No Poker. Off to Denver for Dream Sports Weekend.

I have not played a hand of poker since returning home from the storm. I have actually been busy since returning and have not had a chance to review any hands.
I played 2 of the $340 events at Harrahs Tunica while I was there. The first had a field of 150 and I busted uneventfully w/ about 60 players left. I got lucky early on in this one to double to about 21k from the starting stack of 8k when I played QQ very fast from the small blind and found aces in the cutoff. This is the history. This middle age guy sits down 5 minutes into the tourney and gives the typical this is my first tourney speech. A line that was total bullshit b/c no one plays in there first tournament w/ a black leather WSOP jacket and a black cowboy hat that is about 8 sizes to big for there head. He was just an overall douchbag(one that tricked the hell out of me I might add). Anyway, he is playing really fast. He opens for a raise on the button and gets reraised by the small blind and calls. The flop comes king high and the sb checks and he bets(like 800). The sb checkraises allin for like 5500. Keep in mind the blinds are 50/100 in the 2nd level of the tourney w/ 8k starting chips. The douchbag calls allin w/ the quickness and proudly shows k7cc for top pair 7 kicker and no draw. The sb promptly reveals ak and proceeds to watch the dealer stick it in his ass w/ a 7 on the river. Nice.
So about ten minutes later the exact same scenerio plays out w/ the douchbag except this time he has Ace 3 off against ak on an ace high flop. He check calls the flop after calling a rasie preflop. He then check raises allin on the turn and gets called by AK. The guy w/ AK has top pair and nut flush draw. The douchbag hits the 3 on the river to bust him.
Now this guy has had inferior hands for an hour and built up about 26k in chips and he has to be due to pick up a real hand. Just so happens to be the time for me to do the same. Well I don't like rasing from the sb or bb against a field of limpers. I am in the big blind and 4 people limp in for 200 and I look at QQ. As I saw everyone limping I thought to myself, Self you'll probably pick up a big hand. I make it 1400 more to attempt to thin the field. It worked except the douchbag w/ 26k in chips moves them all in the pot. This is almost always a fold for me this early as I have 11k in chips and I really do not need to play for all my chips, but then part of me really couldn't understand why or what anyone would limp from the cutoff w/ 3 limpers in front of him and then do that with. Did he think I was making a move from the blind against all the weak limpers? I was too curious to fold and given his history I just could see him flipping to 6's over after I fold to many times. So ofcourse I call and he proudly flips over his two Aces. OOPS. I flop the queen and double up. For the rest of this tournament I played as bad as humanly possible, chasing flush draws and stabbing at pots when I knew I shouldn't be. My last hand came when I moved over the top of a button raise who I figured to be weak from the sb w/ 88. My only miscalculation was that the bb had AK and this chick was not folding. She called and won the race. Oh well.

The next tournament was just torturne. It was the Monday b/f I came back. I dwindled my starting stack from 8k all the way down to 1400 in the first 40 minutes of the tournament. I don't know if anyone has ever felt this way, but 10 minutes into the tournament I was regretting signing up for it because I felt like I didn't want to be there. I am not sure if it was the hurricane shit going on or what, but I just wasn't into it on this morning. When I went down to 1400 I shipped it in the pot after one limper w/ A7hh figuring the sb who was very loose w/ his chips would call w/ any A,K,Q anything. He did w/ A3 and I doubled up. Before I knew it I was back to 7600 chips and 2 minutes b/f the break I pick up AA. 2 people limp and I am on the button. I raise to 950 at 100/200 and get one call from the big blind. The flop comes 953 w/ 2 spades. The blind checks to me and I bet 1200. He promptly check raises me to 3k as the break is starting. I count out my chips and tell him 5450 total. I'm allin. He snap calls. I said you have a set and he says no I just didn't believe you and reveals the almighty 77. He promptly his a 4 on the turn and a 6 on the river to give him a very nice stack going to the break. I got to go on a permanent break for that tournament. Shit happens.

I am hoping to get back to Shorty's next week, but first I have to deal w/ my big sports weekend. I am flying to Denver today to hook up w/ my cousin. He is picking me up at the airport and we are going straight to Boulder for the Colorado/West Virginia game. We are then going to the Diamondback/ Rockies game on Friday. Saturday we are going to have a day of drinking and eating as we watch college games all day. I am sure it will be split b/w my cousin's couch and a few sports bars around Denver. The weekend comes to an end Sunday as we are going to the Saints/Broncos game at Invesco field. I am super excited about this game as John Elway was my favorite QB growing up and the Broncos were my favorite team(except for the saints ofcourse). My friend Mason is coming on the trip also and when we are at football games together we tend to make crazy prop bets the whole time. It should be fun.
Matt got all the tickets ahead of time and we have excellent seats for all 3 games. I'll try to get some pics of the stadiums for all 3 of you reading. It should be fun.
Well I am at work and I still need to get out of here, pack, get a hair cut, and meet a friend for lunch. My flight is at 3; so getting all that done should be a challenge!
Lata

Harrah's Tunica

Just thought of this tidbit also. Anyone that is evacuted and will be for a while Harrah's Tunica has roomrates of $39 a night during the week and only $89 on Friday and Saturday. Farely cheap if you need a place to go and you want to play some poker.

I will be back when i get some time w/ some hands for you people to rip apart. Some I played well and some that I played like a moron.
Lata

In Tunica

Sorry for the delay folks. The internet has been a bit hard to get to recently.
I am currently in Tunica and have been here since getting the boot from the Beau at about 4am sunday.
As the site was updated by Bill I believe, I finished 18th in event number 2 at the Beau. It was a decent cash. It could have been really special, but I have still not learned how to win w/ AA when I get it allin preflop. A guy shipped it w/ kj off and I called w/ AA and the flop promptly came kk8. The turn was a jack and this guy said and I quote "wrap it up he's drawing dead" I do not think i have every wanted to hit a card so bad in my life. This guy did not even realize that I could beat him w/ one of the 2 aces. Go figure.
I played the 1st $500 event at the Beau which I believe had about 440 players. There is nothing that I remember eventful from that event except for the fact that I ran out of chips(busted) w/ around 90 players left.

I got to Tunica really expecting to have a decent amount of action. I was severely disappointed. I signed up for the nightly at the Goldstrike and gene was also in this tourney as well. There were only 44 others for the event. I chipped up early and then called a raise w/ JJ and saw a flop heads up. The flop was QJ6 I believe. The preflop rzr checks and I bet out. He ships it allin and I ofcourse call. He has QQ and my stack was crippled. I busted shortly b/f the break. These things happen and I was not upset in the least. I have been running well and if I have to take a beat like this i much rather it be in a tourney of this size.

I told myself and my wife that I would not play another tourney until Thursday when the events started at Harrah's. That lasted until Wednesday when I signed up for the bounty tourney at the horseshoe. It is a total of $130 to get in w/ 90 to the prize pool, 15 registration fee, and a $25 bounty for knocking out players. One super bounty was picked at random b/f the tourney started. This player gets $100 for his troubles and the player that knocks him out gets $125.
The Tourney director told me they get about 60 for this tourney (bullshit) so I signed up and went screw off for an hour or so. I came back to start the tourney and was less than thrilled to see 3 tables of 7. What the F**K. Do people not play poker anymore. Anyway you start w/ 2k in chips and I busted 1 player w/ a flush and take 70% of another players chips on the very first hand of the tourney. So this started nicely. I collected his bounty and got another shortly after. So I am sitting there w/ 7500 35 minutes into the tourney. The I set my sites on the super bounty and decide turn my attention toward him. He raises to 200 at 25/50 and I call on the button w/ 10 9 dd (which i woulda done anyway). The flop comes out 8d 7c 3c. Super Bounty bets out 600 and I settle on a call. I thought about pushing, but decided against it. The turn was a beautiful jd giving me the nut straight and a str8 flush draw. The SB bets out 900 and I put him in for his remaining 850. He calls and shows AKcc and hits his flush on the river. This would have given me a ridiculous chipstack and the $125 bounty giving me a profit of $70 on the tourney and freerolling w/ a huge stack. Oh well. We ended up playing to 5 handed and I lost 2 races for the chiplead and to knock out a player. We chopped after the blinds went to 500/100 w/ a 100 ante b/c since only 21 players started there were no chips in play. The biggest stack w/ 13k and i had right around 9. We chopped evenly for what amounted to be right around 2nd place money. Seemed like a no brainer.

I played even 1 at Harrahs today. $340 buyin w/ 8k in chips and an excellent structure. I was pleasently surprised. It got about 150 players and I was bounced around 60th or so. May play tommorow. I believe it is a $700 event. That is a bit strange I thought. We'll see.

I have not talked about many hands but I will try to do that later maybe. I had a few from the tourney at the beau, but this is already to long.
Goon I will try to do something about the color. I would hate to hurt your eyes.

I hope the 5 of you that read this are safe and dry from the storms. I will be in touch and hope that Ike stays away. I may be here through next Friday we will see.
Stay dry!

Shorty's Wednesday

The Tilted Texan and I made off on what is becoming it seems my weekly journey to Shortys on Wednesday. I believe I got in the game at about 3 pm and Tex was in the same game shortly after. This was the 3rd no limit game opened already as the room was pretty packed again.
The only real hand that comes to mind was the 2nd one that I was dealt.

I bought into the game for $400 and I am in the bigblind on my 2nd hand w/ 64ss. There is a player across from me that on my first hand loss $400 w/ top pair top kicker after slow playing it on the flop a waiting for everyone to catch up to him before he decided to put all of his money in. Well he rebuys for $300 and he prompty makes it $25 to go. One player calls and I decide to get things started right away and I call along w/ the one limper from under the gun. We see a flop of Js 6H 2d 4 handed. I check as do all 3 players behind me. The 4h peels off on the turn and there is no doubt in my mind that I have the best hand. I want to get as much action as possible and I am fairly certain that the idiot that raised is trying his little slowplay maneuver again. I decide to check eventhough I would normally lead out here. I think the reason is if I bet I could likely get called by at least 2 of the players and I could easily get counterfeited on the turn. I knew someone would bet the turn behind me and it would be easier to take the pot down with a checkraise in this spot or just go to the river with 1 opponent. The under the gun limper bet a very weak $25 and the preflop raiser just called. This confused me as I was sure that he would raise the turn no matter what. Well I was right and wrong about this. The other character folds and the action is on me. I decide to checkraise to $70 trying to get action from the preflop raiser. The utg bettor folds as exepected and the other guy decided it is time to make his move. He reraises to $215 more back to me and I start to count out my chips. I know that the only hand beating me is JJ, but this is a gamble I am gonna take most of the time. I call and ask if he has the set and he looks at me like I am crazy and says " No I have kings." He said it in a tone that there is no way he does not have best hand. He turned out to be right as the Kd hits the river and he drags the pot. He said he was sure I had ace jack. I said nice read sir.

These are the types of hands I have not been getting unlucky with over the past month or so. I played for only about 3.5 hours tonight and made that $300 back along w/ almost a full buyin profit to show for the trip. I really can't remember any hands along the way except for one where I made trip 10's on the turn after raising preflop. I busted the same guy from the earlier hand for his last $200 or so as he had already given most of his money away to others.

I will possibly be playing at Harrahs tonight at some point as my wife and I are going to the city for some kind of party tonight. I am not sure what to really classify this as. If I do play is will likely be the last session before Biloxi next week. I can't wait for that. I can not ever remember being so amped up about an event before.

A friend of mine Jerrard has started a blog also. We use to his local games and casinos probably 4-6 nights a week a few years ago. For varous reasons we both took breaks over the past year and a half. I have started playin a bit more and I believe he would like to follow suit. I am hoping that he starts playing a bit more as it gets lonely riding by yourself back and forth from time to time. His first post talks about how he got started. You can find it online at http://www.thehonestplayer.blogspot.com/ . I enjoyed reading it and thinking about the past. When I get some time I may talk about some of the same stories as I am sure we have quite a few.
The few people that read this I do welcome any thoughts that would make this more enjoyable to read.
Lata.

Fast Food Restaurants

I don't believe that I have many pet peeves, but stupid people are definitely the biggest one! I HATE stupid people. I don't know why they just annoy the ever living shit out of me. I do not think that people that work at fast food restaurants have ever been accused of being the sharpest tools in the toolbox, but it seems as if they are getting dumber than ever. I would bet that a few years ago they any given fast food joint would fuck up my order probably 3 out of 10 times. I would bet that now it seems like they fuck it up in someway at least 60% of the time. I may be just the 1 unlucky soul in this department, but I seriously doubt it. They don't even have to fuck up the order to show you how stupid they are. It really just shows in the questions they ask you when you order.
I have a quizno's by my house and I get a sandwich for lunch there at least 3 times a week. First of all, If I worked there and someone went there that often and ordered the same fucking thing every single time I probably would not even have to ask them what they want. Oh no, not these fucking idiots. This is an example of my normal exchange w/ the same woman every time I go there.
Dumb Idiot Bitch: What can I make for you today?
Me: I would like a regular oven roasted turkey w/ only extra cheddar cheese.
DIB: Would you like tomatoes on that?
Me: (very calmly) No thank you, Only cheddar cheese.
DIB: You don't even want mayonaise?
Me: No, I only want meat and cheese on the bread. I don't even want the little sprinkles ya'll put on the sandwiches. After that you can put it through the little toaster machine!
DIB: Ok sir no Problem. (At this point they make the sandwich and put the sprinkles half the time anyway.)

After a few moments, the sandwich comes out of the toaster and the same girl gets it and does one of two things. This is every single time I might add. She either takes it upon herself to just put lettuce on it or she says " You don't even want lettuce on your sandwich?"
When she goes w/ option one I really get aggravated b/c she tries to start picking it off and says would you like me to make you another one? I usually say yes just so she can start to be as aggravated as I now am. If she goes with option two, I usually say something to the effect of " Does only meat and cheese include lettuce?" She replies very seriously and not sarcastic (as far as I can tell) No I guess it doesn't.
She then wraps up my sandwich and rings it up.
This is the strangest part. I get this same sandwich and a Gatorade every time 3 days a week. I swear that my total has not come out to be the same amount 2 times in a row ever. It totally amazes me.

Anyway I am curious if anyone else feels the same way as this absolutely annoys the shit out of me. I go through this every single time I go there. I really would love to not go there b/c I feel like I get dumber every time I walk in, but it is right by my house and I really do not like Subway.
Nothing poker related for today. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Any comments regarding this would be welcomed if anyone happens to read this. Am I just the stupid one? Maybe so.
Take care!

Wednesday @ Shorty's

First off I wish Shortys was closer to my house although I am sure my wife would not like it so much. I do like the fact that they have raised the cap on the 5-5 nl game which was 300 or half the biggest stack. They actually did even better than changing it as they now have none at all. You can now buyin for the standard $500 which is the norm in most 5-5 games. This has really helped the action as the 5-10 game is not killing all the action in the room anymore. No one seemed to understand why the game sucked when everyone is buying into a 5-10 game w/ $200 or $300.
I was down early as I was not connecting w/ any flops and if I did connect it just was not quite good enough. I was down to about 200 left in front of me and I looked down at Q10dd and decided to make it 25 to go. I was looking to just play a hand really as 90% of the time I will just see a flop w/ this holding at Shorty's b/c raises really do nothing but create a big pot. I was ok w/ this in this case as I was looking to gamble a bit. So I make it 25 and Big Mike ask me if I realized the straddle was on. Oops, I sure did not sir. So we promptly see a flop 7 handed I believe for $25. Flop is: 10s 6d 4d. I would say that will work. It checks to me and I lead out for $65 trying to get some action for the rest of my money. It folds to a guy from Houma named Jaime who for whatever reason never seems to believe I have a hand. He checkraises me allin. Ok, I call. The turn is a diamond and the river is an 8. I reveal my hand and he studies it and says " Nice catch Davey" and shows 10-8 off suit. I had to point out to him that I did not need to catch anything b/c he had already started congratulating himself on a good call b/c he said he put me on over cards or a flush draw. I had to let him no (in a nice way ofcourse) that I would never have led into 6 people w/ just 2 over cards. I think he understood but who knows. Anyway, that pot moved me back to even and the rest of the night went well.
One funny thing b/f mentioning a few hands, Mike was down to about $70 bucks when he called the floor over for more chips. The floor guy (Shaun) tells the dealer $500 behind. This would mean that Mike's money is in play for the hand. Mike objects and tells him that he will wait for it to get here. I ofcourse open my mouth and tell him that I hope he flops top set against a hand and makes only $70. Oops!!! He sees a flop w/ 99 and the flop comes K 9 4. Bahahahahaa. The preflop raiser leads out for $40 and Mike puts the rest of his chips in. The guy calls and then Mike turns the 4th 9. The preflop raiser had KQ and was going no where no how if you know what I mean. I laughed my ass off for about 20 minutes as did Shaun when I naturally informed him about what happened. Mike took it well as it was ofcourse better than losing the hand.

A few hands I remember:
I had AA utg and I limp in. I swear this is the first time I do this in probably 6 months as the limp reraise hear normally kills your action if someone does raise. I just decided to change it up if you will. About 4 people limp to Jaime from earlier as he is on the button and he makes it $30 more. I actually contemplated calling and just playing very cautiously, but I notice every single player getting there $30 ready to go. I make it $105 total and it folds to Jaime. He announces allin and has me covered. I had right around $500. I was fortunate to say the least as he had KK and I turn an ace to end that. A little side note as the stacks were being counted down Tim H. says to the dealer to mess w/ me: Dealer you forgot to burn a card. I looked at him and then down. I said "as long as the turn card stays you can burn as many as you want." We had a cheap laugh and went on to the next hand.
I had AA one other time and just made it $20 from early position. We see a flop 7 handed again (YES 7 HANDED). Needless to say I am not gonna get crazy. Flop 10 8 4 w/ 2 clubs. Not a bad flop. I Lead for only $45 as I feel I can find out the same info as if I bet $80 and I want to control the pot as much as possible. I get 2 calls and we see an 8 on the turn. I liked that card as the str8 draw nor the flush draw hit. I bet $85 here and get one call from the blind who had flush draw stamped right across his head. The river bricks and he checks. I didn't even consider betting and show AA and put a few ones on my cards for the dealer b/f he even shows/mucks his cards. After I get the pot this little prick on the side of me says: hey did you forget the dealer." I almost slapped him as even if I wanted to forget the dealer it was none of his fucking business. I said "I am not sure why don't you ask her for me." He actually does which surprised me and I like the dealers reply. She says " Yes honey he got me before I shipped him the pot." He felt dumb and was quiet for the rest of the night.
I called off about $150 on a flopped str8 flush draw which I didn't hit and I did not feel the need to bluff on the river. Good thing b/c it would not have worked as the guy would never have fold his top pair jack kicker.
I did make one decent lay down which saved me a bit of money. I call a $25 preflop raise from late position from a player that plays a lot of hands, but he really doesn't get out of control. Most people think that he does b/c he just seems to be in a lot of pots. We see a flop 3 handed of 10 8 5 w/ 1 spade. I check along w/ the other guy and Pf Rzr bets $40. I call as I want to see his action on the turn and the other guy folds. The turn is a 3 which is no help to me. I check and he bets $100. I look at his stack and he had like $220 left. I really believe that if I call this 100 and he bets again on the river it would be a tough fold as not much will have changed. If he has me beat already w/ an over pair he is certainly gonna bet and if he is bluffing he is definitely gonna bet and I will have to call off $200 to win the pot w/ top pair. I really do not love doing this when I am this unsure. I tell him that I am gonna give him the pot and if he really had a hand he just got unlucky b/c not many people at this table are gonna fold this hand. He asks to see my hand and I said I would if he showed me his. He showed me a set of 10's and I revealed ace 10 to him. He agreed that not many at the table fold there and he drags his pot.
It feels good to make a laydown at the right time every now and then as opposed to my laydown w/ the flush a week or so ago in which I made a terrible lay down. This one was not that great but it definitely save me a hundred bucks or so.
That is all I have for now. I am not gonna get to play this weekend as I am looking forward to spending time w/ my wife and daughter as we are going to Houston for my Brother in laws graduation from Chiropractor school. It should be fun.
Lata

Nice night online and Summer Olympics

Just a quick update. I have not been doing much lately except watching the olympics. I think I am actually hooked on them. I came home today and started watching a handball match or game. I have no idea what it is called. Anyway. it looks kind of like a basketball court w/ soccer goals at the end and noone can go inside what looks like a 3 point line except the goalie. It was crazy, but I still watched. I also watched water polo. This sport is very boring. My favorites so far is swimming and beach volleyball. This Michael Phelps guy is an absolute freak. I do not think he can lose and the relay tonight they nearly lapped the field. Watched a special on him today and they said he eats 8000 calories a day. I have been on a meal plan eating 3000 a day and it is hard to do sometimes. I could not imagine doing this in a healthy fashion. I am more impressed w/ this than his swimming I believe.

While watching tonight I played a few sng's. I played 3 to be exact. 1 single table in which I was the first to bust. 1 two table in which I finished 3rd for a nice little profit. I also played a 45 man sng in which I won. This was easily the most ridiculous sng I have ever seen. There was hideous beat after beat for about 40 minutes for everyone at the table. It became almost predictable.

I am getting anxious for the end of the month to get here. I am really looking forward to going to Biloxi for 6 straight days(at least). I am excited to play a lot of tournament poker w/ a few cash games mixed in. More to come on this as it gets close.

Tommorow is Wednesday and this means I will be leaving work early to go to Shorty's. I hope it is as nice as it has been. I will try to pay more attention to any interesting key hands so I can talk about them.