I'm only going to play poker Jan/Feb

There's a pattern emerging and reading this blog going back a few years makes it easy to see. Playing poker at the pink sky poker club in Janurary and winning has become the norm. This year the good fortune spread into February and I'd like to see that trend continue. The boys had the typical points system in place for the weekly tournament series where the winner gets 4 points and 4th place gets one point. With three wins and a 3rd in mid Jan and early Feb I found myself as the only other player with a chance to catch ole Bosey. He had a three week head start on me of course but I was in striking distance until Bosey sold his chips to my uncle late one night and he went on to steamroll the table with reckless abandon. Bosey got the points and my uncle got the dough and so I was out of the race for the points money. I wasn't too disappointed as his two month stretch brought me my biggest one night poker win outside of a casino. The story of that particular night is one I may have to tell you while concealing the names of the unfortunate losers for their protection from their wives. Lol. If you like reading....check out the Book Guys Podcast

Offline Poker

It's been a long week for us and we have nothing but questions. Since it's been a few weeks since I posted it seemed like the perfect occasion. As it turns out, the crackdown, as bad as it seems.....turned out to be positive EV. I hadn't been to the home game in nearly a year and I got a text from my cousin saying that there was a big game going down last Friday night that was 6x the usual buy in with no rebuys. I figured that since I rarely rebuy because I usually make the final table. Well, i did just that. Then lost with KK vs AA preflop. Made up for it at the losers table.

Long time gone. Jan is still good news.

Maybe it's not how much you play but the quality. I've got a few poker experiences to share real soon. I just wanted to get a post out before the end of Jan or I'd feel like a failure. I wanna tell you all about Blackhawk Colorado and the friday night game too. So sorry for the lame post, but I'll be back real soon.



Pauly follows poker

Big fan of Jan and the Leather Ass Award

What a year it's been! I'm ready to skip the next 11 months and ring in the new year again. Why ?? you ask. Well, it's because January is my all time best month of the year for poker play and this one topped them all. I don't know what it is about the month that produces the effect but at this point I have stopped wondering and started taking advantage. But let's take a look anyhow. What could it be? Perhaps it's just as simple as the fresh perspective that a new year allows you to view the world from. There are few distractions other than the cold and my job is at its slowest in Jan so that might be part of it. Maybe it's the cold, cloudless nights that January brings so we may again watch Orion the Hunter on his quest to slay all the beasts in the sky. I've made it a custom to look up at the stars on the way to a poker game as a way to ground myself, focus and ready my mind for battle on the felt. Maybe it's just the cold. I think the cold slows me down so I can play patient poker and pay attention to the others at the table. In the summer you have a thousand things to do and the heat in these parts can play tricks with your head. The heat makes you anxious and aggressive like a New Yorker in the Summer of 77'. While aggression at the poker table is a plus, it must be tempered with restraint or you may run the risk of a meltdown.

Going back to the days of ordering drinks on Paradise Poker back in 2004 I can recall that January depositing $50 and playing the lowest penny stakes cash NL Holdem tables. I ran that up to over $500 that month and so began the January run that continues to this day. Just last year I drove to Atlantic City and crashed in on the room of my cousin who goes each year in Jan for some kind of conference. Can you say "free room"? Well I cashed a $150 check from Full Tilt Poker at the bank right beside the Tropicana and then I walked in and sat down at a 1-2 NL table around 9pm. Space and time both dissolved like Alka Seltzer into the free flowing Vodka Red Bull as the night brought new players, dealers and waitresses. I emerged from the haze when my friends showed up beside the poker table with my suitcase and belongings. We had been kicked out of our room they said. I asked my cousin what had happened and they all laughed. "It's 2pm and we had to be out of the room at 11am", chided cousin Curtis. WTF trampled across my frontal lobe as I came to the realization that I had not so much as left my seat to use the bathroom in 15 hours. Casinos are evil constructions in so many ways. The friends gazed upon my chipstack with looks of incredulity as I counted off my winnings for the first time like Kenny Rogers tells you to.....when the dealn's done (1min 32sec). I had managed to parlay that $150 into well over $1200 during the course of the night.

I got the leather ass award that day and it stands as my longest and most profitable cash game session to date. On a side note...I saw a drunk guy fall down the escalator and his coat got caught in the teeth at the bottom and it was squeezing him so hard he started crying. The whole place fell silent under the cloud of confusion and chaos took over momentarily but I never left my seat even for that.

That brings us to this January. Our new Friday night poker venue is only a mile away and I've taken to riding my Go-Ped Scooter. I've now taken to riding it right up the ramp and into the storage building where we play while blasting Amy Winehouse( Rehab)on my mini Ipod speakers. It's a small game and we rarely have more than 6 people playing any given night but we have some interesting rules that guarantee a healthy prize pool. First off, there's the unlimited rebuys for the first three hours which guarantees that you won't be winning it all anytime soon. You can lose all your chips and then sit out as long as you like and then get back in right before the rebuys end. I've often taken a break from the game in just such a situation to regroup or grab a bite. So far we have only played winner take all and that makes sure that the winner gets a healthy reward. I came away from the month with two outright wins and one split where I came back from a 3.5 - 1 chip disadvantage to pull even and force Jack "the pigeon" to offer me a split. Even on that night after accepting the split I demanded that we sit aside $100 to play for heads up to determine a real winner and I took that match down in three hands. So i guess you could say I won three times. Cousin BJ "the freight train" took down the week where I was unable to attend and he came into last weeks game with an air of confidence. The first hand I was dealt pocket sevens and almost got it all in preflop against pocket eights and AQ but I folded only to see a 7 hit the turn and a 1st hand triple up was missed. Still, I felt good knowing that I had made the correct play preflop as I put "the pigeon"'s brother on a bigger pocket pair which he indeed had. I was the only one who didn't rebuy all night and despite Tonys best efforts and multiple rebuys he was unable to thwart "the steamroller" and I closed out January at 3am on the 31st with my biggest tournament win ever. Viva January!

It was a warm ride home on the scooter in 27 degree weather that night. Tonight the game is back on but it's Feb now so I look to be handing over the cash starting right away. Come n get it.

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Hide your poker money in a hollow book...........


Free Hollow Books

Weak Play makes me sick

Well, I did it. I played my favorite/lucky hand out of position against a bigger stack that I was certain had a big pair in the hole and when I hit my second pair on the river I failed to shove. I called. I won. But it was a weak weak play in a spot where I should have accumulated a ton of chips and coasted to a win. Instead I ended up second that night and it was all due to a lack of aggression. You really can't play a five man holdem tourney and play it like a MTT online. When you find a spot like Q8 sooted on a board of Q 9 5 2 8 and you really think the guy has a big pair and maybe even aces then you should take advantage. I failed. I'm reminding myself of it with this post so it does not happen again. Turns out that Douggy indeed had those aces and he remarked how he would have certainly called if I pushed. Live and learn and rebuy while you can.

Maybe I'd do better if I were reading more Otis

It took one rebuy and the UIEGA had no bearing

We had the best turnout so far for out new Friday homegame location just last night. Two uncles and a cousin. Wesley is a bull riding beach volleyball star. One hardened big time gambler named Jack. Two cops and yours truly. There was a yummy spread of pepperoni, cheese, crackers and Pony Miller.

The night started off with just me and my uncle Tony who owns the place getting in a few hands heads up before the rest of the crew decided to show up. Since he is an action junkie poker pigeon I figured it'd be a good spot to pick up some extra chips if I could pounce on one of his frequent bluffs. I won three or four straight pots and then Tony decided to bluff at a big pot on the river with a large overbet. He knows me as a guy who will lay down a hand to a big bet but in this case I had made Kings up. I just decided to call him down because there was a possible straight made on the river but I felt my two pair were the nuts. Tony proudly turned over his King for an actual real hand, but it was a loser. I shoulda raised.

The rest of the crew arrived and got seated late because the Bull Riders gal totaled her car only minutes before the scheduled shuffle up. He told her to ice her head and take some Tylenol and then proceeded to the game with a clear conscious. I admire his true dedication to the game and her understanding.


Gamblin Big Time Jack sat on my left to try and punish me all night but I stayed away from him and let him bust players for me while I picked up small pots and check called my way through the minefield. I made one all-in bet to wake everyone up when I picked up AKs in the BB and shoved against a table full of limpers and picked up enough dead money for a half hour of blinds. Pocket tens doubled me up against K10 on a flop of 2 7 10. I was check calling til the river then I pushed and got called by one of the uncles. I had the big stack early on and I ran into cousin BJs trip deuces. I felt like he was leading me down the primrose path the whole hand but two pair is a seductive mistress sometimes. Turns out my two pair consisted of my King, one on the board and two deuces on the board. Unfortunately, he had pockets deuces and he had rivered quads. Ouch. Not broke, but hurt bad. I never could recover from this blow and in 30 minutes I was broke and rebuying. Speaking of rebuys, Tony said his shoulder was sore from reaching into his back pocket. BJ suggested him moving his wallet to his front pockets for easy access. Turns out it would have been a good move b/c the rebuy bee stung him like Lionel Ritchie. All night long.

It wasn't long before the cops showed up..........bought in........and sat down. I love this country. Cops can't play card for shit you know and winning their money is a sweet joy. Just as quickly as the game got filled, it started to thin out. Finally the cops bring some good luck. I pick up Aces in the BB and it is limped around to me so I throw in a 3.5x BB raise and it folds around to Tony who calls and then Uncle Bil who re-raises. A great spot to be in for sure, but who wants two people drawing against your aces? Well, Tony never folds and Bill didn't have to call much more so it was three way action. Tony had Tens and Bill had Jacks and I had the winner when the board came all babies and a queen. Whoo hoo. I'm back in the saddle again. BJs chips had been dwindling since he was cursed with quads. Wesley, the Bull Rider had been up and down. You have to watch Wes cause he will call your ass with the ace high if he thinks its good.

This post is taking too long to finish and I have not had a comment on this site in nearly two years so I wonder if it's just sitting out here dying. How bad can it be if you are linked to Paulys site? Anyhow.... Bill did not recover and ended up getting busted by me with top two vs his top pair. BJ slowly died and disappeared. It wasn't long before the men in blue were deep in the red. I think Wesley open folded 5-6 hands during the evening so you can guess where he ended up. Jack the Big Time Hollywood gambler had busted twice already and was given directions to the Food Lion so he could get a pack of gum with his debit card and get cash back. That's an ATM here in the country we say. Hard to blame him though b/c the kitty had grown into a Lion with three hours of rebuys, booze and smoke. With a healthy double buyin price of $40 we had pumped it up to nearly 8 Hundy by Midnight.

Jack came back and started pounding away recklessly and soon had taken over the chip lead with some real power poker play. I had built back up to second place and about now Jack started asking me if I wanted to split it is it came down to us. He was offering $200 for me to go away. I had $80 invested and I turned him down countless times over the next hour. And then there were two. Jack and I have been heads up before and I think I have the advantage against him. At a full table he has the ability to pick up chips and avoid trouble but heads up I have his number and I kept telling him so. "$200 is an insult and I'm going to get all your chips and take the whole thing!"

WHAM! BAM! and a few hands later we played a big one and I won a pot equivalent to 5 buyins. After I raked in these chips it looked like my stack had taken over the lead and along came the request to split it 50-50. I felt like I was dialed in and was going to win if we kept playing but it was after 1am and everyone else had left so I agreed to the split with one exception. I wanted to take $100 and sit it aside for us to play for so we could have a real winner. We each got 10 chips and played a turbo SNG for the $100. The first hand Jack limped in and I pushed with K3 and he folded. Next hand I had A3 and pushed again on the button after calling and he folded again. Now I had 14 chips to his 6 and on the third hand I got the rest with one little pair. Giggidty.
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If you are bored this week, why not go out and watch the Space Station fly over with the Space Shuttle in tow? You can see it with your naked eyes even if you have clothes on.



Maybe you actually like Poker? Then go read from Grubby a bit.


thanks for reading

Winter means two things, firewood and poker

Winter brings us the dreary darkness that hits you when you open the office door at 5pm to see dusk approaching. The though of getting home in the dark and making dinner and doing the kids homework and cleaning up and its already dark already. What gives with that anyways? I say Kill Daylight Savings Time There. It's not natural and people hate it. I took a scientific poll today and the mail carrier agrees. It sucks. But with the darkness comes the inevitable onslaught of cabin feverized wallet spillage to the felt. Let's just say that Fridays nights are heating up in more ways than one. Hunting and Football can only sustain a mans attention to a degree. And for those reading here, perhaps you are the same as I and could gladly do without both. Give me some chips and the tallest chair with a 12pk of bottles and it's cards in the air. But if you want to have a poker game with a broad spectrum of guests you can anticipate 40% of them are still smokers so what do you do? Hey, if you smoke in your house then it probably already stinks to high heaven so let the boys have at it. But that's not good for anyone I know. Therefore some take to the garage or the basement even. Others have ungodly sized storage buildings rivaling most single family homes with two dance floors and a bar. But whether you have 50sq ft or 1000, I'd says that it's the year of the wood fired winter. Energy prices are up and the enconomy is in the shitter. I say fight back with free firewood and supplement your income with some tight aggressive play in the months to come.

I've never cut so many trees or chopped so much wood or stacked so much of it so high before in my life. It's great exercise and I'm sore from it. Have you ever split logs wearing crocs? Well, then you're an idiot. My old man is supposed to be designing and building me a small wood stove from some sorta pipe so I can keep my workshop warm this winter. He's a kickass welder and im sure it will be one of a kind and innovative. I'll post pics if it ever gets built. But I was thinking of having a poker game of my own in the workshop a time or two this season if I can swing enough willing attendees. I need to clean out a ton of junk too, but I digress.

That's a post. Bout time. Thanks for sticking with me folks.


The WSOP final two have been determined. Are you going to be following Pauly on twitter?

Tao Poker on Twitter

Well, it's kinda like poker...

Turns out I'm better at poker than race pools. After a weekend at the Bristol NASCAR race I'm out $50 in various race pools and money laundering scams designed by drunken sunburned Bud Light drinkers. Give me $10........Hey, gimmie $5. I quit asking what the money was for. My tickets were free and I had a place to stay so I felt like I was ahead on the deal. I even quit asking what the money was for. I never won and didnt even get a chance to get excited about the though of winning because nobody bothered to tell me what drivers I even had. About 3 hrs sleep in 2 1/2 days ain't much. Good to be home enjoying a dust and exhaust free environment.

Looks like my old poker game is falling apart. The old regulars are still going every Friday but I have not been there in months and months. 37 miles is a long way to drive back from at 2 or 3am anyhow. Were putting together a game for the winter right up the street at my uncles house. Only one mile away. We have some nice felt topped tables being fabd up now and we have only to wait for the sun to start tracking a bit lower and for some leaves to fall. Did I mention that the yellow bus will start hauling off all the children each weekday starting this Tuesday? I just got excited.

UB Scandal

Full Tilt Poker for being such a great non-cheater filled website like Ultimate Bet and their poster bad boy apologist Phil Helmuth. But I digress.

Since the last time, I've won the homegame twice playing PL Omaha. Drove to Atlantic City in Jan and hit it big.

And what's with all these people on podcasts saying shit like...." let's get right into it". A hackneyed turn that only reminds me of their lack of fervor for the project. At least fake it.

btw some of my favs........ www.bol.cnet.com www.fivehundybymidnight.com www.noagenda.mevio.com www.tech5.com www.tikibar.tv.com

Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players

(the New King of Omaha)

Toby asked me last night at the old Pink Sky Poker Club...."What happened to the Blog man?". We were at the final table sitting side by side and it was down to 5 players. My personal best finish at Omaha since bringing the game to the basement 2 years ago was my non-cashing 4th place finish last week. I guess that finish was good enough for 1 point on the leader board but not much else. Seeing as how I was already invested x3 buy ins and had somehow survived the typical omaha outdraws and suckouts I felt pretty lucky to still have a chair at 10pm with a chance to get back some of that hard earned dough. I promised Toby 3 paragraphs if I was to win. Well......



Last week I had my best Omaha finish and I felt like I played poorly. I laid down trips twice when I felt they might have been good and I promised myself that no matter what, I was not folding trips all night, even if they were deuces no matter how scary the board looked or how much they bet. Perhaps not a sound rational strategy, but a strategy nonetheless. I was sticking to it and it was working. I made a few boats that got me some chips to play with after nursing the short stack all night. I even got those trip deuces at about 10:45, sat on them quietly, and I called down a bet and a raise and fat lipped the top two pair on an innocuous board of A K 9 7 2. That hand gave me some elbow room to see a few flops. I made some small bets into medium sized pots that nobody took interest in and soon enough I was in 2nd chip position behind the Omaha King Toby himself. It was down to me, Toby, Jimmy, Eddie, Ronnie and Johnny. Seeing how I was the only one without a name ending in the (E) sound I was sure to be a shoe in for at least a cash finish.



Ronnie was short and got all in with the Hilton Sisters after I bet the pot with pocket aces on the button and he was gone to the cash game table. Eddie fell victim to runner runner and saw his own set of trips pummeled by the Omaha demons. I had Aces again in early position but raised them big hoping the fear of my big stack might push out some weak hands but Johhny decided to play and my aces were not good enough, but the lowly Q7 I had forgotten about on the other side of my hand made me two pair that beat his two pair and Johhny Buzz was pushing back his chair and gathering his shit. Last weeks winner vanquished. Toby was the next in line for an ass whoopin and he took it like a man. I don't even remember what I had but it was good enough. The final two. Jimmy was nearly out before and Johnny both when he called I put him all in preflop with two suited Kings and he made a luckbox boat with a 7 and a 4. He tripled up that hand but still, as we began heads up he made me an offer to split the pot which I never even considered. I was guaranteed 2nd place money but with a 31/2 - 1 chip lead I wanted to see a few hands. I folded, he folded. Then Jimmy got impatient and tried to move all in preflop in the dark but I made him drag some chips back because the pot wasn't big enough for him to push since we were playing Pot Limit. I looked down at two JJQ10 and almost put him all in anyhow but I was content to call and see a flop, hoping agaist hope for a bunch of little cards. I got my wish. Jimmy still hadn't looked at his hand. The board was something like 33 7 and I checked, he pushed and I Phil Helmuth instacalled showing the two Jakes. They held up and I won. The new King has been crowned. I think that's three.

Award Winning Salsa Recipe

Super Secret Salsa

1 box Pomi chopped tomatoes. Tomatoes in a box.

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3-4 fresh red tomatoes.

Any variety you like as long as they are ripe. Cut them into slices and then section them down to pinky finger tip sized bits. Save the juice ! Remove any white icky hard parts from near the core.
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Loads of Jalepeno Peppers

(I add a habanera too if I feel spicy). I cut mine up into small pieces half the size of a pencil eraser. I wear a latex/rubber glove on the hand that hold the peppers. I have waken up many night rubbing my eyes in my sleep only to wake up in agony and blindness.
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1 half bunch of fresh cilantro

(remove most of stems) chop well, but don't liquify it with the knife. Chop it up semi fine and leave it at that.
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2 yummy garlic cloves

crushed and chopped extra fine. Or use a garlic press if you have one and want your hands to stay stinky free. Me, I love the smell on my hands. I feel like that chick on SNL that smells her fingers all the time.
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then salt and pepper to taste. Lots of salt. Lots and lots. Salt is so plentiful and easy to mine, why not papmer yourself.



I use fresh cracked black pepper too and I'm not shy with it.
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just a few splashes of vinegar. I use white, or what ever I have. Don't matter.
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1 Tablespoon cumin. Q-min. I actually use like alot of this.

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1-2 Teaspoons of paprika or maybe a little more.



If you don't have paprika, you can substitute ground up cloves but it will taste totally weird.
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Mix it all up as you go and add the salt a pepper all along the process. Chill overnite for best taste.
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Other things I like to throw into the salsa now and then include.

* Black beans ( strained and rinsed )
* Crushed red pepper seed ( xtra heat )
* MSG



Mix up a batch and take to your poker game.

Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

Play poker at the only poker room online designed by the world’s best players

The Singularity Podcast

Do you have a Physics or Sceience question? What is a black hole? Can we travel back in time? What's a space elevator? How the hell did the Professor make a radio with coconuts and seashells? This guy will answer your emailed questions about anything. It's a great little podcast that explains some of the everyday questions about the world around you and changes the way you think about it. He's answered a few questions for me on the show and it's great experience to hear him think it through for you in an easily digestible manner. Face it, you're an idiot. This guy is smart. Let him do the talking then you can go around and tell all the people you work with how they didn't do diddly squat all day The SInGulariTy PoDcaSt


Let Craig explain it to you.

The Singularity Podcast
or don't even listen. Just email him some stupid question and I'll tell you when he answers it on the show. singularitypodcast@gmail.com

+++++++++UPDATE++++++++++

Hey, I edited this post just to let you know that Craig has let the show fall of the face of the earth. It sits dead on my ipod but were pals on Twitter if you wanna eavesdrop.

Bust his balls a a bit and maybe he'll push out a new episode just for you.

Here's the RSS Feed for you tech gurus.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SingularityPodcast

Jason Headley don't play poker

Jason Headley.com.

He's an author from WV living in SF. I mean.....does that have your attention?

Read his books and subscribe to his newsletter. Tell him you found him here and thanks for the beers.

Bringin Sexy Back to the poker table

It's been awhile kiddies, but I'm back. Did you miss me? Blogging is hard work. Just ask Iggy. People I know have been asking me what happened to the blog? Why don't you write anymore? I don't know. Why don't you start a blog I ask them. Then they lose interest in the subject. But hey, enough about that, let's talk poker.

Lately,I have not been playing in the Friday game as regularly as I used to. It started a few months back when we made a switch to No limit 7-Card Stud. Have you ever heard of such an idiotic game? It was horrific on so many levels and I just quit going to the game until they got done with it. You see, there's always a bigger tournament running alongside the weekly tournament. We pull a small portion of the weekly prize pool out and set it aside to be given to the overall points leader at the end of the big tournament. Here's how it works.

1st place = 4 pts 2nd place = 3 pts 3rd place = 2 pts 4th place = 1 pt

The points leader after 10 weeks takes it all.

The switch back to NL Holdem happened well over a month ago and since then I have made it to play three times. My first week back was interesting. My uncle and my cousin were there and we all three ended up at the final table. Since it was weeks and weeks ago I can't recall any of the hands for you, but suffice to say I was a juggernaut. I was knocking people out left and right all night and the final table was no different. My uncle was out in 4th and my cousin left in 3rd. The one non-family member was FNG Tony who was quite short-stacked when we started heads up. I think it took two hands heads up for my AQs to take out his lowly 83o. My first tourney win in over 10 months. It felt good.

But that ain't the end of the story. The very next week I showed up again to defend my title and pay for the pizza for everybody like the winner has traditionally done since the game began. It's $20 but some folks like Jack are just tightwads who only show up for the money in the first place and have no interest in parting with so much as a dime. The pizza was good but I donked off all my chips after starting off hot and building a decent stack. I had called ole Johhny Buzz earlier in the week to gloat over my win and he didn't seem to care that too much. Johnny used to be cool, but lately he has turned sour and grumpy. Turns out, I never should have let him borrow my copy of TJ Cloutiers Championship NL and PL Holdem book last year and he'd still be languishing at the losers table every week. Johhny waltzed in and won the tourney out of spite. Touche. That makes two wins for Johnny since the Holdem started back up again. As a side note, he never had to sit at the same table as me and that allowed him to play more aggressively. But maybe is I wasn't such a donk, I'd have seen him at the final table.

The following week I didn't play, instead opting for some family fun, but the poker brought me back to the table this past Friday and the sparks were flying from early on. The field was a bit on the short side this week and we only had 9 players all sitting at one table when I arrived my usual 20 minutes late(it's 30 miles each way from my house). Bosey pulled into the driveway a few minutes after me giving us 11 players. Eleven was enough to break into two shorthanded tables and that made me happy. I think that I have an edge with less players at the table because I read people well and I play aggressively. Most of the players like to limp alot so I can steal alot of blinds and antes in good position with marginal hands.

My table consisted of Jack "The Pigeon", Bosey, Toby, Food Lion and FNG Tony.
Unfortunately, I had T.J. aka "Food Lion" on my left and he likes to reraise me from that seat,trying to steal because he knows I will lay down alot of hands if I think I'm behind and out of position.

T.J. started with that bullshit right off the bat. Raising, stealing and mucking. I laid down QJ twice and KQ once to big overbet style raises and reraises but when I picked up A6 one off T.Js button I decided I was going to make a statement. I limped in following the lead of two other limpers, fully expecting T.J. to raise it. When he made it 4x the big blind and everyone else folded to me I pushed all in. He called quickly and showed JJ. I failed to improve and was left with just 180 chips. I know it was a bad move so early in a tournament but heck, I sent a message to the table that I couldn't be pushed around. Maybe I sent two messages, the other one being that I was a jackass who would go broke with no pair. I still had chips, but I went over to the other table and handed over my money for more chips because I anticipated going all in on the next hand so I could rebuy. Funny thing, I sat back down to play and the first hand I saw was the Brunson, Ten Deuce, but I mucked it in hopes of something slightly better before the blinds hit me.

The very next hand I got dealt KJs and I pushed in. There were two limpers before me and everyone behind me including the blinds folded. I got called by Tony who showed Q9d. King high won the pot and I tripled up. I now was back to nearly 600 in chips and I could afford to sit a few rounds and wait on a hand. I went back to Ronnie and got my rebuy $ back. Three or four hands later I got dealt my first pair of the night and it was a big one. Cowboys. But how to play them ? Slowly, I decided. Ok, playing slowly still means raising it preflop because not doing so would be asking for trouble. I raised 3.5x BB and hoped for a few callers. I got a few and then got a great flop. Q 3 8 three suited was about the best flop you could ask for. I was in early position, it was checked to me and I put in a 1/4 the pot bet and got two callers. The turn was a 5 and I felt confident enought about my overpair at this point to slow down and see where the power was. My check induced the button to take a stab at the pot and I flat called the bet which left only the two of us in the pot. The river paired the previous 5 and I led into the pot with a 1/2 pot sized bet and the button called quickly and turned over KQ. I showed down the Kings and took a big pot. Time to sit on my stack I thought.

I was catching lots of hell from the guys because I had brought an acrylic vegas style chip rack with me this night in anticipation of filling it with black chips. Everyone thought it was funny and that I was asking for bad luck just by merely bringing it. Now it was filled with chips and towers of blue chips surrounded it like night watchmen. The chip rack made for very efficient intimidation bets where you needed to cut off $5000 in a hurry for nasty check-raise or some bold-bluff-bravado.

Final Table

By the time we whittled ourselves down to the final table we had lost fan favorites such as Ed, Eddie, Jimmy, TJ, and alas....Johnny. I did my best to avoid confrontations at the beginning and caught a lucky break when the blinds jumped from $100 - $200 to $200 - $400 just as the button came to me. This blind level always induces panic and action but I had too much to lose so I waited. I folded hands like Q9 and K10 that I like to play but when I looked down and KJ offsuit I decided to play it for a limp. Bosey was on the button and he limped in too. A good flop came down... Kc 8d 3d. I made a 1/2 pot sized bet and the only caller I got was Bosey. He then turned over the Ace of Diamonds and I looked over at Boseys dwindling stack and put him all in. He called kinda fast and showed me A3 for two pair. Since he was dealing and didn't fancy any drama, Bosey turned the river card without delay. It was the Jack of Diamonds !! I spiked two pair on the river and thought I had won. I shouted out.........YES !!!! Then....... Oh shit !!! When I realized that my two pair didnt beat his two pair. But then Bosey exclaimed......."You lucky Mfer!!!" and I was confused. Apparently I didn't notice that I had the nut flush draw on the turn, but I hit it regardless. Dumb luck perhaps but I'll take any luck I can get. So long Bosey.

That was the hand that really iced it for me. If I hadn't drawn out I still would have had plenty of chips to mount a comeback but it would have been rough going. As it turns out, I cruised to the victory taking Tommy out heads up in two hands after he called off 2/3 of his chips chasing a flush that never came on hand one. Hand Two I just pushed all in with 55 and he called with A4 and didn't improve. I'm tied for 2nd in the points standing with two wins and a 4th for 9 points.

Rack Me ! Out.


I'm dedicating my win and this post to my Grandma whom I love dearly.


GUS HANSEN
watch this

Anyone for Backgammon ?

I don't have anything Pokery to write about these days. I don't play much online and my Friday night game has switched to PL 7 Card stud which I think is the most horrible idea ever. Nobody folds and I don't either so I quit going til they switch the game. I'd like to play Omaha HI/LO but I think I'd rather go swimming with Steve Irwin than watch Jimmy try to deal a hand of O8b and work out a 4 way 50% 25% 25% chop pot. Besides, I'd probably end up in a fist fight with a guy holding A2 on a board of A 2 3 7 8 because he thinks his A2 is the nut low. Trust me, I'll wait for Holdem to start again.

Check out this stuff til I find some cool stuff to write about. Not that anyone is reading this anyhow. You are probably reading Iggy .

I'd tell you to read Strange Cartoons but you wouldn't.

Vegas every Monday or so. Five Hundy By Midnight

Guba has free videos

Kids Game

My sister-in-law asked me to teach her 11 year old son to play poker last weekend. We were in the mountains of WV for a bit of R and R and she had bought a $5 poker set from Tar-Jay with the intention of me teaching him how to play. She figured it would be good for his math skills and he had been bugging her incessantly about it for weeks on end.

Saturday night came and we broke open the poker set and I cracked the fresh deck of cards and spent 15 minutes explaining the hand rankings to him. Apparently hand rankings are boring. But I made him pay attention and I quizzed him before I'd even deal the first hand. Once he had a decent grasp of what beats what I dealt a hand of 5 card draw and took him down like Phil Ivey with Ace High. I dealt a few more hands and he was getting confused but having fun. He kept looking at the metal box with the poker chips in it. "When do we get chips ?", he asked. "Not yet!" I exclaimed. 5 more hands and then I pulled out some chips. 10 for each of us. We each anted one chip and we played limit with 3 raises. it took about 4 hands for him to go broke but he wanted to keep playing.

We got some big stacks of the cheap feeling plastic chips and I proceeded to explain Texas Holdem to the boy. At first he didn't understand the flop, turn and river at all. The idea of betting on each street was lost on him entirely. I wasn't even looking at my cards, just his face. I could tell if he had a crap hand and I'd wait til the river and bet. He'd fold. At least he was smart enough to know he was beat. I had almost 75% of the chips and the women were calling us to dinner so we hurried. I went all in preflop with the J 10 of spades on the next hand and he called (pushing his chips into the center like Phil H.) with Q 8 of hearts (my dads lucky hand). When I saw the sooted Q8 I knew I was dead. For sure. The little bugger flopped a flush and now he didn't want to stop playing because he had chips now.

We played a few more hands with not much action. The kid was tightening up on me. He had changed gears. He's been playing poker for 30 minutes and already he has more patience than me. Dinner was getting cold because we were in the mountains of WV and it was 25 degrees cooler than back home. I wanted to end this poker lesson. I looked down at Kc 2c and decided it was favored of one other random hand and I pushed. The kid did the same Helmuth chip push and called showing two red Kings. So much for that. That was fun. I needed a The Demon Drink.


Say goodbye to Card Club


Get Iggy with it


Pauly's at the WSOP and you ain't

Typical Bust Out Last Week

I raise. Johnny Calls.

The End

Toby is a lucky ass

Last Friday was a mixed bag. I was out of the Holdem Tourney before the final table because I suck at tournament poker apparently. My KK,66,33,88 and 1010 made me nothing and the KK actually lost me a big pot when Tommy flopped two pair on me and nearly broke me. Bosey finished me off when I was short stacked and It was losers table time :)

There were five of us playing dealers choice which means 7-27 when Jimmy deals, Follow the Unelected Queen when I deal, PL Omaha When Ronnie Deals and a you never know whats coming when Jason F. or Big Mike has the deck in front of them. I only lost one $20 buyin in the Holdem Tourney so I still had a nice chunk of change for the sidegame and I bought in for $60 to start. Jimmy started us off with 7-27 as usual and he dealt himself a 7 which seems to happen all too often, but I won the high hand with 27 so I didn't mind so much. Stack now over $80.

I stayed out of trouble and avoided big pots for awhile until we played some PL Holdem dealt by a new addition to the table, Jack F. my former poker nemesis. I got dealt the ugliest hand I could imagine, J 7 offsuit in middle position. There were only antes and no blinds so I saw a free flop with it and what a flop it was. 7 7 7, the slot machine. It is checked to me and I check it of course. Jimmy makes a bet on my left and everyone calls back to me and I raise it. Were only playing dollar bets this hand so I can't do too much damage or so I thought. Jimmy raises me back, "bump it" he says and everyone calls back to me and I just call this time. The turn is a great card, the ace of Hearts, putting a flush draw on the board for any idiot that wants to chase it and a losing FH for some other unlucky soul. It gets checked to me and I check it to Jimmy. Jimmy bets and everyone drops out of the hand except for Ronnie who calls. I see my chance to win a big pot and I raise it back to Jimmy again and he re-raises me yet again. Ronnie calls it quits and folds. I push Jimmy back for another dollar and he caps the bets for one more. The river was some awful card like a 5 or 6 (don't recall) and I make a bet into Jimmy and we end up capping the betting again. Jimmy turns over AA for Aces full of Sevens and I slow roll the quads with joy and a warm bubbling in my chest. That's what happens when you don't raise preflop with aces.

There were two other blog worthy hands that night. One was PL Omaha with Big Mike dealing three seats to my right. I got dealt 7c 8c Kh 8h. The flop was Ah 10h 6c giving me the nut flush draw, an open ended straight draw, a backdoor club flush draw and even a runner runner straight flush draw. Bets Bets folds folds calls calls later. The turn is another club and the river gives me the but flush when the 3h hits the felt. Ronnie bets $5 in a desperate steal attempt of a $40 pot and Chris raises it $10 more. I have the nuts so I am wondering just how much I can make with the hand. I lean over to Ronnie while peering at the board and ask him what the nuts were. He says if you got the Kh and another heart, you're golden. Ronnie folded his hand out of turn and that only left Chris in the pot so I asked Chris how much I'd have to bet to make him fold. He said, "whatever you want" beacuse he was calling. I thought..........COOL. I grabbed two twenty Dollar bills and tossed them in the pot. He called immediately and showed the 5h 6h for a weak flush and I felt bad about betting so much. Guess I'm too nice for poker.

It wouldn't be the Bad Beat BBQ without a hard luck story I guess so here goes. It's PL Omaha again and I get dealt Ad 9d Jc Qc. Of course all five players see the flop which looks good to me. A gutshot Royal Flush draw, back door club flush draw and an open ended straight draw to boot. Kd Jd 10c but I check it because I'm only on a draw. I was totally content to call the $5 opening bet when it came my turn and three others did as well. (pot $25). The turn was the Kc giving me the nuts with a broadway straight to the ace. It's checked to me and I take the oppoptunity to push a few players out, hoping to get just one caller. I toss out a half pot sized bet of $12 and Big Mike and Ronnie both call. The river is an awful card, the 10d, giving me the nut flush but pairing the board for anyone holding trips for a FH. I make a $15 feeler bet into the pot of $51 and Mike instantly raises me another $20. I only saw $5 in front of him and we were playing Table stakes poker so I wondered where the $20 bet idea came from. He pointed to his wallet which lay to the side of his few chips and a couple of dollar bills. I was a bit miffed because he had not pulled money from it until now and all of a sudden he wanted to go leather diving. With everyone else folded in disgust I got no backing whatsoever for my complaint. I called of course and he flips JJ for JJJ1010 FH and I went on minor tilit. I pulled $250 from my own wallet and spread the bills out for everyone to see. Next hand, who's deal is it ? NH btw Mikey, you suck ass :)

I gathered myself up and played tight for the next 2 hours and rebuilt my stack to where I took home $160 or so and I felt accomplished. No poker for a few weeks, the BBQ is moving and we got boxes to pack. I'll be whitewater rafting this weekend in WV so all you folks that pray, pray for me. All you that don't pray, send The Demon Drink $. It's gonna be a rockin good time yall. Anyone seen this movie Deliverance ? I can hear the twang coming from over that hilltop. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! You sure got a purdy mouth boy.

Back to Holdem

First off, Congrats to Johnny Buzz on taking down the tourney last week with a dominating performance. Johnny was busting people with any two cards he got dealt and there was no stopping him once he had 30,000 chips. I showed up knowing I was going to win it all because my wife predicted it but alas, I could not overcome the roll Johnny was on. I wound up with a deserving second. I played very well and avoided a few traps on the way but I only had 6500 chips heads up against Johnnys 30,000 + and it didn t take long for me to lose with the first good ace I was dealt. The blinds were up to $500 and $1000 and I took my shot and lost.

I am so glad to be back to Holdem again. I busted Tobys ass three times and watch him buy back in. By the third time I busted him out, he had finally shut up about being the Omaha King and busting me out last week early at the final table. So nice to let you play do the talking once in a while. I have begun to take the Friday game with a different approach. Less joking around and more focus. I sit stonefaced for long periods and the guys keep asking me if I am feeling ok. They can't get a read on me. I make the same size raises with whatever I hold and I'm not making huge overbets to discourage chasers. I am making strong bets in good position and hoping they chase me. I'm off this week but I'll be back on the 16th for some more action.


Listen to "The Circuit" Poker Podcast


Live Poker at the Bicycle Casino

Omaha Fatigue

I talked the guys at my homegame into switching to Omaha from Holdem for this last 10 weeks and boy am I sorry. I thought that it might give me some kind of edge having played thousands of hands online and knowing better than to call with weak hands and chase non nut draws. Someone forgot to tell everyone else how the game is played though. I have been getting killed by a table full of chasers and catchers for weeks on end. I think I'm ready to go back to Holdem or even No Limit Iron Cross like we played this past Friday at the losers table (talk about swings).

I did manage to clean up over $100 in the sidegames on Friday so it wasn't a total loss.

I hope the river is kind.

- (copyright Cincy Sean)

Charity Poker

$125 entry. Tax deductible. I flop top two pair my first hand after limping in one off the button and announce a raise when it comes to me with no action. The guy to my left says he's all in before I announce my raise ammount. I call over the tournament director to ask for a ruling. He says I can't punch the old guy and tells me I can just make the min raise. I do so. The guy then goes all in of course. Another guy calls across the table. I fold. The old guy had trips as I suspected. The caller had a flush draw and the old guy with trips wins it. I scowl at him and question his upbringing.

The very next hand I get deal Kings on the button and raise 3xbb. I get 2 callers including the deadman on my left. I flop my set and nobody bet til it comes to me. The board read K 9 5 rainbow. I bet half the pot and the old guy with the bad manners calls fromt he small blind. What did he call with preflop I wonder? The other guy folds. The turn is a deuce. Smelly old guy checks. I bet half the pot again. Half my chips are in the pot now. He calls. The turn is a 6. He checks. I go all in and he calls. He shows 7 8 of hearts. 56789. BBQd. I did not take it very well. But it was for charity right ?

anyhow. my best friend came in 5th out of 67 and won 4 rounds of golf at a swanky big city course with all the trimmings and snazzy GPS enabled carts. I better be invited.

Jacks or Better, Trips to Win

Ever play this game ? Jacks or Better, Trips to Win

Well I played a hand that blew me away. Usually this game can last a half hour or more waiting on someone to get the trips necessary to take down the pot. Not this time. Playing with a few friends one night last weekend I was dealt an amazing hand for this game. I scouped up my cards and fanned them out to reveal AAA99. The nut full house was in my hand. I had the jacks or better and I put in a raise before the flop since I could open. I was stunned to be reraised by Mr. Jason Fisher who shot me a curious glance. The other fella, Chris just called, but then I capped the raising and everyone was still in. I had already put Jason on a set of some kind and I was counting my money. Chris took three cards and then I stunned them both when I stood pat.

Then it started, Jason bet, Chris called, I raised, Jason reraised, Chris folded, I re-raised and Jason re-reraised. I knew he had the set and maybe he had made sme lucky FH and I was going to get paid off bigtime. I asked Jason at this pint if he wanted to make a sidebet for all the chips we had in front of us and he said he sure did. That was bigger than the pot. I dropped down my aces full of nines with pride and Jason smiled. I knew that smile. Guess what, someone hit thier one outer on my ass. His 666 became 6666 and I was blown away.

Talk about bad beats. This one BBQ'd your boy. It's not that I've never lost with a FH to quads before, but it the fact that I was dealt aces full n this game of all games where it takes forever for someone to even make trips to win and I get killed being dealt a cinch. Brutal.

Oh, I forgot to mention, when I fanned out the cards at the beginning, they were in perfect order as I spread them out. A........A.......A.......9..........9. That just made it all the more sickening.

I hope the river is more kind to you.

Saturday night special

Saturday night we played a big buyin tourney to cap off the NL Holdem we've been playing for a year now. Starting next week we are switching to PL Omaha for a ten week tournament and it can't come soon enough. NL Holdem is a suckers game designed to lower the skill level so that a monkey with a football can win buy pushing all in and getting lucky. Such was the case last night yet again. Let me set the scene.

Since the buying for this tourney was more than twice the usual ammount and it fell on a Saturday instead of the regular Friday night, we had a much smaller turnout. Only 9 poker players were in the room and we all crammed into one table for the night. We got 1500 chips instead of the normal 1000 and the blinds started at 20-40 with one hour levels. I pulled the queen of spades from the mound of cards and got to deal first. There was lots and lots of limping going on early and nobody wanted to get too involved becasue there were NO REBUYS in this event. I started building my stack with bold aggressive plays in good position and showed down a few nice hands in the process. I flopped trip sixes and took down a $1200 pot vs two other players who had both flopped top pair. I was rolling.

I had the big stack after the first hour but we had stil not lost any players just yet. On the button I dealt myself 6 8 offsuit and with three other players in the hand I turned and flopped 2 4 5. BJ was in the small blind and he put in a 1/2 pot bet and got two callers including me with my double gutshot straight draw. The turn came a 9 which left me with the same hand. BJ made a smallish bet and I put him on two unmatched high cards. I called. The river was the jackpot. A beautiful seven with no flush possiblities that gave me the rock solid nuts. BJ made yet another smallish bet and I took a moment and the raised the pot by about 1/2. Eventually BJ made a crying call and I showed down the nuts and took a nice pot of nearly $2ooo. I was now the monster chip leader and feeling pretty good about my chances. The stacks around the table were shrinking with the exception of Jimmy who was only playing good hands and avoiding trouble. Meanwhile, Jackie Fisher, the suckout king/queen who has been my longstanding poker nemesis had made some horrible plays and his stack was suffering to the tune of about $375. I was in the driver's seat.

I was dealing again and gave myself some ugly cards. 10c 3c. In the pot were Jack, Ronnie and myself. Everyone limped in and we saw a flop. Kc 8c 5h. Jack pushed on the flop for his last $275 and Ronnie called. I called too and planned to check it down, just hoping to make a flush and knock Jack out. I had no plans to put anymore $ in the pot and I put my head down and kept saying "check" "check". When the river still showed no club, Ronnie made a jackass play by betting $100 into an empty sidepot and I folded while chastising him for the horrible tournament poker play he had made. Jacks 9 9 held and he was back over $1000 chips again. Not good.

I am still the monster chip leader with nearly 6000 in chips. I took out cousin BJ with pocket aces and then sent Ronnie packing with top two pair. Uncle Bill was gone and Johnny Buzz ended his amazing final table run with a mediocre finish. We got down to three handed between Jack, Jimmy and myself. We were paying the lions share to 1st and the buyin was returned to second place while third got nothing. I was getting bad cards fromt he start and I was conserving my chips. Jack started pushing all in and making stupid size raises to steal pots right away. I was folding and waiting. See, here's the thing, I know what Jack is going to do. He senses weakness and he trys to take any pot that nobody else wants to bet at. The past few weeks I've had him against the ropes with dominating hands and all the money in the pot only to see him catch up on the river and knock me out. I don't know why it keeps happening. Everyone else at the table seems to be afraid of him when he bets but when I punch him in the mouth someone hands his ass a gun at the last minute.

The blinds are now at 100-200 and the hands are coming out faster. A few steals later, Jack has a little over $2000, I've still got nearly $6000 and Jimmy is sitting quietly with around $4500. I'm dealt 56 offsuit in the Big Blind. When the flop comes 3 3 4 and nobody bets I make a min bet with my open ender. Jack pushes all in from the button in a hurry. Jimmy folds and I instantly call but not without thinking a lifetime in that split second. Here's why. I knew I was behind with my 6 hi of course but I saw a chance to maybe get lucky when I had some chips and get rid of him. I know that he wouldn't stop the bullying and raising because he felt he had nothing to lose. I knew that if I had flopped quad aces that theres a 99% chance he'd suckout a Royal Flush and whack me. So I called, and crossed my fingers. It didn't work. He had A 3 offsuit and his trips held on. Now he has the chip lead but I still like my chances.

Two hands later I'm dealt Q5 offsuit on the button and I limp in for $200. Jack calls from the Small Blind and Jimmy checks. FLOP !!! 5 5 9. How lovely. Jack bets $400 and Jimmy folds. I do my best Meryl Streep imitaion as I glance back at my cards in confusion. I decide to make a teaser raise just equal to his. $400 + $400. Jack calls. The turn is a total brick and I check to him, knowing with 100% certainty that he is going to move all of his chips in the pot and give them to me. I know this with all my heart. I played the hand so well it was scary. Sure enough he does it. "All in" he says and I immediately call and show my trip fives. For a moment I see it in his eyes and he knows he was outplayed. He turns over JJ for an overpair to the board. He is drawing dead to one of the two remaining Jacks in the deck.

Here's the odds for you from Two Dimes.net

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1614597
jh js /vs/ qs 5c -Board reads- 5h 5s 9h 4d

Js Jh winning cards in the deck 2 win% 4.55
Qs 5c winning cards in the deck 42 win% 95.45

And the Jack hits on the river. That's all folks. I don't even call that lucky. I call that alot of other bad words that I won't write here because the internet saves everything. You tell me how this can keep happening. That's 3 river suckouts by this fella in a row vs me. I even told him after wards that I consider him a very good card player despite his sucking out ways. I'm telling you all right now however, that I am much better, just unlucky. He and Jimmy split the prize money and I went on to kill the sidegame for the next two hours.

Next week ? Omaha. Where the luckbox factor is dimished and skill prevails.

Hopefully......
Stay tuned.




Have a Drink on me

Poker Diagram Listener Tourney extravaganza

One of my favorite podcasts comes from a couple of fellas from London who fancy a game of online poker and a drink or two. Henry and Zog from thePoker Diagram Live Poker Podcast do a show every week or so where one of them (usually Zog) will play a short online poker tournament while the other (usually Henry) chats it up and fills us in on the table happenings. For those of us with Poker on the brain, it's a good source for a poker fix on the go. Every once in a while they put together a tournament where all the listeners are invited to come together and have a go at one another. Today was such a day.

36 players plopped down $10 for a chance at poker immortality and instant podcasting fame. I was at a table with a few listeners I had seen before. Tiltaholic, LucienJ, and LenBuddha all were familiar to me from past listener tournies but I only had notes on Mr. Tilt. I had remarked that he was a solid player and I should have a hand if he was raising me and I chose to play back. From the get go, Tilty was telling everyone he was card dead so I was happy to steal from him until he fought back. Early on I got the Hilton Sisters and made a standard raise and I got just one caller. Of course and ace flops out there and I am in the classic quandry. Im last to act but the caller decides to bet out at the pot and forces me to a decision. He makes a smallish bet of about 1/3 the pot and I have to think. The ace is scary, but wouldn't they have reraised with a big ace preflop? I decide to make a stand with my ladies and I put in a sizeable raise of 3/4 of the now juicy pot. The caller takes only a few seconds to fold and I lurk back into the shadows with my booty.

A few players have now been ousted from the tourney and some new blood comes to our table. I have the big stack now, but not by much. I get dealt AQ offsuit in the small blind and everyone folds to me. I don't like playing pots out of position in NL Holdem so I decide to take the pot right now and I make a 3 1/2 BB bet into the Big Blind and wait for him to fold. No such luck. The BB raises back into me and I don't even hesitate to put him all in. His name was TableImage so maybe I should have taken that into account beforehand but too late now. He calls without much delay and I am sickened to see that he has me dominated with AK suited in clubs. My horror turns to elation when a lovely queen comes to town on the flop with all spades. No juctice for TableImage on the turn or river and I boost my stack up to over 4x the starting stack making me chip leader in the tourney for now.

With the blinds now at $25 and $50 WVU_Mtneers and profProfet fill the empty seats at our table and soon thereafter I am dealt ACES in the small blind. Everyone folds to me and I decide to make a silly move and I just limp with the most powerful starting hand hoping for a reraise. The BB wisely checks and we take a flop. 6 5 2 with two clubs. No a great flop for me but not horrible. I bet $50 into the $100 pot and the BB, profprofet, makes the call. When the turn comes a 4d I am really kicking myself for limping out of position with this beautiful hand. I suck it up and make a $100 1/2 pot sized bet. Profprofet comes over the top f me for $300 more and I seriously consider cutting my losses and chalking this hand up to experience. I have the big stack and I want to protect it. Nobody knows what a jackass I am with my pocket aces and I could just fold them and move on. The timer counts down... tick tock, tick tock. I let Pokerroom fold the hand for me and I take another drink and sit back. Wiser.

Starbelly78, nmonkey and profprofet are now goners and we are 7 handed at my table for the time being. I get dealt ACES again in the Big Blind and make a standard raise. One limper folds and one person calls. I win the hand with a probing bet on the flop and don't get to show down my bullets. WVU_Mtneers now has the chip lead on my direct left but I am a close 2nd. The tables swirl around and I am at a table with Tiltaholic again along with godard_7, matthawaii and LucienJ who has had his AWAY sign up since the tourney started. Blinds are now at 75-150 and I have over $5500 in the small blind with the midlife crisis hand, 4 4. Matthawaii limps into the pot in middle position and I make a slightly larger than average raise since I'm out of position. Matthawaii goes all in for his last $650 or so and I call. He shows me a pair of ducks(22) and I'm a 4-1 favorite going into the flop. And then............. he hits his 2 outer and flops a set of deuces. Great. I am chanting four.,,,,,four.......four in my head and then it hits, on the river. I make a set of fours to trump his set of deuces. I think it's only fair that a 4-1 fav wins now and then don't you ? Aloha Matt.

The blinds move up to $100 - $200 and I am dealt ACES for the third time in early position. LucienJ who has returned from his self imposed exile has $200 of his remaining $225 in the big blind and I decide to go fishing with my ACES. I push all in for $7300 and pray for a caller with AK or a pair of jacks. Anything. Nobody calls but LucienJ with his Q2 offsuit. Oh, the poker gods are cruel. The final board reads 4 5 6 7 8 and we split the pot as we both have the same straight. Boooooooo !!! The very next hand LucienJ pushes all in with crap and ScottG takes him down, in effect, stealing my $225 :).

Blinds still $100 - $200. We're now six handed at my table and I am dealt pocket nines in the small blind. Godard_7, who diagnosed me with Poker Rage in my Feb 12th post comments, is in the cutoff and he makes a bigger than average raise. I like my nines but not enough to make a big over the top move right here. My wife comes in the room and sees my cards and I tell her I am going to play it cool and just call and hope to flop trips. Then Lenbuddha makes it even more interesting when he decides to call as well out of the Big Blind. FLOP !!! 4 9 A with two hearts. The perfect flop for me because one of the other two has to have an ace in my mind. Hopefuly they both have aces and want to go to war I'm thinking. I make the minimum bet into the pot and wait for the fireworks to start. Lenbuddha likes the Ace I suppose because he raises it up by 3/4 of the pot. Godard_7 folds (obviosly he was on the steal). So I have my man where I want him, no time to worry about those two hearts on the board and I cut off a stack of raising chips. The pot is already over $2000 and I settle on a $2000 raise. Lenbuddha wastes no time and pushes all in for his last $4000 or so and I call. The poor chap was unlucky enough to flop two pair, Aces and Fours. He did not improve his hand and I took the down the biggest pot of the tournament to that point, over $11,000.

FINAL TABLE action !!! We're down to 10 players and the blinds have jumped to $150 - $300. I have the big stack with $11,755. 2nd is WVU_Mtneers with $6,600 and then Webthing with $6.400.

The rest....
GMC325 - $5185
HoldThePhone - $4905
godard_7 - $4310
Scott-G - $3950
bonak_shed - $3793
kasilof - $2823
DJQuad - $2510

The action heats up and I kinda lose track of what happened but I broke two people in one hand with a pair of sixes. We were all in preflop and I had the only pair. I think the other hands were something like KJ and AJ. The board had two queens and a bunch of low cards and I doubled my stack to a whopping $25,000. We are now down to six handed and the blinds are $300 - $600. Godard_7 is in 2nd with $7700 and DJQuad, kasilof and Scott-G both have about $4600. Webthing is the shorty with $3600. But Webthing doubles up at the expense of Scott-G when his A8d takes down the I'll timed assault of Scotts Q5 offsuit. Just like Henry always says, when you have A8 the 8 always comes and it did. The ace high would have won it, but the 8 made a nice insurance policy.

Blinds $500 - $1000. The final three came down to godard_7, kasilof and myself. The hands come so fast at this point that the details get a bit fuzzy. One hand lead to another and godards river finally ran dry leaving only kasilof between me and the title. It wasn't long after that hand when I got dealt AQh out of position. I made a small raise and kasilof saw his chance to push me back. Well, with AQ suited heads up I had to feel pretty good. I had over a 2-1 chip lead and felt it was time to end the tournament. I made a huge overbet and put kasilof all in. He called me with K5 offsuit. The first card off the deck was the 5c giving him the best hand with a pair of fives. His lead was quickly erased however when the third card off the deck was the sultry Qc. The turn was a 7 and then the river gave me an unnecessary ace for two pair and the win.

Zog will say that I only survived because I never had to sit at the same table as him and for that I am thankful. It's really not fair having to play against him ad Henry at the same time anyhow. Besides, I was the one that knocked Zoggy out of the last listener tournament before exiting myself, stage left. It was a fun time and I was thrilled to win out over such a tough field. I had it all. Some good cards. Some good luck. And for a change, some real poker dexterity. Thanks for putting on a great tourney fellas. See you next time for sure.

Card Clubs.net Forums discuss the tourney with other PokerDiagram listeners.

Jack is now the suckout queen

Some folks I guess, you just can't beat. I got it all in last night with my pair of queens vs Jack's nines. Why the Poker Gods deem it necessary to punish my brilliant play, I'll never know, but Jack sucked out trips on the river to win again and he thought it wa s a brilliant call because he had an underpair and a 5 hi flush draw with one card to come.

I can't wait til we start playing Omaha instead of Holdem because there's a whole lot less luck in Omaha and I think I'll be handing everyone their asses. Bold talk from a donkey that's tired of being punched in the head.

At the losers table I took control of the mixed game format and picked off everyone at the table.
Bosey locked up the championship in the 2nd 10 week Holdem Tourney so now it's on to Omaha. 10 weeks of explaining the rules to drunks and people trying to see the score of the Heels game.


What's wild ???????





Donkey Puncher

Congrats to Johhny

It's been a long time coming but there no doubt tonight.Johnny wiped the floor with anyone who stood in his way. He built a massive chip lead by knocking out Ronnie 3 times and laying waste to all others one by one. There was a 3 hour break in the game when a CAT dozer was called in to move his chips from table two to the final table. Once there it was a tour de force display of power poker. Johhny took down the single biggest prize in the history of our game. Pizza for all !

As for me, not quite the same result. I'm really sick of NL Holdem Tournaments. Fed up. I got a decent stack early on but handed half my chips to Sammy on my right and the other half to BJ on my left. I was gone. I nestled into a comfy spot at the losers table where a bloody game of 7 - 27 was going on. In this game the goal is to make a hand as close as possible to either 7 or 27. A round of betting occurs after each card is dealt out one at a time. Once nobody takes another card, the game is over. Closest to 7 gets half and closest to 27 gets the other half. Face cards count for half a point, aces are either 1 or 11 and others are face value. The secret is simple, get a 7 in your first card and start raising. Get dealt a face card right off the bat for 1/2 a point and fold. That's all I did. I hate that game. Crazy old Jimmy who some of you might remember was killing everyone with 7 after 7.

When it came my turn to deal however, the game changed to Omaha Hi/Lo and I had to give a 1 minute rules seminar beforehand. These goofy holdem players have no idea what it takes to put together a solid omaha hand and I felt I had the advantage having played thousands upon thousands of Omaha hands online. I took down the first hand with the nut straight an no qualifying low hand. Nice pot with all the chasers. The next hand it was Big Mikes turn to deal and he settled on 7-27 again. I got dealt a queen of diamonds and folded immediately. As it worked back around the table for me to deal again the Pigeon Jackie Fisher was busted from the final table in 6th position or so and he wanted to join our game. He sat down on my right. I announced Omaha Hi was the game and deftly filled each players hand with 4 Copag, Poker Sized, indestructible playing cards. The official card of the Pink Sky Poker Club.
and watched the players try to organize their hands into winners. I looked down at a pretty first two cards, the Jack and Nine of hearts. I exclaimed that I only looked at two cards and that they were enough to raise with from the button. Nobody else had raised so I popped it up. Everyone called. (I can't wait til we switch over our tournaments to Omaha next month) I put out a flop for all to see. 10h Ac 8d. Now I look down at my other two cards to find I'm holding Jh 9h 9c Qh giving me an open ended straight and a backdoor gutshot straight flush draw.
Evrone check around to me again and I pop it up. Evryone calls. Did I tell you I can't wait til we are playing Omaha every Friday? I burn and turn the beautiful 7s giving me the nuts with no flush draw on the board. This time, Tommy puts in a bet from early position and a few people finally drop out. Jack calls on my right and I reraise with the nuts. There are four of us in the hand at this point and I burn and turn another ace on the river making a possible FH now and shrinking my nuts. Tommy puts in his bet again from UTG and Jack decides to put in a raise of his own. I'm sitting there on the button with the nut straight and I just don't think anyone had trips before this from the betting. I reraise back into Jack and everyone calls. Jack flips his hand saying "trips" as if he had rivered me yet again on one of his "felt it comin" hands and I show the straight and take down the monster pot. I think Tommy was in lala land with his two pair.

We ended up playing 5-6 hands of Omaha between all the 7-27, 7-Stud and Follow the Unelected Queen games and I won every single hand of Omaha. Once hand I took down when my horrid hand of 88 K 2 made a full house on the turn and I took all of Ronnie's chips after he flopped trip kings with only one in his hand. I'm not going to give these guys any lessons on the dangers of 1 card trips in Omaha anytime soon.

Oddly enough I took down the last Omaha hand of the night with just such a hand. I was dealing and I wound up with AA K 8. I hated that 8 dangler but the aces made me warm inside just like the Miller Lite had been doing for hours. When my cousin BJ sat down on my right and raised the pot for me. I reraised with my aces of course and I think everyone called again. We had doubled the stakes at this point since it was late and we were about to quit for the night. The flop was King high rag rag. Everyone checks to me and I bet. Everyone calls. Turn is another blank with no flush, straight or fh possible. I bet my aces again and everybody calls to see the river which is another King. I was prepared to check it down when it came to me unraised thinking that someone might hand a King and now my Aces were foiled. As I lifted my cards to turn them I realized that it was me who had the King for trips. I was so fucused on the Aces that the King had slipped my mind. Instead of checking I put in te final big bet and got just a few callers with time but it was Mo $ ! Nobody had even the aces themselves beat. For not winning the big one, it was still a fun and profitable night.

I sold my double deck set of Copag cards to the club tonight and I'm ordering a new set of 4 color ones. I play so much online that when I see the red diamonds on the cards instead of the blue diamonds I have grown accustomed to, I get all blurry eyed. Check them out and never buy another deck of cards. I thrown these into a bowl of hot soapy water and clean them once a month and they are as fresh as when they were new. I can't play with anything else now.



Time Killers online

You Tube, search for any kind of video, it's totally cool

Old Cartoons direct to your Video Ipod

Card Club, Poker Podcasting from a guy in his dads basement

Poker ain't all bad

I just played a $5+.50 30 man Turbo SNG on UB with my poker pal from Colorado and I took it down. I played loose early on and got some chips to sit on. I got aces twice and gutted people with them. The last hand of the tourney I had like 41000 chips vs a guy with 4k. Blinds were 800 1600 and I got aces on the button. I only called and he went all in with Q4 offsuit. How lovely.

I took my pal out when he went all in whort stacked with A6 and I went over the top all in for $6000 mpre and got called by a guy with the smae hand as me. We both had JJ and we split the pot. Maybe this bodes well for my live play tomorrow. I still hate UB though.

gnite.

It's all the poker rage.

a comment was made on my last post that has diagnosed me with poker rage. It seems I have been inviting the bad beats and poor calls that keep plaguing my homegame play. I have been so determined to prove that my skills at reading people and situations that it is working against me. So how should I start playing ? If I have top pair with a good kicker and I put my opponents on draws and smaller pairs, am I wrong to force the action by making big bets in these spots and begging people to call while behind ? I thought that was poker ? Maybe I'm lucky at love and unlucky at poker ?

Heck, I've been known to display some road rage now and then. So maybe poker rage is a logical metamorphosis of that rage. Who knew ? For now, I am going to continue punching the donkey until it kicks my face in. Poker tomorrow and time will tell if I'm a bad player or just in an unlucky stretch.

My boy gets some airtime Feb 23rd


the FEED for this blog

Jack is the suckout king.

I'd play him for $5000 dollars if there was no river cards. And I'd win. Hands down.

You can only river trips to suckout vs an overpair so many times before it makes your opponent go mad. It's too late for me. I'm over the edge. I'm taking two weeks off. I'm going to try skiing for the 2nd time. It's been 11 years since my first and last attempt. Pray that I don't pull A Bono.

Headed to poker night in 30 minutes !

I'm going to win. If I don't get sucked out on or make a move against a guy with aces. I might run into a cold deck though. But maybe I'll end up buying in 6 times and going on total tilt then I'll start up a losers table playing Acey Duecy and lose my whole poker bankroll.

Well, I won't take my whole bankroll first off, because I'd need those guys with shotguns from Binions to protect me as I transport it.

Nah, I'm gonna win. Stay tuned.

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Pink Sky Poker hiatus

After all the hot and heavy poker action last year nearly every friday night for months I have been taking it a little easy on the playing schedule. I have been going about every other week or so and not taking it too seriously. Losing the points championship on the final night of the 14 week tournament wa sa real pisser. Especially since the guy who came back and beat me when I was in the lead for the last several weeks wasn't supposed to even have a shot. Ole Jack slipped in and rebought after the rebuy period ended in week 13 and shouldn't have been within striking distance to begin with. After going card dead in week 14 and watching him suckout and catch monster hands all night I was sick and pissed about losing. I quit blogging. I left my wife and moved into a van down by the river. It's been rough, but I occasionally park the van outside a local Starbucks and pilfer the free wirelss hotspot bandwidth to play a few hands on UB with the other poker addicts.

I just turned 33 (my lucky number) and my son gave me some personalized Pink Sky Poker Club playng cards. Totally cool.

I have been encourage by a fan of the blog to take it back up again. It's hard to write when you think nobody's reading. But I am going to try and blog once a week again. We'll see how long it lasts.


Meanwhile, here's what you should be reading and listening to.

Card Club Podcast
Five Hundy by Midnight, The Origianl Las Vegas Podcast
Pokerdiagram Live Poker Podcast
A real Bellagio dealer dishes dirt on the Pros

BJ Wins

Congrats.

open ended against Jimmy

his 10 10 vs my 89


flop 67 J

I moved all in on turn with nothing. he called a said he was beat. showed 10 10 ..

river 5.

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Sometimes I wonder why I even play poker.

Well, another Friday has arrived and the Pink Sky Poker Club was aglow with the smell of a wood fire, stale cigarettes and banana bread. We have a 3 way tie atop the tournament points leaderboard.

Jimbo
Tommy
Myself

The three of us have 11 points going into tonight. Here's the points structure -
1st (4pts) 2nd (3pts) 3rd (2pts) 4th (1pts)

We were missing alot of players tonight for some reason. No B.J., no Bill, No Pigeon Jack Fisher, No Jason Fisher, No Sammy, No Tonys. It is as cold as polar bear balls outside and the poker room is toasty. They can't be hunting.......can they ? Maybe the game warden paid another visit and tossed a few of them in the hoosegow for their numerous indiscretions with the local wildlife. Less people in my mind = less suckouts and chasers : )

Jimmy Smith came to the table with dreams of bluffing every pot and started raising all in every other hand. Rebuy after Rebuy he refused to slow down. Everyone took a turn busting him and then my opportunity knocked. I was in late position with the Qc 9c and I was wishing it was the magical Q8 instead but nevertheless I tossed in the $40 to call the big blind and prayed for a cheap flop. Almost everyone had limped in and nobody raised so here comes the flop. 4c 5c 8c. Bingo Bango Bongo ! The chances of flopping a flush are 0.84 percent or about one out of 121 hands. Problem is, how do you get paid off when it happens ? Answer...... bet into Jimmy Smith. The table checks around to me and I make a small feeler bet of $60 into the pot of about $200. Jimmy Calls. Everyone else folds. TURN card is 7s, making a very likely straight. I bet $100 this time and Jimmy does not delay in calling. RIVER card comes a helpless 2h and now I just have to decide how much I can bet and still get called. I settle on $200 and then it happens. Jimmy riases me "all in". I call and toss over my flush for all to see and start raking the pot. Jimmy flips over his hammer (2,7) for two pair and has to be told that he lost several times. He arranges the cards as I gather my chips, trying desperatly to conjure a winning hand. Alas, the rebuys have now ended and Jimmy is sent to the rail. I get a much needed double up.

With Jimmy gone, the action settles down and the pot sizes shrink for awhile. The other table loses Johnny when he flops a Unelected Queen high club flush at the same time that Eddie (fresh off heart bypass surgery only weeks ago) flops the nut flush and sends him packing. Tough beat. Tommy finally goes out after having been short stacked for an hour. He battled from $160 chips back to $900 but his luck ran out. Great news for me since he was tied for the points lead. Time to combine tables now that we are down to 8 players!

The final table gets underway and I find myself folding and watching alot. I am waiting on quality hands because I want to make the top 4 and atleast get some points and pull ahead in the championship stretch. Sitting to my left is my father, Jimbo, who is always dangerous and aggressive. Jimbo also has a knack for pushing me around in big pots so maybe I shouldn't have moved over and allowed him to sit on my left. You want strong player on your right so they won't come over the top of you all night and force you off you hands. Mistake #1. About 20 minutes into the final table I am on the button and I look down at my first pair of the night. Pocket 8's. Snowmen. The double scoups. When the action gets to me I make a small raise of $200 into a pot of about $400. I've got about $3000 in chips. Jimbo, in the small blind makes a re-raise of $400 and I think I have a read on him. I am figuring him for AK or AQ suited. The table folds back to me and I go into the tank for 2 minutes. This is my first pair of the night, I'm on the button and I decide to make a stand. Everyone is talking, saying they know I'm going to fold but I know I'm going to raise. I want to make a raise big enough that says I'm serious, but also one that I can get away from if Dad decides to push all in. Maybe my read is wrong, maybe he has a big pair afterall. I settle on $800 more, stack it up and slide it foreward confidently. The pot is now over $2000. Jimbo quickly moves towards his stack and shoves them all into the center. I know in my heart that I am beaten. I pick up my cards and turn them face up for the table to see and shout something rude in dad's direction as I do it. I fold. Kindly, as a good father should, he flashes his Cowboys at me and my spirit is lifted. I am still alive and I left myself with $1700 chips to start my comeback.

Soon after that hand the blinds go up. Ronnies has grown weary of the 1:30am final table battles and has instituted an Ultra Turbo policy. The blinds now go up every 1/2 hour and the action gets hot fast. The blinds are $200 - $400 and it's not even 10pm yet. We are down to 6 players after Ronnie falls out and I think it's time to start stealing blinds. I catch a run of small pocket pairs and start pushing people around using my position and perceived desperate situation. All In. All In. I had 66, 77 and knew I had the best hand but everyone folding was just fine. I built my stack back up to around $3000 in no time.

The button comes back to me and I deal myself another pocket pair. Deuces. There are 3 limpers in the pot and I make the same move again. All in!!! Everyone folds but Bosey, who seems pissed. "All in ?", he says. "Are you sure?" At this point I know I want him to fold. He asks me what kind of a hand I have and I tell him immediately that I have a pair. "How Big ?", he asks. I stare down at the felt and hear him light a cigarette. 2 minutes go by and he is still torturing me. Now I think he might have a small pair like 66, 77 or 88. Finally, he stands up, syas he is going to call me and starts to walk away from the table. He flips over AK offsuit and I am just happy he doesn't have a pair. As he heads away towards the bathroom I burn and turn the flop. 8 DEUCE 9. Boy, let me tell you something, nothing in this world make a poker player feel as warm and fuzzy inside as trips do. Bosey is still nowhere to be seen and I have yet to reveal my hand to the remaining players at the table but now I just have to, I can't contain myself. OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH they say !!! I burn and turn the last two, knowing that I am better than a 4.5 -1 favorite now and the even though the river brings an ace, Bosey is gone. I have him covered by a mere $80 in chips. When he comes back to the table he can't believe it. He sees the ace but has to be told about the trips that had crushed them. "Told you I had a pair". He goes on and on about how I sucked out on him as he gathers up his stuff to head to the loseres table.

The final 4 are left. Myself, TJ, Eddie and Jimbo. At this point Eddie has the big stack. We have colored up nearly all the chips to all black $100s.

Eddie starts playing every pot by limping in and I start making raises and taking them away from him before the flop. I take over $1000 off him in this manner and then he finally calls one of my raises and we see a flop. I have 6 8 offsuitand really wanted him to fold. The flop was something like 3 8 9 and it gave me a pair of 8s. I lead out at the pot with a minimum bet which Eddie smoothe called. The turn was another nice giving me two pair and I bet the minimum again. Eddie smoothe called. The river is a delicious 8 and now I have a Full House. I keep the same betting pace and motion but jack up the price to twice he minimum bet and pray for a raise of some sort. Eddie Smoothe calls and I show him my 6 8. He bows his head and scissors open his hand for me to see his pockets tens. Tough break, but he says "nice hand".

The blinds shoot up to $500 - $1000. I don't remember the hand that Eddie went out on but his stack had been slowly chisled down and he went out with a sputter. The final three are set. I am the chip leader now and I start to bully the table like you are supposed to. I was limping in and raising the flop when the other two seemed uninterested in it. I got pocket sixes on the button and raised all in. TJ and dad both folded in disgust and I showed the sixes to them. $1500 scouped without a fight. Im in the big blind now and I quickly squeeze out a pair of black tens before the other have seen their hole cards. TJ looks at his cards and I already know he's going to fold. Jimbo however has had enough of the bullying and moves all in. I can't call any faster than I did, showing the tens with pride :) Dad sheepishly turns over K 8 and starts calling for the King. It doesn't come however and BarbiesBoyToy is out in 3rd place, with two points and nothing else for his efforts.

Here we are again. James G /vs/ Food Lion. I think this is the 4th or 5th time that he have been heads up at either the big game or the losers table. Once we played an epic 1 1/2 hour session and TJ came out the victor when he called my big bluff with a monster hand. Other than that, I think I have won all the other matches. The funniest part is, TJ and I had emailed each other earlier in the week and we were discussing the events of last week and our bad luck and bad beats.
___________________________________________________
Here's the email......

----- Original Message -----
From: James G.
To: TJP
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

> I just hope I have better luck this Friday. The
> whole night was a disaster.
__________________________________________________
From: TJ P
To: James G.
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

I know the feeling all last month was a disaster.
Fri i was all in with KJ called with j9 and k10, J
came on flop so k 10 was out, river was a 9 bozie hit
the damn 3 outer. last week i had A2 flop 3 4 5, BJ
went all-in i called of course, he showed 5 7 he
needed runner-runner, turn 2, river was a 6. the week
nathan won he took me out i had KQ against K7. I'm
gonna start playing real loose and bad.

From: James G.
To: TJP
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005

Friday I'll play tight. We'll be heads up.
_________________________________________________

Talk about predictions. Here we go. Jimbo has refused to leave the table and is still here complaining about losing to my pocket tens. He asked TJ if he wanted to play heads up for $200 after we finished and TJ laughed at him. I have almost a 2 - 1 chip lead at the beginning of heads up play. TJ and I take turns dealing to one another and the blinds are still at $500 - $1000. If one of us limped from the button, the other one raised all in. The longer this went on , the more mad Jimbo got. He called us pussies. Blah Blah, don't you hate railbirds ? He asked if he could deal and I told him no. More pissed. LOL.

So far, the raiser was taking every pot and we had not seen very many flops. TJ had stolen a few more than me and actually managed to take the chip lead away from me. Then I find myself in the big blind with 3 5 offsuit and TJ makes a raise of $2000 from the button. He had either been moving all in on me or folding so I decided to make a play at this pot. I pushed back at him with my whole stack and he mucked. I showed him my 3 5 to try and push him over the edge a bit. Back and forth we went for a few more hands. It's been almost a half hour and the blinds are going up to $1000 - $2000 in a few hands. I had taken away his ability to read me by pulling my ball cap down low, looking at my cards and betting without looking up at him. He never called one bet I made in this fashion and he said I was cheating. Actually, he wanted his own hat he said.

I look down and see pocket nines in the big blind with my now patented hat move. When i heard TJ announce all in I called and turned over my hand. I knew he had an ace, but I was just hoping it was a weak one. Sure enough, he had A 4 and I was a big favorite. FLOP TURN RIVER.........no ace. He got a pair of fours on the turn but that was it. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I took down the first prize and the coveted 4 championship points. I've got 15 and Jimbo has 13. I've got three wins and a 2nd. Two weeks left to go and only 2 guys have a shot at me. Stay tuned.

Sorry about the misleading title, I just didn't want to give anything away. Nice bluff huh ?