Finally Some Poker & Sesame Street

So I finally played poker, but I wish I hadn't. I'll get to that in a bit.

Sunday, I had the priveledge of bringing my wife and daughter to the New Orleans arena. Were the Hornets playing? Nope. Sesame Street and Elmo were in town & my wife just new that my 10 month old daughter would love to see it. I am still not convinced whether or not that was an excuse b/c she wanted to see it or not. Anyway it was fun watching her reaction when we could actually get her to pay attention. She seemed more entertained by watching and laughing at the people behind us. Other than watching her laugh and enjoy the show, I would have obviously rather have been watching the Saints play the Chargers. If I could not do that I would rather have been shoving pencils in my eyes than having to watch Big Bird run around a fucking stage!

So I read Monkey's latest blog and I have to say that I think it is pretty shitty that they have not let him back in yet. Not only have they not let him back in but it does not seem like that will happen anytime soon. It is hard for me to have much of an opinion on the matter b/c I do not know him or the people that are pulling the strings at the Beau. I will say this though. The little that I do know about him, I think it is obvious that people either like him or really hate him. I have not talked to him or played with him enough to have an opinion. I can tell you that I can easily see how people do not like him. I have played in a few tourneys w/ him at the same table, been in the vacinity of him at various times in different poker rooms and even talked to him when he was checking into his hotel in Tunica and this much I know. Every single one of those times he has been either arguing w/ someone or giving someone shit about something. I am not saying that this makes him a bad person or that I would not like him if I got to know him. God knows I am a smart ass that fucks w/ everyone. Then there is this, In the last two years at 2 different casinos in the last 2 years(before any of this latest shit went down) I just happened to be around the floor staff of the casino I was at(once Harrahs & once the Beau) and Will walked in. At the time I had no idea who he was, I just recognized him as a guy I had seen around a few times. I had never talked to him or played with him at the time these two things happened. Each time the conversation was identical from the floor staff. One of them was saying how much shit he started and the other was saying how it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid enough or harsh enough to where they could kick him out of the poker room. Whether it be forever or for a specific period of time I have no idea and don't really care. My opinion is this:
Do I think Will is a cheater at poker or anything else for that matter? No I don't. He is brutally honest in his blog about everything. A lot more so than most people are.
I think is personality brings these situations on a lot more for him than for others just b/c he is so confrontational and rubs so many the wrong way. Again, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with it. It just seems to me that shit happens to him that just doesn't happen to other people. I mean the guy got accused of hacking peoples accounts online, duped out of sending someone money in another country, and got a lifetime ban from an entire list of casino properties! That is like getting struck by lightning 3 times. That kind of shit just doesn't happen to people, does it? Does he just have the worse luck in the history of life? It seems so.
I actually think that Jonny Grooms or someone was looking for a reason to stick it to him and they finally got there chance. Do I think it is just and deserved? Hell no. I hope that he gets it worked out soon. I just hope that if he does he keeps himself a little more under the radar for his ownsake. Good luck Will.

So I said that I finally played poker and wish I hadn't. I made it over to Shorty's last Wednesday and got into a game very quickly. The only way I could talk about this night would be to talk about shitty hand after hand. I believe that I had 5 or 6 sets flopped on me when I held an overpair and I doubled up shorter stacks. Once when I was fairly deep w/ KK against QQ on a Q high board. and Once w/ KK when QQ made broadway on the river. Oh well that shit happens all the time to everyone and I am not gonna bitch about it. It happens and you have to roll w/ it.
This is the hand that flusters me a bit though and I don't know if I should classify it as a bad beat or the right play w/ the wrong result. You be the judge. I thought I had played it pretty well.
This hand was a week ago so I will do my best to be accurate. I am down about 1300 on the night b/w the two tables I have been at and I am ready to gamble a bit more than normal.
I have ace/3 offsuit w/ the ace of clubs and I call a late position raise from truckdriver Alan(anyone that plays at shortys knows who I'm talking about). I believe he made it 25 or 30 and I call as does Mike O who had limped in from early position. I believe Mike is a decent player who will gamble but doesn't get out of line much. More importantly he knows that I don't get frisky all that often. We see the flop 3 handed and it is: AdKc2c. I flop top pair which I think may be good, but I want to see what develops and for the time being I want to control the size of the pot.

I check and Mike bets $40 and Alan calls the $40( I am thinkin at this point he has a bad ace or JJ QQ 1010. I thought about checkraising, but decided that I would call and then lead out on the turn(especially if it was a club b/c I knew Mike did not have the nut draw, but would lead w/ anyother one). The turn is the 10c and the flush is completed & I decide that I just made a flush! Or atleast I would treat is as such. There is roughly $195 in the pot and I was going after this one. I bet out $150 and Mike goes into the tank. I knew he could not call this bet from me w/out a monster. He folds and Alan calls after about 10 seconds. At this point I really thought he had a hand like AJ or A9 and I would have to fire on the river to get him to fold his hand if I didn't hit the club on the river. The river card is the Jd and I stick the rest of my stack in which was about $280. Alan calls and shows two red queens for the rivered straight! How the fuck does he make that call on the turn w/ the 2 overcards and the flush hitting. I know he is loose but I would not classify him as stupid. Now I am not sure. I thought I had played and thought the hand out pretty well. Thoughts? I guess not well enough. After the hand I was stuck somewhere in the neighborhood of 1600 or so and decided I needed a break. I wandered into the pits(big no no and lately I have been good about it, but that kind of set me off a bit) I managed to get all my money back and get off the bj table dead ass even. Then like a dumbfuck I go back to the poker room and lose another $400 and leave stuck that for the night. It still seemed like a win.

I will probably go to Shortys tommorow and I am leaning on going to the IP Sunday. If anyone wants to roll out w/ me give me a holla if you read this. Especially you Ray. We need to get together and bullshit a bit!

Take it easy

Still No Poker

I have not had much to write about lately. I have not played a hand of live poker since leaving Tunica between Gustav and Ike. I am hoping to go to Shortys Wednesday to put in a session and get back in the swing of things.

All I have done lately is watch football and bet on football. I have been doing surprisingly well on that front, but I need to slow myself down or I will be in for a beating sooner or later. I went to the saints/49ers game last week, and will also be in the dome Monday night for the Vikings game. I am hoping to get out of the office early to take part in all of the pregame tailgating.

Maybe I'll write something about the game tommorow and hopefully I'll beable to play this week.
Till then lata.

Denver Sports Weekend Continued

When we left off we were talking about the Thursday Night CU game.
After the game we went to a sports bar for a few beers and a burger. We called it a night pretty early b/c it was gonna be a long weekend. We got up Friday morning and sort of did the tourist thing. We went check out Red Rock which is this pretty cool outdoor theatre that Dave Matthews Band and tons of other people perform at. It is right at the foot of the mountains and is a very nice place. Next, we had lunch in Golden, Co which is home to Coor Beer. The tour of the Brewery is suppose to be pretty cool. The fact that you get to drink free beer is pretty cool in my opinion, but the tour pretty much sucked. One cool thing about it is this. Anyone that lives there(and it is a college town) can go to the Pub at the brewery and have 3 free beers every single day. There were college kids that would go do homework or just play cards and get there beer. There is also a tap in the cafeteria so that employees can just grab a beer during lunch.
This is the funniest to me: They have a wellness center for employees to workout and run on treadmills. It contains another beer tap. You guessed it, jump on the treadmill for 20 minutes and cool off w/ a beer.
Friday night we went to the Rockies game. The first thing that struck me as odd was that you can and are encouraged to bring in any type of food or drink you would like to the game. There were families bringing in Subway and McDonald's to the stadium. This would never happen at the Superdome in New Orleans. The game was good. The Rockies won 3-2 and the D-backs had a chance in the 9th. We saw 2 interesting things. The first was a race in between innings where the guy running from left field to first base fell to the ground like he'd been shot by a sniper. He grabbed his hamstring and was limping off the field in a manner that was very entertaining. He walked right by the full length of the Rockies dugout. I figured a trainer would check on him at some point, but this never happened. In fact, the Rockies players were imitating the guys limp and recreating it as the guy walked by. It was kinda fucked up b/c you could see how much pain he was in. The next was a 60 year old woman fighting over a t-shirt that was thrown into the stands b/w innings. She was fighting in the isle next to up w/ a guy in his mid 30's. She was hanging over his shoulder and couldn't see who the person was. He kinda flung her over his shoulder and she flew down like 2 steps and smoked her head on a chair and then the concrete step. She was bleeding from the head and out of her ear! The emergency staff came to attend to her and carried her out on the stretcher. As she was leaving the guy that threw her down did give her the shirt as he felt like shit.

That is enough for now. Maybe I will post the rest of the trip this afternoon regarding the saints game. I may even touch on all this shit going on w/ Monkey and Jon Little. That is a very fucked up situation. You can find info on in at www.gulfcoastpoker.net if you haven't seen about it yet.
Lata

The Best Sports Trip to Date Part 1

So in my last entry, I talked about going on a dream sports weekend. It did not disappoint to say the least. It got kicked off in an exciting way that I didn't bargain for. This is the recap in the best way I know how.
Thursday:
I left the office around 9 am as I had to pack and get all my shit together b/f my 3:15 flight leaving from New Orleans. For those that don't know I live about 50 minutes from New Orleans. After getting work squared away and all my errands completed I headed to New Orleans to meet a friend for lunch. It just so happens that he was at Harrah's so I headed to the parking garage and made it into the casino at about 12:35. I go find him in the poker room and he is sitting next to another friend of mine who we will call Jeff, who apparently didn't feel well enough to go to work on this beautiful Thursday afternoon. We decide to eat the very average buffet and catch up a little. He was in town because he was forced to evacuate Houston due to Hurricane Ike. After lunch we walk back to the poker room and I get my parking validated and tell Jeff and Brad later. Now the fun begins.
My brilliant ass decides to play a hand or 5 of blackjack before halling ass to the airport. It is 2:05 when I stand at a blackjack table to play a few hands. I just couldn't walk in a not place some sort of wager. So I play approximately 7 hands of blackjack and win $200. I am now on my way w/ what I thought was plenty of time. Not exactly. I soon realize the $200 might not have been worth it as I get stuck in traffic on I-10 trying to get to the airport. I fly through the airport traffic and bribe the shuttle driver to not pick anyone else up and get me to my gate. She obliges and leaves people in the parking lot waiting and gets me to my gate in about 4 minutes. I rush through security and make it onto the plane about 5 minutes before the plane takes off. When I land in Denver I realize that my belt is still on the conveyor belt in New Orleans since I took it off going through the metal detector.
We land in Denver about 20 minutes early and my cousin's friend Mason and I are picked up by My cousin Matt. We leave the airport on our way Boulder to watch the Thursday Night ESPN Game b/w West Virginia and Colorado. I thought we would be late based on all the times I have gone to LSU games. Well this is totally different. We drove straight onto campus and parked very close to the field right in front of what I believe was a dorm.
We make it into the game w/ time to spare. We grab a drink and a dog and get to seats right after kickoff.
Now for those that know me know that I bet on football from time to time. I felt like I had to bet on the game. I settled on Colorado +2.5 and the under 56.5. The emphasis on Colorado it was a bigger bet than the under. Well Colorado came out of the gates like wild fire as they score 2 touchdowns w/in the first 4 minutes of the game. WV promptly answers w/ a score and the game is 14-7 w/ 8 minutes left in the 1st qtr. Loving the under right?
This is the point where both offenses forgot what the object of the game was and both just stopped doing what was working for them for no apparent reason. The scored stayed the same going into the 3rd qtr when WV tied the game on the opening possesion. The game was very exciting as it went to overtime and saw WV's go ahead fg attempt bang off the upright and allow Colorado to win the game w/ a field goal of there own. Colorado escapes w/ a 17-14 win, and I escape w/ about a $800 victory myself! Very nice start to the trip if I do say so myself.
We get back to Denver and grab a burger and a beer b/f going to Matt's to get some sleep for Friday and the Rockies game...........More on that to come

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!