More Poker Etiquette

I also found this information at BlindBetPoker.com - It is interesting that everywhere I found information on these issues that Acting Out of Turn was number 1 on the list. LOL. The reason that I am including this one in its entirety is this past Tuesday night there was some discussion about the fact that in our "posted" game rules that we required the player who acts out of turn to follow-through on his verbal or physical statement that was made out of turn. The discussion revolved around the fact that some had never seen the requirement for the person who acted out of turn be required to complete his stated action. In this excerpt, it clearly states that it is possible to be required to complete the stated action. At any rate, here you go....

http://www.blindbetpoker.com/tips/poker-etiquette.html


Poker Etiquette
© 2005 Jason Kirk

Online poker has been a mixed blessing in a lot of ways. On the positive side, people who live far from casinos and don't want to play in underground games can enjoy a safe game of poker from the comfort of their own homes. A lot of new players have been brought into the game this way, which is also a good thing - more money is up for grabs today than at any time in the past. One of the negative sides of online poker is that some of these players who have never played in a casino or regular home game before don't know anything about the etiquette of poker. Ignorance of accepted rules and procedures is no excuse for breaking them; it's best to be educated in order to avoid any unwanted embarrassment or confrontations. Thankfully most poker etiquette is very simple and revolves around the concept that you shouldn't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you. For those who may be new to live games, here's an overview of a few basic rules of poker etiquette.

1. Don't act out of turn.
When playing online, it's impossible to act out of turn because the software just doesn't allow you to do it. Once you're seated at a poker table, though, it's imperative that you pay attention to the game to avoid acting out of turn. Making a raise out of position not only gives extra information to the players who have yet to act, but it's also considered a binding action. You could be forced to move all in if a player you skipped makes a large enough raise. This rule of etiquette is considerate of the other players, but following it could also save you a lot of money in the right situation.

2. No string bets.
If you've ever seen an old poker movie where a player tosses out chips and says something like, "I call your $500 and raise you another $500," you've seen a string bet. This way of betting in considered unethical because it gives you a chance to gauge your opponent's reaction before announcing the amount of your raise. It's very easy to avoid this in practice. Verbal declarations are binding in casino play, so once you've announced you intend to raise you can take your time in getting your chips together. Move your chips forward in one motion, or if you'll need two motions because your raise is so big, announce the amount of your raise.

3. Don't splash the pot.
In the film Rounders, there's a memorable scene where Mike McDermott is playing Teddy KGB in a heads-up match of no-limit hold'em. Teddy makes a bet and throws his chips in the middle in big, unorganized piles. Mike asks him not to splash the pot, and Teddy replies (not in so many words) that he'll splash the pot in his own club whenever he wants. Throwing your chips into the pot can slow the game down, and it can also make the amount you've bet unclear. When you bet, place your chips in easy-to-measure stacks in front of you and you'll keep everything moving along nicely.

4. One player, one hand.
This is one of the most basic rules of the game - you can't receive advice from anyone else on how to play your hand. Every player is responsible for making decisions with the money he brings to the table. This means you can't ask a neighbor who's out of the pot how we would play your hand. It also means you can't encourage someone else at the table to call a player you want to see gone from the game. Make your own decisions for yourself, and let other make their own decisions as well.

5. Protect your hand.
Players are responsible for protecting their cards at all times. There are two main implications of this rule. First, you should take measures to make sure that your opponents can't see your cards - if they catch a glimpse of what you're holding, there's no one to blame but yourself. Second, if a dealer accidentally grabs your cards and throws them into the muck, your hand will be declared dead and you'll forfeit any money you've put into the pot. In practice, you should keep a chip or some other object on top of your cards to indicate that they are still in play, and when you look at your cards you should keep them on the table and cup your hands over them to obscure them from anyone else's view.

Acting out of turn....

Over the past week or two we've had a couple of issues with poker etiquette. This is definitely a gray area and different casinos handle it based on their situation. I did a little research to try to find an answer for us and really didn't find any reference to punishment or what the ramifications are for repeatedly breaking the "rules" of etiquette that are acceptable in our situation. I did find in Roberts Rules of Poker the following on etiquette and conduct. I hope it helps.

Roberts Rules of Poker - Poker Etiquette

The following actions are improper, and grounds for warning, suspending, or barring a violator:
-Deliberately acting out of turn.
-Deliberately splashing chips into the pot.
-Agreeing to check a hand out when a third player is all-in.
-Reading a hand for another player at the showdown before it has been placed face up on the table.
-Telling anyone to turn a hand face up at the showdown.
-Revealing the contents of a live hand in a multihanded pot before the betting is complete.
-Needlessly stalling the action of a game.
-Deliberately discarding hands away from the muck. Cards should be released in a low line of flight, at a moderate rate of speed (not at the dealer's hands or chip-rack).
-Stacking chips in a manner that interferes with dealing or viewing cards.
-Making statements or taking action that could unfairly influence the course of play, whether or not the offender is involved in the pot.
-Using a cell phone at the table.


Roberts Rules of Poker - Conduct Code

Management will attempt to maintain a pleasant environment for all our customers and employees, but is not responsible for the conduct of any player. We have established a code of conduct, and may deny the use of our cardroom to anyone who violates it. The following is not permitted:
-Collusion with another player or any other form of cheating.
-Verbally or physically threatening any patron or employee.
-Using profanity or obscene language.
-Creating a disturbance by arguing, shouting, or making excessive noise.
-Throwing, tearing, bending, or crumpling cards.
-Destroying or defacing property.
-Using an illegal substance.
-Carrying a weapon.

Poker tonight @ Dave's

Going?

Did I offend someone in a previous life?

UGH... To expand on Sonic the Hedgehog's hand, I swear I told myself after his re-raise to $30 that he was on tilt (and you have to admit Charles, you were, after some ugly hands prior to our little soire), and I can't let him push me off KK. I remember thinking if he's got AA, he can have my chips. I mean sheesh... we only play about 10 hands of Hold'Em an hour. Whoever says online poker is rigged would have changed their tune last night.

So I played pretty well all night up to then, made one questionable call with a low only (am I the only one that does that?) and then semi-tilted the rest of my chips away when The Mad Chinaman reraised to $60 preflop in O8. Pretty sure he's got AA-low-X, but I've got ace-busters, and I know he'll get it all in with me after the flop. I call with QJ89, double suited, one of which was clubs. Flop is K86, 2 clubs. We get it all in. At this point, I'm a little skeptical because John calls too, but I made the right read on Mike, and knew I was favored to beat the aces. Turn is a Jack, so I actually have the best hand with 2 pair. Of course, King pairs the board, giving The Mad Chinaman Aces-up, and I have to hitchhike home.

Two nights, and down a tidy sum. Unfortunately, I have to call it quits from you crazy wacko psychos for a few weeks after those two nights, because we don't want to play with the rent money. Or the beer money. Or the hockey ticket money.

Get the monkey night @ Dave's!

I'm going to let some of the guys post their own stories, Elvie, the JUICE.... get busy! Let me give you a quick overview of the hands that were going around the table last night..... 2 different ROYAL FLUSHES! Aces full of Queens beaten by QUAD QUEENS! And in Omaha 8, a straight flush Ah, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h!

There were a couple of big hands for me.... one of our newest players, natediggity, took another big hit from one of them.... No Limit Hold'em, 2/4 blinds, if I remember correctly, I was in the big blind and natediggity raised the pot to 18, I re-raised 30 more, he re-raised to 100, I re-raised all-in for another 250 and he immediately calls. I've AA and he has KK. The door card was a King, but the Ace was right behind it. And I dodged his one outer.....

Another sweet hand was I was in the big blind in Omaha 8. I've got the 6h, 8h, 7c, 7d and the flop was 5h, 7c, 9d. I bet 18 and got 3 callers.... The turn was Qc and I bet 29 and had 2 callers. The river was the 5d. I bet $65 and everyone folded.

And of course the Juice put me to the test after his 2 1/2 hour siesta.... right! We're playing hold'em and I have Kh, Jc and in late position. I call and Jeffrey bets 12 more.... the Juice and I call. The flop is the Jh, 7d, 4d. I've soft played Jeff a couple of times already and let him catch up and take the pot away from me. He leads out with an 18 bet and Dave calls. I make 75 and the Juice pushes all in for another 275 or so. I take a few seconds to analyze his play this hand and if you don't think that will give you a headache... just try it. At any rate, I put him on either a straight draw or a flush draw... at any rate, everything I could put him on was a draw. I call and the turn and river are bricks! Whee!

Come on guys... post those straight flushes!

How to post/create a POST or COMMENT to this blog?

It's really pretty easy..... there are basically two different things that you may post to this blog site.... a comment or a post. The comment is really pretty simple, it doesn't require any log-in at all. You just read the post which you would like to post a comment to and then click on the "COMMENTS" link at the bottom of that post. Again, you don't have to have a log-in, it'll let you post a comment as Anonymous. The other way to post and I think it is the best one, you must be a MEMBER of this blog, Poker - Bad Beats & Great Hands. In order to become a member, just send me an email at charles@richards-web.com and I'll forward you the membership link. The rest is really simple.... you'll receive an email from the system within a day that has a link embedded in it. You just follow that link and create a blog account, basically by creating a unique user name with a password and then you are free to log-in and blog till your hearts content or until you get sucked out on... whichever comes first.

If you are already a member but haven't posted yet, don't be afraid, it won't hurt long.... All you have to do is from the main screen at http://badbeatsandgreathands.blogspot.com/ just click on the word "Blogger" in the top left hand corner of your screen. It will take you to a log-in screen where you would enter your user name and password. This will take you to a screen where one of the options will be a green plus sign.... NEW POST! And away you go..... once you've finished typing you can save it as a draft or publish post. If you publish post, in order for you to see your post on the site, you'll have to refresh it, but it is definitely there.

So I hope that helps and EVERYONE will get busy and start posting regularly!

See you tonight! Back to the felt!

It's been raised.... what now?

This is where most people really blow it. How do you make the decision on making a call for half your chips ..... or all of your chips? Too many times this decision is based solely on emotion and not on math. I certainly have done it! And I have hit the one outer... haven't I Jeff? Without getting into pot odds and implied odds, probably the easiest to use and the best method of calculating the likelihood of getting your cards is the 2/4 Rule. The 2/4 rule gives you an answer that is within a percent or 2 of the actual number without having to be a math genius.

Here's how it works. First, you need to count your outs. Outs in a hold'em hand are the cards necessary that CAN come to complete your hand. For instance, if you have 4 to the flush on the flop, there are 9 cards left in the deck that can complete your flush (13 of each suit in the deck minus the 4 to the flush that are in your hand and on the board). Next you multiply your outs by either 2 or 4 depending on whether you plan on seeing 1 or 2 cards (either the turn or the river -or- the turn and the river). That number is percentage chance that your draw will hit. So for the flush draw to hit on either the turn or river, I multiply my 9 outs by 4 equalling 36. That means there is a 36% chance of my flush getting there if I plan on staying in and seeing both the turn and the river. If I were to only see the turn OR the river card, I would only multiply my outs by 2 -- which gives me an 18% chance of making my hand. There are a lot of other things that can and should be considered, but if you're looking for a quick and dirty way to help determine how likely it is for your card to come, this is a great method to use.

Here's another example... just for Dave... let's say that you have the Jc, 10c and flop a gut shot straight flush draw...... LOL. The 9c, 7c hit the board with a 2d. That means there is ONE card in the deck to complete your straight flush, but the same non-club 8 will give you a straight, the nut straight. Let's also assume that you believe that any club will make your hand (no other player has a higher flush draw.... {I know, only Dave would be doing all this assuming}), that means that there are 4 eights that will make your hand and 8 other clubs that would make your hand. It may also be safe to assume that any 10 or Jack might give you the best pair although depending on pre-flop bets/raises, the 10 or Jack may complete someone else's open ended straight draw. So, confused? Good! At any rate, there are 4 eights and 8 other clubs which means that you have 12 outs. So if you plan on seeing both the turn and the river, you've got a 48% chance of making your hand.

Now let's muddy the water... let's say that a 3c hits the turn. Now you have a Jack high flush with a straight flush draw. OK. Dave will bet $50 and let's say Rick re-raises all-in for $800 more. So, now you know that your flush is no good without the 8c.... or at least most know that it is no good..... But good old Dave cannot get away from it. He has one out with one card to come. The math should be pretty easy to do. 1 out X 2 = 2% chance that his card will hit. He, of course, calls and loses all his chips.

Now let's run the same scenario with Dave, but with Charles holding the nut flush. Everything is the same EXCEPT that Dave gets the 8c on the river and takes all Charles' chips.

Back to the felt!

“Hello, Best Buy…?”

“…I need to upgrade my TV. No, better than projection, lets go with plasma. No, higher quality than Toshiba, lets go with Pioneer. No, bigger than 42, lets go with the 50 inch model.”

This is the conversation I’ll be having this week, after locking horns with Davey Boy – AKA “The Jizz” - a few times last week. Both the Tuesday and Thursday night sessions ended with me scooping his entire chip stack.

On Tuesday’s last hand, I was dealt Q-8 in NLHE, and check-called a bet of $25 on a flop of Q-5-2 rainbow. I like making the occasional slow-play against Davey (trying to give him just enough of the proverbial rope…). Anyway, the turn comes 3x. I check, and hesitate a second to plant the seed before smooth-calling a bet $60. I thought about raising here, as I was pretty sure my hand was good. You never quite know with The Jizz however, he can play 6-4 the same as Q-Q at times!

The 8x river card was one of the prettiest I’ve seen in a while, giving me top two pair. Dave is all but incapable of checking behind, especially heads-up after betting the previous two rounds. If he has a hand he’ll bet for value, and if he doesn’t he’ll throw out a big bluff to try to steal the pot. Knowing this, I decide to check-raise him on the river. I check, he bets $75, I casually throw out $225, and he immediately goes all-in for another $450 or so before my chips hit the table!

Two things are now apparent: 1) I’ve just executed the perfect trap play, and 2) I’m not quite sure if I trapped The Jizz or myself! I actually took 30 seconds or so to replay the hand in my head, just in case I could put him on a set or a straight. I couldn’t, I called, and he turned up Q-6. He said he put me on A-8.

Thursday’s last hand was Omaha 8 (hi/low split, 8 or better). I had A-Q-5-4 with two clubs, and the flop comes A-3-8, with one club. Not a bad flop for my hand, so I lead out with a $30 bet. Dave is the only caller. The turns comes 10c, giving me top pair with second kicker, a flush draw and a decent low. I bet $65, and Dave calls.

The river brings the prettiest card I’ve seen since…well, since Tuesday! It’s the 2s, and it gives me the double-nut wheel! Of course, The Jizz doesn’t need to know this, so I give my best disappointed/frustrated “my low just got counterfeited” eye roll and head nod before checking to him. Sure enough, he throws out a bet of $75, and I go all-in over the top for all his chips, about $500. He calls immediately, and turns up two-pair and 4-6 for second nut low.

Next to “Get the Monkey,” “Double Nuts” has got to be one of the sweetest phrases to utter in all of poker. I look forward to this week’s sessions, as I still have plenty of room left in my online shopping cart…

See ya at the tables...
Rick

Triangle Poker Journal now has a link to us!

For those of you who haven't visited the Triangle Poker Journal website, if you are into poker of any kind, trips to any of the poker mecca's in the US (& elsewhere), tournament information, online poker, travel information, information on crusies that offer poker (not just casino games) and/or really anything to do with the game, you should definitely spend some time on this site. It's the only one like it that really has a Triangle focus and the information is always current and correct!

Here's the site.... visit it today! And now, there is a link on TPJ advertising us!

http://www.georgesmart.com/poker

Thanks George and good playing yesterday.....

What is a "KILL" pot?

In a kill game of Texas hold'em, if a player wins two pots in a row, the stakes are doubled for the next hand. In a half kill game, the stakes are increased 50%. The player who met the kill condition must post a blind equal to the new lower limit bet size. This is in addition to the normal blinds posted for the game. If the player who met the kill condition is supposed to place the small or big blind, the new blind bet is placed instead of, not in addition to.

In some casinos, the killer acts last after the blinds; in others he acts in normal turn order. Limit Texas holdem rules are the same as fixed limit Texas hold'em rules, with the exception that the bettor may bet any amount between the stated minimum and maximum bets. For example, in a 10-to-30 spread limit Texas holdem game, a player may bet any amount between 10 dollars and 30 dollars. In addition, all bets and raises must be greater than or equal to the previous bet or raise, with the exception of a player that is raising all in. If a player does raise all in, and that bet is not greater than or equal to the previous raise, then the door is not opened for the original raiser to reraise.

I've also seen it played in Omaha 8 where if the winner SCOOPS the pot (wins both High & Low), the next hand is a KILL pot by the winner of the scooped pot.

Sunday @ PKR!

The larger PKR tourney turned out to be very successful. While I would love to see it double in size, by the time the word gets out about it, I believe that it will grow and be a great tournament.

First and second place both left with over 1,000 at the end of the day.... the structure of the tournament promotes good play. You get enough chips and the blinds move up slow enough that you actually get to PLAY poker!

The structure is $120 buy-in ($3,000 in chips); $110 re-buys through first four blind periods ($2,000 in chips); and one add-on at the end of the re-buy period for $110 ($5,000 in chips). The blinds begin at $25/$50 and move up every 20 minutes but much slower than normal. If I remember correctly, it was this scale:
$25/$50
$50/$100
$75/$150
$100/$200
$150/$300
$200/$400
$300/$600
$400/$800
$500/$1,000
$600/$1,200
$800/$1,600
$1,000/$2,000
$1,500/$3,000
and so on.....

I think you get the picture..... All in all it was an excellent tournament and MikeD and I were happy to place 1st and 2nd! I am hoping that more folks will join us next Sunday!

Back to the felt!

Saturday @ PKR

I played in the $40/$40/$40 tourney on Saturday at PKR and unfortunately was sucked out on several times from several people who really amaze me at their willingness to put their tournament life at risk on nothing but a draw when it is not necessary and very likely that they will be called to try to hit their draw. I won't berate them here as many times during a tournament, I'll verbally abuse them trying to put them on tilt. It's a little trick that I learned from Phil Helmuth and Mike the Mouth.... It really doesn't upset me but I have been successful putting someone else on tilt by clubbing them over and over.

I probably shouldn't do it because it is a donkey move and more times than not, their draws won't hit and they'll leave with their just desserts. I did bust out in 8th position severely crippled by the beat that Jeff put on me before we broke down to the final table.

Next time!

Thursday at Dave's....

Welcome Natediggity! What a night to come in on! I hope that you'll post as most folks won't believe the action at this game.... True, it's not high stakes poker, but the dollars do move around the table, don't they!

A couple of very interesting hands happened early.... typical Dave hands.... I have learned, as I think most will concur, that Dave really isn't there to play great poker or to necessarily win. I believe that he has basically two goals for the night:

1) Bad beat as many people as possible while coming from behind.... I think he gets the most joy from me being one of those guys that he wants to send home naked. He also gets great joy from taking Rick's chips although I think who the victim is, is of little importance.
2) Get the monkey.... although he likes quads, he'll bet the house, farm, business, family and future earnings to hit a straight flush and of course, the higher the better!

My first big run-in with him of the night was hold'em $2/$4 No Limit. He has played well early and has me out-chipped by a couple of hundred dollars. I've got about $270 or so. He raises pre-flop $17 and I call with the Qh, 8h. The flop hit me like a ton of bricks..... 10h, 6h, 5h. I check and he pushes all-in. I immediately call and he turns over the Ah, Kd. The turn was the 7d and of course, J-rod gives him the 4th heart, the Jack on the river.

I did get a chance to double-up within about 15 minutes or so..... He raised pre-flop to $14 and I call with Qh, Jh and there are a couple other callers. The flop is Qs, Js, 6h. He bets $45 and I call and everyone else folds. The turn is a 2d. He bets $75 and I push all-in and he calls with the Ac, Qd and the river doesn't provide him an escape..... LOL.

Probably the monster hand for me for the night came about an hour later. I've got $500 or so and we're playing Hold'em $2/$4 No Limit in the big blind. Dave leads out in late position with a $40 raise and I screwed up..... I acted out of position and raised all-in and with Nate still in the hand and before my action, he pushed all-in. I wanted to isolate Dave or really any one person with my raise as I expected that they would have been on a big ace. I didn't want any part of the re-raised action by Nate, Unfortunately, due to the NEW posted rules, my action was binding and I had to call. Fortunately for me, Nate only had about $125 and Dave probably had $450 or so. At any rate, Dave calls which made me feel much better about my pocket sixes. Nate shows pocket Queens and Dave had Ad, 10d. However, since it is Natediggity's first night, he may as well get initiated correctly with a big bad beat. The flop was Kd, 6d, 10h... my set hit, but Dave was on a huge diamond flush draw. He didn't receive any help on the turn and the river and I took down a $1200-$1300 pot.

All-in-all I had a very good night that let me recoop my losses from Tuesday. Back to the felt!

Poker tonight @ Dave's

Going?

Famous Poker Quotes...

"Hold'em is to stud what chess is to checkers."

--------------- Johnny Moss

I'd rather be good AND lucky.....

Well, last night certainly went Rick's way.... He got doubled up early when he isolated Dave with a big raise and his big pair held up and the rest of the night it was kind of..... "who wants to get busted next?"

I don't believe that I'll ever sit in that position again.... with Rick on my right and Dave on Rick's right, everytime I would try to isolate, someone, usually Dave would call and give Rick pot odds to call with a crappy low draw that hit somehow.... The hand that stands out the most was Omaha Hi-Lo, I believe that I had Ah, Ac, Qh, 10d and the flop was As, 9c, 7c..... I bet $17 with the top set and had a couple of callers including Dave and Rick. The turn was Qd and I think that Dave bet and Rick called and I pushed all in for about $200 more..... everyone folds to Dave who calls and then Rick calls. The river is the 5c and Rick scoops the pot with 2c, 4c flush and the best low......

That was just the first of many......

Dave wanted me to blog one of the early Texas Hold 'em hands that he played with John S..... John was in late position and Dave bets $14 and there are several callers and John S pushes all in. Dave calls and everyone else folds. The flop is 8c, 8s, 7c. The turn is the 5h and Dave turns over his 4h, 6d to crack John's pocket Kings.....

I believe that Dave did that again to him a little later with Qc, 3c when he called a big pre-flop bet only to flop trip 3's......

Then there is the whole argument about whether you would rather be good or lucky...... I think that our friend Rick is one of those rare individuals who is both...... It was very frustrating to me last night to sit there and watch his stack constantly grow with him catching cards leaving his opponents looking like the remedial kid who stumbled into chemistry class! At any rate, he is an excellent reader of people and putting them on particular hands, AND when he calls their big bet he always (or at least it seems like always), he catches the miracle card to make his hand better! Yep.... there are 2 combination players that have the ability to set off my caution lights.... a very aggressive player who is catching cards - AND - a very good player, like Rick, who is catching cards..... If he starts streaking, you might be better off to climb into the cocoon with Dean and only bet when you have the stone cold nuts!

But then, that's no fun.....

Famous Poker Quotes...

"Girls just want to have funds!"

--------------- Tina Sue

Monday @ PKR.....

Well, it was the usual Monday night group last night at PKR.... I landed on a couple of big hands almost as soon as I sat down only to get called by 2, 3 off-suit that flops a boat, 3's full of 2's! Whee! That was Chad..... and yes, I made him feel bad about it all night! LOL.

I did get locked up in an interesting hand with Chad a little later that was wonderful payback. I normally do not raise pre-flop in a $1/$2 No Limit with Big Slick because you have to raise so much to get rid of these donkeys that if one wakes up pocket deuces.... you're behind! LOL. At any rate, I am on the button and get Ac, Kc and raise it to $11 and get several callers including Chad. The flop comes 9c, Ad, 2c..... pretty nice flop..... top pair and nut flush draw.....

So I bet $26 and it folds around to Chad who says.... "I'd call $25, not $26!" So I pull back $1 and everyone says, be careful what you ask for..... Chad says "Do you really want a caller?" And I said something like.... "with that board and my cards, I want your call!" He tosses in the $25!

The turn is the 6h and I bet $25 and he calls. The river is the 5c. He checks and I push all-in for another $190 and he immediately calls and turns over his 9 high straight. Yep, the 7h, 8c.

Sweet!

BIG TOURNAMENT AT PKR THIS SUNDAY!

This Sunday, 8/20, there will be a big tournament at PKR! Buy-in's of $120, with $110 Re-buys for the first hour or so and then a $110 add-on at the end of the re-buy period! I am very excited about it! I would like to see us get a big game going there on a weekly basis.

I believe that JC said that you would get $3,000 for the original buy-in and you can do a re-buy right then or anytime your chip count falls below $2,000. Then the add-on will be an addional $4,000 in chips! It sounds as if you will be able to really play poker! Sweet!

I'll definitely be there and I'll be trying to get as many of my friends plugged in as possible!

Sunday PKR Tourney

We ended up playing winner take all tournament. The buy-in was $80 with no re-buys or add-ons. I won the button and that was the sign of good things to come..... Since we bought in for the $80, the table decided that we should receive the regular chip amount PLUS one re-buy chip amount so everyone was starting with $5,000 in chips. Within the first hour, I had pocket Kings twice, pocket Aces twice and several other pocket pairs PLUS big aces several times.

An intersting hand emerged with Tracey..... I am in early position with pocket-rockets and raise the $50/$100 blinds to $400. She re-raises to $1500 and everyone else folds to me and I just call. The flop is Kh, 7s, 4c. I can tell that she cannot wait to bet so I check. She bets $1500 with about $3,000 behind that so I push all-in and she calls. I've got her covered and she turns over pocket 10's. And of course, in true Ed Flush style, the turn is an Ace and the river is a ten!

A little later I get involved in a hand with Scott.... I'm in the big blind and my cards are 9s, 10s... one of my favorite hands. The blinds are $100/$200 and I just check. The flop is 7s, 8s, Qh.... Sweet! I like it! So I pump it up a little with a bet of $500 and Scott calls and Ed calls. The turn is the 6s - ye olde straight flush! So in hopes of letting them catch up. I check and they both check. The river is the Jack of spades which only makes my straight flush higher and I'm praying that one of these guys has a big spade..... but just to be safe, I bet $300 hoping that someone hit a big flush.... Scott calls and Ed folds. Who would have thunk it! Ed, not drawing to a flush! I show the nut straight flush and Scott flopped two pair, 8's and 7's.

I went on to win the event beating Scott with a medium Ace when he pushed all in with J, 9.

Big Hands on the Boat!

There were a couple of very "sweet" hands on the boat that warrant mentioning..... none would probably work as well anywhere but in "donkeydom"......

At any rate, I'm in the big blind and the entire table limps. It's against my nature to permit that even in a limit game so after trying to get the UTG guy to straddle unsuccessfully, I bump it up $2 with the 4d, 5d. Everyone calls... LOL. The flop is 5h, 5s, 4c...... Sweet! I love it when that happens. At any rate, the small blind checks and of course I bet and there are 7 callers. The turn is a 9c. The small blind checks and I bet $4..... whee! There are a couple of callers and a particularly annoying guy raises me from late position. There's one caller and the small blind folds so I call and the other guys call as well. The river is the 2c so I lead out with a $4 bet and one of the original callers raises. The original raiser in late position raises and I re-raise. The guy in late position (the annoying one) re-raises the capper and all call. The annoying guy hit his gut shot wheel turning over the Ah, 3c. The other raiser hit his flush and I took down one of the biggest pots of the day with the boat, 5's full of 4's.

The other hand where I got some action happened at the same sitting about an hour later..... I am on the button and have pocket 4's. I normally don't raise a lot pre-flop with small pocket pairs, but this is limit! At any rate, everyone calls and the flop comes 9h, 7c, 4s.... Whee! The big blind bets and there are a couple of callers and I raise to $4. The big blind and all the other donkeys call. The turn is case 4c! The big blind bets and a couple callers and I re-raise and all call. As the dealers is flipping the river, I am certain that there has to be someone at the table who can hear me "willing" an ACE to hit and sure enough.... the Ace of clubs hits! The big blind bets and there are 2 re-raises before it gets to me..... LOL. So I could have capped it, but I thought that it would make a better blog to let them cap it for me and sure enough, they did! There was a 9's full of 4's full house... he came in 2nd! A 10 high flush, he came in 3rd and Ah, Qc two pair that received honorable mention.... but I dragged the pot with my quads! And I couldn't believe it but none of them had never heard ..... "Get the Monkey!" before.... LOL.

I know, Rick, I sucked out on the guy with the 9's full..... What would you have done?

Carnival Cruise - Celebration!

Well, I'm back and we had a fantastic time.... the poker however was a little suspect! They advertise their cruise lines as the FUN SHIPS and they were.... but I wouldn't sign up just for the poker. They had two Hold 'em tables stuffed over in the corner just outside the Casino. The games, either $2/$4 Limit or $3/$6 Limit based on the table preference and I never could get them above the $2/$4 game. The house rake should be spelled with a "p" and not a "k." They were pulling $1 on $10 up to a maximum of $5 being raked. Minimum buy-in of $20 for the $2/$4 and (theoretically) $30 on the $3/$6. So basically it was a table full of donkeys all day every day. And if you do the math, everytime a guy sits down with $20, the house takes that in rakes every 5 hands. LOL. Nice!

The ship was great! The staff was great! The food was great! The weather was great... but the Hold 'em sucked.

I did play and I won everytime I played which was amazing considering the suck-outs that went on at the table..... I'll tell you about them in a little later post, but it was a great cruise and we had a great time, but don't schedule it just to play poker.

Countries of Origin Quiz

Poker has truly become an international game. Unless you’ve been living in a cave during the poker boom of the past few years, you know that Gus “Great Dane” Hansen is from Denmark, Johnny Chan is from China, and Daniel Negreanu is from The Great White North. Can you place the following poker players with their countries of origin? Careful, a few are tricky!

Note that there are 20 players and only 18 countries. Two different pairs of players share the same country; it’s up to you to determine which countries. Good luck! (Answers at bottom of column)


Players
1. Andrew Black
2. Antonio Esfandiari
3. Barney Boatman
4. Carlos Mortensen
5. Dave Colclough
6. Eli Elezra
7. Gavin Smith
8. Hasan Habib
9. Humberto Brenes
10. John Juanda
11. Joseph Hachem
12. Kirill Gerasimov
13. Marcel Luske
14. Martin de Knijff
15. Max Pescatori
16. Men Nguyen
17. Phil Laak
18. Sam Farha
19. Tuan Le
20. Victor Ramdin

Countries
A. Canada
B. Costa Rica
C. England
D. Ecuador
E. France
F. Guyana
G. Indonesia
H. Iran
I. Ireland
J. Israel
K. Italy
L. Lebanon
M. Netherlands
N. Pakistan
O. Russia
P. Sweden
Q. Vietnam
R. Wales

Answers
1I, 2H, 3C, 4D, 5R, 6J, 7A, 8N, 9B, 10G, 11L, 12O, 13M, 14P, 15K, 16Q, 17I, 18L, 19E, 20F

Results
0-4 Correct Geographically challenged, to say the least. You do know the Earth is round, don’t you?
5-8 Wow, you must really suck at Risk™. You regularly get lost while walking around the block.
9-12 You can make it across town, but only after stopping for directions a few times.
13-16 Not bad. You probably have Mapquest saved to your “Favorites” folder.
17-20 Quite the world traveler! Chances are you have a pocket GPS system. Well…either that, or you’re just another cheating bastard!

See ya at the tables…
Rick

Regency Park Game on Friday Night

OK...so I'm playing 2/5 Friday night and find J-8 of clubs on the button and min raise to see if there were any monster limpers seeing how everyone was in this hand so far. No one re-raised me which told me there were no big pocket pairs out there so we saw a flop with 9 people. To my delight the flop comes 9-10 of clubs and the 7 of hearts. Now I am really hoping someone out there had a pocket pair of 7's 8's or 10's. The first two players check, the next player bets out $30 two guys fold and another guy smooth calls (we'll call this guy Bill), I am almost certain "Bill" has a set and is trying to be tricky. I put the first guy on something like A-10. It gets to me with about $100 in the pot and I decide to push a bit and find out how strong these guys are. I make it a flat $125 to go. I feel one of them will fold but thats not the case, the both call. The turn is the sweetest card I have seen in a while, the Q of clubs giving me the straight flush....err the nuts. The first guy to act checks, "Bill" bets $200 and I smooth call, first guy to act folds. The river is another 10 and surely this had to hit Bill right between the eyes. I am hoping he has a boat now. Action is to Bill and he starts hollywooding, after a min or two he best $200. Action is to me and Bill has another $700 in front of him that has my name on it. I make it $500, he immediatly goes all in for his remaining chips and before the last sylable comes out of his mouth I say call and flip over the nuts. He in fact boated up and what a hand that was.

Sunday PKR Tourney....

We played a winner-take-all tournament! $80, no re-buys, no add-ons, what it is is what it is! LOL. At any rate, I'm on the button first hand and pick up Qs, 10s which is pretty good 4 handed... I think. I raise the $25/$50 blinds to $150 and Elvie raises $150 and since I'm in position, I call. The flop is magical.... 8d, 9s, Jd. Elvie was first to act and he bets $500 and I raise all-in. Just in case he is trying to hit a diamond flush. Damn it Jim.... he folds and turns over As, Ks. He broke the fishing line and swam under a log. LOL.

Within 3o minutes, George, who has lost a good portion of his chips to me when we both had two pair, calls an all-in by Larry pre-flop. George has AJos and Larry has AA and they hold up.

George barely gets out the door when I call $100 blind from the small blind with 7h, 9h. There are no raises and the flop comes 9s, 9d, 7c. Sweet.... if only I were in better position. I do slow play and check my first option. Larry bets $300 and Elvie and I both call. The turn is the 4c and I check again. Larry checks and Elvie bets $500 and I just smooth call. Larry raises it $1,000 which almost puts Elvie all-in, but he calls anyway. I re-raise all-in for another $2700 and they both call. Larry only has about $250 left over. He turns over a 9c and a 3d and Elvie doesn't show but he is on a flush draw of some sort and drawing dead. The river is a 10 and Elvie is out and Larry only has a couple hundred left.

I push a couple of times and he folds but he raises all-in with the 6h, 10h and I've got him dominated with the Ac, 10s and my hand holds up! Nice.... And in less than 45 minutes!

Off to the Carnival Cruise lines...... and hopefully, back to the felt!

Saturday PKR Tourney....

Well, I was feeling pretty good on the way to PKR today having played a few 1 table tourneys online and won 1 and took 2nd in the other.

I drew Table 1 which appeared to be the one MINUS the action until Jason sat down with us.... I'm in late position with 9h, 10h and raise the $25/$50 blind our first hand to $150 and there are 3 callers including Jason. The flop is 6h, 8s, Jc. Everyone checks to me and I bet $225 and Jason calls everyone else folds. The turn is the Qh and Jason moves all in and I immediately call with the nut straight. He flips over pocket 8s...... Slow playing does not always pay off as I will find out later in the day.... LOL.

Just a couple of hands later.... I've got Kh, Kd and raise the $50/$100 blinds to $300 and Jason immediately raises another $1,000 and gets one caller. I push all in and the both call. Jason has 6h, 8h and X has Ac, 10h. The flop is A, 8, 4.... and the turn a 6 and the river another 8. Jason takes the main pot with a full-house, 8s full of 6s and X wins the side pot with two pair Aces and Eights!

Then I'm in late position with As, Ks.... just a beautiful hand! I raise the $100/$200 blinds to $800 and Jason and Carl call. The flop is 8h, 7s, 2c and Jason raises $600, Carl calls and I don't want to mess around with this since they both don't have a lot of chips. I push all in and Jason calls. He turns over the 6h, 3d and the turn is a 10 and river pairs his 3! LOL. Nice......

Another early hand that I tripled up with was the Ah, 8h in late position. I just limp in and there are 4 other players. The flop is Ac, 8d, 2h and Carl leads out with $1,000 and gets one caller. I move all in with the top 2 and everyone folds to Carl who calls and turns over pocket deuces. I guess I'm rolling good today as I catch an 8 on the river to beat him with a higher full house.

When we finally broke down to 1 table, I had $14,300 in chips which at the time was roughly the average chip stack. Our first or second hand, I am the big blind with the 9d, 4d and just check my option. The flop is 9h, 9s, Jd.... I'd say that hit me pretty good. X bets $1200 and I smooth call. The turn is an Ace.... actually just what I was hoping for.... and he bets $2500 and I call. The river was the fourth 9.... sweet! Get the monkey! He bets $3,000 and I raise $3,000 and he mucks. Of course, Rick says.... "Get the Monkey!" And to be kind, I flip over the quads.....

I get sucked out on by JackZ which really short-stacked me. It's so unlike him..... I don't even want to talk about that hand.... Thanks Jeffrey! LOL.

When we get to 3 handed, Lenny knocked Jack out whenever Jack moved all in with nothing and Lenny turned over the top pair, Kings with a Jack kicker and hit trips on the river. Lenny probably had $50,000 or so in chips to my $20,000. About our 3rd hand in, I get pocket Kings and slow play them in the big blind. The flop is 3h, 5d, 6s and Lenny checks. I bet $10,000 into the $12,000 pot and he moves all in. I call as I believe that this is exactly what I was hoping for was for him to have a soft Ace and hit the under on the flop. OOOoooops. I call and he turns over the 2h, 4d. He flopped the 2nd nut straight and I'm drawing dead to win the pot and can only aspire to tie if the board makes a straight. No such luck.

2nd ..... but it was good enough to put me far enough in front for the points on the season so that if I have to miss next week due to the cruise, it'll be OK.

So there you go.....

WSOP Nicknames

Looking through the leaderboard going into today's main event action, I noticed that Card Player neglected to list the nicknames of the remaining players. Being the good samaritan that I am, I thought I would lend them a helping hand. Here are the nicknames (well if not, they should be...) of some of the players still fighting for the bracelet, with their current standing:

1 Jon "Penny" Lane
4 David "Big League" Chiu
7 Lars "Male" Bonding
8 Thomas "Yoko Brought A" Wahlroos
11 Eric "Merrill" Lynch
12 Andras "Rotting" Karkus
21 Mitch "Culture" Schock
26 Theodore "MacArthur" Park
33 Elie "'Nuff" Said
36 Cheng "Screw" Yu
49 Andres "Can 'O" Korn
66 Siddharth "Mary" Jain
86 Michael "Kitty" Katz
87 Robert "Place Your" Betts
88 Max "Keepin' It" Reele
90 Darryl "Double" Dare
91 Brady "The Lord Is My" Shepard
100 Erik "Meat" Loeff
104 Lee "Supreme" Kort
107 George "Tiny" Danzer
110 Martin "Blessed" Virgen
112 Kevin "I.P." Daly
114 Reza "Quick" Zand
128 David "Earth" Angel
130 Justin "Baseball" Diamond
137 Paramjit "Blue" Gill
141 Jordan "Filthy" Rich
168 Paul "Dr." Seus
177 Derek "Arthritis" Payne
180 Johan "Chicken" Koops
219 Lawrence "Small" Frye
221 Scott "Lord" Byron
229 Michael "Whatsyer" Hurey
239 Batnes "Door" Mats
241 Alan "I Sucks" Sass
246 William "Blueberry" Hill
253 Peter "Skid" Rho
255 Randall "Dim" Witt
271 Daniel "Vlassic" Pickle
293 Paul "Char" Coles
311 Josh "Premature" Newborn
312 Johnny "Dirty" Sanchez
333 Russell "Big Red" Barnes
336 Leif "Magnum" Force
348 Casey "White" Kastle
354 Thomas "Kootchy" Koo
357 Rob "Northern" Ireland
369 Aaron "Right" Gard
370 Joseph "Colonel" Sanders
375 David "Well" Hong
382 Ted "Sherwood" Forrest
387 Stephen "Rolling" Boyle
391 Tony "Aint Life" Grand
395 Chris "Broke" Back
399 Chris "Curious" George
401 Ron "Holy" Toledo
406 Leland "Big Bad" Wulff
438 Ken "Oscar Meyer" Weiner
456 Jason "Boy Named" Su
457 Cyndy "Shrinking" Violette

Good luck to all of them!

See ya at the tables...
Rick

Nickname Quiz

Grinder, The Mouth, Texas Dolly, Jesus, Devilfish, Unabomber... Even casual players that catch the occasional episode of the WPT know these nicknames. Let’s test your knowledge with some lesser known nicknames and see if you’re a real poker fan. Match the following players with their nicknames (answers at end of column):

Names
1. David Pham
2. Doug Lee
3. Gavin Smith
4. Joe Beevers
5. Joe Cassidy
6. John Hennigan
7. John Juanda
8. John Phan
9. Ken Flaton
10. Kido Pham
11. Mike Caro
12. Paul Darden
13. Paul Phillips
14. Randy Jensen
15. Steve Zolotow
16. Thomas Keller

Nicknames
A. Bald Eagle
B. Birdguts
C. Canadian Superbomber
D. Dot Com
E. Dragon
F. Dream Crusher
G. Freeroll
H. Luckbox
I. Mad Genius
J. Razor
K. Sheriff
L. Skyhawk
M. The Elegance
N. The Truth
O. Thunder
P. World

Answers
1E, 2C, 3B, 4M, 5K, 6P, 7H, 8J, 9L, 10G, 11I, 12N, 13D, 14F, 15A, 16O

Results
0-4 You call yourself a poker player?!
5-8 Dude, you need to watch more poker on TV
9-11 Not bad - you have something to add to the poker table conversation.
12-14 Impressive - you keep up with the poker scene!
15-16 Dude, you’re watching way too much poker on TV – Get a life!

See ya at the tables...
Rick

Still Alive at the WSOP....

From Day 2A....

140 Phil Ivey 20,000
133 Lane Flack 25,000
122 David Grey 45,000
107 Hoyt Corkins 58,000
105 Chris Ferguson 60,000
92 Annie Duke 73,000
84 Carlos Mortensen 82,500
79 Kevin Brown 84,000 (Could this be our Kevin that used to work with Joe and Jeffrey?)
70 David Pham 95,000
62 George Lopez 104,000 (Not... the George Lopez?)
57 Humberto Brenes 110,000
26 Allen Cunningham 172,000
10 Eric Molina 220,000
10 Bill Gustafik 220,000
9 Matthew Maroon 230,000
8 Justin Holmes 235,000
7 Joe Fuhriman 280,000
4 Michael Lynn 290,000
4 Paul Wasicka 290,000
4 Matt Woodward 290,000
3 Jason Strasser 330,000 (Durham boy)
2 Ken Jacobs 395,000
1 Jon Lane 405,000

So there you go.... for the rest of them, please check out www.cardplayer.com -

Back to the felt!

Still Alive at the WSOP....

There are some big names still alive at the close of day 2B! I was unable to find a complete list of remaining players and all the information surrounding the available lists sounds as if they may be incomplete. There's approximately 1200 remaining as they start play today at noon. But here's a few names that I have been able to find that still have a chip and a chair..... These are the Day 2B Leaders.... (Thanks, Rick)....

112 Benny Binion 19,000
92 Kathy Liebert 55,000
82 Freddy Deeb 58,000
78 Cecilia Mortensen 60,000
74 Nam Le 63,000
69 Minh Nguyen 72,500
62 Josh Arieh 82,000
60 Cindy Violette 85,000
40 Ted Forrest 125,000
30 Joseph Hachem 142,200
13 William Thorsson 195,000
12 Daniel Heimiller 200,000
11 Jeff Cabanillas 210,000
10 Bradford Davenport 220,000
9 Alex Balandin 237,000
8 Jon Finkel 240,000
7 Dario Mineri 246,000
6 Michael Binger 254,000
5 Philippe Boucher 305,000
4 Terris Preston 310,000
3 Daniel Negreanu 331,000
2 Daniel Pelletier 335,000
1 Dmitri Nobles 553,000

The payouts have been published as well. The winner will cart out $12,000,000... Yep, TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS! They will pay out through the top 873 players with the bottom check $14,597! 2nd place only gets $6,102,499! And the final 12 players will all receive in excess of ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

It appears that the best updates are still at cardplayer.com - They took a day off yesterday and resume play today at noon when blinds will be $600/$1200 with $200 ante. There'll be over 1200 players remaining when play resumes. The remaining schedule looks like this:

8/4 ABCD Play down to 600
8/5 Play 600 down to 300
8/6 Play 300 down to 150
8/7 Play 150 down to 60
8/8 Play 60 down to 27
8/9 Play 27 down to 9
8/10 **** FINAL TABLE ****

I've got to be there next year!

Raleigh Poker Meetup Group Back in Action

After much time and deliberation over whether to continue with the website, Jeffrey has decided to pump up the volume! I like it! He's got the site back up and running and some plans for some poker tournaments starting the end of August! Nice!

Here's the link.... please visit and join as I think that this might be a great opportunity to meet others in Raleigh who are interested in tourneys and ring games.

Here you go... Sign up Today!


The Raleigh Poker Meetup Group
http://poker.meetup.com/889/

I Sure Would Like to Post a "Great Hand", but....

For me, great hands are rarer than finding a $50 whore without open sores....anyway.

Tournament play, UTG I look down at the Hilton Sisters. This is a very aggressive table so I just limp in knowing there will be raises. Lots of callers, the button raises (as they should with just about any two cards in this situation) , the SB folds, the BB reraises. I immediately push all in.
SB calls, BB (who is the big stack) calls. I'm feeling really good when I flip over my queens, until the Button shows cowboys and the BB turns over rockets. Umm..ok I'm screwed.
Flop comes A,K, 10. Just to rub it in, they trip up. Wait, I just need a J for the straight and I can fuck 'em both up. Yeah...no. I'm out.

Raise The Hammer, Biatches.
Your donkey in heat,
Big Slick, Sergio

Surgesilk aka Jeff aka the human ATM

The Juice's Nice Guy List from the WSOP.....

Dave got to meet several of the "celebrity" players at the main event.... the ones that made the NICE GUY list are:

Greg Raymer - Dave said that he spent about 8-10 minutes just socializing and talking with him about poker in NC and the fact that John S who plays with us occasionally is a guy he plays with fairly regularly online.

Barry Greenstein -

Daniel Negreanu -

Joe Hachem - I am pretty certain that Dave was stalking him.... LOL. He said that they criss-crossed several times in the halls and elevators.

*********************

Entertainers.... He said that he saw Jessica Simpson and Pamela Anderson! Nice!

Thanks Dave, but BLOGGING really isn't difficult... you should try it!

Dave's Donkeydom!

Well, Tuesday night and as usual, things get pretty wild early. I was playing pretty well and had caught a few nice hands but got very few callers. We do have two pretty tight players at table..... Dean (I'll bet on the river..... IF I have the NUTS!) and Randy..... both are the slow rollers of the group. And Randy, not meaning to be spiteful or deceitful slow-rolled me and I got about as upset as I have been at the poker table in a while, but he was very nice about it and I got over it. Dave did slow-roll quads against Dean last night and seemed to really enjoy it..... heck.... I may try it!

There were a couple of hands of significance.... first of all, I got the monkey in early position and waited on someone to bet.... nothing! Quad Kinds waisted.... Nice.... Then a fairly significant hand occured between me and Jim.... one of my favorite people over there and one of the funniest guys that I know. He has signed up to BLOG with us but is having MAC issues.... LOL. At any rate, I've got 6c, 4c, Ad, 2d and the flop is the 6h, 4c, 3c.... Jim is in first positon and bets $22 and Dave, the Juice calls and of course Bill calls and I call.... the turn is 8s and Jim bets $40, Dave folds and Bill calls and I call... The river is my magic card.... the 6d. Jim immediately pushes all in for about $140 or so and everyone folds to me and I call as quickly as I can with the boat and the nut low.... He turns over the 6s, 4d with a no low so I get 3/4 of the pot and half of his all-in chips in front of him.... Nice!

The other big hand of the night came against Dave... go figure! I've got the 6d, 4d, 8h, 3h and the flop comes 2c, 5h, 6s. Dave bets $20 and I raise to $50 and he is the only caller. The turn is the 4d and Dave bets $100. I am trying to figure out what he is betting. Could he have the 7, 8? Could he be on the club flush draw? I actually suspected that the 4 hit his gut shot wheel.... LOL. At any rate, its a little bit of a scary board but I call as I am tired, it is late and I'm ready to roll.... The turn is the 7c... Dave checks and I go all-in. He whimpers and whines and shows me his 3, 6 and folds.... I do show him the 6d, 8h making the nut straight draw.... I was so tired and I didn't even notice that the 7c put the flush on the board. I can't believe that he didn't have them..... it's so unlike him..... So that was nice little pot....

Just another night @ Dave's.....

The Juice goes to the WSOP!

So old Davey made the trip to "Lost Wages, Nevada" for the WSOP and I understand that neither will ever be the same..... He asked me to BLOG it for him since he is so technologically challenged! I'll try to do this from some quick notes....

Dave's day one began with the Juice playing only quality hands.... I can only assume that means the Q, 3 was suited... LOL. No, he told me that he played only quality hands and very tight all day, 100@ solid, no bluffing. At one point the had accumulated about $19,600 in chips.... The hand that did him came at 9:05PM of his first day. He is in late position with Qh, Jh and calls the $600 blind with about $11,700 in chips. The flop is Ah, Kh, 5h and the big blind bets $600 and Dave raises to $1200 WITH the NUT FLUSH and the Royal Flush re-draw..... Sweet! The big blind pushes all in for about $7,600 and of course Dave calls and I think any of us would call at that point. The big blind turns over AKos and hits the King on the turn. The general consensus of the table was that the guy was an idiot and just got lucky..... But, Dave still has an out.... the old 10h. And I'm sure that he were playing it against me, he would have hit it, but the river was a brick.... The next hand with only about $2300 in chips, he gets AJos and pushes all in and gets a caller with I believe that he said pocket 10's. The board came 6,6,6,4,2.... So the low got there!

The rest of the story is perhaps the best part.... as Dave pushed all-in, he appropriately stood up when he was called and his tournament life was on the line. Once the final card hit, a muffled announcement came over the PA and applause errupted. Dave thought that perhaps the announcer had gotten word that "The Juice" has just busted out and as he looked around, he saw no one else standing up but him and most people applauding and looking in his general direction.... So he gives a royal wave before he looks behind where he was standing to see Doyle Brunson exiting from the tournament having just busted out as well and waving politely to folks applauding.... I hope ESPN got that.....

At any rate, we're glad to have you back..... yep, when Dave left Nevada and came to NC, the average IQ dropped in both states......

Back to the felt!

Monday @ PKR....

Well, I went down to play PKR last night. I don't get out much during the week but at the last minute, my son scheduled a trip to local club for teen night with one of his buddies that isn't far from PKR so rather than make 2 trips down there, I decided to drop him off, go play some poker and then pick him up when he's ready to go. I know... it won't be long till he has his driving license. I haven't figured out whether that is a good thing or not.

At any rate, there were several interesting hands..... most involving Eddie and another guy that I don't know his name and Eddie's girl friend. Let's see....

First big hand of the night for me goes something like this.... I've got Ac, 5c in the big blind .... of course, this is $1/$2 no limit. The entire table and two guys that were walking up old Apex Road called so thinking that I would "change up" my play just a little, decided that I would raise to $8 and there are about 5 callers including Eddie who is in the small blind. The flop comes 2c, 3h, 4d..... nice.... Eddie leads out with an $12 bet, I call and there is one other caller.... don't know the guys name, but he is without question, one of the tightest players at the table.... maybe in the world. At any rate, the turn is the Jh. Eddie bets $30 and I decide it's time to make certain that I don't get sucked out on .... "cheaply." So I raise it up to $75 which is about 1/2 of Eddie's remaining chips and my remaining chips. Eddie immediately pushes all in and now I'm wondering if he has the nut straight as I have the second nut. At any rate, I can't get away from it. Eddie turns over the 2h, 4h. And for once, Ed doesn't screw me on the river.

A little while later, Eddie and I get tied up again, I'm the button and he raises to $12. I check my cards and find AA.... I raise another $40 and he pushes all in for about $12 more. He's got pocket nines and flops a 9 and the ace doesn't come for me. Nice!

Just about 2 later laps, I have Jd, 9d on the button and bump it up to $10 straight and there are 4-5 callers including Eddie's girlfriend. The flop is 7d, 10h, Js and she immediately moves all in from early position with $11 and everyone folds to me. I call and turn over my top pair and gut shot straight draw and in true Ed Flush fashion he proceeds to pair her Queen on the turn and it holds up. Nice!

Probably my favorite hand of the night really wasn't much of a hand... the guy that I mentioned that I don't know his name but really don't care much for..... I've got Ac, 8c on the button and he raises to $8 from early position. There are a couple of callers and I call. The flop is 6h, 9c, 10s. He bets $15 and I call everyone else gets out of the way. For some reason, I'm not putting him on anything very strong and the turn is a 2d. He bets $30 and I call. The turn is a 3c (yep, now my flush draw improves... if only there were River/River). He bets $40 and I re-raise $75. He folds and mumbles something about his cards aren't that strong and shows his paired 6. Just to put him on tilt (hopefully), I turn over my cards to reveal no pair, ace high.... Sweet! He turned even whiter than he is normally.....

The next big hand with him was even sweeter.... about 30 minutes later, he's still talking to himself... and he raises my button to $16. I've got Kc, Jc and although I like Kojak, I don't like calling with it as its very possible that I'm dominated. At any rate, it's my buddy raising... right! So I call along with 3 others.... The flop is Kd, Kh, Jd.... how do I say... OOOooops! At any rate, he bets $24 and the tight as a tick guy calls and of course I call.... The turn is a 2d... Sweet! The flush got there..... Goofy bets $40, the other guy folds and re-raise $75. He calls. The river is the 5d... Sweet! He checks and I bet $75 and he folds and turns over his King.... I laugh and show him the Jack. I love this game when it is working right!

Back to the felt!

Poker Memory

I find it interesting how we poker players think we’re always owed something by the poker gods. When we “finally” catch a river card, it’s simply “justice for the last 17 times we got sucked out on…” We seem to always remember the bad beats we take, yet we conveniently forget the hands where we get lucky. I think I’ll coin a new phrase and call that phenomenon poker memory.

(By the way, thank you Charles, for the inspiration. I hope I don’t have to pay you royalties if it catches on and becomes part of the common vernacular…)

See ya at the tables…
Rick

The Perfect Player

I was watching one of the poker shows the other day, and someone described Phil Ivey as the “perfect player.” This got me thinking, if I could somehow take bits and pieces from several of the pros to build my own perfect player, what would I take, and from whom. Here’s what I came up with (in no particular order):

The patience of Howard Lederer
The heart of Carlos Mortensen
The reading ability of John Juanda or Ted Forrest
The table presence of Daniel Negreanu
The eyes of Phil Ivey
The brain of Chris Ferguson
The confidence of Mike Matusow
The experience of Doyle Brunson
The unpredictability of Layne Flack or Gus Hansen
The memory of T.J. Cloutier
The sheer aggression of Michael Mizrachi or Mark Seif
The style of Marcel Luske
The tournament skills of Phil Hellmuth
The cash game skills of Chip Reese
The overall game of Barry Greenstein
The reputation of Johnny Chan
The looks of Jessica Alba (I don’t know if she plays poker, but this is my list…)
The bankroll of Bill Gates (while we’re dreaming…)

So who makes up your perfect player?

See ya at the tables…
Rick

Benson Tourney - Part 2

Following up on Charles’ posting below regarding the Sunday Benson tourney. I ended the day with mixed feelings. The good news is that I felt very confident going in, and that I ended up playing some of the best tournament poker I’d played in months. The bad news is that I ended up falling just short of the money, and left with nothing tangible to show for my efforts – always disappointing. I’m usually one to look at the big picture, however. Though I didn’t cash, I feel like the experience I gained will make me even more money later on.

I really like the structure of the tournament. There are rebuys through the first five levels, so the donkeys (of which there are several), end up juicing up the prize pool quite nicely. By the end of the rebuy period, the better players usually have a decent arsenal of chips. The blinds progress slowly as well. This allows for actual poker play, rather than the all-in fest thinly disguised as poker that I usually end up playing on the weekends.

I’ll reiterate Charles’ sentiments on the negatives about playing there. The main thing for me is the smoking. It’s a fairly large room, but to a non-smoker like me, well, let’s just say I might as well be playing poker in the middle a warehouse fire. It’s a bit of a drive, and it always starts late (3:00pm starting time posted, 4:00pm starting time announced, and we actually started about 4:30pm). I also don’t understand what the long breaks are for. They’ll bring food to your table, and (sadly) it’s not like you have to leave the room to smoke. For Pete’s sake, take a couple minutes to pee if you need to, then let’s get those cards in the air! The people are friendly though, and do their best to make you feel at home. The dealers are pretty good, and keep the action moving while making very few mistakes. Not to mention any names (ahem, ED FLUSH), but this is another thing I’m not used to. :-)

As for the action, I had a couple of decent hands and made a couple of nice bluffs early, pretty much doubling my chip stack. I was playing pretty tight, but stole a few blinds along the way as well. Then came the big hand: I’m under the gun with blinds at $200/400, and look down at pocket aces. I raise to $1,300 and the guy to my left pushes all-in for $3,100 or so (sweet!). The next guy calls as well, with about the same amount of chips (sweet, another caller!), and another player calls as well (wait – no more callers!). Aces may be a favorite against one, maybe two hands, but rarely would they be favored against three hands.

Anyway, the third guy who called was a very tight player, and this was the first significant hand I saw him play, so I knew he either had queens or kings. He had about $2,000 behind, so of course I put him all-in when it gets back to me. I figure if I can win the side pot it will make up for most of my loss in the main pot when I get sucked out on! The cards are turned up and the first guy has A-K, the second guy has A-J (like I said, there are several donkeys out there, and this is their king…), and the third guy has Q-Q. Somehow the board is kind to me, and my aces hold up to take down a very nice pot.

I ended the rebuy period as chip leader with $25,500. The nice thing about that was not needing to pay $150 for the 3,000 chip add-on. Sadly, as is usually the case, the chip leader midway through rarely seems to finish off the job, and it was no different on this day. I ended up getting second-best hand several times in a row, so I tightened up and tried to ride out the bad streak. It worked for a while, and once we got down to six-handed we stayed that way for more than an hour. Then a series of bad luck and bad timing spelled my ultimate doom.

It started when action folds to me in the small blind (blinds $2,000/4,000), and I look down at 2-2. I raise the big blind all-in (he has $5,000 left) he thinks for a minute before calling with 10-8os, and of course, the 10 comes on the turn. Not a bad call, he was getting a great price and had to take a chance. This guy just won’t die, by the way. He’s been all-in countless times and just keeps drawing out on people.

A few hands later I'm under the gun, look down at Qd-Jd and limp in (arguments can be made for limping, raising and folding in this situation). One other guy calls, the small blind calls, and the big blind pushes in for another $10,500. Rats! I know I’m behind, but I’m getting 2.5:1 on my money. Unless I put him on a monster, I have to call. I call, the others fold, and he turns up Ac-9c. About as good a result as I could hope for, as I’m about a 11:9 dog. Unfortunately the flop brings an ace, and I end up losing the hand.

After stealing a couple blinds, a few hands later it folds to me on the button, and I look down at Q-9os. Blinds are still $2,000/4,000 (but about to go up) and I only have $16,000. The big blind has been card-dead for at least an hour, and I figure now is as good a time as any. I push in, the small blind folds, but the big blind wakes up with Ac-10c and calls. The good news is that I spike my queen on the river. The bad news is that it’s the queen of clubs, which gives him the nut flush. Oh well.

I think that if any one of those last three hands went my way, the turnout would have been different. But, such is poker. Everyone that busts out can look back at a key hand or two and say the same thing. I look forward to my next trip out there (perhaps with a CDC suit), and with a little luck I’ll win the darn thing next time!

See ya at the tables!
Rick

Welcome to the new members....

By the way, I did want to say welcome to the new members and please feel free to blog.... We want to hear from you!

Benson Tourney

Rick and I made the trip to Benson for the Sunday tourney today and both played extremely well I thought. We both made the cut to the final table with reasonable stacks. I had doubled-up early while Rick and I were at the same table. I believe the blinds were $50/$100 and was on the button with 9h, 10h. There was a small raise and there were a couple of callers of the big blind's raise to $200. The flop was 8h, Qh, 6s. The big blind bets $1200, everyone folds and I call. The turn is the Kh and big blind bets $2400 and I push all-in. He calls and turns over Ace, King and no hearts! Yippee.....

Over the next couple of hours I went all-in probably 5 times and in every instance I was way ahead when the chips went in. I had Ah, Kh and raised to $2400 and had a guy push all-in with about $700 more. I called and he turned over Ks, 9s and the river made his flush. Another time, I was in early position with Qs, Qh and raised to $4000. The small blind pushed all in for $150 more and turned over Gretsky, 99. He turned trips and the river made me a spade flush but paired the board and he won with a boat. LOL. Nice..... Probably one of the biggest hands of the tournament for me came when Lee in the small blind pushed all in for another $6500. One of the guys in late position announced call, but didn't realize that Lee had pushed all-in for another $6,000 or so. After much debate, house rules determined that he had to complete the bet. I've got Ah, 10h and thought that I might have the best hand, but it would have been over half my chips and I wasn't willing to risk it against two players. In hindsight, I should have re-raised all-in. Lee, the raiser, turns over As, 9s and the other guy had Kh, 8h.... Crap! At any rate, the flop was the Kc, Qc, Jc.... yep, I would have flopped the nut straight. Lee was eliminated and I would have almost trippled up.

The hand that knocked me out of the tourney in 7th place was shortly after I had taken another bad beat and was down to about $10,000 in chips. I've got Kh, 10d and in late positon and raise the $1,600 blinds to $5,000 (half my stack)... unfortunately for me again.... the big blind wakes ups with pocket Aces. He pushes and I think that he's bluffing and make the call and the Aces hold up.... It was almost an hour before Rick busted out.... He went out 6th and then almost immediately the 5th guy busted.

I'm sure he'll post some about the games as well. I really do like the game, but I don't like the smoke, the ride or the late start and game delays. There are a bunch of nice guys there and I enjoyed playing even though I lost.... Oh well... Another day!

Back to the felt!

Must have been the right move... must have been the wrong time!

The last two weeks in a row, I've gotten pretty deep at the PKR $40/$40/$40 Tourney only to run into just bad luck late. Last week, in 7th place, I made a move with a suited Ace only to run into pocket Jacks in the little blind. This week we're down to 4 handed play and have just agreed to chop in 4th place. I have just laid down pocket 5's to a pretty big raise from JoeBob on the button. Next hand I'm the button and JoeBob limps, I have pocket 3's and push all-in. The little blind calls and turns over Kh, Ks.... and then turns a set. Fortunately, I've got him covered in chips. Next hand, I'm under than gun and find Kd, 7d which in 4 handed play is pretty good. I push all in for $12,500 (blinds are $2k, $4k). JackZ calls from the small blind with Ad, Kh. Turns an Ace and I'm out in fourth.

With this kind of luck, its probably a good thing that I didn't make the trip out to Lost Wages!

Back to the felt!

You think we've got editing problems....

The WSOP is underway and the first player busted out in just 7 minutes. Too bad, Dave! LOL. No, I don't know if it was Dave or not, but smart money.....

I was reading through some of the action and came across this apparent editing/proof-reading problem.....

Fri Jul 28 12:38:00 PDT 2006
Jett Takes A Hit
Chip Jett makes it $150 to go from early position, and is called by the small blind. The flop brings the Jc, 9h, 4d. The player in the small blind checks, Jett bets $250, and his opponent calls. The 4d rolls off on the turn, and this time the small blind leads out for $350, which is called by Jett after a momentary pause. The 2s on the river induces the small blind to bet $350 again, and Jett once again thinks for a short moment, but this time decides to muck. Jett now has approximately $8,500.

It's got to hurt when that second 4d rolls of on the turn..... LOL.

Well, it was good reading anyway!

Back to the felt!

WPT Cruise in December!

Wow! Just stumbled across this one on the WPT website. How sweet would this be to put together a cruise for the group!

http://www.wptbootcamp.com/index.php?fn=10&id=25

The payout for the 3 day tourney is entrants into 5 WPT Main Events for the next 3 years....

Back to the felt!

The Olde One Outer....

Per Rick's request, Omaha 8 No Limit, an entire table of limpers and I find Ad, As, Jh, 7d in middle position. The flop comes Ah, Js, 7h. Check, check, check... I bet $22 into a $28 pot and there are a couple of callers. The turn is the 8h which puts a flush on the board. The river is another 8 giving me the top full house. Dean bets $130, unfortunately I've only got $110 but know that there is a good chance that Dean has hit quads. To say he's tight would be an understatement. He's tighter than Dick's hat band! At any rate, it gets around to Bill who starts mumbling about I want to call but there's a strong chance that I've got only the second best hand. To which I offer a $500 bet to him that he definitely doesn't have the second best hand. I know at this point that either Dean has Jacks full of eights -OR- and most likely quads which either me or Dean has second best hand. I was looking for some way to get back the $110 I just put in the pot. LOL. Bill asked if I were talking about high or low and I said high. Bill folds and Dean immediately proclaims, "Get the Monkey!"

Twice in the past two weeks he has hit one or two outers on me to take down a big pot! Let's see what I can do about fixing that.....

Back to the felt!

Donkey Dave's...

Well, it was another entertaining night at Donkey Dave’s (I kid because I care, Dave…), with an interesting mix of tight and loose players. I like to play at tables that have a combination of player types, so it was almost as much fun to watch as it was to play last night.

Representing the ultra-tight players of the world were Randy and Dean. Randy is pretty disciplined, and is able to lay down a big hand. If he raises, you’d better be getting good odds drawing to the nuts, because you’re probably beat at that moment. Dean will throw out a feeler bet, or even a bluff on occasion, but he normally won’t bet unless he has the stone-cold nuts (as luck would have it, that happened quite often last night). I always get a chuckle when the flop comes three of a suit and it gets checked down to the river. By then, you’re thinking your two-pair might be good, but Dean will invariably turn over a jack-high flush or something, commenting that he “couldn’t bet it, because there were two higher flushes out there.” LOL

On the other end of the spectrum we had Dave and Bill, both as loose as a $2 crack whore, though both very different players. Dave, of course, is extremely aggressive, and will think nothing of pushing all-in with any hand in any situation. Bill is much more passive, and will call large bets (eventually, once he realizes it’s his turn…) with draws or marginal hands. Me likey!

As for the rest of us, Charles and Corey are usually somewhat tight, maybe a bit right of center, and in this game anyway, I’m normally a bit left of center. After a few hours of rebuys, there are usually so many chips (and loose players) on the table that you’re getting great implied odds to play a variety of hands, which is the main reason I like to see a lot of flops in this game.

The night began with Dave being, well, being Dave. He heavily raised the first six or seven pots, so I just kicked back and waited to trap him. I didn’t have to wait long, A hand or two later I was able to get all my chips in with A-Q suited, but unfortunately it got busted by his A-5 (damn fives!). Sometimes you fall into your own trap. I really don’t mind losing chips to Dave though, I consider it an extremely short-term, extremely high-interest loan. I have no doubt that it must be some kind of violation of the RICO Act. :-)

Since the others left before sunrise (wimps!), Charles and I hung out a while longer and played heads-up. We usually have a pretty fun match, with the chips bouncing back and forth between us. Last night the pattern was me whittling away at his stack, then him getting back to even by doubling up and winning a big pot. This pattern repeated itself several times before I finally won the big pot for a change. So after all was said and done, despite a couple of early evening rebuys I ended up making a tidy little profit for the night.

Dave’s is by far my favorite game in town, and the fact that it’s a positive expectation for me is just one of several reasons. We’ve always got great food, an open bar (though I’m not much of a drinker these days), and a very nice environment. Most of all though, it’s just a great bunch of guys (except Charles, of course…). Speaking of the old man, he was the victim of an ice-cold deck against Dean (the night’s big wiener, who flopped a set 483 hands in a row), but I’ll let him tell the story. I’m sure he can’t wait…

See ya at the tables…
Rick

Monday Night @ PKR

An interesting hand occurs.... Rick and I suck out on each other.... Dang! That doesn't sound at all as I had hoped... LOL. I've got Ah, Kh on the button and raise to $12 in a $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em hand with 3 limpers. Rick calls in the small blind with what I found out later was pocket Queens. The flop is Ks, 7h, 3h. I bet $24 and Rick calls. The turn is 7d. I bet $33 and Rick calls. The river is a Queen and I bet $45 and Rick pushes all-in for another $45 or so and I call just because there is so much in the pot and sure enough, he has hit the two outer on me.... At least when I hit my King on the flop I was drawing to 6 outs, not two....

Revenge comes a little later when I raise all-in with a flush draw to the King of spades. There is an ace on board and he calls my $199 all-in with top pair and a Queen kicker only to see my flush hit on the river.... Nice!

I also had a nice hand against Chad... a guy that I've seen there a few times but haven't really gotten to know him. I'm in the big blind and Chad is in late position and raises the $1/$2 blind to $12. I glance down at Kh, Kc and after much deliberation raise to $25 on top. He calls and we go to the flop. Apparently Chad put me on A, K cause when the flop 8 high with no pairs, I bet $45 and he pushed all-in with another $75 or so. I quickly call and he reveals pocket Queens and was just unlucky with a cold deck.

We only played till about 11 and when Rick busted out, I left as well..... Hopefully, the game will pick back up soon.

Streaking

No Charles, I’m not talking about running naked through a soccer game….

Poker, in many different ways, is a game of streaks. It’s the rare player (I certainly haven’t met one yet) that either wins or loses roughly the same amount every time out. The vast majority of players have good runs that last for days, weeks, months, in some cases even years, and these good runs are invariably followed by bad runs of varying lengths of time as well. The goal, of course, is to maximize the length of the good runs, and the money won during these runs. Conversely, you need to try and minimize the length of the bad runs, and the money lost during these times.

We’ve all had them, those periods where the stars align, and the cards are just slapping us upside the head. Those periods where you win all the races, where it seems like every decision you make is the correct one, and when you do make a bad decision you draw out on the other guy anyway. I believe the good runs pretty much take care of themselves. There’s really not a lot to be said about them, except: Ride that rush! Play as much as you can, and enjoy it while it lasts (because it may not last long).

I don’t need, nor want, to describe the opposite situation in detail, but we’ve all been there as well! In the relatively short time I’ve been playing this game, I’ve been fortunate enough to have not had a bad run last more than a week or so. I’m not naïve enough to think a longer run isn’t out there waiting for me, in fact I’m sure that it is, but I’d also like to think I’m mentally prepared for it when it comes.

Many poker players, as with other types of gamblers (whether poker is considered gambling or not is a topic for another day…), seem to have a “double up and catch up” mentality. So often I’ve seen players who are having bad night, rebuy time after time then push the action to try and get their chips back. Needless to say, more often than not the result is that they just end up losing up more money. It’s my belief that sometimes when things aren’t going your way, you just need to suck it up, book the loss and call it a night.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that you should necessarily pack up and leave just because you’ve lost a couple races or suffered a few bad beats. If you’re surrounded by weak players, there’s a lot of money on the table, and if you’re not tired or on tilt, then you’re most likely better off staying for a while. I’m simply saying to always be aware of your situation, be disciplined enough to step back and look at it through subjective eyes.

One of my favorite sayings is very appropriate for this discussion: Don’t throw good money after bad. I don’t steam too often (real steam, not the fake steam designed to trap opponents), but it happens. On nights where things haven’t been going my way, and I felt the hot vapor begin its steady escape through my auditory canals, I’ve usually been fortunate enough to recognize it in time for me to leave with the rest of the money in my wallet. I certainly can’t recall many times where I fought my way through the steam and made some or all of my money back.

If a bad run continues, consider spending a week or two away from the tables. Go fishing, do crosswords, go watch a movie, clean the garage, anything to get your mind off poker for a while. If all else fails, as a last resort you can even spend time with your family. That should do the trick, because for most of us it will quickly remind us why we took up poker in the first place. Okay, kidding aside…

Poker players are a competitive lot, and hate admitting “defeat” on any given night. I like to think of one night of poker as just one inning in one game during a long season of baseball. The fact is that every poker player, from pro to amateur, will have many, many losing nights. You have to be able to see the big picture. Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 shots in his career. Cy Young lost 316 games. Reggie Jackson struck out almost 2,600 times. You get the idea…

Nobody likes to lose, but poker is a game that many of us will (hopefully) play for the rest of our lives at one level or another. Being able to put the bad streaks in the proper perspective, and learning to play through them, will help add to the enjoyment of this crazy, wonderful game.

See ya at the tables…
Rick

Saturday PKR Tourney....

I played like a real donkey today! The other thing really bad about my DONKEY moves was that a new player joined us this weekend and he had to witness them.... LOL. We got to meet George Smart as he came over and played in the tourney AND he had to witness my DONKEY moves. What a nice guy! And he's got game..... George is the Editor of the Triangle Poker Journal, a publication that I have been a regular follower of for quite some time as it always contains timely and reliable information. Here's the site.... http://www.georgesmart.com/poker He brought everyone some nice tee shirts and detailed information about his website.

At any rate, I don't know what came over me... I typically will get through the re-buy period without re-buying, but I am pretty certain that this was my record with 3 re-buys! LOL. The plays weren't really that bad.... and the hand that knocked me out of the tourney was just unlucky... I'm down to about $5,000 or so in chips and in late position with one limper, Akash with $300/$600 blinds and they are just about to go up. I look down at Ac, 4s and move all in. Randy calls from the little blind so I know he's on some sort of mid to high pair. Everyone else folds. Yep. He turns over pocket Jacks and they hold up. Akash tells me he laid down A, Q and had Randy folded and Akash called I would have won with a 4 on the flop.... LOL.

At any rate, nice playing guys and we'll see you soon.... Hopefully we'll be hearing from our friends at the WSOP as I know Joe, Mike D and et al were playing in a couple of tourneys over the past couple of days... and I really hope that at least one of them takes down some cash if not a tourney.

Be sure to check out the Triangle Poker Journal at http://www.georgesmart.com/poker

Every Bad Beat Story Ever Told…

The other day I was playing online in a .05 cent - .10 cent limit hold ‘em game. There are seven limpers, and when it got to me I looked down to see 8-8! I put in a raise (you know, to let everyone know where they’re at), and every one of them calls the additional .05 cents. Fools, don’t they know I have the best hand right now!

Anyway, the flop comes 2-4-7 rainbow – Yes, come to Papa!! Everyone checks to me, and I bet another .05 cents into the pot, and I get called by six players. Fools, all of them! The turn comes a 10x. Sure it’s an overcard, but I’m not worried. After all, who in their right mind would call my powerful raises with a ten in their hand?!

It gets checked to the guy on my right, who actually bets the .10 cents. This donkey can’t actually have a ten in his hand, can he? No way, he’s bluffing! I raise to .20 cents (take that, Buckwheat!).

Five people call.

WTF?! These fish really have no idea how strong I am! I’m sitting on a gold mine! Anyway, the river comes 3x – cha-CHING! Now I’m pretty sure my eights are platinum. Strangely, there is a bet, raise, re-raise and a call in front of me. These people all hate money! I cap it, and everybody calls.

One guy turns over K-10 (top pair), another has 10-7 (two pair), another has A-5 (straight), and another has 5-6 (the nuts). I can’t %#^@ believe it; I get sucked out on again! I have the best hand before aaaaand after the flop, and these Bozos do their best to donk off their money to me!

Online players suck! They have no idea how to play the game! I know, I know, you say - all I can do is bet with the best hand, I can’t control what cards come. Still, this kind of thing happens to me all the time, and it’s so just frustrating when the best player (me) gets beat EVERY TIME by people playing inferior cards!! AAAARRGGHH!!!!

I’ve had enough, I think I’m going to move up to .10 cent - .20 cent limit hold ‘em to compete with better players that are closer to my level. I hear there are much fewer bad beats there…

See ya at the tables…
Rick

Welcome to the NEW MEMBERS!

I just wanted to say WELCOME to the new members and I hope that you'll try to get a post going as soon as possible. We want to hear from you!

Let me know if you have any questions and ENJOY!

Joe & MikeD & Mike F Headed for WSOP!

They're leaving today and plan to play in several events and the CRAPS tables! LOL. At any rate, although they won't have access to any computers while they are there, they have agreed to keep me updated regularly on how they are doing, any big hands and any big names that they meet, etc.,

Thanks guys and good luck! I hope you all win!
Charles

Thank you Charles..my first post

Charles invited me to join this fine collection of poker players and their blog. I will do my best to uphold what appears to be some fine story telling of hands and evening at the poker table.

Let's start my first post off with what could easily lable me a donkey for life (sorry Rick, I was in a bad place)

As the hand unfolds I find myself, John and Rick all in the hand. It is bet up preflop and I have something like Q-9 suited. After the flop of J-10-9 I find myself open ended, John leads out and fires $50 into the pot, after much thought I call having no idea what was about to come....Ricks "ALL IN". Damn you Rick!!! I just put $50 in that pot. John folds and now I'm mad at myself for calling that $50, I could have laid it down. I try getting Rick to give me back $20 but he will have none of it. I tell him if he does not give it back I'm going to call....damnit!!! Now, Im just steaming mostly at myself for putting me in this predicament. Ricks all in as about $250 more dollars and I hold to my word and call since he won't give me back $20. Well of course the turn is the K for my straight and the river is another K for yet my straight again. Rick flopped the bottom end and I sucked out on him. Surely this put me in a new category of poker players in Ricks eyes...I moved from Fish to Donk. Will I ever reclaim my rightful name?

A couple of big hands.....

There were a couple of interesting hands last night and I think I saved money on one and made as much as I could make on the other. First hand was Hold 'em and I'm out of position with pocket Jacks and Rick raises the $2/$4 blinds to a straight $14. I smooth call planning to take over the betting on the flop. The flop is 10, 8, brick. I bet $27 and Rick raises to $65. After much deliberation and a little calculation, I call hoping to spike a Jack on the turn. No such luck. The turn is an Ace (JROD at work) and delivered to Rick the second card on one of two hands that I put him on, either A, 10 or pocket 10's. He leads out with a big bet and I fold and of course P-Rick doesn't show..... I think that I was beat.

The next hand was a little later in Omaha 8. I've got A, 3, 5, 6 and no one raised the blinds. The flop was 2x, 4x, 4x. Dave bets $11, I call and there are 4 other callers. The turn is a 6 giving me the nut low and a straight. Bill bets about $50 and Dave goes all-in for about $127 and I call. Bill calls. Sweet little pot and fortunately Bill made a boat and Dave was the 3rd nut low! Woo-hoo!

Hopefully we'll hear from some others who played now and have posting ability!

WSOP LOCAL UPDATES!

Looking for anyone with updates on how any of our local players who are participating in ANY of the events. Let us know who and how they are doing!

60 Person NLHE Tourney on Saturday

I am ashamed. Truly. This tournament is only a $50 tournament, with no juice, the 'players' need their memories refreshed on how to deal the game, and no one has any idea on how to bet. I've only played in two of their monthly tournaments (don't ask me why just 2...its such a high EV that I should be there even if my dog died) and won one and chopped for more on the other.
This night started...as it should...by doubling up on the first hand. In early position, I look down at Ad-10d. I raise 3x BB and get 3 callers. Flop comes A, 10, x, rainbow. I bet out 3/4 of the pot (oh yeah its 5k in chips, 100/200 to start), and I get re-raised. Yummy. I reraise and he pushes all in. I think for a nano second and call. He's holding AK and my hand holds up.
So I'm in good shape right? Let's play some premium hands and thin the field...
2 hands later, I look down at my lucky A,10 again, this time in late position. I raise, the SB folds, and the BB calls.
Flop comes A, ,J,10 rainbow. I bet out, BB raises, I reraise and he goes all in. Now I actually think about it. There is about 4 k in the pot and its another 8 to call. I guess I should have folded, but I call thinking I have the best hand. I don't he had K,Q and flopped the nuts. FU ok?
So now I have maybe 7K left..not great not terrible.
Two hands later in the SB I look down at 8,8. A bunch of limpers and I decide to get them out of my pot, I push 2,000 into a 1200 pot and get two callers.
Flop comes Kh, 8h, 2d. Nice flop, right? FU nice flop...check, check, I go all in and they both call me?! Ahh shit, I stepped in it. One guy has K, 10, no hearts. The other guy has 6,5h.
Do I need to say what the turn is? The river doesn't pair the board, and after doubling up the first hand, I am out 20 minutes later.
I suck. I am a fish. I know it...now you know it..and Chuckie and Rickie definitely know it.

FU

Jeff, aka Sergio, aka Slick aka #1 Fish

Adding more contributors!

I have asked several of my friends from 10 years of home poker games to join us on this blog site. If you respond positively to your invite, you'll be able to create a post just as I do. I do ask that you not use anyone's last name or any specific addresses so we don't create any problems for anyone of any kind. Try to abbreviate any colorful language so that anyone can enjoy the writing without nausea.... other than that, let's talk about poker!


In addition, I've asked Jeff to help Rick and I manage the blog site and he has agreed. I feel that between the three of us, we're probably playing seven nights a week and ought to be able to get some pretty creative banter going!

Welcome Jeff and I still owe you lunch....

Charles

Sunday is now.... DONKEY-DAY

Sunday afternoon at PKR! Quite the Donkey-Fest.... the format of the tourney actually encourages it! $50/$10 Buy-in with $20/$5 rebuys through first 3 blinds with $20/$5 add-on. For the original $60, you get $3000 and anytime your chip count drops below $2000 you can re-buy within the first 3 blinds for $25 and get $2,000 more in chips. Then at the end of the re-buy period, you can add-on another $3000 in chips for $25. Yep! Donkey-fest coming at you!

I typically try.... TRY to get through the re-buy period without having to re-buy. Most of the time, I pull it off. On this particular Sunday, I get sucked out on twice and end up re-buying twice. After the second re-buy I double-up, once against Jason, who probably holds the record at PKR for the most re-buys in any one tournament AND probably the most in ALL tournaments. LOL. At any rate, he is very aggressive and raised $50/$100 blinds to $400 and I was the button and called with 10s/Js (the old Willie Nelson.... 5th of Jack and a dime bag). The flop is 4h, 9c, Qc. He bets $400 and I push all in for another $3,500. He deliberates and then calls. He turns over Ah, Ks. And as fate would have it, the river hits his king giving me the nut straight! Yee haw! I remember saying.... "So that's how it feels to suck out on somebody.... I like it!"

I ended up finishing 2nd to Scott who called my all-in when I had Js, 10s with Ac, Jh.... and no tens and no spades.... Life just isn't fair!

Charles

2nd Best Hand Night @ Dave's!

It was one of those nights.... at least 5 times last night, I flopped or turned a boat only to have someone turn or river a better boat. Once I turned the nut flush only to be beat by a straight flush! How I got with all my private parts, I don't know!

There were a couple of hands late that I think Dave wanted me to mention ... and then choke on! We were playing $5/$10 No Limit Head's up. I had A, A and raised $25 pre-flop, Dave called. The flop was Q, 7, 5 and I bet $40, Dave re-raised $50 and I went all in and he called. I didn't see the cards, but he said that he flopped a set of sevens. I believe him. The turn was a queen and the river was (horns blaring).... my ace! Sweet! That took him down to about $35 remaining and over the next 20 minutes, he did a great job of building that up to over $200. The final big hand of the night went something like this.... I had As, 7s and Dave raised to $25 straight. I called the flop was 5h, 5s, 6d. Dave bets $40 and I call. The turn was 7h. Dave bet $75 and I called and that's when he mumbled something about me having a 5. The river was the 5d. Dave pushed all in for another $265. After a minute or two of deliberation, I called with about $225 as I just couldn't put him on a 5 or an overpair. He turned over nothing and I busted him out in the next hand when he pushed all in and I called with A, Q and the 2nd nut no pair held up.

Nice playing! I really do enjoy heads up play.