It's been a while...

Wow, it's been a awhile since I posted here. Obviously, lots has gone on in the poker world in the past week or so and there isn't really much more I can say that others haven't said better than I. So instead I'll talk about the game itself. Specifically, I'll talk about Season 3 of The Talking Poker Forum League on PokerStars.

The season kicked off this past Sunday with a NL event. Unfortunately, I ended up going out on a horrible beat to jillaj. It sucked. It was horrible. I wanted to kick a cat. Well, okay, not really, but it was a bad beat. I didn't place anywhere near the money OR the points in the first event.

Last night was event #2, PLHE. I think I played a fairly tight, aggressive game that served me well. I was consistently near the top of the table until I made one bad play that cost me about 1/4 of my stack and actually ended up dropping me down to short stack for a while. I fought back and by playing tight, managed to outlast many above me until it was HU between Boobie Lover and I. Needless to say, once HU, I loosened up a bit and actually ended up getting dealt some kickass hands. When HU started Boobie had about 18,000 to my 3,000. I fought up to 9K at one point. The last hand was both of us all-in on the turn. I had K9 and he had KT. The flop gave him his T, the turn gave us our K, the river gave me my 9. I lost. Still, it was a kickass game that I feel I played really well. That 2nd place finish bumped me up to 3rd in the league standings, but it's still REALLY early. The next event is a NL event this coming Sunday.

Talking Poker Radio is ON THE AIR!

Hey everyone! I've just launched a new side-project, in conjuction with the Talking Poker forum. It's called Talking Poker Radio and is a (hopefully) weekly podcast bringing you the latest in forum news, poker news and gossip, and poker strategy from around the internets. You can download the first episode by visiting the forum and looking for the Talking Poker Radio thread. It should be right at the top.

We'll soon have a RSS feed up that you can subscribe to using iTunes or your choice of Podcast aggregator as well.

Busy tourney day yesterday

Wow, had an insanely busy tourney day yesterday. First up was the UltimateBet.com $1M Freeroll monthly qualifier. The top 300 from this event wins an entry into next week's big game - a shot at winning over $500K US. That started at 2pm. While it was still going on, I had an Online Forum Challenge $5, $6500 Added tourney start over at Stars. Unfortunately I got into a hand with queens against kings and neither of us improved. End of game for me. The UB one was still going on though, and, while somewhat short stacked, I managed to finish in the top 300 so I'm playing a BIG one next week. I've shown that I'm capable of doing well in large fields. I figure this field will be around 2500 or so. I just need to play my 'A-game' and not take any stupid chances.

Then last night I was playing daily $500 freeroll that I've done well in my first two attempts. Well, last night I bubbled which sorta pissed me off. I was short stack and dealt 55. I pushed all my chips in and had a big stack call me and flip over A6s. Flop came 789. Anyone wanna guess the turn??? If you guessed T, you get a cookie! At that point I was pleading for a 6 or a J. No such luck. Just call me Bubble Boy.

Then there was the final event of the Talkingpoker.com forum league. I *NEEDED* to finish top two last night to win a spot in Wednesday's Tournament of Champions. I'm not playing in Wednesday's ToC. I had one great hand that I completely played wrong. I had 66 in the big blind. TP limped in so the two of us saw a flop of 695. I checked, TP bets 65, and I raise to 130. He calls. The turn comes a 5. Fireworks are goin' off here. The only hands I'm behind right now is 99 or 55. I check, TP checks. The river is a 9. I sink. I *KNOW* TP just filled up with nines full. I check. He leads out for 265 and I make the crying call.

One good thing that did come of this hand was that TP critiqued my play on it. He thought it was "weird" that I would check-raise the flop then check the turn. Looking back, he's absolutely correct. I completely misplayed the slowplay and it ended up costing me some chips. I should have bet out the turn. Maybe 1/2 pot or something like that. He also had congratulated me on not going broke on that hand. If he had bet more than about 300 on the river, I was laying it down. I was SURE he had a 9, and probably should have laid it down anyway, but I just couldn't get my hand to click the fold button. Anyway, that 265 hurt my stack and it didn't get much better after that. I busted out 12th. So the defending champion passes the crown over to the new league champion: Rogue23 (aka TP). Good game! I'm looking forward to Season 3 of the league.

Tourney scores

Well, I dropped $50 into poker.com simply because of their "Initial Depositor's" Bonuses (Bonii???). First, I get an entry into a Freeroll next week where the winner walks away with a $12,500 WSOP ME package. Right now there are about 140 people in it. The other bonus is that I get 7 days worth of "$500 Freeroll" entries. I've played 2 now. Both of them, oddly enough, had 63 people. The one yesterday I finished 4th in for a $50 score and tonight's I finished 2nd in for a $100 score. I've now quadrupled my money and still have 5 days left to play! My original $50 has already been moved away from that site and now I just have to see how the rest of my week goes for tourney cashes.

Go me!

I'm sorta back.

Well, I'm back playing some cash games. I scored a payout in the one league event so I decided to splurge and invest 80 cents in a round of .02-.04 limit. I've since played 8 sessions and have had 7 winning sessions. My current BB/100 Hands is 19.88. Of course, the sample size is REALLY REALLY small so I'm not putting anything in that amount. I fully expect it to drop to a more reasonable level.

I'm certainly not expecting to build up my roll to the thousands playing 2c/4c - it's more of a way to pass the time. You can only watch sooo much HNN and court shows.

I'm still alive!

Hey All,

Just wanted to check in here and let y'all know (you know, all like 5 of you that visit this thing. Well, maybe 5...) that I'm still around and still playing poker. Right now though, I'm completely freeroll whoring. If there's a freeroll, and my schedule works, I'll be there. You can find me in WSOP freerolls at FTP, beginner freerolls @ Titan, Million Dollar qualifier freerolls @ UB, "Fun Step" SNGs at Poker.com. You name it, I'm there! :)

The best freeroll I've played in recently was the World Blogger Championship of Online Poker (WBCOOP). That was a blast. 2247 peeps all dukin' it out for a kick-ass WSOP entry. Nope, I didn't make it.

One other quasi-freeroll is the Million Dollar Freeroll at UB. I say quasi because, while they do offer completely free freerolls, they also have UB point freerolls (pointrolls???) which is what I'm playing. Last week I played in the daily and won a seat to the weekly last Friday. In the weekly, I won a seat to the monthly the next Saturday. (as did Nikki) We both played in the monthly along with 816 other hopefuls. The top 300 would win entries into the big event on July 15th. First place in it wins a HELLA COOL prize pack. USD$500K, WSOP entry, Aruba entry, 4 other tourneys, a year's worth of Sunday tourneys, lessons from UB pros. Some crazy shit man. Right now there are about 1800 people registered for it. That's a pretty decent sized field for a person's odds at winning (compared with some of the others).

If you haven't checked out this freeroll from UB, definitely check it out. If you've got the UB points to spend, I recommend going that route. In today's daily, there were 27 people started with an additional 7 alternates that joined the game. So 34 people, 10 spots move on. While I was short stack at one point (18/18), I doubled-up a couple times and finished in 5th. So I'm playing this Sat. night in the weekly where something like 200 people move on to the monthly final. Maybe I'll see you there!

Stone Cold Busted

I'm broke. I lost my last $1.78 last night. I had considered trying to turn it into a bigger roll but it was simply too frustrating to have to play the .02-.04 levels. It just simply isn't possible to apply ANYTHING that is learned in poker books at this level. Raise with strong hands? People call you anyway. I could raise every street to the river with the best hand and some donkey will chase with some stupid hand like 47o and catch his straight. Yes, I know - overtime he's going to donate more of his money than he'll win. However, at this level, it's more likely that he'll end up donating it to a fellow donkey who chases a board of AA7 with JTo to runner-runner broadway (or RR a boat).

So here's my plan: finish up the league events. Nikki's bankrolling me for those :). I don't anticipate winning the league but if I get my ass in gear and get my act together, I SHOULD, at the very least, make the ToC and possibly finish ITM for the league.

Completely read/re-read HoH Iⅈ Sklansky's Theory of Poker, Advanced Hold 'Em, and SSHE. I'm also going to read Lee Jones WLLH. I'll probably also re-read Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. And by re-read I mean commit these motherfuckers to memory.

When I redeposit I figure that I'll save up and drop at least US$300 back into play. Then I'll start playing Limit at the .10-.20 levels until I'm crushing that then slowly start to move up levels. I haven't got an exact number in mind to move up levels (as I'm going to start out bankrolled for levels higher than .10-.20 (I suppose, following the 300BB rule, I'd be able to start at .50-1.00 but I'd be far more comfortable having a larger roll before playing that level)) but I would imagine that I'll keep it around the 1200-1500BB area. I'll also play the small buyin NL tourneys ($5 or less).

Of course, I'll also keep playing the forum events as those are great fun!

So things will probably get fairly quiet around here for a while. I'll probably make the occasional forum event related post and also post thoughts on what I've read but there won't be much other than that.

I suck

I'm almost broke. I suck.

I'm going to continue playing in the forum league events but that's only because they're fun. I don't really mind losing the $10 there.

I'm going to bunker down with a decent collection of poker books and not resurface until I'm confident I can crush the lower limits.

Saturday's Thursday & Friday recap

I suck. I had meant to make these posts at the end of each day of poker playing but didn't get around to it. So Thursday and Friday were days of ups and downs. I actually didn't play much poker: four $6.50 SNGs and sat a .05-.10 NL ring game for about 45 minutes. Results were mixed.

Daily net (both days combined): -$4.65
MTD: $28.06
PMTD: -$105.07

Thursday's Wednesday recap

I didn't feel like posting last night. I only played two games yesterday, a $6.50 turbo and the 3rd forum league event. I finished in 3rd in the turbo and 5th in the league event. I was actually really happy with the way I played the league event though. Unfortunately my QQ ran into Wes' AK and the poker gods decided to flop an ace. Oops. Ah well. The shittiest part of the whole event was that I bubbled the point bubble. That sorta sucked. I'm still in 3rd for the league but I need to get my ass in gear.

Daily net: -$6.70
MTD: $32.71
PMTD: -$77.87

Tuesday wrapup

Played the WWdN tonight. Unfortunately I busted out 67th. It was absolutely horrible. Nikki made it a hell of a lot further than I did but it seemed that almost EVERY all-in race the underdog won. Alas, Nikki was usually the best hand going in...

After busting out of the WWdN I played a $6.50. I finished 3rd in it. Not my best work.

Daily net: $2.90
MTD: $39.41
PMTD: -$105.70

Tuesday, DoR 9 and a Rant followup

I sat down at a 6max .05-.10 NL table at Stars just now (there were no 9 max running). Bought in for the max ($10) and proceeded to dominate the table. I played for 15 minutes. Why only 15 minutes? Everyone else left. I was there by myself. Well, not totally. One other guy was at the table but he was sitting out (as he had been for most of the 15 minutes I was there). So I left the table, putting my $19.60 in my pocket and strolling away. For those not so mathematically inclined, that works out to almost $37/hour. If only I could do that consistently.

So on the forum there is a "reputation" system where you can assign positive and negative rep to people regarding certain posts. I checked my rep today and found a negative rep from some anonymous coward that said "not only collusion but falsifying hand history". I laughed. Nikki then checked her points and found negative rep as well, one minute earlier, presumably from the same anonymous coward. What actually made it even more funny is that this asshat, who I am pretty sure I know exactly who it was, has no power to give negative rep (as he has either no rep or a negative rep). So it doesn't even change our rep score. The unfortunate part of it is that this dumbass isn't even part of the league that we're playing in so I can't even school him on the poker table. So, ******, if you want to grow a sac, feel free to post in the forum publicly or leave a comment here with your forum username - I'll gladly set you straight. Coward.

Monday night wrap-up

Okay, so I didn't play anything else tonight except one .05-.10 NL table for a bit. I was up as high as $13 but left at $10.80. Had too much TV to catch up on.

Daily net: -$23.40 (ouch!)
MTD: $36.51
PMTD: -$105.70 (bigger ouch!)

I knew I didn't like Mondays...

Wow, had an absolutely horrible morning. I started off playing an $11 turbo double shootout to the weekly $1million guaranteed. I like the concept of these particular ones because if you make the final table you get paid (if it fills up). Unfortunately, I didn't make the final table.

Then I played a $6.50 turbo. It had to be the single most, absolutely horrible game I've ever played in my life. There was this one jackass at the table from Rome who was arrogant enough to believe that he was capable of playing 10 tables at a time. Yes, ten! Stupid fucker slowed the game down so much that by the time I went out 4th blinds were 400/800/50. Last time I looked at the lobby the idiot had a 3:1 chip lead headsup too. I hope he isn't representative of all people in Italy. If he is, I never want to visit there. Asshat.

So I tried again, mouse hovering over the 'unregister' button in case he joins. Fortunately he didn't. Unfortunately, it didn't matter. Another slow-ish game that I was up and down in. I ended up down, and out, in 6th when my KcTc all-in is called by 8c4c. Wanna guess the flop??? If you guessed J88 rainbow you win! Which is more than I did. Sure, I caught a king on the river. A little too little a whole lot too late.

I may play some more tonight, but right now it's 19­°C outside and I should probably do something other than sit in front of my laptop.

Today's play

I started off this morning playing, whatelse, a $6.50 turbo. In case it isn't obvious, I really like this - they're quick, fairly easy, and within my bank roll.

So off I go. I didn't do very well, finishing in 6th. I can't quite pinpoint one particular hand that was my downfall. It was more a case of that card-dead issue from last night carrying over.

So, not to be outdone by shitty cards, I try again. This one goes the EXACT opposite way. I established myself as table captain on the 2nd hand where I caught trip jacks against two players who folded the river. Two hands later I send the first person to the rail with my 99. I caught a nine of the flop and two tens completed the boat for me, sending the guy with the pocket jacks to the rail. My domination of the table continued through the entire game with me sending all but two to the rail. It was a fairly slow game. So slow that by the time we ended up heads-up I had about a 5:1 chip lead and he had an M of about 2.5, and it just got worse from there. Blinds went up and he was all-in two hands in a row automatically. Obviously, he won the first one. He didn't win the second.

Tonight I decided I'd play in a $3.30 MTT. 1593 players in it. As I write this paragraph we're on first break. The hand just before the break I almost tripled up (as well as knocked one person out) to climb to 92nd out of 614 players. Hopefully I can take this down. First place is $860.23.

Well, I'm out in 143rd place. $6.22 for 3.5 hours effort. Wheeee! My KK ran into A6o. Of course, an ace came on the flop. Poof. End of game for Robbie.

Daily net: $16.92
MTD: $59.91
PMTD: -$92.70

Yesterday's play and a little rant.

I know, I should have posted this yesterday but I was too tired/lazy. After the league tourney ended I started railing fellow forum member, eejit, in a $3.30R on Stars. Around midnight I called it quits and went to bed. Well, eejit hung in there (and you gotta realize, he's in the UK - it's LATE there!) and took the fucker down! A nice, just-shy-of $6K payday for the kid! WTG eejit!

So, on to my play. I only played two games, a $6.50 turbo and the league event.

I finished 6th in the turbo. Just wasn't really catching the cards. I think I had one good hand prior to that and then continued to get blinded down. Ah well. Can't win 'em all.

The league event was kinda disappointing. Only five of us turned out. There was myself, Nikki, Ash, RoC, and Bunny. RoC went first, then Bunny. W00t! Made the money! Then I went next to Ash. Then he finished off Nikki as well. GG Ash! The most amusing part of the whole thing was that it appears that one of the players doesn't seem to think it's right that Nikki & I play in the same tourney. Well, they didn't come right out and say it but when I said "sure, we can talk, but you and I could also be talking over MSN - it's the same thing" the reply was "it's not the same". Alright, it's not quite the same so I replied "okay, but it's no different than if I were talking with someone on the phone" to which the reply came "it's not the same thing but I'm not going to get into it". WTF??? How the hell is it not the same thing?

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Nikki & I have decided to cheat to win this league thing. You know, because winning an extra $100 or so is sooooo critical to our bankroll/life that we're willing to risk our good reputation to do it. So anyway, we've decided to cheat. So, we sit in the same room and tell each other our pocket cards. Obviously, this gives us a slight edge over the other players as we know 4 of the 52 available cards vs. 2 of the 52 that other players know.

Now, let's examine an alternate scenario: another player and I decide to cheat. So we're on the phone with each other. We tell each other our pocket cards. Again, this gives us the same edge over the other players as the above scenario. How is it not the same? Because I can't see the person? Do I really need to? Even if Nikki & I were sitting BESIDE each other so we could see the other's screen, it makes no different (other than the person couldn't lie to us, but, since, in these scenario's, we're supposed to be colluding so lying doesn't make sense). The same scenario holds up for MSN as well.

If we've decided to cheat, it simply makes NO DIFFERENCE whether we're in the same room, on the phone with each other, or using an IM program. Hell, smoke signals if we were feeling really energetic.

Anyone that knows Nikki & I know that we are far too competitive with each other to cheat. We both love winning too much. For those that don't, you'll simply have to trust us. If you're not able to do that, then you have two options: a) don't play with us and/or b) bitch about it. Either way, the more you bitch, the more respect for you I lose.

So, to recap: Nikki & I play in SOME (not all) games together. This includes the forum league event and the occasional small buyin MTTs (which we've already cleared with Stars). Our living room has an 'L' shaped sectional in it. I sit at one end, Nikki sits at the other. It is simply not possible for us to see each other's screen since neither of us ever sent in the required 53 boxtops + $2.99 for shipping & handling for our X-Ray Specs. We do not, have never, and will never collude when playing at the same game. Period. It's simply not worth it. We've made a few friends playing online and would not risk those friendships over this. I said above that it's not worth it to win an extra $100 or so. Let me amend that: it's not worth it to win ANY amount of money. Integrity and trust are two things that are too important to fuck with.

Okay, I'm done ranting now. It's unlikely that anyone that doubts our honesty and integrity actually reads this but hey, I don't have a livejournal so I need to whine here. On the off chance they do, I have this to say to them: If you're life has evolved to such a place where you cannot offer the basist amount of trust required to believe us, I feel bad for you, I really do, but I'm not going to continually defend myself against allegations of cheating and colluding. I'm simply going to block chat from you. That way you can rant to all the other people at the table and see if you can sway their opinion of us and I don't have to read any of it.

There are going to be hands that Nikki & I end up heavily involved in. It would be so easy to cry "chip dumping" (in fact it happened in the first league event. I don't know if the people being serious were joking or not, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming they were joking. This has been discussed on the forum so if you want to read more about it, go there.) if one of us lays down a hand after some heavy betting. All I can tell you is that it is not because we're talking about the hand. Once in a while, we'll talk about a hand AFTER the hand is over. Even then, we don't always tell the other what we had. Too competitive.

Okay, now I'm really done.

Daily net: -$7.50
MTD: $42.99
PMTD: -$58.80

Only one game today

[End of Tourney (for me), 11:24pm] I just busted out in 360th. I had 22 with an M of about 13. With blinds at 100/200 by the time the pot got to me it was about 1100 (all limpers). I pushed, hoping to steal the pot. Got two callers. The flop comes 679. One caller bets 1K and the other folds. Remaining player turns over 55. Neither of us improve. It was a good play though. Just got out carded there. Daily update at bottom of post.

[Break One, 10:47pm] I'm still in it. I'm below the average stack but have been playing fairly well. I'm currently sitting in 317/541. 243 places pay so obviously I need to start building my stack now.

I'm waiting for the start of the 9:47 $2.20 MTT at Stars. It's going to be the only game I play tonight. As Nikki said, "Hopefully you're really tired tomorrow." Yes, I hope I'm really tired tomorrow too as that means that I went deep in the tourney.

I'm not going to live blog this one but I'll check back in on breaks with updates.

Daily net: -$2.20
MTD: $50.49
PMTD: -$58.80

Off day

Only played one Turbo SNG today (well, technically yesterday as it's not quarter after twelve). Finished in 7th. I was card dead the entire game. I think my best hand was ATo. That brought a flop of KJs with a blank. I saw the turn but folded to a big bet. Of course the river came the queen but there was no way I could chase it.

Daily net: -$6.50
MTD: $52.69
PMTD: -$25.00

DoR3 - Comin' at you in 3D Baybeee!

SURFERGEEKS.NET STATUS: Still MIA. Scroll down to read about the SNAFU.

So today was a good day for poker. This morning I played a $6.50 Turbo SNG and won it. Cha-ching! Then tonight was the TalkingPoker.com Monthly Heads-Up Challenge. There were a whopping six people registered. That meant that two people got first round byes. The six were: JD, Studiopet, Rogue (TP), Boobie Lover, Nikki, and I. Needless to say, neither of us got byes. Rogue & Boobie got to sit the first one out while I faced off against JD. Well, I lucked out on one key hand that gave me a decent chip lead where I rivered my straight over his set of aces. Whew. The final hand I was dealt aces and he was dealt fours. My aces held.

Nikki beat Studiopet (she's probably written about it on her blog). So we were both hoping that we would draw Rogue since, well, he never showed up. So whoever drew him got to just win every hand as he was auto-folded. Well, naturally, Boobie ends up against Mark and I have to play against Nikki. My fours faced off against her AQ and not only did they hold up, but they actually improved into a straight, sending me to the final against Boobie.

Six hands into the final table I raised with A5o, he re-raised, and I re-re-raised all-in. He turns over eights. Oh-oh.
Fortunately the poker gods decided to shine down their love upon me and gave me an ace on the flop which was good enough to win the contest.

Daily net: $36.50
MTD: $59.19
PMTD: $0.50

Surprise!

Okay, so we're having some server issues over at surfergeeks.net so I've rerouted the page here. As soon as things get sorted out, I'll move everything back. HOPEFULLY they get sorted out and I don't need to move to a different server...that would suck. We'd basically be starting over from scratch. D'oh!

DoR2: The PM

[11:40pm] It's over. EsqWire & I ended up HU. I had an inital chiplead but managed to donk off a good portion of it. The final hand went like this:

PokerStars Game #4817175581: Tournament #24047715, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/05/02 - 23:34:45 (ET)
Table '24047715 1' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: Robbie Robb (7740 in chips)
Seat 8: EsqWire (13260 in chips)
Robbie Robb: posts the ante 25
EsqWire: posts the ante 25
EsqWire: posts small blind 200
Robbie Robb: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [Kc 5s]
EsqWire: raises 800 to 1200
Robbie Robb: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [3h 7h 6c]
Robbie Robb: bets 1200
EsqWire: calls 1200
*** TURN *** [3h 7h 6c] [Kh]
Robbie Robb: bets 5315 and is all-in
EsqWire: calls 5315
Robbie Robb said, "damn"
*** RIVER *** [3h 7h 6c Kh] [Ts]
Robbie Robb said, "gg"
EsqWire said, "nh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Robbie Robb: shows [Kc 5s] (a pair of Kings)
EsqWire: shows [Kd 6h] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
EsqWire said, "gg"
EsqWire collected 15480 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 15480 | Rake 0
Board [3h 7h 6c Kh Ts]
Seat 2: Robbie Robb (big blind) showed [Kc 5s] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 8: EsqWire (button) (small blind) showed [Kd 6h] and won (15480) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

So it was close, but he outplayed me. Still a good showing though. $42 in my pocket plus 2nd in the points after 1 event.

That's it for poker for me for the night.

Daily net: $35.69
MTD: $22.69
PMTD: -$32.50


[11:25pm] Nikki just busted out with 55 against K9. EsqWire rivered the 9 sending her to the rail. The very next hand I sent Boobie Lover to the rail with pocket tens.

[10:30pm] Made it to break. Nikki's still the short stack @ 1170 but I've climbed up to 5th with 2565. Rounding out the table:
Studiopet 3505
TheNextThing (Zy) 3080
JD 2885
EsqWire 2855
Me
Boobie Lover 2490 - He successfully dropped Teh Hammer against KQ and won with two pair!
Jimmy 2450
Nikki
Tough table tonight.

[10:20pm] Final table. Nikki's short stack at ~1400 chips and I'm right behind her at 1500. Grr.

[9:50pm] Just dumped some chips to JD. I had ATs with a flop of J6A rainbow. JD bet aggressively and I just couldn't continue. I saw the turn (a king) and we checked the river. It didn't help me and he bet a good size bet. Oooh. And this just in - TP was just busted by MC Ash. TP's pocket eights ran into Ash's pocket sevens with a seven on the flop.

[9:45pm] I just ended up all-in against TP. I had QQ he had AKs. I flopped a queen. Crippled him. Ended up being 14 people registered to play.

[9:30pm] The cards are in the air. I've got StudioPet, TP, Boobie Lover, JD, MC Ash, and Jimmy (coming to us from all the way across the pond!) at my table. Nikki's at the other table.

Okay kiddies. We're five minutes away from the start of event numero uno of the Second TalkingPoker.com Forum League. Twenty events over the next two months. Your top 10 placings count towards your final point total for your share of the pot.

Tonight's event is coming to you live from PokerStars (well, okay, ALL the events will be coming to you from PokerStars) and the action is looking to be fierce. At the time of this writing we have 11 people registered including a brand new forum member who just joined TODAY from, of all places, Toronto! Could this be someone with an existing TP connection? We shall see. Welcome RaiseOCthulu!

I'm going to do my best to live blog the important hands here. They'll appear at the top of this post.

Day of Recovery 2. The AM.

So this morning I played another $6.50 Turbo. Railed 3rd in it for a $10.80 payout. Then Nikki & I both played in a $2.20 MTT. Just over 700 players, top 126 paid out. I was starting to get a little low on chips at the bubble but I made it through. First hand after the bubble I'm dealt AA and jam. I'm really hoping someone has a halfway decent hand and think I'm just trying to take the blinds & antes. No such luck. Granted, I managed to take the blinds & antes, but that's it. Very next hand I'm dealt JJ in early MP. Ah well. Jam time redux. Folds around to the button who calls. Folds around. Button turns over QQ. Neither of us improved. Busted out 123rd for a measly little $2.59 payout. Hehe. Nikki's still playing in it though and is somewhat shortstacked. This is usually how she wins these things. Lucky bitch. :-)

Tonight is event #1 of the TalkingPoker.com Forum league as well as the weekly WWdN. I haven't decided if I'm playing the WWdN yet but I'm in the forum game.

Daily net: $4.69
MTD: -$8.31

So much for that

Well, day one and I'm done playing for the day. I know when the gods are conspiring against me. Played two $6.50 SNGs. Placed 4th in the first one and 5th in the second one.

MTD: -$13.00
Previous MTD (PMTD): -$32.50

New month, new start

Okay, last month SUCKED. I'm not even going to print here how much I dropped last month. Let's just say it sucked but was still smaller than the GNP of pretty much any country on the planet and leave it at that. I'm feeling good about May though. The forum league is starting up tomorrow night. I had a good day yesterday to finish out April and segue into May. I even have a new mantra:
"I-will-not-signup-for-limit-SNGs-unknowingly-anymore" I shall chant that five times before each registration. Note, I said BEFORE. Knowing me, if I do it WHILE I'm registering, I'll register for the freakin' limit games. Grr.

At the end of each day's play I'll post a final daily recap showing my current MTD as well as last month's MTD.

Last game of the night & the Daily Recap

Well, after that LIMIT fiasco I played a NL $6.50. I wound up SERIOUSLY shortstacked and managed to double up twice so I was back up to ~1500 chips. Yeah, I was that bad. I managed to make the money but wound up short stacked again. We're talking an M somewhere in the area of 1.8!!! :) So I pick up Q8s. I jam. Chip leader (~11K) calls of course. Turns over something worse than Q8. The flop comes 8x8. Of course he completes his straight. Bleh. But at least I made the money.

So today I played 5 SNGs (including that god awful LIMIT shit): (+/-) +$10.70

Not too bad I guess. Should be better though. Horrible ROI...

Well, I'm a jackass

I figured I'd play another $6.50 since I'm doing fairly well in them today. I sign up, think it's sorta odd that it's taking a while to fill up. Anyway, we finally get seated and one of the other players types in the chat window:
"I'll bet at least one of you thinks this is NL". WTF?!?!?!? Aw shit. I signed up for a $6.50 Turbo LIMIT HE SNG. Fuck! Ah well. At least I've been getting some limit practice in this past week.

EDIT: KILL ME NOW!!!!!!

EDIT #2: Well, I'm glad that's over. I finished 7th but at least it's over... Now to play some real poker.

And another one...

I was bored so I played another $6.50. Finished 2nd again. We were about even when I was dealt 66. I jammed, he called cand turned over A9o. He caught the ace and I didn't improve. This little hand left me with 310 chips. Uh-oh. Things do not look good here. I managed to build it up to 2240 chips and jammed with A5o. He called and turned over 67o. He caught a 6. Bleh. Donkey.

EDIT: I forgot to mention - I did manage to drop Teh Hammer on him. Unfortunately he didn't call me so I showed him...hehe.

Glutton for punishment

So I sat down this morning and played a $6.50 turbo and played absolutely horribly. I'm not sure why exactly; I just know that I was not happy with my play. Of course this realization came after being railed in 8th.

So, being the glutton that I am, I just finished playing another one. At least this time I played better. I finished in 2nd. I ended up to the right of this jackass that would call pretty much anything. Unfortunately, it worked for him this time and he had established quite the stack. When we started headsup my stack was ~2500 to his ~10K+. I managed to build it up to around 5500 and then jammed with 33. He calls (of course, why wouldn't he - he called my high pair with T2o) and turns over ATo. An ace flops and a ten rivers. I needed a 3. No such luck.

I KNOW his style of play is NOT a winning style but it pisses me off that these asshats continue to make enough money so that they don't end up broke, homeless and without internet connection.

More Limit and a SNG

I played some more limit today. Still micro stakes but managed to leave the table plus a bit of money.

I just finished playing a $6.50 turbo. I won that one. That's always a nice little bump to the ol' bankroll.

Yesterday

Hey, I actually made a bit of money yesterday! I was playing a .05-.10 limit table as well as a .01-.02 NL table. :) I can't quite remember exactly how long I played for before I had to feed Alex, but I ended up +$1.51! WooHoo!!!! Retirement here I come.

I lied.

Okay, I played some .05-.10 limit today. Man...talk about getting sucked out on. I stuck with it for a while and managed to escape only down a bit (down less than what I was up yesterday @ .02-.04).

I am having an absolutely HORRIBLE April. I've probably donked off over 60% of my bankroll in April. It's starting to bounce back A BIT, but it will be a while before it's back to where it was in March.

The important thing is that I'm still enjoying playing. Sure, there are those hands where you just scream out "What the fuck was that guy thinking?!?!?!" as he chases his one-outer to the river and catches, but I usually just make sure that I fold the next couple hands after that unless they are absolute monsters and shake it off. Prevents tilting.

.02/.04 Limit

So I had some time to kill this morning and didn't feel like losing a LOT of money (since I don't really have a LOT anymore) so I joined a .02/.04 limit table. I played for an hour and left with stats of 55 BB/100. Not too shabby. Not too long ago, Alex was sleeping so I figured I two-table these bad boys. I was up at both tables but combined with the morning session my BB/100 dropped to about 36. Still an excellent rate but I know I can't sustain it. Maybe I'll play some more. Once I log 1000 or 2000 hands I may think about moving up to .05/.10. We'll see.

Finally.

It's about fucking time. I made it to the money in a SNG at Stars. I've been having the WORST month. I ended up HU and the final hand was my KTs against his K7o. Flop came a 7. I didn't improve. At least it helps slow the bleeding.

Home Game Recap

Well, last night was our regular monthly game. It was the smallest tournout we've had yet: 10 people. It's a shame really, there were over 20 people that expressed interest and we ended up with 10. Some people had good reasons: ill, wedding, etc. but then others just never bothered to reply. That sucks. So anyway, the folks last night were Nikki & I (obviously), Jason, Jen & Mike, Jeff M, Jeff O, Mike H, Liz, and the one-and-only Donkey Boy (aka Mooney). Format was the same as last week. We decided that we'd go down to one table at 6 players. Technically, we could have started at one table, but then it would have been a unnecessarily crowded table. Top 3 places paid out. Our final table was formed when, at table 2, Nikki and Liz are all-in against Jeff M's bigger stack. Nikki caught and sent Liz to the rail and doubled-up off of Jeff, sorta crippling him a bit and giving her overall chip lead. The final table was made up of Nikki, Jeff M, and Jen from table 2 and Jason, Mike C, and myself from table 1. The four bounced players started a twoonie game at the other table. Jason & Jeff were the first two to go out at the final table. Jen fell next, making the final three Mike, Nikki, and me. I went next. At this point I started dealing for Nikki & Mike. They finally ended up all-in together and Nikki was the victor, taking down the tourney.

Since it was such a small tournout, the game went fairly quickly so we decided that the remaining people would do a $5 buyin as soon as the other table's twoonie game was done. It ended quickly after we badgered everyone into going all-in. Liz won that one. So our short game ended up being: Jason, Liz, Nikki, Jeff M, myself, Donkey Boy. Since there was only $30 and 6 players, we decided that Top 2 would pay out. Liz was first to drop, followed by Jeff, then Nikki. She was horrendously card dead the entire game and ended up seriously short stacked. So we're down to the final three: Donkey Boy, Jason & me. We finally sent Mooney to the rail after the best hand held up for once against him. That guy sucks out more that Monika Lewinsky sucked. Heads-Up. Jason & I. We go back and forth a bit until we end up all-in. Jason had cowboys and I had something that made up a straight draw. Let's call it 9T. The board showed KQx. I needed a jack AND the board not to pair. I rivered the jack and doubled-up off of Jason, giving me a HUGE chip lead. It was only a matter of time at this point that I finally beat Jason, winning the small game. But it was a plain, simple suckout on that hand. Jason should have won right there with his set.

So it was a good night all around. I think everyone had a great time. We had a new player join us. And, best of all, Nikki and I finished in the money in the main game, first & third respectively, and I won the second game. Kinda makes up for the lack of either us making the money last month.

Next month's game is May 27th. We're hoping to have more than ten people at it.

WWdN tourney

[10:07pm] Two hands after crippling myself, I'm dealt 99 so I jam. Up4Poker re-raises to isolate and turns over AK of clubs. Needless to say, it doesn't end well - read on... (I've deleted all lines that didn't really pertain to the hand itself)

PokerStars Game #4670836161: Tournament #22928623, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/04/18 - 22:01:53 (ET)
Table '22928623 5' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: Up4Poker (5250 in chips)
Seat 6: SumoreZ (10009 in chips)
Seat 9: Robbie Robb (535 in chips) <-- see? crippled...
GScottW: posts small blind 100
Up4Poker: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [9d 9h]
SumoreZ: calls 200
Robbie Robb: raises 335 to 535 and is all-in
Up4Poker: raises 665 to 1200
SumoreZ: folds
*** FLOP *** [8h 7c 5s] <-- So I'm looking for either a 9 or a 6 here.
Robbie Robb said, "6"
*** TURN *** [8h 7c 5s] [Tc] <-- now a jack will help me out too (but not a club!!)! Seven outs. Unfortunately that gives CJ his flush draw. He has 15 outs.
Up4Poker said, "club"
*** RIVER *** [8h 7c 5s Tc] [5c] <-- His outs beat my outs. :-(
Up4Poker said, "sorry"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Up4Poker: shows [Ac Kc] (a flush, Ace high)
Robbie Robb: shows [9d 9h] (two pair, Nines and Fives)
Up4Poker collected 1370 from pot
Seat 2: Up4Poker (big blind) showed [Ac Kc] and won (1370) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: Robbie Robb (button) showed [9d 9h] and lost with two pair, Nines and Fives

So that ends my WWdN journey this week. At least they're always entertaining. For that, I give them +EV.


[10:05pm] Just crippled myself. My KTo ran into A9 and neither hand improved. Stupid Rob

[9:55pm] Nikki got knocked out of the tourney a while back. Her KQ ran into KT and was busted.

[9:35pm] Nikki just knocked Wil out of the tourney.

[9:30pm] We're on break. I got moved from Nikki's table a couple minutes ago. She was short stack at the table and the cards were VERY good to me. I was dealt AKo back-to-back and was followed up immediately with KTs (okay, not a GREAT hand...but playable). I did my best to send her to the rail but Sires jammed with Teh Hammer™ and was called by ATo. A ten rivered and sent Sires to the rail and closed the table - spreading us to the wind. Nikki landed at Wil's table so now it's her shot to send him packing.

[9:20pm] Heh. I just got moved to Nikki's table. Very odd.

[9:10pm] Not in this hand but check it out:

PokerStars Game #4670183038: Tournament #22928623, Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2006/04/18 - 21:09:20 (ET)
Table '22928623 8' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: ricoM (2190 in chips)
Seat 2: Pastamancer (1510 in chips)
Seat 3: Wil Wheaton (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: Up4Poker (1810 in chips)
Seat 6: Robbie Robb (2520 in chips)
Seat 7: Sowbug (1730 in chips)
Seat 8: penner42 (3645 in chips)
Seat 9: Beck2Knaves (1720 in chips)
Beck2Knaves: posts small blind 25
ricoM: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [9s 8h]
Pastamancer: folds
Wil Wheaton: calls 50
Up4Poker said, "turn check seemed a bit quick"
Up4Poker: raises 125 to 175
Robbie Robb: folds
Wil Wheaton said, "carpenters ROCK \m/"
Sowbug: folds
penner42: folds
penner42 said, "only cause I had given up and checked before I saw the 9"
Beck2Knaves: raises 275 to 450
ricoM: folds
wyoming1962 is connected
Wil Wheaton said, "well, i think i don't need to see a flop, after all"
Wil Wheaton: folds
Up4Poker: raises 1360 to 1810 and is all-in
Beck2Knaves: calls 1270 and is all-in
Beck2Knaves said, "well, here goes the tournament"
Up4Poker said, "7"
*** FLOP *** [2h 5d Tc]
Wil Wheaton said, "HAMMER!"
Beck2Knaves said, "knew it"
*** TURN *** [2h 5d Tc] [Ad]
penner42 said, "oof"
*** RIVER *** [2h 5d Tc Ad] [2c]
Wil Wheaton said, "suckout!"
penner42 said, "wow."
Beck2Knaves said, "knew it"
Wil Wheaton said, "RESUCK!"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Beck2Knaves: shows [Ac Ks] (two pair, Aces and Deuces)
Up4Poker: shows [7h 2s] (three of a kind, Deuces)
Robbie Robb said, "WOW"
Up4Poker said, "doh"
Up4Poker collected 3540 from pot
ricoM said, "whoa!"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3540 | Rake 0
Board [2h 5d Tc Ad 2c]
Seat 1: ricoM (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Pastamancer folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Wil Wheaton folded before Flop
Seat 4: Up4Poker showed [7h 2s] and won (3540) with three of a kind, Deuces
Seat 6: Robbie Robb folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Sowbug folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: penner42 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Beck2Knaves (small blind) showed [Ac Ks] and lost with two pair, Aces and Deuces

[9:05pm] After two good hands (one against Wil), I'm sitting in 9th right now. Long way to go though. 89 players left.

[8:45pm] Well, I'm playing the WWdN tonight. I'll do my best to bring you the action. 98 players, top 9 payout. First is $294. I'm sitting in 21st right now. I've got a monster table though. Wil Wheaton himself is at my table. ricoM, Up4Poker, Pastamancer - they're all here. As Up4Poker said - a veritable Murderer's Row at this table.

$2.20 morning game

[10:45am] I'm done. I was dealt TT UTG so I push all-in. The guy to my left calls and the guy to HIS left calls. Everyone else folds. First caller shows AA and 2nd caller shows 88. The board does nothing to improve any of our hands. I'm out 352nd. No money. Nikki's still in but is struggling. Well, I think this loss negates my miniscule win from last night. Heh.

[10:38am] Whew this liveblogging thing is tricky. By the time you get one post finished you may have another post waiting to go. Yikes. Anyway, time for an update. After a few small bad pots I've managed to reduce my stack back down to just above the starting stacks. I'll get them back though. Never fear.

[10:21am] Told ya I'd get them back. I'm dealt 9dTd and call the 3x BB PFR, OrangeFloyd calls as well. The flop comes 6c2c7h giving me the gutshot nut straight. The original raiser checks as do Floyd & I. The turn comes 8h giving me my nut straight. However there is also two possible flush draws on the table that is a little scary. Floyd bets out 120 and is called by the OR. I raise it to 360 and both call. The river comes 5d busting any flush draws. OR checks, I jam. Floyd calls and the OR folds like a cheap suit. Floyd turns over J9o giving him the 9-high straight and I turn over the ten-high straight.

[10:18am] Ooop. Just donked off a 1/3 of my stack with 2nd best hand. I had AQ, he had AK. The board paired our ace and also paired nines, leaving it up to the kicker. Ah well. I'll get them back.

[10:10am] I just started playing a $2.20 tourney at PokerStars to pass the time away while I wait for my car to be fixed. 676 players with a first prize of $283.93. Sure, not as big as last nights game, but still pretty good for a lot smaller field. Nikki is also playing in this one. Also, at my table is OrangeFloyd, a WWdN weekly regular who has went mano a mano with Wil and won.

$3.30 Redux

[12:05] And....I'm out. I was dealt A9s so I raised 3x BB. The button reraised an additional 2 BBs so I called. The flop came rag-9-rag so I jammed, hoping to get him off whatever he may have. No such luck. He quickly calls my all-in and turns over AA. I needed another 9 to come. It didn't. I finished 235th and won $5.38. It was one of those hands where you were either hero or zero...

[11:54] Made it to second break. Currently sitting in 70 out of 260. It may look like I've dropped, and I have, but it's only because I haven't increased my stack at all. It hasn't really moved much. I'm still hoping to go deep. We're packed in like sardines in the chip count though. If I bump up my stack by 8K I'll move into the top 20 - that's how close we are.

[11:47] Just made it into the money. Guaranteed at least $5.16. Woohoo! NOW I have to go deep.

[11:45] Another move to a different table. My stacks dropped a bit. I folded a decent size pot to a bluff. It was well played. He showed 22 but represented at least a queen to a board of 8Q6. I had JJ.

[11:25] I'm getting sick and tired of being moved from table to table just when I start to get a read on the people. Grrr.

[11:15] Took down another big pot. Sitting in 22nd right now.

[11:10pm] Just doubled up off the Kiss of Death™ (that's KK for all you non-forum people).

[10:50pm] Well, I decided I was going to play in another $3+.30 tourney tonight. I'm currently an hour into it and am sitting in 145th place. It started with 1723 and there are currently 658 left. First prize is just under $1K - which is good because, by some sheer stroke of coincidence, my car repairs are going to be costing $1K plus tax. The kicker is, that doesn't even really fix everything....sigh.

So I'm running pretty good in this tourney. Had one good hand that doubled me up early. The first table I was at, while good for my stack, kinda sucked. There was almost no one there that respected a decent sized raise. I raise 6x BB and get five callers! I had to do crazy-stupid raises just to isolate one or two. Sad. Just before the break I got moved to a new table so I don't really have a read on anyone there yet but there are two people there with stacks larger than mine.

$3.30 tourney

I played a $3.30 tourney yesterday. There were 2135 players. I busted out 131 for an almost $9 payout! Woot! $9! Retirement here I come. First place was actually a pretty sweet payout of just over $1K for $3. Can't go wrong there.

Today I played a $2 rebuy sattellite for the WSOP. These things are pretty soft and it takes all kinds of special to not finish in the money on these ones. Well, just call me special. I had a decent stack and managed to build it up to around 11K. Then I'm dealt 33. One person ahead of me raised it up about 4x. I'd had quite a few hands on him and figured him for a couple overcards - probably both paint. I figure that if I jam, he'll lay it down fearing a large pocket pair. So jam I do. Call he does. Turn over 99 he does. Crap. Well, maybe I'll suckout and catch a three. Here comes the flop.... 9JJ. FUCK!!!! Well, I've still got one out - running threes. Nope. I'm done. Ah well.

I still hold that these things are EASY money. I just have to stop being a jackass and play properly.

What's This? A good hand???

Wow, I can't believe it. I actually caught a decent hand AND IT HELD!!!

PokerStars Game #4632516829: Tournament #23115209, Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/04/15 - 10:17:00 (ET)
Table '23115209 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: nanato3 (3550 in chips)
Seat 2: HOASTY (1590 in chips)
Seat 3: CreekRVRat (1820 in chips)
Seat 4: WickedWay (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: Robbie Robb (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: cw@gon (1460 in chips)
Seat 8: BigBuck1023 (980 in chips)
Seat 9: jeffcliffy (1470 in chips)
BigBuck1023: posts small blind 10
jeffcliffy: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [Kd Kc]
nanato3: calls 20
HOASTY: calls 20
CreekRVRat: folds
WickedWay: calls 20
Robbie Robb: raises 1430 to 1450 and is all-in
cw@gon: calls 1450
BigBuck1023: folds
jeffcliffy: folds
nanato3: folds
HOASTY: folds
WickedWay: calls 1160 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [Js 6d 5s]
*** TURN *** [Js 6d 5s] [7c] <-- was really worried about the OESD here for Wicked's eights.
*** RIVER *** [Js 6d 5s 7c] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Robbie Robb: shows [Kd Kc] (a pair of Kings)
cw@gon: shows [Qh Qs] (a pair of Queens)
Robbie Robb said, "whew"
Robbie Robb collected 540 from side pot
WickedWay: shows [8d 8h] (a pair of Eights)
WickedWay is sitting out
Robbie Robb collected 3610 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4150 Main pot 3610. Side pot 540. | Rake 0
Board [Js 6d 5s 7c 2c]
Seat 1: nanato3 folded before Flop
Seat 2: HOASTY folded before Flop
Seat 3: CreekRVRat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: WickedWay showed [8d 8h] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 5: Robbie Robb showed [Kd Kc] and won (4150) with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: cw@gon (button) showed [Qh Qs] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: BigBuck1023 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: jeffcliffy (big blind) folded before Flop

I'm sure I'll end up losing this one yet though...

And just in case you didn't believe me:

PokerStars Game #4632616038: Tournament #23115209, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/04/15 - 10:35:55 (ET)
Table '23115209 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: nanato3 (4715 in chips)
Seat 2: HOASTY (1045 in chips)
Seat 3: CreekRVRat (5545 in chips)
Seat 5: Robbie Robb (2195 in chips)
Robbie Robb: posts small blind 75
nanato3: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [Td Jd]
HOASTY: folds
CreekRVRat: calls 150
Robbie Robb: calls 75
nanato3: checks
*** FLOP *** [3d 2c Js]
Robbie Robb: bets 600
nanato3: raises 3965 to 4565 and is all-in
CreekRVRat: folds
Robbie Robb: calls 1445 and is all-in
Robbie Robb said, "dmn"
Robbie Robb said, "damn"
*** TURN *** [3d 2c Js] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [3d 2c Js 8c] [Qs]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Robbie Robb: shows [Td Jd] (a pair of Jacks)
nanato3: shows [2s Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Deuces) <-- Fucking BB special!
Robbie Robb said, "gl all"
nanato3 collected 4540 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4540 | Rake 0
Board [3d 2c Js 8c Qs]
Seat 1: nanato3 (big blind) showed [2s Jc] and won (4540) with two pair, Jacks and Deuces
Seat 2: HOASTY folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: CreekRVRat (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Robbie Robb (small blind) showed [Td Jd] and lost with a pair of Jacks

So that was me out in 4th. Just call me bubble boy.

I'm really starting to hate SNGs

Grr. These $6 turbos are starting to piss me off. I was pretty much card dead throughout the entire game. Here's my best hand from the game:

PokerStars Game #4622467168: Tournament #23059906, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2006/04/14 - 12:29:07 (ET)
Table '23059906 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: bigbredbear (2185 in chips)
Seat 3: Devilish1 (3220 in chips)
Seat 4: irowport (3015 in chips)
Seat 6: Robbie Robb (1630 in chips)
Seat 7: flower2 (3190 in chips)
Seat 9: petertnguyen (260 in chips)
bigbredbear: posts small blind 100
Devilish1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [6d 6c]
irowport: calls 200
Robbie Robb: calls 200
flower2: calls 200
petertnguyen: raises 60 to 260 and is all-in
bigbredbear: folds
Devilish1: calls 60
irowport: calls 60
Robbie Robb: calls 60
flower2: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [As 6s Ts]
Devilish1: checks
irowport: bets 200
Robbie Robb: raises 1170 to 1370 and is all-in
flower2: folds
Devilish1: folds
irowport: folds
*** TURN *** [As 6s Ts] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [As 6s Ts 2c] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Robbie Robb: shows [6d 6c] (four of a kind, Sixes)
Robbie Robb collected 400 from side pot
petertnguyen: shows [Tc Ah] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Robbie Robb collected 1400 from main pot
Devilish1 said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1800 Main pot 1400. Side pot 400. | Rake 0
Board [As 6s Ts 2c 6h]
Seat 2: bigbredbear (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Devilish1 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: irowport folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Robbie Robb showed [6d 6c] and won (1800) with four of a kind, Sixes
Seat 7: flower2 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: petertnguyen (button) showed [Tc Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens

Really liked that one. Then came the final hand of my game...

PokerStars Game #4622533596: Tournament #23059906, Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/04/14 - 12:39:20 (ET)
Table '23059906 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: bigbredbear (2885 in chips)
Seat 3: Devilish1 (2860 in chips)
Seat 4: irowport (2280 in chips)
Seat 6: Robbie Robb (2345 in chips)
Seat 7: flower2 (3130 in chips)
bigbredbear: posts the ante 25
Devilish1: posts the ante 25
irowport: posts the ante 25
Robbie Robb: posts the ante 25
flower2: posts the ante 25
Robbie Robb: posts small blind 200
flower2: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Robbie Robb [Ac Ks]
bigbredbear: folds
Devilish1: raises 1200 to 1600
irowport: folds
Robbie Robb: raises 720 to 2320 and is all-in
flower2: folds
Devilish1: calls 720
*** FLOP *** [Qh 3d 5c]
*** TURN *** [Qh 3d 5c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 3d 5c 8h] [2h]
Robbie Robb said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Robbie Robb: shows [Ac Ks] (high card Ace)
Devilish1: shows [Qs As] (a pair of Queens)
Devilish1 collected 5165 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5165 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 3d 5c 8h 2h]
Seat 2: bigbredbear folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Devilish1 showed [Qs As] and won (5165) with a pair of Queens
Seat 4: irowport (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Robbie Robb (small blind) showed [Ac Ks] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: flower2 (big blind) folded before Flop

Sure, it was a coinflip, but damn....

Welcome to my poker blog

Hey all, welcome to my dedicated poker blog. Some of you may have come here from my main site at Surfergeeks.net and others may have stumbled across it elsewhere. I will still be posting the occasional poker related things on my main site, but only if it's really BIG news. This one will have more daily posts that will revolve around me bitching about certain hands and how much of a suckout the donkey that knocked me out caught.

That said, today I played a $6.50 Turbo SNG at PS (that's Pokerstars for anyone reading this not in the know. Oh, and 'SNG' is 'Sit N Go'). I sucked. I was dealt AKo and raised it up, it was reraised and I called. The flop didn't help me so I smooth called his bet and received no help on the turn. His bets seemed to indicate strength so I laid it down on the turn but not after I gave away some chips. The hand that killed me though was a bad play on my part. I had A9s and the flop came KKT. There was only myself and one other player to see the flop and I had position. He checked, I made a small bet that he called. The turn came a nine so I figured that I may be good here so I jammed. He quickly calls and turns over K8. Bastard slow played his king. Ah well. I finished that one in 5th place. Unfortunately, only top 3 payout...