tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52478279515830361882024-02-20T10:23:51.147-06:00The "Honest" Playerin a time of political correctness you don't have to worry about getting a whole lot of that here...this will basically be my way of venting and analzying my play and thoughts at the table while being brutally honest with myself and others that i sit down at the table with...so "get your popcorn ready" and u might just learn something (i'm only about 63% as arrogant as i sound, haha)the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-65768685716149519232009-11-19T21:28:00.004-06:002009-11-19T22:15:54.443-06:00Almost Like Old TimesA couple weeks ago I was able to put in a pretty long session at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Harrah's</span> with Davey and for the most part it was pretty fun. Didn't get out there till pretty late and it took forever to park but I finally sat down around 10:00 in a really bad game but luckily it broke fairly early and I was moved to a game that much better. I didn't really do anything great but I was able to book a win which is always nice. Never really had any interesting hands except when I straddled and and had 4,6 and flopped open ended with 6 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ppl</span> in the hand. I bet it and hit it on the turn and broke the guy next to me who was pretty unlucky and flopped a set. Of course the guy at the other end of the table "knew" what I had, well he said it was either a straight or a flush.....no shit huh, not to much else beats a set.<br /><br />I was fortunate enough to be dealt 12 pocket pair in one night and connect for ZERO flops. I guess I wasn't trying hard enough, at least that's what Davey told me. Never really had any big hands either. I got the pleasure of playing with a local by the name of Melvin. Melvin is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">prolly</span> one of the funniest <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ppl</span> I've played cards with and he's not trying to be funny. He constantly falls asleep at the table and just <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">brutally</span> honest with people. He's been known to tell people they should stay b/c they play so bad he's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">guaranteed</span> to win. He'll also call complete strangers sweetheart and just create this very weird vibe for the tourist but we all know it's a joke. There was Russian kid at the table and when he asked where the kid was from and he said Russia, Melvin let us know that "Russians are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">fuckin</span> crazy, you can't trust them at all....they're more nuts than China-men"...needless to say he's not very P.C.<br /><br />The night ended pretty early in the morning around the 5am mark and it was pretty fun to get to play hang out with Davey and play some cards in a cash game....no <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">tellin</span> how long it had been, maybe since Vegas.<br /><br />Last Thursday on whim I headed to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Harrah's</span> and put together a pretty good night for only about 4 hours of play. I wanted to play 2/5 and they had 3 games but one was shorthanded and I was not interested in that and the other two were pretty bad game. So I sat in a 1/2 game that was awful for the first 30 minutes and then it got really good. We didn't have a pot with less than $150 for about a 20 minute span. Right when the game was getting open I straddled and it got opened to $15 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">UTG</span> and then it got raised to $30 (game was open and pretty weak, which is always nice). Guy calls the $30 and I look down at 4,4 and there's no way I'm folding to that weak ass <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">reraise</span> and I figure lucky number 13 on the pocket pair could be it for me. The original raiser just calls and there's a 4 in the window and I bet right out and called and raised. Get the guy to put all his chips in and the drought was over on pocket pair.<br /><br />Never really did anything after that but I did pick off the same guys bluff 3 times and never had a hand better than 3rd pair when I called river bets. Guy wasn't too happy with my calls. I was also the target too, which was weird. I was racking up and when a guy sitting two to my left saw this he was pissed and said he's leaving if I'm leaving since I was taking so much money off the table. Kinda caught me off <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">guard</span> with that comment, I don't usually hear that. I asked him what he meant and said that since I'm the only one that had him covered he wanted to get in a hand with me so I could double him up. So I then <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">unracked</span> my chips and told him that sounds like plan, I'll give him 30 minutes to snap me. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Unfortunately</span> I was never able to get in a hand with him but it did make me wish it was a weekend b/c I would have <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">prolly</span> stayed as late as this guy wanted to play. It wasn't like he was even an above average player.<br /><br />I did get to play with a little red headed chick who was drunk as hell and weighed about 95lbs. She was pounded <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Budweiser's</span> and dropping f-bombs every other word. Definitely making fun of the guy who was wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket on the other end of the table. When she busted she got up from the table and said to me "fuck this game, these guys are bunch of bitches...I'm going play black jack" It was pretty funny and entertaining.<br /><br />I had fun and look forward to playing soon again, not sure when. I know <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Harrah's</span> is coming up in a couple weeks so I'll definitely be there for that and hoping to do some damage in the tourneys. Hopefully it gets a better turn out than the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">IP</span> got, which I think it will.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-35497191870837421342009-11-07T20:56:00.003-06:002009-11-07T22:01:52.608-06:00A.D.D.Not sure why I haven't written anything in a while, I think I have found other things to do on the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Internet</span> rather than typing, I attempted to write and even had like 3 drafts that I could never complete. I have been pretty busy lately although I have played some poker in the last couple months. I made it out to the Beau back in September and played one event and made it past the dinner break but took some really crappy beats (don't we all??). I had Eskimo Clark at my table in the tourney and he was well, pretty bad. I three bet him 4 times and he never played back at me and a couple other players picked up on this and did the same to him, but he would just chip up b/c other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ppl</span> would just give him chips when they would get it all in on a 8 high flop and they held 99 and Eskimo had AA or some shit like that. Stuff like that doesn't usually happen to me. On two occasions I got the tightest player on the table to put all their chips in for a HUGE pot with slim hands and get bailed out by the deck. I raise w/ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">KQ</span> and flop a Q and bet it out and get raised all in for more than half my stack which was double avg. and I call and the guy has AK for nothing until the turn and an Ace hits...Raise with J9 and flop two pair and get the other super tight player to check raise me all in with his one pair and he makes trips on the turn. It was pretty brutal but typical with tournament poker, I think.<br /><br />I have mixed in some cash games and played pretty well for the most part. Made some trips to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Harrah's</span> and the Beau. I'm not sure what it is but I finally feel like I'm back to the way I used to play by making the bets and raises whenever I feel as though I can move <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ppl</span> off a hand or even value bet weak hands b/c I know exactly how weak the other guy is...poker is a lot more fun when you're seeing almost everything coming at you.<br /><br />Played at the imperial palace this past weekend and the tournaments were pretty bad for me on the Halloween weekend with no momentum going at all. Busted in the 3rd level of a tourney when I raised with Kc9c and flopped the second nuts and of course the one really bad player at the table flopped the nuts. I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">prolly</span> wouldn't fold the hand no matter who it was against but it was impossible against this guy.<br /><br />Played some cash game at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">IP</span> and it was really nice. The poker room was great. No problems with the dealers, the chairs were comfortable, the game was better than average. And one thing that was REALLY nice was that I didn't have to pay time rake. It was a regular drop and it makes the game <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">sooooooooo</span> much better. In the time rake games you often lose players on the push and with this rake the games stayed full and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ppl</span> just kept saying "I should leave" but they would never actually leave till they busted of course. I just wish the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">IP</span> would have better action on a regular basis but I was told they only have maybe 4-6 games going on normal weekend so that means I will have continue to pay rake for the better games, but oh well...not a whole lot can be done about that.<br /><br />I did go back to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">IP</span> and play a $200 tourney on Wednesday and finished around 17 or 18. It was pretty frustrating (which I guess it always is unless of course I win). I actually played pretty much mistake free. I lost one really huge pot when the chip avg was 12k and I had 27k and I lost just over 17k on the hand when I got it <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">AIPF</span> with my AA vs. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">AJ</span> and three clubs on the flop and one on the turn and his jack high flush was good. That was really tough to take. I maintained and although I told the guy with a straight face "well played." I built my stack back up and got moved to a table that was nuts. A guy sitting with about 80k when the avg was 20k and another guy get moved to my table who had about 55k. This was the typical that you find on the coast. Very proud of his SEC team with a hat, t-shirt, and card protector (oh yea, the mullet too)....<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">LSU</span> being this guy's team of choice. Well he shows off right away how he gathered this mountain of chips buy moving all in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">preflop</span> after someone made a standard raise. And he showed his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">KK</span> and stated what else but "how else ya gonna play 'em, that Ace always comes." Well about 20 minutes later he was the one praying for that ace to come. In a three way <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">AIPF</span> hand where the guy with 80k and our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">LSU</span> fan find a way to get it all in after another player moves in with a half the avg stack. First guy had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">KK</span>, the chip leader had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">QQ</span> and the last guy to put his chips in the pot was our beloved <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">LSU</span> guy who had duh <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">da</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">duah</span>....A,10!!! (and you know that shit was suited!..<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">lol</span>) Well that shit blew my mind and he did not hit an Ace and found a way to lose over 50k in chips on one hand without a pair.<br /><br />Well my bust out hand came in a battle of the blinds when I look down at AA and it gets folded all the way to the small blind of course. To my surprise and delight he raises and I move all in and he has to call. He has AK and the dealer didn't slow play me at all putting two kings on the flop and that was it for me. It just sucks b/c I wasn't dealt any big hands all tourney and the two times I had aces I found a way to get as much money in the pot as possible and I lost. I never called a river a bet and lost and I never got called on the river and lost. I'd say that's something to be proud of most of the time. But it's tournament poker and ya gotta get lucky and this wasn't one of those times for me so I'll dwell for a bit and then be back the next chance I get to my dreams of winning a tournament crushed when I get a little unlucky. But until I stop having fun playing I will just keep trying I guess.<br /><br />I did get to go to grandma <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Harrah's</span> house this past Friday night with Davey and that was kinda fun. Guess I'll try to get back in the swing of the blog thing and write about that in a few days.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-14837588481272718172009-08-20T09:29:00.003-05:002009-08-20T21:05:39.230-05:00Deep Run With AnticipationHaven't played live in a while mainly due to having other plans on the weekend and working some long hours and not really wanting to go play during the week. However a couple weeks ago I played the 35k <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">gtd</span> on Full Tilt with about 2100 players I managed to finish 32<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">nd</span>. Don't remember to many details and not like it would be all that interesting. I attempted to play some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">FTOPS</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">satellites</span> and didn't do to well in any of those.<br /><br />The Beau is fast approaching and I'm ready to play a live tourney considering I haven't played a live tournament since Vegas back in June. Although I'm ready to play I'm a little bummed since I've seen the structure. The "Deep Stack" tourney sounds good and looks intriguing when you see the words "deep stack" next to the tourney info but then looking at the structure is kind of a downer. Not sure why they went to 30 minutes levels, that's just not a good thing. I would prefer to have 5k in chips and 50 minutes levels rather than 10k and 30 minutes. On top of such short levels it's not like they <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">have</span> automatic shufflers, so barring the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">competence</span> level of the dealer it could make for some even quicker levels as far as hands dealt.<br /><br />It just seems like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">every time</span> a tournament director does something right they find a way to make me scratch my head. The Venetian without a doubt puts the best product out there as far as value for the money BUT the payout structure is horrible...I'm just not sure how they could look at that and say "yea bottom money is a $40 profit, that's sounds good." For the longest <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Harrah's</span> found ways to screw up tournaments and this past May I think they finally got everything right...but who knows if that will be the same in 2010. And the Beau, they are so close. They treat the players great, the room is nice, the casino itself is just <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">pleasant</span> to walk in to. They make a "deep stack" event and everyone is hoping it will be like the Venetian and they go and cut a bunch of levels and make them 30 minutes. They do have something that looks really interesting and something I have never heard of. Event #2 is a very creative tournament idea. Day one is Saturday and Sunday is also a day one, so if <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ppl</span> bust on Saturday they can show back up on Sunday and play then and day two is Monday. This should create a nice prize pool. I'm <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">definitely</span> playing on the Sunday b/c my Fantasy Football draft is on the Saturday. Not sure if I'm gonna play the Friday event #1 event.<br /><br />Watching ESPN right now and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Plexico</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Burress</span> got two years for being a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">dumb ass</span> and shooting himself. That's kinda retarded considering that he could have gotten off with like 2 months, community service and a couple years probation. Guess it's just the whole celebrity athlete thing where they're told they never do anything wrong their entire life and then the real world happens. Also a bad week b/c Brett <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Favre</span> is back, I really don't like that guy and I hope he has the worst year of his career. I long for the day when he is forgotten and I don't have to watch <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">sportscenter</span> and here his name. Oh well, I'm ready for football season and the Beau.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-44278590380502327212009-07-28T23:07:00.004-05:002009-07-28T23:49:35.088-05:00Hit and RunWoke up Sunday morning and wasn't sure what I was going to do. CC was headed to brunch in the Quarter with the girls and I was contemplating driving to the Beau to play their Sunday tourney. I decided not to b/c I always end up leaving there a lot less enthused than when I got there. It's just so hard to play consistent in those things. I decided to drop in Grandma <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Harrah's</span> house Sunday afternoon since I have heard that the games are actually pretty good on Sunday's. Well I get there and I'm like 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> or 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> on the list for the 2/5 game and there's only two 1/2 games. Well one of the 1/2 games looks pretty good. Three <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ppl</span> on the table with over 1k and another two with over $500. I know I swore off that game but with that money on the table I'm sure it's playing bigger than usual.<br /><br />I sit down with $500 and told myself I was not limping into in any pots unless from the button or the blinds. I think I raised 3 of the first 5 hands dealt to me. For as much money that was on the table there wasn't a whole lot of gambling in the short time I was at the table. I made a straight with 5,3 to win a nice pot and then had a hand that I love. I have 9d,10d and make it $15 to go and get three callers. Flop came jack high with one diamond and I was thinking about all the cards that could hit the turn for me to make a really nice draw. (I know that playing for the redraw isn't the best approach but sometimes ya gotta be an optimist...or wishful thinker). I bet $45 on the flop with my "redraw-draw" and get two callers. The turn is the Queen of diamonds and the redraw-draw got there..giving the best possible card in the deck. I check and guy bets $50 and I raise to $165 and he calls. River card is the jack of diamonds...I thought this would a great card to get paid off on since it paired the flops high card and I wasn't at all concerned about the guy being full. I bet $180 and he thinks <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">waaaaay</span> to long and folds showing his flopped two pair and the jack on the river counterfeited him. Still a nice little pot. A few minutes later they call me for my seat on the 2/5 game.<br /><br />I move games and the game was a lot of old guys but a very easy game to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">maneuver</span> and know exactly where I was in hands at all times. I end up playing in that game for about 40 minutes until CC showed up and after picking up a few bucks in that game too I racked up and left with her for a nice little win after about and hour and a half of play on the day. After cashing out we walked through the casino trying to find the best slot machine to play. I don't even know when was the last time I put money in a machine or anything other than the rake drop at a casino, but one of our friends gave us like $80 in free play coupons on the slots and they expire at the end of July. So we found the $1 slot game Monte Carlo (I think?). We started playing and after about 30 minutes we were like $150 winner and took our free roll profit and got out of there.<br /><br />It was nice to do a little hit and run...I don't think I have ever done that but I think I'm entitled to it considering the hours I've put in at that place. Not sure what's gonna happen this coming weekend. Not gonna play Friday b/c I'm heading to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Houma</span> and Saturday is White Linen in the warehouse district so I know I'm not playing that night. Sunday is still a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">possibility</span> and Davey and I tossed around the idea of heading to the Beau for the tournament but I'm not sure how likely that is as of right now.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-62095695331113718592009-07-23T21:41:00.007-05:002009-07-23T22:00:25.873-05:00Joe Cool and a BubbleDecided to venture off to Harrah's last Friday and I was not disappointed by everything that happened. First thing is as I'm pulling into the garage to park I see a sign on the parking ticket machine that says "special event parking"...I'm not even sure what exactly was going on but then I see that the fee is $30 and if you lose your ticket it's $100!! It wasn't always that expensive for a lost ticket but I guess Harrah's is falling on tough times or just like to screw ppl whenever they get the chance. There's also something about diamond and seven star free parking and now I'm wondering if they stopped giving free parking for 30 minutes of play...this is Harrah's so nothing would shock me. Well I find a place to park relatively quick and get out my car to head to the elevator and then I stop b/c I can't find my parking ticket to get validated and I momentarily panic. Go back to my jeep and pull everything out of my pockets, check the usual spots where I put the ticket and NOTHING...now I'm trying to figure out a way to not pay $100 for parking. I check one last place and sure enough it was there and I avoided the first shitty beat of the night.<br /><br />Walk to the poker room and they have two 2/5 games and like 243 1/2 games going. I hang out at the desk of the poker room for 5 minutes before anyone acknowledges me and asks what game I'd like...poker room is nuts and they have two floor ppl. Well I'm on the list and like 12th or so and it's 9pm. To my surprise there isn't a game on every table. I find a spot to chill and sweat the 5/10/20 game and then they start to move around like they are opening a new table and they did...of course it was a 4/8 game. Well Matt and Joe show up so at least I have someone to talk to while waiting. After about an hour and a half on the list I finally get in the game and the game I got sent to didn't appear to be the better of the two mainly b/c the avg. age was around 68 years old. Well that was earlier in the night and when I got there the complexion of the game had somewhat changed. I was undecided on my buy-in before I sat down since they upped it to 1k. Well I wish I would have sat down with the full amount. I get my chips and sit down the dealer asks if I'd like to post but I'm UTG so I'll just wait...well then Harrah's version of "Joe Cool" tells me to straddle, so with my chips still in the rack I throw in $10. "Joe Cool" is actually a guy named LT...if you've ever played there you know who I'm talking about, always has a hat, sunglasses, and button up shirt. Doesn't say a whole lot and NEVER, I mean NEVER takes off his glasses, not sure if the guy even has eyes. Well he encourages my straddle and the douche on my left does the dumbest thing in the world (he's a regular who is pretty sure of himself for some reason) and makes it $20 blind raise...not sure what the point of that is? Well it gets to LT on the button and after a few limp for $20 he pops it to $100 and the guy on my right calls the $100 and of course I look down at QQ without even having my chips straight. I make it $400 total and LT calls w/out thinking and we see the flop heads up. I move in on the flop and he calls and mucks on the river. I more than double my money on the first hand. So much for playing small pots.<br /><br />The night would slow down but the game didn't. It was wide open and raises ranged from $20 to $60 and action was given on almost all hands dealt. It played well and I think I might have won like 8 pots total on the night and was a pretty nice winner. The game stayed really good till I left. I got to play with Tex who made an appearance but I didn't get a chance to talk with him, he was on the other side of the table and all we got to do was shoot the occasional glance with a WOW expression on our faces from the shit that was being shown down.<br /><br />Last night I decided I wanted to play something online but had no idea what it was going to be. I pulled up Full Tilt and they had a tourney that was double stack, non-turbo, and was in late registration. It seemed like a winner to me so I signed up and then I realized it was 6-handed which I was glad to see. I've done pretty well in 6-max online tourneys and this was no different. Had about 750 players and I played pretty well. Made quad aces on the third hand and then didn't see a pocket pair above nines for the next 3 hours. I had fun playing and did a lot of three betting and tried to play aggressive throughout. With about 40 players left I got into the top 5 in chips and stayed there till 10 handed. We played 7 handed for quite a while and had a lot swings. I ended up busting 7th and bubbled the final table. It would have been nice to win it but it was still fun to run deep. That was the first tourney I had played live or online since Vegas. I'm getting pretty excited to play some tourneys when the Beau starts up in September. Not sure if I'm gonna head to Harrah's this weekend, guess I'll just see what happens.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-5836551729638390692009-07-10T23:30:00.004-05:002009-07-11T00:34:00.830-05:00Vegas...part 3I've been back from Vegas for a while but just haven't finished posting about it mainly b/c I haven't really wanted to sit down and type and the fact I haven't played since I've been back might have something to do with that too. I played a late night session at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bellagio</span> that was somewhat interesting. It took forever to get into a game and when I finally did it was at a very <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">entertaining</span> table....I only wish I would have been winning b/c it would have been even more fun. I sit down at the table and start playing and I'm in the two seat and there is an open seat in the 4 and the floor guy comes and puts a little piece of paper with a name on it and it says Bubbles. I'm not sure what to expect to here, possibly a stripper?!? Well about 20 or so minutes go by and the seat is still empty and someone at the table asks the floor guy about it since we could have had another player. The floor guy tells him that Bubble's walks with a cane and doesn't move to fast. The stripper thought just got a little more interesting. Well it turns out to be about a 6ft tall 300 pound 60+ year old Italian guy that sounds like he just got off the set of a Sopranos filming. He sits down at the table and just starts working the room. He was rude, definitely politically incorrect (referring to the 10 seat as china-men), dropping <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">f'bombs</span>...and most importantly he was fucking hilarious. I couldn't help but like this guy. He asked me where I was from and when I told him I live in New Orleans he said he's got a friend that owns a restaurant there. For whatever reason he wasn't giving me a hard time but the rest of the table I couldn't say the same. He let me off the hook about 4 times when he out drew me and told me to fold when I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">prolly</span> would have paid him off and he showed me winners every time. It was one of those nights for me. He was also hammered, taking shots of Jack Daniels every time the cocktail waitress came around.<br /><br />A couple things were really funny. I wasn't sure if this guy was big time or just full of shit but every dealer knew him and every floor guy and few of the guys playing in the big games gave him a hello while walking to the cage. Well it turns out he has some big role with a restaurant in Caesars Palace. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Rao's</span> is rated one of the best Italian restaurants in the United States and is pretty tough to get a reservation there. Well now I know this guy isn't full of shit and one of the funnier moments of the night came when Johnny Chan walked near our table and was standing about 10 feet away and Bubble's said "hey Johnny" and Chan replied with a "Hi Bubbles" and then Bubble's asked "how's your son"...Johnny said "he's doing fine Bubbles"...Bubbles then said "that's good news" and then before Johnny Chan can even turn his back Bubbles says...in a not so <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">discrete</span> voice "fucking prick" and I about spit my drink all over the table. Chan didn't acknowledge the comment and the dealer just smirked and said "he's the second biggest one next to Sammy"<br /><br />I thought that shit was pretty funny. Later a guy tried to cut between the tables to run over and pretend to be friends with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Prahlad</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Friedman</span> who had just won about a 30k pot on the table next to us and while he was passing between the tables he stepped on Bubbles foot and Bubbles didn't hesitate to call the guy out on it and pretty much demanded the guy come back and apologize which the guy did about a dozen times. One last interesting thing about Italian <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">restaurant</span> guy from New York City is that he asked me if I saw The Hangover. I told him I did and then he asked if I remember then end when they showed the picture and the one with Wayne Newton in it....I did remember it and he was actually in the picture, When I got back home I pulled up the movie on project free <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">TV</span> and fast forwarded to the end and sure enough he was not full of shit, he was sitting next to Wayne Newton in the picture...that was pretty cool.<br /><br />The session didn't go to well and I lost a couple hundred but it was mainly just boring b/c I know I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">woulda</span> had a blast if I would have been winning, but oh well it happens. The last day there I didn't know where I was going to play and Davey and I decided on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bellagio</span> once again, mainly b/c he was determined the beat the 5/10 game there. I sat in a 2/5 game and got a pretty nice gift from the poker gods and had AA vs. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">KK</span> and nearly got a double up but I had the guy covered by a few. It was nice and Davey was up from his game and asked if I wanted to get out of there and go catch the Wayne Brady show at the Venetian. Saw that I was a winner and said sure. That was a good call. The show was funny as hell and worth going see. It's an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">improv</span> show and in a small theater so that made it cool. Best way to describe it is as a PG-13/R rated version of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">tv</span> show "who's line is it anyway?"<br /><br />The Vegas trip was fun and I wish I was still there or could have stayed longer but it is what it is and I had fun. I did discover a few things that annoy me while I'm playing and most of it is just things that have become poker cliche' stuff. I'll be a sourpuss (whatever that means) another time. I haven't played since I've been back and haven't really had the itch but I heard the jackpot at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Harrah's</span> is still growing so I may have to head there and play next weekend.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-46467869177782278392009-06-21T21:07:00.005-05:002009-06-21T22:27:21.560-05:00continued....(part 2)Left off busting 46th out of 660 players in the first tourney of the trip at the Venetian. I was pretty exhausted after a long day on the Thursday with the travel and like 13 hours of play. Davey and I played the $550 on Friday and I played terrible. Just pressed to much and never really hit a comfort zone. I did do certain things ok but had one guy at the table who was just getting run over with the deck and he was pissing me off. I folded a hand where later on I thought I may have laid down the best hand. Guy at our table had chipped up to like 60k in first 2 levels. I then saw this guy run two very bad bluffs and make a really loose all in call on the turn with like A,Q high. After I saw that shit I had a mission to abuse this guy and I never do shit like that. I then raised this guys blind every time I had the chance. I reraised him about three times with nothing. He even asked me once if I had something against him and I told he was the best player on the table and I think that comment confused him. Anyway it was my mission for this guy to lose his chips and he did. The shitty part was that I played for about 6 and half hours and finished about 300 out of 630.<br /><br />I then hung out for a while and took a shower and ate some supper and then tried to find a good 2/5 game at the Venetian. I prefer to play with someone I know at the table and it was either Davey or Joe and the average age of Davey's game was about 72 and Joe's game looked better. Joe was getting run over with the deck and did really well that night. I made some big hands too and played well and lost one really shitty pot. One of the bigger pots came when I had JJ in the cutoff and and someone opened it for $35 in the 10 seat...I was in the two. I just called and the 5 seat and the 9 seat called. The 9 was pretty active and not a very good player but I think he was convinced he was. Flop came 10 high two diamonds and the 9 seat bet out $100 and the PFR folded and I called and the 5 seat called. The turn was the Queen of diamonds and it went checked through. River was a blank and 5 seat checked and the 9 seat bet out $280. Now this is where I had to put things together. I was positive no one had the flush b/c both players were smart enough to bet that out if they did. I wasn't sure if the queen beat me but I knew I had the 9 seat beat and my only concern was the 5. I took a while but when I noticed that the 5 seat was really concerned with the 9 seat and trying to get a read on him when it was my turn to act that kinda triggered that he might have been weak and was contemplating a thin call against that player. If he had a big hand he would have been more concerned with me and hoping I'd put money in the pot but with his focus being on the other player then I knew he couldn't call if I did. I called the $280 and he folded and the 9 seat very sheepishly turned over 66 and my JJ was good for a nice little pot. I managed to win some pots but still had to make some big decisions. The table was active so it was good have a draw b/c a lot of hands were getting paid off.<br /><br />The shittiest hand I had was at the end of the session. I told myself I was leaving on my big blind or on the hour which ever came first. Well I look down at QQ with about 6 hands to go or 15 minutes. Guy opens for $35 in the 10 seat and I just call. (I'm getting sick just typing this). Well I call and the guy behind me calls. Flop comes Q,9,8 and PFR checks and I bet $90 and the guy behind me folds and the PFR calls. Turn is a 5 and he leads out for $180 and I call. I don't think he flopped the nuts and I can't really put him on 6,7. Maybe I'm just a pussy too by just calling. River is a brick and I don't fill up. He bets out $300 and I just look at him and roll my eyes and think to myself how shitty this is that I am just calling this bet on the river with top set. I call and he shows his 6,7 for the straight. So after losing $600 on one hand I rack up and leave. Pretty gross that I lost that pot. It was gonna be a great end of a shitty day as far as the tourney but instead I still turned a really nice profit but it would have been nice to rack up another $600.<br /><br />I went to bed kinda sick but still up on the trip and free rolling on tourneys. I woke up early on Saturday and went register for the noon $550. That tourney didn't go so well either. Had about 460 players and finished around 240. That tourney was brutal. Thursday I played well and ran deep, Friday I played bad and didn't fare so well and Saturday I ran monsters into monsters. On three occasions I ran top two pair into a set and still had chips at the end of each hand. Never gave a double up with any of those hands so I was losing the minimum for the most part. The best part of the tourney was sitting by the rail and seeing all the fine ass women walking by. I got to see the ppl going to the pool and the later the same girls going to the club. Not sure which outfits I like better. That was about my only entertainment other than the show the dealers were putting on by the cards they were dealing me. Oh well, I played three tourneys on the trip and cashed in one. I'll take one cash out of every three tourneys.<br /><br />Busted fairly early and Davey didn't fare too well in the tournaments either...wish I would have made last longer bets with him. We watched some college baseball in the sports book and then my phone rang and it was Jacob and he asked what we were up to and said he'd be there in 15 minutes. He decided last minute to come out to Vegas. We all chilled for a while and then went to Venetian to check things out. I eventually got in a game and it was terrible and I decided to get up even and go back to the Mirage and join Davey in a weak 2/5 game. It was pretty easy going and then the game started to break and it was must move and I lost $100 in that shitty game on the last hand when someone didn't believe me and called my $30 preflop with 10,3 and flopped a full house on a 3,3,10 board and of course I turn an Ace. Oh well it happens.<br /><br />While I was at the Venetian I sat next to the same guy two nights in a row in a cash game, his name was Mike something. He was a nice guy but VERY MUCH A DOUCHE BAG!...he was about 42 years old and just talked like he knew everything about everything involving poker and the especially every poker room in Vegas. We were talking for a good bit but about stuff other than poker which I MUCH prefer. Talked about cars, he has one that he turned into a drag racing car and I grew up around classics. He was also a college basketball player at Long Beach St. and played with some NBA players. Those were good conversations but then he felt it necessary to tell us about shit we didn't care about and no one at the table was really paying attention. He told us that you can use your player comp money for any restaurant in the casino and massages. That's not bad information but of course he started the story by saying "name drop poker room director' asked me and a couple other players some things that could be better and "I" told him that we would like to use our comp stuff for different things...blah blah blah. So he listened to what I had to say and I was able to get that changed." As soon as I hear people talking about shit like that they automatically go into the douche bag category. I don't know why people want to take credit for stuff like that. He's the same guy that wants to talk to every freaking floor guy that walks by and feels it's his duty to be the one to greet every dealer by first name and let it be known that he IS A LOCAL AND PLAYS HERES A LOT!!!...wtf is the deal with people being "that guy", if you know the dealer...a simple what's up is good and anyone with a half of clue can tell weather this dealer things you're douche or actually wants to talk to you. Oh well, didn't know that rant was coming but just one of the annoying things about poker for me.<br /><br />I'm done writing and almost done with the Vegas stuff. Sunday and Monday were kinda interesting and I'll get to that later. Also have a rant or two about shit that annoys me at the table that happened in the next two sessions I played.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-74493094941212848312009-06-16T22:07:00.004-05:002009-06-17T00:08:11.724-05:00Back From Vegas (part 1)It's time to re-enter the real world. Got back from Vegas Tuesday afternoon and did a whole lot of nothing. Thought about writing a blog, thought about doing some laundry, thought about hanging by the pool and found myself lounging on the couch watching college baseball instead. The trip was OK at best and I had intentions of posting while I was in Vegas but the Mirage made that a little difficult by not offering free <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Wi</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Fi</span>. It's 2009 and I can get free <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Wi</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Fi</span> at a Best Western but not at the freaking Mirage. They wanted to charge $15 for 24 hours of use and considering all of about 5-6 hours a day are actually spent in the room I opted not to pay for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">internet</span> and didn't feel like bringing my computer across the street to the Venetian just to type.<br /><br />I don't really feel like recapping the whole trip right now...mainly due to the fact that I want to continue with the theme of my day and be lazy. I did play everyday for 5 straight days which is something I haven't done in a REALLY REALLY long time. Had some good things and some bad.<br /><br />After landing we went to the hotel to check in and then walked across the street to play the $330 deep stack event at the Venetian. Those guys really get it over there and it was the place that got most of my time on this trip. The tourney started off OK and I was able to get the table talking and it had a home game feel to it which was nice. I played well and withstood two tough beats. I minded my own business and was winning a lot of the pots that I was playing. Took a big hit when I raised with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">KhQh</span> and flopped a Q, turned an opened ended straight flush draw and the other player moved in on me and I called with 19k (12k starting stack) and he had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">AQ</span> and I hit a K on the river to give him the straight and my draw meant nothing. Lost about 7k on the hand was back to where I started. Chipped up again and made a really big bluff on a young Swedish player when I check called a flop with nothing and then it went checked on the turn and then I made a bet that would have crippled him if he was wrong. I normally would never play a hand that way but the board allowed me to make the bluff on the river without getting called when it paired...I also think he messed up when he started talking to me and he basically convinced himself he was beat. Ended up losing a pot that really hurt to him later.<br /><br />Made another big bluff in a situation where I had to totally trust myself on the way I thought this guy played. He was pretty ABC and he just wanted to make good decisions and not go broke. I used that not going broke thing to my advantage. I had a really good table image and everyone got along which is good. Nothing worse than sitting at a table for 5+ hours with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ppl</span> who are mean. Either shut up or be nice. Well we saw a flop like 5 ways (100/200) and I was on the button with two cards that I honestly don't remember. Flop came 9,9,3 and it went checked to me and I bet 625 and get check raised by the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">bb</span> to 2200. Now this is where I just completely trusted myself that I could get this guy to lay down a 9 in this spot. I took my time like I always do and came back over the top for 5k more and he was beside himself. He had no idea what to do and was squirming in his chair and started talking about how he hates this b/c he's in the blind and he has to be beat and this is just bad luck...he commented on how confident I looked. And he was right, once he told me it was bad luck I was as confident as though I had flopped the nuts. No way he was calling. He folds face up (I hate the face up fold, especially in this spot). He showed his 9,5 like he just made the biggest lay down in the world or as though I was gonna show him he made the right or wrong decision. Fuck that shit, I'm not showing my hand one way or another. Just bad for a player like him to show that he's gonna fold big hands like that, he got abused by like 3 players after he made that lay down...he was getting <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">reraised</span> every time he made a bet it seemed like.<br /><br />The bad hand with the Swedish player when I had about 46k and he had about 21k. Blinds were 300/600/50 and I was in the BB with 88. Two <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">ppl</span> limped and Swedish guy raised from the button to 1250 which I knew he was going to do b/c he was pretty active with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">limpers</span> in the pot. The two guys who limped were really weak and I often raised pots when those guys limped b/c they provided almost no resistance. SB folds and then I come over the top of him and raise to 2600 and he calls. Flop comes 9,7,6 rainbow and not a bad flop for 88. I lead out for 2200 to almost induce a raise and he cooperates and makes it 2500 more and then I set him in and he contemplated for a little while and called with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Jd</span>,9d. Lucky for him to flop top pair like that considering how the hand played and I was a little shocked he called but I'm pretty sure the bluff had a lot to do with it and he was frustrated. Well I turn the straight with the 10d of diamonds and he makes the flush on the river to win a big pot and take a chunk of my stack. Even though I was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">reraising</span> him I still played the hand rather weak but if I would have had aces I would have played it the same way and got him to put all his chips in the pot. I just didn't think he had anything but he was going to try to win it with aggression. Oh well, not really sure if there is anything I could have done differently.<br /><br />That was how my day went. I would chip up and then lose a pot in a crappy way. Didn't get flustered and just maintained. The good thing was that both hands came when we were within 3 minutes of a break. I also went 0-3 with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">QQ</span> on the day and never saw a river or a turn card with them when the board had under cards. I was involved in a hand where I had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">QQ</span> and the other two <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">ppl</span> in the pot had AA and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">KK</span> and they got it all in on the flop and I didn't see the flop. Called a raise from the guy on the my right who was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">UTG</span> and two other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">ppl</span> called. Flop came 10 high he lead for a pot size bet and I just didn't think I could be good. I folded and one other guy called. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">PFR</span> had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">KK</span> and the other guy had A,K and flopped a flush draw and put it all in and hit an A on the river to take a massive pot late in the tourney. I did get to actually see the pain of the bubble boy (or girl in this situation). Playing hand for hand and she opens with a standard 3 times the big blind raise with an above avg. stack and got <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">reraised</span> all in by one of 2 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">ppl</span> who had her covered at the table. He had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">KK</span> she had AA and he made a flush. It was brutal to actually have to see and to make it worse there was 3 other <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">ppl</span> all in at the time on different tables and all of them held up and she busted all alone just outside the money instead of having a really nice stack. <br /><br />Withstanding all that shit and a field of 660 players in the tourney I managed to pick spots wisely and never really had to gamble. The one thing that I thought I did extremely well was playing from the blind. I even started chants of "defense" when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">ppl</span> raised my blind. If my blind was raised and it was heads up, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">prolly</span> took about 80% of those flops and won well over 50% of them (position heads up can be over rated IMO) I finished 46<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">th</span> in the tourney with an unimpressive cash but nonetheless it was a great way to start off the trip. It was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">looooooooooong</span> day getting two extra hours when we got to there and playing from noon till 1:15am. I plan on posting more parts of my trip in the next couple days but I guess that depends on how much I feel like writing about poker after all the time I spent playing the last week.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-56607526665807419792009-06-04T08:38:00.003-05:002009-06-04T09:56:12.668-05:00A Week AwayMy heart starts pumping just thinking about it and I'm definitely ready. Just one week before Davey and I head to Vegas. It's hard to not get excited and start thinking about all things that "might be" while on this trip. Already starting to get things planned out and getting off the plane and going straight to the Venetian to play the noon event there. The fields have been really nice and in the first two $300 events first place was over 50k. The game plan is set and now the time is approaching to show up and play. I always have mixed emotions when playing tourneys during an event. Of course I'm confident and I expect to play well but I'm a realist to the extreme and all the positive thinking is put in perspective that there is a lot better chance to not win or go deep in a tourney than there is to take one down. A couple positives is that I played well during the circuit in NOLA and the last time I went to Vegas for CC's birthday I won a daily tourney. Telling myself everyday that I'm gonna play well and good things will happen isn't going to do a whole lot for me if I'm not focused and ready to play. Well I'm both as of today and now the clock won't move fast enough.<br /><br />I saw yesterday that Jacob cashed in the Stimulus 1k event. I'm sure it was one of those mixed emotions things. He put in a mini-marathon and had a min-cash but if I would have been the guy that bubbled that thing I would have prolly thrown up. Not gonna do a whole lot till Vegas. Serving in a wedding this Saturday and then CC is headed off to Europe on Monday for 3 weeks. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are prolly gonna take forever. Good luck to anyone headed out to Vegas.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-30125694955388125782009-05-25T09:45:00.013-05:002009-05-27T09:01:53.311-05:00Conspiracy TheoryI made it out to Harrah's Friday night but I didn't get lucky and hit the bad beat. I headed there about 8:45 or so and gave Joe a call to put me on the 2/5 list. When I got there it was perfect, they had two 2/5 games going and they opened a third as I was walking in and William the floor guy pointed me to table #2. This was a must move game which I'm not a fan of at all but the upside (if there was any) is that at least I'm on the bottom of the move list so when I have to move it may at least give a couple hours in the game. Well the first hand I got a chance to play was when I had jacks UTG and had $5 in b/c I thought I was the BB. Oh well I just kept it in there and then looked at my cards after the guy next to me made it $20. Well a few ppl call and this is an easy chance to pick up $100 if I repop and everyone folds. I make it $80 total and get two callers (not really what I was hoping for). Flop came 7,4,4 and the flop was harmless but I was more worried about being behind preflop. Not sure if it was the right play or not but I was just lost and checked the flop. PFR checked and the position guy bet $100. I almost had him locked in on a mid pair. Only thing that made sense. I was contemplating my action and the PFR grabbed $100 when it was barely my turn to act. After what seemed like forever I folded my JJ on a 7,4,4 board after I limp-reraised. They eventually get it all in and the guy in position flopped sevens full and the PFR called all his money off with A,Q. Kinda got lucky with that one.<br /><br />The game then proceeded to get nuts. People in the main games were trying to get into our game and action was really good. I was relatively card dead and just wasn't connecting on flops. I bled away about $200 never really doing anything and this wasn't a game that I wanted to be short in so I added $300 more and was in for $800 total. Then something kinda weird happened at the table. I'm in the two (on a 9 handed table) and a guy comes into the one seat and is just slurring and seeming really drunk but a nice drunk. He starts with the whole "I never play in a casino and it's been a long time since I played so don't let me do anything stupid...just tell me if I do something wrong." Now sometimes these are guys are sincere, sometimes it's sarcasm b/c they think they are really good at poker and it's there clever way of saying coming into a game, and sometimes it just comes off really shady. Well this is one of those times that it comes off really shady, it was almost as though the guy wanted me to know this and was just volunteering a lot of "I'm a bad player information" Well it was a must move game and about 5 minutes later a seat opened up and another guy came to the table he was in the 7 seat and had a mardi gras bead around his neck and was drinking pina calodas (a real manly drink) and he was slurring and being drunk too. So between the drunk guy on my right and the one in the 7 seat and Henry (rich old guy) in the 9 this game is getting better. Well the whole table is talkative, everyone is talking to everyone...no shyness at all.<br /><br />Something just isn't right the more I watch things progress. I start talking to the guy on my left who is a regular and we've played at the same table plenty times. I tell him that I'm not sure about these "drunk guys" that just got to the table. He's not sure what I mean and I just say, I doubt they are smart enough to pull it off but I kinda got this feeling they might being doing the whole drunk guy routine and are attempting to play together. He doesn't really buy it and I wasn't really trying to sell it...I was just making an observation that I wanted another player to pay attention to in case he picked up on something I missed. The more things go the more these two never really play a hand against each other and when they did we never saw a showdown and they never talked although they engaged everyone else in conversation while in a hand, they show up to the table similar times, they both have that thick Baton Rouge accent. (I'm not saying collusion, but I'm just saying). I eventually get moved to the main game before I could really put anything together.....(are they cheating, to be continued later this blog..)<br /><br />The main game was very nice to me. I sit in the 10 seat and Bo, a regular is in the 9 and it was nice to have someone to bullshit with at the table. Well nothing really exciting happens and I pick up a few small pots and I have about $450 in front of me when the first big hand shows up and something that hasn't happened in a loooooong time happened. I have 55 in position and it's a $20 to go with 4 players. I flop a set with straight cards all over the place. It checks to me and I bet $50 and get called in one spot. The turn card is a 3 and it puts a gut shot draw getting there so I'm not too concerned about it. She checks and I bet $85 and she calls. River is another 3 and she leads for $100. Well I don't do too much Hollywood and she shows me how much she has left and I say all in and she calls. I hit gin on the river b/c she was opened ended on the flop with 3,4 and hit running three's. Only card that can hit to make her go broke.<br /><br />About 10 minutes later I get a full double up in a limped pot. Flop comes A,3,6 and the BB leads for $25 which is the pot and it's a rainbow board and I have the nut draw. I call as well as the button. Turn card is a 7! Check to me and I bet $65 and the button raises me to $165 (that's such a good feeling..just thought I'd rub it in for y'all). The BB folds and now it's back to me and the question of what to do here? Now I've got about $685 in front of me and I need to figure out how to get it all in the pot. This is my thought process (I think it's the best plan of action):<br /><br />-<span style="color:#000000;">if I call it's gonna be a lot harder to get that in on the river b/c I can't just move all in and expect to get called, he could lay down a set if he doesn't fill up with that large of a bet. If I bet $xxx I have to hope he raises me. The best idea I had was to raise for value on the turn where he has to call the river. Well while I'm contemplating on how to play the nuts I can't see how much he has and I don't want to ask so I just kinda stare in his direction and he happily shows me that he's about $1k behind...this was good information b/c to me he's not scared at all. I then say raise and put the $100 more in the pot and whisper to the dealer to pull in the bets before I put out my raise. I make it $200 more and leaving about $285 and he thinks for about 5 seconds and says "all in". I call and praying the board doesn't pair and it doesn't and he slaps his hand down with his two pair and I drag a really nice pot. I'm a little biased but I think that was a good way to play the hand b/c $585 is a lot of money to put in the river with top two pair.<br /></span><br />After that I was on cruise control and never really encountered trouble...at least for a few hours. My table breaks and of course table two (the must move that I was on) became a main game like 15 minutes after I got up. Gotta love Harrah's. I got moved from the game that I was now on the list to get back in...weird, huh? Anyway, I hang out and just bull shit with some people and a seat opens up. It was the 7 seat that drunk guy #2 was sitting in. Well what do you know, both guys got up from the table w/in 5 minutes of each other and it wasn't on or near a push and not even in their BB or button. After they leave and I sit down I couldn't help but say something to the table and ask if anyone thought they might have been trying to play together. The guy in the three seat perks up and says "no shit" and says they got here together and left w/in 10 minutes of each other and then says something that is pretty interesting. Apparently everyone noticed that they talked to everyone at the table except each other well right before they got up the guy in the 7 seat got in an argument with the guy in the 3. The argument came up when the 3 seat and the 1 seat got into it. Kinda weird that all of a sudden he was standing up for a guy who he never talked to at the table. We all kinda dismissed it but it was something to think about b/c I know people try to do it but I'm pretty sure more times than not it doesn't happen successfully. On top of that they really didn't take that much money off the table. (enough of the conspiracy theories)<br /><br />When I moved back to that game I leaked off some money with a lot pocket pairs that never connected and one memorable hand where I folded QQ preflop and 33 won the hand without ever seeing a flop. This game was deep and one person had less than $1200 in front of him and that about $600 total (not exactly short). Guy with "short stack" opens for $15 in early position and 2 callers and I make it $60 total. Henry in the 9 seat repops it to $160. Now if you've ever played with this rich old man you know he's got a wiiiiiide range hands to that with...any pocket pair. Get back to the original PFR he ships it! Now it's back to me and I don't know how the hell I can do anything here except fold and as I'm pitching in my cards the dealer extends her hand out and cards hit her hand and expose my QQ. Henry is flustered by this and says "if those cards are exposed then I can't call" and folds his QQ face up. The other guy shows his 33 and wins the pot. No doubt Henry's logic is nonexistent but apparently if he was behind preflop then two outs is enough to call $500.<br /><br />On the whole it was interesting night and nice a little win. Went to the Beau Sunday for the 10k gtd with Davey and that was about boring as it could be be. I finished in the neighborhood of 28 or so with a field of 70+. Was beyond card dead for the whole thing and my table was big hand after big hand. Reid even asked what the hell was going at my table b/c he kept hearin "all in." So with all that going on I had almost no chance to steal pots and then I couldn't find a spot to get all in b/c every pot was opened and I was card dead. It was a slow death and eventually got in heads up with A,2 against K,J and he made a full house of course. I'm ready to play some more and I'm gonna try to pick a week night to go and then I'll be at the Beau next weekend for my friend's bachelor party weekend.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-61417595737398751772009-05-21T08:32:00.002-05:002009-05-21T08:53:59.508-05:00A Night of Almost and Back to NormalI was ready to play some more and after eating some supper decided to go to Harrah's to catch a little of the final table and play some 2/5. I wish I would have just stayed home and watched the weird dude on American Idol. I'm pretty happy I'm not addicted to any television shows. The last show I was addicted to and never missed a new episode was the Sopranos. It was a sad day when that show ended....how can a mob show/movie end without the boss dying? It was the whole reason for the crappy Godfather III movie.<br /><br />Anyway, I showed up to Harrah's and walked into the theatre and the winner was taking photos with alligator head and all that good stuff. No clue who the winner was or if he was a player or not. I walked over to the poker room and was somewhat surprised. By all means it wasn't packed like it had been but they still had like five 1/2 games and about 7 limit games going too. Even had a list of interest for 2/5 PLO. Had one 5/10 and one 2/5 game going. I put my name on the list for the 2/5 and I was 6th on the list and after about 20 minutes they had 10 ppl on the list. After about 40 minutes the list was 12 and I was still 6th on the list. HMMMMMMMMMM maybe we should get another table going?? But no, the circuit is gone and now things are back to normal over there. Two dealers on break instead of one and a list of 12 players and no new game. I told myself I was going to watch the first half of the Cavs/Magic game and leave if i didn't get in....kept holding on that they would open a new table. Finally 9:15 rolled around and I had no interest in getting in a game that late and it looked like they had no intent to open a new table. I left without ever playing after being on the list for more than an hour and half. But I was proud of myself for not sitting in the 1/2 game.<br /><br />I also got a text from Gene that the bad beat jackpot should have been hit on the 3/6 table but instead someone won like a $14 pot. Apparently someone started the hand with like $5 (beautiful!) and they would have hit the jackpot with quads over quads but they didn't have the $20 minimum in the pot!...HAHAHA How brutal would that be? No sir you and the table do not get to share the 138k b/c you're playing a game made for retards. Maybe it'll get hit the next time I'm playing.<br /><br />Maybe this Friday I'll have a chance to hit it unless of course I'm on the list for 2 hours and decide to go home instead. Davey and I might be headed to the Beau for the 10k gtd. on Sunday. That's still up in the air but I wouldn't mind going play.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-62200631081976305352009-05-19T10:07:00.010-05:002009-05-19T11:42:16.839-05:00Pizza Makes Me Smarter?The circuit is over for pretty much everyone now and it was nice to see so many ppl I know do well this go around. I'm guessing with the improved structures it helped out that better players made deeper runs more consistently. As far as my circuit, the most disappointing part was not being able to play more than one tournament. The upside was that I finished 5th in the one that I played. While the circuit was in town I did have some clarity about my own game and now I'm looking forward to playing some more soon. I have bitched about the 1/2 game and how I just can't beat it so I decided that I wasn't going to play it anymore. I got to Harrah's Saturday morning to play a satellite and then hopefully play the $500 at noon. Well I run like a crippled person in those things. I played one Friday night and got three handed and flopped two pair from the BB and the SB moved in on the flop and he had bottom pair. Don't worry, he got diamond diamond to make a flush. I was so damn sick by this, I just can't even remember when was the last time I got bailed out like that. The one Saturday morning didn't go well either. We see a flop in a raised pot like 5 handed and I flop bottom two pair. A ton action and I folded on the river when I could be nothing. Flush got there, four card straight, and all I could beat was one pair.<br /><br />Well Friday night after I was done playing I ran into Bill who had just finished day one of the Friday $340 and eventually finished 12th. and I also hung out while Jacob was still in the PLO Rebuy tourney. They broke and me, him and Tim went back to Jacob's and I got stuck in the elevator. That was a shitty feeling. He was pretty freaked out as well as myself when the elevator wouldn't move and the door wouldn't open. Eventually the door opened and I was able to just take the stairs. The pizza was pretty damn good, I'd recommend ppl to try Pie if you get the chance. While we were hanging out eating pizza and bullshitting about just random stuff like sports betting and crazy poker rumors a light went off that it was stupid for me to be trying to beat that 1/2 game. We were talking about when a game plays deep you can play snug and tight and just wait for good hands and when you do make a move it's easier to get away with when everyone has $500+. Well now I was ready to play the 2/5 game and be comfortable in the game that built my bankroll.<br /><br />After my satellite Saturday morning I went to the poker room and their was an open seat on a 2/5 game and the game didn't look crazy. Seemed like a good spot to get my feet wet again and not be thrown in the deep end right away. Well I sat down with $500 and just felt comfortable right away. Well then I had some bad luck and was just card dead and called some raises and missed and before I knew it was I was down like $250 and was about to put another $200 on the table (and I wish I would have). The pot got raised to like $20 and we saw the flop 4 ways and I flopped a flush with 4c5c on and Ace high board. Well I made the right bets the whole way was able to get a full double up through a guy who made two pair on the end. I was up after that hand and never went below my buy in after that. I played for at least 8 hours b/w getting up to go check on Bill and Jacob's day two and snagging a free buffet with Joe B. Yea you read that right, we had free buffets. The food was actually descent but that could be the fact that it was actually free and not the $30 or so they rob ppl of at full price. Well I was happy to turn a profit and the game had spells of being really bad and then really good. I don't know why locals do that shit when the circuit is going on. There was 3 locals on the table and they had a good bit of money on the table and then all of a sudden we get two new players who wanted a table change. Well they get to the table at the same time and start complaining about how tight the game is. Well genius, you saw the three of us at the table and you and your buddy got a table change and took the places of the ppl who were losing.<br /><br />Well I got up from the table and left Harrah's to go hang out with CC who I hadn't seen in a few days and on the way home I saw something that completely freaked me out. As I'm exiting I-10 to Airline Hwy I see this huge tornado! Not sure how anyone can ever be prepared to see that. Well it looked like it was right there and I was hoping that it was on the Lake which it was but apparently it did come onto land for a few minutes. It was pretty impressive but still not something that makes it easy to go home and hope a tornado doesn't come.<br /><br />Well I wanted to go back to play some more Saturday night and the plan was if I woke up at any point in the middle of the night then I was going to Harrah's and play. Well I didn't wake up till Sunday morning so needless to say I never made it back. I'm definitely ready to go play some more in the 2/5 game. So many things make that game better and IMO, easier. For example, I put about $80 in the pot on a draw that missed. Now if $40-60 is put in the pot for a draw in the 1/2 game and missed it takes a lot more hands to get that back. In the 2/5 game I missed the draw and then the next hand I picked up a limped pot and added $25 to my stack. Three hands later I raised to $20 and got two callers. C-bet the flop and with the blinds and limper that folded I picked $50 profit on the hand and the $80 lost on the draw was wiped away. Makes it a lot easier when you pick up limped pots in the 2/5 compared to the 1/2. I also did something that I haven't done outside of a tournament in a while and that's firing (sorry for the poker cliche') a three barrel bluff. I just knew the PFR was weak and raised on the flop with a gutshot draw only and he called, He check called the turn. And when he check the river I knew he couldn't call. It felt so good to fire that bluff with 5 high and know that he wouldn't call. The game just plays so much better with more money on the table and I've always done better when the stakes are deep. I'm ready to go play some more and get on an over due rush.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-62884824537534721592009-05-15T11:18:00.003-05:002009-05-15T12:34:04.807-05:00Seriously Getting OldSo in my attempt to play cash games sessions in order to save some money on buy ins in the tournaments my results have not been successful. I have played 3 cash sessions since last Friday and only booked one winner. That winner being last Friday and a small one. I played Wednesday night and just get my ass handed to me by the shuffle master. I was in for 1.25 buy ins and just couldn't beat the deck. I've tried to play this 1/2 bullshit game so many different ways and I'm coming to conclusion that I just can not beat this game. I consistently beat 2/5 games for years and then beat 5/10 games and then got bored with poker altogether and just stopped playing a while. Since playing on a regular basis again I have still not fully adjusted to this game, or maybe I'm just not having very good luck...I'd like to think it's the luck thing and the hands I'm losing with would imply bad luck but it's also pretty difficult to believe that I'm always unlucky. Wednesday night the game I was in was soft and I approached it with full intention of opening a lot of pots with any two cards and staying involved and not allowing the table to just limp fest and who ever hits the flop wins. I DEFINITELY DON'T RUN THAT WELL!<br /><br />I have tried to stay positive and I think I have been doing a pretty good job with that. I think you have to when playing tournaments considering you can't reload. But in the cash games it's just getting retarded. It is absolutely impossible to win without hitting draws. And when you can't hit those hidden hands with so much implied odds it's completely frustrating. Wednesday and Thursday night on 5 that's F-I-V-E..one, two, three, four, 5th! times I actually called the flop either floating or with a one draw and picking up an additional 8+ outs on the turn and completely missing every single one of them in a situation where no doubt the other guy would have put as much money in the pot as possible. The biggest pots won are usually the ones where you come from behind. I battled my ass off Wednesday night and the only reason I was treading water was b/c I was making plays. Whenever I did make a strong hand I managed to lose. I folded two pair when the flush gets there and I was beat and then a little while I have top two and and the flush gets there but ppl can't have the flush every single time....XXXXXXXXXXX wrong answer, they most certainly can and those chances are greatly improved when I'm sitting across the table from them. I straddle and raise with QQ and a guy flops a straight with two clubs. Turn is the Q of clubs (of course) and the river is the fourth club....talk about never having a chance to win that hand....poker gods were laughing about that one while it was going on.<br /><br />I flop two pair from the SB with 2,5 in an unraised pot and get A,Q to put all of their money in the pot ($200+) with one card to come on an Ace high board and of course the board pairs 4's and he wins...did I mention that I also picked up a flush draw on the turn to go with my two pair! It just seems like every time I get up a couple hundred or battle back to even there's always a big pot that someone gets bailed out on. This shit is just getting really old and I'm tired of bitching about it and I'd just like to run like a normal person for a little while. I don't need to get run over by the deck but I'd be thrilled if I could hit my flush or striaght just 20% ofthe time. Overall I've seen some really bad players just winning pot after pot and not acknowledge the fact that they are getting smacked in the face with the deck. Hell I'd love to say that I couldn't lose hands if I tried or that I misplayed hands and still won.<br /><br />I'm not the only one that's feeling frustrated, I'm sure they have a lot ppl out there that are experiencing the same thing....problem is that most of those people prolly play bad anyway. I actually got involved in one of the dumbest conversations I've ever had at the poker table last night and it caused me to leave while I was stuck a little bit when I could have stayed and prolly got back even. Now I almost never and I mean NEVER engage in strategy conversation or proper play conversation when the table is having an open discussion and giving all their expert post game commentary but last night I fell victim and couldn't keep my mouth shut and had to let this guy know how dumb he was. Guy opens for $25 and I call and girl behind me calls and then then utg (douche bag) calls leaving himself with $50 left. Flop came A high and I check, girl bets $30, douche bag folds and the other guy raises all in and the girl calls. Of course they both have AK and the douche bag had A,8 and would have got there on the turn but instead he put 1/3 of stack in with A,8 suited..flopped an ace and folded. Starts bitching b/c he would have won and then starts talking about his pot odds to call preflop. I got tired of hearing of him and asked if had any idea what pot odds actually means (good gawd that was a bad decision). I basically had to give him and the table an entire lesson why he played the hand like an idiot....you know what, I'm not talking about this anymore...I'm getting annoyed just thinking about how retarded this guy was, I'm pretty sure he needs velcro shoes and and helmet to function daily.<br /><br />I basically came to the conclusion that I can not beat that game b/c the people have zero clue about the concept of the game. Bad players are supposed to be easy to beat but maybe they are just a little too bad. Maybe I fare better against the player that can actually make sense of situations and has a clue. <br /><br />Davey had a tough run last night. I'm pretty disgusted just talking about it but I'm sure he won't post about it b/c it's pretty gross. He played the 1k and played well. Withstood some beats and then had some upswings...I'm not sure how many ppl were left but I think about 5o or so and he got one guy all in preflop and and the other person shipped it on him on the flop and he called. Well he had the best hand until the person who moved in on the flop hit a gut shot to make a wheel. He would have had a more than double the average stack. Well he nursed his stack caused by that bad beat for what seemed like a couple hours. Just maintaining enough to where he wasn't forced to move all in. Well he finally had his chance to get back healthy when when he moved in with A,J and some one actually folded 6,6 preflop and then he got called by Ah,6h. Flop came A high and he was dodging one of the two sixes left in the deck and would have been back to around 50k with blinds 600/1200. Well of course it came heart on the turn and heart on the river he was busted with under 50 players left. That is absolutely sick. The gut shot to cripple and then runner runner heart to bust him. I'm not sure how to avoid these situations but if we ever figured it out it would be tough to lose. It's just impossible to win when those hands aren't holding up. It stirs the debate of what's the point to get it in good, it doesn't really solve anything or make me feel any better. I'd rather say I got lucky and smile that someone else got the misery that I've dealt with routinely.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm done with the venting...hopefully this post was therapeutic for me and all the negative shit is out of my system and I can go play with a clear head. I do feel better now that I'm done with "poor me post"...Congrats to Bill for a chop in the second chance the other night. I'm going win that 9pm tourney tonight. Hopefully I get it in bad with someone who thinks the poker gods are against them and I drill them with my "bad play". Good luck to everyone headed out there this weekend. I really am in a great mood now that I'm done with this.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-30769062653320805652009-05-12T08:47:00.008-05:002009-05-12T11:02:25.003-05:00A 5th Place FinishSo we started back day two of Event #6 with 18 players and I was pretty comfortable with my stack and chances to make the final table. I had great table draws for the entire tournament with never having anyone at the table with a massive stack and always having one of the larger stacks at my table throughout the tournament. When play resumed I picked up right where I left off and was lucky that my table was made up of all people that I had played with on day one. I never really got played back at and I never got called with marginal hands. Heard a lot from the other players when they folded to my raises that they were gonna let me have it and pick a better spot. My image was pretty close to the vest which allowed me to do a number of things such as raising <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">utg</span></span> with any two cards or three betting and getting virtually no resistance with that. Although <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ppl</span></span> saw me as only playing good hands I made it clear that my BB was not to be a target and I defended it a good bit with the exception of maybe two players b/c these guys weren't raising with anything other than top 5 hands.<br /><br />With about 14 players left I took a pretty big dent when I opened with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">AcQc</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">utg</span></span>+1 and one of the two super tight players moves in and it cost less than a complete <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">reraise</span></span> and I KNOW I'm behind. I call and he has AK and I actually turn a flush draw and whiff. I don't get flustered and just know that I will be able to accumulate unless our table gets wide open for some reason but I know that's not gonna <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">happened</span>. I make a raise or two and win a couple and lose a couple blinds and then one of the most important hands of my tourney came up while I was in the BB. The guy who was in the 9 seat and wasn't really that great of a player but was able to maintain his chip stack for the most part but I definitely had him on a wide range of raising hands <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ESPECIALLY</span> from the button (he was "that guy"when he was on the button). Well he raises to 13k when the blinds were 3k/6k and I look down at 6,3 of hearts and start contemplating the situation. With him having a wide range I figured it was time to gamble and with 62k to start the hand I call with full intention of making a play at the pot NO MATTER WHAT FLOPS. There is a certain point in tourneys where you're not just taking flops but have to go into every hand with full intention of doing whatever it takes to win the pot. I call the raise and the flop comes 5,7,8 two clubs. I don't like moving all in b/c although it may be complete b.s. I just feel that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ppl</span></span> are more inclined to call thin when someone moves all in rather than making a bet. I bet 24k and he sets me all in and I call. He has Ac,<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Qc</span></span> and I'm open ended with two live cards. Turn is a 6 and river a 3 and I double through. And like I have my own P.R. guy at the table the 8 seat tells the guy who just lost "I thought everyone realized by now not to mess with his blind"...I thought it was a little out of line but nonetheless was to the point and I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">didn't</span> mind.<br /><br />I had to hear this guy cry about me calling him with 6,3 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">preflop</span></span> for a while. Some people just don't get it at all. It didn't matter what I had and he just couldn't <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">comprehend</span> that I wasn't folding any hand there. I don't know where the thought came from like it's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">against</span> the rules to call with "not good" hands...<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ppl</span> are just so scared to play after the flop if they don't hit their hand....these are the same guys that would never have the balls to call with Ace high on the river. I eventually went with "I'm sorry sir, I just play really bad...and if you'd like to provide me with a list of hands that is acceptable to call your raises with I'd be happy keep that in mind"....he kinda smirked and we moved on. It was nice b/c I eventually busted him when we were at the final table and he had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">JJ</span></span> and I called his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">AIPF</span></span> with AK. It even felt better to hit the Ace on the turn.<br /><br />I lost a shitty hand to the eventual winner and doubled him up. This guy was a good player and he pretty much just had situations where the cards played themselves. I was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">utg</span></span> with 88 and completely got lazy and didn't realize the blinds had gone up to 6k,12k and I made a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">minraise</span></span>. The SB (who came to the final table with over 230k was not good....he just <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">hemorrhaged</span> like 100k limping and calling)...well he called my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">minraise</span></span> and the BB moved all in. The pot was huge and I had moved all in over the top and the BB had 99 vs. my 88 and he held up and never really looked back after that. I made a comeback after that when I doubled after getting it in bad with A,5 vs. A,Q and hit a 5. The eventual winner picked up some good hands in key spots including busting a fellow <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">GCP'er</span></span> when Kai overplayed his A,10 and the other guy had 10,10 and it held. Kai was pretty disgusted with himself for playing it that fast. I eventually got it all in when the button raised with rags and I had 55. I moved in and he was somewhat embarrassed about his hand but he was in great shape. He had j,7 and the flop came paired over my fives and then turn gave him a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">gut shot</span>. I was dodging half the deck and he hit his gut shot and I was out in 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">th</span></span>.<br /><br />It was a good run and I had a great time but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">disappointed</span> that I didn't win. I stayed relatively emotionless throughout the tourney which is tough and I've always said that I refuse to blind away in a tourney and stayed true to that and tried to pick my spots. Before the final table I only called one river bet and lost. Was only all in three times in the entire tourney and twice at the final table and obviously I only lost one of those. It would have been nice to get a ring, but it was nice to hear congratulations and have friends out there sweating me. Davey was also running pretty well in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">nooner</span></span> and me being on the stage and he being on the floor I could keep an eye on his table while I was at mine. He had a tough end to his night but he did cash so that's at least a positive. And it meant some more money won by some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Houma</span></span> boys as we've had a strong showing thus far. Not sure when I'm gonna play again. Might go play some cash game tonight or Wednesday and then prolly play the $500 on Saturday.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Homies</span></span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-10266838759778040202009-05-11T09:15:00.002-05:002009-05-11T09:31:18.214-05:00Down to 18The plan worked out pretty well Sunday and I hung out with CC, got some sun and was ready to play the $340 Event #6. It a was pretty uneventful start and by the first break I was down to 3400 in chips and got at as low as 2700 and didn't sweat it at all. Had some bad luck but managed to stay afloat and pick some spots. With about 50+ players I was stuck around the 34k chip mark and then started to assert myself more and chipped up fairly well. We played with 32 ppl for what seemed like forever and when we made it to 27 ppl and redrew seats, it was very little doubt I was gonna cash at that point. Never really got any action on any big pairs I had the whole night. I only called one river bet and lost (the first level) and I was only all in for my tourney life once as well (4th level). We played to the money and I'm sitting on 75k in chips. I'm ready to play and we'll just have to see what happens from here.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-88694558686071131902009-05-10T09:32:00.015-05:002009-05-10T10:49:02.809-05:00Do They Really Listen?I must say I'm pretty pumped about the circuit right now. They had a huge turn out for the first event and some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ppl</span> I know ran deep...which always makes me a little more excited about going play for some reason. Some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Houma</span> guys did well in event one. Three top 20 finishes and one final table. Congrats to Jacob on his 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> place finish.<br /><br />I was pretty pissed Friday. I was stuck at work and it seemed like EVERYONE I know was playing event #1. It definitely didn't help when I was traded texts with what seemed like 20 different <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ppl</span> at the same time for updates while I was at work. I had a wedding party for one of my friends on Saturday afternoon so I knew playing Saturday was out of the question and I had some stuff to do Saturday morning in preparation for the party. Well the plan was to go ride by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Harrah's</span> when I got off of work if Davey had some chips and just go bull shit with him and take a look at the action. Well Davey busted before I got off of work and I came home to pack up and there was no way I was gonna head to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Houma</span> without going ride by Grandma's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Harrah's</span> house first. I get there it took 40 freaking minutes to park and I only went around the garage twice. After I parked it was great walking in there. Ran into a bunch of people I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">haven't</span>' seen in a while and the poker room was packed. Had lists for every game and it almost looked like old times when the circuit would come to NOLA. The action seemed good but it's still not the same. There has definitely been a lack of big games at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Harrah's</span> over the last year or so. I think their might have been only two 5/10 games where it seems like there would be 5+ of those when the circuit used to come. Can't even remember when was the last time I saw a 10/25 game going. But nonetheless it was nice to see the room filled and lists with 20+ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ppl</span> on it.<br /><br />I went walk around the tourney area and had my name on the list to play and after about 30 minutes of wait I got called and took my seat. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Harrah's</span> has all of a sudden seemed to slightly pull their head of their ass and lend a piece of it's ear to the players for the first time in maybe FOREVER! They did this a while back and stopped taking money out of your stack for the rake if you're not at the table. You get prorated if you leave on the push and come back. That's really cool, the Beau just takes it no matter what (but they're still the class of the Coast by all means). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Harrah's</span> has improved the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">structures</span> and has everyone in a good mood about that. They also changed their buy in rules for the cash tables. On the 1/2 and 2/5 games it was capped or half the biggest stack. I've always felt if you're gonna cap a game then a person should be able to buy-in for at least the size of the biggest stack. Well low and behold they have changed this rule and now you can buy-in for the same as the big stack in the 1/2 and 2/5 games. Now if they change the straddle in the 1/2 to $5 instead of $4 that would be cool too. Well I sat in a game and it was a pretty good game with NO RISK at all. Had a couple interesting hands at the table. A guy in the 5 seat was pretty much a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">douche</span> bag and he definitely slow rolled a guy and I gave him shit about that for pretty much the whole the time I was at the table. Board was 9 high and paired on the flop and it went checked. The turn was a back door club draw and he bet and got raised and called. The river was the 10 of clubs and he bet and a guy went all in behind for like $30 more and contemplated for a full minute. Now I thought he hit the river when he bet it considering he was playing scared but when he took that long to call that small raise when the pot had about $160 in it I was confused. Well he called and showed 10's full!! The other guy actually thought he won based on how long it took to get called and when he realized the guy took that long to call win a full house he was pretty pissed. I let a "WOW" and asked if was serious about taking that long? He said "I HAVE FOLDED FOR LESS IN BIGGER POTS, HE MIGHT HAVE HAD QUADS"....now this jerk off had over $600 in front of him and really took that long to call with the second nuts.<br /><br />Well I had some fun him for a while and with the rest of the table for that matter. I made some hands but never won any big pots. Biggest pot of the night for me was when I flopped second pair on a 3 club board with 5,6 in a raised pot 3 handed. The flop went checked and the turn gave me opened ended. I thought I could take it down with a bet and was pretty sure if I got called on the turn that a river bet would take it down too if no club came...didn't think anyone was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">strong</span> enough to call.....I put out $30 on the turn and it went call, call (oops). river card was my 5 and I made two pair with 3 clubs on board and four card straight. I was about 104384% sure I had the best hand but the key was to bet enough to get called here. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">decided</span> on $60 and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">PFR</span> folded and the kid who looked like he has never shaved contemplates with his $75 in front of him. I ask if he's gonna make me put the extra $15 in to pay him off and he says "yes" and turns over his q,10 for top pair. Sorry kid...no good but you can pick up a juice box on your way out...thanks for playing.<br /><br />Well I called it a night at about 10pm and very very reluctantly left and headed to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Houma</span>. Saturday was a good day and got to hang out with some friends and gave the groom his gift from the groomsmen which was a pretty kick ass gift if you ask me. We got him a 42" LCD <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Samsung</span> TV. He was pretty surprised and never expected to get that as his gift. After a long day of bar-b-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">q'in</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">hangin</span> out in the sun I made it back to NOLA late Saturday night and wanted to rest before heading to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Harrah's</span> Sunday. Plan is to hang out and get some sun and enjoy the afternoon with CC and then go play the $300 at 5pm.<br /><br />Watching Kill Bill right now and this is a bad ass movie. Much like all of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Tarantino's</span> movies. He actually has a war moving coming out in the fall named "Glorious Bastards" with Brad Pitt. It looks really cool. I really wish he would make a movie with Michael <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Madsen</span> and John Travolta named the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">vega</span> brothers"...in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Reservoir</span> Dogs, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Madsen's</span> character is Vic Vega and Travolta is Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Tarantino</span> never said they were brothers but it's a pretty cool <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">coincidence</span> and would most likely be a kick ass movie. Well I'm going to chill and get ready to go play later. Good luck to anyone playing the noon event.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Homies</span>.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-36445393300595250822009-04-27T16:24:00.005-05:002009-04-27T22:57:27.779-05:00I Definitely Crossed the Line This TimeAfter a loooooong weekend I feel like I could use a nap. Had a lot going for my first weekend in quite a while of not having anything to do...not sure if that makes sense. After what seems like an entirely too busy past couple months my girlfriend a.k.a. CC and I had very little calendar obligations this past weekend. Only thing that had to be done was traveling to the NorthShore for one her client's crawfish boil. Friday while just hanging out at the house and contemplating logging onto Stars or some other form of entertainment I suddenly got the itch to head to Harrah's and play some poker. Figured with Jazz Fest weekend, the Hornets playoff game, and the Zurich Classic going on it could be a good weekend. This is also a good time of the year to run into bachelor party ppl who dominate their home game in Ohio. Saturday was the draft and the Hornets game and I heard something on the radio this morning that was pretty interesting. Apparently the NFL draft dominated the NBA playoffs in TV ratings. Guess that's proof NFL is king. It was a pretty good weekend to be a sports fan and have a tv. Draft, bball playoffs, the Red Sox SWEEPING the Yankees (I HATE THE YANKEES!), Talladega Race (I'm not a big nascar fan but I know this race always has a ton of crashes and I'm not sure why else anyone would watch). Might have had some soccer on tv too...we'll have to hope Bill provides us with some insight to that!..haha<br /><br />I was ok with the Saints draft. Really happy they didn't take Beanie Wells even though Malcom Jenkins isn't as fast as people thought he was. Mel Kiper rated the Saints draft as a "C" and I think that's fair for the most part. The Hornets squeaked out a win Saturday afternoon after trying to lose the game and still have yet to score more than 95 points in a game this series.<br /><br />Saturday evening went eat at Tommy's on Tchoupitoulous with some friends and that was ok. I've eaten there a few times and I think I'm done with this restaurant. The food is somewhat mediocre and the service is ok for the most part. If you do find yourself going eat there I'd recommend just doing just doing drinks and ordering this $50 appetizer they have that has bunch of different food. This was pretty damn good but I barely ate half my main course. Our waiter wasn't exactly trying to win a big tip. We had five people so by default he was going to get an ok tip b/c we had some split bills. I am definitely one of those people that tip on service...I could careless you work for tips and I'm supposed to tip x% based off of what "they" say. I will no tip if the server is deserving and I'll tip 50% without thinking twice if the service is there. Me and CC showed up late and met the other three people who were enjoying a bottle of wine and hanging out and the waiter came and said hi and brought us menus and didn't ask if we wanted a glass for wine or anything else to drink. I then asked him for a glass of Makers Mark and he said ok and showed up 15 minutes later with it like he just saved the day or something. I had to ask for another drink (WHICH I HATE!)...you're a waiter, you serve people..you brought them the drink you see the glass is now empty you know they can't just go fix it themselves and being someone who wants to provide great service you should notice that person might want something else to drink??? So I asked for my second drink. Well after the meal he brought the check and my bill was like $55 or something and I was paying cash. I gave him $80 and when he finally made it back with the receipts for people to sign he asked if I needed change...no dude, I tipped you $25 on my $55 bill b/c the service was awesome. First of all that's just rude on his part, bring back the change and the person will leave you what they want to leave...I'm pretty sure that's the way they've been doing this tipping thing since forever. I tell him yes I need change and he brings me back the $20 bill I gave him and whatever else was the change. Now normally I would hit him with the dumb ass tax and only tip the $5. Someone tells you they need change I would bring them back maybe a $10 and 10 $1's or something like that or 10 and two 5's. Well on the third time he brought me back two tens. Gawd I hate dumb waiter/waitresses, but then again when you bring people their food for a living obviously you're not the brightest person walking among us.<br /><br />I went to the Zurich Classic Sunday afternoon with some friends and that was enjoyable. The weather was great, the sights were great, and ran into some people I haven't seen in a while. Wasn't really feeling up for going because I was really looking forward to being lazy Sunday but it ended up being a good day. After that was over I felt like reading a book and after watching David Grey's two part interview on Cardplayer about "the big game" and talking about the corporation vs. Andy Beal it got me really interested in reading Michael Craig's book The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King. Rode over to Borders Books and bought it and also bought a book that gets donated to one of the boys and girls shelters in the city (guess the cashier caught me at a good time and I felt like doing something nice). It's a pretty easy read and I've been wanted to read it for a while so I'll prolly knock that out over the next week or so.<br /><br />Well I did manage to get some poker in as I mentioned earlier. Decided to venture off to Harrah's around 8:30 or so and expected to see a lot of action and I wasn't disappointed. Walked up to the poker room and they had about six 1/2 games and three 2/5 games but no 5/10 or 10/25 games. Not sure if they have been running these at all lately. Well as I walked around the room trying to find the best 1/2 game with the most money on the table I couldn't find one that looked really good and eventually all the open seats were locked up and now I was on the list and got called for a brand new game which I was not thrilled about. I put my name on the move list after I found a game that had good amount of money on the table. While waiting I ran into Joe B. and Matt and apparently Joe dresses Matt now due to the awesome plaid shirt Matt was wearing, wasn't quite as stylish as Joe's 1994 Tommy Hilfiger oxford but he was at least trying. The plan was to play 1/2 a while and then jump in the 2/5 game after picking up 3 or $400. Nice plan!<br /><br />I get in the bad game for a few minutes and raise 4 of the first 6 hands and quickly realize it's gonna be hard to get this game jump started. I see more money on table seven and get a table change. Get moved and just really hit stride right when I sat down. No one seemed to be all that aggressive or skilled. Some pretty novice players and one guy who I've played with a few times and he plays snug and always manages to lose all his chips with hands you just don't' expect him to turn over. I'm not even sure how I won most of my money but I was up pretty quickly and continued to play pretty well. But as I've learned, it doesn't matter how well one plays...it's really hard to be the shufflemaster. I straddle and get A,10 and about 5 ppl limp and I let it live and we saw the flop. A,10,9...not bad for a straddle, or anytime for that matter. I bet out $20 and get minraised to $40 by a guy who only bets when he has a good hand. I decided to mess with him just to see how he would react to the play and reraise to $60. This confused like half the table b/c they couldn't understand why I didn't have to make it $80 (AND I'M NOT JOKING!)...He was somewhat thrown off and just called. I checked when the board paired nines and he followed along with that and I was pretty sure I didn't like this card. River was not and Ace or 10 which I thought I needed to win and I checked. He bet $40 and I knew I had to call and showed me his 9,10. Nice hand sir, not a whole lot I can do there. I then played AK like a fag and lost a relatively big pot and all my profit when I raised on the flop and some other guy shipped it with Qs,7s and made his flush on the river.<br /><br />I knew that guy wasn't going anywhere with money in front of him...He was there to play and thought he was really good. He also gave congratulated himself on pots, think I saw a mini fist pump once on a $50 pot...yea, he was that guy. He was an over weight bald guy that was mid 50's with a silk Hawaiian style shirt that he thought we be a good idea to not button all the way or wear an undershirt. And don't forget about the pinky ring and man bracelet. Well I eventually got some money from him and double through when I hit my 10,8 gutshot. I then had one of my more memorable hands I've played and completely took advantage of the rule and a dumb player.<br /><br />(Man this post is getting long)<br /><br />Here's the hand. I'm dealt 9,7o and from the hi-jack after 4 ppl limp I make it $15 to go and get two callers (button and mp). Flop comes 9,5,3 and check to me and I bet $35 and get called by the button and the other guy folds. This is where it got interesting. Turn card paired the 5 and I start to cut out some chips and kinda try to stall to see what this guy is thinking (chances are he isn't thinking anything!) Well I don't know what he has but I think I might have the best hand. I cut out $65 and push it forward and then the guy says "I'm all in" for like $250 total. Now usually this is where I'd lean back in my chair and start to talk to him BUT I still haven't made my bet and with the chips in my hand I try to grab all them but I left $10 out there and pulled back the $55. Well this guy starts to scream that I can't do that and some other player starts agreeing (and we all know what I think of dumbasses who aren't in the hand talking about the ruling that doesn't affect them). Well the guy is telling me I crossed the line and that's my bet and other people start to point out that I crossed the line, and I tell the dealer to just call the floor because I never released all the $65. She knew the floor was going to rule in my favor but we called them over and I only lost $10 on the turn. I was really happy with myself for thinking quick and not releasing my chips when he acted prematurely. I found it humorous and the other guy was totally flustered. He even made the comment a few minutes later about no hard feelings man. I looked at him dead serious and told him "I'm not really worried if you have hard feelings about it anyway, It's not like I did anything wrong." Well I showed him a bluff about 15 minutes later and he got up from the table completely flustered.<br /><br />The night was fun. I never did make it to the 2/5 game I was dead even at 3:30am and moved to another game when my table broke. I told myself I was going to play 30 more minutes and win some money. I sat down and picked up a little profit and called it a night at 4am. Joe and Matt were still grinding it out. I had fun and I look forward to playing this coming weekend, not sure if it's gonna be Friday or Saturday. Hopefully Bill quits dragging his feet and gets us some gear before the circuit starts so I have something to wear at final tables.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-22676945109040496552009-04-16T08:50:00.004-05:002009-04-17T08:45:15.123-05:00Winning and ApprehensionI didn't make it out to the Beau last weekend. Mainly due to being busy and dealing with the holiday. I was one of those fortunate ones who got to work on Good Friday. I love hearing friends and family ask "you really have to work?"...Like I'm lying to them b/c it's fun or something. Well that ruined any plans of going play the $300 noon and didn't really feel like going play the second chance and pretty much decided right there that I wasn't gonna play at all that weekend. Ended up going to Houma Saturday night and hang out with some friends and drink some beer and make fun of each other. Sunday was Easter and frankly I would have been thrilled if it wasn't a holiday weekend. Way too much of a production to lose a day of my weekend. Anyway, I have been able to play online and I have found some really nice success lately on stars playing mtt sngs. Mainly 18 or 27 players. These are really nice and take about hour and half and for some reason seem to be pretty easy to navigate. I have finished 3rd or better in a majority of the ones I have played. Probably cashing in 6 out of the last 10 and then cashing in 6-handed 3k gtd last night as well. These sngs have been pretty enjoyable and it's nice that people don't end up with 5 times the starting stack 4 minutes into the tournament.<br /><br />That's about all I have going on as far as poker. The NBA playoffs are starting soon and after watching the Hornets last game against the Spurs I get the feeling they were trying to lock up the seven seed. I have never seen them, much less any NBA team miss that many free throws at the end of a game. Pedja completely wiffed on an inbound pass which just looked awkward. Can't say that I'm disappointed about them being the seventh seed b/c I don't wanna see them play the Lakers until the conference finals. It'll be interesting and hopefully Chandler will be back 100% and they can make a run in the 8 month marathon called the NBA playoffs. I'm really looking forward to watching my team play every 12th day. Just heard some interesting news while listening to ESPN radio that Keven Garnett may be out for the entire post season.<br /><br />The NFL draft is approaching and as a life long Saints fan this is a very nervous time for all us due to the history of decisions....Chris Naeole, Donte' Stallworth, Danny Wuerffel, Robert Meachem, Antonio Pittman, oh yeah...that one year back in '99 when after the fifth pick in the draft the Saints were no longer involved b/c they got hall of famer Ricky Williams...not to mention they traded away a 7th round pick for Olindo Mare (A KICKER) b/c that late in the draft you can't find quality players. Well except for that Marques Colston guy who should have won rookie of the year. But the kicker was a solid pick up...HA HA HA. Well lets just hope that the special ed. group doesn't show up to do the drafting for the Saints this year. I think I might throw up if they draft Beanie Wells, this guy couldn't stay healthy in college and couldn't even dominate that juggernaut of a conference that he played in...The Lil' 10.<br /><br />Speaking of the draft...am I the only one that can't stand listening to Todd McShay on ESPN? McShay is like a stepbrother that constantly tries to compete for attention from the parents by always having a different opinion to seem smart just in case he's right. Well Mel Kiper is making me nervous b/c he has the Saints drafting a running back and I just hope he totally f'd up that projection. ESPN just reported some great news for Sunday night football and me...John Madden is now retired and I don't have to listen to him butcher the English language while trying to enjoy a football game.<br /><br />Most likely not gonna be any poker going on this weekend as I'm headed to Shreveport for the weekend to hang out with some friends...highly doubtful I will make it go one of Bossier City's fine casinos but I can't rule it out completely due to the fact that Bill told me he's headed up there this weekend for a non poker related trip and he may try to go play. Just have to play that by ear I guess. Looking forward to playing some more online mtt sngs over the next couple weeks and somewhat looking forward to playing in the upcoming circuit event Harrahs but I'm still not putting a lot of faith in them for the structures until I show up and see the structure sheet. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it mid tourney b/c it was gonna last more than 3 hours. A lot more negativity in this post than I thought but when talking about the Saints draft it's hard to stay positive. Like many places New Olreans sports fans are just naturally glass half empty fans due to listening to our fathers and grand fathers curse the Saints even when they pick up 7 yards on first down by saying "I'm sure they're gonna run ball up the middle the next two plays and punt"...hard to shake a life time of those types of comments. This year the Who Dat Nation will have pleanty to cheer about when the Saints are Super Bowl Bound.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-881770229585428442009-04-07T10:21:00.003-05:002009-04-07T12:01:30.440-05:00Nice Pair Ma'amAttempted to play some poker this past weekend at the Beau and that didn't exactly work out as planned. I woke up early Saturday morning and got my game face on and waiting for Ruttley to show up and we made our way to the coast to play in a satellite and then parlay that into a 30k win in the $500 event. Well that didn't work out how I had envisioned it. We got there and went chill with Davey and Joe B. for a little while and then went play in the same satellite. Well it started out ok and then I lost half my chips on a hand where the board came 10 high and I held 99 and rather than calling a small flop bet from the PFR I put in a raise and he called and then moved in on the turn and I was forced to fold. Battled back and some ppl got busted and we were 5 handed and a guy open shoved for 300 less than me and then Ruttley moved all in for less and of course I look down at QQ. I thought about folding for like all of 2 seconds and then put it all in. Of course Ruttley had KK and the other guy had A,10 and the KK held up. I was crippled and moved in with J,10 and got called by the blinds. Guy in the SB really pissed me off too. He was a total douche bag equipped with his "Stone Cold" Steve Austin shirt, blue jean shorts, white tennis shoes, crown royal hat, and the sweetest pair of 7/11 sunglasses I've ever seen! Well this jerk off makes the comment "I hope he knows what he is supposed to do down there b/c I'm not gonna bet".....I threw on the brakes and started to tell him how messed up this was and that even though it's understood that the check down will happen it's still collusion if you state your intentions. If he would have been the one to win the hand then I would have made somewhat of a scene just to prove a point even though I know I would have prolly been ruled against. Anyhow, Ruttley won a buy in for the $500 tourney and I went get torched downstairs in the cash game.<br /><br />Sat in a game that was pretty weak and and was never really in any harm. I couldn't keep any momentum despite the unimpressive play at the table. I pretty much stayed about 30-40% above my buy in. Picked off a few bluffs, called the same old guy down with 3rd pair three times. The game was good, the table was fun and I was chatting most of the time. It was pretty frustrating b/c it seemed like every time I won a pot I was forced to draw on the very next hand and wipe away profit. I had my biggest profit when I flopped top pair Q with a King kicker and the board double paired queens and sixes. Of course I lost over $300 on the hand b/c the other guy had Q,9 for a better full house. That was brutal and I got up from the game after that and went cash out my few chips, luckily the guy didn't put me all in...that's a really tough fold and not a good long term fold.<br /><br />Went sweat Davey who was battling his ass off in the $500 tourney and had to deal with some unfun swings. Ruttley and I played the second chance and I started off playing pretty well and able to more than double my chip stack by the first break. Very little danger except for the annoying guy sitting on my left. He was "that guy" who talked about how loose he was and how no one can put him on a hand. He was just advertising how good he was, needless to say it took as long as me untangling my headphone wires to put the iPod on and not listen to his greatness. What blows my mind about this is how people at the table acknowledge this guy and tell him "Man, I can't put you on a hand"....well I check called him down once and then he pretty much stopped playing pots with me. One crazy incident was when it sounded like a guy was choking or something and then he fell out of his chair and the tournaments stopped and they were yelling for a doctor. It was pretty insane b/c no one knew what was going on, didn't know if it was a heart attack or stroke or seizure. I'm still not positive what happened but I think the guy ended up cashing in the $500 tourney and never returned after whatever happened, hopefully he's doing great now.<br /><br />The second chance was frustrating b/c keeping with my tradition of online tourneys of taking one big beat after accumulating chips I was unable to recover. I got moved tables and the big stack on the table opened and got called and I rereaised him from the BB with AK and he folded and the other person called. Now I played with this lady from the start and she was pretty unoriginal and ABC. I knew she had a small pair, well actually she had big pair but those were on her chest and she was letting them hang out and they had that biker chick quality to them. Ron White discusses this...how every guy wants to see them, even if it means you roll them back up and put em away after we're all grossed out. Well it wasn't that gross but you get the point. Anyway, she hit her two outer and after I knew she hit the flop I still bet and was forced to double her up. If she misses the flop I win the pot with a CB. I asked her how much more I would have had to raise to get her to fold 55 and she said she thought I was bluffing b/c I had my hand on the side of my face and took a while to bet....HAHAHA. Now she's making body reads after I had sat directly across from her for two hours and did the same thing every time and if you've ever played a tourney with me, I'm pretty standard with taking my time and keeping my hand either on my face or over my mouth. Anyway, Davey brought up a very valid point when I said I have no idea how much I had to raise to make her fold and he said "she's a woman and has pair, usually not going anywhere." Very similar to old guys who call with every pair and ready to muck as soon as they miss the flop.<br /><br />It was a rather unsuccessful trip but I definitely realized that I had more fun playin the tourney than playin the cash game. I was just so much more tuned in and I'm not gonna say I tried harder but it just seems like I can create my own luck a little bit more in tournaments and in cash games I'm just trying to be patient and then I just get smoked on one hand and can't force myself to stay in there and battle b/c I get disgusted. In the tournament I have to stay there and I can't just pull out more chips. For whatever it's worth I'm ready to play some more and prolly gonna make a trip out to the coast this weekend...either to play the second chance Friday night or the $300 Saturday. <br /><br />As far as the vibe at the Beau right now it's just not the field sizes and action like it used to be. And is it just me or is every guy under the age of 24 just a complete dork with no personality? Some sounds at tournaments just never change but then again some do...it's not like I'm an old man but it just seems like 4 years ago more people talked about betting on sports rather than dropping every poker clique they can possibly gather in one sentence. I know I used let people have it at the table but I could at least carry a conversation about anything and it wasn't usually poker related. Just never understood the fascination with talking about poker while playing poker and the conversation not helping your own game but rather just trying to show how smart you think you are....If I'm ever engaged in a "poker conversation" at the table it's because I think you're intelligent and I'm only speaking to the guy sitting next to me in a low voice and not talking across the table. I quickly learned that post game at the table is just dumb but nowadays it just seems like Vince Van Patten opened a school for people to analyze play and make the world a dumber place, maybe he has youtube videos and ppl watch these so they tell me that they had "weapons of mass destruction" or a "real wired pair." And when did it become the norm to state that "I just started playing this game"...followed by a wink and smirk. Good job sir, now I KNOW you're not really that good but you do think highly of yourself and I'll be glad to boost your ego for my pure entertainment. I'm sure I could keep going about this type of stuff but I'm just tired of typing right now.<br /><br />Hopefully I'll be at the Beau this weekend make it a profitable trip too. Good luck to everyone headed out there and please don't be that douche bag at the table.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-15172782838712725842009-03-30T15:14:00.006-05:002009-03-30T19:32:49.898-05:00Confusion on a Ruling<div align="left">Well I know most people at this point have torn their bracket up moved on past the NCAA tourney unless of course you were one those people that picked UNC. Well Memphis got bounced and that eliminated me from my pool and a chance at cash, although in my other bracket challenge that I was head to head with SouthPawRounder our championship game was yesterday with UNC/OU b/c our final four and champion was the same except for him having OU and me UNC so now I have a free lunch when I get to Vegas in June. Saturday I boiled some crawfish and some friends over and after we were done eating and with a good bit of beer in us we decided we needed to go bowling. That was pretty fun and entertaining, bowling is definitely one of those things done better when drunk. Sunday was a weird day for me, I woke up and the weather was great and I definitely didn't wanna spend the day at home doing nothing. Being the good Catholic kid I am I woke up and went to Mass and then got some really sad news about a friend that I ride with in a carnival krewe. I received a text message saying that Bubba Dove was in automobile accident and was died on the scene. Just really unsettling news b/c he was a nice guy and was fun to hang out with the few months out of the year we had Mardi Gras parties. After a bunch of phone calls and texts messages from friends and the news kind of settled down I decided I really wanted to play live and NOT at Harrahs.<br /><br />I hopped in the car and headed to the coast for some cash game action and a potential appearance in the $200 second chance tourney at 7pm. Well I got there and around 3:30 and went upstairs to see what was going on and ran into a few people I hadn't seen in a while and then went sit down and flopped the nuts on the first hand I played and broke a guy. After that I just pretty much maintained and was bouncing the idea back and forth if I wanted to play the second chance or not. While I was cashing out I ran into Jacob and he and I shot the shit for a while and went upstairs to sweat Clint at the final table from event 1. He and I ran into a bunch of familiar faces and talked to Reid for a few minutes while he was waiting for his dinner break to end. I opted to not play in the second chance for a couple reasons: one was that with about 10 minutes before 7 they only had like 30 players and two; was that I didn't know if I felt like driving back after that late after I won. My cash session wasn't that much to brag about but it was a win and got me really wanted to go play this week! I'm making plans and I'm pretty sure I'm going play cash Wednesday evening and I'm going play the Saturday tourney which should have a really big turn out.<br /><br />One thing that had me confused was two rulings by the floor at the Beau, one was on my table and the other was on the 4/8 game next to us. I know they had a dealer that used to blog on GCP as well as a Tourney Director but I'm not sure if they check the site anymore. Well this is the situation and ruling on the 4/8 game:<br /><span style="color:#000000;">The blinds are $1 and $2 in the game and a player wanted to straddle. The dealer didn't know how much the player had to straddle for b/c the bet is $8. (I'm still confused kinda). Anyway the dealer didn't know if the player should have to straddle for $4 or $8. The floor ruled the player should straddle for $4 and everyone has to call $8 to enter the pot. So based on this ruling the player who straddled can fold for $4 even if no one raises. This would make the straddle the dumbest play in the history of poker and makes the ruling one of the weirdest I've ever heard before. Please let me know if you know the proper ruling</span>.<br /><br />The second was in my cash game and once again I'm not sure if I agree with the ruling. This hand involves the 7 seat (playerA), 8 seat (PlayerB), and 3 seat (playerC), button is on the 4 seat:<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">After the flop</span></strong>: <span style="color:#000000;">PlayerA checks, PlayerB bets $40, PlayerC calls as well as playerA</span>.<br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Turn</span></strong>: <span style="color:#000000;">PlayerA checks, PlayerB bets $100, PlayerC moves all-in for $130 toal PlayerA then attempts to raise to $200. The dealer tells him he can not raise that amount and pulls the raise back. This is the part that ANNOYS THE HELL OUT OF ME!! douchebag in the two seats starts talking to the guys next to him and they start questioning the dealer WHEN THEY ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THE HAND! (bit of advice, if you're not in the hand and it's not a pot/money issue then keep your mouth shut!) Regardless if I know I'm right or someone is wrong I refuse to make statements or anything that will affect someones money...it's the same as talking in a hand when you're not heads up. If the player has doubts he ask for a ruling not the dip shit who wears his sunglasses and hoodie and analyzing everyone's hand and watches entirely too much tv poker. Anyway, the floor is called and the floor rules that playerA can make it $200 b/c playerC did not make a full raise and all playerA is raising the original $100 bet. PlayerA put the $100 extra and PlayerB called. The river went check-check and PlayerA won the hand.<br /></span><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">So my question is</span></strong>: Did the floor make the correct ruling? I can see how it would be the correct ruling and I could see an argument against $200 not being enough to count as a raise. And I could definitely see this being ruled differently in different poker rooms.<br /><br />Well the plan is to head to the Beau Wednesday after work and win at least my buyin for Saturday's tourney. I really wish I had more time and could get away to play more tourneys the next two weeks. I might try to play a second chance or something the following week. Well good luck and safe travels to everyone heading to the Beau.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.</div>the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-2734065690915920482009-03-23T08:22:00.003-05:002009-03-23T14:47:59.748-05:00Appropriate...I have a slogan or motto or whatever you wanna call it for PokerStars:<br /><br />"<em>PokerStars: making retarded people feel like a genius since 2001"</em><br /><em></em><br />Multi-tabled two tourneys Sunday night and made it 30 from the money and keeping with the theme of usual...only one guy on the table had me covered. I reraise the cutoff with 10,10 and the big stack calls from the button and the flop is 8,8,8...I go bust and he had 10,8.<br /><br />I cashed in the 6 handed tourney and took a crappy beat when i had about 24k in chips but the other guy had no choice but to move in and I got unlucky after flopping a set of queens. I then saw Stars put that motto to work a little while later. Button min raises to 2k, (sb is sitting out) and I move in for 14k more and he thinks about it forever and calls my A,Q with A,10....he had about 21k to start the hand. Flop is Q,J,8...9 on the turn and I was done. I aslo cashed in a tourney Saturday night when I couldn't fall asleep. So atleast I had some positive this weekend.<br />Till Next Time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-88249751091322702592009-03-20T09:04:00.002-05:002009-03-20T10:28:59.946-05:00Obsession and HootersI guess the two things in the title can go hand and hand. I did what most guys with a pair do around this time of year and filled out my bracket and got ready to wonder if this was the year that I go perfect in the picks b/c after all, it looked pretty good once I was done. Well that dream ended when I pulled out my bracket to highlight the Texas A&M game and then to my complete surprise actually had BYU picked. No idea why I woulda done that and no clue that I actually did. I guess the upside to my mediocre 11-5 day was that all of my sweet 16 teams survived Thursday, but it's not looking for my side bet with SouthPawRounder. In the past before we head out to Vegas we usually end up having some type of competition where the loser has to buy lunch at the American Cafe in NY,NY Casino. Luckily for him this isn't a poker competition. Last time it was bowling and he didn't stand a chance, but this year he's got a pretty good lead going 15-1 on day one and the really shitty part is that our bracket's are pretty similar with the exception of the first round games that he managed to pick better than me. <br /><br />It wasn't the easiest thing to stay focused at work except for being locked in on any and all scoring updates about the tourney. I guess it would be a lot cooler if my boss was a big sports fan but he's just pretty much a Saints fan. Not sure who listens to espn radio but I'm tuned in from 8-5 and anytime I get in my car. Colin Cowherd was going off about how brackets just make things better in life and how we become obsessed with picking winners in that format and said he could do a tournament of cereals and people would go nuts over that. Well he did and ppl did...they ranked 32 cereals and seeded them and people logged in to vote on the cereal with upsets and all. Frosted Flakes was the strong favorite and been steam rolling the other cereals. It was pretty interesting how many ppl actually voted on it and pretty funny at the same time. <br /><br />Haven't played much poker this week, been trying to calm down before I break my computer. Before going to Hooters last night I multi-tabled some heads up sngs and won all 3 so that was nice. I have been playing on Full Tilt and PokerStars and I definitely think Stars is just a much better site, the tournament lobby is super easy to navigate compared to FTP and the game just moves so much faster on Stars. However it just feels like on Stars I'm playing against the software and not the other players. I don't know when I was actually a 4 to1 favorite with AA vs. KK. Last tourney I played was the $11 30k gtd and I was double the average with 12 away from the money and utg with KK and make a raise and get reraised from the cutoff and then I move in and of course he calls and has AA. It's getting completely ridiculous how many times I've ran into that. I was completely healthy and making the money was a given and then I was just staring at my computer screen with a blank face b/c I couldn't believe that I ran into that situation again!...all bullshit aside, in the 3 hours of play I witnessed KK vs. QQ 4 times at the same table!...I don't care that millions of hands are dealt out, that just insane to see that. But anyway, I don't mind playing heads up on full tilt but I just think things move way to slow in the tournaments. Well after my little victory in the sngs I headed to Hooters with two of my friends. We've been friends for a long time and been making Thursday night Hooters trips for a few months now. Wild Bill joined us to watch some basketball, talk about the new gcp logo that one of my friends who was there last night is helping design, and we shared some beers. Well we didn't really share our beers as much as we shared some pitchers of beer. <br /><br />Not sure if any poker is gonna be played this weekend but I kind of have the itch to play somewhere. I know I'll prolly play online at some point over the weekend but been rattling around the idea of Harrah's. I really wish they would get a clue over there and do a weekend tourney. It doesn't haven't to be every weekend, but just do it like every other weekend...just something. If they did it at 11am on Saturday I don't think it could hurt anything and it would get people in the room early. After looking at the tournament schedule of events for the Harrah's circuit I'm really really really hoping they don't screw us over on the structures b/c they have some interesting tourneys with mixed events and a 6-handed event and a pot limit hold em event too. We'll just have to wait and see if Grandma Harrah's is gonna come through this time.<br />Till next time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-70080073157104444832009-03-12T09:43:00.005-05:002009-03-12T12:43:05.714-05:00Some Random Rants...<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><p align="left">Well since mid February I have been running fairly descent but definitely not getting smoked in the head with the deck. Pretty much just standard and not making a lot of mistakes but since Saturday I have just been bitch slapped in every tourney I've played. Saturday was the tourney at the Beau which I felt even though I was unlucky I still felt ok about the way I played. Well Sunday was a totally different day! I had plans of hangin out and playing tourneys on PokerStars all day, well for the most part I did do that. Problem was that I played way more tournaments than I wanted to b/c I kept busting out. On the whole day I played 4 tournaments and 5 sngs. I managed to only lose $3 on the day that was impressive in it self. Busted from the first sng when I found AA with KK. Then played a tourney and was minding my own business and not really playing a lot of pots. I raised with 10c8c and got one caller, flopped a 10 and flush draw and bet and got called. Turn brought and 8!...I bet got raised, I three bet and we got it all in and I made my flush on the river b/c of course the board paired and he had 10's full!..I love busting like that! I then play another sng and on the second hand i have QQ and find KK and I'm done for that. Play the 6 max tourney and make it to the first break and then come back and lose half my stack with an all in preflop with my AK vs. A9 (he of course made a straight)..then I bust with 99 vs. 10,10. I then played two sngs and won one and finished second (finally something positive). That was short lived as I proceed to not even stand a chance in the next tournaments I played.</p><p align="left">Decide to shrug it off and be happy that I kinda free rolled on the day. Sunday was the first time I've understood how ppl break their computers. That was first time the laptop almost went flying across the room with retarded beats I was taking. I can handle losing my chips on a bad bluff or a big call from someone but these are situations that I'm not/can't fold or get away from. I didn't play Monday night. I started reading Josh Hamilton's book....he's the guy who went nuts in the home run derby this past year...he was also the number draft pick out of high school in '99 and got 3.96 million signing bonus with Tampa Bay and then found himself doing a ton of drugs and blowing almost all his money. He was able to turn his life around and now he's in the majors again....pretty mind blowing story...pretty easy read too, I'm almost done with the book.</p><br />Tuesday I attempted to play. Played a sng and busted pretty quick. Davey was gonna buy some action on me in the $55 6-max but I declined and went run some errands with the girl and take a break from online and get ready to battle Wednesday night. Boy that was short lived too!...I played a sng waiting for the 6-max to start at 8:15 and the sng went just like I thought it would, TERRIBLE! I limp with A,10d and the big blind minraises...that's pretty dumb and I just couldn't see him doing that with anything good so I three bet and he minraises that and I move in and he snap calls 1200 more with KhQh. Flop is nothing, he turns a flush draw and you know how this one ends and I'm done. Play the 6-max and catch JJ four times in 20 minutes and 0-4 with it. One time I actually flopped a set on the button and it went, bet..raise, all-in for more than what I had. One guy had 8,9 for low end of straight, other guy QUEEN, QUEEN...for top set and the other guy had AK for the nuts....can't believe I actually folded that...oh yea, remember this is 6-handed!...this is kinda shit that makes you wonder about online poker. I then have Ad,9d and call a raise from the BB and the flop is q,j,10 two diamonds. I check-call an average bet and the turn brings an A to go with my straight and flush draw. The river is the jack of diamonds...he can't be full..XXXXXX, wrong answer..he most definitely is full. I bet and he raises all in and I call, drag your pot A,J. I then move all in for 500 with 9d,7d and get called by A,J and flop open ended and of course I miss the draw and I'm done.<br /><br />I know this is a lot of bitching but not much else to do, I'd love to be saying how great I'm doing and how I cash in every tournament but that just ain't happening. The plan is to get back to battle Thursday night. Was watching American Idol, which I've basically concluded is the TV version of crack. Good gawd what kinda shit is Paula Abdaul on??..that bitch is tanked and I think if she ever actually completes a sentence I may fall out my chair. My stepbrother lives in LA and is an actor...he's also a magician which can appear lame but he does a lot of the David Blain stuff that he does walking around and all...I know they have a name for magic done right in front of ppl but I can't think of it.....anyway, he was hired to do that at a party in LA and he had an encounter with Ms. Abdaul where she was amazed by the magic and hanging on him and every other guy that talked to her...she could barely talk and almost couldn't stand up and was just an absolute idiot from what I gather. Anyway, that's my six degrees of separation for her. <br /><br />After reading the Shannon Shorr blog and Shaniac's response I think I side more with Shaniac. I get what SS was saying but come on, give me a break. Poker is an industry..just like football, baseball, basketball, golf, etc... The people in charge want to brand their sport/competition. Poker is treated no different when the bottom line is profit, tv ratings, and any other thing that draws non-poker industries to the game. Lets just not be naive about where we all stand in the poker world. I know that thinking your better than people and being better than others are two different things and that SS has proved that he doesn't just think it, he's been consistent but has done nothing to let ppl know he's around and doing well. People can't stand Hellmuth but even though he's a prick he kinda gets "it" as far as making himself bigger than he is. Even if he didn't have 11 bracelets no doubt he'd still be a polarizing figure in the poker world with people having strong opinions on both sides. It's the "Tiger Effect" in golf...which is probably the best sport to use to compare poker. It's individual based, these guys have to hustle to get sponsorships to help with travel and on top of marketing themselves for additional income...they then have to perform consistently. Poker has some parallels with this, they have the elite players that always cause a draw and guys make a good living just with sponsorships and aren't forced to play every tournament stop. The proof they belong in the celebrity or showcase type tournaments is because we all know them by Daniel, Doyle, Barry, Jennifer, or Durrrr or Jesus. These are the ones that have elevated their status not only through play but the occasional smart business decision. The key thing is that the HeadsUp Poker Championship is NOT about recognizing who had the best year. It's about will I tune in to see Russo vs. Seed or two guys that have a good year? No one said this has to be fair, it's just gotta move the rating needle and put people in the audience and get BMW to pay for commercial spots. I understand both arguments but I just don't fully understand how SS could be disappointed by not being selected. If they're willing to put Don Cheadle and Orel Hershiser in this field of 64 obviously it's not about merit. All in all it would be cool if he got to play in it one year but I don't think this would be that year based on what the tournament is really all about.<br /><br />I'm listening to Colin Cowherd (which is best sports talk show on the radio) and he's talking about Travis Henry...this guy has NINE KIDS!! He has to pay over 100k in child support a year and is complaining that it's too much money...he also just got about 7million two years ago and said he has ONLY spent about 200k on jewelry "which ain't a whole lot"(actual Travis Henry quote) He says he only has 3 cars. He claims that he has a big heart and takes care of a lot people but never really could get a grasp of that whole saving thing....what a freaking idiot. Some people are just impressively dumb and Mr. Henry...you are one of those people. Well I'm done with this little rant. Not sure if I'm gonna have poker going on this weekend, gonna play some Thursday night online...Friday I'm gonna be boiling some crawfish and Saturday I'm undecided if I'm going to the casino for some cash or some online tourneys. Hopefully the next few days go a lot better than the last couple. I was kinda all over the place on this one but that's what happens when I day dream.<br />Till next time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-80303012270434466942009-03-08T14:30:00.005-05:002009-03-09T13:38:55.996-05:00A Night at the BeauI wasn't planning on the making the trip but a little bit of arm twisting by southpawrounder and we were off to the coast Friday evening. We got there around 7ish and we wanted to eat before we starting playing so being the good Catholic boys we are we couldn't eat meat and ventured across the street to the Waffel House where I got some "pre-meat chicken"....which are eggs. This was our first of two WH experiences on the weekend. With very little debate SPR and I agreed that WH is prolly the state restaurant of Mississippi. It's impossible to drive more than 10 miles without seeing a WH sign of some type. After the meal we went to the poker room and were seated right away at different tables. I bought into the 1/2 game for $300 and the game was kinda weird. When I first got there I was in the one seat and a regular named Tom was in the two with a young guy in the three and an ornery old baster in the 4, there was also a lady in the 9 who was in EVERY POT. Well the guy in the two was one of these guys who was very sure of himself and just knows that it's not luck when he makes hands. Well I don't have a problem catering to these types of guys ego's b/c it can be quite amusing. And of course he talked to every dealer like he knew them and picked on every cocktail waitress and was "that guy" who has his wife sitting behind him while he plays and she's just as clueless as can be. He's showing her every hand and she's just thinking that her hubby is the best darn card player this side the Mississippi River. Well as he's just running over the table and playing almost every hand b/c he will eventually make the nuts on the river I start to make some conversation with him and his wife if for anything that maybe it might prevent him from running me down. Well I make my first raise and feel the wrath of Tom and his running good ability. I make it $14 with AcJc and he calls as well as a couple others. Flop is A,3,6 and I bet $45 and makes it $100 right behind me. I contemplate and wait for him to start talking as he does in every hand he plays. I feel like if I can just get him talking a little bit he will let me know that he's very strong or just seeing if I'm full of shit. He says to me, "I got lucky...You don't wanna call" thanks for the info and I fold and shows me A,3 for two pair. Now I'm pumped b/c I haven't played live in a while and the first time I raise and make top pair I get smoked. Now the goal is to not go into a shell and get gun shy.<br /><br />I then finally make a hand to build some confidence and was never under my buyin after this pot. Grumpy old man in the 4 raises and I call with about 4 others and flop a set of tens on an Ace high board. I bet right into the raiser and he calls with another guy. I set the old guy in on the river and he folds to save his $50 and I won a nice pot. I then witnessed some of the most retarded hands I've ever seen. Tom in the two seat decided he was going to put on a show and had about $600 in cash $1200 in chips in front of him and of course they were all in stacks of $50....Ok guys, lets have some chip stacking 101. Whenever you see a guy with stacks of $50 chips, he's not a good player and usually a guy who plays too many hands and when he has a lot of money in front of him is very self conscious of this...the good thing is that he will hemorrhage. Well the bad thing about this guy is when he's running good he thinks he's superman and will run you down. Well I watched Tom make every hand he wanted to. A couple that just blew my mind went down like this. He raised to $20 and got reraised to $50. Guy who reraised bet the flop, turn, and river with $50 on every street and got called except on the river when the back door heart draw got there and the board double paired...Tom raised him $50 more and the guy called. Tom promptly turned over his FLUSH and the other guy mucked. Now that's balls when you minraise on the double paired board and get called and still know you're good!...maybe this guy knows something I don't know? Then the other hand of amazement was when someone made it $15 and reraised to $50 and got called by two ppl and flopped a set of 4's and snapped someone. I jokingly told him he needed to teach me how to do that and he said with a straight face and 100% serious that when you have played as much poker as has and play as often as he does then you just know when to make raises like that. Point taken sir, are those triple strap velcro shoes you have on?? So I then was curious and decided to be amused and keep egging him on while his wife said there so proud that her husband was mentoring a younger man in the game her husband was so finely skilled at.<br /><br />Eventually he left and gave back about $500 and got up with around $1200 profit off the $200 he bought in for. I on the other hand grinded away and got my stack up to almost about 1k and then took some uneventful swings that and turned an ok profit. SPR moved games and played most of the night sitting next to me and had more hands to play than I think anyone would want. He worked his ass off to lose $30. We finished our little marathon and went for round 2 at the WH...this time just for early morning snack before finally getting some rest. Hung out with Wild Bill for a while and we all decided to play the tourney Saturday morning and this wasn't exactly the most fun I've ever had playing a tournament. I get to my table and the tourney starts and I think there was almost 90 players and in the level and a half we played before my table was broke we never played more than 8 handed and we busted 4 ppl off. That's pretty impressive. The hand before we all get moved I picked up a nice pot and was somewhere near 11k in chips. The very first hand at the next table I flop and opened ended straight draw and a flush draw and don't improve and end up giving some old guy about $2400....o well, not a lot I can do about that hand. The next hand I played was about 9 hands later and I was on the button with QQ and it folded around to me and I made it $350 (blinds 50/100) and the SB and BB both call. Flop was 5,7,8 and the SB checks and the BB just moves all in for over 7k and now I'm flustered. This guy wasn't a complete moron. I couldn't really talk to him too much b/c there was a guy behind me. The ONLY thing that made sense was that he had a pair and a draw. If he had a set or two pair or anything he would have tried to trap me, if not then this was a hell of a play with a ton of reward if he had a set or two pair or a straight. Well I eventually come to the fact that he's not strong and just wants me to fold, well I call knowing that I'm prolly against a draw and before he turns his cards over he asks me if I have Jacks and turn over my QQ and he then pats himself on the back b/c he knew I had a hand like JJ or QQ...well no fucking shit!...what else would I call u with right there..AK, pocket 2's??...I'm pretty sure if I had a set I woulda snap called. Well he shows his 6,7 and now it's time to pray I can hold up. Well a 10 on the turn and then a 9 on the river and congratulations for getting it all in with your pair and a draw. I couldn't hold my tongue on this one after he kept telling everyone he knew I had a big pair. I asked how he knew I had a pocket pair when I raised and he said he just knew. So from me putting $350 in the pot from the button after it was folded to me he knew I had a big pair...his response was that he said I had JJ or QQ...whatever dude, I'm pretty sure anyone with a half of brain would have guessed I had a big pair after I called a 7k bet into a 1k pot. Anyway, I wasn't out and had about $700 and now it was time to get lucky and pick the right spots. I find a way to hang in there and double up and get some chips and make it to the break with over 5k in chips. Well the first hand back I have KK and end up having to fold after I get outflopped. After losing a hugh pot early I managed to last and bust out with about 38 players left when I ran my 55 into AA. It was disappointing and I was one double up away from giving myself at least a fighting chance. The guy who got lucky early actually came shake my hand when I busted and told me he would have never made that move against me if he knew I was that solid of a player....haha, thanks for the compliment but at I would have rather you make the move and my hand just hold up.<br /><br />Davey didn't fare very well and had a nice little stack until the first level ended and never won a pot after the first level. Bill didn't last too long either, I wish I woulda made a last longer bet with them. I made it back to NOLA and went to the Hornets game with the girl and watched Chris Paul just take over the game when he feels like it. The guy is sick, the refs were terrible and that's the only reason Oak.City hung around. How gay is the name "Thunder"...not sure who sold them on that as their mascot but it sucks. It was an ok weekend as poker goes even though I didn't cash in the tourney. As I write this I'm playing the 4k gtd. 6max. Hopefully this turns out ok for me.<br />Till next time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5247827951583036188.post-62061143633926891312009-03-01T17:43:00.003-06:002009-03-01T17:50:33.329-06:00Theory Proving StrongWell after my last post on Tuesday I played a couple tournaments on Stars. Decided to lay low and not do anything on Mardi Gras except enjoy my day off, the nice weather, and play some tourneys. Woke up pretty early b/c the girl and her friends rode in the Krewe of Argus in Metairie and I went drop them off at the beginning of the route. Well once I got back I decided to see what PokerStars had to offer and signed up the $5 10k gtd. I continued to use the limited distraction game plan and put the iPod on and turned the tv down and had the parades on in the background. Well it started off pretty good and I was accumlating chips from the start. Made a flush on the first hand after flopping a pair and a heart draw...raising on the flop and hitting it on the turn to win a pretty good pot and then won the next two hands after that. Busted a guy w/ AK who rerasised me preflop and then decided to overplay the hell out of 66 on a King high board. Needless to say it was nice to get chips early and I was able dictate all action at my table for the first 3 hours of the tournament. I was moved tables and there was one guy who had the same amount as me and we had about double of any player at the table with around 25k or so. He was pretty weak and I had reraised him several times preflop and he folded everytime....I knew this could turn out to pay off HUGE for me.<br /><br />Well after about 4.5 hours we were approaching the bubble around 270 players or so and I was in full mode to pick up some unwanted chips from bottom money feeders. It really blows my mind the ppl who tighten up so much in online mtt when the buy in like so little, but hey..maybe it makes these guys feel good about themselves. Anyhow, I'm not there to cash for $9 and be happy with those results. Well with about 285 players left I just get beat down. Get two pair counterfieted twice. Flop top pair and get a short stack all in and he hits his two pair on the turn and I go from twice the table avg. to right about even with everyone. Well the big stack who I was having a little fun with is now all alone at the table with biggest stack but I didn't let up. I raised a pot and he reraised (i guess he was making his stand) and I shipped it with AK and folded....I was really shocked by that fold and I was actually begging for a call. With a double up I could have still be able to take advantage of tight bubble play. Well the big stack finally got his revenge in the form PokerStars software. I open up a pot (which has been a trend for me..haha) and he repops me this time. Well I decide to just call and "let him make his stand".....well the flop comes jack high and I bet half my stack which is an overbet. He ships it and I call, congratulations you found my KK with your AA. UGH!!!!!!!!!.....He actually had the nerve to pop off in the chat box about setting me up!...give me an f'in break, people like this guy should be punched in the neck. I'm sure he's 'that guy' who wears his texas hold'em playa shirt and all. I actually asked him if he was serious and said "yea, i've been letting u reraise the whole time just to get all your chips at once"....give this guy a fucking helmet and some velcro shoes..de da de!<br /><br />Anyway, I was happy that I played well....can't really do anything about other ppl's good luck. I then played 3 sngs and won two and finished 3rd in the other. Later that evening I played in the $2.20...2k gtd. Continued to use the iPod and started off the way I have been. I was able to play exactly how I wanted to and accumulated chips. I put myself in good situations and had southpawrounder sweating my $2 run. We were talking on IM and picking each other's brains about online play. He has more experience than me and quite a few cashes I'm definitely open to his opinions and advice about online mtt. Well he would occassionally tell me to slow down and make comments about how many hands I was playing but it was working and I have become fairly comfortable with that style. I ended up running pretty deep and had some sick swings with about 60 players left. Eventually I busted with AJ vs. AQ where there was no real escaping from that. I finished 44th for an astounding $8.49!!!!<br /><br />I've been happy with my results in the last two weeks of online (which is pretty much when I actually made my first deposit). I know they're some things that I'm struggling to understand with online play and somethings that I have found easier to exploit online rather than live. I'm also moving up the pocketfives.com leader board in the Houma area. I've actually passed up Gene in the rankings who was sitting at number 10 for quite some time. Now I have Ruttley in my sites and look to do something about LT.Dan.<br />Till next time.<br />Keep It Real Homies.the"Honest"playerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00928174540480077100noreply@blogger.com1