last couple days. I think a break-even player would have dropped at least 25k in my shoes.

I went upstairs and got a bite to eat, pumped about my comeback and ready to do something social. However, no one in the house was around and probes into the outside world proved fruitless. With nothing else to do I decided to return to the tables for some Friday night action. I haven't played on Friday night since I can remember. If tonight was an accurate representation it may be in my best interest to never go out on Friday night again.

I was handed 8k. I didn't even have to work for it. Truman watched the whole thing unfold. He just kept looking at the screen, puzzled, and then asked "wait a minute...that guy had nothing?" This was probably the worst collection of players I have ever seen playing high-stakes poker in my life. Take a look at some of these plays:

___

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Ac, Qd ]

madphly folds.

htkiunsvg folds.

ice_princess folds.

GnightMoon calls (20)

War_Eagle86 folds.

sanchezyou raises (100) to 100

Phallusy folds.

TIMEPEACE folds.

UncleRock folds.

GnightMoon calls (80)

** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qc, Kc, 9c ]

GnightMoon checks.

sanchezyou bets (150)

GnightMoon raises (500) to 500

sanchezyou raises (974.50) to 1124.50

sanchezyou is all-In.

GnightMoon calls (624.50)

** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5h ]

** Dealing River ** : [ 6s ]

Creating Main Pot with $2476 with sanchezyou

** Summary **Main Pot: $2476 Rake: $3Board: [ Qc Kc 9c 5h 6s ]

GnightMoon balance $3329.50, bet $1224.50, collected $2476, net +$1251.50 [ Ac Qd ] [ a pair of queens -- Ac,Kc,Qd,Qc,9c ]

sanchezyou balance $0, lost $1224.50 [ Jd Js ] [ a pair of jacks -- Kc,Qc,Jd,Js,9c ]

I guess he put me on a bluff.

___

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Qc, Qs ]

madphly calls (20)

DEROSA05 raises (90) to 90

Jackal86 calls (90)

GnightMoon raises (350) to 350

TIMEPEACE folds.

katyroller folds.

htkiunsvg folds.

YahtzeeH folds.

justwolf17 folds.

madphly folds.

DEROSA05 raises (509) to 599

DEROSA05 is all-In.

Jackal86 folds.

GnightMoon calls (249)

Creating Main Pot with $1335 with DEROSA05

** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qd, 2s, Js ]

** Dealing Turn ** : [ 3d ]

** Dealing River ** : [ 9s ]

** Summary **

Main Pot: $1335

GnightMoon balance $3460, bet $599, collected $1335, net +$736 [ Qc Qs ]

DEROSA05 balance $0, lost $599 [ Th Ah ] [ high card ace -- Ah,Qd,Js,Th,9s ]

I guess he put me on ace-nine. And the biggest:

___

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 2s, 2h ]

CrazyAly calls (20)

N__________1 folds.

Orangesox raises (75) to 75

GnightMoon calls (65)

Fakenick10 folds.

CrazyAly calls (55)

** Dealing Flop ** : [ 2c, 6d, 6s ]

GnightMoon checks.

CrazyAly checks.

Orangesox bets (125)

GnightMoon calls (125)

CrazyAly calls (125)

** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4c ]

GnightMoon bets (358)

CrazyAly calls (358)

Orangesox calls (358)

** Dealing River ** : [ 3d ]

GnightMoon bets (1032)

CrazyAly raises (2064) to 2064

Orangesox folds.

GnightMoon calls (1032)

** Summary **Main Pot: $5820 Rake: $2

Board: [ 2c 6d 6s 4c 3d ]

CrazyAly balance $185, lost $2622 [ 4s 5s ] [ a straight, two to six -- 6d,5s,4s,3d,2c ]

GnightMoonbalance $8597, bet $2622, collected $5820, net +$3198 [ 2s 2h ] [ a full house, Twos full of sixes -- 6d,6s,2s,2h,2c ]

***

I think I'm going to take a break from playing online the next couple days, and just get completely focused on the WPT event which starts Monday. I feel great about my online play, having minimized the damage from the worst run of cards of my life. I was supposed to lose a lot of money, I think, and instead I won a little bit.

Stupid

2005-12-09T02:27:00.000-08:00

I'm absolutely sickened by many things that have happened this week. The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me, and makes me feel so disgusted.

Late Monday night Ryan Young, a classmate who was once a friend of mine, trespassed onto CU property, climbed an 80 foot crane, attached his climbing rope to the top, and swung from it. He crashed into the CU power plant and was killed immediately.

A few summers ago my friend Stephen and I decided to climb Long's Peak via the old North Face cable route. I was on a typical wake up at 1 PM schedule so I said that instead of getting up early for the climb we should just stay up really late and start around 2 AM. Jacob and Ryan, who both fiended to climb like I fiend to play poker, would join us. I deliberately stayed up late the night before, slept late, took a nap in the afternoon, and ate as much as I could during the day. Ryan worked a double shift of construction that day, then ran up the mountain faster than anyone. The picture above was taken on the summit after our ascent.

He was the fastest runner I ever saw, he was a gifted climber, he was fearless and smooth with women, he was a nice guy, and now he's dead, because he did some stupid shit and got unlucky.

___

From: Clint O'Neal
To: Greg Castro
Subject: U (expletive) Spic...

Look here i dont no you but your (expletive) with the wrong person..I dont give (expletive) who you are u (expletive) river rat,,border hopper...I will come find you and drag you behind my (expletive) car you pieace of (expletive)..Or better yet I will come find you tonite and introduce you to the the (expletive) devil.. And that is me I dont give a (expletive) who u are.. But dont be suprised if you see a large mother(expletive) on your front door step...Just keep on (expletive) with me and my family u (expletive) bean eating peace of (expletive).

This email was sent from CU offensive lineman Clint O'Neal to CU cross-country runner Greg Castro. O'Neal's girlfriend and Castro's teammate, Jackie Zeigle, claims she wrote the message on O'Neal's account intending to scare Castro who she says harasses her.

When I saw this in the Daily Camera I almost threw up onto the adjacent article about Ryan Young's death. This is one of the most sickening things I've ever read. I just don't even know what to say, and I'm having a hard time writing about it. How could someone be stupid enough to write something like this? There is no rational reason why something like this should have ever been created. I feel sick that this happened, and sick that this stupidity is now attached to the CU Athletic Department.

___

Tonight on Survivor Cindy the zookeeper won the award challenge. The prize was a brand new Pontiac Torrent. Only Cindy was given a choice after she won the challenge: instead of taking her car, she could give one to each of the four other remaining survivors. She thought about it, and then chose to keep her car and leave the other four with nothing.

Instead of giving four cars to people, she chose to keep one car for herself.

I could not believe what I was seeing. It got worse. One of the other survivors said she would have chosen the same way, and actually accused Rafe (who would have given the cars away) of being self-righteous.

I just don't understand how anyone could live with themselves after making a decision like this. The way I look at things, this wasn't a selfish decision, it was a stupid decision. It's as simple as a second grade math problem. The amount of good from giving away four cars outweighs the amount of good from taking one car for yourself. Therefore you give away four cars. I just don't understand how anyone could calculate otherwise.

___

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 8d, 9c ]
captZEEbo folds.
monkey101 folds.
mortalfrog folds.
HowardRoark_ folds.
hammers2 folds.
theriver19 folds.
GnightMoon raises (60) to 60
NYJET5555 folds.
KISCO calls (40)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6s, 3s, 8h ]
KISCO checks.
GnightMoon bets (90)
KISCO raises (245) to 245
GnightMoon calls (155)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9s ]
KISCO bets (300)
GnightMoon raises (3533.75) to 3533.75
GnightMoon is all-In.
KISCO calls (999.75)
KISCO is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $3216.50 with KISCO
** Summary **
Main Pot: $3216.50
KISCO balance $3216.50, bet $1604.75, collected $3216.50, net +$1611.75 [ Td As ] [ a flush, ace high -- As,Js,9s,6s,3s ]

I lost 8k today online, my biggest cash game loss ever. Very little of this was because of bad play. Let me rephrase. Very little of the loss was due to my bad play. There were three critical hands, this being one of them, where it seemed like my opponents were trying to give their money to me. Each was a pot of more than 3k. Each time I was a 3:1 favorite or better. Each one was perfectly played by me and horribly played by my opponent. And at the end of each one the money was pushed in the wrong direction.

I use the words "wrong direction" but this is not the truth. In poker there is no wrong direction, and I have to accept that if I want to keep doing this. In the short run, stupidity does get rewarded. Sometimes people jump off cranes in the middle of the night and have fun (as Ryan Young did a month ago).

But poker, and life, are not about the short run. In the end, stupidity is punished. The KISCOs of the world invariably go broke. Cindy was voted off Survivor by the four people she could have given cars. And Ryan Young is dead.

WHOTW

2005-12-07T15:49:00.001-08:00

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Ah, Kc ]
hsinpei folds.
PatsFan123 raises (80) to 80
GnightMoon calls (80)
KriyaYoga folds.
skeet64 calls (80)
reefaaddict folds.
MrW0nderful9 folds.
JC2O15 folds.
Gorbash_ folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 8s, Ac, 5s ]
PatsFan123 bets (175)
GnightMoon raises (350) to 350
skeet64 calls (350)
PatsFan123 calls (175)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8d ]
PatsFan123 checks.
GnightMoon did not respond in time. GnightMoon folds.
skeet64 checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ 2h ]
PatsFan123 checks.
skeet64 checks.
** Summary **Main Pot: $1317 Rake: $3
Board: [ 8s Ac 5s 8d 2h ]
GnightMoon balance $1550, lost $430 (folded)
skeet64 balance $2544, bet $430, collected $1317, net +$887 [ Jh As ] [ two pairs, aces and eights -- As,Ac,Jh,8s,8d ]
PatsFan123 balance $2559.70, lost $430 [ Jd Jc ] [ two pairs, jacks and eights -- Ac,Jd,Jc,8s,8d ]

As for my role in this debacle, I was playing five tables while trying to figure out what to do in a marginal situation. Was I being trapped? Should I check it down or bet to protect my hand? I was just about to bet around $700 when I ran out of time and my hand was mucked. As for these other two idiots, their play is inexcusable. The sick thing about this hand was I lost a minimum of $1317 when my opponents had a combined one out to win the pot between them.

Grinding

2005-12-04T23:57:00.000-08:00

Gnightmoon has been extremely active lately, as Paul, Paul and I playing together, and I alone have been pounding the 2k tables continuously. Both of us are determined to make a lot of money, and we've been doing a solid job of that. Paul is trying to raise a bankroll and pay for things like the plasma tv he bought today. Meanwhile I have come to the realization that travelling the tournament circuit is extremely expensive. I may end up playing four main events in January alone, for a total of 40k. The spring is packed with WPT events, and all of this is before the WSOP where I may spend as much as 70k (if I can afford to) on buy-ins. The WPT event at Bellagio starts in one week and sports a price tag of 15k. Spending 15k to play in an event like this is questionable based on my bankroll but I am absolutely fiending to play another deep-stack high profile event. I think about it every day. I can't wait.

Today was my first loss online after decent wins throughout the week. I'll likely be back tomorrow, grinding in the basement while thinking about all the upcoming events.

WHOTW / Dealing With a Maniac

2005-12-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

There has been a flurry of activity on the 2k Party tables this week, as a maniac by the name of willc69 has been running around like a rabid dog. Now willc is not a good player by any means - he will call potsize bets on the flop with nothing but overcards, he will make bluffs where he is likely to be called and could be drawing dead, and he will never consider folding anything resembling a pair or a draw. This sort of thing is not at all unusual:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Kd, Ac ]
willisjs folds.
NewChoison folds.
dtamurian2 calls (20)
GnightMoon calls (20)
klingonnn raises (125) to 125
GingerPup calls (125)
Hitman010 folds.
slothr0p folds.
crapface82 folds.
willc69 calls (105)
dtamurian2 folds.
GnightMoon raises (458) to 478
klingonnn folds.
GingerPup folds.
willc69 calls (353)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Kh, 4h, 9s ]
willc69 checks.
GnightMoon bets (666)
willc69 calls (666)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Td ]
willc69 checks.
GnightMoon bets (1162)
GnightMoon is all-In.
willc69 calls (1162)
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $4889 with GnightMoon
** Summary **
Main Pot: $4889 Rake: $3
Board: [ Kh 4h 9s Td Js ]
willc69 balance $7828, bet $2306, collected $4889, net +$2583 [ Jh Tc ] [ two pairs, jacks and tens -- Kh,Jh,Js,Tc,Td ]

In spite of his considerable deficiencies, he has accumulated some obscenely large stacks this week playing at the 2k tables. Yesterday he simultaneously had two stacks of over 10k in play. Watching him build these stacks was appalling. There were some spectacular bad beats, as there always are when a maniac gets going. But most of willc's money was generated through experienced players mishandling him. Instead of sitting back, waiting for big hands, and putting the hammer down as a massive favorite, many of the 2k regulars challenged willc with subpar holdings and bluffs. These attempts almost always ended in failure.

After watching willc's rise yesterday, I have concluded that 99% of Party Poker has no idea how to play the game. No one adapts, except for GnightMoon, and that is why Moon is the best.

Here is the official Worst Hand of the Week:

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GnightMoon [ 4h, 7s ]
GnightMoon folds.
BluffALotCom folds.
slothr0p raises (60) to 60
SiSuited raises (120) to 120
bigbetjim folds.
regista8 folds.
MajBritt folds.
nitro001 calls (120)
Rhodie1 folds.
donutboy18 folds.
slothr0p raises (260) to 320
SiSuited calls (200)
nitro001 calls (200)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, 5s, 7d ]
slothr0p bets (1000)
SiSuited folds.
nitro001 calls (1000)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 8h ]
slothr0p bets (425)
nitro001 calls (398.50)
nitro001 is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 6h ]
Creating Main Pot with $3784 with nitro001
** Summary **
nitro001 balance $1892, bet $1718.50, collected $1892, net +$173.50 [ 3h 3c ] [ a straight, five to nine -- 9c,8h,7d,6h,5s ]
slothr0p balance $2218.50, bet $1745, collected $1918.50, net +$173.50 [ Kh Kc ] [ a straight, five to nine -- 9c,8h,7d,6h,5s ]

The Worst Ever?

2005-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

** Dealing down cards **
ISTEALALL calls [$20].
Gunter84 folds.
d_Undertaker folds.
diealone folds.
BABACC is all-In [$255]
madphly folds.
ieightsand folds.
JediTrick calls [$255].
reefaaddict folds.
ice_princess folds.
ISTEALALL calls [$235].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 3h, Qc ]
ISTEALALL bets [$600]
JediTrick raises [$1200]
ISTEALALL calls [$600]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
ISTEALALL checks.
JediTrick is all-In [$73.13]
ISTEALALL calls [$73.13]
** Dealing River ** [ 3d ]
JediTrick shows [ Ad, Jc ] two pairs, queens and threes.
ISTEALALL shows [ 4s, 2c ] two pairs, queens and threes.
BABACC shows [ As, Ks ] two pairs, queens and threes.

WHOTW

2005-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Bag witnessed perhaps the worst hand I have ever heard of (and copied it down) but I was unable to reach him in time for this post. That special debacle will be posted in the near future. For now we have this:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Kd, Ah ]
gamblegambel folds.
ikim322 folds.
CyberTheft folds.
YaleYalerson folds.
Surfin_Dude folds.
takeurcake raises (90) to 90
MATPAT calls (90)
GnightMoon raises (348) to 348
giggitty_goo folds.
BluffMag folds.
takeurcake calls (258)
MATPAT folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7h, Ac, 3d ]
takeurcake bets (600)
GnightMoon raises (1642) to 1642
GnightMoon is all-In.
takeurcake calls (1042)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 7d ]
** Dealing River ** : [ As ]
Creating Main Pot with $4097 with GnightMoon
** Summary **Main Pot: $4097 Rake: $3 Board: [ 7h Ac 3d 7d As ]
takeurcake balance $10, lost $1990 [ 4d 4h ] [ two pairs, aces and sevens -- Ac,As,7h,7d,4d ]GnightMoon balance $4097, bet $1990, collected $4097, net +$2107 [ Kd Ah ] [ a full house, Aces full of sevens -- Ah,Ac,As,7h,7d ]

As hopeless as that was, it is not as astonishing as the key hand from the final table of the WSOP Circuit Paris/Bally's championship (the last event I played) a few days ago:

Hand #43:
Kido Pham has the button in seat 2, Tran raises to $18,000, Pham reraises to $50,000, Hachem reraises to $150,000, Tran folds, and Pham thinks for a minute before moving all in. Hachem asks for a count of Pham's remaining chips before saying, "It doesn't matter, I call." Hachem shows pocket kings (Kc-Kd), and Pham shows Js-10c.

Hachem has Pham outchipped, and Pham will need to improve to stay alive here.
The flop comes Jc-Jh-2s, and Pham flops trip jacks to take the lead. The air is let out of the crowd, which seems to have been pro-Hachem, and it gets pretty quiet in the tournament arena.
The turn card is the 6c, and Hachem needs to catch a king on the river to bust Pham. The river card is the Ad, and Kido Pham doubles up in a huge pot to take the lead with about $600,000 in chips.

Hachem is still alive, but he is down to about $40,000 in chips.

Hachem busted out in 5th place shortly afterwards, while Pham went on to win the tournament.

The Next Level

2005-11-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

I spent the afternoon crushing Party Poker, getting my buy-in back from Saturday. With hands like these it was hard not to win:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 2c, 2d ]
StuDaKid folds.
Lled65 folds.
Razor_Edge folds.
JMastaC folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
pegas666 raises (90) to 90
pokkkkker folds.
SexyMoFoDude folds.
Phallusy folds.
GnightMoon calls (70)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qd, 2h, Kc ]
GnightMoon checks.
pegas666 bets (85)
GnightMoon raises (325) to 325
pegas666 calls (240)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9s ]
GnightMoon bets (714)
pegas666 calls (714)
** Dealing River ** : [ Qh ]
GnightMoon bets (851)
GnightMoon is all-In.
pegas666 calls (851)
Creating Main Pot with $3987 with GnightMoon** Summary **Main Pot: $3987 Rake: $3Board: [ Qd 2h Kc 9s Qh ]
GnightMoon balance $3987, bet $1980, collected $3987, net +$2007 [ 2c 2d ] [ a full house, Twos full of queens -- Qd,Qh,2c,2d,2h ]
pegas666 balance $1988, lost $1980 [ Tc Qc ] [ three of a kind, queens -- Kc,Qc,Qd,Qh,Tc ]

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Ks, Kd ]
StuDaKid folds.
gcnmoo folds.
ILUVTOLOSE folds.
fedya21 folds.
Phallusy raises (40) to 40
EnormusGoon folds.
willc69 raises (100) to 100
tigliger folds.
hotmark777 folds.
GnightMoon raises (547) to 567
Phallusy folds.
willc69 calls (467)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4d, 8h, 2s ]
GnightMoon bets (789)
willc69 calls (789)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Kh ]
GnightMoon checks.
willc69 bets (1100)
GnightMoon raises (1311.50) to 1311.50
GnightMoon is all-In.
willc69 calls (211.50)
** Dealing River ** : [ 9h ]
Creating Main Pot with $5382 with GnightMoon
** Summary **Main Pot: $5382 Rake: $3Board: [ 4d 8h 2s Kh 9h ]
willc69 balance $187.50, lost $2667.50 [ 5d 6d ] [ high card king -- Kh,9h,8h,6d,5d ]
GnightMoon balance $5382, bet $2667.50, collected $5382, net +$2714.50 [ Ks Kd ] [ three of a kind, kings -- Ks,Kd,Kh,9h,8h ]

I also won what I believe was the second biggest pot of my life after calling a bet with a gutshot, hitting it, and getting it all in on the turn with a big stack who had a set and a short stack who had a lower straight.

At night I went to Bally's and played online sit n gos with Mike Odeh and Jimmy Sommerfeld. Mike is a fantastic all-around player and Jimmy said tonight he will be the top tournament director for the WSOP this summer.

According to Mike
1) he is the best tournament player in the world and no one can match his results
2) he won or chopped first place in 7 of 10 $500 tournaments of more than 150 players this summer at the WSOP
3) he taught Hasan Habib how to play
4) he had 100k at night in day 1 of the WSOP main event this year before taking a 2 out beat in a 200k pot that would have given him the chip lead of the whole tournament. He also said that if he won this pot making the final table would be "guaranteed."
5) TJ Cloutier said Mike is the only player in the world he fears
6) he lost a $500,000 pot in pot limit Omaha against Jeremy Tinsley with TT98 all in against Jeremy's AKJJ on a JT75 board

I believe Mike on the last 5 points. The first one is probably a stretch but there is no doubt he is a complete and utter beast. It seems like every tournament he plays he is able to accumulate a big stack of chips and sometimes he is able to bring it all the way home. I learned quite a bit from Mike in Minnesota and really got inside his mind tonight watching him play and talking strategy. Right now it feels like the poker part of my brain is expanding and developing very quickly. I'm so much better right now than I was ten days ago, thanks to Mike, Hasan Habib, Alex Jacob, Kido Pham, Hoyt Corkins, and John Phan. I've also been thinking a lot about how Joseph Hachem was able to grind his way to a world championship and the current chip lead at WSOP Circuit Bally's seemingly by patiently waiting for the right situation and catching breaks. There are so many ways to play the game and I think my style falls somewhere in between Mike's style of nonstop pot stealing and Hachem's waiting game.

Back on Track

2005-11-21T03:39:00.000-08:00

I made a lot of money playing online today, finally getting lucky in some crucial hands. I hit two flush draws against sets on semibluffs for huge pots, and also hit a couple gutshots and two outers on the flop before pumping the pot. If I can have the kind of success I had today, I can play all the 10k events I want without bankroll pressure. And I am now pretty much addicted to playing the 10k events. Nothing is more fun. The next "big one" is the 15k championship at Bellagio in mid-December.

WHOTW

2005-11-20T22:03:00.000-08:00

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Kh, Ks ]
Damus77 calls (20)
Psyche_ folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
Cute___Girl folds.
MajBritt folds.
noplayinfool folds.
MATPAT folds.
hajuda raises (490) to 500
tigliger folds.
Damus77 folds.
GnightMoon raises (1180) to 1200
hajuda calls (700)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ah, Td, 8c ]
hajuda checks.
GnightMoon checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6s ]
hajuda checks.
GnightMoon checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
hajuda checks.
GnightMoon checks.
** Summary **Main Pot: $2437 Rake: $3Board: [ Ah Td 8c 6s Js ]
hajuda balance $4789.50, lost $1200 [ Kc 7d ]
GnightMoon balance $3574, bet $1200, collected $2437, net +$1237 [ Kh Ks ]

Pissing Away Ten Thousand Dollars

2005-11-20T02:11:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of ways you can blow ten thousand bucks. You could buy a used car with some unforeseen problems. You could make some poor investment choices. You could rent that new suite at the Palms that has a basketball court in it. You could do what Jonas was urging me to do at the end of the World Series, blow it all on one drug and hooker fueled limousine binge.

Or you could do what I did today - play a poker tournament and toss away your shot at fame and fortune. This event was loaded with all-stars. My first table had Men the Master and none other than the mythical Johnny Chan. The sick thing is there may have been TWO players even better than them - young hotshots JC Tran and Amnon Filippi. But I was able to get up to 13k playing at this table, mainly by making one enormous bluff against Lars Bonding. I had 99 and there were three overcards and a straight draw and I kept the heat on all three streets. That table broke, thank god, and I went to a new one. I made a flush against a tool and got to 17k.

After that things got rough. Kido Pham was at my table and he had two things I did not - position and a huge stack. He put the hurt on everyone, including me. Todd Brunson was there as well but he was clearly not on his game. After Kido got moved Hoyt Corkins, who was sitting on my right, slowly took over the table. His game is not to steal blinds or even outplay people after the flop, but reraise and pick up dead money whenever he thinks he can get away from it. This strategy, combined with a lot of big hands, was pretty devastating.

Soon enough John Phan sat down directly on my left. Sitting with a tough, aggressive player to my left is nothing new for this trip - I've already had Hasan Habib, Mark Seif, Alex Prendes, and Alex Jacob manning that post. Phan lived up to his reputation throughout the day. At one point a couple guys at the table made a sidebet on the number of hands he would play in one round, with the over/under set at 8.

After playing for several hours, I felt I got to know Phan's strategy pretty well. His game is really about finesse, not brute force. He gets himself into what seems like every pot, but what he is really trying to do is put himself in position to get lucky and outplay people. He makes a lot of bets but they are usually small bets - small raises before the flop and almost always bets of less than half the pot afterwards. He is not afraid to make hard decisions and playing with him is an exercise in patience - others must often wait for several minutes while he thinks about what to do. At the same time you must be patient with him and concede small pots without losing your mind. And when he gets shortstacked, he tightens up considerably (though that didn't stop me from doubling him up).

My stack was down to 4500 at dinner after two ill-advised confrontations against Phan and the underrated unknown recreational player John Smith. Right after the dinner break I hit a little rush and cruised up to 14k. After that things did not go so well and, down to 7k, I made a mistake. I would have been at around 4k if I had not made the mistake, in deep trouble, but still in. It was an embarassing moment, though the most embarassing moment would actually come half an hour later in the crowded Gold Coast elevator. I had left my ipod playing, and everyone could hear the Collective Soul blaring from the headphones when I took them off in the elevator.

Getting knocked out of these things is so painful, all I can think about is the next chance. Don't take my word for it - just ask this guy, whose third place finish YESTERDAY at Foxwoods didn't stop him from hopping a morning flight in time for this tournament.

Paris/Bally's $1500 6-man

2005-11-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

I accumulated a very large stack after doubling through Alex Prendes' 99 with JJ after smoothcalling his raise in the big blind and checkraising all in on a rag flop. I also won several other pots including a flush against a straight.

I couldn't seem to hold on to the chips though. I doubled through Mark Seif and his big stack with 77 against A5 on a button raise he predictably reraised. I lost a big race with A4 against 33, then won a race with 99 against AJs, but then Glyn Beebe took me out with JJ against those same two nines.

The tournament room is crawling with good players right now. Player of the Year contenders like John Phan (left) and Max Pescatori, and a lot of regulars on the circuit like Prendes, Beebe, and Don Mullis. Mullis stuck it all in against me with 32s after I raised his SB limp with KJ in the BB, and I folded.

During one of the breaks I was talking to a young player named Chino and his mentor, Phan. I told them I had bet some friends I would be top 20 in the Player of the Year rankings in 2006. I feel like I am starting to get to the point where I can compete in these tournaments, but I'm not there yet. At an average table I'm better than most players, but usually not the best player at the table. I'm improving in a hurry though, and in 2006 Mr. Phan had better watch out.

Paris/Bally's $1500 NL

2005-11-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

I got off to a fast start today, picking up a bunch of dead money with rockets after limp/reraising. I was at a wild, gambling table with a wide range of players - seasoned pros, noobs, tourists, old men, etc. The player to my right may have been the worst player I have ever seen. My friend Mike Odeh, who I got to know at Canterbury, was there as well.

KQ was my undoing today. I lost a huge pot with it, all in against Ah8h on a K948 board with two hearts. I lost the rest of my chips against it with 8c9c after checkraising all in on a KcTcT flop.

The tournament professionals were out in force today, and the environment felt a lot different from Foxwoods. The players here are a lot better in general, and there is more camaraderie between familiar foes.

Tonight the plan (after Survivor of course) is to meet up with Mike (assuming he's not still in the tournament) and then get some rest. The $1500 shorthanded event is tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm starting to feel good physically and my game is in even better shape.

Buckner Back in Shea

2005-11-17T00:53:00.000-08:00

When Mike McD returns to Teddy KGB's lair near the end of Rounders, he says he feels "like Buckner walking back into Shea." That's kind of how I felt tonight as I walked past the familiar wannabe Tom Jones act playing in front of a hundred old people downstairs in the Gold Coast.
But this trip to Vegas feels different already. The air feels brisk and refreshing. I'm excited to be here. I'm playing with more confidence now than ever before. Because of this, I'm having more fun playing poker than I ever have before.

Yesterday at Foxwoods I just had a blast. I made a badass play early on, raising a checkraise with 89s on a Q75A board. I busted a player with JJ against 88 and was up to 130k. I was sitting next to Chip Jett and we were cracking jokes back and forth. Then the table broke and I got a brutal draw, with Alex Jacob harnessing an elephantitis-afflicted stack two to my left.

Jacob was playing with extreme aggression and I seemed to be his target. He showed down A5o, Q5o, 24o, and 74o. He reraised me five times and I didn't have enough to play with him once. I also doubled a guy up unnecessarily with A7 against his AJs and I found myself down to 70k. Then I won about 30k off Jacob with a straight to get back to my starting stack for the day.

I lost about that much back to Jacob later on with a bluff against a rebluff. I didn't really play any big pots until we were down around 100 players and into the money. I had been ground down to about 50k before a clutch double up with AA against QQ. After that I made a play on a guy with Q2o which failed. Finally down to 70k I made my stand against Jacob, outlined in ths morning's blog.

Jacob went out today shy of the megascore I'm sure he was after. He made a lot of plays that I wouldn't but I really respected his play. I really learned a lot from him, not just how to be aggressive but how to play against an aggressor like him. I also gained a lot from Hasan Habib - including two hundred dollars. Yesterday during a break we were talking and he told me he had 65k. I had 75k at the time. To my surprise he asked me if I wanted to swap a percentage of our action. I couldn't believe what I was hearing - the man has made about two million dollars in tournaments during the last year and a half, and he was willing to trade with me? He said I played really well and we agreed to swap 10%. Hasan went on to a 14k payday, $200 of which I will collect this weekend.

Tomorrow is the $1500 NL here at the Paris. I can't wait to get back out there.

59th Place at Foxwoods

2005-11-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

My first cash in a major tournament was worth $12,000, a profit of $1800. In ten minutes the Wolf and I are driving to Hartford where I will board a plane for Vegas to go play at the WSOP Circuit at the Paris.

My final hand: Blinds 1500-3000 with a 500 ante. I have about 70k. I had J-2 of diamonds on the button. Alex Jacob was in the small blind and he had been playing extremely aggressively with his big stack. We had already had several confrontations and he had gotten the better of me on most. The big blind was playing a tight "raise or fold" sort of game. I decided to limp because Jacob had been reraising me consistently and the big blind had also proven suspicious of button raises. To no one's surprise Jacob raised 10k more. The big blind studied for about two minutes before finally folding and I called.

The flop came 974 with two diamonds. Jacob thought for a while (as he always did) and then made a bet of around 20k. I immediately pushed in and he immediately called with 7-4 offsuit. No diamond was in my future and that was it.

I will post more later.

Chippy in Connecticut - Foxwoods Day One

2005-11-14T23:21:00.000-08:00

I have 93k after day one. That is a ton of chips - should be top 10 out of 800 players, most of whom are now on the rail.

My starting table was real soft and I got to 23k without much trouble. There was a key hand against Richard "Quiet Lion" "Writer of Microsoft Word" "Gazillionaire and Proud of It" Brodie in which I raised with 89s. He reraised from the blind and I decided to call in position. The flop came K8x and he made a bet and I called. I bet when checked to on the K turn and he mucked.

Then Hasan Habib showed up on my left with a mountain of chips.

I smoothcalled a UTG raise with QQ as did a few others. It came KQJ and UTG checked. I bet 3k and everyone folded to UTG who made a raise to like 9k. I moved in and he called with T9 of hearts. I was down to 6k and in desperation mode.

I doubled up with AQs against an overplayed KQs soon after which got me back in the hunt. I beat JJ with AKs for some more chips. Then I raised with J9s in early position and Habib made his usual call, another guy called, and a passive player called. The flop was the dreamy T87 with two hearts. I bet 2.2k, Habib made it 7k, the passive guy went all in for like 9k, I moved in, and Habib called. Habib had the Beast T8 of clubs and the passive guy had AK of hearts. They had a ton of outs but none hit and I won a gargantuan pot of near 50k to become a real force.

I then siphoned about 8k on questionable play before raising with 55, hitting a set and turning a boat, and winning a medium pot when my opponent folded on the turn (board was 5677 and I bet flop and turn hard). A bit later I called an early position raise with pocket jacks in the big blind. The flop came KT4 with two spades and we both checked. The turn was a K and we both checked again. The river was a T and I bet 4k. My opponent, Pat Poels, a WSOP bracelet winner in O8 this year, moved in for about 10k more. I thought about his possible hands before concluding it was likely he had either quads or a complete bluff. AK or a ten would have bet the flop or turn. I made the call and he showed pocket fives, a complete bluff. Goodnight Moon.

Soon after Chris McCormack (7th place last year in this event) raised UTG to 2k and I smoothcalled in next position with my first pocket rockets of the day. Habib made it 6k in third position and I started to think about what I wanted to do. Everyone folded to McCormack who immediately pushed in for around 20k. I reevaluated for about a minute. I thought about smoothcalling once again. If I did that Habib would surely know I had a monster but not necessarily know it was aces. The trouble with this is that Habib would likely call for pot odds and if he hit his hand I would likely go broke. For example if the flop came J92 and he had pocket jacks I would go broke. I was too scared of this happening so I decided to push in for more than 40k. Habib thought for three seconds, said "I don't want to gamble with you guys" and folded pocket kings faceup! McCormack had a hopeless AK offsuit and I busted him.

I won some more pots and the last hand of the day I made a backdoor flush with 45 of hearts against Habib and got him to call my 9k river bet.

Hasan Habib is the most impressive player I have ever seen. He was playing like a mad genius, raising half the hands and calling raises the other half. I've never seen someone play as loose or aggressive, yet with great control. The entire table was scared shitless of him, and for good reason. He broke a rock with K3o against AA after a button raise gone bad, and called a 2500 all in on his 600 BB with 62o because he was getting 2:1 pot odds. He beat the poor guy's 55. He somehow beat 33 with As8h after a Qh5h3 flop, betting the flop, check calling on the 2h turn, and somehow getting the guy to call the rest of his chips on the heart river.

Having him on my left tonight was an absolute nightmare and I am so lucky to have survived, not to mention built a huge stack.

The Wolf, caught up in the excitement of a strong but relatively insignificant first day, is making an unscheduled visit tomorrow.

Cruddy in Connecticut

2005-11-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

I feel like crap. I'm sick. Saturday was an epic, debilitating day of travel which ended in the 6-casino hell of Foxwoods. Tomorrow I play in Heat 2 of the World Poker Finals championship event. Hopefully I'll feel better, but if not, it's poker, not wrestling. Shouldn't affect my game much.

I just booked a 4k win online so at least travel expenses have been paid for.

Congratulations Pickett!

2005-11-09T23:40:00.000-08:00

PunkyPickett got 5th place today in a huge rebuy tournament on Party Poker, QUINTUPLING her bankroll in the process. I've never quintupled my bankroll in a day of poker, ever.

Heart

2005-11-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

I have been playing a fair amount of online poker, always the $2000 tables on Party Poker. Things have not been going as smoothly as in the past. I think I've been playing okay, but getting extremely unlucky. Nonstop coolers. Kings vs. aces. Set under set. And a continual parade of missed flops.

Tonight I was down over 7k after losing several huge pots. Only one of these was a real mistake when I had top pair against a super aggressive player and called off my whole stack only to be shown four of a kind. Another I had KK against a maniac who had AA. And another I had 66 against KQ on a KK86 board all in for a 4.6k pot and watched an 8 hit the river.

I then decided that no matter how unlucky I got, I was going to win. I started bluffing like there was no tomorrow. I can't remember getting "lucky" once - hitting a set against an overpair, getting a flush against a lower flush, etc. I just outplayed everyone for several hours and came all the way back, finally carving out a 1.5k profit. I've never been down this much in a session, and coming back was one of my finest poker accomplishments so far.

Then I got it all in with AA against KQ on a KJ8x board for a pot of a little more than $5900. The river was a king. I played the hand so courageously and so well, and my opponent played it so horribly. There was just absolutely no justice this time. Poker can be so sickening when things like this happen.

But I came back. I sucked it up and I ran over some shorthanded tables. I've never played with that much ferocity, or determination. At the end of the night I finished with a $600 profit.

Foxwoods starts on Monday, and I will be bringing the ferocity and determination as well as the confidence gained at Canterbury. I get better and more fearless with each 10k event I play. As I've said before, a breakthrough is coming soon.

WHOTW #4

2005-11-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 7d, Ks ]
caspis calls (20)
vladochka calls (20)
rprobst10 raises (50) to 50
KriyaYoga folds.
GnightMoon folds.
tenstar folds.
SonikBooooom raises (220) to 240
caspis folds.
vladochka folds.
rprobst10 calls (190)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7c, Kh, Ah ]
SonikBooooom checks.
rprobst10 bets (100)
SonikBooooom raises (2596) to 2596
SonikBooooom is all-In.
rprobst10 calls (1848.75)
rprobst10 is all-In.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Qd ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 4s ]
Creating Main Pot with $4424.50 with rprobst10
Creating Side Pot 1 with $647.25 with SonikBooooom
** Summary **Main Pot: $4424.50 Side Pot 1: $647.25 Rake: $3
Board: [ 7c Kh Ah Qd 4s ]
SonikBooooom balance $5071.75, bet $2836, collected $5071.75, net +$2235.75 [ Kd As ] [ two pairs, aces and kings -- As,Ah,Kd,Kh,Qd ]
rprobst10 balance $0, lost $2188.75 [ Kc Qc ] [ two pairs, kings and queens --

Upcoming Plans

2005-11-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

For the Foxwoods main event I'll be staying at an AmericInn 15 minutes from the casino from Saturday, Nov 12 thru Tuesday, Nov 15. I'll then go to Vegas for the WSOP Circuit at Paris, staying at my old favorite The Gold Coast from Wednesday, Nov 16 until flying home on Tuesday, Nov 22.

Anyone who has an interest in visiting let me know.

WHOTW #3

2005-10-29T01:21:00.000-07:00

I promise this is for real money, as in (80) = $80 and (2120) = $2120.

Dealt to GnightMoon [ Kd, Ad ]
slothr0p folds.
Surfin_Dude folds.
caspis folds.
GnightMoon calls (20)
shyamr7 folds.
fslexcduck raises (80) to 80
SexyMoFoDude calls (70)
likaden folds.
GnightMoon calls (60)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5d, 3s, As ]
SexyMoFoDude checks.
GnightMoon checks.
fslexcduck checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4d ]
SexyMoFoDude bets (125)
GnightMoon calls (125)
fslexcduck raises (2120) to 2120
fslexcduck is all-In.
SexyMoFoDude folds.
GnightMoon calls (1995)
** Dealing River ** : [ 8d ]
Creating Main Pot with $4622 with fslexcduck
** Summary **Main Pot: $4622 Rake: $3Board: [ 5d 3s As 4d 8d
SexyMoFoDude balance $2004, lost $205 (folded)
likaden balance $380, lost $20 (folded)
slothr0p balance $2000, didn't bet (folded)
Surfin_Dude balance $2302, didn't bet (folded)
caspis balance $557, didn't bet (folded)
yru477 balance $400, sits out
SitNSideways balance $3883, sits out
GnightMoon balance $4673, bet $2200, collected $4622, net +$2422 [ Kd Ad ] [ a flush, ace high -- Ad,Kd,8d,5d,4d ]
shyamr7 balance $1012, didn't bet (folded)
fslexcduck balance $0, lost $2200 [ Jd Th ] [ high card ace -- As,Jd,Th,8d,5d ]

Letter to WPT and Mike Sexton

2005-10-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

To Whom It May Concern:

Several days ago I sent the following email to Mike Sexton. I am now sending it to this address, and hope it reaches someone with some say in the matter. If there is someone else I should contact, please let me know.

I am following the final table action of the WPT Doyle Brunson Championship Event at Bellagio, and am dismayed to see that once again, hundreds of thousands of dollars will change hands in a crapshoot, and a champion will be crowned not because he was the best player during the tournament, but rather the luckiest player at the final table.

I am a young professional poker player having just graduated from Macalester College in the spring, and a WPT addict. I have watched every episode that has ever aired and own the Season I and II DVD packages. I have played in two WPT events thus far, Legends of Poker and Borgata (both in 2005).

When I think back to my favorite WPT episodes, all have one thing in common: low blinds compared to the players' chip counts, allowing for more sophisticated play and more postflop action. Borgata Season Three, Legends of Poker Season Three, and the WPT Championship of Season One all come to mind. My least favorite episodes are the ones decided by (usually unavoidable) preflop showdowns.

I believe it is shameful that these WPT events often reach the point where if any player wants to play a pot, he must commit all his chips before the flop. I feel that fantastic tournaments have been ruined by the WPT's ridiculous final table structure which decreases time, skill, and viewing entertainment and increases luck. One blatant example of this was the WPT Championship from Season Three, which should have been the most entertaining WPT episode of all time considering the caliber of players at the final table and the money and prestige they were playing for. Unfortunately every hand was all-in before the flop because the blinds were so high. What could have been a fascinating battle of styles between Le, Maxfield, and Habib at the end was effectively an all-in crapshoot. Another example was the recent Borgata championship which featured an incredible structure and tons of play until the rising blinds at the final table destroyed any hope of seeing a flop without a player all-in.

I spoke to John D'Agostino during the US Poker Championships and he was furious about the WPT final table structure that he felt had compromised his chances of winning the event. We both agreed that the USPC was a more inviting event to play because the final table would not turn into a crapshoot.

I don't believe it is fair for the WPT to implement their own structures at final tables, especially if their structures speed up the tournament and decrease the skill factor. Also, I don't see how rising the blinds so fast helps the WPT. I understand that production costs are lower if the taping takes less time, but I'm sure most viewers would agree that higher blinds leads to less entertaining viewing.

There are some rumblings in the poker community that players will start boycotting the WPT if something is not done to make the final table structures more reasonable.

Gavin Smith and Minh Ly, two of the finest no limit hold 'em players in the world, just played the biggest pot of the tournament, all in before the flop, with ace-seven suited against king-eight offsuit. Does this seem right to you? Is this entertaining to watch? Is this fair to them, having played their hearts out for four days? Is it in the spirit of the game to have hundreds of thousands of dollars decided by ace-seven against king-eight? And is there anything either could have done to avoid this confrontation?

It is a shame that yet another WPT final table loaded with top players is being decided by ace-seven against king-eight. A better final-table structure is necessary to salvage the respectability of the WPT.

Thank you for listening.

Thomas Fuller

Fall Awards

2005-10-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

Some superlatives from a fast-paced month and change spent in Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, and the Twin Cities:

Best Poker Tournament:
The WPT Borgata Championship, which was the greatest tournament I have ever played in. A fantastic structure, wonderful players, and a great venue. Of course the WPT had to ruin it with ridiculous rising of blinds at the final table.

Best Card Club:
Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN. Still the best-run card club I’ve been to.

Worst Card Club:
The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, which was unprepared for the US Poker Championships. They offered a nice structure and ESPN, but the floor staff was totally inadequate for this level.

Best Apartment/House:
I saw many, and Kevin and Jeremy’s was easily the best.

Best New Album Purchased:
There were several deserving choices: Death Cab’s “Plans” (solid), BRMC’s “Howl” (okay), The Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang” (surprisingly good), Nada Surf’s “The Weight is a Gift” (good but not great), and Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm” (the jury is still out). But the best disc I listened to on this trip was Embrace’s “Out of Nothing”, which sounds exactly like a cross between Coldplay and Oasis.
*It should be noted that I haven’t yet listened to the new Franz Ferdinand or Neil Young albums. It should also be noted that I will never listen to the new Nickelback or Sheryl Crow albums. Finally, it should be noted that there were two Sheryl Crow songs on the recently compiled list of my 100 favorite songs.

Most Shameful Bandwagon Jump:
Yankees fan Ian McCulley, who hopped on board the Bronx Boat just in time to hit the iceberg.

Best Movie:
“The Constant Gardener”, a solid 8/10.

Best Blog Comment:
Second place goes to RumbleJbJ who said:
Note who is in last place in the points standings: John "Checkraise" Hayes. Looks like Mr. "Checkraise" ran into a few too many "re-raises" this tournament.
First place goes to thegravewolf for his "Cheers, Julian" take on the spammers. Read all the comments from “This One Hurts” on October 4th to fully appreciate the Wolf’s entry.

Best Pre-Tournament Text Message:
"dominate dominate" from Nate Abbott right before the USPC main event.

Most Mediocre City:
Philadelphia, which seems to revel in its own mediocrity with fatalistic glee. Milwaukee may have been a strong contender in this category if I was there for more than seven hours.

Best All-Around Player, Fall Poker Classic: Yep, that would be me.

Most Pretentious Movie:
“Elizabethtown.” Not disappointing because it’s bad (it’s not), but because it’s the second straight near miss from Cameron Crowe. “Almost Famous” was an unpretentious movie about unpretentious characters trying to be pretentious, before ultimately realizing they could just be themselves. “Elizabethtown” is a pretentious movie about pretentious characters trying to be unpretentious, and ultimately failing. This wouldn’t be too bad, except a) Crowe tries to convince us they succeeded; and b) Orlando Bloom is the main character.

Most Necessary Visit:
First place again goes to the Wolf who needed to make a showing after the WSOP “months of hype” airball. Second place goes to Kwickfish who also threw up a zero at the WSOP but never claimed he would make an appearance. Third place goes to PunkyPickett who did not have to redeem herself but made the trip anyways.

Best Colorado Sports Team:
The Denver Broncos, although I think the Buffs have a better chance to win their conference this year. And the Nuggets’ season hasn’t started yet. Keep sipping that Kool-Aid, Mr. McCulley.

Second Biggest Redneck in the History of Survivor:
Too close to call. This has been a very competitive category, with three contenders battling hard. So far Bobby Jon is holding on by a thread over Brandon and Jaime (making a late charge). No one has a shot at passing the incomparable Big Tom for first place on the all-time list.

Best Televised Poker Play:
Phil Hellmuth’s check/fold with AK on a board of A44Q in the WSOP this week. The preflop reraiser showed him AA after the laydown. 90% of players are going broke with AK heads up when it comes A44, and Hellmuth lost nothing. Granted, the hand was horribly played by his opponent (but not as bad as these):

Worst Televised Poker Play:
Third place: A donk puts in his whole decent sized stack with AQo after getting reraised by Marcel Luske who had AK.
Second place: A donk puts in his whole short stack with QJs after Daniel Negreanu raised limpers with AQ.
First place: A donk puts in his whole decent-sized stack with KJs after getting reraised by Hellmuth who had AK. Of course he hit the miracle suckout sparking the inevitable, always entertaining Hellmuth temper-tantrum.

Best Music Video:
James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful.”

Worst Music Video:
Rob Thomas’s “This is How a Heart Breaks.”
*However, this also won “Best Unintentional Comedy.”

Worst Use of Mario Lopez:
The only nominee in this category is also the winner: ESPN Hollywood. This show is so dreadful that I don’t know how truly awful it really is, because I never get through more than two minutes without reassessing my commitment to a cable sports package at the new house.

Most Obvious Bill Simmons Ripoff:
This blog entry.

Best Moment:
Walking on the Atlantic City beach listening to music and watching the sunset.

______________

It was a very exciting month and I'm already excited about getting back on the road. I'll be playing the championship events at Foxwoods on Nov 13, WSOP Circuit Paris Las Vegas on Nov 19, and Bellagio on Dec 12.

Mission Accomplished

2005-10-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

I got down to Canterbury about 5 PM yesterday, just in time to see Harry Cohn bust out in 20th place. Mr. Cohn was the last player left who could overtake me for the points lead, so his bustout sealed the deal. I returned four hours later at the conclusion of the final table to have a couple photos taken with the trophy and pick up the $2500 prize money.

This is the #1 accomplishment of my poker career so far, although the money is relatively insignificant (I know that comment will make a lot of people sick). The truth is that if you want to make serious money playing poker, playing $200 and $300 tournaments is not the way to go about it. The way to do it is to play high-stakes cash games, and maybe some big buy-in (5k or more) championship tournaments. My guess is that the best player in the world would have a hard time banking more than 200k a year travelling around playing small tourneys.

For me, the importance of this award is confidence. For the first time in my life I am a poker champion, although I still have never won a tournament of more than 20 players. I conquered the card club of my nightmares, a place that had repeatedly beaten me down over the years. Before this year, I had been to Canterbury about ten times and had never walked away a winner. Yesterday I walked out as just that.

I may never play again at Canterbury, but I will always remember it for the milestones reached there. The first time I ever played poker at a casino was at Canterbury early in my junior year, and it was a devastating debacle of a night that left me short on funds but hungry for redemption. A year later I would return and play my first live tournaments there, without success. I went back several times last year, usually to play tournaments. One time I got all in with AA against KK with two tables left in a tournament and lost. Another time I had KK lose to AK for a monster pot. It's fitting that my tournament breakthrough took place at the site of so many frustrations.

Next up: Foxwoods in mid-November, followed by the inevitable return to another site of failure and frustration: Vegas.

FPC Championship Event

2005-10-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

We arrived about ten minutes late to the 1k Championship at Canterbury today because of road work leading to horrific traffic on 169.

I wish we had been fifteen minutes late.

WHOTW (Worst Hand of the Week) Volume II:

The fourth hand after I sat down a player I had already identified as a loose cannon limped under the gun for 15. I raised to 75 in mid-late position with TT and he quickly called. The flop came T84 rainbow. He checked and I checked behind him because I didn't want to lose him (I thought he had a KQ type hand). The turn was a seven and he once again checked. I bet 150 and just a second or two later he launched his entire stack into the pot! I stood up, looked at him, looked at the board, and called after about fifteen seconds. He turned over two queens. Considering that
a) he was only going to get called by a better hand
b) he had no idea where he was at
c) he was risking 1800 chips and his entire tournament to win 300 chips
d) this was the very first level of the tournament and
e) he was messing with the FPC Best All-Around Player Points Leader
f) he ended up getting called and had less than a 5% chance of winning the pot
this was the obvious choice for WHOTW. A sickening queen hit the river and I was crippled, down to 150 from the 2000 starting chips (luckily this dumbass had already siphoned 150 chips so I did not go broke).

A bit later I doubled up with ATs against AKs. I then folded about 30 hands in a row. Then with only 200 chips and the 50 BB headed my way I doubled up with KQ against 88. Then I got moved to a different table and more than doubled up with 66 against AQs. Then a thief tried to steal my big blind where I had pocket kings and reraised him all-in. He called for pot odds with 74o and I doubled up again. Then I won a small pot after I limped in. Then I won the blinds twice with a preflop raise. Then I made the play of the day:

25-50 blinds. A loose player I had already nicknamed "The Siphoner" in my mind limped in early position. A tough player limped behind him and so did the SB. I had 5c2c aka "The Aviar" in the big blind and I checked. The flop came Qc7c2 and everyone checked. The turn was an offsuit jack and the SB checked. I checked and The Siphoner bet 300 of his remaining 1050. The tough guy thought forever and folded what he later said was the Ac4c. The SB folded and I immediately pushed in. The Siphoner thought for a minute before showing a jack and folding.

Two hands later the Siphoner pushed in under the gun with ATo and a miniscule stack called all-in with AQo. I called with AKs on the button and busted em both, and I was up to 3400!

I took a walk and called the Wolf excited as hell about coming all the way back from just about the most desperate situation imaginable. I really thought I was going to keep building all the way to the final table and win the Championship but in the 100-200 levels my cards got very cold and I didn't win another pot. The last hand was tragic:

I moved in for about 1000 with J9 offsuit in midearly position. Everyone folded to a kid in late position who stuck in 800 chips without looking at me. I immediately knew that he was trying to steal the blinds and had not seen me go all-in before him. I also knew his chips were going to be required to stay in the pot and I was about to get called. Everyone else folded and it was ruled that he had to leave 800 in the pot (he wanted to fold) so he obviously called the other 200 with his KTs and busted me with about 130 out of 340 remaining when it came KTxJx.

I don't regret any hand I played today; it just wasn't meant to be this time. When I left the Card Club there were still three players left who can pass me in the All-Around points race with a final table finish tomorrow. Three Putts, Tam Le, and Mike Carlson were all out before me.

Kwickfish did not bring his A game today and met a quick demise. At night we briefly played on one $2k table on PP. We made one very spectacular play:

Dealt to GnightMoon [ 2c, 2s ]
Crittercage raises (50) to 50
Deductions folds.
GnightMoon calls (50)
ThanhKhiet folds.
prizman folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Tc, Ts, 5h ]
Crittercage bets (100)
GnightMoon calls (100)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ks ]
Crittercage bets (100)
GnightMoon raises (252) to 252
Crittercage calls (152)
** Dealing River ** : [ 5s ]
Crittercage bets (500)
GnightMoon raises (1733) to 1733
GnightMoon is all-In.
Crittercage folds.

Unfortunately Crittercage got us back after as we made a couple weak calls when he had us beat and we ended the session down $500. I then got my ass kicked in foosball.

Tomorrow Kwick goes home, I find out if I accomplished my pre-tournament goal, and CHEEBA holds the Chili Cookoff.

Cooler at the $500 NLHE

2005-10-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

I was off to a nice start with 10-15 blinds after winning a decent-sized pot with JJ when I called an early position raise of 50 behind another caller with pocket fours. The flop came down T84 rainbow and the raiser bet just 50. The caller, a belligerent-looking kid wearing a Party Poker ski cap, raised the minimum to 100. I just called because I knew if I raised it would be obvious that I had a monster. The preflop raiser called the mini-raise as well and a Qh hit the turn (the second heart). The preflop raiser checked and the kid angrily bet 150. I raised to 400 and the preflop raiser moved in for 915 total after thinking for twenty seconds. The kid folded and I went into the tank. I didn't like the situation but ultimately I didn't have enough information to make an absurd laydown and I called. As I suspected he had pocket tens for a higher set and I was crippled. A few hands later I tried AJ and this time my opponent merely had quads. Kwickfish's demise came with AsKs against a berzerko player who pushed in on a AcTcxc all club flop with pocket tens.

3 Putts, Joshua Turner, and Mike Carlson were all still in with about 50 left when we left the casino. A win from Carlson, a top three finish from Turner, or a final table from 3 Putts would give them the lead in the all-around race. There are several players with a chance to overtake me with a strong result in the Championship. I believe I am going to need to make the Championship final table, and that quest begins tomorrow.

Play of the day: Paul in control of the foosball with his front line, Reid defending. Paul passes from the far side guy to the middle guy, fakes a shot, passes back to the far side guy, then back to the middle guy, and pounds one into the corner of the goal. This all happened in about one second.

Monday

2005-10-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

I had a wild go of it in today's $300 NLHE at the FPC. I should have known when I arrived at my table to see a guy bet 300 into a pot of 60 and get two flatcallers. There were several horrible players at my table, the worst players I have played with since Westminster in the summer. But I couldn't get any hands and my stack steadily dropped down to about 400 with 25-50 blinds. Then I hit two pair with the Beast T8s and doubled up against a flush draw/gutshot with the money going in on the turn. The victim claimed he had "19 outs" before being informed by the Fall Poker Classic Best All-Around Player Award Points Leader that he was in fact wrong. Then I won the blinds a couple times. Then I went all-in with TT over the top of a raise and a call and won uncontested. Then I called a raise with AJs and won the pot after an A high flop (won nothing more). Then the play of the day:

Blinds at 100-200 with a 25 ante. A loose, weak player raised my big blind the minimum and too tight/weakies called. When it got to me I immediately pushed all in for over 2000 with J2 offsuit, and no one even thought about calling. I picked up 1750 chips with this play when the average stack was only about 2000! Moves like this are what separate the top players from the rest of the pack. I'm not a top player yet, but I am at Canterbury.

Unfortunately I then lost most of my chips when I moved to a new table and decided to call Norm Ketchum's cutoff 600 raise with JT of spades on the button. The flop came QJ8 with two clubs and a spade and he immediately moved all in for about 1600. I beat him into the pot. When I called the raise, I was expecting him to move in no matter what the flop was, and had pretty much decided I was going to call if I liked the flop. I should really think harder about decisions like this that are for a lot of chips (this is one thing that I have gotten much better at since Borgata). I think I would have probably called here anyways, but I should have at least thought it over. Anyways, he had QJ of hearts and I was in bad shape. The turn was a spade but the river bricked and I was knocked down below average. Not long after that I was forced to move in with 77 in middle position and the small blind had aces.

I played some ultimate frisbee with the team before I got the dreaded call from Kwickfish, telling me he was out. He had cold cards all day long but hung in there before finally crapping out with around 50 left. At night we played some high-level foosball and watched the Cardinals' impossible comeback.

Tomorrow is the $500 NLHE which should attract only the Cream of Canterbury. It is the last event before the championship.

Sunday

2005-10-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

A much-needed day off from the FPC as this was the Ladies' event. The previous night I had gone to the Nada Surf concert with Kevin, Jeremy, and the Taskmaster. It was a quality show; they played everything I like and they played em well, but it felt like something was missing. After that we watched the White Sox ALCS game Jeremy had on tape before a very late bedtime. So I woke up late, ate a delicious Kevin Kalla breakfast, then rolled back to Lincoln to watch the Broncos demolish the Pats before things got scary at the end, then watched the White Sox cruise into the World Series.

Play of the Day: Jacksonville cornerback Rashean Mathis intercepts Steelers' QB Tommy Maddox's 87th horrible pass of the day, this one in overtime, and skates into the endzone untouched to end the game.

Saturday

2005-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

This was the $500 Limit Hold 'Em. I won pots with AA, QQ, and JJ but couldn't get anything going when the blinds got high and went out around 40th out of 100. Kwickfish's KK lost to 3 Putts' KQ for a monster pot knocking him out but luckily for me 3 Putts was out soon after so he didn't pick up any All-Around Player points.

Play of the day: Minnesota is winning by 4 points at home with just 30 seconds left against Wisconsin. They are set to punt from around their own 20 yard line. The punter fumbles the snap, picks it up, rolls to his right to try to avoid the rush and kicks it. It is blocked and the ball starts bouncing and rolling towards the MN end zone. It eventually rolls into the end zone and several Wisconsin players fall on it in the back of the end zone, giving them the lead with 15 seconds left, and they go on to win it.

Friday

2005-10-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Friday was the $300 NLHE which I briefly mentioned in the last post. I played my A game all day, making moves, hitting hands, and having them hold up for monster pots. I was chip leader or close to it from about 40 players on down to the last two tables, where I went a little bit card dead before expiring in 5th place.

Play of the Day: Blinds at 300-600. A player who was fairly new to the table and arrived with a monster stack raised the minimum in middle position and I elected to call in the SB with the Wildebeest, K2 of spades. This was a loose call but I felt like I had a really good read on the player and I was looking to gamble and maybe outplay my opponent. The big blind folded, the flop came JdTd2, and I checked ready to give it up. The preflop raiser checked behind me. The turn was the 6d and I checked. He quickly bet 1600 and I beat him into the pot with a call. My reasoning was that he would have to have bet a legitimate hand on the flop, worried about giving me a free card on such a draw-heavy flop. The river was a blank, we both checked, I confidently tabled my hand, and he mucked. A couple of guys looked at me in awe and it was clear that I was not the player to mess with today.

Another Final Table

2005-10-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

I got 5th place yesterday in the $300 NLHE and then I accidentally deleted the 5 paragraph blog entry about it. More tomorrow or Sunday. Must sleep now.

Seven Card Stud

2005-10-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Seven card stud is a lot of fun. I wish I knew how to play better, because the game has some of the same qualities that have made Texas Hold 'Em so popular: bluffing, semi-bluffing, value betting, restealing, drawing, etc. There's also a ton of psychology, maybe even more than hold em. I think it's more similar to hold 'em than most people think. I felt comfortable from the beginning even though I have very little experience playing. I got off to a good start before I lost a huge pot by pretending to have a flush, then making two pair, then getting sucked out on, then making an ill-advised value bet. Every hand of seven card stud can be an adventure like that.

I then doubled up with the Jh(9h8h) against a bare ace, then doubled up with 4(KK) against J(JT). My key hand was very complicated but it basically went like this: I started with three to a flush and my opponent started with an ace in the hole and two low cards. On fifth street my flush draw had turned into two pair and he paired his ace. On the river he made three aces and I called his bet with three pair. Seems like three pair should beat three of a kind, right?

I was gone the hand after but Wolf and Kwickfish were both making big runs towards the money. Wolf went from a very short stack to a huge stack in two hours, then lost three huge pots and went out 30th. The Fish never had many chips but he kept winning his all-in coinflips before taking a couple beats and busting a disappointing 20th with 16 getting paid.

Play of the day:
The Fish brings it in with a 3 showing. Folds to a late position fellow who raises with a Q showing. The two players left to act were showing a T and a 6. The Fish makes a physical read that this guy is trying to steal the pot, and sees that he has a three in the hole so he can beat a bluff. He raises and the raiser calls. Fourth street doesn't appear to help either player. The Fish bets and the other fellow immediately raises. The Fish still refuses to believe this guy has any sort of a hand and three bets it with a measly pair of threes. The other guy calls, and the last of Fish's chips go in on fifth street. He gets called by a complete nothing, something like QT742 with no flush draw, and somehow the pair of threes holds up and the Fish drags a huge pot to double up with about 32 players left.

Tomorrow is the $300 no limit hold em.

Rainy Day Wednesday

2005-10-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today had a very mundane feel. Omaha Hi/Lo is a very slow game, as the dealers have to take about a minute at the end of every hand to split the pot into halves, quarters, and sometimes sixths, and everyone stares at the hands and board trying to figure out who has just what. There is a lot to think about during the hand, but the decisions do not carry the same intensity they might in say, no limit hold em. Rarely will a fold or call make or break a player.

The event had about 210 entrants for $200 apiece, so it was the smallest prize pool so far at the FPC. The field was older and more veteran than in the hold em events, not the type to stare someone down behind dark sunglasses for a minute before making a decision. There was a slight drizzle outside and it felt like it was about 9 AM the whole day. It was not an electric atmosphere, but it was fun to play cards because most players knew what they were doing (me being one of the few exceptions).

This was actually the first time I've played Omaha in a casino. It's a lot of fun to play, but doesn't carry the same intensity as hold 'em. I don't think I made any big mistakes, but didn't get lucky enough to get anywhere in the tournament. The hand that hurt me the most was when I limped with AQJs9 under the gun, then called the raise and reraise of two short stacks who got all in. I asked a more experienced player if I should have played the hand, and he replied it was a "personal preference." I was up against AA2x and A24x and I made trip queens. Unfortunately they both flopped the wheel so I won nothing. A round later with only 275 left I raised to 200 under the gun with AQ72 doublesuited under the gun, got two callers, and wound up with only a pair of twos and no low.

Kwickfish arrives tonight and will likely play the Stud tournament tomorrow along with me and the Wolf.

I Am a Limit Hold 'em Tournament God

2005-10-11T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ho hum. Another limit hold 'em event, another final table. I had chips almost the entire way through this $200, 270 player event until the final table before I lost a few pots and expired in 5th place. This finish gives me a commanding lead in the race for the Best All-Around Player Award through four events with seven left (not including the ladies event).

So what is the secret to my stunning success in these limit events? It's simple. All you have to do is beat AJ with QT, beat 99 with AQ, beat A7 and AQ with AT, hit a flush draw in a do or die pot with 10 players left, never have your steals run into serious hands, fold A9s because you have a bad feeling and watch players behind you pick up AK and AA, and just keep pounding away at players who are folding too many hands.

What I am trying to say is that I have been getting extremely LUCKY. I'm very happy with how I've played in all four events, but there's absolutely no question that luck has been the main reason why I've made two final tables in a game which I rarely play. The next couple days are the Omaha Hi/Lo and the 7 Card Stud Tournaments. I will play even more aggressively and just hope to keep getting lucky. Another final table will basically wrap up the All-Around.

I busted out just in time to go to Death Cab tonight and it was a great show. I've always been pretty lukewarm on them but tonight pretty much sold me. "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" is the early leader for Song of the Month.

FPC Event #3

2005-10-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today was the $200 NL at Canterbury and over 600 players entered. Wolf didn't have much go his way before he finally picked up a legitimate hand, 5-2 of spades. Naturally all his chips went into the pot and he lost to ace-queen of spades. Pickett got some chips early but was victimized by the rising blinds and lost a race with 55 against AK.

I got down to 400 early before making a move and picking up two hands to get me back to 1200. I didn't have anything playable when the blinds went to 100-200 before I picked up QQ in 2nd position and shoved for 750. Third position made a very weak call with KJo and hit the king.

I played flawlessly today but the quality of play is not nearly as important as the cards in these crapshoot events.

Play of the day: Blinds at 10-25. Early position solid player raises and I pop it with KK in the BB. He doesn't hesitate to call and I quickly put him on a big ace. Flop comes AA6, I check, he bets, and I fold. I asked him later and he said he had an ace.

Tomorrow is the $200 limit and the Death Cab concert in the evening.

Emphatically Ending the Streak

2005-10-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I placed 2nd in the first event of the Fall Poker Classic at Canterbury Park, the $300 Limit Hold 'em, for $12,964, and most importantly, 270 Cardplayer of the Year points.

The irony here is pretty thick. The game was limit hold 'em, a game which I have lost money at over the years. Further, I can't remember ever playing a limit tournament before (I may have played one or two small ones online). I showed up to play wearing the same clothes I had been wearing for the last 30 hours, and I hadn't showered or shaved in days. I only slept about four hours the night before, plus about half an hour in the rental car in the parking lot right before the tournament.

Since I wasn't totally comfortable playing limit, my strategy was just to let it fly and play very aggressively. I wouldn't try to play with much finesse; instead I would just bet and raise and hope for the best.

Fairly early on I got short stacked but was lucky to pick up pocket kings and double up when my stack was getting critically low. Shortly after that I won a huge pot with AK against 77 after it came AA7 and I rivered a king. I won another pot or two and had gone from a short stack to a big one in fifteen minutes.

From there I was able to steadily build my stack by winning three nice pots against a loose, aggressive player and hammering away at the tighter players with brute force. I was very lucky throughout because it seemed like whenever I would raise with a weakish hand no one would have anything to come back at me and I'd take the pot preflop or on the flop. What I lacked in limit hold em skill I made up for in tournament strategy and dumb luck. I made some bad turn and river calls in an effort to siphon my stack but I kept building it back up by hitting hands and betting them. Before I knew it we were down to 27 and in the money, and the Streak was over. I had an average stack heading into the dinner break.

At dinner I chatted with a local player named Mike Tornes who had also made the money, then took a walk outside listening to music. I came back five minutes late; I had missed several hands, including my blinds, and already 7 people had been knocked out. Play slowed down with two tables left. When we finally reached the final table I arrived with a below-average stack.

We took another break and I thought about my chances. I was very excited to be at the final table, of course, but the situation looked somewhat bleak. Several of the casino's top high-limit players had reached the final table, and most had a lot of chips. I was particularly concerned about a young, top-notch local named Mike Carlson, the defending champ in this event and loaded with chips.

The fact is I hit a huge rush of cards at the final table. I won a huge pot with AA when one of the high-limit guys tried to bluff me while drawing dead, busting himself in the process. I then won another big pot against Carlson after turning a set of eights and checkraising him. One by one they all vanished and it was down to me, the guy to my left Brandon, and a very weak-tight older gentleman.

Three-handed I bullied the crap out of the old man and picked my spots against Brandon. It was clear to me that the older fellow had no chance and it was just a matter of how many chips I would have when I got heads up with Brandon. We played for quite a while until the older fellow went broke. When we got heads up we were fairly close in chips.

We played heads up for two incredible hours. I outplayed him, I'm sure of it. I had him all in with my QQ against his AT, my A7 against his QJ, my bare flush draw against his top pair, and virtually all in with my A8 against his T8 and a board of K98x. He won them all. It just kept going back and forth. Every time I got short I would pick up a hand and get back in it. Finally he finished me off with K6 against my A3 in a pot that I had 3 bet preflop when it came KK88 and I called the last of my chips, praying he was making a move.

Play of the day: From my first table. A weak, passive player limps in early position and the professional kid behind him raises. Another pro flatcalls as does the limper and they see a very ragged flop. Everyone checks. On the turn (another rag) the kid bets, the other pro raises, the limper folds, and the kid immediately three-bets. The other guy thinks for a bit and calls. The kid bets the river and the other guy folds. The kid shows QJo and tells the other guy not to try to outplay him anymore.

Today Wolf, Pickett, and I all played the $300 NLHE at Canterbury. It was a pretty crazy scene as more than 500 hopefuls made it out there with no Vikings game on tap. Pickett built up some chips before getting AA cracked and then the ultimate nightmare KK vs AA to end her tournament. Wolf’s overpair was no good against a maniac and neither was his button steal. I tripled up with 53 against KsQc and Ah2c in an unraised pot in the big blind after it came Qh5h3h and they both called my all-in checkraise. I then got moved to a new table and made the play of the day:

50-100 blinds. Folds to me in the cutoff and I raise to 275 with Ah3h. The big stack in the BB calls. This is the first hand I had played at this table. The flop comes A74 rainbow. He checks and I check. The turn is a 5. He checks, I bet 325, he quickly makes it 700. I ponder my options. Folding did not cross my mind. I can call and decide what to do on the river if I miss my straight. Or I can go all in for 1300 more and put him to the test hoping he will fold a medium ace. That’s exactly what I do. He thinks for over a minute and folds.

Unfortunately right after this I picked up TT against JJ and he didn’t have enough chips for me to fold. Right after that I moved in with 99 over the top of a late position raise. The big blind went all-in and the original raiser immediately folded QQ faceup. How beautiful would this be if the BB has AK? I get a chance to triple up with the best hand after a hand that had me dominated folds! But the big blind did not have AK, he had AA, and I was a goner.

Tomorrow is the $200 NL and they are expecting a very large field for another Crapshoot at Canterbury.

Now the first edition of the eagerly anticipated Worst Hand of the Week. As I’m sure there will always be there were plenty of horrible plays but this one took the prize:

StackHead folds.
milipa folds.
gsg2005 folds.
Kwickfish calls [$10].
d2442222 calls [$10].
thewisdom calls [$10].
kasstex raises [$65].
NoxirE folds.
AAAAHawk folds.
Kwickfish calls [$55].
d2442222 calls [$55].
thewisdom folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9s, 6d, 5c ]
Kwickfish checks.
d2442222 bets [$125].
kasstex calls [$125].
Kwickfish folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
d2442222 bets [$150].
kasstex calls [$150].
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
d2442222 is all-In [$104.25]
kasstex calls [$104.25].
d2442222 shows [ Jc, Kc ] a flush, king high.
kasstex shows [ Kh, As ] a pair of nines.

d2442222: well as you know, you play by the book on these pokersites, and your gonna get burnt

Marooned in Milwaukee

2005-10-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

My Midwest Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Milwaukee was delayed two hours, enough to miss the connector to the Twin Cities. So I'm stranded here for a night in a Clarion Hotel instead of partying like it's 2004 at Reid's house. My flight leaves tomorrow at 8 AM.

I spent a quality 28 hours in humid Philadelphia, staying at Cassidy's nice apartment. This afternoon I saw the Constant Gardener which was superb. I also caught most of the demise of the Red Sox, including the last few outs in a pro-White Sox Philly Airport Bar. I'm excited for Jeremy, whose unbelievable loyalty to the White Sox is finally paying dividends. I hope this run doesn't end as tragically as it did for his Illini last spring.

Already two hideous aspects of the Upper Midwest have come to my attention: the sharp, biting sting of the cold fall air on my skin; and the sharp, biting sting of the Upper Midwest accent on my ears. Still I am really excited to be heading back to the Twin Cities tomorrow and looking forward to the next month immensely.

The Streak

2005-10-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up this afternoon in a foul mood. It occurred to me that I have never cashed in an event worth Cardplayer of the Year points and I started brooding over it. I felt like I let a good opportunity get away yesterday because the structure of the tournament was quite good and I have been playing real well.

I am now 0 for 20 in these tournaments. This adds up to a net loss of $63,100. Obviously neither of these figures is at all acceptable, but I do know that I can reverse things in a single tournament. Based on these figures I would say something is wrong with my game. While I certainly have room for improvement, I do think I have been very unlucky not to cash at least once in these events. Also, I am always playing for first place where the big money is and not looking for a minor money finish. And I'm definitely playing better now than I have throughout this streak (most of which took place during the World Series).

Am I a bad tournament player? I don't think so. I'm almost exactly even now for my tournament career thanks to the two big online scores. As I've said before, I am confident it will not be long before I make a huge breakthrough in a monster tournament.

I have a few strategical things I need to work on, especially getting more aggressive. There is a huge difference between tournaments and cash games, and a huge difference between playing live and online. Right now I am one of the best online no limit cash game players in the world, but that has little to do with playing live tournaments. But for me they do have an important connection: as long as I continue to dominate the online cash games, I will be able to feed my live tournament addiction without putting myself under financial duress.

The streak is especially annoying when I realize that Kwickfish is 1/2 in these events and Bag is 1/1. I can't have my friends showing me up like this.

The Fall Poker Classic at Canterbury starts Saturday. The events should count for Player of the Year and I will be playing every day looking for that elusive cash. Correction - I will be looking for that elusive victory. I have just one goal for Canterbury, and it is to win the Best All-Around Player Award.

This One Hurts

2005-10-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the casino cool, calm, and confident. I slept well last night which is unusual for me the night before a big tournament. The atmosphere was very exciting with around 230 players but many big names like Ivey, Forrest, etc and ESPN production everywhere.

I got a hideous draw. I was sandwiched between John D'Agostino (who plays super high stakes cash games as well as most big tournaments; just got 3rd in the WPT Borgata) and another guy who plays super high stakes but few tournaments named Cong Do. About five minutes into the event I reraised a late position D'agostino raise with KK (he called and we checked the flop; I won it with a bet on the turn). After that my cards went to shit and I sat back and watched the table go bananas over and over and over.

Even though we started with 400 big blinds players were repeatedly finding ways to get their whole stacks into the pot. Whenever I had anything playable I missed the flop badly and was down to about 16k from the 20k start before I made a huge wild bluff that may have been the most exciting hand of my life.

With the blinds at 50-100 UTG and 2nd pos both limped and an old guy in late position raised to 300. D'Agostino called and I reraised to 1550 with K2s on the button. My reasoning was that the old guy did not have a big hand because he had been raising harder with big hands, D'Agostino did not have a big hand because he just called, and the early position guys did not have much because they were both the type to raise it up in any position with anything decent. Also I had been playing quite tight because the crappy nature of my cards and I had not made a reraise since the very first hand I mentioned. I knew everyone would put me on AA or KK. Everyone quickly folded to D'Agostino who called. I was not upset at all about this call; I assumed he thought I had KK or AA and that he could break me if he hit his hand, which I thought was probably a pocket pair. The flop came J43 rainbow and he checked. I bet 2500; he studied for a while and called. I was deeply concerned he flopped a set here because like I said, I thought he thought I had aces or kings. The turn was the 4d giving me a flush draw which I thought was probably useless anyways now that the board paired. I quickly checked after he checked. The river was an offsuit six and he checked again. Now I knew he did not have a set as he would certainly have bet it. I now started to think he probably had 65 suited (openender on flop) which now beat me. With so much lying in the pot I decided to bet 4000 feigning a value bet with KK or AA. In retrospect I probably should have bet more like 6000 because of the pot odds I offered him that I could be making a bluff with a hand like AK. He immediately said "dammit" and then thought for about three minutes before flinging in a crying call, ready to muck his hand. I turned over the K2 and no one at the table could believe it. D'Agostino had pocket nines.

This left me with only 8k but I am still proud of the play. Just about every player at the table told me they put me on AA or KK and everyone was impressed. A couple hours later Cong Do told me he respected the play quite a bit and it showed him that I was a player. The hand got quite a bit of discussion throughout the day as everytime I entered a pot someone would ask if I had K2 again.

I got all the way down to 5k before gambling with 67s and more than doubling up against a maniac after the flop came 642. A bit later I had KK in the BB but everyone folded to D'Agostino in the SB who just called. I made a solid raise and, not surprisingly, he called. The flop came QJx and he check-folded. A short time later I had AA on the button and decided to smooth call when UTG raised. The flop came KQx and he check-folded.

After a missed flop or two I was at around 10k when early position raised my 200 BB to 700 and got two callers including D'Agostino in the SB. I called as well. The flop came T94 and everyone checked. The turn was a 4 and D'Agostino bet 1500. I had about 8k more at this point and went deep into thought about my options. I wanted to raise to get rid of the potential draws out there but I had a short enough stack that raising would cripple me if D'Agostino or someone else had a 4 which I was very concerned about because it was a four-man pot. Finally I decided to smooth-call the bet and was relieved when the others folded. The river was a 7 and D'Agostino quickly checked. I was now almost certain I had the best hand and needed to make a value bet. It dawned on me that going all-in would look like a bluff and D'Agostino had already revealed himself to be a Sheriff having called me with his 99 on the earlier crucial hand and another guy with K high another time. I pushed in.

D'Agostino immediately declared that he knew I was going to do that. He went into the tank, talking it through to himself and the rest of the table while I sat motionless staring at the felt. I was dying for a call so I tried to send off false tells. I stiffened my body, blinked a lot and kept trying to convince myself that I was going to be out of the tournament if he called. D'Agostino kept talking about what a sick call it would be "just like the one I made at Borgata." He also said "that would be sick if you had 87" and "this just reeks of queen-jack." Finally after about four minutes he threw in the call with either ace or king high and I turned over the AT. D'Agostino mucked, said "nice hand" and then immediately put his headphones on and cranked up the volume.

OWNAGE. Boom! Just like that I was back to 19k and feeling great about the tournament. With only 3o minutes to go, confidence swelling, and a new table draw coming at the end of the day I was feeling fantastic.

About five minutes later I picked up AK and raised two limpers to 1500. Cong Do then made it 3500 behind me and the others folded to me. Now I heard two voices arguing in my head.

Voice #1: He obviously has aces or kings. You have not gotten out of line today and he knows that. If he was making a move or he had queens he would raise bigger. He is raising small because he wants to sucker you in. Fold this and move on to the next hand.

Voice #2: You have AK! That's a big big hand! How can you possibly fold for only 2000 more! Call and try to hit that ace or king!

I eventually called and the flop came KJx. Really I did not want to see that king. I wanted the ace because that would almost certainly give me the best hand. When I saw that king I heard another voice screaming that I was about to lose the rest of my chips. Unfortunately that voice was muffled by the top-pair top-kicker staring me in the face and I checkraised all-in. He had aces and that was it. I am so pissed off right now for playing great all day and then blowing it all by not listening to my gut when it mattered. Cong Do is actually the chip leader of the whole tournament at the end of day 1 with 99,975. He got AA and KK twice, KK against QQ, and AA against my AK and busted the other guy all 4 times.

I saw a couple "WHOTW" nominees at the table today. WHOTW aka Worst Hand of the Week is going to be a weekly blog feature starting this weekend. I may also start a "Play of the Day" feature. Play of the Day for today was my AT double up against D'Agostino (one of the proudest moments of my poker career).

Of all the crazy things that happened today the weirdest of all was that pokerwire.com was reporting my chip count throughout the day. I have no idea why they did this. I am an unknown player having never cashed in a major tournament. I don't even know how they knew my name. My best guess is it was easy to report my count since I was sitting next to D'Agostino who had a camera in his face all day long and got my name from the casino's seating chart. Still I am befuddled and amused to see this on a website that gets pretty heavy traffic:

54 Mike Matusow $15,300
55 Phil Ivey $15,300
56 Kenna James $14,500
57 Thomas Koral $14,000
58 Richard Cohen $12,500
59 Michael Saltzburg $11,300
60 Tom Fuller $11,000
61 Alexandra Vuong $10,000
62 Steve Zolotow $9,200
63 Layne Flack $8,500
64 Barry Greenstein $8,000
65 Cyndy Violette $4,800
66 David 'The Dragon' Pham $4,025

Despite the bad result this may have been the most fun I have ever had playing poker in a casino and I cannot wait for the next 10k event. The banter was hilarious at times (especially Bobby "I AM PROFESSIONAL" Chung) and the discussion of play was stimulating. Unfortunately I will probably not play another 10k event until Foxwoods in November unless I sneak off to Vegas in a couple weeks (very unlikely because it is during Canterbury) or Indiana for the WSOP Circuit (an intriguing possibility that I could add on to the Minnesota trip). My game is improving by leaps and bounds and I get better with every one of these I play.

Disappointment - Confidence - Hunger

2005-10-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

I played very well in both tournaments I played this weekend at the Taj.

The $500 NL: I had 20k which was the most at the table. The big blind had 19k which was the second most. I had queens. He had kings. I was out soon after.

The second: I had patiently worked my way to 10k before getting it all in with 99 against A8 on an 844 flop and I lost to a runner-runner flush. Just like the GraveWolf, the suckout artist who knocked me out went on to win the whole thing.

I am playing great right now and expect to make a serious run in the main event which starts tomorrow. Anything short of the final table will be a disappointment.

Chomping at the Bit

2005-09-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Atlantic City now and I can't wait to get to the casino tomorrow morning. I'm absolutely fiending to play tournament poker right now and the timing couldn't be better. I'll be playing three tournaments here and one every day in Minnesota. It's time to start racking up some CardPlayer of the Year points.

I'll be staying at a lower-budget hotel this weekend without internet so the next blog entry won't be until Sunday.

Autumn in New York

2005-09-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful, crisp fall day. After grabbing lunch at one of the 8000 restaurants within a block of Nate and Ian's apartment I took the Subway to Central Park. I walked around and watched with nostalgia as some kids played kickball before falling asleep on a bench.

I've had a very nice time here in Manhattan but I am fiending to get back into a casino and dominate like I know I can. It looks like I will be playing $500 and $1000 preliminary events at the Taj in addition to the 10k championship next week. I know I am going to bust out bigtime in a tournament sooner or later.

Back on the Bandwagon

2005-09-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago while watching a shameful beating at the hands of the lowly Miami Dolphins I was having visions of a 4-12 Broncos season and subsequent front-office house cleaning. Now all is right in Broncoworld and they seem to be the class of the AFC West. That may have been the most impressive performance I've seen since the the toss left was a guaranteed 7 yards. Still I think the Broncos are going to finish third in the division behind the Chiefs (an Arrowhead revenge game already frightens me) and the suddenly-scary Chargers. With the Colts, Pats, Steelers, Jags, Bengals, and Dolphins all swimming around in the AFC sharktank I still think the playoffs are more unlikely than not. Still it was great to watch tonight especially after the barnburner which was the CU game on Saturday (player of the game punter John Torp).

Just wrapped another quality online session. Right now I have no equal in the Party Poker cash no limit games. I'm saying it - I am the best cash no limit hold em player on the site*

* - who plays those tables consistently. For all I know Phil Ivey may have a rarely-used Party Poker account.

New York City

2005-09-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Got here Friday evening and it has just been madness ever since. The closest experience I've ever had to this is actually Dunedin in New Zealand so pretty much my head is still spinning (despite doing little other than watching NFL games today with Ian). All the streets around here look like the Hill at 10 on a Friday night, whether it's 4:30 AM on a weekday or 2 in the afternoon. Right now it is 1:41 on Sunday night and outside it sounds like Pearl Street on a summer Saturday afternoon.

Despite the craziness I am enjoying the whole experience quite a bit, staying with Nate and Ian in the East Village. This week I'll be doing touristy things before heading back to AC (most likely on Thursday). I just wrapped up a brief and profitable online session and may get in another one or two in the next couple days.

A Mystery Solved

2005-09-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

I ran into the guy from the hand of the day from day 1 that I wrote about at the Borgata buffet tonight. I asked him about that hand and he said he had AK. Well played my friend.

Borgata Final Thoughts

2005-09-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

I’m very happy with how I played. I was a short stack for virtually the entire tournament. I picked up aces just once the whole time and kings just once. Even though I was playing so tight it seemed like I got reraised every time I went for a steal. I just kept running into big hands. I deliberately avoided raising in late position without a hand for fear of getting bluff-reraised but I never picked up anything legitimate to raise with anyways. I went five hours the last day without seeing a pair bigger than tens. I managed to outlast 80% of the field due to one big suckout and a lot of stolen pots. The big suckout was when I moved all in over the top of an aggressive player’s raise and a loose player’s call with K9. The aggressive player had QQ but I rivered a king. After that it was just constant grinding. Each of the following moves helped keep my head above water:

· Raising a bigstacked limper huge with 94o and then making a big bet on the AKJ flop when checked to
· Checkraising a tight early position limper with 75o in the SB after an A94 flop
· Check-calling a limper’s bet with 32o in the SB after an A4J flop, then betting on the river with the antinut
· Betting with 67s on a T22 rainbow flop after calling a raise and getting checked to by the preflop raiser, who folded AK face up
· Moving all-in with Q5o in the SB after a late position raise

Eventually I decided to gamble in a huge three way pot with jack-ten of hearts. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it takes a freight train to get me to fold JTs before the flop and in this case I didn’t fold it for 13 big blinds which was half my stack. If I’d won the pot I’d have been in position to make a real run but as it was I got my money in far worse than I thought. One of my opponents had JJ which was very hard to put him on based on how he played it. The other had A8 and I went broke after the flop came QT9 and I happily called the second half of my chips.

Overall I was really pleased with the tournament structure and venue. It was the finest tournament I’ve ever been a part of. I think I gained a lot of confidence and also learned a few more moves to add to the repertoire. I also saw perhaps the most amazing hand I’ve ever seen:

With blinds at 600-1200 Steve Brecher raises to 4000 in first position. He gets three callers including the big blind. The flop comes J64 rainbow and everyone checks. The turn is the Kc (the second club), the BB checks, Brecher bets 7k, the other callers fold, and the BB thinks for a minute before calling. The river is an offsuit jack. The BB thinks for about twenty seconds and then moves in for over 20k. Brecher has 20k left. He studies for about two minutes and then calls and turns over AhTh! The big blind was indeed bluffing with 6c5c but Brecher couldn’t beat this particular bluff and was sent home. Incredible hand.

Next it’s up to NYC for about a week and then back to AC for the US Poker Championship at the Taj.

Out at Borgata

2005-09-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

I went out with around 110 left. I didn't have any cards all day or all tournament for that matter and I'm amazed I staggered this far. I will write a full report tomorrow.

Day Two Draw

2005-09-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

My table consists of 100% nobodies and almost all have a short stack like me. It's possible this is the least glamourous table left in the tournament. Of course if I get through today I will have to handle at least two tables and probably more.

Time to play.

Day One Borgata

2005-09-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

I survived a day of cold cards thanks to the Borgata's fantastic structure. We got 20k to start and I was down to 7.6k at the end of the fourth level. I was ice-cold flopping sets all day long (less than 10%) and won nothing the one time I hit. I also got very little out of my suited connectors which I consistently took to the flop. I had only a few big pairs and lost chips with hands like AQ and AK. Somehow though I was able to grind my way back into the mix by picking up a few unwanted pots and finished the day near my high-water mark with exactly 21k.

Hand of the day: I limp behind a limper with 99 in mid-early position for 200 (it seemed everytime I raised with something like this I got reraised by a rock) and a good player with a fairly short stack limps behind me. An average, fairly loose player in the SB raises to 1000. At this point I have about 13k. The first limper folds but I quickly call the raise in position and then to my shock the other limper raises to 4500, leaving himself with about 5k more. The SB thinks forever before folding his pocket tens and it is up to me. This is an extremely bizarre play, to represent a big hand after limping behind two limpers in late position. I was completely befuddled. I couldn't see this guy not raising us limpers with a big pair, but I couldn't see him reraising half his stack wiithout a premium hand. I had talked with this guy during the breaks enough to establish that we are both good players with some experience. So I knew that he knew that I would know he was making a very weird play. Also when the small blind raises limpers like this it is often a real big hand (since they can just see a cheap flop if they wish and they are out of position). So he had to know the SB had something in this spot. I just couldn't figure out what to do. If I played all-in with him and lost I would be crippled. I thought about the stop and go and I also thought about moving all-in but finally I mucked. He said he would later tell what he had but I lost track of him when we broke tables. Hopefully he's still in it and I'll find him tomorrow.

I still have high hopes. The goal for tomorrow is the same as it was today: survive.

Hojos and Jitneys

2005-09-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Writing here from a Howard Johnson in Atlantic City, which features free wireless high-speed internet despite charging $150 less than the Borgata... I think I've got a leg up on some of my competitors based on what I've seen and read the last 24 recently:

"I had planned on arriving in Atlantic city tonight, but decided to switch my flight to a later one so that I could tie up several loose ends before I leave. I'll be arriving in AC at about 6:00am and the tournament at Borgata starts at noon I believe."
- Daniel Negreanu

Does this sound like someone who is ready to compete his hardest for four days? In reality the tournament starts at 11 AM which means an earlier than usual rise for me, though not nearly as early as it will be for Mr. Negreanu.

"The way I'm running, I'm definitely not playing the main event unless I make a score on Stars this weekend, or win a seat via some satellite or another. At this point, I'm almost hoping to be driving home on Sunday."
- Matt Matros

Obviously that one speaks for itself. I also spotted Phil Ivey and Amir Vahedi at the head of a craps table an hour ago at the Borgata, game faces nowhere in sight. Personally I'm feeling sharp and focused and really looking forward to the tournament. I'm not scared of losing. At the WSOP I think I was a bit scared at times because of bankroll pressure and I think it hurt my play. No fear tomorrow.

New trip, new blog

2005-09-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

I will be gone for over month playing in various tournaments around the country. Check back here for updates!