Off to the WSOP Circuit Event @ Showboat in Atlantic City

Well, I'm doing it. I'm leaving first thing Thursday morning for Atlantic City and the WSOP Circuit Event. A couple of friends are already there and I plan to hook up with them and hopefully the three of us take AC and the WSOP by storm. That's sounds really good, but this being my first WSOP event, I'm all about learning.

Don't get me wrong, I always think positively about me and my abilities and my luck. So I am expecting big things, but I'm also expecting to learn alot as well.

To those of you who I asked to go..... it won't be the same without you so let's plan the next one together!

I will be keeping a daily log and if I can get to the BLOG site, I'll be updating it regularly. If I can't get to the internet, I'll update it immediately upon my return.

Wish me luck!

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

While at our weekly poker game at Corey's, we received a call from Jeff B that he had JUST missed making the final table in the $500/$60 No Limit Hold'em tourney at the Showboat in Atlantic City. He did cash however for about $1500. Nice job, Jeff!

I'll edit later with more details if I can get them.

Monday @ PKR.....

I stopped by PKR last night to sit in on a few hands. I arrived around 6:55 and there was almost a full table there waiting for the game to begin. By 7:10, there was a full table and we were well into it. About 7:20 I received a call from the local police department in reference to some troubled teens who had been causing some problems in our neighborhood. Their parents had actually handled it and unfortunately the kids were arrested on some pretty serious charges. So, here I am in the middle of Raleigh NC (where gambling is illegal) in the middle of a poker game talking to a police officer on my mobile. I look down @ 4,4 trying to be witty and pay attention to the nice police officer on the phone. The flop comes and there's a small bet and re-raise before it gets to me. I take a quick glance at the board and realize the flop is 2,4,5! Touchdown! Excuse me officer, but I need to go all-in.... So I casually push my stack to the middle of the table and get one caller. Not a bad way to double up as it turns out.

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

He played in the $330 buy-in tourney on Monday and there were approximately 750 players and unfortunately he busted out at about 140 when they were paying about 40 places. The hand that busted Jeff out was (horn's blaring) AA... go figure. He had about 6500 chips and was raised so he re-raised all in. The other guy had about 4500 chips and A-10 off-suit and hit a four card straight. A few hands later he was the button and looked down at AQ and with only a couple of limpers pushed all-in and one of the blinds had AK. So there you go.....

He is currently still in the $560 buy-in tourney. There were approximately 250 players at the beginning and both he and Jason G are still alive. Jeff has about 11,000 in chips while Jason has around 8,400. The average chip count remaining is about $7,500. Total payout for this event will be around $125,000 to about 18 places. There are only about 50-60 players still in this tourney. Come on guys! Make the final table...... YOU CAN DO IT!

By the way, I'm seriously considering going up for at least the Thursday and Friday events if anyone is interested in going up with me, just let me know and we'll try to work something out.

Back to the point.... good luck Jeff and Jason! Play solid and good luck!

World's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, "Will you marry me?" The girl said "NO!" and the guy lived happily ever after. He went fishing, hunting, played poker and golf, drank beer and farted whenever he wanted.
The End

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with poker, but I liked it!

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

He has played in a cash game and a Sit-n-go and is up $2600! He's going to give me a full update later in the day! He is scheduled to play in a $330 buy-in tourney and the rumor is there are 750 players. They're experiencing a registration melt-down right now.

Keep checking in! Good Luck Jeff! We're pulling for you!

And then there were QUADS!

Sunday night @ PKR after the tourney, we're playing $1-$2 No Limit and I get to watch as one of my new best friends and poker buddies, Rick, had a three-way pot with Michael and Stone. There was a smallish pre-flop raise of about $12. Rick had pocket 3-3, Michael had A-4, Rick has 3-3, and we never saw Stone's hand. Flop comes A-3-6 with two clubs. Michael is first to act and bets $16. Rick raises to $40, Stone calls. Michael asked if Rick had a hand, and Rick said "not yet." Turn comes a 4, giving Michael two pair. Michael checks, Rick bet $40 and both of them call. At this point there's probably around $280 in the pot. The river is the case 3. Michael checks, Rick goes all-in for around $140 or so. Stone folds and Michael calls, thinking he's either bluffing with a busted flush draw, or has A-K or A-Q which would have given Michael a higher two-pair. Quads scoop a nice little pot. We've really got to get a monkey at PKR.

I assume Stone either had the busted flush draw, or an ace with no kicker. Somebody.... get the monkey!

How can you call a big bet pre-flop with 5-8 suited?

That's what the new guy at PKR asked me..... How can you call a big bet pre-flop with 5-8 suited? Well, he had recently stayed in with a garbage hand to a large raise that I made pre-flop and took down the pot by hitting one of them with trips. So it was lesson time at PKR. Again... $1-$2 No Limit. I look down at 5d, 8d. The new guy is in the big blind and after about 7 limpers including me, he raised it to $16. There were 4 callers and I thought that this could be a great opportunity to get lucky so I called. The flop comes 6s, 7c, 9s. Not the nuts, but I loved it! The new guy bets $25 and there is one caller and I call. The turn is a 2d and our new guy bets $50 and I'm the only caller. The river is a Qh and my new best friend goes all in for about $120 more. I immediately call and turn over the 2nd nut straight. He shows his aces and immediately requires therapy and help with his breathing. I love this game!

Now I've got a buy a truck from Jim.....

Well, Sunday night after the $120 buy-in tournament, we're playing the cash game, $1-$2 No Limit and there are 10 players. I look down at 9, 9. There's a $12 raise and about 4 callers including me. The flop is 4, 4, 2. I'm now thankful to the raise for getting out most that would have had a 4. Jim bets $2 and I raise to $20. Jim is a cautious player and announces pre-turn that he'll check the turn. The turn is a 7 and I bet $65. Jim calls and everyone else folds. Jim announces again that he checks the river. The river is (horns blaring) a 9. I bet $75 and he calls. I immediately begin apologizing because I am pretty certain that he has a larger pair and I probably rivered him. And of course, he shows the cowboys. Now I've got to buy my next truck from him.

My memory sometimes is excellent!

You may remember a few weeks back "Two "questionable" beats in one weekend!" - well, revenge is sometimes slow in coming, but it does come.... usually. This past Friday night... we'll call it FRIGHT NIGHT at PKR. This is the night that the crazies come out, $2-$4 No Limit with max buy-in of $400. Well, I had Ah, 10d and the guy that beat me in that hand with 6, 6, 7 from the "questionable beats" weekend was in the hand. LOL. The flop was Ad, Qd, 10c. I know it was risky, but I bet $55 into about a $60 pot. The guy that busted me out of the tourney re-raised me $200 which was exactly what I had remaining. Sounds suspiciously like he was trying to isolate me. LOL. Well, he got his wish... everyone folded to me and after due deliberation, I called. He turned over one of the two hands that I suspected, QQ. So I've got top and bottom pair against the middle set. And as fate would have it, I hit the back door flush with runner-runner diamonds! Yee haw!

It was definitely "Get the Monkey" night for me!

Well, I've seen others run into cards like this, but this is the first time that it has been me. My second hand of the night I look down at pocket 9's. The flop is 9, 10, K. I bet $25 and Jeff raises about $35. I push all in and Jeff calls with K, 10 against my set. I like my position, but he could have had worst cards and it would have been ok with me. The turn is a brick and the river is the case 9! Get the Monkey! And that was just the beginning.

I'm pretty certain that I had quads 4 times and the 2 straight flushes to the K twice. If you can put an "unfortunately" in that sentence, I believe that first hand with Jeff is the only time that I was able to get all my chips in and get called.

One of the straight flushes came on the flop when I had Kc, 10c. The flop was 9c, Jc, Qc which is the way that I would want it so that the Ac could still pull the nut flush. Mike, a new guy to this game and a friend of Jeff's, bet into me on the flop and the turn, but cooled his jets on the river and I made a small bet and he called. The second straight flush came a little later with the identical cards. The flop was 9c, Qc and who gives a crap what the third card was... LOL. At any rate, Mike bets at me about 1/2 the pot. I call and everyone else folds. The turn is a brick and Mike checks. The river is the Jc! Wow! What a card. Mike checks and I bet a small bet that anybody would have to call and sure enough, he did!

By this time, anytime I was in a hand and the board paired, everyone, including me, expected me to have quads!

There was one big pot that I took down again Dave and Jim. We were playing Omaha Hi and I've got As, Ac, 3c, 4c. The flop is Ah, Qc, Jc. I bet $30 and Dave goes all in with about $75 more. Jim calls and I go all in with about $230 more. Jim folds. Dave turns over QQ with a flush re-draw. (Jim had pocket jakes). The turn is another club and Dave is dead to the case Q.

Still did OK for the night, but I am a greedy cuss and I wanted it all! Or as Jim stated at one point last night.... "I'd trade it all for a little bit more!"

AQ vs KQ - A cruel hand for Jeff!

Well... poker night at Corey's! Late in the evening and I've got pocket J's. There's a small raise by Jeff and Jim and I call. The flop is Q, Q, 10. I was the button and Jeff, being first to act, bets $30 and Jim raised $80. I was folding so fast I couldn't be clocked. Jeff immediately moves all in with about $500 in front of him and Jim quickly calls with a little over $300. Jeff shows K, Q and Jim shows A, Q. Jim takes down a huge pot when the board doesn't pair and the A plays.

The only good news for Jeff is that since he is going to AC next week for a tournament, it's best to get those kind of beats out of the way!

What a flop!

A while back I was playing online in $100 buy-in, No Limit Hold'em game and while in the big blind with 5d, 7d, no one raised, but there are 5 limpers. I made a small raise, just because I could. The flop is 4d, 6d, 8d. You got it, straight flush. I check, a guy bets $10 and everyone calls. The next card is brick and the same guy bets $25 and there are 3 callers including my smooth call. The river is an 8c. The small blind and I check and the guy to my immediate left goes all in with about $130 and 2 others including the small blind go all in on top. Fortunately I was the big stack and had everyone covered. Two of the guys flopped flushes including one with the nut flush and one with the second nut flush, the 8c gave the small blind a full house. It just doesn't get any better than that... for me anyways!

I'd like to apologize to A-K....

For those of you who read some of my early posts, you may remember A-K, my mortal enemy... well, last night they made some huge steps towards making up.

What is the perfect flop for AK? Yep, I've had it happen to me once before, AAA! We were playing $5/$10 Limit Hold'em and I was the button. It was perfect! The pot reached near maximum and I only raised or bet one time. The other guys raised and re-raised me right to victory! What a dream! It could only have been better in no limit with a lot of chips on the table.

Last night was equally as impressive. I am the button and look down at Ah, Ks, 5x, 4x in $1/$2 No Limit Omaha High Only. The flop is ..... Ad, Ah, Kh. Unfortunately for Jon, he had a big piece of it. He bets $40. I smooth call. The turn is a brick. He bets $60 and I call. The river is another brick and he tosses in his last $25 chip and of course, I call and flip over the nuts. He turns over KK. How cruel the poker gods can be!

That is truly a cold deck!

Get the monkey!

Well, one of my favorite poker buddies started what has turned into a grand tradition at his weekly Tuesday night poker game.... Everytime someone wins a hand with Aces full or better (Aces full house, quads or straight flush), he pulls out his toy monkey that screams a ridiculous monkey sound when pressed or flipped and, depending on the power of the hand, lets him scream over and over again celebrating the big hand.

Well, last night was "Monkey Night!" He came out four times! 3 sets of quads and 1 straight flush! And I didn't have a single one of them.

I would strongly recommend a practice like this for any home game. It is exciting when it happens. It is always funny. And there's nothing quite like the feeling of saying.... "Get the Monkey!"

All nighter.... 8:30PM till 9:00AM

What can I say! I know I shouldn't have done it, but it was one ugly night. I kept trying to get the most value from my hands and kept ending up with the second best hand. One hand, as an example, I've got J, Q and the flop comes J, J, Q. I check and he bets, I call. The turn is an A, I check, he bets, I call. The river is a brick. I check, he bets, I call. He turns over A, J.

A little later... Omaha 8. I am the big blind and look down at K, K, Kc, 10c. I laugh and the flop comes K, 9, 3. I make a crazy over-bet to push them out. There are three callers. The turn is a 6 and makes a possible flush draw. I bet about 1/2 the pot and get one caller. The river completes the flush (not clubs, unfortunately) and Rick pushes all in. I lay it down, but I absolutely KNOW that he was bluffing.

The crowd kept thinning out and about 3:00AM, its just me, Rick and Jeff. Both these guys are up big and I am down big. Jeff finally decides to leave and cashes out about $900, plus several hundred that he's loaned out. We shame him into buying back in and he loses $200 and leaves. So around 4, its just me and Rick. I have about $200 in front of me and he has about $1200 in front of him. I slowly build my stack back up to around $500 and the big hand hits. I've got pocket sixes and the floppy comes 6, 4, 2 rainbow. I bet about $25 and he calls. The turn is a brick and I bet about $50 and he goes all in. I look over and I've got about $420 remaining and I make some explicative and I call. He immediately realizes that he made a big mistake. I don't even remember what he had, but he didn't have many outs on the river and I dragged the pot. I know exactly how he felt, as I had been making those plays all night and losing. So now the chips have done a complete exchange. I have about $1200 or so he has less than $100. We continue to play for a couple more hours and he cashes out for $170 and I had made a miraculous comeback!

Till next time!

Poker etiquette... 101

You tell me, what should happen to a player's cards if he voluntarily shows them to another player at the table. I do it some times as I am about to muck them to someone who has already folded, but never do I do it and then continue the hand. It happened on Tuesday in no limit hold'em. I flopped the top set with a pot of about $12. I immediately bet about $16. Jeff shows his hand to Dave and says that I know you couldn't get away from this and then calls my $16 bet. I wasn't happy. And was even less happy when he hit the open ended straight and took down the pot.

I think that this is different from when a player shows his cards to everyone at the table. There are a couple of guys that I play with regularly who will bet and then show one or both of their cards to discourage others from calling and attempting to draw out on them. Once he flips his card(s), it is then the responsibility of the others at the table to surpress any comments or emotions about his exposed cards. I am not certain of what the official poker rules are pertaining to exposing your cards.

Your thoughts/comments would be appreciated. I believe that if you willingly show your cards to ANYONE, they should be considered dead, mucked, folded. Let me know what you think.

Cold deck/Cold Heart... Brain Dead!

Why do we call when we know that we're beat? Why put more money in the pot when you absolutely know that your opponent has you beat? I've given it some thought over the past 48 hours because it happened to me a couple of times on Tuesday at my regular weekly $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em/High Omaha game. I flopped bottom set to a guy that raised pre-flop. The flop was A, 6, 2..... at first I thought maybe he had A,K, but when he bet, I read him with AA. He bet $40 and I re-raised all-in. I KNEW he had the AA, but pushed anyway.

Well, it happens. I guess I would rather that happen than what happened to me in a tourney recently. I had KK and eventually pushed all-in pre-flop. There are 3 callers. AK, QQ and JJ. Talk about a cold deck! At any rate, the flop is three bricks and the turn and the river were both queens.

Oh well.... And I'm ok with a cold deck. It's poker. It happens.

Tourney @ PKR

This past weekend was sort of a heavy hockey schedule for my son's bantam hockey team so my tournament play was limited. I typically try to play in the $100 buy-in tourney @ PKR but my son's hockey game in Greensboro prevented me from being able to play in that one so I opted to play in the $55 buy-in with re-buys. I had played really well and made it to the final table and had accumulated chips to where I was 2nd in chips. In about two hands, I busted out. The big one happened when I flopped 2nd pair with the nut flush re-draw. The guy pushed all-in and I called his $4000. He had top pair and a crappy kicker and the flush didn't come. There were now about 7 people remaining and I made an offer to the short stack (he had about $6000 in chips) to let me buy his stack for $100. He accepted and I enjoyed one of the rarities in life.... I actually got to knock out of the tournament the guy who had just knocked me out. It was worth it just for that.... LOL. At any rate, I ended up finishing second and got a pretty nice return on my re-buy. The final hand playing heads up, I had QQ and raised to $4000 pre-flop. The big stack (around $45000) calls and the flop comes Ah, Ad, 5d. He pushes all-in and I knew that he didn't have an ace so I called. I was right, he was on the diamond draw and hit it on the river. That would have been the tournament turn-around. I would have jumped from about $15000 to about $30000 and we would have been almost tied, but for some reason, the poker gods continue to punish me by letting people out-draw me.

We finished up around 6:30 and my family was going to the Carolina Hurricanes game at 7PM without me so I decided to play in the cash game. I ended up cashing out about $450 up.... I like it!

4+ Hours of "heads up" Hold 'em

Well, we had our first soft attendance poker night in quite some time last night. Until around 10, there were four people playing $1/$2 No Limit. Jeff was having a rough night and finally cashed out around the 10 o'clock timeframe. Dave was whining about the wife's good graces and only played a few hands after Jeff left, but he was nice enough to lose all the chips in front of him on his way out the door. So there we were, Rick and me. We played "heads up" with $5 antes for a little over 4 hours. It's typically not something that I enjoy, but between friends the competition and the banter was alot of fun. It is especially fun if you end up with more chips than you had when you started the heads up play. It wasn't a huge victory but I was catching cards for a while. Normally it is Rick catching the cards, so it was very nice for a change to actually draw out on him. All in all, it was alot of fun.

For you whimps that didn't show up, there's always next time!

Revenge! AND one of the most entertaining poker nights in a while!

There were a couple of big stories from last night @ Corey's.... the "funniest" hand of the evening.... The game is No Limit Hold 'em, $2/$4 blinds. I am in the big blind and pick up pocket 5's. There is a pre-flop raise to about $12 and about 4 people call. The flop is K, 6, 5 and I think I'm pretty good but immediately check. Two more checks and Corey bets $58. It folds around to me and I ask ... "what did you do, flop a set?" to which Corey answers, "Yes, these 5s have been hot for me all night!" It was all that I could do not to fall over.... I'm sure you've already done the math, but unless there are five 5's in the deck, he is lying his arse off. Well I play it soft the rest of the way and he backs off his betting. The table had a great laugh over that one. Although he did muck, he shared with us that he had pocket 9's.

You may remember "Rick" from the tournament over the weekend "Two questionable beats" where he busted me out when I put him all in with one card to come and he was on a flush draw and hit it. (By the way, I understand that he went on to win that event). Well, we were playing $2/$4 No Limit Omaha High when I picked up Qc, Qd, 10h, 9h while in the big blind. There is a $4 raise and everyone called. The flop is Qs, 7h, Jd. There's about $30 in the pot so I bet $26. 3 people call me. The turn is Jh so I bet the same $26 and get 2 callers. The river is a lovely little spade and I immediately check. Everyone checks around to Rick and he bets $75. I glance at Dave and he is already fondling his fold cards so I raise another $100 and Rick calls with the second nut flush. Life is good.

There was another CRAZY hand... $2/$4 No Limit Omaha High and somehow almost everyone is all-in. I only had about $70 in front of me so it was pretty easy when it got back to me and there were approximately 7 players in that with ANY cards, I'm playing. I look down at at Jh, Jc, 7d, 5d so I call all-in and away we go. (I've only seen this sort of thing one other time and it was playing on Party Poker with play money!) I don't remember the exact order in which they came, but there were 2 diamonds on the flop and another on the turn and 7 high diamond flush "took 'er down." Its not often that you can multiply your money times seven in one hand!

There were two more hands than involved me and Dave that warrant telling. The first was about an hour or so into the game. I look down at pocket Queens. I'm in early position and Dave raises $15 on top. There are a couple of callers so I push all in and Dave is the only caller. He turns over As, 9s and cracks the ladies when he flops a 9 and turns an A. The other hand was also hold'em and I get Qc, 10c. The flop is 9d, Jd, Kh. I check and Dave bets $25 and I push all in with another $175 or so and he calls and flips over his two diamonds. Guess what, no diamond comes and I take it down.

Two "questionable" beats in one weekend!

Well, it definitely wasn't my weekend on the tournament front. Saturday I was playing in a $55 no limit hold'em tourney with re-buys through the first hour. After the re-buy period was over I got AA..... the blinds are $100/$200 and I raise $500 on top. I get one caller and the flop comes 6, 6, 7. I bet $700 and he basically pushes me all in. I call and he turns over the 5h, 6h.... and of course no additional Aces show up. Then on Sunday, $120 buy-in, I'm in the big blind and the flop comes Kh, 7d, 2d. I've got suited Ks, Js. The small blind bets $500 and I call (I knew then I should have pushed all in). At any rate, the next card is a brick and Rick bets $700, I re-raise all-in and he mumbles something about "you've got me, but I've got to call because of how much is in the pot".... he turns over Ad, 3d and of course catches the nut flush on the river. Life sucks. LOL.

But tonight is revenge! I'll post it tomorrow.